The IMP van sat in a long line of cars waiting to pass, usually, this would not be an issue but there was construction going on today, Imps in hardhats and bright green vests were repaving a section of the road so all the cars had to squeeze through a small section. Blitz thumped his head down on the steering wheel, the horn blaring as he did, the sound jolted Loona who was sleeping in the passenger seat, awake she looked to her left and glared at her adoptive father.
"Fuck Blitz lay off the horn, me and Dante stayed up till four drinking last night and we're hungover as hell!" Loona yelled massaging her temples.
"I feel fine, I don't get hangovers," Dante explained, M&M and Loona looked at him confused.
"Wait seriously?" Moxxie asked his younger coworker.
"Yep, I haven't gotten a hangover since I was 11," Dante explained which caused Moxxies eyes to go wide.
"Wait 11?" Moxxie muttered Loona turned in her seat to face her boyfriend.
"Ohh that's bullshit you drank 11 bottles of wine last night how the hell are you not hungover?" she asked not believing his statement.
"14 actually and that's not alot, I drink that amount every night for dinner," the demons in the car all looked at Dante in utter shock (sans Blitz who was still staring angrily at the traffic in front of him).
"What?" Dante asked confused by their reactions.
"Oh, my Satan how much do you fucking drink Dante!?" Loona asked her voice filled with horror.
"Honestly on a good day about five to ten bottles of wine, when I'm sad or partying I drink about fifteen to twenty unless I go for the harder stuff like whiskey or vodka," the three demons stared at him in stunned silence none of them realizing just how much Dante drank, they knew he drank alot but nowhere near to this extent.
"Fifteen to twenty, ok how the fuck are you still alive?!" Moxxie asked utterly flabbergasted, by his coworker's alcoholism.
"Seriously kid, do you need help or something?" Millie asked Dante in a worried tone.
"Hey guys don't worry I'm perfectly fine, I don't really get drunk and I got strong resistance to alcohol poisoning," as he said that Dante started coughing, covering his mouth with his hand when the coughing fit stopped Dante saw some blood on his hand, which he discreetly wiped on his jacket.
At that moment Loona undid her seatbelt and swiftly crawled into the backseat. Positioning herself on Dante's lap, gripped his head in her hands.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT DANTE YOU NEED TO STOP DRINKING I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY THAT IS A CRAZY AMOUNT OF BOOZE NO WAY YOU CAN HANDLE THAT!" Loona shouted a frantic look in her eyes, as she shook his head back and forth. Dante tried to say something but was cut off before he could say his piece.
"Uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhgggggg!" Blitz yelled slamming his fist down on the dashboard.
"God dammit Dante why the fuck is there suddenly so much traffic in your neighborhood?" he asked turning to look at his employee. Dante shrugged his shoulders a subtle smirk appearing on his face.
Deciding to do some good for his community Dante used the ring to get a sizable amount of money from one of Lucifer's many accounts, he used the money to pay a construction company to fix many of the problems plaguing the neighborhood. First having them replace and fix all the broken street lights, he was having them fix the potholes, cracks, and fissures in the roads and sidewalks. The IMP was finally able to get through the traffic jam and make its way to the office, Blitz, Millie, and Moxxie all got out of the car and headed for the building Dante was about to follow but was grabbed and yanked and pinned to the van by Loona who sent him a serious look.
"Whoa right here, well alright," Dante said leaning in for a kiss, only for Loona to smack him.
"Oww what the hell?" he asked rubbing his cheek, glaring at his girlfriend, Loona's look didn't change.
"We need to talk about your drinking problem," she said crossing her arms.
"I don't have a drinking problem," Dante replied sternly.
"Oh, really Mr. "I drink 15 bottles a night" doesn't have a drinking problem, sure," Loona said sarcastically, which annoyed Dante.
"Oh like you're one to talk, Ms. morning drinker," Dante replied, recalling all the times he caught his girlfriend drinking on the job.
"Oh please I barely drink compared to you I mean seriously ninety percent of the food in your house is liquor, come to think of it I don't think I've seen you eat anything since the night with Coco and Apple," Loona but her hand on her chin, looking back at all the time she and Dante spent together, she rarely saw him eat anything, which she found worrying.
"That's because I don't like to cook, whenever I'm hungry I just go out for food," Dante said sounding somewhat nervous, Loona noticed but she found that to be the only logical explanation.
"Ok forget the food thing but you still drink way too much, Don't you remember what the doctor said when you OD'd?" she asked.
"No what did he say?" Dante replied sounding confused, Loona looked pissed until she remembered that he was unconscious during the talk with the doctor.
"He said your liver is shot to hell, it may not be a problem right now but if you don't stop you could die!" she screamed gripping his shoulders tightly and pulling him in close a worried expression on her face and Dante thought he saw a tear at the corner of her eye.
"Alright if your that concerned I'll lay off the sauce for a while," Dante said patting Loona on the arm.
"You mean it?" she asked giving him warm puppy dog eyes, Dante nodded and put his right hand on hers giving it a gentle squeeze. Smiling Loona pulled Dante into a hug and a deep kiss, little did she know Dante had his fingers crossed the whole time.
Later that evening
Dante knelt on the floor of a spacious apartment as he brutally beat the crap out of a notorious pimp by the name of Skinny Nick, Nick was well known for beating and abusing his girls and was a big part of Dante's plan to help his neighborhood was to remove all the violent and abusive Pimps and make prostitution in his neighborhood safer. Now others might think he would try and ban prostitution because it is an illicit and immoral act but Dante found that line of thinking ridiculous. First of all, this was Hell everything was illicit and immoral, and two Dante himself did not see an issue with prostitution he saw it as a legitimate practice and couldn't understand, for the life of him while people looked down on it so much. That was why Dante was currently beating Skinny Nick to death, he felt that by eliminating the delinquent and thuggish elements in the prostitution industry he could help clean its reputation as well as make the work safer for the men and women involved. Delivering the final blow to Nick's head Dante wiped the blood off his hands with Nick's fur coat, he stood up and turned to face his three prostitutes.
"Well you don't have to worry about him anymore," Dante said proudly putting his hands on his hips, the three girls looked at him frightened.
"What the fuck Dante!?" one of them a broad-shouldered large-breasted Imps named Kate yelled looking down at her former pimp's corpse.
"What's the problem?" Dante asked eyebrow raised in confusion at Kate's anger, Kate was flabbergasted by Dante's seeming lack of awareness.
"The problem is that you just killed our fucking pimp you fucking dumbass!" Kate yelled, gritting her teeth in anger.
"Yeah so you told me Nick was an asshole who would beat you guys and make you sleep with him, you should be thanking me," Dante replied annoyed that they were not appreciating his good deed.
"Thank you? Nick may have been a bastard but he kept us safe, now without a pimp where dead meat!" Kate shouted in anger.
"You've thrown us to the wolves," another smaller Imp woman named Soozie who had a pink streak in her black hair said as she held the third prostitute, a meek shy girl named Julie in her arms as she trembled in fear.
Dante understood what the issue was now, without a pimp to protect them the three feared that they would fall victim to the cruelties of the outside world, but Dante smiled he knew the necessity of having a pimp to watch over the girls and he already planned ahead.
"Then allow me to fill that role ladies," he said, the three looked at him in surprise.
"You're getting into prostitution now Dante I thought you were working as an assassin?" Kate asked crossing her arms not buying the idea that Dante was now working as a pimp.
"Not quite, do you ladies know that old hotel on Lucifer Avenue?" he asked.
"That old shithole where men go to cheat on their wives?" Soozie asked confused at why Dante was bringing it up.
"The one and only, you see I've met with the owner of the hotel and I explained to him that he would make more money converting it into a brothel, people only stayed there to fuck hookers anyway so he agreed, and right now we're looking for some lovely ladies to be our new employees, so what do you say?" Dante asked holding out a card, Kate took the card and looked it over, the card was white with a red rose on it, and it said La Rosa in fancy cursive.
"And why should we work at this fancy place, anyways," Kate asked a skeptical look on her face.
"Why you'll work inside no more standing out at street corners in the cold and rain waiting for clients, you'll have a safe place to work no longer worrying about being taken somewhere private to be murdered, there will be plenty of security to keep out the creeps and to stop anyone from hurting or getting to rough with you ladies, and you'll get a bigger cut of the profits as well," Dante finished his explanation, Soozie liked the idea of getting more money from their work, while Julie found the idea of safety and security to be enticing, Kate, on the other hand, was not convinced.
"Ohh sure you come in here kill our pimp then suddenly make this offer I wasn't born yesterday pal," Kate remarked not believing Dante's offer and seeing it as just a scam.
"I wasn't planning on killing your pimp woman I came here to make you and the others the offer then I caught him smacking Julie and just kinda snapped," he explained, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Kate was still skeptical, but she liked Dante. Dante used to be one of her regular clients and unlike the others who saw her as nothing more than a toy, he treated her like a person, like she mattered, he was gentle, kind, and sweet, and she viewed him as a friend as well as a client.
"Why are you setting this place up is your job not paying you enough?" she asked wondering why Dante was suddenly interested in a couple of hookers like them.
"No nothing like that I simply want to help the neighborhood, I'm tired of seeing everyone suffering from cruelty and injustice while those in charge do nothing, that's why I'm setting up La Rosa, I want to create a safe place where you and the others can work without being cheated, molested or killed," Dante explained, his voice filled with sympathy and kindness.
Kate was still skeptical that was until Dante gently put his hand on her cheek and turned her head so they were making eye contact. She looked into his black and red eyes, eyes she always found fascinating and beautiful, she saw his eyes were filled with kindness and compassion something she rarely saw in Imp City let alone Hell.
"So what do you say?" he asked gently, Kate removed Dante's hand and smiled.
"I'm in," she replied, Dante, smiled then turned to face the other two.
"Well?" he asked.
"I'm in," Soozie replied cheerfully.
"S-same," Julia replied meekly.
"Well then welcome to La Rossa Ladies I'm sure you'll do great," Dante said happily, Kate pinched the bridge of her nose, she had a feeling that this was not gonna go well.
Dante walked back home with a warm feeling running through him, several girls and a few men have already agreed to join La Rossa, and soon more will join he can feel it, soon all the prostitutes in his neighborhood will have a place where they can work safely and not have to worry about being beaten, or cheated, or raped, they'll be safe.
Dante's mind quickly flashed to scenes of his childhood specifically how during his time living on the streets he remembered how he often saw prostitutes being beaten and assaulted, he remembered a certain night when he witnesses one prostitute a young woman named Lavinia get raped and murdered. Dante stopped and staggered forward gripping his head in pain, stumbling towards the entrance of an alleyway Dante grabbed hold of the corner and vomited. Wiping his mouth Dante was about to continue on his way but stopped when he heard something come from the alleyway that sounded like a baby's wail. Curious Dante headed down the alley following the sound of the cries stopping when he came upon a squirming piece of cloth. Picking it up Dante unwrapped it and to his shock found himself looking face-to-face with a Hellhound pup, in the dull light of the moon Dante saw it had the typical red eyes with white irises of a Hellhound its fur was a beautiful shade of gold. The pup stopped crying and looked at Dante with its big red eyes.
I have more work to do, Dante thought to himself looking at the pup cradling it in his arms.
A few weeks later
Dante stepped out of the coffee shop Frappuccino in his left hand, stepping to the side Dante held the door open as Loona who had a Latte, and Octavia with a black coffee stepped out, letting go of the door Dante stepped in front of the two ladies.
"So shall we be off?" he asked the two girls nodded and followed Dante with Octavia standing at his left and Loona to his right. Now, most would find the three of them hanging out together to be strange and you would be right it is.
Earlier that morning Octavia stopped by hoping to get the music sheets she lent Dante back which Dante was more than happy to give her as he already had Moxxie look them over and make notes, she was about to leave but Dante said that he and Loona were gonna grab some coffee and offered to let her tag along. Initially, Octavia was gonna decline and Loona wasn't a big fan of the idea but he insisted saying that since there probably gonna be step sisters soon they might as well learn to get along, they both gagged at him mentioning that.
As the three demons walked down the street Loona reached out and grabbed Dante's hand, squeezing it possessively, Dante looked at her and saw her glaring at Octavia. Dante internally sighed, despite knowing that Octavia was no longer trying to pursue a relationship with him she was still suspicious of her, deciding to do something to alleviate the tension, he turned to Octavia and asked;
"So how are you and that Marco guy doing?" he asked making sure he was loud enough for Loona to hear.
"Ohh it's going great actually Marco is really sweet, always willing to listen and spend time with me, he also has great taste in music too," she said joyfully, her cheeks glowing red thinking about her new boyfriend.
Dante smiled he was happy to see that Octavia was getting over her crush on him and was able to find someone better suited to her, both in interests, rank, and age. Dante felt Loona's hand relax, he smiled he was glad that she was finally realizing Octavia wasn't a threat.
I mean she should have figured that out from the beginning but hey whatever, he thought to himself annoyed but pushed that thought aside and continued on his way. As they walked back to Dante's apartment Loona looked around and noticed that her boyfriend's neighborhood looked a lot nicer than it did a few weeks ago.
"Hey Dante, have you noticed that your neighborhood looks a lot nicer lately?" She asked turning to look at her boyfriend and noticing his eyes light up.
"About time you noticed," he said happily, taking a sip of his cappuccino.
"Well you see a mysterious benefactor has been donating money to the neighborhood and I as one of the only non-shitty people living here have been using it to improve the lives of everyone here," Dante explained a smile on his face as he looked out at his handiwork.
"Who's this benefactor?" Octavia asked she's lived in Hell her entire life and she's never once seen a single act of charity before in fact most people here in Hell viewed charity as a bad word, in some Rings like Greed it was even illegal, so who the fuck was giving some shitty Imp neighborhood money.
"Sorry it's a secret," Dante said with a smirk holding a finger to his lips.
Somewhere else
Lucifer sat at his desk, across from him Mammon sat with a furious scowl on his face.
"What the fuck is up with all these expenses bro?!" Mammon asked angrily pointing to a pile of invoices and withdrawal receipts from his bank which was sitting on Lucifer's desk. Lucifer quickly picked up one of the invoices and looked it over.
"Oh come on, Mammon this is chump change you'll make it back in a week," Lucifer said tossing it back on the desk.
"Yeah I know but I'm not happy with my money being used to finance… charity," Mammon choked out the last word sounding like he was about to puke.
"Ohh it's not charity Mammy I just didn't like that one of my cities was starting to look shabby so I decided to spruce it up," Lucifer explained, Mammon raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Sprucing it up, since when do you give a shit about Imp City?" he asked confused.
"Yeah, I noticed it was looking shabby, you know kinda like Loo Loo Land," Lucifer spat the name of Mammon's theme park like it was poison, now he didn't mind a little imitation he was incredible after all so it was no surprise people would try to mimic him, but what Lucifer hated was blatant copying of his works. Mammon gasped in shock and glared at Lucifer.
"How dare you, Loo Loo Land is a wonderful, magical, legally distinct place!" he shouted angrily, Lucifer rolled his eyes.
"Then how about you get back to fixing it before you get slapped with another subpoena," Lucifer pointed to the door, Mammon growled, got up, and headed out the door, slamming it behind him.
Lucifer smiled, he loved getting under people's skin, looking down at the pile of papers on his desk he picked up another invoice, his smile growing wider.
"You're getting plenty of uses out of that ring aren't you boy, well don't have too much fun with it," he muttered to himself, Dante had had the ring for almost a month now and he still hadn't agreed to the deal.
"He'll come around they always do," Lucifer muttered to himself tossing the invoice down on his desk.
Back to Dante
"So ladies how about I give you two the grand tour?" he asked turning to face Loona and Octavia.
"Uhh sure I got no plans today," Loona replied taking a drink of her latte.
"Sure, sounds fun," Octavia said.
Smiling Dante grabbed both girls' wrists and pulled them forward down the road deeper into his neighborhood.
Five minutes later
The two girls followed behind the black-haired demon as he led them through the neighborhood, he pointed to various things and began explaining the changes that were done and improvements that had been made.
"We've fixed all the streetlights, filled in the potholes, cleaned up most of the trash," he explained pointing to various things as he was doing so Octavia stopped when she noticed a large mural painted on a wall.
The Mural was of a beach scene but the sky was green and not the deep purple of the Envy Ring where most of Hell's oceans and beaches were. The painting was amazing the detail and brushwork were amazing, this artist clearly knew what they were doing.
"Woah nice," Octavia muttered taking a picture of the mural and posting it to Sinstagram.
"Thanks, it took alot of work," Dante said taking a sip from his cappuccino.
"Wait you painted this?" Octavia asked in shock, she had no idea Dante was an artist.
"Yep," he said with a proud smile.
"It took me three days," he explained Loona looked at the mural and then back at him.
"Bullshit no way you could do this in three days," Loona said gesturing to the heavily detailed painting.
"You can if you don't sleep to do it," Dante explained the two ladies opened their eyes in surprise.
"Wait you stayed up for three days straight to paint this?" Octavia asked sounding concerned.
"Yeah, but I skip sleep all the time so it's no big deal for me," he said, way too casually.
Honestly, I haven't slept in six weeks, Dante thought to himself he wasn't gonna tell them that, they looked worried already.
"Come on guys let's go see the rest of the neighborhood,"Dante said grabbing the two ladies before they could ask him about his insomnia and dragging them down the road.
Two minutes later
Octavia, and Loona both stood in front of an old theatre, listening to Dante talking.
"Yeah, I renovated this old theatre and hired a troupe of actors to perform and put on shows, you know give people something to do with their time besides crime and drugs as well expose the kids to a little culture," Dante explained patting the side of the building, Octavia was interested in this as she always had an eye for performance arts even studying some drama herself, Loona, on the other hand, couldn't care less as she started going through her phone but looked up when she heard a feminine voice call her boyfriend's name. Looking to her left she saw an Imp in a short skimpy dress and high heels walking up to Dante, who just turned to face her and smiled, the Imp then embraced Dante in a hug.
"Hey Nina," Dante said in a friendly tone, Loona's eyes narrowed at the woman currently hugging her boyfriend.
"Uh, Dante who is this?" Loona asked her voice taking on a dangerous hint to it.
"Yeah, who is this?" Octavia followed her voice also taking on a dangerous hint.
"Octavia, Loona, this is Nina an old friend of mine," Dante explained pushing Nina off of him.
"Ohh we were much more than that don't you remember," Nina said coyly sending him a wink, Dante cringed.
"Oh, is that right?" Loona asked, barely restraining herself from throttling Dante.
"Yep this guy used to buy my services once a week, gave my ass a good pounding when he did," Nina explained before Dante quickly covered her mouth with his hand, he looked at Loona nervously and noticed her beginning to froth at the mouth.
"Nina let me introduce you to the others this is my friend Octavia and Loona my girlfriend," he put extra emphasis on the word girlfriend, Dante took his hand off of Nina's mouth and she quickly looked over Loona.
"So you're the one who snatched away Dante huh?" she asked, continuing to give the Hellhound the once over.
"Damn right," Loona said proudly, Octavia just rolled her eyes.
Just rub it in why don't ya, she thought to herself taking a drink of her coffee.
"With an ass like that I'm not surprised," Nina said giving Loona a smack on the rear, Loona turned to face the Imp and growled but was pulled back by Dante.
"Aren't you supposed to be working Nina?" Dante asked as he held back the growling Hellhound.
"Your right so how about me, you, and your girlfriend here go off and have a little fun?" Nina asked sending them both a coy smile.
"Nina!" Dante shouted continuing to hold Loona back.
"Fine party pooper," Nina said before walking down the road away from the three demons. Dante let go of Loona who immediately turned around and glared at her boyfriend.
"When did you sleep with her and how often?" she asked sounding very angry, Dante gulped and raised his hands defensively.
"It was way before we started dating back before I even started working at IMP," he said nervously Loona raised an eyebrow, she was suspicious yes but she knew Dante was a good guy and wouldn't cheat on her.
"Alright," she said taking her hands off her hips, Dante sighed in relief.
Suddenly some bells started ringing and Imps and other demons began running down the road in excitement.
"What's up with them?" Octavia asked in confusion as an Imp bumped into her as he ran down the sidewalk.
"Oh your gonna love this," he said excitedly grabbing both girls by the arm and pulling them after him in the direction of the running Imps.
A lot between two buildings
The three demons stood in the middle of a large lot, the crowd was standing in front of a wooden scaffolding with a vertical beam set atop it, and upon looking closer one could see three sets of rope hanging from the beam.
"Uhh Dante, what are we doing here?" Octavia asked confused at why everyone was here to see some scaffolding.
"Shush just watch it's about to start," he said looking back at the scaffolding she saw a female Imp wearing a black suit with a blood-red tie walk up a flight of stairs and stand facing the crowd.
"Hello everyone I'm glad so many could be here to witness such a spectacular moment in our town's history," the female Imp said in a voice filled with charisma charm, Octavia thought she sounded a bit like a saleswoman.
"Who's she?" Octavia whispered to Dante as the woman continued to make her speech.
"She's the Gonfaloniere," Dante replied as if that explained everything, Octavia looked at him confused not really sure what that was. Dante noticed her confused expression and realized he should probably elaborate.
"You see they've recently established a neighborhood council to help govern the neighborhood and help keep things in order, I came up with the idea of using the system that they used in the city of Firenze during the renaissance, a council of nine known as the Signoria and the leader of the council is known as the Gonfaloniere," he explained Octavia nodded her head in understanding.
"Why the system they use in this Firenze place?" she asked curiously, wondering why he was using a system of governance from a place she had never heard of before especially a very old one from the renaissance.
What Octavia didn't know was that for much of Firenze's history, the Signoria and Gonfaloniere were often puppets of the most wealthy and powerful family usually the Pazzi or the Medici's, and this situation was no different as Imp City's Signoria where all in his pocket.
"Now without further ado let us bring out the convicted," she said, the crowd cheered in excitement as several armed men and women brought three individuals whose hands were bound behind their backs and had bags placed over their heads onto the scaffolding. The three were brought under the vertical beam where the ropes were then tied around their necks.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binaries I give you the murderer, the pervert, and the abuser, these three vile pieces of filth defied the laws set forth by the Signoria to protect this town and to keep its people safe, and for their crimes, these vile degenerates shall pay the price!" she yelled the crowds cheers grew louder, Loona began feeling uncomfortable realizing where this was going Octavia was as well clinging tightly to Dante.
The Gonfaloniere quickly glanced at Dante who gave her a discreet nod of approval, knowing she had her master's say-so the woman gestured to an Imp in an executioners hood who swiftly grabbed and lever and gave it a pull. The trapdoors under the feet of the three convicts quickly fell away causing the three to fall, the ropes around their necks tightened followed by the sound of their necks snapping. The three convicts twitched and convulsed for a few seconds before going limp, the crowd watching the spectacle went wild with many shouting in joy and excitement as the three slowly choked out their last breaths even Dante himself let out a laugh as he watched them die.
That never gets old, he thought to himself feeling nostalgic.
While the rest of the crowd might be having fun Loona found the sight in front of her off-putting, especially the way the corpses twitched and convulsed, Octavia had her head buried in Dante's shoulder shuddering in disgust at what she had just witnessed. Noticing the ladies' discomfort Dante decided to leave and take them somewhere to cheer them up, and he thought of the perfect place.
A building at the edge of the neighborhood.
The three demons stopped in front of a large brick building it looked like an old apartment building but on the left side of it, there was an open lot surrounded by a high chain-link fence with barbwire at the top. Inside the lot was a group of young kids playing and a woman in black and white robes was watching them.
"What is this, a school?" Loona asked wondering why Dante would drag her to a school.
"No, well kinda, but it's actually an orphanage, I set it up with the money from our mysterious benefactor," Dante explained a proud smile on his face. Octavia looked at the building in surprise not expecting this from Dante, but upon remembering what he told her about being an orphan who grew up homeless this honestly wasn't a surprise, she smiled to herself.
He's such a kind guy, always looking out for others, Octavia thought to herself warmly moved by Dante's kindness.
While Octavia might have been impressed with what Dante had done Loona on the other hand felt differently. Upon mentioning the word orphanage Loona went rigid, he tail went stiff, and tried to go between her legs, she let out quiet whining noises, as memories of her childhood came to the surface. She remembered growing up in the cold dark cells of the adoption center, she remembered the tight spaces, the lack of beds or clean clothes, she remembered the crappy food they served, but most of all she remembered how alone she was. Loona remembered how the "caretakers" at the center often ignored the Hellhounds there left to their own devices, this often led to plenty of abuse and beatings, the older Hounds often treating her like a chew tow. Loona was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt someone grab her hand, blinking she saw Dante looking at her with concern.
"You ok Lupichitto?" Dante asked giving her hand a comforting squeeze, Loona shook her head and smiled at her boyfriend.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good just spaced out for a minute," she said still feeling a bit uncomfortable but feeling better with Dante nearby.
"Well, then how would you two like a grand tour?" he asked but didn't give either time to answer before he dragged them inside.
At the front desk sat a young woman wearing the same black and white robes the lady outside wore, looking up from her paperwork she saw Dante and immediately stood up.
"Hello sir is there anything I can do for you?" she asked sounding somewhat nervous.
"Is Sister Maria here?" he asked gesturing the woman to sit down, just as she did a middle-aged Imp woman stepped through a doorway.
"I'm right here Senior, what do you need?" she asked in a Wrath Ring accent signifying she was from Los Satanio or the surrounding area.
"I just wanted to give my friends here a quick tour," he said gesturing to the two young women standing behind him.
"Ahh very well, follow me," she said gesturing for the three to follow her.
Five minutes later
The three followed behind the old Imp woman as she led them through the halls of the orphanage explaining the different functions and the workings of the facility.
"This area here is where we hold classes, most of the children here go to the local public school but we found that many receive teasing for being orphans so we have started giving the more fragile children homeschooling, to help their mental health," she explained gesturing to a small room where several Imp children sat at a table. At the same time, another woman overlooked them as they worked.
"Good good, make sure they get all the help they need, knowledge is power and through it, they will excel," Dante said to Maria who nodded in agreement. As they passed by a room a Succubus noticed Dante passing by and immediately got up and called his name.
"Oh Dante I'm glad you're here I think a certain someone would like to see you," she said retreating back into the room, stepping out she held a Hellhound pup.
The pup had golden fur and a thick head of white hair, she was currently clad in a red onesie. Upon recognizing Dante she smiled and reached out her small hands toward the Imp standing before her.
"Hey there Aurelia how are you doing?" he asked taking the pup into his hand and holding her close to his chest, the pup immediately snuggled up against his chest.
"Aww whose this," Octavia asked leaning forward to get a better look at the child.
"This is Aurelia I found her in an alley one night and thought she could use a place to stay," he explained poking Aurelia in the belly and causing her to let out a giggle. Octavia's heart melted at the sight, Loona's eyes widened he tail began wagging furiously.
"Why didn't you just bring her home?" Loona asked, moving closer to Dante.
"Well I thought about it but honestly I don't think I'd be a good father," he explained, Loona's eye twitched.
"Bullshit you'd be an amazing father, so why don't we just take her home right now?" she asked sounding somewhat frantic, looking down at the baby in his arms snuggled against his chest, the others backed away uncomfortable.
"No, I wouldn't not only do I not have the money to raise a kid, I have too many issues to raise a child properly," he said sternly giving Aurelia back to the Succubus. Aurelia reached out her hands clearly not happy to be away from Dante, Loona looked disappointed too.
Suddenly Octavia's phone dinged, pulling it out of her coat she looked down at it and her expression became a look of disappointment.
"Aww shit it's my dad he says I need to head back, dammit," she muttered under her breath her dad was once again killing her fun.
"Alright I'll walk you back to my apartment come one," and with that the three left, Loona was disappointed she was hoping she could convince Dante to adopt Aurelia so they could raise her together like in her dreams but sadly he wouldn't listen.
Later that evening
Dante sat on his couch sipping from a glass of high-class red wine, Dante sighed in pleasure this stuff was far better than the shit he bought at the local liquor store. Loona and Octavia had left a few minutes ago, Via's dad wanted her home and Loona had to go help Blitz who got stuck in a vacuum again, so he was all alone. Putting the glass down Dante noticed the fake ring on his finger and smiled. Because of this thing, he was not only able to make his own life easier, but he was able to help the people in his neighborhood as well soon other neighborhoods in the city will see this and will follow. It was at that moment Dante noticed a dull red glow coming from his hidden safe, getting up he moved the painting and opened the safe, pulling the box housing the real ring, opening it he saw the ring was glowing a deep red.
"I wonder what this is about?" Dante asked himself, maybe this was Lucifer asking for his answer.
"I should probably give this back already, I'm sure he's pissed off enough by my abuse of the ring without actually accepting it," he said to himself, suddenly his phone rang. Closing the box Dante tossed it onto the couch, pulling out his phone he saw it was Tom his co-manager of La Rosa.
"What's up Tom?" he asked holding the phone to his ear, Dante listened to Tom talk about how one of the girl's former pimps came around today asking for her back.
"Dammit alright just give me the address and I'll go have a chat with him," Dante said pinching the bridge of his nose, Dante walked out of his living room and headed for his room. It was at that moment his front door opened and in walked the young Owl Princess.
"Hey Dante, sorry to barge in but I forgot my purse," she called out, unfortunately, Dante was not listening. Looking around Octavia found it sitting by his couch, picking it up she was about to leave when a dull red glow caught her eye.
Noticing a small black box sitting on Dante's couch, picking it up she opened it up and saw a black ring with a red jewel. It was beautiful, the light was hypnotic, and she had no idea where Dante could get such a beautiful ring but whoever made it must be an amazing craftsman. Unable to help herself Octavia pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger, it was at that moment an intense pain shot through her it felt like a hoard of burning serpents were crawling under her skin heading straight for her brain. She screamed, screamed louder than she had ever screamed before, it was at that moment Dante came rushing out of his room and saw Octavia, more specifically Dante saw Octavia wearing the ring.
"Merda," he muttered to himself, his face going pale.
EPILOGUE
Lucifer sat at his desk going through some paperwork when suddenly his phone dinged, pulling it out of his coat pocket, he saw a notification that said a new knight had just been selected. Lucifer smiled Dante had finally accepted his offer, he knew it was only a matter of time, he opened the notification but to his surprise, it wasn't Dante who was selected but the teenage daughter of Prince Stolas.
"The fuck?" he asked confused.
END
Part 2 of 3 is done what's gonna happen to Octavia and how will Dante get out of this one stay tuned. Thank you all for reading and don't be afraid to tell me what you think.