Chapter 21:

The itsy-bitsy spider…

Lute had just left Emily's "office" after another therapy session.

Ever since regaining her freedom, she had been making strides in her progress and it showed, the shine was returning to her eyes and now that she wasn't put on some grueling diet anymore by Vallentino, she was actually regaining some lost weight as she had begun to pick up training again.

Heading to the courtyard with a duffle bag, she plopped it down as she approached Vaggie and Velvette, the ladder of which spoke up "Morning luv, ready to get started?" as Vaggie had already begun with some stretches.

Smiling, the former lieutenant responded "Ready as ever, tho please go easy on me, I've not worked out in 3 years because of that tall asshole"

Vaggie finished up her warm-up as she approached Lute and gave her a shoulder pat "All good, we'll start at the beginning and slowly work our way up. You'll have your old strength back before you know it"

Ever since Velvette's sword fighting lesson, her and Vaggie had begun to work out together twice a week and, not shortly after Lute's release from Vallentino's contract, they had invited her to join them.

It honestly felt great to be back to her old routines as she followed along with the other 2 women in their work-out, even going as far as testing out her reflexes with some sparring, getting to borrow Velvette's sword training dummy.

Vaggie with her wooden staff and Lute with the training dummy, the 2 women would go toe to toe a few times as eventually, Vaggie would give the clear signal and the 2 of them dropped their weapon of choice "Not bad, even after 3 years, your reflexes are still sharp" to which Lute smiled as she responded "Hey what can I say, can't just unlearn literal centuries of training"

As they were clearing up their stuff, Velvette spoke up "Say, maybe wana tag along for today? Working on a new line of accessories and could use an extra pair of eyes as a second opinion" after which, Vaggie added "Or do you and Angel have plans already?"

"Eh I wish" Lute responded "Angel's currently at his job with Asmodeus in the lust ring. Plus, I have some deliveries for Carmine I promised to help with today as part of my community service, so my day is booked, I'm afraid"

The 2 other women gave a nod in understanding and shortly after, Lute parted ways with them as she hopped in the shower, rinsing of the workout sweat as she got ready for her long day.

The walk to the industrial district was rather uneventful, all tho Lute did have to dodge a streetfight, not wanting to arrive at the Carmine warehouse covered in blood, tho she did decide to make a small stop when she spotted a little cafeteria on the way as by now, she was strolling her way towards the warehouse with a brown, paper bag in her hand.

Stopping in front of the security cameras "Ready for today, miss Carmine" to which the doors would open.

As the stepped inside and eventually encountered the angelic arms dealer and her daughters, she opened the bag as she eagerly showed it "I brought bagels"

A bit of regular morning Smalltalk later and Lute was on her way with Odette and Clara, checking off addresses as they delivered orders to clients, until eventually, they had reached the bottom of their list.

"Aaaaand that's the last one" the curly haired Carmine spoke as she put a checkmark at the bottom of their list.

Lute smiled as the 3 of them started making their way back, tho something caught her eye. Leaning against a wall, grumbling to himself, was Adam, seemingly in deep thought, while smoking a cigarette.

Remembering the talk they had outside of that dive-bar a few days ago, Lute decided to wave him down. Upon seeing this, he didn't exactly scamper to his feet to meet her, but he did give her a simple nod of acknowledgement as she approached him, telling the Carmine sisters she'd see them again next time as they waved her goodbye.

"Sup" Adam simply mumbled once the former lieutenant approached him, as she chuckled "You know those aren't exactly good for you, right?" she spoke as she pointed at the lit cigarette between his fingers.

"Yea and?" Adam sarcastically answered "So what? A: we're already in hell, and B: it's not like it can kill me again, unless there's angelic steel in these bitches"

Flopping her back against the wall next to him, she exhaled sharply through her nose as she smirked "Got a point there" as, to Lute's total surprise, he help out his hand "Want a drag?"

Pondering for a moment, she eventually shrugged as she accepted the cigarette "Eh whatever, why the fuck not" as she took a long drag, leaned her head back and blew some impressive smoke rings, catching the first man by surprise "Where the fuck did you learn how to do that?"

"Used to smoke actually…..after my first half year with….." she shuddered for a moment "….after my first half year with…"him"…."

Adam would recal seeing Lute's face plastered on a billboard before, causing him to connect the dots "So….i suppose that "career path" wasn't exactly voluntary?" he spoke as he took another drag himself before passing it back to Lute, who accepted.

"Nope" she stated very casually "It was my punishment, like Icarus, I flew too close to the sun" before she herself took another long drag "Ever heard of the saying "fuck around and find out"?"

Adam raised a curious brow, which told Lute everything she needed to know "Let's just say, if you decide to avenge your fallen general's death even tho peace has been achieved, by forcing demons at sword point to create you a mechanical army that you plan to take across all the 7 rings, you are BOUND to eventually face the consequences when you mess up"

Adam's eyes went wide "Holy fucking shitballs, you DID that?!" Lute simply nodded "Even forced them to make me a new set of cybernetic wings, which of course eventually got torn off" as she got up from the wall and gestured to the large, ghastly looking scars on her shoulders, some of the singe marks looking like soldering on a chip.

"Pro tip" she spoke "Don't piss off Charlie…..you've only really seen but a small fraction of what she can do"

She would then smirk " But…..if you really wana learn how to blow smoke rings…I can teach ya" She smugly smiled. "REALLY?!" Adam gave her an excited smile.

"Yes" Lute chuckled, tho gaining a tad more of a mischievous smirk as she booped him on the nose "IF you come to the hotel….AND apologize"

"Aw come on!" Adam barked out as he childishly kicked some dirt.

Lute simply crossed her arms and looked at him with a disappointed, stern expression.

With a annoyed sigh, the first man swallowed his pride "Uhg….fine….i'll apologize to them….." to which Lute swung an arm around his shoulder "See? That wasn't so hard"

Tho when she did this, suddenly, Adam became engulfed by pitch black, runny, tar like spider webs, engulfing both him and Lute as he yelped "OH SHIT, THE BOSS!"

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Lute shouts as the 2 of them are teleported and before they know it, they find themselves inside a large, dilapidated, Victorian style manor.

The floorboards looked creaky, the wallpaper was slowly peeling off the walls and the whole place send chills down Lute's spine.

"Where….where are we?" the horned angel asked.

"Well" Adam responded "I uhm…as you already know….don't exactly own my own soul anymore….and I suppose she decided to summon me to her….and you got caught up in that…"

Lute's eyes went wide as she realized she had found herself in the residence of the "baroness of blood", "the overlord of senseless murder" …..as suddenly, above them, a voice was heard "Man-thing…I see you brought….."fresh meat" with you?"

As the 2 of them looked up, there, hanging from the ceiling from liquid-ey looking black spider silk, was Ink, slowly descending towards them with the grace of a black widow, combined with a poledancer as she hung down and held a single clawed finger under Lute's chin "Tell me….little treat…..what do you call yourself?"

Giving a polite nod, she spoke "Lute, ma'am, I didn't mean to intrude, I shall be out of your hair right away"

To this, Ink would gracefully slide down as she landed before her, cocking a hip to one side "Oh nonsense darling…..you are a guest after all, what host would I be?" as she pushed Lute backwards, causing her to yelp as she fell backwards into a fancy looking arm chair.

"Now you stay right there and make yourself comfortable while I get ourselves a drink" as the spider demoness sauntered off.

Adam would make a cut throat gesture towards her, indicating to Lute as to NOT drink whatever the tall spider overlord was about to offer her, as not shortly after, Ink returned with 2 fancy looking wine glasses, filled to the brim with a deep dark red liquid, handing one over to Lute.

One single whiff was enough for the fallen angel to identify the contents of the glass as she recognized the unmistakable, strong, iron-ey smell of blood.

Giving a big, uncomfortable smile, Lute tried her best to be polite and not offend the tall demoness as, the SECOND Ink looked away, Lute would throw the contents of her glass over her shoulder, behind a dresser, miming out licking her lips after, trying to trick the overlord into thinking she downed the glass.

Giving her a wide, sharp fanged grin, Ink took the glass back "Would you like another one?" before she leaned closer and whispered in her ear "Or are you going to throw that one behind the dresser too?"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Lute exchanged a desperate glance with Adam, who looked at her with a pained grimace.

"But very well" Ink spoke as she whipped her long, black hair for dramatic effect "I understand it's more of an…."acquired taste" darling" before she manifested Adam's chain and pulled him closer "I was about to run some errands with my darling little pet over here, care to join us perhaps?" the tall overlord looked at Lute as it became more then apparent that she was doing this for the sole purpose of making the fallen angel as uncomfortable as possible.

"Uhm…n-no thanks…I need to-" Lute was able to get out, before she was cut off by Ink, putting a hand on her back with a large, sadistic smirk and pushing her along "Oh no but I insist" as before Lute knew it, she was being herded along with the tall spider demoness as she thought to herself… "This is going to be a looooong evening….."

Author's note: And so, Ink returns.

When i first started this sequel, i was afraid of adding too many OC's cuz i didn't want to be judged but eventually i just decided to go for it anyway because of the type of stories i wanted to tell, and i'm glad i did.

I've honestly been having a blast writing my OC's interacting with the main cast and think how they would react to them.

Also, Lute trying to be a good influence on Adam...with the definition to "trying"