Ouroboros

by Uros Osium

What would fit a tale of a new beginning? Why, a recent end. For a whole bloodline on Earth, it was the end of it all. For the remains of a botched murderous spell, it is the beginning of a life among the damned. From blood anointed by the holy servants of God, to one tainted by the Fell spell destined to consume their living essence. (M Rating just in case)

10. Laws of corruption - Chapter IX

Year I - Act I - Laws of corruption - Chapter IX.

Okay, this is the chapter with crap that may make people foam at the mouth. I had this one planned exactly as I wanted (Well, the main points anyway. I didn't think it would spiral as it did) since I had this story in my mind. There will be controversial, uncomfortable and generally fucked up topics here. Why? Because Lucifer will speak about them to make a point, and while he himself may not like some of the things he'll bring up, he will have both a good reason and will give nearly zero fucks about what everyone else thinks if it serves his purpose. You all have been warned. And remember, for FEK's sake, this is a story. I know not everyone will give a shit about this being make believe, but after this heads up I will give no shits if you want to complain about how triggering or whatever this may be. Fokin' spergs out there, seriously.

This is also the point where my headcannon and the cannon of Vivzieverse (as in, what is official) will go their separate ways the most and only merge here and there (I'll still try to keep things close to it where I can tho). It is also a chonker of a chapter. By now you probably should've grown used to it, but this thing has ALMOST 40K words. I really thought it'd be smaller, but hey, I cannot plan for everything (Mostly because excessive planning constrains the work itself).

Oh, and last reminder: Next chapter is the epilogue for this Act, and after that? A proper A/N. If anyone has comments, questions and the like and you want them addressed, do it before the A/N (I don't make any promises if the comment is a day or so beforehand), or wait until the next Act is done.

Now let's get into it.

---

Carlos hadn't been the only one puking his guts out. In fact similar reactions had been shared by Jamba and Ernesto, with a few others being unable to look away from the bodies.

In the moment it all felt so natural, perhaps even good. The 'frenzy' hadn't been as severe as they had thought, as none of them had tried to attack Evelinde or anything like that. But while that had been a massive positive, the guilt and disgust some of them were feeling was anything but good.

Yes, those monsters were going to do something fucking horrible, unforgivable and disgusting. But finally doing what many thought correct, that of putting down people like those Sinners, was indeed far easier said than done. Ernesto was in fact the one that got hit the hardest. Carlos hadn't seen him talk even once, and he was sure his cousin was going to need help after that. Perhaps he'd get over it quickly, but all of them would need to talk this out at some point.

Carlos truly wanted to help his cousins, and get some help himself, but he had more important things he had to do. Besides, right now they needed more mental counseling than anything, and he had doubts about finding that around here…

"Are you alright? Sorry for taking so long."

There had been many cuts, a few weapons lodged here and there. Most of it was surprisingly superficially, thanks whoever was looking after them, or, more likely, thank whatever Nathaniel had done to them. Whatever the angel had done, it had also healed them, if only just enough for things to be put in place and scars to form already. Despite not having too much real damage beyond future scarring (and mental scarring that they had to ignore for now), the humans had spent a few minutes caring for each other and cleaning whatever blood (theirs or otherwise) they could.

The only one to remain perfectly (physically) unscathed had been Akiko, and she spent far too much time fiddling with her uncle's computer, trying to clear her mind with one excuse or another. It was simply too obvious all of them had been affected, but no one was willing to truly stop and face the events right now.

After that was said and done Evelinde had returned with a few of Rosie's underlings to escort the Sinners somewhere. Considering the humans had plead for them to be let go, as they had ended up saving Ander and hadn't been part of the fight, or the attempted rape, Evelinde had simply agreed. The demoness was sure Rosie could find some kind of use for the two Sinner bats at some point, but she had still to return again.

That done, only one thing remained. Helping the demons out.

First came the imp. She was fully conscious and beaten up far worse than the shark at her side, and that was saying something considering the state the two were in. Carlos had asked the others to remain aside for a bit, not just for safety, but because no one trusted that 'light' to not appear again. Better have eyes in all directions, and some of theirs were just looking down right now.

"Don't you worry none. Ah saw ye all got scuffed." The impette grumbled, her accent showing. By now most of her wounds had been partially patched up by now. Yes, most of them were still showing, and the pain had yet to go away, but she was mostly fine. "Thanks for the help there. Was quite the massacre."

Perhaps that was meant to be a compliment but, as you may have guessed, Carlos didn't exactly feel that happy about it.

"Yeah… well… Lady Rosie didn't want them here, that, and she wanted you two over to explain why a Greed demon had trespassed." Carlos cleared her throat, trying not to think of the scene behind him. The piles of blood, guts and corpses behind them all were beyond fresh in his mind. "Are… uh… you the demon from Greed?"

The impette gave him a deadpan look. Yes, she had grown used to the idea of humans here in Hell, if only to the extent that they had saved her ass. But was this guy fresh from the mortal world or what? "Do I look like one of those Greed imp fucks?"

Carlos just shrugged. "Dunno. You are the first imp I have ever seen. My family and I just landed in Hell today."

That shut the imp's next retort fairly quickly. So they WERE new. Well, that made things harder for her. It made the words just dying in her mouth, partly because she saw the holy bladed switchblade cutting her bindings with the most care possible so as to not hurt her.

It didn't feel like an Overlord lackey giving her some bullshit so she'd talk. But the young man was in Hell, so Zana wasn't going to chalk this down to niceness just yet.

"Am from Wrath. Name is Zana, Zana Emberborn." Zana spoke after the pregnant pause that ensued. "I was just giving this prick here a ride to the Cannibal Colony. We… know each other. You could say I 'owed' her a favor or something."

"I don't see no ride, though you two did make it." Carlos chuckled the moment Zana poked her tongue at him. Well, that car was worth at least a last laugh if nothing else. "Name is Carlos, Carlos Guerrero Manzanares. Happy to help you out."

"Charmed, I am sure." Zana rolled her eyes. Of course she'd meet a weirdo that at least did ACT nice and proper. "Sure you aren't trying to be nice to screw me over later? Because if you want something from me, you better tell me now. I am not going to fight it or anything. I am spent at this point."

"I am just trying to help here. And I am serious; Rosie just wants to know what is going on here." Carlos got up, trying to get Zana to do the same. The imp was clearly tired and bruised. Fast recovery or not, and those from Wrath were especially quick there, she had been hurt too many times to be fully stable. "Let me give you a hand if you need it."

"Ah can walk, thank ya kindly." Zana grumbled, her drawl slipping once more before she cleared her throat. "Much appreciated, but if you want to know, then wake the sleeping beauty there. Leonor IS the little mafioso, or she was anyway. I could tell you, but this was her mess, so she better clear it up too."

Carlos turned to the other demoness, Leonor, and approached the downed figure. She wasn't too far away from the wobbling imp, who didn't seem keen on straying too far from the human, just in case. That, and she wanted him handy if he did something to her 'friend'.

Unsurprisingly enough for the humans, and perhaps for the imp, all Carlos did was gently shake the shark woman. He even lifted her head slightly to give her wounds a closer look, only for Leonor to open her eyes, startled and clearly surprised to the point of being stuck in place. The only reason she didn't do something rash was Zana's presence.

"Uh… hello? I was trying to wake you up, sorry." Carlos clearly knew not to do a damn thing. Startling the shark woman would've been an invitation to get more wounds, or bite marks. The latter he preferred to go without. "Do you… uh… do you want me to let go?"

Her dry voice just answered with. "Yes."

That was an awkward first meeting and the longest minute ever. And it wasn't exactly made easier when his family, in the best mental state they could muster (and that wasn't saying much in some cases), approached the recovering demons.

"Wow girl. Didn't you think you had enough with a massive dick that you had to go for the whole package plus wasp hips?" Of course Gonzalo had to be the most brutal of the bunch. His own way to break the ice. "Are demons this sexual by default or is this cartoony look somehow turning everything into a porno?"

"Fuck you." Zana was more than happy to return fire, middle finger raised. And to make it land she had a secret weapon many newcomers to Hell weren't used to. "Would like to see how you grow up like a normal boy with a 'lil extra' between the legs, then BAM! Puberty! All the training you did to be just like your pa goes to the shitter as soon as you grow tits, ass and your dick gets huge while your metabolism gets fucked up something fierce to get this figure. Sure I could still rip you in two, but hey, why would that matter? Heck, I bet you'd love to be invited to the ring of Lust to be one of the many sluts there instead of having the local mechanic give you an apprenticeship, you piece of crap."

Gonzalo broke his record that day. He just lifted his hands in surrender, he even offered his best mock apology. That was the best Zana was going to get, but Carlos wasn't about to say nothing about it. It was clear the imp's own looks were a sore point he wasn't going to press on.

Possible shenanigans were easily sidestepped when Manuel came back from getting something. Carlos' grandfather had found Zana's revolver.

"Do any of you girls own this?" The elder checked to see there were no bullets, finding no problem in handing it to Leonor when she extended her hand. "Here you go missy. Take care of it."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Leonor grumbled as she put the gun back into her suit's hidden holster. "Now, not that I am ungrateful here. I am alive after all, but who do I owe for saving my ass? I'd prefer to know before I get in even worse debt here."

Zana pointed at Carlos with a thumb. "This guy, technically. Carlos Manzasomething or other. Says Rosie was told of us and sent him and the other humans."

Carlos was quick to interject. "Woah, hey, I told you I was simply helping. Neither of you owe anything to anyone here. Well, maybe Lady Rosie." The young man sighed. "Look, we just arrived in Hell today, alright? A lot of shit happened, we had to kill people to help you and it is messing with a lot of us. Maybe it is not a big deal to you but, shit." Carlos looked like he was about to puke again. Luckily he held it in, barely. "I am not going to bother you with the details. Long story short; Rosie took us in, I made a deal with her. She was told of a large group of Sinners trespassing as they followed you two, so she asked us to bring you to her to know WHY. So please, can you tell us?"

While the humans generally nodded in agreement neither Zana nor Leonor were so sure. For all they knew they had fucked up. There was a small feast for the cannibals around here if those corpses were anything to go by, but things had really not gone as planned.

Fuck. Had ANYTHING gone to plan beyond Leonor meeting with Zana? No, not really…

So, better get formalities out of the way. At least that way they'd know what to put on her grave if she croaked. That she was a dumb bitch.

"Fine, let's begin properly I suppose: Name is Leonor Darkwater." Leonor offered her hand and, surprisingly, got a rather quick and to the point sake from the young man that helped her, almost if he wasn't that into touching her. Whatever. She had something else to say. "I suppose I'll end up telling this twice, but you know, just in case. This." She pointed at her recently blind eye. "Is my ex boss' only way to tell any of his underlings they were 'fired'. The idea was to blow my brains out, the usual way of anyone leaving the family if we can breathe underwater. The message almost got me when I asked someone I thought was a 'friend' for a light. All I got was half blind and a lesson not to smoke anymore, I guess."

Gonzalo looked at his own cigarette. Perhaps most of his family here weren't into it, but clearly the man knew how to calm his nerves. He also had the sass to go along with it. "Your loss, girl."

"Whatever." And Leonor clearly didn't find the ribbing funny. "I got Zana here to give me a ride." The impette gave the family a quick wave, probably more out of necessity or reflex than anything else. "Considering Pentagram City is the largest area to get lost, add to that it has one of the largest concentrations of Sinners to deter my ex-boss to the mix and well, I thought heading there was a safe enough bet. And what to do to get protection from my old colleagues after my survival? Working for an Overlord sounded good enough. Rosie has a bit of fame employing whoever she can make use of, usually without just killing them. So the idea was to come pay her a visit… until it was clear my previous employer had already heard I was alive and decided to offer Sinners that owed him money an easy out."

"That was very much in line for Greed excusing a bloodbath."

While Leonor and Zana hadn't noticed it, Evelinde had returned with a few of Rosie's fellow demons. Implements to secure and carry the 'meat' had been procured and the cannibals could only grin at the carnage.

A land of smiles, the Colony was, and not even other demons were invulnerable to its dark charm. To say Leonor was unnerved at seeing the Sinners processed like meat long before even being served would be an understatement. At least Zana, being raised in Wrath, was used to what would happen later, if only when it came to cattle.

"Usually this would have ended differently, at least for you. Leonor, was it?" Evelinde walked towards the group with her kind's characteristic smile faltering. "Oh yes, I recognize you, and I recognize your sister too. Our people did keep photos from that mess in Greed and we are aware of that particular gal pressing those that have debts alongside a few others from your ring."

Leonor did her best to retain her composure. Had Eveline wanted to, and there was little doubt in Leonor that she did want to, she would've turned the shark into sushi at this point.

"However, you are right. Lady Rosie does employ whoever is useful. No Overlord turns down talent… although some of those that 'volunteer' to work for them would prefer they do." Her implications were clear. When it came to specific Overlords many people would prefer an Exterminator's blade. Ignoring the clear discomfort on both women, Evelinde gave the two demons an once over. "That, and I am sure Carlos would be displeased if either of you died after that mess they went through to save you. Considering I shall be working with him soon enough I'd prefer we have a civil partnership."

Carlos gave a quick nod of thanks. "Thanks, Eve." The shortening of her name, as expected, didn't quite sit well with the woman. "Okay, sorry, Evelnide."

"That is better." The demoness, until now barefaced, finally put her mask back on. "Now, I think we have made the lady wait far too long. Had our people handled this it would've been solved much faster, but for a first attempt it was not too bad on your part."

Gonzalo couldn't help but snark. "Next time we'll kill everyone the moment we see 'em, ma'am."

Either she missed the sarcasm or she didn't care. Evelinde was very straightforward when she said. "That'd be marvelous." Besides, she had something else on her mind. "But right now we should hurry. The people I came with told me someone very important had arrived."

Most were surprised at the news, but the two hellborne were far more curious. Zana, perhaps more forward, ventured. "Who is it?"

And maybe she shouldn't, because Evelinde, even with that mask covering her face, could be seen with a grin so wide and dangerous it could swallow you whole.

"The absolute ruler of Hell. Lord Lucifer Morningstar."

---

Lucifer enjoyed many things in life. He enjoyed his position, not for the power itself, although he'd be a liar if he said that wasn't a boon as much as it was a pain in the ass. He enjoyed food, sweets above all, more so considering someone like him could eat whatever he wanted and never lose his figure. He loved his family, much as he had to be harsh towards Charlie's more childish ideals, for they had no place in Hell THANKS to what she wished many Sinners to attain. He loved to have fun, to be entertained, to see just how many things mortals could bring to the world as time passed and their imagination became broader.

But, more than anything else, he loved the feeling that binge superior granted him. Why? Because he was. He hadn't made this little circus as it was if he hadn't been the one on top. That, and because virtually no creature in existence would be what they were without him.

Perhaps a big part of this was the eternal joke of a title his own Father gave him. 'King of Lies'.

Hah. Hypocrisy ran in the family.

It was somewhat true. Lucifer lied a lot, but mostly for the fun of it. He didn't need to. Lying is for those too weak to say the truth and face the consequences, or those that want to have a good time at someone's expense.

Or perhaps it was that other one? That of the Betrayer? The instigator of heresy and doubt? There were many things Lucifer was called, and not all of them were fitting.

But there were truths hidden within the smokescreen.

And Lucifer was going to dispense some of those today. After all, if his chosen target responded to someone being forward and sincere, that is what Lucifer would grant him.

"Hmmm… he is taking too long, my dear Rosie. I thought dispatching some thirty odd ruffians would've been a breeze."

Luckily no one asked him if he wanted the red prick there. Lucifer would've been most happy to show them the answer.

Because yes, Alastor had decided to invite himself.

Now, there was no enmity between the two, but there were also reasons for the Lord of Hell to want him away. On the other hand, and a very handy hand at that, him being here would help Lucifer's plan to make this more interesting. His only problem was just how interested Alastor would be in meddling, although most of the man's actions could be rather useful if the Overlord didn't overstep it.

At least Alastor decided to be tactful about it. His dapper self came in not too long after Lucifer parked his limousine in front of the magical Tower. It had taken very little coercion to bring every single mortal out of the construction and down to ground level. A group of large, minotaur-like, demons 'politely' informing you of Hell's King and Master requesting an audience was more than enough for anyone to do as requested. It didn't hurt that any of them willing to fight, except for the weaponsmith, had already departed to do their new mistress' bidding.

Lucifer would grant them this much: They had the balls to do what had to be done. More than he could say for most humans. Even those that abstained weren't exactly cowering, although they were wary of him.

Good.

Depending on how this went, they wouldn't be able to fear, or feel, anything anymore. They were right to not trust him.

"Oh Alastor, please." Rosie chuckled at the mean jab her friend offered. "Only one of them has ever taken a life that didn't come from an animal. It is not like you were any good back when you started hunting."

"Touche, my dear, touche." Alastor conceded with a nod. "Still, they are tardy. My shadows have told me they dispatched those loathsome people some time ago."

The Radio demon couldn't help himself. Manners and friendliness took you only so far. Boredom, it seemed, was always gnawing at him, much like the eternal hunger that ate his insides. It was not literal of course, not like the Wendigo that his soul seemed to emulate, but not ultimately false either.

Alastor was generally a nice fellow, a very friendly man, a dangerous one. At first glance you'd think him little more than a product of the time; a man stuck in the forties, and very proud of it.

He was a man of simple tastes in a way. Red was his motif, and for a very good reason. Dark red sclera for bright red irises on those black pupils that you better wish didn't change in your presence. Red hair, cropped, angled bob-cut undercut at the back and with black tips and tuffs on top of his head that made it look like a deer's ears, something paired with the black antlers protruding from the crown. The only things not red, or black, were his yellowed hued sharp teeth in that ever smiling face of his, that and his beige skin. This alone, paired with his height (roughly 7 feet, or around 2 meter 10 with some change), made it easy for the man to look down on everyone, something he generally did with gusto.

But the motif of red continued, and now it brought his own little corner of history to bear. It all began with his suit.

He was a slim man, all things considered, something that his red pinstriped coat brought to bear. Dark red lapels piped with white, surprisingly ragged along the button hem for someone that clearly prided his appearance. Underneath he wore a bright red dress shirt with a black cross on his chest, whether for fashion or as a clear hint at his nature. This all culminated with black dress pants and matching bright red cuffs. As for accessories? A black knotted bow tie with a bright red center, black gloves with red at the fingertips and black pointed toe boots with red deer hoofprints emblazoned at the soles.

Strangely, Alastor didn't bring his cane today. Lucifer thought that the sentient, vintage style microphone would've made for a lark for the Sinner. While shell shocked and hard to surprise right now, the humans would've reacted at that kind of reveal.

Although Lucifer wanted the man to have his tool at the ready for a different reason. A simple command and Alastor would have it whenever Lucifer commanded.

"Now, now. I thank you all for the civility shown, but I dearly hope there is no need to 'chastise' any of them for this 'afront'." Nathaniel brought up. Knowing the Radio Demon, despite Lucifer being here, he knew that that 'something' could happen.

An angle bringing this point up was laughable however. The problem came to be thanks to HIM.

And Lucifer knew the angel was aware.

"Punishment is partly what will come to pass, young man. In a sense anyway." Lucifer hummed as he tapped the table the five of them, for Stolas was at Lucifer's side, were sitting at. "Whether well taken and accepted or rejected and expanded upon, that depends on one single soul now." And, just for effect, he added the obvious. Albeit only obvious for him and Nathaniel, that was true. "Had you not arrived this would not have happened. You know this."

This brought murmurs and far louder words. Good, that was Lucifer's desire.

The family was here after all, and a few patrons too. All of them would be useful in their own way, although demons and Sinners alike had been quietly told to shut it, and they weren't meant to hear everything that was to be said. The humans would be allowed their piece soon, but the important figures were almost assembled and they all had a role here.

Commendations due however; Rosie's handpicked avenue was rather cozy.

'Smiling Rapax', quite fitting and simple name for the restaurant. The place was Victorian, much like the rest of Rosie's territory whenever possible. Mahogany, or a similar wood from Hell itself, marked the well crafted walls with frames containing pictures of hunters and the hunted, of meetings between well to do denizens of this area, and the grizzly banquets they partook in. Not particularly Lucifer's first pick, the latter kind of art, but the avenue was sincere if nothing else.

Square tables with beautiful tablecloths for pairs and small groups of four were everywhere in the truly spacious interior of the locale. A few round tables, made for six to eight people, and a particularly large obround shaped table for a gathering of more impressive proportions had a particular space hidden away from the rest. All of these were made of rich black wood from trees of the living world corrupted with some particular curse to make the wood soft and pleasant to the touch while making it positively sturdy. A simple spell to make guests relax… and to hex those that could possibly make the next dish possible if they disturbed those gathered here, or tried to leave without paying.

The human family was made to sit close to the circular table, surrounding the gathering. Lucifer could've asked for the larger table, but this made for a better message.

How to make those present that they were insignificant unless told otherwise? Allow them to take a seat wherever they want. Including behind you.

And many were indeed behind Lucifer.

Shame, he'd need to make a little screen later. Why? Because he wasn't going to turn to address them. At least some of the humans had the decency to remain in plain view of the most important figure. The mother, sister and aunt of the young man they were waiting for, his grandmothers and remaining grandfather, the smith and his wife, even the doctor and his family. Everyone else had opted to stay out of sight of most of the group.

Each and every single one of them had a story, and their souls told it. It was easy for Lucifer to read them all like an open book, but that did not mean he knew everything. As the Lord of Hell, Lucifer knew the darkest secrets, their primordial connection to the very Sin that would land them in Hell. It mattered not how 'good' a person you were, even if you ended up in Heaven.

Everyone had secrets in their closet.

Funnily enough, Lucifer didn't exactly care for boundaries when it was time to check.

A bell ringing gently, signaling the entrance of the restaurant opening for those coming and going. The demon serving at the entrance gave a quick, if nervous 'Hello'. Partly due to the Holy weapons tooting humans and Lucifer's security detail still breathing down his neck.

Power wise everyone knew Rosie was not near the top when it came to Overlords. The Cannibal Colony as a whole? That was different. Yes, they weren't Sinners, they weren't immortal unless killed with Holy means, but being eaten was no pleasant experience and the cannibals had enough means to put their food down for good.

They still weren't idiots, or fearless. They just were far better than many in Pride at doing the dirty deeds they needed to keep things in check.

But let's forget those musings for now. After all, Lucifer saw first the young man's grandfather come in. A good man that knew what to do and when to do it. He was followed by most of his family and, apparently, only when everyone was in, and guided by Lucifer's security and the restaurant's staff towards the seats in front of the group, did the young man and his particular entourage enter.

Oh yes. Lucifer knew he was going to be surrounded by the women. It was by design. Only Stolas would understand why. After all, Carlos was alive when he should've died, the same came with those demons Lucifer was going to shackle him with.

Every action has a reaction, and one life being spared meant others would too, while it also meant some of those that were supposed to live would be snuffed out. Action and reaction, as it were.

Also spite, but that would be due Lucifer's anger towards Heaven.

Lucifer could see the young man's confusion and two of the demonesses' apprehension as Carlos was made to seat in front of Lucifer himself, a massive, red hand with black fur 'gently leading him' (as in forcing) to his assigned place. The three demons gals' confusion came at being guided to a smaller table right next to his, with every single woman made to look at the group with their position.

It was all so obvious, but Lucifer liked the spectacle and confusion when those not in the know were made to play their part. Granted this wasn't some of the more entertaining spectacles, and there was a massive pain in the ass sitting with them and generating this problem he had to deal with, but it was still something.

"Umm… Hello?"

And again, the confused young man defaulted to what had been seen as his usual confused attempt at starting a conversation.

Funny. If he survived long, then this would cease to be soon enough.

"Welcome young man." Lucifer began, tapping his cane a couple times on the ground to cease any and all chatter still going around him. "My name is Lucifer, Lucifer Magne. Although you probably know me far better as 'Morningstar'."

Petty? Yes. Fitting of The Devil's personality? Also yes.

And the reason behind his name 'change', although most still used the original, was just to piss off his Father.

"So… the devil?" Carlos ventured. Then he showed probably more balls than most, something Lucifer opted to take with a smile. This time. Unsurprisingly, or perhaps more so than usual, when he offered a hand Carlos shook it without much doubt as they continued with their pleasantries. "You changed your name from Samael Morningstar to Lucifer Magne?"

The devil chuckled, though everyone around him, all in their own way, took pause for a second. "Well, when you get excluded by your family you tend to wish to forget. Although, formally speaking, I am still 'Morningstar'. People won't let that go."

Carlos snorted, surprising Rosie and Stolas alike at the breach of protocol. Stolas had seen enough to figure the young man would at least try to keep appearances, while Rosie had seen just how well mannered he could be despite the situation.

Certain feelings would override that though. Rosie was quickly reminded of this.

"Yeah, and I found just how quickly the opposite could do the same." Carlos grumbled, not bothering to look back to face who Lucifer knew had earned his ire. "Though in your case I doubt it was just secrets that made you go against your father."

Lucifer chuckled. A candid conversation with someone other than his family wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence for him.

"Not particularly, no. Although you could say that my old man keeps secrets from everybody at all times, so that didn't help, no." Lucifer hummed as he finally went for the drink he had been given shortly before the young man's arrival. Tea was a truly miraculous thing. "But I am sure you can guess the veritable King of Hell isn't here on a social call to discuss family grievances."

"Oh, I bet." Carlos made a small pause, a server was asking if he wanted something to drink. The brass balls on the young demon as he tried not to sweat bullets. "Water, please." Not as entertaining as the speed he used to flee with 'dignity' however. "Question is… What is so important?"

"All in due time, young man. First, allow me." Lucifer gestured to Stolas with the hand on his cane, a gracious gesture that made the owl give a polite bow. It wasn't that Carlos himself was important enough, but that Stolas knew what was to happen and it required some tact. "Stolas, of the Ars Goetia. The man that made me aware of fates changing at the last minute." And with another quick gesture came the other figure of importance at this table. "Alastor, a Sinner best known as the Radio Demon. A friend of Lady Rosie you may get to know during your stay and her fellow Overlord."

There were some polite 'hello's' and hands offered. It came to many a surprise that the young man had no second thoughts when it came to shaking the Radio Demon's hand. Everyone watching, and not part of this, knew of his reputation, and they also had been made aware very fast of Rosie making a deal with the young man. They would've thought the human was far more cautious.

Apparently that wasn't the case.

"Well that is refreshing." Alastor chuckled as he took his hand away. "Few are ever so liberal with their hands around me." Then he allowed his tone to drop an octave. "Fewer ever feel like staying long enough for me to offer a simple hello."

"You are a friend of Rosie, aren't you?" Carlos offered a quick thanks to the server as he came back with the water before quickly departing. "I see nothing wrong with being polite. At least until you yourself act impolitely, or untoward."

Alastor hummed, that big smile of his growing ever so slightly. "We'll see about that, young man. But still, refreshing." Polite introductions done with, the deer like Overlord turned to face Lucifer. "Now my good man. What is this business then?"

"Something that would've come about in a few months' time no matter what, had our new guests survived that long." Lucifer commented, almost offhandedly, as he signaled to the humans around him. "Not for any other human, mind you. Perhaps you do not know this, my good Alastor, but proper humans linked to Hell, or born within, were the first 'Demonologists'. This term has since been taken over by cultists and followers of demons in general, but that is not overall important. What truly matters is that no member of The Order, of the Inquisition and its many branches, ever BECAME a Demonologist propper. There were far too many barriers and The Order itself did away with apostates far too quickly."

Rosie hummed at the thought. "Now that you mention it, Lord Lucifer. I do not remember such an occasion, no. And it has been a very long time since Hell has housed a human population of any prominence."

"Indeed. Barring the obvious legality of such an act as housing a human soul in Hell, the largest population of humans was culled by angels thousands of years ago." This time it was Stolas the one to interject. "Messy business that one. Year after year the Exorcists would come down to execute as many Demonologists as they could. A prelude to modern Exterminations as it were."

Nathaniel decided to give everyone present his own two cents. "This approach has changed as of late. I am sure some of you know of at least one human in recent history living within Hell. A great deal of those in Heaven seem to have given up on most souls, one way or another. Generally speaking they would not mind a few humans finding themselves in the land of the damned…"

"But making more is off the question." Lucifer spoke once more. "THAT is not the problem here. While I am aware that some of you are depraved." Someone among the humans almost yelled 'HEY!', but a hand made him shut up. "I highly doubt you'd keep it in the family… for now at least. Who knows what the future holds, eh? But again, that is not the problem. Heaven already has a problem with all of you being here. Only thing is that our temporary visitor has made things worse for you, and me."

Every human soul turned to face Nathaniel in one way or another. Even most demons looked at the angel with curiosity at the man's part in this apparent fiasco.

"The problem is twofold." Lucifer started as he took another sip of his drink. "First comes the most pressing matter, for me, and in a way, for all of you. The Order, in a sense, answers to the hierarchy of Heaven, which also means you would all fall within the homologue in Hell. In far simpler words; most of you would fall within the higher end of Hell's denizens. Far, far below most of those of great importance, but high enough that you could rank, if not by power, by influence, among those humans generally refer to as 'Presidents'."

Now that gave the large room a buzz. While a 'President' wasn't exactly a commonly used ranking anymore, it was close to that of an Overlord. It denoted power, influence and much more. The most disgraced of the Goetia species could be found there, barely worth anything in the eyes of others, but still with enough power to make even the most powerful Sinners think twice, unless they were truly too far gone for other Goethia to even care about.

The humans with Order blood had none of that. Their positioning would, if Lucifer was to be painfully sincere, only be attained by rarity and the POSSIBLE power they may hold. It was an old thing, an amendment to the many (and usually loose) laws of Hell made when there were still hopes to drag some of those humans to Lucifer's side.

Funny how things work.

"It is far from official." Lucifer spoke again, silencing the many demons gossiping around them and making the two Overlords center their attention on the conversation once more. "You all lack the influence, power and experience to do so. And those that have it would sooner kill themselves than accept." And the King of Hell needed not see Pilar and Pedro's faces to know their answer. "The problem lies with the one human with the correct blood having formed a pact with a demon. The one soul that will not get free of Hell no matter what he does." Lucifer pointed at Pedro with his cane. "You, my young man, have done right by your family by protecting them. You also have landed yourself, and them, in hot water by doing so. Not your fault, that much I can tell. You were trying to do your best and no one should tell you otherwise."

"Simply put." Lucifer went on before Carlos had any chance to speak. "You have bound yourself to Hell much like any other hellborn, young man. Not by blood, but by your willingly betraying God and going your own way." This brought a massive smile to Lucifer's lips. "I would commend you, but I am sure you'd prefer to know how this will hurt you and your family so you can put a stop to it. The answer is relatively simple on both ends: Those in power do not like it when things are shaken too much, and you did just that. It wasn't by choice, not knowingly at least, but you did. How to solve it? You already did part of the job yourself; you shackled yourself to someone of lesser status, if you pardon my wording here, dear Rosie." And Rosie did, not like it was a lie. Overlord or not she wasn't close to something like the Ars Goetia. "But that is not enough, young man. In a sense you must 'disgrace' yourself further to make any claim to power be moot and useless in their eyes."

Carlos stood there, looking at the literal lord of Hell with a confused face that said more than any word he could mouth ever would. He had made a deal to help his family and, in the process, it seems like he had fucked them over.

Suffice to say that the young man was receptive to virtually anything Lucifer would tell him. Granted it was something sincere. Lord of Hell or not, Carlos wouldn't put himself in a bind for a lie. But then again, how would he know?

On the one hand it was near impossible to imagine the LITERAL FUCKING DEVIL could come to mess with them just for a lark.

Probably.

On the other it was far more likely that, if this could shaft over Heaven in some way, Lucifer himself would've wanted to make a move at some point, just to add more fuel to the fire. Of course this brought up a very good question.

Why so soon?

"You said Nathaniel had a part in you being here 'sooner'." Carlos opted to bring the question to bear then. Whether it was the right one or not, he did not know, but it was worth something. "What made you visit us faster than you intended to?"

"Good question." Lucifer didn't seem bothered by the diversion. After all, this was part of the whole problem. "Originally I was going to spend some time watching this unfold. I may have many duties, yes, but this debacle promises to be entertaining. You may think otherwise, but Hell can be rather boring sometimes. Our good man Alastor can vouch for me on this one." And the Overlord did with an eager nod. Lucifer knew the man had somewhat similar tastes in entertainment after all. "Thing is we, Stolas and I, followed the events from before your arrival. It was not until the last second that I opted to do so, as Stolas told me where exactly the 'event' of your arrival would take place, but after that it was very much an interesting drama show."

"Happy to be of assistance in any way I can." Carlos grumbled under his breath. Not that anyone would fault him, though Alastor did chuckle.

"The big problem with this is that Nathaniel here broke the rules." Lucifer did find Carlos' reaction funny, but he had something to do right now. "Now, I would usually be rather fond of that. Rule breaking is one of my things as you may imagine, but there are always ways to go about it. Young Nathaniel here? He had good intentions, but, well, you know where we are and, much as some in your family, and those in Heaven, would like to say, I did indeed make this happen with good intentions in mind." And while Lucifer did hear scoffs and even a badly contained laugh from some of the humans and the Radio Demon respectively, he did not fault them one bit. Perception was key to see 'good' and 'evil' after all. "Hiding any of you and returning you to Earth is as easy as snapping my fingers and making it so. Others would consume a lot of their power, become tired, or maybe even pass out. Only those with great magical acumen would be able to offer you this service."

"But?" Carlos grimaced as Lucifer saw the young man's gears finally piecing things together. "That would make things as Nathaniel said they would be, right? I may not be able to get away from this, but they could. Now, I will say I am having some conflict when it comes to some of them, but that doesn't mean I would refuse to help them at all."

Ah, the young man did care for his family very much. There was a degree of envy there. Lucifer couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if there was more care put in the family than in orders and commands back when he was still a proud son of his Father.

Humans sometimes were far worse than any demon. Other times they were in the middle between Heaven and Hell. A few, some of those being thrown into the pit along with the rest of the condemned, were almost angelic like in their behavior.

Carlos was the second type. There was no denying he had some good characteristics, yes, but he was far too monstrous for Heaven when it came to how most of the denizens of Heaven were supposed to behave. He'd kill, maim and torture to help those he held dear. He would go against anything and everything to do so. There were things he wouldn't touch on, Lucifer could infer that much by just looking at his soul, but he was willing to become something worth a fairy tale of ye olden times if he needed to.

And, had he said that to someone that knew what fairy tales truly were… Heh. Lucifer was sure many of those would've tried to kill the young man right there and then.

But that, to Lucifer, was all just useful information. A guarantee that he would get what he needed from the young man.

And the beginning of his plan, thanks to the young man's interruption, could touch on the most important piece of leverage before he said anymore. "Think about it, Carlos. Nathaniel said there is no more link between you and the woman that started this three hundred years ago."

Ah, yes. Confusion. Lucifer knew he had garnered attention from everyone around him. Perfect. That is what he wanted AND needed. So, without teasing or prompting, and only mildly pleased at Nathan's face showing he now realized what was happening, Lucifer went on.

"Yes, one singular woman. For three hundred years. She has been destroying your family for that long. I could give you more information, but I won't. That is now how this works, young man. Besides, who among you knows of this? Who among those living is aware of any enmity within China, where the woman's own blood resides? Who among you know about the five elements, that of water, wood, fire, earth and metal, that compose your tower and obey Chinesse magic laws?" Predictably enough, no one said a peep. "It took me less than a minute to find a connection once I bothered to check. And while it will take Heaven much longer, considering the defenses this woman put up made me require the most minute effort to get to her, they will crack her identity. And when that happens? They will go for her."

Carlos seemed at a loss for words. What did that mean to him? Even Rosie and Alastor seemed to be giving each other confused gazes while Stolas mulled something and Nathaniel was quickly figuring out he had messed up.

Good intentions and all that.

"You may wonder what, if anything, this means to you." Lucifer hummed, drumming his fingers a couple times on the table for effect and to make the young man wait further. "Simple: There is no more connection between you, any of you, and the sorcerer that did this. But there IS a link between your souls, because she tried to DEVOUR them. This won't go away anytime soon, probably not even in death if she were to perish and somehow keep her soul anchored to the living world instead of landing herself in oblivion for her actions. She will always have a connection, until she is disposed of… and only if she is disposed of accordingly."

"Meaning if Heaven doesn't get her first." Nathaniel finally brought it up. "If they do, they will dispense justice, yes, but they will also keep that connection to their souls, keep her in judgment forever if need be. There won't be any way for the family to hide from their 'divine punishment' for apostasy."

"Bingo! Give the man a cookie! He finally figured it out." Lucifer couldn't help but laugh. That laugh, though, soon became unnerving as he pointed his cane at the young angel. "You may be above a hundred, young man, and you played a nice game here, but not nice enough. Did you REALLY think that trying to go and do something good would net you exactly what you wanted? Are you aware of how many others have tried something similar, only for Heaven to clap their cheeks like a tambourine before making it clear who is in charge?"

Alastor found this to be a riot. Lucifer knew he would. Why? "Oh, the drama unfolding before our eyes! An oh so nice family, wretched from the land of the living, with one of them granting his eternal soul to one of Hell's denizens in hopes for safety and revenge, all THWARTED by the so called forces of Good!" An actor and entertainer to the last, Alastor couldn't help but smile the young man's way. "Don't you find life's twists to be riveting, young man?"

Lucifer knew Alastor could take anything Carlos, or anyone else in the family, threw at him. Insults, physical attacks. Any kind of counter to his words.

Even the young man's attempt at keeping the conversation civil was humorous to the Overlord. Not that Rosie found that much merriment on it all. They were friends, but Rosie sent Alastor a bit of a glare, considering it was her new soul and she had no desire to have him 'taught a lesson' just for Alastor to have fun.

"I'll do you a favor, my good sir, and bite my tongue on this." Which was the most polite way of saying 'Fuck you' that Lucifer had seen directed at Alastor in a long time. Worthy of a small chuckle, that was for sure. Carlos didn't seem intent on the act lasting long though. "Lord Lucifer. I doubt you are telling us all of this because you have a way out of it, not if there is no price tag attached."

Lucifer snapped his fingers at the young man's forwardness. "Correct. BUT! Since what I am going to ask for may be too much, I will offer all of you something in return before I even name what I want from you."

Lucifer got up from his seat with a little hum, signaling for everyone else to remain where they were.

"You see, I am pretty sure what little you have seen of Hell can hardly compare to the image you have of the place. After all, this all looks hellish, yes, what with demons and such, but it also pretty normal in many ways. Oh yes, there was torture and cruelty impossible to imagine by most mortal minds back in the day, a way to purify souls you could say. Their pain and torment ended as soon as they truly regretted their actions, from the most foul and disgusting to the simplest misdemeanor." The Lord of Hell let out a sigh as he paced around the table. "Those were good times… But! That kind of thing cannot last forever. I find it far more entertaining to have it this way; it is like I have my own little stage, my own personal circus, in which everyone is an actor and they do whatever they want, whatever makes them happy if they fight for it, or miserable if they allow themselves to be weak. However." Lucifer landed his cane ever so gently on the young man's shoulder. Any kind of force, anything at all, and the man would be paste. He was sure everyone, even the humans, green as they were, knew this. "As much freedom as I offer, there are rules. And as much as humans may think otherwise, deals, pacts, contracts and so on? Those are to be respected. They are only abused if someone makes it easy for one of the parties to do so."

Carlos pursed his lips. "So you want to make a deal with me too? For what particular reason?"

"Oh no, I do not aim to make a deal with you. I want to make a CONTRACT with you. But you are somewhat right: First, we make a deal. However, unlike with Miss Rosie, you will hold all the cards. At least so long as your family does things right. 'But wait', I hear you say, 'why would you, the Lord of Hell, do that?'. What do I want? What can a contract give me that a deal wouldn't? For you to be loyal to ME. But there is more to it than that." This seemed to surprise everyone. Oh, the intrigue! What could it be? Well, as fun as some of the expressions he saw were to him, this wasn't really a big deal.

In fact, when it came to the deal itself, Lucifer's hand simply took on a very dim glow. "So yes: First I offer you a deal that would take effect on your family as a whole. The terms are simple: I allow all of you to ask whatever you want of me, any number of questions. I will either decline to answer, or answer in truth. No holds barred, no lies, no deflections. Absolute truth… Although it may be slightly biased. Nonetheless, I promise I will do my best. So long as I don't lie willingly, my part is done. And if I do lie? I die. Permanently. My soul will abandon my body and be given to Heaven for them to do as they wish. A way to rid all three realms of my scourge! Gosh, the stakes!" This did elicit a few gasps from some of the customers and most of the humans. Apparently their interests were piqued once more.

Lucifer just ignored it and continued. "I asked your family to remain quiet until this point for a reason. This will be the only chance your family has to talk until we, you, I and our good Alastor here, leave so I can make things official. I offer a chance for you all to see I am willing to work with you. There will be no deception, no games, no underhanded moves on my end. All that I want I will tell you and, in exchange, all of you will be able to inquire as much as you want. If I don't convince you and you give me a good reason? Then I forgo my plans for the contract and let you be… but as you may imagine, I will also offer no help either."

"I want you all to bear in mind this, though." Lucifer spoke with a tone that implied he was very much serious now as he directed his words to the family as a whole. "Any question you have should be pertinent to the matter at hand. Anything I deem excessive, stupid, selfish or the like, will add AT LEAST one clause to the contract. There is ONE clause to begin with, and it is mandatory. I will allow him to refuse only one after that. The more you push your luck, the more I will demand from him. If you try to go too far and screw him over so he'd refuse my offer without thinking, there will be a punishment for those involved. Miss Rosie will not protect you and her deal with Carlos will not break, but YOU will." He ignored the clearly surprised, and in some cases fearful or angry, look on some of the humans. In fact he took a more candid tone. "But every clause I add will also offer something in repayment. I expect some of you to be selfish or too curious. Just don't overdo it… after all, it is Carlos' very freedom you are playing with here."

There was a 'tap', 'tap', 'tap' going on as Lucifer counted the seconds Carlos looked at his hand. He was behind him in a clear posture of dominance, and he was sure the mortal in front of him knew what it meant.

This wasn't so much a choice as it was a chance for him to accept without any more pressure given.

It wasn't that Lucifer himself would order him. It was that Lucifer held all the cards. Rosie was bound to try and help, but Nathaniel's actions, good intended as they may've been, put the whole human family at a disadvantage.

Carlos had few options. But! Lucifer would accept it if the man decided to not take part in this. It would show character, guts, and a bullheaded desire to face things as they came. He would die. His family would die. But they'd get his respect if nothing else.

And if he accepted? Well, then respect would have to be earned. So long as they lived enough for him to get what he wanted, said respect would be forthcoming. Lucifer was an asshole, and he had no problem admitting it. But he was an asshole that did things for a reason, even if it was sometimes petty.

At least some of that was earned when Carlos did the smart things. "Before I accept." The young man turned his head enough to send Lucifer a sidelong glance. "What would a 'contract' entail? How is it different from a deal?"

Lucifer, respecting the fact that the man wasn't going in blindly, made it simple. "Similar to a pact, or a deal with any other demon, but with a difference: There is no breaking a contract. A pact is somewhat in the middle, with still some leeway, but contracts are very specific and powerful agreements between two or more entities. It will be bound by blood, yours, mine and anyone else who may sign. Obligations bind the parties involved, similar to a deal, but with caveats that you shouldn't worry about since neither you nor I will try to go back on our word. Simply put? A contract in Hell is much like one in Earth: A piece of paper full of all the legalese you need to kill a person. In this case very literally, and with ramifications that would harm even God Himself if he were to make one, and then try to swindle His way out of it." Lucifer chuckled, very much meaning every word there. "I may be many things, but I offer you no lies today. So." Another tap of the cane. "Deal, young man?"

Carlos looked at the hand, then at Rosie. He would've looked back at his family, because those he could see he did not trust with counsel. In the end Rosie gave the faintest of nods, almost imperceptible. What was she gonna do? Lucifer expected nothing else.

But still. Carlos could refuse…

And yet he did not.

"We have a deal, Lord Lucifer."

A firm handshake, awkward from positioning or not, was not what he had expected. Perhaps the young man was still green, but at least he was decisive when needed.

Good, that'll serve him well. Now, if only enough of those of his blood decided to do something stupid, it would be of great help.

Another snap of the fingers and not only was Lucifer gone in the blink of an eye, but he was already sitting on his spot again, a single, small, perfect and cloudy orb floating in front of him. It was as big as a basketball, and it floated with a very slight hum. A simple enchanted orb that reflected whoever was to talk during this session.

That wasn't all. As Lucifer's desire to keep some of this on the down low for the time being took the form of a very thin, almost crystalline, field forming around the group. It was nothing you couldn't cross, much less harmful. A simple dome of silence from which no sound could come in, or out. Those inside would hear, those outside would gaze. A simple sorcery that came in handy and could be made far more inconspicuous, but Lucifer wanted the others outside to know that crossing the line would likely be the last thing they did.

"Dear mortals." Lucifer spoke, a grandiose show of his hands inviting attention to the obvious 'showdown' he offered. "Ask, and you shall receive. There will be no interruptions. The barrier is there so we, and only we, can hear what is to be said. Rumors will help our cause, but not all of which I may say is to be shared with the common demon and Sinner." And while Lucifer knew Nathaniel, Stolas and Rosie would heed his warning, it was Alastor who he thought would have a hard time cooperating. Not out of malice, but just for 'fun'. Surprisingly enough, at least for Lucifer, the Radio Demon just nodded. "Now, I implore you, please: Bring forth whatever questions you may have."

No one had a chance to even blink before the one Lucifer knew would rise to the occasion opted to do so.

Painfully predictable, but Pilar spoke up, her face appearing on the sphere. "Why should we trust the Lord of Lies? The Arch Betrayer and Instigator of Rebellion?"

Lucifer couldn't help but sigh. "You know what? I expected this much, but it is still really, really disappointing. I almost feel bad for it, but this is worthy of the first clause on that contract." He ended up groaning. "BUT! I see no reason to not answer. And since it comes from a holier than thou kind of person, I'll take extreme pleasure in vivisecting this for you."

"First let me tell you that I am not the instigator of rebellion. The first person to rebel, to go against God, was my wife. Thank you very much my dear Lady Pilar." This got a few chuckles from some of those present, even Stolas managed to crack a bit of a smile and Nathaniel couldn't help but shake his head. See? That was what Heaven lacked. People with two neurons to rub together. "As to why you should trust me? First: Because I may lie when I feel like it, but I don't NEED to when I want something. I will get all I want by telling you the truth and I will need not betray your family. In fact helping you would mess with Heaven, so it is in my best interest to do so. You can call it pettiness, a desire for some new fun or whatever. I am here to screw Heaven over and keeping you all alive if I can is a guaranteed way for that to happen. Besides, I went against my father because of you mortals, so show at least some appreciation."

The next question came soon, perhaps because the new woman didn't want to allow her mother another chance at speaking. Who knew what could happen if Lucifer went ahead and lost his patience? Nothing good, that is what.

"WHY did you betray God, then? What did you want to do for us?"

This voice came from Rocio as he sent Lucifer a look of confusion and sincere curiosity. And why wouldn't she? He had offered to tell them the truth, if he wanted to answer that is.

And he did. Some here would know what he was about to say, others wouldn't, but either way it wasn't a big secret.

"Now THAT is pertinent. A not so simple question, so let me think on how to answer." Lucifer hummed. He had a good thing in mind, but how to word it? Oh! Perhaps this way it would work.

"It has been just a few hours, but haven't you wondered if there exists a Garden of Eden since it is clear that Hell, and Heaven for that matter, exist? I'll answer for you. It does." And indeed his answer brought every eye to his person. Lucifer expected as much, though it wasn't exactly anything surprising what he was about to say. "Adam and Eve did truly exist, but so did my wife Lilith, and so did Earth. That world and Eden were separate, an experiment my Father concocted. He wished to do many things, to test many creations, those from your prehistoric times among many others. So yes, the dinosaurs and all of evolution did take place as most of your scientists believe, even if it was Father who guided it. As for humans? Lilith, my wife, was the first of two, eh, 'prototypes' of 'Primeval Human Females', if you want to call them that. There was no defect in them: Primeval Humans were meant to live almost as long as angels, they were meant to be impervious to diseases, old age, infertility, inbreeding and so much more. They were almost everything humans dream of being. There was, however, one thing my father lied about." He made a pause for effect. "The free will promised by my dear Father was nowhere to be seen."

This made a few voices rise, but Lucifer wasn't done. "Now, you may say, don't humans have free will? And the answer is yes, yes they do. In fact the Primeval Humans would've been able to choose, but not 'freely' as you understand it today." Lucifer let out a click with his tongue. "This may require me to go on a bit of a tangent here, so bear with me."

A topic that would likely piss Pilar off and help with his explanation quickly came to mind. "Do you know why The Order, humans favored by Heaven, are special? The reason is simple: There are, in fact, two types of humans. One came from Earth, the 'garden variety human', if you'd be so kind. They were born there, evolved there and were raised there from the beginning. The other? The other kind, the members of The Order, are descendants from Adam and Eve. All of those here, those linked to The Order, have enough Primeval Human blood that The Order could focus on, strengthening it and bringing its power to bear. They can do it with anyone close enough to Adam and Eve, but it is a process that takes time, effort… and the right breeding. It does not grant you the full advantages of the Primeval, but it opens doors."

That on itself was news to many. Lucifer knew this would open the eyes of many of the mortals in front of him, not that what he saw from Pilar's sincerity would help matters. It only accentuated Lucifer's words, and likely made The Order look even worse.

Even better.

"But we spoke of freedom, my reason to betray God. They go hand in hand, and the catalyst was my wife." Lucifer continued with his explanation, every eye and ear on the fallen angel. "Lilith was, as my Father put it, a 'mistake'." And the word was spat with utmost disdain. "Humans were meant to be free, yes, but also to obey God without question, as we angels did. From those He sculpted with the most attention and care, those He called family, to the lowliest angel that ever was first created. Lilith, thus, was 'faulty', for she did not want to obey with no input of her own, without a chance to choose what she wanted to do."

"I didn't see her desire to do as she wished to be a mistake, not as such." Lucifer made no statement. He dropped the truth as it was. "Lilith wasn't faulty. Lilith was granted what God truly desired: His own image. Lilith was free to truly make her own choices and, as a special creation, she had no real family or task, but she grew her own personality in the blink of an eye. When presented with another creation of her same kind, but one God had 'corrected' once His initial intent of truly creating something 'close' but not 'equal' had gone 'too well' in His eyes, Lilith refused to just be paired with the first male that was 'given' to her." The Lord of Hell chuckled. "Adam's face was priceless, and, let me tell you, many of us laughed at Father's own reaction."

His laughter quickly died down. "Father didn't see the fun in that."

"For a time all was well, and I got to know Lilith and Adam. I saw their personalities, and I noticed Lilith's differences, her freedom, her will. It was something that none of us, angels, had seen in anyone but Father. It was… interesting." Lucifer got himself lost in the memories of old for a second. "She was upfront, sincere and very much ready to fight whoever tried to order her around. It was fun at first, attractive then… and finally damming as soon as God decided that such rebelion to His words should not be tolerated." At this point something shone in Lucifer's eyes, as if he was about to lose control, but he kept himself grounded. "Lilith was thrown into Hell. The most primal, brutal version of it. A place where even something close to us angels, close to God, would mean death." His cane nearly cracked the ground when he almost smashed it down. "I wasn't going to allow that."

"You ask why I fought my Father, miss Rocio?" Lucifer looked at the crystal ball intently. "I fought Him because, both now and back then, He is a hypocrite." And while he saw Pilar bristling in reaction to his words, he was more focused on Rocio's own averted gaze. "He would not allow me to help Lilith, instead creating Eve, a new Primeval Woman, to be with Adam. He opted for His version of 'freedom' instead of the one that would make humans to His image, as he had swore to do. This did not sit well with me, and many others were of the same mind."

A cruel smirk played on Lucifer's lips. "So I defied my Father. I went to Eden, I offered the Primeval Humans the ability to CHOOSE. I granted them freedom… and fucked my Father's experiment right up!" Lucifer laughed, clearly beyond amused, with even the Radio Demon having a good chuckle. Of course he would derive mirth from this. "Not only did it 'poison' humans then, but as we all knew Earth to be intended as another 'Eden' of shorts, a larger world of the same qualities, if lessened, as the first one, it also affected that place. After all, with Eden 'contaminated', Earth, as Father guided humans to 'grow' there, was also affected through its connection. You all gained the ability to CHOOSE because I betrayed my father, because I considered it unjust for you all to be little more than willing thralls."

Lucifer took a moment to let it sink in before he went on. "All things, good and bad, happened because my Father went back on His word. He took away freedom from His children when He promised it. In turn, I, His very own child, decided to give His creations what He had taken away from them. Then, not so much for you, but for myself, for Lilith, I saved who would later become my wife." With Rocio's eyes now tentatively back on his, Lucifer went ahead and asked. "Was that good enough of an answer?"

It would be an understatement to say this was food for thought for many of those present. But to Rocio it was enough for her to nod. At least someone got what they wanted out of Lucifer's sincerity.

Lucifer could see Stolas mulling something. Was it his marriage? Was it the abuse he suffered? Had it to do with the many questions as to why his own wife became what she was? Perhaps the question had to do with his own father and if he was as horrid as he had always been or had he changed into it? What would happen to his daughter? So many things could cross the owl's head but, unlike a person's sins, Lucifer could not pry those secrets from the man. All he knew was that the Goetia, in their own way, had lost their own freedom, and Stolas could feel it.

Nathaniel was clearly pensive. This would not shake his trust in Heaven, at least the ideal he had of Heaven. The angel, young as he was, had seen Heaven's faults, thus he likely knew that God, for all that was said of his, was far from perfect. Nathaniel would remain steadfast, even if he disapproved of some of Heaven's stupidities. Whether this proved to be a boon in the future, or a hindrance, Lucifer didn't know.

Rosie and Alastor talked in hushed whispers at this knowledge. It was no secret, not if one knew who to ask, when and where, but it was likely food for the rumor mill at some point. They would likely not say a thing, but if curiosity got the best of them…

Well, checking books, even in an age of information like the one today, would catch some people's attention. From there? Mouths would talk.

The three demonesses that had accompanied Carlos were also chatting among themselves. While the imp and the shark were clearly more open to their own side, the cambion was not far behind. They had been given a little treat of information, and the cambion in particular, considering her close heritage to humans, was clearly interested in this.

Now, the humans were a different matter. Some were curious, others furious, the most devout even showing pain and the feeling of either betrayal or surprise, depending on what they felt for this revelation. All in all? More reason for some of them to talk.

And Marcela, clearly curious about a very simple, yet complicated, topic was the one to ask away.

"Then… are you, you know, evil?"

Lucifer sniggered. "Ah, evil… Yes, well, had it been anyone else I would've considered this reason enough to add another clause. BUT! Your question is sincere and, to a point, relevant. After all, why devote yourself to something outright evil? Not even the most monstrous, disgusting and cruel human in existence thinks themselves 'evil' unless they are really messed up in the head." He then made a short pause. "Of course this brings us to unsavory topics. Now, I don't give a flying fuck about being as direct as I should be, but I recommend you all prepare yourselves. Some of these things will be distasteful to say the least, but I think you all need to hear them."

"What is evil? What is good? Nothing, that is what." Lucifer began as he clasped his hands together, his cane floating in place. "Killing? Rape? Genocide? The complete annihilation of a planet? Yes, I know what you think the answer is, but you are wrong. It isn't good, nor is it bad. Yes, it is fucked up, but it depends on the perspective, the motive, as disgusting as it sounds."

And, true enough, Lucifer got many glares, confused looks and worried glances. He could tell most humans were, at the very least, disgusted at his words. "Let me put forth a few examples here. What would you say about healing someone's illness? Patching a wound? Helping deliver babies? Creating artificial limbs and organs for the sick? Good, right?" The humans, to the last, all nodded. "Wrong." And promptly looking at him funny. "Again, not good, not bad. It all depends on the perspective, the reason, you have, after all, things are hardly black and white. How good is to deliver babies meant to suffer through their life with no recourse? What good is it to make prosthetic limbs when their use is just to force that poor person back into backbreaking labor as a slave? But I fear the question requires far more extreme examples to work, so let me offer you a far more visceral and disgusting one to most people."

"Let's make it sound as it generally is: The abuse of children." The words from Lucifer made all those able to hear him stop any kind of talk or distraction still going on. That was to be expected. It was, after all, an evil act, and Lucifer would not mince words. "Destruction for destruction's sake is, much like creation for creation's sake, the closest thing to absolute evil that you can find. Absolute good? It does not exist. Now, abusing a child? That, in and on itself, is very close to evil, yes. I will not deny this, or the pleasure I take in doing horrible things to people like that. Although I shant make myself 'holy' in your eyes, for it wasn't until I myself truly wanted a family that I saw such people as the monsters they are. But there is an angle few are willing to look at, for it would mean they'd understand that morality, much like the definition of good and evil, is extremely flimsy."

Carlos found the need to interject and, to be honest, Lucifer could not fault the young man. "And how could THAT kind of thing be considered anything but evil?"

"Good question. And again, do remember that if I catch that kind of person I usually have some fun myself. Punishment to fit the crime, you see? I may not be allowed to torture human souls as I once was, but breaking the rule here and there is allowed if I have a good reason. And believe me, I DO have good reasons sometimes." Lucifer chuckled at the still clearly disgusted faces of all humans and most demons present, including the angel. "Now. Most of you may not know this, but children can suffer from something all of you know as nymphomania. It is extremely rare and, much like adults, there are remedies to make the need less prevalent. Of course no parent, no GOOD parent, would ever allow their children to be touched that way." Then he made a pause and turned more serious. "But what happens when the medicines, the remedies, and any other aid you can render, harms your child? What happens if the remedies don't work, make it worse, or could kill the child? What would you do then?"

For a second Carlos looked like he was about to say something. Lucifer saw many of the parents in the family raising a hand, a finger, or moving to interject, but they stopped. Not because they wanted to stop, no. Lucifer knew that. The reason was horror and disgust.

You are a parent. Your child is suffering. There is no remedy except a disgusting act that would make you vomit. What would you do?

Humor was born of misfortune. That was so for all creatures made by God. You laughed if someone got hurt, but was okay. You laughed even if they weren't okay. It was a coping mechanism. As such it was unsurprising that nymphomania was one of those mental ills that people had a lot of fun making the butt of any joke.

But, like with all jokes, it was born of someone's pain. This, this topic, was the perfect example of it.

"Hard question to answer, is it not? Granted most children will not suffer the need like an adult, but some would. One in a million? One in ten million? No, less even… but it happens. So. What would you do? Worse! What would you do if it was NECESSARY for your child to survive? A truly disgusting thought, am I right? One that perhaps a small handful have to face every generation." Lucifer hummed at the sight of many mortals clearly sick to their stomachs. Then again, this topic did come handy to help him in something else. "Now think about the Succubi and Incubi. They NEED sexual energy, fluids and acts to survive. They don't always have needs strong enough to require a partner, but it is generally prefered. Of course they have come a long way from what they once were, but even today some of them are far too powerful, too strong, and their connection to the primeval Sin of Lust costs them dearly."

Someone, Lucifer didn't see who, had to ask. And again, he could not fault them from the fear and revulsion their voice had. "Do you mean to say Succubi tend to do this kind of thing?"

"It may have sounded like that, yes, and it was intentional. But the answer is that no, they do not." Lucifer saw nearly every human let out a sigh of relief. "I say it happens." And then suck it in once again. "Lust demons are connected to the desire, to their Sin. Ancient Succubi and Incubi DID need direct sexual energy, almost from birth. And yes, it wasn't exactly an enjoyable spectacle." Not that Lucifer needed to say it. The mortals around him, the angel, and even the hellborn and Sinner at his side. Hell, even Lucifer himself. No one was comfortable with it. "The closer to their origin a Succubus is, the more powerful they are, the more likely it is that they would need such interventions. And there is NO way, no medicine, no spell, around it."

"Here is the conundrum I present to you." Lucifer didn't exactly revel in this topic, but he knew it would drive the point home. "My only daughter, Charlie, is the child of an angel, me, and the first proper Succubus, my queen Lilith, one of the few still living creatures closest to the seven Sins. Thanks to my nature Charlie did not connect with Lust as she should, as any of Lilith's children should have, had they been born of someone 'less' than me. Thus, thanks to my angelic blood, she never required that kind of… treatment." And the face he made was clear. Lucifer didn't want to show it, but the simple repulsion he had to the idea was easy to see. "But had Charlie needed it? I may despise this kind of act, but I would have done it. I may not be the best father, Hell, I'll admit I am disastrous. I hope to at least be perhaps better than my own creator, but there are lines even *I* will not cross… unless necessary. Luckily for me, that was never the case and my daughter never required me to do something so heinous."

Lucifer sent Carlos a simple, questioning look. "Tell me, young man. After all I have said, after what I have told you. Had I needed to help my daughter in such a way… Would you consider that to be 'evil'?" Then he looked at the other humans, the parents. "Would any of you? Would anyone present, if faced with this choice, allow for their child to suffer, or die, if this needed to be done, just for morality's sake?"

Oh, Lucifer knew one would say that she'd consider it evil, to say the least. A few wanted to just admit it was disgusting beyond belief. But most had to stop and ask themselves.

Would they do it if it was necessary for their child to survive? Or allow someone else to do it? Or would they simply let the child suffer, perhaps die, indeed?

He knew this was basically an execution. No answer was right, nor would it ever be.

A thought nearly no one ever gave a second of consideration. But in Hell? Yes, there were those disgusting people that had those desires for pleasure. Those were one of the many targets Lucifer hunted for sport. Yet there were those that had to entertain those thoughts because it was needed. Not only Succubi, but many other demons too. Lust was the most prominent Sin, but no one in Hell was free from the chance of corruption.

Something Heaven could solve, but why would they? Lucifer knew his Father wouldn't do anything. Hell was fine as it was. And, in a twisted way, Lucifer had to agree. Not with everything, no, but he would agree, yes. He could act as if he cared for his subjects, but if asked he'd admit he hardly did. But still, as a ruler one had to have some tact, and know how to act.

As the humans showed clear signs of discomfort as they thought more and more about that question, Lucifer thought that he had given them enough time to think. Back to the question he had to answer.

"Perhaps this is not yet enough to answer the question. Let me offer you all a more palatable, if still controversial, option." Lucifer opted for something that would rouse a different emotion than discomfort.

Anger.

"Germany." And by the looks of it, and a few glares, he knew the humans were aware of where he was going. "Germany is viewed by many as the boogie man even today. Most say she was the nation that started WW1, and we need not talk about the second. BUT! While I will not go into detail here, I can say that the first global conflict was not Germany's fault, not like the second, although they did take part and had certain interests." Some of the older mortals nodded. One in particular, Manuel, huffed but he too nodded in the end. "The important thing is that, while not the greatest player, or the most cruel, they were one of the most affected, comparatively speaking."

Lucifer saw the interest in the humans' eyes as he went deeper into this little example. "Germany had her territories taken, her might crushed and her people stomped on. Other countries were harmed too, that is without doubt and I will not say otherwise. Some countries were born, others were almost extinguished. But Germany was mutilated, her own power almost taken away from her. If you were a German you'd find a shame so great, a rage so unstoppable, and a despair without reconciliation the likes of which had only one way out… Violence."

Yes, Lucifer saw. The oldest, even those bound to Heaven, were angry. Not at his words, but at the clear connotation. Germany had not been the only one to be unfairly treated.

What about Spain, under the yoke of a dictator, that ended up being neutral and, to this day, is still treated as a joke and untrustworthy? What about Japan, a fascist nation one day, now seen as little more than the technological and entertaining cornerstone of the world with the 'tech and math savvy people'? What about Africa, its own slave trade and the atrocities it committed through history even to this day? What about every single injustice that made everyone's blood boil? There were so many monstrous acts done in every country, yet some were elevated despite not deserving it, while others were seen as lower than dirt while they tried to be better.

It was bound to drive some people crazy.

Indeed. Humans could only take so much before anger exploded, and they all knew this much.

"Am I trying to say our dear mustache man was good?" Lucifer chuckled at the flabbergasted faces of the humans. "Oh no. No, no, no… No one could defend the man, or his actions. And I am the fucking Devil here. But his original desire? That of making Germany strong once more? That patriotic, nationalistic pride? Yes. That is to be commended, because those that live in a nation, without loving said nation, are potential vectors to destroy it. Anyone that says otherwise is lying or is ignorant."

The Lord of Hell hummed, tapping the table with his fingers as he relaxed his posture. "All ideals and actions, bar a few exceptions, can be good. Nationalism? Yes. Capitalism? Yes. Socialism? Less so, if only because it approaches 'equity', what my dear Father wishes for everyone and, as you may guess, a big 'no-no' for me. But what about Despotism? So long as the despot does their best for the people, why would it be bad? And Nepotism? If your family is truly the best, where is the harm?"

He went even further. "What about racism? Not necessarily evil, because fear of 'others' is based on something very real, but tainted in the form of allowing stupidity and ignorance to guide one's actions. Same with inclusion: It is not necessarily good because you can be taken advantage of by those you don't know or that do not share your same ideas and origin. Emotions are imilar. Hate is not 'bad', it can be your instincts telling you someone does want to hurt you, or just the fact that you and whoever you hate just cannot mingle. It is much like 'love', even pure love where there is no obsession or anything, can hurt every party involved and could perfectly lead to a massive number of people being harmed, or even dead." Lucifer gave a huff as he thought back to a particular memory. "In the end things are like this: Good and evil are ways to make things 'simpler' when they are anything BUT."

Finally, he addressed the crystal ball once more. "I know I have gone too far, but this is for ALL of you. But as for your question, Marcela: Am I evil?" Lucifer let out a laugh. "Depends on how you look at it. I am a cruel, monstrous man, yes. I have to be. If I wasn't? Then Hell would be far worse than it is today. I do evil things every day, I am cruel with everyone I have to and I guide Hell as its ringmaster, for it is my circus." He grinned at the preteen. "But. Do you think I am evil? Or have you been told that I am?"

The question brought up conversations here and there, as Lucifer knew it would. This had been a very, shall we say, 'insightful' topic for most of the humans present.

There was no doubt some of them had been beyond utterly disgusted with part of his spiel. Some had considered him simply wrong from bringing up the German National Socialist party. All of those thoughts mattered little to Lucifer.

Because most of these people were now thinking, and questioning. That was all he needed.

He also had to give young Marcela props. While the youngest among the mortals, Sandra, did not understand most of what he said, Marcela had done her best. Of course a good chunk of his spiel had gone above and beyond the preteen's head, but she understood enough.

Lucifer didn't expect a lot from her on this, though. The young goth had been able to take most of this quite well, he had seen that much. She was far ahead than most her age, mentally at least. But there was a limit. She hadn't understood everything, and Lucifer had not expected her to. This question's 'answer' had been more aimed at those old enough to get his meaning, for doing it any simpler would've watered it all down too much, made it closer to a black and white answer, and that would've been a lie.

Simply said, Lucifer couldn't answer that question with anything but a question. Saying 'yes' would be a lie, if accepted by the humans present. Saying 'no' would be a lie that many of them wouldn't accept either. All Lucifer was allowed to, without his end of the deal going active, was to say what few humans wanted to hear.

Good and evil only existed in however way you wanted to see them as. Lucifer was Lucifer, and that was that.

It did surprise him that, in the end, the girl did answer.

"I… didn't like many of the things you said." That got a chuckle out of Alastor, even Lucifer smiled at the answer. Marcela did seem to huddle closer to her parents as she spoke after all. A young teen was still a young teen, 'dark' or not. She probably had expected a simple answer despite everything. "But… I don't think you are 'evil'? I dunno. This is a bit more complicated than I thought."

"Isn't it always?" Lucifer couldn't help but laugh a bit. "You thought it was a simple question, eh?" The young girl nodded. "Well, do remember: Things that are simple are usually far more complex than they look. Just bear this in mind." Marcela did. As soon as Lucifer offered counsel most people paid attention, young or old. "You are in Hell, young lady. There ARE a lot of people that will want to do evil to YOU. NEVER allow them the chance. Be strong, alone, or with your family. Show everyone that would try to do you in that you are better than them. Good and evil are things only those with the privilege of having a safe life, and power, can worry about. Just try to be happy and survive. If someone considers you evil for that? Then that is their opinion."

Marcela nodded, her mother hugging the young girl as her family looked on. Lucifer wasn't usually a mussy man, but even Alastor had to appreciate the gesture from the Lord of Hell. The Sinner had an appreciation for family, as did Stolas, Rosie, and Nathaniel of course, if the angel's nod was anything to go by.

Carlos looked back at his sister, offering her a little smile that apparently made her feel better, though she still did her best to be hidden by her parents. It was clear the attention her question brought wasn't welcome.

Lucifer could relate. So many things should've been simpler, both back in the day and today. No one wanted them to be simple. All of them had to have loads and loads more baggage than he needed them to.

In the end it was clear that this had served many purposes. On one hand he had explained his point of view. On another, he had shown himself to be a person. Disgusting topics or not, it looked like many of the mortals had warmed up to him, if only slightly in some cases.

Again, not all of them had understood, and not all of them were ready to. In fact the next question came from someone that just couldn't understand. She was far too young.

"Um… Sir Lucifer?" After all, Sandra was unlucky in many ways. She was too young, the Mark of Sin had affected her too much to be healthy, and Hell would help her none. "You are, like, old, right? Very, very old?" Although she could have some tact. Lucifer did nod nonetheless. "Then… how is it that you only have one daughter?"

Yes. Tact. She did need to learn that one.

But Lucifer couldn't fault the kid. He had said nothing about someone this young, but so long as this was her only question the Lord of Hell would not make it a problem.

Even if the topic was going to get a simple answer at best. It wasn't a happy one.

"Put it simply? It is… complicated." Lucifer was going to answer, the kid meant no malice. But he'd keep it brief. "My wife and I aren't quite 'compatible', for many reasons. We were lucky to have Charlotte, let's leave it at that." He gave the glass ball a hardy look afterwards. "And I recommend no one pries into my family life. I will allow this one because it was an innocent, sincere question. Make of this warning what you will."

He saw the humans take pause. Good, perhaps this would bring forth important questions with short answers. He didn't expect many more, just enough to satisfy their most immediate curiosity AND support his case. It was simple to guide mortals the way he wanted after all.

Even if some would test his patience.

"But then… can't one do good?"

And believe me, while he was an asshole, because he was, and he was proud of it, Lucifer understood the woman. Carmen had a good chunk of her world screwed over not long ago, and Lucifer was sure the mother of three was thinking about the Mark of Sin and her change in behavior growing more and more pronounced with time.

He UNDERSTOOD, believe it or not.

But he did not care.

"I mean, if you try, isn't that good enough? If you want to help, doesn't that make it good?" And the fact that the woman was clearly trying to excuse her own actions was what was pissing him off. If you do something, own it, revel in it! Don't pussyfoot around. "Are-."

"Stop." And, really, angry wasn't exactly what anyone wanted Lucifer to be. The tone in his voice turned far darker, reverberating, than it should. "I am going to stop you there. This is one more clause attached to your nephew."

"Wait! But I-!"

"You are making a self serving question here. Make it not one, but two clauses for interrupting me."

Lucifer called his cane fort, gripping it hard enough that the sound echoed through the bubbled field. Rosie seemed tempted to move away, Carlos' breath hitched, Stolas was clearly afraid while Alastor looked interested in this development and Nathaniel's wings almost opened.

This was meant to be fun for Lucifer. Business, yes. Uncomfortable, sure. But fun. He was here to make a deal. Rarely did he have the luxury anymore. He wasn't here to entertain someone whose mind had been screwed with.

If she wanted help, then she could ask for it. Upfront. He wasn't going to play this game.

"I understand you, believe me, I do." Although his voice sounded anything but pleased or understanding, he was not lying. "I am very much aware that you are conflicted, you, your husband and one of your twins. The other? Well, he has new demons to fight right now. Being saved by our dear Evelinde here, and being part, even if only marginally, of a small massacre has taken a toll on him."

Lucifer's mood returned ever so slightly as Rosie turned to face her subordinate. "Evelinde? Mind explaining?"

"I am sorry, Lady Rosie." And the masked demoness opted to show her face again. She was clearly apologetic, if not completely sincere. "I know your orders were to act only if Carlos was to be hurt, but…"

"No buts." Rosie's smile became strained as she glared at the younger demon. "This was a test. I wish no pain or suffering on my underlings unless they deserve it, but this was a test, young lady. They were meant to work together and face the realities of Hell. As far as I can see, they succeeded… and one of them did not." She took a deep breath, clearly angry at the disobedience. "We shall talk about this, later, Evelinde. I am happy because all of them made it back, as I wanted them to, but you will NOT disobey again."

As Evelinde nodded, with those that partook in the fight clearly looking at each other as if they had failed in more ways than one, disappointment grew. It was unsurprising, but it was useful.

Rosie hadn't been wrong. She served the mortals a test, and they all passed… mostly. It would've been harmful for Lucifer if any of them died, but it would also serve as a wake up call and a pressure point. As it stood, and it wasn't bad for him either, they all were alive, and the pressure was still there.

Lucifer would take off his hat for Rosie on this one. The woman could be truly stern when needed, even if she preferred a gentler approach. It did serve his purposes quite well on this one.

"Back to the topic." Lucifer's voice cut whatever anyone else was willing to say, and any words some of the family were directing at Ander. "I cannot answer your question. Not because I truly cannot, but because no answer would bring insight on whether you, or anyone else, should trust me. Not only that, you are trying to use your own nephew's freedom to gain insight on your own actions. This is not just selfishness, that much I know, but it is the vast majority of your reasoning. Besides." His eyes flashed for a second as he glared at the crystal ball. "If I told you what you want, you would ignore my advice. You would prefer to believe what you think is right, not what it IS. Truth is meaningless if you do not wish to act upon it to better yourself, or to take advantage of what you can now that you know it."

He could see it. The woman wanted to say something else, as did her husband. Even the twin that had remained with them, Alfonso, was clearly frowning as many thoughts filled his head.

They were all screwed. Lucifer was very much aware of just how messed up they were. The curse had made it hard to discern their own personality from the caricature it had forced them to be. A very nasty thing.

But also not Lucifer's problem. Not when it was clear they were happier not knowing, or being told they were right. It wasn't their fault, but to truly be happy one has to face a lot of shit and make sacrifices.

No pain, no gain. So if you don't want pain, fuck off. That was a simple mantra Lucifer had to live by for a long time.

"Will you put my son in danger?"

And hey! There it was: A honest to fucking GOD decent question.

With an easy answer too!

"Yes."

Answer that promptly made Carlos' father bristle.

"Now wait a mo-."

"Now, now, sit down." And in this case Lucifer expected, and welcomed, the reaction. "I do not wish to send your child to die. In fact I WANT him alive, for a long time if possible too. But he will ask things of me in the future, I know this much. In return I will do the same, and my favors don't come cheap, you understand."

Juan seemed unhappy, but in the end he nodded. Tit for tat after all.

"Will you make deals with any of us?"

This came from Antonia, and it did catch Lucifer off guard for a second. He hadn't expected HER to ask that particular question. The older woman seemed wholly uninterested in being in Hell for too long after all. Everyone around her sent her a questioning look that mimicked Lucifer's own, if he hadn't done his best to appear disinterested.

"If you bring up an interesting prospect? Why not?" Lucifer indeed saw no downside. In fact he could see only benefits. "They don't even have to be dealt with in the demonic sense. Business and other ventures could work just as well. I do not need to own your souls after all."

Though it was heavily implied that he would at some point anyway. Everyone would likely end in Hell, one way or another.

Still, it seemed to please the matriarch's curiosity.

"So, this has been bothering me." Zaid's voice was firm and concerned as he brought his question forward. "Can Hell harm us in any way? Should I prepare anything to help my family with it?"

Lucifer clicked his tongue. Would it harm them? No. Would it influence them? Slightly. It would be like the Mark of Sin, but far less compulsively driven, even if they remained here for millenia. So, would it be harmful? Not really, no. So long as the question didn't count the denizens of the realm.

Better cover his own ass, just in case.

"Hell, as in the realm, and its energies, should not harm you, no." Lucifer explained with very careful words. "Its denizens are another matter altogether. But what WILL Hell do? Hell will give you a push towards sin, that is true, but only slightly more than life on the living world would. In part because those sins are easier to pursue, in part because being a little snowflake here will get you killed, or worse. This won't be like the Mark of Sin, so you should all be safe so long as you KEEP yourselves safe."

He made a pause, then he seemed to think something over, only to finally add. "Hell may empower sickness however, old and new. This is a natural and old process designed for punishment that I saw no reason to change, so I recommend you check on your family regularly if you truly are worried about them. Sinners and demons are barely affected with how much Hell has changed, but mortals may very well suffer such effects. And yes, you will see sick demons. Being 'barely affected' doesn't mean there aren't things out there that can screw the natives up."

Probably not the answer Zaid wanted, but it seemed good enough for the man.

More small, simple, and pertinent (thank Hell for small favors) questions came and went. Some of them being more noteworthy than others. Surprisingly enough Lucifer found no excuse to add more clauses as small questions, but significant to the family kept coming his way. Three stood up a bit more than the rest.

One of Pilar's children asked if Hell would affect their lifespan in any way. It was borderline there, but also brought up by fear for everyone, so Lucifer answered.

His answer? Yes, they could live a LONG time in Hell. More so if they used rejuvenating draughts or magics. Reaching a few hundred, or perhaps a thousand, was easily doable. Around the lifetime of an imp or so, which was already quite impressive by human standards.

Javier was very serious when he asked if Lucifer would help them when angels came for the family. A very important question, but one that didn't bring any joy.

Lucifer's answer: No. Only their family in Heaven should be allowed to touch them. Their only defense would be their own might. If Lucifer intervened, then Heaven as a whole would be able to get involved in this mess.

No one wanted ALL of Heaven's Exorcists raining on their home, so no one insisted.

Finally came Carlos before Lucifer got ready to close shop on this. After all it was clear that most of the mortals had been satisfied. His question was perhaps the more candid and the one that also made Lucifer wince. It was going to hurt his chances. Not much, but it would.

"You said you found out who did her best to kill our family, didn't you?" Lucifer nodded, knowing where Carlos was going. "Do you offer information on that bitch in that contract of yours?"

The venom dripping from the young man's words made those present flinch.

Some of them, his family, did so because they had seen him being violent before. Yes, past fights had been sometimes brutal and harmful, but never anywhere close to today's murders. Lucifer knew that everyone present was aware of how easily they could turn into killers.

And Carlos, like some others in his family, had a clearly sadistic modus operandy if his anger was strong enough.

Alastor and Rosie gasped at the words because, while Rosie had seen him in a more relaxed spot during their deal, she had expected him to remain collected. Alastor did too, though the swear word was more fun to him than anything else, more so considering how clearly the young man's hate made him a source for future entertainment, if only for some time.

Stolas, Nathaniel and Lucifer? Their surprise came at how clearly willing Carlos was to murder someone right now. Had Lucifer not been the strongest entity in Hell, and had Carlos SOMEHOW been stronger than him, then he was sure the young man, apparently gentle and civilized as he was, would have used any means to get the information he wanted.

Any. Means.

The desire for revenge was clearly far superior than Nathaniel had expected. Stolas had thought him far more meek than he truly was. And Lucifer? Lucifer was delighted at this.

Not so much when it came to his answer to the young man.

"No." And before Carlos exploded he opted to explain further. "Heaven will be monitoring me now. I am sure they noticed I made a momentary connection. Yes, I learned plenty, but that is for ME to keep hidden, and I mean HIDDEN. They cannot pry further, not without asking, and even if they do I won't tell them anything. But if I find her again the same way I did the first time? Then Heaven will piggyback the magic link leading me to her."

Carlos frowned, a low growl clearly growing in his throat. "So… no way for you to help us, then."

"Not quite. I didn't say that." Lucifer corrected him. "That woman is going to be moving, constantly. I know she has power, influence and various safe havens. Even if I told you as much as I could, you may not find her. And even if you did find her right now? You'd die. So, we will go the slow route, for I have other means. Spies, contacts and so on. I have a vested interest in that woman dying by OUR hands, not Heaven's. For many reasons too. She has been taking power from Hell, instead of dealing with us. That on itself means she is a future problem I do not want, much less if Heaven gets its hands on her."

This mollified Carlos somewhat. "Then you'll give us what we need."

"Again, in time." Lucifer confirmed. It wouldn't give them information right away. Some of them would charge in blindly and get killed. "You will all need months before anything important is to be done. Practice with your weapons, not the instinctual use you all deferred during that first fight. You will need to harden at least a bit, get used to blood, gore, and the fact that death will be now more common. That and you may need magic, as well as connections. At least three months to get used to your new living arrangements, test your soft limits and make a few acquaintances is the bare minimum I'd recommend before doing more." Lucifer saw many of the humans grimacing, groaning and, despite themselves, nodding. All those that wanted revenge o n that woman at least. "So no. I will not give all of you information NOW, but in time."

Carlos took a second, then finally nodded. "That is enough. If we need to wait, we'll wait. But this WILL be done sooner or later."

At last. Lucifer smiled, happy to be done with this. He would've liked someone else to have asked something silly or superficial, but-.

"Wait! I have a question too." Mireya spoke, but in a way that made it clear she didn't really want to.

Gonzalo came next, clearly far less disturbed and more willing to prod. "Me too, if you don't mind me going first."

Lucifer felt obliged to warn them. Not because he WAS, but because by now Carlos looked annoyed. He was clearly willing to go along with Lucifer at this point, but now the fallen angel could not go along with someone being selfish or stupid and count on his target to go along with it without putting up a fight.

So, another go at 'being nice'.

"I think that is enough." Lucifer spoke as calmly as he could while letting his cane rest on the table. "I predict your questions will bring nothing else, or have a selfish motive. This would add more clauses to young Carlos' contract, and I don't think that'd be fair of me considering I am trying to be hospitable enough on my end."

"Let them."

The answer surprised Lucifer somewhat. Was the young man going to just play into his hand like that?

"Are you really willing to let them add more terms to our deal, just like that?" Lucifer asked in a more amused tone than surprised. Alastor himself looked on in interest, while Rosie seemed to be the least surprised of them all. "Far too much a willing sacrifice, aren't you?"

Carlos groaned, clearly aware of how much of a soft spot his family was on this one. "If they think this is needed, then they can ask. I may regret it later, but if it is only two more, then so be it. I am already at four anyway, what is two more?"

"I believe my dear Rosie warned you about this." Alastor couldn't contain a hearty laugh. "I recommend you keep her words close to your heart, my boy. Family may be important, but I know you are aware: It can also bring you pain… and use you."

"I have some of them pointing their weapons at us from Heaven." Carlos snapped, almost losing it for a second. At this point it was clear the day had been far too much for him, and probably everyone else in his family. "Sorry, sorry… Just… Let them ask their questions. Add more stuff. Get this over with."

Well, who was Lucifer to go against that plea? He nodded and pointed at Gonzalo, the glass ball illuminating with his face once more.

"I know this is probably a stupid question, but I need to ask." And Gonzalo seemed clearly apologetical, but his words did carry some urgency. "But since there are different Rings in Hell, is there any of them where we could, you know, work?" The question made almost everyone look at the young man funny.

Who the fuck asks for work to THE DEVIL? But Lucifer knew where the young man was going with this.

"Look, I said it was stupid, okay? But I have been working my ass off for years now. A lot of guys nowadays wouldn't want to, but I am sure me, my parents, even my sister, would prefer to get our hands dirty with something like fishing, or perhaps farmwork. My sister always wanted to own a piece of land." Gonzalo could be an asshole and crash, Lucifer had seen that, but he did care. "So yeah. Is there a Ring like that? Could we move there, perhaps? And I don't mean we'd stop giving Rosie and Carlos a hand, we promised. Just… it feels wrong thinking we won't be able to do that kind of thing anymore."

Lucifer sneered as soon as the young man was done. "Of course you feel wrong. Much like the instinct for combat, for killing, you have one for duty and work. Your whole side of the family will most likely feel 'wrong', perhaps even ill, if you don't get back to doing what you 'should' be doing at some point."

It felt wrong for Lucifer. He was a massive dick, and he wanted his minions working, but at least he allowed them the freedom to do whatever they wanted. And if they didn't want to work? Well, up theirs then! As wrong as it sounded, Lucifer gave (nearly) everyone a chance to do what they desired. If that conflicted with others, then they could work it out, and hopefully make it entertaining. Whether it was words, a fight, or an all out war, all Lucifer wanted was an act.

Still, better than Daddy Dearest. At least in his book.

But Gonzalo didn't have that luxury. Much like many of those bound to Heaven, they had to fulfill their purpose. Doing otherwise could end up badly for them, mentally speaking. It wasn't exactly good to see one of Hell's new denizens acting as if he had gone cold turkey when it had been only hours. Probably this was made worse by fulfilling 'part' of his role by fighting demonic entities while the other part of him likely felt there was no way to go back to the daily grind.

"But to answer your question: Yes, there is. Wrath is the Ring imps come from, and also Hell's bread basket. There won't be any fish there, but there is an ever expanding and very fertile land." Lucifer offered his most endearing and charming smile. It made him feel like a used car salesman, and he was not exactly opposed to it. "We could talk about details later, but I wouldn't be opposed to helping you and yours move there. I have a few reasons to do so, but they are my own. But as said: That is, of course, for later."

It pleased Lucifer to see that not only Gonzalo seemed to have relaxed, but also that Carlos himself was somewhat pleased. Gonzalo had shown a vitriolic personality that wasn't completely offensive, and he was important to Carlos, so having both of them not at odds for a stupid question that would land Carlos with a much more complex contract was appreciated.

"Now." Better not count his gains yet. There was another one that Lucifer pointed at. "Your question, my good Mireya?"

This one was going to be painful.

Not for Lucifer, no. Probably not for most. But it was going to make the woman miserable.

Lucifer could see it. She was biting her lip, clearly unhappy at what she wanted to ask, but obviously needing answers. Gonzalo's question was not important, but it wasn't also wholly selfish. Lucifer COULD have been nice and accepted the question as valid, but Carlos had given him green light to pile on him.

Mireya wasn't going to go that route. Her question was indeed selfish, but clearly necessary for her own mental health.

"If…" She gulped air as if she was about to suffocate. "If we did something because… because the Mark of Sin, that curse, did something to us… If we did something stupid…" Mireya gave him a pleading look that the fallen angel had seen many times. Regret. "Could it be undone?"

And Lucifer sympathized. He truly did. He was a wacky little son of a bitch, but he was not heartless.

His answer, however, was. Because truth cares not for feelings, and, sadly for the woman, Lucifer had seen this enough times to know that ripping the bandaid was the best, if most painful, way of getting this over and done with.

"No."

Truly, facts and reality are there just to hurt you. But they exist, and you must face them.

"I am sorry, but what is done is done." Lucifer added further as he saw the woman's tears begin to fall. "I have seen your soul, as I have seen all souls in here. Your actions, while pushed forth by a curse, were your own. Compulsion does not work if there is no desire to act behind them. Only a strong will can stop you from doing something you consider 'wrong', and you clearly lacked it."

Of all answers to his words a simple nod wasn't exactly what he expected. Not that Mireya seemed willing to give anything else, like, at all.

The mother of two just had one of her sons at her side, the other well and far away from her. Pablo was openly scowling at his mother while Ernesto was giving her mother a hug as the woman began to break down. There were varying degrees of pity, sympathy and other feelings directed at the woman, things Lucifer was aware would come in handy later. There were many 'what ifs', but Lucifer knew how to prepare for things, more so if those things screwed with those upstairs.

All he needed to mess with Heaven even more was time, and chance. He wasn't going to risk doing something stupid because Lucifer was aware that he held most of the cards here. These people would end up willingly fucking his Father over in some way, and Lucifer needed not do anything that harmed them, scared them or coerced them. Time and patience was all he needed.

Like it was paying right now as Carlos let out a sigh and a question. "Anyone else?"

He wasn't being rude to his aunt. He didn't want to ignore the fact that the woman was clearly suffering for a reason not everyone knew, or they didn't know the whole story. This was him trying to get to what could very well be too much for him to accept.

A contract was no laughing matter.

But Carlos seemed ready for it.

Lucifer knew he could've asked anyone that had gone to kill for Rosie. Manuel was a prime candidate. Carlos' parents, both of them, would've likely accepted. Mario and his sons were just as willing, as were Valentina, her husband and son. There were many whose blood boiled in a desire for revenge so deep that dealing with the Devil himself was no different than accepting Rosie's offer.

So why use Carlos?

In a word? Compromise.

With Carlos already damned no matter what it would antagonize everyone else, no matter how much or how little it would be, if Lucifer proposed to bind a new soul. In a way this would piss most of the family off too, but it would be the lesser of two evils.

Prideful Lucifer may be. Over his head he could act. But the man wasn't stupid.

"Let's get this done with." And Carlos demonstrated he had been right in doing what he had to this point. "You got six of those clauses, don't you? Let's see what you prepared."

"Gladly. Let's get down to business." Lucifer snapped his fingers once more.

This time there was no bright showmanship however, at least beyond the field dissipating. Instead, the crowd outside the now banishing field of silence was allowed to see AND hear as a simple piece of parchment unfurled in front of Carlos, growing larger and larger as it began to detail certain specifics.

Carlos, eyeing the words, began to read it aloud. There was a compulsion, yes, and Lucifer knew the young man had noticed as he glared Lucifer's way. This wasn't malicious however, only intended for the target to truly pay attention to the deal itself.

Again, contracts weren't the flimsy, vague things mortals put in their movies, comics and stories. There was power there, and it had to be respected.

In Hell you did not make a deal, or a pact, without putting some thought on it. They could be life ending or eternally binding with very little effort.

They could end your existence and anything beyond.

A contract could push that kind of punishment on everything you held dear. Lucifer knew the young man wasn't aware, but HE was, and HE wanted Carlos to pay attention. So if a little compulsion and a pissed off after effect was required, he'd bite the bullet.

So, with the table set, it began.

'This Contracts binds the parties (Lucifer Morningstar) and (Carlos Guerrero Manzanares) in a mutually agreed deal with the following rules and requirements:

Clause 1 - The mortal, Carlos Guerrero Manzanares, will pledge fealty to the fallen angel, Lord Lucifer, King of Hell, and the Royal Family above all else. In compensation the Royal Family will allow the mortal, and his relatives, to live within their territory. Duties and obligations come with this pledge and shall be observed and respected or face the most severe degree punishment, no matter whether the recipient of said punishment would be the mortal, the Lord of Hell, or his family.

Clause 2 - The mortal, Carlos Guerrero Manzanares, will serve dutifully as Overlord Rosie's Hunter until, if ever, released from his obligations, deals and pacts made. In compensation the mortal, and his relatives, shall be protected against deals and offers they themselves did not willingly commence. Coercion of any kind would require actions as demanded by Clause 1. Failure to commit to this clause will make the offending party subject to the most severe degree of punishment.

Clause 3 - The mortal, Carlos Guerrero Manzanares, is to join the ranks of Hell's Nobility through marriage. This requires the creation of a direct heir. In exchange the mortal, and his relatives, will be protected from direct attempts by Hell's nobility unless proper reasoning can be given to the Royal Family for conflict to be initiated. Duels, competitions and skullduggery is, as observed within Hell's noble acts, excluded from this protection.

Clause 4 - The mortal, Carlos Guerrero Manzanares, is to strengthen the presence of his blood within Hell in exchange for Lord Lucifer, King of the realm, to bestow boons. Mistresses are to sign this contract, with the mortal's consent, and with the ability, before producing offspring, to exchange their place with another of their kin. Mistresses will be awarded no noble status, but shall receive similar protection and privileges pertinent to their new position in Hell. Any attempt to break the bond, once finalized, or once a boon has been asked, by either party will result in summary execution for either the mortal, or the mistress.

Clause 5 - The mortal, Carlos Guerrero Manzanares, is to renounce any and all possible allegiance to Heaven publicly. This does include the following:

Administering or receiving help from Heaven's agents unless vetoed by Lucifer, Lord of Hell, himself.

Serving Heaven's interests in any way that does not further Hell's own desires and agenda.

Offering information or favors that have not been cleared by Lucifer, Lord of Hell, before the fact.

Any and all other possibilities that the Royal Family deems to be counterproductive to Hell's safety or functions.

Failure to comply will subject the mortal to extra clauses in the contract, to be added after the act, or punishment of a level dictated by the holder of this contract.

Clause 6 - The mortal, Carlos Guerrero Manzanares, is to accept any and all requests from Lucifer Morningstar, Lord of Hell, King of the Realm, above all others. This may include the following:

Recovery of items, artifacts or individuals.

Acquisition of power and connections.

Goods and services provided by the mortal's family and affiliates.

Any other retrieval objectives deemed worthy by the Royal Family.

Failure to comply will subject the mortal to extra clauses in the contract, to be added after the act, or punishment of a level dictated by the holder of this contract.

Minor breach of contracts will be dealt with according to each clause's details or at the offended party's discretion.

Any attempt to undo the contract without both parties' agreement shall be dealt with according to the law: The complete absorption of the contract breaker's soul and their powers.

By Lucifer's Law shall Heaven Fall.'

All words read, all requirements seen, Carlos looked at Lucifer.

"You may be the Devil, but by fuck you have brass balls between your legs."

His deadpan tone and even delivery elicited more than a single gasp, and the laughter of one particular Sinner sitting with them.

"Oh, my good man! Are you sure you are speaking about our Lord here, or perhaps yourself?" Alastor laughed wholeheartedly while Rosie went from a face of surprise to try and hide her tittering at her young new ward's behavior. Even Lucifer had to contain a chuckle or two as both Nathaniel and Stolas looked at Carlos with wide eyes. "I highly doubt most people would have the guts to speak to Lord Lucifer that way, my boy. At least if they want to live another day."

"Right now he could be God's big bad grandad, or whatever that asshole up there may have as an ancestor, if He even was one." The mirth began to die down when it was made clear Carlos wasn't exactly happy. You didn't need to be Lucifer to see it. "Have you made some of these to piss me off?"

At this Lucifer had to hum. Had he miscalculated? What could the young man mean? He wasn't going to let go of his words, this was meant to be countered by a scolding if nothing else. But that didn't mean he wanted to remain in the dark. The problem was how to approach the topic.

Enrique piped up with his information without Lucifer opening his mouth. "Youuuu should've thought about asking first. I mean, I know you are the Devil and all…"

To which Gonzalo explained further. "But you didn't have any reason to know our good cousin here hasn't had much luck with the ladies." And for once he was being serious without being a dick. "He was a romantic from age ten. He tried to get his other half for years, almost going so far as to let go of his pride with some of the girls… at least until he got stabbed in the back enough."

"Oh, 'luck' is not the word I'd use when describing anything he did with the ladies." Enrique frowned as a particular memory clearly crossed his mind. "More like a disaster. 'Stopping being romantic'? He stopped looking altogether, nearly didn't even look a woman's way after the last one ditched him after he went and hurt himself."

"Yeah, that was a massive dick move, and it is coming from me." Gonzalo grumbled. It was clear in Lucifer's eyes that the young man had a plan for that particular girl if he was to ever see her again. He opted to not delve on that particular character further, instead offering his own experience. "Not like we had any better time at all. We all got screwed over on that topic." Gonzalo added with a curt nod. "I think my last attempt got me kicked square between the legs. Wouldn't know since you assholes won't tell me why I woke up in the hospital."

Javier was next to add his piece. "I only tried three times. All of them were girls I liked, perhaps girls I would've truly loved in time." He frowned at this. "Last one 'accidentally' got me stabbed. And that wasn't the worst one either." The young man rubbed at his most recent knife wound. "I suppose that prepared me for today if nothing else."

There were a few other comments like that while Lucifer met Carlos' eyes. Of course, he had forgotten a very simple detail. The motherfucking Mark of Sin had decided to bite him in the ass in a very particular way.

It had grown powerful enough to all but thwart new births. An added effect would clearly be that of making more relations… difficult.

So he was willing to cleanly throw the young man a bone here. But not without making things perfectly clear. Perhaps not right now, but if Carlos decided to offer less respect than was expected with another part of the contract, then Lucifer was bound to bring the hammer down.

Doing otherwise would end up badly for the human, and turn into an annoyance to Lucifer for some time.

"I can see that the topic was perhaps not appreciated, and the clause less so." Lucifer let out a defeated sigh. "I will not be mad if you opt out of the fourth clause, but the third is there more for your own protection."

Lucifer saw it. Carlos wanted to say something, but he bit his tongue. The young man was emotional, and driven by very basic desires, such as anger, the desire for revenge, and rage. A life that should've been good, happy and perhaps even simple, instead of this 'most interesting' kerfuffle that he had been forced on him, had obviously made the young man someone that could easily hold a grudge. Perhaps forever, if he so wanted.

But he was also clearly educated in more than one way. Perhaps not book or street smart, but intelligent enough to absorb what was happening and act accordingly to his own, and his family's, advantage. He was also cordial if he wanted to, or if he felt the need. He showed respect, at least until he lost it for the ones he was talking with. There was no real simplicity to him, perhaps not so much by his nature itself but because of the things he had gone through.

Either way, he surprised Lucifer again when he spoke once more.

"I may very well do that, but I am curious about something else first." Carlos tapped the table with one finger, much the same as he was doing with one of his feet. The other side of him was poised at the ready, as if about to jump onto someone. It wouldn't surprise Lucifer if that had happened before. "Clause six." He said with a hard tone of voice. "Are you intending something with the bitch that sent us here?"

Lucifer hummed in surprise indeed as he gave the young man a thin lipped smile. Clever, or perceptive? Either way it was obvious he had seen something there. Lucifer knew he should've made it less obvious, but he had also thought he'd have more chances to include it, after all..

"I made more than twenty possible clauses in my short trip here, young Carlos." Lucifer admitted with a chuckle. "I am partially happy, but also disappointed, at how uneventful the questions were. I had truly expected for some among your family to ignore my warnings or be more selfish. I suppose reading one's soul does not mean you truly know what they'd do." The Devil smirked, not caring if the humans were glaring daggers at him. "But you are not wrong. I had intended you to deliver that woman to me, if at all possible. The power she stole has, well, 'matured', would be a good way to put it. It is not significant enough to care about it, but it HAS its uses. There are others out there like here, but she has all but asked to be hunted, so…"

"Take Clause 6 off." Carlos didn't know it, but Lucifer didn't exactly appreciate being interrupted. "You can glare at me all you want. You said I had one refusal, and I am asking for this one. Take 6 out of the contract."

Lucifer clasped his hands together, some of his mirth gone. He had expected Carlos to not make the same mistake again.

The Devil was not to be ordered, much less in that way, and in public.

"May I ask why?" A question that he saw everyone was curious about.

"I am going to be perfectly sincere here." Carlos took a deep breath, Lucifer could see the young man thought it could be his last. And, as he spoke, the Devil understood why. "I don't give a fuck about you being the ruler of Hell on this one."

Many demons began to talk. The most cautious patrons did their best to make it look like they weren't paying attention. Those that had less courage decided that paying early and ignoring the rest of their food or beverages was far safer.

The humans all had varying reactions, and those demons next to Lucifer, the lone angel included, looked at him intently.

Perhaps the 'ordering' bit was less, eh, 'problematic' than his disrespect now.

"I will give you the respect you are due. And I have no problem working for you and respecting your rule. I am not getting out of Hell anymore, I can accept that." Carlos went on after the moment of silence, everyone hanging to his words. "But you are asking me to go back on the deal I made with Lady Rosie. I am sure you can make her alter it, but if you do, this contract is void and null. I don't care what you offer and what threats you may want to use. I will deliver that woman to Rosie and only Rosie."

Lucifer hummed as he rested his chin on his hands. Okay, that was better. But Carlos had already messed up.

"Any… particular reason?" There was intrigue there. Why would the young man risk Lucifer's anger on this one? "You know you could have done this differently, don't you? Tried to avoid pissing me off and all."

Carlos didn't seem deterred. Instead he offered a question, not an answer. "You said you wanted to use her. How? Blood magic? Necromancy? Just siphoning her power or something the like?"

The fallen angel shrugged. He wasn't going to be forthcoming on this one, so Carlos would have to deal. "Something along those lines, yes."

"Well, that is not enough for me." Carlos' voice took a much darker humm as he offered Lucifer a clearly disturbed look.

The Devil had seen that while the fight was going on. Alastor hadn't been the only one watching the bloodbath before, and Lucifer had more discrete ways of doing so. Many in Carlos' family had let their frenzy show. Perhaps not to the point of being dangerous to neutral or allied parties, but they had gutted the Sinners worse than if they were animals.

That same look was now on the young man's eyes.

"You know what? Let me be sincere here. I never thought I'd say these words, but I will: I want to see the bitch's body cooked." Carlos growled, doing his best to retain what little control he had. "She had fucked with our lives, our FAMILY. She has KILLED us. I would bring her here, alive, just to see Rosie kick her in an oven and see her fucking skin melt. I want SATISFACTION, no matter how cruel or messed up it may sound, and the bitch suffering, or being reduced to a meal, is far LESS than she deserves."

For a second it looked like he was going to lose it. Carlos seemed to either regain control or, more likely as Lucifer looked at the young man's family, he saw the looks he was being given. It was a last second effort to not spill out everything he had thought of doing to the person responsible for his family's misery.

Unsurprising. Anyone could say a lot about demons and get it right, but Heaven's living weapons were no better. Carlos was extremely unstable, mentally speaking. Probably most of his family were no better. You just needed to find the weak point and then…

Snap.

There was a good reason to make a living weapon however. And as Carlos seemed to reign himself in, it was made clear. He was a person, and he had wants, desires and morals. All of these were far more flimsy than any normal human, much as The Order would love to say otherwise, but they were there to make them able to live among normal people.

His defenses were still weak however. As Carlos began speaking it was clear, if only at first, that he was picturing many things in his mind that would've made many of the cruelest demons blush.

"I promised Rosie that woman's power, whatever little traces she can take from it. Had I not done so, we would have reached an accord… but that is not the case." Carlos finished, the thin facade of a perfectly respectable and in control young man once more covering his features. "I… have a lot of doubts about the other clauses, but I will not break my deal with Lady Rosie. As I told her: We will use each other for our own goals, and I respect her sincerity when she offered me the deal. You said you had been checking on us while all that went down, and you tried to slip something past me. So that clause is not accepted."

It probably dawned on the young man too late, but Lucifer wasn't smiling anymore.

There were many reasons for these. The young man's disrespect for one, but also his volatility. Lucifer knew it would not be good, but perhaps the young man had gone way above and beyond his expectations. Poor risk assessment was a very big detriment, but Lucifer had worked with worse. Still, Carlos had stood his ground, even pushed back, so Lucifer needed to remind him

Although the Devil did think the young man had the biggest balls he had seen in a while. Not that it was necessarily a good thing.

"Seeing as you are done, let's dispel all doubts you may have. After all, you do want me to be clear, don't you?" Lucifer began, his hands rested on top of his cane as he laid it on his legs.

He was clearly less chipper now, but not necessarily angry. It would be far too obvious had Lucifer lost his patience for whatever reason. No. His problem here was another. It wasn't enough to bother him to the point of lashing out, but it was clear his more open persona was not fitting with what he wanted to share.

"I have a particular use for you. I wish for Heaven to look down and see your family thriving where they left all you to die. Your safety matters to me insofar as you can be an insult to those above, and because your abilities and attributes, if properly nurtured, put you above the common human being. One of you could easily take three to five normal humans at once. Powerful, but not incredible, and less than many demons." Lucifer pointed his cane at Carlos. "You all are useful to me in one way or another. But do not think this means you will be able to talk to me as you wish. I CAN be nice, and I can also be the worst thing you have ever encountered. Do try to keep me being the former instead of turning me into the latter, because I give one chance and one alone unless I have a good reason to change my mind for a second time. Got it?."

Carlos felt his blood run cold as Lucifer glared at him. It wasn't intended on Lucifer's side, but for a moment he let it show. He was the Lord of Hell, and HE could do as he pleased. This contract was him being nice, and he had gone so far as to make it a game with a single 'extra life'.

Lucifer was perfectly fine with being called out if he failed at something. It was how Carlos did it that was over the line. If you play the game, you play it for keeps, and the young man had lost his mask for a moment too long. That alone was an insult to Lucifer, who was willing to be magnanimous in 'defeat' beforehand. But if the young man wanted it that way, then Lucifer would provide.

"Do not be mistaken, Carlos. No human would be led by ME, of all people, to be paired with a Goetic demon of any status, disgraced or not, if I didn't want them for a particular purpose. That alone will grant you more than you think." Lucifer did not care to hide his favor, much like he hardly tried to obscure his displeasure. "I'll go even further and admit that this marriage I am proposing is indeed mostly for my own benefit, but I wasn't lying when I said it was for your protection. I can hardly go around helping someone without asking much, much more than I am going to demand of you. Bear in mind your primary use to me, unless you truly become something exceptional, which I will admit right now, I doubt, is to mess with my Father."

He was far from done. Lucifer used his magic to shut Carlos up before he spoke. "This marriage will mark you as a non issue to most Goetia and other demons of renown. A disgraced member of the nobility will grant you absolutely no resources, land, clout and means of threatening others' position" Lucifer expanded further. "And my favor to you will be seen as little more than investment. Which. It. Is. I intend for your family, your FUTURE family, to be of use to me. You're not the primary target. Keep that in mind. And I MEAN it. Do keep it in your thoughts, because if I have to remind you, even once, I may see it as you being unworthy of this attention. If that happens… Well, then maybe I'll decide that you remaining here, as you are now, was a mistake. Take it as you will."

That was it. That was all Carlos needed to know, and all Lucifer had to tell him.

Unsurprising, was it?

This did make Carlos push forth an expression that even Lucifer had difficulty reading. Was he angry or not? Was he going to give the Lord of Hell a piece of his mind, or was he going to take it and shut up? There were many things that could happen, but in the end pride didn't win this one.

Wrath did.

"Revenge never is without cost." Carlos frowned as his words fell, hollow and cold. That mood quickly got thrown away as a more neutral mood took over. "I gather you at least would have a modicum of care for my supposed future family?"

Lucifer grinned at this. "I want them healthy and willing to serve me, so at least I promise not to be too much of a dick."

"I suppose that may be the best I can hope for?"

Resignation was very much clear in the young man's voice. Carlos didn't seem opposed to Lucifer's plans, or at least he wasn't unwilling. Unhappy? Sure, but Lucifer could work with that.

Lucifer didn't hide the fact that, yes, this was a thing he wanted. "I am offering your future family a much better chance and possible positions than most. Perhaps nothing truly cozy or safe, but this is a privilege almost no one will ever get. That is just how much I want to screw with those past the fucking Pearly Gates, more so considering I have few chances to do it without getting pestered."

Carlos could only grimace. Still, Lucifer knew he wasn't wholly against it. "Just don't go around hoping I am going to churn out an army for you or anything like that. You only asked for other demons to put their name on that contract, not that I should go all the way."

Now that was funny, and Lucifer laughed at that. A genuine laugh in fact. That came perhaps as a surprise, but Lucifer had good reasons to do so. After all, Wrath was not this man's only Sin.

"Oh please. Don't act innocent with me, Carlos. I am the motherfucking DEVIL." Lucifer smirked at the face Carlos was sporting. The blush was beyond clear. "You may be uncomfortable, you may be angry, but you are not only a wrathful little thing, but a lustful one too. A few of your cousins are on the same boat. And now that you can look at things with the supposed perfection my Father intended? Oh, I believe many of you will not care that you are surrounded by a different species when it comes to carnal desires." Lucifer couldn't help it. He laughed as some of Carlos' cousins either looked away or coughed. Despite everything else a bit of humor always helped matters.

And while both Overlords at his side tittered, Lucifer knew full well how little Alastor cared for this topic. He better close the deal as soon as he could. Alastor being here was needed for the final task he had in mind.

"Besides. Lustful or not, Gonzalo brought up an important point with his question: There are 'directives' all but burned into your genes." Lucifer once again had to wonder who had the massive brass balls to do these kind of things and consider Heaven to be 'good'. Then again, Order, and the safety it promised, didn't exactly bring freedom, did it? "The desire to sire children. To have a family. All you need is to find a few girls that won't screw you over. Should be far easier in Hell of all places, at least when compared to what luck you had in the mortal world with that curse on you."

That made Carlos humm. It was a way to calm down and also have a second to ponder his question. "Wouldn't I be able to make a short trip to find a human partner then? Out of curiosity, mind you. At this point I think I just don't care."

At that question, and Carlos' attempt at deflecting, Lucifer shook his head. "I'd love to do that. I know you won't understand why, so let me explain." Lucifer brought the crystal ball, still present, in front of Carlos. There he saw an image forming. "You, or your family, interbreeding with demons? Your blood will thin, young man. The Holy power in there is carefully kept through Heaven's actions and very methodical management on Heaven's part. Your children's children, and those after, will, in time, lose it, even if they, by their species, will continue to be stronger than normal so long as your bloodline continues. That is why I expect you to have an extended family: You may have had very bad experiences, but I know, for a fact, that there is a biological clock ticking inside of you, and it will drive you insane if you don't fulfill its commands."

The image within the crystal ball began with a caricature of Carlos' head. The image became small as it panned out, like a zoom, showing Carlos' small avatar was connected to his parents, with his father having a line in blue too, same as anyone the crystal ball showed and was tied directly to The Order, with the blue glowing more or less according to the strength of the blood they carried.

Carlos' avatar became the focus again, until another avatar appeared at its side. It was a bird-like face, a caricature, much like Carlos' own, with a small crown on top. This new avatar created another line, one of dull red that connected to Carlos' blue, then split downwards. A third, smaller avatar grew between the two lines, and it, too, grew its own, this time with a duller, but still prominent, blue.

A massive hypothetical branch of the family grew then, almost overwhelming Carlos with more connections to him, more children, and a huge variety of lines and colors that would've made an epileptic fall to the ground with a massive seizure. The young man managed to follow it though, at least as best as he could, and the hints were direct enough to tell the story as Lucifer had said it would be: Generations down the line, who knows how long in the future, the blood of The Order would be almost gone. Perhaps not completely, but it would be minimal at best.

As far as Carlos was concerned? It could fucking go away right now, but it was that link to Heaven that made his family worth something, so it had use, for the momment.

"Personally I would appreciate it if you got a human girl to continue your line." Lucifer hummed as the crystal ball finally vanished. "But if you were to bring a human here in a, shall we say, 'less than legal method', even if she wanted to, there'd be a lot of angels visiting us. None of them would be in any rush to help YOU, if you understand. And the girl wouldn't be protected the same way you would because the apostasy took place BEFORE she joined, thus she wouldn't be considered part of the 'deal' as it were. In fact every single angel would probably consider her a betrayer to God directly by association and go for the poor girl."

It didn't surprise Lucifer when more than one voice spoke up. None of them are happy. There were a few demons that laughed at their outrage, but most of the patrons didn't have any desire to prod the people that were still ARMED with Holy weapons.

But Lucifer had to admit, it was rather funny. It may've been less than a day, but these people had to catch on. Heaven was chock full of hypocrisy once you looked deep enough.

"There ARE many ways to have any human fall in Hell, willingly or not, and be ignored, do not be mistaken." Lucifer's tone sent a clear warning. "Heaven may say many things, but they won't care that much if demons intervene in Earth's affairs because they too break these rules constantly, the hypocrite little shits. The problem lies in more humans being born in Hell in this case." He hummed for a second. This was better answered before anyone else asked. "And no, Sinners do not count. They are 'dead', and as such cannot conceive… normally. There are ways, but your child would not be 'human' per se."

With very little desire to explain further, Lucifer just gave the mortals the most basic information. "Suffice to say that you adding more humans for this purpose would be a headache for me to deal with, and a quick end to most of you in the process. I can play the tightrope act and keep you alive, but there are certain rules I cannot mess with, even if I'd like to. So, if any of you wants to have a human sweetheart, or have another child between those already paired here, you'll need to go topside again. If not? You'll have Cambions, because demon pairing is the only way to go."

Carlos looked back at his parents. Of all present, and considering the things they had found out, they may be one of the few willing to still have more children. As for his cousins? They'd need to talk about that in private, later.

Lucifer wasn't going to pry, or push for people to leave Hell. As much as he'd love to have more and more bastard children of The Order populating Hell, he wasn't going to force Carlos into any other arrangements. That'd be his prerogative, and Lucifer counted on enough members of his family wanting to move to make it worthwhile.

A lot of children would be born anyway, so long as they all lived long enough. The long game wasn't exactly something Lucifer was bad at, after all. He had a lot of practice, willing or not. The Lord of Hell had time, a looooot of time.

The mortals, on the other hand, didn't.

A quick tap of his cane made Carlos turn back to face him once more. "Let me share another thing. A particularity you may be interested in. The reason as to why contracts aren't used as much as your everyday deal."

Carlos frowned. Not out of anger or anything like that, Lucifer knew. It was mostly out of confusion. "What reason could there be?"

"My connection to you via contract will be tenuous at best. We'll be linked, but not by much more than most demons are connected to me, be it Sinners or the hellborn. In your case it is necessary because you could try and fuck me over if I don't put safeguards in place. Would you really try? I don't know, but I prefer to cover my ass. With that done, I won't shove my cane where it doesn't shine so long as you don't do something stupid." Lucifer knew Carlos, and everyone else, would breathe in relief at that. Rosie, however, could only feel glee. This was as big an endorsement as she could get for her own deal. "The connection between you and Rosie? That will be stronger. This means that Rosie will TAKE part of your power, young man."

"Part of my power? As in my strength?" Carlos asked with a clearly unsure tone and expression.

"Yes, and more." Lucifer hummed as he brought the contract to his hand. "Our dear Lady Rosie will not need to sign, because you already have a deal with her and Hell's rules will identify the second clause in this contract and act accordingly. As soon as you sign this you'll give away part of your raw strength, your knowledge, your everything, to Lady Rosie. She holds your soul and the highest claim to all that you are. With this contract, should she need it, she'll borrow it when required, for she is above you and you are her servant. Willingly, legally, and contractually obligated in all aspects, that is what a deal is, and what a contract enforces even beyond this already powerful link."

A nod, a thought, and Carlos' eyes widened. "Wait… would that mean I'd be able to do that to whoever else signs the contract under me? Those… mistresses, as you put it?"

"Correct." Lucifer twirled the contract in the air for effect, giving the young man a toothy grin. "From your soon to be wife to whoever else signs this contract and becomes a mistress to you, they will be bound to YOU, not Lady Rosie. While Rosie would be awarded a small amount if she ever needed it, the one to be given a chance at greater power would be you."

As he saw Carlos' gears begin to turn, Lucifer knew he had gained the young man over. It wasn't the carnal desire what got him, funnily enough. Most humans would've been both delighted and frightened at the idea of an harem. The former because fantasies are something that sometimes drives humanity, the latter because fantasies made manifest are, more often than not, far more fearsome than you'd ever give them credit for.

But no, it wasn't just Carlos' lust that got him. It was his primary, if still far away, objective: Revenge.

Power was required to hunt the sorceress.

Power was needed to make the bitch pay.

More power, faster growth, meant he would need less time to put that woman down and finally keep his family safe.

Small sacrifices to make, if you put yourself in his shoes. Or at least Lucifer thought that was the reason.

There were caveats, of course. "You won't meddle on this, right? Beyond the wife thing I mean. And that is already far too much for my taste." Carlos wouldn't budge on that one. Lucifer could respect that. At least this time he didn't say too much.

"I swear I shan't do anything. I won't even meddle when it comes to whatever Goetia is to be wed with you. In fact." Lucifer waved ever so slightly Stolas' way. "I am sure Stolas' wife would be able to use her many connections to find someone suitable."

Stolas, who had been about to take another drink of his recently requested coffee, almost blew it away. Luckily for the young Prince, and everyone in the arc of fire that, luckily, didn't happen, he controlled himself.

"Me, my Lord?" Stolas let out some kind of owlish sound in surprise and doubt. "I am… surprised you'd request my family's involvement."

"You brought me to this discovery. It is only fitting that you get some kind of reward, and power begets at least a modicum of responsibility." Lucifer hummed a chuckle. "Rosie herself will be granted a boon of some kind, even Alastor here will get a small favor from me once we close this deal. I need someone to help me make everyone aware of the contract… I'd HATE to be involved in some Overlord's petty war if they tried to get themselves human souls that are already owned."

"I see…" Stolas sent the young man a look before focusing back on Lucifer. "Any other reason I should be aware of, my liege?"

"There are many I could ask for magic tutoring, but you are a most level headed noble in the land of pricks I rule, and also profficent at using your knowledge for more than fucking around. That, and I know well enough you'll be able to stand this particular duty through the years if necessary." Lucifer was very matter of fact on this one. There was very little reason to hide the truth. "I trust you will have patience with those willing to learn. And, unlike many others, you won't just 'do away' if someone doesn't have any magical aptitude. Even with punishment coming if they did something stupid I know many of the Goetic demons would act out of their first instinct."

Stolas could only nod. That was very much true. In fact there was someone that would do exactly that in his house. "I'll tell my wife to tone down her… usual acts, then. When should these lessons start?"

Lucifer needed not think. "Next month. I want all present to get used to Hell first, then get everything they need in order. I'll be in contact with Rosie to help develop their home, this… Tower. That is fine?"

"Of course, Lord Lucifer." Rosie nodded eagerly. Less resources she needed to pull from thin air meant more time she could use planning how to employ the new members of her clique. "All help will be appreciated. More so if you wish to help us start a little mining operation within the magical construct. I am told there are at least some resource nodes we could use for many things, including enriching each other."

"Good. I'll see that all you need is delivered. It would further increase production and give everyone a way to adhere to your deal if someone doesn't want to dirty their hands." Then Lucifer pointed his cane at the next Overlord in line. "Alastor?"

"Oh, the privilege of taking Miss Killjoy's spotlight when it comes to this event is already a pleasure, my good man." Alastor smirked, his eyes turning for a second, not long enough for the humans to notice, but Lucifer saw it clear as day. "And using MY radio broadcast instead of that detestable Vox's means? A delight, I assure you."

"A pleasure, as always. In fact I'll do you one better there, friend. After all, and considering some topics I talked about earlier, I know someone you'd LOVE to have for dinner." Lucifer could hardly keep his smirk down at Alastor's equally bloodthirsty grin. "I think that should be a nice gift for this particular bit of help, and a cruel, but fitting, punishment for that bastard. It would truly make me feel better after today's spiel." Finally, he faced the lone angel in his presence. "As for you…"

Nathaniel, having remained largely neutral until now, barely reacted. "I hope you aren't about to offer me something."

"Just my condolences. And for once, I am sincere when I say that to an angel." Lucifer spoke candidly, though not without mirth. "The moment you go back to Heaven you are going to get shafted. I hope you know that your good intentions are going to land you in really hot water."

The angel took a second, but in the end he couldn't hide a smile, then a chuckle. Despite everything he had been told, and the mistakes he had made, mistakes likely no angel, original and ancient or new and ascended from a human soul, could have avoided, he had succeeded.

Lucifer wouldn't call it success in front of him, considering the fucking mess he had ended up creating for him, but it was success. In the end he had made things a bit more complicated, but it was also worthy of praise considering it gave Lucifer an excuse to make his move earlier and granted him the chance to slap some sense on the family. Maybe that way none of them would die.

…

Perhaps he had to lower his expectations. Lucifer was sure not all of them would remain as they were by the end of the year. It was virtually impossible for many reasons. He would say nothing, but he was sure some of the mortals were already thinking about that uncomfortable truth.

"I suppose that is the best I can hope for. For all my misgivings I must admit this ended better than I had hoped." Nathaniel sighed as he looked upwards, and it wasn't to enjoy the decor. "I wonder how bad it is going to be."

"They are going to land your ass in jail, hard." Lucifer smirked. There was no doubt in his mind. "Perhaps a few months while they think about what to do about you. Technically speaking this is a minor rule breaking, since you didn't take action against the family when it is the duty of their own blood within The Order, but you shouldn't have helped, in any way. None of this is newsworthy, I know, but this should only mean a slap on the wrist for you. That, and constrained freedom, but you won't be kicked out, if that is what worries you."

"I never expected much better, or worse." Nathaniel finally let go of whatever apprehension he was holding within. He just got up and gave those present a nod. "But I have been delaying this for a while now. I should've left once I ensured everyone was as safe as it was going to get."

Lucifer pushed the young angel down with his cane. "Wait a second. I agree we are almost done here, but we still have one final matter to go through before you leave. Better do so with all of this done and over with so you have everything you may want to share with your 'co-conspirators' after all."

Perhaps Nathaniel had been the one to ask, maybe Stolas, or even Alastor, but Rosie did have a glint in her eye the moment Carlos tensed up and blurted the words.

"You mean our signatures, right?"

Because Lucifer's smirk couldn't be wider.

"... You mean OUR signatures. Right?"

Instead of answering right away, Lucifer just gestured. It came to no surprise who he motioned to, nor did he hope to hide it from those watching. Only someone willingly ignorant of the head honcho around these parts wouldn't have caught on.

After all, why would Lucifer keep things quiet from those outside, but include three random demons on it all?

"I think we have three candidates right here already, don't you agree?" Lucifer wanted so badly to laugh at Carlos' befuddled expression as the three women approached. "Do you really think I allowed three strangers into this conversation for no reason? I could have had them wait outside, or deliver whatever info Rosie wanted out of them, then have them excuse themselves. You may catch on quickly for some things, but you have tunnel vision, young man."

Carlos sat there, mouth agape, as he looked at his side and at the three women.

His eyes nearly overflew with anger as he turned to face Lucifer once more. The Devil wouldn't have had it any other way. Now that he knew of this particular tidbit it was easy to plan accordingly.

"What kind of game is this?" He growled as his hands gripped at the table. It was minute, but what lies beneath a normal looking young man was seen as soon as the sturdy table began to crack. "I thought I was to give my 'go ahead' for anyone that was to sign that. Don't think that being promised some extra strength is going to sway me."

Gonzalo didn't miss a beat. "Nor will some nice ass move him either!"

"Gonzalo! Shut the fuck up!" Carlos nearly broke his neck, that fast was his turn around, before he returned to the matter at hand. "Tell me why I should agree with this one."

Lucifer made it as if he was offended. "You are asking ME? Why not them? Maybe you didn't see it, my good Carlos, but there was interest there. Why? How? That is what you want to know, is it not? If you want sincerity…" Lucifer made a gesture to the three ladies next to them. "Ask them."

It could be said that most people are able to tell much of a person by their eyes. The minute details seen in their movement, how they look at people, if they make eye contact or not…

Perhaps that was one of the reasons Rosie had been draw to the young man, or so Lucifer thought.

There was indifference, fear and even lust and hate in most mortals here today, Lucifer could see it clear as day. But there was little curiosity, and far less determination. Of those present, without negative intent, and ignoring Carlos, Lucifer could count the ones with an unbound desire to do whatever was necessary with one hand, and perhaps he'd still have a finger to spare. Chief among them was Manuel, and next was Juan.

Carlos was the wildcard of the bunch, and it took Lucifer no effort to know that. Souls could tell sins, not stories, although every sin was indeed a story to tell, and something that spoke volumes of every person and their mental weights. But no, Carlos' problems were more apparent than the young man thought.

And now that Lucifer knew he had probably suffered the most with a particular side of the Mark of Sin? It surprised him how eager he had been in dealing with Rosie.

Or perhaps not.

Carlos had been sincere in saying Rosie had been direct, and Rosie had this quality about her that made people trust the woman. Sometimes a fatal mistake, but she was capable and experienced, both as a hunter and as a charismatic talker. It probably didn't help that an angel had been there with them all to give some sense of security before the whole situation was made clear.

Whatever remained of the curse likely didn't help. Yes, the members of this family had fought not long ago, for their life in this case, and they had done so in Hell. Even back when humans had no chance whatsoever that had been a thing, and those fights had devolved into cruel and disgusting affairs that, admittedly, had pleased Lucifer immensely. He could be a friendly, funny guy, but he was also callous and very much wrong in the head, at least by human standards. Still, this meant he knew when someone was mentally ill, and Lucifer had seen more than one of Carlos' relatives give in to a brief form of insanity that had nothing to do with what their blood should influence in them.

Perhaps Lucifer should have at least a little bit of care. He knew nothing wrong would happen now, but it was also blatantly obvious the man's own sanity was hanging by a thread. Hate could do many things to you, few of them good, if you didn't know how to control it. Contrary to popular belief: There were no bad emotions, only emotions that you allowed control of your mind and body.

So maybe, just maybe, Lucifer had added a certain clause for more than one reason. He didn't want the young man dead, and Lucifer knew, perhaps better than anyone else, that a good woman, or a few, could keep a man's sanity in check.

Not that he'd tell anyone that was part of the reason. Who was he to give a shit after all?

"So I can't think of anything else to ask." Carlos finally spoke up, bringing Lucifer away from his musings as he saw the man's brow furrowed. "Stupidly forward it is: What do you want from this?"

Well. Where the fuck was the tact then? Lucifer had seen the man had it somewhere. WHERE WAS IT!?

Luckily for Lucifer's plans, the women didn't seem bothered by it. In fact it was the loan shark the first to speak.

"Returning the favor, for one." She spoke with a grimace. "Look, don't get me wrong. I don't know what humans find attractive, but you aren't exactly that endearing to look at. I have seen buff guys I may have hit if I was in the mood, but you aren't one of them."

"Ouch." Carlos, surprisingly enough, smiled. "I have been told worse, and that was when I was in tip top shape." He waved clear concern on the three girls away. "Go ahead, be direct. It is the least I expect."

"Fine, so if it isn't looks that bring me here, what is it?." Leonor grumbled. "You may say I don't owe you anything, but that is YOU saying it, and I don't give a shit about that. I owe you, I feel like I owe you, and I hate OWING people. I much prefer it the other way around." Her tail swished from side to side. Lucifer had the smallest of worries that her attached blade would do something he'd need to solve. "Look, I just want this debt off my back. This is an easy way since we don't need to do anything and I am sure there'd be more of my kind that would jump at the chance for some cozy position here. I aim just to be safe in the meantime and find a spot here with Overlord Rosie, if she finds me useful. As to what I can do? Killing, overseeing underlings and general heist planning and execution as well as general racketeering. Standard stuff, if you ignore the fact I also make sure my people tend to survive while our opposition does not."

Carlos nodded, giving Rosie a quick look. Lucifer saw the intrigue in the woman's eyes, similar to Alastor's mirth. Leonor was very much ruthless, and clearly she had decided to survive, no matter what she had to do. Even in Hell you'd have to look hard for someone that was willing to go this far.

She could very well be asked to do anything by Carlos. Maybe the human didn't know that much, or didn't care to know since he had been explained how deals worked, if briefly, but he had the power to do with Leonor whatever he wanted if she signed.

But he wouldn't. Lucifer knew the young man wasn't that kind of person. In a sense it was relieving, in another it was a bother. Doing what needs to be done means far more than just killing your enemies.

"That is all then?" Carlos gave Leonor a critical glare that the woman didn't break. "What say you, Lady Rosie?"

Had it been someone else, even many of her underlings, Rosie would've been surprised at being asked. Lucifer knew that with Carlos it was a mite different. There was no deferring to her because of her power or fear, but because the young man had given her real respect. It was endearing in a way, and Rosie did find pleasure in having someone with such loyalty under her wing, if her smile was any indication.

"I think you could do much worse, my dear." Rosie hummed as she eyed the woman up and down. "A bit dirty and worse for wear, yes, but she'd be fine. I can appreciate a professional enforcer, even if she was used against me in the past. Perhaps in time she'll grow on you or, if not, I do think I can employ her. This would anger a particularly nasty fellow I know, so it would be win-win for us."

Apparently that is all Carlos needed to know. He nodded and agreed. "Then I think that is good enough for me. So long as you respect my family, you are in, Leonor." The demoness gave a curt nod before Carlos turned his head to face the imp. "What about you?"

Zana gave a quick shrug. "Much like Leonor here." The imp didn't exactly hide her disdain. "Sorry bud, but you aren't exactly catching ma eye. You are flabby, you didn't have the best moves when killing those Sinners and you are crazier than even some of my family 'n' buddies back in Wrath." She gave Carlos a onceover. "But I can see there was something else there. I have seen quite a few people that lost form for one reason or another. You got chubbier?"

"Muscular tear. Considering how fast you two seem to have recovered, it wouldn't do much to you. To me? It messed me up." Carlos explained as he procured a phone from his pocket. A moment of searching later he went on. "Tore away at my arm and back years ago. Here, this is what I looked before I messed up and became a lazy slob."

A simple toss after he got the picture he wanted, then he waited.

Lucifer had only mid curiosity, but he wasn't going to spy on the imp as she looked at the image, then her eyes widened before she shared it with Leonor. Even Evenilde was looking after a while, curiosity clearly getting the best of her.

"Okay, I may change my mind here." Leonor had zero shame after looking back and forth a few times. "This could change things."

"Oh, so you want me for my looks?" Carlos couldn't help but chuckle. "I am most offended, my dear."

Zana gave in to her childish antics as she poked her tongue out at the man. "Why? Not like you aren't eyeing us like a hungry wolf."

"Hah, GAYYYYYYYY!"

"GONZALO!" Carlos faced his cousin and, for once, Lucifer was grateful the young man had enough self control to not do a stupid. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Zana didn't seem all that bothered. "Well, the dick is not exactly wrong." She shrugged in fact, clearly unbothered. "Technically I was born a 'guy'. I mean, word is intersex? Or hermaphrodite? Fuck, watever, I dunno. Heck, it is not much of a problem down here, but there are still those that dislike people like me. Can't please everyone 'n' stuff."

Carlos let out a sigh as he saw his cousins clearly had grown far more calm. It was probably a shock to them just how quickly something like a bloodbath could just be forgotten? Lucifer knew it likely was worse than that. And it was probably not really gone, not yet.

But right now? Right now they could laugh, and he saw no reason to rain on their parade.

"Look, I don't care." Carlos turned again to face the imp. "Lucifer here may've been speaking out of his ass." And again, Lucifer could only feign mock injury and insult. This time it was all in good fun despite the tone Carlos used. No need to be serious all the time after all, more so when the deal was almost done with. "But I am a bit of a pervert, yes. So long as you don't expect me to catch, got it? I just pitch."

Zana arched an eyebrow. "Didn't think you'd have certain predilections, man."

"We just met and we are 'technically' going to get contractually married. You not knowing is the least messed up thing ever." Carlos grumbled a bit under his breath. "Look, I am attracted to femininity, okay? I am not the most super straight person, but I wouldn't ever be, in a serious way I mean, with someone I couldn't have a kid with. Some fun? Sure, but you need to look and sound like a girl or I am not interested in having some 'fun' with you."

The imp frowned as she rubbed her throat. She didn't sound like a man as she once did, but she was clearly not all woman in there. The comment, Lucifer could see it in her eyes, had touched a nerve.

"Don't you worry about that." But Carlos seemed able to use tact when needed once more. That, or he really didn't want to be an asshole. A rarity in Hell sometimes. "It is all superficial, okay? Besides, you said so yourself. Like Leonor, you are here 'for now'. Maybe you'll change your mind, maybe not. So let's focus on what you can do since you also want to work for Lady Rosie and that may be a bit harder to pass around than this position on that contract."

Zana let out a grimace, but yeah. They had been the ones to play the 'looks' card first, right? Give and take. A common thing in Hell after all. Lucifer would say this was probably the most normal interaction between two parties so far, at least for those native to his domain.

"Am a mechanic, as I hinted at back out there." Zana finally spoke after she returned the phone to Carlos. The other two women awwing at the act. Apparently they had been looking through more photos as the conversation dragged on. "I repair, I maintain, I customize. My baby was a refurbished old hunk of junk I made into a getaway vehicle with a heavy machinegun and armor. Hadn't I done so, I doubt Leonoer would've made it here. Fuck, I had to use it as a home for a time, so I myself owe it my life."

Carlos winced. "And considering you didn't make it here with it…"

"The fuckers that were going to do us in shot at it, threw bombs and it and did everything they could to fuck it up." Zana grumbled, her fangs clear on display. "So I am both without a home and an old friend. Would love to make another just to run those fuckers over as many times as I could."

Rosie let out a humm to attract the duo's attention. "What is your knowledge on vintage vehicles?"

"Sufficient, but probably not as good as you'd like." Zana opted to be sincere and straightforward. "But give me a place to learn and enough spares to practice with and I can make a lot of them work and sound as you want while having the same horsepower as many modern vehicles if needed be. You'd probably need a few extras to keep performance, but it'd work with the aesthetics of the place without compromising functionality or needing higher tech in general. Wouldn't be the same as tuning up a modern car, but you'd be surprised how far a few touches can go."

A moment to mull it over, and a glance at Alastor, seemed to be enough for Rosie. "I see nothing wrong with the girl either, Carlos."

"Then that is that." And Carlos, once more, deferred to his new mistress.

It surprised Lucifer how easily the mortal took Rosie's word. That woman had a way to make others eat from her palm with little effort. Hopefully, as much as it seemed to help, it wouldn't antagonize the family in the future. Problems with the Overlord was not something Lucifer wished to encounter if the family got divided for whatever reason.

"But what about you?" Carlos finally turned to face Evelinde. This time there was less direct confrontation and suspicions on the young man's voice, and Lucifer knew why. "I owe you one. You saved my cousin when you shouldn't have, but you are also already working under Rosie. Not only that: I did get in the way of that light, whatever it was. I see no debts or desire for anything, unlike Leonor and Zana here."

Lucifer was not familiar with the woman. All he had been privy to, after he started checking on this situation was that Evelinde, much like Leonor and Zana, had one particularity in common with each other, and Carlos. But that was for later when Stolas asked about it, for he was sure the Prince would catch on soon enough.

That aside, Lucifer was aware on the surface when it came to her exploits and personality. You didn't oversee the whole place and have a mountain of information, only to be unaware of some of the more prominent members each Overlord had. True that sometimes these figures sometimes changed very fast due to circumstances (Death being the most common), but as much as Lucifer liked chaos, one had to be informed at all times.

So yes, he wasn't an expert on Evelinde's way of acting, but a blush was surely not the thing one'd expect to see from the woman. A quick glance to the side and Lucifer was met with a Rosie that badly hid away her chuckles.

Now, Lucifer wasn't one to put someone on the spot when he wanted things like this to go smoothly. Alastor however was a massive troll. "Anything you'd like to say, my dear?"

"Oh, nothing Alastor, nothing." Rosie did her best to keep her composure. "But… well. Did you say you helped Evelinde, Carlos? With what in particular?"

The young man turned to face Rosie, then shrugged. "I don't know what it was. A light of some kind came from up high, straight for Evelinde. She had helped Ander, and I knew it was likely very stupid, but it wasn't like I thought about it much." Carlos let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I just got in front of it and blocked the light with my blade. I am pretty sure that doing that kind of stuff wasn't normal on my end."

"Most likely not." Rosie tittered at the idea. "Perhaps one of the many flying demonic creatures did something, or someone saw the carnage and wanted to add more to it. Whatever the case, your blessed weapon deflected that light, did it not? It seems your instincts did most of the work there." Carlos gave a quick nod. He was perfectly aware that he couldn't have consciously stopped whatever it was, unless it had been a fluke, so his 'natural skills' were probably to thank for this one. "So… Evelinde, my dear. This is very much like some of those books of yours, isn't it? A strong knight in shining armor protecting a maiden, perhaps?"

Evelinde played with her mask as she clearly deemed it a mistake to go uncovered once more. Lucifer had to admit the young demon had beauty to her, but there was more to it than that. Rosie wouldn't have just a beautiful face anywhere near the top if they weren't worth her time.

She also wouldn't allow them to play around when she wanted something of them. Rosie cleared her throat the moment Evelinde almost hid behind her mask, making it clear the Overlord didn't want any of her usual shenanigans or games.

"Out with it, girl." Rosie prompted with a malicious smile. "The young man asked you something, didn't he? And I personally want to know if I am right. So come on, go ahead." Rosie put more emphasis as she spoke again. "Answer us."

Had it been someone else, Lucifer would've thought the poor demoness would bite her own lip off. But those in the Cannibal Colony knew far better than most demons just how much you needed to pierce skin. Still, it did create a trickle of black blood when Evelinde bit down, something that she cleared away before she decided it was best for her to answer.

"My Lady is right." She allowed herself to say at last. A heavy sigh on her voice and an embarrassed expression marking her face. "This is… well, like some of my books." From somewhere on her person Evelinde produced a small book. A hard cover little thing with some title Lucifer didn't manage to catch. She clutched it to her chest like her life depended on it. "I love fantasy books and romance novels. Everyone is allowed to have their little things, no?"

Carlos seemed unable to quickly process this. All he managed to blurt out was. "You think this is out of some kind of romance book? The blood, the gore, and this mess look fitting on one?"

"Well, why not?" Evelinde giggled as she pawed at her book with a smile. "Not a textbook example, no… at least from the mortal world. But you did save me before, and you did it by risking your own life. Do you know how many would have done that around here?"

There was no need to answer. No one here, not even Rosie, would've done it when she stepped out of line. Maybe if they felt particularly nice, or they thought there was no real risk to their lives. It was an easy way to get a debt out of someone, not so much morally, but physically, considering you proved their own life hanged by a thread if you so willed.

Evelinde went along as Carlos found no answer. "Yes, you were tasked with bringing Leonor and her friend here by our dear Lady Rosie, but you had no obligation to me. I acted on my own and should have died for it." For a moment Evelinde looked like she was about to swoon. Swoon. Had Lucifer seen that on many demons, other than his wife and daughter? The young demoness didn't stop there. "Perhaps you are opposed to the idea of romance, having seen such bad luck in your attempts as we were so nicely informed. But I have risked my life for that desire, for what I thought was love, many times. All of those times I tried, I was betrayed, and it ended in death every single time… but not mine. Despite that, despite the many failures, I am willing to try once more. After all, I am pretty sure the same dangers I had to go through before don't apply with you."

Lucifer saw how Carlos had to fight the desire to pinch the bridge of his nose. "And the fact that you are supposed to be a mistress doesn't deter you one bit?"

"This is Hell, my dear." Evelinde giggled. "I don't mind sharing, so long as I come first. I may be a 'mistress', but I would fight for first place."

Well. What was there to be said about this mess? Lucifer was doing his best not to laugh at the development while Stolas looked at the debacle unable, or unwilling, to say a thing. Nathaniel himself remained neutral, although Lucifer knew the young angel had a few words if he was to be asked.

Alastor and Rosie? They were very quiet as they spoke.

"Has your dear girl ever had a good experience with romance?" Alastor whispered as he kept his eyes glued on this trainwreck.

"She has had many suitors. Evelinde herself sought out a few of her own interests." Rosie answered back with the same barely heard voice. "As it tends to happen with many of us, it was as if two spiders met. Only difference is that females don't have the size advantage."

Alastor laughed softly as he sent Rosie a look. "Not like you need it, my dear. Not like you need it."

"Perhaps." Rosie's toothy grin told her friend all she needed to. "But last time my dear Evelinde almost got herself in real trouble. I am surprised her 'fixation' allowed her to dodge in time. That cleaver had her name literally etched in gold, and now it sits in her home, as did the man that attempted to cook her." The Overlord giggled under her breath. "At least the fool made for a fine meal and conversation starter."

Alastor nodded, very much sure that Rosie meant every word. It wasn't rare for a demon's emotions to control them, and love, or obsession, made them very vulnerable. There were perfectly healthy and 'normal' relationships in Hell, but that wasn't exactly the norm.

This was an example of 'the norm'. A complete mess.

It was also a hint at how not to do things with some people. Lucifer could see how uncomfortable Carlos was becoming.

"You are perhaps the closest of the three to get the boot on this one."

And the answer was clearly not what Evelinde had hoped for.

"What? But why?" Hers being almost closer to that of a child than what Lucifer had expected. It was as if she had been denied a toy she wanted more than being shot down. "Have I done something to-?"

"The girls I went out with? I devoted everything to them. I wasted years, literal years, on the last one. Two years in fact. From sixteen to eighteen I nearly ignored everyone in favor of that traitor." Carlos interrupted with his voice sounding like he was truly hurt. In time he'd learn to hide that, or so Lucifer hoped. Vulnerability wasn't a good trait in Hell. "From a young age I tried to get someone special, you know? All of them spat on my face. I was used by lazy girls to help them in English, considering even nowadays most people ignore the language. Later on, having the body I showed you, I was used to making others jealous, or just to be a tool since it takes a lot to make me angry. The 'gentlest' ones just told me they liked to have a guy that truly wanted to be with them, but I wasn't exciting enough for them to want anything more." He took a deep breath as he looked at Evelinde. "You sound no different to those girls, Eve. Leonor and Zana? At least they want something from me. Who knows what'll happen. But you? You sound… eerily close to some people I learned to disdain."

Perhaps it sounded superficial to some of those present, but Rosie gave Lucifer a hint at Evelinde's name being shortened. He hadn't been particularly focused on her reactions when Carlos and her talked before, but by Rosie's expression it probably meant that Evelinde looking hurt, instead of angry, was not what was supposed to happen.

More points for him and his deduction skills though. This only meant he was right. Thus it didn't come as a surprise when the demoness fired back.

"So are you telling me that I sound like a mortal teenager with an ego bigger than the world itself?" Evelinde allowed her mask to rest on the table as she fixed Carlos with a glare. "Are you so adamant to lump me with disgraced girls playing at being a woman? Girls that let a little compulsion get the better of them at that?" And the young demoness was indeed irate. "Perhaps we just met, my dear, but let me tell you one thing: In Hell you rarely get anyone to confess their feelings. Most would use you, have their fun with you, or you'd end up in a relationship that involves mostly cheating and convenience, or just FORCE."

Carlos grimaced at the thought. "You aren't exactly making this any better, considering the mess I got myself into. If just saving you made something 'click', shouldn't you want me for yourself alone?"

"I am not trying to claim you or make you feel better about what happened in the past." Evelinde stood firm. Lucifer saw her anger had subsided significantly at this point. "I am telling you this is HELL, my dear Carlos. I care not if you have more women, or men if you want them. I have an interest and I desire to pursue it. Would you spurn me out of old fear when I admit it to you, or would you give me a chance perhaps?"

The young man pursed his lips. "You do understand I am not finding this any easier, no matter what you say, right? At least two out of three see this as a transaction, and I am fine with that."

"I don't want a deal."

Evelinde took a seat, quite the daring move considering who was there. Lucifer would gladly admit she liked women with guts, even if this one had them because she was likely crazy. Though perhaps it had to do with how forward Evelinde was with what she wanted.

It reminded him of his own wife.

"I want a lover." And Evelinde was direct indeed. Carlos tried to pry his hand away the moment the cambion took it with her own, but Lucifer had seen more than enough strong willed women in Hell. He wouldn't escape even if he tried. "I'd die for love. I have been this close many times, and it all ended in failure. If my mother and grandmother found only humans to be worthy of their affections, so why not me too? Perhaps that is why I have failed so many times when I sought it in Hell when I should have tried somewhere else."

But of course, things wouldn't last any longer.

The sudden echo of wood scraping wood was met with deafening silence. Even the constant whispering of the many patrons that were bound to spread all they saw through Hell became silent once more.

Pilar had gotten up, for the matriarch of those within The Order was clearly done with this.

"I am done with this farce." Diminutive in stature, but massive of character, Pilar gave a simple command. "Pedro, we are leaving."

"Mother, please-"

"Shut up, Juan." Icy cold was the woman's voice as her scorn hit her child with as much disdain as was possible. "Barely any of you have trully opposed this damned mess. Worse, you are all here, looking at this in awe, accepting what is going on. And now look at this." Pilar waved a hand, almost with so much disgust it could infect the air, towards Carlos. "My best hope for our line dashed. His fate now bound to Hell itself. His future tied to demon filth. I am done waiting for ANY of you to raise your concerns, more so YOU than anyone else." Disappointment crossed her face for a second. "Are you so willing to let your own child go around with these harlots that you won't even speak up in concern?"

Lucifer could only humm as Juan clearly got ready to explode. "A bit judgemental, aren't you?" At the irate woman's glare the Devil could barely contain his triumphant smirk, more so when Juan clearly deferred to him in this mess. "I recommend you change your line of thinking, my good Lady Pilar. No demon will act against you, this much I swear, but your own family is another matter altogether."

There was a moment in which Pilar almost said something she could, maybe, have learned to regret later. In fact being sincere with her feelings was part of Lucifer's plan… a part that came undone.

Pilar would instead stew in her own disgust and hate for this situation, and it would grow.

No reason was there for Lucifer to goad her further into losing herself. No means available to let her vile thoughts run through her tongue in a torrent of righteous anger. Pilar would hold her anger close to her breast and let it fester. That was one of the two paths Lucifer had seen, and the one that, unless anything changed, would cause his new charges a lot of pain.

But it wasn't anything he'd act against. This was his circus, but it wasn't his problem.

All he could do, and wanted to do, was minimize the collateral damage.

"I said we are going." Pilar finally growled out in contempt. "We'll live within that damn tower's forest, hunt whatever wretched thing comes close if needed. I shall not share my breath with demon colluders any longer."

Lucifer saw how the mood soured, for many reasons. Some of Pilar's children and grandchildren were hurt, a few were angry, Carlos, his parents, and even his sister looked royally pissed.

Yes, this had devolved into a shitshow in a single day, but arrival in Hell and this mess in general would require nothing else.

All that was unimportant to Lucifer.

No, his problem lay elsewhere.

"Are you sure you wish to do that, my dear Pilar?" Lucifer spoke, his smile nowhere in sight as he sent a look that few managed to decipher. The old woman did though, as soon as she turned around Pilar knew what Lucifer meant. "Tantamount to suicide, is it not? And if I remember correctly, that isn't exactly seen positively upstairs."

A deep, rumbling sound could be heard, but only if you were attuned to magic to the point of noticing.

How to describe it… It was as if the walls were closing in, it was reminiscent of slowly grinding heavy slabs of mineral against the ground. An oppressive feeling accompanied it all, at least for those much weaker than Lucifer, perhaps noticed by Stolas and Alastor, but not to the point they'd be bothered. At best they'd be surprised, at worst they'd notice the problem at hand.

The woman was probably the only one Lucifer knew wouldn't change in any way. Such strange sounds were there because her own magic, what little there was, was trying to push forward and do something. Pilar was likely the worst danger the family would have to face, and Lucifer knew that in less than a day every single mortal here had noticed it.

Lucifer was also perfectly aware that doing anything to her, as much as it'd help the mortals, which in turn SHOULD mean they'd be indebted to him, would also make them all go against his rule, no matter what else they could gain. It was a stupidity he could not abide, but he would not force things. A lesson a long time in the making then. He'd even make it easier for her to do her thing, if only to have some control on how the chaos would come about.

A circus was one thing. A complete debacle could end up being unfunny and pissing him off.

"Please, tone that hostility down. You shall not get a rise out of me, dear lady, not when you would gain everything from me doing so anyway." Lucifer let out a bored yawn, not particularly worried about the woman doing something stupid, not now anyway. "So let's keep the bullshit to a minimum here." Posturing done, Lucifer made his offer simple and clear. "You don't stir up shit and I offer you something. No strings attached on my end. And why? Because anything you do will only ensure everyone ends up hating you and Heaven itself. I would consider this the best offer you are going to get."

Pilar just sneered. "I want nothing of you, demon."

Lucifer saw that coming. It was so tiring to speak to some people. Far easier, and far more to his tastes, was just killing retards like this woman. Hell, actually mentally deficient people were a joy to speak to. Slow? Sure, but most were far nicer and more understanding than the 'normals'.

Fucking joke of a creation design, that is what humanity was. Incredible in many ways, but how infuriating they could be. Sometimes Lucifer thought he had made a mistake taking a bullet for them, self serving as the act may have been.

"Sure you wouldn't want a cathedral made to honor my dear Father smackdab in the middle of that tower's first floor?" The proposition made more than one neck snap with how quickly some demons, and humans, turned to look at him. "I don't want you doing something stupid, and I know you will do it thinking you are 'oh so high and mighty' and, of course, in the right. So I am done playing games. I offer you a way to spite me and the rest of Hell if you shut up and take it. If you don't? I have absolutely no problem killing you here and now."

Playing games was fun.

Playing games was what kept Lucifer calm.

Being an idiot is what got him shafted.

Yes, he would have phrased it better if he wanted. No, the meaning wouldn't have changed.

Zero surprises when most humans looked at him as they should have from the beginning. With fear. Many of them quickly lessened into begrudging understanding, shocking as it may've been, with a few even accepting it far more readily than they should. But once you look at it with a rational mind and not an emotional point of view, it makes sense.

Pilar was snubbing the Lord of Hell himself. She was spitting at the Devil, straight to his face at that. The fact that Lucifer had entertained her this far was, to most, inconceivable. The satisfaction of sticking it to Heaven could've been seen as a reason behind his restraint. But everything had limits.

Did they understand his reasons behind this change? No. No they did not. It didn't matter if they found it cruel and funny as some demons did, or disgusting and fear inducing as a few of Pilar's children told him with their eyes. Lucifer did not do this out of simple disrespect. He couldn't give less of a fuck about that. It was something else far more serious that made him offer such a ludicrous and very much stupid gift to the damn woman. It was also something that would ensure a massive fuckup in the future, but one that could be contained THEN while it wouldn't be contained NOW. THAT was the point of it all.

It was also a way to ensure the family, or whatever remained of them if they lasted that long, would finally turn their backs to Heaven as a whole.

A victory for him. A loss for Heaven.

And he would have fun seeing how the fucking cathedral got demolished after the fact. That would be equally entertaining and very much worth this bullshit.

It was clear that Pilar knew something was up. There was no desire to accept, but she was at least smart enough to know nothing she tried now would get her out of this problem right away. All she could do, all she was allowed to do, was accept.

"..." The matriarch said nothing, but Lucifer could hear the growl growing within her throat. "I will design the place, and supervise its construction. If any of your demons tries something…"

"I'll instruct whoever I send to be careful." Lucifer promised, and he meant it to. Even Pilar was taken aback by his sincerity. All the better, for it meant she truly didn't know. "In fact I shall allow our dear Rosie here to oversee everything alongside you." Lucifer gestured to the Overlord. "Per her pact, and thanks to her own powers, no demon I send will be able to do anything you don't want. She'll be obligated to dish out punishment if any of them tries something."

Rosie sent him a look, Alastor wasn't far behind. Even Stolas and Nathaniel knew something was going on while most of the demons and humans were now fixated on the old woman's decision. Why look at the literal Lord of Hell when there was a smear on the floor waiting to be made?

Accepting was not something anyone thought Pilar would do.

"Fine. Your terms are acceptable. At least this will make this forsaken place somewhat close to 'decent'."

And yet she did. Lucifer knew she would. It was her only chance to do whatever she was planning with any shred of a chance she could muster. Oh, and let's not forget, Lucifer knew, he KNEW, that Pilar would think, in her unashamed pride and certain self superiority over anything living in Hell, that Lucifer was desperate to make himself at least somewhat 'chivalrous' or 'decent' to gain Pilar's family's favor.

Newsflash! He didn't need to do shit.

Their favor, her family's goodwill, was basically in the bag. She knew it. They knew it. Everyone here knew it. Rosie made things far smoother, as Lucifer had expected, and Pilar made her own thorny road to cross. Only now those thorns were made of steel, barbed wire and were also hot enough to melt skin. There were many, many ways Pilar could've made this all easier on herself and harder on those living in Hell. But she couldn't. Lucifer counted on her doing this badly the second he saw what kind of woman she was.

All she could do was hate Hell.

Because that was what she had been taught.

Mind you, she had good reason to. Perhaps not everyone in Hell was a piece of shit, but there was a bloody history there, and hate was hard to ignore, or let go.

Either way, Pilar was going to be a pain in the ass. The woman's credibility with her own family was in the dumps, but there were many things she could do to make herself even more hated AND still hurt everyone. She wouldn't do it out of disdain for her family, much as she acted like a massive bitch. Pilar would do it for love, in her own messed up way. A desire to redeem 'corrupted souls' as it were.

Lucifer would never tell her whether she was wrong or not. If she went along with it, if she lived long enough to do what he was sure she was planning, then she could decide whether or not she was right. All Lucifer would tell her, if she ever swallowed her pride, was that it wouldn't be worth it one way or another.

Pilar would never ask. Lucifer would never tell.

This was for the family to learn when the time came.

It wouldn't be a mistake to say the silence had persisted for a whole minute because the two individuals were looking at each other with hate. Lucifer felt utter disgust by the woman's stubborn zealotry. Pilar instinctively found Lucifer, and everything around her, disgusting.

But the silence had to end, and so the woman did finally shatter it, none the wiser about what was going through Lucifer's mind.

"I will still go to the woods within the tower." Pilar started with finality so harsh none of her children managed to do more than nod. "I shan't accept food or drink from demons. We'll make do."

Lucifer just waved at her with disdain. "If you want to be like that. Some things here may react badly with you mortals, but I doubt your dear 'landlady' would try to hurt any of you like that."

Rosie nodded. Of course she wouldn't. "If I personally have to hurt someone I prefer a much classier approach than simple poison."

"Good to know." Pilar drawled with venom dripping from her every word. She then looked at her husband as he nodded, marking their last moment among the group. "You all can do as you wish. It is clear even those unwilling to partake in this realm's corruption care not for what is the right thing to do. And you, Carlos." A look of hurt, betrayal and anger crossed the matriarch's face. "You are making a mistake."

Perhaps before he could've done it, but Carlos didn't manage to hold his glare on his grandmother. There was a lot of hurt there. Bad for him, yes, good for Lucifer's own side.

Cruel, but effective. And if Lucifer ended up ultimately correct in his assumptions… hate would serve him well.

"Making mistakes seems to be one of the many things that run in the family." Maybe eye contact was too much. But vitriol was plentiful and easy to come by. "If you ever want to say you are sorry for yours, we'll be waiting. In the meantime? I apparently have new obligations."

Lucifer needed not ask. Everyone felt the bristle of energy as Pilar raged, but it was a rage of futility. Anger at oneself.

Failure was not easily accepted, much less tolerated, within The Order. And this, to the woman, was something beyond failure itself. The fact that she felt like shit for doing this, for Lucifer could tell she did, helped very little.

Worse. Lucifer had already made this clear in his mind, and the woman's expression only assured him of how correct he was. She was willing to do something very stupid.

For the moment though, all she did was open the door and walk away, her husband scurrying after her. None of the demons even tried to stop the pair.

Uncomfortable would be a fitting word for the situation the gathering found itself in. For a moment anyway.

Carlos was simply done.

"Eve."

Evelinde, surprising Rosie once again, perked up. "Yes?"

"Do you really want to seriously be part of this damn mess?" His voice was far softer than before. Whatever anger, specks of madness, or combativity was left had finally left him. "This is no damn romance novel, or fairy tale. You just saw who will be there if you really decide to try doing this for real. Hate, scorn, and the fact that not everyone is going to be welcoming here."

Not predatory, not angry, not toothy, not sneering. All those things Lucifer had expected, but a sincere, thin smile wasn't exactly what he thought he'd see from Evelinde as she answered.

"The fact you worry about me isn't exactly pushing me away." Evelinde said with a tone matching his own. "Besides… couldn't we make our own story? It doesn't have to be a picture perfect and uncomplicated one. Trials and tribulations make all ends sweeter."

Carlos clearly felt tired at the simple mention of that. "Or bittersweet. Please, don't jump to conclusions."

And while Evelinde clearly didn't lose her clear desire to try, it was obvious the poor woman was trying not to be hurt. Most demons would take it far better, but Lucifer knew that expression anywhere. It was his wife that taught him its meaning after all.

Someone wishing for love.

A dangerous thing in Hell. And that was being very gentle with words.

But it DID exist. There were many in Hell that did things for love, that thirsted for an honest relationship. Lucifer was a good example of such a person. Although not ALL relationships that ended in love could be considered 'normal' by mortal standards.

It was that thought that likely pushed Carlos to talk once more.

"Look, this was the last thing I ever expected to be talking about, okay?" Carlos didn't want to hurt the woman, that was clear. "Today has been a shitshow, and next month isn't going to be any better if I have my usual brand of luck. You can see I don't have reasons to be all that confident."

"You say this isn't a fantasy story, fine. But isn't romance one of the hardest roads to take?" Evelinde didn't have any problem pushing back. "You were unlucky, fine. Allow a demon to try. You already gave harpies a chance, did you not?"

At least that got Carlos to chuckle. "You obviously have a way with words when you want to."

"There are many things you don't know about me." A mischievous smirk spread across Evelinde's face. "But we will have time to learn, if you give me a chance."

"Okay, that is enough."

Gonzalo had gotten up.

Of course Gonzalo had gotten up.

While Lucifer considered this entertaining to a point, it was clear that the scene had overstayed its welcome. Stolas seemed captivated by this telenovela-like mess, while Nathaniel looked at it in curiosity and the two Overlords analyzed the scene itself for many reasons. The patrons around them? They ate it up. This was gossip directly from the tap.

The other two gals? Well, they did not seem as receptive.

In a sense that was simply to be expected. Evelinde was already employed by Rosie, she had actively helped Carlos and his family, and had positive rapport before that, small as it was. Not only that, but she seemed genuine in her desire and had shown to be interested in the young man despite him being 'less than attractive'.

Simply put: Anything Leonor and Zana wanted would likely be considered less important than whatever Evelinde asked for.

Romance may've been a nonexistent desire for Carlos for a while, but it was clear the young man was desperate for it. All of his family had ended, manipulation or not, with someone they loved dearly. Lucifer could respect that, and the desire to emulate it.

This all was ignored since Gonzalo was quick to walk to his cousin's side, with Enrique being not too far behind. They both focused on Evelinde more than anything else, largely ignoring the other two women as they gave Carlos' cousins an inquisitive look.

"First, let me say what we are all thinking." Gonzalo spoke first. "Get a room."

The rebuttal was fast, furious and expected as Carlos blurted out. "Fuck you."

"You should be concerned with who may want to fuck YOU, cus." Enrique gave his cousin a shit eating grin. Gonzalo wasn't the only one that could poke fun at someone else's expense. "But I think Gonzalo and I had the same thought here."

"Indeed I think we did." Gonzalo nodded quickly. Lucifer didn't need to be a master planner to know where this was going when the young man risked life and limb, literally, as he placed a hand on Evelinde's shoulder. "Just a friendly warning, is all."

Credit where credit's due, Evelinde clearly wanted to rip someone apart, but her words before held no lie. She clearly wanted to give Carlos a chance, and part of it included not hurting his family.

But she really, really, REALLY wanted to.

Lucifer had learned long ago that you don't invade someone's private space if you aren't prepared for pain. His wife had imprinted her footprint on his privates ONCE, and that was enough to learn a lesson that would never go away.

"Oh? And what warning may it be?" Evelinde wasn't fooling anyone, nor were the two stooges, with the third glaring at them.

"Simple enough." Enrique was quick to mimic his cousin's action. "Just, you know, watching out for our cousin here."

Part of The Order or not, demon or not, many entities had very similarities in their build. Lucifer's Father was many things, but creative? Not when he wanted to make some designs personally. Humanoid creations were all fairly similar, even if they did have particularities.

Certain pressure points? Oh, those were shared. And Evelinde was doing a magnificent job at hiding the pain when both cousins began to squeeze.

Mind you, this was no simple human strength. It was clear that, at this point, whatever was hidden within The Order's blood was coming to the surface. A part of humanity that Lucifer knew well. Not something that could hurt HIM, but Evelinde was a completely different thing.

And it hurts. Believe Lucifer here, because he had seen how much it could affect most demons.

"You see, we never did this before because, you know, it is not exactly cash money to hurt females on Earth." Gonzalo hummed with a nod. "Funny considering it is perfectly fine in most cases when done in reverse."

"Too true cus, too true. Such equality we have achieved between the sexes." Enrique gave a fake sniff and smile. That was quickly gone when he glared at Evelinde. "But it is our sincere hope that Hell is even further ahead than we were. After all, hurting people here is perfectly fine."

"So here is the deal." By now both cousins were squeezing hard enough for Evelinde to have a hard time hiding it. Even her hands holding Carlos' own were trembling as she bit down hisses and grunts. "If you ever do anything to him…"

Enrique glared at Leonor and Zana. "Or the other lovely ladies here decide to go all in, only to fuck him over."

"We are going to quarter you lot and protect our cus. Got it?"

It hadn't been Gonzalo, or Enrique, but Ander the one to say it. Every single cousin that had marched out with Carlos had gotten up and walked to join this mess. Lucifer had signaled his guards to do nothing, this was a display of force that was required. It was asserting their dominance wherever they could.

It was propper of Hell. Lucifer knew the family would fit right in, given time.

"That is enough."

Carlos got everyone to stop and look at him. He wasn't looking happy. He was touched, sure, Lucifer could see it, but family could be extremely overprotective. He was a dad, he knew. Perhaps not the BEST dad, but he did his best.

The rest of the family, close to them or not, were slightly surprised at his answer, but he did not look deterred.

"Look guys. I appreciate it, but you are hurting her." Gonzalo and Enrique saw how precarious Carlos' hand was held in the cambion's own, mostly because those claws of hers wanted to rip something to shreds.

"Sorry." Both cousins said at once, with Enrique being the most sincere in his apology as he added. "We just don't want him to get hurt again. This contract is already a big mess, if you don't mind me saying as much, sir."

Lucifer didn't. In fact this was all perfect as far as he was concerned. "Not at all. I would much prefer you all united on this one. Just don't try to murder his suitors, will you?"

Evelinde for her part tried to give Carlos a smile. The pain had been minimal. Injuries nonexistent. But having your nerves pinched and squeezed with hands that shouldn't have done a tenth of the damage they had inflicted upon you was eye opening.

More so was that he had defended her. Perhaps slightly masochistic in the eyes of others, but it only seemed to endear Carlos even more in Evelinde's eyes.

"I swear, I won't hurt him. Only if he hurts me first." The cambion offered. It was as sincere as a demon could be, and such sincerity was always more surprising than most thought. "I won't push. We'll go slow. I did not lie when I said I would fight for the first spot in more ways than one."

Seeing how Evelinde truly wasn't going to hurt his cousins (At least not now, and PROBABLY not in a serious way), instead she fixated on him, made Carlos give out a small smile. Had this been done to anyone else back home, and probably here, things would've been much different. Lucifer could see the eyes of the young man betraying doubt, hinting at how he thought this would end bad, or worse. But the fallen angel could also see how his expression changed to one of hope.

Hope was a double edged sword. Dangerous, yes, but if you use it well…

"I guess I owe you that much." Carlos finally relented and opened a bit. Just a bit. Enough for Lucifer to truly grin inwardly. In the end it had gone as he had wanted it to. And when the young man turned to face him Lucifer couldn't help but smile on the outside too. "I guess I am ready to sign. Minus the sixth clause, of course."

"Of course." A simple snap of the finger and the contract not only shortened, but from the cut parchment appeared a small pen with a particular body.

A needle so small and fine was attached to it, one you'd miss at a simple glance. Lucifer didn't even register the damage his creation could even do to him, pain being something his little artifact wasn't meant to inflict. The needle did its job though, for Lucifer's blood coated the bottom of the page as he signed it and the parchment expanded to fit his showy needs.

His name, marked in gold and black, with an apple instead of the dot on top of the 'i' in Lucifer, was imprinted on the magical contract with a flash of unholy light. His own magic permeated the deal, binding him to it, but awaiting the reaction of the second party before anything else happened.

Carloos looked at the pen as soon as Lucifer offered. It took him a second of doubt, but he took it, prickled his hand in the process, winced, but pushed forward to sign the deal.

His own name was shown, a frozen blue marking the top of his name, with a dusty, earthy brown in the middle, and bone chilling white underneath. The colors all faded away into emerald green when glass creaking echoed for a fraction of a second. Lucifer knew all of those in The Order had a knack of magic, but few were allowed to do what came natural to them, only focusing on 'light' magic. It seemed Carlos' own was far and away from such 'well intended' ways.

Evelinde went next, and her, much like the other demons, were far less showy as their magical aptitudes were much more natural and less refined.

For Evelinde was crimson red, clearly a creature focused on the manipulation of blood if she were to ever get magically attuned.

Leonor's lapis lazuli name with a bony rim betrayed her affinity to the sea and the element of water as well as death itself.

While it was unsurprising when Zana's name looked like red hot embers, a natural affinity to fire and conflict.

Perhaps many of them thought these names would change. Lucifer gave them the option to do so if they ever wanted. But he knew better.

They'd remain, and soon the list would grow.

But now, business. There was still one thing to do.

"Well." Lucifer clapped his hands, his cane floating mid air, opening the top for a second so the contract could be held within. "Now that this is done, it is time for us to go."

"Go?" Carlos eyed Lucifer warily. Guaranteed, Lucifer would admit, but not this time.

"Yes." A quick nod towards Alastor conveyed all Lucifer needed. Another for Stolas so he'd be ready. "This venture has already taken far too much of my time. We need to make an announcement and you need to be with us for that. It shouldn't take too much time."

Stolas waited for Lucifer to get up before he and Alastor did the same. "With your permission I will gather names and plan when to send for the younger mortals, sire. If Lady Rosie doesn't mind of course."

"But of course." Lucifer gave a nod as Alastor offered Rosie a hand to get up as the female demon sent Stolas a gentle nod. Then, with his cane now once again in his hand, he pointed at Nathaniel. "This should be all, young man. Nothing else to be gained, unless you want to risk something far more serious by staying the day."

"Agreed." Nathaniel got up at last, giving a simple, quick bow to everyone present. Always polite, this one. Lucifer could learn to enjoy his presence. Not that it was likely for him to be around much.

If he didn't get literally axed somewhere along the way.

"I must face whatever is going to happen." Nathaniel spoke with the barest hint of resignation. "Here, have this."

A small pearl-like object floated from the angel's hand to Carlos. A simple communication device, the old kind too. More magical than technological, and generally not worth the effort considering most advancements. It was untraceable however, unless someone was willing to pour a lot of time, effort, and even their life to an extent, on 'hacking' the signal.

It was also finicky as all get out. Generally speaking you needed a few people to make it work without interference, or you needed to let it rest for days, sometimes months, between uses. You could see why purely magical means weren't always the best when it came to these things.

"I may contact you. Someone else might desire to. Don't count on it anytime soon however." Nathaniel spoke with finality. Not the kind that hinted at something else, but he was clearly sure of how hard they were going to hold his wings on this one. "Things may not have gone as me and my colleagues expected, but I still wish all of you good luck."

With a simple and gentle wave, returned by most of the mortals, and even a few of the most curious and eager patrons (Because of course the insane and the weirdos would give the angel an onceover), Nathaniel disappeared. It was as if a quick, fiery snap echoed before a flash of light so quick it didn't even affect the eyes, almost didn't register at all, marking the angel's departure. It could've been flashier, but Nathaniel likely didn't want any more attention drawn to him.

That said and done Lucifer perked up. This marked most delays gone. "Now my good Carlos. It is time for us to move."

Zero surprises were had when Evelinde, Leonor and Zana all seemed ready to move out the moment Carlos got up. With Evelinde Lucifer had expected it. The others? It was clear that they felt one upped and threatened. Perfectly normal reaction, but useless right now.

"My dears." Lucifer spoke calmly, almost like a teacher admonishing a student. "It will be just me, Alastor and Carlos. You three should mingle. Get to know your new family."

While Evelinde seemed somewhat happy, the other two weren't so much. Leonor was the first to act on said feeling. "We have agreed this is only temporary… My Lord." She added at the end, perhaps a bit too quick.

"And I don't give a shit." Lucifer was perfectly perky and happy with it, though. "We have an imp that may get it done faster. You? Good luck finding someone else of your kind around here, because I doubt you'll be willing to go with him back to Greed anytime soon."

Leonor opened her mouth once, then frowned. Lucifer knew he got her there.

Her friend seemed to find it funny. Lucifer wasted no time dishing some for the imp too. "As for our dear impette here? I am sure she could easily find another willing to truly tie herself with Carlos here." And while it didn't look like it, as Zana's smug log towards Leonor told her fellow contract bound, this wasn't as easy as the imp would've liked. "If you go to the Lust Ring and find someone there, that is. I doubt your fellow Wrathians, or even those living in Pride, would go for it."

This deflated the woman's smile quickly enough. Why? Because it was true. Imps on Pride were already fucked over enough trying to survive. This position might be tempting, but anyone thinking of taking Zana's place would have to juggle a million knives and bullets aimed at them. As for Wrath imps that had lived all their life there? Well, of the imps they were the most secluded and proud of their own heritage.

Yes, you could find hybrids in Wrath. Yes, there were many that'd fuck anything that moves as easily as anywhere else. No, they generally didn't do so with the idea of settling down unless it was in Wrath. Those that DID were the few that wanted to move out of that particular ring, and generally speaking, that was a rarity.

"So I recommend both of you make nice. You may be here for a while… or the long haul. Who knows? You may find yourselves regretting it if you were to pass your position on to someone else." His piece done, and the 'correct' thoughts placed there for the girls to mull over, Lucifer faced Carlos. "Ready to become famous, my boy?"

Unsurprisingly, the answer was a. "No." And it was so flat and tired in tone that Lucifer was surprised when Alastor didn't laugh.

"Oh don't be like that my good chap." But the Radio Demon, much like his friend, had a wide smile on his face. "I am sure this will be the start of a wonderful and entertaining life for you."

Carlos could only give the man a deadpan look. "You love people's misery, don't you?"

Rosie was the one to answer, her shoulders jumping up and down as she did her best to hide her laughter behind her hand. "You don't know the half of it, my dear. But I swear." And this she said without laughter. "You'll come to find him as endearing as I do."

Much as he clearly wanted to, Lucifer saw Carlos straining to accept Rosie's words. "I'll… do my best on that one."

And of course, both Overlords found this funny enough. "Please do." Although Rosie managed her best to at least appear composed. "We will be waiting for your return. I promised you all a little party, did I not?" At Carlos' wide eyed look, similar to many faces full of horror and doubt, Rosie did let go of her attempt and tittered a bit. "Don't worry. There'll be food fit for everyone. Although yes, you will see the fruits of your labor amidst the spread… if you want to partake…"

"We'll be good with normal food, thanks." Gonzalo interjected for his family. All the better, because many were looking green and Lucifer wanted no puking in his presence. "In fact, some of us may want to help. I am not that good a cook but I will do my best."

Rosie clicked her tongue. "So little trust in poor old me." She shook her head. "As you please. Just make sure that this is not a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' situation, will you?" Then she glanced at Stolas. "My dear Prince, if you would then? I can instruct those in charge before me, you and our good Manuel here can give you whatever details you need."

Manuel, being called out, got up to give a nod and approach the group. "I'll do what I can. Just hope you understand I am not exactly in charge of my whole family here."

"No, but you are the most sensible of them all, and have experience with planning things out." Rosie pointed out. "So I implore you to accompany us. It will make preparing for everything much easier."

Without any other argument left, Manuel nodded and approached the woman, with Stolas following besides the Overlord as she walked towards some important and far too pompous demon that seemed to manage this place.

Well, that was one thing done. Lucifer shooed the rest of the humans and the three 'maiden's before facing Carlos again. And yes, as expected, Alastor had brought his microphone from that little dimension of his.

"Now dear boy." Lucifer began as he gave Alastor a look that told the Overlord all he needed to know. "If you feel like screaming. Please, do."

There was no time to ask what Lucifer meant, and that is exactly how the fallen angel wanted it. A bit of a surprise, you could say. Alastor could make it look more fancy, but opening a dark circle beneath someone's legs was rather easy, more so considering the place they were going was Alastor's domain and Rosie's control over this area allowed her friend to do as he pleased… within reason.

So it was no surprise, but still rather entertaining, when Carlos screamed in surprise the moment the dark circle under his legs gave away. It took a second for the floor to be there, then disappear, with Alastor connecting a particular place on the other side. Carlos would end up like a wet paper scrap on the floor while Lucifer and Alastor were more prepared to cross the portal with far more dignity.

Lucifer had to get his fun somehow, considering the shitload of paperwork he was going to go through later.

"Do not worry my good fellows." Alastor offered a quick smirk as he toyed with his microphone. "Your dear Carlos will be alright. Slightly scuffed from falling on the floor of my lovely abode, but fine enough."

Lucifer offered a more calming tone the moment he saw some of Carlos' family members frowning. "It will take some time to prepare, but we will be done shortly after. Carlos will come back as soon as his interview is done. I calculate you'll all be enjoying Rosie's little banquet by then."

"It is something I don't plan on missing. We won't tarry beyond what is propper, I assure you." Alastor gave a quick, smarmy nod. "I do wish to taste the fruits of your labor, as it were. A toast in your honor sounds most respectful and a proper way to welcome all of you."

Enrique grumbled as he crossed his arms. "And I am sure making us all uncomfortable while you eat someone's corpse in front of us is just icing on the cake."

This was said perfectly nonchalant like. The faces of most within the family said otherwise.

"Precisely." Alastor grinned from ear to ear. "I see some of you do truly get me. It'll be an interesting time until you lot get used to Hell." The Sinner grinned as he stepped towards the portal. "But we'll be sure to talk later. It would be beyond impolite to make your cousin wait much longer."

With Alastor gone Lucifer gave his last parting words. "Just relax. Hell may be a nightmare for some, but only if they want it to be. Stay together and don't mess with Rosie, her friends or her people, and you should be well." He waved his cane to motion everyone. "Because I do want you alive and healthy. So I hope you don't do anything to disappoint me. Truly, I do."

Perhaps it was just the showmanship of it all, or just the fact that Lucifer couldn't rein himself in, but he let out a little humming song as he walked out of the establishment. As he did, green flames appeared behind his very step. They didn't burn, they didn't emit light, it was just a little something to remind humans that, yes, he was not God… but creating many things within Hell was child's play for him.

And what better to show with creation than one of the greatest elements of destruction? His fiery wake was harmless, yes, but the message was clear as he stepped through the portal, practically bending in unnatural ways and toying with gravity as he did so.

The family should remember not to fuck with him. That was all.

Perhaps the message lost some of its bite when, before the portal closed, Lucifer heard Evelinde speak.

"So, what is your favorite food?"

Not even fucking ten seconds. Sometimes the fallen angel really missed the old days and all the screams.

Eh, whatever. He had someone to 'torture' and embarrass publicly anyway. That is, if Carlos tested his patience again. Lucifer was pretty sure Alastor would go along if he started messing with the mortal.