When Van had agreed to work with Rias regarding her whole marriage situation, he had assumed they'd enter some talks regarding business over the course of a few months. Devils tended to be slow-moving people when it came to just about anything, as their long lifespans meant that there was no need to rush anything anytime.

So, imagine his surprise when just a few days later he received a letter from her asking to meet in her human territory.

Fast forward just a day later and he was sitting in a near empty train, journal in one hand as Raiza leaned against his shoulder and read along with him.

Oni are disappointing creatures. Their ability to change their size whenever they desire is something that has filled my mind with grand inspiration, even if their sexual proclivities leave much to be desired. They pump their hips a few times, bust, and then call it a day. Pathetic beasts.

They were the inspiration for my breast expansion spell, which was early on in my journeys before I started writing down my findings. I am still working on many fascinating spells that can make use of the size transformation of these hapless beasts.

The judgmental personality of his ancestor was certainly something he had not been expecting from someone known for being a voyeur. But then, maybe he just hadn't thought enough about it. Regardless, her insights into the power of the oni were something special indeed. The potential of such magic was vast, especially when he considered all the other ways he could use this as the basis for future body transformation magics.

"…Breast expansion, huh?"

Adjusting his speed-reading glasses (something which helped him retain information), he questioned the need for his queen's interest. "Is that really something to focus on? I mean, 36DD isn't exactly small."

Her face flushed as she mumbled something under breath, the words too quiet for him to fully make out other than "red" and "bimbo". Admittedly, he didn't need to hear anything else to figure out what she was upset about, but stepping on that particular landmine felt like a poor decision.

The train lurched forward as they approached their stop, forcing him to put his reading on hold as he slipped the journal back into his hat. Phantasmal shapes flickered into existence as the train rolled to a complete stop, the outlines of humans making it clear that the interdimensional train was ready to act as a portal to the human realm.

Cane in hand and Raiza insisting on taking up his arm, Van couldn't help but feel like a pimp as he walked out of the train slipped through the thin film that separated the train from the human realm. Businessmen and women chattered anxiously on their phones, sunlight peering in through the window as the shift from the Underworld to the human world left him feeling a tad light-headed.

"Ugh, getting used to the air here is gonna take a while."

"Nah, you're just spoiled, Van."

Exiting the station brought a whole host of new scents for him to get used to, most of them not exactly pleasant. Still, he chose to refrain from making his displeasure evident on his face. Best not to accidentally insult his host by implying that he thought their territory stunk.

A good thing he did too, as said host was already waiting for him at the station's entrance. "Ah, Mr. Agares, a pleasure to see you."

Rias Gremory stood in what looked to be a school uniform, much less elegant than her dress but somehow more fitting. To her side was a raven-haired young woman who was just a touch taller than her, an orange ribbon keeping her incredibly long hair (it had to be longer than her whole body) in a ponytail.

That must be her queen.

Van's casual pace slowed as he met the Gremory Heiress, crossing his cane over his chest before introducing himself to the raven-haired woman. "Miss Gremory, a pleasure to see you again. And this must be the beautiful Miss Akeno you mentioned in your letter."

Making sure to bow his head to Rias before moving on, he took Akeno's hand into his own and brushed his lips over her knuckles. "Evander Agares, at your service."

Unlike the noble bearing of her king, Akeno chose to adopt a more aloof air. Her gaze felt devouring, as if she were gauging the ways she could make use of him for whatever nefarious purposes she desired. Her casual smirk stood on the line between flirtatious and predatory with practiced grace, a black widow waiting for a single misstep to land him in her web.

In other words, she reminded him of himself, albeit lacking subtlety.

"Fufufu, what a gentleman you are, Mr. Agares."

Akeno's voice made the contrast between her and Rias even clearer. Where Rias' voice was airy and soft to the ear, Akeno's was of a richer quality that spoke of a maturity beyond her apparent age. It was deeper, with a slight purr at the very edge of her every word. The woman had the voice of a seductress.

It forced him to tighten his hold on his cane, the quiet rumble of his obsession bubbling upwards in an attempt to lure his focus away from the mission at hand. "I have to be, otherwise I'd be quite the savage, my dear."

His words were as much a boast as they were a warning, a careful reminder that while he may be a guest to their territory, he was not one to be messed with. Not that it did any good, as that just seemed to enthuse her further. "My oh my, a savage? You certainly know how to excite a girl~"

Rias was quick to butt into their little back-and-forth, offering a quick reminder of why he was there in the first place. "Pleasantries can wait until later. Akeno, why don't you and Miss Raiza chat while Mr. Agares and I talk business?"

"Hah, if you insist."

The two queens reluctantly paired off (Raiza fixing Rias with a dark look before following suit), leaving him and Rias to get to the meat of their shared ambitions. "Miss Gremory, I must admit that I'm intensely curious as to what it is you want to discuss. You were rather vague in your letter."

A careful distance was maintained between the two of them, likely so that Rias' human identity wasn't conflated with him too strongly. While he had never been to a human school before, he'd seen enough movies to know that gossip ran just as deep there as it does anywhere else.

"I had to be, Mr. Agares. If anyone managed to intercept the letter and found out what I was planning, I imagine it might cause quite a bit of trouble."

Oh ho? One of Van's eyebrows rose at that, eager to hear whatever scandalous plan Rias had cooked up. "Well, I'm here now. Do tell me of this plan of yours."

The two of them stopped in front of a crosswalk, attracting a fair bit of attention with his exotic looks and her devilish beauty. Neither of them paid the wandering eyes any mind though, as both of them were quite used to attracting attention.

"It's rather simple. I would like you to announce your interest in marrying me, and challenge Riser for my hand."

…Simple was underselling it a tad. "That is quite the political minefield you want me to walk into. May I ask your logic here?"

He had a guess as to why she thought it would work but wanted to confirm his theory from the woman herself. "Of course. My arrangement with Riser was done long before either of us were born, and the benefits my family would have received are now fairly worthless to us. Unfortunately, honor keeps us from backing out of the deal, thus I am still trapped by the contract's law. You, however, are not."

Yes, he had thought as much. Devils cared greatly about honoring their bargains, and as such would sooner trap their loved ones into an unwanted life than stain their pride by backing out. And while Rias could fight the marriage more openly, that would carry the risk of her needing to cut herself off from her family and status should things go awry. Not an ideal situation.

That was where he came in. As an unrelated third party, he could throw his hat into the game without issue. After all, law and contract were second to dominance within devil society. And if he could prove his dominance over Riser, then no one would really care if he butted his way into the marriage.

There was just one problem with that. "That's all well and good, but I'm afraid it won't be as easy as you make it out to be. Any confrontation between us is likely to be done in the format of a Rating Game, and I only have a single peerage member. While I'm confident in my ability to handle a number of foes, Riser is not someone I'd prefer to fight in that environment."

As much as it wounded him to admit it, Van was not a combat-focused devil. His unique magic did not lend itself to fighting, and he himself had only trained casually up to this point. And if Rias "Ruin Princess" Gremory wasn't sure of her odds of beating Riser, then his were much less significant.

Of course, Rias already knew this. "I'm well aware. I'm also aware that you have yet to say no."

"…"

His silence was enough of an answer for her, the two of them walking through the city-like town as Rias found her confirmation. "I've watched Riser's Rating Games several times over, and I've come to realize that I am a poor match for him. My peerage isn't strong enough to face him, save for perhaps Akeno, and he'd use them against me however he could. And while my Power of Destruction is potent, I doubt it'd disable his ability to heal at all."

Lips pursed, she stopped for a moment before sharpening her focus onto him. "Tell me, with what you know about him and his peerage now, what would you think to do?"

Hm, now wasn't that a difficult question? He didn't know much about the Phenex's peerage other than they were all female. Then again, maybe that was enough? "Not to be crass, but my Power of Lust would likely be quite effective on his peerage. From what I know, there aren't any major standouts other than his Queen, who found out how to make her demonic energy explode and founded her entire persona around it."

His mind leapt from one thought to another, tying together a vague battle plan as he thought about the capabilities of his magic. "Overpowering fifteen devils would be difficult, so taking them out would likely be about cunning rather than raw power. But none of that matters if I can't deal with Riser's regeneration."

And that was the crux of the issue. He had no doubt that Riser's peerage would be easy to deal with, but the Phenex himself was what made things so difficult. Raiza and her Sacred Gear would likely be crucial, but even then their lack of numbers would make things challenging if (more like when) things went wrong. "…Incapacitation through some means other than pure damage feels like the only option. But that would be incredibly difficult."

Holy water would be an easy way to nullify the regeneration, but that was banned in Rating Games after a few clan devils accidentally died from the potency of the water. Knocking him out could work, but that'd require getting very close. Could also try and make him surrender, but that sounded even more impossible.

Van's teeth gnashed as he found himself getting more and more invested in finding a way to beat the Phenex into the ground. Clever devil, that Rias. "…If I'm going to do this, I'll need your support for the preparations."

"And you'll have it."

Rias was positively thrilled by his acceptance of her plan but was quick to remind him of the benefits of their continued cooperation. "Once my engagement is nullified, I will do everything in my power to ensure a meeting between you and Lord Mephistopheles. And, of course, an open invitation to work on any other joint business ventures in the future."

Hm, a close relationship with the current heiress of the Gremory Clan wouldn't hurt. Especially once he got his hands on a bit more power. Though her mentioning of the future did leave him with one last question. "Speaking of the future, what will you do after the engagement is nullified? If I'm to battle Riser for your hand, turning around and dropping our potential marriage right afterwards would be a slap in the face to you and your family."

Her brow furrowed, clearly not having thought that far ahead. "A good point. Something to discuss at a later time perhaps? I don't know about you, but I'd rather focus on making sure we succeed first."

An unsubtle deflection, but one he would let go for now. Though the possibility of bringing the Gremory name onto his side through marriage was not an awful one by any means. He'd just need to make sure that found himself as the dominant partner in that arrangement. Food for thought.

Twirling his cane in the air, Van began the prep of sowing the seeds of a potential arrangement between them with a bit of lighthearted flirting. "Sounds good to me. Besides, maybe our working together will give me the time to thoroughly seduce you."

He spoke unseriously, making sure it was nothing more than a passing comment that Rias wouldn't think too much on. She didn't, instead just rolling her eyes playfully. "I'd best make sure to guard my chastity then."

The two of them finally stopped in front of what looked to be a large hotel, decked out with an outdoor pool and all the amenities one would need to enjoy a five-star vacation. It was also oddly full, though a display board in front of the main entrance gave a good reason as to why that was.

Host of the Annual AV Convention!

Starring the Fabulous Momo Momozone!

Ah, it was a pervert convention. His favorite kind of convention.

Raiza and Akeno were already in front of the hotel, the former desperately trying to peek inside the building. His queen was a die-hard fan of Pedal Rider, in which Momo Momozone played Pedal Rider Pinky. The show was some kind of softcore porn, often with a lot of molestation, nudity, and some light oral action if the episode was feeling particularly spicy. It was alright, but he was more of a Miracle Levia-Tan kinda guy.

As they approached the two young women, each queen quickly paired up with their respective kings as said kings prepared their goodbyes, starting with Rias. "I've already booked the royal suite in your name for the next few weeks. If we are going to work together, it'd be best for you to have somewhere in Kuoh that you can use at your leisure. Though the timing is not ideal, I'm afraid, as now that spring break has officially started, just about every boy in town will be here. If the crowd is too discomforting, I can make other arrangements for you elsewhere."

What went unsaid was how it would also let her keep an eye on him when he was here. A mild insurance that he would have also taken had the situations been reversed. "No need. I have a feeling my dear Raiza would be quite upset with me if I didn't let her have fun here."

Raiza's elbow met his kidney on instinct, forcing him to ignore the sudden flaring pain in his side as Rias chuckled. "Yes, I could imagine. Well then, I'll leave you both to make yourself comfortable and explore the convention. And please, don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything."

"I'll be sure you're the first person I think of if anything happens."

Rias and Akeno parted ways, leaving Van to deal with an unusually grumpy Raiza. "Boo, why do we have to stay here? Can't you do whatever you need to do back home? A-After the convention I mean."

Walking into the hotel lobby, he gave his queen a gentle pat on the head while reminding her of the situation they were in. "Rias didn't just give me, Evander, a room in her territory. She gave the second child of the Agares Clan a room in her territory. She's doing what she can to foster good relations between the Gremory and Agares, as despite her family's rapid growth of power, the Gremory Clan still pales in comparison to the pedigree my family has."

Again, the Agares were second only to the Bael in political might. And while Lady Gremory may have once been a Bael, the manifestation of the Power of Destruction in both Gremory children left a sore spot between the Bael and the Gremory. Especially after the initial heir to the Bael failed to manifest the power, and the new heir's complete lack of talent compared to his cousins.

With the relationship between the Bael and the Gremory rapidly decaying, forging a bond with the Agares Clan would help make up for the loss of the Bael.

Not that his queen cared much about politics. "Ugh, that's so… ugh!"

Ah, what a silly lady his Raiza was.

Making his way to the front desk, Van waved the frazzled front desk lady's attention towards him. "Hello there, Miss. I'm here to check into my room. It should have been made under Agares, or perhaps Evander if my dear Rias was feeling cheeky."

Ignoring how Raiza's mood soured further behind him (a dangerous move, he was aware), he waited for the clerk to check her system with great patience. The business the convention brought likely made checking the system much more hectic than it normally would, as the clerk took almost a full minute to find his name. "Ah! There you are! We have you booked for the royal suite for the next- oh wow, four weeks!"

Hm, he may need to extend that depending on how things go. "Sounds about right."

"Great, here's your keycard! Do you have any luggage that needs to be brought up?"

Slipping the card into his pocket, Van shook his head. "Afraid not. My things got mixed up on the plane and have been delayed. I'll be sure to call in when I get the notice that they'll be arriving."

The clerk accepted his reasoning without much hesitation, too busy trying to jump from person to person as AV actresses, guests, and all sorts of personalities all bickered over their rooms.

With that taken care of, it was not time to manage the temper of his queen. "Raiza, darling, what's on your mind?"

The girl huffed as they walked, finger tapping against her bicep as she not-so-subtly pushed her breasts up with her crossed arms. "Nothing. I just think that Gremory girl is taking advantage of you."

"Ha! Well, she's certainly trying to at least."

To be perfectly frank, he'd be disappointed if she wasn't trying to take advantage of him. A devil's sole prerogative was to take care of their desires above all else. All interactions between devils were ruled by that, no matter how progressive their society has become. Though he could imagine that the intricacies of devil values and how they manifested could be difficult for a former human to understand. "Raiza, just as Rias wants to take advantage of me however she can, I'm going to take advantage of her however I can. That's how the game is played, and the winner is whoever ends up with the best hand after all is said and done."

And make no mistake, he planned on stacking the deck in his favor every step of the way.

Still, his assurance didn't seem to fully satisfy her, a deep frown still on her lips. So, if logical assurances weren't going to cut it, then it was time for the next best thing:

Bribery. "Looks like Momo Momozone is doing a signing by the pool. Do you want to-"

"Yes!"

Her mood flipped in an instant as she grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall, nearly knocking the door to the pool off of its hinges as she rushed towards the redheaded actress. "MOMO! I LOVE YOOOOUUUUUU!"

"Oh hells. Don't kill anyone, Raiza!"

His words fell on deaf ears as she dove into the crowd, bodies flying as she rushed the line. Shaking his head with an exasperated sigh, forcing down a smile at the sheer joy in her voice. The things he put up with for that woman.

Finding himself with a sudden abundance of free time, Van adjusted his tie and scanned the pool for any potential lonely MILFs. It didn't take him long, landing on a brunette watching the signing from a distance, a somewhat disappointed look on her face.

Jackpot.

He slid up to where she was sitting, taking the seat next to her as he feigned exhaustion. "I hope I'm not bothering you, Miss. I've just come out from an awful flight and needed someplace to sit."

She jumped a bit, her homely attire and modest makeup making it clear that she hadn't expected to draw any attention. "Oh, um, not at all. I'm just waiting for my son to finish with the signing."

Another note of disappointment flickered as she mentioned her son, something he catalogued but didn't comment on. "And here I thought you were perhaps waiting on a boyfriend. Goes to show that youth can be deceiving."

She laughed, subconsciously straightening her back as his comment on her looks made her more self-aware of herself. "Oh no, I'm far from young. Unless forty-six is the new twenty."

A gasp escaped him, something he held for a moment before pretending to recover his composure. "Oh wow, I would have never guessed. I must say, Miss, time has done you more than well."

"You think so?"

Receiving a compliment from an exotic-looking stranger always tended to make people forget themselves a bit, as most humans tended to dream of being the target of an attractive stranger's compliments. Even those with prior marital commitments, such as this woman. At least, if the silver band on her finger was anything to go by. "More than think. I believe it, wholly and without exception."

The woman let out a nervous giggle, unsure how to act when faced with such blatant flirtation. "Y-You're a sweet young man, saying such things to an old woman like me."

She was starting to get her bearings, which meant it was time to switch up before she could properly defend her heart from his advances. "I don't know how sweet I can be compared to you. I mean, taking your son to an AV convention? Can't say I can think of many moms who would do that for their kids."

His question forced her to think more about herself and less about him, a distraction from the question of why a handsome foreigner was taking so much interest in her. "I dunno if I'd call bringing your son to a porn convention sweet. I mean, is it really healthy for a boy to be so obsessed over boobs?"

Her question wasn't really aimed at him, her stare losing focus as she interrogated herself further. He couldn't have her get too lost in herself though, else she'd forget he was there. "Aren't most boys obsessed with boobs? Speaking as one, they can be pretty neat sometimes."

Making sure not to agree or disagree with her was crucial. If he did either, she'd balance herself out. By allowing her to teeter between the two, he gently guided her to confide in him more than she normally would. "There are normal boys and then there's my Issei. Ever since he was in grade school, he'd tell his teachers that his dream job was to become the 'Harem King'. God, that had been quite the phone call."

Ignoring the stinging ache in his head at her use of the G-Word, Van leaned back and shrugged. "He does seem like quite the character. Have you tried talking to your husband about this?"

He was expecting more exasperation, even frustration, but all he got was a saddened sigh. "Constantly. But every time we manage the resolve to put our foot down…"

There was something in her expression, a quiet mourning that sat at the center of her problem. Sitting forward, Van ducked his head a bit lower to seem more sympathetic. "Something makes you waver. It must've been painful for you to be so hesitant."

She blinked a few times in rapid succession, eyes glistening as she laughed. "Goodness, you're perceptive. Yes we… God, I can't believe I'm unloading like this on a stranger."

His smile hid the pain her vocabulary wrought on him. "Sometimes talking to a stranger can help. They don't have any expectations of you, and you don't need to worry about the effect your baggage might have on them."

Van's honeyed words were sweet enough to lure her in, her lips pressing together as she whispered out a brief explanation. "My husband and I had a few miscarriages before we had our son. I… it's so hard to be strict with him because whenever I look at my boy's face, I remember the pain we went through to have him."

A few tears trailed down her face, but she quickly wiped them away with a sharp sniffle. "I'm sorry. To cry in front of a stranger is-"

"Don't be."

Reaching into his breast pocket, he handed her a handkerchief to dry her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with having a good cry every now and again."

Drying her eyes, the housewife cleared her throat of the tightness that had come about from her sadness. "Thank you. You- I didn't realize how much I needed to hear that."

He gave her a curt nod, catching Raiza talking to the AV actress in the corner of his eye. Best to end this now on his own terms. "No one ever does. Now, unfortunately, I'm afraid I have a meeting to make soon."

Standing up from the table, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card. "If you ever want to unload any frustration, just give me a call. I'll be in town for a few weeks anyway, and it'd be nice to see you again before I go."

She took the card, eyeing the name on it before bringing it close to her chest. "I know I said it already, but thank you, young man. God bless you."

Bashfully scratching the side of his cheek to mask the throbbing migraine which pressed up against his head, Van phished for one last piece of information. "I believe he already has, Miss…?"

"Hyoudou. Miki Hyoudou."

Tilting his hat to her, he bade her farewell. "Evander Agares. Till we meet again, Miss Miki."

Spinning on his heel, he was keen on making sure he didn't miss the way she blushed at his casual usage of her first name. He was well-practiced with seducing housewives (most self-respecting devils were), but that didn't mean he had ever gotten bored with it over time. Far from it. There was something sinisterly sweet about making a woman in wedlock crave you.

And hey, if he could fix her problem with her son, then that was just a little added benefit.

The familiar sound of an excited pair of low-heeled boots running up to him was enough of a warning for him to fortify his posture against the sudden lunge of his queen onto his body. Not missing a step as she swung around his neck and landed on the opposite side of him, he opened the door they had entered the pool from and gestured for her to go first. "The signing went well?"

"It went amazing! She was super nice and even prettier in person! Oh, and I even got her to sign my thigh too!"

Raiza flashed her inner thigh to him, the Av actress' name written in sharpie across it. There was also a very noticeable lipstick mark a bit further up, just about at the barrier of where her booty shorts met her skin. Not that he blamed the actress, he liked kissing there too. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

Her eyebrows waggled as they made their way through the hall and to the elevator, a saucy grin on her face as she elbowed his arm playfully. "You looked like you were having fun too, you sly dog. Gonna, ya know… er-e-er-e."

Impression of a squeaking bed aside, her question did have merit. He worked to seduce plenty of women in his rather short lifetime, but he only ever slept with a fraction of them. Sometimes the seduction was too easy, and he lost interest in pursuing it any further. Other times they just proved frustrating to deal with, so he didn't. Really, he needed to have fun with the whole process, otherwise he didn't see much of a point in closing out the deal.

Stepping onto the elevator, he pressed the button for the twentieth floor with a contemplative hum. "Not sure. On the one hand, she seems interesting enough. On the other, she also seems the type to get rather depressed after the guilt sets in."

Call him soft, but he preferred it when his partner enjoyed themselves. After all, the point of sex was pleasure (obviously), and he garnered little pleasure from making someone he found interesting feel like trash in a not hot way. When (and it was always a when) he made a woman cheat, he wanted to embed himself into them so thoroughly that not even their guilt could outweigh the ecstasy. To carve himself so thoroughly into them that the guilt becomes a forbidden pleasure in of itself.

Basically: when he ruined a woman's life, he wanted to make sure they love every moment of it and beg for more.

The elevator dinged open, dropping them off in a much fancier hallway than the previous one had been. The wallpaper was fresher, and the lights here were more antique in decoration. There were only a few doors in the hallway, each one likely being an expensive room in their own right, but he wasn't here for an expensive room. No, he was here for the expensive room.

Van swiped his keycard and threw the door open, taking a deep breath in as he enjoyed the smell of a freshly cleaned hotel room. "Ah, there's nothing more relaxing than this. If we had bags I'd be throwing them on the furniture."

The lack of luggage didn't stop him from tossing his cane onto one of the couches, the large royal suite resembling a well-furnished apartment more than a hotel room. The entrance hall was long, with a bathroom on one side and a pantry on the other, leading to an open living room which had a dining room on one side and a study on the other.

"Oh wow, they even have a wet bar, Raiza."

She seemed less enthused by the bar than he was, face split with a beaming smile as she rushed past him. "It's not a real vacation till I jump on the bed!"

Shaking his head at her antics, he peered through the dining room and found the entrance to the second bedroom. Two twin beds sat within, though what they would be used for he had no clue. Raiza would probably castrate him if he told her they'd be sleeping in separate beds, much less separate bedrooms. Her clinginess was very inconsistent like that. She couldn't stand to not sleep in the same bed, but had no qualms with him sleeping around and even liked to conspire with him when working a gal. Which only made her dislike of Rias all the more-

"VAN!"

His body moved before his brain caught up, grabbing his cane and rushing into the master bedroom as he prepared a ball of fire in one hand. Stopping once he got into the room, he let the fireball dissipate as he saw what was going on.

Clothes were strewn about the floor, the style of which denoted the owner of them to be a member of the cleaning staff. Said clothes all led up to the bed, where a pale young man slept naked under the covers. "Seriously? Cleaning guy decided to get frisky in our bed?"

Raiza's face was hard as stone as she shook her head. "I wish."

Turning the man's head, she presented his neck with a grim severity. "Not so much of a guy anymore. More of a corpse."

Giving the corpse a look, Van's face twisted into a scowl as he saw what had done the man in after he saw the two pinprick holes over the man's jugular vein. "He was sucked dry. Hopefully after being… sucked dry."

His joke fell flat, as the two of them found themselves with a rather pressing issue. Somewhere in this hotel, filled with hundreds if not thousands of guests due to the AV convention, was a vampire running loose. A vampire who had snuck in with the cleaning guy and killed them in bed, leaving the body here for anyone to find. "We need to-"

"Grr, hurrrrrr."

Both of their eyes snapped to the corpse, which was beginning to groan. It twitched in place, its body drained of fluid so thoroughly that its lolling tongue was cracked and flaking.

The corpse stopped moving, returning to the same stillness it had in death, before lurching suddenly towards Raiza.

Van was quick to react, the pointy end of his cane's head piercing through the skull of the creature and digging a strong hold within its flesh. Yanking his arm back, he tossed the ghoul away from his precious queen and grabbed it by the head. The monster tried to fight against his grip, but his infernal strength kept the ghoul in place as he pushed demonic energy into its skull and then detonated it.

The ghoul's head exploded into chunks, a piece of brain daring to attempt to land on him only for the air around it to slice the chunk into dust, courtesy of Raiza.

Inhaling sharply through his nose, Van flicked the gore off of his cane and glowered. "And there goes the new room smell. Damn it."

Rolling the dead ghoul onto its back, he pressed the tip of his cane against its chest where a half-finished magic circle was carved into its skin. Someone had been attempting to cast some kind of spell on the corpse but messed up or got interrupted by something.

Flexing his demonic energy, he flooded the room with his power in search of any leftover traces of magic. There were bits of it just about everywhere, traces of necromantic energy that had been faint enough that he hadn't noticed it immediately. How long ago had this-

His eyes snapped to a dark corner in the room, glaring into the shadows as they stiffened. The stare off only lasted a few seconds before the natural light of the sun was once more able to cover that specific spot in the room, leaving him and Raiza alone in the suite.

Van tapped his finger against his cane as Raiza began to panic, gripping her beret as she paced through the room. "By the Inferno, what are we going to do? There's a vampire running around sucking dudes dry, we don't know who they are, and- and you're smiling!?"

Ah, was he? Pressing his hand against his face, he found that he was indeed smiling like an idiot. "Whoops."

She practically seized at that. "What do you mean, 'Whoops'!? Van, what are we going to do!?"

Well, wasn't that obvious? "Hm, the same thing any devil would do when opportunity presents itself."

Giving the ghoul a look, Van felt his smirk sharpen with wicked desire.

"We lure it in and take advantage."

… … …

Not much in the way of smut, but I really like this chapter. It does a lot of fun character building while also establishing both the overall arc, and the B-Story plot. "Evander and Raiza need to work together to figure out a strategy to beat Riser Phenex, but there's a vampire on the loose in their hotel and they also need to solve that". It's been a while since I've written a character that was so active when it comes to pursuing their goals, and it is a major treat to just be in their headspace. He's openly very selfish and incredibly willing to take advantage of others to achieve his goals, but he's not necessarily evil in any way and has his own sort of code he abides by. A real magnificent bastard, if I may be so bold.

That's all I have to say about the plot, so let this paragraph just be random facts: One, the Japanese school year typically ends in late March and begins in early April. This usually leaves about two weeks for spring break, and then school starts again. DxD starts sometime after spring break, fairly early in the school year, so right now we're only about a few weeks before. Two, Momo Momozone is a canon character, but only in the anime. She's pretty much exactly as described in the chapter above, that being an AV actress who stars as Pedal Rider Pinky (or Kaben Rider Pinky, depends on the translation) in some show. Her character was the inspiration for the AV convention that would allow the MC to meet Issei's Mom, since I figured it made a lot of sense for Issei to be there. Not sure how I'm gonna do her storyline, might just base it off vibes from the reception to her here.

Hoonter's FF Review Corner:

"Nice fic so Far, loving your OC, Evander feel so organic, like i would have thought it was a canon character all along, loved his personality, quirks, curiosity and goals, are were so well done and seems he get into Rias own Engagement issue and hopefully he get rias from that friend chicken and use his clan trait in her...that would be nice .
So evander only have the Sallos clan power? Nothing about Agares time manipulation ones? still would be nice if he got both
Amazing chapter, waiting to see more"

- Nivek Beldo

So, this is a question asked twice in the reviews, but I chose to reply to this one specifically because I liked their compliment. Anyway, Evander does not INNATELY have the Sallos time power as outside of the artificial super devils in canon, there aren't any known occurrences of a devil getting more than one trait. Do note the heavy emphasis on "innately" in the sentence there. Hint hint foreshadow foreshadow.

This has been A Decent Hoonter, and I'm also not sure what to do with Issei yet.