“Have you ever been to Volsceen?” Ivy looked up, her violet eyes bright and curious. She had felt much better that morning after having finally been able to have a good cry and nights rest. She still struggled against the intense burning that overtook her once again but had begun to come to peace with it. Controlling it seemed futile, and she was just going to have to accept that. Maybe with time and patience, she would finally get to where she wanted.

“I have,” Zero replied, a small smile on his lips as he peered down at her. He had missed her voice and the joy that always seemed to light her face. She still wasn’t back to her normal, bubbly self, but she was talking and smiling again, and Zero was relieved to have that much. “A long time ago.”

“I like the buildings there. They’re so colorful. They’re like flowers.” She beamed, thrilled at the opportunity to see it again.

“They are,” the boy agreed. He had thought the same thing when Ren had taken him there a couple years prior. The path had led through an expansive field of wildflowers of every color before climbing up a hill to the brightly painted city below. “Are you happy to see Mahala?” The girl had been so happy to see Lore.

“Oh!” Her lovely smile faltered, and her eyes darted away before going back to his. “Um… well… Mahala is… um...” She bit her lip as she struggled with what to say.

“Mahala’s a bitch,” Sakura answered plainly from behind the pair as she absentmindedly spun a dagger in her fingers, the act as second nature to her as blinking.

Ren walked beside her, watching the blade as it quickly and smoothly slipped past and around the tips of woman’s fingers. He was attempting to do the same but couldn’t come close to matching the demon’s speed or agility. “How do you do that?” he muttered, trying to concentrate as the blade sliced into another one of his fingers.

“Practice.” The fox grabbed another from her holster and spun one in each hand. “Lots of practice. It also helps if you keep your fingers around the handle and not the blade.” She laughed as the angel scowled at her teasing while cutting himself again.

Ivy looked back, horrified, at the woman with a small gasp before quickly turning back to the devil. “That’s a really mean thing to say, and it’s just not true. Mahala just... isn’t really fond of women.”

“She’s a fucking bitch,” Sakura repeated, unwilling to back down to spare the girl’s feelings. “She’s a nasty, heartless, selfish parasite just like the rest of those succubi.”

“That’s not true! Succubi just don’t really get along with other women, just like incubi don’t get along with men. Sakura is just still holding a grudge against them from last time since they weren’t very nice to her and kind of led her on.” The girl gave the boy an encouraging smile. “But I’m sure she’ll like you. Succubi love men, especially the handsome ones. You won’t have any problem with any of them.”

“I don’t really want her in my dreams,” Zero admitted softly. He had agreed to allow the succubus to enter the visions in his mind while him and Ivy slept, but he wasn’t looking forward to it at all. He dreaded it, and that dread only grew stronger with every step that took them closer to Volsceen. It felt wrong to him, twisted his stomach in knots, but if it was something could help Ivy, then he would put his feelings aside and do it.

The girl nodded, understanding his apprehension and not liking the idea much herself. “We could try to find an incubus?” she suggested. “I’m sure there’s at least a few there.”

He liked that option much less. “It’ll be okay. I’ll do it.”

“It’ll just be once, for a little while.” She released his hand, wrapping herself around the devil’s arm. “And I’ll be there, too. So you won’t be alone.”

The angel had grown tired of nicking his fingers and slipped the dagger back into his belt. “It won’t be much longer before we’re there. Do you still know where to find her? It’s been a while.”

“Oh, we’ll find her.” Sakura snarled at the mere thought of the woman they were in search of as she holstered her blades and held her hand out to Ren. “Give me coin.”

He peered down at her quizzically. “Well, that’s a cute way to demand.”

“Please give me coin,” she huffed. “And lots of it.”

“Why are you in such a rush for it now?”

“Cause I’m not going into the red-light district without coin in my pocket,” the demon informed while her fingers wiggled impatiently, waiting for gold to fall into their grasp. “Those women are ruthless, and I’ll look weak if I have to turn to a man and ask for coin.”

“But you are asking a man for coin,” he pointed out with a smug grin.

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“Yeah, no shit. But I’m asking now, not later in front of them. I’m pretty sure Mahala is still in Volsceen but she may not be at the same house. I might have to bribe a few of them, and so I need coin.” Her fingers wiggled faster. “So gimme. Please.”

Ren pulled his bag around and searched through it before dropping the gold into her greedy palm. “Why are we going to the district?”

“Why do you think we’re going there?” she scoffed, as if the answer were obvious. “Because Mahala’s a prostitute.”

Zero looked back at the pair, having heard an unfamiliar word. “What’s a prostitute?”

The demon and angel stared at each other, their feet moving but their brains frozen in fear, years of suppression being a hard habit to break. This was a discussion neither of them had been expecting to have. But now, with crimson staring inquisitively at them, they knew there would be no escaping it. The boy had asked a question, and he would want an answer.

Ren was the first to make an attempt.

“Go ahead.” He nodded expectantly at the woman. “Tell the boy. He’s waiting.”

She sighed, exasperated but not surprised, and whispered furiously at him. “Are you serious? How does he not know? He’s eighteen! Nineteen?! Plenty old enough to already know!”

“He never asked,” the man’s voice was low and rushed as he set his attention forward, looking past the path and short hill they were walking. “Don’t fix what’s not broken.”

Sakura shook her head, looking at him disapprovingly and only seeing the man who raised them across the angel’s face, as if they were one in the same. “You’re just like Raz. Does he know anything, or did you just pretend none of it existed like he did?”

“No.”

“No, what?”

“Just no.”

“Damn it, Ren,” she growled. “It’s not like you’re ignorant to all this. You know how it works. We’ve talked about these things.”

“Yeah, exactly.” He peered down at the woman, not even the slightest hint of amusement in his ocean eyes. “We. You and me. That’s different, I can handle that. I can’t do this. That boy barely talks but if he doesn’t understand something, he’ll just keep asking. No shame. I normally don’t mind, but this… this is too much. Besides, you were the one who explained it all the me. You know it better than I do. So, go on, explain it to him.”

“Why do I have to be the one to do it? You’ve been with him longer, and it’s something that you should have already told him about. This is on you!”

The woman had a point and there was no arguing against it.

But that didn’t mean that he still couldn’t get his way.

Ren took a deep breath, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. “Alright. I’ll do it. But I can’t promise that I won’t fuck this up like I did with Ivy. Are you willing to take that risk?”

Sakura looked at the boy who was still patiently waiting for a response. He may be a devil, but he was still so sweet and innocent, a pure and untarnished soul that deserved to be protected.

The demon couldn’t just allow the angel to ruin him.

“Fuck, fine!” she hissed, giving up to the man’s delight and began considering how to explain it gently to the boy, preparing herself to have a lengthy and uncomfortable conversation that should have already been handled by the man beside her.

But like he had told her before.

If she wanted it done right, she’d have to do it herself.

Ivy tugged on Zero’s arm, looking up and smiling at him brightly. “A prostitute is someone who sells sexual favors for money or sometimes goods.”

“What are sexual favors?” the boy asked.

She pursed her lips together, thinking. “It’s kind of the same as breeding, but between people, not animals.”

“So, they use the body parts that distinguish them as male or female?” He nodded slowly, considering it, trying to remember the correct terminology. “Their genitals?”

“Exactly!” Ivy chirped sweetly, pleased that he had retained the information. “But it’s not done for procreation. Neither the man nor woman want to have a child. They just want to partake in the act.”

“If not for children, then why?”

“Because they enjoy it. It can be pleasurable. So, sometimes, a person will go to the red-light district where the prostitutes stay and pay coin for it.”

He stared at the girl with an ever so slight look of surprise on his face. “They pay for it? How much does it cost?” He’d never heard of animals paying for it. What an interesting concept.

“I think it depends on what the suitor is looking for, and for how long it’ll take, and who they’re going to. When we’re there, there will be a lot of women outside of the houses who will call out to you and say all sorts of things. That’s what they want to do with you, and they want you to pay for it. You don’t have to say anything, just walk away and they’ll leave you alone. They’ll only pay attention to you if you approach them and offer them coin.”

Zero seemed content with the answer as the girl clung closer and began to hum a cheerful tune. Sakura watched the two and chuckled lightly. That had been a lot easier than she had imagined. It was good that the devil had Ivy to help guide him with the ins and outs of life. Ren had trained the boy to fight properly, but he was just about useless with everything else.

“You ruined her!” the angel accused as they crested the hill and looked down at the field that burst with various colors of flowers below, the blooms rippling in the breeze like a rainbow wave. Ivy squealed in delight, releasing the boy and running through the flowers, her body spinning and frolicking about.

Sakura glared at the man. “What do you mean I ruined her?”

“How does she know those things?” He was absolutely appalled.

“She reads a lot and likes books about animals. When she was younger, she asked me about breeding and mating, and I explained it to her. Zero reads with her. Sooner or later, it was bound to come up, and I’m sure she explained it to him.” Her glare intensified. “Unlike someone. Plus, she was a fourteen-year-old girl walking through the district at night. Whether I liked it or not, things were seen. What did you want me to do? Lie to her?”

Ren nodded. “Yes. You stole her innocence, and now she’s stealing his.”

The fox watched the girl as she gathered flowers and rushed them to Zero, skipping back and forth, making the bouquet in his arms larger and more out of control with every delivery. “Yeah,” the woman’s voice dry. “She, uh, she looks real ruined. Innocence lost indeed. Like it or not, those two are not babies. There were girls having children when they themselves were children in some of the villages, and you’re worried about those two?”

“But they’re still my babies,” the man argued.

She increased her pace, pulling away from him, completely fed up with the ridiculous man. “Maybe it’s best you just stay here. I know how pure and chaste you angels are. Wouldn’t want to lead you into temptation.”

That wasn’t what Ren wanted at all. “I was talking about Ivy and Zero,” he whined, grabbing onto the tip of her tail and following, giving it little tugs in retaliation. “Not me. I want you to lead me into temptation. I need it. I’m your alpha mate, don’t deny me.”

“You had your chance,” she reminded him, still bitter at the rejection in Golden City. “But I’m sure you can find someone there in your price range.”