{Victoria}

"So the cats out of the bag now with certain people, that is," I said. I was talking on the phone through facetime with Satan and he seemed rather happy that Frank found out about him running a mafia called the Royals.

"About this being a cover story…" Satan said.

I paused. "What?"

"I want this to be a real story for you. Just think of this as training for when you're crowned as a Princess," Satan said.

"And what happens after Delilah 'kills me?'" I asked.

"You'll just assume a new identity. Once you figure out how to change into your human form at will that part should be pretty easy," Satan answered. "How about this, we can make a deal?"

I raised an eyebrow. "A deal?"

He smirked. "I know where your box is. The deal I want to make with you is this, you lead the mafia for at least six months and then I'll tell you where your box is. After those six months, you'll get your box and then you can come back home."

"Question," I said.

"Yes?" He said.

"Why is Ben insisting on teaching me sword fighting? I mean I understand hand to hand combat because even humans like to fight their fists, but a sword? I don't really see that type of combat much. A knife maybe, but not a full blown sword. Unless the person charging at you is a complete lunatic," I said.

"That's because sword fighting is a common type of combat in Hell. The stronger the demon is more than likely they'll either fight with their fists or a sword. Especially if it's a demon from the Royal family," Satan explained. "So, do you accept our deal?"

I thought about it. It would be so easy for me to ask my dad where my box is so I could go home. But on the other hand I still have so much to learn about being a leader and I'm not sure if six months would be enough to teach me. "Can I revise the deal a little?"

"As long as it's within reason," Satan said.

"Well, I don't think six months will teach me how to be a leader, don't you?" I said.

"So how much time do you think you'll need?" Satan asked while raising an eyebrow.

"A year," I said.

He didn't look too happy about that but he seemed to consider it for a moment. He nodded. "Okay, a year but Cathy and I will come to Earth to celebrate the holidays and your birthday with you of course. No, if's and's or but's about it. Non negotiable."

I chuckled. "Of course, it's going to be somewhat awkward because you're the guy who supposedly 'kidnapped' me though."

"Don't worry about that, I got it covered. When you learn how to change into your human form at will you can change yourself into whatever you want to look like. Heck, you can even change your gender if you want. But either way regardless if I go in my regular human form or change it up a bit, I'll be there," Satan said.

Tears of happiness welled up in my eyes but I blinked them away. I wasn't going to cry. I hate crying in front of people. I blame that response on Delilah and her precious Howard.

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," I lied.

He didn't seem convinced when he said, "Uh-huh."

I composed myself. "So a year and then you'll tell me where my box is?"

"That's the deal. So you do say?" He asked.

I smiled. "Deal."

***

{Satan}

I have no idea what's going with my daughter but there's something going on. She smiled at me and looked like she was going to cry but she composed herself so quickly, I thought I was imagining things.

"I saw that. I wonder if our daughter has trouble showing emotions in front of people?" Cathy said.

She was sitting beside me on the bed the entire time I was on the call with Victoria.

"Yeah I can sense when someone's lying about something and she lied about the possible tears," I said.

"Like I said she probably has trouble showing emotions and I'm going to blame that on that pathetic human that she had as a 'mother,'" Cathy growled.

I nodded in agreement. There must be some way I can help her with that.

It was as if Cathy read my mind. She shook her head. "I don't think we can help her with that. Just let her open up to us and what we can do is show her that we don't judge her like her human parents did. Heck, I'd accept her even if she did want to sleep with me. But every demon has their lines that they draw. And hers is incest. It's taboo to humans though so maybe that's where she gets that idea from?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I gave her a look of disbelief. "Seriously? I'm not sure if sleeping with your daughter is the best way to help her get over this issue. Although she does get her good looks from me so I can see why you'd be attracted to her. "

Cathy pouted, "She gets just about everything from you. Your temper, your good looks, your temper…"

I snorted. "Yeah hopefully she won't throw a human off a balcony because she's mad at them. Humans are fragile creatures when they're alive and yet somehow they're at the top of the food chain on Earth. But here they're bottom feeders."

"No kidding," Cathy said. "I say we just give her time to open up to us. I'm sure she will in due time. And we have all the time in the world for that to happen."

I nodded in agreement because once again Cathy is right. Right now, it's just a waiting game.

***

{Victoria}

"So we're stuck here for another year?" Walter said with a frown.

"What? It's not bad. Besides, I have more loose ends to tie up here than you do," I said. "Not to mention Dad said that he would come for the holidays and once the year is up then we'll go back home. I'm thinking about going to a lawyer to write my will now. And no, it's not going to be one that's connected to Frank or Ben. I'll make instructions for the lawyer to contact Jenny and Jaxon when we get 'killed.' Honestly, I can't wait until Delilah fucks this up and takes the fall. But all good things come to those who wait."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you would think that."

He moved out of the way just in time to dodge Ben's sword. We were at the training area for Ben's mafia which was at the main house working on our sword fighting skills. I feel rather bored and annoyed by this because it's not much of a challenge for me at the moment. Not to mention I don't really see the point in learning this skill but I guess it'll come in handy when I finally get back to Hell.

Ben went to my left to attack me and I just blocked him with ease.

"I volunteered for the deal because otherwise it might take me longer to find it," I said.

"Uh, are you guys going to attack me or not? That is the point of sword fighting, is you know, actual fighting?" Ben said with an annoyed tone of voice.

"I'm bored," I said.

He rolled his eyes. "Well you wouldn't be bored if you actually started doing some fighting."

"Okay, fine then," I said. I readied my fighting stance and charged at him. He quickly moved out of my way before I could get a hit on him.

He snickered. "Your defense is perfect, your offense however, is terrible." He turned his attention to Walter. "Walter, show me what you got. You might be able to show Victoria a thing or two about this sport."

"Hey!" I said.

Walter nodded and moved in to attack Ben and Ben blocked him but not before Walter's sword grazed his shoulder. However if I'm not interested in learning something I find it very hard for me to learn even if it is important. That's definitely something I'm going to have to work on.

I wasn't paying attention when Ben attacked me and I didn't move out of the way in time. Ben's sword sliced my right shoulder. "Ow!"

Walter panicked. "Victoria!"

Ben rolled his eyes. "She's fine. She's a demon, remember? Demon's are somewhat invincible. And if you get killed on Earth you just get transported back to Hell. It gives humans the illusion that you're dead for their peace of mind."

I looked at my shoulder and didn't feel any pain anymore and all I saw was blood. I shrugged. "It's fine, let's keep going."

Walter looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't. He nodded and I tried to attack Ben by charging at him. Once again he moved out of the way as if it was nothing.

"Fuck!" I cursed. Then I remembered that I had that same issue when I wanted to fight Alastor and I have that same issue in hand to hand combat. With hand to hand combat I actually want to learn that.

Ben chuckled. "Again, your offense is really terrible. It's the same thing with your hand to hand combat. You got a bit of work before you're ready for an actual fight with your fists and swords that is. But it is a good thing that you're a good shot with a gun at least. You're going to need to know how to fire a gun since you're going to be the Don for the Royals."

Walter snorted. "No kidding."

Ben's alarm went off on his watch and he sighed, "As much as I would love to keep going it's time to stop. Not to mention we've been at this for about six hours now."

I nodded and I didn't like the idea of taking a shower in the gym locker room so I just changed into a clean shirt because I figured I'd take a shower when I got home. That's exactly what I did.

Once I got home I took a shower and found Walter sitting on my bed like he normally does.

"I've been thinking," Walter said.

"About what?" I asked.

"We should start sharing a room instead of being in separate ones. We are dating after all. And when we get back to Hell we'll start sharing a room there too," Walter responded.

I nodded. "I like that idea. Besides, it makes perfect sense that we share a room because we already share a bed anyway."

For whatever the reason Cody perked up at that and gave a happy bark and wagged his tail.

I laughed, "Yup, that's right Cody, just you, me and Walter."

"That's another thing, what are we going to do about Cody when we have to go back to Hell?" Walter asked.

I smiled because I had spoken to Satan about that a couple of days ago right after we made the deal and he surprised me by saying Cody wasn't a normal dog.

"What's that look for?" Walter asked.

"That's because Cody isn't a normal dog. He's a hellhound and his real name is Cain," I said.

It was as if Cody knew exactly what I was talking about when he jumped off the bed and shook his fur out as if he had just come from the rain. Slowly he started to transform. His fur shrank into his skin and became just straight muscle and his skin was black. His paws did the same thing. This dog had muscles just about everywhere and he looked like he was a bodybuilder but in dog form. His ears stuck straight up and were pointy and his snout was a little bit longer than a German Shepherd mix.

Once he finished his transformation he barked and stood tall and proud of himself. Hell, if I had a body like he did and I was a dog I'd be proud of myself too.

Walter gaped at Cody. "Whoa! He's a big doggy!"

I chuckled, "No kidding. Although I expected him to be big because he's a Hellhound."

Cody transformed back into a German Shepherd and hopped up on the bed again. He just acted like nothing happened.

"Again, we're stuck here for one more year?" Walter said.

I gave him a pointed look. "Seriously? Cody just transformed into a huge giant hellhound and that's the question you go back to?"

Walter shrugged. "What can I say? The dog is the least of my worries at the moment."

"And I told you, Dad handing me the box will take a lot less time than me searching all over the whole planet for it," I said. "Or would you prefer that it be more than a year? Because if I go looking for my box on my own it's bound to be longer than a year."

He sighed, "I don't like it but if it gets back to our actual family that wants us unconditionally faster then fine."

"Yup, one more year and we go back home," I said. To tell the truth I couldn't wait to be back home in Hell where I belonged.