Seron was being used as bait. Deinia wanted to lure Lavor into a trap so she could finally get rid of him. That was the main reason she didn’t have Seron killed despite trying desperately in the past to cover her birth up. The other reason why was that she couldn’t risk her underlings knowing who Seron was to her.

They were ordered to have her under a spell to make her mute for the entire time they had her. Plenty of her subjects would defect if they found out the truth, it was one of the most heinous acts in demon culture after all. Deinia needed Seron secured until the Lavor situation was dealt with, then she would have to kill Seron herself to ensure her secret stayed buried. Not a day passed by when she didn’t regret that one night stand.

Finding Seron was the easiest way for Lavor to get back to Deepworld. Even if she refused, he would have other options. Ever since Deinia heard he got his hands on that holy lantern, she had taken extensive measures to make getting back difficult. Lavor stealing it had been the single greatest threat to her plans so far.

No demon could steal it from him, reporting him to the angels wouldn’t do anything unless they have evidence, and most hired muscle refused to risk fighting someone like Lavor. Even without the lantern, Lavor was not to be trifled with. Deinia was aware of this considering what she had to do in order to gain his position.

She looked at Seron through the window as she sat against the wall of the room she was being held in. Deinia had not expected Seron to have become such a formidable warrior, three demons were still getting their wounds looked at from when they tried to disarm her. If Deinia were any other mother, she’d be proud. Instead all Deinia saw was a walking monument to her shame. Currently tapping a hoof on the ground as she looked around the room for any weaknesses she could exploit.

She wondered if it would have been simpler to just have given the father enough money to live happily on the sole condition that her daughter never knew of her mother. All Deinia could see coming from that was potential blackmailing from him. She found it better to just invalidate all of his documentation and assets before sending them both to a non-place. Along with some memory altering magic to ensure he truly had no idea who Deinia was. She hoped that was enough to ensure they would never reveal the truth.

Then Tsilo had to go and ruin everything for her. He was trying to look into who Seron might have been. So he had a demonic associate of his perform a spell that acted like a sort of DNA test but more geared towards finding out which demon she came from. This associate also happened to work for Deinia, who was very quick to inform her that Deinia had a tiefling daughter walking about. If she had sent her goons after Tsilo first, he might not have caught wind of his associate’s death and fled town.

Tracking down Seron proved to be more perilous than expected. Which was why Clarita sent over that thing to help distract her partner long enough to capture her. Deinia was well aware of Clarita’s goals and her methods of achieving them, she even supported her with knowledge of lesser known demonic magics to help. As well as sending over any young ones the witch hunters grabbed, though she will now need to find another group for that now.

Deinia and Clarita’s relationship was purely business. Deepworld would not be threatened by her long term plans, in fact they would cooperate. The angels would no doubt object to the grand plan, so Deinia was to help fend them off on that front. In the grand scheme of things, that was only a small part of the reason why Deinia seized the throne in the first place.

Seron glared at Deinia through the window. Seron didn’t know for sure she was looking at her mother, but she had a hunch she was. It wouldn’t be hard for her to break out of that room, but actually leaving the building was another story with all the demons guarding her. Seron was just waiting for an opening, she knew all too well when to pick a fight and when to hold back.

Deinia told a nearby demon to stay on guard. She opened a portal back to Deepworld and stepped through. Seron was annoyed at how she wouldn't have a chance to confront her mother if she broke out. All Seron wanted was for her to give an explanation for how she treated her, and to give Deinia at least one punch. Maybe a slight stabbing too, depending on her answer.

Seron may not have any weapons with her, but she still had her magic. All she needed to do was wait for a distraction. She heard them saying how she’s bait for that demon she was going to meet. No doubt they’ll be here soon, all she had to do was be patient and prepared.

Fortunately for her, she would not have to wait long. Lavor and Cyreen peered over some bushes on a hillside as they looked down at the warehouse they had tracked the demons to. It was late at night, they would have not been able to see a thing if it weren’t for the light coming from the city. Both of them looked at the demons patrolling outside, trying to memorize where they were.

“What’s the plan, can we take these guys?” Cyreen asked.

“Those are some tough looking demons, they likely know about the lantern too. If we go in, they’re going to overpower us.” Lavor said.

“So what do we do, sneak in?” Cyreen asked.

“I’m no good at sneaking, are you?” Lavor said.

“Nope. Stealth spells aren't something I ever paid attention to either.” Cyreen said.

“Dammit, I didn’t want it to come to this. But we need help with this one. We should head back and find some backup.” Lavor said.

“Do you think it’s okay to leave her there? I don’t see Deinia keeping her alive for long.” Cyreen said.

“We don’t have a choice. Maybe we can find some demons loyal to me willing to help out and-” Lavor said before a massive pair of arms reached around from behind and put him in a choke hold.

Cyreen barely had time to react before someone held a weird puppet in front of her face. The mouth opened and a long collapsible blade reached out and was barely touching her throat. Someone else came from behind and grabbed both of her arms, holding them out so she can’t weave any spells. It took her a few seconds, but Cyreen recognized the people threatening them.

“So, care to explain yourselves?” Vaughn said from behind Cyreen.

“V-Vaughn!? What are you doing?” Cyreen asked.

“You two call me out of nowhere, offering my associate some valuable information. And right before the meeting, we get attacked and she gets kidnapped! Now I see you two lurking around the place I tracked her to. You both better have a good reason for me not to kill you both on the spot.” Vaughn said.

“You’d kill the rightful demon prince over something like that?” Lavor said.

“You don’t know my priorities. Deepworld’s political situation doesn’t concern me.” Vaughn said.

“You heard what we said before. They knew about Seron, they know we need her for something and kidnapped her to use as bait for a trap!” Cyreen said.

Vaughn was silent for a moment while he thought about the situation. He may not have cared for the politics going on here, but Seron was involved in them regardless. Cyreen and Lavor were good to him in the one job they did in the past, also he was well aware of the contention between Lavor and Deinia. He had no guarantee that the demons down there knew anything about Seron and Deinia’s relationship. He owed it to Seron to at least give her that one answer she’s had her whole life. As far as he knew, Cyreen and Lavor were his only shot at giving her that.

Vaughn had his minions release them both. He looked towards the warehouse, he knew Seron was inside. Demons were nothing new to him, he’s had to fight them before on many jobs. Though he had never faced as many as he was currently seeing.

“You want to get in there too right?” Vaughn asked.

“Y-yes.” Lavor said as he caught his breath.

“We need her to disable the lock on the portal we have, that’s it.” Cyreen said.

“You’re sure Seron is still alive?” Vaughn asked.

“Deinia probably wouldn’t trust anyone but herself to kill Seron. Though she won’t be waiting for us there, she’s afraid of what I can do.” Lavor said.

“Well then, I guess we need to move quickly.” Vaughn said as he lit a new cigarette.

Cyreen was amazed at how quickly he acted once he heard Seron might be in danger. She wondered what the tiefling meant to him, though she imagined knowing that might bring her more harm than good. Both Cyreen and Lavor knew it was best not to pry too much into his life. So they just stood back and let Vaughn do what he did best.

He puffed out a large amount of smoke, more than he normally used. From the smoke emerged most of his arsenal. Strongmen, the ventriloquist, a beast tamer with all of his pets, along with numerous acrobats and miscellaneous other performers. They were largely unarmed, but over twenty unarmed people can be just as dangerous as a few armed soldiers. One after another they emerged from the smoke and began sprinting down the hill.

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One demon happened to notice the sudden crowd rushing towards them. He shouted in surprise before Sandau reached out and grabbed the demon by the neck before smashing his head against the metal wall. A demon on the roof with a crossbow tried to shoot down at them, unaware of the acrobats easily scaling the side of the building. He heard them running towards him and fired an arrow at one. The acrobat caught the arrow in mid air, and drove it into the demon’s neck.

Cyreen and Lavor had both seen brutal scenes before, they were no strangers to this kind of violence. But they both felt unnerved by the spectacle before them, unsettling black and white copies of long dead people killing demons while barely reacting to any injury they get. Cyreen could sense Vaughn’s emotions as he watched the scene like a director observing a play on opening night. In the original job she hired him for, he was indifferent to the whole thing. It was just another day at work for him.

Now, she could feel that he was angry. He didn’t need to use this much force, he could have rescued Seron with half of what he’s using. Deinia must not have been fully aware of who Vaughn was when she went after Seron. Otherwise she would have secured the hideout better.

“Let's head down and join the fight.” Vaughn said before he whipped out his baton. “And if anyone asks, you simply hired me to help you two rescue her. I have no connection to Seron otherwise.”

“Okay, we’ll go with that story. But are you sure getting into the fight is a good idea? There are a lot of demons left.” Lavor said.

“I didn’t help you steal that thing because you thought it looked cool. Some will survive this, make yourself look like the leader you’re trying to be.” Vaughn said as he began walking down the hill.

Lavor hated to admit it, but Vaughn was right. Lavor had respect before when he was on the throne. He feared he may have to win most of that back even when he was on the throne again. He had to make himself not look like a pushover someone else could decide to usurp. While he was hiding mostly as an effort not to be discovered by Deinia, he also felt guilty about losing his throne. He feels like he had let down all of demonkind when it happened. Lavor pulled out the lantern, the purple flame shining brightly in the night, and charged down the hill. Cyreen was close behind, already preparing spells for a fight.

Seron was still in her makeshift prison when she saw demons running past the windows with weapons drawn. The spell soundproofing the room worked both ways so she couldn’t hear what was happening outside. Seron stood up and walked closer to a window to try and figure out had them so riled up.

She watched as a muscular arm managed to punch through the weak walls opposite to her room. The black and white arm’s sight alone told Seron that Vaughn was here. Sandau tore a sizable hole in the wall as the two demons guarding the door appropriately reacted by fleeing. Seron stepped back from the window and kicked it hard enough to shatter the glass. She was instantly greeted with the sound of the fighting outside.

Sandau held out Seron’s shortsword, which he had found while tearing his way through the demons. Seron eagerly took her sword back and stepped through the broken window. She looked behind Sandau to see the chaos was now winding down. Most of the demons are dead, injured, or had simply fled the scene.

Seron saw Vaughn prodding a body with his shoe, he looked towards her and quickly turned back to the body. Before she could try to get his attention, Seron was quickly approached by who she assumed was Cyreen and Lavor. The prince had never seen Seron before, but from the shape of her horns and the similarities in her face and Deinia's, he knew it was her. Sandau walked back over to Vaughn as Cyreen and Lavor began talking to her.

“Hey, listen. I know it’s literally your job to chase after him.” Cyreen said as she gestured towards Vaughn. “But it took a lot of convincing to get him to agree to saving a bounty hunter. So we’d appreciate it if you could just put the hunter stuff on hold for a bit and just forget he’s here.”

Seron was initially confused at what she was saying since Vaughn was probably heading here before they were. Then she saw Vaughn standing over one of the demons that kidnapped her as they were writhing on the ground. He leaned down, nodded, and then looked at Sandau before pointing at the demon. Sandau then stomped down on the demon’s neck, making him go limp.

He was removing all of the witnesses to anyone who saw Vaughn and Seron together. Seron quickly realized this and deduced that what Cyreen was saying was simply a cover story for the survivors who might hear them. She had used similar techniques when hunting paranoid targets in the past. Seron knew playing along would be the best option.

“Fine, I guess I now technically owe him one.” Seron said.

“Sorry all this happened to you. It’s our fault you got caught up in this mess.” Lavor said.

“I would have broken out by morning. But I still appreciate the early release. I guess mom’s grand trap didn’t work out. I’d like to smack her off that throne myself but I think that’s your honor.” Seron said.

“Yeah, we owe you some kind of explanation. Let's go back to our hideout. We’ll tell you everything.” Lavor said.

“Vaughn, your job’s done. You can go.” Cyreen said to Vaughn.

“I’ll be done here in a second.” Vaughn said as Sandau finished off the other demon kidnapper.

Not wanting to have to deal with police who were undoubtedly on their way here, the trio quickly fled the scene. Vaughn left in a different direction to return to his motel. He trusted Seron to eventually get back to him. But at the moment it would be better for both in the long run if no one suspected anything was going on between them.

During the walk back to their hideout, Lavor told Seron everything. Who her mother was, why she abandoned her, and any other questions he could answer. Seron didn’t know how to feel about finally knowing an answer to a question she never realized she so desperately wanted to hear. Though it did nothing to improve the already terrible opinion she had of Deinia.

Seron wanted to help Lavor in the fight against her. But there was a feeling deep in her gut saying that this simply wasn’t her fight. Seron never felt much of a connection to demonkind, the walk with Lavor was the most time she had ever spent with one in person. Seron wouldn’t be fighting for Lavor’s rightful place on the throne, nor would she be fighting for a future free of her mother’s influence. Seron would simply be fighting to get revenge against someone who cared nothing for her.

She refused to leave the only family she had to go fight the only living relative she knew. Vaughn had done more for her than Deinia ever would. Killing her wasn’t Seron’s destiny. She decided to simply unlock the portal like they agreed, and let the situation play out as the world intended.

“-Also when I do kill her, you are legally entitled to all of her possessions.” Lavor said as they walked into the gas station.

“She doesn’t have anyone else to pass it on to?” Seron asked.

“Nope. While we don’t have biological families, sometimes demons form surrogate families. Deinia’s only close relationship was her mentor and he’s been dead for a while.” Lavor said.

“Well, looks like I’m getting some back-pay for that motherly support she was supposed to give me.” Seron said.

“I’ll let you know when it happens. But for now, all you have to do is this.” Lavor said as he picked up the scroll.

Locking off magic scrolls such as that was common practice when one side was assumed to be compromised. Seron had no experience with removing those locks herself. Lavor opened the scroll to reveal the rune of the demon lord, a sort of automatic conduit for the power of whoever holds the throne. It’s what allowed a portal to form since it’s no different from Deinia forming one of her own.

With the lock on it, the rune was normally unresponsive. But now it sensed Seron’s presence. It barely took any effort on Seron’s part to remove the lock. She just attempted to activate it like anyone else would, and the lock simply dissipated on contact. The rune began to glow as it was starting to open the portal. Lavor quickly shut the scroll to prevent a premature opening. They only have one shot at this, best save the scroll for when they were ready.

With that, their business with Seron was concluded. While she and Vaughn could not join them on Lavor’s quest to retake the throne, Seron at least wished them good luck. She then left the gas station so she could get some proper rest and a shower. She knew she’ll have to write up a report on what happened that night, they’ll want to know why she had Vaughn so close but let him get away. Fabricating a cover story won’t be hard, she used her phone and called for a bounty hunter colleague to come pick her up.

Cyreen watched a car drive up to Seron and let her climb inside before driving away. She considered this whole day to have been such an ordeal. They were both tired from having to track the demons across town and the fight in the warehouse. Cyreen looked around at the building she had been calling home for a good while, she was beginning to get sick of it.

She missed her cozy caravan with her coven. She’s glad she had a way to at least inform them she’s alive. They must have thought she was dead for months, part of her wished she could have shown up in person to see just how they would react. Sometimes she even wondered if she should just bail on Lavor if the situation became dire. She felt indebted to him, but Cyreen wasn’t prepared to die for him.

He had been a good friend and had kept every promise he made to her. She knew that if she abandoned him, the guilt would be worse. Also she didn't know for sure, but he might try to haunt her through his arms. There’s a reason demon killing weapons like the lantern are so thorough when it comes to destroying the body.

“So what now? Do we just prepare for an attack or wait for a good time to strike?” Cyreen asked as she sat down on the pile of old blankets she called a bed.

“We can’t afford to wait, she’ll eventually find out we have the portal unlocked. We need to be in the best condition we can be before we take her on and soon.” Lavor said.

“So it’s just Deinia we need to kill? Won’t she have a buttload of followers in that fancy palace of yours?” Cyreen asked.

“Just killing her won’t be enough. I need to enact a ritual called the “Rikchac Tarll” it’s an ancient contest that Deinia has no choice but to participate in.” Lavor said.

“You said she overthrew you by using an obscure ritual using the falsified evidence she made, is this the same one?” Cyreen asked.

“No, this one is made specifically for this situation. If two deserving parties claim the throne and neither one backs down, they settle things the way the first demon heir was chosen.” Lavor said.

“And that is?” Cyreen asked.

“It’s been lost to history. No one’s called a Rikchac Tarll since the defeat of the one who tried to assert himself as demon king. It’s an incredibly ancient practice but one she must adhere to. Refusing to accept the challenge is to surrender the throne to the other.” Lavor said.

“I wonder if the angels have weird practices like this.” Cyreen said.

“I’ll ask when I return the lantern.” Lavor said.

“So we just waltz in and demand this ritual happens?” Cyreen asked.

“We have to say it to her in person, so we’re going to have to fight through.” Lavor said.

“Good, gives me a chance to get revenge on that tortuous demon and Jortam after he sent me to him.” Cyreen said.

Cyreen admittedly knew little about Deepworld. Her only time spent there was rather distracting and unpleasant. Despite that one terrible experience, she heard it was not as bad as some people imagine it to be. Probably because it was what many early beliefs considered “Hell” to be. Cyreen hoped this trip would be the end of her debt to Lavor and she could finally return home.