A Sinner’s Chance

Damian had a complicated look on his face. "If that is what she wants I won't stop her." He said, the resignation at the situation was clear in his voice. I didn't know how much he remembered about her, but I did know that at least he had harbored feelings for Ashara, so I doubted that my words were easy for him to take, even more so since I was his daughter, though we might as well have been strangers since we hadn't ever met until a few weeks ago. With my declaration said and Damian's acknowledgement I made my way out of the study, leaving him behind to stare out the window.

The conversation had left me with far more worry than I had when I had entered, and the first thing I did was find a quiet place to contact Marian from. My heart beat rapidly as I place my hand against the necklace. There was a small chance that Marian had known, perhaps even been the one to tell Alcrem about my past life. Not consciously, I wholeheartedly believed that she hadn't said a word to him, but what if she wasn't alone in her thoughts?

What if an entity like Apophis, or even a separate personality lay dormant within her that she was unaware of. She'd never claimed to have been missing any time, but if it awoke at night, or perhaps had an active connection to Alcrem it could utilize at any moment, it would explain the few holes left in my assessment of Alcrem.

"Marian." I spoke gently as I felt the connection made. "Are you alone? I mean, completely alone? There is something I need to tell you that you can't tell anyone else about."

It took some time before a response came. "I'm alone now, there isn't anyone within a hundred feet, at least not living." She sounded confident in her assessment, and I wondered if she'd learned a new Skill, or perhaps learnt to utilize one of the Dhampir Skills for detection. Either way, my heart calmed a little as I heard her voice.

"What I'm about to say needs to stay between me, and you. I'll tell Arya later, but I thought it best to inform you first." I took a breath as I collected my thoughts, before beginning to narrate what Damian had told me. That rather than being randomly found, I had been searched for, a convenient coincidence that my mother had been badly injured and on the verge of death when they found me. That they had come all the way into the Inner ring, far from any semblance of safety to specifically find a child in the arms of a monster. Not only the squad that found me, but two others had been sent out as well, though of course it was only the one that kidnapped me that made it back.

Marian didn't interrupt at all, but when I finally finished I could hear the barely veiled anger in voice. "How could he do such a thing? The thought of any of my children being forcibly ripped from my hands while unable to resist is awful, I cant imagine how it must actually feel. And that doesn't apply to just you or the boys, even Gabriel, or Kalista, whom I'm not very close to, fills me with sadness."

"I'm coming back soon, but I don't know if I'll be a child of the Eldur household for long after I arrive. I'm going to confront Alcrem about this, and I'm going to learn the truth, even if it means I have to torture him, or even kill him."

There was a long silence before Marian spoke again. "I understand, but you can leave everyone else out right?"

I knew what she was concerned about, but I didn't have any plans of actually living up to the Title of Demon Lord I'd recently acquired, unless there was no other choice. "Alcrem is my only target."

After having finished talking about the new information, I began to explain what had happened since the last time we talked, which had only been a week or so ago, so not much had changed on my end. However, it appeared that Alcrem was making some kind of move since the manor had been extremely busy and it seemed that a special request had been sent to the Adventurer's Guild by Alcrem, though she had yet to find out what its details was.

I was troubled that Alcrem seemed to be preparing for something, especially when I didn't know what it could be, but I doubted he'd be able to find let alone fund an Adventurer that could fight against me. I had become both a Hero and Demon Lord, yet I was still considered weak by their standards, so I doubted anyone not in that range would pose a challenge, while those that could would be too expensive.

I suddenly shook my head. It was unlikely that he was preparing for me, but rather something else. He couldn't know when I would be back, or even that I knew he'd actually kidnapped me. If he did, I could say with reliable certainty that he was somehow able to extract or learn information from Marian, which meant he had been planning to use me for something, and had never actually cared, only using my Gift as an excuse.

However, no matter how I thought about it I still couldn't understand what he was trying to gain. I had to be missing a piece, only there were no clues on what it was, or if there were, I was overlooking them. I was more frustrated now than I had ever been. Not only did my adopted father have some kind of mysterious goal I couldn't figure out, but I was being targeted by an Archangel I knew nothing about.

Even worse was that said Archangel had access to the souls of those I cared about should they die. I hadn't known Neyla for long but she was essentially a hostage as it currently stood. On top of that, I could actually gauge the strength of the Archangel, she was sure to be above me, but where was she in comparison to a Hero or Demon Lord?

That wasn't even to mention that the potentially false Queen of Hell had tasked me with a mission to kill the Outsiders on this planet, something else I had basically no leads on. The sole thing being the mysterious pink haired woman who helped during my Awakening Ceremony and wanted me to come to the Divine City of Luxuria.

In my frustration I simply found a quiet place and began to work with Creation. It was nice to get lost in work that had a clear cut beginning, end and process that didn't require anything from me other than to concentrate and diligently condense mana into an object that would be brought forth.