The dark prince lay on his bed looking at his guest. Just over twenty four hours ago he had learned of his guests newest attempt at over throwing his father. Three apprentice level sorcerers, one of which was now feeding his father's flying demons at the moment. Since the other twos escape he had set up the castles defenses and entertained Irina, having her wounds cleaned and bandaged then taken to his chambers. He had not touched her, choosing to try prying information out of her the old fashioned way. Something he was quickly becoming disenchanted with.
"So, ready to talk yet?"

Irina just stared at Diablo from where she was seated. The girl shifted slightly, trying to get herself free from the bonds the held her to the chair.

"You know," Diablo said as he sat up, crimson sheets sliding down his chest as he shifted. "I'm being very nice to you. Instead of having your wounds bandaged you could have any number of worse ones. You have a nice new dress and a place to rest. Instead of a slaves loin cloth and a cage with hay to keep you company. I'm also being far more civil then any of the beasts down in the dungeon would be. Even with my fathers orders not to touch you or harm you all too much."

Irina looked down at the floor, still not saying a word.

"Would you prefer the dungeons and all the little horrors down there?" The Prince asked with a sly smile.

Irina shook her head and whimpered softly.

A reaction, finally, he guess he must of horrified her a bit more then he thought with that boys death. "Good, we're getting some where. So, do you have anything to say?"

"About what?" asked Irina quietly. The girl sounded scared.

"Anything, but specifically yesterdays events."

"What do you want to know...?" asked Irina quietly.

"Preferably every thing." The prince answered.

"But nothing really happened..." said Irina.

"I beg to differ, especially when people appear and disappear using elemental magic."

"Oh... That..." said Irina quietly.

"Yes, that." He agreed, awaiting more of a answer.

"But I really don't know..." said Irina quietly. "All I know is that those kids are from another world..."

"You mean that legendary dream world father talks about?" Diablo chuckled, amused by the idea. Nothing had been able to com to or from Ashi since his father had taken Ashi over.

"I guess... I don't know, I've never been there..." said Irina.

"But you know about it and you know about those two elemental witches."

"Only a little bit.... And they're just scared kids..." said Irina.

"With elemental powers that require a teacher to learn. So, what do you know about them?"

"That they have no control over their powers and no one to teach them... So they're not a threat..." said Irina.

"We both know that’s garbage. The way they were using their abilities to teleport in and away, what Ardais reported, and the Flame Weaver trying to burn Ardais fully indicates they are a threat. But, they are also loyal to you. They cam for you once, they will come again."

"They won't come for me, they wouldn't risk their own lives for me after what happened to the poor boy.." said Irina softly.

"I think your wrong. I saw the fire and defiance in the Water Witch's eyes. The fire one came back twice and both tried to get you out and away, even with you pleading for them to run. It might take some time, but they will return. If not my mystics will hunt them down eventually. Either way they will be found and I will enjoy them both before they die." Diablo slid over to the side of his bed and climbed out of the bed. His black and crimson pants shimmering as he approached Irina. "Or am I still wrong?"

Irina whimpered softly.

"Well," He said lifting her face with one of his fingers. His magenta eyes staring into her soft brown eyes. "am I?"

Irina whimpered softly, her eyes showing the fear she was trying desperately to hide.

"Scared?" He asked with a charming smile, giving her a brief look at his fangs.

"No..." said Irina, her voice was shaking slightly.

"That," the Prince whispered as he leaned down, his face close enough to feel her breath. His hand moving up across her cheek and into her hair. "was a lie." He tilted her head as he opened his mouth, displaying his fangs openly as he gently brushed her hair behind her ear. His other hand holding her firmly so she wouldn't move or struggle. Slowly he lowered his mouth to her neck, his fangs pricking the pale flesh on her neck. Eyes alight like magenta lanterns. Suddenly the room was filled with the sound of someone pounding on the carved ironwood doors leading into his private chambers.
"Damn it." The Prince swore, the mood spoiled by his visitor. He let go of Irina as his face returned to normal, turning toward the door as he walked over to the door.

Irina whimpered softly, as she tried to squirm free of her bonds.

"Diablo?" asked a very young sounding voice.

Ignoring Irana's struggles, Diablo quickly conjured a robe to match his pants, pulled the iron brace on his door, and leaned out of the now open door. "Yes Kiara?"

"Mia and Miya have gotten very jealous of you spending all your time with your new toy," said the 13 year old princess quietly. She was wearing a long black halter dress that clung to her like a second skin.

Diablo tried ignoring how edible his little sister looked at the moment. He had tried warning her about dressing like that around all the creatures that lived in the castle. It also kept her from looking like a very tempting appetizer to her brother. But his warnings had fallen on deaf ears.
"Miya and Mia both know that I treasure them dearly. But, currently I'm trying to get some information out of..." A evil thought suddenly entered his mind. "Come in, maybe you can help. I haven’t played with her any and I'm sure you will understand why I'm spending so much time with her once you see who it is."

"Who is it?" asked Kiara softly.

Diablo opened the door to allow his sister in. He was relatively sure she had at least heard of Irina if not seen her. He gestured toward his captive guest with a smile. "That's her. Go say hello."

"Oh, her..." said Kiara as she smiled slightly. The smile would have looked sweet on any other 13 year old's face, but on Kiara it looked rather evil.

"Care to try prying some information out of her? You tend to be a bit better at it without accessories." Diablo insinuated with a smiled that Kiara toy with Irina for a while. Miya and Mia would understand his distraction from them and Kiara would explain things if they didn't believe him.

"She doesn't give out information though..." said Kiara as her face fell slightly.

"That's the fun part. You have to get it out of her. You see she know something about two rouge sorceress that escaped yesterday. I need to know what she knows about them. Go ahead and try. You can't do any worse then I have which is next to nothing." Diablo encouraged his younger sister.

"Daddy told me that all she tells is mixed with lies and half truths," said Kiara softly.

"That doesn't mean she woun't be any fun to play with. Besides, there’s always a grain of truth to every lie. You just have to listen, which I can't do very well if I'm trying to get information out of her."

Kiara walked over to Irina and smiled down at the older girl. She ran a hand along Irina cheek slowly and smiled up at her brother as she sat on Irina's lap. "What information do you need out of her?" asked the younger girl innocently as she kicked off one of her strappy black four inch heals.

Irina whimpered softly.

"She knows things about two sorceresses that teleported out of the castle yesterday, after I feed one of their friends to a harpy. She knows things about them but isn't telling me anything." Diablo explained with a evil grin. This should be interesting, he had never really taken to time to watch his sister play with one of her slaves or a prisoner.

"Can I make her scream?" asked Kiara softly, as she ran one of her long black finger nails across Irina's cheek gently.

"Feel free to do what you want. Just remember that dad doesn't want any lasting physical harm, deformity, or scars. He wants her to stay pretty and relatively sane." Diablo reinforced what he had been told by his father, otherwise giving his sister free rein to toy with Irina.

Kiara pouted slightly, "Why does father want her to stay pretty?"

"I think he likes her. But it's what he said and I'm just telling you what he told me. I've dealt with her on a semi-regular basis. But haven’t really been interested in her all to much. Like you mentioned earlier, Miya and Mia tend to get a bit jealous." Diablo chuckled at his sisters pout. Though it did make him curious about what she did with her slaves.

Kiara sighed in defeat as she hopped off Irina lap and walked over to her older brother and ran a finger down his chest. "Are you sure that's what he said..." asked Kiara softly as she smiled up at her older brother.

"Why? What do you have in mind?"

"I was only going to cut her a little..." said Kiara sweetly.

"She's already been cut a little." Diablo indicated the bandages decorating Irina's arms. "Ardais is going to be in really big trouble unless I get a healer to tend her wounds. But, lets wait a minute on that. What were you planning on doing?"
At any other time it would be very dangerous to ignore their father's orders. But their parents were both currently half a world away checking on some big uprising, leaving Diablo in charge of things.

"I figure a few carefully placed cuts and maybe a few needles under her skin will have her screaming and telling us everything we want in great detail," said Kiara with a very innocent look on her face.

"Ooooo, I like your plan. I guess if its ok if it leaves no scares when we have her healed and remove the needles." Diablo grinned as he glanced at Irina, trying to see her reaction. The thought of pain was often more over whelming then the actual experience. Especially if the victim knew what their captors were capable of.

The girl was franticly trying to get free from her bonds, she looked extremely frightened.

Kiara smiled and rubbed her hands together as she walked back over to Irina.

Oh good, it seemed to be working. "You want her bound or free and running around?"

"Bound... It's harder to get the needles in just the right spot if she's running..." said Kiara.

"Anything you need?" Diablo asked as he conjured a few more bonds to keep Irina in her chair.

"Iie..." said Kiara, "But her screams may get rather loud...." said the girl with a smirk.

"I can give her a gag if she get too loud."

Kiara smiled "This will be fun..." said Kiara.

With a grin Diablo walked over to the heavy iron wood door and closed it, sliding the iron bar home, sealing the three of them within his chambers. A few minutes later, Irina's screams were heard through the heavy iron wood door..

Lady Yohei finished up her rounds in the factories, making sure the slaves she owned were behaving. She had been having control issues with them since rumors had been going about at magic-users popping up in a town not too far away. Oh well, as long as her business ran smoothly and she made money, it was no problem to her.

Ember sat before the piano placed in her home, hands on the ivory keys before her. She still wore the black dress from the piano recital, her red hair pinned back, as looked down at the keys. She was still tired, even after the bit of sleep she had received.. plagued with nightmares. Her recital had gone quite well, a standing ovation, but the emotion she had shown towards the crowd was down even more so than usual. Danii was behind her, screaming about going out to get food, her parents asking Ember if she wanted to join them. The redhead ignored them, merely standing up and heading upstairs to her room, closing her door behind.

Aure stretched, letting her legs hang off the edge of the bench. She was sitting in the middle of a park, mainly because she was just bored. She wasn't in the mood for a jump today; or for anything at all. Aure yawned, brushing her long hair out from under her, letting that hang off the edge of the bench also.

Kankei was walking past the large double doors that he knew led to the Prince's private chambers, searching for another warrior such as himself and generally just wasting time. There had been plenty of rumors flying around the castle about the sorcerers who had caused so much trouble the day before. At first he had found the stories hard to believe... After all, he himself had seen them and they looked like nothing more than harmless kids. But after hearing the same things over and over, each time with more graphic details than the last, he was about ready to believe anything. His train of thought was broken as screams started coming from behind the closed doors but he dismissed them quickly and continued moving on his way. He assumed such noises were common, coming from that room, and they didn't sound like the kind he was particularly interested in.

"Kankei," The golem hissed as it left the dark cover of a empty alcove, moving with unnerving silence. "you seem a bit unnerved."

Kankei felt himself jump at the sound and instantly turned towards their origin. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said simply, looking the golem over and hiding a small smirk.
"Word around here says that you're the one who should be unnerved, what with being defeated by a small child with a few magical powers..."

Aoi turned off the Vidnet system and sat back in her chair with a sigh. She had gotten little to no sleep last night and her dreams were plagued by nightmares of Phillip's death. She was sure that Ember must have had similar problems. A small blond head poked in around the door, "Onee-chan, will you come help me with my homework?"
"I'll help you in a minute, Midori," Aoi said with a smile. The smaller girls nodded and then closed the door. Aoi sighed. She almost cried she was so relieved to see her sister that morning. If Midori had been pulled in to that world... Aoi would have died to get her out.