Not All Demons Are Bad

"Character counts most when duty calls."

Oh, how Serilda wished she were here for leisure.

It had been some time since she’d visited Hosenka, and frankly she could use a spa day. There was much on the Voidwalker’s mind as of late. Ever since Gren had revealed himself to her, Mythal had been disquiet. It was understandable, of course; anyone would be shaken by the knowledge of a loved one believed to be twenty years deceased suddenly being alive. It was a difficult time for them both, Serilda knew, and surely more so on Mythal.

But a part of her couldn’t help but feel there was something more going on. He didn’t seek comfort from her anymore like he used to, and he rarely if ever offered her any physical affection. She had noticed lately that the only real exchanges between them in such regards were primarily coming from herself, even just simple things like holding hands or embracing each other. Their sexual interactions had been halted entirely. At first she’d thought that because of everything that had happened with Gren, which she of course understood. That kind of surprise was bound to make anyone lose their libido for a while.

However, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more keeping him… distanced from her. He had always been the one to initiate things before, and by the time Christmas had come around Serilda had finally reached a point where she was ready to start showing the same levels of ambition. As soon as she started trying though, it seemed, he started denying her attempts. At first it was fine, but the more it happened the more it felt like he was pushing her away. She couldn’t explain it, and admittedly she did beat herself up for it -- the excuses he gave for not being in the mood were always valid. But they still just didn’t set right with her.

She was hurting. She didn’t say as much, but Serilda was feeling a constant… pressure… in her chest, and her gut. A lot of her smiles didn’t feel like they were quite meeting her eyes, even from her own standpoint, and she honestly hadn’t felt this melancholy since shortly after Hugo’s death.

It was loneliness. She knew it was. Most of her days had just been spent on her own. Sure she saw her guildmates quite often, but that wasn’t the same thing. Her best friend, the man she loved and wanted to spend most of her time with, had been keeping to himself. In fact it seemed like the only time they spent together at all anymore was either for jobs, or to work on his training with little Gren -- the pup whose name now was a bit of a sore spot for them both. There were times that Serilda was scared to even say it for fear that it might trigger sorrow in the man.

The only one that seemed to understand her lately was Xiuhcoatl, her ever faithful hound. The wolf was constantly going out of her way to snuggle up to the woman and distract her, or overwhelm her with feelings of love and compassion. More than once the wolf had drawn tears from her mistress. Serilda didn’t know what to do.

And then add to all this her most recent brush in with Arthas, a memory that still haunted her. Serilda was truly starting to believe that he actually was a demon, and a powerful one at that. He hadn’t denied it when she’d called him by such a title, and his cryptic words from their prior meeting added up with the theory. He was bad news, and made zero attempts to hide it. The very thought of him sent shivers down her spine, and she felt herself constantly looking over her shoulder. She already knew that he had the ability to watch her without her being aware of his presence, and that knowledge coupled with his insistent confidence that he wanted her and only her to do some kind of work for him had instilled a sense of paranoia in her that was making it harder for her to sleep.

So, the noblewoman chose to combat all this stress the same way she always did: she poured herself into her work, and her journal. Serilda took job after job, filling her days and only asking Mythal to join her on ones she knew she would need help with.

Currently, her work had brought her here to Hosenka. She passed her favorite day spa, giving it a mournful look of longing as she walked by. Maybe she could come back to it later after she handled this, but her client came first. There was a local shopkeeper that had been getting harassed lately by a group of losers that wanted him to pay them protection money. The man was older, not able to move very quickly and therefore couldn’t really take many measures to defend himself. His wife had recently passed away, leaving him the sole person to run the business which was difficult at his age. He had already lost a lot of money because of those factors alone, and now this small band that very much thought themselves a gang saw fit to capitalize on his misfortunes.

Well, that wasn’t going to sit with her. Her client knew the identities of the group, as he’d set up lacrima cameras as security to catch their faces. And he was aware of where they usually loitered. That was the place Serilda was currently heading, along the way passing outside of the grounds of the Lusty Titan guild hall -- a place that always made her shake her head when she saw it.

What an obscene concept for a guild, she thought to herself not for the first time as she and Xiuh walked by and toward their destination.

"Character counts most when duty calls."

There was one awkward thing about her magic that Serilda never really talked to anyone about, not even Mythal: Her Void sense allowed her to feel the shapes and movements of practically every living thing within its range. Though she could not make out details like color and the like, she could almost always recognize an item by its shape, as well as know when there were people nearby even though she couldn’t necessarily tell who they were. This was a skill that her best friend and a few others knew of her, of course, and it was a tremendously handy skill to have. It kept her from ever being sneaked up upon nine times out of ten, and helped her to keep track of people around her.

But what she didn’t talk about was the fact that sometimes it also let her be privy to people doing things she didn’t exactly want to know.

Serilda typically kept a wide berth of the Lusty Titan guild hall whenever she was in Hosenka, because she did not enjoy being able to sense all the… activities that happened within its walls near constantly, such as now. Her face was already beet red just passing outside the place, as she did her best to ignore what she was sensing from within. She could not understand how so many people felt perfectly fine engaging in such illicit behaviors all in the same place. Did they have no sense of privacy? She’d had a hard enough time with the fact that Mythal had jumped her in a vacant room at a full blown ball, let alone having sex in one large room with dozens of other couples.

How horrifyingly humiliating!

Unfortunately, she had to pass this particular guild hall on her way to where she was headed, so there wasn’t much she could do but try to hurry past as quickly as possible. Eventually, she sensed that someone was leaving the grounds owned by the guild, and after monitoring it a bit it seemed like the person was making their way toward her. That was the last thing she needed, of course, but he did manage to catch up to her nonetheless.

Serilda turned when he greeted her, blue eyes resting on an admittedly attractive man with long red hair, dark clothing, and a number of tattoos. He gave her a warm, charming smile and joked a bit about his apparent inability to keep track of time. Alas, his charm was wasted on her for she appeared unmoved, her face maintaining its expressionless demeanor without even a hint of mirth or amusement in her gaze. The only thing that gave away her inner feelings -- aside from the fact that he could sense her emotions -- was the rosiness of her cheeks that betrayed her discomfort with being near the guild and speaking to someone from it.

That discomfort and mild sense of panic only rose when he introduced himself as the master of the guild. Serilda forced a polite smile and raised a hand before her. “Thank you, but I’m not interested,” she said, like she was preemptively fending off a prostitute’s attempt to proposition her. She was clearly nervous about him and his entire guild, not really having a problem with whatever they wanted to do amongst themselves but not wanting to be a part of it. Giving him a nod, she turned and started to walk away again, praying he wasn’t the persistent type.

But of course, prayer was useless around a demon.

"Character counts most when duty calls."

Dear gods, you have got to be kidding me, Serilda thought to herself as she sensed him following her. In just a couple quick strides he was already back beside her and trying to chat her ear off. Serilda kept walking and mostly ignoring him, hoping he would get the idea.

He didn’t.

Ruzatz assured her he wasn’t trying to persuade her into bed with him, once again attempted to engage her in a humorous fashion. As before, her expression didn’t so much as crack or flinch in any hint of merriment. In fact, with his connection to her emotions he’d be able to tell that it wasn’t even that she was exceptionally good at masking such feelings; she just wasn’t remotely affected by his charm at all. All she did was continue to move forward without even looking at him, hands behind her back and face forward.

Xiuhcoatl peered curiously up at the man, but continued to trot obediently at Serilda’s heels. She clearly wanted to make the man’s acquaintance -- and if Ruzatz was as in tune with animals’ feelings as humans’, he’d be able to sense that the stunning wolf was more than a little interested in greeting him. But, like her master, she kept moving forward and would not approach the man until given permission, though her large bright eyes kept glancing over to him.

Not once during his tirade of speech did Serilda stop him from talking, nor did she make any kind of indication that she was paying attention. Irritation and concern were thrown into the mix of her already crazy emotions, however, betraying the fact that she was hearing every single word he said. On and on she let him go, and he sounded like an absolute nut job talking about having a problem but not knowing what the problem was, and trying to convince her that it was somehow related to her.

He concluded his speech asking about what she was doing, and seemed to get rather excited over the idea that she might be a wizard. It was around that time that Serilda finally had enough of listening to him talk forever. She sighed through her nostrils, keeping a rather impressive reign on her annoyance over the situation. He could probably feel how aggravated she was, but still her face maintained an even coolness that would not have given her feelings away.

“Listen… Ruzatz, was it?” Serilda said, stopping a second time and turning her attention toward him. “I’m sorry you’ve got some kind of issue you’re trying to work out, but I assure you it has nothing to do with me and that I don’t have any answers for you. I’m not interested in any kind of interventions, whether divine or damned.” Either option would spell out huge problems for her. She already had enough on her plate between Arthas and Faera, let alone whatever the hell this guy was on about. She wasn’t necessarily being impolite, but she also seemed to be quite unmoving in her mindset.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have criminals to apprehend and it would not do for me to let down my own guild by allowing them to get away before I get the chance to do so.” As before, she didn’t really seem interested in giving him any personal details about herself, though her words were confirmation enough that she was, indeed, a wizard on a job. “I wish you luck with… whatever it is that’s going on. Have a good day.”

Once more, she and the wolf turned and started to walk away.

"Character counts most when duty calls."

This guy clearly was not getting the picture.

Serilda had never met someone this relentless before, and it was trying her vast reserves of patience. If she weren’t a constant representative for her family and her guild, she might have lost her cool the second he spoke up with any kind of indication that he still planned on accompanying her. As it was a surge of anger rose in her, but it held fast behind her mask with only the barest of twitches in her eyebrow to indicate that she was frustrated.

Ruzatz insisted that he would help her with her intended arrests, and that if nothing happened from the interaction that brought him the answers he sought he promised he would leave her alone afterward. Her jaw tightened a bit and she took another deep, quiet breath to calm herself. “Fine,” she finally said. “Far be it from me to prevent you from addressing delinquents in your own territory.” She wasn’t pleased about it, but she didn’t exactly have the time to waste arguing it with him. Plus, this was his territory, not hers.

“Sabertooth,” she told him simply when he stated this was to be a joint venture between their guilds. His amusing comment about Lusty Titan being a legitimate guild did about as much good as any of the other jokes he’d attempted thus far. Barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Serilda walked forward and did not attempt to stop him from following her again, accepting that this was happening whether she wanted it to or not.

“Just a few basic thugs that think they’re a gang,” she told him when he inquired as to the nature of the job. “They’re trying to get ‘protection money’ from some of the shop owners in town. The old baker with the shop on the main boulevard was the one who posted the job listing. According to him, they like to frequent the small casino and bar a few blocks down from your guild hall. As far as I’m aware, they aren’t wizards.”

Against her better judgement, she pulled out her iLac and opened up the photo gallery to the pictures she’d taken of their faces off the security lacrimas her client had installed at his bakery shop. Serilda handed him the item so he could get a good idea of what they looked like. If he was going to help her, she may as well make sure he was prepared and knew what to keep an eye out for. Depending on how closely he was hovering near her or how much he was paying attention when she withdrew the iLac from her pocket, he might notice her background was a picture of her with Mythal, pretty much the only picture they’d ever taken together. Her hair was down, and he was kissing her cheek; a silly moment when they'd both been drinking a bit the first night at her parents' place on Christmas.

The last time he'd really been affectionate toward her.

The image disappeared the moment she’d pulled up the application with the other photos to show him. “The shopkeeper already has all the evidence he needs from his security lacrimas to damn them in court, they just need to be found and arrested.”

"Character counts most when duty calls."

The pleasure certainly was all his. It was possible that Serilda’s darker mood from the things that had been plaguing her mind already had colored her opinion of this man so far, particularly when mixed with the knowledge that he was the guild master of a guild that she did not take very seriously. Unfortunately, she was not exactly in a mindset to acknowledge the fact that she was perhaps being a bit harder on him than usual. She had a lot on her mind, and it was rather ill timing for this strange man to come out of nowhere and insist that she was part of some delusional (or so she saw it) play of fate to give him answers. As far as she was concerned, he was off his rocker.

But there was little she could do. If he was the master of this guild, then he had rights to be involved in the job at hand. “Serilda Sinclair,” she finally told him when he referred to her as “wizard”, knowing it was likely a ploy to get her name again but at this point she didn’t really care enough to argue. Plus it would be rude for her to agree for him to come and then never tell him her name. She didn’t really stop to consider the fact that, as a guild master, he likely frequented her home town in Clover and probably knew who her family was. Her only goal at that point was to keep him from obnoxiously referring to her by vague titles for the rest of their encounter.

He did seem to know who she was speaking of, at least, which admittedly was much to his credit. Even if she wasn’t exactly fond of him so far, she could respect a guildmaster that not only knew the people in the town but also made himself a part of their daily lives. It seemed the casino was a building not well received by Ruzatz, who’d tried to prevent it from being built but hadn’t been able to protest successfully. He seemed quite eager to know there was proof against those that ran it, now -- or at least proof that it was attracting unsavory sorts to the city.

Ruzatz thanked her for her help, to which she merely nodded. “Of course. No honest person should have to deal with this kind of nonsense.” By her tone, she clearly didn’t see her actions as something that was worthy of praise. Serilda was simply doing her job, after all.

It did not take long for them to reach the casino in question. They weren’t stopped from walking in -- it was a space that was open to the public. However, it was clear that they were here on business, if only because Serilda wasn’t exactly trying to hide her intentions. She looked like a cop, and as usually happened when someone of authority entered an establishment that was filled with less than scrupulous people, a tension filled the air. An attendant approached them: a young woman in a shirt bearing an empty tray that was probably used to delivering alcohol to patrons. “I’m sorry, miss. Animals aren’t allowed in here. I’m afraid you’ll have to--”

“The wolf stays. I am here on official guild business and she is my companion. Feel free to try to move her if you wish, but I’m sure you’d rather keep all your fingers.” The woman did, indeed, seem not very keen on being near the animal after that. Serilda held up her iLac with the photos she’d taken. “I’m looking for these men. I’m told they are regulars here.”

A look of recognition passed over her face momentarily, but she quickly tried to cover it up. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We get a lot of customers here. After a while their faces all look the same…”

"Character counts most when duty calls."

He did seem to recognize her name, but did not say anything more except to repeat it in acknowledgement. She was thankful for that. She was also thankful that he wasn’t overly chatty the whole way to the casino like he had been for the walk thus far.

Serilda didn’t need to be an empath to know the server was lying to her. She hadn’t exactly hidden it well. The Voidwalker narrowed her blue eyes at the woman and opened her mouth to say something that surely would have escalated the matter. Serilda didn’t have the time or patience for these kind of games, particularly from someone that was so obviously bad at lying. Before she could say anything, however, Ruzatz stepped in.

At first she was annoyed that he would try to take over, but then a strange thing happened. Serilda could only assume it was his tone, for she couldn’t understand what he was saying and was unaware of any magic being used, but a slight blush came over her face. She frowned and shook it off, confused as to why that had just happened. It’s not like he was talking to her like that… whatever he had just said. She could only assume it was sexual based on the way the server reacted to him afterward.

And just like that, they were suddenly being escorted to the place where the men in question were loitering. The woman promised the bouncer would admit them, and made some sort of suggestive promise to Ruzatz before turning to walk away. “What did you even…” she started to ask, curious as to what he’d said that could make her pull a total one eighty like that. But before she could finish the question, she seemed to think better of it. “Actually, I don’t think I want to know. Please forget I asked.”

He indicated for her to move ahead of him and Serilda did so, wishing to focus on the job and not whatever awkward moment had just transpired. Well, awkward to her -- apparently not so much to Ruzatz or to the more than receiving woman. The two of them followed the server upstairs to the private lounge where there was indeed a bouncer outside the door. She told the man to let them in, and he looked at them suspiciously for a moment. Particularly at Xiuh, who shouldn’t have been allowed to make it this far. But with some whispered insistence on the waitress’s part, he did let them inside.

“Who the hell are you?”

There was a group of four people sitting around a table, and space where a fifth person had been. Serilda could sense that one in the private bathroom around the corner. She did not answer right away, instead studying each of their faces carefully. They matched the images that had been in the security footage. She felt safe that the one in the bathroom was the missing member, as well. “Xiuhcoatl. Vagt.” Serilda pointed at the closed door and the wolf stationed herself dutifully beside it, ready to give the bouncer quite the rude surprise should he toss open the door if things got a bit rowdy.

The first man who had spoken, who seemed to be the leader of the little group, glared at the woman. He disliked being ignored, it seemed. “Hey bitch, I asked you and your pretty boy boyfriend a question.”

Once again, she barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but she did groan a bit at the comment. “Seriously?” Serilda asked, her tone dry and unimpressed at his remark that she and Ruzatz were dating. It was a common phrase that she heard quite often while on jobs with Mythal, but it felt a little more ridiculous at the moment than it had times prior. Why were criminals always so unoriginal? “I am Serilda Sinclair with Sabertooth, and this is Ruzatz de la Cavallería, the guildmaster of Lusty Titans.”

Gods, she felt stupid introducing that guild name in a serious tone. Though Ruzatz may be surprised that she had managed to not only remember his full name, but had pronounced it perfectly despite the fact that she had seemed to not even be paying attention to him when he’d first approached her. “You four, and the friend of yours in the bathroom, are under arrest for extortion.” She was careful not to say the name of her client, wanting to keep him protected.

"Character counts most when duty calls."

Serilda hadn’t really cared about the man’s choice of words for her -- it wasn’t the first time she’d been called a bitch, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last -- but Ruzatz was unimpressed with it, chastising the criminal with a motherly wag of the finger. What he was impressed with was the fact that she knew there was a fifth person in the bathroom. He even went so far as to try and go walk in on the guy just to confirm he was there, but that only wound up sparking a fight.

The four men leaped to their feet, two going after Ruzatz and two going after Serilda. With a sigh, she let the first punch just fall right through her body. In fact, the man’s entire body fell through hers as he’d put his whole weight behind the blow only to stumbled forward when it met with zero resistance. The second man attempted the same thing, but after picking up a baseball bat and trying a swing at her. It, too, hit absolutely nothing and merely swished through her body like it was air.

Boy, they were sure looking scared now. “What the hell?” the man with the bat asked, stumbling back with wide eyes. At some point the door had crashed open, the bouncer practically ready for something like this to happen, but he was immediately taken down by the waiting Xiuhcoatl.

“This would go a lot easier for you if you’d just--” Her voice cut off as an odd sensation washed over her. She was entirely oblivious to the two men who had attacked her -- who were currently falling victim to the same spell work. A very specific kind of heat roared to life in her body out of nowhere, and with it a strong sense of panic. Why was she feeling this way all of a sudden?

In the blink of an eye, vivid images came to life in her mind. She could see them all clearly like she watched each in turn, though all of them assailed her at the same time. It was like she was reliving all her most notable sexual encounters, or even living out fantasies as some of the things she saw were things that she knew had never actually happened before. Several were with Mythal -- the time in the desert and at the hotel, the morning shortly after Christmas. An assortment of emotions roiled violently within her from the memories of those encounters, mixtures of anger and confusion, and a deeply loyal, unwavering love. Almost immediately following it was pain and a growth in confusion, a sense of loneliness, and a near total lack in self esteem and confidence.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. There were also images of Hugo in her mind. In the matter of only a few second she relived their last couple times being together sexually, and scenes played in her mind from the few times she’d allowed herself to daydream being able to see him again and be with him. It was like he was standing right there. She could see him, feel his body and his warmth, hear his voice like it was talking into her ear again. She could smell his scent, feel his breath on her skin -- all things she’d almost forgotten after nearly five years.

The turmoil in her grew as an overwhelming, gut wrenching heartbreak that could only come from grief and loss consumed her. She stumbled backward, wide eyed in fear and panic. “Stop..!” Serilda said, clutching her hands to her head. She was so blind to everything but what the magic put in her mind that she backed right into a bunch of boxes and items lined against the wall, knocking everything over and nearly toppling over herself. Tears were streaming down her face as she fought the images and the magic wildly.

This was not natural magic. There was no way, though she wasn’t fully conscious of that right now given her current focus. Her emotions swayed back and forth between the intense pain, grief, and loneliness she felt, and the absolute rage from the fraction of sanity she still held to that this was being forced on her. “STOP IT!” Serilda screamed desperately, scrambling against the wall to try and keep her balance and only managing to fall onto her ass.

And then all at once the images were gone, and the perverse sensations that had started everything left along with them. She sat there trembling with her head in her hands, sobbing quietly through wide eyes while her mind desperately tried to catch up with what had just happened. All sense and care toward the job she’d come here to do had been thrown out the window. Even though the active effects had stopped, however, that didn’t stop her from still vividly remembering everything she had just seen and sensed, like she’d just awoken from an incredibly intense and lucid dream. She tried to get herself under control, but was having an extremely difficult time doing so.

"Character counts most when duty calls."

Serilda barely heard his apology, nor his explanation. His words floated in her head without really sticking while he moved over to the bathroom and got the last criminal, pulling him out of the window where he’d been trying to escape and dumping him on the ground with the others. Ruzatz dismissed himself sadly and hustled out the door. Xiuhcoatl, who had been just as caught up in everything as her mistress, didn’t make any attempt to stop him. The only reason she hadn’t been slumped into a stupor herself was because her empathic bond with Serilda had kept her more aware than the others caught up in the magic.

The wolf shook her head and hurried shakily over to Serilda, whining softly and shoving her face against the woman in concern. She could feel the anguish radiating from her mistress. Serilda pulled the animal close and cried into her thick fur, holding her tightly. Slowly, her mind started to clear and it hit her that there was something wrong about what had just happened. Charm magic existed in the world, yes, but nothing to that scale -- not that she knew of, anyway.

But it was something more than that. A sense of familiarity nagged at her, which was infuriating because she’d never been exposed to anything like that before. How could it feel familiar? But there was something distinctly non-human about it, the knowledge of which just set her into a further panic. It took her a minute or two, but when she placed it dread filled her.

Arthas. It had felt like Arthas’ magic. Not the manifestation of it, because the man that had been following her around used ice centric magic, and this was entirely different from that. But the weight of it, the… taint of it was the same. Arthas had not confirmed with words what his heritage was, but he’d certainly not denied what she’d accused him of being.

Suddenly, this whole situation felt all too coincidental. She forced herself up to her feet, ignited with a newfound rage. Truthfully, it was the mixture of everything that had just happened, along with everything that had been going on up until this point, that had pushed her to such an uneven temperament. Stress was a dangerous thing, and while Serilda normally handled it well the nature of the stress that had been plaguing her lately was arguably the hardest kind for her to cope with. She couldn’t leave these men here unattended, but she also couldn’t allow Ruzatz to leave just yet.

Walking out of the door, she shut it behind herself and Xiuh. Then, she used her magic to lock the door and fortify the walls, floor, and ceiling in their room, removing all the empty space within the barriers until they were hard as stone. There was no way anyone would be getting in to help them, and no way they would be leaving until she returned and undid the magic.

Serilda stormed down and out of the building, simmering with enough anger that she couldn’t even think to wipe her face dry. She still hadn’t figured out Ruzatz’s connection with emotions and empathy, but he would surely know that she was coming for him. He had not gotten far enough out of range of her magic yet for her to lose track of him, so she knew exactly where he was and was heading straight for him, holy sword in hand.

When she finally caught up to him in an empty back alley street where no one else was nearby, Serilda did not attack him. In fact, she kept a reasonable distance from him. He’d be able to sense the anger in her, but also the absolute fear that rocked her to her core as she set her blue eyes on him with a knowing look. She understood what he was, and was absolutely terrified by that knowledge, but had tracked him down anyway because she had something she needed to say.

“I don’t know what kind of game you guys are playing at, but it stops here,” she informed him, her voice still shaky from what had happened back in the casino. Her face was red and splotchy, her eyes still filmed with moisture from crying. “I know what you are, and I want you to leave me alone.”

It was evident by her tone that the “you” in this case wasn’t speaking specifically to Ruzatz, but rather was more of a general usage of the word toward his kind. “I am not a pawn, or a… a toy, or some animal to be tracked and monitored. So if you’re working for Arthas, you tell him from me that he better back off and stop following me around and having me harrassed. I am not interested in consorting or working with demons, and he needs to get that through his thick head!”

The only thing she could think of was that Ruzatz was some kind of agent for the other demon. It was just too convenient for this red haired man to simply waltz up next to her spouting off some vague and random nonsense about needing her for answers, and insisting on staying by her. Her last encounter with Arthas had made her beyond paranoid, and since she knew nothing about the demonic pantheon she had absolutely zero idea that it was just as varied and dynamic as any human society. The only conclusion she could come to in that moment was that Arthas was simply trying to come at her from another angle than before, sending someone else in his stead. He had promised to leave her alone, but his promise had left plenty of room for him to just come at her indirectly instead.

It would be the demon thing to do.

"Character counts most when duty calls."

He eyed her sword as she approached, giving it the same unmoving but wary glance that Arthas had when they’d first met. In truth, that was part of the reason she’d withdrawn it to begin with. Serilda didn’t have any intentions of attacking Ruzatz, but she wanted to see if he reacted to it the same way the other demon had -- and she wanted it out just in case he turned hostile when she confronted him.

Aside from a small moment to voice his confusion, Ruzatz did not interrupt her as she made her statement. It was only once she’d finished that he raised his hands up in a show of peace and assured her he wasn’t a part of… Ozorith’s crew? Serilda frowned. Was that Arthas’ real name? She’d assumed he had given her a fake one, but apparently the alias she knew him as was more well known than she had assumed before.

The demon before her paused for a moment, caught up with his words and looking like he was trying to decide how much to say. Ruzatz explained that he and Ozorith were the same level of demon known as a Prime Sin -- a term she’d never heard before, but the way he talked about it made it seem like it was a pretty big deal. Ruzatz held the domain of lust, which was no surprise given his guild. And Ozorith, or Arthas as she knew him, held the domain of… “Wrath..?” she asked, her tone quiet and confused.

Ruzatz claimed he wasn’t like other demons. Where Ozorith and others like him enjoyed manipulating mortals and using them, Ruzatz seemed to feel a kinship and adoration for them. He even claimed that he was married to a human woman, though what human in their right mind would willingly marry a demon was beyond Serilda. The very thought appalled and horrified her.

Serilda listened silently right up through his final words. He freely admitted that she had no reason to believe him, but assured her that she needed to stay far away from Ozorith. A sickening sensation settled in her stomach. Just what kind of demon was Arthas, that even in the demon world he was considered so clearly reprehensible? And why would he choose to come to her, of all people, to offer her work?

“I never asked to have anything to do anything with him. I don't want anything to do with him. He showed up of his own accord,” she told Ruzatz plainly, though her voice was lower and had lost much of its venom. Her fear and confusion were starting to overcome her anger. For a moment Serilda simply stood there and looked at him, her blue eyes still hard but searching. “I don’t understand. What is a Prime Sin? And why would a demon of wrath take an interest in me?”

She didn’t necessarily trust Ruzatz. Well, she didn’t trust him at all, but she was still curious what his answer would be. This rabbit hole was suddenly starting to look a bit deeper than she’d originally thought, and it was not a reality that appealed to her. In fact, she was desperately having to fight against the desire to jump straight into denial about it. After all, what if this had something to do with Faera? With Mythal? She’d had no encounters with any creatures like this before becoming a part of his life, and now they were popping out of the woodwork. There was no way that was a coincidence. She needed answers, and even if she didn’t trust the demon before her he could still give her information that would help her sort it all out.