A few moments since the last chapter...

Succubus Homeland, Rex and Kira's house

 

A lot of relationships fail due to communication problems, or at least Rex had heard this quite a bit on TV in his last life. The problem he had been carefully considering, was how to approach a situation like this.

 

Looking across the couch, Rex followed Kira's long legs up to her wide hips to her bountiful chest, then finally seeing her face. When she was younger she wore a hairband, but she outgrew it all at once, and now it sat inside her black pot next to the bed. Now she wore her hair wild and free, this was much like her personality. She was very passionate about everything she does when she decides to do it, and she was incapable of doing something that she has no interest in.

 

Their relationship would be strange on Earth, as they had technically shared a bed since they were children. The succubi did not have any norms for marriage, they were so rare the number of times could be counted on both hands. Succubi did not require a mate, and Rex had thought of this very issue. Out of all of the relationships he had, had in his last life, it was his brother that told him what not to do.

 

Rex's older brother was an activist, and he was against all kinds of things that Rex's work had supported. Police and military were both things that his brother didn't care for, and he was more than willing to constantly attack Rex any chance he got. Rex had never even cared about politics, he was usually too busy to even vote. He didn't agree with either of his party's options, so he decided to just keep his head down and work.

 

The biggest reason that he couldn't compare her to his previous wife was that she was such a loyal person. She didn't try to hide things from him, and he rarely had to guess at what she wanted. Rex also had to think about the fact that he wasn't on Earth anymore, and Kira was not a human being. The consequences for messing this up were too high to even be considered.

 

“What do you want to talk about?” Kira asked him with curiosity.

 

A lot of people think that logic is the best way to break through to people, that is because humans are not logical, to begin with. When he thought of the most important moments of his life, they were always emotional. This is why it is always important when you are trying to get through to somebody, you need to find out the emotional reason for their behavior.

 

“Kira, when you think of the succubi, what is the thing that you are most proud of?” Rex asked her with a gentle smile on his face.

 

What is most important is to understand where their thoughts come from, and determine if it even is logical. A lot of people are more inclined towards their emotions, and they don't even realize this most of the time. They will commonly adopt a view that more closely fits with how they feel.

 

“Everything has changed so much, my sisters are all enjoying themselves.” Kira said happily. “They no longer have to think about hunting and staying hidden all the time.”

 

This was actually what Rex had figured the issue was, it usually came down to pride. Rex was starting to see a deeper trend though, something he might have caused.

 

I enabled them too much...

 

The one thing that the succubi lacked the most was discipline, and Rex wasn't too sure how to fix this problem. The oldest succubus here was only 7000 years old, and that was because they were almost exterminated when they came to this world with the demons. The roughly 1500 succubi that were here, were all that was left of the tens of thousands that came before them. It was a question Rex had often wondered about, how there were so few succubi after so many years. This was information Kira had gotten from Kera when she became the leader of the succubi.

 

The succubi had been slowly regrowing over the last few thousand years, but their birth rates were abysmal. This is one of the main things that was holding their race back, they had one or two children in a decade. According to Kera, this was common with all of the demon races, at least the original ones. They all had incredibly long lives, with the shortest ones being several thousand years. Then you had the races who joined them after their defeat, these were races like the ogres, the vampires, the wraiths, and some that Rex had never heard of.

 

“Kira, we have known each other for over 7 years now, and things are only going to get harder from here.” Rex told her. “Over this time we have gone through a lot together, do you trust me?”

 

Kira looked at him in confusion for a moment, it was not a question she expected.

 

“Of course!” She told him.

 

Rex nodded at her and shifted her feet on his lap for a moment to get comfortable. Reaching down, he grabbed the hem of his shirt, before he pulled it over his head. This revealed the scars that wrapped around his waist and lower stomach. The deep scarring was caused by the thorns that dug into his skin when the swamp monster attacked him. Kira had to help him when it got cold, the muscle tissue on his back would get sore and she would help him by massaging it.

 

Succubi liked physical contact, they usually stayed close to each other, and they had no concept of boundaries. The proof of this was the feet in his lap, and the small bottle of oil she used for her tail on the table next to him. These were all things that had slowly worked their way into his daily life.

 

“Do you remember how I got these scars?” Rex asked her.

 

Of course, how could Kira ever forget that moment? That moment left a deep scar on her, it was the first time she started to realize just how much the blonde-haired boy had affected her. Since the moment she had discovered him on the island, he had slowly expanded her world.

 

“It was entirely my fault that I was hurt like this. I let my curiosity and arrogance get the better of me. I have never been good at restraining myself where my curiosity was involved, and this was the cost of that.” Rex told her seriously.

 

Rex's curiosity was often his own worst enemy and would keep him up some nights burning the midnight oils. The failed mill had cost him several days of time to create, and he had many issues sleeping those nights, as he tried to gain as much as he could from every failure.

 

“I try to eat 3 meals a day, and I also take care of my hygiene as much as possible here. I do this because that moment when the vines were pulling me to my death, you were willing to throw away your life to save me.” Rex told her as his serious expression turned into a caring smile.

 

Rex moved closer to her so that he could reach out and place his hands on her shoulders. He looked deeply into her orange glowing eyes that had a shock in them.

 

“At that point and time, I was at my lowest moment since I came here, and everything I had tried had failed. I have never really known things like depression, loneliness, and isolation before, especially with the life that I lead in the other world.” Rex told her honestly. “I used to think mental illness was just people looking for excuses to not work, now I can't believe how insensitive I was back then. What I learned was just how much strength you can gain from the smallest amount of encouragement. Sometimes just knowing you aren't alone can give you the power you need to take another step forward.”

 

Kira was looking at Rex with misty eyes, this was the deepest and emotional conversation they had, had in a long time. Kira felt touched that she was his reason for moving forward.

 

“Kira, I am telling you this for a very specific reason.” Rex told her as his tone suddenly got serious again. “How would you feel if that vampire had managed to kill me?”

 

Kira suddenly felt the warm feelings that had built suddenly chill, as she was startled by the comment he made just now. The image of her watching over Rex while he was making the medicine that became Blue, came to her mind. That had been a really painful time for her, watching him argue with thin air, covered with a cold sweat and a mad look in his eyes. That moment had driven a thought into her mind, never again would she go through that!

 

This lead Kira to becoming the warrior she was now, and she had almost failed to protect her future husband during that vampire attack. She thought that if they just watched the waters they would be fine and that the toxins on Acid Island would be enough to protect them. Never did she expect their old allies to stab them in the back in such a way! A sudden burning rage began to slowly build in her chest, before Rex's words stopped her.

 

“Kira, I am very worried something is going to happen to you. After watching how you dealt with the giant fish at the docks, I am almost certain that something bad is going to happen if I don't say something to you.” Rex told her as he squeezed her shoulders. “Kira, if one of those spines had hit any of you, then it would have meant your deaths. I would have been forced to watch as you, or one of your sisters slowly and painfully died. I don't want to have to go through what you went through when I was hurt by the swamp monster.”

 

Kira suddenly realized that this is what he wanted to talk to her about... she felt a bit disappointed that it wasn't about the enchantment she was researching, or their future beautiful babies... but Kira felt like she was making progress in their relationship. A warm feeling appeared in her chest, as she thought about it, and a pleased smile was soon plastered on her face.

 

“Kira, this is serious.” Rex told her. “I have been thinking about this for over a week now, do you have any idea how much the other succubi look up to you?”

 

This information caused some confusion for Kira, but Rex quickly picked up where he left off.

 

“I don't think you know it, but they talk like you, dress like you, and some of them are getting reckless as you do.” Rex explained to her. “They are treating you like their idol, and that means they will also make the same mistakes you do.”

 

Kira put her head down in thought, now that it was being pointed out like this, she could see it.

 

“Things are getting more dangerous on the mainland, and the reason we are in this mess is that we don't have any allies.” Rex told her. “Everything we did when we were younger has to lead to the current situation we are in right now. I need to know at the end of this that you are going to be there.”

 

Kira looked up at Rex and looked at the boy in front of her, a warm feeling began to build inside of her.

 

“Kira, promise me you are going to be more careful from now on, okay?” Rex almost pleaded with her.

 

Kira looked at Rex's expression, and she saw that this was important to him. A bright smile quickly crossed her face, her tail began thrashing in excitement.

 

“I can do that, but you need to promise me something first!” Kira said with determination.

 

-

Meanwhile...

A large keep inside of a mountain, A guest room

 

A major change had happened in the keep the demons had claimed, within the last few years a small tear had opened in a room under the keep. Since then a transformation happened to the demon lord, and all he has cared about since is indulging in pleasures. This is what caused Allyn to send his wife to the demon lord, he needed to figure out why the sudden change in his behavior. It made no sense that he would act this way when reinforcements were on the other side of the gate.

 

Allyn was unable to get any kind of answer out of him, the demon lord would only say that the mainland will change when the gate opens. Allyn adjusted his clothes as he looked over at his wife who was asleep on the bed, covered in the filth from her battles the night before. She was sleeping with a happy smile on her face, as she was proud of all the information she had gotten for her husband.

 

Allyn sighed sadly when he saw her, this was what could happen when you turned someone into a vampire. Rex would have realized it was the result of the temperature when the change happens, the high fever the victims got caused severe brain damage. The only reason that Allyn was less affected by this, was that he had fallen into a river during his transformation after he was bitten. In his own words, his wife was now a shell of the woman she once was, and he would use her accordingly. He hadn't suggested getting close to the current demon lord, she did. He felt like none of it was his fault, he felt more like a victim in his mind.

 

Allyn smiled as he pats her head and started making his way to the throne room from the door of the guest room he shared. The hallways were all large and dark, the race who built this keep had an obsession with large structures. The majority of the demon races could see in the dark just as well as the daylight. This made lighting unnecessary inside the large keep, some of them abhorred the light and welcomed this darkness. Allyn was one of these figures.

 

The network was vast inside the keep, with massive hallways with a ceiling height of 50 feet tall and 30 feet wide. Even several of the rooms were built to support this form factor, due to a culture that the past race had when it came to the old and infirm. They would take the person's body and place it in a special casket while they were still alive, then insert it as the core of a large magical machine. These were called titan suits; they were the backbone of the now-extinct races' original power, and what allowed them to rule the continent before the demons came here.

 

Another interesting rumor had been that this keep was originally designed to fly, but they had discovered nothing to substantiate this information. The keep was massive, heavy, and built right into the mountain. Allyn laughed in disdain, as he walked down the large empty stone hallway.

 

The throne room had large doors that appeared to be cast in gold, this was a magical metal that was left from the previous residents. The large door was covered in a series of dense glyphs that made up the writing of the race that had once occupied the keep. The demons were not able to read it. That is because they had determined that these writings were all written in a coded language. None of the demons had been able to crack the cipher so far, they weren't even able to tell how the cipher worked.

 

Allyn didn't care about any of this, his mind was entirely on finding the reason for the demon lord's changes, and supplanting him. The vampires were the fastest race of all of the demons to grow in numbers, but turning other species into vampires weakened their intelligence. Allyn planned to get around this issue by using his children, who were well adapted to the vampire's curse, to lead his troops. The problem Allyn was running into was time, he wanted to be the demon lord before the gate to hell opened again.

 

Allyn just didn't currently have a way to deal with the demon lord, he was immune to the vampire's curse, and he was much stronger than Allyn himself. Pushing open the large golden door that was well-balanced, a large round room was revealed. The room was over 100 yards across, and completely round. Over 100 throne-like chairs were placed around a giant throne that was in the center of the room. A large humanoid creature that stood at over 30 feet tall sat at the massive throne in the center.

 

8 horns extended from the top of his head and formed a crown in his dark black hair that hung like a waterfall. The creature had dark red skin the color of blood, and large bulging muscles covered his frame. A tail thicker than Allyn's body extended from the demon lord's back and was covered in sharp spines near the tip. His legs had 2 joints like an animal's; they were unguligrade in design like a deer and ended in cloven hooves. He was covered in a robe that was made of thick cloth in red color, it was a creation of the arachne race, they had joined the demons to flee the threat of the skaarm.

 

A sword that was made of a type of bone sat stabbed into the ground in easy reach. It was almost 25 feet tall, and 3 feet wide at the blade. The bone was made from looked like ivory and seemed to be carefully carved into shape. None of the metals they had discovered so far on this plane were capable of even scratching this bone.

 

“Look, everyone! It's Count Cuckula!” A male voice roared out before it began laughing loudly in a corner of the room.

 

Allyn smiled deeply in his mind, as the ridicule began to build around him. None of it mattered to the vampire leader. What he was doing was shameful, and it had even corrupted his son, but he just saw it all as an inconvenience.

 

“That's enough.” The Demon Lord called, as he reached over and grabbed a cup larger than a barrel filled with bloody liquor.

 

It was a product of the savage trolls who made their enemy's blood into alcohol after mixing it with several special magical fruits that grew near the large mountainous caves they lived in. The Demon Lord looked bored as he starred around the room at all the occupants, this lasted until Allyn took his seat inside a throne near the inner circle.

 

An empty throne that once belonged to Kera was sitting gathering dust, there were several of these empty thrones around the large room. Kera's throne next to him was empty, followed by a third throne held by a strange creature. It was a doppelganger in their original form. Its skin looked like a black plastic that shone in the light like an exoskeleton. It had no eyes or any features on its humanoid figure, except a largemouth on its neckless head.

 

A doppelganger could devour its victim's brain to gain the ability to take their shape and gain some of the memories of the victim. They were the best spies the demons had, but they were incredibly rare. This was because a doppelganger only went into heat once every 100 years, and there were few of them left. The doppelganger that had no features was a female and the matriarch of her race. She greeted him with a sneer on her fang-filled mouth that resembled a leech.

 

As a race that ruled through its females, she thought his behavior was abhorrent. He had also gotten several members of her race killed through his failures. Allyn wasn't able to predict any of the changes that the elves were making before they had happened. Just like Rex, a lot of demons secretly traded with the elves through their network of spies. The doppelgangers had monopolized this trade route since the vampires weren't able to directly interact with the elves. It was also how he was able to get the vote of the doppelganger matriarch to retreat from the port and abandon the succubi.

 

Allyn had a flat expression, as he took his seat and fixed his eyes on the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord was currently drinking and waiting for everyone to gather with a boring look. A lot of the different races were using this as an opportunity to conduct business with each other and set up any trades that they needed. This was common practice before any major meeting, and it would occur again when the races were leaving the hall.

 

“Alright, everyone is present. We will now turn over the floor to the spymaster to present the state of the war.” A demon that appeared to be made of bones told the gathered creatures.

 

This was a bone demon that served as the Demon Lord's right hand, he was also the last of his race. It was said when the demons first came, they found themselves in the middle of an advanced magical society during one of their festivals. They managed to destroy the royal family of this race in one fell swoop, but they were cut off when the portal behind them suddenly closed. In retaliation the race that was nearly exterminated launched a last drastic attack, they detonated a large weapon that killed many of the demons and left them in the state they are today.

 

It was said that over half of the demons that came, died in that single attack. The Demon Lord only had a few demons from that time, they were old enough to have originally crossed the breach into this world.

 

Allyn sighed internally as he stood up, but he didn't have time to say anything before the closing door was shoved open and loud conversation could be heard. Allyn had his flat look on his face when he turned his head to the door and saw a near-dead doppelganger being dragged into the audience room by several guards.

 

The black skin of the doppelganger was covered in various wounds, blades, burns from magic, and even some arrows still left in him. The doppelganger searched the room with his face that had no features, his large mouth was open and leaking blood onto the stone gray floor.

 

“Matriarch! The elves have slaughtered everyone! I am the only survivor from the elven lands!” The doppelganger called out in sorrow before his look turned to utter hatred.

 

The male doppelganger turned his head towards Allyn who stood next to the doppelganger matriarch, who had fallen into her chair and was taking heaving breaths of air. They had increased the number of doppelgangers they had sent to better facilitate trade and information flow. This was because they had a severe issue without the succubi around, they had much fewer spies and people to move goods for the demon races.

 

Allyn also had a look of shock, he had not gotten any reports yet that there were problems in the elven lands. As the vampire with the purest blood, he had complete and total control over his race. The doppelganger's next words caused the vampire's mind to go blank.

 

“Why did you have your subordinates collect the locations of all of our spies?! The elves were able to kill everyone! This is all your fault!” The doppelganger roared at the vampire in accusation.

 

Allyn was shocked at this accusation, but his brain quickly spun out a response. That was because this was a very serious accusation, the doppelganger's spies also filtered information to him, but he wasn't allowed to know where the spies were located, or who they were impersonating. This was a policy to specifically prevent a situation where one spy could lead to the downfall of the entire network.

 

The Demon Lord turned with an annoyed expression, as he looked at Allyn with his full attention.

 

“Explain yourself!” He told the vampire lord flatly, as he took another deep drink from the large barrel-shaped glass.

 

Allyn looked around in growing panic, as he had no idea what was happening.

 

Why did one of my subordinates have the locations of the other spies?!

 

-

Meanwhile...

A guest room inside the building

 

Anna's little sister was crying quietly, as she used a washrag to clean the residue off her mother's body. She and Anna had arrived a few minutes ago and found this room where her mother and father stayed. What they had discovered was their ravaged mother laying on the ground in a twisted state. Anna had begun screaming in rage when she saw the state their mother was in, they couldn't believe their father let her do this!

 

“Mother, your gonna be okay now.” She said as she fought back tears, cleaning her mother's body.

 

“I know dear, your father is going to be the demon lord soon! He just needs a little more time and information first. “ Her mother tried to protest her daughter.

 

“Mother, all father cares about is becoming more powerful!” The little girl said in grief.

 

Her brother had left the clan because of his love for a woman, and his father refused to accept their relationship. This lead to her father throwing the son out and banishing him from the clan, and her brother had been more than happy about it at the time. Her mother was being used as a tool by her father, and now she was seeing just what he was willing to do.

 

“Your father is the most handsome, and brilliant man on the continent! He must be just as powerful to match!” Her mother argued with her.

 

When she looked into her mother's eyes there wasn't much there but the love she had for her husband before she was turned. From what she was able to glean from her mother's ramblings they had been a normal high elven couple before her father was made into a vampire. None of the vampires knew what the reason was that those that were turned were always so mentally damaged compared to what they were before. Methods like burying the body when they were turning had become the most popular method, as it seemed to leave more of the intelligence intact.

 

“Glad, where are you?” She called for her older brother as she continued to wash her mother with a warm, wet rag.

 

She was alone with her mother, Anna had already charged out of the room looking for their father. She had followed Anna here and saw the state her sister was in. Her veins were slowly turning black under her skin, and she was aggravated by the slightest thing, she would then start violently screaming and attacking it.

 

It felt like her world was falling apart around her.