Year 28

Life is good.

Business is going well now thanks to your better locations. More people seem to prefer gambling in an area that smells tolerable for one thing. Madeline also had the goblins build a hidden entrance way topside so folks can now enter directly and not have to muck about through the sewers.

Your new headquarters is also much better than the one you had in the sewers

The only business you left in the sewers was the Yellow Devil Den. Seemed fairly pointless to befoul your new locations with it and it's users. Better it should stay in the sewers.

Though Madeline actually has told you she has an idea to make a special area for that too since she can easily get the goblin crew to help again. She says she plans to help you out a lot more when she isn't in school any longer. And graduation for her is coming soon, today in fact.

You never thought you'd ever be visiting where your father went to learn to be a doctor, but you aren't going to miss Madeline accepting her diploma. You genuinely love her as your relationship has grown. You were a little concerned at first, but you found that while it isn't perfect, you feel pretty comfortable with her. You even have vivid dreams about her. Almost so real that you aren't even parted when you sleep. You've told her all about your life in Teckleville, and your family. She hopes one day that maybe she can meet them, especially your sister. (You still wonder about all of them from time to time)

While Madeline has talked about her past, she still hasn't mentioned too much about her family. Not even about her father who you know she isn't fond of, but you don't know why exactly. She just mentions she has no contact with her father other than him paying for her education. It's never a topic she wishes to discuss; she just wants to focus on the future with you, which is fine as far as you're concerned.

"So how do I look?" you ask.
"Well, you wouldn't be my type, but you do look dapper in that suit." Vaughn says.
"I'm crushed. But good, I don't want to look too out of place at Madeline's graduation."
"They grow up so fast huh?" Vaughn snorts.
"Okay, don't even go there with the dad thing. I'm not even that much older than her. I trust you can look after things here for awhile?"
"Sure boss, no problem."

You leave Vaughn and head to the surface. You're not going to walk all the damn way to the university though, so you pay for a horse and buggy to take you there. As you ride, you realize you haven't really travelled around the city as much since you took control of the Crimson Talons. You've mostly been stuck underground most of the time.

When you arrive at the university you don't have too difficult of a time finding where the ceremony is taking place. The university is very clean and orderly, you briefly imagine your father walking around this place back when he was going here.

Eventually you get to a big open field area with several seats and a stage set up. Others are already seated so you find yourself a chair in the back.

While nobody is staring at you, you still feel a little out of place. You just never thought you'd be at a place of higher learning and attending someone's graduation ceremony.

As you wait for things to get started, someone sits next to you, when you turn to see who it is, you can't believe who it is.

"Glad to see you made it to my daughter's graduation." Mr. Reynolds says with a smile.
"…you… YOU?! You're her father?!" you say.
"Yes, and shhh. Don't make a scene. I'm not here to cause problems."
"I can't believe this."
"I guess she didn't tell you about me. She never does. (Sigh) Even after all I've done for her. Though I suppose if she had talked about me, you would have thought twice about being with her and that would have been a shame…because I know how much you make her happy and she's going to need that bit of happiness to hang on to where she's going."
"What? Where's she going?"

Mr. Reynolds chuckles a bit.

"She's going back home of course. Her time here is done, well for now it is anyway." Mr. Reynolds says.
"What do you mean? Isn't this city her home?"
"Klyton is just her current place residence, but her real home is…well it's very different. You might even say it's a different realm altogether."

The way Mr. Reynolds smiles at this point makes you completely tense up. You don't like whatever he's about to say.

"She's not human m'boy. Well…not entirely human anyway. She's a bit of a late bloomer though with her powers, but I love her all the same. Let me ask you something though, has she been appearing in your dreams recently?"
"…yes." You answer hesitantly.
"Yeah, her mother will probably be coming for her soon."
"Her mother? I thought her mother was dead."
"Oh no. I just told her that her mother died in childbirth. Her mother is really a full-blooded succubus. They aren't known to be maternal until their daughters have already grown up and shown that they're worthy of their attention. Displayed powers and such. They never much bother with their male children at all though. I should know."

You have no words.

"Of course most of them just eat their off spring as soon as they give birth to them, but I told that bitch, no daughter of mine was going to be a snack. I'll admit, I wasn't the best father probably, but I think between me or being breakfast, well I think I'll be vindicated once Madeline finds out the truth about herself." Mr. Reynolds says.
"You don't think she'll be even more pissed at you for NOT telling her and it just suddenly being sprung on her like this?" you blurt out.
"…hmmm…y'know I never considered that. Oh well. It isn't like she's my only child. My boy Henry starting to show a lot of promise. Can't wait for him to take over the business someday."

You almost feel like standing up and shouting Klyton has been infiltrated by demon spawn at this point. However, you've got bigger concerns.

"Does Madeline have to return? I mean can't she resist?" you ask.
"There's no debate m'boy. She's going to go. I mean there probably will be an urge to resist at first, but it doesn't take long before that infernal blood pulls them in and they return to fully embrace their demon powers "
"Always?"
"Well, a few sadly succeed. But I promised her mother long ago that if Madeline ever started to bloom that I would do everything possible to help that process along."
"But she's nice! And good!" you say.
"Nice? Good? Ha ha ha ha! That's a cute. She's with you, how good can she really be? Plus I know how she killed her old boyfriend with her little goblin influencing powers. Shit, that's proof right there that's she's going to make a fine succubus. She's already killing boyfriends. Speaking of which, you m'boy have to go."
"What?"
"You. You have to go. I'm not having my daughter not achieve her rightful destiny by holding on to her misguided love for you. Now, you can stay to see her graduate, but then you need to leave. And I don't mean just here. You need to leave the city and go some place far away. If you're dreaming about her, that means she's already starting to imprint on you. However, she's probably not strong enough to find you if you the city. By then her mother and maybe even I will have convinced her to embrace her powers."

You start to say something, but Mr. Reynolds stops you and also grabs your wrist tightly. So tight that it almost feels like he's going to crush your bones.

"YOU are NOT going to stop this son. Take solace in the fact that you NEVER had a choice." Mr. Reynolds says in a low firm voice.

Mr. Reynolds is giving off an aura that puts you completely on the edge terror. This isn't just a normal threat. You're seeing something new. Something less human, less mortal even. A faint scent also hits your nose, it's brimstone.

Still despite all this, you do have real feelings for Madeline. Maybe it's because you left Annah when she was in trouble that you don't want to do the same thing to Madeline. At the very least, you want to be able to give HER the choice.

"Mr. Reynolds…I love your daughter. I can't just take off and leave without at least presenting my side to her." You say, mustering all your courage, which causes a smile from Mr. Reynolds.

"Fair enough, I can respect that, but let me ask you this…are you REALLY willing to go through hell for her son? Now I want you to think VERY carefully before answering. Because IF you are willing to go all in on proving how much you actually do love my daughter, then I need that answer now."

No

You realize what Mr. Reynolds is trying to do. He's trying to talk you into some "contract."

With some effort you manage to pull your hand free of Mr. Reynold's grip.

"No." you say causing a bit of a frown from Mr. Reynolds.
"Hmm, not as stupid as you appear. I can respect that too. But if your answer is no then you will be leaving after all and I don't think I need to explain why. Madeline's mother isn't as nice as I am."

This is a shitty situation. You don't want to leave Madeline, but you also don't want to be on the wrong end of a bunch of violent demons. You aren't equipped to handle it even with the resources you have at your disposal and you question if any of them would be of any real help if it came down to it anyway. (Besides Vaughn maybe)

To top everything off, you now have to abandon what you got going on here!

You wish you had listened to Zalmora.

You don't say any more and just get up to leave. As you're doing this, you make one last glance back at the stage and there you see Madeline accepting her diploma with a big smile. She has no idea what is in store for her.

You manage to catch a buggy back to the slums of Klyton and from there you make your way back to headquarters.

The first thing you do is start opening your safes and hauling out the most precious valuables along with a good stack of gold coins.

"Hey boss, I saw you come back. What's going on?" Vaughn suddenly asks walking in you.
"Vaughn, this is your lucky day. You're inheriting everything and it required absolutely no effort on your part other than being more competent than every other Crimson Talon here." You reply.
"What?"
"As of right now Vaughn, you're head of the Crimson Talons. Good luck."
"I am? Wait. Where are you going?"
"Me? I have no idea, but I'm going far away. I won't be coming back either."
"Why? Is the militia on your ass? Should I be worried?"
"Hah. The militia. If only it was that simple. No, it's a little more complicated than that, but no you shouldn't be worried. However, if Madeline comes by tell her…tell her that I didn't have a choice and to move on. Okay?"
"Um, okay. So this is goodbye then…(sigh) I have to say it's starting to get pretty lonely here what with all of the old gang gone."
"Yeah well, I'm sure you'll get by. Bye Vaughn."

Without any more fanfare you leave the Crimson Talon headquarters wondering where to go.

Holgard comes to mind, but there's always some sort of rebellion or power struggle going on there. You'd rather not have to deal with being in the middle of that mess. The Delantium Kingdom is at war with some other nation, so you'd rather avoid the possibility of suddenly getting press ganged or conscripted into military service.

The only other place that comes to mind is Hessla which for one thing is a whole lot closer, but it also still has a reputation of being a haven for thieves, pirates, and other criminal types. At least it's something you'd be familiar with.

Since you need to put as much distance between you and Klyton, you catch a carriage ride out to the infamous town. The trip to Hessla is surprisingly uneventful.
You half figured you'd at least run into a few idiots trying to rob you on the road, but happily you don't encounter any problems other than the overly talkative priest of Joachim who is traveling with you thinking that he's going to bring the light of Joachim to Hessla all by himself.

When you finally get to Hessla, its actually a little nicer looking than you thought it was going to look. You expected it to be filled with run down homes with unsavory types located on every corner. If anything, the town has locations that are fancier looking than some of the better parts of Klyton.

After spending a few days in Hessla you also learn that this place really isn't as disorderly as it's reputation would imply. Granted it's far from being as repressive as Klyton, but there actually is a "force" that makes sure it isn't a free for all. The Hessla Headsmen report directly to the governor who apparently is an ex-pirate that controls everything in town.

If anything the crime is less than one might think mainly because most are pirates and pillaging other places rather than here. You are surprisingly finding the place a bit easy on the pick pocket and theft front, of course a lot of folks are either half drunk or plain drunk most of the time. Also most folks don't seem to own that many personal belongings. You guess with most making their living at sea, they keep essentials on their ships, spend it all on booze and whores or otherwise live a very basic life, so despite you finding the town a bit easy pickings, you aren't getting rich doing it. Shops however are very well protected by the Headsmen since you guess Governor Tolen has a slice of all the businesses here.

Fights are pretty common, though they aren't necessarily always to the death like you'd expect. Just a lot of disagreement and drinking make for a rowdy town. So far you've avoided pissing anyone off and kept a low profile. At first you aren't sure if you're actually going to stay here for long or not, but on your fifth night you have another dream of Madeline.

In the dream she's very sad and wandering the streets of Klyton calling out and looking for you. You don't know if that's what she's actually doing in real life or you're just dreaming up the scenario, but needless to say you don't sleep very well.

The next morning you decide you need to get even further away. Like completely off the mainland. The problem is you have no idea what really lies across the water. You know pirates are raiding something because you've heard the stories. Of course the problem with that is you're not looking for some place to just stop and plunder. You're looking for a place of relative civilization of where you can get your bearings before deciding what to do with the rest of your life as well as getting away from your demon spawn girlfriend.

You ask around and after exchanging a bit of coin, a Hessla merchant ship (They do exist contrary to popular belief) agrees to take you to Jicol. Apparently it's a city state on a fairly large island to the west. It's about the only place that Hessla pirates never fuck with due to the well-trained navy and the fact that Jicol has made it quite clear that any attack on their ships or city will result in total war with Hessla and it isn't one the pirate town would win.

You spend about a week getting to this new city. The third night aboard the ship, you have faint glimpses of Madeline's face in your dreams. At first you're concerned that you're never going to get far enough, but you have no more dreams for the rest of the trip.

By the time you get settled your first night in Jicol, your dreams are back to normal and you hope they stay that way.

Brand new city. Brand new life. You've done it before, now you'll have to see if you can do it again.

You time passes...

Year 30

"Okay your qweepa lost. Pay up." You say.
"Bah, I still think you drug him with Yellow Devil." Gil says handing over the coin.
"Pfft, I've seen what that shit does to people. No way I'd give it to Swifty here." You say picking up your not so small rodent creature and petting him a couple times.
"How come you don't enter him in the fights? He's big enough and his teeth are larger than the average qweepa." Trent asks.
"Because I'd rather he die of old age than him risk getting ripped to shreds. Besides I'm doing just fine racing him. Anyway, that's it for me tonight, see you lot next week. Maybe we should play cards or dice next time, it'll be a fairer fight."
"Ha ha. Fuck you. Next week." Gil says waving bye to you.

You leave the qweepa "race track" with your pet and head home.

As you're walking home you notice that the new owner of Saltwater Supplies are still routinely closing up shop at the same time to go make their prayers to Yag. You think next time you come this way; you're going to have to pay the store a little visit. While they've gone to prayer of course.

Life hasn't been bad here in Jicol. You still participate in the occasional breaking and entering every now and then, but nowadays you mostly make a living racing your qweepa. Occasionally dice and cards too, but Swifty is a sure thing. Never thought you'd be a rodent racer, but here you are.

Still, sometimes you wonder about your family. How your mother and father are doing and if their lives in Teckleville are better, worse or the same after events that occurred so long ago.

You also wonder about your sister and if she's still travelling or settled down. Probably not. She was always more of a wanderer at heart. Whatever she's doing you hope she's doing well.

You get to your humble abode and suddenly Swifty jumps off your shoulder and scurries away into a nearby crack in a wall.

"Swifty! Come here! Hey!" you shout and go to the crack, but he's gone. You aren't too worried since he's run off like that before, but always comes back. He likes the Delantium cheese you give him too much to ever disappear for good.

Not wishing to spend all night fumbling around in the dark outside looking for a rodent, you head inside your small home.

No sooner have you shut the door when you smell the air. It's like something is on fire. At first you think it's your home, but then you realize this isn't a normal fire smell.

It's brimstone.

And then you see a pair of eyes in the darkness.

"SHIT!" you shout and go to get the door open, but you're suddenly pulled back by a clawed hand and slammed to the floor hard.

You desperately go for your flintlock, but that is smacked out of your grip by a tail that whips your hand. Your next attempt is your cutlass, but a cloven hoof puts an end to that attempt by stomping on your hand and breaking it.

You then feel a body drop on your chest and putting all the weight behind it. You cough and try to catch your breath and that's when you finally see what is attacking you.

A red skinned female demonic form complete with horns, wings, a tail and cloven hooves straddles your chest.

Madeline.

While the rest of her has changed drastically, you'd never forget her face.

"Hello, lover." She hisses.
"Madeline…didn't know you were coming…" you say struggling to breathe.
"I thought about visiting you in your dreams, but then I thought the personal touch would be much more satisfying."
"I can see how you would, but I can't say I do. Why the hell are you even here and obviously pissed at me?"
"After what you did, you have the balls to ask me that? You fucking LEFT me. Left me with my asshole father and my long lost bitch of a mother! Left me with no explanation or even support!"
"Now that's not true. I told Vaughn to tell you to…"
"Move on with my life and how you didn't have a choice. Fuck you. You DID have a choice. You could have stayed! We could have supported each other!"
"No! No we really couldn't have Madeline. Your father made it quite clear that if he didn't kill me, your mother sure as hell would have if I didn't leave. I think it's pretty obvious what the result would have been. I mean look at you, you've obviously embraced your demonic heritage within only two years and I'm NO fucking match for you."

Madeline briefly looks down at her own body.

"Yes, look at me. I'm a daughter of hell, seducer and destroyer of men, yet I still have these pathetic feelings of love for you. I can't move on like you suggested. I can't deal with this separation."

You'd probably be more scared about what's going to come next, but the pain in your body is making fear a secondary concern and honestly you knew as soon as you didn't escape that it was probably all over.

"Shit…do you really have to Madeline? I mean I know it would be difficult, but I'm willing to go back to the way things were with…" you start to say before you get a punch to your face. It feels like being hit by a piece of steel, but immediately after Madeline goes in to kiss you and even cries a bit.

"I'm…sorry…but this is the way it has to be…I loved you and you abandoned me. We can't go back to the way things were. (Sniffle) But I do know how to make things right."

Without another word, Madeline starts stripping off your clothing. You're really not in any condition to stop her, though you do try to feebly get away once. (Which results in another punch) Madeline being a succubus easily manages to get you "ready" and then positions herself on top of your dick and begins to grind against you.

There really isn't anything pleasurable about any of this, especially how hard Madeline is riding you, tightly squeezing your arms and making unnatural noises the whole time. You also feel like your dick is on fire the entire time. The only thing you can do is hope it ends quickly, which fortunately it does and you soon release.

Afterwards, Madeline then suddenly becomes "gentle" and for a brief moment lies on top of your body.

"Our baby is going to be how I remember the good times with you and I'm going to be an attentive mother no matter what." She whispers in your ear.
"Mad…" you start to utter before she puts a talon to your lips.
"Goodbye my love." She says sadly and then with a quick strike of her finger she rips your throat open and licks your blood as you bleed out.