AMPELLIO " A magic user, you say? It is rare to see one of those around here, but I will assist you in any way I can. Afterall, if there was a magic user in my ranks, I would certainly want to know." He opened the door further, inviting the two demons inside. He had faith in Valente, for he might not be the smartest person around, but if anything, his magic was powerful enough to make up for it. Placing a simple optical misdirection spell would be well within his power. And if not, Ampellio was strong enough to take these two demons on singlehandedly. Inviting them in a den full of vampires was overkill. " Please, come in." He waited until the demons stepped through the doorway and Ampellio politely took their umbrella, hanging it up on the rack beside the door. Once he was turn, he turned back to the demons with a calm smile and rubbed his hands together. " Anywhere you would like to go first? I would have to accompany around the house, of course, but you are free to go wherever you like. I'm afraid my family does not take well to strangers walking about unaccompanied." " Perhaps the kitchen?" The blue haired demon suggested and Ampellio nodded his head. " That sounds perfect. I do believe our resident housekeeper is in there. If anyone has seen anything strange, it would most definitely be him." TRIXXTAL " Don't fucking bullshit me Jecht!" Trixxtal immediately countered, stopping the crazed waving long enough so that they both could see the card better, " I know what lipstick logos look like and this isn't a logo!" The angrier he got, the louder his voice became. The business card became meaningless as it fell from Trixxtal's fingers and fluttered to the ground, forgotten now that there was a new subject for Trixxtal to focus on. " Are you lying to me now? Do you have something to hide from me?" The business card had been enough to set him off at first, but now it was Jecht's demeanor about the whole thing that was really pissing him off and pushing his anger further. " You might not care about her feelings but you're definitely not turning her down! Taking that," He pointed furiously at the offensive card on the ground, " is basically an invitation for her to hit on you! Ugh! I can't believe you don't understand this!" Listening to Jecht trying to defend himself only made things that much worse, specifically when he said a word Trixxtal absolutely hated. Jealous. That was always Jecht's 'go to word' whenever they fought. First it had been that Trixxtal was jealous over Cepheus, over Mariemaia, over Jenna, over Clara, over Jonathan, over pretty much everyone on the entire fucking planet. " I wouldn't have to get jealous if you never gave me a reason to be!" " That's right," The wizard said from behind him, now seated in the slashed up armchair with a plate of sandwiches and chips, " What about the one he named his dog after!" The mere mention of Cepheus made the hairs on his arms stand up on end. Dead or not, Trixxtal still hadn't gotten over his hatred for that bastard, and he had to be reminded of it everytime he saw that stupid small dog Jecht paraded around. His fingers were shaking as he angrily wiped the tears out of his eyes, refusing to cry over something as little as this, " If you really loved me you wouldn't keep doing this to me over and over again! Every year theres something else and I'm getting tired of it Jecht!!"

AMPELLIO
Sometimes, Ampellio was amazed by the idiocy of Protettore's subordinates and wondered how they ever got anything done. Between the weak members who couldn't even fight off a spirit to the rambunctious children, to his absent minded enforcer to the fumbling grandpas, it was a miracle that Protettore managed to get anything done. In Ampellio's time ruling the Giordano family, everything was formal and professional. He'd never let any of these hijinks befall his fortress, and he would definitely never employ someone like Valente Mancini to help maintain it. But change was constant, if Ampellio had learnt anything from his lifetime on Earth, and now he accepted all of this in stride. The Giordano family still remained at the top tier of the vampire community, so as long as it didn't fall, Ampellio had no qualms. However, if only he could get rid of the useless people here...

" They're not our new cleaning crew Olivier," Ampellio replied, speaking up for the demons, " They are our guests and are here to look for someone important to them so I am showing them around. I would appreciate it if you didn't try to recruit them into your line of work." He said evenly, turning from Olivier to the demons to leave him to cook dinner. " As you can see, there is no one here you are looking for. Would you like to move on?" If he timed it right, he could get these demons up and out of here before Protettore had a chance to leave his brother's office. Hopefully Izel kept his ritual going just a bit longer.

VALENTE
It was still night time and the sun hadn't risen yet, which meant that Valente couldn't completely relax as he lounged on the beach. The darkness allowed Jecht to move around the island freely, as opposed to when the sun was out, and would give him the opportunity to sneak up on Valente if he got too comfortable. Honestly, those vampires were like damn ghosts or something, never making a sound when they walked. And judging by how angry Valente had left Jecht, he was sure that the vampire wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he had the chance. But it wasn't like he meant for him and Trixxtal to have a really bad fight! All he wanted was a distraction so they could forget about going to Tori's for a while. If anything, all of this was their fault for being so stubborn!!

Just as expected, not long after settling down in the beach chair, Valente sensed Jecht's presence approaching. Or more, he felt his anger rolling off him like steam. He knew instantly that this wasn't going to be good. With a snap of his fingers, a pair of sunglasses materialized on his face and he waited until Jecht got closer to turn around and lift the shades up comically, " Hiya Jecht, fancy meeting you here! Wanna play some volleyball or somethin'?" Expecting Jecht to throw the nearest solid object at him was a give-in and Valente instinctively moving to dodge it was like second nature. He let whatever it was Jecht threw crash into beach chair as he ascended into the sky, levitating just out of Jecht's reach. " Ahaha, oh wow, you're really mad today! Not pulling any punches are you?"

OLIVIER
"Oh...they aren't?" he pouted, immensely disappointed. "What a shame..." he mumbled. New recruits would have been a great help since many of his coworkers were unconscious and the vampire grandpas would be visiting soon. Oh well, that would be just more cleaning for him! The thought made him feel cheerful again.

He bowed formally to the three of them and gave the demons a bright smile. "Well, I hope you enjoy your tour, sir and madam!" he bid farewell, returning back to his duties.

ALU
The demon was looking at the wizard, who was apparently named Olivier, in a new light. Alu had realized that Olivier was a complete idiot. Now that she had tempered her anger, she could clearly see that the man was clueless and did not match the target's description at all; both in appearance and personality. But her suspicions had only slightly eased, perhaps this wizard was being used as a decoy? Maybe he was putting up an act? She gave one last nasty glare to the retreating Olivier before nodding back to the vampire. "Yes, let's move on." she agreed. The farther away from that duck roaster, the better.

JECHT
"Cece, go sniff out the stupid wizard for me." he demanded the small poodle, who barked happily as he set her onto the ground. However the dog stood in place, wagging her tail, staring at Jecht expectantly. Jecht sighed; he should have known better than to hope she would listen to him when he did not have any dog treats on hand. He would have to look for Valente the hard way. For whatever reason, even with his enhanced senses it was difficult to track down the stupid wizard, which drove Jecht absolutely crazy. Sensing his heartbeat, finding his scent, hearing his movements...if the annoying blond used magic sometimes Jecht could not even rely on his sight to find him! He hated every time he was bested by Valente.

But the wizard was extra annoying about spending time with them earlier, so Jecht had the feeling he was still hiding around the island somewhere. And sure enough, after scouring the beach, he found Valente sitting in a beach chair wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night like the loser he was. "There you are, blond bastard." he scowled, crouching down and grabbing a conveniently placed boulder.

"Stupid wizard!" he yelled, lifting the boulder and throwing it at Valente. But to his chagrin, Valente dodged the hit and was now laughing at him in the air. "Turn my hair back to normal, now!" he shouted, crossing his arms as he glared at Valente.

IZEL
Standing outside the salt circle he had placed Lord Anastasio in, Izel sliced his hand with a special knife that had symbols etched into the blade. After the droplets of his blood fell onto the salt Izel set aside the knife and used his uncut hand to grab his nearby tome. "Lord Anastasio, please be patient while I recite the protection spell! No spirit will be able to harm you once I complete it!" he vowed with determination.

Izel carefully recited the spell and out of the corner of his eye saw his blood rapidly spread through the circle. Once every grain was dosed with his blood, the circle glowed and Izel felt relieved. It was working! A moment later, the amulet he gave to the vampire also began to shine the same crimson color as the circle.

AMPELLIO
With one idiot out of the way, Ampellio silently prayed that they wouldn’t run into anymore. If he could keep the demons away from Ryuu and Ryo, Marcellina, Vencentio, Anastasio, Izel….infact, if he could keep the demons away from everyone, that would be just great. It was a sheer miracle that Valente left right before the demons arrived and Ampellio didn’t want to test that luck any longer than he had to. He didn’t even know if Valente was aware that the demons were here and the last thing he needed was Valente arriving out of nowhere.

“ Great. Follow me.” He said with a smile and lead the demons out of the kitchen. It seemed that Marcellina had actually done something as the halls were clear of unconscious bodies, allowing them to move freely with-in the fortress. “ Excuse me for asking, but why are you searching for a duck of all things? Do demons have an unfounded amatide complex that no one knows about?” Ampellio, of course, knew the exact answer, even lived under the same roof as the person who caused it, but he wanted to know how much the demons knew about the situation, or how much they were willing to disclose.

ZRA
“ Well….” The demon started off, looking to Alu uncertainly, “ All we can say is that this duck is very important to us. It is important that we find him,” He trailed off warily, “ ….it, soon.” He corrected himself, hoping he hadn’t given too much away. The only species that should know about the Prince’s disappearance should be the wizards and demons alone, but Zra wasn’t sure how much the other species knew about the situation, or if they had chosen sides in this conflict. It was best not to say anything too revealing for now.

AMPELLIO
“ Ah, I see. Well, I hope you find the duck you’re looking for soon.” Ampellio smiled sweetly, turning the corner sharply. “ Here we have the main room, where most of our members relax, but it seems empty at the moment.” Because all of them are recovering in their rooms, he finished off in his head, deciding whether or not the spirit’s attack had been a blessing in disguise. “ I am not sure where all of our members went…maybe its lunch time?” He wondered out loud, flashing a smile to the demons to show off his pointed fangs. “ Would you like to come back at another time, when there are actual people here, or would you like to look around some more? You’re welcome to do so, but I don’t want to waste your time when you obviously have more important matters to attend….to…” His sentence was cut short when one of the demons, the one with blue hair, suddenly bolted from the room, running down the hall as fast as he could. Honestly, Ampellio wasn’t used to being surprised, but he hadn’t expected the demon to make a run for it like that. He turned his gaze to the remaining demon and looked at her expectingly, “ Well, I wonder what that was about.”

ANASTASIO
“ Wow Izel, this is amazing!” The young vampire said with excitement, amazed at how the amulet was actually glowing like Izel said it would! Because of Valente, Anasatio loved magic and loved watching him preform it. But this was something totally different. Izel was a vampire like himself, who shouldn’t possess magic like Valente, and yet here he was, in a magic circle!! It was amazing!
At that moment, the door to the office open and Protettore walked in, his eyes darting straight to the magic circle on the floor. An awkward silence filled the room as Protettore stared at the circle and Anastasio and Izel stared at him. Finally, a disappointed sigh left Protettore and he began to shake his head, “ I’m going to skip the what and go straight to the why.”

“ Izel said that it’ll protect me from the evil spirit haunting this fortress!!” Anasatio explained, turning to look at his brother with excitement and wonder in his eyes. “ I asked if he could do it for everyone but he said it only works for one person….but isn’t it cool?!”
It took a second for Protettore to reply, but when he did, he sounded just as fed up as before. “ Valente has dealt with the spirit already, there’s no need for this.” He said, crushing their dreams with a single sentence. Immediately Anastasio’s excitement left him and he looked down at the amulet with a frown, “ Oh….”

Before anyone had the chance to say anything else, the door slammed open once more, but this time, a man Anasatio had never seen before stood there. Maybe he was a new hire? There were a strange pair of…horns on top of his head, and his hair was an eccentric blue, but more than that, there was something off about him that set him apart from everyone else. Much like Valente, he had a different aura around him. Protettore obviously felt it too because Anastatio watched his brother immediately tense up as he glared at the stranger.

“ Who the fuck are you.” He demanded, his anger rising at an incredible rate. Anastasio was hardly around whenever his brother got this angry, so seeing Protettore like this made the hair on his arms stand up. Worriedly, he turned to Izel and whispered to him in a low voice, “ Izel…is this the spirit you were talking about?”

ZRA
Suddenly running off like he had wasn’t his plan, nor his intention, but when Zra had picked up a faint use of magic in the fortress, that wasn’t coming from the kitchen, he had to follow it. It could have been the outlaw wizard trying to cover his tracks, or further hiding himself in the fortress. So without him even realizing it himself, he had taken off in top speed to catch whatever it was using magic. But to his surprise, the trail had lead him to a room which he kicked open and found three vampires inside, one of which was inside a magic circle of some sorts. Okay, so not the wizard he was looking for, but atleast there was magic being performed….however small it was. Zra felt the foreign feeling to regret seep into his bones as one of the vampires, perhaps the most threatening one in the room turned his attention onto him.

With nothing else to say, Zra spoke the truth. “ I am Zra. I am a demon looking for an outlaw. The red haired vampire let me and my partner inside to inspect the premises.” He said with the most even voice he could. His gaze shifted back to the magic circle, inspecting it. Just as he thought as soon as he saw it, it was not the magic of a wizard, nor was it powerful enough to turn a demon into a duck. “ When I sensed magic I had to follow it. I apologize.” He returned his attention to the main vampire, expecting to be forgiven, but instead, he was greeted with a fist to the face. Demons were strong in their own right and a simple punch from a human would be nothing but an ant bite to them, but this vampire held so much strength in his punch that Zra stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Having never been hit like that in his life, Zra remained momentarily stunned and confused as the vampire moved to loom over him.

“ I’m going to give you until the count of three to get out of my fortress, you trespassing son of a bitch.” The vampire warned, cracking his knuckles loudly. “ One.”

VALENTE
“ Your hair?” Valente questioned, actually having to take a second to think about what Jecht meant. Then, just like that, everything clicked together like the world’s most amusing puzzle. “ Oh! Aha, your hair! I can’t believe I forgot about that! I was starting to think that your hair was always like that, ahahahaha!!” He doubled over in laughter. Sure enough, when he looked back at Jecht, his attention went straight to the hair, making him laugh even harder, “ Ahaha, holy shit that’s so funny! And you fought with Trixxtal like that! Aha, no wonder he dumped you!” His laughter continued the more he thought about it. If he had known turning Jecht’s hair into a rainbow would be this funny when he did it, he would have made it a permanent feature.

“ Okay, okay, okay, I’ll stop now.” He chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. “ I’ll turn your hair back to normal, but first, let me take a selfie!” His phone materialized in his hand quicker than even vampires could see and he appeared beside Jecht just as fast, smashing their faces together to fit in the screen of the phone. The flash went off and then Valente was gone just as quickly as he had appeared, safely out of Jecht’s reach before he knew what was happening and get his hands around Valente’s neck. Safe in the air and out of reach, Valente triumphantly reviewed his selfie, or as he would call it, his masterpiece. The myth about vampires not appearing in mirrors or photographs was complete bullshit because the stunned/shocked expression on Jecht's face was just too PRICELESS not to be real. The rainbow hair only improved the picture. “ You’re lucky I don’t have social media Jecht, or else I would post this on insta! Look at us, we look like best friends!”

But Valente knew that he could only push his luck so far, and if bringing up Trixxtal and taking a selfie were strike one and two, he did not want to stick around for strike three. With a simple wave of his wrist, the color in Jecht’s hair dissolved into it’s usual dark locks and his hair was returned to normal. “ There, all done! Are you up for playing volleyball now?” he said, looking down at Jecht with a smile.

☆Alu☆
She sensed the surge of magic that flared all of a sudden, but was startled into staying in place when Zra surprised her by the way he swiftly ran off. Regaining her bearings she glanced at the vampire she had been left behind with. "I...sensed a sudden surge of magic, so I assume my partner did as well." she explained, however, now that it was over Alu could no longer pinpoint the exact place it had been.

"He must have run towards it. Perhaps the magic we sensed was from that...ah," she paused to try to find an unoffensive term for Olivier, "Magic user? Yes, the magic user from the kitchens again."

Alu then frowned as she remembered their host's previous words about getting in trouble if they wandered around the building unaccompanied. "I must find my partner before we cause any more trouble for you." she told him. The vampire still unnerved her but he had been polite and shown great hospitality to them, yet Alu had already caused a scene earlier with the idiot in the kitchen and Zra had now run off on his own.

☆Izel☆
Izel felt crushed when Lord Anastastio's brother proclaimed that his amulet was unneeded, but did not let that bring his mood down. "Ah, Valente is so powerful to have rid the evil spirit so quickly! But just in case the spirit summons its allies from the underworld, Lord Anasastio will still have protection with him." he explained with pride, but then frowned. "Oh, I should have prepared for something like this early, please forgive me for not thinking far enough ahead for your safety, Lord Anastasio."

He would have continued rambling to the brothers, if it were not for the fact that a man burst through the doors. Izel watched with wariness and confusion while Protettore dealt with the strange horned man.

"It seems like a different spirit, possible even a demon, I have seen pictures of horned men tempting pure souls with darkness. Be wary Lord Anastasio, you have such a pure soul. Oh, but I suppose with your brother here you have nothing to worry about! He is more powerful than anything and I have no doubt Lord Protettore will banish the spirit demon back into the darkness." he replied, his whisper not quiet at all, giving a thumbs up to Anastasio.

As if on cue, Protettore punch the intruder in the face. Izel looked at his leader in awe and whispered back excitedly to Anasastio, "See! He just attacked that ghost, as if it is corporeal. Lord Protettore is truly amazing! You both are truly reincarnated gods..!"

☆Jecht☆
Anger seethed inside him as he glared at the phone in Valente's hands. "I don't care if you keep that shitty picture, just keep it away from me and everyone else." he scowled, completely fed up. The only reason he did not lose control of his rage was the fact that Valente finally released his hair from the rainbow spell.

He gave the floating Valente a cold look, not returning the smile, but he made no move to attack him again. "Fine." he agreed tersely. He had the choice of either being alone, going back to Trixxtal, or enduring Valente's presence. Unfortunately Valente seemed to be the best option but if Jecht got the opportunity to smash his face with the volleyball, then all the better for him.

"How do you play volleyball? All I know is that there is a net and you stop the ball from hitting the ground or whatever."he asked, feeling a bit calmer now that Valente was offering him a distraction from his fight with Trixxtal.