The Scumbags Guide to Enslaving Demon's

The road east began with a choice.

Austin Veyron watched from Grand Meridian’s ruined gate as two groups assembled in the dull morning light. Elena led the caravan of open relief supplies: medical packs, food, water, blankets, and a white flag tied to the antenna of their lead truck. Sarielle rode next to Elena so sanctuary refugees could see a Beast-Queen heir approach unchained.

Rin, Kaela, Seven, and Austin Veyron took the hidden route north of the highway, beyond the boarded storefronts and shuttered businesses. They traveled armed but flew no banners.

The fragment stayed behind at Grand Meridian under guard of Maelis and her people.

Austin Veyron’s black wrist mark pulsed with every step they took east.

"You hear her?" Rin asked.

"Sometimes."

"Is she saying anything useful?"

"She thinks I should stop pretending like my choices matter."

Rin flicked her tails. "That sounds exactly like someone who likes losing arguments."

The first checkpoint spawned at the old transit bridge entrance. Three debt-wraiths waited on the other side in tattered security uniforms. Each carried a ledger and a rusted rifle. The caravan came to a stop. Elena stood outside the lead truck where she could be easily seen.

"We’re traveling with supplies," Elena said. "We mean them no harm."

One of the wraiths cracked open its ledger.

"Passage requires payment."

"My name?" Sarielle asked.

"No. Just a name."

Austin Veyron saw refugees inside the trucks freeze. That was always the trick: Demand something small enough anyone thought they could pay but scared enough to decide who actually gave.

"No names," Elena said flatly.

The wraith raised its rifle.

The shadow team didn’t hesitate.

Rin leapt across the bridge railing in a blink, slicing open the first wraith’s ledger chain with her claws. Kaela jabbed her spear through the second one’s sternum. Seven caught the third gunshot in his armored hand and ground the weapon to scrap metal.

Austin Veyron whispered DEVOUR to break free just the black contracts slotted into the wraiths’ backs. Chains evaporated to ash.

No one paid to cross.

By noon, Austin Veyron felt the sovereign mark begin to burn against his wrist.

He stopped walking at the crest of a flooded service road and pressed his palm against his skin. Something gentle tugged at the edges of his thoughts.

The sanctuary is closer than you believe. So is your deadline.

Vharra pulsed softly against his wrist. In through return.

He passed the message to his team.

Kaela wanted to travel faster than Rin believed safe. Elena broadcast over the radio that two refugees were injured from the bridge skirmish. Sarielle noted they’d be sitting ducks if they didn’t reach cover soon.

They compromised with a less direct route.

It cost them an hour.

It kept them from driving over a minefield buried beneath the highway ramp.

Seven’s unearthly white light revealed the hidden debt tags just beneath the asphalt. Implanted tech carried names of sanctuary refugees. If a name crossed a tag with their vehicle, the mine wouldn’t explode. It would mark.

Austin Veyron watched Seven hack the mines apart one by one.

"Every road they repair is just another way to collect debt," Seven muttered.

"We build more roads they’ll never own," Austin Veyron shot back.

Sunset gave way to the shadow of the sanctuary against the skyline.

Built into an abandoned riverside monastery, the sanctuary had been overrun with pale ward-vines. From far away, the flora looked healthy, prosperous. Up close, black roots writhed beneath their surface.

The front gate stood open.

None of the expected guards barred their way.

Elena parked the caravan before the vine line. "That shouldn’t be possible."

Sarielle walked forward until her shadow touched the threshold. Nothing happened.

The gate swung outward.

An ember demon girl stumbled out of hiding. Teenage. Face streaked with dirt and ash. Refugees crowded behind her: demons and humans, children and wounded soldiers. Few wore collars. Most simply had theirs cut off when sanctuary refugees attempted to leave Vharra behind.

"We thought you were sent by Vharra," the girl said.

"No." Sarielle replied patiently. "We’re only here because she threatened them."

The girl looked at Austin Veyron’s wrist mark. Recognition melted into horror across her features.

"You can’t come in."

Rin half-reached for her knives. "Why?"

The girl stepped backwards away from the sanctuary gates.

"The collector’s already inside."

Refuge caravan grew quiet.

Austin Veyron studied the gap in the gate, then traced the black roots beneath the ward-vines, and finally locked eyes with every refugee pressed behind the ember demon girl. A collector inside sanctuary walls didn’t have to defeat every pursuer. It only needed one scared soul willing to sign its contract.

"How long?" Elena whispered.

"Yesterday evening." The girl swallowed. "It disguised itself as one of you. It knew names we didn’t dare speak. It said the ward would heal if only one of us volunteered to carry everyone’s debt instead."

Sarielle narrowed her gaze. "Was there someone?"

The girl shook her head. "No. But it hasn’t left. It haunts those it speaks with."

Rin glanced sideways at Austin Veyron. We can go in and end this.

"No." Austin shook his head. "Fear is how it traps people. If the collector is winning with terror, charging in just hands it more power." He dropped to one knee so everyone could see him. "We came to help, but we won’t march into your home unless you ask us to. You decide who you want representing you."

The refugees shifted. Some eyed them like the enemy. Others looked terrified or exhausted beyond caring. Behind the monastery wall, a scarred human woman stepped into the gathering from around the corner. An elder ember demon stepped behind her. Then a young horned man with a sling supporting one arm stepped forward to complete their unlikely trio.

"We are the ward." The woman stated. "Until the ward votes otherwise."

Austin Veyron nodded. "Then vote."

Negotiations lasted longer than Rin wanted to wait. She stalked the roadside, knives resting in her palms. Kaela stood guard from rooftops. Seven scanned the ward-vines for hidden chains. Elena debriefed the sanctuary’s injured medics on what transpired at Grand Meridian.

Finally, the three representatives returned.

"You may come in," said the ember demon elder. "On the condition that you give us no orders."

Austin glanced at his wrist.

"Agreed." He strode past the girl and into the sanctuary grounds.

When Austin Veyron crossed the threshold, the sovereign mark stopped burning.

Every ward-vine encompassing the monastery twitched.

A voice echoed out from somewhere within the sanctuary bell tower.

"You bring good manners with you," Lady Vharra said.

Refugees cried out and retreated from their understandably panicked escort.

One of the bell ropes lowered until thick black chain snagged against the courtyard stone. The chain did not bind the refugees behind it. Instead, the chain severed the crowd in half.

On one side of the black link stood Austin Veyron’s team and the three refugees elected to speak on behalf of everyone. On the other side of the chain were the rest of the evacuees; behind them, a young ember demon girl clutched a ledger roughly the size of her torso.

Girl locked her ink-black gaze on Austin Veyron.

"I have something to say to you."

Austin Veyron’s hand began burning.

There was a collector loose in the sanctuary...

...and it already had a voice.

Visible hands, Austin stepped closer to refugees.

Girl curled her fingertips around the ledger’s edge. Behind her, the rest of sanctuary crowded close to the monastery wall. None dared move, say, or do anything that might anger their newest member.

"No one scares her."

Austin turned to see Rin clench her fists behind his back.

Lady Vharra spoke through the girl’s mind.

Old voice. Too old for those smooth cheeks.

Why do you care what happens to them? You couldn’t save your own kin.

Hands where they could see them, Austin stepped closer to sanctuary refugees.

"They are our kin, you monster." Sarielle spat.

Girl blinked. The concept was foreign to her.

"Well then." Vharra continued. "Prove you care. Meet me in the bell tower, Devourer. Bring the fragment’s rune cage. Leave your chains at the base."

The black chain lifted off the ground.

Lights flickered throughout the sanctuary wards.

"You came so far to save strangers." Said Vharra. "Pity it had to end like this."

Austin met eyes with the three speakers sanctuary refugees voted into place. Then he looked to Elena and Sarielle. Then he looked at girl clutching far too much control in her hands.

It wouldn’t be his choice to make alone.

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