Wrong place at the wrong time?

To be fair, it wasn't like the tiefling knew much about this world, but it didn't discourage her. However the question about the sadness in the eyes of the children made her swallow, not really daring to think what horrible things one had to go through to look this sad. "Perhaps it's a stylistic choice?" she suggested, although by the sound of her voice, she clearly didn't believe that herself. She moved over, looking at the titles of books displayed, frowning as some of them mentioned words like the right upbringing and suitable punishments. "Well from the looks of it, it was probably not a household build on love and hugs," she commented. Yikes, this was perhaps too deep for them to snoop around. Nithmeia narrowed her eyes, looking in to a dark corridor. "It's heading north," she said in a pondering tone, mostly because she didn't know that it was that way the temples were placed.

The sudden change in the fenix' behavior worried her a lot, turning to look at Dahria with narrowed eyes. "Is there something I need to know?" she asked, not understanding the sudden change, however she had gotten a glimpse at something within the long tunnel. "Just start climbing back up, I just have to check something out," she promised her, moving towards the long hallway. It really did seem to go on forever, but she soon reached what she had seen. Glimmering in the light from the flame, it was a small pendant and beneath it a small book, looking like a diary of some sort. In dusty golden letters the front cover had a name written on it. "Ae-li-us?" she read out loud, taking it with her and hiding it in her loose garments. The pendant she brought as well before Nithmeia returned to Dahria, giving her a hand up to the next stair before pulling herself up afterwards.

Nithmeia found all of this to be pretty strange, but she wondered what was meant with the tunnel. Where did it lead? And why was it deemed so dangerous? "Alright, but perhaps we need to go dust off somewhere," the tiefling commented, feeling spiderwebs in her horns and long black hair. Her tail swayed a bit, dusting off the back of her pants and back a bit, before she coughed lightly. "Besides, I found something that might explain more," she said, showing a corner of the book she had found before hiding it away in her clothes once more. "C'mon," she said, leading them back up to the room where Salil was still asleep.

Reaching the room they did without getting spotted, and luckily so. Nithmeia wasn't really in the mood to explain to the daemons keeping them captive why both her and the fenix were covered in dust and dirt. Inside the room, Salil was awake, sitting on the bed as he yawned just the moment that the two women entered the room. "Where have you two been?" he asked, widening his eyes as he saw how they both looked, but Nithmeia simply shushed him, waving her hand to signal he shouldn't worry about it. He mumbled something about being irresponsible, but it was clear from his gaze he was curious to follow along with what they were doing. From her shirt Nithmeia pulled out an old book that looked more like a diary of some sort, along with the pendant she had picked up from the ground. It was silver, and from the looks of it it looked like it could be opened, however the tiefling was much more interested in the book itself. She broke the seal, opening it to the first page as her eyes widened. "This isn't a diary ... It's a record," she said, showing the index where each child was listed in birth order along with what race they were. "Simeon, Andrew, Jasper, Elora, Raziela," she mumbled, frowning as she could recognize to of the names as what Dahria had said in the basement.

"Well ... Some of it is written in the infernal language; It's a very old one but we tieflings have passed it down through generations," she explained, wondering if she was good at translating. She flipped to the next page frowning as she wasn't quite sure if she was supposed to read this out loud. "These are their daemonic names," she said, pointing to the five circles written in to the book. "It's fairly normal for a demon to have two names; One which can be used to control them and one that they use for everyday life," she explained, frowning as she looked at them. She didn't even dare speak them, mostly because she didn't want to accidentally cause trouble. Flipping through another pair of pages she stopped as she reached the page about Jasper, frowning as she read through this, placing a few fingers over her lips as she let out a small gasp. "Dahria ... This, gods, this is bad; They ... They tortured these kids to force out their abilities ... This Jasper seemed to have gotten the worst of it," she said, pointing at a place on the page where it said the recommended punishment was daily beatings and isolation. "I don't think I have the stomach for this," she whispered, closing the book as well as her eyes to gather herself a bit.

Nithmeia didn't know if she liked this. This wasn't what she had thought it was, she had hoped it might've been one of the children's diary or maybe another strange book. However this seemed wrong. The fenix however didn't seem as discouraged, but perhaps it was because she was wanting to know more. Nithmeia couldn't blame her, but alas she reopened the book, moving over to sit down on the bed next to Salil. "Alright, but I don't want to read every one of them ... Pick one," she said, feeling like she had a lump in her throat.

Nithmeia let the fenix flip through the book, but as the door opened, her eyes flew to the giant brute in the door. Salil got to his feet as the daemon got closer, gritting his teeth and ready to fight even though he knew the odds were against him. "Let her go," the female tiefling demanded, her red eyes staring directly at the tall brute. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't put a finger on it. "Let her go or I'l tear you apart," she said, not messing around. She knew such an act would kill her too, but she was not letting the brute hurt her new friend. Dahria had helped her, she had helped Salil, so this was the least she could offer.
"I found it," Nithmeia confessed. "I went down to the basement and I found the pendant and the book in the hallway leading north," she said, but it was clear she wasn't letting them know that Dahria had in fact been with her, even though they both were covered in dust.

Nithmeia knew they had been in over their heads and now they were going to answer to that, or rather him. Salil frowned, recognizing the brute as one of the daemons that had kept him captured. The male tiefling knew what the brute was capable of. It seemed like they were getting off with a warning, but then the brute looked to her. Nithmeia swallowed, not really wanting to follow along. It seemed like her friends agreed, but as Dahria got pushed back, Salil seemed to distance himself from the brute.
"Alright," she said calmly, she wasn't going to fight it. Maybe he was going to make an example of her? String her up by her toes and let her suffer for a while? Nithmeia turned to look at her friends, gesturing to stand down before following the large brute. Once outside on the hall she looked up at him. "You didn't have to push her," she said.

Nithmeia didn't like the way the daemon was talking, even less so how he demanded authority. She was going along with it, mostly because she wasn't reckless; she knew they could hurt Salil if she misbehaved. Underground abomination. That was new. While they walked she looked around, her red eyes trying not to squint at the light coming from the windows. "There's nothing wrong with the way I look," she protested when he started explaining that she would need to hide. Back home she had quite the amount of suitors, her marks being a clear sign of beauty, and here he was saying that she needed to hide that? Who did he think he was? "Just because your ancestors created my kind does not give you the right to rule us now; We've had many years without you and if you think you can take our autonomy, then you're wrong," she said. The tieflings didn't have a classic monarchy style of ruling, instead it was very much based in voting and having a few of the elders lead. "Besides, changing in to someone I'm not will take too much energy; I might be able to hold it for a few hours, but Salil might only be able to hold it for a few minutes," she explained.

Nithmeia swallowed at his suggestion. Why was she given the opportunity and not Salil? Had they figured it out yet? That she had more power than she led on? However strangely she kept her mouth shut as he opened the door for her she entered, looking around as she wondered what was going to happen. "You still think you have a claim to Torch?" she said with a small scoff, shaking her head slightly as she walked over to the window. Her eyes were starting to adjust, but her vision would always be better at night. "What do I have to give in return? I mean doing business with a daemon is never free," she said, turning around to face the daemon himself. Her tail moving slowly as if she was awaiting what he might do. They were alone and he was a fairly large guy. She wouldn't be able to mark out a sign of protection before he could strangle her, that was for sure. "And what of Salil? Can he return home and you keep me in exchange and in good faith?" she asked. Perhaps the daemons wanted to know more, perhaps they wanted to figure out how they survived and Nithmeia was a key to that.

Nithmeia had never hated daemons, mostly because they had been so far from her life and reality. But standing amongst them she couldn't help but wonder how she would've been if the tieflings had survived and stayed with their creators. Would they had been used like slaves still? Or perhaps given a promotion to pets? This unknown daemon kept calling her and her kind freaks, but had he taken a good look in the mirror lately? He wasn't exactly appealing to her either. His pale skin and black beady eyes just didn't scream attractive to her.
He spoke harshly and she wondered why was acting this way. Had they not already captured her and made her their possession? When he spoke about Salil she rolled her eyes, mostly because she had tried getting the tiefling to stop his emotions. She had made it clear so many times that she was not interested, yet he kept trying to pursue her. "You threaten me quite a bit - I wonder where all that anger comes from," she thought out loud, looking him up and down as she sat down at the table in front of him. She took the paper, frowning as she read through. English wasn't her first language, but she could understand it pretty well. "I will sign ... If you provide Salil passage home as I do not wish to deal with him and that you see the fenix isn't harmed," she said calmly. There was a knock on the door, making Nithmeia frown.
In stepped the daemoness, the one everyone regarded as their leader. "Aelius, we agreed on both being here," she reprimanded him, stepping over to stand beside him. Her whole being emanating control and power, very unlike Raziela. "Now, these are my captives, not yours nor your Order's," she reminded him. Her and Andrew knew each other pretty well. Leaning down she placed her lips to his ear. "But let us not fight, we are still family to some extent," she whispered calmly.

Nithmeia felt confused and it didn't really help that another daemon entered the room. Instead of interrupting she simply sat there, looking at the exchange.
Alyssa smiled at Andrew at his snarky remark, but it didn't really affect her. In fact, she was proud of her accomplishments and her son had grown up to be independent and strong. Wasn't that what every mother wanted for their children? Apparently not from the stories she had heard from Simeon. His words about what the purple woman probably had demanded made her roll her eyes, but his last question made a smile appear on her lips. "Family help each other ... And that little fenix is going to do wonders for our little Raziela," she smiled, raising an eyebrow at Andrew. Was he really as thick skulled as he looked, our could he see the lifeline she was throwing him. Of course she had heard of the debacle with Buffy and the Aelius family, but Alyssa knew that it was only out of force that the brute had been involved. Alyssa was a fair woman, but her family came first. "If it's any information to you, the fenix and your sister shared a bed last night and were spotted using the shower together this morning," she said. Couldn't he understand that Alyssa wanted him on her side if things were to go down. Digging in to her bag she pulled out a small envelope handing it to him. "I also pulled some strings for you ... Giving you a months leave from your responsibilities at the Order - I've heard you wanted to travel," she said, shrugging as if it was nothing. Alyssa was cunning, she knew how to pull strings and she did so viciously. Alyssa turned her gaze towards Nithmeia. "As regarding our little beaming representative, I think we should simply execute the male ... Wouldn't want them growing in numbers over here, do we?" she said.
Nithmeia had panic in her eyes. From what she could tell, they would spare the fenix, but for how long was uncertain. However Salil? She was shaking a little, knowing that if she didn't sign it would mean that the fenix would die as well. Her eyes filled with tears as she took the pen, signing her daemonic name, knowing it would bind her to fulfill this agreement.