The moment she heard the gunshot and saw her husband go down, Millie felt the world shatter around her. His limb body just lay there in the cold rain as the shooter just looked at him with a snarl before spitting on it. Before she knew it, Millie screamed in rage while jumping out of her hiding spot.

All she could think about in those short moments in her fall were the memories of her times with Moxxie. Millie had always been seen as weird, insane, and even childish by those in her life. It was Moxxie who saw someone different. He saw a lovely angel of death that had been his strength to be better than he was. Despite her weirdness, Moxxie saw an imp who he believed was a kind and loving woman that sparked his heart aflame. A love he wanted to spend the rest of his years with. Nobody had ever been like that with her. They either kept her at a distance, used her for only her skills, or were one night stands who wanted to be with the "crazy chick." Moxxie didn't want either of those things. What he wanted the "real" Millie that lay deep inside. That desire led Millie to truly open her up to someone for the first time as a friend, who later becomes her lover, and then her husband. Every day she remembered their wedding vow to be there for each other through thick and thin. That vow was now broken thanks to the animals below her.

Animals that she was going to slaughter.

Millie aimed herself towards one of the hellhounds who looked up to see death heading straight for him. Her spear went straight into his shocked face before she pierced him straight into the pavement. His blood splattered all over her face, but she didn't care. It wasn't enough. They shot him. They shot the only imp she ever loved and could ever love.

The one imp who had given her something that she treasured above all else. Love. They took that away from her. They took Millie's "Love" away.

Taking out the shotgun she brought, Millie turned to the nearest hellhound and fired into his gut before he could react with his own weapon. The blast sent him flying into his motorcycle, but he was still alive despite his intestine coming out of his stomach. Millie wasted no time rushing up to the hellhound's face, tears in her eyes, and stared at his frightened and pleading face. But all she could see was her sweet Moxxie smiling. A smile she would never see again.

She pulled the trigger twice to make his head explode in a burst of bone and brain matter. She turned around, screaming to kill more of them, but found two of them already dead from multiple bullet wounds, and the leader- the fucker who did it -was on the ground with the shadow guards already on top of him. He was cursing up a storm, but that ended when Millie put the shotgun in his face and made him whimper.

"Millie! Stand down!" Grimbeak ordered.

" No! He killed Mox! HE KILLED MY MOXXIE!" Millie shouted with tears in her eyes as she prepared to squeeze the trigger. "I'LL KILL HIM!"

"He's not dead!"

In that split second, she froze. The sentence echoed in her head; she slowly turned to Grimbeak, who held the body of her supposedly alive husband. Taking the mask off, Millie saw that her husband was still breathing but unconscious.

"Moxxie!" Millie screamed, dropping the shotgun. She rushed over to him and nuzzled his warm face. "On, Moxxie! Moxxie!"

"Uh, what?" Moxxie muttered, slowly waking up. She looked deep into those big beautiful warm eyes that she thought she'd never see again and kissed him so hard he nearly lurched back. "M-Millie? Wait...I'm alive?!"

"The mask saved you," Grimbeak said as he held it up, showing the bullet stuck in the forehead. "Looks like it's made out of something bulletproof. You're quite lucky, Moxxie."

"...I hate going undercover," Moxxie whimpered before his eyes rolled behind his head and fainted.

Millie just hugged him and felt her tears return, only this time in relief instead of sorrow. "It's okay, Moxxie. Just rest. I won't leave you."

Grimbeak started giving out orders for them to hide the bodies and take their prisoner with them, but Millie didn't care. All she cared about was right here in her arms. Still with her now and forever.

***

Stolas was relieved when he heard that Moxxie was going to be okay. He just had a small concussion that was easy to heal with magic and just needed rest. Stolas knew there was a risk to this plan, and the fact that luck had prevented it from becoming a disaster only made the prince more determined to get the right information this time.

He didn't want to waste time bringing the captured hellhound to his dungeon, so he ordered Grimbeak to keep him held up in one of the warehouses while he teleported there. He used a portal to send Millie and Moxxie to his home so the latter could be cared for while Loona and Octavia waited with them. His darling daughter was in near tears upon hearing what happened. After all, it had been her idea, and the thought that Moxxie nearly died from it terrified her.

He made a note to talk to his daughter after this, but he needed to focus for now. Time was not on their side, and he needed to know where Blitzo was or at least who was the mastermind behind his kidnapping. Stolas was growing more and more worried by the second based on the clues he had: They knew of the Grimoire of Worlds and wanted it, they knew of his relationship with Blitzo, they had Angel Blades, were rich, and had high contacts for mercenary work.

More and more, Stolas was worried that this so-called "kidnapper" was higher up the food chain than he realized. Maybe even in Lucifer's personal court. Prince Stolas had many enemies there, and he knew that if he didn't play this carefully, it wouldn't just be the end of his Blitzy, but the end of his family as well.

Arriving at the warehouse via a portal, Prince Stolas saw the hellhound leader tied up and watched under heavy guard, with Grimbeak nodding to him upon his arrival. The hellhound froze up upon seeing Stolas walk in as his demonic aura started to spread all over the place. Stolas' frustration and anger were no longer in check as his wings spread out while becoming lit with flames. His eyes, crimson and glowing with power, glared at the whimpering hellhound who had become a pup under his gaze.

With his right claw glowing with a purple and black aura, Stolas slammed it straight into the chest of the hellhound. It went through like butter, but no wound or blood was spewing out upon entering it. The dog demon gasped as he felt Stolas's talons grip his heart and started choking out blood when the owl prince squeezed it for a brief second.

"You know what that is?" Prince Stolas asked, whispering sinisterly into the hellhound's ear. "That is your heart. With just a simple squeeze, I can crush it and make you choke on your own blood. Or I could go for your lungs." He moved his hand and felt the organ, which made the hellhound start crying. "Or your liver. Your stomach. Spine. I can even make your balls come out. I can crush them. Move them. Manipulate them into shapes so uncomfortable you'll beg for death. I can do all of this and more, dog."

A foul smell coming from the hellhound's pants made some of the guards look at him in disgust, but Stolas didn't care. "P-Please..."

"There are only two questions I want to be answered from you, or else I'm going to spend the next few hours making you my bitch," Stolas growled. "Where. Is. Blitzo!"

"I...I don't know..." The hellhound muttered. "My...my employer never told meEEEEAAAAAAH!"

Stolas continued to hold onto the hellhound's spine for a few more minutes, squeezing it so hard they were ready to break in two until he let go. "Next wrong answer will have me rip it out of your ass! NOW TELL ME THEIR NAME!"

And then he screamed it.

He screamed it so loud it echoed across the warehouse and made everyone just stare at the hellhound. Stolas' power faded from the sheer shock of what he had heard. His wings returned to normal as he slowly removed his hand from the crying hellhound's chest. He stared at him, coming to terms with what he had just heard, and wondered if it was the truth. Stolas demanded the name again, and he heard it shouted a second time.

The Prince tried to sense if the hellhound was lying, but he wasn't. He swore to Satan he was telling the truth, and Stolas believed him. At that moment, Stolas felt his heart break into two. His soul screamed in pain upon this revelation. This...this act of utter betrayal.

Summoning power into his claw, Stolas grabbed the hellhound by the neck and ripped off his head. He dropped the decapitated head and spine onto the floor as his guard stood there in silence. Grimbeak slowly walked towards his master and placed his claw on Prince Stolas. "Sir...are you alright?"

"...No, Grimbeak," Prince Stolas whispered as his eyes began to mist. "I'm not."

***

Octavia had never felt more guilty in all her life. She was sure her plan was going to work, but she failed to take into consideration that the hellhounds would try to backstab the one threatening them at the last second. It was such an obvious play that Octavia kicked herself for not thinking of it.

Such a mistake nearly caused Moxxie to lose his life, and Millie almost became a widow. She might not have been close to the couple like she was with Loona, but they were still part of her friend's family (even if the hellhound would never admit it) and innocent in all of this. Which was why she continued to apologize to all of them until Loona finally told her to shut up.

"Look, we get it! You're sorry!" Loona said, rolling her eyes. "Look, Moxxie isn't dead. Despite being a wimp, he's a very lucky SOB that always manages to come up on top when it matters, and things worked out, didn't it?"

"But I-"

"Princess Octavia," Moxxie said, slowly getting up from his hospital bed. "I don't blame you for what happened. Despite my earlier protests, I still did this of my own choice in the end. However," Moxxie glared at both Millie and Loona, "next time? I am NOT going to go undercover again."

"Sweetie, you don't have to do anything you don't want ever again!" Millie said, hugging her husband around his neck. She nuzzled him for a bit before kissing him on the cheek. "As long as you stay with me, I'll let you do whatever you want."

"Aw, Millie," Moxxie whispered as he kissed her back. "You know I'll never leave you."

"Millie...I..." Octavia was halted by Millie, who held up her hand.

"Octavia, stop. Crying and worrying isn't going to help anyone. The point is that Mox is okay, and we got the son of a bitch who sold the boss," Millie said, smiling. "Let's just count our blessings and not worry about what-ifs."

Octavia nodded before noticing her father arriving at the Hospital Wing's door. "Hey, Dad. Did you get anything...from..."

The look in her father's eyes made Octavia stare in shock. He looked like he had all the life sucked out of him and his eyes were nothing but voids. The once dark red glow they had was dull and near black while his wings and fail sagged against the ground. She wasn't the only one to notice as she turned to the I.M.P crew and saw that they were also confused.

"Dad?"

"I...I found the name..." He whispered, but instead of triumph, his tone was one of despair.

"W-Well, that's good, right?" Moxxie said, nervously smiling. "That means we can rescue the boss!"

Prince Stolas wasn't enthusiastic. In fact, he looked downright terribly. Octavia walked over to her father, her eyes filled with concern. "Dad? What's wrong."

Her father looked at her, and she could see tears starting to form out of the corner of all four eyes. Suddenly, he hugged her and wrapped his wing around her. "Octavia...I'm so sorry...I'm so so sorry..."

"D-Dad?" Octavia's eyes widened as she gulped. "W-Who...who is..."

"...It's Stella..." Prince Stolas said with a heavy sigh. "It's...your mother."

Mother.

Her mother?

No, it can't be. Her mother could be strict, and she didn't like imps and other lower-class demons, but surely she wouldn't do this. She wouldn't hurt her father like this or her daughter. No, it couldn't be true!

"N-No," Octavia said, slowly backing away. "Y-you're lying! Or the dog is lying! It can't be her! "

"Octavia," Prince Stolas whispered as he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, but he was telling the truth."

Octavia wanted to scream that her father was being fooled, but then the clues began to hit her. Who could have known that her father was using the book and what it did? Who else in her family knew that I.M.P was using it? Who else had the money and connections to hire Vaax, the hellhounds, and earn the loyalty of the tengu due to her ancient bloodline? How many times had her mother disapproved of her hanging out with Loona and her other friends, all of whom were seen as lower class demons? Not to mention how her parents argued numerous times over his attraction to Blitzo and her fears of their reputation ruined if it ever got out he slept with an imp. Octavia thought it was a stupid fight considering her mother slept with others as well, but did she really hate Blitzo that much?

Her thoughts then turned to her mother's family. Her grandfather was the Fallen Angel, Malphas, who she never met due to his death years ago at the hands of Angels, but his Angel Blade was a family heirloom. Her grandmother and uncle never once hid their disgust about her father's generous dealings with the lower level demons. It was why he rarely ever tried to deal with them. While her mother had always looked down upon the lower class, her Uncle and Grandmother saw them as utter scum. It was why she tried avoiding visiting them altogether. Were they involved? Did they take part in this?

The more and more she thought about it, the more the pieces fell together. It was her mother. Her mother did this. She hurt Blitzo. She hurt Loona. She hurt their family.

Unable to deny it any longer, Octavia fell into her father's arms and wept. Her heart screaming in anger and shame over her mother's actions. The two owl demons held each other as their cries echoed across the mansion.