'Devote yourself' You can hear the voice of Raphael calling to you. You blink, the image around you completely blurred. You are unable to make anything out of it. 'To the pleasure... eternal.'

Your head spins, you focus your brain on the touch of your hands. You can feel the heat, feel the pulsating pleasure, crashing over your body and mind like waves of the ocean. It feels as if you've reached your end, but no specific sensations are able to penetrate past the powerful spell. You can't grasp a single thread of free will, can't focus on anything besides the deliciously sinful magic of your current lover.

You can feel your head falling, the back stretching, lips parting as the shaky breath escapes them.

Wake up.

Your own voice passes through the fog, attempting to bring you back to Earth.

'This can be forever,' you hear a breathless, seductive tone coming from below you. All of your senses work together with your mind trying to break free from the incubus charm. They are trying to fulfill the master's will. They are trying to protect the house.

'Give me your soul, little mouse.'

You snap back from your trance, grasping the thin thread of control with all of your will. You feel the incubus inside of you, feel them around you, feel them lingering on your skin, their magic attempting to devour you whole. As the clarity comes back to you, you frown at the incubus. You are concerned about the temporary loss of your willpower and wonder how much time has passed since you mounted Haarlep's hips. You remember them wearing the harness back when this happened.

'You cannot have my soul, Haarlep,' you remind them. 'I can't stay with you.'

As you respond to the incubus, you can feel the last binding of their magic lift off, breaking the charming spell. You can finally feel their firm, but not squeezing grasp on your waist, aiding you up and down his length.

'Then what will it be?'

'You can have my body, but not my mind or soul.'

'Ah,' they groan and push their hips towards you. 'A fine choice.'

Their burning gaze slides from your eyes to your lips and you meet them halfway, pulling your faces into a heated kiss. Their wings extend to the sides and wrap around you, squeezing you tighter into their chest. Your fingertips trace the gorgeous lines on the sides of his ripped abdomen, earning a nice groan from Haarlep's throat.

'You're gorgeous,' you repeat into their mouth and they roll you onto your back, kissing you with the passion sparked anew.

'Will you ever visit me again?' Haarlep pushes their hips to you one last time.

'I will visit again. But not for that reason.'

Haarlep lowers their face to you and hovers above you, supporting themselves on their elbows.
'I wish you would find some time for me.'

You raise your eyebrows surprised at their words, because you didn't sense any lie behind them. You cup their face and trace their glamoured cheekbones with your thumbs.

They inspect your features carefully, then lift their left hand and snap their fingers. Haarlep disappears for a moment in a cloud of cinders and a second later, you see yourself staring back at you. Your clone smirks devilishly at you and you realize that because of his changed form, they are no longer inside of you. You honestly aren't sure if they ever were - you'd need to read about incubi and succubi later.

'Oh, what a delicious little mouse,' Haarlep says with your voice, then snaps back into Raphael's form. 'I can't wait to explore you, to experiment, see what makes you shiver and moan. And every time I make love with your body, you will know. A passing shiver, a sudden wave of pleasure - you will know.'

You aren't very happy about that, but you observe Haarlep going to their knees on the side of the bed.
'But now, my pet, what do you want to know?'

You peel your gaze away from their form decorated with alluring traces of sweat. Their muscular torso waves up and down in gradually deepening breaths, as their eyes never leave your face.

'How did you end up here?' you ask after a moment of consideration.

Haarlep tilts their head.
'You are a curious one,' they admit to you and move to sit next to you, just to lightly trace their claws on your skin. 'Are you sure you don't want to stay with me?'

'I cannot stay here, Haarlep.'

'Tut, tut,' they respond and you shiver under their hot skin. 'I was sent here to 'distract the naughty son'.'

You sit up and look them in the eye.
'By Mephistopheles?'

Haarlep grins, showing you their pretty teeth.
'A smart little mouse, not just skilled in bed - unlike Raphael,' they chuckle mockingly. 'But why would you ask that, pet? Out of all the questions?'

You wonder for a moment. Haarlep uses the few seconds of silence to snap their fingers. Suddenly, you feel your clothes back on your body and they are re-dressed in their harness, still sitting at your side.
'I just wanted to know. Thank you.'

They nod and slide from the bed.
'I cannot sense any contract biding you to this place. Good. You do not deserve such a master,' they confess and take a step backwards, then snap their fingers yet again.

'Are you bound to this place by a contract?' you ask them and they shake their head.

'Only by orders,' they respond and hand you over a key. 'Oh and pet? You might want to take a closer look at the portrait of Raphael over there,' they point their clawed thumb at a tall oil painting, hanging on a wall a few meters away from the bed.

'That's Raphael? He doesn't look like himself.'

Haarlep swings their tail and grins back at you, as you accept the key from their hand. Instinctively, you place your hands on their shoulders covered with spiked shoulder pads and show your gratitude with a gentle, almost feathery kiss on incubus' cheek. Their wings relax and the tip of their tail raises upwards, similar to the one of a curious cat.

'Thank you for your help. Can you please be careful and not show Raphael my form? I was not invited to be here.'

'You are only mine to misuse. And I will misuse you well,' they respond and you aren't quite sure if that was an agreement or not, but the last thing you see is another Haarlep's grin, before they disappear in a cloud of cinders.

Despite how chaotic the entire encounter was, you can't help but think about how mistreated incubi and succubi must be. You never thought about this up until now and you definitely added another research topic to your list, all thanks to your experience here today.

You quickly get up and approach the painting, then spot a button below it. You press it and watch the painting slide up, revealing a wall safe behind. You mutter a quiet 'ohh' and use the key from Haarlep to open it. You see a few soul coins inside and wonder who they belong to, then you reach deeper into the small vault, fetching a piece of paper. It's another one of Raphael's notes, it looks like it might've been torn from a notebook or journal.

You quickly read its contents, finding out about him fantasizing of you taking the contract, so that the Orphic Hammer could be traded for the Crown of Karsus. There is a highlighted sentence:
'Give me my heart's desire'

Something within you flips and fills you up with intoxicating dread, perfectly blending into desire. You aren't sure if your mind and body suffer from some remnants of Haarlep's magic, but this definitely has an effect on you. You know your tastes, but each time you find out about something new concerning Raphael, you can't help but have an internal battle of mixed feelings.

You know that he is a bastard. A deceiving, cunning, charming piece of shit. But you also know that he is a cambion. A part-devil. It's in the nature of devils to be this way and it's how the world always has been shaped. It would be against your monk teachings to hate each and every devil you stumble across. And when it comes to cambions, they have traits of both humans and devils, but they are rejected by both of the societies. You can't help but feel a little bit bad for their fate and you can't possibly bring yourself to hate each and every one of them. It may be wise to hate Raphael, especially after everything you have seen here today, but your stupid heart knows that not everything that he did turned out to be bad.

You recall meeting Yurgir in the Shar's Gauntlet, you remember the conversation with orthon, him telling you about his contract with Raphael. How the tricky phrasing of the contract made him stuck inside the Gauntlet for what seemed like the eternity, just because he was meant to slaughter every Dark Justiciar in the temple. At the same time, Raphael made some kind of a deal with one of the Justiciars and split their body and mind into multiple pieces, each taking a form of a rat. You remember how you and your team were confused as to why there are so many rats around the Shar's altars, up until you found a bloody pentagram, a piece of the Dark Jasticiar's helmet and a note signed with Raphael's name. The loophole trapped the orthon in the temple, but because he was trapped, he served as a non-official guardian of Dame Aylin, who Shar desired to kill and was sending her blind followers to fulfill her wish. And Dame Aylin? God, you don't even want to think about what would've happened if she wasn't there to aid you while fighting Ketheric Torm and Myrkul.

You close the safe, slide the painting down and hide the key in your bag, briefly considering if you should take it or leave it somewhere in the bedroom. Then, you quickly run towards the exit of the Boudoir.

Raphael is clever, you know that for a fact. He has a certain proficiency when it comes to choosing the best phrasing of his thoughts; picking the most vague, detail-less, but still tempting promises, just to lure one into signing a contract. But the entire deal with the Crown... Even though you now know what his real plans are, it still feels like there is something missing. Something else entirely. And it's not directly about the devil himself. You have a hunch that it might be concerning just the Crown.

You turn to your right and sprint down the corridor, not wasting any more time on sightseeing. You focus your Ki, entering a state of complete balance between the mind, body and soul and use the amplified life force to your advantage. You remember everything about the House of Hope and you know that the first thing you will do upon your return is drawing a few layouts of the place for preparations for your future plans.

Like the wind itself, you pass the dining hall and feel your heart race, as the distance between you and the portal decreases with each of your step. The skeleton, architect of the Moonrise Towers is gone and suddenly, you feel the shift of the air inside the House of Hope. An awful shiver of dread passes across your skin and you feel as if your hair was struck by a lightning.

You swallow through a suddenly dry throat, focusing all of your Ki into maintaining the Step of the Wind. You will not get distracted, your goal is right in front of you. Your muscles guide your feet, swiftly turning the corner, the last turn until reaching your destination. You pretty much jump up the stairs and dash to the portal room. In the same second, a flash blinds you and you turn your bag towards your belly, then turn your body to the ground, sliding with incredible momentum across the perfectly polished marble floor.

Before Raphael's head materializes fully from the flash, you are already back to the Material Plane. You swing your leg and kick the skull away from the circle, deactivating the portal. You lay on the wooden floor marked with blood, breathing heavily, feeling your body shake with fear.

Did he see you? Did he sense you? Did Hope know he was coming back and that's why she didn't appear in your last few moments there?

You carefully lift yourself up on your shaking legs, feeling the crash of adrenaline the second time today.

'What happened there?' the Emperor asks immediately. 'Were you spotted? Or caught and escaped?'

'I'm not sure yet,' you respond to him in your mind and take a glance behind your shoulder, making sure that the portal to House of Hope is no longer active. 'I think he teleported just as I was halfway through the portal, but there is a chance he didn't recognize me. I also didn't take anything and didn't misplace a single one of his belongings. I should be fine, to some degree,' you convince him and yourself at the same time.

After a long pause of deep breathing, you glide down the staircase to meet Helsik.

'So you made it,' she comments. 'But from the look on your face, I would say it was a close call, was it not?'

'Yeah,' you respond with a sigh and move to the front of the counter. 'If I were to use it again, do I have to pay you again?'

'Go there again? Are you crazy?'

'I am not sure if I will need to, but something tells me that I will be back and next time not just myself, but the entire team of mine.'

'You really do have a death wish.'

'Please, Helsik..'

'No, no,' she swings her hand. 'You can use it again. Did you deactivate it, though?'

You nod and turn around to leave the Devil's Fee.
'Until next time.'

You break into a run, heading towards the Forge of the Nine and consider meeting up with your team at Lorroakan's Tower or heading straight back to the camp. Then, you spot Lae'Zel coming back with her newly purchased gloves.

'What's the rush?' she asks you and you take a deep breath in, before explaining to her everything that has happened, as the two of you now walk down the cobblestoned street.

'I do not care what means you wish to choose, as long as we get the Orphic Hammer, we need Orpheus. But if the devil saw you leaving his house, it is possible that he will no longer want to offer the deal to any of us.'

'Are you coming back to the camp now? Do you know if Karlach and the rest returned?'

'I haven't seen them since all of you left the camp this morning.'

'Alright, I will head to the tower then, I need to-'

Lae'Zel grabs your shoulder and pulls you backwards before you manage to turn fully towards your new destination.
'Listen to me carefully,' she says. 'You do not need to head over there right now. The place you should be in is Sharess Caress. Meet up with the devil. Negotiate with him.' You see the resolve in Lae'Zel's eyes as she continues to talk to you in a quiet, but stern voice. 'If you head back to the tower, you will need to consider opinions of the four of your allies. You are our leader. We knew who we are choosing and in a situation like this, there is rarely any good choice that you can settle on, a choice that would satisfy each and every one. I myself want you to get the Hammer, that is true, but I willingly submit to your command and will stay at your side no matter your choice.'

'I can assure you, we are getting the Hammer. I just don't know if he will decapitate me if I show up at his door now.'

'He cannot afford killing you. He knows it, but doesn't want you to realize it. If he won't get the Crown from you, he won't get it from any of us.'

You look away from Lae'Zel's eyes. She is right. You are the leader and as much as you are aware that your companions are also your friends, you have to acknowledge that all of you bonded over the struggles that you have to push through together. This is a serious situation that can cost millions of lives if something goes wrong. It is time to minimize the possible casualties and gain new allies. Negotiating the deal with Raphael might be one of the ways of doing just that.

You nod and thank her, then turn around on your heel, this time running towards the Basilisk Gate. The guards try to stop you a few times, they shout after you, suspicious of you being some kind of a thief, but you focus the flow of the Ki in your body, maintaining a swift, stable run.

It doesn't take you more than twenty minutes to appear at the balcony of Sharess Caress. Your built up momentum prevents you from coming to a full stop and you chaotically smash on the entrance door to Raphael's room, the door slamming on the wall as you dash inside.

He is inside and already turned towards the entrance, possibly alerted by your running.

You prepare yourself for any attack, shifting the Ki, changing it from the movement flow to strengthening your physical form. When the shield goes up, you consciously ground your feet onto the floor, increasing the awareness of your body as a whole. You enter a stance: a manifestation of soul.

Raphael stands still and the first sight of rage on his face melts away the second he notices your guards up. He clearly revels in the display of your fear and hostility.

'Little mouse,' he greets, then switches to a nonchalant pose, allowing a small smirk to creep on his handsome face. 'You have some gu-'

'I know what you want with the crown,' you announce, interrupting him. You shift on your feet uneasily, positioning your back to the door. 'If you want it, we need to renegotiate the terms.'

He raises his eyebrows and laughs. You find your body trembling at the bone chilling sound. Your aura explodes with a brighter light, as you try to balance your fear with the protection ward around your physical form. He stops laughing and takes a step towards you, his face now twisted in cold fury.

'Stupid, little mouse.'

'Stay back,' you remind him and take a step backwards as he proceeds to walk towards you without a hurry. He swings his arm and you raise your hands, blocking any spell coming your way, but all you can hear is door slamming shut behind you.

'I should incinerate you right where you stand,' he says in a low, threatening tone. Your back hits the door and you lean forward, preparing to attack. 'You want to renegotiate your terms? Do you hear yourself? What do you possibly want?'

'If the Crown is so powerful, that in theory you would be capable of achieveing your real goals, which is expanding outside of the Nine,' you say to his stupidly pretty face. 'Then I think Orphic Hammer in exchange for it is not a fair transaction.'

'It's Orphic Hammer and the cure of your tadpoles, you fool.'

'What if the Elder Brain can destroy them? If it can use the tadpoles for the control, what if the tadpoles get destroyed when the Elder Brain is dead? If that is the case, then your deal is not fair.'

He slams his fist next to you, leaving a mark inside the door. Your breath is uneven and when you look into his eyes from such a short distance, you can feel yourself shrinking with each passing second. The aura of this man is beyond describable.

You fake your confidence and ignore his punch.
'What I seek to gain from it is a cure for Karlach's engine. Curing tadpole won't do anything if she will die of the engine failure.'

'She can go back to Avernus.'

'She doesn't want to.'

'Then it's not for me to fix.'

'I want you to fix the engine, not her choice!'

He slowly puts his left hand on your other side. Your breath catches in the throat and you can almost feel your energy being sucked from you and soaked into the devil in front of you.

'Gale,' you say weakly and watch his lip bear his sharp fangs. 'He is basically a ticking bomb. I want an amendment to the contract. I want it disabled for him.'

He remains silent, so you continue.
'And if there is anything that can help Astarion to walk in the sunlight again, I need to know.'

'Is it all, little mouse?' his face softens and he takes a step back, looking at you pleadingly. 'Or do you need something else.'

'Free Hope.'

He stops in his step, his cold gaze returning upon his face.
'No.'

'Then what do you need added on your side?' you ask him, frozen in your defensive position.

He closes his eyes, crosses his arms and puts his right hand up to stroke his chin in thought.
'What do I want...' he hums, almost purring at you. 'You had a chance to get rid of Astarion's sunlight sensitivity.'

'By completing the ritual?' you move closer to him, pushing your back from the door. 'And slaughtering seven thousand people? Don't act like the fact that we didn't do it doesn't work in your favor.'

He raises his brows at you.

'It was a ritual bound to Mephistopheles. You don't strike me as the type who would want to strengthen the position of your father.'

This surprises him. He blinks and moves his head to the side.
'Someone spent some time on their education!'

'Am I wrong?'

'You are many things, little mouse,' he sneers, his voice low, rumbling deep within his chest. He steps closer to you again and you go to the side instead. 'Chaotic,' he shots you a glance. 'Clearly way too confident,' he uncrosses his arms and points at you with his arms open. You tighten your fists in response and open your palms once again. 'Arrogant. You come to my house uninvited and you think you are in the position to negotiate your terms?'

'I had to know my business partner's plans. And after everything I know, I would still give it to you,' you confess. You do not believe the crown to be as powerful as Raphael is stating, but he does not need to know that. 'I just want a fair trade.'

'Ungrateful.'

'Please, Raphael,' he steps closer to you once again.

'Disingenuous.'

'Come on! Please! Karlach, Gale, Astarion and Hope. It's nothing for the Archdevil Supreme. You will be able to do all of that with a singular snap of your fingers.'

'Weak.'

'Listen to me, Raphael.' You stumble on a stone stair leading to the indoor pool and immediately take a step to the side, changing the direction of your movement. 'I can assure you, if you will not get the Crown from me, my team would rather die than side with you. I am your only ally.'

He chuckles.
'Amusing,' he adds to the list. 'Me, on the other hand. One of my many incredible features is that I am very patient. I waited millennia for the Crown, I can wait more. But you...'

You dash backwards, seeing his eyes burn. For a second you can't tell if he switched his forms, but the human is still in front of you.

'You,' his voice is a quiet threat. Your heart pounds in your chest, pumping blood ringing in your ears, but his words slice through the fog of the stress - the only sound that you can hear loud and clear. 'You can be certain. That there will be no place on any of the planes, where I will not find you. I will tear you apart, piece by piece. Slowly, so that you will not faint nor bleed out.' You can feel the tears gathering at the corners of your eyes. 'I will keep you by my side, listening to you whine, beg, plead me to finally end your pathetic existence. And then, you will sign my deal and I will claim your soul to own you forever. You will be there to see and experience the true power of the Crown once it lands where it belongs - in my claws.'

Your hands tremble with terror and you fell the tears fall down your cheek. He steps forward and grasps your chin, earning a sharp inhale of fear from you. You can see his gaze, burning right through you, as he doesn't hide his satisfied smirk. You turn your gaze away and he squeezes his lips into a thin line, gripping your jaw painfully. You grasp the leather vambrace on his forearm and try to push his hand away, as your eyes return back to him.

'You will be my new favorite plaything.'

He loosens his grasp and you turn your head to the side, suddenly aware of a new sensation settling in. His overwhelming display of power makes you feel like you are drowning in a vast ocean with the sunlight cut off by a gigantic monster swirling around his prey. It shouldn't make you feel anything but terror and yet...

Raphael leans into your face, burying his nose in your hair. When you hear him inhale, you are certain he also sucks out the air from inside your lungs. The cold dread settles at the bottom of your spine, rendering your legs lifeless. He takes a short break to enjoy the smell of jasmine on your hair. You find yourself completely frozen still and he saviors the essence of your fear like the finest of wines.

He suddenly chuckles once.
'You stench of it,' he says to your ear.

His lack of elaboration makes your core squeeze. He grabs your neck and basically throws you towards the door simultaneously snapping his fingers to open it.

'See you soon, little mouse.'

You land at the balcony outside the room, unable to lift yourself up. Your head is spinning and your muscles are completely drained of their strength. You risk a glance at Raphael, feeling the sun rays kiss the traces of tears on your cheeks. His eyes glow in the dimmed room, matching the sadistic smile resting on his face.