Jeb glowered at the kneeling girl before he turned to Amari and spoke up, “This way, my lady.” the words seemed hollow as he stormed towards the mansion. Shoving a cultist out of his way as he let his anger simmer.

The interior of the mansion had seen better days, but the Cult still managed to make it look presentable. Old dingy carpets were cleans as best as possible, though the occasional unexplained stain did appear. Paintings of a bygone age were mostly intact, though the decay of the mansion seemed to hide under the surface. Candles lit the hallways.

“Someone doesn’t seem happy to be escorting the diplomatic red headed bitch.” Scarlet chided, a wry grin on her features as she leant forward eying Jeb. Now away from the larger crowd she seemed more relaxed, and far less accommodating.

“What? No, I just can't stand Dahlios’ kid. If I could I'd have gutted her and faced her father myself,” Jeb grumbled.

“She’s a tiny thing, such hatred.” Scarlet shrugged, unlacing her shawl and throwing it over her shoulder for Noel to catch in one swift motion. “I won’t ask why she bothers you so much, because frankly, I don’t care.”

“Listen, you're her handler. That means you don't need to do shit. But that does mean you have one job, she does the job and she comes back. If she tries to bolt, you bring her back, in a casket if necessary. I'd really love if you gave me her corpse in a pretty box,” Jeb said bluntly.

Amari gave Jeb a small, and jovial slap on his back, offering a catty remark. “Now, now, isn’t it the mans job to woo the lady, not the other way around?” There was a slight pause before she continued, a more serious tone to her. “If she bolts, I cannot guarantee she’d be back in one piece then, but I assume you won’t care about that, and the others?”

“Mail her head to her father. Serves the bastard right for going after my daughter. Serves the useless cunt right for being so useless. I'll pay you if you do it, personally. I don't care the cost, I want to see her father's face when he snaps…” Jeb felt a perverse satisfaction of the thought of a dead Samantha.

The redheaded woman fell silent as they ascended the stairwell. “If it goes to shit, I’ll find him, and deliver it to him personally. Then I’ll come back, and shove that memory straight into that lil’ noggin’ of yours. Free of charge. Because I’m a nice person.” Scarlet offered Jeb a wry grin.

Jeb let out a laugh as he roughly turned a knob, pushing the door open. He pointed, “Three bedrooms, two guest quarters and your main bedroom.”

Before he had time to leave or shut the door Scarlet began unlacing the corset with one hand, signalling for Noel to pull out her regular clothes from the suitcase in the other. “Right, right. Just let me get out of this fuckin’ flimsy dress.”

A snort left his lips before he turned to leave, “Useless will meet you in the hall. Aerith should be trying to give her what she needs to know, I'd bet a gold coin it's in one ear out the other.” With that he left closing the door behind him.

~*~

“You understand the faith I am putting in you Samantha?” Aerith asked softly.

Samantha rose to her feet and nodded, “I'm keeping her from prying into the Dark Mother’s affairs.”

“Very good,” The reply was approving in its tone. Samantha unlocked the wheelchair pushing it back into the foyer. Aerith gestured for another cultist who immediately approached the Dark Daughter. A small scroll was handed to Samantha who took it, immediately reading it. She frowned, “She's an Ixian?”

“We thought she had a change of heart, we were wrong,” Aerith replied.

Samantha nodded a sigh escaping her lips, “She's heading for Castle Ixia or Radasanth. I can't guess which though. If she knew they crumpled after Eiskalt I'd guess Radasanth to report to the Witch.”

“That was my thoughts as well. Find her, make her suffer. You are the Cult's Warden. Give her the Dark Mother’s forgiveness, and be swift. I want you back in a week, I have other tasks which require your touch.”

Samantha nodded at the words before she rolled up the scroll. She bowed for dismissal and received it swiftly. Moving to her room with a practiced urgency she filtered through the cultists bustling about the mansion. Immediately her satchel was opened and a sigh crossed her lips. She had most of it ready to go. Pulling on her chain shirt she fitted her weapons appropriately. Grabbing the bag and rushing through the halls She made it to the foyer in time, her hair looked like a silver comet, and she moved in a practiced quick step to be as close to running as possible without actually doing so.

Aerith had admonished her that Cult Leadership didn't run anywhere, they walked like civilized beings.

Leaning against the wall by the doors she waited, and upon seeing someone knocking the east wing looked up to see a practically clad Amari come down the stairs. A flood of relief left her lips as she said louder than intended, “Thank the Dark Mother, you can fight.”