The front door opened to reveal a chubby small woman of long black hair and big almond-shaped caramel eyes. Her piercing gaze fixed over the baby on the floor, then on the platinum haired man before falling over her niece. Goosebumps covered her as she looked at the trio. The smell of magic drifted from them; dark magic.

That wasn't good.

Her disdain for the dark arts turned into anger and she couldn't stop her repressed opinions to spill out of her mouth. "I see I have another niece. When did you planned in telling us? When the girl turned fifteen?"

"Sofía. Español, por favor," the old matriarch ordered in a firm voice.

"Perdón, ma', pero Mina ha hecho muchos cambios en su vida y no nos ha incluido," the woman said, eyeing her niece. "Que mi hermana esté muerta no te da derecho a olvidarte de tu familia puertorriqueña y excluirnos como si no importáramos."

Vergil's blue eyes darkened when he saw his consort lowering her gaze and biting her lip in regret. "Espere un momento. ¿No cree que está siendo demasiado dura...?"

But his words were interrupted by the woman's pain-filled cry. Milaisys had grabbed a porcelain figurine from a lower shelf of the entertainment center and thrown it at the stranger that hurt her mom. The figurine had hit the woman's shinbone. Hearing the stranger's cry, the little girl giggled again as she hit the floor with her tiny palms in clear happiness.

"Milaisys!" her mother exclaimed and rushed to take the baby in her arms. "Perdón, tití. Mili es un poco traviesa."

"Yo iba a mandar a callar a todo el mundo, pero creo que la niña me ganó," Erik said between laughs before looking at his granddaughter with a smile. "¿Por qué no le enseñas a tu marido la finca mientras nosotros hablamos con tu tía? Además puedes aprovechar para buscar la hierba de los reyes de Milaisys.

"Claro, abuelo." She nodded and pulled her demon out of the house before he got truly angry. "Come help Mili gather the grass for the Three Wise Men's camels, my love."

Once outside, she took them to the large garden that ran from the porch to the white iron fence; garden that was divided in the middle by a concrete walkway.

Vergil eyed her consort as she put their baby down over the grass before kneeling beside the girl. Milaisys began patting and swapping her little hands over the gramma, squealing in delight. Apparently his angel liked the short green plants.

"Okay, so what is this strange tradition you want to teach our daughter? Who are these Three Wise Men you speak of?"

Mina kept trying to teach the seven month old baby how to pull the grass out but the girl was more interested in playing than in imitating her mother. The brunette sighed and glanced at her blue-eyed devil. "Tomorrow is January 6; the official Three Wise Men Day here in Puerto Rico. I bet you won't like it since it's a celebration related to God and the birth of His son but it's something I want my daughter to experience. It's my mother's tradition and I have always celebrated it... even after mami died."

Her husband kneeled beside her and whispered, "You wish for a hellish prince to participate in a celebration that honors the One God?" He leaned closer to her. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I haven't even explained the tradition and you're already losing your mind!" she exclaimed grumpily while she pulled out big chunks of grass.

"I'm a demon... No. WE are demons, Mina. God is our enemy."

"May I have to remind you we celebrated Christmas?"

"Mother threw a party for her human business partners. That's all," he answered through gritted teeth.

"I'm not asking you to go to church, Vergil," Mina grumbled, piling the recollected gramma leaves into a little mountain. "The tradition is simple. Today children are supposed to recollect the grass for the Wise Men camels and then put it in shoe boxes that go below the Christmas tree. The mounts and where the box goes vary from place to place; but my mother always told me the Three Wise Men came in camels not horses and we always placed the box beneath the tree not at the foot of my bed. The children must go to sleep early or the Wise Men won't leave them presents." She eyed at her husband, warning him against saying otherwise in front of their baby girl.

Even when Milaisys only had seven months, she was a demon and would remember these early experiences with absolute clarity for the rest of her life.

The prince grunted. "So these men are just like Santa Claus."

"More or less. Yes, the Three Wise Men come during the night leaving presents to well-behaved kids but they are figures of the bible." Vergil's eyes flashed red for a second when she mentioned the sacred book but she ignored it. She wouldn't lose her mom's traditions just because his family had a war against God. "They're none other than those that visited baby Jesus to see the savior of mankind and bring him gifts from their homelands."

"Mina..."

She was quick to interrupt him. "I don't care if you don't want to encourage our daughter to believe in Santa Claus but we WILL celebrate Christmas AND the Three Wise Men. Though encouraging Mili to believe in the Wise Men isn't negotiable. Do you understand me, consort?"

"No," he ordered without raising his voice. "It's unbecoming of demons like us to celebrate these holidays."

"NO! You listen to me!" Mina fisted her hands as the warm heat of the God Spark turned her eyes golden. "You won't take away my last connection to my mom. You won't!"

The sudden wails of an infant stopped the discussion.

Hearing her mother's loud scream, Milaisys had begun crying and lifting her little arms in her father's direction. Thankfully, unlike other Vespertili, the girl's tears were crystal clear.

Mina bit her lip in regret as she saw how her angel hid her tiny face in Vergil's shoulder and an invisible dagger pierced her heart. She had scared her own daughter. What kind of mother scared her child so much she preferred her father instead?

"I'm sorry, my little star," Mina whispered before grabbing the pile of grass and entering her grandmother's house in silence.

The old woman came to her with a concern look in her face, asking what had happened. The brunette told her not to worry and offered her a white lie of what transpired before excusing herself and going to what used to be Marina's bedroom. She needed time alone to think.

****

Hours later Mina opened her eyes to find her mother's room bathed in total darkness and the burning sensation of thirst in the back of her throat. She must have fallen asleep after tiring herself crying, a miracle all in on itself since vampire tears only brought hunger.

And yet, right in those moments, she was more conscious of the ache in her heart than in her parched throat.

Since Cerberus' attack, a feeling of loneliness had latched into her heart, making her miss her mother even more. She had only survived the woman's death because of her supernatural ability. Hearing and feeling Marina's ghost had been her anchor to sanity for years but now... Without her mom's specter to bring a little bit of comfort, Mina was slowly sinking into a pool of pain that only grew larger with each day.

And that pain was becoming stronger here, in the house where Marina grew up. Plus, Vergil's refusal to celebrate Christian holidays that were dear to her mother's heart didn't help matters.

Every day felt like her grasp on her memories of the woman who gave her life slip from her fingers little by little.

"I don't want to lose you forever, mami," the brunette whispered, putting a hand over her eyes and closing her stormy orbs.

Just then a knock sounded on the door before Vergil entered the dark bedroom with a shy look in his electric blue eyes and a shoe box in his hands. Mina moved to a sitting position over the bed but didn't utter a word, wanting to hear what he had come to say and yet already salivating for a taste of his blood.

Stupid thirst dampening my anger towards him!

"María gave me this," he showed her the box filled with the grass she recollected and continued, "but it shouldn't be me the one putting Mili's box under the tree, it should be her beside her gorgeous mother. My two angels together."

"Sweet talker," the young woman said as she shook her head, licking her lips lustfully, and went to her consort. "But you're not off the hook yet."

"Forgive me, dove," Vergil whispered before cupping her cheeks and slowly kissing her lips. He tried to convey everything he felt through the tips of his fingers as he ran them up and down her arms, and through the way his lips met hers in a slow dance that warmed their flesh. "I gave it some thoughts and decided that we can celebrate your holidays with one condition: no praying... neither do I want any Nativity ornaments throughout our house."

"Those are two conditions not one, my trickster."

"Are they?" he asked while furrowing his brow as if he was analyzing the existence of the universe, and then manifested the gramma box in his open palm; box that he had vanished before kissing her. "Come. Let's go leave those hungry camels something to eat."

"Not yet. You need to feed me," she murmured with a wicked gleam in her now silver irises and levitated the box until it rested over the nightstand beside the bed. "Serves you right for making me cry."

********************
A/N: Time for the Spanish translations!

🌟 Español, por favor = Spanish, please.

🌟 Perdón, ma', pero Mina ha hecho muchos cambios en su vida y no nos ha incluído= Sorry, mom, but Mina has done too many changes in her life and hasn't include us.

🌟 Que mi hermana esté muerta no te da derecho a olvidarte de tu familia puertorriqueña y excluirnos como si no importáramos= The fact that my sister is dead doesn't give you the right to forget your Puerto Rican family and exclude us like we don't matter.

🌟 Espera un momento. ¿No cree que está siendo demasiado dura?= Wait a minute. Don't you think you're being too hard on her?

🌟 Perdón, tití. Mili es un poco traviesa= Sorry, auntie. Mili is a little mischievous.

🌟 Yo iba a mandar a callar a todo el mundo, pero creo que la niña me ganó= I was going to silence everyone but I think the girl beat me to it.

🌟 ¿Por qué no le enseñas a tu marido la finca mientras nosotros hablamos con tu tía? Además puedes aprovechar para buscar la hierba de los reyes de Milaisys= Why don't you show the land to your husband while we talk to your aunt? You can use the time to gather Milaisys' grass for the Wise Men.

🌟 Claro, abuelo= Of course, grandpa