#Maybe he was poisoning Ludinus's well for story reasons? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part?

[quipxotic]

I know I've said the only people the Ruby Vanguard keep around are people they can use and the only members of Bell's Hells they can use are Imogen and Fearne - and that's true, but I also think it would be a VERY bad idea to let them capture Ashton. They might just kill them, but Ludinus was eyeballing Ashton when Bell's Hells got the second shard and he is clearly aware of who and what they are.

Maybe he would try to recruit them, but it'd be so much easier to mind-control Ashton instead so why would he bother?

Maybe he'd try to take them apart to figure out how all the various magics keeping them alive and a person are accomplishing that?

Maybe he'd do both things and then after he's done sucking Fearne up using whatever his new funnel/harness is, he'd turn the same device on Ashton? Ludinus is an elf and Ashton is at least a half elf if not an elf, so they are probably compatible?

What would Ludinus be like if he were able to take into himself the power of Predathos and two shards of dead Titans, on top of whatever power Fearne and Ashton themselves bring to the table? Speaking of which, wasn't Ashton also an Aasimar before the Hishari ceremony? If you were trying to eat some gods that might be an interesting thing to add into the mix (and by "interesting" I mean horrible).

Or do the shards change Ashton and Fearne's natures to the point of making them no longer compatible to Ludinus for funnel consumption?