The air was filled with a thick, dark and ominous feeling miasma. It made the skin crawl and the people hide in their homes. Even the ever so lively forest was silent and the air seemed to stand still. Thunder growled, lightning clashed in the dark sky, giving some light from time to time. No one saw the moving shadow, no one felt the presence. Too scared. The people were too scared to feel and see anything.

The only building illuminated in the night was the mansion of the protector of the village. A lesser demon lord and his witches. Rumors said that he indulged in torture, and death but until now no one has seen it with their own eyes. As a lesser demon he had a physical human form but not as much power as a higher demon or a demon lord. . Nevertheless, he was feared and his people suffered. The walls of his mansion were said to be painted in a deep red, in the color of the people who died in there.

His witches were sadists and liked to maltreat the innocent. Young women who didn’t know how to control their powers. It was not unlikely that a sudden storm appeared, destroying everything on its way.

A couple of girls, pent-up like animals, huddled together in in fear. They weren’t from this area. They had been abducted from other parts of region. No one knew them here. No one would come to help. They had given up any hope of ever returning home.

The girls didn’t dare to escape since the last time they had tried one of them had to give up her life for it.

As the door opened no one dared to cry. The lesser demon lord, Amfer, liked to picture himself as a man in his early thirties with blonde, full hair and a beard but he liked to keep his demon eyes. An unhealthy, sulfur color with slit pupils. A cruel intention could be seen in them as he gazed at the young women.

Oh how he enjoyed seeing them so frightened. But not now, he thought by himself while he got rid of his jacket and shirt. Amfer was angry. Just now he had received a message from one of his allies that someone wanted to kill him. Whoever that was he never would be able as much as to touch Amfer. And then he would kill that person with his own hands.

Downstairs, his witches sat in the big the huge dining room. They were beautiful ladies on the outside but none of them had a truly great character. Some were from the local village and some were with Amfer for quite some time now.

They gossiped about trivial things while unleashing their uncontrolled power. A small group cackled out loud as a lightning crashed into one of the trees. They, too did not notice the presence that moved in the shadows. The witch standing guard on the rooftop could not even scream as someone kicked her feet away and slit while falling to the ground. Before the second guard on the roof noticed the death of her witch sister, someone rammed his daggers into her back.

With a sigh of her magic escaping her body, she fell down, dead.  There was an open window just like in the briefing and the shadow slipped in silently. There were four witches in total guarding the upper floor. The target was in his room on the middle floor. If the four witches would be killed Amfer would notice, probably.

It was a far too great risk to kill them all. Well, then they shouldn’t be killed. There were various ways to deny a witch her power source. Killing the source of their power was one of them. The footsteps were nearly inaudible and it was easy to sneak past the rooms. One of the doors opened suddenly with a silent squeak.

The witch staggering through the corridor was drunk. She didn’t even notice the presence who had fled up to one of the chandeliers. It was easy to overwhelm the witch but instead of killing her making her unconscious was the easier solution this time. There was an unconscious young male lying on the bed in the room of the now unconscious witch. So the rumors were true. Maybe there was a chance to help them when Amfer was dead.

Waves of fear and pain could be felt even before reaching the door to the demon’s private rooms. But there were more guards than expected. Five more witches patrolled the corridor and they looked more serious than the ones before. They couldn’t be easily killed. Maybe it had been a bad idea to enter the building so early.

Quickly, the person pulled back into one of the empty rooms. It hasn’t been such a bad idea to not come alone. A quick whispered spell into the night and then waiting. The answer didn’t take too long. A feather in the wind, dancing through the wind. It stopped in front of the mansion, da dangerous red glow coming from it.

Just for a moment it seemed that time has stopped but then a howling storm unleashed. It was so strong that the mansion started to shake. Voices got louder through the whole mansion. Female voices, slightly scared and then there was one angry male voice. He demanded all the witches but one to search for whoever was responsible for the