I followed the gentleman out of the carriage he had waiting outside the tavern, thankful to be out of the close confines of the carriage and away from the slightly creepy man. The sky had turned fully dark, with clouds darkening it further, and the only lights visible were the glowing mage lights, which told me we were in the richer areas. A look around showed we were at the bottom of a hill covered in grand marble tombs.

"Follow me, please, thief." he said pleasantly as he made his way towards the path that led to the top of the hill. I hesitated, my senses screaming at me that this was a trap, to demand the payment now. My hand fingered the thick gold coin in my pocket, the weird feeling I got from it sending tingles up my arms, and then followed after him. I was in this already and I had a feeling that they would go to any lengths to get the statue, and this was the only way that I could probably get my payment.

As we neared the top I could smell something burning, something familiar. As I crested the hill and entered the flat, open space at the top, I realised that I had smelt it before outside the gentleman's room. The open space had the look of a ritual, the wide space having a central bonfire with smaller ones at the cardinal points of the compass, each burning some sort of scent that burned at the back of my throat. The floor had been dug up, revealing bare rock underneath, and painted with some thick dark liquid that looked to be some sort of powder mixed with blood.

There were seven red robed priestesses waiting for me. The one that looked to be in charge walked over, smiling. Her dark red, kohl outlined eyes looked greedily over me, as if inspecting my worth. The unease rose even greater, my mind racing. "Good work, Ga'Bor" her voice was a contradiction of high sweet notes and a deep guttural bass that rumbled on the edge of perception. I stepped backwards, taking on the surrounding and frantically trying to figure out a way out of this mess.

Ga'bor, as the gentleman seem to be called, grabbed my arm, his face coming close enough I could smell the stench of death under his floral perfume. Fear started creeping its cold tendrils around my heart as I realised just how badly I had miscalculated just for some more money, of which I already had enough of. Ga'bor's fingernails dug deep through my coat into my skin, bruising it "Now, now, little thief, no running away before we can reward you." he whispered into my ear, a thick slimy tongue licking at my ear. I shuddered in disgust and tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong.

"Ga'bor!" the priestesses voice cracked like a whip "You will behave or I will send you back into the abyss"

"Yes, Mistress" he hissed, hanging his head low in obedience but with a cruel smirk on his lips.

"Now, thief, where is my statue?" asked the priestess.

"Where's my money?" The rebel in me spat out before I could think.

A sharp stinging slap almost tore me out of Ga'bor's grip, wrenching my shoulder and sending a deep throbbing pain through my neck. I could feel blood dripping down from my cheek where one of her rings had cut me.

"Insolence will only get you killed" she smiled sweetly at me, the insanity in her eyes telling me more pain was coming. She nodded at Ga'bor who suddenly twisted around so I was facing him directly. He shuddered, features blurring, blinking in and out of existence. A terrifying visage appeared between the blinks a face full of teeth and hungry eyes. I screamed, unable to stop myself. It was a demon! Deaths Balls! I twisted, trying to tear myself away from its unnatural visage, something in me gibbering in terror at what it had witnessed. Another sharp, stinging slap brought me back to the present. I turned to the demon, and it was again back to normal, wearing a normal human mask.

I turned back to the priestess to see her smiling in triumph, her bloody eyes knowing she had me totally under control. If these priestesses could control demons, then they were one of the orders of the Princes of Hell, and there were stories of the tortures they could put a human soul though that were so vile that the soul would be too broken to even think about moving towards the light of the afterlife.

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I moved the arm that was free slowly. My brain still in shock at the discovery that I was held by a Demon. My trembling hand fumbled around a pocket before finding the wrapped statue and I numbly handed it to the priestess, who promptly snatched it out of my grasp and discarded the wrapping. Her desirous eyes greedily consuming the face of the statue, running her fingers over it and turning it over as if looking for something.

"What is it, Mistress?" asked one of the other priestesses that had been hanging in the background. "It isn't one of the recognised ones" She replied distractedly, still searching for some hidden meaning in the statue. "No matter" she said suddenly, her eyes coming back to me. "Bring that one, it should do as a sacrifice" My mouth went dry as the priestesses gathered around the central bonfire, standing on each of the corners of what appeared to be some sort of pentagram drawn in some sort of thick blood. I started struggling frantically, my hands beating on the demons arms, but he just grinned toothily at me, clearly enjoying my struggles.

The priestesses started chanting, a deep, bone shaking rumble covered in a sharp, shrill screeching. I cursed Luck that my magic pocket was on the inside right pocket which my free right hand couldn't get to and promptly stated praying for my life. The chanting got louder and louder, the fire somehow throwing off more heat, soaking me in sweat.

The head priestess held the statue up in the air, which appeared to be a signal to the demon to bring me closer. The chanting got more frantic, louder and deeper sounds making their way up the throats of the priestesses. The Demon grinned at me, his breaths getting faster and faster as he shivered in some sort of sick anticipation at sacrificing me to the flames.

Suddenly a figure appeared across the flames. The demon holding me saw it at the same time and cried out, releasing me at the same time, throwing me to the ground. I shuffled backwards on my bum as the Demon started shivering again. This time with his entire body and suddenly ripped off his human skin, leaping towards the figures across the fire. I took the distraction and started to run when one of the figures threw something bright at the fire.

The world went bright, my ears ringing as I blinked out the spots in my vision. The priestesses and Ga'bor had also been knocked to the ground, but the priestesses were quicker in rising than me and stood up, quickly slitting their palms and throwing blood at some flames that still burned in the bonfire pit. They chanted a quick incantation, the words writhing weirdly in my mind as they spoke, and smoke started forming into some weird humanlike figure, perhaps twice as tall as the tallest man I'd ever seen.

As I backed away from the creature, which was thankfully focused on the new people who'd appeared, my hand brushed against something warm and hard. I looked down at it discovering the statue that the priestess must have dropped when the fire exploded. I quickly shoved it into one of my safe pockets where it disappeared into the unknown where only I could get at it, and turned and ran off into the darkness. I looked back once to check that no one had seen me leave and saw a bunch of guards fighting the demon and the priestesses. As a lightning bolt exploded from the hands of one of the mages, lighting the entire hilltop up as bright as day, and yet I couldn't see Ga'bor.

I turned and ran down the hill into the darkness, occasionally lit up by the battle going on above me. The trail was narrow and muddy from the rain earlier in the day, making even my boots slip as the ground slid away instead of providing support. A cold prickle ran up my back, causing the hair on my neck to stand up. I stopped against an old, gnarled tree and put my hand into the interface pocket willing it to produce something to protect me from a demon. As the battle above me started to gain in intensity and nothing appeared I started to panic, my breath coming out in fast gasps, the true face of the demon still had the weak child in me gibbering in terror inside, just barely covered by the cold exterior I had built up over the years alone. I concentrated harder, trying to shut out the noise and suddenly my hand wrapped around a cool metal handle and I pulled it out. I saw by the flashes of light that it was a long wand, perhaps the length of my forearm, and wrapped in bronze and copper. It didn't look particularly expensive, but the runes on it were exquisitely carved and outlined in silver. I almost stomped in frustration at what the world had done to me.

I didn't like using magic, and this situation was going to force me to do it. Using magic now, after almost three years since it first manifested would tear apart all the barriers I'd built and any mage that encountered me would send me to one of the mage training academies which just so happened to be filled with a bunch of rich pretentious snobs. I growled to myself and hoped really hard that I'd just not noticed Ga'bor up in the confusion.

Another cold prickle ran up my back and I gripped the worn bronze handle a little tighter