Jade's companions stiffened, reaching for their weapons. She drew a dagger, mirroring Amy as the other woman did the same. Before anyone could make another move, Jade examined her.

* Amelia Hudson

* Level: 7 (Mark of the Wayfarer)

* Race: Human

* Class: Spellthief

* Origin: Earth

"Don't come any closer." The man said, brandishing his sword. A quick examination revealed that his name was Michael, and his class something called an 'Enforcer'. He was level six.

"Why are you doing this?" Luis asked in a hard voice. He had drawn his greatsword, holding it point down. Not quite ready to attack, but still at the ready. "What does that circle do?"

"How about you step on it and find out?" Amy replied coolly. "Maybe you will, who knows how many we have hidden around our camp?"

"Siora, keep watch for any others." Jade murmured out of the corner of her mouth, not taking her eyes off the pair. She didn't like the sound of the woman's class one bit.

The elf nodded, taking a few steps back into the jungle.

"Answer the question." Luis said. The tip of his sword rose a few inches.

This time, the man answered.

"Why do you think?" Michael spat, glaring back at him. "You've gained a few levels, you should know how dangerous this shithole is."

"We've already watched a friend get torn apart by monsters." Amy growled. "And I have no intention of joining him."

"So, what?" Naomi asked angrily. "You attack and rob other people instead? How is that right?"

"Right and wrong don't come into it, little girl." She replied, pointing her dagger at Naomi. "Most of the people we've run across here won't last a few weeks. Their gear is better used keeping people with potential alive."

"Potential murderers, maybe." Naomi shot back.

"We haven't killed anyone." The man said. He glanced away when he spoke, though, and Jade knew he was lying.

"No?" Jade said coldly. Her rising fury was growing harder to contain. "Even if that's true, leaving them unarmed and undefended in a monster infested world is basically the same thing."

"You think we like this?!" Amy demanded, face going red. "We didn't ask to be taken here! But I have a family, and I want to see them again!"

Luis snapped back at her, but Jade was barely listening anymore. For once, the vicious desires of her demonic instincts were completely aligned with her rational mind. She didn't care what justifications they deluded themselves with, they were no better than murderers.

"I think it's just them." Siora whispered to Jade.

She nodded, struggling to contain herself. Coming into this encounter, a part of Jade had been hoping that Harish's tale had been wrong, or that it was somehow a grave misunderstanding and everything could be resolved without conflict. It was now clear that wasn't the case. These people needed to be stopped. But could she really be the one to do it? Could she kill them herself?

Yes, she realized with some surprise, she could. The constant fighting of the past several days had hardened her heart. But it wasn't the right time to act yet, that trap was still in between them, and they were on high alert.

"Look." The man was saying. He gestured with his sword. "You lot seem more competent than anyone else we've found. How about we start over? Maybe work together?"

"Oh, now you want to cooperate?" Jade asked, rejoining the conversation and pacing back and forth. "Why's that? Because we didn't fall for your trap? Or because there are more of us?"

"Kid, we could kick your ass." The woman laughed. "But there's no need to fight. We've all proven we can make it in the Labyrinth. Killed some monsters, gained a few levels… If we work together, maybe we could finish our one hundred quests a little faster."

Jade didn’t believe a word of what they were saying. The pair both had their weapons out and looked anything but friendly. Even if they were being sincere, she didn't give a damn.

"Oh?" She continued her pacing, pretending to consider the offer. "What quests do you have?"

As she spoke, she focused on Amy, silently triggering her 'Vital Sight' talent. Vulnerabilities, visible only to her, appeared in red over the woman's body.

"Jade?" Naomi glanced at her.

Amy visibly relaxed. "How about we-"

As soon as her pacing removed the trap from in-between them, Jade channeled mana into her legs, activating 'Mirage Step'. She disappeared in a blur of motion, reappearing directly in front Amy. The woman was just opening her mouth in stunned surprise when Jade buried her dagger in her throat, right in the center of one of her talent's highlighted weak points.

It was oddly easy, happening so fast that no one even had a chance to even react before Jade wrenched the blade free with a shower of blood. Amy fell to the ground with a gurgling scream, clutching at her neck. Blood continued to pour from the wound, staining the soil around her crimson as she thrashed wildly.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Y-you bitch!" Michael roared in fury, charging at Jade with his sword held high. A green light pulsed in the blade as he activated some ability or talent, channeling power into the weapon.

Jade turned to face her assailant feeling strangely detached, as if all of this were happening to someone else. She shifted into her demon form with practiced ease, holding out her hand palm forward.

"Stop."

The man stumbled to a halt, frozen in place. He stood mere feet from Jade, who regarded him with naked disdain.

"Drop your weapon." Jade's voice was cold and dispassionate. An icy fury coursed through her veins, pulsing with each beat of her heart, and numbing all other emotions. This time, she embraced it.

Michael complied, his sword clattering to the ground. Its glow faded, the discarded weapon coming to rest between them like a piece of refuse. He gazed at her with eyes that had glazed over and a blank expression. A single vein pulsed in his neck, the only sign of his resistance to Jade's boosted charm spell.

Her companions were watching with various levels of shock and concern. Beside her, Amy continued to convulse on the ground, her movements growing feebler with each passing second. Jade ignored them all, focusing on the man before her.

"I've come to realize something about my powers." the demon said, taking a step closer to him. She unfurled her leathery wings, displaying the full infernal nature of her appearance.

"Many of them are not well suited to fighting the monsters of the Labyrinth." She continued, piercing him with a glare that could have frozen a lake. "Especially my racial powers. Masking my appearance doesn’t matter to most monsters, they don’t care what I look like. My charm magic hardly works on them, either. Not to mention my kiss, the one power I still haven't even used. But now, I find there is one type they're very effective against."

She leaned in close, whispering in his ear.

"Monsters like you."

Michael was straining against her mental bindings, she could feel it. Even her enhanced charm spell couldn’t completely block the fact that he was watching his companion bleed out on the ground in front of him. The spell was slowly starting to break, fracturing under the weight of his fear and rage. It didn't matter, Jade was done indulging herself.

Leaning a little closer, she kissed him softly on the cheek.

* Spell: Kiss of Night

* Rank: D Level spell

* Cost: Low mana per second

* Duration: Continuous

* Cooldown: None

* Effect: Drain the life force of a creature you kiss, absorbing it. Deal medium umbral damage per second to the target, restoring one third of the damage dealt as health. Creatures killed with this spell grant bonus experience. This spell deals critical damage against charmed and willing targets and can only be used on creatures with sufficient intelligence. This spell immediately ends if physical contact is broken between you and the target.

Michael gasped in pain, shuddering. Crimson and violet wisps of light rose from his skin, pulled into Jade's body. The color drained from his face, his skin growing pale and sickly as Jade drank in his vitality like nectar. She had tasted emotions before, but sensing them from a distance paled before the sensation of drawing them into her soul. The man's anger and terror were sweet sustenance to her spirit, unlike anything she had ever experienced. It was intoxicating.

Jade breathed it in, fury half-forgotten as her demonic instincts roared in delight at the feast. The man sagged as strength fled from his body in a wave, but Jade held him up as she continued to drain. She felt the moment that the light went out of his eyes as a spiritual crescendo that left her sated and energized.

Jade gasped, face flushed, stepping away and letting Michael go. His body collapsed to the ground, cold and dead, falling beside Amy's now-still corpse. She steadied herself against a nearby tree, taking a moment to process the unexpected sensory overload. It was over as quickly as it had begun, and Jade was left feeling an odd mixture of satisfaction and revulsion. She had just experienced one of the most wonderful sensations she had ever felt, and it had been while killing a man.

"Jade…!" Naomi breathed, rushing up to her. "What…? Why did you?"

The succubus turned to face her, shifting back into her human form. Jade was slowly starting to feel like herself again, the ever-present demonic hunger that so often accompanied her feeling oddly absent for the moment.

"They were monsters." She said coolly, trying to act calmer than she felt while she looked Naomi straight in the eye. "We had to stop them."

"I… I know." Naomi said, flustered. "But, like that…? They never even…"

"What would you prefer?" Jade interrupted her, starting to get irritated. The chaotic mixture of emotions she'd absorbed from Michael felt like they were rattling around in her brain. "That we fought them 'fair'? That they got a chance to hurt us back?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed. "I just wasn't expecting that."

"She's right, we came here to stop them." Luis said solemnly, stepping between them before Jade could snap back. "And that's what Jade did. We don't have to like it, but you heard them. Someone needed to do it."

"I don't like it." Jade said, struggling to keep her cool. "I was given these fucked up powers, Naomi. I didn't ask for them, and I don't fucking want them! But they're what I have to work with. And if we're going to make it to the higher floors, then we need to use every tool we have. Including against people who are sabotaging us from protecting our home."

"I know…" Naomi hung her head. "I… I'm going to have a look through their camp. See if I can find the gear they took."

"I'll come with you." Luis said, taking her by the arm. "And check to make sure that it was just the two of them. Siora?" He looked at the elf. "Stay with Jade?"

Jade almost insisted on going with them, but Luis caught her eye and shook his head. She got the message. She was still wired from the brief but brutal fight. It would be best to calm down first. The pair moved off, and Siora sidled over to her. To Jade's surprise, the elf lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. She normally wasn't the 'touchy' type.

"Are you alright?" The elf asked, her hazel eyes filled with concern.

Jade was struck by Siora's kindness. She had expected the gentle elf to be horrified by what she'd done. But while there was worry in her gaze, there was no judgement.

"I will be." Jade said, moving away from the bodies. She didn't want to be near them. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to forget the squelch her dagger had made when it entered Amy's neck. She dropped the weapon to the ground, only just then realizing that she had still been holding the bloody blade. Jade tried to speak, to ask a question, but her mouth had gone dry. It took three tries to get it out.

"Did I do the right thing?"

"I think that depends."

Jade wasn't sure what answer she'd been expecting, but that wasn't it.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… I'm a pretty simple and forgetful person. I've never been good with complicated things like this." Siora admitted, cocking her head. The elf played with a strand of her hair, twisting it around a finger. "But ask yourself this: Did you kill them because it was right? Or because you wanted to?"

Jade took a long moment to consider before answering. It wasn't the sort of question to answer flippantly.

"Because it was right." Jade said at length, certain of it.

"Well, there's your answer."

The elf gave her a sad smile. A short time later, Siora moved off to investigate some strange plants that had caught her eye, leaving Jade with her thoughts. It was true, she had killed them because, in her mind, it was the right thing to do. She was still sure of that.

That hadn't been the lie.

The lie was denying that a small, dark part of her had liked the feeling of draining someone.