Salome crouched next to the black liquid that was spreading out to fill the outer circle and drank, lapping it up into her mouth. Andras watched and laughed, his face pressed firm against the ground inside his cage.

Trix stepped toward the outer circle, stopping just short of crossing the edge. "Salome, open it. You're not going to leave us here."

Salome continued to drink, the black liquid covering her head, dripping down onto her chest and coating her paws. She spoke thickly, her mouth sticky. "Of course I will, you fool. Do you not understand what torture it has been to live in this form? For so very long I was kept in that room, my senses blunted, my powers all but gone. I had nothing to do but talk to the occasional teenager. Do you realise how much I have suffered? And now I have access to this great font of power! I have an opportunity to crush the two people who I most hate in the world at once. I will destroy the only person who would have been able to hold me back and regain my past strength in the same moment -- no, exceed it! What do you expect me to do?!" she spat the last sentence, black ichor flying out and splattering on the ground. Still she did not look back at Trix. "Such an opportunity is not to be missed."

"I wish I'd left you there with them, to be milked for darkness like the cow you are." she turned to Jeremiah. "Break the circle, get her out."

Jeremiah was crouched with his head in his hands. "I can't, this circle faces inwards, the markings are on the inside, where we were meant to be, I can't -- unless, let me think..." he grabbed his book of notes from the floor and began flipping through desperately.

Andras was still laughing, louder and louder. "Shut up" said Salome. She had stopped drinking and now crouched in the circle, her body contracting as though about to spit up a fur ball. Darkness filled the outer circle concealing her from the outside, then through the mist they saw her form change suddenly, unfolding upwards in an instant. Jeremiah looked up from his book. "Oh, no." he said.

The darkness cleared slowly revealing a tall figure. Taller than Jeremiah. The figure looked vaguely female, her naked body covered with the same slick black ichor she had been drinking. Her face was handsome, if square jawed. There was nothing feline about her, now. Only her one red eye made her recognisable as Salome. She stretched, lengthening her whole body in one smooth, animal movement. Twisting her back and neck and shoulders. "That's better." she said. "I will be going home now. I'm sure the rest of you will be able to tidy things up down here. Don't bicker when I'm gone." She squatted down smoothly and began making small marking in chalk around the circle. A buzzing noise rose and the crystals in the room dimmer further.

"Your plan was good, Salome, it was. I am impressed. But you forgot one thing. You forgot to find some way of binding me permanently, and you gave me a way of escaping, once you have left. Do you not think I will come for you, not that I know how you left?"

"Shut up. You'll not escape, there's enough magic left in this room to keep that circle alive for a thousand years. This was planned." said Salome, concentrating on the delicate marking she was making. How much easier this was, with fingers.

"Yet you brought another demon into the room with you, a tiny demonspawn. Weakened, dormant, but listening. Waiting for any opportunity to gather its strength and burst forth."

Salome looked up in surprise, she glanced over to where Dean was stood watching over Jeremiah's shoulder as he wrote something in his book.

"Yes! Surely you hadn't forgotten? You should have killed him, child. To bring him here, so near to me, was an obvious and unnecessary mistake. You have grown soft and sentimental after living as a pet for so many years."

As she watched, Dean suddenly fell to his knees, then prone on the floor. He began to shake. Emma dropped to his knees and screamed, shaking him. His eyes rolled back in his head and he pushed her away with impossible strength, flinging her to the floor. He flipped to his hands and feet and grabbed the spear from the floor. Salome tore her eyes from the scene. It is unfortunate, but not my concern. Once back on earth I can prepare for Andras' return. The humans dying is most likely a beneficial to my plans She bit her lip and tried to concentrate. She was almost done. She watched the fight out of the corner of her eye. Dean swung the spear in a wide arc, slashing it across Jeremiah's chest. Jeremiah tried to grab the tip and Dean yanked it back out of his grasp, cutting his hands. He slashed again and Jeremiah fell to the ground with a cry. Emma watched in horror, unable to move. Wilbur had picked up a rock and was approaching Dean with a wary look in his eyes. She couldn't see Trix, had she left?

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The whole room was shaking now as the ritual neared its end. Her markings were complete. She stood and prepared for the pain of the trip home. She tried to imagine what she would do first, now that she was unconstrained and restored to her full strength. Somehow nothing came to mind. Stripped of her goal of so many years, everything felt rather inconsequential.

Trix appeared in her vision, she had snuck around the back of the circle and was now behind Dean. Jeremiah was on the floor, unmoving. Dean threw the spear at Wilbur, causing him to fall to the side, then rushed forward on all fours, tackling him to the ground.

"I'll make them suffer, Salome. Don't worry." said Andras from his circle, "I'll make them pay for what they did. Again and again."

Wilbur screamed as Dean ripped at his face with his fingers. Trix rushed forward now, a crystal in her hand. Before she could bring it down on Dean's head, he spun, hitting her in the face with his fist, causing her to stagger with pain. Salome view became blurred as more and more energy poured into the outer circle, causing the air to ripple. She weaved her head, trying to see through the distortion. She had lost sight of Trix.

Andras chucked "I'll do horrible things to that one, especially. The grim girl. She's got some demon blood in her, she should survive longer, feel the pain more. She reminds me of you."

Salome crouched down, trying to spot Trix. She finally saw her, she was lying on her back on the floor. Dean was on top of her, his hands gripped around her neck. Emma was tugging at his arm, trying to pull him away. Wilbur and Jeremiah lay unmoving on the floor. She will die, if nobody intervenes. thought Salome. Not my concern, though. I must return home. Return home to what? How boring. How boring that life seems right now. What could be worse than an eternity of lonely boredom. But what else, I should mingle with humans? With this human? Am I so pathetic that I cannot find friendship among my own kind? But of course I can't, there is no friendship amongst demons, only self-interest, debt, fear. There were only seconds left before the tunnel opened, she could feel the pressure building above her head, the closer the moment came, the more thoughts rushed through her head, piling up and crowding together into a confused mess. She saved me, why? Foolish, stupid girl. Naive. I always enjoyed poetry, maybe I could write for a while. How, with Andras at my back? I would live in fear. Even without. I wish I could run again, through the forest. I missed that most. What's the point, really, of power? I have lived a long life. What have I left behind? I would like to run at night, the stars peeking through the trees appearing and disappearing as I run, my hot breath forming clouds in the cool night air, darting between the trees like a nimble young deer--

She didn't make a decision, in the end. There wasn't time. Her body took over. It darted forward, her foot brushing away the chalk on the floor, letting the gathered power dissipate in a mighty roar that shook the room. She ran forward and pulled Dean from Trix's body, thrusting her hand down his throat in a smooth movement, her slender arm plunging all the way up to her elbow. She withdrew it, pulling forth a dark slug-like thing. It squirmed where she had caught it between finger and thumb. She threw it to the ground and stamped on it with her bare foot, squashing it easily against the floor.

Andras roared in anger. "You ruin your plan just to spite me!? Just to keep me locked in here a few hundred years?"

"This has nothing to do with you. I'm just doing what I want for once." said Salome. She crouched down next to Trix and checked her pulse. There was none. She felt out with her power, she'd never done this before, never wanted to, but her intuition told her it was possible. She let it flow into Trix's cooling body, filling her as one might fill an orb. A hose over parched land, it soaked away at once. She gave more and more, no longer limiting her output. She thought she felt the tiniest flame of life flicker back into existence. More! she thought, More!. She pushed harder, tapping into that unending store of power that had always been available to her. Today it didn't feel quite so big. The flame grew, fanned by her efforts, guttering and growing in spurts. All of it! she thought, Every drop!. She thought she saw Trix twitch her nose. Every last drop! The lake was empty, now, she could feel the hole in her chest, yet somehow more was coming. Her body cannibalised itself for fuel, she was burning up from the inside, hollowing out. She didn't feel afraid, she knew this was the end, that this last final mad push of power would fully consume her, that there would be nothing left but memories and a faint smell of cloves. She only hoped it would be enough. This is freedom she thought, to give selfishly of myself to whomever I want, to live as I wish, not merely act in opposition to some enemy. To die gloriously rather than lengthen a worthless life. I suppose this was always available, after all.

Finally, Trix breathed, a deep shuddering breath, then another, then another.

Salome smiled, and closed her eyes. She was ready.