Ash awoke to nothing, he could see nothing for as far as his eyes were able, he got to his feet on a surface that could best be described as an obsidian glass.

  ‘Hello’ said a voice

  ‘Hello’ Ash replied

  ‘You know I can normally only take soulless bodies but I can make an exception when I vacate the premises’

  ‘Who are you?’ Ash asked

  ‘You can call me Lilith, but in all honesty I’m in a bit of a hurry and don’t normally play with my food’ Lilith laughed

  ‘Where are we?’ Ash asked

  ‘Oh hells, you mortals all ask the same questions’ she continued in a mocking tone ‘Who are you?, why me?, where am i?, what do you want?’

  ‘What do you want?’ Ash asked

  ‘See, so bloody predictable. If you aren’t even going to make an effort ill just scour your soul now and be done with it’ She scowled

  ‘Fine, what were you doing in the goblin camp?’ Ash asked

  ‘I don’t want to talk about that’ she replied

  ‘Come on, you asked me for a different question and now you go quiet?’

  ‘Its none of your business’ she said shortly

  ‘Did you get captured by a tribe of goblins?’ Ash laughed

  ‘Little green bastards they are, how was I to know they had a warlock, evil prick bled me for days’ she said

  ‘Wow that sucks, I’m sorry’ Ash said

  ‘Thank you, it really was unpleasant’ she continued ‘And he put me in the oldest meat bag going, I can still smell dust and ointment now’

  ‘So what’s going to happen now Lilith?’ Ask queried

  ‘Well when we are done talking, ill probably get rid of your soul, occupy your body, kill the blasted light shield guy and take over that elf, I do so much prefer a female body they are so much more aesthetically pleasing don’t you think?’

  ‘I can’t argue with you there, Id rather you left my soul where it is though’

  ‘Sorry, one occupant at a time, apart from this little transitional period’ Lilith said.

  Ash went quiet for a moment.

  ‘Theres not much you can do I’m afraid, I don’t think you’ve got it in you to fight me’

  ‘I’ll try anyway’ Ash said

  ‘Please do’ Lilith Laughed

  ‘So where are you?’ Ash asked ‘I don’t see you anywhere’

  ‘Ha, my darkness eclipses your senses even here’ Lilith began ‘ This aura of mine is born of the darkness I carry within my being, the fact you cannot see me is a sign you are engulfed in it and no match for me’

  ‘Can you see me then?, because all I see is the floor and it goes on a while’ Ash asked

  ‘Er, not exactly but each body is different’ she said ‘hold on while I focus’

  Ash became aware of a ball of dark flame, bellowing flames upwards.

  ‘Right, I can see you now’ he said ‘Is that your flame poofing upwards’

  ‘My flame doesn’t poof, it roars’ shouted Lilith ‘Now where are you, you little meat bag’

  Lilith turned to the direction Ash’s voice had come from and her eyes widened and mouth fell agape as she looked skyward.

  ‘HELLO LITTLE ONE’ a voice gurgled out

  ‘Oh yeh, I forgot about this prick’ Ash said

  Ash sat bolt upright on the cold stone slab, Alastair and Nina jumping backwards, shield and palm ready to fight.

  The stone embedded in his forehead simply fell to his lap, and he shook his head and rubbed at his forehead.

  ‘Wow that’s going to take a few aspirin to clear’ Ash said turning to his companions.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Nina asked

  ‘Yeh I’ll be fine’ he replied ‘Nothing a few beers and a sandwich won’t fix’

  He picked up the stone and held it up to his eye to look through.

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  ‘Careful’ said Alastair ‘That’s how the demon possesses people’

  ‘Oh yes, we have become well acquainted’ laughed Ash jumping down off the slab

  ‘Give me just a second guys’ Ash said making his way over to the female corpse at the back of the room. He lifted up the head by the chip and placed the ruby back into the forehead where it was reabsorbed.

  ‘No’ yelled Alastair running towards Ash.

  As he rounded the table, he saw the figure of the woman prostrate on the ground head at Ash’s feet.

  ‘I have returned my lord’ Lilith said

  ‘Please don’t call me lord Ash said ‘ I don’t want people getting the wrong idea’

  ‘What t the bloody hells is going on?’ Alastair asked

  ‘She lost a bet’ Ash smiled, ‘She works with us now’

  ‘You can’t trust a demon’ Nina said

  ‘My lord can trust me with his life, his will is my calling’ Lilith spoke ‘Do not show him disrespect or I will slay you where you stand’

  ‘That’s enough of that Lilith, these are our friends and you will afford them the same courtesy you do for me’ Ash stated firmly

  ‘Yes Lord Ash’ she said bowing.

  ‘I said no more Lord stuff, it’s just Ash’ he sighed

  ‘As you wish, I am your loyal servant’ she genuflected

  ‘Nope, if you can’t talk normally this isn’t going to work out, I think I preferred it when you were going to rend my soul’ Ash said wearily

  ‘Ash?’ said Nina

  ‘Yes Nina?’

  ‘What in all the hells is going on?’ she cried out

  ‘You know me, I like to make new friends’ Ash smiled

  ‘Demons don’t have friends’ she said

  ‘This one does, may I introduce Lilith’ Ash said

  ‘You may call me Lily’ she curtsied

  ‘How can we trust her’ Alastair shot Ash a look

  ‘Because if she acts in any way against me then she goes back downstairs’ Ash said

  ‘Downstairs?’ Alastair asked

  ‘I think they mean back to the hells’ Nina suggested ‘What did you get from this pact?’

  ‘What’ Ash asked

  ‘Usually in a pact you get something in exchange for something’ Nina said

  ‘oh, I didn’t realise, I guess I got a new friend and she gets to stay here, and if she misbehaves then the gem will shatter’ Ash said

  ‘It tethers me to this world’ Lilith offered

  ‘I don’t like it’ Alastar said ‘I don’t think I can trust a demon they are evil’

  ‘Excuse me, what have I done that was so evil?’ she protested

  Alastair glanced down at the remains of the goblin and his friend Robert.

  ‘For one, I didn’t choose to inhabit the old man, that was forced upon me, and the goblin had me tied up and bled me just enough to keep me alive but weak enough where I couldn’t fight back for days’ She protested ‘What would you have done to him when you escaped?’

  ‘I would probably have killed him as well’ Admitted Alastair

  ‘There you go and before you judge me as a demon, I’ve actually done nothing to you, and so far you have struck me with that accursed shield of yours’ she went on ‘It’s not like I see you are a human and assume you want to fuck, eat and kill everything, not necessarily in that order’

  ‘But demons are essentially evil’ Nina offered

  ‘And elves are essentially up their own arse, what have I done that’s evil?’

  ‘I don’t know’ Nina said

  ‘and yet you judge me to be evil anyway’ Lilith said

  ‘I think we can save this conversation for when we aren’t stuck in the middle of a goblin lair’ Alastair said

  ‘Oh not to worry, I’ve sent the rest of them running for their lives’

  Nina said tossing a ball of flame between her hands.