The hunter was nearing the end of his patience.

He had even changed his form to cloud his mind from the usual irritation he felt, but this all was beginning to be too much for him -regardless of the shape he had taken.

The demon had spent most of his life alone and he was not accustomed to entertaining another being for this long.

But the Huntress was not familiar with this world and needed to be oriented. A job, which had fallen to him. She would be in his company until she had successfully carried out the mission that had been given to her. Or until the clan called her off.

Tanith was beginning to feel at home in these woods, but she could not help but be on edge. She did not fully trust Kilbas and she didn't have her weapon of choice with her.
And ever since this morning, there had been noises coming from deep in the forest. The closer they came, the more certain she was that it was not an animal. It certainly did not feel like one, but her senses were not yet as attuned as they could be, and the woman could be wrong.

Bothered by the breaking of a couple more branches, Tanith raised her voice, "What is that?" she inquired from the older demon.

Judging from the amount of the noise one could not expect anything smaller than an elephant, although the screams and curses were distinctly humane. Perhaps someone was possessed?

Her long fingers made their way to the metallic handle of her dagger, just in case she would need to jump into battle.

"It is nothing to be concerned about." Kilbas replied in his usual dull manner that had began irritating the Huntress.


***
 

Everything in this place was against the Goddess of the Night. It was all disgusting, her shoes got stuck on all sorts of filth , her dress was tattered to pieces and she kept falling into unseen holes.

But she would not give up for she needed to see the handsome, hooved man from before. This time, he would certainly take her back home to her Lord.

Nobody could possibly resist her twice.

She had been wronged in the most horrible way, and she blamed this God forsaken place for it.

And then, she finally spotted him; the man from before.

He looked... different but she still found him just as handsome as before. Perhaps even more so. The man was certainly lover material, but it would be enough to just take her home.

For now.

"Finally, I found you, handsome. You can---" she panted, but stopped in mid-sentence to gasp dramatically.

"Who is that!" the shadow demon pointed and shrieked as if someone had just called her ugly.

Is this what he had been doing all this time? Had he chosen a skank like that over HER?

...

Tanith had concluded that this woman was not a threat, but that was all she could make of this. They obviously knew each other, but this demon did not seem like someone Kilbas would be likely to be acquainted with.

For one thing: she was slow.

The Hunter was standing up now.

He was not in a good mood, and would normally have relocated at the smallest hint of this blue pest's arrival. But not today. His pride would not allow it this time.

And he had a thought.

"Nevermind. I will forgive you for leaving me out here before, and I will even forgive you for choosing that thing over me," the woman spoke with as much poise as she could muster. She was feeling gracious now that she could almost see herself back home; bathed and her hair combed.

The hunter did not answer. He could barely even remember their meeting from before, let alone doing anything that would warrant her forgiveness.

Nyx ploughed through the rest of the distance between them (not very gracefully) and kneeled at the Hunter's feet.
"I want to go home. And you obviously know this area." Though, she could not fathom why. Why would anyone want to walk here day after day?

"So take me back."

Still, Kilbas just stood silently before her.

The Huntress was confused and awed. Just how close were these two? To approach a hunter this carelessly was suicidal.

She had considered what the forest had told her about Kilbas' kindness, but she had not believed it before now.

Nyx raised her voice; "I command you to take me back to Greece!"

The demon gripped his Barbarian blade and pulled it off his belt.

His voice rang dangerously low, "You would give a command to this One?"

He would see to it that it was her last.

"Please, just take--"

But she never had the chance to finish her sentence.

It was all over in a second.

A body fell to the ground; limp and useless.

A head rolled down the forest floor.

And the demon, known as Nyx, was no more.

Tanith had taken in the whole scene: the motions, the smells and the sounds. She'd watched his blade swing, heard her head roll and smelled the blood. And now, she watched as the demon swung his blade again, cleaning it of the blood of its latest victim.

She had seen demons get killed, she had killed plenty herself, but the way this was done sent a chill down her spine. It was cold, and she could not help but admire the way it had been done.

"Who was that?"

"Something that did not belong here." the Hunter spoke as if he had just disposed of trash.

If he could not get his target, he would eventually need to do something to redeem himself to the clan. This was a pre-emptive move on his part, nothing more.

Her voice was barely audible as she mumbled: "So much for his kindness"

The tingle of her bell had drowned out the end of her statement.

"Did you have something to say?"
He had returned to the irritating, dull tone of voice he had the tendency to take with the Huntress.

"No."

She knew that if they could get past their differences, and she could put aside her pride, they could learn from each other. But this man was obstinate and would never allow himself to be put down to that level.

Had she been sent here for a regular mission, she would not have this much trouble adjusting. And had she not taken over his mission, he might not be so reserved with her.

But as things were, with her weapon taken from her, she couldn't even begin to relax. And with her interfering with his habits neither could he.

This had to be the most cruel punishment the Clan could have dealt to her.