The demon deflected each of Cleo's fire tendril shots, as she came closer to it, but the demon simply squandered back. She resulted to fire spheres and hurled them towards the demon — but again it just got deflected.

Now from where she hid against a wall, in the same corridor where the bone man was, she awaits the demon to come launching again. The bone man has quieted; fear evident in his eyes. After the demon came raining down upon them —the man raced onto his makeshift rotten bed and sat there, in the same position she found him in. Quiet. Waiting. There was no mistake that Cleo felt as petrified and horror-stricken like the old man did, but she tried to not show it. But she was definitely shaking uncontrollably, and her mind was racing with what would happen. Even after swallowing down her fear.

Cleo was obligated to leave this aisle, in case the demon hurts the old man, but she wasn't sure if he would listen to that, and instead come running after her in fear of dying by the hands of a creature. At the same time she had no choice but to leave him, he was too close to the Blacksmith and in the morning attention may ring in this part, which is the last thing she wanted.

The demon seemed to disappear. She's been waiting for a few minutes already, and it hasn't returned. She saw it jump onto a market building and dissappear  over the edge and never saw it again.

She is forced  to follow it and find it before someone else does. She had no choice but to. Abruptly she turns to the pauper and hisses, "Stay here. I have to find it before it hurts someone. Don't follow me. Understood?"

That deems a reaction from the man, he clambers up from his bed and starts his wailing and groaning, clearly dissatisfied with her? She wished she understood what he was trying to say. He has warned her about it too late. But he still did. And that meant  something. For once in Cleo's life did she regret burning his tongue off. He moves his arms around and heads towards her, and when he is close enough, he grabs her arm and pulls her down with him. It is clear he wanted her to stay but she jerks her arm out from his and stands back up again.

"I'm not going to repeat myself bone man. Stay here. You have coin, get yourself a warm safe room with food. And don't follow me like a little lamb."

She sighs and closes her eyes for a brief moment.

She has no fucking idea how the demon came to be here in the Village. But the fact that it was here clearly says that something had gone wrong. She doesn't know what or why, nor how the bone man knew about it. But he was involved in this whole situation somehow, meaning he must know things about demons. Maybe his dream about her dying was to come true at this moment. What kind of a person was this? She'd have to keep bone man alive and pay him way more visits.

She shoots bone man a look, "I'm leaving. Don't come after me."

Cleo then trots in the direction of where the demon vanished. She still crosses isles between the market buildings' covertly in case there were to be any villagers still wandering about with powders in their hands hunting the others. Similar to her. But she wasn't looking for others to attack with powders.

She keeps close to the shadows, and in between bouts she would hold her breath to hear for any footsteps or the snarling of the demon.

She felt afraid. Not for herself but for the Villagers, what would they ask her in court about this? If any villager saw her she would be in some deep shit. There would be questions about what she was looking for in the village this time of night.

And if the demon were to kill her? Could it?

All of a sudden, she hears a cracking sound behind her. Her heart stops and her blood runs cold. Her breathing hitches and her fingers start shaking. She rubs the now cold tips of her fingers together to enable a spark, not caring that it was a villager who would see her at this stage. But when she turns around, she sighs out in relief. There wasn't a single soul gracing the area.

She looks up to the tops of the roofs of the markets — and very slighty she sees movement. The demon. She could see its discombobulated loathsome figure. She could easily summon a stupendous sheath of fire and send it to scorch the demon right before her eyes. But the fact that the demon was in the Village was her main problem.  How had the  guards not seen it?

The demon kept springing from roof to roof and out of sight. Cleo races in the direction. She secretly praises the villagers for not being in the area at this time.

Pulling her hood close. And readying her hands she quickly reaches the corner of the terra-cotta wall. But the demon was still not to be seen.

She notices that the sounds of the festival has come into picture —suggesting that they were now very close to the center of the Village and the event itself. The sounds and activity of all the goers has most likely attracted the attention of the demon. Cleo tries not to panic but she needed to gain its attention and hurl it back to the darker parts of the Village. She hasn't even realized that after stalking the demon— how close she has come to back to the main point of the market.

She is fucked.

She crouches down in the shadows against a tree and without  thinking — she summons a twine of fire — made from smaller streaks of flames and she launches it to the demon from where it stood atop the roof and what seems to be sniffling the night air.

This has propitiously gained the creatures attention, and she sends more up into the air; still secretly hoping that the villagers hasn't seen it.

The demon; distracted by the flames; is now oblivious to the villagers and pursues it and she sends the twines lower to an isle ahead of her. The demon now seeing that the tendrils weren't attacking it, has stopped running away and deflecting the shots and instead surveils it closer to the isle she wanted it in.

Cleo does a quick sweep of the perimeter, but after she catches no activity, she briskly saunters into the corridor her hands still ahead of her flamed up.

The creature drops hard into the corridor directly in front of her and she freezes.

The hideous creature was gigantic. Standing up almost to the full length of the average village walls. It was as black as night, with hooves as feet and gruesome palmate talons — the nails so prolonged it could stand a distance away from Cleo and simply reach out a nail to slit her throat. The hide is made from scales — hard, robust scales that looked made entirely out of metal. The face is the worst part. She fought the urge to get this creature to a salon.

It has a bulbous head —scales dotting every part of its body; with no eyes. But it has two cavities which Cleo assumes is its nose as she could also hear the ragged breathing of the creature from that part of its face. It's elongated mouth makes up the majority of its face, stretching from the far corner of its big head to the other end. The razor sharp canines filled its mouth to the brim, lining the top and the bottom of its wicked cavern. Cleo has never seen something have so many teeth in her life. The canines, to Cleo's dismay, is wholly transparent, as  if it were made from glass. Maybe it was glass and it wasn't  teeth at all, but etches of glass which was plastered into its mouth.

She didn't want to find out.

Cleo has also noticed a drop in temperature now in the demons presence. Which shocks her to the core.

Since the demon has landed before her, a waft of icy cold air got transmitted onto her, it was so cold that the air has caused little pricks to appear on her skin which Cleo has never experienced before in her entire life. The pricks were pointy and she felt cold. So so cold. What are these? Tiny swords? It couldn't even impale an ant. But at this point the little bumps weren't her concern. She needed to rid of this demon and speak to Landon about what the fuck is happening.

Impossible. That's what General Landon would say about this. Clearly.

Saliva has done its part of dripping down its humongous mouth and trailing onto its muscled body. It's breath matched that of the bone mans' hovel. Awful and acrid. Smelling of faeces.

She wrinkles her nose spreads her arms and legs and calls on two vigorous spheres of flame, "Glad you're thinking of me as a delicious snack. Feels nice to be desired even from something as awful as you."

It's powerful thighs, which Cleo could see was definitely from years of high jumping around got into position to launch into the air once again after it suspected Cleo as a threat and seeing her flaming hands. But she attacked it first before it could leave again.

She hurls the two spheres rapidly to the demon, aiming to its upper body and to Cleo's satisfaction it hit the demon square in the chest and caused the demon to falter back on the sand floor, sending up clouds of sand. The hooves that were dug deeply into the sand  is what caused the demon to not fall down.

But her fire did nothing. It just sprung off of the scales of the demon.

Now she began to panic.

She's going to die.

A slow death. The demon will penetrate her with its talons and there will be nothing she can do about it. She'll bleed to death.

Didn't sound so bad.

The demon snarls harder than ever before; Cleo was afraid the villagers would hear. It advanced onto her and would of cut her head clean off with its glass teeth if Cleo hadn't ducked and rolled out  its way. Her breathing was harsh. Her heart beat too fast. And she didn't know what to do.

She flung more balls, assembled a sheet of  fire, but still it did no damage to the demon. Were these things immortal? How did they perish? Could they perish was the question Cleo needed an answer to.

"Cleo!"

The voice came from the other side of the demon. The demon between them. This distracted the demon's attention to follow the source of Jezio's voice. Cleo took this as her cue to then jump onto the demons back wrapping her legs tightly around its waist and presses her hands hard onto its scales feeding it with fire.

This burned the Demon. Finally. A fire liquid started burning the demon beneath it's scales so that it looks like lava flowing and pouring out of its scales. The demon began to snarl even louder and was howling out due to the excruciating pain. It moved back roughly with Cleo, shaking in a brutish way; but she held on tightly with her hands on its shoulders pressing more rigidly.

The fire was consuming the demon. But it wasn't enough. She couldn't hold on for so long.  And from the looks of it — it would take days for her to complete burning it to ash, no matter how much harder she forced her power to scorch it.

"Cleo! What the fuck is happening?!" Jezio wails at her. His eyes open wide in shock mouth slightly ajar at her current plight.

"I can't hold much longer. I'm draining out here. Is there anyone nearby?" She tries her best to not scream. But over the monsters wailing and vicious rough attempts to throw her off — it was impossible. It's talons were trying to stall the burning on its chest, so it fortunately didn't claw at Cleo's legs and arms.

He quickly skims the area and starts coughing, holding his hand to his chest before running back and saying,"No. Cleo what is this thing. Fuck."

He was too shocked to do anything. At the same time, he couldn't do anything. A whack on the demon's head will cost Jezio's life. Not the demon's.

She also needs to know how the hell he has found her so quickly.

Cleo feels as if her whole body has drained of blood. She couldn't hold on anymore. Her head is fuzzy, her vision is blurry, and her powers flowing began to lessen. It needs some recharging time, but she couldn't allow that to happen.

"Jez. Check if there is anyone at the Crystal Waters. Now."

"There shouldn't be, it's cut off." He exclaims but still heads towards that direction, "It's clear." He praises when he gets back.

Cleo's now numb arms and legs slides off the demons body smoothly because of its scales and she heads to Jezio, holding him behind her, not caring that he was a lot bigger than she was.

Her burning has done a great deal of damage. But not enough. It's powerful legs remained intact. But it's shoulders and chest were sizzling and smoking from her fire.

It was now time to see whether the Crystal Waters was as dangerous as the villagers claimed it to be.

"Cleo? What are you doing? There are guards everywhere! We can't take it there. Who says it'll burn?!"

"I guess we'll have to see."

Cleo still felt afraid. There could be a chance that the demon consumes them tonight. And there'd be nothing left of Cleo's pointless life. At least she'll die with Jezio. Both chopped and diced like a stew  in the belly of a demon.

The demon is weary on its feet, it's talons clawing at his chest to relieve some of the burn. Cleo hurls weak flames at it, although it did no damage; and she moves in the direction of the Crystal Waters whilst tossing flames simultaneously.

The demon follows, Jezio beside her. Somewhere he has retrieved a stick holding it out to the demon like a sword. Cleo didn't have the heart to tell him that it won't help for anything.

Reaching the Crystal Waters, Cleo purposely and harshly shoves Jezio in the opposite direction — away from the demon. She heard a heavy thud, and she grinds her teeth at the too hard shove, that would be sure to leave bruises in the morning, before plunging between the demons legs so she stands behind it. And with her remaining strength, musters a curtain of fire aiming at its back and pushes the demon over the rim  of the dry water fall.

Before the demon fell downright over, it turned back around and reached out its wicked claw, and before Cleo could move her goddamns numb legs — it slashes her thigh ripping through her tight breeches and drawing blood. As it came forward to slash again, it shrieks and its body starts convulsing awkwardly; the back and arms and legs starts bending at peculiar angles, it's twisting in ways Cleo didn't know possible. The sight turns her belly. Her face molds into that of pure repugnance.

Cleo hears snapping and cracking. It's bones were breaking — and the demon was melting. Melting. Like chocolate. Right from its bulbous head, and glass filled mouth to its chest, and down to its thighs and hooves; the very stubborn scales were actually melting, the damn waterfall could melt scales and her fire didn't.

And in split second, a goo was what remained from the demon which slowly disintegrated into ash. And it was gone.

Cleo sighs in relief and closes her eyes before falling onto the ground. She was breathing harshly still, and tries to still her rapid heart. Her thigh was burning. Not in the pleasurable way she liked, but an icy burn. It numbs her thigh even more and she gripes it with both hands tightly, her teeth clenching in pain. She could feel the tremendous amount of blood leaving her thigh.

"Cleo! Holy fuck! You're bleeding!" Jezio removed his tunic showing his beautifully sculpted body, and wraps it tightly around her thigh placing a lot of pressure on the bleeding wound.

Why was it that he was in every place all the time?

"Cleo hey," He looks down at her, his now bloody hand cupping her cheek, "Look at me. Shit. What if the creature is poison? Your leg..." He falters, and removes his gaze from hers.

"Jez." She croaks. Her voice cracking.

His eyes immediately springs to hers.

"How did you find me?" She had to know. She told him she wouldn't come to the festival. She kept her word partially. It wasn't the festival she came to see. It was the bone man. But the whole evening took a turn.

"In the note you said you weren't coming to the village again this week. But I wasn't happy about it. Seeing you once? And I trusted you wouldn't come to the village festival. I went to the barricade, and the ribbon wasn't there-" He took a gulp, his jaw clenching. Before meeting her eyes again,"Both sides. And we both know you wouldn't know where to get off without it. So obviously you have it with you."

His gaze penetrated her. She felt guilty. Awfully guilty. It wasn't that she lied. But Jezio... He looked to see if she came. Because he wanted to see her again.

"Cleo what the fuck am I doing. The guards are around here, I heard them. They must have heard the screaming. We have to get you to my room." Without another word Jezio got behind Cleo, took ahold of her waist and lifted her up to her feet.

She grits her teeth and squeals in pain. She could feel that the slash wasn't deep, but it was bleeding like hell. With the hurt thigh dragging on the floor, and the other dancing back matching Jezio's steps — they both cower back in the passageway they came from and stood in the shadows.

Guards has taken its place, inspecting the source of the noise, but obviously there is no one at the Crystal Waters.

"They're going to call on inspections in the isles Cleo, damn it. I have to get you out of here."

Cleo smelled that his breath was faintly of rum, and various powders coated him. She felt jealous. He had fun. Probably had it with a girl as well, which made her feel worse. Here she was desired by a demon.

She swallows down her ginormous jealousy that she suddenly feels for Jezio, and turns her gaze back to the Crystal Waters. Was that Kaleb? She could see the silhouette of a big man, and she will remember the locks from anywhere. What happened to doing his duty?

She frowns. Jezio starts moving again, commenting that she's too quite for his liking, both feet are being dragged this time. And after a buzzing sound ringing in her head, she blacks out.

                                                        °°°

"I smelled the smoke. Your smoke. Cleo you're risking your life for what? Why are you here?" He is no longer the gentle caring Jezio, he is now the hard Jezio. He said after he hasn't the seen the ribbon on either side of the wall, he resorted to finding her. Cleo doesn't know what made him think that. Someone could of easily removed the ribbon because it was pretty. But now Jezio is mad. Furious with her for being here and risking her reputation.

"Jez, I wanted to check out the festival." She lies, sitting up on Jezio's bed her pants removed. He covered her up with a blanket, but even those movements were slow and alluring; before cleaning her wound and wrapping it in gauze. The bleeding has thankfully stopped, but he told her to be cautious about it as an infection could happen. His beautiful hands places the last safety pin on the gauze and meets her gaze.

"I distinctly remember telling you not to come. I trusted you with it. And that monster? What the fuck was that thing?"

"A demon." She removed her hood, but she was feeling chilly again.

"And?"

She loosens her hair and rebraids her hair, "And what?"

He closes his eyes and sighs out loud, "Cleo. Why was the demon here?"

She ties the end of the elastic around her hair and flutters down onto the pillows, "I don't know Jezio. It's good I came however, that demon could of killed somebody. Look how it drained me. So I'm not regretting coming here. At all."

He fingers his hair and chews on his lips, "You could of gotten killed Cleo. The guards could of tackled it-"

"They were late."

"Still, they could of. I still can't believe you came here."

"Then don't."

His jaw is clenched again. She feels guilty. So guilty for lying to him about her whereabouts to the Village. Her heart sunk. But she had to do it.

She looks down to her thigh now wrapped in gauze. The cut was about the size of a small finger, she would need to wear long dresses to cover it. But she also had to let Landon know. Shit. What is she going to do about Landon? It was the same thigh where the awful throbbing came from, but Gwen's tea has deemed to work. She wonders if the tea will heal her cut.

"Jez. Are you alright?" She asks softly.

"No." He nearly growls at her.

"Look, there are many complications happening at Court right now. I don't know if I can see you again this week."

He bites his lower lip and looks down, at her exposed thighs. She sees him eyeing them up and down trying to be secretive about it. He looks up abruptly, his eyes now running over face to her plastered bangs from  the sweat; to her cheeks, nose, eyes then lips —lingering on there for longer and back to her eyes again.

He moves terribly close until their faces were inches apart from one another's, she could smell his faint spice scent amalgamated with alcohol. She holds her breath and was about to close her eyes when he whispers, "See me every week Cleo. More than once. I don't care how busy you are. See me." His gaze filters to her lips this time, "And don't ever ever come to a festival again."

She was about to disagree with everything he just said, but nothing could form in her throat. She was completely and utterly speechless before a minor thief.

"I'll be on the lookout for demons. If someone complains about seeing one, it'll be me. So you can come here peacefully to me. Even if there is no demon in sight. Alright?"

"Alright."

And just like that, she gave a thief jester control over her life. When it's actually supposed to be the other way around.