The flames of the candles rose in the air as they changed into a color combination of white, intense gold and black. The neighborhood dogs began to bark seconds before strong bursts of wind hit the windows. However, despite being tightly closed, an icy wind took over the room causing the candles' flames to wave, almost fading out.

Alicia shivered and involuntarily rubbed her arms, trying to exorcize the cold out of her body. She sighed deeply and held the grimoire tighter. Inside the circle of salt, the runes lit with that strange white, gold and black fire. The floor in the center cracked, letting a black vapor emerge and began to spin inside the mystical mineral cage.

"Enough, Avalon. Show yourself in human form," she ordered, but fear crept into her voice making it sound like a plea.

The brunette heard his diabolical laugh mocking her weakness. That demon lived to antagonize her since she summoned him a few weeks ago. Apparently the existance of a book detailing the correct way to summon and dominate him was impossible in his mind; so he always try to heal his hurt pride in the only way he could: tormenting her.

Alicia closed the grimoire, cradling it to her chest as her devil took his new shape in the most grotesque possible way... as if a person was being formed before her eyes. He continued the process until an Orlando Bloom-Legolas appeared in front of her without a single piece of clothing on sight.

"What do you want from me this time, my love?" he asked with a faint smile on his lips as some blond strands finished braiding on their own.

The girl felt the heat seize her face but she couldn't take her eyes off the body in front of her. So perfect with those noticeable muscles and a skin that gave the impression of being silky smooth. She saw him smiling openly, and it was then that she realized how easy he could distract her; she had momentarily forgotten her reason for summoning him.

Damn you for taking on the appearance of my favorite character!

Forcing herself to keep her eyes on that elven face that had invaded her fantasies more than once, Alicia frowned but didn't ask the creature to adopt another form.

"I wish you only respond to my summons and deal with me from now on." Her eyes widened and her voice became sensual. She got wet all over only by thinking of how close she was to obtaining her life's greatest treasure: a demon of her own. "No more contracts with other people. Avalon, Prince of illusions and master of deception, I command you to be solely and exclusively mine."

The demon's smile faded at once, his face becoming serious as his eyes sclera changed to scarlet and his irises turned bright yellow. The same abnormally bright eyes he'd shown her the day she met him, about two months ago.

That day Alicia had been cleaning the house she shared with her parents while they were traveling. Mopping the marital room's floor she noticed a hollow tile and to her surprise found an old book bound in leather whose corners were decorated with metal embossed under it.

Reading its pages full of pagan spells and rituals, she found a section devoted to demonic summonings. Page after page nothing caught her attention until her fingers stopped over one titled "fortune demon."

It all began at that moment.

The emptiness and inferiority that Alicia's parents had helped create by pampering her older sister fueled the desire for money and power that Avalon awakened in her. At first she only asked for small things like new clothes and shoes, a computer, money for college expenses, but then everything began to degenerate into a turbulent spiral of pure greed.

"The price for what you ask is a steep one." Avalon's deadly tone brought her back to the present. "Are you willing to pay for it?"

In what world does he live? I allowed him to kill my parents and leave my sister in a coma, of course I am willing to pay anything to ensures he obeys only me.

"Yes. Ask and you will have it."

The fake Legolas arched an eyebrow in interest and moved to the inner edge of the salt circle without even moving his feet. His eyes shone again. "I want the hearts of your sister and her unborn baby." A cruel smile appeared on the demon's lips and his teeth turned into serrated knives that resembled a shark. "Of course, that will be in addition to you giving yourself to me and offering me your blood," he finished, tilting his head before glancing at her with a lascivious look.

Alicia shuddered at the gesture. She already knew how pleasant it was to give herself to the dark being because it was he who had deflowered her.

"And if I refuse?"

"You would be breaking our contract, giving me green light to devour you, and drag your soul into hell." Avalon paused to allow his "mistress" to assimilate that little detail and continued. "Come on, child! You cornered yourself by saying: «ask and you will have it». You must be more careful with words, doll."

The girl widened her brown eyes and then looked to the floor. It had been so easy to get rid of her parents when they called her announcing her return! She didn't hesitate to order the fall of their airplane or to attack her sister, but at the moment a baby's life was in danger, her conscience mortified her. Did she really have to allow her nephew's death to get what she wanted? The blood of a helpless fetus would stain her hands forever if...

"That child will take away all the fortune I have given you, and may even take me away from you, my beloved Alicia. Is that what you want; to lose all your treasures?"

The brunette lifted her head immediately and began to shake it from side to side. No, no, not that. She would never allow her treasures to be taken from her. The money, the clothes, the jewels, the convertible ... Everything was hers and no one else could touch them or even see them! They were hers and hers alone!

And yet, they were talking about a little one's death... a baby with her own blood; or at least half of her blood.

She ran a trembling hand over her face and saw it covered with scarlet liquid. Alicia screamed, jumping back and desperately rubbing her hands over her clothes in an attempt to clean them. Her breath caught in her throat as her heart pounded in her chest and her legs lost their strength. She fell to the floor, without strength or desire to get up, and only shook her head.

"Do you want to stay by my side, Alicia Valleverde Estronza?" The girl nodded silently, her body was still shaking. "Then you have up to the count of three to say it out loud or I'll take it as a breach of contract and devour you... alive if necessary." His eyes glowed maliciously before he roared at the young woman, causing the house to rumble. "ONE!"

She whimpered, covering her ears. The image of her sister in the hospital bed came back to her mind. The knowledge that Lucero was pregnant was the only thing that saved the woman from certain death. Alicia had arrived at her sister's house just in time to stop Avalon's death blow, but the body had already suffered irreparable damage. No doctor knew if Lucero would ever emerge from the coma.

"TWO!"

This time neither her sister nor her nephew would ever see the sunlight.

It's them or my fortune. Them or my treasures. Them... No! Never. I will never again be the second in ANYTHING!

"THR-!"

"Yes!" Alicia immediately interrupted the demon. "Kill them. Eat their hearts or make them into soup. Do what you like but give me what I want."

"As you command, mistress." Avalon smiled at her with those horrible teeth, bowed, and then his body turned into black mist. The crack in the center of the circle shone and screams of agony escaped from it before the demon disappeared inside.

Alicia looked at her hands, sighing in relief as there wasn't any trace of blood on them. For the first time in her life she felt happy and free. Her lips curved with a smile that soon turned into laughter, leaving her almost breathless when she finally managed to control herself. With her heart hammering inside her chest, she sat up, picked up the grimoire from the floor where it had fallen, and withdrew from the room, unaware of the piece of paper that had fallen from the book.

Avalon walked through solitary streets under the moon's gaze and the early morning dew. He did it barefoot, with a long black skirt adorned by a metallic belt of the same color and a cape made with crow feathers on his shoulders. He looked straight out of a Halloween party with his extravagant costume, red eyes with yellow irises and dark gray skin.

Walking in one of his demonic appearances through the city seemed crazy, however, he had no reason to fear. Being a High demon lord he had a natural veil that prevented humans from seeing his supernatural form. The only person who could do it, even without his consent, was the All-Seeing Eye and rumors said there hadn't been born another one since the death of the previous Eye a few years ago.

Poor millennials! They would suffer all the attacks of darkness without being warned about the wolf's coming.

And it would be so exciting to caught them off guard.

The demon looked up and found himself in front of the hospital where his dinner waited on a bed. Without any hitch, he climbed floor by floor, going through every corridor, every room until he found the one he was looking for.

Room 606. Lucero was waiting there over the sterile white sheets while her husband slept in the armchair beside the bed. Almost immediately he heard the two hearts beating along an inaudible waltz while the sweet aroma of strawberries, which announced death's visit, flooded the place. So Lucerito has already been marked by Death; that explains the absence of her Guardian Angel. He smiled to himself. Taking a soul from Azrael would add a bit of adventure to his monotonous life.

Avalon threw the covers off his victim without taking his eyes from the woman's slightly bulging abdomen. He licked his lips and put a hand on her belly, barely digging his claws when he heard the nurses of the floor talk about making the routine check to the comatose. The demon cursed under his breath, unsure of his next action as the footsteps drew closer and closer. Just as the women were about to open the door, he threw an illusion to frighten them away from the room and carry out the macabre operation.

Screams of terror rang out, awakening Lucero's husband in time to witness how his wife's chest and belly opened up on their own. Shrill alarms were activated throughout the room matching the man's horrified screams and blood quickly covered the bed.

The demon ripped both the fetus and the heart of its victim and vanished from the hospital, leaving the only witness howling with fear and pain in a corner of the room. Avalon didn't even bother to erase his memory, for no one would believe the strange but horrible event the poor man witnessed.

Alicia couldn't sleep from the excitement so she decided to walk around the house admiring her precious treasures until she reached her parents old room. She stroked the back of the grimoire she carried in her hands, then knelt beside the hollow tile under which she found the old book of spells. Murmuring thanks to the grimoire, her fingers brushed the cover with the tender affection of a lover and after a goodbye kiss, she put it back where she found it. For the moment it wasn't needed anymore.

With one last glance at the tile, she entered her departed parents walking closet, which she had turned into a kind of safe, and spun around, laughing as a child in her favorite park. She looked at the table in front of her, where three million dollars in cash waited, then at the precious jewels stored behind glass on her left, and finally glanced to the exotic antiques scattered about the place; including an Egyptian sarcophagus of pure gold.

"I bring you good news, my lovelies," the girl exclaimed, her eyes shining with happiness. "Well, I actually bring you two news. There will be no one to take you away from me anymore! Lucero will disappear from my life very soon. Maybe she's disappearing at this very moment." She patted the sarcophagus, then went to the jewels and whispered to a diamond necklace. "That was the first, the second is that Avalon will join us starting from today. Isn't it exciting? It's only thanks to him that you are here so from now on I'll be able to bring you other siblings more often." The smile slowly disappeared from her face and her gaze became hollow. "No longer will I have to suffer shortages or poverty. All the luxuries of the world will be mine and no one will be able to deny anything ever again."

The need of getting everything her parents had denied her or couldn't afford that she had felt over the past few weeks, slowed down a bit with the expectation of having the genie of the bottle forever at her side. For the moment, happiness overshadowed her insatiable greed, yet she knew that once the novelty had passed, her longing for more fortune would return with the same force as before.

And her hands were itching, anxious that Avalon would return to complete their contract. She would only stay calm when the chains of the frightening, but sexy devil were handed to her, metaphorically speaking.

The brunette heard the neighbor's dogs barking and ran to find out what the fuss was about, not without locking both the walking closet and the bedroom. She peered through a window of the room, but only saw her urbanization's lonely street illuminated by light posts. Maybe it was just a cat that walked by. Frowning, she turned away from the window to leave the room but when she nearly hit a shadowy figure, a scream escaped her throat.

"Is that you, Avalon?" the girl asked in a trembling voice.

The creature in front of Alicia had dark gray skin with what looked like white tribal tattoos and the hair, black as night, was short above but long from its pointed ears down. Only the eyes were familiar to the young woman, bright yellow surrounded by a red sea.

"Of course," he replied, showing her a pair of long, perfectly white fangs. "Did you expect anyone else?"

"No, but I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"I haven't collected all that is owed to me." He took two steps forward as she backed away. "I must retrieve everything before the night comes again or I will not be able to do my part; and you don't want that, right?" The tall devil asked as he looked straight into her eyes and took two more steps foward.

Shaking her head, the girl tried to back away again, but found herself trapped between the window and the hungry demon in front of her.

"Will it hurt?"

"You will not even feel it," he said, licking his lips before shortening the distance between them and assaulting her lips possessively. She moaned, giving him the perfect opportunity to slide his tongue inside her mouth and explore her without any hurry. His hands roamed her, touching and caressing the feminine curves as the pieces of clothing dissolved in the air one by one.

Feeling her demon's kisses draw a path up her neck, Alicia gasped and moved her hips forward as his fingers slipped between the warm lips of her vagina. "Oh my God! I need more."

Following the girl's wishes, Avalon bit her neck. Ambrosia seemed to burst into his mouth as she moaned and rode his fingers in an absolute frenzy of pleasure. His brunette tasted delicious. It was like drinking a good whiskey by a lake during a red moon, absolute pleasure. Besides, he could taste a little magic in her blood, not enough to develop it, but enough to mark her as a descendant of his brother, Baphomet.

A human with witch lineage was a trivial creature to turn it into a familiar, but he knew how to exploit the little magic in the girl. When he finished with her, she would be as powerful as any of her oldest ancestors.

First step to achieve it: death.

Summoning a dagger in his free hand, Avalon let go of his "mistress's" neck and whispered her a few words in his demonic tongue. She moaned, increasing the speed of her movements until her muscles began to stiffen. Taking advantage of the impending orgasm of his future witch, he kissed her, and at the same time slipped the dagger between her ribs until it reached the heart. He heard her inhale deeply in surprise, but then silence seized the room. Alicia's body collapsed to the ground without her killer showing any interest in stopping her fall.

Only when he saw the ghost appear behind him did he deign to give an explanation for his actions. "Don't worry dear. Your wish that I were only and exclusively yours will be fulfilled, but not in the way you imagined," the High demon lord said, looking at the corpse before turning to face the ghost and laughing hard. "Rule number one of your new life: never trust a demon, Alicia, much less the Master of deception."