After thousands of years, Arthalax and Quazulin broke the seals on their crystals. While Melsuria envied them their slightly greater freedom, they were all still trapped within the outer sealing formation. She sensed the other two demons moving back and forth, as if pacing outside her crystal prison and those of the other three.

  Lacking anything else to do but with no sense of urgency, Melsuria slowly picked at the seal on her own crystal. It took ages before she was nearly free as well, for what little good it would do. She didn't fancy being in closer contact with the other two demons. Frankly, she was surprised that they hadn't torn each other apart by now. But then, she supposed that a demon of Murder and a demon of Hate were more compatible than most.

  There was no subtlety to either of their Concepts, really. Arthalax was a brute, plain and simple. Kill was almost the only word in his vocabulary. Quazulin's Concept was a little more detailed, but Hate was still fairly ...uncomplicated.

  Lust, on the other hand, had nuance. Sophistication. Taste. Pleasure could take a thousand forms. Cultivating it was a bit more work, to be sure. But the rewards were exquisite, and could be enjoyed again and again.

  I suppose every demon thinks that their Concept is the very best Concept.

  So things remained, with Melsuria patiently chipping away at her seal, until one day, suddenly, there was a flickering crackle of magic all around them.

  What is that? Are we finally being destroyed? Banished? Or...is the outer seal breaking by accident?

  Arthalax and Quazulin made such a disturbance racing back and forth that even the three sleeping below began to stir. Melsuria attacked her seal with new enthusiasm, looking and listening closely to her environment. It was the most excitement she had felt in millenia.

  The outer seal ruptured, then shattered entirely. Arthalax and Quazulin fled at once. The silence was deafening.

  Then, slowly, she began to sense the outer world once more.

  It was difficult; everything was still very muted. Still, it was a world of sensation compared to the void before, and infinitely better than those two spirals of negativity bouncing off her red crystal walls every other second. Melsuria hammered at her prison in desperation. Freedom was so close...!

  A few days later, she found her opportunity and seized it. Something caused the entire prison to lurch violently, and Melsuria struck at her weakened seal with all her might. The crystal cracked, fractured...and broke, just enough for her to work her way free.

  A host. Is there a host? she thought with desperate hunger. She could move on her own, but felt weak, fragile. She needed a protective shell of her own choosing, one she could leave at will.

  Someone was there, touching the prison, unguarded—a mortal. Melsuria hesitated, fearing the different kind of weakness that would follow. Possessing a host took time, and she would not even be aware for the first part of it. But after untold years of unrelenting consciousness and boredom, Melsuria dove into her new host, accepting the bliss and danger of temporary oblivion.

  ° ? ? ? °

  The demon woke slowly, hearing flashes of thought, flickers of sensation. Slowly, she grew more and more aware. She stepped quietly between memories, and tasted the sensations of her host. For the first time in centuries, she could see. For the first time in ages, she could hear.

  Her host was an elf woman—luckily not one of the resistant ones. The elf was actually a spell caster, which could have been troublesome if the mortal had been prepared—but fortunately, she was only half-trained, which was actually even better for Melsuria's purpose. Diavla Urula would be an excellent host.

  Melsuria linked herself to her host's soul, patiently beginning the process of taking control. It required a deft touch, particularly with the clever ones, and Diavla was very clever. But Melsuria had nearly endless experience, and had long since become a master of the art.

  The demon learned that Diavla was a bit of a cold fish—but that was easily fixable. A thought here, a feeling there...she could even draw upon the woman's own magic for strength. Too, the elf's body could stand some improvements in Melsuria's opinion, so she gave the elf powerful cravings to get the raw material needed. Fortunately, her host's recent history gave a clear excuse for overeating, and she had the means to indulge.

  More troublesome was Diavla's status as a slave, and the magical control collar. The slavery was more an annoyance than anything else; she could seduce the elf's way to freedom easily enough, given time. The collar was just an inconvenience that she could work around.

  Aside from that, everything went perfectly for days. She ignited her host's libido, and the elf immediately took a lover, giving Melsuria some desperately needed sustenance. Her host traveled with her Master to a large city, ripe for the harvesting. Melsuria watched the crowds hungrily through Diavla's eyes, tasting their emotions. Soon, she thought. Just a few more days, and I can start taking over the city.

  And then...

  Tom Walker—may he burn in the Core forever—called a mage in to inspect the prison. Despite no longer being inside, Melsuria knew she could be in trouble. When the prison was escorted by guards to the City Temple, Diavla was left caring for another elf, with instructions to bring her to the Temple later.

  Melsuria didn't have a good excuse for Diavla not to take Eubexa there as planned. She tried to influence Diavla, but the love-struck elf was too worried about her precious human and would not be dissuaded from following. And so her host carried her into the lion's den.

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  I was so close...! Melsuria wanted to rail at the unfairness of it all, but kept herself in check. The situation might yet be salvageable. Melsuria's need to know the situation nudged Diavla's curiosity, so the magic user cast a form of Sense Magic. That wariness saved her, when she and Diavla realized that the magic users were testing the elves one by one for demonic possession.

  Melsuria thought about fleeing, but didn't think she had enough control over Diavla yet to steer her and keep her moving while escaping a manhunt. She could leave Diavla, go without a host briefly, and possess someone else at random—the city was full of humans, who had little to no resistance. However, the Temple wards might prevent her from escaping the building, or possibly set off alarms that would cause the humans to lock down the city and hunt her.

  I have to hide.

  She had one other option. Transferring directly from one host to another, by touch, should fail to set off the wards. There was only one candidate, and fortunately she would not be aware—the sickly elf, Eubexa Corvolla. Melsuria heightened Diavla's anxiety, distracting her with irrational fears of being found out as a spellcaster. It served to mask Melsuria's thoughts of hiding as Diavla's own.

  She had just enough control over Diavla to make her reach out, pull up the invalid's sleeve, and grip her wrist, under the guise of taking Eubexa's pulse. Moving very carefully, so as not to alert the wary, worried elf, Melsuria gently released her grip on Diavla's soul, and took Eubexa as her new host.

  It was a terrifying gamble, to lose consciousness while inside a Temple full of clerics on the alert for demons. If they thought to test Eubexa for possession she would be discovered while helpless. But... it was her best chance. Rather than attempt to fight her way clear, Melsuria chose to throw the dice.

  It was far easier to possess the weakened elf, and less than a day passed before Melsuria woke. That alone meant she had survived—she had escaped detection. She had won her gamble.

  Rummaging through the elf's memories, she found that Eubexa's Master was planning to take her out of the city. That was good—they might avoid the demon hunters long enough for Melsuria to get well-established somewhere else. She reached out and took her first look through Eubexa's senses.

  ...What?

  WHAT?!?

  She couldn't believe it. It was the last thing in the world she would have expected.

  Why in the CORE is my host wearing a fucking ARTIFACT?!?

  The demon was outraged. She wasn't wearing that thing yesterday! Do they know? Was I discovered after all? Melsuria tried not to panic as she waited to better integrate with her host. She needed to find out whether she could work around the artifact or not. It took all her self-control not to let her emotions alert her host to her presence.

  Hours passed. Melsuria watched and listened, and began to hope. It gradually became clear that the mortals had no idea she was amongst them, which was a relief. She resolved herself to patience.

  After a day, she was strong enough to try influencing Eubexa.

  She failed.

  The necklace was interfering—it already had the control that Melsuria sought, and did not want to give it up. She was not yet strong enough to fight an artifact directly. At the moment, she was merely a passenger on a badly broken vessel.

  Again, she felt the start of panic, but disciplined herself. It's not that bad. I'll just leave and switch to another host—hopefully back to Diavla, she had real potential. I can simply try again. Melsuria was about to do so, when she sensed danger.

  Shit. Amulets of Protection From Demons.

  I'll have to be careful. If I brush up against them too hard, they'll be able to detect the drain on the magic. They probably won't be that diligent, but I have already been forced to take one dangerous gamble. I have waited thousands of years—I can wait a little longer. It will be safer to jump hosts with physical contact.

  ° ? ? ? °

  After a day of waiting, Melsuria realized with horror that Eubexa never touched anyone.

  The woman was terrified of spreading her disease, and took excessive precautions. Melsuria wanted to scream in frustration.

  This is ridiculous. This is absurd! This—one of the other demons must feed on humor, and contrived this new prison for me.

  Obviously, she would escape soon, one way or another. It was only a matter of time. But still, this situation—!

  The cautious path forward was to get stronger. Another attempt at working around the artifact showed Melsuria that she did have a little bit of influence over the sickly elf. Therefore, the simplest solution was to heal Eubexa. Once the host was healthy, the mortals would remove the artifact—and even if they didn't for some reason, Eubexa would be downright starved for touch, and the demon would have her pick of targets.

  Melsuria turned her attention to healing the elf, and was shocked at the mess she found. This host is nearly dead! Horribly disfigured, severely diseased, half-starved...and is that a broken foot? The demon rummaged through Eubexa's memories, learning the elf's tale of woe...as well as some interesting details. But, those would have to wait.

  With a mental sigh, Melsuria got to work. All right, first, a voracious appetite, especially for meat...

  ° ? ? ? °

  Her host was reading a book in Western, one of two languages the elf thought in. It was also the language she heard most often back in the city, so the demon was glad that her new host spoke it better than Diavla had. Melsuria paid very close attention—the book's title was On Hunting Demons.

  The elf was out of practice reading, and the demon did her best to distract or tire the invalid. Melsuria watched carefully—she might have to try to influence Eubexa to skip a passage or forget it, if the information was too dangerous. Fortunately, the writer did not know everything about demons, and not everything they said was accurate. What was true was damaging enough, however.

  Melsuria finally caught a break when the cursed human told a funny story. Eubexa actually laughed—doing so tore tissues inside the frail elf's gut, and opened a couple of sores. The elf had a very high pain tolerance, but that was too much for her, so she asked her Master to use the artifact to reduce her pain further.

  Finally, the pain was down to a reasonable level, and Melsuria was able to put Eubexa to sleep whenever she tried to read the dangerous book. This also helped speed up the healing. Even so, it would be quite some time yet before she could finish curing her host.

  Melsuria was feeding every night, now, and gaining strength. Her host's language skills gave something of an excuse for her to lurk nearby when her companions were full of delicious lust. Eubexa knew that she was getting stronger, healthier, but didn't yet realize the extent of it. The clothing and veil would serve to hide the changes from the others as well.

  The next time Eubexa pulled out the book, Melsuria sent her a wave of exhaustion and a strong desire to sleep. The sick elf stubbornly resisted, slamming the book closed. Then Eubexa thought, very loudly,

  < Demon? We should talk, don't you think? >

  Melsuria was surprised. After a moment, she got over it and wanted to laugh.

  Well, this should be very interesting...