The sun has disappeared behind the horizon and through the window of her house, Miss Herz couldn’t help herself and a small sigh released herself from her mouth, watching the cloudless night sky and its many twinkling stars had always been a way for her to temporarily forget her stress and struggles and simply admire the beauty of the world she lived in, it had been an terribly stressful day and she truly needed this simple moment of calm and quite to get her body and mind in a more peaceful state, she knows she would need it shortly.

She felt a light tuck at her side, her youngest daughter looking up to her with her eyes already half closed, she could easily she that it took every once of willpower of her to not fall into the deep allure of sleep right here and now.

“M-mommy, I luw youuuu…"

Just as the words left her mouth, her eyes closed as well and Miss Herz gently sat her hand upon her daughters head, slowly and lovingly stroking her daughters hair, for a moment she couldn’t help but feel envious of her daughters abilities to be so perfectly innocent and sweet, she herself had never had that opportunity herself after all.

But just as quick as the thought appeared, it vanished, replaced by unending love she had for her children, she was beyond thankful that she had the opportunity to make all of this happen in the first place, for the first time in her life she had made the decision she actually wanted to make, free from her fathers ever encompassing presence and the influence of those people that surround him on a daily basis, she remembers the time he wasn’t at the top, the time he simply was her father and nothing else, a happy time.

Only after she felt something wet hit her knees did she stop reminiscing of her old days with her father, taking her fingers to her eyes she wiped away the few tears that had formed, it had been a few years already, but of course she couldn’t get over his end yet, he had turned into a horrible person over time and yet, she just couldn’t stop herself could she?

She got up from her kneeling position and dusted herself off before checking to make sure that both of her daughters were fully asleep, once she was certain that both were deep inside their slumber she let out a sigh of relief, she was finally done with the days activities and could finally relax both her body and mind, or at least she wanted to, but once she silently closed the bedroom door behind her and stepped into the dark hallway beyond she was reminded by the flickering candle lights in the kitchen, that she wasn’t alone.

Steeling her nerves she began her walk towards the kitchen where she was greeted by a small person with crimson red eyes staring directly at her a small smile on their lips, the cup of tea sitting before them completely untouched.

She knew that kind of smile well, she saw it everywhere back home and made use of it herself on the regular, a false smile holding no warmth at all, the kind of smile you gave to the person you hated but weren’t allowed to make it known, this only pilled up on the mountain of caution and concern she felt towards that person, she didn’t know why, but whenever she looked at them, for bit a brief moment she saw a whirlwind of darkness surrounding them and whenever the person spoke a chill of unease washed over her, it reminded her of what her husband once told her, he called it "Danger sense" and he described it as a chill down his spine whenever she was in the presence of someone with malicious intent.

She made her away across the room and sat herself down opposite to the person, for a moment both simply stared at each other, crimson red eyes staring into dark green ones, neither of them moved a muscle, and neither spoke a word, until the strangers smile grew just a bit more, revealing sharp teeth for but a few moments of a moment. 

When the stranger finally spoke it sounded wrong in her mind, the words spoken carried warmth and curiosity but underneath there was an endless void, even when she had spoken to those evil ministers and corrupt officials the void of there words was still tangible, and to an extent, understandable, but this?

This was the endless abyss.

"I have to thank you again for taking me in after I appeared so out of nowhere Miss Herz and I apologise for taking away your time of sleep right now as well, if it weren’t for my desperate situation, I would bestow many gifts upon you as a way to apologies for my timing, but alas…"

They were trying to get sympathy, she was able to spot that from miles away, but the question was if they were lying or not, that she couldn’t decipher simply because she lacked any actual knowledge, when they first talked back when they first appeared along her children, she simply stated she was wandering aimlessly and stumbled across her children by mere accident, when questioned further all they would state is that they had stumbled into the forest around a week ago and that they were simply happy to have finally found other people again.

For now, she believes that caution, but no outright rejection might just be the safest option, until her husband arrived at least, he had sent her a messaging bird saying that he would be delayed, but that he wouldn’t stop to rest until he was finally back in her arms.

That had been but a few hours before the sun had disappeared, so he should be home soon, and with him by her side she wouldn’t have to be worried anymore, he could And most definitely would protect her if it came to anything more unpleasant.

"You don’t need to worry, from what you have already told me I can grasp your situation well enough to understand that you simply wish to feel safe after traversing the forest for so long, but I hope you understand that I simply cannot allow just anyone to sleep within my home, once you require sleep, I will have to direct you towards the Inn deeper into our village, I‘m sure they will allow your stay even if you lack any financial means, once you explain your situation."

She watched her opponent in this duel of words carefully, trying to find any sort of reaction to her words, she basically just told this person that she didn’t trust them and she didn’t want them in her house after all, she wanted some sort of explanation for her feeling of unease when around this person and a hostile reaction to her words could reveal things she needed, but much to her annoyance, what she was met with only increased her feeling of unease even more, a simple chuckle.

"Oh please, I didn’t, no, couldn’t expect something like this from you. You mustn’t worry at all, I both understand and respect your concern, after all I am just a complete stranger, your reluctance and scrutiny of me is more then deserved, for all you knew I could have burned down an entire village before!"

She picked something up, a simple raise in tone, as if she was telling an inside joke, she made a note of that.

"At the end of the day, you never truly know anyone right? We simply put our trust in those we think are trustworthy, but you never can truly know what someone is hiding deep beneath their shell…" Suddenly the strangers gaze turned away from her and towards the hallway behind her, towards her children’s rooms, there it lingered for longer then it should.

Maybe it was her general unease, maybe it was the stress of her day, or maybe it were her maternal instincts that awakened in her when she believed her children were being threatened, whatever the reason, in that moment she was filled with unbelievable rage and anger and with a low growl she slammed her hand onto the table in front of her, making it crack with the force and sending splinters through the air, some of which seemingly stabbed the stranger, who turned to her in surprise.

The moment the strangers eyes landed back on her, the anger And Rage she had felt reseeded, but notably it didn’t vanish immediately, she could still feel it in her mind, demanding of her to kill this threat and to protect her children, but she ignored it for now, as she was stammering multiple attempts at an apology for her outburst, the fact she was so unnerved by this person‘s mere presence, that her more… primal instincts could flare up like this was extremely concerning, since she had not lost control over them since she was a child.

The stranger, for their part, simply looked at her in shock and surprise, but that surprise slowly faded into interest and then slowly into something much more sinister along with a dark smirk that for the briefest of moments, revealed once again those sharp teeth.

Miss Herz stopped her ramblings, when she heard another chuckle, but this time it was different, it send another tingle of dread down her spine, she shut up and simply watched as the stranger simply stood up, their red eyes boring I to her very being.

"I guess I overstayed my welcome, I am deeply sorry for that Miss Herz. I will take my leave for now, I wish you a most restful sleep tonight! I‘m going to guess it will be the best you will experience in the foreseeable future, so you better savour it to the fullest!"

Just as the stranger reached her homes door, the stranger turned one last time, revealing a smile on their lips.

"We never truly know what’s beneath a person‘s shell, any person could be hiding something under there, but as a small tip from me to you, most people reveal what‘s beneath when strong emotions take over, so if you wish to continue to hide your secrets, you better take this to heart and you should teach those children of yours the dangers of a stranger, otherwise they might just reveal their secrets to someone dangerous."

And with that, the stranger left and to Miss Herz it felt like a gigantic Boulder had been taken off of her shoulders and she slumped in her chair, her mind however was still on high alert, as she continues to ponder that last bit the stranger said before leaving, there was clearly much deeper meaning behind those words, for a moment, a truly terrifying thought entered her mind.

Did she perhaps know what they truly were?!

The idea alone send her entire body into a frenzy of fear and adrenaline, if they were found out by either side they would most definitely hunt them down for the rest of their existence until they were dead or maybe even worse! Of course that fear left her soon after, there was no way she knew the truth, if the high priest of the elves couldn’t see through their protection, why should this stranger be able to? 

"That would be utterly ridiculous that this strange nobody somehow found out we are…"

—————————————————————————————

"A family of demons hiding amongst a human village, why it almost reminds me of my time in that one village, Queltum or something?“

Hanna muttered under her breath as she walked across the village square, with all the stalls of the vendors vacant and every light in every house having been extinguished, she was walking through complete darkness, not that that hindered her in any particular way, but it was still rather annoying, she might be able to see in the dark, but that doesn’t mean she could see as well as she did in light.

She walked in no particular direction, her body simply walking forward as her mind continuously goes over the past few hours, an overprotective demon mother living in an, from what she has heard and seen at least, isolated human village in the middle of a forest, with her family while hiding her true identity and while she had no true evidence she also believed that the mind altering protection spell over her children also originate from her.

But some unanswered questions still remained And As much as she wanted to try and figure them out right now, she knew she simply couldn’t, the mother made her stance on her presence very clear and Hanna doesn’t doubt that she might try and convince the other villagers to kick her out.

Hanna wasn’t really all that concerned about that tho, as long as she kept her head low enough, the villagers had no reason to kick her out, if anything she might get sympathy points for her 'terrible' circumstances, it’s not like they could prove otherwise.

Now all that’s left to do was to come up with a plan.

As she continuously walked through the darkness of the sleeping village, she soon found her self at the edge of the village, where she saw many lights flickering in the darkness, seemingly making their way towards the village, looking around, Hanna saw no night guards or anything similar, this village clearly thought themselves far to save, she was rather sure that these people don’t even lock their own doors at night, a theory she will test another night, but for right now she decides to simply watch what is about to unfold, this village was certainly far more entertaining then the last she had lived in.

She walked off the village’s dirt path and hid in the dark shadows of the trees nearby, hopefully concealing her self from the light once they reached the villages edge.

Once she believed herself properly concealed in the foliage she waited and soon enough she could hear the sounds of heavy boots and hooves, looking out from her hiding place she could spot many men in armor surrounding a large wagon, which was pulled by two horses, inside the wagon she could spot a large wooden box, sealed off from the outside world, except for a small window with iron bars.

The contents of the box was rather obvious to Hanna, but what puzzles her was the amount of security surrounding it, these clearly weren’t the simple conscripted town or city guards, these were proper knights with shining armor and polished swords and spears, so the prisoner was clearly really important and, or dangerous, but if that was the case, why bring them here, into this isolated village?

She heard a few noises, probably words, but she simply couldn’t make out what was being said, then she could hear someone running and soon enough a man was running by her field of vision, he wore a simple cloak that hid most of his features and he was smaller then all the guards Hanna had seen transporting the prisoner and if he carried a weapon, it was concealed by his cloak, by all accounts there was nothing remarkable about him, but the moment Hanna laid eyes upon him, her entire body tensed up and she was hit with a wave of nausea and anger.

The man suddenly stopped and looked in her direction for a moment, Hanna quickly took a few steps backwards to better hide in the darkness of the trees and bushes surrounding her, but with every moment this man was in her line of sight the feelings inside of her got worse and worse and she felt an strong urge to both jump at the man and tear him to shreds, and to vomit everything inside of her onto the floor.

Hanna laid her self and clenched her entire body together, not notching that she was cutting into her own hand in the process, causing black droplets of her blood to fall onto the ground and disintegrating the grass, leaves and breaches wherever they fell.

"Hero Hendrik is something matter?"

"No it’s al right, I guess I got scared by an animal running through the bushes, bring the prisoner to the guards house, it will be near the river, then you can all get your well deserved sleep. And stay on guard, I feel something truly dangerous is lurking!"

With those words the cloaked man continued his sprint towards the deeper parts of the village and soon Hanna lost sight of The man, his quick steps leading deeper into the village getting quieter by the second And Hanna soon started to feel less and less nauseous The farther away he went, however her anger and frustration lingered like a hot flame, she will need something to release these frustrations soon.

The sudden sounds of horse hooves and the rumbling of a wagon was what got her out of her inner musings and it gave her a most perfect idea, because surly these people wouldn’t truly mind losing this prisoner no?

With a new plan on how she would spend the rest of night, she began to follow the prisoner convoy, stying in the nearby bushes for as long as she could and once that option was gone, staying in the dark places between the different houses and barns.

They went like this through the entirety of the village and playing this cat and mouse like game really wasn’t helping with elevating Hanna‘s burning anger and hatred, she doesn’t know why she suddenly felt like this or why, but it was rather similar to the feeling she had when she first saw the children’s true forms, so clearly there was some connection there, she just didn’t know how they actually connected, not that Hanna was actually thinking about it in the moment, right now there was only one thing on her mind.

And luckily for her, her patience was about to be rewarded, as she finally spotted the wagon near the river next to a small wooden shack, into which the two horses were being led by a single man, while the rest were busy transporting the wooden box into a nearby wooden hut, the roof of the box just barley passing through the hut‘s entrance.

Hanna slowly made her way forward, trying to stay hidden as best as possible while also getting closer to her target, it was risky and unnecessary, she knew that, but the burning inside of her demanded of her to get there as fast as possible and to kill whatever was in sight, if she didn’t edge closer she fears she would lose control completely.

The men finally left both the shed and the hut, they all had tired postures, clearly exhausted, clearly they wished for nothing more then to simply fall onto a bed and sleep for the next 10 hours or so, and yet they lingered around the hut, talking, or maybe it was arguing? It didn’t matter to Hanna as she simply saw another thing that made her frustrations rise to higher levels, she knows she shouldn’t risk attacking such a large group of professional soldiers, but it was growing ever more difficult to control her self, there was a need inside of her and it wasn’t going to sit down and remain docile for much longer.

She sneaked even closer, so much so that she could make out what the soldiers were talking about.

"Come on, this is by far the most isolated and peaceful village in the entire kingdom, there is no way anything is going to happen."

"But Hero Hendrik said…", the other soldier was quickly interrupted by his colleagues.

"Hero Hendrik‘s family is living here, of course is a bit more skirmish, he just wants to protect his family. And hey, I‘m not saying it’s a bad thing or anything, but instilling paranoia into us to keep his family save is a bit much, this is by far the safest place in the kingdom other then the royal place itself, stop being so paranoid and come get your sleep."

"I‘ve been with the hero on the frontlines you know, whenever he said he felt something dangerous, there was something dangerous we couldn’t take on, one time he said something dangerous was lurking in the ground below us and once we re located our camp up a few nearby hills, the entire ground below us erupted into pillars of flames, You can get your well deserved rest, but I will listen to the Hero and keep a dutiful eye open."

The solider he had been arguing with released a large sigh before finally agreeing to the others demand and soon he and all the other solider left into the deeper parts of the village, with the single brown haired soldier remaining near the hut, a torch and spear in his hands.

How fortunate! She could get to let out her frustrations on two people instead of one!

Hanna stacked forward a self satisfied smile on her lips, her eyes focused on her next victim.