The Underworld, a place that no living human ever dares to go, a place that no living human even can't enter. This dark abyss can be described in various ways, but let's just say it is the most horrible experience there is.

I have been here for over 2000 years, and frankly it kinda becomes a bore to be here now. I have already achieved everything I have. I am the count, the president, the leader. I have so many under my control that there's just no challenge anymore.

Boris sits down on his throne and supports his head with his arm. He looks down to a whirlpool-like mirror on the ground and waves with his other hand. His army is displayed slaying yet another colony in the Underworld, he dismisses the view. He sighs and looks to the ceiling.

"I wonder what's above. They say the Middleworld is a place with many being called humans. Unfortunately I only see these creatures after they die... they aren't worth much then, just aimless souls without purpose."

]somewhere in a deep and old forest located in the human realm, a young wich wishes for the impossible. she wishes to summone one of the 72 rulers of the underworld to aid her in her fight against the witch hunters.

-daytime human realm

Ciara looks at the two little devils that have a contract to her. Surgat and Cherub where as always enyoing the sweets she made for them.
''devils sure have a sweet tooth'' she said while patting the head of Surgat and Cherub. ''you two are so cute'' she said smiling.

'' we are not cute, we are devils. Evil beings who kill a lot'' Surgat said while showing of his little claws.

''yes, very dangerous evil beings indeed'' Ciara awnserd Surgat and gave him another cookie wich he rapidly devoured.

'' wich reminds me, mistress there is another war in the underworld'' Cherub said while nibbeling on a lollipop.
''it seems a colonly is wiped out again''

Ciara grabbed her mothers grimmoire and sat down. She hated the wars that were going on down there. The colony of Surgat and Cherub was destroyed the same way. Ciara looked outside and sighed.

''maybe we can add another little devil to our family, like I did with you two'' Ciara said and walked towards the shelf in her house to grab the salt. Salt was used to trap a demon because they just hated the taste of it.

''if mistress hadn't summoned us during the time we were attacked we whould have died as well'' Surgat awnserd and he brought his mistress head jewel.

'' thank you Surgat'' Ciara said and she put it on her head. She also opend the bag of salt, drew a circle on the floor and put white candles around the place .

'' O Solomon, make of this circle a gate wich shall trap your humble subject'' Ciara chanted as she drew a pentagram in the circle.

'' O five pointed star, be the guide for he who is lost'' Ciara said continuing her chant.

Cherub handed her a knife wich she unsheated. slowly she put the knife against the palm of ther hand and cut it too deep. She wimperd and cursed in her mind for not being carefull enough. She would have a heavy blood loss if she didn't stopped the bleeding soon. Ciara pulled her mind back towhat she was doing and continued her spell.

'' O red blood of the maiden, may this red blood be the chain wich binds you to me'' she waved her hand above the pentagram and her blood flew of her hand. The moment her blood touched the ground her eye's turned red marking the beginning of the summoning. She felt an incerdible force pulling her into the darkness, she knew that this was not a low level devil like Surgat or Cherub. This summoning was taking a heavy toll on her body, this was going very very wrong.

''Cherub hand me that flower now'' Ciara yelled and she pointed towards the white lilly standing on the table. Cherub quickly grabbed the flower and flew over. Ciara grabbed the flower and trew it on the pentagram. It didn't purefied the pentagram like she hoped it would.

''Surgat I need uranium in a lead case, grab it fromt the gemstone shelf'' Ciara gave a quick order. She felt like a snake was wrapping itself around her body, and she knew it could kill her. All of the sudden a feeling of being bitten was felt, two red dots appeared on her arm. She had been bitten by something.

'' Surgat!'' Ciara yelled.

'' here it is mistress'' Surgat said as he jumped over her and dropped the lead case from his mouth.

A big flash followd wich forced Ciara to close her eyes. She took a deep breath and chanted the words she felt appearing in her mind.

''Master of venom,
Count of hell,
Owner of the 17th lesser key of Solomon,
Heed my name, for I shall be your mistress,
Brandish your sword,
Make it protect,
What I hold dear, ''

Botis was still sitting, filled with boredom, in his throne, looking over the lands in front of him. He yawned. He then suddenly saw a pentagram appear underneath him, glowing brightly red, hurting Botis eyes as he covers them with his hands. The red light shines so bright he isn't able to see anything and he feels like he is ascending but descending at the same time.

Botis opens his eyes again revealing his crimson eyes that stare deep into the environment. He is surprised as he sees that he is in the Underworld no more. He find himself in a dim lit place standing in the middle of an used summoning pentagram. It was done nicely, but there was no way such a weak summoning could have summoned him. He was shocked.

He looked in front of him and saw a woman standing there, accompanied by two smaller demons, ones that he would use as slaves if they were his. A maiden with long brunette hair who seemed to wear the attire of a caster. She was a stunning woman to look at, but alas mortal. She looked very young to already be doing these kind of summonings and definitively felt confusion from her side as well, as he still stared deep into her eyes. The same could be said for her minions, if they were not scared even more.

"Who hat dare to summon me, Count Botis! President and Earl of Hell?"

He said, raising his arms, with a deep and almighty voice still keeping his eyes focused on the maiden's eyes.

"Art thou me master?"

He said with a medieval language as a way of sounding more demonic and ancient than he actually wants to appear as. He lowered his arms awaited the answer of the maiden.

For a moment Ciara looked stunned as to what, or who in this case, had appeared infront of her. Never before had she succesfully summoned a demon with a human apearance. It has always been the bat like Cherub or the cat like Surgat type of demons who heeded her call.

Art thou me master?

He had said to her, and now that demon was staring into her red eye's. She wonderd if she had seen it right throught all that smoke, his true appearance. Was it that of a snake? that would explain the bite marks on her arm. But she couldn't believe it, that his man with his pitch black hair and eye's that looked like a fire was ineed a real demon.

The longer Ciara looked into the man's eye's the more lost she felt.

''Mistress!''Cherub yelled as he grabbed her arm. Pain shot through her as she rememberd that she had been bitten by this demon. she fell to her knees and tears appeared in the corners of her eye's. The bite mark was burning, his poison spreading.

''mistress get away from him, he is count Botis. he is a very dangerous demon'' Cherub cried and his friend Surgat joined him clinging on her other arm.

''mistress, he will kill you. Steal your soul. please mistress run away''

All of the sudden Ciara rememberd her mothers words.

''demons will never obey anyone weaker than them. be strong''

''I can not very well abondon a demon I summoned, Cherub, Surgat thank you for your concern. Now hide please'' Ciara said petting the heads of her demons.

With that in her mind Ciara stood up and wiped away her tears. She looked again at the demon standing infront of her, took a deep breath and opend her mouth.

''I am your mistress, welcome to my familly count Botis''

The little demon snatched at Botis, which annoyed him like hell, literally. He looked down at the little runt demon.

"Know your place."

He heard the little one warn Ciara for his immense strength, it was no surprise that the smaller demons knew him. But instead Ciara warned them to get back as she would take Botis head on, which surprised him and he found some respect in her for doing so. Nonetheless Botis looked down on the woman. She looked young, too young to be the master of such a demon at the level I am myself. Botis sighed and went with his hand through his hair and shrugged. He approached Ciara till he was only a few decimeters away from her.

"So what makes you worthy of being my mistress? Why would I want to join this family?" he smiled. "You know that I take a lot of energy to control, are you able to manage to control me, the great and mighty Botis?" he questioned her.

He glanced at the two little demons, who crawled back.

"And let me be clear. If I have to obey those little runts, then I'm done."

Ciara looked at count Botis, never breaking eye contact. He was right, she knew she could never handle the enormus energie that it takes to summon him.

''I know you are right count Botis, But you have appeared infront of me for a reason. I am far from being a perfect witch or a conjurer, but.....but I care for my demons. thus so to say, I will also care for you''

Ciara hoped that Botis could stay with her, for some reason she felt very safe with his presence here.

''I hoped we could make a deal'' Ciara said brave, knowing very well he would take her soul if she made a mistake in laying down the rules of this deal.

''can you for now, use half of your power to help me transport you to the human world. I promis I will do anything to improve my powers until I can conjure you myself. And in return I will care for you, show you the middelworld'' She hoped, with all her heart that he would accept.

''and also I can make excelent sweets if I say so myself. I will let you enjoy them whenever you want. So...." she hesitated for a moment before speaking the words.

''accept me as your mistress''

Botis listened to everything Ciara had to say. She admitted she was still young and inexperienced, or at least not as good as the most famous witches and conjurers around. But through all of that she sounded wise for her age and experience. And to add to that she was a lovely sight to look upon, which pleased Botis, it had been a long time since he had seen such a young and beautiful human woman.

Botis sighed as Ciara explained that he would need to use his power to summon himself to the middleworld. But somehow it didn't bother him as much anymore. He seemed intrigued by the approach Ciara took, it was one he had never seen before, one filled with determination.

"So you expect me to summon myself? Jeez that is really a drag."

He broke eye contact by closing his eyes to think. He opened his eyes again and looked at Ciara with a big smile, one that really seemed like a friendly and accepting smile, yet also had a creepy undertone to it.

"I guess it will be interesting to see you develop into a powerful witch, and with my influence you might even become the best. Thus with that said, I, the great Count Botis, president and earl of Hell, will accept you as my mistress."

He grabbed the hand of Ciara and kissed it.

"May it be my honor."

Ciara's face flushed bright red when Botis's his lips touched the skin of her hand. Never before had she been treated this way by a man. Alright Botis was a demon and it was probably just a greeting, but nevertheless she felt her heart skip a beat. She hoped that the demon didn't notice it. Ciara fought her reflex to pull back her hand as he slowly pulled his lips of her hand and said.

''may it be my honor''

Ciara stood still when she heard Botis say those words.

''really'' she slowly said.

'' you will really accept me as your mistress'' she said more enthausiast, this almost felt like the time she summoned her first familliar. The excitement, the happynes because you had made a contract. Her hearbeat sped up.

Before she knew it Ciara trew her arms around Botis's neck and hugged him.

''thank you'' she wisperd as her body shocked. Ciara felt the strenght compleatly leaving her body and clung to Botis.

''count...your...poison'' Ciara mutterd as she lost her footing.

through all the excitement she had forgotten that she got bitten during the summoning. His poison was spreading through her veins. Altough the bitemark could serve as a great link between the two of them, it was now a danger to Ciara's mortal life. She had pretended to be stong in order to win his favor, and now that she had it she could stop acting strong.

''you....bit...me...'' She said while falling to the floor breating heavy.

Botis was startled when Ciara suddenly hugged him, he didn't expect his mistress to be so... attached immediately. He didn't hug her back and stood there awkward when he suddenly saw her collapse to the ground. When Botis was summoned he was still in his vicious viper form before transforming into a man, and out of instinct bit, and poisoned, the one closest to him, Ciara.

He had already forgotten that such a thing happened. Botis shook his head and sighed.

"You really aren't the best sorceress around. The ones I had met had healing abilities that could make my poison not fatal. Of course nobody ever managed to get the poison out that well..."

He looked to the ground where he saw Ciara almost taking her last gasp of air. He chuckled and picked her up in his two strong and firms arms and laid her down on the nearest table.

"I almost already forgot you were dying."

Botis continued by sticking his fangs inside of the bitemark left on Ciara and sucked out all of the poison. Extracting the poison would cause pain to Ciara, but at least it was better than her immediately dying. After all she could potentially become the greatest sorceress of all the realms... or at least this one.

"You should be save now. So mistress, what would you like me to do next?"

He said with anticipation of what great plans his mistress held for him, or not.

Ciara sat up on the table after Botis had sucked out the poison from her body. She still felt a little faint, but eventhoug she felt like that she still set her foot on the wooden floor.

''Surgat, get me my wand please'' Ciara said and still supported herself on the edge of the table.

''here you go mistress''

''Thank you Surgat'' Ciara said as she grabbed the wand from Surgat's paw. Ciara then put the end of the wand on her skin and drew a circle around the bite mark that Botis had left her. That wound would be the connection between the two of them, he had inflicted a change in the human realm by biting her. With that on her she could forge a link and trap Botis within the contract between the two of them. By Surgat and Cherub she had drawn the circles in het grimmoire, but with botis she had to have something stronger to bind them than paper. And noting beats blood with the forging of a bond.

''copularentur, quod nusquam expugnari possit '' She spoke as she drew the last lines of the pentagram on her skin. It flashed bright red as the lines burned into her skin. Ciara felt the pain that forged the connection between Botis and her.

''Count Botis,'' Ciara begon.

'' for now I want for you to protect me, Surgat, Cherub and any additions to this family or anyone whom I see as a friend. Not to needlesly kill humans and..'' Ciara paused before she continued.

''to wait patiently for another 3 houres while I bake a cake to celebrate the new addition to our family'' Ciara said smiling and in the backgound Surgat and Cherub where cheering.

Botis closed his eyes as Ciara sealed their deal. They were now connected as mistress and demon. It was weird for Botis, who was such a powerful demon to have a contract with a mere human like her. A woman who only has an average magic understanding. But like he kept telling himself that it would be a challenge for him, and that, with his help, she could become the best.

She told him to protect her and the other members of the family. He sighed. "If you say so my mistress I will do. But may I ask what cake is? It has been a long time that I have been in this realm whilst not having to slay the souls of human."

Ciara looked at Botis with a suprise, and behind her Surgat and Cherub stared at the almighty demon lord.

'' you have never heard of cake before, count Botis?'' Ciara asked him.

''then you are in for a treat Count, Mistress her cake is the best I have ever tasted'' Cherub said.

''it is the best, very sweet'' Surgat said supporting his friends meaning.

Ciara held her hand before her mouth to hide a smile and giggled out loud.

'this demon looks dangerous but he may turn out to be kinda cute' she thought

''cake is like a very sweet bread, and I put all kinds of sweet fruits in it. it depends on what I can find in the forest or what I can speed grow in my garden. But for today how about we go and take the strawberry's and blueberry's for the cake'' Ciara said happy.

''can you two get them from the greenhouse for me, just sprinkle this powder on the fruits to make them ripe enough'' and as Ciara said that Surgat and Cherub took of with the powder and towards the greenhouse.

''Count Botis, can you get me a bag of flouwer from the attic?, it's a bit to heavy for me''

Botis listened to the explanation about cake, it was a strange concept to him but may be a more sweeter and tasteful version of a simple bread from what he concluded. He was excited to eat some cake, but hid that excitement from Ciara, after all he didn't want to show any soft side of himself, at least not yet at this point.

Cake seemed to be a thing that was commonly done by humans, a simple for of magic he supposed or possible that 'science' thing he once heard about, although cake may have been around for longer than he knows. Nonetheless it filled him with bittersweet determination. When he heard Ciara say to the little demons to use magic on fruit to make it ripe he was surprised. Never had he seen someone applying magic for such a silly thing. He was then requested by his mistress to get the bag of flouwer from the attic. At least he knew what flouwer was.

"Yes my lady." he said and bowed.

He probably didn't have to be so formal for such a silly request, but did so anyway for a reason he couldn't think of. He strolled to the attic and fetched the bag of flouwer to hand it over to his mistress. As was said was done and his mistress had the flouwer to prepare her cake.

"Something else you require... mistress?"

Ciara giggled when Botis said 'my lady' it reminded her of that strong hand wrapped around her own childish hand that led her away from the fire wich her mother burned in.

''Dantalion'' she wisperd as Botis came back fromt he attic.

''thank you count Botis, but for now I have everything I need. If you want to you may explore the house'' Ciara said as she looked around. She loved her house, and it loved her in return. The house was made from a very old tree, a oak who has is own will. She stumbled upon it when she fled from the witch hunter, it shelterd and protected her. Ciara asked the tree if she could live within him and he agreed. Taking in not only the young witch, but her little demon’s as well.
The living room was made of the roots that connected together forming walls, there were window's though. The sunlight shined bright through it giving warmt to the tree house.

'' If you go up the other stairs than to one you just took you will find a house build around the branches. You are allowed to enter every room, except for the the one at the end besides my own room. I have put up a barrier so that the little ones can’t enter it, but I think you could just break it all that easy. So I ask of you not to enter that room okay’’

‘’oh and you can choose a room for yourself as well, there are plenty of them. And beware of the house, if it doesn’t like yo uit will hit you with a branch or something’’ Ciara smiled while she grabbed the neccesary goods for a cake.

A lot of information was thrown at the demon. Botis just shrugged as if he didn't care and went off to explore the house. He hoped not to run into one of the little munchkins that were probably roaming in the corridors of this nature house. He was quite fascinated by the interior and respected that everything was made out of nature elements. Would she have done this with magic as well, was a thought that passed his mind.

He was quickly done looking at the first floor and ascended to the second one, by simply using the stairs however. As he did he wondered why he was still here? Why would he have to choose a chamber in this house? Couldn't he just go back to his own realm and be summoned by Ciara when he was needed? He never received this kind of kindness from any of his previous masters, most of the times just being used as a war machine.

As he reached the upper floor he quickly was drawn to the forbidden room, next to Ciara's own bedroom. He examined the barrier set up to protect the room from the little munchkins, it was indeed weak, but strong enough to hold the little ones off. He placed his hand on the barrier and cracked it a bit, but quickly retreated his hand, he had to respect his mistress orders. Instead he entered Ciara's room. It was just like he imagined, a spiritual room with lots of crafty things. The vibe did emit that it indeed was a girl's room, yet didn't seem girlish. He smiled and left the room, feeling a little bit uncomfortable to stand in it.

He passed the rooms of Cherub and Surgat, totally uninterested. He entered a room which has basic furniture installed, but had nothing personalized, obvious and empty chamber for another demon. He was disappointed that all the rooms were the same size, he felt that he deserved a bigger room than the others. After all, he was superior to them in any way, and even in some aspects to his own mistress. He headed down again and saw Ciara in the kitchen. He didn't make note of the small rooms, and would save it for if she brought up the subject. However he was bored.

"Mistress. What do you human usually do for amusement here? I assume there isn't a way to look at villages being destroyed or something?"

Ciara dropped her spoon and grabbed her chest as she felt a small 'pang' go through her. She grinned as she realized Botis had ineed tried to crack the barrier but stopped at breaking it. She quickly mended it and continued pouring the cake mix into the cake form. She was just about to place it in the stove when she heard Botis coming down again.

"Mistress. What do you human usually do for amusement here? I assume there isn't a way to look at villages being destroyed or something?" he said as he came down the stairs.

''destroyed?'' she said shocked.

''but count, why would you call that entertainment. it is horrible seeing a village being destroyed. The flames, the screams its...'' Ciara said looking out of the window, as a very old and very deeply buried memorie found it way to the survace. The smell of wood burning, the screams of childeren and elderly.

''anyway, its no fun seeing that. are there other places you would like to see? we have another 2 houres before the cake is ready'' she proposed to him.

'' without the little ones ofcourse. you don't like them that much right?

Botis laughed to how Ciara reacted to his way of amusement. But he noticed that she was dealing with something, as if such an event happened to herself. He would make sure not to bring it up again. His laugh thus quickly rested and he became somewhat more serious.

"If it would comfort you, it were small villages inhabited by demons. I rarely got to look at the surface in my years of absence." he said.

Botis thought about the request that his mistress had laid out before him. Where would he want to go? It was a hard question for one who doesn't know how anything works in the surface. His only appearances on the surface was to create complete chaos on it and, yeah demolish his enemies. He always was victorious, but he couldn't even imagine what he could do here in leisure time.

"Uhm... I really don't know mistress. Why don't you show me how the outside world looks nowadays, it is something I have been curious about ever since you summoned me here."

''alright. wanna vistit a town nearby, I do not vistit it that often but a few townspeople come by from time to time'' Ciara said and she grabbed her wand.

''transformatio additiones'' Ciara said while pointing her wand at herself. She transformed her red and black dress to a simple green dress with a brown corset. Her red eye's became brown again. Ciara nodded in aproval as she looked at herself in the mirror. She went to a shelf and grabbed a white ribbon, braided her hair so she looked decent in a human's eye.

''Surgat, Cherub. I'm going out with count Botis for a bit. watch the cake and take it out of the oven when it is done. you may decorate it already'' Ciara said petting the heads of the two little ones that came towards her.

''now how about we make you look a bit more human'' Ciara giggled as she pointed her wand at Botis. She had a feeling the proud demon count would not take kindly to transforming into a human.

''transformatio additiones'' she said as a ray of light hit Botis, and the results would most definetly be a sight to behold.
The two little ones were already grinning

Botis was absolutely surprised when his mistress used magic to change her attire, yet another application of magic he has never seen before. Magic for such trivial things, it kept amazing as well as amusing me. When his mistress suddenly said there should be something done about his appearance as well he was shocked.

He saw his skin change into a pale color, instead of his red demonic skin. His pupils turned into normal humanoid ones, but luckily still retained the strange green color. His fangs also stayed for the most part, apparently they couldn't be fixed to humanoid size. His horns however were subtracted and pulled back into his head, it didn't hurt at all luckily, but it felt very awkward to not have his horns. His chains were removed as well which kinda upset him.

"Is this really necessary? I really hate going outside now." he sighed. "But I will loyally oblige to my mistress if she wishes for me to outside in this disgusting unattractive form. Or is this your vision of a beautiful man?"

Ciara stared at the human form Botis had taken on. His green eyes still drew her towards them and his face would also attract attention, in another way.

'geez he's so handsome' She sighed in her mind as Botis complained about his appearance.

''Count, Have you ever vistited a village without burning everything to ashes?'' Ciara asked.

'' I think you look great the way you do, but it is not what I think that matters, but what the villagers think'' She sighed as she packed a basked and put some bread and meat in it.

''if you go there looking the way you do, or did in this case, The villagers would definetly capter us an kill us both, bu...'' Ciara swallod her words trying to find the courage to say them.

''burning us at the stake''

''and that is a horrible way to go''