A terrifying night encounter at the castle

After this small existential crisis, Margaret and I finished eating and left the bar, on our way to the castle, following the rustic pathway that the people occupying it made. I learned that they worked during the night to avoid suspicion from wanderers walking in the forest during the day. Even if Margaret was accompanying me, I was still rather nervous to return to that place...

I put on Risa’s lab coat and approached the gates, spotting a single guard. By looking through Risa's memories, I found that his name was Gillian. Margaret was waiting out of sight for my signal.

"Good evening, ma'am. Did you have a good day of sleep?"

He greeted me in a formal yet somewhat friendly manner, and I smiled at him, not wanting to compromise my cover. Even if there was zero point one percent chance that someone could guess Risa was possessed, I didn't want to take any chance.

"Oh, yes. I really needed that rest. How's your shift so far, Gillian?"

Risa was a fairly asocial person, but she barely interacted with him, so I didn't think I would look suspicious.

He sighed as he put back his cap in place. "Boring as always, ma'am. And it's a pretty cold night, tonight."

"I see." I opened my bag and grabbed a bottle, showing it to him. "I brought some drinks to share with my colleagues, but maybe you'd like to have a sip, to warm you up? I'm a bit early, so I can keep you company."

He seemed slightly hesitant, but also really tempted. "I shouldn't, but if you don't let the boss know, it should be okay to have one glass."

"Of course, only one glass. Let me serve it to you."

I opened one of the bottles and poured the potion inside a plastic cup Margaret gave me. Now, I just had to wait for the sleeping potion to do its job, trying some small talk meanwhile.

"The boss is pretty harsh, huh? Leaving you on guard duty like that on such a chilly night."

The boss was Risa's sister, Liliana, as she was the head of security here, but no one knew about their relationship. Liliana wanted to keep it secret.

"That she is, ma'am." Gillian said, sighing and gulping down his glass. "Just because I was the one on duty at the warehouse when that intruder stole the chemicals..."

What he said surprised me. I-is he referring to me? But then, I realised that he seemed familiar. Wait, I remember him, he was the guard sleeping when I came here.

I wanted to know more. Since Risa was a scientist, she obviously didn't know anything. "Did they manage to catch them?"
He shook his head. "No, unfortunately. That bastard is still on the loose..."

I held back from replying, as I was wearing Risa's face, right now. I'm right in front of you...

"I see. I hope they'll be found soon."

"I hope so too..."

A few minutes later, Gillian wobbled and knelt, holding his head. "I'm feeling... weak."

"G-Gillian?" I faked being surprised and concerned. "What happened?"

He fell on the ground, ****, and I warned Margaret with my phone.

She walked here, smirking and silently clapping. "Good job. Have you ever thought of becoming an actor? You're amazing at tricking and manipulating people, too."

I refuted her praise, chuckling. "I prefer to avoid the spotlight."

"Well, let's use that." I saw her touching her ring, and Margaret suddenly became an exact copy of Gillian. "Done."

I was amazed, even if I now knew magic was real. "Wow… What did you do?"

"I just created an illusion to make me look and sound like him. This way, we’ll have an easier time inside."

"M-magic is truly impressive…” I commented, in awe.

She winked at me. "I am merely using simple spells and magical tools, darling. Magic can be much more impressive than what you've witnessed until now."

"Wow..."

Margaret gestured towards the main door. "Let's get inside, now."

"Right."

We walked past the door, my anxiety building up even more… A rocky path led to the main building. It was dark, the moon and a few garden lanterns the only source of light. We were in the garden, approaching, when we heard something...

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Someone let out a piercing scream in the distance.

We ran towards the source of the scream. When we arrived to the the location, we saw a girl in gothic attire and light grey hair standing in front of a terrified middle-aged man in a suit. The same man I saw when I intruded the first time.

"N-no... G-go away…" He muttered, walking away from the girl and shivering.

The girl in gothic attire tapped her chin. "Oh? Now that I'm finally free, you're asking me to leave? I don't remember you being so kind when you captured me, human." As soon as she finished her sentence, a gigantic carnivorous plant suddenly emerged from the ground behind the man, as the girl was grinning sadistically... "Now, die, like the insect you are. Feeding the plants is all you're good for."

"P-please! Spare me! Arghhhhhhhh!" But the man's pleas fell on deaf ears, and the plant swallowed him whole, the girl laughing at that…

"Filthy humans… All of you should just die." That girl who just killed a man in front of us was now looking in our direction… "All of you will pay for what you've done..."

I was terrified by what I just witnessed, my knees almost giving up on me, but Margaret seemed unphased, removing her illusion.

"I-is it... another witch?" I asked.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Margaret burst out laughing, for reasons I didn't understand. Even the gothic girl was confused. "Who would have thought I'd meet a greater demon here?"

A demon? I remembered the book I found alongside the vials… It was real...?

"Fascinating!" Margaret took a more serious stance, chuckling at the demon. "I can't wait to see what you are!"

"Humans need to die." The demon simply said, narrowing her eyes.

"Feel free to try." Margaret taunted the demon with her hand, gesturing her to come for her. "Ben, you should step back. It's too dangerous for you."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I quickly walked away and hid behind a stone half-wall, leaving Margaret and that demon alone...

Margaret grinned her sadistic grin. "Let's dance, now, shall we?"

The demon smirked, apparently happy to have someone not cowering in fear standing in front of her. "A human with some guts, I see. Killing you will be really fun."

The demon tried to attack Margaret multiple times, her nails turned into claws, but Margaret dodged all the attacks with ease, her smirk not leaving her face despite the ****.

"You're a fast one, aren't you?" Margaret taunted.

"Stop moving and let me kill you. It seemed to annoy the demon.

Margaret snickered and looked the demon in the eyes. "If you want to kill me, you should start to get serious, my dear. What you did would be enough against normal humans. But, unfortunately for you, I'm not a normal human..."

It made the demon laugh. "I can see that. You want me to get serious? I'll grant your wish. But you might end up regretting it." Green vines with sharp thorns started to appear from the demon's arm, whipping the air… "Now, I wonder if you'll be able to dodge that."

Margaret kept dodging the attacks, but I could see that she had more difficulty this time. "That's way better!” Despite the injuries, Margaret didn't seem in pain. If anything, I thought that she was enjoying it even more. “Now, it's my turn to get serious!" Margaret put both of her hands in front of her, towards the demon. "Ardenti Lux!"

A blinding wave of light spread from Margaret's hands and hit the demon. But once the flash faded, I noticed with horror that the demon seemed fine despite that.

"Is that all you've got? It barely hurt." She said in a deadpan tone.

Margaret grit her teeth. "Damn it… If it weren't for that curse, I would have vaporised you in an instant..."

The demon chuckled, more vines coming out of her arm. "If that's the best you can do, just give up and let me kill you. I'll offer you a quick and painless **** for having been entertaining."

Margaret seemed to be on the back foot, and I was scared of what would happen… I felt powerless...

But... Maybe I can help her?