Strike him down.

With a clean sweep of your sword, you cleave the disgusting man's head from his shoulders. Even in ****, he made a horrible mess. You step back to keep the blood from your shoes, bumping into one of the maids. You turn to find her swaying drunkenly, knife in hand. Good thing you acted when you did, it looked like the fat mans **** had the desired effect of removing his control. You gently disarm the ill woman and lay her out on the ground before moving to check on Lady Vessa.

"Vessa? Milady?"

You lift her head, gently patting her cheek. She is stirs weakly, feverish eyes cracking open, face twisting in a pained expression. You don't blame her, if the control fades but the memory remains- She retched, spewing a black bile with impressive ****. Fortunately most of it misses your face, splattering over your cuirass. Reflexively, you half toss, half roll her onto her side where she continues to heave forcefully. The black fluid fountains from her, smelling entirely too noxious to have come from a human. Not even. You're amazed it could come from something living. Behind you, you the maids are in similar states on the floor, spewing supernatural amounts of the stuff virtually everywhere across the floor.

If you weren't sure it was a demon before, you sure as hell were now. The acrid stuff burned on your neck and cheek but you were more concerned with how it was in the process of disintegrating your leather travel armor. You use the bed sheet to rub as much off as you can but there's a fist sized hole in your chest plate when you're done. Fortunately it doesn't do the same thing to your skin by the time you wipe it off.

The bed was a little more worse for wear, the pooling ichor now draining through the hole it had eaten in the mattress. You look around helplessly, the women seemingly no better off than they were over a minute ago. If anything their struggles looked weaker, they were surely exhausted from heaving up so much of the stuff. Vessa in particular was struggling, her lovely features splattered with the demonic bile. You had to do something!

...

The ring.

You sprint out into the hallway, leaping over the growing pools of oily slime, relieved to find the dead man where you left him. At this point you wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. How long had you been in power? Not even a month and you were dealing with your second demonic incursion into your dominion. You don't remember your father ever having this many problems, Hell must have it out for you.

You struggle to yank the ring free, opting to simply saw the finger off than deal with the corpse's fat, stubby fingers. It felt hot in your hand, pulsing in time with the retching sounds from the bedroom. You search your surroundings for something to destroy the ring. Maybe it wouldn't work, maybe it would. You owed it to Lady Vessa to try.

After another panicked minute of searching, you manage to wedge the ring into a crack in the granite floor. Lifting a thick oak bench over it as high as you can accurately drop it, you smash the ring with as much **** as you can muster. The bench splinters and you are thrown back into a tapestry, crashing to the floor in a heap of dusty cloth.

Struggling free, you look up to see a smoking crater in the floor where you had wedged the ring, the edges glowing with a low red glow. You bolt back to the Baron's room, whose floor was now under a thin layer of the oily black sludge. Vessa and the maids give one last heave and lay still.

You're about to sacrifice your boots to check if they yet breath when the slime begins to move. It bubbles and writhes, stretching and congealing, rising into three malformed shapes. The first goat-headed demon to solidify was facing away from you and glanced around the room, hissing disappointedly, "Only three?"

"Gods damn it ALL." You mutter as you dash forward, cleaving the first demon clean through its abdomen. You're almost as surprised as the demon, who collapses in a pillar of flame, your blade should have met more resistance shouldn't it? The other two demons blink their still forming eyes at the tiny puddle of bubbling tar that used to be their companion. The demon to your left issues a burbling hiss, "The seal is broken!" The demon to your right growled angrily in response. The two leapt at you in tandem, no slower than the first demon you'd ever encountered... but considerably more fragile. The defensive sweep of your sword plowed through the first demon's face and stuck fast in the second's torso, leaving your arms and chest burned but intact.

The remaining demon glared down at your sword, reaching for you with a clawed hand and opening its mouth horrifically wide, "You're damned... mortal..." It erupted into another column of fire, spattering you further with the acidic demons blood.

This stuff was stronger than whatever had come out of Vessa. You scream through your teeth, clawing at your face and armor as smoke rises and your skin boils. The pain is so great you wish you would just faint but the searing **** won't let you. By the time you get your torso clear and are pouring a carafe of wine over the burnt half of your face, guards from your entourage are running down the hall.

"Sire we heard- Oh Gods!" You make a mental note to berate the man for his bedside manner later and try to clear your head so you could think. Thanks to the wine washing out the demon blood the pain has faded enough to be almost almost tolerable, though the way your men are staring you have to wonder if there is even anything left to feel it. You can't see out of your right eye and at least some of the liquid dripping onto the floor had to be your blood.

"Demonss... The Barron... working with demonss..."

"Demons your Majesty?!"

"Again!?"

"Milord, you need medical attention, I'll get Lady Ves-"

"Ssshut up!" Your speech is slurred, despite your best efforts. Worry about that later.

Something was wrong. You couldn't think past the pain, you had to think... you'd killed the three demons who had crossed through from the gate Vessa and the maids had opened... but what about the other women affected?

"Ssshit." You stagger and your men step forward to help you. You shove them off, "Gather all available forcess, the manssion is infested with demons! Ssend a message to the capital: there could be demonss anywhere Baron Van Hoff met with a woman, mobilize the army!" The soldier in question is writing as fast as he can while the other guards line up around you protectively. After a moment of fevered thought you add, "Make sure they don't harrm the women, only demonss. It sshould be obviouss."

Maybe it shouldn't be your primary concern right now but you'd hate to see the casualties if the country thought all women were colluding with demons. The Kingdom had held witch hunts before. They hadn't gone well.

The scribe sprinted off to relay the information while you coordinated your men and checked on Lady Vessa. She still breathed but it didn't seem likely she would be awake anytime soon. You sent two messengers to find Count Harrows men and bring them back posthaste. In the meantime, you knew where at least one demon would be.

You lead your group of soldiers to your guest room, ignoring their efforts to make you lie down but accepting the light armor one soldier struggled out of for you. You had to do something or the pain would be all you could think about. Rage is one hell of an anesthetic. Your men finished belting the breastplate on as you reach the door, you allow two of your men to enter before you enter, sword held in your undamaged offhand. You were enraged but you really wanted to keep the sight in your left eye.

The pretty young maid is still bound to the bed, at least what's left of it. The acid had eaten the mattress in half, leaving her hanging by her arms from the headboard. Your vision is blurry but your men assure you she still breaths. Yet the black bile was clearly gone so there must be a demon-

"Argh!" A black shape fell from the rafters onto your rear guard, clawing at his face ferociously. You reach in with your now armored but still blackened right hand and seize the cat-sized goat demon by its neck, yanking it off the screaming soldier. You felt a little better after slamming it into the wall several times but you restrain yourself from finishing the job.

"How many of you arre therre? ANSWER ME!"

The battered demon laughed weakly, "We are legio-" You slam it into the stone wall and try again.

"What iss yourr plan?"

"To consume the worl-SLAM... You are dust i-SLAM......... We will hunt you until the end of you-!" You skewer the demon on your sword, careful to step back from the fire that ensued. It leaves a much smaller smudge on the floor than the others.

"Rround up, we'rre going demon hunting." Your men stare at you in awe, "NOW."