The Assassin's Tale; the Demon in the Rafters

Credits; Krell, Rea,

After even a few decades of travel one would begin to realize that no matter where you were in the universe all humans lived their lives in about the same way.  Some said it was a curse set upon them, that they could never unite like the other races all had.  Others said it was a blessing of simplicity, that humanity never had to worry about the brewings of the greater powers.  But either way what it amounted to was that Nielda only came if they were adventuring or invading.  More often than not it was the former, but since your average human couldn't tell the difference between one of their own and a Nielda, save for the noticeable height difference, the Nielda were always remembered as a constant, external threat that seemed to have nothing better to do than to invade every forty or fifty years and then leave behind a ton of food and complete plans for reconstruction.  You could tell which planets actually used them because they tended to look much nicer and rebuild much faster.  Krell had helped make some of those plans in the past.  Strategic bombings, critical troop deployment, and managing to not destroy shipyards in orbit were some of his specialties.  It was a barbaric practice, constantly decimating human militaries and dissrupting their day-to-day life for what really came down to just bleeding off excess population.  Krell had always despised the practice, but the alternative was having to secure extra land and colonising.   Colonies were notoriously hard to keep under thumb, just look at Seclora.  From a species level stance it was the best plan, but on a nationalist level it was just a nightmare. 
He, Rea, and Nao had managed to reach their target's mansion unnoticed.  Rea's ship had a cloaking device, but they'd still landed out on the edge of the grounds to avoid the groundskeepers.  He hadn't been surprised when they'd noticed each of Tomastein's servants was carrying a sidearm; he was notoriously wealthy after all.  Some believed he was immortal, others, like Rea and himself, knew it.  No immortal, no matter what their standing, would have failed to keep armed guards around their residence.  With the number of magical artiacts they tended to accrue, ordinary mortals were often tempted to steal some paltry treasure to hawk at some suitably distant pawn shop.  And for the truely old immortals, those in their three or four thousands, even younger immortals would sometimes attempt such a crime.  Their goal here was hardly so petty. 

Nao didn't have quite the sense of stealth that He and Rea did.  The foolish Elf stepped right up to the front door and knocked on it.  A maid answered it.  Rea started to move to take advantage of the opened door, but Krell eld her back as he watched their companion go to work.  He may have been a complete idiot, but he was well practiced.  It took a mere five minutes for him to weave a story about being beaten up by a group of ruffians and left nothing but his current clothing.  The maid quickly drew him inside with promises of concelament, nurishment, and a wardrobe befitting a man of his charms.  In her haste to secret Nao off to some private part of the mansion she left the door open.  He and Rea managed to get through before another servant came and closed it.  With both Nao and the outer defenses cleared, Krell and Rea proceeded as quietly as possible up the stairs to Tomastein's office.  Rea put a thumb to the lock and it clicked open.  Krell pushed the doors open and they found themselves face to face with a very large, grumpy looking old man. 
"What is the meaning of this!  Come to steal a part of my collection have you?  You mortals are all alike."
The door slammed shut behind them, and he heard the lock reform and reseal.  The man walked over to his desk and pull a gun out of the drawer.  Krell set a barrier and looked at Rea.  She hadn't moved yet.  Normally she would have already killed the man, what was holding her back now?
"Why did you set a bounty on us?"
"Oh, so then you're...Oh my.  I..I didn't realize.  Tomastein stepped back further, almost to the window.  He looked down at the gun and then across the room at them.  Then he looked up and said almost inaudibly, "You said that they wouldn't find me.  You said there was no danger."
"I Lied.  What part of Demon didn't you get?"
Rea flipped her blades out the instant she heard the voice boom across the room.  "Krell, run."
The demon unfurled its wings as it dropped out of the high ceiling of the room.  Krell hadn't even realized how big the room was until he saw how much room was still between them and the great evil before them.  It sported a pair curled horns like the one he had seen in Thalia's Garden in Stormguard and a wingspan the size of a two cars laid end to end.  It was magnificent to behold, and for all the terror it possessed their was still a beauty to it. 
"Is that a demon?"
"Yes"
"Aren't you clever.  Ethan Tomastein, I claim your power for my own.  Your soul is forfeit.  It was good doing business with you." 
"What, but we had a deal!"  The man had already begun rotting away before the last word left his lips.  He didn't even have time to scream before he collapsed into dust. 
"Krell, if you won't run then you better be ready to fight.  Light is ineffective, demon's don't give a snot what people think is holy or not.  If you can contain the damage then maybe Tomastein will be the only one who dies today.  If you have to attack, don't hold back.  And whatever you do, don't let him get inside your head."
"I thought you only killed immortals?"
"You think dust master Tomastein over there is the first immortal to become so through a demon?  I kill lots of stuff, I just only target immortals." 
"And anyone else who bothers you.  You're a sociopath child, all lives are but blood on your blade."
"You're entirely correct demon, and right now you're bothering me." 
Krell could actually see her attack this time.  She darted beween his legs slashing both the monstrosity's ankles before jumping onto its shoulder form behind.  The menace turned and tried to grab her but she deftly vaulted his head and landed on the other shoulder.  THen she grabbed it by the horn and stabbed him in the eye.  Krell shielded both himself and the rest of the mansion against the shockwave that he emitted in an attempt to knock her off.  Rea had a shield of her own and managed to hold on well enough that she twisted his head, pulling him off balance and causing him to topple to the ground.  She back flipped off onto his stomach and pounced at his other eye.  But as she came down he vanished, causing her to punch the ground pointlessly.  Rea quickly straightened up and sheathed her blades. 
"He's gone."
"What, that easily?"
"We caught him off guard.  I don't think he counted on having bounty hunters catch up to us who were actually smart.  He'll be back though.  I took his eye and if there's one thing demons can be counted on to do its holding a grudge." 
"So what now?"
"We clean up the mess.  You fix the room while I make it look like Tomastein just passed away quietly.  I figure it'll be a while before Nao comes looking for us, that maid was very pretty." 
"Yes but after that?"
"That was a rookie demon, a mere tempter in the armies of Hell.  Guy like that is probably part of a larger effort.  Gwen and Adan mentioned that shade activity has been down lately.  I'd say they're plotting something really big, and judging by that bounty, they don't want us to be a part of it."