Maria shook heavily, telling herself to just breathe. Just. Breathe.
She tried to run over everything again in her mind, but still got caught on the same thing. She was stuck.
"I've never understood you humans." A terrible, raspy voice said. It was him. The demon.
Maria swing her head to look at her benefactor. He was a tall beast, over ten feet most likely. His body was shriveled and pale, his ribs poking several inches through his skin, blood trickling out of the ever present wounds. His head was flayed, showing his skull, covered by just a few tendons. He had three horns poking.out.of his head, each engulfed in putrid black flames. Under his torso we're two twin serpentine legs, armed with talons at their ends.
Maria was shocked. She hadn't expected him to show up again, and not here of all places. What would Addison think of her? Even the armored man would be disgusted with her deal.
She turned to the pair to find... Nothing. Just blank emptiness, as far as her eye could see.
"We're in your mind. Once we're out, it'll be like.nothing happened at all. I wanted us to be able to have our chat, undisturbed." The demon answered her question without her asking.
"How are you here?" Maria asked, almost yelling.
"Maria, dear, you sold me your soul. Did you honestly think you'd never see me again?" The demon chuckled.
Maria was silent. The demon let out a sigh. "Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Are you going to kill Talbot or not?"
Maria's head snapped up. "I... Is that his name? Talbot?" The demon nodded. Somehow knowing that made her situation even worse. "I... I don't know. If I do, hell kill Addison."
"Yes, that seems to be the issue." The demon snarked.
"I... I don't know if I can do it. But if I don't..." Maria trailed off.
The demon was silent for a moment. "Maria, dear, I honestly couldn't give less of a damn about your moral dillema. All I care about is my herald's safety. If you don't do something, Talbot will kill you and haul your corpse to Connlaoth for a meager ramson. If you feel like you can't kill him, surrender now, so you can at least live."
"But..." Maria trembled. "I'm scared."
The demon sighed. "For what it's worth, I promise you won't die in Connlaoth."
Maria sat silent. "Take me back. I'm ready."
The demon smirked and with a wave of his hand, Maria was back in the forest.
"Okay, you win. Just please, don't hurt her." Maria hoped she could take the demon at his word.