The cultists had been meeting in the empty warehouse for several weeks. The demon princess watched the young men in their occult activities for almost as long. Thirteen people they were, believing that this was a magical and ominous number. They wore black hooded cloaks because they thought that dark cults had to do it that way. They had drawn pentagrams on the floor and set up black candles, because they believed that this was necessary to summon a real demon.

All these assumptions were of course wrong and the demoness was amused by the behavior of the people. At first it was curiosity that drew her to the old warehouse, but with each passing week her interest in the cult waned and her reasons for coming here changed. She came now because of him, the leader of the demon cult, and only because of him: young, tall and handsome, radiating great authority and giving orders to his fellow cultists with a confident voice, he had caught her eye from the start and she wanted to see him again every week . The princess of hell had to admit to herself that she had fallen in love with the human in a way only a demon could.

At each of their meetings, the men had rehearsed all the necessary steps of the summoning ritual over and over again. From an old occult book they had copied the symbols, learned the chants and practiced the way of setting up and lighting the candles. All this happened under the supervision and guidance of the young charismatic man. She didn't know why he wanted to summon a demon, nor did she want to know. What was important to her was that she had chosen him as her lover, because the young human awakened feelings in her that her demon soul had not experienced for a long time. And tonight she would reveal her love to him, on the night the cult planned to perform the ritual, the demoness would appear in their midst. The anticipation made her completely restless, the thoughts of the ecstasies she would experience with him almost drove her mad.

Then it started. The men took their places, lit the candles in the order they had practiced, and drew the pentagram and other symbols on the floor. At a sign from their leader, they started chanting the verses from the old book.

Now the demon woman's moment had come. To increase the effect of her appearance, she cast a dense ground fog across the hall. Some of the men were surprised by this, but the leader didn't show any reaction. A sudden gust of wind made the candles flicker, and then the demon princess appeared in the center of the pentagram.

The candlelight made her red skin gleam, her waist-length black hair caressed her slender body, her lips formed a sensual smile, eyes shining bright with love, her head crowned with

horns. Her thin tail twitched excitedly as she approached the cult leader. Putting both hands on his shoulders, she said to him: "I want to be yours forever, love you and make you happy!"

But the man barely responded to her words. With a rude movement he slipped her hands from his shoulders and said: "Take your hands off me, hellspawn! You are not what I called! A mighty prince of hell should have stood before me and not a puny female!”

The demon woman was slightly surprised by the development, but composed herself and replied: "I love you more than anything, I want to show you pleasure only a demon......"

"Silence, lesser demon! I didn't allow you to speak up! I'll send you back to the pit you came from!” he snapped at her. He began to mutter strange words, which the other cultists gradually joined in on.

Raising his arms, he glared at her, showing no return of her affection, just the condescension of a supposedly powerful man looking down on something inferior.

"I banish you back to where you came from!" he shouted, "And then we will try again to summon a powerful demon lord!"

His exaggerated drama almost sounded funny, but the demoness no longer heard his words, she was too shaken by his rejection.

As the young human turned away from her to issue new orders to his men, seemingly to banish her, she just stood there, tears in her eyes and trembling lips. Her demon heart was broken, spurned by the man she had chosen as her lover. Seldom before had she been rejected, her demonic arts of seduction had never failed so badly. He had looked at her like a piece of dirt, only realizing that she was not what he had expected, what he had wanted. Whatever the cause of his coldness towards her, she had not been humiliated like this in countless centuries. Grief threatened to overwhelm her, and vengeance began to fill her demonic mind.

Yes, she would punish him for his refusal, and his silly little helpers too!

She would wreak an exquisite revenge on him! Slowly she would peel the skin off the young human body, ripping out one organ after another, crushing the remains of his mortal flesh! His soul would suffer the torments of hell for thousands of years! No mortal would ever have endured suffering of such proportions! She would throw the other cultists into the deepest hellfires and leave them to the will of the minions! The punishment would fall upon them all simply for witnessing the scorn of a demon princess! Yes, she would enjoy her revenge!

But stop! Hadn't she felt love for him in those few weeks? Despite his rejection, she couldn't just forget her feelings for him and it would take her more than a lifetime to get over it.

She was also a civilized demon. It was no longer befitting in these modern times to use violence against mortals and damn their puny souls forever. No, a modern demon princess would not lower herself to such a brutal level.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away from the cultists, ignoring their attempts to banish her, and opened a portal back into her circle of hell. The men groaned in shock when they realized that the demoness didn't react to their incantations at all. Even the self-assured leader of the dark cult looked a little uncertain now. She looked at him sadly again and thought wistfully of what could have been. But she herself would not condemn him, could not repay her pain with violence.

So she left the old warehouse and caressed the two huge hellhounds in passing, which stepped out of the hell portal and headed towards the men.

Luckily, the hellhounds had no qualms about violence and punishment, and to the screams of the cultists, the portal closed after she stepped through.