She had finally found him, Katherine looked up at the towering building from the pavement. The ache in her muscles forgotten, the pull was the strongest in front of this building. She looked at her watch, if she didn't get moving she would be late for the meeting. She stepped up the stairs to the large glass doors that slid open to admit her inside. As soon as she entered a shock ran over her, dark power crawled through this place.

When she thought on it, it matched the feeling she got the previous night from the bar. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. She stepped up to the front desk.

"May I help you?" asked the woman sitting behind the desk.

"Yes, I'm here for a meeting with Mr. Demetrius Drakos. He's expecting me, Ms. Katherine Valencia."

"Hold on one moment," she said and clicked a button, "Kerry, Mr. Drakos' midday appointment is here."

"I'll let him know thanks Sharon," said the voice from the intercom.

"Floor 89 Ms Valencia," said the receptionist

"Thank you," she said as she walked towards the elevator. The darkness worked in this building she was sure of it. She had to track it down , she knew that the master could possess any of his minions at any given time. Their souls belonged to their master and they would become a demonic minion upon death, in rare cases if they were strong enough would become demons.

The elevator door slid open and she stepped in, she leaned down and pressed the button. The door slid shut and began its ascent. She had questions for Demetrius as well, earlier she had felt a crushing loss as if something vital had been severed as if only for a moment. Then she only felt some confusion from him before she only got indistinct impressions from him.

The elevator came to a stop on floor 89, the doors slid open and she stepped out. Katherine walked up to the reception desk and said, "I'm Ms. Valencia, here to see Mr. Drakos."

"Down the end of the hall is his office," she said.

"Thanks," Katherine smiled as she walked past. She looked up and saw Ryan come out of his office with some papers in his hand. She was about to call out to him when she felt blackness coil out from him, reaching for her. The darkness was a different texture, it also wasn't fully formed. That might be what was causing the overall feeling to the place, but she didn't sense that last night. She had been sitting right next to him.

It had to have been the presence she sensed, immediately she thought of a spell she could use to purge the corruption. But it was powerful, it was feeding off something, growing far faster than she knew it normally would. She had to tell Demetrius about it, it was growing stronger fast. She knew that if she didn't have something done soon it would spread too far and his master could possess him and get right up to Demetrius and potentially eliminate him. When Ryan passed her, not noticing her, she could feel it.

It was a corruption seed, it had been planted there. She knew she was responsible for this, by the time she had a chance to purify the corruption it would spread too far. She estimated at least three more days for it to become strong enough. She wouldn't let anything happen to Demetrius, but Ryan was a concern as well as she knew they were as close as Demetrius would allow it. She knocked on the door with Demetrius' name on it and opened it when he called out.

Heat flared throughout her body when she entered the room and caught sight of Demetrius sitting in his chair. Boxes sitting on the table, even though it had only been a few hours she desired to feel his touch again. Her skin tingled in the many places he had touched her, she supressed a groan at the sensation as she took the seat he had placed in front of the desk. When he looked up from the desk he grinned, his eyes flaring amber and silver. The silver streaks a constant reminder of their binding.

"Eat Katherine, I bought you some lunch. Then we can get to business," he said as he looked back at his screen. When she reached out pick up the boxes she gasped sharply as a ripple of sensation passed over her nether lips. She looked up at Demetrius who was composed, but with the way he was sitting she couldn't see what he was doing. She groaned when another burst rippled through her.

He looked up and said, "Everything ok Katherine?"

"Yes everything is fine," she said as she picked up the boxes.

'Bastard,' she thought, he was getting his revenge from this morning it seemed. She knew they couldn't do anything here, so this was his unsubtle way of tormenting her. She gritted her teeth as another wave passed through her, with additional sensation running up her thighs. One side then the other, she was going to melt before he relented.

She opened the boxes, one had a delicately made burger with a thick grilled chicken breast and the other box had a generous quantity of chips, as she went to pick up the burger she gasped as she felt a sharp pinch rocking through her. The best way to get through this was to eat it as quickly as possible then he would have to relent in his game. She picked up the burger and took a bite, she moaned as the flavour washed over her taste buds. "This is really good," she said.

"My secretary recommended it, she told me they made the best food. Glad you enjoy it," he said a wry grin on his lips.

She took another bite as another burst rocked through her, she looked up at him. How could he do that to himself without affecting him as well? It was a struggle but she managed to finish eating the burger, her body quivering from the continued bursts of sensation. Enough to stoke the fires but no where near enough to satisfy them, she took the box of chips coated in a fine dusting of powder. The delicate play of spices rolled over, Demetrius smirked at her as another sharper burst rolled over her.

"Good aren't they?" he asked.

She moaned, "Yes," she had to play along with his game. But she would be on to him later.

Once she had finished with the chips, she could have sworn if she just moved the right way she could bring herself off.

"I drew up the contracts for the investments of assets and I had one of my accounts be transferred to you as part of the arranged inheritance. It is a sizeable amount which will come across as a decent investment and won't raise any issues as people do this all the time. My company has six inheritance investments at this moment so it's not an uncommon thing to have happen. You just need to read through the contracts to make sure you understand them," said Demetrius as he picked up a folder of papers as if he hadn't been tormenting her.

The devil knew she had been close and yet he laid off, leaving her on the edge. And now he expected her to read? The glint in his brown eyes showed her that he wasn't finished tormenting her, he probably only was just getting started. The thought of not being in his bed tonight was the thing that made it even harder to bear, she had to go through her spell books and find the spell that would be the best for dispelling the malaise infecting his friend.

She began reading the contract and felt his eyes upon her, he was watching her. Like he was trying to figure her out, it was also very distracting as she tried to read the contract. But she forgot he was a demon and he had been doing this business for a very long time, one thing that brightened her current situation was that if he was willing to torment her like this. She could repay him in the same way, his heat simmered next to her, she could feel it up against the shimmering barrier in her mind. The wisps of hot molten amber running through the web of her silver crystals.

She did need practice at pushing the sensations to the background, and not focus on them or it would be a constant distraction. She had to think of a way to broach the subject of Ryan's impending corruption, but she knew that being what she could see he was Demetrius' only real friend. If you could call him that, just from the contact with him, she could tell that Demetrius had always held himself away from everyone.

This whole bonding really shook him up, she could feel it even now, even though he was teasing her and controlling it. She could feel his uncertainty it made her want to reach out to him and assure him that everything was good, but she knew that it would likely offend him as she knew he didn't like appearing weak and that is what she knew he would think. It was also a new experience for her, she wanted to protect him even though she had never had a close relationship with anyone this was different.

It would take some getting used to, everything was being thrown at her and at him all at once. And they also had to deal with Ryan and his soon to be master, he probably didn't like her snaring one of his witches in a trap. She looked up from the contract and said, "You will need to explain a few things to me, I'm not very contract literate but it seems solid enough to me."

"That is what I was counting on, it's smart to ask questions about a contract instead of just signing it. It leads to people being scammed and ripped off from not properly reading through all of the conditions."

Demetrius leaned back in his chair, the creaking made her look up, "Once you sign the contract you will be invested in my company."

Katherine grinned, "This isn't like a demonic contract? I sign away my soul?"

He chuckled, "I already own your soul Katherine, your magic binding saw to that."

"Oh, so that means I own your soul too," she smirked as she grasped a pen from the desk and opened the contract to the signing page.

"I guess it does, doesn't it? But we can have a lot of fun together."

Katherine didn't really know where this was heading, she had to deal with the crisis first. She had to tell him, otherwise she didn't know how this whole situation could possibly be managed. She signed the contract with a flourish and looked up to him. "I have another very important matter to discuss with you Demetrius."

She handed the contract back to him as he looked at her expectantly, "What is it?"

"How close are you to Ryan?" She needed to know, if she could get an honest answer she knew how she could proceed.

"We have a comfortable working relationship, we go out for drinks occasionally, why did you want to know?" he asked cautiously.

She could feel the tension building from him, something told her it wasn't simply causal. She knew that Ryan was basically the only person he had allowed close enough to be friendly with, this may not turn out as well as she had planned. "A demonic minion has placed its master's corrupting influence on him. He's quickly becoming a minion, I felt the corruption digging into him when he walked past earlier, last night I felt something bad in the bar but I couldn't sense where it was."

She took in Demetrius' expression of disbelief, "I do know Ryan, he wouldn't listen to that gutterspeak."

"He's not going to be given a choice, he's going to be hearing voices soon, the overlord at the end of the corruption needs permission to invade a non-magical being's consciousness and they manipulate them into allowing it. I feel like it's my fault, Ryan wouldn't have been in the position to be influenced if it hadn't been for my impulses."

"Don't blame yourself, Is there anything you can do for him?"

"I don't know, I need to consult my books. The corruption is spreading quickly, he will be hearing things soon enough. I will talk to you tomorrow once I find the proper spell that won't cause any injury to him. Exorcism spells used incorrectly can kill or severely injure the victim, so I need to find the right one for the circumstances."

Katherine got up from her chair, "It will be ok, I will remove the corrupting influence I promise."

Demetrius slumped back in his chair, "I have to talk to him anyway, have an afternoon meeting."

"I will go and do the research, I will call you in the morning and we can discuss how to approach it, it will need to be done tomorrow night," Katherine walked over to the door and opened it. "Everything will be ok," then she left the room.

Demetrius sighed as she left, he finally allowed himself to get close to someone and this was his reward. There was no question now, he had to let Ryan in on the secret, but he had hope though he still may not need to if Katherine found something unobtrusive to expel the corruption. He looked at the clock on his computer, he still had time to think of what he would say if it was needed.