"Noel..." she repeated, eyes fixing on him with a new determination. She was going to help this boy.

"Let me show you how to use your power."

"I agree." She turned her body fully towards the boy now, folding in her knees as she pulled the onto the mattress.

"Your name... what is it, Love?"

The boy's reaction made sense. He held up a frail shield to try and protect himself from his trauma. He reminded her so much of herself.

"... Something similar once happened to me when I was young," she confided. "It wasn't the same... but I know what it is to suffer as you have."

The woman took a moment to answer him.

"... I saw what happened to you. Those visions you were being tormented with—your memories... I saw them."

-- once did for me."

Maug understood how he felt, in a way. To be used in such a way, and to be unable to protect yourself.

"... You are a very powerful witch, Noel, just as I am..." she told him. "I want to show you how to use that power—to harness it, so that no one may ever harm you again... just as someone --

Luckily, Maug probably had more answers than most would.

"A powerful demon wanted to open a portal between his realm—Hell—and this one in order to unleash his demons on the city... he used a ritual to channel your power in order to do it."

With a sigh, Maug replied, "To be honest, Darling... I was not there to save you. Not initially. I came for my own selfish reasons."

"I killed them," she told him.

She didn't make a move to touch him, or to make any sudden movements. She knew how frightened he must feel.

She turned her head to settle her gaze on the boy. Her expression was rather solemn, but colored with sympathy.

"You can call me Maug," she told him.

-- then she was gone.

The woman's lips curved into a smile. "It doesn't matter," she said, her voice like velvet. "My work here is done."

She opened her arms, and her form was suddenly transformed into a murder of crows. They cawed and flapped their wings as they scattered, seeming to vanish into thin air, and --

-- would draw a blank, save perhaps her sex.

"I see you children have already taken care of this one."

The last Hell Hound yelped, and then there was silence.

A shape moved in the darkness, barely perceptible before she suddenly stood in the doorway of the room, her body concealed by a black cloak, and an enchantment concealing her identity. If one were to try to describe her, their brains --

-- thudded to the floor.

The figure continued down the hallway, stepping over the corpses of the hounds and making her way towards the circle. Each hound she encountered turned on her with a snarl, and quickly met the same fate as the others.

𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘱. 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥.

A murder of crows swarms there they blocked off the hallway, gathering until they had culminated a cloaked figure.

The figure raised a hand, flicking her fingers and snapping the necks of the surrounding hell hounds with the simple gesture. They yelped, then went silent as their limp bodies --

Maug could see him waking up out of the corner of his eye, and saw the jerk reaction of fear. She didn't blame the poor boy.

"You don't need to be afraid," she told him, her voice gentle. "You're safe now."

-- instantly.

She then sat on the edge of the bed, looking out her window at the city beyond, waiting for the boy to awaken.