They could hear the singing even through the closed door and the Crystal Maiden froze, her hand an inch away from the door she had wanted to knock on. Clearly amused she looked at the Templar Assassin, who had raised her brows at the sound.

It was the house of the Shadow Fiend, no one should be there singing. Especially not that good. The tone was full and clear, the notes hit with precision. They listened until one song ended and whoever was singing started another one. Then Rylai knocked.

The singing stopped abruptly. And when the door was opened, it was the Shadow Fiend who looked down at them.

"Trick or Treat!"

The features of the demon didn't change but he could probably only look fearsome. And more fearsome. The souls he had consumed glowed dark red inside of his body, the colour that seeped through the gaps in his skeleton giving him an eerie appearance.

"Wait." His voice was deep and melodic and it was without doubt the voice of the one who had been singing a few moments ago.

Rylai and Lanaya exchanged looks but they didn't have time to talk before the Shadow Fiend was back. He dumped a hand full of sweets into Rylai's basket. "Happy Halloween."

They were just about to leave, when the Crystal Maiden opened her mouth again: "You have a nice voice. The songs you sang sounded wonderful."

The Templar Assassin tensed immediately, convinced the Fiend would attack the Maiden now. But the demon just stared for a second before he inclined his head. "Thank you very much." With that he moved back and closed the door.

"Rylai!" Lanaya grabbed the woman and pulled her towards their waiting griffon. "Are you crazy? He probably doesn't want others to know that he sings like that. A demon! He'll just get shit for it from the other demons. Couldn't you have pretended not to have heard anything?"

The Crystal Maiden pursed her lips. "His singing was so loud we could hear it through the closed door. If he doesn't want other demons to hear him, he should sing more quietly. Besides, he didn't look annoyed ore anything to me."

"You can't tell how he looked. He always looks the same! And in my opinion he always seems to be pissed off about whatever."

"Didn't look that way for me."

"Rylai!"

The Maiden laughed at the dismay in Lanaya's tone. "Okay, I admit it, he always looks the same and I couldn't see if he was annoyed or not. I just liked his singing and felt like telling him. And," she swung her leg over the back of the griffon, "I didn't laugh at the Troll Warlord so he would feel insulted and behead us on his doorstep. That was you. So I had one free. Which I didn't even use now because the Shadow Fiend thanked me for my compliment."

Her wide grin was kind of infectious and Lanaya couldn't help but smile at the blond woman as she mounted the griffon.