Umbra spun around in front of her mirror, admiring the new scarlet gown her guardian had given her the day before. The girl loved the dress - as she loved every present her protector gave her - but she wasn’t quite sure she liked how she looked in it. She stopped her turning to stare directly into the glass and took careful stock of her appearance.

A very pretty human girl stared back from the reflecting surface. The low-cut gown showed that her body was quite well developed for her age, which appeared to be about thirteen or fourteen. (Umbra wasn’t exactly sure how old she was; her former nanny never told her and her current guardian didn’t consider it important.) Her silky brown hair hung in slight curls to her shoulders, with the bangs hanging dangerously close to obscuring her clear blue eyes. She licked her lips and tried to turn them into a seductive smile, but quickly let them fall into a petulant pout.

“Humph,” she snorted, folding her arms under her breasts and tossing her head. “Red is not exactly your color, is it?” she asked her reflection. The image did nothing to argue the point. “Well, we’ll just have to do something about that, won’t we?” Umbra thought for a moment, then uncrossed to place her hands on her hips, and closed her eyes in concentration.

After a moment, she opened them. Now, a woman with curly blonde hair that fell past her shoulders stared out from the mirror with striking emerald eyes. Cocking her head to one side, Umbra ran a hand through her new hair. “No, too obvious.” She concentrated again, and shifted her body into a new shape. The mirror now showed a shorter woman, with short and straight black hair, a dusky complexion and almond-shaped brown eyes. She liked this body, at least until the dress started to slip off her shoulders. Quickly grabbing the garment before it hit the floor, she resettled the straps on her shoulders. “A little small,” she mused. “Perhaps someone a little taller…”

After another moment of concentration, and a strikingly different woman stood in the mirror. Tall and statuesque, with curly black hair clinging tightly to her scalp and skin the color of mahogany, the muscular woman now strained the confines of the gown. What had been a calf-length affair now barely reached her knees and her large breasts now threatened to pop out from behind the material that strained to cover them. A very girlish giggle escaped her lips at her display of overcompensation.

Behind her, the door to the chamber opened, revealing another woman in the mirror’s field of view. She was a gorgeous human woman with skin the color of new ivory and her curly red hair hung wild and free to her waist. Her figure was inspiration for men’s fantasies, and blatantly on display as the woman was clad only in yards on nearly transparent crimson silk. Glowing scarlet eyes and a pair of vermilion, reptilian wings spreading from her back betrayed her true nature as a succubus. Umbra turned to face her visitor.

“Practicing our body sculpting, my dear sweet Servant-Ward?” the newcomer asked in a sultry tone, crossing the distance between them.

“Yes, Mistress-Savior,” Umbra replied, looking down at her bare feet. “I was just trying on the dress you gave me yesterday. It’s very pretty.”

Red Shroud gave a throaty laugh and reached out to caress the girl’s impressive cleavage. “So are you, my darling foundling.”

The disguised girl blushed under the succubus’ touch, clasping her hands over her mouth to stifle another giggle.

The fiend let her fingers linger for a few moments, then reluctantly withdrew her hand. “Later, my lovely. Now, it is time for your lessons. Take both of those off and prepare yourself for combat.”

Umbra sighed and let her body resume its natural shape. The shape she now wore looked nearly the same as the one she had started with, save that her eyes now reflected unseen firelight and a small pair of bat-like wings sprouted from her shoulder blades. The half-fiend let the gown drop to the floor and, unconcerned about being naked in her guardian’s presence, walked over to her wardrobe to begin donning a tight-fitting suit of studded leather armor.

Red Shroud stared at her ward’s naked body with undisguised lust, slowly licking her lips. Ah, the beauties of the tanar’ri form, she thought. The little creature can’t be more than two years old, and already her body will drive men to kill. Perhaps I should start forcing her to train naked. Still, there’ll be time enough for rutting later. There are more useful things to do to her now.

Cinching the last strap, Umbra looked over at the succubus. “Which weapon will I be using today, Mistress-Savior?”

“Today’s lesson is a special one. Pick your favorite,” Shroud replied.

The girl’s eyes lit up in anticipation. She turned away from the wardrobe and walked over to the far wall of her bedchamber, which was covered with a score of weapons. Without hesitation Umbra picked out a gleaming scimitar, whose back edge sprouted a number of wicked-looking spikes. With a disturbingly bloodthirsty grin, she slipped it through a belt loop and come over to stand before Red Shroud.

The succubus smiled approvingly and patted her ward’s cheek. “Good girl.” The elder tanar’ri then turned and strode out of the room. “Follow me,” she commanded in almost-gentle tones.

Umbra obediently followed. As the pair walked, the young half-fiend came to realize that they were not heading towards her normal practice space. “Where are we going, Mistress-Savior?" she eagerly asked as they walked, looking around at the unfamiliar hallways. "You’ve never allowed me in this part of your palace before."

Red Shroud turned her head and smiled at the young half-fiend indulgently. The elder fiend made a gentle shushing noise. "Patience, my dear sweet Umbra. Be quiet, now. You'll see soon enough."

Blushing again under the affectionate tone of her protector, the younger tanar'ri obediently fell quiet, but continued looking around, trying to determine their destination.

As they continued to move through her hallways, Red Shroud inwardly gloated over her control of the girl. Silly little alu-fiend. So eager. So naïve. I've been able to wrap the child around my fingers so easily. Today I will find out if I can turn her into a useful tool or sell her to be a brothel-slave. Not giving any sign of her demeaning thoughts, the succubus reached out to pull her ward into a close embrace and kissed the top of her head. Umbra returned the false kiss with a tight embrace.

After a few more minutes, the pair turned a corner and emerged into a large courtyard. The blood-red sky of the first layer of the Abyss hung low overhead, casting an ominous crimson glare over everything. The majority of the courtyard was a sunken pit, its bloodstained metal walls dropping some twenty feet below the cobblestones of the rest of the area to a sandy floor strewn with yellowing bones. Shroud led Umbra over to the edge of the pit. Looking down, the girl could see that a score of emaciated slaves, mostly humans and tieflings, sat on the bottom of the small arena.

"Come with me," the succubus commanded, spreading her wings and jumping out into space to glide to the bottom of the pit. Umbra spread her own small wings and followed suit, landing lightly beside her protector. The slaves looked up at their arrival, but they saw only Red Shroud. Their eyes burned with fervent worship and adoration.

Once more, the succubus reached out a hand to caress Umbra's cheek. "Now, it's time for your lesson…" The hand that had been touching her ward's cheek suddenly pulled back and snapped out like a whip, cracking Umbra hard across the face. "You stupid little bitch," Shroud hissed in hatred and revulsion.

The half-fiend stood frozen shock. The sudden change in her protector's demeanor caught her completely off-guard. She tried to get her mouth to work, to question what had brought on the sudden punishment.

The elder tanar'ri didn't give Umbra the chance to speak. Shroud whipped her hand out again, backhanding the girl across the other cheek and sending her sprawling to the sandy floor. "You pathetic half-breed. You've shamed me by failing to learn how to fight properly. And you're going to prove that by dying in this pit." The succubus quickly looked at the prisoners and sent her thoughts directly into their minds. Do you see this little creature, my Slave-Pets? It wants to harm me. If you love me, I SUGGEST you kill it.

As her magic took control of their feeble wills, the slaves let out a collective wail of anger and scrambled to their feet as quickly as their weakened condition would allow. Many grabbed at the broken bones scattered across the bottom of the pit to brandish as weapons.

For the moment, Umbra remained unaware of the gathering mob. She lay on the ground, disbelievingly touching her bleeding lip and looking up at Red Shroud with tears welling in her eyes. "What… what are you saying, Mistress-Savior?" she pleaded.

Shroud loomed over the fallen alu-fiend. "I'm saying that it was a mistake to save you from that hovel in Curst. And now I'm looking to fix that mistake." The succubus spat a few syllables of magic and vanished from Umbra's sight, reappearing on the far side of her slaves. Unless you think you can prove me wrong, she mentally goaded her ward.

Umbra finally saw the slaves closing on her. She scrambled to her feet, drawing her sword with one hand and trying to rub the tears away with the other. "But… you told me you loved me," she not-quite-cried, backing away from the approaching mob.

And what made you think that? The soft words, the tender kisses, the nights in my bed? I'm a succubus, you slut. Thousands have had such treatment from me and I've loved them no more than the dirt beneath my feet. Did you really believe that I was someone who cared for you? Someone like your dear father? Bah. He'd kill you himself if could see you now.

Umbra's back hit the wall of the pit, stopping her retreat. The slaves had almost reached her, and their intentions were obvious. At the mention of her father, the half-fiend's head snapped up, and a small flame of anger began to eat away her confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked, eyes narrowing.

Red Shroud stopped using her racial telepathy and spoke aloud. "Oh, still some measure of concern for Daddy-dearest, eh?" Her words dripped with derision and superiority. "Look at you. The half-breed, abandoned daughter of the great and powerful Durkayle, Mover Four of the Harmonium… cowering in fear! If you can't defeat a score of slaves, what chance do you think you'll have against the one who took your father from you?"

The anger flared up inside Umbra. "I can too fight!" She lunged forward, plunging her sword’s point straight through the heart of the closest slave. "I can take my revenge!" She pulled out the weapon and killed another slave with a single slash before the first corpse hit the ground. Before she could recover to make another attack, the rest of the slaves surged forward, surrounding the half-fiend and raining blows with fists and bones, forcing her to the ground.

You truly think so? Shroud resumed telepathic contact, in order to make sure that she could be heard in the midst of the combat. You don't seem so capable to me. Two slaves don't make you an assassin. Perhaps you've forgotten what you're really up against. Maybe I should tell you again what she did your father.

Umbra fought her way back to her feet, using her fiendish strength to throw her attackers away from her. Shroud's taunting both angered and humiliated her. She flailed about with her sword, more to clear some space around her than with any true intent to injure. But a couple of slaves still strayed too close, and their throats were slashed open by the spikes on her sword. "No, I don't want to hear it again! I know what she did!"

The succubus shook her head and smiled in mock sympathy. Oh, I don’t think you do. She bewitched him with her spells and took him to her bed. But seduction was not enough for her, no. Instead, she chained him to her bed and removed the magic so that she could rape him. Repeatedly. Imagine that, you stupid girl, a little slip of a tiefling overpowering your father, the mighty warrior.

"Stop it! Stop talking!" Desperate to stop Shroud's taunting, to stop the images that were forming along with the words in her mind, Umbra began to work her way towards the elder fiend. A red haze lurked on the edges of her vision as she hacked down the slaves closest to her. The half-fiend waded into the center of the mob, opening wicked wounds with her sword in one hand and striking out with her fist to break bones with the other.

And once she drained him of his seed, she proceeded to drain him of his blood. But no simple bleeding this was. She's an evil creature, so this was torture most foul. She performed vivisection on your beloved father, keeping him alive while she slowly removed his internal organs in alphabetical order.

All of the anger and hatred and fear Umbra had kept bottled up inside finally broke free. The world went crimson and she lost all thought. The half-fiend became a creature driven by instinct, bent on destroying everything the stood between her the creature that tormented her so unjustly. Her fight against the slaves became a slaughter. She sought to remove all obstacles in her path, regardless of the consequences. Limbs were removed and torsos were split open to let guts spill onto the bloody sand. The slaves no longer had even a slim chance, but Red Shroud’s magical compulsion forced them to continue the useless attacks.

And once she had flayed him alive, so that he was nothing more than a screaming skull atop a bloody skeleton, did she kill him? No. Her cruelty knows no bounds, you pathetic worm. She then took his soul. Ripping it from his body and storing it in a crystal prison. To deny him his afterlife and so that she might continue to torture him long after he should have died. Do you really think you're ready to take vengeance against a monster such as that?

Umbra cut down the last slave in her way. Screeching a cry of terrible rage and despair, she lifted her sword high with both hands and charged, intent on cleaving the succubus' head from her body. Red Shroud calmly stood her ground, watching the half-fiend's incoming attack. Just as Umbra closed to within striking distance, in the instant before the younger tanar'ri started her downward stroke, Shroud snapped a hand out to grab her ward by the throat.

Umbra's neck nearly snapped as her body's motion was stopped by the iron grip of Red Shroud. The instant the succubus' hand closed on her throat, it began to squeeze, cutting off her air supply and crushing the life out of her. She flailed with the weapon, trying to cut the arm from the body, but the wounds simply healed as fast as she could make them. The pressure continued to increase. The rage disappeared, replaced by terror. She dropped the sword and desperately tried to pry Red Shroud's hand from her throat with her own hands. The crimson haze left her sight, and now black swirled on the edges of her vision. Feeling intense terror, she gasped out, "Mistress-Savior… please."

Red stopped increasing the pressure but did not release it. Her angry words appeared in the young half-fiend's mind like a whip. Don’t waste my time or what little breath you have left. THINK your last words to me.

Trying to focus her mind enough to use the innate telepathy, Umbra managed only to form one word. Why?

Despite the single word, Red Shroud was able to detect all the other thoughts and emotions behind it. The succubus laughed. Because I am teaching you, foolish Servant-Ward. I insulted and belittled you to get you to find and embrace your rage. It is your anger that you need to learn about. Your first lesson is that your rage is absolutely useless against me. You cannot harm me now, nor will you ever be able to harm me.

The succubus let her crushing grip linger a moment longer, to make sure Umbra understood. Then, she quickly spun the girl around, pulling her back tight against her breasts. Shroud finally released her grip, and then began to caress the half-fiend’s face with the hand that had been killing her. “And here is your second lesson of the day,” she cooed into Umbra’s ear. “The bodies of those pathetic creatures serve as map to your revenge.”

“See those two bodies right near the wall? Those were your first kills. Then, you felt fear. You were afraid of me because I hit you. You were afraid of them because they outnumbered you. But fear is useless, as you found out when the slaves swarmed you.”

“Look now at the next ring of bodies, a little further away from the wall. That is where you got angry. And that is where you started to win. You were angry that I would insult you and the memory of your father. You wanted to do something about it, but all you could do was lash out at whatever was closest to you. And that is a very, very good thing to do. Anger is a very good and powerful emotion. Always vent your anger, especially on those who can’t do anything about it.”

“But there, see where the bodies are no longer intact? Where limbs have been removed, faces broken, and guts ripped out? That is where your road to victory truly starts, my dear one. That is where you took your anger and augmented it with hatred. You hated me for reminding you about the one who took your father. You hated her. You hated the slaves because they were keeping you from me. You realized that the objects of your hate had less right to exist than you.”

“And see how they died? They weren’t just killed by surgical precision. Oh no, that wouldn’t do. They were slaughtered. They suffered before they died. And that is what I needed to teach you. You need to take your anger and your hate and use them as weapons to take your revenge. To make Lilah suffer as you have suffered. Now do you understand, Servant-Ward?”

Tears of shame began to roll down Umbra's cheeks. "Yes, Mistress-Savior, I do. So… you didn't really mean all those terrible things you said about me?"

Red Shroud carefully turned the young fiend back to face her. "Of course not, my darling child," she lied. "I lied. It's something we tanar'ri know how to do very well." She looked down at her ward with an expression full of concern. "Shhh, my dear, don't cry." The succubus wiped away Umbra's tears. "That is why I am your Savior; I am the only one who cares for you and can teach you what you need to survive. Now, you're hurt. Let me kiss you and make it better." She pulled the girl into a close embrace, placing her lips full against Umbra’s in a passionate kiss. After many minutes the succubus broke the kiss.

"There, now, that makes it better, doesn't it?" Breathless, Umbra nodded. "I thought so. Come back to your room where I can take off your armor and show you how much I love you."