Watching the reaction from the witches had been most satisfying. Watching Cassandra die by their hands had been delicious to see. Their agony, the throes of deat overtaking the body, the outrage and helplessness... sweet. It tasted almost better than blood. At that was saying something. But soon, the air was filling with great magical power. Ominous power... It felt restricting, powerful, intimidating and overwhelming. Oh yes... He had hit them where it hurt most. The first battles in the war had obviously be won by Sha'kos. But now, the ancient Demon Lord had to be careful.<br/><br/>The witchcraft now permeating the area around the James manor reminded him the three witches were not to be underestimated. He liked to think he had judged them well over the past year. They were ethical and full of 'Good' morals. Disgusting, really. But he knew he had come angerously close to pushing them over the edge. That, he wanted to avoid, unless he could properly puppeteer it. People with nothing to lose, especially women, were fearsome and lethal, no matter how weak they were supposed to be.<br/><br/>Deciding caution was the better part of valour, the Demon Lord left the shadows he hid in to observe the Charmed Ones' manor. Besides... Alexander Marks had some kids to teach.<br/><br/>Even while teaching his classes about the French Revolution and the following Enlightement of Europe, he maintained a connection with all his minions, never trusting them all by themselves. Through this connection, of which they were unaware, he could sense where they were and a faint outline of their thoughts at that instant. Generalized thoughts to be more specific, like: loyalty, betrayal, enjoyment, defeat, and so on.<br/><br/>Somewhere around noon, however, Sha'kos was shocked. It appearedthe sisters made their counter move... more rapidly than he had anticipated. Eurynome, his second in command, was ripped away from his connection. Forcibly. An that was not something the weaker wannabe demon lor could do by himself. No, this smelled like witchcraft... Either he had been vanquished, or summoned into a warded, protected and foremost 'Good' area. Impressive. He had expected them to vent their frustrations by chasing down and vanquishing some of his lowest minions crawling through the town, not for them to hunt down his second in command, who was a powerful demon of his own accord. Powerful enough to need the full power of the Charmed Ones to be succesfully vanquished or even simply defeated. This did not bode well. They already seemed to know more about him than he liked. A leak? A hidden source? Or had he failed in destroying or masking all the information about him? He didn't know and didn't like the implications.<br/><br/>He needed to move soon, to counteract this strong attack on him. He decided to let Alex play for a bit. He had brutally assaulted them up till now, and scored some rather decisive victories. Now, it was time for some subterfuge and subtlety. So, Alexander texted Chloe.<br/><br/><strong>-Hey there! Should I drop by your shop to discuss what to do about our contract and my fullfillment of it? Or would you rather discuss it somewhere more...  relaxing, like over dinner at El Salvatori, the new Spanish-Italian restaurant on Main Street? Tonight? Or rather tomorrow? I can pick you up at 7 in both cases. Let me know! XxX Alex-</strong><br/><br/>Satisfied at this, he sent it an resumed his lessons, practicing his charms, especially his smiles and voice inflection, on his female students, enjoying the ways he made them blush so easily.