All heads turned to Theodric in anticipation and apprehension: they all wanted to see the recently infamous familiar for themselves up close. Theodric nodded in greeting to the headmaster, then entered the room and closed the door respectfully behind him.

“Ah, Sergeant Thronewood, thank you for coming on such short notice,” Headmaster Ravencrest smiled. “But since this meeting is held pertaining to Mister Valendor, may I ask where he is?”

“I heard someone was mentioning me?” Valendor shifted out of Theodric’s shadow, with swirls of shadow erupting and encircling him. It was a bit of extra flair along with parroting Theodric’s words, since Theodric had told him they were going to come here, Valendor had eavesdropped on the conversation a few moments prior after he once again hitched a ride in the human’s shadow while Theodric flew back on Morvax.

Getting the gist of things, Valendor was determined to have some fun with the humans, he still had a divine ego to stroke and a broken dignity to repair after all, or whatever’s left at least. He allowed the shadows around him to dissipate.

Revealing his brand new black three piece suit and cloak, with different shades of the colour, increasing in darkness from the innermost layer: plain white shirt and silver cravat tucked in his dark grey waistcoat. Faint silver embroidery decorated the waistcoat subtly with swirling protection runes, while bold, gold trims imbued runes along the edges of his pitch black jacket and cloak, highlighting the lapels and pockets, which were pinned with a silver pendant.

He had woven shadows within the fabric, making it look matt and darker than it originally was, making him invisible at night and the cloth easier to shift with. And he had also gotten some accessories as well: a small knife was strapped to his left thigh with silver buckles and black leather, matching his original silver buckled knee-high boots in which his pant legs were tucked in. Valendor had also gotten a thin silver chain with moon-shaped charms along it, and tucked it next to a half circlet of plaited hair behind his head. Which complimented his silver antlers.

Theodric did a double take. “Hey, when did your clothes get that gold trim?” Confused, he added. “And where did you get those jewelry? They weren’t there when we left,”

“I know, I look good don’t I,” If I do say so myself, Valendor finished in his head and flashed him the smuggest fanged-grin there was. “As for the gold trim, I melted some gold I found along the way,”

“So I used them to imbue light resistance and tear resistance runes. Pretty nice, no?”

Flabbergasted, Theodric probably spoke for the entire room as he narrowed his eyes at the smug bastard. “So you stole the jewellery,” He stated flatly.

Valendor shrugged nonchalantly. “You said to choose anything I wanted,”

“I did but you could’ve at least told me where you shoplifted from so I can pay them,” Theodric pinched his nose bridge in exasperation. “Nevermind, I’ll deal with you later, we’ve wasted enough of the council’s time,” He turned to the headmaster expectantly.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Indeed,” Valendor agreed with a snap of his simple gloved fingers. Heavy velvet armchairs slammed into place, all three of them facing the headmaster and the Executive Leadership Council. Valendor sat down in the one in the middle, arrogantly crossed his legs.

“I don’t even want to ask where they came from,” Theodric gave a defeated sigh and sunk into the one on his right.

“I just found the most lavish room in the castle and took them,” Valendor tilted his head at the rest of the room, antlers glinting wickedly.

“Apologies for being greedy, hope you don’t mind,” Valendor’s black eyes sparkled with an unspoken challenge, meeting the council members’ one by one. Forcing them to consider the possibility of their chair being taken and the ease of which Valendor had breached their no doubt heavily protected sanctums.

All except headmaster Ravencrest. Of whom received his only polite nod in recognition instead.

There were two reasons for doing this: first was that Valendor wasn’t able to fully gauge his strength but he probably couldn’t take him head on in a fight just yet, escaping in a pinch was the safest approach yet Theodric’s relationship to the headmaster was unclear whether he would side with him and order Valendor to slit his own throat if the headmaster wished it.

Secondly, if people cannot control something, they often prefer to destroy it, lest it be used against them. Valendor wanted neither, so he would have to place himself above the pecking order, but just below the top so they didn’t feel too threatened enough to blast him back to the night kingdom. So he gave them a tiny piece of the chain as a semblance of control, just so they would bite.

“Pardon me headmaster, I understand that you seek answers and I am happy to oblige, within reason,” Valendor tilted his head. “But there was something I wished to confirm myself first, if you’ll allow it,” Glancing at Kira, who had been gratefully forgotten at the corner, abruptly stiffened in fear.

The small nod from the man was all Valendor needed before shadow shifting Kira with a fingersnap, a foot above the armchair at his left, causing her to yelp and flail in surprise as she fell. He proceeded to dramatically produce a handkerchief from a pocket with a flick, and grabbed Kira by the chin through it.

“So this is the whelp that dared to summon me,” He snarled, voice dark with malice.

Valendor had a lot of mixed feelings about who was to blame for this treachery, the girl was not entirely wrong for overambition, though she was the reason he got summoned, but his anger at Theodric felt unjustified: he might have been the one who chose to bind him, but he was doing it out of concern for others. Well, others barring Valendor evidently. Oh well, something to sort out another day.

Cupping her cheek roughly, he examined the pitiful girl, taking care to not show his surprise when he felt a niggle of familiarity of the demons’ bloodline within the girl, yet she showed no indication, physical or soul wise, that that is the case.

If she passed off as human before, that means she was able to wield multiple affinities like a normal human instead of being stuck to one or two affinities as half-demons or any other half-breeds do. Interesting.

But not important as of now. “How underwhelming,” Valendor muttered, releasing the poor whimpering girl, and incinerated the handkerchief with a blast of shadow in disdain for the puny humans. It had not escaped his notice that some in his audience had derived a sense of satisfaction from his actions.

“Alright, I’m done,” Valendor straightened in his chair and leveled a calm gaze at the headmaster’s desk, ignoring the girl’s faint winces and the tense stares from the other occupants of the room. Theodric was giving off waves of disapproval at his manhandling of the girl, but Valendor hushed him through the bond and blocked him out.

The stage is set for the power struggle between the Night Warden and the cunning headmaster. And Valendor was determined to come out victorious, either with a foe crushed or an ally made.