The Lord of Night had enough.

It was the forth time that the pesky half demon, Kira, had been kicked off the tree by a well placed foot. And it seems that it did nothing to dissuade the stubborn cockroach of a girl from crawling back up the tree.

Her dedication was slightly flattering if he was honest, the Lord of Night’s annoyance fading slowly from the cool night breeze, turning into grudging acknowledgement. The girl has an admirable spirit, although having a less than ideal way of going about it.

The Lord of Night gave a defeated huff when the dull blonde messy puff of hair, streaked with twigs and leaves, bobbed closer to him every passing second.

“Valendor!”

“When are you going to give up and go away?” The Lord of Night internally sighed, and deigned to placate the child so that she would just leave him to enjoy the rest of the night in peace.

“We both stand to gain in this partnership, Valendor,” Kira huffed with exertion and optimism tinged her voice, as the Night Warden finally said something back. “I can help you and you can help me,”

“You think a weak child like you can help me?”

“Yes, the familiar bonds restrict the familiar’s thoughts and actions according to their master’s will. It's impossible for you to escape,” Kira nodded vigorously, in the middle of placing a foot on a higher branch. “I’m not sure about it, since sentient familiars are few and far between so there’s not a lot of records on it, but most familiars gain minor sentience, like Barkly for example, and we think it's the master’s soul’s personality imprinting on the familiar. So Professor Thornewood’s soul might alter yours too, and you will lose your individuality,”

“Is Morvax similarly affected? I have not felt such effects yet,” Although slightly bemused, the Lord of Night was not too worried as his divine soul was uniquely robust and his will was stronger than Theodric’s, so the chance of alteration was slim. Though the emotional dumps Theodric was prone to offload on him was admittedly bothersome at times.

However this was proving to be an enlightening conversation. This soul altering function of the familiar bond was undeniably sinister, which could have been concerning were he not to possess a divine soul. The Lord of Night was inclined to learn more of this elusive magical art, which was not popular at all before two thousand years ago, making his knowledge on the subject lacking.

“I think Morvax is slightly affected, but since the professor’s soul was injured, the strength of his control and effects of the bond may be weakened or slowed in some way,” Kira pointed at his neck. “That’s also why I think your familiar collar hasn’t manifested yet. The professor’s soul was probably stretched to its limits with Morvax already, so forming your bond probably ripped his soul up pretty badly,”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The Lord of Night remembered noticing the silver collars around Barkly and Morvax’s necks, but it hadn’t occurred to him that familiar bonds took physical form. This spell was pretty cruel, even for non-intelligent creatures. He surmised that he had an active deadline before the familiar bond would get stronger and harder to resist as Theodric’s soul recovered. How troublesome.

“I don’t think the effects are reversible though, so if you want out, you should probably take up my offer,” Kira grinned. “The sooner the better! Otherwise you will lose yourself to the point where you fully become the professor’s obedient slave. Your choice!”

The Lord of Night frowned, perplexed at the bluntness of the girl, hands on her hip, such that where his anger would’ve boiled, only mild disgruntlement manifested. How insufferably arrogant can she get? Instead he forced a smile. “And making you my master would be a better outcome?”

“I’d be better than the professor at least,” Kira’s eyes met and held the Night Warden’s gaze, leaning in, she continued. “We have something in common, you and me. How else could I summon you? Let’s stick together, we will grow stronger this way and then no one can get in our way! We’d be unstoppable!”

The Lord of Night blinked as he realised why the girl’s behaviour baffled him. Unless she’d been dropped on her head as a child, no sane person would actually be so dumb as to smash their head against a brick wall, or get kicked off a tree, repeatedly. Especially when one's power gap between the aforementioned wall was so huge.

He concluded that this Kira girl was surely insane or insanely desperate. Either way, the Lord of Night could see potential use in this young mortal, her desperation was a prime catalyst for susceptibility to his influence. His wrath petered out slowly. He should really stop letting these mortals force his mood to fluctuate so greatly.

This girl had given him some useful information so far and seemed knowledgeable generally, her relationship with Theodric probably quite weak given her dismissive attitude, so betrayal didn’t seem too likely. And since the Lord of Night’s list of current allies was, well, non-existent actually, one could not afford to be picky about one’s pawns. Even though said pawn had impulsive suicidal tendencies with a harder than rock obstinacy.

The half-demon girl cleared her throat awkwardly and mumbled a soft “Hurry up,” whilst he mulled over the suitability of his future fodder, the Lord of Night hadn’t forgotten who had summoned him and grievously inconvenienced him. However, he valued any scrap of knowledge he could get, so grudging compromises needed to be made. He didn’t care too much about the girl’s claim on transferring owners though, her little research would probably bear no fruit but it couldn’t hurt for her to try, the Lord of Night admitted he was curious whether the child could pull it off. Amidst his thoughts, he almost forgot that the girl, no, Kira, was of demon descent. That, he would have to ask about at a later time. Now was the prime time for a little test of character.

“That does sound pretty good…,” Valendor slowly rolled the words across his tongue, and cocked his head thoughtfully to the side, making a show of contemplation over Kira’s words. Then his gaze suddenly hardened, sharp as flint. “...too good to be true.”

Valendor lashed out before the child could react, grabbing the girl’s throat, choking her with one hand. Kira’s eyes went wide with fear, gauntleted hands flying to her throat. “Problem is, little one...I don’t trust you,”

Kira squirmed desperately in Valendor’s grasp, kicking and writhing meekly under the Night Warden’s baleful pools of void for eyes.

Sharp fangs flashed white and silver antlers glinted wickedly in the moonlight as the manifestation of shadow itself leaned near the girl’s ear and hissed.

“Prove me wrong.”