Chapter Text
Grim’s day had been great, right up until a magic circle opened up beneath his feet.
He’d been let off work early! There was a sale at the supermarket! On tuna! His mood could not be ruined! He had been heading home, preparing to enjoy his spoils of war, perhaps over a new episode of that one Romcom he liked.
But it was not to be.
He was being summoned.
His tote bag slipped from his fingers in his surprise, his groceries spilling out over the asphalt.
Not that this was his main concern at the moment.
It was certainly a large one, though. At least the tuna he’d bought came in cans — if his precious snack had touched the ground… he thought he would have killed whoever had dared to summon him.
(He was still considering it.)
He grimaced as the world blurred around him, his body stretching and pulling, until he was spit out on the other side.
He plastered a fake smile on his face, turning to ask his boss why they had changed their mind.
Only to stop cold. Because this was not his boss at all.
There were… three kids, sitting around a copy of the magic circle that had summoned him, written in their own blood. From their wide-eyed expressions, it was pretty obvious that they hadn’t actually thought their summoning ritual would be successful.
For a moment, it was perfectly silent. No one knew what to do, how to approach this unprecedented situation.
Finally, the one on the right, a boy with blue hair who was looking up at him with a healthy amount of terror, moved. He dropped into a seiza, only wincing slightly when cut-up hands touched the ground.
He may live.
The other two, however…
The one on the right was a boy with a mess of red hair. He was laughing hysterically, his hands hugging his stomach, staining his already ragged shirt.
And then there was the girl with black hair. Sitting in the middle, her arms crossed over her chest huffily. Looking at Grim in disapproval, as if she was the one suffering here. “He’s not cute enough.”
“What?” said Grim.
“I don’t want you. Go back home.”
With no further ado, she reached forward and broke the magic circle.
Grim was back in Hell. His groceries were at his feet.
… the audacity.
Not only did they have the audacity to summon him, they also rejected him?!
No. No. Absolutely not.
He saw another magic circle open up under some other demon nearby and shoved them out of the way.
Within the minute, he was standing in front of the kids again. The boy with blue hair looked mortified.
“Why did you reject me?!” Grim snapped.
“You’re not cute,” the girl said, as if it were a crime.
The kids looked approximately nine or ten, maybe it was equivalent to a crime in their minds. Grim had heard that young humans grow up soft and squishy. This could very well be the worst thing that they had ever experienced.
Grim crossed his arms over his chest. “First of all, I’m adorable, so jot that down. Second of all, what the hell? That’s not a very nice thing to say to someone.”
The kids gasped.
“It’s a demon!” The blue-haired one said in a not-so-quiet whisper.
The other two nodded seriously.
Grim snorted at the fact that the kids had recognized him as a demon, not because of the hulking figure covered in fur or rams horns sprouting from his head or the glowing red sigil on his chest… but because of a mild swear word.
“You can’t have a demon as a familiar,” said the redhead. His voice was rough, like he had chain smoked every day since the day he was born ten years ago.
The girl nodded her agreement, and dismissed Grim once again.
He blinked at the red skies above him. Was God playing with him or something? He didn’t think he’d done anything to get on the guy’s List. He worked a goddamn 9 to 5. He barely had enough soleils to afford a two room apartment! There was no way he was on the big man’s radar.
So, no, this was just a cruel twist of fate.
That might just be worse.
He was getting rejected by human children. Repeatedly. For no reason.
This time, Grim twisted his features while he waited for a new magic circle to open up. They wanted cute? He could be cute, if it got him answers.
However, the moment he stepped through, the kids all screamed bloody murder, clinging to each other for comfort.
Hm. Maybe they didn’t like pet chimeras in the human world? Grim couldn’t imagine why. He’d always wanted one himself. Unfortunately, with two mouths to feed, it was not something a lower demon like him could easily afford.
But, fine, at least he could use their moment of terror to look around.
Hm…
The room was, frankly, pitifully bare. Clean to the point where Grim found himself wondering whether these kids had anything at all. A bed, pushed into the corner. A threadbare rug, rolled up and set neatly under said bed. A single alarm clock, currently set on the floor beside the redheaded boy. The only ‘messy’ thing was the comforter — covered in hearts — which had been pushed under the door frame.
Trying to mute sound? Were they hiding their summoning attempts from one of their parents?
Before he could open one of his mouths to ask them this, the redhead jerked forward and scraped a clawed hand over the blood on the floor to break the connection.
After a few minutes' wait, he was back in the small room once again. In his original form, since they — somehow — liked that one better.
The kids were not entirely over their terror quite yet. The girl was completely silent as she stared at him, her mouth hanging open. The boys were trembling like leaves.
He wasn’t sure which reaction was better.
“What was wrong with that form?!” Grim sulked. “I made sure it was nice and fluffy for you!”
“It had two heads!” the blue-haired one said, sounding like he was about to cry.
“More to pet!”
The redhead pressed his hand over his mouth, looking like he was going to be sick.
The one with blue hair also looked like he was going to be sick, actually, but he seemed to have other concerns:
“Are — are you sure you read that familiar summoning ritual right, Trinity?”
The girl (Trinity, apparently) jolted back to awareness. “Deuce! Don’t make me lose my Name again.”
“Okay, that’s not how Names work, but if it was then you just lost me mine, too.”
“That’s doing you a favor! Your name sucks.”
“You and Ace won’t even tell me what’s wrong with it!”
Trinity made a frustrated little sound, decidedly continuing to not explain anything.
Grim considered all of the kids in turn.
Hm… Trinity, Deuce, Ace. They didn’t look related, so it probably wasn’t the result of a single, uncreative parent. Were they using fake names?
Names only really mean something to the fae, but when in doubt it was always smart to have a fake name handy.
Maybe humans were warier than he remembered them being? It hadn't been that long since he’d been to the human world, though…
But, then again, Grim was beginning to suspect that these three weren’t humans at all. He eyed Ace’s clawed hands. Considered how familiar Deuce was with Names. Squinted down at the summoning circle at his feet, which could be done by any adult human who knew how to channel their essence properly, but would not be possible for a child unless they were a witch.
But why would a bunch of nonhumans even need a familiar? Enhanced senses? Surely, between the three of them, they covered most of the bases. And, yes, witches were often fond of familiars, but there were rules for stuff like that. Magic was dangerous stuff. They shouldn’t be practicing unsupervised!
Completely random example, but what if she summoned a demon by accident? That could be dangerous!
Ace waved his hands for his bickering friends’ attention. “Guys? There’s still a demon in our room.”
Trinity and Deuce blinked. They looked at Grim, who was just… standing there, staring back at them.
“This is a demon summoning ritual,” said Grim, eventually, because it needed to be said, pointing at the ground. “Not a ritual to create a familiar.”
Ace and Deuce gave Trinity accusatory looks.
Her face flushed red. “What?! But…” She grabbed a tome from behind herself and started flipping through the pages. Until she landed on one about demon summoning.
She turned it around so Grim could see.
He had to admit, the wording would seem a little vague if you weren’t experienced. Especially for children, who would have more trouble picking up the nuances of certain words.
Still.
“If you can’t tell the difference between summoning a demon and creating a familiar, you shouldn’t be doing complex magic like this,” he chided, shaking his head. “Really, where are your parents?”
She ignored his question entirely: “But then what’s all this stuff about protection down here?!”
Grim sighed, shaking his head. “Yes, demons can protect you, for a price. It’s a preeeeetty common deal, having a supernatural bodyguard is super convenient, but...”
The three kids immediately perked up.
“What’s the price?” Deuce asked.
Grim frowned. What could these kids even need protecting from? Poverty?
“A soul…?”
Trinity lit up and raised her hand.
“Witches don’t have souls,” Grim shut her down immediately.
She mumbled something that sounded like a curse — the witch kind, the ends of her hair started to glow red, and her friends rushed to pat the flames out. Grim wondered if lighting her own hair on fire was really all that much better than a child swearing.
Nope, both were bad! Quick, distract her!
Grim tipped his head to the side, tapping his chin. “Unless you steal a soul, I guess, but I really doubt you have one on you.”
Trinity lit up. She turned to Deuce. “Deuceeee, can I have your soul, pretty please? I definitely won’t immediately trade it away.”
Deuce shrugged, opening his mouth.
“Hey,” snapped Ace. “Why do you get his soul?! What if I want it?!”
“You already have your own soul!” she said, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
“Okay? And? What’s your point?”
“Guys, guys, what if you both get half of my soul?”
Grim sighed. “It doesn’t really work like that until you cash in the soul for soleils, which isn’t really common practice outside of the demon world. More importantly. Don’t be so blasé about giving away your soul!”
Deuce pouted. “But it’s my soul. I get to choose what to do with it. I want my friends to have it.”
Trinity and Ace took critical damage. They were stunned into silence.
Grim sighed. “I guess that makes sense, but you really shouldn’t give your soul away when you’re so young. What if you change your mind later?”
Deuce thought this over. “Nah. It’s fine.”
What is wrong with kids these days?!
They’re going to get themselves killed!
Or worse.
He fought the urge to curse (a real curse, thank you, ‘hell’ barely counted — it was his home!). “What kind of familiar do you want?”
“A cat!” said Trinity, no hesitation at all. She looked very proud of herself when she explained that, “All the cool witches have black cats!”
“… right,” he said. “Okay, I’ll help you get that ‘protection’ you want.”
But not a familiar, no. As great as familiars are, they know no more than their owners, which defeated the purpose of these three having one.
So… he didn’t necessarily want to tell them that the process to create a familiar was completely different from that of summoning a demon. That they weren’t even close. It involved, mostly, a lot of paper and a fire to forge the familiar in, not blood on the floor.
But hey! Amateurs would never be able to tell!
Grim hummed as he looked over the circle for anything he’d need to change. It was surprisingly well-constructed for an amateur. Even assuming she had just copied down what the tome had told her, the kid clearly had an eye for detail. A spell to ensure that Grim couldn’t leave the circle, one to keep him from hurting anyone, a spell to mute his negative emotions (now that he thought about it, he really couldn’t feel much more than annoyance and mild exasperation right now)…
He quietly scratched out anything that could limit him.
Deuce was watching him suspiciously. If he was a faerie, like Grim suspected he was, then he could probably sense that Grim was being generally dishonest. An older faerie would be able to tell exactly which words were lies in a casual conversation, but it would take quite some time before Deuce got to that level.
“Are you going to hurt us?” Deuce asked, outright, regardless.
Grim squatted down, until they were almost eye to eye.
“No, I won’t,” he said, holding out a hand to shake. It couldn’t leave the outer rim of the magic circle, sharp fingernails just barely scraping against the invisible force field. “Promise.”
Deuce nodded slowly, reaching a hand up to shake his.
Grim sighed internally. He could have dragged the kid through to his world if he wanted. They really do need someone to protect them.
Ah, well, Grim thought, sighing to himself. He’d been hoping to go on holiday sometime soon, anyway.
Who knows, maybe he’d even head back home with a couple of souls under his belt.
(Not the kids’ souls, of course, he had standards. Grim just wanted to meet their… ‘parents’. Have a little chat with them about how to supervise your own children.)