Kitty's Keeper/No Clean Blades

XI

George pulled his sleeping shift over his head. As the wave of deep indigo fell away, he saw his acolyte sitting up in bed, thoughts traveling everywhere but the land of nod. He figured it was as good a time as any to indulge his curiosity.

"May I ask why?"

Carum jerked slightly, startled by the gentle probe. "Why what?"

George selected a book from his shelf and made his way to the bed. "Why the sudden interest in fighting? You've lived here for a while now, you could have asked him at any point. You could have asked any of us, really."

"I do have the Cult of Fab to care for," the human responded. It was an evasive answer, and they both knew it.

"Yes, you do. Still, you could have been just as busy this day."

They sighed, wringing the linen in their hands. Their tired, inexperienced hands... "I am also self-conscious. For all I've done, I continue to barely hold a candle to you all in fighting prowess. I fear I am a liability, and fear all the more that John feels the same."

How you pressure my acolyte, Vox Invictus. "Ah."

They turned suddenly. "But I didn't mean to stab Paul! His visions were so vivid that I struck out just to be rid of them!"

George made a calming gesture. "Deep breaths, my precious prophet. I know you didn't mean to. There is no malice in your heart."

Carum nodded, but still strangled the linen.

George parted their hands. "It's alright."

"Right," said his acolyte, but George knew they didn't believe it, so he resorted to the one way to calm his acolyte without sedating them through hypnosis.

He opened the book to its title page. "Systema Diabolicae, per regna regis Demonae—Brrrackets—secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis—Brrrackets."

He would never fully understand the appeal of his pronunciation, but he knew it was effective. In moments, Carum was leaning against his shoulder and giggling.

"I love it when you do that."

He nuzzled them. "And I love to see you content."

They reached for the tome. "Have you finished it?"

"Not yet. It will take a while. It is a long book. I fear that, by the time I do, there will be a new edition."

"Is his kingdom so vast?"

"Aye."

Thinking about the Demon King's kingdom was enough to distract the acolyte from their anxiety. It also brought other events from the day to the front of their mind. "You know, sparring aside, Paul taught me quite a bit about all of you. How you act, how you fight."

"Yeah?"

"He said you are brilliant at hand to hand."

"Figured he forgot about that." George crossed his arms. "Always chastising me for using too much defense magic..."

"He also said you planned to teach me dark magic soon."

George nodded. "Yes, I do." Then he got an idea. "In fact, we're going to start tomorrow."

"We are? But I-!"

"Yes, tomorrow. We'll talk to Mal, have him give ye a primer. It'll be a nice way to add you to our contract."

"Mal?"

"Our bodyguard. And more than that, our friend. He's a guardian demon. Has to be summoned to be seen in most cases."

"And you're going to... summon him?"

"Oh no." He settled under the linen and opened the book. "You are."

Author's Note:

I learned a lot about daggers and dagger fighting for this. I'm not sure how well I conveyed that new knowledge in the story, but if you're interested in the topic, I recommend The Rogue Archive Dagger Fighting Masterpost on Tumblr!