Taming the Familiar

Chapter 31 - Brotherly Love

Alexa didn't fall back to sleep immediately as she had thought she would. She couldn't believe Jacob was here now. She wanted to ask him a hundred questions, but he had no words to use right now. She stared at the snoozing feline. Kaleth was awake too, watching her curiously. She groaned, deciding sleep was a losing battle. She sat up slowly and turned to Kaleth. 

"So to summon a familiar you have to start with a soul?" She asked curiously. Kaleth shrugged with a frown.

"Yes and no." He said, thinking carefully, "If you want anything more than animated objects." Alexa nodded thoughtfully. She glanced back to Pitch.

"So Alistar decided to make him his servant because he killed himself?" She asked. Kaleth frowned, obviously not pleased that she knew so much.

"Yes, he changed his mind last minute. He was disappointed though, in how weak his new familiar was." He replied. Alexa frowned. Pitch wasn't so weak now, huh?

"So you were once human too?" She asked. Kaleth seemed surprised by her question. He thought for a minute.

"I suppose I must have been. It's been so long I can't really remember being summoned, let alone before that." He explained, causing Alexa to frown. She couldn't imagine being around so long.

"How old are you?" She asked. Kaleth smirked.

"I don't really know." He said. Alexa rolled her eyes, and scowled at him.

"Give me an estimate." She said unhappily. Kaleth grinned.

"Well I remember when the Spartans used the wooden horse." He offered. Alexa's eyes widened. That was like two thousand years ago now!

"So you're like two thousand years old?" She asked. Kaleth shrugged as if it were nothing. Then again, after the first couple hundred years things would all just seem the same.

"I guess." He said with a smirk. Alexa rolled her eyes. 

"So how long before you gained human form?" She asked. This made him scowl, obviously Pitch had him beat.

"Not until almost the death of Christ. I was serving a man named Octavian who ruled Egypt." He replied. Alexa smiled, glancing at Pitch.

"So how long was that?" She asked. Kaleth refused to look at her, the scowl etched in his face still.

"Six hundred years." He said, still frowning. Alexa grinned, proud of Pitch.

"Yeah, but you never had a master who allowed you close contact. Pitch has been snuggling and sleeping in my bed for months. So technically he had an advantage." She said quietly. Kaleth agreed but still did not look pleased. Finally she flopped back into her pillows.

"So how often will he be able to so that?" She asked. Kaleth shrugged.

"Probably only an hour a  day at first." He said with a shrug. Alexa yawned, wishing sleep would stop evading her.

"I saw you," She said yawning widely, "back in my dreams, you weren't so grouchy." Kaleth's eyes widened.

"What all did you see?" He asked. Alexa frowned sleepily.

"More than I really wanted to." She replied. Kaleth's frown told her she hadn't answered how he had hoped. 

"You saw the old master?" He asked, obviously hoping she'd elaborate. Alexa frowned, this wasn't an easy topic to discuss.

"Yes." She said warily. This caused Kaleth to frown even more. Obviously he didn't like the idea of her seeing these things. 

"So you saw the time with the old master, Jacob and I?" He asked. Alexa nodded slowly.