“You have a funny nose,” she declared, rolling on her side, and squirming towards me as innocently as a viper.

I chuffed. “All the better to smell you with, my dear.” What can I say—I appreciate the classics.

Her response was a poke in the snout and an especially ear piercing giggle, followed by the pitter patter of little feet as she jumped up and scurried from the room.

I rose to my paws and padded after her, sniffing her pillow on the way with the recently maligned appendage. Her distinctive lilac shampoo lingered on the floors.

I ghosted through the atrium and down the halls, my coat a patch of night among the evening shadows. Not in the parlour or the gallery. I reached up with one of my tentacles and opened the door to the library.

A window was open. I felt my hackles raise, but the room was empty. I shut it and hurried down the hallway. Two doors down, I paused. Two figures lurked in the sitting room, and my ears pricked at their whispered voices.

“After such a long journey, we finally made it.”

A giggle sounded from the wall. “You really messed up. You’re standing in the sitting room.”

There was a sudden stillness before the voice came again, louder. “Who are you, little girl?”

“Alice.”

The taller one tried to be subtle as he reached for a coil of rope.

“His daughter,” he breathed.

“Also, kitty is here,” she continued.

I growled. The two jumped and the shorter one swore, light kindling. Their eyes went wide as they darted about the room before finally settling on me. I gave them my best grin, as the blood drained from their faces.

“Displacer beast!” The taller one yelled, drawing his dagger.

The second stepped to the side, muttering strange, twisty syllables as a glow emanated from between his cupped fingers.

I melted into the shadows and summoned an illusion before dashing to the side, buying some distance and placing myself where they could not easily reach her. Lightning crackled from his fingertips, but I ignored the pricking heat while his partner’s dagger swung through my illusion.

The swing threw him left him overextended, and one of my tentacles struck and pulled him forward. He stumbled to one knee with a cry and my claws savaged the gap in his armor. His blood pooled on the floor as I padded back inbetween the magician and Alice.

“You will not touch a single hair on the heir.” My tongue lolled out at my wit.

The magician looked at me, eyes wide, the light in his hands guttering.

“Y-you can talk?”

I snorted. “Obviously.”

“Please don’t eat me!”

“Of course not,” I replied, before lunging at his throat as he relaxed fractionally. My jaws closed on his jugular, and I wrenched back in a shower of gore. “I rarely eat sapients, and especially not raw. What do you think I am? Uncivilized?”

I turned away from the two fallen men and strode to Alice. I reached out with one of my tentacles and lifted her to my back. She squirmed around fastidiously, trying to avoid the blood spots.

“What does your daddy always say about running in the halls?”

“He says I should be careful and sneaky, or I could get a bush.”

“Ambushed, my dear, and this is a perfect example. You could’ve been hurt.”

She crossed her arms and pouted as I tapped a couple of runes on the way out, the resulting incandescence throwing thick bars of shadow before me.

I took Alice to the bathroom, where she giggled as I licked the blood from her face. Her lingering floral tones complemented the blood’s sweet, metallic taste.

She wouldn't get into the tub unless I did, though, and my fur was instantly sopping. I took some measure of revenge by shaking myself dry afterwards.

By the time she was clean, she was yawning hugely, and easily persuaded to bed. I went back and checked the sitting room—empty and back in order. The rest of the halls were dark and echoing, had there been anything to echo.

My ears flicked up as I heard the telltale hum of the wards opening, and I paced to the entryway.

The low murmur of a familiar voice outside relaxed my fur, and I bowed my head, waiting for the door to open. “Welcome back, my lord.”

“Norf. Did you have any trouble?”

I flicked my tail. “Nothing worth mentioning.”