Author's note: I do not own any of the character's mentioned except for Haruka Shinigami. All other characters and the setting belong to Riot Games Inc.
Vladimir awoke to a chill running down his spine and instantly recognized it as a summoning call. He glanced at the clock next to his bed and read the time to be 1 A.M. With the scheduling of recent matches becoming more and more sporadic and an increase in the rate of his summoning, Vladimir had chosen to make the Institute of War his home for the time being. He sat up from the bed and pulled on a shirt before answering the call.
"Took you long enough," the summoner said through the mind connection. The voice belonged to a young female summoner who went by the name of Haruka. She was only a gold level summoner but her strategic plays were quickly catching the eyes of the higher ranks. She seemed nice, but kindness got a person nothing in his homeland of Noxus. He had learned a good chunk of information about her over the course of the past few weeks as it was her who had created the influx in his summoning rate.
"What need do you have of me, summoner?" His voice was cold as he brought forth his essence and spun the red fluid around in his hand.
"Same as always, we have a match," she stated calmly.
He rolled his eyes despite the fact that she could not see him. He believed she was foolish for considering the two of them to be a team. "You should not associate yourself and I with such familiarity, summoner," he threatened.
"I do not fear you, Vladimir," she replied, sounding quite distracted.
He laughed. "You should learn to then. It's safer for you that way."
She sighed softly. "You champions always think you're so tough just because you get all the fame, but you forget that you are nothing without a summoner." She laughed as she began digging into his mind. She started searching through his memories and forced him to relive them. "You know nothing of my true power."
"Stop," he nearly yelled when she revealed the memory of the first teenagers he had killed.
"Remember your place, champion," her voice came out as a near hiss. Within a split second her personality returned to it's normal, bubbly state. "So do you accept my request to be summoned or should I find someone stronger?"
"I accept," he stated as calmly as he could as he regained his composure. "And next time can you schedule a match at a decent hour?"
"We'll talk about it over tea sometime," she said before disconnecting the mind link to prepare for the match and leaving Vlad in silence.
He sat on his bed and attempted to make sense of the events that had just taken place. Most summoner's feared the champions despite knowing that they could not hurt them; but she had stood up to him as if she was his equal. Very few had the guts to do that to a normal Noxian citizen, but even less dared to challenge a known killer such as himself. He glanced down at his hands and clenched them into fists, his essence dripping between his fingers. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the battle about to unfold.
