Kettle in the cupboard: grabbed. I twirled it around my finger as I hummed a happy tune to myself. I flipped the water on, and held the kettle under the gushing stream for just long enough to fill it up. Placed that on the stove, turned up the heat, and done. I grabbed a chair from the dining room, plopped down onto it and began the long wait for the water to start boiling.

This should only take around three minutes. I could do this. I was patient I was resolute. Who couldn't handle a three minute wait? Definitely not someone as stalwart as me. After all, what was an affair without a little bit of foreplay leading up to it. I knew plenty of ways to keep myself occupied if I got too bored~.

Except Miss Taylor had banned that in communal areas after she caught me the first time. And the second time, when she realized she needed to be far more specific about what she had forbidden me from doing. So that just left me to my thoughts. I had plenty to think about after all. Yes, plenty of plots that needed my focus on them to achieve success. So many important things to devote my attention to.

Yep...

Do dee doo...

I threw my legs onto the kitchen counter as I tilted my chair back as far as it would go. Ugh, it wasn't that easy to just be by myself; I needed someone to play off of...or with~. Well, no progress to speak of on my "get Miss Taylor a harem" plot. Mostly because the only people she had interacted with to any degree for the past few months had been her father and me. The father angle obviously wouldn't work; I'd only been involved in something like that once and I had wound up killing the entire family at the end of it if I remembered correctly.

And of course, I did.

Obviously I'd win Miss Taylor over with my charm and wit soon enough, but you couldn't have a harem with only one person in it. That was just silly. I needed to work on Miss Taylor's interpersonal skills before I could set this diabolical plan in motion.

Well, first I needed to get her out of the house, maybe head to some beautiful sights. Convincing her to chat them up afterwards was going to be difficult but doable. After that, it would be a breeze. It just wasn't possible for someone to resist the alluring wiles of Miss Taylor. She was perfect. Smart, focused, driven, beautiful, and just so soooo cute. Especially when you needled her, she made this scrunchy face just like an angry puppy. She just needed to be herself, not that magician persona she threw on whenever she had to be forceful or felt out of her element. She had really been overusing it with her "stern talks" today.

Oh, today. Don't even get me started on today. It had been the best date I had ever been on (though Miss Taylor probably wouldn't agree, let alone think it was a date). She wore the dress I bought her! Miss Taylor never wears the clothes I buy her. Another good sign that she's starting to come out of her shell! All I ever get back is that it's too risky, or shows too much skin, or isn't appropriate, bleh.

Well, I guess she does wear that nightgown I got her, but that doesn't count. It's only one thing, and looks like something an old lady would wear. No, no, no this dress had been the perfect thing to wear on our day out. And the day had been a fun filled extravaganza from beginning to end. I hadn't been allowed to cut loose like that in far too long. Oh, and what Miss Taylor did at the end. Ooooo, just thinking about it sent shivers right down my spine.

That had been something biblical! A house of sin swallowed up by the desert! The heretics inside consumed without mercy by the Earth, at her command. The enemies of my master buried alive for their transgressions against her. I didn't usually find myself on this side of the parable, but it had certainly been fun to see Miss Taylor's plan come to fruition.

Now, after all that fun, she was sitting in her room playing that stupid rolling ball game and refusing to talk to me. Wouldn't even rise to my jokes.

Now, if I knew my humans correctly, and trust me I knew my humans pretty darn well, then I think that she was upset about something. It had taken a little while to parse out, but I wasn't just summoned for my beauty. Well, I sometimes wasn't summoned for my beauty. Well...never mind. The point is something had upset Miss Taylor and I think I knew what it was.

Perhaps it was due to my nature, or the majority of masters I had dealt with throughout the centuries, but I kept forgetting this little noble streak Miss Taylor had going for her. One of her most adorable features, in my opinion. She had just killed a house full of people, maybe she was feeling bad about it?

Eh, but I was just a multi-planar being spawned from the desires of humans and modeled around a religious philosophy, bound to this realm by a magical contract fueled by a teenager's bargain for assistance in assisting her lust for knowledge spawned by her awakening. What did I know?

But seriously, if I had to put a few souls up as collateral, I would bet that Miss Taylor was upset about that. Now, normally I wouldn't get involved in something like this, but Miss Taylor didn't have many other people to talk to. And if I heard her crying it would just break my heart. Well, not physically, my heart was more for show than serving any real function, and I guess not emotionally either, I didn't feel sadness. BUT! It would make me upset.

And besides that, as her familiar, the duty fell on me to take care of my master. It's why I was making the tea after all. I needed some way to draw Miss Taylor out of her funk, some way to get the conversation started. Perhaps I wasn't the best choice for this sort of matter, but who else was there to turn to? I had spent eons whispering honeyed words and quiet little nothings into the ears of lovers. Drawing out their most terrible secrets in order to betray them later on. Turning a sharp eye to find the minutest mistakes in contracts, to turn them around on my masters. It couldn't be that hard to take all these useful skills, and apply them to helping Miss Taylor out.

Well hopefully. It wasn't like I could really relate with her struggles. I wasn't bursting with philosophical quandaries about myself. After all, I knew why I was created. I had no moral qualms to deal with. All those little emotional hang-ups, bleh, who needed them.

You know, thinking about it, Danny might just be the better person to handle this sort of talk. Someone who could at least understand what you were going through and sympathize with what you were feeling. Something like a friend. All exploits I had no real experience in.

But Miss Taylor would never want her father involved in this side of her life. If this was what I needed to do for Miss Taylor, I would try my best.

It would be an interesting new experience for the both of us at least. Laying our problems out to bear, dealing with issues, using the power of friendship to solve everything. Ugh, I didn't really want to sound like one of Miss Taylor's cartoons. But I could play the part well enough, I had taken on worse personas before. I would play whatever role I believed would help Miss Taylor succeed.

Even for someone like me, it was obvious to see Miss Taylor was hurting. Danny and I had discussed it countless times when she had gone to bed early or was too distracted to notice my absence. How we thought she was doing and ways we believed we could help her become better. Perhaps not what I had been summoned for, but Miss Taylor was unconventional. Nothing about this contract was following the normal rules, so why should I?

Miss Taylor had grown on me. Obviously, there were over a million ways I could hurt her, even with the contract restricting me and yet I chose not to. For once in my existence, I had found purpose rather than been given it. She was just so innocent, so pure. And no, I wasn't talking about that way~, well not entirely that way. But just to see her try, struggle, and achieve. To care and fight and smile. It touched even something like me. Not in the fun way, but still in a good way.

I was going to make Miss Taylor achieve her full potential. If I had a bit of fun on the way, who could blame a succubus? I would help her overcome her human hang-ups, improve her magical abilities, and rise beyond all those who would dare stand next to her.

And damn anyone who would even lay a finger on her.

Those three girls were lucky I was constrained by a contract to only injure as a retaliatory measure or on Miss Taylor's orders. That had been a solid hit I had given the black one but it hadn't been nearly enough to sate my blood lust. It was fine though, like I said, I was patient. I could wait, hoping they would be foolish enough to try and hurt Miss Taylor again. For what they had done to her, I would repay that pain a thousand times over. Miss Taylor was mine, she was important to me and under my protection. Thankfully, inflicting agony on the human body was something I was very well acquainted with. Almost as much as inflicting pleasure. I had plenty of ideas I had never been able to try out, but I'm sure they would be happy to help with~.

Hmmmm, maybe I should ask Miss Taylor if I can start invading dreams again. Well, obviously not put that way, but perhaps if I phrased it a bit more subtly, and gave a few reassurances to not use it on her unless the situation direly called for it…

Miss Taylor had become something of a common thought of mine. She was a nontraditional magician to say the least, and that was nice. The last few months alone with her had been a breath of fresh air really. My contracts were fairly monotonous to get through...though that's not to say I didn't have my fun with them~...but doing something new. Entirely new. It was fantastic. And when I wasn't on contracts? Well I might as well not have existed. All these chances for fun. All the challenges to come. I couldn't remember the last time I had been this happy

It would be a difficult adjustment when this contract finally ran out.

The tea finally began to whistle on the stovetop. I took it off and let it cool for a bit. Loose leaf Oolong was grabbed and placed into the kettle. Two cups put on a tray, the kettle placed beside them, and Miss Taylor's favorite scones put beside that.

I grabbed the tray, headed up the stairs and made my way to Miss Taylor's closed door. The annoying theme of that game still audible.

I knocked on the door. No response.

I called out "Miss Taylor?" No response.

"I made you some tea. I also have a few of the scones from yesterday." I had to wait about thirty seconds before a muffled "come in" was given back. A step in the right direction.

I opened the door with care and tiptoed inside, afraid to startle her. Have her send me away at the first sign of trouble. I was well acquainted with bending others to your whims. Sometimes you needed to lead with the "carrot" and other times with the whip~. "Here Miss Taylor, I made your favorite tea and some snacks. I was hoping we could-"

The doorbell rang throughout the house, halting my speech.

"Koa, could you get that?" Miss Taylor said, finding the distraction I just knew she was looking for. "Just leave the tea here. I'll grab it in a bit."

I scowled and placed the tray down. This had better be pretty damned important. If it was more of those Jehovah's Witnesses, then I was really going to scare them off this time. I made my way down the stairs, and opened the door, fully professional of course. If this was going to be someone important I had to be sure I was on my best behavior. I didn't want Miss Taylor to suffer due to my own irritation.

Standing on the Hebert household's front step was a woman in one of the oddest outfits I had ever seen. And I had seen, and worn, plenty of odd ones. This woman was wearing an all-black, skin tight polyester-ish ensemble with a tower emblem on the front of it. Clothing choices like this were very popular in certain circles, but usually weren't worn outside the bedroom. She also came equipped with a massive cape, somehow fluttering in the breeze outside, as well as a steel helmet concealing very little of the long dark hair that came out the back of it. Somehow, with her almost heroic stance and stern body language, she managed to pull the whole thing off.

Miss Taylor had better not have taken that dumb Wizard's advice and begun handing out business cards to random people...

Also, damn what the hell was this girl eating, she was built like a brick house! Muscular and strong, but with curves in all the right places. I guess I could ignore her horrible timing if I could manage to get some alone time with her later. You could bounce a coin off that ass and kill a man at twenty meters. My assessment of her assets was ended with a very forceful cough. Right, people tended to get mad when you ogled them. I kept forgetting, really~.

"Can I help you?" I asked politely, attempting to make up for my faux pas.

"Is this the home of Taylor Hebert?"

"Yes, it is."

"Would you be her servant?"

"I…have been called that, yes."

"Let her know that Alexandria wishes to speak with her."

'Miss Taylor, what do you call those weird people who wear silly costumes?' I sent over our bond.

'...Cosplayers?'

Hmmm, well that sounded about right. 'Yes! Well, there is one of them at the door.'

'…is it something I should be concerned with?'

I looked the woman up and down again, paying a bit more attention than before. 'Not as far as I can tell. Not getting any magical vibes from her. She was just asking for you.'

I thought about sending a dig about an attractive woman asking for you, but Miss Taylor wasn't feeling well. I could save that for later, when Danny was home.

'Then I'm busy.'

"Sorry she's busy, come back later." I said with a polite smile, and took a great deal of pleasure in slamming the door shut right in her face.