Chapter 9

It was a quiet afternoon in the owl house as the Owl Lady and her demon roommate were currently in the kitchen. Eda was stirring a big pot on the stove while King was sitting at the kitchen windowsill.

Suddenly they heard a knock on the front door, a few seconds before Hooty shouted, "DING DONG! Hoot!"

"Is that Luz?" King asked her in excitement, wagging his tail in excitement like a dog

"Luz doesn't knock before entering to home." Eda said as she stopped stirring her pot and leave the kitchen.

"DING DONG! Hoot!" Hooty shouted again.

The pale witch walked towards the front door and opened it. And then a second later, she stood eye to eye with a three unfamiliar person. A large demon, moth-like young woman and the hooded man.

"Eda the Owl Lady?" Asked the man with a hood.

"Well, that depends on who's asking."

"We're members of the Order of the Moonlight." The demon responded with a straight face.

"I've never heard of the Order of the Moonlight before in my life." Eda looked them up and down. "If my sister sent you to capture me..."

"We have nothing in common with your sister." The man said as reached out to hood, putting it down to reveal his hidden face.

He had grape purple eyes with distinct pupils that were slitted in appearance, and his eyes have light blue sclerae. His eyebrows were white. He had a dark blue sickle-shaped facial markings located under his eyes. His pointed ears were reminiscent of normal witch ears with slightly longer length. He had uneven-cut bangs that sweep to the left of his face, length averaging just under his eyes, but framing his face slightly longer and curled at his cheekbones. The rest of his bright lilac hair reache the base of his neck, wildly flaring out in curved strands.

"My name is Safdar Skuggan. And these are my friends, Samantha Ledenakrilo and Tatsurion the Courageous."

"Hi." Samantha smiled, waving left hand. Tatsurion just nodded his head in greeting with his fist to his palm.

"We came here because we're searching for the book."

"The library is in a town near the crystal balls store. You will certainly find. Goodbye." Eda said and then slammed the door in their faces.

"I also like books. They are very tasty and crispy." Hooty said heartily.

~•~

"Who it was?" King asked, staring out the window at path to Hexside.

"Tourists." Eda said, before checked on her pot. As she opened the cover, she took a deep breathe to smell it. The Centurian Goulash smells exactly like a fresh meat of sheep with fish oil.

"Dinner is ready. Call me when Luz come back from school. I'm going to take a nap." The witch turn off the cooker, heading to the fridge and opening it to pull out a mug filled with the apple blood.

"Sure." King just mumbled, staring at the window.

The Owl Lady leave the kitchen with intent to relax, just to found the members of the Order of the Moonlight standing in the middle of the living room.

"How did you get in here?" Eda asked with an arch of her eyebrow.

"This nice but still creepy owl in your door let us in." Samantha happily explained.

"Hooty!"

"Did somebody say my name?" Hooty said as he opened his door face and slowly craning his head to get closer.

"Why did you let them into my home?" Eda pointed to a trio in the room.

"The guy with facial markings let me eat his snacks." Hooty said in a tone that was just too cheerful.

"Actually, It was a small box of smoke bombs." Safdar informed Hooty.

"And it was delicious."

Eda looked at Hooty like a disappointed mother, drawing a yellow magic circle in the air and holding out her hand. A spray bottle fell into her hand.

"I make it a rule not to eat things from strangers." She sprayed Hooty with water from the bottle, and he began to hiss like a cat.

"Hey, stop it! Hoot!"

"All you got to remember is protect the house and not accept 'candy' from strangers. Understand, or do I need to draw pictures to help you out?" Eda said and sprayed him in the face with a jet of water again.

"I understand - I understand." Hooty screeched as trying get as far away from the spray bottle as possible.

"Now back to your door."

With that, a house owl demon retracted back to rest in his door and muttered something in which the words 'wet punishe' were distinguishable.

"Well, now that we got that out of the way..." Eda cast her gaze over towards the odd trio standing to the side, "You better give me a good reason why I shouldn't throw you out of my home."

"We come in peace." Tatsurion fold his wings.

"We just want to talk." Safdar said.

"We have cookies." Samantha happily added.

In the middle of their explanation, a certain human girl suddenly spoke up out of the blue, coming out of the kitchen.

"Eda, I'm home, and you'll never believe wh-" Luz trailed off the moment she got a good glimpse of their new guests; needless to say, she recognized immediately all the people.

Everyone turned their heads to see Luz with a King perched on her head.

"Guys, look! That's the human witch with round ears. Hello Luz." Samantha smile, before turning her attention to demon on teenager's head. "That's a nice hat, by the way."

"I'm not a hat!" King hopped down from the girl's head. "I am the King of Demons! You all bow down to me now!"

The moth woman just stared at King for about 2 seconds.

"Sweetface!" She exclaimed and before King knew what happened next, she promptly pulled him in and started cuddling him.

"Hey, cut it out!" King objected, as it give him feeling of déjà vu.

After a few more second, the young demon managed to pull himself off of her grasp. And moved away from her.

"Do not come near me, I warn you."

"I couldn't help it. You just happened to be so adorable."

"I'M NOT ADORABLE!" King stomped his itty-bitty foot on the ground.

"So cute." Samantha and Luz said at the same time, looking at King.

Then the teenage girl looked at Eda, and asked. "Eda, you know those guys?"

"I wanted to ask you the same question, kiddo."

"I can explain," Safdar said. "That and a some other things."

Eda looked at Luz, and then back at them, as if deciding if she could trust the trio.

"All right, go ahead, I'm all ears." The witch said as she dropped into her couch.

AN: So if you have any ideas or comments, please leave them in the comments! I would love to hear your thoughts!