#62: Spooky Season #1 (Witching Hour)


Prompt: pointy shoes, broomstick, demon

Lilynette is a wanna-be witch who's trying to establish herself without revealing that she accidentally made a pact with a demon named Starrk.


"Oh, come on!"

The howl of anger had a distinct whine behind it and Starrk lethargically raised one pointed ear in its direction.

"What happened?" He grumbled after a long five minutes of indistinct muttering and swearing.

"I got rejected! Again!"

With a quiet thud, a young girl with green hair landed on the floor next to the demon and he cracked open a bleary eye to glare at her. She returned the expression with interest. Her big pink eye and small stature should have made her an endearing sight, but her face was twisted into a massive scowl that would have made even the most open-minded person think twice about using the word 'cute'.

…Come to think of it, Starrk had never actually seen her embody that word.

"Come on, Starrk! You're supposed to help me! You're my familiar!" She shoved roughly at his shoulder, being careful to avoid the sharp black spurs that ran along his shoulders.

The demon reluctantly opened both of his eyes and raised his head. A wide yawn revealed two rows of sharp blood-red teeth. Lilynette set her jaw and didn't even flinch at the maw inches from her face.

"Okay, okay." He ran one hand, tipped by sharp black claws, through his messy hair and sat up next to her, reaching for the letter in her hands. "What did they say this time?"

She shoved his leathery wings out of the way roughly so she could sit shoulder to shoulder with him and let him take the piece of paper. Starrk rolled his eyes and pulled his wings more tightly against his back to make room.

"They said I can't be a real witch until I've attended four years at a qualified school, and I can't get into a school unless I…what was it…"

"…Exhibit clear signs of magical potential and maturation or development of your powers." Starrk read tonelessly, frown slowly deepening with each word.

"Yeah, that!" Lilynette bounced once before grimacing when the hard stone floor smacked her backside hard on the way down. "What does it even mean?"

"It means they don't think you have magic." Starrk's brow furrowed. "Did you tell them about me?"

"Why would I do that? You're my familiar! And no one else needs to have a familiar to go to school! Why should I?"

"It would be proof of your magical abilities."

"But then they'd try to take you away, and that's…I'm not doing that!"

Her eye skittered away from Starrk and abruptly he was reminded of their meeting. She was a tiny slip of a girl standing lost and alone at the crossroads, one-eyed with blood still streaming down her face from the cut socket, trembling in the rain and darkness of the witching hour and clearly terrified but unwilling to back down from the monster staring down at her. He also remembers the pentagram, the blood, and the still-warm body of the master warlock who'd thought to find an easy victim in a misplaced little girl. He could have devoured her then and there or simply left, but something in him called out to her…and something in her called back.

…Perhaps he should not be encouraging her to tell people about him. Neither of them knew the identity of the warlock she killed or if he told anyone what he was planning that night. Either of them could easily become a target.

"I'm not protesting." He replied. "But you'll need to do something to get their attention."

"Everyone else-!"

"Witches and warlocks usually run in bloodlines." He interrupted her unceremoniously, to her irritated grumbling. "Old and wealthy bloodlines. You're probably not on their radar because you're not related to any of them."

"So, what, if I get a pointy hat and shoes, or a broomstick and a wand…then they'll see me as a real witch?"

"You need to do something to set yourself apart." He shrugged, handing the paper back to her and leaning against the wall, spreading his wings a bit to take advantage of the sunbeam he'd been sleeping in before Lilynette so rudely interrupted him.

"So they can't reject me." That crafty glint her eye did not bode well for either of them. "I need to do something big, something they'll notice."

"…Lilynette…"

She ignored the warning in his tone, steamrolling onward.

"Witches like fire, right? Fire and flying? Are there any fire spells in that big book you got me?"

She scrambled away, gears turning in her mind, and Starrk grimaced at her back at the thought of what she could do with his demonic tome and fire.

But there was a handy sunbeam at his back and it wasn't his job to save the world from witches and wizards…just to keep Lilynette safe. He'd be there when she cast the spell to make sure it didn't explode in her face, but until then…

He sank back to his stomach with a faint hum to enjoy the warm afternoon sunlight.


Author's Notes: Spooky Season is upon us!

I've done a few events and challenges in the past for various fandoms and I wanted to try one this year as well and hopefully drag back some Bleach inspiration in the process. I originally wanted to start on October 1st but when the day rolled around I just wasn't up to it.

So, here's what I've got in mind:

I will be writing and posting a Halloween ficlet for every day in the last two weeks of October. I've got a list of 150 'spooky' words to use as prompts and I'll be randomly picking three of them to inspire each ficlet, then writing nonstop for at least 20 minutes on that theme. On ffnet, my Bleach ficlets will be posted in 'Howling at the Moon' and on Ao3 my Bleach ficlets will be posted in a new story in the 'Howling at the Moon' series and my BatIM ficlets will be posted as a separate story in that fandom. On Halloween, I'll do something super special to cap off the month.

If anyone's interested, I'll post some extra one-sentence prompts in the author's notes too. (Ideas that I've chosen not to use.)

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the fics!

Happy Halloween!