Familiar
[fəˈmilyər]
Noun
1. a demon supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal
“The loathsome toad, the witch’s familiar”

Keir popped another cough drop in his mouth, wrapping his jacket around him tighter to keep out the cold air. Fall and winter were his least favorite seasons. Sure, fall was pretty with its bright orange and yellows, but everything was going dormant. Lots of animals would be going into hibernation soon, and all the trees were shedding their leaves.

He was in the parking lot; school having just ended. After a disastrous first period, the rest of the day was mostly uneventful. He didn’t have any other classes with Nyx and had only seen him (He decided that thinking of him as it would be pretty rude if he actually turned out to be human) a few times in the hallway. During lunch, he’d sat with a girl that he couldn’t remember the name of anymore, but she seemed nice.

Just as he reached his car, something landed on his shoulder. A familiar, feathered head nuzzled his neck and cooed softly. “Birdie.” Keir sighed as he opened his car door and got inside. “What are you doing here? Someone could see you.”

‘You’re getting worse.’ His familiar’s voice hummed in his mind.

“I am not.” He huffed. “Quit worrying, I’m fine. You should have stayed at home, it’s cold outside.”

‘It’s not that cold. Your mother sent me to tell you that you need to buy a toaster on your way home as if I’m some carrier pigeon.’ Birdie fluttered over to the passenger seat and nestled herself in the jacket that was there for her.

“You’re a dove, Birdie. You’re in the same family as pigeons.” Keir snorted as he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

‘I am not anything like those bumbling idiots. I’m much more intelligent and prettier than them.’ The voice grumbled in his mind

“You’re right. You’re the loveliest Mourning Dove I’ve ever seen.” He chuckled and rolled his eyes.

Fortunately, this pleased the bird and she was quiet on the way to the grocery store. This being the small town it was, they didn’t have a chain grocery store. The closest Wal-Mart was a thirty-minute drive. Instead, there was a small, locally owned grocery store named Grubs. It was a rather small place for a store, the shelves crammed with stock. He wondered if they even sold toasters there.

He left Birdie in the car, leaving it running. He couldn’t be long anyway and if someone tried to steal his car, they’d have Hell in the form of a bird to deal with. He stepped inside the place, immediately heading toward the home appliance section. It was a tiny aisle, but he managed to find the only toaster on the shelf.

There was only one register open, and it had a pretty long line. While he waited, he got lost in memes on Instagram and before he knew it, it was his turn to check out. He plopped the box on the conveyer belt for the cashier to ring up.

“That for your bathtub?” A voice he recognized asked, as a little beeping noise coming from the register as he rung it up.

“It might be.” He said smoothly as he looked up to meet the employee’s pale blue eyes. He pocketed his phone. Nyx certainly looked different in a blue polo and khakis than his black clothing from earlier.

“That’ll be 23.96.” Nyx said, watching as Keir put his card in the machine. “Rather than committing suicide, you should come to a party at my place tonight.”

“And why would I do that?” He asked as he took his card out.

“Cause it’d be a pain to pull out the ol’ Ouija board to talk to you.” Nyx shrugged. “Just come. It’ll be a good way to get to know people.”

“I’m not going to end up as a sacrifice to Satan?”

Nyx laughed. “I’m not a demon. Give me your phone so I can send you my address. You’re holding up the line.”

Keir handed over his phone and let the stupid demon give him his number.