She Belongs To The Devil

Chapter 783 Familiar

"Stay back!" Theodore shouted to his daughter.

He was quick enough to react to that talking cat. He jumped forward and grabbed that cat by its neck, and thinking that it might have been sent by some enemy, he teleported at least a few meters away from his daughter. Stay updated via empire

The Devil Prince in him had already awoken. He glared at that tiny cat with his burning red eyes and demanded, "Who the hell are you? Reveal your true form."

And funnily enough, the cat thought that it was the perfect moment to throw some satire at the man whose eyes were glowing red and who was making him dangle in the air. "Oh, you are that son who was banished from Heaven, right? Were you banished because you were this mean?"

Theodore's head tilted to the side on its own, while his eyelids shut close as if he was trying his best not to snap that little creature's neck and snuff its life out.

"Dad! Put him down…" Ariel came and stood by her father's side and demanded while holding her father's wrist.

That cat spread out its tiny paws as if he was going to fight the devil with it, and he agreed with Ariel, "Yeah, put me down, you meanie."

"Shut up!" Both father and daughter glared at that cat and shouted simultaneously.

That white cat looked like it was mad, especially at Ariel. And while it kept on giving the glare to Ariel, it transformed into a doppelganger of Theodore, startling both Ariel and Theodore.

Theodore instantly held out his arm in front of his daughter and pushed her behind him.

That didn't stop that doppelganger from looking over Theodore's shoulder and talking to Ariel, "Now that's no way to talk to your father, Ariel."

Theodore had enough of that cat-man's charades. He pointed his palm at his doppelganger and an arrow made out of mist hit it on its shoulder.

"Argh!" It groaned and tried to pull that arrow out of its body, but since it was made out of the magical dark mist, that doppelganger couldn't grab the arrow.

And suddenly, it started to change its form so fast as if it had suddenly malfunctioned. First, it changed into that white cat, then it changed into a white hare, then into a panther, and into a caterpillar.

Ariel's eyes widened in recognition when it finally took the form of the nine-tailed fox.

She stepped in front of her father and exclaimed, "Oh my goodness! Herbert? Is that you?"

It groaned in pain and answered in a guttural voice, "Yes, thank you for finally noticing! Now, a little help here, please."

"You know this shapeshifter?" Theodore asked in a concerned voice. "Where did you meet him? And when?"

Ariel answered her father without taking off her gaze from Herbert. "Yeah, I met him just a while ago in grandfather's garden. He was in the form of a nine-tailed fox."

Theodore retreated that arrow back from Herbert's body.

Herbert finally stopped transforming when it took the form of a young boy who looked like he was in his mid-teen years. He was wearing a white fur coat, paired with a white shirt, trousers, and boots. He had almond-shaped eyes. His black hair fell down to his shoulders.

"Why are you here?" Ariel asked in confusion.

Theodore also immediately asked while clenching his fist and resisting grabbing onto that fur coat, "Did the almighty send you down here to spy on us?"

"What? No!" Herbert rolled his eyes at Theodore and replied cheekily, "God doesn't even know that I am here. Wait, no… He might already know by now. But that's not the point. I came here on my own, I am my own master."

He quickly turned his gaze to Ariel and said, "But I would like to have someone as my master, someone whom I deem worthy of my service."

Before Ariel could say anything, Theodore folded his arms in front of his chest and stood like a pillar in between his daughter and that suspicious-looking boy.

"Go back to where you came from before I pull all those pretty locks of hair from your head," Theodore snarled at Herbert in anger. There was no way in hell he was going to allow that creature from Heaven, that also the one who was probably kept by his dad as a pet, to tag along with Ariel.

Adeline and Irene, who were watching everything unfold from the sideline, also joined the three of them.

Irene then said to Theodore, "He must have followed Ariel here. I will take him back to the Heaven realm, brother. You three should go and rest. It will be morning soon."

She instantly tried to hold that boy by his wrist but he pulled his hand away and denied, "No. I am not going back there when I finally decided to choose my master."

Ariel gave out a nervous chuckle and said to Herbert, "I am not quite ready to have any… to have anyone who calls me master. I think you should go back. Grandfather might find out that you are missing, and he might cause an uproar while looking for you."

"He might already know that I am here. So, no need to worry about him finding out," Herbert gave an innocent smile. But his smile was replaced by a look of pride in a flash. He then held out his hand for Ariel and asked, "Why don't we form a contract?"

Theodore immediately swatted that boy's hand and shouted, "Absolutely not! Don't even think about it."

Herbert looked Theodore straight in the eyes and asked with a frown on his forehead, "Why not?"

"Because I don't trust you one bit. So, get away from my daughter. Go back to the garden that you are used to." Theodore narrowed his eyes at Herbert and further added, "Trust me, you will be far happier there."

"You shouldn't be deciding that for me." Herbert turned his glance at Ariel again and asked, "I want to be your familiar, Ariel. Will you accept it?"

Theodore sighed in frustration because his daughter was now interested to know what a familiar was.

And Herbert was quick to answer before Theodore interrupted their moment again. "Familiar means a companion beast. If we enter a contract then I will serve you with my true heart for the rest of your life. You, on the other hand, will have to take care of me and treat me as if I am a part of you and not a separate entity."

Seeing how utterly confused Ariel was, Adeline leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Arion is your father's familiar."

"Ah!" Ariel nodded her head in enlightenment.

Until now, she had thought that Arion was simply a special horse to who her father had taken a liking. But listening to the kind of bond her father and Arion shared with each other, Ariel felt as if it wouldn't be such a bad idea to enter the contract with Herbert after all.

Theodore was still trying to chase the boy back to the Heaven realm. "Why would you deliberately want to bind yourself to someone else when you are enjoying your freedom?"

"I need a purpose in life," Herbert gave a simple reply.

And fearing that he would be sent away, he teleported by Ariel's side, grabbed her arm, and then bit Ariel's wrist.

"Noooo!" Theodore pulled that creature away from his daughter. But it was already too late.

A drop of Ariel's blood had entered Herbert's mouth.

Following that, a subtle shiny mark appeared on both Ariel and Herbert's foreheads for just a brief second.

Ariel had no idea what Herbert had just done to her.