Blake couldn’t help but to groan as he drowned in books. He had for almost two weeks tried to make up his mind on what on which guardian he should summon. No one fitted what he wanted of them and those who did were gods. Leon had already claimed that gods did not accept contracts as they only wanted worshippers, not proteges. Time was up.

He would have to show his contract tomorrow and he already had decided to go with his Chinese zodiac. He was born 1999 so his Chinese sign was the Rabbit. He had first not wanted to go with the Rabbit as it reminded him of Jaxon’s nickname of him, but he felt drawn to it. Blake rose and reached for his bag. Leon had already prepared the necessary things for summoning the Rabbit.

A purple jasmine. He had to turn to the cardinal point of the beast that guards his constellation. It had taken forever to determine this. He was born 28 March which means he’s an Aries. The White Tiger of west guards the Aries so he had to turn to the west. He had a paper with a brush and ink.

Blake followed the instructions of Leon. Turn to the west. Devour the jasmine. Paint the Chinese sign for rabbit on the paper. Burn it and pay your respect. He had closed his eyes when he paid his respect. Blake followed all the instructions, but nothing happens. At first, he assumed that something had gone wrong. He opened his eyes and stared at the extinct fire. A small golden rabbit sat in its wake.

It sniffed with its cute little nose and blinked with its big eyes. Its ears dropped and only twisted when it started to skip toward Blake. Blake who had sat down to pay his respect earlier soon had a rabbit crawling up in his lap.

“Well, hello,” He said but let out a scream when the Rabbit answered.

“Greeting.”

Its voice was almost like a child though Blake wasn’t sure if it was male or female. He had no intention in lifting the rabbit to take a look.

“I have been summoned to be your guardian!”

“Right,” Blake said as he waited for his heart to calm down. He let the Rabbit bit his finger as blood was necessary to form a contract. Then from the wound came a golden thread that healed his wound to then wrapping itself around his finger forming a golden ring with the Chinese sign for rabbit on it.

“It’s proof of your contract and our bond. You can summon me with it.”

“I understand. I won’t take it off. What should I call you, if I may ask? I cannot just call you rabbit.”

“Names does not really concern me. I prefer rabbit to be honest”

“How about Coney? It’s an old word for rabbit.”

The rabbit scratched his nose when he thought about it.

“It sounds fine. I accept.” The rabbit vanished in a flash of bubbles and Blake started to clean up all the books. He had wanted a stronger guardian in case the wolf comes back but Leon had assured him that he could have several guardians. Most witches or druids had form contracts with several magical sources. Just not at the start of their training.

He was just about to pick up the only book left on the floor as he froze at the sight of it. Had he read it? It was rather small, wrapped obsidian leather and burned at the corners. It had a strange symbol that looked like a fish, lion, eagle, dragon and a human wrapped in one. He frowned but put the book back into the bookcase.

Blake turned around when he heard a loud thud. He circled back to see the book laying on the floor again. A frown formed on Blake’s face as he picked it up again and put it back. This time when he turned around the book smacked him right in the head before falling to the ground.

“Okay, I can take a hint.”

He leaned down to pick up the book. He opened it only to stare at a language he has never seen before. The pages were covered in symbols. It wasn’t in Arabic, Russian, Asian or Runes. Blake had no chance to interpret it and closed the book. He felt pain spread along his finger as he had cut himself on the book pages. He licked the blood off his finger with a sigh and put the book into the bookcase. He turned around for the fourth time when he heard a strange sound. Like that of fire crackling.

He turned around to stare at a tall, very handsome man with eyes literally on fire. His irises shifted like a burning flame and his body seemed covered in black smoke. He stood leaned against the bookcase and seemed to read the book which has caused problems for Blake earlier.

“You were meant to take the book with you,” The man said with a suave voice. There was a soothing rhythm to it even if Blake could have sworn he had heard a strange echo to his voice. Blake could feel himself being mesmerized by this man and quickly shook his head to pull his head out of his arse. What was going on? Was he hallucinating?

Blake looked down at his bleeding finger and went cold. “A contract?”

“Hm? Yes. I apologize for the forceful method in which it was formed but you didn’t seem to be able to understand my intention.” The man lifted the book with a charming smile. “I wondered why my message didn’t reach you, but I forgot that this old thing is in Aramaic. Not many speak it anymore. They did for… over a thousand years ago though. I will translate it for you. It's my grimoire with a massive amount of secret crafts.”

“Crafts?”

“Forms of magic. Like the sacrificial magic, you are now trying to learn.”

The man walked towards Blake who wanted to back away, but his body was paralyzed. The man put the book into Blake’s hand and grabbed onto his other hand with the wounded finger. The man licked the finger and smirked as Blake tried to wiggle out of his grip.

The wound vanished and the man raised his own free hand and blew at it. Red mist came from his breath and formed into an obsidian coin with the same symbol as the one on the grimoire. The coin had a golden chain on it making it into a medallion.

The man let Blake go and put the medallion on him. He looked pleased with himself for a while before the smirk turned into a frown.

“Why do I smell-“ The man had detected the ring. He lifted it and let out a groan as he saw the symbol.

“A rabbit. I was beaten to my target by a bloody rabbit. You better not mention this to anyone.”

“Who are you?!” Blake exclaimed and wiggled himself out of the man’s grip. The man seemed to gather himself.

“I have many names. The most common is the Prince of Darkness.”

“You’re Satan?”

“Don’t insult me. Lucifer is a spoiled angel with a father complex. He stole the title Prince of Darkness from me. Fucking twat!”

Blake rolled his eyes at that. “Then who are you?”

“Call me Prince.”

“Like the singer?”

“Who?”

Blake just groaned while massaging his temple. He was bullied for being gay, attacked by a wolf twice, and now he was forced into a contract with someone calling himself Prince of Darkness. He started to believe that he is truly abnormal.

“Okay, Prince. If you refuse to give me a name, then can you tell me what you are?”

“I am many things. Old among them.”

“That is not an answer.”

“Yes, it is. It’s merely not the answer you wanted.”

Blake looked at Prince for a while before turning his eyes toward the medallion.

“How do I break this contract?”

“Now, now. No need to be rash. I can assure you that I am far more competent than a rabbit. I can protect you from the wolf and future enemies when that rodent cannot.”

Blake turned his gaze back to Prince with a frown. How did Prince know that he had been attacked?

“I don’t doubt your usefulness. Not much at least. I don’t trust a man calling himself Prince of Darkness. Last time I heard that I was watching a vampire movie.”

Prince grimaced at the word vampire. Apparently, he wasn’t a fan of them. Or movies. Or both.

“I would never hurt you.”

“Why would I trust you? You are clearly a demon or a devil. I have watched enough movies to know that.”

“Rude. That’s racist and believe what you want. Finding out who I am is a task I have given you. “

“What answers? To who you are? What you are?”

“No, to a far more important question. Who YOU are? What you are?”

Blake froze at Prince’s words. “You know?”

“Yes, I was sent here to guide you. You are far too important to be left alone.”

Blake tried to read Prince facial expression but there was nothing but the fire blazing in his eyes.

“Fine, I will keep my eyes on you.”

“Do so and do not be shy with your summonings.”

Prince started to fade into black smoke. The last thing Blake saw was his fiery eyes.

“I will see you soon.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

“Wait, so getting a female wolf can make a man become mentally ill?” Aeron exclaimed and Jaxon frowned.

“No, you might get confused about your gender or sexuality.”

“Right, mentally ill.”

“Being gay or transgender isn’t a mental illness.”

“Maybe not, but it sure isn’t natural.”

Jaxon stared at his friend. Was he joking? They had never discussed this in detail but…

“You have slept with boys. You told me.”

“Yeah, we are in an all-boys school. How else are we going to get some? It’s like being in a prison. You will get your needs done but you aren’t gay.”

“Firstly, there is an all-girl school just around the corner. So that is bullshit. Secondly, you might not be gay but you surely aren’t straight either. It doesn’t matter, the point is that Elliott mentioned that my confusion with Blake might be because of my wolf.”

Aeron didn’t seem to listen and merely looked at the stands where John Haley was situated with a gloomy look.

“John Haley’s wolf Sableclaw is a female! Do you think that’s why he’s so wacky? A female thing. Females are more aggressive because of their-“

“Stop right there. God, no wonder you got no girlfriend. Stop being an arse to everyone then maybe I won’t be the only one who can stand your rude arse.”

Aeron raised his hands in surrender with an eye roll. “Fine, I’m just asking. I don’t mind others being weird just as long as it doesn’t happen to me.”

Jaxon looked over at Haley who noticed his eyes on him and moved away from the field. Maybe he should talk to him about it? But if he didn’t know then… Jaxon groaned and ruffled his hair before pushing the thought back. This is to complex to handle. At least for him.

He was just about to tell Aeron off when he saw something that made him let out a pitiful whine. Aeron frowned and followed Jaxon’s line of sight only to groan when he caught what Jaxon was looking at.

Blake had come walking with the cutest little rabbit in his arms. They could be related! The rabbit had the same golden hair though Blake’s was a bit more scarlet blond. They both looked nervously around at all the far to bigger wolves and Jaxon could feel Nightmane’s excitement. He wanted to run straight up to Blake.

Then his wolf started to growl as a shirtless Hadrien had walked up to Blake and petted the rabbit. “Get your scrawny ass away from my rabbit!”

… Wait, what? Jaxon grimaced at his weird thoughts but could help but to stalk closer to them both with Aeron following close by. Most likely to laugh at his stupidity or to stop him if this escalated.

Jaxon had tried to walk silently while going against the wind to make sure Hadrien didn’t catch his scent. It hadn’t worked as Hadrien soon turned around and looked at him with two glowing eyes. It was a clear challenge not to come any closer. To not enter his territory. Aeron held Jaxon back who wanted to force himself into Hadrien’s personal territory to pick a fight. Nightmane demanded it.

He growled at Hadrien but froze as Blake looked out from behind Hadrien. He tried to turn his grim face into a smiling one, but it just turned into a grimace. Blake’s eyes flashed in shock, then in pain before going into annoyance. He huffed and averted his eyes from Jaxon who held back a whine as Nightmane was sad. Damn wolf.

“Hi… What’s the matter with the rabbit? Are you going to eat it?” Goddammit, Jaxon! He could only groan as the word left his mouth.

“Rude! Stupid wolf!”

Jaxon frowned and looked around. Where did the child's voice come from?

“I am one of the twelve zodiac and-. Stop looking around! Over here!”

Jaxon turned towards the furious rabbit. Both he and Aeron gawked at the rabbit who huffed itself up to look bigger than it was.

“Bloody hell, it talked!” Aeron exclaimed and pointed at the rabbit.

“This is Coney. He is my guardian. I made a contract with him for my first assignment in Sacrificial magic,” Blake said and showed off the rabbit proudly. God, he looked adorable. Jaxon wanted to lick his cute little face. Wait, no he didn’t. Damn it all!

“Guardian? So, you're going to throw him at the wolf if it comes back?” Aeron said while trying to keep a straight face. Blake blushed in shame and hugged the rabbit closer to his chest while avoiding their eyes. Damn, Jaxon wanted to hit Aeron.

“I’m sure it will be… Helpful!” Jaxon tried to mend the damage, but he could have sworn that he saw tears in Blake’s eyes.

“Coney doesn’t have to be, chéri! I will protect you,” Hadrien said mildly Blake before looking at back at Jaxon. “Just like I did in the forest.”

Okay, Hadrien is way too cocky for a newly turned wolf. Jaxon showed his fangs to Hadrien who just smirked, but both their attention was taken by the voice of Blake who looked bashfully at Hadrien.

“Thank you, Hadrien. But I wanted to learn how to defend myself. I have been a victim far too many times for my comfort.”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to teach you some awesome magic. The right kind of magic. Unlike the other one!”

Blake petted Coney’s head, but Jaxon frowned at the last part. “The other one?”

Blake’s shy face turned into a sullen one and he rolled his eyes. “Don’t ask. I doubt that one to be up to any good. Unlike you, Coney. You’re amazing!”

Coney huffed proudly and flapped his ears, but Jaxon did not like the sound of that. Had Blake met a bad witch? All of them were bad but some were involved in dark magic. Dark Magic is something you cannot turn back from once you have a taste of it.