Once we got back to Koel's camp, he gathered up his pile of papers--apparently not trusting to leave them alone with me--and crawled into his tent. I took a seat next to the fire and waited a few moments before the boy's head popped back outside.

"I don't have another tent," he said.

"So?"

He pushed the tent flaps back further, like he meant to come out all the way, but then stopped mid-motion, his eyes widening slightly.

"Demon's don't sleep, do they?" he said, his voice sounding accusatory, which was surprising coming from him.

I smiled mockingly. "What's the matter? Afraid I might do something while you're asleep?"

He recoiled back into the tent without answering me, and were I human, I would have most likely been rolling my eyes--that seemed to be the human reaction to someone doing something obnoxiously childish or petty. A strange reaction, in all honesty, as it made the one rolling their eyes look far more foolish than the one getting their eyes rolled at. But, alas, I supposed I would never truly understand humans.

It was quiet for a few minutes and then from inside the tent, Koel's voice sounded. "Are you still out there?"

"Where else would I be?"

I heard him shifting around and I thought he might be starting to crawl back outside, but he didn't. 

"You said you were bound to the knife, didn't you?" he asked.

I sighed. "Yes. That's right. What of it?"

"Well...why don't you just take it and leave?"

I barked out a spiteful laugh and stalked over to the tent, flinging one side of the tent flap open to look down at Koel, who had seated himself cross-legged on the ground. He stared up at me, mouth gaping, before he shrank backwards, though I had no current intention of harming him.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" I asked.

He shook his head in desperate negation.

"No? Then tell me this: do you think someone who isn't stupid wouldn't have tried to walk away with the knife they're bound to?"

His face flushed red and he stared down at the ground. "I guess not," he mumbled.

I knelt down in front of him and grabbed his wrist, tugging him toward me at the same time until he was on his knees with his one free hand bracing the upper half of his body. He stiffened but didn't try to pull away so I lifted his hand and turned it so the rune was facing him.

"What do you think this is, master?" I asked.

"To...show I own...the knife." The boy spoke hesitantly, like he wasn't sure he was giving the correct answer.

"And me." I dropped his wrist and his hand fell limply to the ground. "So as long as you own the knife, I'm bound to you as well."

I stood back up and turned away.

"But..."

I stopped and looked back at Koel. He had returned to his cross-legged position.

"But what?" I snapped.

"But why not just take the knife in between masters so no one else can ever claim it!" His words all rushed out on a single breath and when he was finished, he flushed red again. 

I studied him for a few moments before responding. "That's not any of your business."

His face seemed to burn even brighter at my words, and he turned his attention to his hands--probably in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He was quiet for a few moments and then said, "So what do you do when everyone else is asleep?"

I smirked. "Imagine all the bloody, torturous ways I'd like to kill my master."

He paled and stared up at me in horror, the green of his eyes the only color on his face at the moment. He looked so positively petrified at the idea that I might imagine ways to kill him, that I decided I would show him a fraction of mercy, at least this once.

"I'm only joking, of course," I said, and at my words he relaxed considerably--apparently, for some totally inane reason, he didn't expect me to lie to him and took my words for absolute truth. And while the tension eased out of his body and the color returned to his face, I thought of an alternative nighttime activity I might do that would appease the ridiculous child.

"So what do you really do?" he asked.

"I think about all the things that might have been had my kind not been enslaved." The answer seemed tame enough to me, but it made Koel pale again, though not quite to the same degree as before.

"Things like what?" he asked, his voice small and almost-whispery.

I gave an exaggerated sigh. "What does it matter? They're just thoughts; it's not like I can act on them."

"But you want to." His eyes widened slightly, like he was surprised he'd actually said that, and he hurriedly looked away, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

"Wanting something is irrelevant," I said, trying to keep my voice calm because the kid was already so damn twitchy, "unless it's possible to attain it. In this case, it's not possible. Demons were enslaved. Whatever I might have wanted had that not happened doesn't matter."

He didn't move. If anything, he seemed to shrink down into himself even more, huddling in a pathetic little ball with his head tucked down between his arms.

I growled in frustration at this reaction, his fear only serving to annoy me, despite my usual inclination to having humankind tremble in my presence. This was simply too pathetic--I was even trying to be nice!

"Fine," I snarled. "At night, while humans are sleeping, I imagine baby animals and ways I can make the world a kinder, gentler place! Does that make you happy?"

He flinched but gave no response beyond that.

And so what?

I didn't care.

I turned away from him and returned to the fire.