Ridley

"Vandel what the hell are you doing here and why are you naked?" I hissed.

One of Vandel's pale fingers flew to his lips. "Shhhh, are you crazy? If you talk too loudly someone might hear you." He gestured to himself. "And I'm naked because if you didn't recall I can't wear clothes when I transform into my bird form. How else do you think I got here dummy?" He probably would have rolled his eyes if he had pupils. "And stop being a baby about it, it's dark in here. It's not like you can even see anything-" Vandel was cut off as I hurtled a sheet at him. "Ow! What the fuck Ridley?"

"Cover yourself," I mumbled under my breath. "It's...indecent." I was glad it was dark so Vandel couldn't see how flushed my face was.

The demon prince snickered, finally pulling the blanket around his waist. "I always forget you Alterian's are terrified of anything to do with sex-"

"With a demon," I cut in quickly. " We all know it's one of your powers of manipulation. That's why it's treason to-"

"I get it," Vandel said with a snort of laughter.

I frowned at him. "It's no laughing matter. What are you even doing here? Waltzing right into human territory and the castle of all places! Are you insane?"

"Some may argue that. The tables really have turned in our situations haven't they?" Vandel said with a smirk. "It's stupid to leave your window open at night Ridley. Strange men might come flying through the windows." I made a mental note to ask Annette to have every window in the castle locked and barred.

My eyes narrowed at him in the darkness. "How did you even find me?"

"There were still traces of my magic left over from the binding spell connecting me to you. It wasn't hard. Then you just made my life 100% easier by being stupid enough to leave your window open."

"That's creepy."

"No need to be so rude," Vandel said sticking out his forked tongue.

I sighed heavily. "The last time we talked we established that we weren't friends. We're still enemies. Why would you come here when I could easily call for backup and have you be captured right here and now."

Vandel met my gaze. "Because I trust you."

That took me by surprise.

I stared at Vandel, agape. "Why?"

Vandel shrugged. "I don't know really. Listen, I came here tonight because I have some information about the Bone King I just recently discovered and I want you to hear it."

That got my attention. "Wait really?"

Vandel nodded excitedly. "Yeah, after the incident in the village I started researching practically any and everything I could find on him."

"Me too!" I scooted forward on the bed. "I looked through almost every book in the library, even prince Stefan's personal collection." I wasn't sure if I imagined it, but it looked like Vandel had stiffened slightly when I spoke. Did he have some kind of hidden hatred for books or something?

"I sent out some of my men to search for anything regarding him and they actually came upon something quite interesting," Vandel said.

I stared at him.

He stared back at me.

I continued to stare.

Finally he let out an exasperated sigh. "You're supposed to ask me what it was idiot."

I nodded my head quickly, my head still reeling over the fact that Vandel might actually have a lead on the Bone King.

"Right, right! What was it?"

"There's a village of Ancients living in a secluded location on the outskirts of the Darvling woods."

I furrowed my brow. "The Darvling woods?"

Vandel pursed his lips. "Gods, what do you humans call it....the Dark Forest or some shit."

My eyes widened. "Oh! The dark forest!"

"Why do you have such stupid names for everything," Vandel muttered. "Honestly, were the founders of your country a bunch of eight year olds?" He shrugged. "The Ancients have been living in that village long before the Bone King even appeared, they might have some information about him. I think the village might be pretty hard to find but between the two of us I figure we can manage."

"Wait..." I said slowly, "you could have just gone yourself right? Your village wasn't the one attacked. If anything it would make sense if the demons found out all they could about the Bone King and kept it to themselves."

"I want you there," Vandel said suddenly. "I've never seen a human ever kill a Bone Monster. We need to find out what allowed you to do it."

"It was just luck."

"Stop being humble we both know it was much more than that. If we go we might be able to find some answers or at least some more information on how we can repeat what you did if there ever was another attack."

A realization suddenly hit me and I leaned forward slightly, locking my gaze with Vandel's pitch black one.

"How do I know this isn't a trap..." I asked slowly.

Vandel shrugged. "You don't. You just have to trust me."

I furrowed my brow. "And why should I do that when you've given me every reason not too."

Vandel extended his arms. "Ridley, I came into enemy territory, ass fucking naked, just to ask you to come with me (something I REALLY didn't need to do by the way). If you really think this is all an elaborate trick to trap you just call the guards on me now."

A beat of silence passed but finally I sighed heavily.

"Okay...I trust you. On this at least," I added quickly.

"Thank goodness because if you had really called the guards I was fully prepared to bash your head in."

"Good to know." I thought for a moment. "How are we supposed to get there? You can turn into a bird but I obviously can't. Do I need to get a horse? How long is the journey going to take. If I'm gone for too long people might get suspicious."

"Don't worry," Vandel said with a smirk. "I've got it covered."

"How could you possibly have 'got it covered'?"

"Okay...well you know I can switch between my demon and raven form right?" I nodded slowly. "So I bet you didn't know I could turn into a hybrid between the two."

My eyes widened. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll find out in a second," he said with a pointed grin.

"So what does this hybrid form actually have to do with us getting to the village of the Ancients?" I asked.

"Are you a dumbass? You're going to ride me!"

I nearly gagged. "You can't be serious!"

Vandel snickered, his eyes narrowing. "Unless you rather I be the one doing the riding. I am naked in your bedroom after all. I'm pretty versatile that way-"

"Would you stop!!!!" I would have yelled if we didn't have to be so quiet, my entire face burned. Why did he always try to embarrass me like this? "Fine," I muttered quickly. "I'll ride you. Now...can we please drop this?"

"No need to get so defensive-"

"I'm not getting defensive!" I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"Oh shit," Vandel said suddenly.

I blinked. "What?"

Vandel let out a little huff. "I forgot to bring extra clothes. Normally I just have some of my minions plant some for me but I just realized I forgot to ask them to do it."

"I'll bring some, you can just wear mine," I said quickly. "Now can you please transform so we can just go?"

"Alright...I'm warning you now though...this isn't going to be pretty. There's a reason I hardly ever take this form."

I rolled my eyes, despite myself. "Just do it. For Pete's sake!"

Vandel snickered. "For Pete's sake?"

"Just do it Vandel!"

Vandel slowly slipped off the bed, letting the blanket fall from around his waist. I quickly averted my gaze. I could hear him moving to the center of the room. There was a sudden crack, like a bone shifting. I flinched at the sound. Then another and another. I decided I rather not look at Vandel's transformation because from the sound of it the whole thing probably both looked and was extremely painful. Still averting my gaze I made my way to my dresser, grabbing a leather bag and stuffed some clothes into it before I slung it over my shoulder. Then I grabbed my sword and hilt from beside my bed.

"It's over now," Vandel finally said. He was breathing heavily and his breaths were quick and ragged. The voice was unmistakably his but his for some reason it sounded raspy, like it was a struggle to even get a sentence out at all. I looked up slowly and my mouth nearly dropped open. Vandel hadn't been lying when he said his hybrid form wasn't pretty. The thing that Vandel had transformed into was pretty horrendous, like something out of a nightmare. Large black wings nearly knocked against my ceiling. His hands had turned into sharp talons despite the fact that his legs remained human. He was holding his talons over his face and I could just see one eye through them, it was completely red.

"Whoa..." I said slowly.

"I know," Vandel rasped. "And trust me, I'm doing you a favor by covering my face. It's..pretty awful." I stood there staring a moment, simply stunned. "So what are you waiting for?" Vandel snapped. "Get on my back." I slowly approached him, hesitating on what to do. Vandel kneeled down. "Just pretend I'm a horse or something."

"Well obviously you're not a horse-"

"THAT'S WHY I SAID PRETEND RIDLEY! Fucking hellfire, haven't you ever heard of using your fucking imagination?" 

Sighing heavily I scrambled onto his back. Vandel let out a low raspy chuckle. "Alright, hold on tight." I did just that, surprised by how soft his feathers actually were. "Oh and by the way," Vandel said suddenly, "I'm apologizing now for any damage done to your window when I take off. These wings are pretty powerful." And with that he took a running start and practically leapt through my open window.

I was lucky the window was quite large, but despite that when we moved through Vandel's wing practically took out a section of the surrounding wall. I grimaced, that was going to be pretty hard to explain when I got back along with my sudden absence.

I looked down now and realized with a start that we were actually...well...flying. Flying was something every child dreams about but to actually do it...well Gods I couldn't believe it. I watched Alteria grow smaller and smaller from the sky and as the wind whipped against me I couldn't help but feel a grin spread across my face. I wrapped my arms slightly tighter around Vandel subconsciously, my hands gripping his soft feathers.

Despite the circumstances this was actually...pretty amazing.