Disclaimer: I don't own anything save for my own ideas.

Bloody Kitsune: Okay so here's the first chapter of Toy-Maker's Daughter Book Two! I finally finished writing up my plans and will hopefully stick to most of them. I love you guys and hope you enjoy this!

The girl and a bookworm comes

Jacob Tolts was not having a good day. First, his wife decided to leave him and take their kids with her. Second, the police chief demoted him to a meter maid. Third, he'd had that dream again. Jacob blamed it on that psychotic clown that haunted his entire childhood after killing his family. Jacob had thought that the clown would leave him alone after he'd turned ten, but it was back. He shook his head as he wrote yet another ticket praying that it would be time to go home soon. When he turned to move to the next meter, he jumped back at the sight of the kid standing by him.

Pretty and doll-like with bright green eyes set within a heart shaped face. She had dark crimson curls that fell to the middle of her back. She wore a dark purple t-shirt with stars on it, a pair of cream colored cargo shorts, a pair of well-loved running shoes, and a dark forest green back pack. She couldn't have been more than ten maybe eleven which relaxed him. The clown usually didn't go after anyone older than ten which meant she couldn't have been one of his victims beside he didn't waste time hiding their appearances from him anymore. Offering her a kind smile, Jacob asked, "Hello, Kiddo. What can I do for you?"

Tears began to form her in eyes, "I can't find Papa."

"Don't worry, I'll help you find him. It's my job as a police officer," Jacob spoke in a calm tone as he drew on all his parenting experience, "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Ten minutes ago," She sniffled looking guilty, "I just wanted to take a closer look at one of the shops and didn't see him moving on. We were getting stuff for our new apartment and..."

She broke out sobbing and he quickly began to comfort her. Soon enough, she was leading him to the last spot she'd seen her father. Eventually, he noticed that they were in the rougher part of the city, "Hey, Kid. Why is your dad shopping down here?"

"We don't have a lot of money," He noted that she had a slight accent to her words.

British maybe? He felt a bit sorry for her. Soon enough she was walking towards an alley and he froze, "Kid, I don't think you should go down there."

"But I thought I saw Papa walking in there," The kid looked at him with watery eyes, "I thought you were supposed to help me kind Papa?"

Jacob hesitated not wanting to go in there as something about this situation seemed fishy. He wasn't given a choice as he felt something slam into his back sending him sprawling onto the ground. He pushed himself up as the kid smiled happily as a voice that he'd hated for years sounded, "Yes, Jakey, weren't you going to help her find 'Papa'?"

"Laughing Jack," He growled earning a laugh as the monochrome bastard appeared.

Laughing Jack grinned down at him before moving over the kid, "Nicely done, Gum Drop. He didn't expect a thing until the alleyway."

"Thanks, LJ!" The kid beamed up at the monster before looking at him, "What's wrong, Officer? You look a bit sick,"

"I'll make him feel all better~" Laughing Jack patted her on the head, "Let's head to the carnival, everyone loves a good carnival!"

Calla sucked on the blueberry lollipop that Laughing Jack had given her as she walked out of the his carnival. She hummed softly as she made her way towards Jason's store. She pushed open the door and her father's head popped out, "Back already?"

"Mhmm," She grinned at her father, "The officer LJ was after had a soft spot for kids so it didn't take long to lure him to where Jack was waiting for us,"

Jason chuckled as she walked over to him, "And did you help him today?"

Calla shook her head, "Nope! I watched and was in the splash zone."

"Go take a shower, we're supposed to be picking up Hermione in an hour," Jason patted her head as Liquorice hopped onto her shoulder and nuzzled her bloody cheek, "Did you have fun?"

"Mhmm," She grinned at him, "It was a lot of fun especially watching LJ at work. I can't wait until I'm allowed to help!"

It was going to be so much fun putting to use the skills she'd been taught. Jason chuckled softly, "You just have to wait another week and you won't actually be killing anyone."

"I know, Papa," She was just eager to put the skills she'd been taught to use.

They wouldn't let her kill anyone until she was fifteen if only to keep her from snapping. If it hadn't been for her break down, she might have actually been allowed to kill someone sooner, but she didn't exactly mind the extended waiting period. After all, she wasn't even close to being ready to kill someone. Act as a helper and watch people being killed? Yes, she was ready. Kill someone? Not so much.

Jason watched Calla rush past him towards the entrance of their home and sighed softly. She was growing so fast, but at least, they now knew that Lily was able to see it. He glanced towards the part of his work-shop that he'd been making sure Calla wouldn't get into and smiled. Yeah, Calla's birthday was going to be an interesting day.

Calla spotted Hermione waiting with her mother and 'father' at the cafe they were supposed to meet at. Hermione's Mother, Jean, looked like an older version of Hermione with darker hair and a stockier body. Hermione's 'Father', Thomas, was a plain looking male with light blonde hair and pale brown eyes. Breaking away from her father, Calla shouted, "'Mione!"

Calla pounced on the brunette earning a gasp and flinch from her bookworm of a friend. Oh, she missed her friend even if the agitated nature of her energy was concerning and would need to be addressed as soon as possible. She blinked when she heard Candy Cane say, "Calla, if you don't let your friend breath, we'll be throwing a funeral rather than a welcome party for her."

Calla looked at Hermione and let out a sheepish laugh as she got off of her friend causing the bookworm to let out a gasp as she tried to regain her breathing, "Sorry, 'Mione. I was really happy to see you not to mention excited to see that you'd be staying with us. I can't wait to show you the books that I found when Papa let me go shopping in California last week."

Hermione offered her a weak smile, "I didn't think you'd be this excited considering how much I annoyed you during exams."

Calla snorted softly and shook her head, "I might have been seriously annoyed with you during the exams, but not now. I missed you too much for that."

Hermione's smile brightened only for her mouth to fall open in shock as Shukaku popped out of her shirt, "Why did you bring him?"

"He missed you too and I didn't want to leave him behind," Shukaku yawned and curled around her neck, "He also wouldn't give me back my shirt,"

"Why didn't you just get a clean?" Hermione asked making Calla flush lightly.

"Well you see..." Calla trailed off as she reached up to scratch behind Shukaku's ears.

Candy Pop settled a hand on her head, "Our washing machine is currently broke as is the one at the boss' place and so it everyone else's since a certain little group headed by this one decided to make them better."

"It's not my fault Ben left those maintenance manuals out and everyone was bored enough to join in," Calla's cheeks were flushed, "Besides, it was Toby's fault for burning all those wires,"

Yeah, it hadn't been one of Calla's best ideas especially since she was currently grounded and not allowed into her work shop. The only reason she'd been allowed to help Laughing Jack is because he needed her help and he managed to sweet talk her father into allowing it. Luckily, she would be done with her current punishment by the day before her birthday. She would also be going over to the Weasley residence two weeks before school with Vivian and Hermione which was bound to be a lot of fun. She was brought back to the current situation when Hermione's mother asked, "How on earth did they manage to do that without alerting anyone that it was happening?"

"Everyone was very busy and those involved are far more clever than most give them credit for," Jason answered with a pleasant smile, "We will thankfully have all of the damaged machines replaced tomorrow," The look he gave her said that he would not be happy if she had a repeat of the situation and she quickly nodded not even daring to contemplate doing it again, "Now, My name is Jason Maker. With me are Candice Crane and her brother Phelan Crane. The associate of Mr. Samule Maurice* will be here in a few moments. He's running a bit late it seems."

"It's fine," Thomas looked at Calla with a small frown, "I am surprised that you allowed your daughter to come along,"

"She has been on her best behavior since the incident," Jason replied with a strained smile, "Phelan, why don't you take the girls for a little walk while the rest of us discuss what is going to be happening while Ms. Granger stays with us?"

"Sure," Candy Pop agreed quickly and turned to the two with a grin, "Come along, you too,"

Without waiting for either of Hermione's parents to say anything, Candy Pop got them out of what was rapidly turning into a awkward situation. Calla let out a sigh of relief as they got out of ear shot, "I really don't want to be around Papa if your dad pisses him off."

"Father isn't normally like that," Hermione offered with a strained smile, "He's just been stressed out lately,"

Calla knew it probably had something to do with Slenderman investigating the Granger family. She felt a little bit guilty that Hermione had to deal with this stuff, but it was better that it happened now rather than later. They really needed to deal with quite a few issues before Hermione ended up snapping. Wrapping her arm around Hermione's shoulder while wondering when the other girl had gotten taller than her, she said, "Let's not worry about that stuff right now, we have at least an hour before we need to be back."

"Have you eaten yet, Hermione?" Candy Pop asked earning a nervous smile.

"No, I was a bit worried about this meeting since Father was saying that if it didn't go well, he would probably withdraw me from Hogwarts anyway," Hermione answered before flushing making Calla believe she hadn't meant to say that part.

Calla felt anger well up at how her friends 'father' was acting and bit back a scathing retort. She would definitely be making the man one of her future victims if he kept stressing her friend out. Tightening her grip a little, she pushed down her anger, "Let's go eat, I didn't eat anything other than some candy that LJ gave me. He started teaching me how to make candy and it's a lot of fun even if it's a lot more complicated than I thought it was..."

With a curious Hermione listening, Calla spoke about how her summer had been going while making sure not to mention what exactly she'd been doing.

When the two children had been removed from ear-shot, Jason glared at Thomas Granger, "Mr. Granger, I would prefer it if you didn't question my parenting especially as we have not met before."

Thomas opened his mouth getting a bit red only to close it when Jean Granger placed a hand on his shoulder hissing, "Thomas," He settled down in the chair he'd been sitting in and Jean turned to them with a strained smile, "I apologize for my husband. We've just been dealing with a lot of stress lately."

Of course they were, Slenderman was investigating them more specifically the man known as Thomas Granger not that his daughter was fully aware of everything going on. With all the excitement of having Vivian with them and Calla's increase in lessons, Jason had thought it better to keep a majority of the information from his daughter. Oh, he knew that she had some idea of what was going on. After all, she was a very observant child and probably guessed that something was being kept from her.

Jason nodded and settled down in a chair across from them with Candy Cane next to me, "Now, we really should get down to why we're here."

Calla was a little surprised to see Thomas in the same condition as when they left, but supposed she shouldn't be too surprised. Jason was usually cool headed and Candy Cane was with him so even if he got pissed off, she would keep him from doing anything. Still, she found herself a bit angry when Hermione's energy, which had finally relaxed, immediately tensed and returned to its agitated state. Forcing herself back into the role of happy-go-lucky kid, she beamed as she bounced over to her father, "Papa, did you guys finish everything up?"

"Yes, My Precious Little Doll," He said placing a hand on her head and smiling, "Did you have some fun?"

"Mhmm," She hummed lightly, "We ate lunch and watched some ducks in the pond,"

Calla didn't mention amusing Hermione with little comments on what happened the last time she'd gone to a pond and why there was a reason Toby was kept away from them. Jason chuckled softly, "Good. We should probably get going."

Calla frowned at her father, "Wheres Tim?"

"He had to return to Mr. Maurice as he has other jobs to do," Jason informed her as he stood up fully.

So something really was going on that her father didn't want her to get involved in, she had thought as much given the fact she'd barely seen any of the proxies outside of Toby lately. Hell, she hadn't even seen Puppeteer, Blood Painter, Jane, or a few others lately. It was a miracle if she even got to see Ben for longer than a few minutes. Even if she was insanely curious about what was going on, she wasn't going to force the issue even if she really wanted. If something was a secret at the mansion, it was a secret for a goddamn reason. Not to mention, she really didn't want to add onto her current punishment thank you very much.

Calla nodded lightly as they moved away to allow Hermione to say goodbye to her parents in peace. The bushy haired girl's trunk was picked up by Candy Pop and they left soon after. Hermione looked a bit sad even if she was trying to hide it. She knew that the bushy haired witch somehow felt that nothing would be the same once her parents were fully out of her sight. Some distant part of her felt bad for the bushy haired girl, it was the same part of her that acknowledged that she was also manipulating one of her friends too. It made her feel a little bad and she promised herself to make it up to her at some point even if nothing would ever really make Hermione forgive her if she ended up hating the red haired witch.

Hermione gasped in awe as they entered Jason's toy-shop, "Wow."

"Thank you, Miss Granger," Jason chuckled smiling at his daughter's friend causing the bookworm to blush, "I spend a lot of time creating the toys in here and it makes me happy when I hear how much someone enjoys them,"

"Papa's really prideful about his work," Calla chirped as she walked over to the wall of stuffed animals and picked up one of the owls before walking over to Hermione, "Here!"

The owl was one of the creations that his daughter had requested he make as she'd noticed a distinct lack in stuffed birds. It was a toy version of a great horned owl dressed in a professor's robe. Hermione let out a squeak as Calla pushed the toy into her arms, "Calla! You can't just go giving me toys."

"It's just one and I had Papa make that one for you as a welcome gift," Calla rolled her eyes and raised her chin a bit, "Besides, Papa doesn't mind if I give away just one toy to one of my few friends,"

Yes, Calla really took after his dear Lily. That stance and raised chin was all her, it was only missing the hands on her hips. Jason heard Candy Cane stifle a giggle and Candy Pop snort showing that they likely thought the same. Hermione stared at her before looking at him and he chuckled saying, "She's right. I honestly don't mind so long as it has a good home and Calla doesn't give my toys to just anyone."

"I-if you're sure," Hermione hesitantly pulled the toy close to her chest.

Calla snorted softly, "Of course I'm sure, do I ever do anything when I'm not sure about it?"

Hermione paused before shaking her head, "No...Not for as long as I've known you."

Calla was a cautious girl where it counted, but when she was sure about something, nothing would stop her from doing it. It was something she got from both Lily and himself. Calla grinned at her and latched onto the girl's hand, "C'mon! I want to show you to your room!"

Calla began tugging Hermione towards the door of his work-shop and he wondered just what the next few weeks would bring. After all, Hermione was going to find out about them being Creeps and even her halfling status. Calla and Vivian were going to make sure of it. He only hoped that the girl didn't try to freeze Calla out. He wasn't sure what he'd do if she hurt his daughter.

*Samule Maurice is the name I gave Slenderman. I can't remember if I've given him one already or not.