For the time being, this is only serving as a starter. The teaser to a longer project that I'll eventually get to. (First things first, right?)

I'll be crossing over Familiar of Zero with one of my original works, though really, only in the character department. This original work in question has been inspired by various other works. I do not own Familiar of Zero, however I do claim all Original Characters and Concepts.

06/06/2019 Update: Story rating changed to M due to the likelihood of raunchy scenes and gratuitous violence

Louise twiddled with her wand, sitting under the shade of a nearby tree as she watched the other second year students lining up to begin their summoning rituals. She buried her face into her knees. "I'll summon a familiar that's divine and beautiful and powerful and then we'll see who's laughing!" she clenched at her shins, digging her nails into them. She really wished she hadn't said that. When her turn came, she'd be called up to the front, told to summon her familiar and then… boom! That's how it always went. She shook her head, that was no way to think. Focus. What would she try for? She slid her hands up from her shins to the back of her head as she sat there, starting to an her fingers through her hair in an effort to calm her shot nerves. A dragon perhaps? No… that was setting the bar a little high. Maybe a Unicorn? No, that would just probably end up with her being teased even more than she already was, that was the last thing she wanted. Ooh, a Gryphon would be awesome, she could hop onboard and go wherever she wanted. But if she was going for a gryphon… eh, why not try for a dragon? They'd serve a similar purpose, just one would be leagues cooler than the other. After all, give it your all or don't bother, right?

"Ms. Valliere!" Mr. Colbert called out, causing Louise to flinch, her head snapping bolt upright from her knees, gaze straight down towards the gathering of other students. She cringed as she rose, digging her wand out from her sleeve and began her slow but intent driven approach towards the group. Even as she approached, she could see the others start to make room - she knew exactly why. The terror held within their nervous and shaken groans and whines was not lost on her. Alright… all she had to do was focus. Let's go for that dragon.

She reached through the ethereal plane, searching for her destined familiar. Whatever she pulled out was to be bound to her for life. She let the magical energies swirl up around the tip of her wand as she held it close, chanting the summoning spell. Yes, she was sure she had it now. She whipped her wand forward, the small green ball that was to open the portal summoning her familiar, shot forward and impacted the ground a fair distance away from her - was it too far, she wondered.

Probably. That or it was just business as usual. That was the only way to explain the resulting explosion that rippled out from the energy ball's point of impact. A cloud of dust, dirt and smoke billowed out across the field and knocked all those that stood nearby to the ground, Louise included. She threw back her cape, which had found itself draped over her head after she'd been knocked silly. "AAWWWW COME ON!" she bellowed, driving her fists into the dirt. A faint light shined next to her, orange in color. She looked to her right only to see Mr. Colbert lower a plain, basic defensive ward that he'd been taking shelter behind. She could hear the disappointed sigh that escaped his lips. She prepared for another round of belittlement from her peers… then she heard something from within the smoking crater she'd formed.

Mr. Colbert seemed to hear it as well, shifting his staff from one hand to another. Louise rose to her feet, inching forward next to Mr. Colbert. She took a nervous peek into the smoke, had she done it despite the mess? Well, sort of. When the smoke cleared enough for her to see, she found herself horribly confused. Confused and just a little peeved. Laying in the crater was a boy, maybe only a year or two older than her. A plain black shirt with short sleeves covered his torso and blue trousers of a curious rough looking material lined his legs. He wore black shoes, looked like they were made of some combination of cloth and leather, with laces atop them. This basic appearance didn't much fit his face, as Louise sank into the crater to examine her apparent summon. He didn't look much like a peasant with immaculate long, almost shoulder length black hair, flawless creamy skin without so much as a blemish. His eyes were shut as he appeared to be slipping into unconsciousness.

"Oh would you look at that, Louise the Zero summoned up a regular commoner." snidely remarked Kirche, the student body having closed back in now that the danger had passed.

Louise tensed up, her temper flaring as she spun around. "Shut it Zerbst!" jabbing a finger at the voluptuous redhead. Many of the other students were exchanging snickers and laughs at Louise's expense. "Mr. Colbert!" Louise started, frantically looked to him "This has to be some kind of mistake! Can you let me try again? Please?" she begged. This embarrassment would go down in history and mark her as one of the biggest flops in all history.

Unfortunately for her, Mr. Colbert shook his head. "I'm sorry Ms. Valliere, but the familiar summoning ritual is sacred, repeating it would be sacrilegious at best." he replied, motioning towards the new boy and Louise with his staff. "Like it or not, this boy is to become your familiar."

Louise glowered quietly to herself, turning back to look down at the unconscious boy. She knelt down in front of his face. The shadow she cast seemed to rouse the boy slightly as he shifted his head, groaning in what sounded like pain. His eyes opened, a piercing blue regarding her weakly. "What?" he started, sounding as if in a daze. His accent was unlike any that she'd heard in Tristain, but the language was familiar, it sounded like Albion. While Louise wasn't the best mage, she was fluent in most of the languages spoken through Halkegenia.

"Consider yourself lucky." she eyed him over one more time, from head to feet. His appearance still terribly confused her. His form was for lack of a better term, immaculate, but his clothing screamed common rabble. "I wouldn't normally do this to anyone." she finished, putting her hand behind his head and lifting him up for her to plant her lips on his. The boy tensed up and flailed away from her, though he didn't make it far, trying desperately to sink further into the crater he lay in before giving up and trying to shield his eyes with his arm. This too wasn't to last as only moments later, a bolt of light shot from the sky and struck his hand, causing the boy to scream in pain, a short, quick yelp. He grasped his hand which upon the back of, a rune began to etch itself. The bolt of light that surged through him caused his entire form to simmer and smoke. The pain seemed to be to much for him to handle as he desperately grasped at Louise's leg. "Get… me… out of… here." he wheezed, the pain in his voice, the desperation, like a creature pleading during its last waning minutes of life.

Even if he was just a commoner, Louise couldn't just let him die, especially since he was now her familiar. To summon a familiar, only to have it die moments later would be a new one for sure, one that she'd never live down. "Mr. Colbert, may I be excused? I think my familiar needs to recover or… something." she wasn't an expert on biology, she didn't know what was wrong with him - all she knew was that he was unconscious, smoking and likely in serious pain.

"Very well Ms. Valliere, as long as you make it to your other classes." Mr. Colbert replied, giving her leave.

"What's wrong Louise? Familiar troubles?" Kirche teased as Louise knelt down and begun dragging her new familiar out of the crater and towards the school gate. Louise was about to give Kirche even more lip right back when she saw the Salamander that she'd summoned. Louise grudgingly bit her tongue, she had more important things to deal with right now - like making sure her familiar didn't die! So the only thing she quipped back was the same old; "Shut it Zerbst!" before passing through the school gate.

As she dragged the boy across the open field, she started to smell the burning scent from earlier, it was really noticeable by now. The smell of burnt flesh premated her nostrils, almost causing her to gag. When she looked back at him, she saw the smoke was still seeping off him and he'd gained a slightly darker hue. She groaned quietly to herself as she kicked open the door to the tower she resided in.

Now, getting to the dormitory tower was the easy part, Louise had no idea how she'd get this guy up the stairs. She hoisted him up onto her chest, standing behind him and dragged him, both arms looped under his shoulders, up the stairs, his feet clunking against the steps as she pulled. Brimir, this had to be more trouble than it was worth. But on one hand, she had actually managed to summon something, which was probably more than expected as a whole. Thankfully by now the smoke had dissipated through the boy's skin remained the darker hue it had been, appearing as if he'd been slightly charred. A few stories up, she kicked the door to her room open and dragged him up onto her bed, depositing him there before sliding off the opposite side. Louise wandered over to the window and sighed to herself. What a way to start off the year. She then heard the boy groan and she looked over her shoulder to see him holding one of her pillows in front of him as he turned to face her, shielding his face from the sunlight streaming in through her window. She groaned and shut her windows, pulling the curtains shut, which drastically reduced the amount of light shining into her room. "Happy?" she demanded to know, turning around to face him, fists planted at her hips.

With another groan the boy rolled off the side of her bed, discarding the pillow and landing on the floor with a loud thump. Louise wandered around the foot of her bed and looked down on him. He seemed to have knocked himself out, as he was again out cold. Louise scoffed, "Fine, enjoy it down there. I have classes to get to. Kindly do not die before I get back." she remarked before making for her door. She shifted her gaze over her shoulder one last time before looking pitiful down at the boy at the base of her bed. She shook her head and left, shutting the door behind her. Assuming he was recovered by the time she got back, she had a plethora of tasks for him to show his gratitude.

Louise sprinted down the stairs, narrowly avoiding tripping a few times. The rest of the day went by without further anomalies - at least by her standard. A few explosions here, a few explosions there, yup, nothing out of the ordinary to her.

The sun was starting to go down by the time classes were dismissed for the day. With twilight almost upon them, Louise had little desire for anything more strenuous than sleep. She also figured it would be a good idea to check on her familiar, make sure he wasn't dead or anything. And if he was dead, to get rid of the corpse before it stunk up her room. She'd come up with the perfect array of assignments she'd give him if he pulled through. She quickly ascended the stairs, no strange smells coming from her room, that was a good sign.

Without even pausing at her door, she cast it aside and began to enter, rattling off her list as she shut the door behind her. At least, she would have, had she not found her familiar missing. She tensed up taking a hesitant step forward, "Hello?" she muttered, peeking around the corner, seeing him slumped up against the wall behind her table and next to her vanity. She narrowed her eyes. The darkness of her room and the dark clothing he wore made it difficult to see anything above his legs. "Are you still alive?"

There was no verbal response from him, just a breathy sigh from him before he started to rise. Louise groaned and turned around to prepare to get ready for bed, stripping her school uniform down to her lingerie. "Good. I've several chores for you. I want my clothes washed and prepared for me by morning. Do this and I'll see fit to feed you." initially there was no response from her familiar, though she heard him rise to his feet, taking a single step forward. Then he spoke.

"Pitiful, for you to assume I'm some kind of servant. Bold of you, to think I need someone else's permission to feed." he said, venom lacing his words. Louise tensed up, clenching her fists, even in her nightgown, she would not be shown such disrespect she began to reach for her wand. "Combined… one might assume you have a death wish." he finished, just as her hand reached her wand. She turned around ready to punish him and put him in his place but she was far too slow.

The speed at which he crossed the room hardly gave Louise time to realize just what kind of nightmare she'd summoned. Lustrous silver hair, pale ashen skin and blood red eyes were the first hints that she'd summoned a monster, the proof however came right from her familiar's mouth; a set of pearly white, razor sharp canines bore down on her as she was slammed into the wall between her dresser and bed with a light thud. His fangs were at her neck in a second - she felt his jaw tighten around her neck and the pulse of her own heartbeat as he raised her up, almost an entire foot, to get a better grasp on her. She tried to scream, wanted too, but only a pathetic whimper escaped her lips. The various conflicting impulses that ran through her were enough to cause her to go into shock as she felt him sucking her life essence from her neck. Terror, serenity and a knee quivering pleasure racked her mind. She wanted to escape, yet being in his embrace just felt so peaceful while the feeling of his kiss made her want to drop to her knees in pleasure. She wanted it to end - but didn't… she was sure the only way out of this was death. She found herself grasping at his shoulders, her breathing became labored as she pressed a knee into his waist - she found herself giving into the embrace even though every sane part of her mind screamed at her not to. But if she was going to die this way, she might not mind… a slight moan escaped her lips. Upon the sound escaping her however, the sensation at her neck stopped. She felt his fangs pull free from her neck as he ran his tongue over the bite marks he'd left. The monster recoiled, letting Louise fall to the floor, her knees still quivering as she gasped and reached for her neck. Her hand came back slightly red, but otherwise the damage wasn't as bad as it seemed for she couldn't find any bite marks. While being free was a relief, there was some part of her that wished it never ended. She shook her head, a sudden dizziness overtaking her as she wobbled left, forcing her to grasp her bed for support. What the hell was she thinking? She forced herself to look up towards the creature she'd summoned - at his defining, inhuman features. A tickle of blood trailed down the corner of his mouth… he timidly reached up and wiped it away with his bare wrist, then held his hands up, palms open towards her.

"I… I'm sorry." he said, his voice choked. "I didn't… I didn't mean to- the monster, it just..." but there were no words he could have said that excused him for what he did. His entire visage appeared shaken with himself, a look of horror plastered upon his own face - an appearance that seemed a mockery of her, given what he was. He lowered his hands, holding his palms to the ceiling, turning his soul piercing red gaze down towards them. His hands trembled just like her legs were, though unlike her, who had damn near given into what she'd felt, she could see him fighting it with every ounce of willpower he had. But he himself even seemed to come to terms with this as he took a step towards her window, still closed. He cast the curtains aside and unlatched the window. "I don't want to hurt you- just…" he paused a moment, before swinging the window open. Again, it mattered not what he said and he knew it. But it didn't stop him from trying. "I'll leave well enough alone."

"W-wait!" Louise started, despite her near death experience, she had so many questions. The arrogant noble in her demanded an apology, but that slight voice in the back of her head, the reasonable and very much terrified little girl in her just wanted to hide. Once the windows were open however, the boy took a few steps back and Louise realized what he was about to do. She repeated herself; "Wait!" but he wasn't listening as he took two quick running steps towards the window before suddenly he wasn't there any more. For a second it was a whiff of dark mist before in his place and out the window flew a little bat, taking to the night sky. With him gone, Louise was finally able to come to her senses. She stood, wobbling towards the window, slamming them shut. She stumbled back onto her bed, laying down spread eagle across it.

The familiar she'd so desired; that angelic, beautiful, majestic creature she'd coveted… it had been anything but - and now it may have just tried to kill her and then run away. No, she'd summoned something else entirely; something demonic, something that deep down, though it acted human was anything but. A monster. She'd summoned a Vampire.

Inspired by Rosario + Vampire, Castlevania, Sereph of the End and Vampire: The Masquerade

First chapter may seem all edge, but the intended themes for the story will be; Supernatural Romantic Drama + A healthy dose of dark humor.

More to come in the future...