A sharp "rat-a-tat" knock on the door at dawn had Meph scrambling from his nest.

"I'll get it, Miss!" he said eagerly, sprinting to unlock and open it.

A hare in a well-tailored suit stood on the threshold, looking straight ahead before realising the kobold was 2 feet below his eye-line.

"Ah, hello young man," he said in a well-practiced sales tone. "Is your father around?"

Meph smiled slightly. "No sir, you would definitely know if he was up here. How can Meph help you?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to buy some of books of the occult?"

Meph eyed them curiously. "Meph does not recognise these tomes. Who authored them?"

"Well, I did, of course! These represent years of my work! But a little birdy" - he tapped his nose knowingly - "told me that you were working on binding demons, so I'm here to offer my knowledge at a very reasonable price!"

Meph stared. The hare looked unnerved, fidgeting.

"Er, for example, to bind a cambion, you would need some ghoul essence, which I also sell f-"

"Salt," Meph said.

"S-sorry?"

"They can't cross salt. Doesn't have to be real salt, if they even think it's salt they can't cross it. Sir."

"O-oh, what a smart boy! Then do you know about the boto?"

"Yes, if you shine ultra-violet light on them, they turn back into a dolphin."

"Oh. Well, my patented murkroot p-"

"No."

Exasperated, the hare snapped. "Is there anything you don't know, you little shit?"

Meph tilted his head and smiled. "There is one thing. What happens to the souls of mortals that are devoured by demons?"

The hare looked relieved. "Oh! They are eventually excreted into wisps, which combine to form gestalts!"

Meph's smile turned into a grin, fangs showing. His horns glowed red in the low light and fires ignited in his hollow black eyes.

"𝔚𝔞𝔫𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔯𝔶 𝔦𝔱 𝔬𝔲𝔱?"

The hare dropped his books and screamed, sprinting back down the road.

Rith noodled out of the back room, yawning. "Meph, are you tormenting salesmen again?"

"Yes, Miss!"

"Good lad."

#tootfic #microfiction