One of my favourite classes in the history of Dungeons and Dragons is the Warlock. I love the idea of a character making a (often Faustian) pact to gain the power to protect those they love, pursue knowledge, accomplish their goals, or for the sake of the power itself.
In Pathfinder which character options allow for such a character? The Witch is the obvious choice, but in some ways feels locked into specific tropes.
Pact Wizard is pretty good- I like it. Occultist is also easy to fluff has having made a pact (and maybe even sorceror could work).
I wouldn't say a Witch is really trope-locked except for the name baggage. With Archetypes you can build quite a few different Witches. Even hybrid combat/caster Witch can work nicely.
Oracle is a good fit, particularly with the curses.
Mediums make pacts all the time. There's a fiend keeper archetype which might fit your idea even better.
A Summoner's eidolon being a watcher loyal to their patron that gave them their spellcasting along with the eidolon would be a cool twist.
Pact Wizard is pretty cool, seems very mechanically powerful. I like that it gets the Oracle curse. Oracle of course works well for similar reasons.
That Fiend Keeper archetype is super cool! Is it restricted to Grippli?
I wouldn't say a Witch is really trope-locked except for the name baggage. With Archetypes you can build quite a few different Witches. Even hybrid combat/caster Witch can work nicely.
Oracle is a good fit, particularly with the curses.
Oracle doesn't work because by the lore they are given power, it's theirs although on the divine note Cleric could work, lore and mechanically they get their power from gods and can even get it from evil outsiders. You can have a neutral cleric of an evil outsider.
That Fiend Keeper archetype is super cool! Is it restricted to Grippli?
The Archetypes in "Blood of the Beasts" aren't restricted to those particular races, but are instead well-suited, characteristic, or created by those races. So since being a Fiend Keeper is one of the most sacred duties a Grippli can have, then you might want to consider as part of your backstory how or why they taught you to do the job. It may be something like "The keeper of the fiend in question was dying and the spirit was not yet cleansed so could not be allowed to go free and you were the most suitable candidate" or "the Grippli searched far and wide for a member of a longer-lived race who can be trusted with a particularly tricky fiend that no Grippli, in their short lifespan has managed to cleanse."
Oracle doesn't work because by the lore they are given power, it's theirs although on the divine note Cleric could work, lore and mechanically they get their power from gods and can even get it from evil outsiders. You can have a neutral cleric of an evil outsider.
You could turn the idea on its head a bit for an Oracle and have it be the parent/friend/lover of the character who made a pact to give the character their Oracle powers. If it was a parent the terms of that pact could even potentially fall on the character despite having no choice in it.
Witches
Oracles
Mediums
Spiritualists, phantom blade might be particularly interesting
Pact wizard (kind of disgustingly overpowered)
All spring to mind, I think witches mediums and spiritualisation fit best, the phantom blade gives you an intelligent item which you could have made a deal with and even have arguments with them.
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I highly recommend the Occultist class if your game allows 3rd party material. It's a class focused on binding incorporeal spirits in pacts to serve you. It's inspired by the Binder class from 3.5 if you're familiar with it.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/radiance-house/occultist/
The Cabalist Vigilante might work. They don't have a built-in mechanic for making such a pact, but a having a pact would sure fit thematically.