The Soul Reaver

Chapter 32: Bring it on home! (Part 2)

          I waved the dust out of my face, trying to keep it out of my eyes, “Great, I live in a fos...” I stopped and saw a lot of mannequins. “Spike. What are the other tales?”

Spike was also staring and was slowly trying to hide behind my leg. “Uh... just the usual... Ponies going in... not coming out..... The sounds of screaming at night. “

I nodded, “I see. The usual haunted house then?” He nodded as a few of the mannequins moved. I sighed, “Very well!” I brought out my wraith blade, “YOU WANT SOME!?” I shouted with a grin.

The force of my shout knocked over one of the mannequins and there were wheels under the stand. But the shadows danced and all of the sudden they were gone. I frowned, “Well...” I looked at Spike with a grin, “Want to be my partner in crime and solve a haunting?”

He shook his head. “Not really...”

I kneeled down and said, “But think about it Spike! You’ll be a hero, having solved the southpaw haunting!”

Spike looked up in thought and grinned. “A hero....”

I looked at him deadpan, “You’re having that one fantasy about you being this buff dragon aren’t you?”

He jumped slightly and glared. “Am not!.... okay... maybe...”

I rolled my eyes and chuckled, “Whatever, anyway, you up for an adventure?”

He puffed out his chest and stood next to me. “You bet!”

I let him climb onto my shoulder and grinned as I looked deeper into the mansion, the candles igniting on their own. My grin grew, “Alright, This is my kind of work. So don’t worry, you’ll be fine Spike.” I told him as I walk in. As soon as I did, the door slammed and the lights got brighter. I laughed, “Like that ain’t cliche, huh?” I ask him.

He was clutching onto my head and shaking. “Uh... yeah,.. hehe cliche....”

I sighed, “Spike, calm down. If anything tries to get us I can cut them in half. Just enjoy the ride, it’s one of the first hand experiences at my job from when I was alive that won’t kill you.”

He gulped, but nodded and let go. “Alright.... Lead the way?”

I smiled, “There you go. Alright, let’s check up-Ohoho!” I laughed as I saw one of the mannequins from before on a pedestal just up some stairs. “Don’t tell me it’s one of those kinds of hauntings.” I said with growing excitement.

Spike looked at me in shock. “There are more than one kind?”

I nodded, “Yup, there’s the basic kind, which is the occasional ghost. The Poltergeist, which can basically warp your sense of reality with illusions and throw things at you, or, and it’s looking like this one, Possession.” I told him.

“Um...Dean?” He pointed forward and I turned to see the mannequin turning before it stopped.

I laughed, “Ahah!” I turned to him again, “Don’t worry Spike, it can’t do anything right now.” I walk to the right, and go down a catwalk, looking at the boarded doors, “Now... what can possibly be behind these-” I was interrupted by the lights suddenly turn off.

Spike was grabbing onto my head again. “Wh-what happened to the lights!?”

I shrugged, “No idea. But I’m sure it’s going to get creepier now.” As soon as I said that, I spotted a thin white glowing trail that was barely visible, “You seein’ that?”

Spike dumbly nodded. “Um.... yes?”

“I’m going to guess we should follow it.” I said and did so, climbing down the stairs. I heard the mannequin creak as I walk past it, prompting me to flip it off. “Shut up Manny no one likes you.”

We kept walking after the trail and we entered into a large library. Spike looked at everything with an impressed look. “Wow. This place puts Golden Oaks to shame.”

I chuckled, “No kidding.” I looked at the stairs and deadpanned, “Seriously?” A couch and a bunch of dressers were on it, “Who throws that kind of crap on stairs?”

Spike shrugged. “I once found Twilight’s desk sitting on the balcony outside.” He smiled. “That was one party Pinkie threw.”

“I’m not even going to ask.” I say with a pinched brow. I look around, “I wonder if we’ll have to solve some puzzles?”

He nodded and stood up on my shoulder. After a quick look around, Spike pointed to the right side of the room. “There’s a hall over there.” I looked over and saw that there wasn’t any furniture blocking the way. I grinned.

“Nice catch little man.” I complimented.

Spike grinned and sat back down. “Thanks!”

We went over to the side, and when we reached the end, there was a table with a model on it. I looked at it, and and then both Spike and I looked at eachother, “You know this just screams set up, right?”

Spike nodded. “I’ve been on enough adventures with Twilight to know that.” He shook his head with a sigh, “sometimes I think Rainbow sets them off on purpose.”

I shrugged, “Oh well, may as well get it over with.” I grab it, and the whole room shakes. We both pause, and I say, “Five bits says something happened to the library.” I said with a deadpan.

“No need to bet.... you won.” I looked, and all the books that were in the shelves were stacked on the ground neatly. “I wish the library back home would do that.”

I sighed, “That’s not even creepy...”

We headed back to the main foyer and the house shook. When it stopped, the lights flickered some and there was a model in the middle of the foyer. ”Um.... I think it goes there?”

I paused in thought, then looked at the piece in my hands. Eh, what the hell. I placed it near where a door should be, and the house shook heavily again. We both paused, and a grin spread across my face, “That’s cool! We’re building the house!”

Spike blinked and looked back to me. “Huh?”

“The only time the shaking happened is when something happened to the house!” I gestured to the model, “When I put the piece of the model in, the house shook!”

Spike looked up towards the stairs and started to shake. “Um.... D-dean... the mannequin’s gone....”

I looked up, and true to his word, it was gone. I shrugged, “It’s probably in the next room we have to go to.”

Spike nodded and we headed to the door that the light was now pointing to. “If I remember correctly, the model we picked up was the wine... cellar...” I trailed off as I realized that we were basically going into the basement.

Spike looked downstairs at the model set and blinked a couple times. “But.... this is the second floor.”

I shrugged, “It’s a haunted house, logic doesn’t apply to it I guess.”

Spike leaned forward and pushed the door open. There were some stairs that lead a floor down.... into a wine cellar with water dripping from a stone ceiling. “This is almost as strange as Pinkie’s Pinkie sense.”

“At least Pinkie’s was acceptable. How do you go from second floor to basement?” I sigh with a facepalm.

We walked in and the lights started to flicker again. Jokingly, I said, “I hope there isn’t a werewolf in here man.”

Spike grabbed onto my head a little. “T-th-those exist!?”

I looked at him, “Yeah...? Spike, they’re actually really nice folks.” Just not Amy. She’s a crazy psycho-bitch.

“W-what about,” He looked at me in horror. “Zombies!?”

I paused, and shrugged, “Considering what we’re doing right now I wouldn’t rule out the possibility.” I flicked his forehead, “Doesn’t mean you should worry about them. No one in Equestria practices Necromancy.” That I know of. Besides Jav, but he doesn’t count.

“Oh... That’s good.”

As we descended the stairs, it became much more darker and difficult to see. I saw an outline of a chair, and broke a leg off of it and wrapped it in a thick cloth and doused it in some of the wine. “Spike, can you light this?” I asked him.

He raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Sure.” He took a deep breath and blew some green fire on it, causing the room to light up.

Grinning, I looked around the area, “Well that’s much better. Alright, let’s get to searching.” I said, and we walked further into the cellar. We got to the bottom of the stairs and on a table pressed against the wall were documents and even a large painting to the side, “What do we have here?” I asked mostly to myself. I put Spike down on the table and hooked the torch a little cranny that way it stuck and let us search.

He picked up an old document before bringing it closer to his face. “Huh.... ‘As per your request I have installed multiple passageways and sliding walls for your needs.’” He looked around. “Moving walls? Oh cool!”

“Well that certainly explains the model we found.” I said with chuckle.

“I wonder if they have secret things hidden away.” He waved his hands. “Nice secrets, that don’t scare us.”

“Oh come on Spike, don’t you want to see a Mr.Struts?” I laugh.

“A what?” He shook his head and looked around. “I don’t see anything else... Maybe we should move.”

I nodded and placed him back on my shoulder, “Probably a good idea.” We moved on from the desk and jumped when we saw the statue. The wind blew, turning off the torch for a second, and the shelf nearly collapsed on us. I jumped back with a shout of surprise, “YOU SPOOKED ME!”

Spike was shivering. “H-he tried to kill us....”

        I looked back to where the statue was and saw it was gone. Grumbling, I continued forward, “Jerk, when I get my hands on-” I stopped when I saw a trail of blood. “Ooooo~....” I groaned. “I have an idea on where this is goin’...”

        “I don’t like this Dean...” He looked at the blood. “But... We should leave.”

I rolled my eyes and continued forward, “Oh come on Spike, it’s not like-” I froze when I saw the statue again. “Oh shit.”

“Oh no...” The torch went out again, and instead of the statue, “Get out”, written in blood, was on the wall. “We should really go!”

“Don’t you worry man!” I laughed in slight terror, “I am out of-” Our entrance was blocked my boxes. “Oh dear.”

“Dean!” I turned and quickly saw the statue behind us, looking as if it was trying to grab my head. I jumped back to where the bloody wall was.

“Shit!” I growled as I held the torch in my hands, keeping my eyes on the statue, “Where the hell do we go!?”

“The wall! There’s a lever!” He pointed at a small wooden level. I quickly moved and grabbed the lever and pulled it. The shelf next to me moved off to the side, and I could see another model. I grabbed it and walked out of there calmly.

“I am done. I have the next model, and I am done.” I walked up the stairs and closed the door, “I am closing the door, and I am never going back to the wine cellar. Again.”

“Agreed. I so agree with you.” I walked back to the stairs, and groaned when I saw blood trail down the steps to where the other models were. “I-is that a statue piece on the floor.”

“Those poor cockroaches...” I sighed and moved over to the models, “Alright, let see...” I looked at the model, and decided to place the new piece on the left side. A rumbling was heard, and the light from before was guiding us to a door on the bottom floor. “Hm. Okay then.” I walked over to the door, and opened it to see the statue at the other side, behind another. “Oh boy.”

“Dean.... Close the door....”

I looked at him and did it, “I don’t know why, he’s probably gonna be there still.” I opened the door again, and sure enough he was. “See?” I walked in, and the other door closed automatically.

Spike started snickering. “H-he did the same thing as you. It’s like you’re scaring each other!” He started laughing.

I started laughing with him, but it stopped, “Wait a minute...” I looked and saw a couch flipped over, “That jerk! He flipped the couch!”

“Does everyone here hate couches?”

I sighed in annoyance, “I don’t know what’s going and Oh jesus.” I jumped slightly and saw a painting of a diamond dog that seemed to have draconic features. “Huh. I think that’s Southpaw man.”

“That is. I’ve read about him once, and that was the picture.”

“Kinda looked like you from a distance.” I told him.

He narrowed his eyes. “If you remove everything but the lower jaw.”

“He has your lower lip man.” I laughed.

“Come on let’s keep moving.” He laughed a little. “And you can’t say that someone has the same lower lip!”

“I can,” I chortled, “and I will.” I moved to the door where the statue was and saw it was gone. “Ooo~ the bedroom! Spooky uky!”

Spike looked up at the paintings. “Those painting are creepy.”

I nodded, and stopped when I saw a drawer that had a bunch of tiny bronze statues. “Oh god... Spike look! They shrunk!” I laughed.

He started snickering. “R-remember the model in the hall. Tiny little furniture, for a tiny little man!” He started laughing again.

I laughed and slowly calmed down, “Alright... alright, lets get back to investigating.” Spike nodded and got off my shoulder.

Spike picked up a small journal. “‘Though father’s beatings rubbed me raw, I hated mother’s ceaseless lying most. Seeing them die was an epiphany. There is a beauty in death I’ve never forgotten.’ You know this guy sounds insane!”

I nodded, “Well, I guess I was wrong. This guy might be a Necromancer.” I chuckled, “Makes my job easier.”

“S-so... That statute might be a... Zombie!?”

I started snickering, “Hey Spike...”

“What?” He looked at me with a tilted head.

“‘Father’s beatings rubbed me raw’!” I laughed.

“What?” He looked down at the book. He blinked before leaning back and snickering. “W-what!?” He started laughing. “Ooh my... Hahaha!”

“That’s some kinky shit man!” I laughed even harder.

He started rolling on his stomach, slamming his fist on the table. “T-that’s just hilarious!” He calmed down after a minute and raised his head. “Hey Dean... I-is that orb glowing slightly?”

I looked and saw a small glowing orb. Getting up, I moved towards it. Smiling, I began to play with it by moving it back and forth, “Hehe...”

Spike stood up and poked it, reeling back. “Ow! It zapped me!”

I laughed, “Maybe it doesn’t like you man.”

“I don’t think it does....”

After finally calming down, we went into another room. There was a trunk at the end, and when we opened it a slamming from behind us was heard. “Not turning around, I heard that..” I said blankly and looked inside to find black and white photos of mares and stallions dancing around a glass orb. “What in the world?” I shrugged.

Spike poked me gently. “Dean... Look behind us.” I turned around and saw one of the mannequins being dragged from the doorway. I blankly stared, and said this.

“What. The fuck.” I walked to the doorway, and saw a large shadow, “GAH!”

“Nopenopenope!” He backed up to the wall.

I stopped and saw that it was just a shadow. It didn’t move. It then fell forward. “Damn mannequins!” I laughed.

“This is not a moment in which we should be laughing!” I ignored him, and went to play with the globe again. He walked over and climbed onto the desk again. “What’s in the orb anyways?”

“I think it has like an electric charge in it or something… you ever rubbed your feet on the carpet, and then you had an electric charge? It’s like that.” I told him.

“I know that from when it zapped me. I mean what’s causing it?”

        “I have no idea, but I loved doing it when I was a kid.” I smiled, and poked Spike, giving a light shock, “Zap!”

        “Ah!” He wobbled a bit before straightening up. “Dean!” He shook his head. “We should get moving.” I laughed, and brought him back onto my shoulder. I walked out of the door that had led to the room, and saw that the room had changed.

        “Spike. The painting is gone! Your lower jaw is gone man!” I told him.

        “Great!” He threw up an arm. “And that wasn’t my lower jaw...”

I chuckled, and shrugged, “Admit it, it does look like your lower jaw!”

Spike tilted his head. “Well, kinda. If you got rid of the fur...”

I smirked, and walked around the room, “Now then, lets just-” I stopped when I heard a creaking noise. “Oh bugger.” I turn around and see the statue on the floor, in a crawling position. Spike and I stared at the statue blankly.

“Dean.... Get us out of here.”

I chuckled slightly nervously, and began to back up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw books all over the place. “You know, if Twilight were here, I bet she’d want to read those books so bad.”

He nodded slowly. “Oh yeah, she’d try and grab all of them.”

I tried to reach for the books while trying to keep an eye on the statue, “You wanna bring her a souvenir?”

“I think she’d want us alive more.” He stared at the statue closely.

“Don’t move…” I said, mostly to the statue.

Spike stared at the torch as it began to flicker. “Oh no...”

“DON’T MOVE YOU FUCKER!” I shouted at the statue, a slight laugh in my voice.

Spike quickly blew some more fire on the torch, keeping it lit for a couple more seconds. In that time, I spotted a little pull levy hanging from the ceiling. “Get the lever Dean!”

I ran over quickly, and pulled the lever. As I ran, I could hear the statues creaking behind me. I pulled the lever, and when I turned around, the statue was gone. “And he’s gone.” I chuckled slightly nervously.

Spike smiled. “That... Was scary.” I nodded, grinning. I paused when I saw a painting right next to us had a bit of a gap as it hung from the wall. Moving towards it, I placed a hand on the painting, and pulled it, showing a button.

“Well that’s subtle.” I deadpanned.

“As a clown at a funeral.” He deadpanned in sync. Rolling my eyes, I looked around the room and saw a door that was wide open.

“That wasn’t open before… hm, maybe the next model is in there?” I asked him.

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “Lets go check it out.” I nodded, and walked in. I closed the door behind me, and I looked around. There were boxes all along the walls and I saw another model next to a candle.

“Well what do you know?” I chuckled, and moved over to it, “See Spike? It’s not so bad once you get into it.”

“One very common thing I’ve heard is that it’s like the eye of the storm... It’s gonna get bad.... I know it.”

I picked up the model, seeing that it was another library. “Now you’re just being pessimistic.” I told him, “But I can see why. Seriously, even I have to admit that this place is a bit creepy. Definitely going to be doing so renovations once everything is said and done.”

“Please let me back when you do. I want to see what it looks like.”

I grinned at the small dragon, “Hey, you and the others are more than welcome to come over.” I told him as we finally came back to the models in the center of the loft. “Now then, lets get this set up and we can keep going.” I said as I set the piece down.

“Okay.... So let’s see what opened up.” I nodded, and followed the familiar trail of light. Whoever was responsible for this, I have to say that they certainly made this convenient. Turns out, I was right. It was another library, this time it was actually a bit larger.

“Sheesh, I bet you’re glad you aren’t my assistant, huh?” I said jokingly.

        He chuckled and shook his head. “Not as bad as the library. You don’t read every single book and then leave them all over the place, only to order me to put them back alphabetically.”

        “I actually put the thing back.” I deadpanned, “No offense meant to Twilight, but for being a rather smart mare, she’s kinda absent-minded when it comes to her book placement.”

        “You should see her during Reshelving day. I found books in the fridge once.”

        I looked at him with a surprised expression, “I… what? How does- dear lord…” I facepalmed, “Just… seriously.” Shaking my head, I sighed, “Tell you what, I’ll talk to her about giving you a day off, just to relax. Sound good?”

        He looked at me and smiled. “That would be nice.... Thanks.”

        I rolled my eyes, looking over the dusty shelves, “Don’t mention it, just looking out for ya’. I saw a particularly alarming book. I grabbed it, and noticed that there were some bones attached to the binding, “Oh great…” I groaned, “This hurts already…”

        “How so...?”

        “This is a book on how to make an Abomination. Short story of it, it’s a bunch of dead bodies collected into one giant monster that can tear you apart with its pinky.” I growled. “I don’t know what a book like this is doing here, but it isn’t good. This means that Southpaw was involved in some rather dark dealings.” I placed the book back on the shelf and looked around, “Lets just get whatever is here and leave.”

        “Yeah that sounds good.” He looked around rapidly. “It... It wouldn’t be in this room would it?”

        I shook my head, “Nah, knowing how big it is, it’d appear in the loft since it’s a pretty big room by itself.” I was still looking at the books, “I’ll probably fill the other library with my books, give the safe ones to either Twilight or the library in Canterlot.”

        “Alright... Just... Don’t give Twilight all of the magical ones... She’ll read them for ages.”

        “Like I said, the relatively safe one.” I deadpanned. “Last thing we need is Twilight getting a hold of one of the magical books in here of all places.”

        “Yeah.... She’d want to cast them for science.”

        “Last time she used science, I nearly lost my hat.” involuntarily, my hand went to said piece of headwear, “I love my hat…”

        “That much is obvious.”

        “What? When you have an object that you can’t help but love, you get worried for it!” I defended myself, looking at a book once more, “Besides, what if one of your gems was nearly lost from the science?”

        “.... I see what you mean.”

        “Uh-huh, see?” I deadpanned, “That’s why- seriously?” I groaned, seeing the statue from earlier on the other side where the bookshelves end.

        “Oh no.” Spike stared at it. “Go away! No one’s here!”

        “Oh great…” I groaned, and looked around. I paused when I saw a track on the floor, that led under a bookshelf. Feeling a devious idea, I looked around and saw books jutting out. “Spike! Puzzle time! Keep an eye on this guy while I get the books jutting out!”

        “Right!” He climbed onto the bookshelf and stared at him. “I’ll warn you when I’m about to blink.”

        “Good on ya man!” I grinned, and ran around, searching for books sticking out. I tried pressing them, but some of them refused to budge, “Dammit…” I growled, trying to find the right pattern.

        “Blinking!” I quickly turned and caught the statue before it could move. Giving Spike a second, I turn back to the books, searching for the pattern again. “Thanks!”

        “Just keep looking at the statue! I think I almost…” I pushed the final book, and turned around, seeing it in the correct position. “Spike! Hold onto the shelf you’re on!”

        I heard a small shuffle. “Right!”

        The bookshelf suddenly slammed into the statue, crushing it between the two shelves. A roar of pain was heard, and then silence. Laughing triumphantly, I gave a thumbs up, “Nice one Spike!”

        “Thank you!” I heard him moving. “Can you help me down please?” I nodded and jumped up to where he was. I let him onto my shoulder and jumped back down.

        “So, how does it feel to beat your first monster/ghost?” I grinned.

        “Um.... Terrifying. Yet pretty cool.” I paused when I heard a clanking noise from the bookshelf. When I turned, I saw a brass token fall.

        “Oh look, we got a token.” I said to Spike with an amused smile.

        “That’s.... That’s a big coin.” He poked it. “Wonder what prize we won.”

        “Who knows?” I said with a shrug, but froze when a large roar shook the entire house. “Ah! There’s the abomination.” I said with uninterest.

        “Um.... Why’d it roar so loud?”

        “It’s angry. I don’t know where it is, but I don’t think it wants to ask for a cup of sugar.” I sighed.

        “Well.... Judging by the roar it sounded like it came from below us....”

        I then stared at him with a blank face, “Spike. That means you might want to find a place to hide. This thing can be pretty big and dangerous.”

        He nodded rapidly. “Hiding is good.” He looked around. “Hide me!”

        I stared at him, “Spike, there is literally a whole bunch of hiding spots you can pick from. Besides, I’m pretty sure you should head into another room.”

        “That would be good yeah.” He jumped down.

(OST)

I watched the kid leave into the next room, and sighed. “This is going to suck…”

carried the token back to the loft, and looked around for where ever it belongs.

There’s something about this place though. I can feel something… like the house itself is alive. I don’t even know why I’m even feeling this. I paused in my thoughts when I saw an indentation where the models were. It was round, and big enough to hold the token. Shrugging, I put the token inside it. At that moment, I heard a loud noise from each of the rooms, as if a lock was being placed. Narrowing my eyes, I looked around, but my search stopped on the models, as it shook violently, the models turned to dust.

“The fuck is going here?” I asked myself with a growl, my wraith blade in hand just in case. The pedestal began to split open, and when I looked inside, I knew that this was going to be interesting.

Inside, were a whole slew of corpses. They still looked fresh, but they looked nothing like the ponies from town. These bodies must have been preserved. In that moment, blood began to drain from the pool the corpses resided in, forming into a large bubble in the air. The corpses then flew into the bubble, making it grow bigger and bigger. Power began to leak from it, casting a red glow throughout the room.

(OST)

The bubble exploded, casting a crimson shower of blood through the room. I created a small wall of ice to shield me from getting coated in it, thankfully. I dispersed the wall, and saw the most familiar sight from back home.

Now, just picture a lot of corpses strewn together, but it looks exactly like a single monster. Now, imagine seeing the screaming faces of people(Or in this case, ponies) you’ve never met or have known before, all over this monsters body. It isn’t a pretty sight. Though, what stood out about this fucker was the head. It was the head of Gravel Southpaw, the original owner of the mansion.

“Hm. A human, a strange, but still disappointing catch.” It’s mangled, distorted voice grumbled.

Grinning darkly, I flipped the bastard off, “Hey fuckhead, I want my house!”

Southpaw growled, and replied, “You arrogant ant! I will not relinquish my home so easily!” he raised a giant fist, and tried to flatten me by punching me into the ground. I jumped up, and landed on his arm. I quickly ignited my blade and prepared to cut the arm off, but an arm from one of the many bodies came out and grabbed me, tossing me aside and into a wall, creating a web of cracks behind me.

I groaned, and pulled myself out of the wall, “Would you do it if I said please?” I asked sarcastically. I shook my head, clearing the stars from my vision, and charged once more. Southpaw’s mouth gaped open, a dark purple energy shot out of it like a beam. I jumped over it, narrowly avoiding a direct hit. “Arctic Dagger!” The wave washed over his arm, and a hollow gash appeared. It didn’t seem to affect this guy that much, since he just launched another beam of magic again, this time hitting me. It sent me flying back and into a wall, magic pounding down on my body. When the beam finally ended, I fell to the floor, panting from the amount of pain that I was in. Okay… did not prepare for that.

“Ignorant human.” The abomination scoffed in its rock-like voice. He raised a fist, ready to crush me. I smirked, and charged, narrowly avoiding being crushed. His rib cage opened, and the life force powering the corpses revealed itself. However, it unleashed a bombardment of magic missiles, making me have to jump away from him. I ran around the entire room, my steel-toed boots actually launching the loose dark blue tiles on the floor. Southpaw turned with me however, and continued to launch missiles at me. I slashed at some with my sword, and they dissipated from the slash.

This going nowhere fast… lets try one restriction. “First restriction released!”  That familiar power built up inside me, and I felt even more ready to fight this fugly sonofabitch. “Hail Mary!” I snapped my fingers and the spirits from Manehatten appeared next to me, armed with their machine guns. I smirked, “Circle him!” They flew to different positions, surrounding him. I snapped my fingers and a bombardment of blessed silver shot into this bastard. Southpaw roared in pain, and I soon saw my chance.

I gathered power into my sword and charged at him as he was dazed, and jumped. I slammed into his chest, toppling him over, and I stabbed into where his core should be. “Arctic Dungeon!” The room turned incredibly cold, and ice instantly incased the monster as it roared its final roar. The house shook, some rubble falling from the ceiling, but nothing too serious to be worried about. The house finally ceased shaking, and cautiously, I looked down at the huge abomination under me.

It stopped moving. Grinning, I ended the Hail Mary ability, letting the spirits go back to wherever they came from. I sat on the frozen abomination, panting as I got my energy back. I saw the soul of Southpaw and many others float out of the body. I sneered, and grabbed Southpaws soul, before devouring it.

Bitter, just as I expected. Sighing in content from having eaten, I watched the souls float off into paradise, having finally had their suffering ended. Smiling, I jumped off of the abomination and looked around for Spike. It wasn’t hard to find him, I saw him hiding in one of the shelves in the library. “There you are.” I smiled, and let him onto my shoulder.

“Dude! I could hear the fight from here, that was intense.” He said with a worried look, “You okay? You look like you took a beating.” I looked myself over and saw that he was right. My coat was torn, again, and the rest of my suit looked like it had seen better days. I sighed.

“Rarity is going to go into conniptions when she sees this, especially after she just fixed it.” I said with a tired tone.

Spike chuckled a bit, “Yeah, that’s how she is usually.” I sat down on one of the couches that was in the loft, and Spike jumped down and onto the couch, “Sheesh man, this definitely looks like this place has seen better days.”

I couldn’t help but agree with that, “Yeah, no kidding.” I looked at the house, and smiled. I fought for this house, and now its mine. It feels pretty good to say that, in a weird sort of way.

“Now that was quite the show!” I froze, and Louis appeared at the doorway, clapping with a smile on his face. “Dean, you simply must let me know when you plan on getting into such a battle! I haven’t had such entertainment in quite a long time.” He looked at Spike and smiled, “Young Spike, don’t you think you should head back to Ms.Sparkle? She’s likely worried about you by now.”

Spike looked at Louis for a few seconds, before nodding, “Um… right. Thanks for the adventure Dean! Can’t wait to do it again!” He scampered out of the manor, leaving me and the fallen angel by ourselves.

Louis watched the little dragon run off with a smile, “Kids. I can’t help but enjoy them.” He chuckled.

“Get on with it Louis. You’re not here for pleasantries.” I told him in all seriousness. A fallen angel of his caliber doesn’t just up and make house calls.

“You’re right, I’m not.” He never once stopped smiling, “You see, while you do serve me, I’m not unreasonable. I’m going to give you today to rest, but come tomorrow you will go to Earth to gather a fairly important object. One that needs to be retrieved with the utmost of haste.” He told me.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “If you need it so quickly, why wait another day?” it was an honest question. If it’s so important, I’d expect Louis to be balls to the wall in trying to get it.

“As stated before, I am not unreasonable.” He smiled, “I’ll give you more details when you’re back on Earth, and as a token of my gratitude for taking this mission, while you’re gone I will have my servants come here and…” He looked at the destroyed home with a chuckle, “Well, clean up. When you next see this place, it will be totally different.” He smiled before opening a portal to his realm. “Now, rest Dean. You have a long day ahead of you yet.” With that, he stepped into the portal and disappeared.

I sighed, and collapsed back onto the couch. “Goddammit…” I just want a break… is that so much to ask for?

I shook my head, and laid down on the couch. Fuck it, I just want to sleep, I can worry about stuff tomorrow…