Chapter Two:

Chapter Two:

Beat It

"Okay…this looks suspiciously like a party, I must be in the wrong place." Crys mused silently to herself as she opened the door to the Kal'Tahar household and walked in. Her long dark purple hair was covered with a white bandana that hid her confusion that would other wise be apparent on her face at the moment. Standing in front of her facing the Kal'Tahars was a goblin. He was short, barely passing the three foot mark. His long grey nose crinkled in dissatisfaction when Crys entered the room. He held a scroll in his right hand, and he slowly raised it towards Leona.

"Mrs. Kal'Tahar, I had hoped this meeting would be private," he said aiming a dark glance at Crys who seemed enraged, but sauntered off any way to get a drink from the kitchen.

"I don't recall ever scheduling a meeting with you, sir," Leo said slightly annoyed; deliberately adding a pause before the sir. Leona at this point, was still more confused by his appearance here than anything else.

"In my line of work you'll find that people hardly expect iour/i company," he shrugged off the fact because he preferred it that way. Humans are nasty creatures; not to be trusted, avoided when ever possible.

Dalejin stood in silence for some time. It was extremely uncommon for goblins to just 'pop' in. There must be a good reason for it. He concluded that it was best to hear what the goblin had to say before he killed it for entering his home. Intrinsically, Dalejin was worried. He and Leona set up several protection charms around the house before they moved in. If they had used their magic properly a fly couldn't hope to enter the premises. iSo how did the goblin get in?/i The simplest answer was that they just screwed up; if there was more to it than that….

The goblin looked back and forth between Leona and Dalejin. He enjoyed watching the female squirm, as they so often did. He gave a cough to clear his throat. He had enough fun so he unrolled the parchment he was holding to conduct some business. "Do you know what this is?" He asked with a sly grin. The couple leaned forward to inspect the paper. Dalejin reached over trying to grab it but the goblin tore it away from him, liking the advantage he had over the two.

From across the room Crys watched the scene unfold. She picked up her glass of water and sipped it wondering it she should interject. After several moments of silence Crys grew bored watching the two. "Call me kooky, but if years of watching Joss Whedon shows have taught me anything-aside from the fact that James Marstsers is a hotty hott hot-it's that this is a demon contract. Very standard, Angel and I could knock it out in five, maybe ten minutes." She rested against the doorframe, grinning proudly.

The goblin looked up at the detestable woman. Of course she was right. She knew it. He gave a sigh, He hated when that happened. "Your er-friend, is correct, what I hold in my hand is indeed a contract, which you two," he paused to point at Dalejin and Leona with his long gnarled fingers, "Have indirectly agreed to-"

"I am quickly losing my patience goblin! Cut to the chase before I rip out your throat!" Dalejin interjected not wanting this intruder in his house for a moment longer. The goblin raised his hand dismissively at him not threatened by him in the least.

"If you would let me finish, I could explain…Now Mrs. Kal'Tahar, do you remember having in your possession a certain fertility amulet?" The goblin asked stroking his chin curious to see how she would respond. Leona looked at him and thought that his question was completely random, and frankly, it was inappropriate. "Leona, this is important, do you have it, and have you used it?" The goblin sighed just wanting a 'yes or no.'

Leona looked at her husband then focused on the goblin. "Yes, I have it, yes I've used it, but what's it matter to you?" She asked beginning to get frightened. The diminutive creature smiled at her wickedly; glad she had asked that question.

"I'm just going to assume that you haven't bothered to look at the back of it; furthermore, I'm going to continue by assuming that none of you in this room bothered to learn Goblik," He smirked knowing he was right -the outrage on their faces proved it. "Let me summarize, by using that amulet in attempt to have a child of your own you agreed to pay me (me being the goblin society) were you successful in bringing a babe into this world."

"We didn't agree to pay a goddamn thing!" Leo shouted making a fist with her hand not enjoying his accusations.

"You're here to collect money," Dalejin breathed slowly and calmly summoning his sword with his wand. He was going to end this right here. He had remained docile for far too long.

"Not quite," the goblin added and watched as Dalejin's sword flew into the room. With a swift motion of his hand he banished the sword back into the wizard's room. "When you die I will want that sword back by the way," he muttered quickly. "As I was saying: the contract gives you ten years to pay your fee, and I've been reasonable in waiting for as long as I have, but it's time I collect," He folded his hands together to see what the couple would do, nothing happened. They stared at him in utter hatred.

"And supposed we were to pay you, how much would we owe you?" Dalejin gritted through his teeth biding time for a distraction so he could try for his sword again. Normally he would have just killed him with magic by now, but goblins were a tricky sort, you never knew what stunt they'd pull next.

"It's too late for that," the goblin simply replied by shrugging his shoulders. "I'm just here to take it back-"

"Fine! You can have it!" Leona screamed summoning the amulet. In the momentary distraction provided be Leona's outburst Dalejin lifted the Goblin off the ground in a choke hold. Without so much as a bead of sweat, the goblin placed his left index finger on Dalejin's face and caused a massive amount of heat to be transferred burning his face. It would have blistered badly, but Dalejin had many scars on his face to protect him.

Despite the fact, the goblin was victorious, and was unceremoniously dropped on his rear end. He stood up quickly cursing in Goblik. "No Leona! You are mistaken!" He seethed, with bloodshot eyes that put the fear of God in her. He stomped towards her getting dangerously close. "I'm not here for the amulet," he hissed so only she could hear, "I'M TAKING THE BOY!" He roared so loudly that car alarms belonging to the muggle neighbors went off.

Finally, Dalejin was successful in summoning his sword He mercilessly lunged at him, sending the sword into the fattest region of his stomach. But a funny thing happened. The figure disappeared in whips of smoke, much like apparition, but it was disturbingly different. There hadn't been a sound. Slowly, they turned to share a worried glance. They needed to get to Tristan.

Adrenaline pumped through the parent's veins as they raced up stairs, trying to get to Tristan's room first. Crys followed closely behind, merely the observer in this bizarre scene. The race only lasted seconds, but it may as well been an eternity. Dalejin had the room in sight now and didn't hesitate as he blasted the door away with his wand.

"Tristan?!" He screamed in terror as he ran past the splintered rubble into his room. When the smoke dissipated, it was plain to see -the room was empty. There hadn't even been a sign of struggle.

Leona followed shortly after scanning all around the room for any trace of him, hoping that he was just hiding. Her face quickly went from a flushed pink to a stark white. She fell to her knees and pushed the world away from her. Only one truth would enter her mind….

iHe's Gone……./i