A/N: I used Google Translate for the Romanian passage. Sorry for any inaccuracies.


Marcus woke up in his bed to find Gretel wasn't laying there beside him. He had a feeling where she was so he got up and went into what was previously his collection room. It wasn't the first time since he'd been back in Midnight that he found Gretel in that room just moving around all the empty shelves before locking eyes upon the few that were left and that night was no different.

He stood in the doorway and leaned against it with crossed arms, watching her make her way around the empty shelves again. Marcus figured he knew why she did it. He believed it was because she missed what was once placed there, but decided to ask anyway. "Why do you do that?"

"It's quiet." Gretel replied as she slid her hand across the smooth wood of a shelf, still able to name each Beanie that was once placed there. "Some had voices attached and I could hear them all the time, but now it's quiet. I'm still trying to get used to it."

Marcus was surprised to hear that answer. "You never said there were voices before." He figured she would have mentioned something as important as that.

Gretel picked up Scorch and gently slid her hand across a wing. "It wasn't important." Hearing voices was all part of her territory. She didn't see the point of mentioning it every time she heard one if the situation didn't deem it necessary.

"Everything about you is important." Marcus wanted to make sure she knew that. After a moment he observed, "I thought the voices bothered you." If things were quiet now, why wasn't she pleased? After all, her own home was inhospitable to the dead and she seemed to find comfort in that.

Gretel returned Scorch with a light scoff. "That was before, Marcus. I've gotten used to them. Not even the Pawn Shop bothers me anymore. After the intense quiet of home it's a…nice change of pace to hear them." She took a jab at him as she walked past, saying, "If you were around more, you'd already know that."

Marcus followed her out into the living room, honestly hoping they would have an argument to finally get out what was bothersome. His first night back he thought it would happen but Gretel didn't say a word about it and pretended everything was fine. Marcus knew things weren't fine. Even if he couldn't sense it, he'd know. Marcus knew Gretel's eyes well enough by now to know what she was feeling.

"I thought you understood why I had to leave. You understood my compulsion for one collection, why not another?" Alright, he knew they were most certainly not the same thing but the compulsion to collect was the same to a certain degree.

Gretel rubbed her forehead with a heavy sigh. "I do understand, Marcus. Okay? I do. It's just…" She didn't want to get into it because she was worried she might end up saying something that would be regretted. "It's not important. Let's just go back to bed."

"Didn't I just say everything about you is important?" Marcus stayed right where he stood. "No. Neither of us are leaving this room until we have this discussion. It's eating away at you, at us. I won't stand for it any longer."

"What do you want me to say, Marcus?!" Gretel shouted back, finally starting to bubble over. "You want me to say that I felt like as soon as we could breathe and start our life for real that you up and left? Do you want me to tell you that it hurt to pack up your collection room and close that chapter of our life? Do you want me to tell you that I miss the Dragon in you? Is that what you want to hear?!" So much for not saying something that she'd likely regret.

Marcus took every elevated word thrown at him and waited until she asked her last question before answering. "If that is the truth then yes. I want to hear it all."

Gretel crossed her arms and turned away before looking back to him and getting at something that was still bothering her – something that happened before they defeated Colconnar. "You didn't even give me a hint of what you were going to do. You never said a word. I knew you weren't going to die but you let me believe you were going to. And when you lived I was so happywe were happy. And then you left. I was just starting to get to know the new you and you disappeared!"

"I haven't changed, Gretel. I may be full Reaper but I am still the man you fell in love with and you are still my Flame." It was that simple for him. His love for her didn't falter and in fact grew stronger. The fact he lost his Dragon half didn't matter, not where his love for her was concerned.

"I was your Dragon's Flame," Gretel countered with more intensity than intended. "The Flame may not have died, but tell me something, Marcus; If there was nothing supernatural between us – if I wasn't your Flame and my Mancer side wasn't drawn to your Reaper status, if we were two Humans who bumped into each other at the Gas 'n' Go, would we even be here right now? Would you have given me a second look?"

"Yes." Marcus's answer was instant and without hesitation.

Gretel scoffed an incredulous chuckle at that because she wasn't entirely sure she believed him. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because when I first met you and Manfred at the Restaurant and I wasn't sure which of you was my Flame, I prayed it wasn't Manfred. Not because he was a man but because since the first moment I saw you I belonged to you completely." Marcus knew he was using a quote from some sort of literature that Gretel once quoted to him, but that didn't change how true it was. Nothing else could say it was perfectly as that.

When Gretel said nothing and tears started to well in her eyes, Marcus turned her question around even though a part of him was dreading to know the answer in case it wasn't one he wanted to hear. "Your turn. If there was nothing supernatural between us – if you weren't my Flame and my Reaper wasn't drawn to your Mancer, if we were two Humans who bumped into each other at the Gas 'n' Go, would we be here right now? Would you have given me a second look?"

Gretel looked into his fiery red eyes and answered honestly with all her heart, "Yes."

Marcus wasn't going to let himself get too relieved too soon. "How can you be so sure?" Once again he used Gretel's words upon her.

Gretel sniffled back her tears as she answered, "Because, whether or not I realized it at the time, I knew we were destiny before I even met you. The second I caught a glimpse of you when I came to Midnight, I knew I had to get to know you - My mysterious tumbleweed."

Marcus had no idea what tumbleweeds had to do with anything, but it didn't matter. He went straight to Gretel, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her deeply. When she cupped his face and returned the kiss, Marcus scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to the bedroom…


She wasn't meant to be in Midnight. Hell, she wasn't even sure how she even got there. One second she was in her shop with a client and the next she was bound within the town limits she'd only ever heard about before. To make matters worse…apparently she was a Ghost and she didn't know she could leave the Hotel she appeared in.

She had no idea how she became a Ghost but it was evident that she was one since the Bernardo siblings saw her through the window all those months ago when she pounded upon the window to try and get their attention. It was clear to her then that it was captured but since then…nothing.

Her plan to appear at the Hotel's open house was a bust since both Bernardos left before she even had a chance to reveal herself. So she had to keep waiting until one of their Medium asses came in again so she could make herself officially known. Gathering up strength to push a Oujia board pointer to a letter once every few days was getting pretty old. Damn Declan, if only he was a Medium.

Well, it seemed like luck was on her side that night – even if it wasn't very lucky for another. She slid her hand down the wall of the Hotel's hallway going over who she wanted to spy on next. Would this be something she'd do if she wasn't a Ghost? Probably not, but her entertainment was pretty damn limited.

She was about to make her way to another floor when she heard what sounded like was a fight coming from the nearby room. With a looked of intrigue upon her face, she moved right through the door and into the hotel room to find another Ghost drowning one of the patrons.

"What the hell!" She shouted and tried to get the Ghost off the guy they were drowning in the tub but just like any other time she came into contact with a Ghost, she burned.

Her hands practically glowed red from the burns of the contact with a fellow Ghost and due to being so focused on that, she didn't even realize the Ghost had vanished. What was noticed was Manfred Bernardo bursting his way into the room with that red-head Patience with him.

Manfred must have been so focused on the dead body in the tub because he didn't notice her standing there. Not until she said, "Manfred…"

Upon hearing his name being spoken by an all too familiar voice, Manfred slowly stood up and turned around. It was one thing knowing she was there but it was an entirely different feeling seeing her there. "Trisha?"

Trisha almost cried because finally she could be seen and heard – well if she was capable of crying in her current state she would have. Since this wasn't possible for her, she spoke with a breath of relief, "Hey, Manny."

Manfred was stunned for a number of reasons in that moment. One being because a Ghost had just killed a Hotel patron and another because Trisha's Ghost was standing right in front of him. Yeah, he was going to need a moment or two to process this. Well that and one hell of a drink.

"Who are you talking to, Manfred?" Patience asked of him. "Are they the ones that killed this poor soul?"

Trisha saw the look Manfred was giving her and pointed a firm yet semi-transparent finger towards him. "I know that look. Do not give me that look. I am not a goddamn murderer of the innocent and you know this."

Trisha had him there. He knew she wasn't a murderer of the innocent. A murderer of those who deserved it, yes, but not the innocent. That was why he had no doubt when he said to Patience, "No, she's not."


While they were waiting for the authorities to arrive, Manfred found a spot away from everyone to talk to Trisha. "Did you see the Ghost that killed him?"

"All Ghosts look the same to me, Manny. They're all smoky blobs that burn like hell when I touch them." Trisha rubbed her hands then because just mentioning it was enough to make her feel the residual burns.

None of what she told him made any sense. "That's – that's impossible. And how long have you been dead and in Midnight?"

"I'm not dead," Trisha shot back with conviction then thought about it for a moment. "At least I didn't think I was. Look, Manny, I don't know what happened, okay? One second I was with a client and the next thing I know I'm in this godforsaken Hotel trying to get your attention. Do you have any idea what it's like to not be seen or heard? It's torture."

Manfred was trying to make sense of everything she was telling him but no sense did it make. "Trisha, in order for your Ghost to be here, you would have had to die here."

"I've never stepped one foot in Midnight. Not one living foot anyway." Trisha looked around to make sure no one was listening to Manfred's half of their conversation.

Manfred couldn't deal with this right now nor could he try to figure it out, not when there was a murderous Ghost on the loose. "What you're saying doesn't sound Ghost-like, but we'll have to talk about this later. Can you leave the Hotel?"

Trisha honestly didn't know the answer to that. "Huh. I – I don't know. I haven't tried." The looked Manfred gave her in response to that pissed her off. She could tell he was pretty much calling her out for not thinking of the most obvious first thing to try, or something along those lines.

Trisha wanted to smack him on the back of the head for that but she couldn't for two reasons – One, she was a Ghost or whatever the hell she was since Manfred didn't seem too convinced she was a Ghost. And two, because she was working on taming her violent tendencies with her therapist. She wasn't going to stray from a good tongue lashing, however. "Do not give me that look, Manfred Bernardo. I have had a lot of things to deal with since appearing here and I will not stand here and allow you to judge me."

Manfred cut her off before she got any further. "Alright, fine, just try. If you can I'll meet you at the Restaurant once I finish dealing with this Ghost mess but do not go anywhere near Gretel."

Trisha rolled her eyes at that. "She still holding a grudge against me? Are you?"

"Well you're a possessive control freak who put a mystical GPS on me to track my every move, so…yeah, pretty much." And yet Manfred was giving her moments of his time that he could be spending learning about the Ghost.

Trisha felt a strong need to correct him, so she did. "I was a possessive control freak. That was a long time ago, Manfred. I've been in therapy for awhile now and shocker I know, but it works."

Manfred felt like his mind had been blown but there was no more time he could dedicate to this conversation – to her. "Just try to get to the Restaurant and wait there. You probably can do it, Trisha. I don't think you're a Ghost."

Trisha scoffed as Manfred walked away because she honestly felt like they had gotten nowhere. "You can see me, Manfred! If I'm not a Ghost then what the hell am I?" she asked with arms raised out to her sides. If she wasn't a Ghost then that would explain a lot but like she asked – What the hell was she? If only she could remember what it was her client wanted of her before she ended up waking up in Midnight…


Gwen was having a late dinner at the Restaurant when a new face walked in. Well, he was new in person but that didn't mean she'd never seen him before. In fact, Gwen had seen him a time or two in a vision before and thus knew who he was on sight.

She whistled from her seat in the Midnighter's Room to get his attention and once she had it, she waved him over. When he pointed at himself in question, Gwen nodded to confirm he was indeed the one she wanted to speak with.

Gwen smiled when he finally decided to join her. "You must be Declan, the new Psychic in town?"

Declan eyed her a bit and turned from one side to another before answering. "Perhaps I am. And you are?"

"I'm Gwen. One of the resident Witches and Fairies in town. Though the Fairy part is rather moot at this point, but no matter." She gestured to the seat at the table across from her. "Care to sit?"

After Declan shrugged and slid into the chair, Gwen asked, "Are you a Medium as well?" She wanted to get some information out of him since she still wasn't sure why she had visions of him in the first place.

Declan picked up the beer bottle that belonged to Gwen and lifted it in a 'cheers' manner. "You don't pull any punches, do you?"

"Why bother?" she asked simply in reply. "Life's too short to beat around the bush."

Declan drank the beer, his expression saying he had to give her that one. He licked his lips after taking the drink and set the bottle aside. "In that case; No, I'm not a Medium. Not all Psychics are Mediums, you know." Declan reached into the inner pocket of his worn out brown leather jacket and produced his Oracle cards as he explained.

"There are four types of Psychics – all from the same tree but different branches, so different gifts." He proceeded to shuffle the cards. "There are the Mediums who can see and communicate with death, the Mancers who can summon and control death, the Travelers who can walk among death whether it be past, present or future, and the Oracles who can predict and read death." Declan leaned forward in his seat to whisper not so secretly, "That's what I am."

As Declan returned to his seat and dealing of his cards, he continued in a normally level tone. "Now all Psychics have the basic talents of reading palms and tarot, but not Oracle cards. They can, however, repeat a reading an Oracle has done if said Oracle wishes to deliver a message to them, but that's not important. What is important is that Oracles are more advanced in what normal people would call 'fortune telling'."

All the cards had been placed on the table but he hadn't turned them over yet and kept his eyes right on Gwen. "For example, just by looking at you I can read that death is tethered to certain branches of your family." Now all the cards had been turned over – the first being Magic and the second Death and the pattern repeated between the two until he flipped the last card. "And I didn't even need to look at these to read it."

Gwen absorbed everything Declan said to her and after what he said about death being tethered to her family, she was rendered speechless. What did that mean? Was this why she saw visions of him – was he going to help her with this so-called tether? She was about to ask him for more of an explanation when sirens were heard from outside and flashing of red and blue lights passed the window.

"Wonder what's going on." Declan barely had a chance to finish his sentence before Gwen was out of her seat and out the door. He wasn't about to miss out on anything, so he gathered up his deck, returned them to his pocket, and followed after her.

The cops and paramedics were outside the Hotel. Gwen could see Gretel and Manfred with Prudence and Kai and it seemed they were deep in conversation but that didn't stop her from going over, with Declan apparently right behind her. "What happened?"

"A Ghost killed a guest," Gretel answered since she'd been filled in on everything that happened. "I felt it happen – that's a new one." It didn't help that Marcus had to leave right after to deal with his Reaper duties.

"That must be one old pissed off Ghost," Declan interjected, doing his best to give Gretel her space because he didn't want to interfere with anything between her and her Reaper lover. "Any idea who it is?"

"It's a woman. I saw her through the window. Pretty sure she's tethered to the room so as long as no one goes in there until we figure it out everyone else should be safe." Manfred cocked his head for Gretel to come with him. "We've got some digging to do."

"Is there any Witchy mojo I can help with?" Gwen didn't just want to stand by and do nothing when Manfred could be risking his life.

"Not right now. Maybe when we have a better idea what we're dealing with." Manfred gave Gwen a quick kiss. "Don't wait up." On that note, he and Gretel headed off to play detective.

Prudence and Kai went back into the Hotel, leaving Declan and Gwen outside together. She was about to ask him more about the reading he did but stopped when she saw the look on his face. It was almost a blend of confusion and realization. "You doing okay there?"

"I – I have to go." Declan darted up and went straight to his room. After going under the bed to pull out a old, wooden chest, he threw the lid open and started digging. Finally he found what he was looking for; an old journal.

Declan carefully yet quickly looked through the yellowed pages of an ancestor's journal until he found what he was looking for. The old handwritten Romanian passage read, 'Cartile au citit acelasi lucru astazi pe care l-au citit ieri, cu o zi inainte, cu o zi inainte si asa mai departe. Fiecare dintre cele patru ramuri va fi reunită pentru a face răul răului înapoi în gropile iadului. Spiritele vor ghida mediul. Armata morților va sta cu Mancerul. Moartea se va dezvălui Traveler-ului. Toate celelalte vederi vor fi acordate Oracolului. Doar acești patru și numai patru singuri vor lupta cu Întunericul și cu Noaptea Iadului.'

Declan translated as he read the words, "The cards read the same today as they have read yesterday, and the day before, and the day before and so on. Each of the four branches will be reunited to damn the evil back to the pits of hell. The spirits will guide the Medium. The army of dead will stand with the Mancer. Death shall reveal itself to the Traveler. All other insights shall be granted to the Oracle. Only these four and these four alone shall battle the Dark One and her Knight of Hell."

After reading the last words, he looked over to the Ouija board and saw the pointer had moved again. If this was a real Ghost – real meaning someone who had died – then they would be more powerful than that to move the pointer. This led Declan to come to a different conclusion.

He returned the journal back to the chest and grabbed a piece of note paper from the desk. Declan quickly wrote a note asking, 'Are you a Traveler?', and set it at the top of the board. If the apparent Ghost wasn't a Ghost-Ghost after all then it meant his ancestor's prophecy was coming to play. After all, Manfred was a Medium, Gretel must be a Mancer, he himself was an Oracle, and all that left was the Traveler. But if his hunch was right…they were already here.

Trisha hadn't tried to leave the Hotel yet and looked at the note Declan had written. As soon as her eyes reached the word 'Traveler' it clicked. Suddenly Trisha knew what needed to be done and focused all her energy on her body – on returning to her body and before the connection was made, she pushed the pointer to 'Yes' before disappearing.

Declan felt what a Jedi would have called a disturbance in the Force and looked at the board. Seeing where the pointer was now cinched it and all Declan could think to say was, "Oh boy," because if the Prophecy in the journal was true then Midnight was going to be in for one hell of a ride.


Since Manfred and Gretel were playing detective where the Ghost attack was concerned, Gwen went to check in on Fiji that morning. She found her cousin distraught in the conservatory looking at all the dead plants in the room. "What happened here?"

Fiji waved her hand out in front of her before placing both upon her hips. "I have no idea. I checked for blight, pixies, everything both natural and not and couldn't find anything to explain this." She looked to Gwen with hope that she might have some sense of what happened. "Any ideas?"

"Might have something to do with Declan's Oracle reading." Gwen leaned back on one of the tables with a sigh. "He said death is connected to certain branches of my family. I'm starting to wonder if my Dark Fairy Magic had more side effects than I thought."

"But you don't have that Magic anymore, so what's the worry?"

"I may not have the Magic or the access to the Realm, but I'm still a Fairy and Dark Magic comes with a price." Gwen tried not to let what Declan said get to her but she was failing. "What if death is the price of saving a life."

"You're not to blame here, Gwen. You hear me? You saved Manfred's life at the risk of your own. I don't care what those Fairies have to say about it, you're not tethered to death." Fiji squeezed Gwen's hands to make sure her point was made.

As much as Gwen wanted to believe Fiji, a part of her just couldn't. She couldn't help but feel like Declan was right and Death was connected to certain parts of her and hoped with every fiber of her being that Manfred wasn't going to pay the price for it.


Declan waited until Manfred and Gretel went to the Hotel to deal with the Ghost problem to venture into their house. There was something he needed to confirm and had to be alone to do it. It didn't surprise him to find their house wasn't locked – If they needed to make a quick getaway against anything that was dead they couldn't waste time fidgeting with keys.

It didn't take Declan long to find Gretel's room and started setting up the candles on the floor there. After venturing to the bathroom and snagging some of her hair from the brush, he returned to the bedroom.

Declan placed certain talismans and herbs in place before lighting the candles and standing in the circle. With Gretel's hair in hand he spoke an incantation with his eyes open then closed them for the vision to appear.

His head fell back as the images filled his mind of all the evidence that despite being Manfred's sister, she was indeed part Mancer. Declan's eyes shot open as he gasped for air when the visions ended. Now that he had all the information he needed, he gathered up the things and got the hell out of there.

Unfortunately he didn't make a clean getaway. Declan walked out onto the porch and came face to face with a dark haired man with fiery red eyes. This could be none other than the Marcus he'd heard so much about. "Marcus, right? Declan. Uhm…They're not home."

Thanks to Olivia and brief tidbits from Gretel, Marcus knew who this man was. But even if it wasn't for knowing he was Gretel's ex, he already did not like him. Marcus eyed Declan and his bag bit suspiciously. "If neither Manfred or Gretel are here then what are you doing in their home? With a full bag for that matter."

Declan knew this looked pretty bad. "Would you believe me if I said that what I was doing was to help Gretel?"

Marcus' posture straightened upon hearing that. "And what could Gretel possibly need your assistance with?" As far as he knew, nothing had occurred that would need any interference from Declan.

"Nothing…yet," Declan admitted, and instantly regretted it. "Look, I'm not here for any trouble. I'm not trying to get in between you and Gretel or anything like that. I just needed to check something to see if a hunch was right and it was, so yeah."

Marcus crossed his arms, making it clear that Declan wasn't going anywhere until he had some more details. "You are saying a lot of nothing for someone who won't shut up."

Declan dropped his bag beside him and groaned, "Fine. I needed to confirm that Gretel was a Mancer before I presented the problem to her. There aren't a whole lot of Mancers anymore, so I'm pretty limited on options." He picked his bag back up and held his hand out. "Now can I pass or do you want to deck me for being Gretel's ex?"

Marcus grumbled a bit but stepped aside. He did not trust Declan one bit, especially since he was trying to involve Gretel into some unknown problem. Marcus wasn't going to let him pull Gretel into any trouble no matter what.


Gwen was having a bowl of ice cream in Fiji's kitchen when Fiji frantically came bursting in. If Gwen was eating anything other than ice cream she probably would have choked on it. "Whoa, cuz, where's the fire?"

"What exactly did Declan say about death being tied to your family?" Fiji wasn't trying to blame Gwen for anything, but she was starting to think that there was some truth to it even if it wasn't what Gwen was thinking.

Gwen set the bowl of ice cream aside in worry. "Why? What happened?"

Fiji wanted her answer first before explaining. "What did he say, Gwen?!"

Gwen thought back to what was specifically said and repeated it, "He said he could tell just by looking at me that he could read death was tethered to certain branches of my family." Now that she'd told Fiji what was said, she needed answers too. "What happened?"

Fiji started to pace as she explained. "The plants died. Bobo almost got his hand chopped off by the greenhouse fan this morning, and just a few minutes ago in the Pawn Shop he almost got impaled by an antler chandelier!" She stopped pacing to stand in front of Gwen. "I don't think Declan was talking about your Fairy branches being tethered to death. I – I think he was talking about your Witchy ones. And if that's the case then that means death is tethered to me, too."

"Things have been happening to Manfred," Gwen said worriedly. "But I didn't think anything of it because, well, this is Midnight and he's a Psychic so when aren't ghosts trying to kill him?!" She started rubbing her hands in worry. "Nope, we've got this. We can figure this out. We are two badass Cavanaugh Witches and we will take down whatever the hell this is." Gwen held out her hand for Fiji to shake. "Deal?"

Fiji had the faith and determination even though she wasn't sure where to start. Even so, she clasped her hand with Gwen's and said with conviction, "Deal."


After leaving Fiji's place Gwen went to Manfred's to work on some research. She was sitting on the couch with an old spell book in hand when he came in looking exhausted. "Please tell me you didn't almost die again."

Manfred chuckled with a groan as he sat down beside her. "Gretel was there so nothing too bad happened." He took a peek at what she was looking at. "What's all this for?"

"I'm trying to find a way to keep you from dying." There was no point in beating around the bush.

"What?" Manfred chuckled because he didn't think she was being serious but with one look on her face he could tell that she was. "Okay, uhm, why?"

"Bobo has almost died from random means a few times now and with the whole Ghost thing with you…It feels like death is targeting the loved ones of the Cavanaugh ladies and I'd rather not have anything happen to you because of it." Gwen set the book aside. "I'm not sure if the use of Dark Magic biting us in the ass or if it's something else, but something is happening."

Manfred reached out and touched Gwen's face before kissing her. "I've survived because of you, Gwen. I'm not going to die because of you. Come on, let's go to bed." He could sense her reluctance and smiled, "You can obsess about it in the morning."

Gwen could accept that. "Okay." She held onto his hand and got up with him to go to bed.

Meanwhile, Gretel was sitting out on the porch steps when Marcus came over. "No more Reaper duties?"

"Not at the moment." He sat on the steps beside her. "I officially met Declan."

This was the first Gretel had heard of that. "Oh, yeah? Did you escort him to the afterlife afterwards?"

"No, but if he brings harm to you I just might." Marcus looked at Gretel as he explained. "He said there's something going on that he needs a Mancer's assistance for. Is there more going on than the Ghosts at the Hotel?"

Gretel didn't more than a moment to think about it because she knew the answer. "No, but he's an Oracle so he's likely seen something else coming. I'll have to ask him about it."

"I'd like to be there when you do." Marcus didn't intend on budging upon that.

"I'm a big girl, Marcus. I don't need you to hold my hand when I go talk to him. I'll tell you what I find out but you don't have to be there." Gretel didn't like the idea of Marcus watching over her shoulder.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you." He'd never be able to forgive himself if something did and he didn't do anything to stop it.

"Nothing will." Gretel kissed his lips lightly. "I'm tired. I think I'm just going to sleep here tonight. The random voices were exceptionally loud today." She stood up from the steps to ask, "What to come in?"

Marcus wanted to but he also wanted to give Gretel her space. He had already seen the strain the psychic link between Lemuel and Olivia was putting on their relationship and he didn't want the same overprotectiveness to cause the same between himself and Gretel. "Raincheck. Sleep well."

Gretel found herself a little relieved that he didn't want to stay the night, but that didn't mean she didn't love him and made sure he knew that. "I love you."

Marcus stood up to give Gretel a kiss goodnight. "And I love you." He waited until she went inside and was about to head back to his place but instead felt where he was needed to collect souls and disappeared in a waft of black smoke and feathers to deal with that instead.


Manfred and Gretel left early the next morning to meet up with Prudence and Kai at the Hotel to come up with a game plan where the Ghosts were concerned. This gave Gwen ample time to go over to Fiji's place and go through their Witchy book repertoire.

After a lot of brainstorming and note taking, but not really finding any answers, Gretel and Manfred came into Fiji's place with Prudence in tow. "Hey, babe," Gwen greeted from her seat on the couch. "What's up?"

Manfred gave Gwen a peck on the cheek before answering. "We're hoping you and Fiji could help us with something. We need a spell to banish a couple Ghosts from the Hotel."

Prudence added in there, "Without making it inhospitable to the dead."

Gretel raised her hands and wiggled them, saying, "It'd mess with Kai's mojo if the whole place isn't Ghost friendly."

Gwen put her notepad into the book so she wouldn't lose her place when she closed it and set it aside. "Can't Marcus grab hold of their Ghosts and force them into the afterlife?"

"I already asked him that," Gretel replied as she leaned back against the couch. "Apparently he can only escort those to the afterlife who don't have unfinished business here. If he tries it'd break the rules of the dead or something."

"It'd make all this easier if he could." Manfred just felt like pointing that bit out.

"True, but I do know of a spell." Fiji got up from her seat at the table and went to the bookshelf. It wasn't long before she removed the particular volume and flipped through its pages. "Here it is. This spell should banish them from this life and force them into the next. We'll need a goat's heart, some sage, and the bones of the dead."

"Sounds easy enough." Gwen moved over to Fiji so she, too, could look at the book. "Where are they buried?"

Patience had some bad news in that department. "There's no record of Carolyn's funeral, and no one even knew that Bruce had killed himself until his Ghost showed up."

"Which makes them unidentified or never found." Gretel rubbed her hands together. "Time for some Mancer Magic?"

Manfred didn't like the sound of that. "And what exactly do you intend to do?"

"I can feel every dead body in this town, Manfred. Now I just need to narrow the search parameters." Gretel dropped her head and groaned, "I'm gonna have to ask Declan for help."

"Uh, why?" Manfred didn't get why he'd have to be involved in this.

"Because for a guy who's not a Mancer he knows more about them than most. And since Marcus is off again collecting souls I can't exactly as him for help to tune out the dead I don't want to locate." Gretel was about to list off another reason until Manfred came up with another idea.

"Or we could just let Bruce and Carolyn possess us so we can get our answers without having to drag your ex into this and risk you creating an Army of Darkness."

Gretel so wanted to argue with her brother but found she couldn't. "Fair enough. Let's do it."

Since this seemed to be their plan of attack, Gwen said to Manfred, "Be careful."

Manfred knew what Gwen was worried about but he wasn't concerned because he didn't read into the worry she had. "Always am."

Fiji interjected there to say, "We'll get things set on our end. When you're ready just give us a call."

Gretel saluted them. "Will do." On that note, she left with Manfred and Patience to head back to the Hotel and put their possession plan into action.


Marcus was on his way back to Midnight not just because he wanted to but because he had to. There was quite a collection of souls at a strip club outside Midnight he needed to take care of.

Marcus was just finishing up with the last soul when Lemuel and Olivia came into the place. When he heard them enter, he removed the hood of his cloak to make him seen to their eyes, and turned around to face them. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for a bitchy Vampire," Olivia replied before going over to a woman who was still alive.

Marcus turned to Lemuel for further explanation. "What have I missed?"

"It's a long story. We'll fill you in once you're done with your collecting. You can't leave them lingering for too long, remember."

Marcus knew Lemuel had a point – bad things would happen if a soul wasn't properly escorted in a timely manner. "I intend to hear everything when I return." He pulled his hood back on to make himself unseen to all but the souls he needed to collect and soon disappeared with the last of them, not knowing it would just be a matter of time before he needed to return for more collecting.


Apparently Manfred and Gretel's plan was successful because not only did they get the information they needed but they also found the bones of Bruce and Carolyn. Presently Gwen and Fiji were getting the spell ready in the fireplace of the bedroom that once belonged to the couple.

"You cleared the Hotel, right?" The last thing Fiji wanted was an innocent bystander getting caught in the crossfire if things didn't go well.

"Yes," Kai instantly answered then corrected himself. "Well some staff did stay behind to lock up."

Patience elaborated a bit more. "But Declan took all the guests on a meditation retreat so they're all safe."

"Good." Manfred finished pouring the salt line. "We should all be safe on this side –" he looked to Patience and Kai, "-but if anything gets through, get the hell out."

"Let's do this." Gwen picked up the skulls and put them into the fireplace.

Right at that moment, Bruce's Ghost appeared in the room. "We've got company."

Bruce leaned his head to the side as he demanded to know, "What are you doing?"

Manfred stayed firm in his place in front of the group. "Serving your eviction notice." When Bruce looked back to the window, Manfred informed him of something. "We nailed it shut, don't even think about it." He and Gretel learned from the last time they encountered Bruce when he opened the window and blew away the salt.

Bruce was not happy about this. He growled at them as he paced back and forth on his side of the line.

Gretel wanted this to get done as soon as possible. "Hey, Cavanaughs, how long is this going to take?"

"Longer if you keep pestering us," Fiji replied, not liking being rushed when it came to Magic.

Before anyone else could say a word, the electricity flickered before the lights went out completely. Gwen answered the question that was likely on everyone's mind before they even had a chance to ask it. "That wasn't us."

Patience convinced Kai to check the breaker box for a fuse, she also asked Gretel to go with him in case the Ghost decided to go after Kai.

Gretel didn't want to leave but when Manfred told her they had it covered, she went with him with a grumbled, "Let's hurry up and get this over with." Before walking out she pointed to Manfred. "I want a full report, mister!"

As she went with Kai downstairs, he said to her,

"You didn't have to come with me. I can handle myself."

"I don't doubt that but I was kinda outnumbered in this decision." Gretel accepted the flashlight Kai gave to her once they reached the front desk and headed down into the basement with him. When they reached the breaker box they saw it wasn't a blown fuse; The wires had been ripped in half.

Gretel had a bad feeling about this. "We need to get out of here now." Too late.

"All I wanted was a chance," the Vampire Dawnette – the same Vampire Lem and Olivia were looking for – said to Kai as she walked out of the shadows. "You couldn't even give me that. I know what you thought, you thought what they all do; 'Not good enough', 'bimbo', 'slut'. You're just like all the others. With them I had to take it, but with you –" Dawnette hissed at Kai "-you're the one who's gonna beg."

Gretel made sure to stand between Kai and Dawnette as she said, "Look, lady, it sounds like you've had it rough but trust me when I say you don't want to do this."

"Oh, but I do. So you can either get the hell out of my way or I'll kill you too."

"Yeah…that's not gonna happen." Gretel raised her hands towards Dawnette and focused. The whites of Gretel's eyes turned pitch black as her already blue eyes seemed to glow. She chuckled a bit when Dawnette tried to move but couldn't. "You're dead, sweetie, and I'm a Mancer. What can Mancers do? – control the dead. Now I don't want to play puppet master with you so I'm going to give you a choice. Either you turn your ass around and get the hell out of here or die. Your choice."

Dawnette hissed and snarled at Gretel because as much as she tried to step forward, she couldn't. "You're not better than them!"

"He doesn't deserve to die!" Gretel shouted back at her.

"Yes he does!" Dawnette cried. "They all do!"

Gretel didn't know how much longer she could keep Dawnette at bay since this wasn't something she'd actually practiced or anything. "You've been put through the wringer in life and that's not fair, but that doesn't mean you should become worse than those who have wronged you. You kill Kai and anyone else and sure it might feel great in the moment but over time it will chip away at you until there's nothing left." Gretel was losing her strength and started to feel weak.

Thankfully Lemuel showed up when he did because Gretel was losing her strength and fell back into Kai because of it.

While Lem was talking to Dawnette, Manfred ran towards them with Olivia and Patience with him. Seeing Gretel in her condition, Manfred went straight for her. "What happened?"

"I rolled the dice," Gretel joked, meaning she took a risk and won. "Seems like Mancers can control Vampires, too."

Gretel leaned against Manfred for support when Kai went over to Dawnette and said he could help her. Helping her was an understatement because he downright cured her of being a Vampire. Gretel wasn't sure she saw that right and looked to Manfred for confirmation. "Was I seeing things or did Kai just Bo Dennis away her Vampirism?"

Manfred nodded because he was surprised as hell to know this. His surprise stuck to his tone as he said to Kai, "You can make Supernaturals Human again."

Gretel laughed weakly at that before saying without really thinking about what was being said, "Where can I sign up?"


End Season 2 Episode 2