Notes: There is mention of Archangel Michael - which comes from a previous story in this grouping called "The Librarians and the Archangel's dilemma"

In the castle

Baird shifted her feet, hoping this part of the mission wouldn't take as long as she suspected it would. Rowan and Master Christoph – with help from Khan – huddled over the iPhone Jones had returned with, muttering to each other as they moved the lump of soul the Reaper had given Rowan around on its surface while accessing its information. They had been attempting to modify the phone to access the late driver's memories for a good half hour with little success as far as Baird could see. Khan poked at the still drippy ectoplasma with a frown, eyes locked on the screen. "He doesn't look happy" Baird whispered to Flynn.

"Which is strange because he's probably the happiest of the bunch" Flynn mused. "Something must be really off with that spell."

"Nah" Jones said with a shrug. He took a seat beside the still sleeping captives, nudging one who had started to snore. "He's probably just annoyed he didn't get to go with Arthur on the hunt."

"You're both wrong" Khan called out testily. "I'm fine not going on a hunt in the Great Empty – place gives me the creeps on a good day. And there isn't much wrong with this spell except…"

"Except it's not as simple working with a fragment of someone's soul as it would have been if he'd just chained old man's soul to a chair and tortured it till it revealed its secrets." Christoph wiped his damp hands on a piece of cloth with a grimace. "It would have been much less messy – at least for us."

"Probably so. Except even with that assistance as opposed to what he gave us, we're still finding that there are limits to what we can do if we are able to pull this off" Rowan sighed, handing the phone off to Christoph. "If what we are seeing is correct, we can recreate the events where the souls were transferred but…"

"But?" Flynn said quizzically.

"But the Countess maybe so dug into her new meat suit it will take longer and be a hell of a lot more painful to pull her out then it was to replace Candice." Khan frowned, staring at the door his brother had disappeared through. "It's one of those big picture moments – do we take it slow and easy to make sure the English girl – and only her – gets pulled out of the soul prison and put back into her body or…"

"Or do we do what is expedient and just yank both of them out of their respective situations and slam them back into where they belong" Rowan finished, nails tapping on her crossed arms as she thought the scenario through. "One way – we get this over and done with fast, giving us time to deal with the book and whoever is behind this mad little play or do we take our time and risk allowing the afore-mentioned "others" to realize the plan didn't go as expected and have them move in on us while we are distracted?"

"So you do think someone else is behind all of this?" Stone growled, glaring across at Cindy and Dorothy. "Any bets it's the Serpent Brotherhood?"

"There are any number of groups like the Brotherhood who could have an interest in the power of the grimoire." Flynn glanced back at the crystal box on its stand, the cracked leather bindings of the old Book of Shadows leaving smudges on its pristine interior.

"We haven't seen DuLac in ages…"

"Probably doesn't want to go mano a mano with his old buddy Arthur" Jones laughed. "He's kind of delicate these days – and Arthur is anything but!" Jones pulled his lucky coin from his pocket and began to pass it between his fingers, keeping them limber in case anything interesting turned up he would need to snatch.

Rowan flashed the young thief a small smile. "I suspect Arthur wouldn't bother much with him. He's heard enough about what he tried to do to you all from Jenkins and Gretchen. I mean, really? Trying to steal Santa's power. Talk about buzz kill. Arthur would probably just strip him of his magic and toss his scrawny ass out the nearest portal into the Great Empty."

"Now there's a good use for that Apocalypse world Archangel Michael's so attached to" Khan laughed. "Drop Lancelot into Vega and see what happens to him without his youth or his magic tricks."

"Arthur talks to Mrs. Clause?" Baird blinked in surprise, ignoring Khan's mention of the Archangel they had dealt with over a year previously. She hadn't thought about it but Mrs. Clause had not seemed the sort to be on friendly terms with the young King. Nick, however, was another story. She could imagine the annoying avatar of Good Will having long conversations with the Phoenix over a bottle of beer.

"No, actually I do. She's one of my friends." Rowan shrugged nonchalantly. "met her ages ago when father was trying to figure out what to do for a girl child on Christmas and accidently ended up summoning her instead of Santa. We've all been chummy ever since. Gretchen talks to me and I talk to Arthur."

"Wonder why she didn't call you when he went missing a while back" Stone asked with a frown.

"I may have been out of communication range" Rowan replied thoughtfully. "We sometimes get so bogged down with other hunts and with keeping our Kingdom running that we forget to check for messages. I'm usually better at it then Arthur is – he can go weeks without thinking to check his email or phonemail. Whereas I…"

"Talk to everyone including me, your father and just about anyone you think needs to hear a particular story" Khan teased. "Hell, I've heard you and Madame Laveau chatter on for hours, making lists of who needs to know what so that they can get a job done for you."

Rowan laughed. "Arthur has his way of organizing and I have mine. And mine doesn't include re-organizing the armory every time he gets a new toy."

Baird joined in the laughter. "Flynn's idea of organization all rests inside his own mind. He claims he can find anything – then ends up going to Jenkins when he really can't."

Flynn frowned at the snickering group. "Can we please get back to what we're going to do if you manage to get these two spirits restored to their original spaces?"

Khan shrugged. "I'm for making it quick then moving on to clean up this mess before someone tries to pin something on us – like the kidnapping of those women over there." He squinted at the prisoners for a moment then looked back at his sister. "Didn't you tell me there were five women missing? We only have three here."

Rowan looked back as well. "Hmmm… well, that's not good, is it? We're missing two women. But which two?"

Stone and Jones moved to get a better look at the women's faces. "These two" Stone said quietly, "match what we have on the two women missing from the current tour. The third girl went missing from the tour of Dracula's castle."

Christoph took a quick peek into the ornate tub the Countess had risen from. "No blood – so if the other two were used as sacrifices it wasn't here."

"IF they were used" Khan mused. "What if they weren't?" He glanced back at Cindy who had finally stopped whining about her head aching. "Bet she could tell us."

"I won't speak – you'll have to kill me!" Cindy screamed defiantly, curling up into as small a target as she could.

"Works for me" Khan rumbled, pulling a large hunting knife from behind his back. He tossed the blade from one hand to the other as he examined the girl in front of him. "What do you say, sis? I'll gut her and you talk to her ghost."

"Or I can just get Thanatos to come retrieve her soul like he did this sod" his sister replied, giving the stiffened body of the driver Janos a swift kick. "That seemed to work well. And he has no issue with making the body dead to get to the soul if it isn't already."

"Yeah, that last time your friendly neighborhood avatar of Death visited, it went swimmingly" Baird said with a sigh. "I, for one, am not keen on having to explain not one but two dead bodies to the local authorities."

Rowan waved her concerns off with a sniff. "Don't worry – I have a friend…"

"Just how many bloody friends DO you have?" Stone asked in annoyance.

"Probably enough she could start and end World War III without ever leaving the comfort of her home" Christoph commented dryly. "And enough to clean it all up to where no one even knows she's done it."

Suddenly, a roaring sound filled the room and the door leading back out to the Between exploded open, shattering the occupants with aged splinters. A body flew past Baird and Flynn, rolling to stop beside the tub with a groan. The Countess, still in the body of Candice, looked up from the floor in terror. "Keep him away! He's insane! You must save me!"

Flynn, shaking the dust from his eyes looked up as Arthur strode in, flames following him like errant puppies. Jenkins staggered in behind him, his arm wrapped around the armored form of the old Warlord. "What happened?"

"Not your problem" Arthur growled, his ice blue eyes now raging with hell-fire. "Now, the bitch is my problem. It's time to end the façade – and her."