Chapter 16 – A place to die

The crowd of smallfolk which gathered around the stage on that bright sunny day cheered excited the moment Dale Oakmont struck a chord of his legendary lute. The excitement turned into trepidation as the bard opened his mouth and started signing the sacred hymn of the Frankish wilds. Both nobles and peasants joined the chipmunk's silk voice and all together made the chorus reach the crystal blue skies.

Once the song came to an end, the bard saluted the audience with a courteous and elaborated bow and got ready to play the encore. The multitude, meanwhile, kept calling his name over and over totally enraptured by the chipmunk's charisma. "Dale, Dale, Dale!"

"Dale? Dale?"

That last inquiring voice, oddly familiar, eclipsed the whirlwind of ovations and applauses and made the red-nosed chipmunk to stagger and drop to his knees unceremoniously.

"Goddamit Dale!" The familiar voice grew frustrated.

"Chip, language!" A female voice reproached.

"Foxy?" The realization that followed provoked an earthquake that collapsed the sun-bathed valley around the chipmunk; the pleasant dream was replaced in a blink and a breath with the cold reality of the half-lit den, the sound of rain and the stern face of Chip Maplewood looking back at him disapprovingly.

"Chip? It's too early" The red-nosed chipmunk whined and pushed his friend to one side, demanding some personal space. "Leave me alone until breakfast" he yawned.

"Dale, snap out of it, will you?" The ranger demanded as he grabbed his friend by the wrists and forced him to stand up.

Foxglove quickly joined and prevented her boyfriend from falling again. "Cutie please" She whispered with a cautious tone. "Gadget is back and brought…"

Dale followed the anxious gaze of his girlfriend across the half-lit room, all the way to the entrance door, where a pair of slightly drenched female mice cut themselves against distant flashes of lightning. A thunder – perhaps real, perhaps imaginary- roared in his ears the moment he realized Lawhinie Hackwrench was one of these midnight visitors.

"Oh boy, oh god, oh boy!" The bard trembled from head to toes at the sight of the arsonist twin. "W-what is she doing here?"

"That's what I want to know!" Tammy, already armed with her father's sword and standing her ground at the opposite corner of the room, sent a glare from Lawhinie to Gadget to Chip and back. "Why did you bring that evil witch here?"

"Tammy, put down that sword" Chip pleaded.

"Never! She tried to kill you before, remember!?"

Gadget braced herself for an impending brawl between the feisty cleric and the feisty witch; Dale and Foxglove took preemptive steps back, trapped as they were between both parties.

Then, for everybody's surprise, the fearsome Lawhinie crossed her arms, looked away and let out an annoyed sigh. "Oh, hide your claws, girl" Then she again met the gaze of the squirrel with a self-righteous smile. "That's not way to welcome your new comrade"

"C-Comrade?"

"Absolutely!"

The cleric stood there agape and incredulous, waiting – pleading - for the punchline of that unfunny joke. The ranger, however, approached her dead serious and took hold of her extended arms. A bad omen of things to come.

"Tammy" He started. "Lawhinie will join Gadget, you and me in our travel"

Indignation, followed by a sting of jealousy, hit her like a ton of bricks. Just when she had gotten used to the idea of traveling with her chipmunk's other love interest it turned out these two decided to let the identical twin to tag along for the ride. In the eyes of the possessive squirrel this hunting party was becoming more and more like a travelling harem with Chip at the center of it.

"Oh no… Oh no, no, no!" Tammy shook her head furiously as she freed herself from the chipmunk's grip. "We don't need her!" She ranted and raved. "We don't need Gadget either! We can take that cat down with your blades and my sword. Never forget that these black witches are our enemy's servants!"

"Not anymore" Gadget muttered sheepishly.

Lawhinie, on the other hand, could barely hide her exasperation. "Please! Someone tell this irksome brat the news so she can shut the hell up"

"Irksome brat? How dare you!"

"What news?" Both Dale and Foxy asked in unison.

Chip, who was struggling to keep Tammy from pouncing at the blonde twins, gave Gadget a nod. The good witch cleared her throat and proceeded to explain to her friends the predicament she and her sister had been sucked into. And for Chip's relief, she wisely omitted the part regarding his and the witch's entwined fate and the declaration of mutual love that followed; there was no need for the others to know about it yet.

As if the description of Mephisto wasn't enough to convince her listeners, Gadget made use of her black magic to fill their eyes with the life-like illusion of the winged cat of blazing eyes and razor-sharp claws, provoking a heap of reactions out of them all. While Chip and Lawhinie simply stared back defiantly at the phantasm, Foxglove and Dale couldn't help but scream in horror and take refuge in each other's arms.

Upon first sight Tammy endured stoically the whole show, but as the ranger discovered in a closer inspection the girl was so pale her fur had turned white. Only after Chip wrapped his arms around and comforted her was the squirrel able to utter three simple words: "Not… a cat"

"I know" Chip whispered back while holding her in a sheltering embrace.

"Wait, wait!" She suddenly perked up and meet the chipmunk's eyes. "What if, what if that horrible monster is just an invention created by Gadget? She might be fooling you, Chipper! She might be fooling all of us!"

Chip glanced back at Gadget with hesitation clouding his face. "What? No, of course not!"

Dale and Foxglove joined the questioning gazes. Needless to say, every one of them would rather cling to that idea rather than accepting such an infernal being was loose somewhere in their world.

The way Chip was swayed so easily by Tammy broke Gadget's heart in pieces. "Don't you trust me?" She grieved. "I would never lie to you!" her words directed more to the ranger than to the people around.

"Oh please!" The evil twin rolled her eyes. "Do you think I would be here asking *you* for help if that devil was still a simple alley cat? Make no mistake, peasants: Mephisto is as real as me, flesh and bones and wings and scales, and is coming to hunt us all down"

"To hunt you down" Tammy corrected acidly.

"To hunt me down" Chip added letting his companion go. "Tammy, listen" He said in a most serious note. "This situation is getting too dangerous. It's time for you to go back home. Think about Bink!"

"But, what about you?" The girl whimpered. "That beast will burn you to crisps the moment you face him!"

The ranger caressed her face tenderly. "Maybe it will, maybe not. It doesn't matter, I have oaths to keep. For me there is no other choice but to take that beast on"

"Chipper... please…"

"The same goes for you, Dale" He addressed the still traumatized bard. "Go home, I don't want your tale to end with an 'And then I got eaten by a devil' epilogue"

"Hey, don't tell me what to do! I'm coming with you!"

"Cutie, I-I think we should…"

"That monster doesn't scare me a bit, no sir!" The red-nosed chipmunk insisted.

"M-me neither!" Tammy joined again the argument, emboldened by the bard's remark. "My parents fought that monster once and almost defeated him! I swear I'll finish what they started!"

Chip threw his paws up in frustration. "For God's sake, guys! I don't want you to die!"

Tammy understandably got upset at such claim. "We don't want you to die either, Chip!" She countered, reverting to his real name in her zeal. "Don't push me away! I won't let you go there alone!"

Gadget, however, shared the dark-nosed chipmunk's sentiment. "I beg you, listen to Chip! He only wants to protect you! Do you really want to challenge a devil from hell?"

Suddenly Lawhinie intervened. "Now, now… wait a minute, sister. While it's true that these people don't look too capable at first sight, I clearly remember they managed to stand their ground against me the night we all met" Her lips curled into a up into a fake smile. "They even brought me to heels. Isn't that remarkable?"

"I guess but…"

"All I'm saying these Normans are strong and full of surprises. They want to help Chip the same way Chip wants to help us. We would be such hypocrites if we turn them away, don't you think so?"

"Uh…"

The scarred witch leaned on the ranger's shoulder and whispered to his ear. "Come on, let them join the party. You know we are in need of trustworthy allies" Then she raised her voice up a notch. "Besides, they will follow us with or without your permission, am I right?"

"Hell yeah I will!" Tammy stated clasping the tilt of her sword tightly. "And he knows that!"

And the bard mirrored the sentiment. "Yeah, he knows!"

Chip took a deep and reluctant breath in. "All right, all right! You can come with us"

Lawhinie gave him a pat on the back. "Oh, you made the right decision, boss! I'm sure we'll get along just swimmingly" The evil twin celebrated. Gadget eyed her in a mix of curiosity and confusion.

Foxglove, on the other side, was so shaken she slipped down the wooden wall. "I think I need to sit down for a while" Then she gazed up to the witches, to Gadget in particular. "How did this happen?" She quivered. "How did your master turn into that nightmarish monster? Wasn't he supposed to be under a spell or something?"

"He was, indeed" Lawhinie's expression darkened. "Until he tricked me into meeting and killing a deranged and repulsive necromancer he once made a deal with: Enzo Moretti"

The whole group gasped in shock at the revelation, but only Chip was able to recognize that name from one of the wanted posters back at the inquisition palace. "The inquisitors were looking for him, as well" He muttered pensive.

"Yeah well, that snitch decided to strike first. He assaulted the palace and murdered every single inquisitor, only to turn them into mindless zombies afterwards. I witnessed the whole spectacle" She smiled wolfishly. "Can't say they didn't deserve it, though. Bastards all of them"

"What about Finn?" Gadget asked in a low voice. "You killed him, didn't you?"

Lawhinie's features softened as she glanced back at her. For a moment something akin to sorrow flashed in her dee blue eyes. "He's beyond any evil now".

"Then, If I understand correctly" Tammy crossed her arms defiantly. "That necromancer signed a contract with Mephisto time ago. When you killed him, his soul increased the devil's powers and he was able to break my mother's binding spell. Is that what you try to say?"

"Hey, you got it right! What a smart girl you turned out to be!"

"I've been studying the grimoire you tried to steal from us"

"Ah yes, the grimoire of the archmage. Have you read it all? Is there really a way to kill my master?"

The cleric nodded and grinned with self-righteous pride. "I've memorized every spell my mother wrote, including those she used in her last battle months ago"

"Wait a minute!" Dale scratched his head. "The zombie captain musketeer kept babbling about his master over and over. Does this mean Enzo Moretti was the wizard controlling the army of zombies we battled against two nights ago?"

"Really?" The evil witch cocked an eyebrow the bard's way. "Now that you mention it, Enzo kept getting distracted from time to time during our fight at the workshop. Perhaps you guys were the reason behind it? Since you were cutting his minions down at the same time I was busy cutting him?"

"The zombies we met also behaved erratically" Chip recalled. "That would mean our battle took place at the same time as yours"

Gadget opened the eyes wide. "We ended up helping each other!"

Armed with that knowledge, the evil witch sent Tammy a boastful smile. "See, girl? We already worked together as a team once! We can do it again"

"As long as you don't send fireballs our way" Tammy quipped, and the witch answered her remark with a mischievous grin that didn't exactly put the squirrel's mind at ease.

"So, what's next?" Foxglove asked with fear, curled as she was in the corner of the room. "Is your master coming to Paris? Is he already here?" She shivered and covered her face with the wings. "Will he fall upon me if I dare to go fly outside?"

Dale and Tammy quickly went to comfort their companion while Gadget and Lawhinie made some mental calculations. "I don't think he is already here" The evil twin started. "I would feel it in my gut" She then turned to the frightened bat. "The smell of sulfur will be his herald, he said"

Gadget wasn't that reassuring. "However, and assuming he broke free the same moment the necromancer died and is traveling by air from Cologne like a hawk would, with no need to rest..."

"That was more than twenty-four hours ago" Chip muttered with dread.

"Golly! He might arrive at Paris any minute now" The good witch concluded growing tense, and her companions followed suit. "We are out of time!"

"So that monster could actually be outside?" Dale shivered like a leaf as she gazed at the darkness outside. "What are we going to do!?" He sprung up and tugged at his friend's shirt. "It's too soon! What are we going to do!"

"Hey, hey, careful with my clothes!"

The bat lifted her head slightly out her self-made cocoon. "Doesn't… Doesn't Mephisto sleep by day like you do?"

"Sleep?" The two witches looked at each other nonplussed. "Now, that's a good question" Gadget conceded. "Back then, he would appear before us only during the witching hour"

"Yeah, but when he got trapped into a mortal body and moved to Cologne with us he used to roam around the city in plain daylight"

"How do you know that?" Gadget's ears perked up.

"Sabrina and others of her kin informed me that"

"Oh, I see" The good witch nodded knowingly, then fell silent and pensive again, leaving Chip and the others speculating about who exactly Sabrina was. "Foxglove might be correct" She then conjectured. "If Mephisto is back to his former self he must be suffering now from the same flaws we have as hell-tainted creatures. Namely, our weakness against sunlight that forces us to fall into a deep slumber every day. Since we cannot feel his presence yet and we are close to daybreak I'd say we are safe here, at least until tomorrow night""

Lawhinie's eyes glowed with elation. "Hah! For once that annoying trait works on our favor!"

The group finally was able to release all the accumulated tension. "Let's make good use of that small edge, then" Tammy commented as she left herself fall against the wall, relieved as she was to have another day to practice the offensive and defensive spells her mother favored so much, and put an end to the existence of that vile monster. Oh, how she wanted to take Chip home and together forget about witches, devils, old gods and violence. To make him forget about Gadget. "Perhaps there is a memory-erasing spell somewhere in the grimoire?" The cleric thought selfishly as she gazed sideways at her blonde 'hell-tainted' rival.

"Another day to do what?" Foxglove insisted. "Are we really going to charge at him the moment he appears before us?"

The mood of the party darkened again. The ugly truth was that, even with white magic on their side, their chance of success and survival was still slim. It didn't matter how confident the young cleric was of her abilities, everyone knew that the previous owner of the grimoire, Bethany Lombardi, together with her party of pirates had challenged that devil with swords and spells and failed. Many minutes passed by, with the sounds of rain and distant thunders enveloping the dour scene.

At the end, it was Chip who found a light in that darkness. "There is another weakness" he stated wistfully. "The night I met Gadget she was injured. Her foot was burnt and there were ashes along her footprints" He then looked back at the shy mouse. "How did it happen? I remember you said back then you were trying to do… an experiment?"

"In fact, I tried to break into the small shrine of the graveyard" The witch confessed dispirited. "The holy aura it emanated burned me the moment I stepped inside. In hindsight, I should have expected that outcome"

"That's it!" The ranger brightened up. "Mephisto is bound to suffer the same!"

Lawhinie nodded slowly. "Go on, handsome"

"Now is him who is coming to us, not the other way around! We can make our stand in any holy ground of this city! I propose we take him on in Notre Dame itself!"

"Not there!" The evil witch frowned. "I can't even get twenty meters close to that place without feeling steam coming out from my skin. Gadget and I would burst out in flames if we hide there, you insensate!"

"Sorry, I got carried away. Perhaps another smaller church will do the trick?"

"Actually, I think I know the perfect place. Are you familiar with the cemetery of Les Innocents?"

Everyone around Lawhinie shook their heads.

"Well, it's quite a sight! Tombs and crypts and mass graves all over the place" She explained with an uncomfortable delight, as if the old graveyard were her most favorite place in the world. "There is a small church built there, the church of the holy innocents. I flew around the building twice or thrice, almost made it to its doors before the pain forced me to turn tail and leave. If we were to battle Mephisto around there…"

Tammy beamed a smile of renewed hope. "We can actually win? Is that what you say?"

"My dear master should suffer the effects far worse than we would, that's for certain!"

"I'm in, then!" The squirrel lifted her paw up enthusiastically, then lowered it ashamed. "Unless Chipper has a better plan, I mean"

The ranger, in turn, glanced at the blonde witch looking for her approval.

"There is really no other choice, is it?" Gadget rubbed her forearm and looked away.

"There is always another choice" The chipmunk assured her as it was clear his friend wasn't keen to the idea of getting close to a church any time soon, not after her previous experience.

"No, not for us" She negated with the head. "There is simply not enough time. Besides, in that way you - the four of you - will be protected by the aura of the church if the battle goes south. By that logic, I support Lawhinie's idea as well" She lifted her paw slowly.

"Gadget…"

"Please, sister! Think positive, you'll have this hunk of a chipmunk by your side all the time" The evil witch grabbed Chip by the shoulder and sent a fairly indecent stare on his way. "You will take care of my pretty sister with those talking swords she told me about, correct?"

"O-of course" The blushed ranger stammered. "She knows I will"

"Good, because I might need some protection too" She grinned mischievously as she licked her lips. "Do you think yourself capable enough to handle both of us?"

"L-Lawhinie!" Gadget shouted with a visible flush on her cheeks. "He is not that kind of male!"

"Stop it! Chipper isn't building a harem!" A most offended Tammy stomped her feet.

"Harem?" Both Chip and Gadget exclaimed in unison.

"I'm just joking!" The witch rolled her eyes and pushed the embarrassed Chipmunk away like an used toy. "I love to tease my friends, that's just the way I am. You tell them, sister!"

"Oh! Um, I couldn't… I couldn't say" She fiddled with the cloak sleeves as she struggled to say the right words. "Do you have any more friends, besides me and Sabrina?"

"Now I have!" She beamed, albeit with that trademark sinister smile. "Just as we agreed, I'm leaving the past to die, sister. Since we are all now in the same boat, I consider everyone gathered here my friends. The chipmunks, the bat, the squirrel and… hey, wait a minute, where are the fat mouse and his fly pet?"

"Sir Monterey Jack and Sir Zipper?" The kind bat corrected.

Upon the inquiring nod of Lawhinie, Dale narrated the sad tale of Monterey Jack, from the day he arrived to the inquisitorial palace with an aching heart torn between duty and conscience until the morning he departed in search of his true and only love, Desiree D'Allure.

At the mention of that name the evil witch's mouth fell open. "Who did you say?"

"Desiree D'Allure?" The bard said again, "Tall, slender female mouse with a thick french accent. Despite her charming looks, she turned out to be a cold-blooded pirate. Also, Sir Monterey's fiancée"

Lawhinie laughed. Not her usual wicked derisive chuckle, but an actual burst of laughter. "Hehe… hahaha… hahahaha!"

"Erm, did I say something funny?"

"Funny? Hilarious!" A wolfish smile crept up her face. "You see, I killed that nasty thief two nights ago!"

Everybody looked at her incredulously. "You what!?"

"Well, she gave me these scars!" Lawhinie pointed to her forehead and right cheek. "In return, I stabbed her in the heart with this" The remorseless witch produced a short, sharp dagger out from her left sleeve and fidgeted with it describing circles in the air. "Of course, before that I made her watch a tenfold of her companions burn to death!"

"That's horrible!" Foxglove exclaimed covering her mouth.

"Pfft! She had it coming for ruining my face! May she rot in hell for eternity!"

"But… Monterey Jack! If he hasn't found about this yet…"

Dale quickly pulled his girlfriend into a soothing hug to comfort her. "Oh, cutie, he is our friend! We have to let him know about this!"

As the bat hid her face on her beloved chipmunk's chest, Gadget pulled Lawhinie by the shoulder. "Sis, I think is better if we leave now" She advised quite distressed.

The evil twin, who was standing there gleefully enjoying the commotion she had provoked, addressed her sister with a cocky smile. "Oh, what's the rush? It's still raining out there, dear sister"

"Rain is starting to ease off" She countered. "And, and from a logistical point of view it would be more efficient if we depart to Les Innocents ahead of them. You won't want Chip to carry you all the way there if dawn finds us here, correct?"

"And why Chip, anyway?" The cleric sneered with contempt.

Lawhinie took a glance at the cold and damp darkness beyond the door and frowned. "I loathe the idea of being carried anywhere while unconscious almost as much as I loathe to fly under the cold night rain. You have it easy, wearing our father's cloak!"

"In fact, I've something for you!" Gadget beamed clasping her paws together, then proceeded to sink one of them in the depths of the magical cloak. "It must be around here"

For everybody's surprise, she pulled a bent witch hat out, one Lawhinie recognized immediately. "My beloved hat!" She exclaimed as she reached and examined it from all sides. "I thought I had lost it forever!"

"Not at all, I kept it safe all this time" Gadget said proudly. "I know how much that feathered hat means to you, sister"

"Indeed!" The fiery witch grinned as she put it on again. "Bwa hahahah, now I feel like a real witch! One who could brave the wildest storms out there!"

"So that means…"

She offered a grateful smile, a strange sight for everybody outside her family. "Heh, sure. Let's move our party elsewhere. I know of some taverns that are at a stone throw away from our final destination"

Gadget eyed her hesitantly. "I-I think it's a bit late for a party" She said, well aware of how Lawhinie's parties used to end back at their manor; in a maelstrom of alcohol, profanities, property damage and morning weeping. The fact her twin sister's liver was still in good shape was a real mystery for her.

"Dinner is it, then. Wine and cheese, preferably" The evil witch walked towards the exit door and turned around to give their new companions one last disquieting grin. "This is exciting! I'm so looking forward to work with you guys. It'll be a blast! Until our next rendezvous!" She waved goodbye with a paw.

"French words aren't your thing, sis" Gadget observed as she followed her twin outside.

"Whatever, someday I'll make German the world language"

The good witch stopped for a second at the door and gave a last cautious look back at her companions. None of them noticed. Tammy and Dale were busy comforting the shaking Foxglove; Chip had fallen silent and brooding, lost in his own thoughts. To watch him like that hurt the witch the most. She finally stepped out, without as much as a weak goodbye whisper.

Tammy wrinkled her nose in contempt the moment she realized the Hackwrench sisters were gone for good. ""Ugh! Now I'm siding with a murderous witch. What would my mother say?"

"Probably nothing" Dale, who was right behind the squirrel, commented solemnly. "She married a pirate and… Ommph!" A well-placed elbow to the stomach made him think twice before finishing the sentence.

It was that pained growl that snapped Chip out of his thoughts. "Huh? Gadget…"

Outside, at the edge of a thick branch, the sisters were about to soar into the night. "Well, it's your broom, isn't it? You drive" The evil twin conceded handling over the sweeping instrument to her owner.

"We could buy another broom…" Gadget offered as she mounted astride on the levitating stick and put her hood on.

"Pfft! Yeah, 'buy'…" Lawhinie smirked mischievously. She mounted on the broomstick right behind her sister in a ladylike manner -namely, a side-saddle position: one paw gripping the handle and the other holding the feathered hat in place -. "Come on, let us go" She urged. "I'm thirsty!"

"Aye, aye!" The blonde witch bolted up to the skies, very much like an arrow would. Truth was, she couldn't wait to take her sister away from her friends down below. More importantly, away from Chip. After all, this wouldn't be the first time her twin would admit nefarious crimes in front of hard-earned friends; friends that would be gone forever the next day. And judging by the way Chip sulked after that shameless confession…

"Gadget, wait!" The dark-nosed chipmunk rushed out from the foliage, a second too late to catch up with his loved one. By then the witches were but silhouettes cut against the fleeting rainclouds. "Don't go"

The defeated ranger made his way back to the den. He stepped in and found that everyone was silently waiting for his orders.

"So, what do we do now, Chip?" The kind-hearted bat asked slowly. It pained the chipmunk how much her mood had fallen since nightfall, back when all she wanted was to fly free from one fruit tree to another.

"Now, we sleep" Chip said as he fell heavily on his sleep bag. "Take a good rest, you all. We leave for Les Innocents at dawn"

The birth of the new day found the witches sharing a meal in a smallfolk inn built beneath the ceiling beams of an abandoned house that overlooked the exterior walls of Les Innocents. This hostel was, first and foremost, a resting place for batkind, those who'd rather sleep perched upside down from the ceiling than cramped beneath the walls of the building. Even so, the inn had a few spare rooms for rodents and other land creatures. On top of that, the grape wine they sold was of top quality.

"Ahh, this is the stuff!" Lawhinie exclaimed with gusto as she tasted the last drops of her red wine and whammed the wooden cup against the table. The lone candle that shed some light on her features flickered in response. "Now, what's this!?" The evil witch addressed her sister. "You haven't as much as twiddled with your cup the whole time! Come on, today is the day we will get our souls back! Show more enthusiasm, girl!"

"How can you be so certain?" Gadget asked sitting on the opposite side of the table. "Mephisto…"

"Mephisto is coming to us like a good boy" The witch's expression grew dark. "You can feel it in your bones as well, don't you? He is growling mad at us right now, Paris and its hundred churches is a mortal trap and has no choice but to try and beat us in our new home field. Man, he really is desperate to open that portal to hell, doesn't he!

Gadget looked away clearly uncomfortable.

The drunk Lawhinie slammed her paw soundly on the table. "Bah, never mind! We and our companions will kill that liar tonight. Heck, If he wants to return to hell so badly, I'll send him back myself… in lumps of charred flesh, of course!" She raised a paw to face level and ignited it in fire.

Gadget, on the other side, straightened up quite alarmed at the reckless display of magic. She quickly turned around picturing the horde of scandalized patrons, but found they were quite alone at that early hour, their only company an old and sleepy bartender mouse that didn't gave the girls on the furthermost table of the place a second thought. If they had brought a second candle to waste, good for them, he thought.

With a mischievous grin the evil twin called off the flames and settled down on her chair. "So… you and the ranger chipmunk, huh?"

Her naïve twin jumped on the seat together with the brimming cup of wine. Upon landing again her usually pale cheeks had turned red with embarrassment. "I, Well, Chip and I… It's, it's complicated" She finally said with a sigh and a shake of head.

"How complicated can it be?" Lawhinie raised a brow as she reached for the bottle of wine and guzzled its reddish elixir down her throat. "You…" She paused to lick her lips. "you take his paw, invite him to a room and then…"

"Lawhinie!"

"Bwa hahah! Just look at your face! Oh, sister… You are killing my hopes to have nephews and nieces running all around the manor someday in the future"

"I thought you hated kids"

"People change, you know. Besides, I might have need of an heir later than sooner"

Gadget witnessed Lawhinie lose herself on thoughts out of a sudden. Her expression got wistful and distant and mournful, as if she had taken a wrong or difficult decision along the way and had regrets about it. The good sister had a slight idea of what could it be. "So… you and Sabrina, huh?"

Now it was the evil witch's turn to jump off her seat and land on it again. Her long tail tensed up like a wooden splinter, only to start whipping side to side wildly. Its owner suddenly rose up and loomed over her sister baring the fangs threateningly. "Who told you that?"

"I'm sorry!" She quickly apologized. "I was looking for you and I didn't want to look but I did"

The evil twin frowned confused. "What? Looking for me? When?"

"Two nights ago… right after you set on fire that neighborhood. I descended into the ruins of a doll store and then I saw…"

Lawhinie could barely believe that confession. "What did you see?" she asked narrowing her eyes again.

The blonde mouse looked away in shame. She couldn't help but to bit her lips before confessing. "I saw you, laying against the walls of the cavern all tattered and injured, and I saw a mist on top of you in the shape of a female mouse, and you called it 'Sabrina'. You let her take your clothes off and then… Uhh…"

Whatever animosity had boiled up inside the evil witch faded at the sight of her flustered sister nervously fidgeting with her fingers. "What… did you see?" She insisted as a naughty smirk slowly replaced her wolfish countenance.

"Oh, you know…"

"Sure as hell I don't"

"You, her! doing that"

"'That'? What's 'that'?" She sat again on her chair, struggling to keep a serious face. "Come on, be more specific!"

"T-the 's' word"

"Sss…inging? Sitting? Seeing? Oh, So many possibilities!"

"Sex!" Gadget finally burst out and even stood up. "You and Sabrina were having sex in front of me!"

"Hey, quiet you!" The bartender warned from afar.

While Gadget sat again and hid her face with the paws upon realizing what she had just done and said, Lawhinie had to cover her mouth to muffle the laughter. "Pfft! I made you say it! Hahahah!"

"Urgh…" The good twin put her hood on, all the way to the nose.

"Hey, hey!" Lawhinie offered her the bottle of wine, only to remember it was already empty. "Sorry if you find my naked body disturbing… even though we are identical twins"

"So that mist, that ghost, was really your maid Sabrina?" She asked shyly.

"Aye, the one and only"

Gadget took the hood off again, confused and shocked at the same time. "I didn't know you liked females"

"Now you do, dear sister"

"But, she is a poltergeist! How did you summon her all the way here?"

"It wasn't… it wasn't me who did it" Lawhinie sighed, then reached for the cup of wine on her sister's side. The evil witch emptied the cup in one single gulp, then went on to retell the events of that fated night, like how she arrived at Enzo Moretti's hideout in the doll store and asked him for a way to release poltergeists from the houses they were locked in, how the ritual which involved a magical mirror summoned Sabrina in front of her, only to discover the ghost had been Enzo's first love and victim many years ago. Finally, and without any ounce of regret, Lawhinie told her sister with great detail how she burned the necromancer down together with the whole damned house the moment he dared to hurt her beloved maid.

Gadget was left speechless.

"Anyway, it's getting late. Or early. Let's go to our room" Lawhinie babbled as she blew the candle out and tried to stand up, as sloshed as she was. "What number was it again?"

"Five…" Gadget watched attentively as her sister leaned heavily against the corridor's walls. She snapped out and quickly came to her aid. Still, there was one last question to ask. "Lawhinie, where is Sabrina now?"

"Hidden" The twin sister answered with tears running down her cheeks. "Well hidden". After that, she said no more.

On that day of September the weather improved vastly. Currents of wind cleared the skies well enough to allow the sun to bathe and cleanse the afflicted city of Paris with its ever-burning light. People and smallfolk alike welcomed this change as a sign that the nightmares and supernatural events would fade away just like rain did. Church bells all around the city chimed every hour, urging the faithful to gather and pray for the strange and otherworldly blaze to never strike again.

This day devoted to prayers had just reached the twilight hour when Chip and his friends finally walked past the gates of Les Innocents. Only then they realized how vague had Lawhinie described the largest graveyard of Paris. Behind its three-meter-high walls the heroes discovered a bizarre world that had almost nothing in common with the small and serene graveyard of their far away hometown. Sites for mass graves, where people were buried together in deep pits unceremoniously, gave the place a gloomy malevolent atmosphere. A few crypts, tombs and memorials could be seen at the distance, clustered together around a rectangular monument and a church, the group's final destination.

Tammy covered her mouth in disgust as the group passed by one of these foul-smelling pockets of dug soil. "Ewww!" She exclaimed. "I just saw some human fingers sticking out! You can't just leave a corpse like that, people will get sick!"

Foxglove, who had forced herself awake half an hour before, patted the squirrel's shoulder sympathetically. "Too much for the city of enlightenment, am I right? Suddenly I don't want to get married in Paris anymore"

"Me neither" With a heavy sigh, the cleric glanced ahead at the ranger. "Chipper, where do we go now? Night has fallen already"

"Almost there" The black-nosed chipmunk stopped and so did his friends. The cobble stoned path had brought them to the feet of the imposing fountain of the nymphs, a legendary landmark which Chip had heard of only in tales and a welcomed sight for the visitors of the over-saturated cemetery, despite being all dried up and neglected. "Wow! It's… magnificent" He whispered in awe and disbelief.

More than a fountain, it was a building two facades long and one facade wide. It had multiple water taps on the side facing the streets, each one ornamented with a lion head. A stairway led to the proper basin on the upper level, from where one could watch over the graveyard and the streets beyond the walls. The pillars that surrounded the basin and supported the ceiling were engraved with sculptures of sea creatures from the Greek pantheon: nymphs, tritons, sea dragons. In short, the fountain of the nymphs was a prime example of the marvels of the french renaissance.

"Just look at that!" Chip pointed up at one of the exquisite reliefs which depicted a woman of elongated body, narrow shoulders and translucent dress. "The detail on that nymph's dress is astonishing! I can almost picture it undulating in the wind"

Dale rolled his eyes, feeling a sting of resentment. After all, music and poetry were far superior arts than sculpture, but people just kept praising Paris's monuments wherever he went. "Hey Michael Angelo, stop dreaming and look ahead!" He acidly commented and pointed forwards. "The church's closed"

The party's attention got drawn to a bustling crowd of rodents of many species all gathered at the base of the main doors of the church of the innocents a few meters ahead. Females and cubs, entire families, were among them. Judging by their dirty and ragged clothes these people were looking for shelter. In front of them stood a pair of middle-aged mice priests dressed in humble robes, guarding a hole in the wooden door frame with their own bodies. Apparently, they were preventing the people from going inside.

"Please, dear brothers and sisters!" The most senior priest said as loud as his age allowed. "Don't antagonize them!"

"We won't allow a fight to start inside the Lord's home!" the other one quickly added.

"Nonsense, father Andreas!" One of the impoverished rodents argued. "You can't let these ruffians take the church for themselves! Can you see night has fallen already?"

"The spirits are awoken!" An old female mouse, perhaps older than the priests, made waves with her arms theatrically. "They are surrounding us! Let us in!"

And she was absolutely right. A few wandering souls, all of them invisible to mortal senses, had approached to find out what the commotion was about.

Chip and his friends arrived just as the aforementioned father Andreas threw his palms up in the air and pleaded for calm. "They are dangerous! One of them is even carrying a giant sword!"

"Just for tonight, find shelter somewhere else…" His comrade, father Eustachious, added in a tired tone. "Our almighty father will keep you safe tonight" He finished the sentence coughing.

Andreas looked over the crowd and gasped in surprise. "Oh, are you... looking for shelter too?" He asked to Chip and company.

It was then that the people got aware that another group of strangers were standing right behind them, dressed in traveling gear and carrying a few weapons. "And who might you be?" The old female asked a bit too suspiciously.

"We…"

"We are pilgrims!" Dale stole the attention of the crowd. "Coming all the way from Rouen to pay respects to the Lord in the holy church of the innocents!" Then he addressed Foxy and his two other companions raising his arms up in a grandiloquent posse. "Lo and behold, friends! Our long travel has come to an end! I present to you, the church of the innocents!"

"Wooow!" The bat joined the charade. "Its... magnificent!" She whispered in awe and disbelief, expertly mimicking Chip's gestures from before.

"Ugh, Normans. I can distinguish that damned accent from one mile away" A bulky rat commented with disdain, provoking a brief bout of chuckles among the smallfolk.

"Hey, some of them are armed!" A keen back mouse regarded the dual blades of the ranger and the longsword of the cleric.

"Better safe than sorry" The black-nosed chipmunk crossed his arms.

"Perhaps you could help us get rid of these crooks that locked us out of our own church?"

"No violence in the Lord's home!" father Andreas scolded again. "Understand, these people just want to mourn their dead in peace!"

"The dead are up and about in these fields, priest!" The old female mouse argued back. "A few nights ago I even saw a witch flying in the direction of the crypts! A witch!"

"Yes, yes! The witch!" The fat rat shouted as he embraced his wife and child. "She is the one who murdered those thieves in the Revenot family Crypt didn't she!? What will we do if she appears again tonight?"

A tense Tammy leaned towards Chip and whispered in a low voice. "Are they talking about Lawhinie?"

"Let's hope so" The ranger whispered back. "One evil witch around is plenty, if you ask me"

"We still have to enter into the church, though"

"Right! Let's just go and take the job they offer"

Chip was about to speak up and call for everybody's attention when a very familiar, very disliked voice spoke directly into his mind. "Ranger!"

"Oh, there you are" The chipmunk answered psychically. "You two have been awfully quiet today" He smirked. "But all good things come to an end, I guess"

"Chipmunk, cut that out and look up!"

"Huh?"

From the east, where darkness had claimed the land long ago, the Hackwrench sisters were approaching riding their brooms. "All I'm saying is, there was no need to steal that broom" Gadget insisted, throwing her sister an accusatory glance. "I had some gold nuggets left to spare. There was no need to steal the wine, either."

"Bah! Serves them right!" Lawhinie took a hearty sip. "Fuck that hostel and its overpriced rooms!"

"Don't be so vulgar! What would our parents say?"

"Nothing, Gadget! they are dead. Not even ghosts, simply dead. Fuck them too" The annoyed Lawhinie threw the empty bottle away. Still, she was considerate enough to aim for an empty lot down below.

The good twin's gaze fell downward. "Please don't say that" She said in a low sad voice. "You were their favorite child"

Gadget looked up again half-expecting another spiteful response, only to find the witch's breath was bursting in and out. "Hey, S-Sister?"

"Gadget, it smells… it smells of sulfur!"

The putrid odor reached the good witch's nose one second before a wave of heat. By mere instinct she glided away from the source, just in time to avoid being shredded to pieces by an air-cutting claw. "Golly!"

Mephisto, the devil, the dragon-cat, the soul-trader, had arrived to Les Innocents with fury and bloodlust.