Katou had noticed the missing bottle upon his return. The explanation given was that he hadn't placed it steadily on the table when he had set it back down, and a misfire with a spectral blast had sent off a current that knocked it over.

As the months rolled by, Vlad's skill with his powers grew and grew. From the single blue blast, he began developing steady green blasts with rounded ends, spiralling white-green attacks, yellow-green orbs in his hands that he could throw like grenades, and blue and green spectral lightning that he could fire from his hands. His intangibility, invisibility, and flying skills kept expanding, and his transformation time was picking up in any situation.

In addition to all the spectral techniques, Katou had introduced martial arts and swordplay into Vlad's training. At first Vlad questioned why he had to learn these, but Katou had developed his own style of fighting since he had passed on. It combined samurai swordplay and martial arts with medieval broadsword, kendo, épée and sabre fencing, and fighting with ghost powers. It strengthened Vlad's physical being, and combining his powers with hand-to-hand combat enhanced them even further. It proved very beneficial to his training. For these, Vlad practised on the raised marble floor, going over basic fighting stances and routines very slowly and carefully, getting the form down just right and perfecting every stance, every kick, and every chop. Then he went through the routines again and again and night after night, increasing the speed each time and repeating the routines at the same speed until he could do them perfectly. Finally, he added in the ghost powers at the very end, going through the routines as quickly and precisely as he could and adding in his powers when directed to do so by Katou. He practised these in his spare time in the real world (sans ghost powers, of course), and within three months, he had gotten the hang of them.

For swordplay, Katou gave him a green sword and scabbard that, as soon as it was put onto his belt, vanished. He could summon it forth or dismiss it at will. It was in swordplay that Katou was most involved in Vlad's training, going through sword routines, demonstrating them, and letting himself be Vlad's target and opponent. This was also practised on the marble floor, the layouts on the floor serving as a guideline for Vlad as he learned how to step and move and advance and retreat. Attack and defence with the sword was primarily samurai in nature, though the broadsword, kendo, and fencing influences came through rather strongly. The style was very fast, very aggressive, and bound by a tight code of honour, right of way, and chivalry. One ways to always respect the skill of his opponent and to obey the rules of fair play. Acrobatics were kept to a minimum, employed only when needed, and stealth and surprise were essential. It was with swordplay that Vlad struggled the most, even more than he had with his first energy blast. Even after months of work, Vlad was still just getting the hang of the footwork, and he was never able to come within a mile of defeating his master. The other reason he struggled, in addition to having trouble learning the techniques, was that he found himself hard-pressed to follow the style's code.

Along with the swordplay, Katou had begun sparring with Vlad in martial arts and ghost powers to see how far he'd come along. As a final test every month, the last night would be made up entirely of the two fighting. Vlad could tell from the very first of these tests that Katou was restraining himself, always fighting at the skill level that Vlad had reached over the past month. While this made it a fair fight, Vlad felt insulted by this action – he wanted to take Katou on at his all. If he could beat him at that state, he reasoned that he'd start learning the more advanced techniques and not have to waste time going over the basics. That was his hope, but it wasn't likely to happen anytime soon. Even in a fair fight, Katou rarely had any difficulty in defeating Vlad at ghost fighting, martial arts, or swordplay. Despite his restraining himself, Katou had trained to be a warrior his entire life, and he had passed away in 1585, giving him 400 years to continue his samurai training and to develop his ghost-fighting style. He always seemed to think Vlad did better than the last time, but all Vlad saw was continuing failure and humiliation. It was trying his patience and adding to his frustrations with his master.

In Vlad's eyes, Katou was just too righteous. He kept bringing his bushido philosophies to the table, telling Vlad to set aside his own problems and worry about those of others, telling him to set aside a life-destroying accident and forgive Jack, telling him to accept what happened between Jack and Maddie and keep a friendship among the three of them, and there were all his notions of self-control and enduring emotions within – it was almost as if he were training Vlad to become a samurai himself. Vlad refused to listen to such silly idealistic thoughts. Katou had been brought up to behave that way since he was young – fine. That was he. Vlad had grown up his way, and he'd seen betrayal, stupidity, and all the things that make the human blood boil all within a year and perpetrated by the same man. It didn't matter if Jack didn't know how Vlad felt about Maddie. It was still betrayal, and he had every right to want vengeance. Katou's ridiculous benevolence and forgiving spirit was for children, not men. Vlad had plans to take care of. To top it all off, Katou was very slow in the lessons, always insisting on going back to the basics and performing reviews when Vlad wanted to keep going. All of that dragging and his attitude over "unjust" actions and his precious bottles made it impossible for Vlad to mention how he got the portal or the incident with the smoke.

Ever since his little use of that ectoplasm, Vlad had been feeling different. He felt far more sure of himself. He always went into any situation feeling that his ideas about it were right and that any benefits that could come out of the situation were meant for him. In fact, more and more of his day-to-day outlook concerned how things could be beneficial to him. People who got in his way often found themselves the victims of both his temper and "unexplainable" pranks and mishaps, and he found he had a much less personal association with people that could help him than he used to. He didn't quite view them as tools or assets, but friendship seemed to be a bond he found himself hard-pressed to form or keep nowadays. He was only polite when he needed to be now, and was quick to drop the act if someone began to displease him. He also found that the full details of his plans for revenge now came to him more often than just in his dreams – more than twice at work, he had slipped into fantasyland and found when he returned to real life that he had written out a brief overview of all that he was planning to do. He hadn't messed around with anything in the storage room since the last time, but the effect from that smoke seemed to keep building up inside of him. Part of him still recognised that some of these changes could be viewed as rather disturbing, but more and more of his mind was liking the result.

There was one other thing about Katou that was weighing down on Vlad's tolerance for him. Whenever the green glow went off from inside the chamber in the cave, signalling that one of Katou's friends was calling, he always headed off and left Vlad to himself, saying that he had "duty" to attend to. Vlad took this as an insult as well. How was he supposed to make enough progress in his training to start on something new if his master wasn't around to train him!? He never bothered asking about it, though – if his master couldn't bother to tell him, then so be it. He'd turn on the samurai soon enough if his usefulness ended completely.

One night during training, the green glow went off again. They had just finished another sword duel, in which Katou had again emerged victorious. Vlad waited as his master went into the chamber, tapping his foot impatiently. Katou was soon back, and he had a much more relaxed expression on his face than he had ever had before after a call.

"Off on duty yet again?" Vlad asked in a rather testy voice, having started to abandon his civil act. Katou just smiled.

"Put your sword away," he said (Vlad had been gripping it like cold death), "I don't have any duties to take care of. I am leaving, but this time you're coming with me. There are some friends I'd like you to meet."

---

"Well?"

Vlad barely heard his master's sly question. His jaw had dropped, his eyes were wide, and his entire being was focused on the sight before him. He had been taken to a hidden sanctuary.

Vlad had no idea how large this place was. The four walls that made up the barrier, each one twenty feet high, stretched on and on. It was almost impossible to see the wall farthest off. Within the defence, there were five large buildings. Four were at the corners of the gates. There was a medieval castle, an Arabian palace, a Mayan temple, and a Renaissance-age library. In the very centre of the structure, there was an enormous Chinese palace. Each was authentic down to the last detail, from the flying buttresses and stone masonry of the castle to the upward-curving roof and supports of the Chinese palace. The sanctuary was so large that there was plenty of space surrounding the distance among the five buildings, and this space was populated by gardens, training grounds, and ghosts.

There were ghosts of samurai like Katou, some in robes, some in armour. There were the ghosts of knights from the Middle Ages in full shining armour. There were the ghosts of monks from the Far East, there were Chinese warriors, Arabian guards, Native American tribes, duellists and noblemen from the Renaissance…there were even a few ghosts of minutemen from the Revolutionary War. And there were plenty of young ghosts, all of them dressed in white robes. These young ghosts were in groups led by the elder ones, and everyone was doing some sort of activity. The samurai ghosts were giving lessons on a form of swordplay resembling Katou's. The monks were either tending to the gardens or in meditation, calmly going through simple techniques with their ghost powers. The knights were having some sort of tournament, combining jousting with spectral blasts. Everyone was moving about, doing something or other. Every soul in that sanctuary was in complete peace of mind, performing their tasks calmly and serenely. Even the younger ghosts were totally relaxed. And, as Vlad took the last of the sight before him in, for a brief moment, all the rage, aggression, anger, and loneliness he had harboured over the past year and-a-half seemed to seep out of his body – though just for that one moment.

"Well?" Katou repeated his inquiry, a small smile on his face. Vlad just turned to him, still stunned.

"Where are we?" he asked, still in awe. Katou's smile widened.

"Welcome to the sanctuary of the Order of Afterlife," Vlad's stunned look became even more awe-struck, "What? You didn't think The Ghost-Zone didn't have a governing body, did you?" he let out a small chuckle before turning back to the sanctuary. His smile remained, but a gleam of sadness began to come through from behind his eyes.

"We did have one, anyway," he mumbled to himself distantly. His smile began to slip, his mind seemed to reflect on something melancholy, and he now looked every one of his 454 years. Vlad knew from all of the bushido rubbish his master had told him about that, as a samurai, Katou was to endure all emotions within – no groaning, no crying. Whatever memory had come back to haunt him, it was obviously weighing heavily on him. Though the sadness in his eyes seemed unable to be suppressed, the old samurai was controlling himself admirably.

"Well," he sighed, seeming to breathe out his melancholy air with it, "Shall we head inside?" he floated down towards the gate entrance. Vlad followed suit, his eyes still going over the sanctuary. Slowly the gates crept open, and the two entered on foot, heading for the main palace in the centre. Vlad couldn't help but notice that everyone had turned to look at or salute his master as soon as he set foot on the grounds.

Coming out to meet them from the central palace were six figures. Leading them was the ghost of a tired-looking old man with a long white beard and hair. He had a golden crown atop his head and armour made up of both plates and chain mail. Most of his armour was covered in a rich blue cloak that hung over his shoulders, and a magnificent sword hung at his side. To his left was a Chinese warrior in full red armour. He was a younger man, with a thin black moustache and a dull look to his uniform. His sword was strapped across his back. To the older ghost's right, there was a hooded monk, no weapon on him and his hands folded together. Behind these three, there stood a chief of a Native American tribe in full face paint, a bow and arrows over his shoulder; a robed figure who looked like he had come right out of 1001 Arabian Nights; and a duellist from the Renaissance, an elaborate rapier strapped to his belt. All six had their eyes fixed on Vlad, and all had gentle smiles identical to Katou's. Katou moved forward a bit quicker than Vlad and met the old-looking man in front in a brotherly embrace.

"Good to actually see you in person again, Katou," the old man said warmly as they let go.

"Nice to be back here," Katou nodded, "With those special chambers letting us do the talking and my being so busy it's been forever since I've come here," the afterglow of seeing the sanctuary had begun to wear off, and Vlad felt himself forming a sentiment of annoyance for being left out of the conversation. That was soon remedied as Katou motioned for Vlad to come forward.

"Friends," he said, putting a fatherly arm around Vlad's shoulders, "This is Vlad Masters," Vlad nodded respectfully.

"Vlad," Katou now motioned towards the old man, "I assume that you've read about the legends of King Arthur in the real world – well, here he is," Vlad let his eyes bulge out in surprise.

"Well what do you know?" he said. Arthur smiled and held out a hand, which Vlad took.

"So you're Katou's half-ghost pupil," he observed, "Welcome to the sanctuary. This is Shao-lin," he motioned to the warrior on his left, who nodded politely, "Manach," he pointed out the monk on his right, who bowed, "and we have Wizikute, Majeed, and Brice Guyart," the chief, the robed figure, and the duellist all nodded as their names were called, "Along with your master Katou, we make up the founding body of the Order of Afterlife."

"The seven of you built this whole place and brought all these people here?" Vlad looked around in awe – how could they have done all this?

"Well, our numbers didn't stay at seven," Katou said.

"And we've got the time," Wizikute smiled, a faint trace of dark humour colouring his voice.

"Well what do you know," Vlad nodded, looking around the place yet again, "Tell me, what exactly is this Order responsible for and what is this "duty" that my master keeps interrupting my training for?" his last comment held just the slightest trace of resentment in it. If the seven ghosts picked up on his tone, they made no sign that they had.

"We usually save that knowledge for people who have joined the Order…" Majeed said slyly, "but Katou seems to think you're trustworthy…" the seven elder ghosts all shot smug glances at Vlad, letting him dangle in suspense. Vlad willingly let his face slip down into a scowl. He didn't have time for this. Seeing his impatience, the ghosts broke the tension with a light laugh.

"Let's go inside," Arthur nodded, and the seven ghosts floated up the stairs. Vlad followed, his eyes still holding a bit of a nasty look. These six other ghosts…they seemed polite, gentle, benevolent, kind, and open like his master – and they likely held all of his annoying habits and principles.

The inside of the palace was peaceful, calming, and absolutely beautiful. Yellow ghost-flames placed in decorative lamps cast a dim, soft light all around the room that seemed to create a gentle and relaxing aura. The room itself was painted and carpeted in various shades of red. There were no violent blood-red hues – all of it was either rich, dark crimson or a muted shade. Seven cushions formed a crescent moon-shaped seating arrangement that faced the wall opposite the entrance to the room, and on that wall, three maps drawn on fine parchment were put up against the wall. Just below those maps was a smoking black cauldron filled with green liquid. The room was perfect for study, meditation, or conversation of any kind.

The party of eight slowly floated into the room, gathering around the cushions. Vlad noticed that the seven elder ghosts seemed to move towards the cushions as though they had sat in the same one for 400 years (and something told him they likely had). Katou, who was standing by the cushion farthest to the right, stepped aside and motioned for Vlad to sit down. He did so, feeling that he was in store for a bit of a long yarn.

"So…" Arthur said as he sat down, "You're asking about the Order then, are you?"

"Yes," Vlad folded his hands in his lap and got comfortable, "Please, spare me no details."

"Alright then," the old man sighed, "Where should we start?"

"The beginning would be best," Shao-lin set his swords down by his cushion. Of course, he was obviously right.

"Katou, why don't you start?" Majeed asked.

"Very well. Well, as you probably noticed, Vlad, most of the ghosts around here come from peoples and cultures that go back more than 400 years. We have a few people from the 1800s here and we even have flying aces from World War I in the Order. But, for the most part, our numbers are made up of the ghosts of knights of the Middle Ages, leaders of the Renaissance, samurai, and…well, you get the idea. You see, at the time when we were all…entering The Ghost-Zone, there was no governing body at all. It was total chaos and anarchy. Every single ghost kept running into ectoplasm and was twisted into insanity, evil, or sometimes just plain idiocy. We all saw this happening around us, and instead of letting this place take over us, we started learning about The Ghost-Zone to protect ourselves from it. We uncovered all the kinds of ectoplasm and its affects. We learned how to shape and refine ectoplasm into a harmless and beneficial form. We began to realise that being ghosts gave us ghost-powers, and we trained ourselves to use them. And we discovered safe places where we could learn all this, like this sanctuary and my cave.

"The seven of us had not met each other at the time when we came here, but it didn't take long for us to become aquatinted. We had all been up to the same things, and we had all recognised the same problems that existed here in The Ghost-Zone. As we conversed and our friendship grew, we shared the knowledge we had gained with one another. We also realised that the cultures and philosophies of life that we had come from in life were very similar. Bushido has much in common with the chivalry of medieval Europe. The Chinese warriors and duellists from the Renaissance hold honour in the same high regard as the samurai and the knights. The Native Americans believe in keeping their land in order. There was much we had in common in morals, philosophies, and ethics, and those beliefs had governed the nations and tribes we had come from. We thought The Ghost-Zone could do with a similar governing body, but we realised that the ghosts in here come from many peoples and cultures. Some of them aren't even human. So, we took the shared traits of each of our beliefs, broke them down into a basic code, and founded the Order of Afterlife. Honour, respect, benevolence, obedience, loyalty, love, generosity, self-control, justice, and selflessness…it's more of a code than a government, but it's something."

"Once we founded the Order, we didn't force anyone to join us," Wizikute took over, "We gave thought to that, and decided that this would be an Order of choice, not one that conquers to spread its way."

"People from our own countries, cultures, backgrounds, and philosophies were the first to join," Manach said, "But soon other ghosts began to become attracted to our philosophies."

"Individuals, clans, colonies, and cities began to adopt the Order as their central governing body," Arthur said, "and they began opening themselves to more knowledge about The Ghost-Zone and philosophy. The seven of us and the people from our cultures began to take on students and apprentices, teaching them about ectoplasm, different varieties of ghosts, using ghost powers, the code of the Order, and our own personal beliefs and fighting styles."

"With all of those areas of The Ghost-Zone looking to us for guidance and for protection," Majeed said, "we began to defend our members from the ghosts who had become evil."

"And for additional training, focus, and just plain amusement, we arranged quests like the First Crusade," Arthur said, "Some of them are still going on now. We're still trying to find the Skeleton Key. It can open any door, lead into any realm, and free any prisoner."

As we began to drive those ghosts out," Katou resumed his role as the speaker, "and as our numbers grew and our numbers began to be educated about this place, we ended up with an idealistic world – a free and fair society with a warrior's code of honour and a benevolent yet just attitude towards its members. For more than 300 years there, things went by very well," with that, the seven elder ghost shared sad, reflective glances, and Vlad took the brief pause to take in the whole story and to assess his view on the Order in his mind.

The entire organisation seemed to be made up of all the garbage that Katou had been throwing at him. Everything on honour, chivalry, self-control, "just" actions…there was nothing appealing about this Order. Why in the world would they not want to conquer once they had formed their governing body? If they wanted their organisation to grow, they needed to get the power first, and sitting by and allowing choice among potential subjects did not yield true power. And all that nonsense about warding off evil ghosts just for the benefit of one's people? He didn't have time for things like that! He had his own problems. If someone needed to fight off a ghost, they could do it themselves!

Still…this Order did appear as though it could be beneficial to him in some ways. Their knowledge on how to control one's ghost powers and all they had learned about ghosts and ectoplasm would doubtlessly be helpful, though he could likely learn all of that from Katou alone. And that Skeleton Key Arthur mentioned…he could see that as being something worth looking for. So he decided to tolerate them…for now.

"And what happened after those first three hundred years?" he asked. The seven elder ghosts turned their eyes back toward him.

"After World War I in the real world," Katou sighed, "Other types of ghosts began coming in. These ghosts were unscrupulous to begin with, but The Ghost-Zone only made things worse. They were the ghosts of modern crooks, gangsters, and Mafia dons. And, whereas most evil ghosts tend to get cocky, careless, and a little bit dim after the ectoplasm builds up in them for a few years, these ghosts just seemed to get more clever. They stayed out of any of the Order's territory at first, going through doors and building up ghost-mobs. They began going into strange and unusual businesses and they set operations similar to those they had in the real world. One in particular posed a problem – Vito Luchesi," at the mention of this name, a strange darkness seemed to flicker across the room.

"Luchesi was the most clever out of all of these vagabonds," Arthur took over, "He stayed in the shadows and waited for the opportune moment. He waited and watched as the other ghost-mobs came together, he waited and watched as they began their "business," and he waited and watched as they began to compete. Off on the edge of our boarders a war between the mobs broke out. There were at least seven of them, all trying to get complete control over all illegal activities in that area in The Ghost-Zone…"

"I thought that beyond the Order there was no law in this place," Vlad interrupted, a slight hint of mocking lining his voice.

"We'll get to that," Arthur brushed the comment aside, "Finally, when the war had reached its breaking point, when it seemed like the mobs would self-destruct or destroy each other, Luchesi moved in. He promised a solution to the problems and an equal share. He acted as a messenger and a peacekeeper for the different mobs…at least in the beginning. Before anyone realised it, he had gobbled up all the mobs into his own empire. He became head of The Ghost-Zone Family, the most massive Mafia family put together in any time, place, or dimension. And somehow, he managed to keep it all in the shadows. He had nothing going on within the main space of The Ghost-Zone; all his activities, all his assets, all his business doings were all behind doors, and never in the same door twice. And he began to threaten, bribe, and intimidate all of the ghosts into doing as the Mafia wished. He still stayed out of the Order's territory, but we kept our eyes on the news about him. Then, he began to move in."

"We weren't able to tell right away," Manach explained, "But there were signs."

"We had always encouraged the discovery of knowledge and experimentation," Brice Guyart spoke for the first time that day, "We did not encourage making advancements in weapons technology, but we didn't forbid it, and we never silenced anything."

"You discouraged the development of weapons?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, his voice disapproving.

"Before guns were invented, the only people who could be dangerous with a weapon were the ones with the patience, strength and skill to learn how to use one," Katou said sternly, "Now it's as easy as pulling a trigger, and what's come since guns has only been more destructive."

"We began to notice," Arthur resumed the story, "that there was less discovery taking place, that there was less knowledge being gained and shared, and that there were fewer inventions coming in from the edge of our territory. We knew that this was something that the family had forced upon the rest of The Ghost-Zone – completely silencing any new knowledge and technologies. And we're still trying to piece together why. Suspicious, we had Wizikute and several ghost-tribes head out to investigate – and they found that the Mafia had begun moving into that area."

"I spent the better part of the 30s, 40s, and 50s trying to track down Luchesi and his seven chief henchmen," Wizikute sighed, "but he was always three doors ahead of us, and we hit so many distractions from the family's activities and found so many false clues that I wouldn't be surprised if he had the entire chase in his hands for those three decades."

"He's never pushed far enough into our territory that he gets even halfway towards this place," Majeed said, "And we've won plenty of battles against him, but he's stayed as elusive as ever. His influence keeps building up and spreading. He's kept anyone else from voting to join the Order. We haven't had annexed any territory since 1930."

"And as the founding council and the main governors of the Order, we and our students can use our powers only for defence and for protection," Manach said, "Not for attack."

"And we're not interesting in gaining new territory unless the people of that territory wish to join," Katou added, "This fight is to free the subjects we have and to stop an illegal force from controlling the will of this dimension's inhabitants. But as we said, Luchesi is ever elusive and always ahead of us. We're not even entirely sure what he looks like. Ever since one breakthrough in 1973, all our victories against his mob have been minute. We've lost some of our best warriors and many of our subjects are under some sort of threat from the family. It's been a hard 55 years trying to fend them off."

"And then…there's Walker," Arthur sighed.

"And who is this Walker?" Vlad inquired.

"He is what we said we'd get back to," Katou sighed, "Walker and his police force became the second judicial body in The Ghost-Zone when they arrived. He has his own set of rules, and he has a totalitarian way of enforcing them. He quickly got control over a large portion of The Ghost-Zone just before the criminal ghosts began to arrive. He passed many of the laws that made the Mafia's activities illegal, though their use of revenge as justice, their self-serving quest for power, and their activities were unjust by our standards as well."

"Walker had as much luck as we did in tracking down the family," Arthur said, "In 1960 we suggested that we ally ourselves to take them down, but Walker refused."

"Apparently," Katou smiled glumly, "in Walker's eyes, if you don't follow his rules, you're on 'Ghost-Zone's Most Wanted' list. Though I'm not sure how coherent his rules are. At one point, I believe he arrested a ghost for violating a rule he made up on the spot."

"Fortunately, he has no idea where any of us live," Arthur said, "But he won't co-operate with us, and often works against us. We have two enemies bearing down on us now, and they're fighting with each other as they fight with us. There's been fighting all over The Ghost-Zone, our subjects are constantly at risk, and the Mafia seems to be the only one of us that makes any real progress. Those maps on the wall are maps of the territory each side has the most control over. The reason why your master is always being called away on duty is because we have had to spend more and more time defending the Order. The twentieth century has been a dark time for The Ghost-Zone, Vlad…a very dark time," all seven elder ghosts sighed. The room went silent, seeming to reflect on the long years that had passed by since 1930. Then, with another sigh, they seemed to again let out all the melancholy.

"So," Katou smiled, "Vlad, I know my duties toward the Order have interrupted your training. I think we have a solution. This cauldron here," he headed over to the cauldron below the maps, "It's identical to what's in the chamber in my cave. All you do is convert yourself into ghost-vapour and fly into it. A mirage of you will come up in the other cauldron. The people in my chamber would be able to see and commune with you from here and vice versa. Also, if you ever want to see what I'm up to, dip the handle of your sword into the cauldron. Our swords share identical stones in the handles, which allows one of us to see where the other is in case one of us is in need. This should help make things a bit smoother during training when I have to leave."

"Ah," that was Vlad's simple reply. A brief silence followed. Then Arthur smiled.

"Well, shall we head on back outside?" he said. The seven elder ghosts cheerfully floated towards the exit, but Vlad remained in his seat.

"Coming, Vlad?" he heard his master's question, but he did not turn to look.

"Would you mind if I stay here a minute more? I'd like to try using the cauldron," a moment's pause.

"Very well. Don't take too long – we need to be heading back soon," Vlad nodded lightly. He waited until he was sure any other presence was gone from the room before he looked around, stood up, and eyed the maps carefully.

Walker sounded like a rule-bound control freak and a tight-fisted, self-serving burden. Unless he had some weakness that could be exploited, he was definitely someone to avoid. And The Ghost-Zone Family was clearly a shrewd, violent, dangerous, and illegal empire, one that shouldn't be crossed. The Order actually seemed to be justified in the case of trying to defeat these two, even if they were forfeiting a perfect chance to gain power for their silly righteous code.

And yet…

'…Use of revenge as justice…'

'…Quest for power…'

The piece of his mind that the smoke had brought to surface took these comments into consideration. It thought of what its own dreams and its deepest desires were. And, as it crept over his heart and soul and took full control of his body, all of Vlad Maters began to find this ruthless, oppressive, unscrupulous Mafia empire…

…Intriguing.