Grids headed toward Cori's office, getting about halfway in when she heard something in the stacks. She frowned and headed carefully in that direction, climbing the stairs. She moved cautiously through the stacks, peering through one set of shelves and startled back when she saw someone staring at her from the other side.

The bookcase suddenly moved, going to crash down over her.

She rolled out of the way as it hit the ground. She was on her feet and going after the intruder quickly. She grabbed him by the arm and spun him around, "You! I know you, you ran that costume shop."

Franklin winced. "I'm flattered you remembered," he wheezed. "Now let go."

"You sold me that dress for Halloween that nearly got us all killed, give me a reason to."

"But you looked great," he protested.

She slugged him, hard, in the jaw, half-hoping she'd broken it.

"Are we even now?"

"I'll let you know when we're even. So, I'm going to ask you once and then I'm pretty much going straight to pummeling you: what are you doing here?"

"Snooping," he replied, cheekily.

"What do you know? Honesty. Nice touch," she said sarcastically.

"Perhaps it's one of my virtues."

"I doubt it. So, I have an idea," She grabbed his arm again, twisting it up behind his back, "Why don't I just call the police and have you arrested for breaking and entering and get back to my Saturday?"

"The police. They always have so many questions. They'd need Charles dear to answer all of them though."

She stilled, "You know Cori?"

"We go back. Way back. Sordidly back even. Know where he is?"

"Hey Grids?" Mistoffelees called. "Where are you?"

"Up here, Misto," She called. She hauled Franklin along with her, hissing in his ear, "What do you know?"

Franklin shook his head. "Only to Charles..." he stopped when Mistoffelees came around the corner and they stared at each other for a moment. "Oh, it's the toy."

Mistoffelees just about growled, stepping forward and hitting Franklin's jaw, shaking his hand when it hurt him just about as much as Franklin. "You son of a bitch," he snarled. "I am so glad I can finally do that."

Grids shoved Franklin hard against the railing on the stairs, "Oops. So, what do you know?"

"Not talking to anyone except Charles. Not even the toy."

"Stop calling me that," Mistoffelees snapped.

"I'm with Misto. Call him that again I'll break your kneecap. You can still talk with a broken kneecap."

He coughed and shook his head. "Are you both thick? Get me to Charles."

"Why should I-we, allow you to go near him?" Mistoffelees demanded.

"I'm still with Misto. Give us a reason to let you anywhere near him and we'll consider it."

"Because I know where three of our old pals are dead and it's coming after us next. Go, on, call and ask him. Ask him about the Mark of Eyghon."

She hauled him along with her into Cori's office and picked upt he phone, dialing. The phone almost rang out before the librarian came on the phone, sounding bleary, "Hello?"

"Cori, it's me."

"Griddlebone. Unless this is an emergency, I'll see you in school on-"

"What's the Mark of Eyghon?" She frowned at the phone as a full minute passed with no answer, "Cori?"

Mistoffelees leaned against the counter, listening to the conversation while trying to ignore Franklin leering at him.

"Purple sweater, quite a change. It doesn't surprise me tweed man prefers the fuzzy. He get you in leather often?"

"You don't stop do you?" Mistoffelees snapped and glanced at Grids.

Franklin leered and followed his gaze. "Cat got Chuck's tongue?"

She glared at him in response, "Cori, I'm in your office with someone who claims he knows you: Franklin Rayne? The guy who owned the costume shop?"

"H-he's there with you?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh hell. Grids, listen to me. You're in great danger with him there. I want you to put the phone down and get out of the library as quickly as possible."

"Cori, I'm not going anywhere until I start getting some answers!" She startled, recoiling as Philip-the dead guy-came crashing though one of the office windows. She dropped the phone and backed up quickly.

Franklin moved quickly, throwing Mistoffelees between him and the dead man.

Grids let go of Franklin to kick the mobile corpse, getting his attention on her. She backed toward the book cage, leading him where she wanted him.

The rest of the class ran into the library, as Mistoffelees attempted to trip Franklin as he ran, letting Tugger grab him and attempt to hold him.

Grids finally managed to get the corpse-thing locked in the book cage.

Franklin finally managed to throw Tugger, bee-ling for the exit. Bomba stopped him with a kick on the knee, her heel connecting just under the kneecap.

"That'll teach you to mess with me when... I have a girl with heels on my side!" Tugger said, triumphantly.

Grids looked between Franklin and Philip who was pacing inside the cage.

"I'm not getting close enough to feel his pulse," Mistoffelees said, having picked himself off the ground. "But he looks pretty dead."

"Except for the walking around and attacking part, yeah," Tugger agreed.

Bomba shuddered, "Why do I hang around you people again?"

"Believe me," Franklin said from where he was sitting. "He's dead. Sorry Phil. Really, I am," he said, addressing the corpse.

Grids glanced at him, "You know him?"

"Knew him," Franklin replied.

"Hey, you don't speak until we tell you to speak," Bomba snapped at him.

"Uh, Bomba, I did tell him to speak.," Grids reminded.

Bomba's response was cut off as Cori rushed in, "Is everyone all right?"

The cheerleader nodded, "Super. I kicked a guy."

"It was a really good kick too," Tugger said as Mistoffelees looked slowly over to Coricopat. "Dead guy here interrupted our tutorial though." He turned to Philip. "Been meaning to thank you for that by the way."

Cori moved over, warily looking at Phillip, "It can't be..."

"Oh yes it can, Franklin replied. "Hello, Ripper."

Cori turned to him, his expression darkening, "I thought I told you to leave town."

"You did. I didn't. Shop's lease is paid through the end of the month."

Bomba whispered to Tugger, "Why'd he call him 'Ripper'?"

Her question was answered, in part, when Cori grabbed Franklin's lapels and shoved him back against the filing cabinet, "You should have left when I told you! You've put these people in danger. People I care about."

"Care for?" Franklin laughed at that. Mistoffelees paused, stepping forward slightly.

"Cori, calm down," he murmured softly, a hand floating as if he wanted to put it on Cori's shoulder and deciding against it.

Franklin glanced at him a shook his head. "Sure listen to the-" he broke off at the look on Mistoffelees' face. "If you cared so damn much about them you'd be out of town too. So don't give me that moral crap, Ripper."

Cori's entire body tensed and he seriously considered ways he could deal with Franklin, none of which seemed a good plan at the moment. He stepped back with an oath.

Mistoffelees stepped back with him, letting out a breath.

"You've been having the dreams too, don't deny it," Franklin said, dusting himself off.

Grids looked at Cori, "What dreams? Cori, What's going on?"

Her Watcher looked around, "I..."

"Do tell them, Ripper. You're putting them all in danger, you might as well come clean," Franklin drawled.

Cori wasn't given the opportunity to answer as Philip kicked the cage door open and grabbed Miss Calendar, hurling her against the wall. Cori whirled, "Demeter!"

"To hell with this," Franklin yelped, scrambling for the door, only to be tackled by Mistoffelees.

Grids' attention was on the corpse as she battered at him, trying to find a way to take him down. It was one thing to battle the undead in Vampire form and another in Zombie-state.

Franklin kneed Mistoffelees hard in the stomach, and fled. Grids finally knocked Philip through a book cart advancing to do more damage as the form began to shake. The corpse collapsed and then liquefied before their eyes.

Bomba shuddered, "I am going to be in therapy til I'm thirty!"

Cori was kneeling beside Demeter, trying to revive her, her shoulders and head cradled against one arm while he gently tried to wake her. She was on the side of the puddle of ooze. One of her hands came into contact with it and twitched, before she finally sat up. "Ooow, my head," she groaned. Across the room, Mistoffelees also stood, taking one look at them before moving to the other side of the room, closer to Grids.

"Ah, ah, careful," Coricopat murmured, "Can you stand?"

Grids glanced at Misto, her gaze moving back to the two teachers briefly. The dark haired teen lifted his shoulders slightly and looked away.

"I think so," she said, clambering to her feet.

"Ah, careful, Demeter." He caught her to help balance her, not thinking about the others present for the moment, "Here, lean on me."

Grids frowned at Cori as she turned to Misto, speaking quietly, "Misto?"

He glanced at her and shook his head slightly, smiling faintly. Meanwhile Demeter wrapped her arms around Cori, leaning hard against him. Cori blinked at that, but held her for a moment, "It'll be alright..."

"Promise?" she asked softly as Mistoffelees went to pick up the books that had been knocked over earlier, Tugger following him.

"I promise." He murmured.

Grids considered the two groups and decided since she didn't want to be stuck with Bomba on the main floor to go give a hand getting the shelf upright.

"I believe you," Deme said smiling at him, even though her eyes glowed faintly as she looked away so no one else saw.

Cori guided her over to the study table, glancing up to see Bomba still standing there, "Go find a washcloth and get some cold water on it." She frowned, but flounced off to do as instructed.

A moment later, Demeter leaned against the table, holding said washcloth to her head.

"How's your head?" Cori asked, concerned.

"Throbbing," she replied.

Grids came over to lean over the railing on the upper level, "Cori, what's going on?"

"It's... complicated, Grids, and frankly it's private."

"I don't give a damn about private, I care about dead guys attacking us, I care from you Lost Weekending in your apartment."

"I wasn't... I just had to work out a solution."

"Solution is good. Did you find one in the bottle? Why don't we share? What's the mark of Eyghon?" She retorted, sharply.

Deme groaned slightly, rubbing her head with the cloth. Mistoffelees put another few books away.

Cori's gaze darted to her and then back to the student still leaning on the railing, "This is not your battle, and as your watcher, I'm telling you in no uncertain terms: stay out of it. I've got to get Demeter home."

"I like the sound of home," Demeter replied, looking up. Offering her his hand to help her stand, Coricopat nodded, leading her out.

Grids frowned as the doors swung shut behind them, "Okay, We have work to do. Misto, if you're up for it, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the mark of Eyghon."

Mistoffelees stared at the door for a long moment. "Give me a minute," he murmured, slipping out the door to find the nearest washroom.

She watched him go, sighing softly. Her gaze moved to Tugger, "You going to go check on him?"

"Off that expression? In five minutes," Tugger said.

"Alright, well, while we're waiting...how do you feel about digging through Cori's personal files and seeing if you can shed some light on all of this?"

"Snooping in his personal files? Point me a shoot me. I'd be thrilled," Tugger replied.

Grids motioned to the office, "Start in there, then try his computer."

"Right o, sarge," Tugger said, saluting and heading over, poking his head out moments later. "Password protected."

"The filing cabinet shouldn't be." She turned to start finding books, but paused as she saw Bomba looking at her "What?"

"What about me? I care about Coricopat."

"Great. Work with Tugger."

"Well, when I say "care", I mean -"

"Bombalurina."

"Okay, okay. Jeeze..." She made her way over to the office.

"I wonder if this makes me a sociopath," Tugger remarked, happily going through Cori's address book.

Bomba shrugged, "Who knows. I know I find it beyond creepy."

"I'm okay with that right now," Tugger replied, looking at the door for Misto to come back through. "Bastard. This is what you get... grubby teenager fingers going through all your stuff... hey, he has a planner."

"See if he's got his password in there." Bomba ordered as she rifled through the lower drawer of the desk.

"Checking," Tugger replied, flipping through.

Several minutes later, Mistoffelees finally returned, having splashed his face with cold water several times and going right for the books.

Grids glanced up, offering him a couple of tomes she'd found that might help as she turned her attention back to the one in her hand. Flipping through the indexes, Mistoffelees remained quiet.

o.o.o.o

Demeter glanced around Cori's apartment. "Thanks for taking me hear. Really not ready to be home alone yet."

He nodded slightly, pouring her a glass of alcohol and handing it to her, "Of course."

She took a sip. "Oh that's strong." Another sip. "It's helping."

"As long as it's helping some." He sighed, shaking his head, "Demeter, I'm so sorry about this. I never meant for you to get involved in this mess."

"I'm involved. It happens when two people are involved," she replied, almost questioning whether they actually were or not.

He hesitated, leaning in very slightly before drawing back, "I will have to get you home, soon. It's not - I'm not a safe person to be around right now."

"Nothing's safe in this world, Charles, don't you know that by now?"

The librarian hesitated again, but offered her a bit of a smile, starting to relax somewhat.

o.o.o.o

"Ah!" Mistoffelees said, holding a rather thick tome and using one of his fingers to keep his place. He babbled something about the mistake of the mark-he'd been looking under the wrong culture because people were idiots-before finally showing Grids the actual passage. "Here, the Mark of Eyghon, worn by his initiates. 'Eyghon, also called the Sleepwalker, can only exist in this reality by possessing an unconscious host. Temporary possession imbues the host with a euphoric feeling of power,'" he read.

Grids followed along, "What about not temporary?"

Mistoffelees continued to read. "Unless the proper rituals are absorbed the possession is permanent, and Eyghon will be born from within the host."

Bomba spoke from where she was still trying to get into the computer, "I'm guessing 'eew' would be a good response?"

"Probably," Mistoffelees murmured. "Also, once called Eyghon can also take possession of the dead, but its demonic energy soon disintegrates the host and it must jump to the nearest dead or unconscious person to continue living."

"I still don't see what it's got to do with Cori, though." Grids shook her head.

"Ancient sects used to induce possession for bacchanals and... orgies," Mistoffelees swallowed hard.

"Okay, whoa, are we using Cori and orgies in the same sentence? I mean, being hot for a student is one thing, but orgies?" Tugger squeaked.

Bomba blinked, "Hot for a student?"

Grids headed that one off at the pass, hoping to distract, "Wait a sec, the dead guy. He's all puddly now."

It half worked, "So the demon's gone. There was no one dead to jump into." Bomba looked around, "I mean, we're all not dead, right? And what's this about a student?"

Grids shook her head, "No one dead..."

"However, Demeter was laying on the edge of that puddle, unconscious," Tugger said bluntly, Mistoffelees first giving Bomba a sick look and then Tugger.

Grids paled, "Cori took her home..."

Mistoffelees had already dropped the book and was running for the phone.

o.o.o.o

Back in the apartment, Deme reached down, pulling the phone jack out of the wall. Cori came out of the kitchen, holding two cups of tea, "What was that?"

"What was what?" she asked, voice innocent.

"I thought I heard something..." He offered her one of the cups.

She accepted the cup. "Thanks. But I didn't hear anything."

"Strange...Drink that, and then I'll take you home."

"You could take me home," she said, and leaned toward him. "Or you could take advantage of me in my weakened state," she continued, smirking.

"I-I...Demeter, don't get me wrong, I'm attracted to you..."

"Good," she said, moving closer.

"B-but this isn't the right time."

"There's never been a better time for you and me," she replied, moving forward and wrapping her hands in his jacket.

He swallowed, but leaned down, kissing her briefly. He pulled back quickly, "No. It's not right," Damn it, how did he end up in these situations? "I'd be taking advantage."

Her face suddenly twisted, almost a smile but a harsh echo of one at best. "God, you never change do you?"

"Wh-what?" he stammered, leaning back.

"It's not right, wouldn't be proper..." suddenly her voice changed, a man's joining hers. "People might get hurt."

Cori tried to step back, but found he was trapped, "What...no..."

The demon voice laughed. "You're like a woman, Ripper. You cry at every funeral. You never had the strength for me, you don't deserve me, you really don't But you've got me," the demon continued, suddenly pulling him down into a hard kiss.

The Englishman struggled, trying to push the demon away, but failing. No, this wasn't supposed to happen like this. It wasn't supposed to jump into someone else. He and Franklin, that was all. They were the ones. Not Demeter. Oh God.

"Was that good for you?" the demon crooned, before slamming Cori's head into the wall, Demeter's face already changing to reflect the demon. "You never did have the stomach. But that's okay, I'm about to rip it out."

The front door splintered as Grids kicked it open. She darted in, freezing at the sight before gathering herself and landing a kick to the demon's middle. The slayer got between the Demon and Cori, "Back off."

Demeter tilted her head. "Three down, two to go!" she crooned. "Be seeing you, sweetheart," before diving through a window and away.

Grids moved quickly to try and rouse Cori, brushing her fingers lightly over his forehead to wipe some blood away, "Hey, are you alright?"

The librarian was half conscious, enough to speak but not much more than that, "Demter...Oh God."

"Cori, how do we stop it?"

"Dear God what have I done?"

Grids voice caught in genuine fear, "Talk to me! Cori, please, you're scaring me."

He finally roused himself, looking up at her and past her to where Mistoffelees stood, "I'm sorry..."

Mistoffelees had frozen in the doorway from where he'd been following Grids, finally moving over to kneel by them. "Hold still," he murmured, having grabbed a cloth off the table and pressing it to the side of Cori's head.

Grids shook her head, "Don't be sorry! Come on, be you! We fight monsters. They show up, they scare us, I beat them up, and they leave. This isn't any different."

Coricopat winced at the contact of the cloth with his head, "It is different."

"Because you created it?" Mistoffelees asked softly, his other hand coming up to steady Coricopat's head on the other side. "I said hold still."

Grids' eyes widened in horror at that as Cori nodded very slightly, "Exactly."

"Cori," the slayer spoke softly, but firmly, "I think it's time you explained."

Mistoffelees glanced up at her, before pulling on Cori to get him to stand up. "Come on, let me get you on the couch first," he muttered.

Cori stumbled slightly, but leaned on the teen as Grids moved to help support him. They got him arranged on the couch and the librarian tilted his head back, closing his eyes, "I was twenty-one and studying history at Oxford and of course the occult by night. I hated it. The boring grind of school, the pressure of my "destiny". So I dropped out. I went to London, fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We practiced magicks. Small stuff, for pleasure or gain. And then Franklin and I discovered something a little bigger."

Silently, Mistoffelees pulled out some bandages, starting on Coricopat's arm.

He flinched again, but didn't pull away, "It was Eyghon. We would put one of us into a deep sleep and the others would summon him. It was an extraordinary high. God, we were fools."

"You couldn't control it," Mistoffelees said softly. "Hold still would you?"

"One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him. We killed him."

Grids paled, "God..."

"We thought we were free of the demon after that. But it's back. And one by one it /will/ kill us all."

"Three down, two to go?" Mistoffelees said softly.

Cori nodded and Grids rose, "It's going after Franklin, then. I'd better beat it there."

"We'd better." The librarian corrected.

She shook her head, "You're barely mobile."

"You're seriously not allowed to move," Mistoffelees informed him.

He glanced from one to the other before nodding very slightly, "Grids, I just...I don't know how to stop it without…"

She nodded, "We've got people working on it. I'll try to contain her until we can figure something out." She headed out quickly.

Mistoffelees watched her go, before turning back to Coricopat, suddenly realizing they were alone. "Let me see your other arm."

Cori shook his head, "It's fine, Mistoffelees. I'd personally rather you go check on the library...Since I assume the people you have working on it are Tugger and Bombalurina."

Mistoffelees bit the inside of his lip. "I'm not really sure how much I'm going to trust you alone at this point though."

"I promise not to do anything rash, or fall asleep, alright?"

Mistoffelees still didn't look like he believed that. "But..."

"But?" Cori arched an eyebrow slightly.

"But as soon as I'm out that door, I'm sorta expecting you to be on your way after Grids. Do you have any books here?"

"Not that will be of use in this case."

Mistoffelees frowned at him. "Your car's a stick shift isn't it?"

"It is, yes," Coricopat replied shortly.

Once again, the teen frowned. "Likelihood of letting me drive at this point is?"

"Minimal, why do you ask?"

"Because I don't want to leave you alone, but all the books are at the library. I do have a driver's license, though god knows I lack a car."

"Mistoffelees, I will be fine. I'm hardly functional enough to go anywhere. You can even call to check on me if it makes you feel better."

Still, the teen frowned before finally nodding. "Don't you dare do anything stupid," he told the librarian, finally standing, making sure the first aid kit was reachable, along with the water.

"Thank you, Mistoffelees," he looked up at the teen offering him a gentle smile.

He still didn't look happy. "I'll be back to check on you," he said softly. "Please, please don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"I won't do anything stupid. I've had my fill of those actions."

"Good," he said, and finally made it out the door, heading quickly for the library.

Sorry for the long break between updates but here you go, the continuation of this particular arch! Yup, Franklin's back for it too.