Human names used:

Cameroon – Tavon
Denmark – Mathias Normann
Norway – Lukas Normann
Iceland – Emil
Scandinavia – Scandi

At another place at a slightly smaller house is Mathias Norman showing a tall black man with glasses and a buzzcut a very interesting room. He unlocks the door:

"We keep everything locked in here. Feel free to look around, just don't touch anything."

He steps in and lets his guest close the door.

"Feel free to look around," he throws the keys up and catches them again as he walks down three steps, "just don't touch anything."

He turns around to the somewhat smaller man who stands in the middle of the room, looking around. "Wow… This is crazy".

The walls are all occupied with shelves full of the most different objects someone can imagine. It looks like the attic of an old explorer who has taken home all the things he found on his long journeys. Old books are standing beside dusty toys. Stuffed animals are sharing their space with statuettes and a tea pot. In one corner there is a big, black and golden samurai helmet. Yet another shelf is parting the room in two.

The Cameroonian does not try to hide his astonishment and walks around the middle shelf and leans on the little things on it.

"So all these are taken from cases you've investigated?" he asks looking through the open space between two planks of the shelf. He steps slowly further into the room, having his gaze again on the wicked objects.

"That's right. Everything you see in here is either haunted, cursed or was being used in some kind of ritualistic practice." He observes closely the reporter, knowing the danger lying in all these little objects. "Nothing's a toy."

And exactly when he spoke about toys, Tavons fell look on a little toy monkey that reminded him of his childhood. He used to have a quite similar one at home. Mathias continues:

"Not even the toy monkey."

Tavon lifts his hand and as he is just inches away from touching it Mathias interferes.

"Don't touch it" he reminds him like a mother would with a too curious child at a hot plate.

Tavon lowers his hand slowly, his gaze still lingering on that ape. He straightens himself and coughs to get back to the questions he wanted to ask Mathias.

"Oh. Isn't it scary or doesn't it worry you to have all these items right in your home?" Whilst asking him that he walks around that shelf again towards Mathias who is walking even deeper into that seemingly endless room as he answers Tavon:

"Oh, that's why we have a priest that comes by once a month to bless the room. The way I see it is, it's safer for these things to be in here than out there. It's kind of like keeping guns off the street."

The large blonde guy stops and turns around to his guest who does his job in asking more questions:

"Well, why not just throw them in an incinerator, destroy it?"

Mathias just nods, expecting this question as it was asked so many times before. But he only smiles and explains calmly:

"Well that would only destroy the vessel. Sometimes it's better to keep the genie in the bottle."

The reporter nods. He kind of understands but still has to wrap his mind around all this supernatural things. But he remembers why he came here in the first place:

"Say, is the uh...Annabelle doll here?"

Mathias smiles lopsided and shows with his hand the way.

"Right this way." He walks in front of Tavon and stops in front of a glass display in which the doll sits, untouched since being brought in here.

The rose dress is still dirty, the left eye broken and the hair messy and full of dust. Tavon steps forward, takes a look and steps automatically back, repulsed by the aura and the creepy look.

"You said she's a conduit?" He stands in a safe distance towards the doll and looks at Mathias questioning and back at the doll:

"That's right."

"What does that mean?"

Mathias looks at Tavon whilst explaining it and gesturing towards the doll but his smile doesn't leave his lips not even when he looks at the doll.

"A very powerful demonic has latched itself onto her."

"So, when you guys investigate these haunting…"

"Mm-hmm?" he looks back at the reporter and notices the little shaved cross in his hair.

"How do you stop them from latching onto you?"

"We have to take great precaution."

"But what about your husband?"

Mathias stops for a moment and looks at the Cameroonian with a slightly lurking and questioning look in his eyes:

"What about him?"

"Well, Father Gordon told me that…" he gets cut by Mathias. He has his eyes closed remembering what happened and nods.

"That was different. What happened to my husband happened during an exorcism."

"What's the difference?"

Before Mathias can answer he hears a creaking noise and turns around, frowning. The reporter, feeling a bit jumpy in this place follows his gaze. Mathias walks towards the source of the small noise.

"Excuse me."

He looks behind the shelf in the middle of the room and his look softens slightly.

"Hey… What are you doing here?"

He leans down and helps up a little boy around 10 years old with ash blonde hair and violet eyes. "Honey, what are you doing? Come here. You know better. Alright?"

He lowers his head to look the boy in the eyes. He looks back and Mathias stands upright again and calls the boy's grandmother. But the boy glances on the doll, the Annabelle doll. He feels a dark presence and his eyes are filled with fear for a short moment until Mathias takes the boy's hand.

"Come on. Did you touch anything?"

The boy shakes his white locks.

"No."

"Alright Come on, honey." He leads the youngster out of the room, leaving the reporter awkwardly standing around.

At the door is the Grandmother waiting for them and the spiky haired addresses her:

"Scandi, can you take Emil upstairs?"

"Oh sure," answers the elderly woman. Her long hair is braided and she stays still upright in her pride posture like when she was as young as her son in law.

Mathias lets go from the hand and looks a last time a bit more seriously than usual at the boy:

"You can't go into this room no matter what, remember?"

Emil nods, looking up at him.

"Yes, Mathias."

"Alright." Mathias kisses his forehead and shoos them back into the hallway.

The sun settled and the reporter left the house, a lot of thoughts and new information running in his brain but luckily registered on his many notes. Mathias walks up the stairs with a cup of coffee in his hand and hears muffled laughter in one of the rooms. He follows it and sees his husband and his smaller halfbrother sitting in a rocking chair. Lukas has wrapped his arms around his brother, holding him prison whilst tickling him.

"Hey! What's going on here?" asks Mathias, stepping closer, his smile broadening. It is not often that he sees his husband smiling so brightly and laughing and it only happens if he is with his close ones just like now. Emil looks up and Lukas releases him.

"Mattie, look!" Emil jumps up and shows him his new brown jacket.

"Well, you look very handsome."

Emil nods and runs then out of the room.

"I'm wearing it to dinner!"

Lukas smiles and shakes his head.

"No, you're not." But the boy is already out of the room. Lukas sighs and leans back on the chair. Mathias steps in front of him and hands him the cup of coffee.

"Here you go," and he sits down on the desk in front of the chair.

Lukas takes the cup and looks at his lover.

"How did it go?"

Mathias takes a deep breath and smiles at him.

"I think he may write a positive article."

"Ooh, a non-skeptic!" exclaims Lukas playing and blows over the cup to cool down the liquid a bit. He then looks up and tilts his head.

"That's a pleasant change."

"Yeah…" Mathias looks down, his smile slowly disappears and up again at that beautiful face, surrounded by light blonde locks. He studies the golden hair clip, shaped like a cross that keeps one side of his face clear from the hair. He exhales, lowering his gaze as he feels Lukas' piercing eyes on him, seemingly looking through his very soul.

"Stop blaming yourself." Mathias' look softens and he swallows before smiling again at him. Lukas takes a sip from the coffee and wrinkles his nose, not looking away from the man with sandy hair. Mathias understands:

"I put sugar in it?" He nods, recognizing his fail in mixing up the cups again and takes the one from Lukas hands.

"Be right back." He walks out of the room again, leaving a thoughtful Lukas behind.

Thanks again for the followers, favourites and comments!

That is really encouraging me to continue on this rather long fanfic. :3