Shout at the Devil

by MalcolmTent6730

Magic wasn't real. That's what Ryan Black was told for most of his life. It was a truth he believed until about a week after his eighteenth birthday, when he was contacted by his dead dad's estate about his own. Being born a squib he had no reason to be informed, except for a small gift his old man left him. Evil pieces in Harry Potter. AU Hogwarts University. Eventual OC-Multi,

10. Chapter 10

November 12th, 2010. Sibiu, Romania 2:00 PM BST

"Um…thanks?" I said hesitantly. "Nice to meet you too. Nice place you got here." And it was, though it was a bit dramatic and horror movie creepy for me. Black magic school under a lake and all. Still, the furnishings were high quality and I actually did like the aesthetic. I wondered if it predated Hogwarts.

He blinked at me. "My place?" He looked around. "Oh, good heavens no. I don't live here." He chuckled, gesturing for us to sit down. "What a ghastly place to hang your hat. I have a lovely castle of my own. I was simply notified of your arrival when Mustakrakish awakened. I teleported here and prepared a meal as a welcome. We so rarely have guests."

Gesturing for us to sit, he snapped his fingers, and the empty plates filled with delicious smelling food. "Steak Au Poivre." Daphne said with a sniff, her eyes lighting up with delight. "I do so love a good steak."

I did too, and the ones he'd laid out looked gorgeous. Delmonico ribeyes, it looked like. He's also used bourbon for the peppercorn sauce instead of cognac, if my nose didn't deceive me, which was an excellent twist. It produced a more full bodied flavor. My family may not have been rich as a kid, but I knew my steak. Since it was just my mom and I, we always went to a steakhouse for christmas dinner every year instead of cooking a big spread.

Taking a seat, I sniffed the steak, just to be sure it wasn't poisoned or anything, then realized I had no clue what poison smelled like. To make sure my girlfriend didn't die of cyanide ingestion or some shit, I cut a small piece and popped it into my mouth, savoring the rich taste of the medium rare steak.

When I didn't suddenly keel over or even get a stomach ache, I smiled at Vincent, my subtle signal to Daphne that she was ok to eat. "So…" I started between bites. "You're a devil?"

"Of course." He chuckled, sweeping his cloak back to begin cutting into his own steak. "As are you, or you would have found the defenses on that stone door to be quite a bit more lethal than you did. My master, Radivan, vanished long ago. Aside from my former peerage-mates, I didn't think I'd ever meet another reincarnated devil."

My eyes lit with excitement. "Your peerage-mates. So I was right? The Solomonari were a peerage? Aside from yourself and one other, there were thirteen of them."

"Yes, Alucard." He said distastefully. "He was master's last reincarnate and second Rook. Dreadful creature. Never took anything seriously. I assume he was the one who pointed you in this direction, given the rest of them are all dead." Ignoring that the club owner vampire that had pointed us here was apparently ALSO a devil, I hyper focused on what he said last. As did my girlfriend.

Daphne let out a choked gasp, hand flying to her mouth. Vincent seemed confused, so I explained while she took her time process. "We're here looking for a cure to a blood curse laid by one of the Solomonari. The one who called himself Zmeu? He's dead?"

He nodded. "Rankor. His real name was Rankor. And yes, he's quite dead…" He trailed off. "Though not exactly gone. After my master vanished, the other members of the peerage went quite insane. I was forced to put them down, but I couldn't bring myself to end them completely. I trapped their essences in a chest, designed to hold them comfortably until my master's return."

"Awesome." I said brightly. "Is it here? Can we let one of them out? We just need to question this guy about the curse for a bit."

He winced. "Ah. Well, you see, when I bound the chest, I decided keeping it close would be too big a temptation. In order to remove the urge to release my fellow devils, I hid it away. Specifically, in a village in the Himalayas populated mostly by werewolves. Recently, a pair of teenagers and their dog accidentally crashed in the village and released them."

I blinked at him. "What?" I said flatly. "What kind of devil are you? You ARE a Bishop right? A magic using devil? You couldn't seal a box well enough to prevent random muggle teens from popping the lock?"

"Now see here!" He bellowed. "I will not be spoken to like an incompetent. I laid multiple fiendish bindings on the chest. But any protection woven of cleverness can be overcome by enough idiocy. Now the thirteen ghosts of the Chest of Demons have been set free upon the world, and after my first time apprehending them, they know to be wary of me."

"Ghosts?" I asked incredulously. "I thought they were devils?" I absolutely did NOT like where this was going.

He shrugged. "They were. Are? They're ghosts now. I destroyed their bodies and bound their souls into the chest. Sadly, that also made them much more difficult to locate. The two teenagers and the dog are currently on their trail, attempting to put right their wrong. I WAS in the midst of helping them search before I was forced to appear here."

"Yeah, how did you do that, by the way?" I asked. "This place has some crazy defenses. How did you teleport in? Can devil teleportation really bypass wards?"

"Indubitably." He nodded. "I take it you don't possess an in depth understanding of your capabilities as a devil?"

He didn't sound judgemental, just curious, so gave a shrug of admission. "Not really. It's been hard to get the hang of things. Plus with looking for a cure for this curse more recently. I don't suppose you'd happen to know how to cure one of Rankor's blood curses?"

"I'm afraid not." He said sympathetically. "Rankor was a vampire before his reincarnation, and one with a gift for blood magic. He was master's other Bishop and had a particular knack for curses. I never was able to pick up vampire blood magic, despite being quite an accomplished sorcerer in my own right."

Daphne slumped down, the hope that had just been returning draining away. "So our only possible lead could be…anywhere." She froze. "But wait! What about Luc? If Alucard is the last devil, that would mean he's actually Vlad Tepes. He's Dracula! Surely he can remove the curse for us?"

The sorcerer just shrugged. "Hard to say. But if he didn't offer I'd assume he has no intention of doing so. I'd be surprised if he's even still in the same city as when you last spoke to him. He tends to move when people find out his identity. It's one of the reasons I didn't attempt to bind him into the chest." He coughed in embarrassment. "Also…I can't beat him in combat."

"No shit." I said flatly. "He's Dracula. My mom said he's a straight up monster by vampire standards. A Master at that. I assume the evil pieces had something to do with him managing to get so strong at such a relatively young age?"

Vincent chuckled. "Well reasoned. He fed from master regularly. By the time Vlad became a devil master had long since reached high class. To put that in perspective, you're barely a low class devil. Master was exponentially more powerful than you are. Though to be fair, you seem to have been recently reincarnated. It took master centuries of contracts to reach high class."

Contracts were the only way I knew of to improve my demonic power too. It was just a shame they tended to be slow from what I could tell. I was technically in one right now, with Daphne. I made a note to try to find more people to make deals with, if it could make me that much stronger.

I'd thought that I was top of the food chain honestly. Even after discovering the existence of powerful magic users and vampires that could hurt me, I assumed I just needed to be more careful. But Mustakrakish the troll had all but slapped me around like a weeble wobble, and for future battles, not falling down didn't seem like a winning strategy.

Plus, this Radivan guy had apparently been some sort of crazy uber devil, and he'd vanished for no reason. SOMEONE had most likely taken him out, or he'd never have abandoned his peerage. Evil pieces weren't exactly replaceable.

Speaking fo which, where the hell had he gotten his? Was it from that G O'D guy? Was that who had taken him out? Was I safe from him because I'd refused a deal? I had so many fucking questions and zero idea how or where to get answers.

I didn't think Vincent had them all, and even if he had, I didn't know how much I could trust him. Convenient devil mentor sorcerer figure aside, the dude had bungled this whole Chest of Demons thing something fierce. It made me reticent to trust him. Almost as reticent as knowing he'd been able to straight up kill the other thirteen devils in his peerage, and that he HAD killed them, and apparently felt it was ok to lock their souls in a box for eternity.

Which seemed…suspect. Strill, no need to let on that we were suspicious. He had information we needed, so we might as well try to get as much out of him as possible without showing vulnerability. I shook off my panic spiral and focused on the matter at hand.

"So. To undo the blood curse we need to find Rankor." I said with a sigh. "Why exactly are you having a couple random muggles look for the devils instead of doing it yourself?"

He sighed. "Part of the binding on the Chest of Demons. The person who released them has to imprison them again. The chest can only be opened by that person. In this case, a young man named Norville Rogers."

Daphne scowled. "Then we wish to be put in touch with this…Norville. I need to help my sister, and if that means dealing with a bufoonish muggle and his pet, I'll do so. Can he help us find Rankor?"

"Potentially." He admitted. "He possesses an attunement with the ghosts. He may not be capable of locating a specific spirit, but he can help lead you to them in whatever order they may be closest."

I sighed. Good thing we got a weekend pass and it was only Saturday. "Where exactly can we find this guy? And what about the other one? You said two teens."

"Daphne." He said, making my girlfriend jump and look over in confusion. "Daphne Blake." He continued. "A lovely girl with a good head on her shoulders. Sadly not enough to keep Mr. Rogers out of trouble."

I grinned at my Daphne. "So princess, if we're going to be working with these people, it might get confusing. Maybe we should differentiate. How do you feel about being called Daphne 2?"

She glared at me. "I think I'd better be Daphne 1 unless you want to rename your palm Daphne 3 and take THAT to bed in the future." Rolling her eyes at my snicker, she turned to Vincent. "So, where do we find this…Norville? Also you keep mentioning his dog, I hardly think an animal is too relevant."

He chuckled. "You might be surprised. This is no normal beast. He's exceptionally intelligent, and even possesses the gift of speech."

I blinked at him. "Wait? What?" I started getting excited. "You're saying that this Norville guy has a TALKING DOG BEST FRIEND?"

That got a full belly laugh out of Vincent. "Indeed I am. A unique and clever animal. He was present on the opening of the chest, and so he too should possess a link to the spirits released. The only two beings that can help you in your quest are the two of them. Norville Rogers. And his best friend…Scooby-Doo."

November 12th, 2010. Sibiu, Romania 8:00 PM BST

Sadly, meeting up with Norville (who Vincent swore to us preferred to go by 'Shaggy') and his TALKING DOG (I was still reeling from that) was going to have to wait. Vincent had tried to contact them, but they hadn't answered, and he said they were sometimes out of contact for long stretches of time that they usually spent eating everything not nailed down or sleeping.

Since we were already here though, and Vincent WAS a devil, I decided to ask him for some lessons on how to use my powers a bit.

"So, tell me more about being a devil. Where do we come from?" I said as we sat down to dinner later in the day. We'd done some training with shaping magic devil style, as well as some teleportation drills until I FINALLY mastered the devil's teleportation circles. Now we were eating some soup Vincent had conjured and I was finally able to ask about the things I didn't know.

The older devil took a sedate sip of his wine. "I'm not sure, honestly. Master Radivan had already been a devil for quite some time when I was reincarnated. He transformed me in thirteen forty eight. He told me he bought the pieces from a travelling merchant. He never gave us a name, however, simply referring to the man as the Mirror Master."

That didn't sound familiar. Well, the merchant thing did. Could Garment O'Doyer or whatever his name was be this 'Mirror Master'? "And he didn't mention where he got them? Did Radivan ever see him again?"

Vincent shook his head. "No. He vanished after that. Master spent a few centuries searching for him. He found some clues, but apparently the Mirror Master rarely appears to the same person twice. He also doesn't always offer the same wares. The stories were so impressive they inspired one of my peerage-mates to base his whole magical identity on mirrors."

I didn't know what that even meant. "So…your peerage mates. How strong were they? The booklet mentioned some people need more than one piece. If they were all reincarnated with a single piece they must not have been too powerful."

"Theoretically." He waffled. "But in reality that's rarely the case. Beings that require multiple pieces are supernatural creatures of immense potential. Master never ran into any, though the rook he used to reincarnate Vlad was a mutation piece, so he might have needed a second. Regardless, things like elder dragons, fae queens, powerful ghost lords, there are the types of beings master speculated would require multiple pieces."

I hadn't even known half of those things existed. "So why did the booklet even mention it?"

He just shrugged. "Master theorized that the evil pieces weren't of this world. Wherever they came from the beings there were most likely much stronger. You may have noticed even lesser devils are fairly powerful in terms of beings of this world. There ARE things that can threaten us, of course. Gods, for instance. Or demons. Which DO exist and are not the same as devils. They've been extinct on this plane for far longer than I've been alive, however, so I wouldn't worry about meeting one, other than the occasional succubus summoned by some hapless teenager who got their hands on a lost book."

"Ok, and you only took one Bishop?" I asked curiously. "Are you a mutation piece too, or are wizards just kind of low end?"

"I'm not a wizard." He said with a head shake. "I'm a sorcerer. A necromancer technically, but that's neither here nor there. Devil magic can be anything, so I've learned my fair share of wizardry. Even so, yes, I was only worth a single piece. Mutation pieces aren't so common. I assume you have none of your own?"

I didn't actually know. I only knew mutation pieces were a thing because of the booklet, but it had been pretty vague about them. Did they look different? Who knew.

Daphne seemed fairly intrigued, and I decided to ask the obvious question. "What piece do you think would be best for Daphne? I was thinking Bishop. She doesn't do much with her physical strength, so Queen or Rook would be a waste I think." I wanted to find someone a bit more well rounded for my Queen, and strong for my Rooks.

He glanced at her for a while. "I'd say a Pawn." At her offended huff, he chuckled. "Don't underestimate the Pawn. It's the most versatile of the evil pieces. When in enemy territory you can become anything. Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop, whatever suits the situation."

"So…Queen?" I said bluntly. I'd never understood why people ever changed into anything else in chess. Well…except knights. They moved differently. "Actually, can Queens use a Knight's speed?"

"No." He responded. "Every other type of piece contributes to the Queen, but not Knights. Just as it is in actual chess. Speaking of powerful pieces. I'm curious, how are you so weak if you got the multiplier from the King piece? Any given wizard should be more powerful than you are. Or did you only get the ten times boost? I know it's random."

I shrugged. "I was a squib before I was reincarnated. I'm not sure if you know how they work, but squibs DO have magic, just so little of it they might as well be muggles. My dad got me the evil pieces as a fix for my condition. I did get the hundred times boost, but I only had about a tenth as much magic as a normal wizard to start."

Rather than talk shit, he put on a contemplative expression. "Perhaps that's better. The full power boost can destroy a person if they aren't careful. Master didn't say much about the King piece, but he did say that if you're already powerful, the multiplier can overload your body and destroy you. Starting weak may be safer. I don't believe master himself got more than a thirty times boost."

We talked for a bit longer, enjoying the food and company. Vincent wasn't exactly volunteering to be my tutor or anything. I wasn't his master, I was just a random devil. He found my willingness to search for Rankor and possibly help Rogers and his dog find a bunch more of them useful, so he taught me some tricks, but life wasn't a movie, and I didn't just randomly inherit a powerful servant.

Still, this trip had been worth taking. The teleportation lessons alone had saved me tons of time and allowed me to make arrangements for leaving the school on weekends in the future without needing a past.

Hogwarts wards, as far as I could tell, weren't designed to stop demonic teleportation, if only because devils barely existed in this world. I wouldn't go so far as to believe Radivan was the first, but at the very least there weren't enough for the founders to have guarded against them.

So I could teleport on and off the Hogwarts campus, because it was impossible to ward against everything.

Once we finished up our meal, we said our goodbyes and Daphne and I teleported back to the castle. I'd considered taking the rest of the time as a holiday, but my girl was feeling a bit overwhelmed after everything. Curing her sister had been delayed, and going home seemed like a better idea.

When we arrived, we took a walk out onto the lawn, heading down to the edge of the forest to walk in the starlight. We didn't actually enter, since I was worried about whatever lived in there, but the edge was more than safe with me around.

"What are you thinking?" I asked, my arm over her shoulder. I expected a sarcastic or biting response, but she just laid her head on me, quietly thinking.

After a minute of silence, the quiet stretching on so long I thought she might not answer at all, she finally spoke. "I don't know." She said finally. "Losing my mother was unbearable. She and my dad were betrothed from the time they could walk. He married into the family, since his own was of a lower station, but he was clever and resourceful enough that even my mother's brother Gareth, the eldest son, didn't fight him too much on taking over."

I didn't know where she was going with this, but I let her continue, she clearly needed to get this out. "But even he couldn't fix this. My sister was dying, and now…you come out of nowhere, save her life, save mine, and offer me power and immortality. I suppose I'm looking for the catch? Nothing like this can happen for free."

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed her chin and pulled it up so I could give her a long, slow, kiss. Looking deep into her eyes, I said. "Cash, grass, or ass. Nobody rides for free."

Her face twisted into a mask of half embarrassment and half laughter as she elbowed me in the ribs. "Beast!" She hissed. "The one time I'm feeling emotional you have to make a joke out of it?"

I shrugged. "Because I don't like it. My princess is a snooty upright bitch who always has a plan B. I don't need you acting all grateful and kittenish. It weirds me out. I'll take all my gratitude out of that cute little ass of yours, and we can both enjoy the process. Be yourself, Daph, I don't need you to fawn over me because you feel indebted."

Her cheeks went red as she looked away snootily. "Well…I suppose when you put it that way. You've already got Bones to fawn all over you. I ought to keep you in line or who knows what you'll do."

"There's my stone cold bitch." I cheered. "I'm not going to always listen to you. Or mostly listen to you. Or almost ever listen to you. But I need you to challenge me. I'll get a big head otherwise. Don't tell me what you think I need to hear."

She snorted. "Until you stuff your obscene cock up that mountain of meat Granger drags along behind her and then we all have to listen to her natter on in our ears."

"Bitch please." I scoffed. "I'd rather die than live with that shit for ten thousand years." I paused. "Not that I wouldn't ruin that juicy ass of hers. But like…only casually. And she doesn't seem like the type. You don't need to worry about me bringing her into this." I snickered. "If I was going to recruit a know it all it would probably be Lily Moon. Who could say no to those giant goth knockers."

That got me another glare. "I'll tell Bones you said that. See how you deal with her tearing up and feeling underappreciated. I may not be able to make you keep it in your pants, but I'm sure she can."

I smiled at her sweetly. "In an ideal world I'd be wrecking one of you every night. You sure that you can handle taking my dick every other day?"

Her blush this time was almost atomic as she looked away. "I don't…that's not. Don't flatter yourself. Who wants to stuff themselves full of your ridiculous weapon every other night. I don't believe Bones can do it either!"

The pouting was so adorable I had to snag her for another long kiss. "Don't worry so much about other girls." I said with a chuckle. "You and Susan are already too much for me to handle. Once things calm down I might be open to sharing the love a bit, if only for the sake of your hip bones, but for now I'll just have to hold back a little."

This time, there was no stammering or complaints, though the pout did stick around as she laid her head back on my shoulder. Despite her pride, Daphne was actually worried about keeping up with me sexually. I can't say I wasn't a little proud. Still, I knew she'd enjoyed herself enough to want more, just maybe next time I'd be less…enthusiastic.

November 25th, 2010. London, England 2:00 PM BST

"I can't believe we can just…leave now." Said Susan in wonder as she looked around the alley I'd teleported us to. After returning from Romania, we'd caught her up on everything, and she'd insisted on being present for the big meeting with Shaggy, Daphne, and the talking dog. Honestly, despite all the magic I'd seen and crazy shit I'd done over the last few months, a talking dog was easily the coolest thing I'd ever heard of, and I was pretty excited myself.

Daphne wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It is convenient, though clearly less so than being teleported somewhere…sanitary." Shooting me a frown, she demanded. "You couldn't bring us to a bed and breakfast or something?"

I rolled my eyes. "Get off your high horse, princess. We don't want people knowing I can do this. The rules about leaving the grounds are logistical mostly, and as adults I don't have to justify going anywhere, but I don't want it getting out I can do seemingly impossible shit like teleporting through the wards."

She sneered at me. "Though apparently you don't mind people knowing you can punch bludgers out of the air."

"There are lots of feasible magical ways to increase physical strength and durability." I said testily. "That's not impossible, everyone probably just assumed I pulled some wandless magic out of my ass. With my reputation for power it's not a stretch. THIS would be a whole different ballgame."

Suzie stepped between us, grabbing an arm in each hand. "Well I think it's a lovely opportunity to spend time together. It's a good thing we're seeing each other, honestly, or the others would be getting suspicious." She blushed prettily. "Although, Hannah has been asking me about how…intimate, we've been."

That got a snort from my blonde. "Enjoy having your spine properly aligned while you still can. I don't think I'll ever be the same from the waist down." She pointed at me sharply. "And don't you dare smile at that you brute. I deserve an order of merlin for letting you rut that beast into me."

We emerged from the alley, heading toward the pub where we'd arranged to meet the other group, and I choked back a snicker. "Yes dear. So how about Christmas, are either of you two planning to stay at Hogwarts? Because if not…well, I wouldn't be against having company."

Admittedly, my selfish reasoning was to introduce them to Seras before bringing her to school. If she had friends already she might not be as thrown by all the magic. I very carefully did NOT let myself imagine adding her to my growing relationship, or how good her massive vampire breasts would look as she bounced in my lap.

Suzie, bless her heart, practically got stars in her eyes. "You want us to come home with you for Christmas? Will you introduce me to your mother?" She bit her lip worriedly as she tugged at her hair, trying to fix messiness that wasn't there. "Oh what do I wear? Does she like conservative dress, or something more muggle?"

"I'm sure she'll adore you." Daphne said acidly. "Sadly you'll be meeting her alone. My father has requested me at Christmas dinner. He's extended an invitation to you as well Ryan, if you're so inclined." She sniffed in distaste. "My stepmother will be putting it on. The little trollop."

I smiled at her sulking. "I'll talk to my mom. We usually go out, but maybe there's some wiggle room. Suzie, you sure your Aunt won't mind you spending the break with me?"

Her beaming smile was answer enough, but she shook her head quickly anyway. Before she could respond though, we heard a crash and some rattling dishes coming through the open door of the pub we were heading to. After the sound, a loud voice complained. "Like, you were the ones who said bottomless shepherds pie man! We already paid."

Glancing at the girls, I heard a strange, slightly muffled voice whine. "Reah, already raid." Frowning, we arrived at the door to see a tall, sandy haired guy with some chin scruff in a red shirt and jeans glaring reproachfully at a puffed up overweight man with huge forearms and a red puffy face under an obvious toupee.

Sitting behind the guy was a large friendly looking great dane, big sad eyes wide as he hid behind an absolute bombshell with red hair and big violet eyes. Figuring this was probably our party, I stepped up to impose myself between the big dude and who I assumed was Shaggy. "Whoa there bud. No need to get so worked up. I can cover any incidentals for my friends here."

They both blinked in confusion at the derail. Shaggy grinned sheepishly at me. "Like, thanks man." He scratched the back of his head. "We didn't bring enough to cover anything but the original bill. That exchange rate is like, killer."

Flipping the pub manager a galleon, I raised an eyebrow. He bit the coin and then nodded happily before turning to leave. I held out a hand to the hippie. "It's no problem. I'm Ryan. This is Susan and Daphne. We're the ones who are supposed to meet you guys. Vincent sent us to help."

His eyes went wide. The dog blinked at me. "Relp?" He asked, his friendly voice making me grin. "Rith the…" He looked side to side dramatically. "Rhost?"

"I suspect you guys could handle a roast all on your own." I joked dryly, glancing at the stack of thoroughly cleared dishes. "But we ARE going to help with the chest of demons. At least for the moment. We're looking for one of the ghosts for our own reasons, but we don't know when you'll run into him."

Daphne…the other Daphne? DB (short for Daphne Blake) smiled gratefully. "We really appreciate that. We're kind of out of our depth here. We solve mysteries for fun, and have for years, but real spirits are kind of out of our wheelhouse." She started, blushing lightly. "Oh, sorry, I'm Daphne by the way."

Shaggy's eyes widened. "Oh, duh. Sorry, dude. I like, totally spaced. I'm Shaggy, and that there is my best friend Scooby-Doo! Say hi Scoob."

"Ri!" Said Scooby enthusiastically as he waved a paw at us. I didn't hear much past that because Suzie's earsplitting squeal as she tackle hugged the adorable talking pooch temporarily deafened me.

"HE'S SO CUTE!" She shrieked in a voice that I think might have cracked the windows. Scooby gave us all a smug doggy grin as she snuggled into him, and I couldn't even be mad at the big pooch.

Looking over to Shaggy, I grinned. "Susan is a dog person. Nice to meet you guys, Vincent said you had some leads on one of the thirteen in the city?" It was pretty convenient it was in London, but then again, this place was old as dirt and full of historical buildings and shit. It made sense ghosts would be into that.

As we sat down, a pretty waitress bustled over, shooting me a shy smile before flinching at Daphne's cold stare. "Ello' luvs." She said in a thick cockney accent. "What can I get'cha?"

"Like…is it ok if we order too?" Shaggy asked hopefully. "We're still feeling pretty peckish."

Scooby snickered. "Reah…reckish." At the dogs comment, Suszie gave me a sad pout, and I just rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, sure. Order whatever you want." I could always refill on cash while we were in London. Plus I still had hundreds of galleons.

DB (the redhead Daphne) winced. "You shouldn't have done that. You don't know what you've unleashed. Sorry in advance." She smiled wryly at my Daphne. "I love your shoes by the way, they're adorable."

Daphne blinked at her, lips quirking slightly. "Thank you. These are my favorite pair. I had them made custom. Yours are lovely as well, are they Prada? My best friend often brings me m- many fashion magazines." She stopped short of saying muggle, since these people probably didn't know about the wizarding world. They obviously knew magic existed, but we'd need to feel out how much.

"And sixteen meat pies." Finished Shaggy, as my attention turned back to the unusually skinny hippy. I blinked at him incredulously as he turned to Scooby. "How about you Scoob? You want anything?"

What the fuck had I just missed. Happily the dog nodded with enthusiasm. "Reah! Reaks, Rish and Chips, Rotch reggs, and Rurry."

Shaggy's face lit up. "Like, zoinks! I forgot about the curry! Eight bowls of that please." He paused as if he was uncertain and looked at me. "I kind of want dessert, but like, I don't wanna go overboard."

I rolled my eyes, grabbed a handful of galleons from my pouch and shoved them at the waitress. "These are real gold, just bring them whatever they want. These should cover it. I'll have the shepherds pie." I glanced at my girls. "You want anything? Other Daphne? Is it ok if I just call you DB? Vincent said your last name is Blake."

She shrugged. "DB works." I had to resist the urge to change it to DD because she was way more stacked than I'd expected under the suit jacket she was wearing. "And I already ate earlier." She glared at her friends. "SOME of us actually get full."

Scooby and Shaggy both looked at her with disdain. "Like, we do serious cardio, man." Shaggy said, making a muscle. "Gotta stock up on fuel."

"That's the most optimistic way of saying you're big scaredy cowards I've ever heard." DB sniffed. Turning back to me after I ordered a root beer for my drink and Suzie and Daphne ordered a strawberry milkshake and a meat pie respectively, she shot me an apologetic smile. "Sorry about those two. I love them both like family, but they're not exactly the easiest to put up with. Anyway, to your earlier question, yes, we've found some traces."

Shaggy grimaced. "Like, we're pretty sure one of them is at the Rathburn manor. Not that it's a surprise, since the whole place is totally haunted." He chuckled nervously. "Tell me again why we have to be the ones to do this?" He asked our newest redhead.

"Because YOU opened the chest of demons." She said mercilessly. "Don't be such wusses. We have backup now. Vincent said these guys are serious ghost catchers." I raised an eyebrow at that, since I'd never caught a ghost, but then, these were devil ghosts, and I was a living devil, so I had to assume I had some advantage there.

The drinks arrived, and Suzie took her milkshake with relish. My redhead had a serious sweet tooth, and it was pretty cute. She tasted it and brightened. "This is really good! We should come to more places like this." She shot me a shy smile, and I returned it with a big grin, I was down for more dates.

Daphne glanced at DB, very deliberately ignoring the exchange. "So, how exactly did you end up with these two anyway?" She gave Shaggy a withering look. "No offense, but they're not exactly fashion icons. You seem to have excellent taste. Is this some sort of charity initiative?"

"Like, hey!" Shaggy said indignantly. "We're the coolest guys around. And Daphne has been friends with us for years."

DB chuckled lightly, glancing fondly at the other two. "They're like the idiot brothers I never had." She admitted. "I couldn't imagine not having them around. We used to solve mysteries with some other friends growing up."

And that's how we got onto the subject of their capers as teens. The food arrived, and we all settled in to listen to the tales of Mystery Inc. I had to admit, Vincent might not have screwed us over here. These seemed like pretty cool people. After the meal we'd head for this Rathburn manor place. Shouldn't be too much trouble, even pretending to be normal.

November 25th, 2010. London, England 3:00 PM BST

After watching Shaggy and Scooby ingest a truly mind boggling amount of food, DB managed to bully them into leading us toward the feeling they were getting of one of the 13 ghosts being nearby. They loaded us up in their van and took us to the Rathburn manor, which was down an old dark street, and as we approached, I felt the hair on my neck stand up.

Slowing down, I pulled Daphne and Suzie aside. "Be careful in here." I said softly. "I'm getting a weird vibe. Keep your wands handy, but don't use them unless necessary."

Because we didn't know them well, we were sticking with the statute of secrecy for now. Scooby and Shaggy were nice enough, and DB was pretty cute, but keeping ourselves on the DL was the safest way to move forward.

My girls palmed their wands. We were in normal muggle clothes, luckily, so no robes to hide. I even slipped my own wand up the sleeve of my jacket just in case. Once that was done, we approached the front of the manor slowly.

Before we reached the door though, Shaggy and Scooby stopped cold. "Like, welp, this is our stop." Said the hippy with an audible gulp. "This is close enough to find the g-g-ghost, and you guys can like, handle it from there." He chuckled nervously, starting to back away.

DB snorted, grabbing his ear tightly and twisting. "Oh no you don't. None of that. You need to be here to open the chest and recapture the ghost." She glared at him. "You DID bring the chest of demons, right?"

He nodded sulkily. "Yeah. It's like…in the van, man." He pointed to the bulky red van we'd driven here in. It honestly seemed like it might be armored or something, the shape was very defensive, and the tires looked big and reinforced. Sort of like a giant ATV.

"So…not to be THAT guy." I said slowly. "But exactly why did a d-despicable ghost." I saved myself at the last second from saying devil. "Come to a place like this."

DB grimaced. "Vincent said he's looking for something. Some magic wand that's super powerful. It's supposed to be hidden here. We aren't sure which ghost it is, but luckily they were cut off from news in the chest. Vincent says the wand isn't here anymore. Hasn't been for decades."

"A wand?" I asked suspiciously."How…interesting. What's so special about it?" Rankor was a vampire devil and practiced blood magic. I hadn't heard about him using a wand, but devils COULD so maybe it was him? Daphne grabbed my hand, squeezing tightly in excitement, and I returned the gesture.

She shrugged. "Apparently it makes spells super powerful or something? It's called the Elder Wand. I can't believe there are really people who can do magic. That's so cool!" I grinned at Suzie, and Daphne tried to hold back a smirk. DB turned to Scooby and Shaggy. "We need you to open the chest to trap the ghost when we find him. So what's it gonna take for you to come inside with us?" I could tell from her exasperation that this wasn't their first time having this conversation. She walked to the van, opened the back, and jimmied open a door panel, pulling out a box. "Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?"

Both of them perked up. I raised an eyebrow at the duo, but Scooby squinted hard hard at the box. "Roo." He said, holding up two…fingers? He had weirdly digital paws.

She thought for a minute, then nodded. Reaching into the box, she pulled two pairs of small brown biscuit like treats, and then threw them. Shaggy and Scooby both ran for them, and to my surprise, Shaggy managed to intercept three of them. I blinked at the maneuver because he and Scooby had both moved so fast even I'd seen them blur a bit. They were both really fast.

With the two of them sufficiently bribed, DB went to the front of the van and pulled out the chest, opting to carry it instead of having the two of them do it, in case they ran away.

As we approached the front door though, we quickly realized someone else was here. A tall, toned woman in tight brown leather pants and a sleeveless shirt that showed off strong arms. She had a literal sword on her back, and was knelt down picking the lock on the door of the manor, which did truly wonderful things for her ass in those pants.

I cleared my throat. "Hi." I said dryly as she nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun to glare at us, drawing her sword in a smooth motion. Shaggy and Scooby yelped and jumped behind me. "Can I help you with something?"

"No." She snapped in a surprisingly upper crust accent for a girl in such badass clothes. "You can't. This place is dangerous, and I'm here to look into some suspicious activity for…the city. You need to leave."

Raising an eyebrow, I cocked my head to the side, curious about what she was doing here. Did she know about the ghost? Who the hell did she work for. "Why?" I asked, not expecting an actual answer. "What makes it dangerous?"

"There's a gas leak." She spat. "Now go. You're not getting in here. Don't make me knock you around a bit to convince you."

I considered overpowering her and taking the sword, but Daphne stepped in to save the day with her bitchiness. "Look. You were just picking that lock, so you clearly aren't supposed to be here. We have business inside, and we WILL go in. If you even manage to drive us off, we'll just go in the back or something, so if you're so tough why don't you come along to protect us?"

The sword wielding blonde grimaced, Lowring her blade. "Bollocks. You mean that don't you?"

We all just smiled at her. She huffed and put the blade away. "Right. Fine. I don't want the deaths of a bunch of random kids on my conscience, so I guess you can come in with me." She held out a hand for me to shake, apparently deciding I was the leader. "Tanith Low. Nice to meet you I suppose. Don't get in my way or I'll bust your arse."

Ignoring her overly tight grip, I grinned at her. She reminded me a bit of Seras, though her hard eyes told me she was far more comfortable with violence than my vampire friend. This woman was nobody's bitch, and she'd put a hole in you to prove it. She'd been awfully good with that sword.

Daphne cleared her throat. "I don't suppose you'll tell us what you're really doing here? Because I don't for a second believe you 'work for the city'." Her tone was pointed, and a little snippy, and I realized I MIGHT have been a bit obvious ogling Tanith's tight little ass in those pants.

"I work for 'none of your fucking business' if you must know." she said sweetly. "Who in turn reports to directly to 'shove it up your arse' from the 'go fuck yourself' division. I like your shoes by the way." She said, unconsciously echoing DB from earlier.

"As fun as this is." I drawled. "And you two being ten seconds from tearing each other's clothes off is VERY fun for me, I assure you." I ignored Daphne's glare as I got their attention back. "I think we should actually get inside, before someone calls the real cops and Tanith has to shed even the pretense of respectability."

Said sword girl got an offended look on her face. "Oi! You take that back! I'm not respectable."

Walking past her, I grabbed the knob of the door and turned it. Hard. Something snapped in the mechanism, and the door swung loudly open. "Huh." I said blandly. "Guess you didn't try the knob before deciding to pick it." I was actually pretty lucky there was no dead bolt. "After you. Since you wanted to 'protect us'."

She scoffed. "Like I don't know you just want to stare at my arse in these pants."

"Yes, I'm sure you wear skin tight leather with no discernible underwear to hide your crippling body shyness." I stopped flirting with the sex goddess in the leather pants as my girlfriends both glared at me. Clearing my throat, I gestured inside again. "Like I said though, you decided to 'protect' us, so you can be first inside."

She nodded, heading in, and I tried hard not to look at her ass again, to only moderate success. "So." Tinith said as she crept soundlessly inside, feet not making a single scuff. "Mind telling me about that big creepy box the redhead is carrying?"

"That's our drink cooler." I lied without blinking. "We're here to party. Packed full of beer. How about you? What's the deal with that big ass sword?"

Apparently deciding to tell an equally ridiculous lie, Tanith just shrugged. "I needed an empty place for a hair cut. I use this giant straight razor, so it can get a bit messy." It seemed she was just as reticent to tell us what she was doing as we were to tell her.

As she stepped over the threshold I heard a hissing clack, my eyes jerked up to the corner of the room, where I saw a menacing spider the size of a manhole cover glaring down at us all. Tanith, acting seemingly on instinct, bolted right for it at top speed.

I wasn't sure what she was going to do to get to it, and was coming up with possible paths, when she hit the wall and kept going, her center of gravity shifting so she was running UP the wall. Her sword flashed, the spider split in two, and she pushed off the wall into a tight backflip, landing on the ground daintily.

The second after she hit, the two halves of the spider slammed into the ground before melting into some sort of green slime and then vanishing. Tanith flipped her hair and glanced over a shoulder at us. "Now do you want to turn back? This isn't a game."

"No." I said. "It's not. And you're clearly not some hot eccentric girl looking for a shave and a haircut. So why don't I let you know what's going on." I gestured to the chest. "We're here looking for a ghost that came out of that box. The only way to get rid of it is to put it BACK in the box. The tall hippy and the dog let it out, so they're the only ones who can do it."

Scooby perked up. "Rog?" He said in confusion. "Rhere?" I suppressed my urge to crack up at that, though Suzie didn't.

Tanith stared at us like we were crazy. "Well…that's a new one." She glanced at Scooby. "The talking dog lends some credibility to your story, however. I suppose I'll take your word for it, I have a trip to Ireland in the morning. So, how exactly are we supposed to do this?"

I smiled at her casual nonchalance, but sadly I didn't think it was going to be quite so easy. "I'd probably start with figuring out why the walls are bleeding." I pointed over her shoulder at the dark red liquid streaming down the walls of the wide open entryway.

"Bollocks." She said again. "That's the last thing I needed. Well then, I suppose I really will take the lead then, won't I?" She gave me a sly smirk. "That is, if you don't mind, pretty boy?" Without waiting for a response she turned and strode further into the house, hips swaying as she walked.

I turned to glance at the others, and with a confirming nod, we folLowd behind her. Tanith appeared to be informed in a different way than we were, and I knew jack shit about ghost hunting anyway. Admittedly, the view didn't hurt either.

November 25th, 2010. London, England 4:00 PM BST

As agreed, we let Tanith take the lead. Excellent butt notwithstanding, she was the one carrying a giant sword, and had just run up a wall, so clearly she had just as good an idea what kind of supernatural shit was going on than we did. The front hall of the manor was a massive open space with a pair of winding staircases running along both sides.

Shaggy and Scooby were huddled behind DB with the chest of demons, peeking out to look around for anything spooky as we ascended the left side. Daphne and Susan were bringing up the rear, wands at the ready but still hidden. When we reached the top of the steps, we came to a door, and Tanith looked back at Scooby and Shaggy. "You lot are like ghost detectors, right? That the way?"

"Like…I don't know, man." Whimpered Shaggy. "My goosebumps have goosebumps right now. We're in a house with an evil ghost that wants to kill us. Everything feels like a threat!"

To my surprise, she didn't snap, just nodded in understanding. "Well, keep that spook sense peeled. I'd prefer not to be attacked from behind. Or stabbed. I've had quite enough of that for a lifetime thank you. Getting impaled in the guts is extremely uncomfortable."

Daphne snickered lightly. "I don't know. I got used to it eventually." At my glare, she just winked, and I had to return the chuckle. Plus there was a non zero percentage of my ego that enjoyed her talking about how big I was in front of other cute girls. Suzie both blushed and pouted, which was also pretty adorable.

Tanith rolled her eyes. "No offense to your boy toy, but I suspect we have different definitions of getting 'impaled' schoolgirl. Now focus up. This place is giving me the willies, chances of the ghost making an appearance soon ar pretty go- ok did anyone else notice that this hallway seems longer?"

I glanced down, and she was right. The rug beneath us stretched out for a ways in both directions. In the distance I could see the steps, and in front of us, about a hundred feet away, was the door at the top. There was a low groaning and a crack, and green light spilled out between the floorboards.

As we watched, sections of the hallway dropped away into a deep pit, flickering with green flames and smelling strongly of brimstone. Along the hall, there was small islands of wood and plaster stuck to the wall at irregular intervals forming a sort of path of stepping platforms.

Along the walls, the paintings were glaring down at us with hideous expressions of evil glee, and the candles in sconces had blazed up with that same eldritch flame. "Huh." I said with interest. "I'm almost positive this was a level on Luigi's Mansion."

The portraits had begun to howl and jeer, but when I said that, they all stopped short, glaring at me in offended outrage. Shaggy nodded. "Like, you're right man! I think I played that one." He chuckled nervously. "I guess the ghost has like, good taste at least."

"What is 'Luigi's Mansion'?" Asked Daphne in confusion. I blinked at her, trying to figure out how to explain video games if she didn't know what they were, or how to ASK if she knew what a video game was without tipping off the others to our weirdness.

Luckily, it was a moot point as we were cut off by a cold wind blowing down the hall. The green flames flickered, and carried on the chilly air was a hoarse, rustling whisper of. "Fools." Rattling in our ears like dead leaves across a grave.

"Ok, well that was from The Exorcist." I deadpanned, completely unimpressed.

Daphne's face lit up. "Oh! I saw that." At everyone's look of confusion about her enthusiasm, she flushed slightly. Averting her eyes, she snorted in annoyance. "I was just saying I recognized the reference."

I made a mental note to start teleporting Daphne away at night for those movie dates we'd talked about. She needed her horizons broadened. I wondered if that counted as horizoning my broad? My introspection was cut off as a menacing voice boomed. "YOU DARE MAKE LIGHT OF ME?"

"Oh look. It talks loud now. What's next? Rattling chains?" Tanith was visibly trying not to laugh as I taunted the ghost. Glancing out into the darkness that sat atop the fiery pit, I said in an unimpressed tone. "You might as well come out. We're not exactly quaking in our boots."

I glanced sidelong at Shaggy, trying to convey with my expression to be ready. The wind kicked up again, and as it whipped the hallway, putting out all the candles, it swirled into a glowing vortex, inside which appeared a floating spectral figure.

"FOOLS!" Boomed the as of yet unnamed ghost. "You seek your dooms! To dare impugn the awful brilliance of Maldor the Malevolent!" The ghost towered over us, but when I glanced at Shaggy he shook his head. It was keeping out of range of the chest.

It also…wasn't what I expected. It was a billowing robe with wild tangled blonde hair split by a pair of long curved horns. From between the hair and robe I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes glaring hatefully in complete darkness.

I rolled my eyes. "Ok, pro tip." I said snidely. "If you're going to appear in front of your victims, maybe hit a barber shop. Or get a face. You look like under my bed in a bad eighties wig." Tanith finally lost it at that, busting up laughing so hard she almost fell off the segment of floor we were standing on.

"FOOLISH MOR-" He paused, shocked. "You're not mortal at all." His eyes narrowed. "How are you here? I didn't expect to meet a d-"

Daphne's wand snapped up, and she hissed. "Silencio!" The jet of light hit Maldor (sadly not the guy we needed) and his voice cut off. "Damned wizards." Daphne said primly. "They always say that." She shot the others an apologetic look. "Sorry we didn't tell you. We're supposed to keep it secret."

I heaved a sigh of relief, since I knew damned well he hadn't been about to say that, but my gratitude was cut short as Maldor raised his hands and began making unusual hand gestures. As he did, the air around us shifted again, and Tanith's eyes went wide. "Bollocks." She spat. "He's an elementalist."

Before I could ask what that meant, Maldor snapped his fingers, and the winding currents of wind became massive torrents of flame as he snapped his palms toward us, creating a concussive burst of fire.

Since the wizard thing was out of the bag (lesser of two evils in my opinion) I snapped my wand up and roared. "PROTEGO". Stretching my shield as far as necessary and pouring as much intent into it as possible.

The silver sphere of power erected around us tanked the fire blast, but as I watched Maldor started snapping his palms over and over again. Each time there was a sort of rupture in the air and pressure like a fucking cannon slammed into my shield, making it shake. I was strong enough to hold it up, but not forever.

Luckily I wasn't alone here. Susan's wand had come out, and she was muttering as she transfigured the floor around us, smoothing it back out to cover the gaps so we could walk away from this spot. Daphne was muttering flame freezing charms and cooling spells to try to offset the heat inside the bubble from the flames, because the shield stopped the fire and not the heat itself.

As the floor in front of us mended, we moved, stepping forward slowly, the shield defending us against the explosive slams of hot air. One step, then two. Tanith was growling. "I bloody hate ranged fights. Get me in close and I'll carve his arse like a christmas goose."

"Feel free to carve ANY kind of geese around me, regardless of time of year. Fucking monster birds." I spat. I'd been attacked by geese as a kid, they were pure unmitigated evil. Even worse than the ghost. "But it won't be needed. We're just getting closer so-" I cut off as the chest of demon's eyes began to glow.

"Like, now!" Shouted shaggy. I shoved at the shield, and it expanded until it got so thin it shattered. The expansion acted a lot like an outward burst and knocked the ghost off balance when it took the hit. Before it could react, Shaggy snapped open the chest of demons. "Back in your box, man!"

There was a pause as Maldor stared at the chest in horror. He hadn't sensed it apparently, just been cautious of us (probably Tanith) when he spotted it his eyes widened in horror. "No! I won't go back! I can't! Damn you Van Ghoul. Daaaaamn yooooouuuuuu!" The latter was said as his body dissolved back into glowing air and was sucked into the dark depths of the chest.

Snapping shut, the demonic horned face on the lock let out a satisfied burp and then its eyes stopped glowing. Tanith glanced down at it in admiration. "Huh. Right handy little toy chest you've got there. Don't suppose it works on other nasties besides ghosts?"

"Nope, sorry." Said DB apologetically. "The chest only holds 13 ghosts. And it's a specific 13. No room for anything else."

Tanith sighed. "Figured. Spooks like that usually have very specific weaknesses. Like this bridge troll I had to catch a while ago. Had to say its name. It wasn't well pleased I figured it out, neither, but I showed the little bastard."

"Yeah, trolls are a bitch." I agreed commiseratingly. "We had a mountain troll to deal with just last month, and some giant lake troll the other day. Bet that sword comes in damned handy dealing with those thickheaded fucks."

She grinned at me. "Too right it does. You're not half bad pretty boy. Ain't never met a wizard before. Never even heard of one. Witches yes, and Warlocks, but you don't seem to be the latter." She shrugged. "Oh well, world's full of weird magic. You were useful, which puts you a cut above most sorcerers."

"Glad to hear it." I said with a laugh. "You weren't exactly dead weight either. Maybe we can work together again sometime."

Reaching into her tight leather pants, she fished out a card and passed it over to me. "I spend most of my time in ireland these days, like I said, have a trip back planned, but if you're in my neighborhood, give me a call. I'm a freelancer, but I have some connections with the sanctuary over there, so I can hook you up."

I had no idea what she was talking about, so I just nodded seriously. I didn't know if we'd make it to ireland for any of the ghost hunts, since this one hadn't been the one we needed. I wished I could have questioned him, but I wasn't letting him out of the box just for that.

Tanith said her goodbyes, giving Scooby a scratch and shooting me a wink before sauntering off into the London afternoon.

Once she was gone, I turned to the others. "So, what do we do now? I don't have plans for the moment, this went way faster than expected."

Shaggy walked up and threw an arm over my shoulder. "Like, dude. Stick with us. We'll show you the best spot for fish and chips in all of London. Your treat though. I'm broke, and fighting ghosts is hungry work. I'm like, starving."

Chuckling, I just rolled my eyes and followed him back to the van. Once we finished eating maybe I could take the girls somewhere nice before we headed back. Might as well make good use of our time. For now, I was curious about the fish and chips place. As something to keep in mind for later. Might as well enjoy this little vacation.

As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent at least 10k words. Hope everyone enjoys.