December 7th, 2010. Ballymun Apartments, Ballymun, Ireland, 10:00 PM BST

Most of us were pretty shocked by Luc's appearance. Shaggy, who standing in front of DB with Scooby, squinted up at the vampire suspiciously. "Like…do I know you, man?" His voice seemed wary, but Shaggy was wary of most things, so him being worried about the massive vampire in the red coat wasn't shocking.

What WAS shocking was that Luc glanced over, took one look at the lanky hippy, and burst out laughing. "Oh wow. It's YOU. I haven't seen you since that monster road rally thing my ex talked me into. That costume was so dumb, but good LORD could that woman suck."

"RACURA!" Yelped Scooby, leaping clear off the floor and landing in Shaggy's arms in a bridal carry as he stared at Luc in terror.

"Hey pooch." Luc said. "How's it hangin? I'd love to catch up, but Lucky Charms over there is going to be back on his feet in a minute." He reached into his coat, pulling out a small round object. "Here, I'll take care of it. You know what they say, shamrocks, horseshoes, and hand grenades."

"Wait!" I shouted frantically. "You can't use that in here, it'll bring the whole building down. This place is super old."

He glanced down at it dubiously. "Are you sure? I feel like it'll probably be fine. Or do you just want to be the one to pull the pin? Pretty greedy kid, but ok, you can throw it." He tossed me the grenade, thankfully with the pin still in it, and I snatched it out of the air.

While he was waiting he redrew one of the guns he'd holstered and shot the priest casually in the head again. I scowled at him. "Ok, we're NOT using the grenade in doors, either of us, and can you tell us who that is. Also, YOU have some explaining to do, you didn't mention being a devil last time we talked."

He paused. "Didn't I? I could have sworn I mentioned it before the blood orgy."

"There WAS no blood orgy." I snapped in annoyance. "We just did shots and hung out at your club." I neglected the lines of coke we'd convinced Daphne to do off that romanian girl. THey didn't seem relevant.

Luc just shrugged. "That does sound like me, oh well. My bad. Yes, I'm a devil, it's how I met THIS fuckwad." He gestured at the priest with his gun and the thing went off again, blowing a hole in the blonde man's arm. "He's kind of a buzzkill, and those bayonets kind of tickle."

My burned hand twitched slightly, but I ignored it. "So, what, you heard he was showing up and came to help? Did Vincent call you? How did he even know what was going on."

"Oh Vinnie is a total peeping Tom." He said matter of factly. "Those crystal balls get full surround sound and hi def. He gives them out to everyone and then watches for anything good to happen. I hijack the streams sometimes. Porn is way better in a crystal ball."

I noticed he hadn't said Vincent sent him, but I decided not to press. I turned to Tanith, because Luc was giving me a headache. "So, this guy is one of those demon hunter dudes? What the fuck is Iscariot?" She'd mentioned the name earlier when talking to the crazy priest.

"Vatican Section 13. The Iscariot Organization." She said grimly. "The secret military arm of the holy land. Like I said, they were active during the war with Mevolent. Not that one though, I've never seen him before."

A choking wheeze came from the still healing priest. "That's because I'm only twenty five ya dried up old cunt."

"Weren't you just quoting scripture and shit a minute ago?" I asked the still perforated but rapidly repairing holy man."

The crazed priest grinned at me. "I don't owe politeness to heathen trollops. I'll kill you all for consorting with abominations anyway, why bother wasting proverbs and scripture on you despicable minions of evil."

"Shut up." Luc said in an almost gentle voice. Then he shot the healing priest four more times in the face, only stopping when his gun clicked empty. He grumbled under his breath and reholstered it. "Anyway, yes, I came to help, but not with this moron. He's a little out of your depth, but you wouldn't have died."

"Oh." I said lamely. "Well fine, who did you come to help with? Is it the ghost? Because we handled the last one ok, and he was no joke."

"Maldor?" He asked with a laugh. "He was DEFINITELY a joke. But sure, very impressive. Maldor was still just a sorcerer. All the strongest of Master's old peerage were Vampires. Something about Vampirism and evil pieces mixes well. That's why I'm the magnificent beast of a man you see before you."

"We noticed." I said, glancing at Seras, who was pinned in place staring at Luc with an expression of palpable dread, looking like a snake in front of a mongoose. Or a mongoose in front of a snake. One of those. I didn't know animals.

He glanced at her nonchalantly. "Oh, hey, you've been feeding that one devil blood. Nice. You gonna turn her? I could totally show her the ropes. I have this really nice set I use to tie up new vampires so I can leave them in isolation for a few weeks. Really makes them appreciate the lack of hunger."

"I…think we're good." I said slowly. "On the training. Should we do something about him?" I pointed to where the priest was piecing his skull back together.

Luc, or I guess Alucard, groaned and walked over, lifting the man up and literally PUNTING him through the window. The glass shattered and the priest went flying off into the night. Alucard shaded his eyes like a visor and squinted. "Huh. Good air time on that one." He turned back to us. "Come on then, let's get out of here. The others are all dead, so I'll just take you to the ghost myself. Isn't that generous of me?" He sounded very impressed with himself.

I felt a shift in the air as a demonic circle formed, faster and smoother than I'd ever managed. The crest in the center was a dragon with a two hilted sword through it. I hadn't bothered to ever check mine, but before I could wonder what it was, we vanished, appearing instantly in a stone room with a big double seated table at the center.

"Thanks for the save." I said to Alucard cautiously. "That would have been a bitch to handle on my own." I disagreed with his assessment that I wouldn't have been able to take the crazy priest, but it didn't hurt to be polite to master vampire devils who could and probably would eat me alive without a problem.

Snorting, he slumped down onto one of the benches. "Please. I was bored, and helping a baby devil isn't a big deal." He glanced at Shaggy and Scooby. "Been a while since I saw those two though. You still a werewolf?"

Shaggy glared at him. "Like, no man, I got that fixed. No thanks to you." He paused. "Or, I mean, we used the spellbook we stole from you, so it was kind of thanks to you."

"Right!" Said the vampire in realization. "I forgot about that thing. What happened to the blonde you had with you? The one with the big tits and the bimbo voice? She was a smokeshow. Way too hot for you." He glanced at DB appraisingly. "Though I don't hate the new model."

Shaggy's eyes went wide. "No way man! Daphne is like, my childhood friend. As for Googie…we broke up. It's a long story."

"That's a ridiculous name." I said bluntly. "And your name is Norville, so the comparison alone should make it less absurd. What's this about a spellbook though?" I was focused on something he'd said earlier. Alucard was a vampire, so if he had a spellbook it might be blood magic. "Do you think it could help Daphne's sister?"

The tall vampire shrugged. "Probably. I lose track of things. It might be able to break a curse Ralkor came up with. Of course, you'd have to find it."

Val, who had been pretty quiet since the whole 'devil' revelation (Alucard was not great for maintaining a cover, I was pretty grateful no one had brought it up yet) perked up. "If his ex doesn't still have it, I might know someone who can get us a lead. She collects all sorts of rare books."

Tanith groaned. "Oh god, not HER. She's always so smug about everything." She turned to Shaggy. "Please tell me your ex has it in a box somewhere."

He shook his head. "Nah, we like, ditched that thing after we got it. We were worried HE would send his goons after us to get it back." He jerked a thumb at Alucard, who seemed mostly unconcerned with all of this.

"FINE." Huffed the blonde swordswoman. "I suppose after we handle the ghost we can try talking to China. She likes you at least Val. Plus pretty boy over there is kind of a lech, and seeing his reaction to China's magic sounds highly entertaining."

I glowered at her, putting on a faux lofty diabolical tone. "I am NOT a lech. I'm a devil. We're creatures of hedonism and base urges. A lowly mortal such as yourself will never understand the trials of superior beings such as myself."

She gave me a sweet smile. "How about I get my sword out and we see how superior you really are?"

"How about we get MINE and I can show you in detail." I said with a wink. Tanith burst out laughing at that. That was one of the reasons I liked her, she wasn't a shrinking violet. She gave as good as she got.

To my surprise, Suzie stepped between us, face red but scrunched up in annoyance. "Daphne was right, you're incorrigible. We're supposed to be on a mission here right? This book is a possible method to help Daphne's sister, but we still need to get rid of the ghost." She turned to Alucard, her shoulders straightening as she looked him in the eye. "Are you going to help us with that?"

He seemed pensive, but eventually shook his head. "Nah, that sounds boring. You can handle a ghost, even of one of my fellow peerage members. You've got a necromancer with you after all. I'm probably going to bail. I have all of Flapjack DVR'd and I've got a huge marathon planned for later."

I blinked at him. "But…what about the ghost? How are we supposed to find it? It could be anywhere and that priest killed all the vampires." I glanced at Val, who looked unhappy, though less broken up than expected about her vampire buddy. "I thought you would help us track down whichever of the thirteen this was."

Honestly I'd been hoping he'd help us with the capture, he'd be useful to have on side, but then again, he was erratic and pretty obviously dangerous. It might not even be worth it to work with him. I definitely didn't want him training Seras. I was sure we could puzzle out how her powers worked together after the reincarnation. Assuming she even ended up wanting to be a devil, I still had to have THAT conversation.

Alucard stood up, stretching and then walking over to an empty spot on the stone floor as he called up the circle that would take him away. "Find him?" He said lazily as the magic covered his body, beginning to swallow him up. "I brought you right to him. He's in this castle. Did I not mention that? Oh well, I guess not. Happy hunting little devil!" The circle reached the ground, Alucard's form vanishing completely. Fucking vampires.

December 7th, 2010. Malahide Castle, Dublin, Ireland, 11:00 PM BST

The stone floors shook as the temperature began to drop. I exhaled slowly in annoyance. Right. Of course he brought us to where the fucking ghost was. Because how else would he help but in the literal most inconvenient way possible. "Alright people." I snapped. "Get ready for…whatever that is. I can feel its malice. It doesn't fucking like us and we need to get some defenses set up since we have no clue what we're facing."

Tanith nodded. "I got it." She strode over to the door of the room, shoving it closed, then placed a hand flat against the wood and muttered. "Withstand." There was a flash of blue energy across the surface of the door, before the wood faded back to normal. Tanith looked over her shoulder. "Assuming it would have come through the walls already if possible, that should slow it down."

Suzie drew her wand, tapping the table, and the wood began to warp and twist. As we all watched, the table legs started to move, walking the whole thing over to the door before tipping it over to barricade the entryway.

I whistled. "Damn Suzie, that's pretty impressive. Transfiguration is pretty useful, you'll have to teach me that trick sometime."

She gave me a tired smile. "It's nothing much. A temporary animation, and it pretty much wiped me out. It's a slightly higher level version of the dancing teacup spell if you want to be technical. I'm advanced in Transfiguration, but not THAT advanced."

My response was unfortunately cut off by a massive boom as something hit the door of the room we were in. Tanith's blue energy field flashed, nearly collapsing, but apparently held out, at least until the second hit when it shattered and the door was shoved inward, only to be stopped by the table.

"Shaggy, Scooby, where's the chest of demons?" I turned to look at our resident ghost sensors. "We're going to need it."

The tall hippy in the red shirt paled. "Like…we left it in the van." I blinked, turning to look at him blankly. He shrugged. "We were meeting vampires, man. We didn't need it!"

Sighing, I turned to Seras. "Push that thing against the door and hold it. Any of the rest of you who can manage to slow that thing down do it, I'm taking the idiots to get the chest and I'll be right back." Which actually make me wonder why the devil ghost wasn't teleporting inside, but the low chuckle as he hit the door answered that well enough.

Grabbing Shaggy and Scooby, I focused my power, unleashing a teleportation circle to take us back to the Ballymun apartments. We popped up right outside and headed for their red van thing (they called it the mystery machine, which was kind of funny in a lame way, though I was informed it was the second incarnation). When we got to the van though, they both stopped, shaking visibly.

"Hurry up guys." I snapped. "The girls are holding it off for us, but we need to get back before he breaks through."

Shaggy reached for the door slowly, but his hand froze, his head drooping. "Like…I don't know if I can." My head snapped up, and his eyes met mine, and to my surprise, I could see tears gathered in them.

"What the hell man, what are you doing?" I tried to keep my anger in check. As a devil my temper was kind of unstable, but if I scared him too bad I'd be screwed. "Your friend is in trouble too. I saw you get in the way of Daphne earlier with the priest. You care about her right?"

His face twisted in genuine hurt. "Like, of course I do! Daph and I have been buds since we were little kids. She's like a sister to me. But I'm not cut out for this man. Fake masked villains and creepy costumes, those are my thing. But this? This is CRAZY. These are real ghosts, and magic and…you, I don't even know what you are, man!"

I started to get angrier, but I pushed it down. "Look." I said impatiently. "I owe you an explanation I guess. And I'll give it. But now isn't the time. I know this seems like too much, that its scary and disturbing and you feel out of your depth. But I just need you to answer one question. If something happens to DB because of you, if she gets killed because you were too scared to help, would that REALLY be better than dying?"

He froze in place, his breathing stopping. His face hardened. "No." He said firmly. "I'd like, never forgive myself."

"Well there you go." I said. "Grab that chest and lets bounce. Don't worry about the ghost, I'll fight him off. You and Scooby only have to be ready to trap him once I soften him up. Can you do that for me?"

I looked at both of them, and I was proud to see the hippy turn to his dog with a fiery look in his eyes. "He's right Scoob. Daph needs us. We can DO this. We can't let her down."

The dog, who had been watching us from behind his best friend, nodded. "Reah." He said solemnly.

Turning to open the van, Shaggy brought out a box, shaking it until two brown biscuits fell out. "Two Scooby snacks for luck old buddy old pal, and then we go back." He tossed one to the dog, who snapped it out of the air.

The big great dane threw back his head and howled. "SCOOBY DOOBY DOO!" And I couldn't help but burst out in joyful laughter as the two cowards put their big boy pants on. I'd liked the two of them from the beginning, but seeing them like this I was actually starting to respect them too.

Shaggy picked up the chest, and I put a hand on each of them and conjured another circle, bringing us back to the castle.

My good mood met an untimely end when I noticed the giant clawed hand that had punched through the door and was groping around, trying to snatch up Seras, who was dodging while holding the table against the door. She probably would have been caught, except Val had her hands up and was pushing a barricade of tangible shadow against the thing to hold it in place.

Snarling, I whipped out my wand and snarled. "Incendio!" At the hand, and a wave of concentrated fire consumed the grasping appendage, earning a roar from the thing as it snatched the hand back.

As it retreated, I could see the form of the devil ghost, a towering lion headed man with blazing green eyes and rippling muscles. I cursed internally. I didn't know what kind of creature that was, but I could guess what kind of devil. I turned to where Tanith was watching the door worriedly, unable to help with the barricade.

"Is that sword magic?" I asked bluntly. "Because I'm pretty sure I know what that is, and we're going to need something to hurt it."

Rooks, which I was absolutely sure that was, were the bruisers of the devil world. Strong and durable, rooks were the dumb muscle, and dead or not, muscle from someone on Radivan's level of peerage wasn't going to be someone I could overpower with brute force.

"It's made of woven razor." She said with a nod. "It's a magical metal that never grows dull and can shear through bone like paper."

"That, I can work with." I said with a grin. "Pass it to me." She hesitated for a second, but then she did. Gripping the sword, I focused on the enchanted aspect that made it sharper, and then I started to dump in power.

One upside of devil magic being so vague was that it could do ANYTHING as long as I believed it could. While I wasn't convinced I could enchant an item permanently, supercharging a spell was my bread and butter, and I was ABSOLUTELY sure I could do that. I poured in as much power as the thing could hold, but eventually I had to pull back when the metal started to glow a deep crimson.

I'd hit the tolerance level of the enchanted metal, and I passed it back to Tanith, who gingerly took the blade with a look of awe on her pretty face.

"Don't attack until I get you an opening." I told her solemnly. Then headed over to where the girls were holding back the now shuddering door. "Suzie. I have a plan." I pulled her close and whispered to her, then stepped up and murmured in Val's ear. Once then nodded, I turned to Seras. "When I say now, I want you to throw the table out of the way and dive for cover."

She looked confused and a little worried, but she let out a long breath and agreed. I stepped back, waiting for her to do as I'd said. She grasped the corner of the massive wooden table, and with all her strength, hurled it sideways and then threw herself out of the way.

The door burst open, and I brought my wand up, pointing it at the triumphant rook. "ARRESTO MOMENTUM!" I bellowed with every ounce of power I had left. The formerly charging giant lion demon slammed to a stop, held immobile by my magic.

As soon as he was still, Val's shadows snapped up and coiled around him, creating and tether binding him down to the ground. Suzie snapped out an incantation, and the ground beneath his feet transformed into grease up to about and inch, suddenly his attempts to plant his feet and pull free of the necromantic bindings dissolved into a fumbling slipping writhe of confused panic.

His eyes widened in terror, presenting a tempting target, and I wasn't the only one who thought so as Tanith dropped from the ceiling where she'd been waiting using her wall walking power and drove the glowing sword up the hilt in the monster's giant green eye.

"Shaggy, Scooby, NOW!" I bellowed. And I caught a blur as the man and dog came bolting from behind us, leaping high into the air and snapping open the chest of demons as they came down. They swung the box overhand, snapping it down on the lion demon, with Tanith just barely having time to retrieve her sword and dodge as the massive creature was sucked up into the box before it slammed shut with a loud bang.

The chest dropped onto the floor, the eyes of the demonic lock gleaming green as it shook like a fucking pokeball before growing still. Shaggy and Scooby collapsed, the terror draining their energy as they broke into wild laughter.

I joined them, my own laugh echoing off the castle walls. "Ok." I said breathlessly. "That was pretty fucking awesome." To my shock, I felt an influx of energy into me as my demonic power grew. I'd helped them capture another ghost, and I'd been instrumental in the apprehension. I'd accomplished a contract, or at least part of one.

Rolling her eyes, DB, who hadn't been able to do much in this little dust up, chuckled lightly. "You're crazy. But yeah, it was kind of cool. Now that it's over though, do you think you can tell us all what the hell is going on?"

Right, Alucard had kind of blown my cover devil wise. I grinned, then shrugged. "Sure, I guess I can catch you up. Let's get out of here though, we can start heading for that library while I tell the story. That big ass cat definitely wasn't the guy we were looking for, so Luc's grimoire is probably our best bet." And once we got that we could go the fuck home. I still had a christmas vacation to spend with my mom and my girls. Though I had to admit, the demonic energy boost was definitely worth the time investment. Maybe I'd help them out with a few more of these.

December 7th, 2010. China Sorrow's library, Dublin, Ireland, 1:00 AM BST

"That's a big ass building." I commented as we stopped outside a huge two story structure that took up an entire city block. The whole thing was made of brick, with tightly shuttered windows bearing reinforced security shutters. The door was plated steel, and it was clear that the person who lived here took security very seriously.

Val looked up at the place cheerfully. "Is it? I don't even notice anymore. I spend so much time here it just seems normal."

Which was fair, since that was exactly how I felt about Hogwarts. People could get used to anything. Tanith, on the other hand, didn't seem to be particularly fond of this place, or used to it. Her eyes darted suspiciously and she seemed to be waiting for an attack or something.

Our goth guide ignored her, striding confidently up to the security door and rapping on it loudly without a care in the world. "Oi! China! We need to get in!" She called loudly.

After about ten minutes of no response, a few bolts flipped and the door opened, revealing a breathtaking woman in a short white nightgown. She had a shawl over her shoulders that fell over the silky material enough that I could only see her heavily tattooed arms from the elbows down.

"Valkyrie." She said with a warm smile, her voice like melted honey dripping into my ears. "It's so good to see you. Though I'd rather have preferred you brought your friends here at a more reasonable time of the day." She shot Scooby a disapproving look. "And we don't allow dogs."

"Rog?" Said our resident pooch. "Rere?" He looked around frantically, but got distracted by his tail and ended up chasing it in circles.

China's (at least, I assumed) lips quirked up in a slight smile. "My mistake then. No dogs here I suppose." Her accent was thick, but more melodic than most of the irish accents I'd heard since arriving here. Weirdly, there was an undercurrent beneath the words, sort of a slight buzzing in the back of my head.

I felt my heart throb a bit, but not in affection or any kind of lust. In the more literal sense I'd felt back at the welcoming feast. I was pretty sure someone was trying to fuck with my head a bit. It wasn't intense, just a consistent and annoying low level hum, but I had a good idea why the others expected me to humiliate myself with China.

"Stop that." I snapped. "It's giving me a headache. You're already gorgeous, why even bother with the magical whammy?"

She shot me an apologetic smile. "It's not intentional I'm afraid. Merely a side effect of my particular brand of power. I'd shut it off for you if I could. Still, it's impressive you can shrug it off, you're in rare company there. I do hope the sensation isn't too unpleasant."

Her tone was sweet and caring, and I was more than aware that even without whatever coercion magic she had, she was a very dangerous woman. Every single movement was beautiful and appealing, every expression aimed to captivate. I didn't think THAT was on purpose either, just what her power had made of her.

"Can we come inside?" Snapped Tanith, finally getting fed up waiting. "I'm freezing my tits off out here, and you two can bicker inside where it's warm."

China gave her a smile that wasn't really a smile at all. "Miss Low. How lovely to see you again. Just as charming and elegant as ever. Very well, you may enter, I would never turn away dear Valkyrie and her friends then they're in need."

Tanith sneered at her and stalked past, muttering under her breath about elegantly inserting her sword in China's ass to join the stick that was already up there. China just smiled softly, stepping aside to let the rest of us in.

Val hugged her after she shut the door, happily expressing her gratitude before introducing us. "Oh, these are my new friends. Ryan, Susan, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo." She pointed to each of us in turn. "We're here to take a look at the library. Sorry it's so late, but we need to track down a very specific book so Ryan can help his girlfriend's sister break a nasty blood curse."

"Well if you're looking for books this would be the place to check." She chuckled. "Do you know the title? The author? Perhaps the year of publication?"

We all glanced at Shaggy, who flushed. "It was like, kind of an embarrassing title. The leather was some kind of red leather with gold trim, and the title was on the inside. He called it 'Blood, Bats, and Bitches: Sorcery Basics for Fuckmothering Vampires'. It was by Dracula. Or I guess the author was listed as Vlad Tepes."

Her brows went up. "A book on vampiric blood sorcery. How provocative." Turning, she gestured for us to follow. "Well I can only think of a few sections to find that in, if it's even here. The title doesn't ring a bell, but I have a truly staggering collection, and even I can't remember them all."

She led us to a large open room with wall to wall books and a series of dark wood furniture and overstuffed couches. "If you'd like to wait in the reading room, it'll be faster if I undertake the search in your stead. My library can be a bit willful, and it responds rather snappishly at night. If any of the rest of you go searching you're bound to come up empty."

We found Tanith already sprawled out on the couch, snoring loudly from where she'd apparently fallen asleep, much to China's mild irritation. The beautiful library own pointed us to the couches and then turned and stalked out without glancing at the swordswoman more than once.

Val just snickered. "She's gone Tanith. You can stop pretending to be asleep. I don't understand why you feel the need to antagonize her."

"Because she's an insufferable swot who thinks she's the gods gift to the world." Tanith snorted as she sat up. "I find irking her amusing. So…can we talk about all the nonsense that happened in that castle?" She said bluntly. "Because there was quite a bit of it."

I shrugged. I'd been playing things close to the vest, but Alucard had pretty much fucked me there. I might as well tell them what was up. Including Seras.

So…I did. I launched into a detailed explanation, or as detailed as possible without giving away too much of my more dangerous secrets. I didn't mention the evil pieces, just a vague mention of being able to reincarnate people and the different types of devil (I'd already brought up rooks so that cat was out of the bag).

I also mentioned the ability to bring people back from the dead. Seras deserved to know that. Even if I couldn't have saved her parents, she deserved to know that it was a possibility and I fucked it up by not being fast enough.

By the time I was done, her eyes were fixed on me, and I was trying not to flinch back from her gaze. The guilt I'd buried in school and quests to other countries came back full force, and I felt…small. What had happened to her was my fault. I expected her to be angry, to attack me or lash out at me.

To my surprise though, her expression was soft. "You would have brought them back if you could have." She said with certainty. I wasn't nearly as sure, and I think that showed on my face, because her smile got wider. "You WOULD. You're that kind of person. You wouldn't have let me hurt like that."

"It was my fault." I said hoarsely. "All of it. You shouldn't have been involved. I was so cocky about smacking around that baby vamp that I didn't even consider that he might come after someone else to get to me. I felt him following me, but I thought I lost him. I should have just gone home. I shouldn't have come to see you at all."

She nodded. "Yeah, that was stupid. But you're eighteen and have absolutely no tactical training. Doing stupid things comes with the territory, especially when you're high on your own invincibility."

"It felt like a game." I whispered. "Like I was in some RPG. It wasn't…real. It was too absurd, too much fun. Once I thought I lost him that was it. I was a big bad devil right? Just another amazing power I had that made life fun. I didn't take this seriously at all, and your parents paid the price. You paid it."

"So do better." She said, her tone hard. "Look, I was training to be a cop. I expected some danger in my life. What happened to you could just as easily have happened to me. Maybe not the vampires, but being followed to someone's house? You took responsibility for it. For me. And…" She flushed. "I don't know what I'd have done without you and your mum. I needed you guys. Still need you. You're all I have left."

"That's so SAD!" Wailed Suzie, hurling herself onto Seras in a tight hug. "I'm here for you too Seras, anytime you need me. I promise you can always talk to me!"

Her eyes were overflowing with tears, and I knew they were totally genuine. They'd already bonded over the similarities in their backgrounds to an extent, and Suzie was a living teddy bear. She could empathize with anyone, even without the obvious parallels.

The others stayed quiet. The devil stuff had given them a lot to think about, but more than that, I think they just didn't want to interrupt.

Seras pulled Suzie close as the other girl cried, smiling peacefully as she basked in my girlfriend's insane ability to make anyone feel at ease. Finally though, I heard footsteps and my head snapped up as China re-entered the room.

She strode up to the table, ignoring the tearful hugs, and dropped a large book with a dark red leather cover on the table.

"Here." She said smugly. "I had to do a few circuits to find it. It was buried between a werewolf sandwich compendium and dryad tea growing manual." I very carefully did not ask if the compendium taught werewolves to MAKE sandwiches or taught other people how to make sandwiches OUT of werewolves. I was pretty sure I didn't want to know.

I reached for it, and she smacked my hand away sternly. "My library is for friends or those who can pay. This is a rare book. Why should I give it to you?"

Val reached out to put a hand on China's. "Please? This is important. We're trying to save a girl's life. I'll owe you one, or Skulduggery will." She gave me a smile. "They're alright, and I have a feeling we might work together again in the future."

The silk clad woman raised a brow. "Interesting." She said slowly. "You're not usually the type to do things without a reason, Valkyrie. I wonder where this little hunch is coming from." Eventually she sighed. "Fine. You may borrow the book for the remainder of the month. Return it before the first of January, lest I come looking for you personally."

Tanith looked like she was about to say something, but Val covered her mouth with a glare, then shot China a grateful smile. "Thanks, China. I owe you one." She passed me the book, and I popped it open, passing the ridiculous title page Shaggy had mentioned.

As I flipped through, my smile got wider and wider. Perfect. I stood up, nodding my thanks. "I appreciate all the help guys, this is exactly what I needed." I paused, thinking about what they'd just done for me, how much it had helped, and how they'd done it for no other reason than to help Astoria. "Say…are you guys doing anything for Christmas dinner?"

December 10th, 2010. Ryan's Manor, London, England, 7:00 PM BST

We got home and I considered contacting Daphne right away. We didn't have the exact spell to break the curse though, just the book, so I decided to do some solo research to find what we needed. I wanted to have all the materials on hand to actually do it before I let her know there was hope.

Which meant I was currently curled up in bed with a ridiculously dense grimoire written in an often unreliable and erratic rambling monologue, possibly penned in human blood, and with a few punctuation marks I was pretty sure were made up. I was getting a headache.

I tried to spend time with Suzie and my mom and Seras as much as I could, but my dinner with Daphne and her family was in thirteen days, and magically significant number aside that wasn't a lot of research time. I kept slipping away to read up on the blood magic, trying to find a counterspell or anything like it, but so far, nothing.

Now I knew why Alucard hadn't just told us how to break the spell. This entire book was stream of consciousness insanity that I highly suspected was written while high, but Shaggy swore the book had real magic in it, and had even used it to cure his lycanthropy (albeit under unusual circumstances) so I persevered.

Despite my focus, I was a bit relieved when there came a rap rap rapping at my chamber door. "Nevermore." I intoned. The person on the other side didn't come in, so I just rolled my eyes. "No one in this house has a sense of humor. Come in."

The door pushed open slowly, red eyes scanning the room slowly as Seras entered, looking…pensive. "Thanks. I was hoping to talk to you."

"You know, I think that invitation thing is front door exclusive." I said with a grin. "Once you're in the house you can kind of just go wherever." If it was even true at all. I'd never actually checked.

A ghost of a smile twitched at her lips. "As if, I'd probably walk in on you flogging the dolphin or something. Give me nightmares for a year. I'll stick to knocking like a civilized person." Her brow furrowed in a grimace. "Though I suppose I'm neither of those things, now am I?"

I glared at her. "You shut your fucking cakehole." I snapped. "Nobody talks about my friend like that. Besides, I'm a literal creature of the underworld, you just have a really aggressive strain of rabies. You're not a monster, you're a make a wish kid. If anyone here isn't a person its me. I'm an abomination." I said brightly.

She just looked at me, red eyes gleaming in the shadows of my room like ruby lanterns. "That's why I'm here to talk to you." She said firmly.

"To tell me I'm an abomination?" I asked breezily."Because you're a bit late, but I'll make a note."

Her eyes never left me. "To talk to you about being a devil. You wanted to turn me, right? Make me a…devil vampire, or whatever. So I could help you. Is that why you had your mum take me in? Why you've been so good to me?"

"Nah, that was mostly guilt." I said bluntly. "Plus your tits are huge. I'm a multi faceted creature, I do things for many reasons."

She actually snorted out a laugh at that, my brutal honesty breaking her composure. She shook her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "God you're such an arsehole." She giggled. "Can you EVER be serious?"

"Impossible. He's my uncle." My words came out almost on reflex, despite having only told that joke like once or twice. I shook off the weirdness and the guilt of not getting him out. Mom had gotten Aunt Cassie to agree to a meeting, but she wouldn't come here. She would only meet at the ministry ball.

"ANYWAY." Said Seras firmly. "I'm glad you were honest about that. I figured those were some of the reasons. It…means a lot, that you didn't do it to lay some claim on me."

I hesitated, but in the end, honestly seemed important. "I DID plan on reincarnating you, if you were ok with it. I wanted to bring you to Hogwarts with me. Devils can use wizard magic, so the reincarnation would make you eligible. I figured since you were shut out of muggle society after your…death. It would give you a fresh start."

That got a stare of shock from my friend, before she frowned. "What about the whole…harem thing. Susan told me that females you reincarnate will find you irresistible or something."

"Not exactly." I said uncertainly. "The booklet is vague. I've never reincarnated anyone so I wouldn't know. I know that there's a bond, and that it goes both ways mostly. I know it's important and powerful. I know that romantic feelings CAN be part of it when the two people are of opposite genders."

Despite my words, she didn't seem to want to back down. "Well…should we just shag beforehand and get it over with?" She asked bluntly.

"I…what?" I stammered. I was far from a blushing virgin, but that was more forward than expected. "Seras, like I said, there's a bond, but I'm not going to make it a prerequisite that you fuck me. If we end up heading that direction fine, but it's not a fucking down payment. Do I really seem like that kind of person?"

She shook her head. "You don't. I didn't think you were. I just…I want to do this. To become something more. Not just for you and your mum, but for me, to see what I can be. Alucard is so bloody strong, that could be me. I could be like that. All I have to do is accept your offer and I could be…someone totally new."

She seemed pretty enamored with the idea, and I'd already told her most of what to expect at the library (I hadn't mentioned the bond thing, it didn't seem like the time) but I wanted to make sure she wasn't doing this on a whim. "Seras…this isn't something you can undo. If you become a devil you're stuck with me. For ten thousand years. Unless you die."

"I'm a vampire." She said flatly. "I'm going to be around for years anyway. And you helped me when no one else would. A whole new world is right there if I do this. Not just the wizard stuff, but everything you're involved in."

Sighing, I stood up. "Alright. If you're positive. Come lay down on the bed." I gestured to where I'd been reading, setting my book to the side. She looked a bit wary and I rolled my eyes. "This isn't a sexual thing, I'm reincarnating you. If my experience is anything to go by you'll black out, and I'd prefer you didn't bash your hard vampire skull on my furniture."

"Oi." She snapped in offense. "I'll have you know I'm a delicate flower in the full bloom of young womanhood. And if you imply otherwise again I'll bust your fucking knob."

I chuckled dryly. "My mistake miss. How could I mistake you for anything but a lady. Now get your extremely feminine ass on the bed so I can convert you to another lifeform without your elegant refined body crushing any of my shit when you collapse."

Sniffing haughtily, she climbed onto the bed, flipping over and laying down. "Don't you dare perv on me while you're doing this." She said in embarrassment. "We can see what happens with the bond, but you already said you don't expect me to put out. If it's not a requirement I'm gonna make you work for it. Flowers and chocolates and shit."

I snickered at her bravado. "Yes dear." Walking over to the end table by my bed, I pulled out the wooden box I'd gotten months ago. Flipping it open, I sorted through the various pieces, trying to decide what to use.

Pawns were out, it would probably take a bunch of them anyway, and I wanted to use them for my friends when I brought them in on the secret. I was saving my Queen for someone stronger, and without any native magic a Bishop was a waste. My options were Knight or Rook, and I was leaning towards the latter given Alucard's success with the piece. I reached in and plucked one of my two rooks out, spinning it in my fingers.

"You ok with doubling down on your physical attributes?" I asked her. I didn't want to just decide for her, there was SOME leeway, even if not much. "You'll be stronger and more durable, though I can make you faster too if you prefer."

She frowned for a second, then nodded. "I'll take the strong one. It's more my style."

Grinning down at my friend, I considered her blunt and straightforward personality. She was right. The Rook suited her to a T. I removed the piece, holding it up over her heart. This was my first reincarnation, so I was a little nervous, but the booklet told me how to do it, and it wasn't complicated.

First I infused the piece with my demonic power. It was my evil piece and bound to my king piece, so it was primed for it anyway, but this was the step that made sure she would be properly bound to me. The piece began to glow a deep and ominous crimson.

"Close your eyes." I said gently to Seras. She did so without hesitation, and I held the Rook over her chest. I kind of wanted to say something deep and profound, but in the end I couldn't think of anything. I let go, and the piece hovered in the air for a minute, hanging suspended over her, before it began to float downward.

It grew in brightness as it fell, the glow getting stronger as it drew near her. I was halfway worried it would burn her to ash or hurt her, but when it made contact, rather than physically touch, there was a sort of…ripple, in the space above her. Like a rock hitting a lake in slow motion, a translucent wave of disrupted space washed out as the Rook vanished into her chest.

Her body locked up, back arching, eyes going wide as her mouth opened in a silent cry of shock. Her red irises were locked on the ceiling as she shook like she was having a seizure. Red light exploded up from her chest, coating her body, molding to every inch of her flesh as it remade her from the ground up.

Somewhere in the back of my head I could feel the change. Not just through our bond, but in front of me, as the energy coming off her shifted. At first I felt the vampire, then I felt the devil, wrapped around her like a candy coating. But as it went on my chocolate got in her peanut butter, and the two started intermingle and blend until they were one in the same.

The red light faded, and she dropped back onto the mattress, bonelessly. I grinned down at her, raising an eyebrow. "So? How does it feel to be the first devil aside from me born in…I don't know probably at least a hundred years?"

She stared at me blankly, her wings extending as she started to float up off the bed listlessly, her head still full of all the processing she was going.

Finally, her eyes cleared and locked on mine. "It feels…bloody incredible." She stayed quiet for a minute after that, then grinned at me wolfishly. "You should have held out for sex. I'd have totally let you bugger me for this if I knew how good it felt." Then, ignoring my shocked expression, she darted out of the room. Or at least, she did the second time. She smashed head first into my door frame once before leaving. I'd been right, her hard head DID cause some damage.

December 13th, of Magic, England, 7:00 PM BST

"Damn, this place is really nice." I whistled in amazement as we entered that massive white and gold ballroom. "Like…way over the top, but still, I love what they've done with the room." There were dozens of magical effects coating the place, streaming lengths of gold and white cloth ghosting above us, ghosts dancing atop them as the mirrors lining the walls turned the whole tableau into a spectral spectacle.

Theo snorted. "It better be nice. You have no clue how much they pour into this party every year. High end enchanters shipped in from all over europe, magical materials, creatures, hell, they bought the ghosts special for tonight, all anchored to haunted objects they can send back or put in storage after."

"Well, it looks impressive at any rate." I said with a shrug. "So…you're the high society guy. What do we do first?" I glanced at my redhead. "Suzie? Any ideas? I kind of want a drink, but maybe we should go say hi to your Aunt."

Her cheeks darkened. "Introduce you…to my Aunt? I suppose that's important, yes. We could do that." She grabbed my arm, pulling it against her side and taking a long, deep, breath before nodding firmly. "Yes. I think it's time you meet my Auntie." She turned to the other two. "Hannah, do you and Theo want to come? You know Auntie is always happy to see you."

"I think we'll hit the dance floor." Said Hannah with a smile. "Wouldn't want to step on your moment. Good luck though, you've got this."

Susan looked uncertain, but only for a second, then found her footing and dragged me into the crowd. Leaning in, I whispered in her ear. "You helped me fight a demonic ghost with the head of a lion not long ago. You can face your Aunt. Why are you so worried anyway?"

"Auntie is…critical." Said Susan worriedly. "I don't know if she'll like you. Or think you're good enough."

"Do YOU think I'm good enough?" I asked her gently. When she sputtered an offended affirmative I gave her a smile. "Then who CARES what she thinks? You're eighteen, and she doesn't get to pick your boyfriends. If she doesn't like me that's her problem. You don't owe her anything."

Susan stopped. "I DO." She said firmly. "I owe her everything. She took me in when my parents died. Raised me like I was her own daughter. I don't want her to think I'm not grateful."

"Kids aren't supposed to be grateful." I quoted. "They're supposed to eat your food and break your heart. Raising someone isn't a transaction. If she loves you, she'll want you to be happy, and if she doesn't like the way you do it, she can get over it."

She stared up at me silently, and the sheer adoration in her eyes made me a little uncomfortable. "You're one of the bravest people I've ever met, Ryan." She said softly. "And you make me feel like I can be brave too."

I cleared my throat. "Keep talking like that and I'm going to kiss you senseless, lipstick or not, and wouldn't THAT be a first impression."

That seemed to tip her over the edge of some kind of tension threshold, because she just dissolved into breathless giggles. I hadn't thought it was that funny, but she just doubled over laughing, unable to speak through the gales of laughter. "Sorry." She wheezed. "Sorry, it's just…her FACE. At MY face."

Catching her by the arm, I help her up while she got her giggles out, and then helped her stand up as she took slow breaths to calm down. "Did that help?" I asked with a smirk.

She nodded. "Yes. So much. It's hard to be scared of something you think is hilarious."

"Agreed." I said with a smile. Then I saw Amelia Bones and my jaw dropped. "Ok, the fuck?" I asked as we got closer.

Susan rolled her eyes. "Yes, Auntie has very large breasts. I'll probably get them eventually too. She was a late bloomer that way, and so was my grandmother. This is going to be difficult enough, can you please not stare?"

"I can't promise that." I said bluntly. "What are those? F cups? And that dress is so low cut."

"Eyes up." She snapped, and I jumped a bit at the bark in her voice. Raising an eyebrow at her, she shrugged. "Daphne isn't the only one with a family member who gets lots of male attention. My Auntie always overshadows me in the looks department. I don't like the idea of you drooling over her. I know you're a devil though, and you can't help it."

I snorted. "Fuck that. If it bothers you I'll ignore it. And for the record, you are NOT overshadowed. Sure, she's got tig ol' biddies, but you're a fucking showstopper. Your smile, your eyes, your heart. My Suzie is a hundred times prettier than some old bag with big jugs."

"Ryan!" She said in a faux scandalized voice. But her lips were quirking up uncontrollably in a smile. "That's my Aunt. Be respectful at least."

Shrugging, I pulled her close to me. "Yes dear." That got a deeper blush. "Now, why don't you introduce me. Not doing much good sitting over here waffling." I kept my gaze firmly on Amelia's eyes, though it was a struggle. They were blue apparently. Go figure.

Bracing herself, Susan nodded again, then marched purposefully up to the woman in the blue silk dress. "Auntie." She said primly. "You look lovely. I wanted to introduce you to my boyfriend, Ryan. Ryan, this is Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. My Aunt and guardian."

I extended a hand, but Amelia just glanced down at it dismissively. "Boyfriend." She said shortly. "I assumed you'd start showing interest in men more once you started Hogwarts, but I hoped you'd show better judgement. A member of the Black family, of all things." She clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"Yeah, I hear my family were mostly dicks." I said easily. "I could understand having an issue with them, but that's them, not me."

She shook her head. "Blood will out, boy. Every member of your cursed family are rotten to their bones." She gave Suzie a sad look. "I thought I'd met a decent one when I was your age too. But it was all lies. There are no members of the Black family that aren't evil."

Godsdamnit. Another of my fucking uncle's exes? Or did she mean dad? "Look lady. I don't know you, and you sure as fuck don't know me. I'm not evil, or tainted, or corrupted, or whatever dramatic little insult you want to sling at me. As for my uncle? I've heard more than a few bad things, but I've heard some good too. I ALSO heard he didn't get a trial, which is bullshit, and I'm going to be pushing for that to be corrected."

"Well said!" Cackled a high pitched voice I hadn't heard before. I turned to find a tall, dour looking woman with iron grey hair pulled back in a bun so tight it dragged her eyebrows up. Not up in surprise though, she somehow looked like she was constantly disapproving of everyone around her. "Good to know the current Lord of the House of Black has a spine."

I recognized her from the picture my mom had shown me, and I nodded slowly. "Aunt Cassiopeia. I was hoping to run into you here."

"Of course you were, boy." She snapped. "It's the whole reason you came. You let yourself get sidetracked with the Bones trollop." She sneered at Amelia. "Flouncing those sacks of meat around on display like that. It's shameful. In my day-"

Amelia rolled her eyes. "In your day people lived in mud huts and and ate toads and flies to stave off hunger. No one cares about your history lessons you vicious old crone." At Susan's shocked look, Amelia shrugged. "I told you I was well acquainted with the Black family. I've met the harpy before. She didn't like me then either."

"Because you were an obscene harlot then too. You and that McKinnon girl, always leading my fool nephew around by his nose." She scoffed. "I told him you were just after his money, but he never did listen to me."

I cleared my throat. "Suzie, why don't you take your Aunt to get some punch while I talk to mine." I said in a pleasant voice that brooked no argument.

My girlfriend nodded, grabbing Amelia's arm. "That sounds like a smart idea. Come, Auntie, lets get you something to settle your nerves." She shot me an apologetic smile. "Come find me after, we can enjoy the rest of the party."

Once she was gone, Aunt Cassie sniffed. "Like uncle, like nephew, I suppose. A Bones and a blonde, from what I hear. At least the Greengrasses are well bred. The Bones family is nothing but two harlots and an old manor. You could do better." She sniffed at me. "So. I take it you came to beg for my help? Shouldn't you be groveling?"

I glanced at her, weighing my words for a minute, then shook my head. "Nah, fuck that noise." She blinked and I just shrugged. "I'm not negotiating with you. Uncle Sirius is in prison, and there was no trial. Dad seemed convinced he was innocent, so you're going to start pulling strings to get him out."

"Oh, am I?" She said archly. "And how do you propose to make me do that, boy? Are you going to beat an old woman?"

"Nope." I said cheerfully. "You're going to do it, or I'm going to publicly kick you out of the Black family. I can do that, you know. I'm the Lord. I'll strip you of your name, and I'll make sure everyone knows it."

Her face went flat. "You can't do that." She snapped. "That's political suicide. I'm an established member of the house in good standing. My name is synonymous with Black. You'd be as good as telling everyone your abandoning your entire history."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I shrugged. "I didn't care. The House of Black exists in its current form for my use. If I can't use it, then it's not much good to me. It's not like my money will vanish if the house's name collapses. Look, I just met you, but I don't like you much. You're old and unpleasant and frankly, you smell like too many cats. I gave you my terms. Do as you're told or end up out on the street."

Her eyes, grey as steel like most of the family, locked onto me, boring a hole my head for a minute. And then, she began to laugh. "Finally!" She crowed. "A Lord with a backbone. That's the way a Lord of the House of Black ought to behave, boy. Take what you want, give nothing back. Aye, I'll apply pressure, get my nephew a trial. You just be ready to make sure it sticks."

I knew what she meant. The Ministry had buried my uncle last time, and they could do it again, trial or not. I needed public attention on this…which meant I needed connections in the wizarding world. She wanted me to fucking MINGLE with all these high society types. Joy.

Sighing internally, I nodded, dismissing her as I turned to find Susan and her aunt…and coming to a stop as I nearly ran into a tall man with long blonde hair. He looked like an emaciated fabio with his sneering expression and faux elegant cane. His smile as he saw me was unpleasant. "Well." Said the man I was pretty sure was Lucious Malfoy. "If it isn't my newest nephew. I think we need to have a chat." It was official. I fucking HATED fancy parties.

As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent minimum of 10k words advance content. Hope everyon enjoys!