Where Spirits Have Lease

-Outside Sombras Manor, midnight-

Wearing her Azure Armor over a blue t-shirt with khaki cargo shorts and white tennis shoes, the bullets on Victoria's Bandolier clanked as she faced down the infamous Sombras Manor. Its windows glowed with an eerie light and she could have sworn that she saw human outlines in a couple of the windows. The place was reported to have been abandoned decades ago, but that did nothing to stop the reported sightings of people in the windows. The brunette did not like the sound of that, but she had brought her Silver Dagger in case the manor's ghosts tried to fight her. Even without fighting ghosts, tonight was going to be rough because the manor was large and had more rooms than she could count.

Her job was to go inside and look for a tome that was full of dark magic, then bring it back to Holy Castle for safekeeping. It had been left behind by a previous owner of the mansion and could not be allowed to fall into the hands of dark mages. It was a dangerous place to travel to because many people had been reported missing over the years; many went inside and few ever came out again. No one knew what lurked inside since the few survivors of an exploration of the mansion were not inclined to talk about the experience. Judging from what she had read and heard, she could not really blame them for being reluctant to dredge up unpleasant memories.

However, Victoria would not be undertaking this mission alone. The Order of Lightbringers had sent one of its most experienced mages to assist the Sabertooth mage in the exploration. Her specialty was fighting the undead, but she was also an experienced demon hunter. Victoria did not argue with the Order's choice for support because something about the manor felt... off. Victoria's own encounter with demons beneath Hargeon Town was not a pleasant one. Sombras Manor had the potential to be a repeat of that unpleasant experience, but this time help would be nearby... or so she hoped.

The brunette decided to stay where she was and wait for the Order mage before going into the mansion. This was not a place one blindly charged into without support. This was also not a raid on a bandit cave; this was a serious job against serious opposition. The only weapon of hers that worked against the supernatural was her Silver Dagger, so she could not shoot her way out of fights. She wondered if her shadow power would work here; she might have to use it if no other option was available.

Victoria turned around and looked for the Order mage to watch for her arrival. Victoria's patience was dwindling. What was taking them so long to get here? Had they been reassigned to another job at the last moment? Had they gotten into a fight with some of the Cursed Lands' denizens?

[Word Count: 500]
[Total Word Count: 500/12,500]

Victoria's impatience was starting to get the better of her. The Order mage should have been here by now. A pink-haired girl in a predominantly white outfit with a pink jacket and a black underskirt and wearing a white hat on her head came running down the road and eventually stopped in front of Victoria, putting her hands on her knees and breathing deeply. The confounded mage looked at the exhausted pink-haired girl quizzically. Was she the Order mage that was sent to help her?

The girl had a magical signature that was as powerful as Victoria's own, so the new girl was definitely a mage with some degree of power. The pinkette's blue eyes met Victoria's eyes and the former smiled at her. The brunette thought that this was a joke, a really bad joke. She was about to risk her life in Sombras Manor and all the Order could send was a mage in their early teens? Oh well... she would just have to make do with what she was given, which frankly did not seem like much.

"Hi there! I'm Amberlin! I'm from the Order of Lightbringers!" The pink-haired girl cheerfully introduced herself. At least she was polite... Victoria would give her that much. Since they would be working together, it would be prudent to at least return the favor and be polite in return.

"Hey there. I'm Victoria Sheridan from the Legal guild Sabertooth." Victoria introduced herself with nowhere near the enthusiasm that Amberlin did. The pinkette did not take offense and simply smiled back.

"I remember you rescuing us from Fat Monsterland the other day. That was a close one!" She said. Victoria looked at her again. There was a pink-haired cleric among the five that she managed to save from the fat zombies, but she was overshadowed by Serena, Sabrina, and the blue-haired and red-haired mages. Victoria wondered what kind of holy magic Amberlin would bring to the table.

"Yeah, it was. It was a lot closer than I would have liked it to been. I had to run through the woods and hitch a wagon ride out of there." Victoria recounted. Amberlin brought her arms up to her chest in surprise.

"I'm glad you made it out alright, Victoria. Serena's taken a liking to you. She says you're a bit rough around the edges, but when the chips are down you're a good mage to turn to!" Amberlin told Victoria in what was supposed to be a compliment, but the "rough around the edges" comment sounded more like an insult. The brunette decided to let the implied insult go and focus on the positive, which was someone actually liking her. Besides, Victoria was kind of rough around the edges, so Serena was not exactly lying when she said that.

"I'm glad I could help, Amberlin. Let's go inside the manor." Victoria suggested.

Amberlin:

[Word Count: 500]
[Total Word Count: 1,000/12,500]

-Inside Sombras Manor-

Victoria entered the manor with Amberlin right behind her. They shut the wooden doors and looked down an enormous hallway in front of them and saw one to their left. Victoria did not know which way to go first, so she turned to the Order mage.

"Which way should we go first?" Victoria asked her partner. Amberlin shrunk back for a moment. She then closed her eyes and an afterimage of the mage formed as she began to glow gold. The afterimage expanded upward and then disappeared. The golden glow faded moments later.

"We go left." Amberlin asserted confidently. Victoria summoned her Light Machine Gun and looked towards the pink-haired cleric.

"OK. Left it is." Victoria said to her. The pair then proceeded down the hallway to their left, which was lined with picture frames that were crooked and old furniture coated in dust. The place had not been cleaned in a very long time. They found a closed door and the Sabertooth mage put her hand on it. She opened the door into an art room with an art easel set up.

-Inside the art room-

The mages looked around the art room, which was as dusty as the hallway they had just left behind. There was an abandoned easel with a blank canvas sitting on it. To the right of the easel was a small jar of red paint sitting on a dresser and a paintbrush with thin bristles lying on a blank palette. Hanging on the walls were oil paintings of people who looked to be noblemen and noblewomen because they had all assumed formal poses and were dressed in very old clothing from an era long before either mage was born.

"Look at all these paintings. They're so well painted. They look almost new, like someone painted them yesterday." Amberlin commented. Victoria looked at them more closely and saw that the pink-haired mage was right. While the rest of the room was dusty, the paintings were all immaculately clean. Why would someone clean the paintings and ignore the rest of the room?

Victoria did not know nor did she really care. Her interest in the room began and ended with the magic item they were sent to retrieve. The pair started to leave the room when the paintbrush floated on its own and the cap of the small paint jar was twisted off. The paintbrush dipped itself in the paint and floated to the canvas, then began to paint a message.

"Look!" Amberlin whispered. Victoria paused in place and watched as a message was painted out for them. When it was finished, the paintbrush set itself back on the pallete as if nothing had ever happened. On the canvas the pair saw a simple warning.

GET OUT!

The message was painted in bright red letters that left no room for interpretation. Someone did not want them here. Unfortunately for the unseen person, neither mage was leaving until they had what they came for.

"Looks like we're not welcome here." Victoria snarked to Amberlin. The pair left the room and went back to the main hallway.

-In the main hallway-

The mages shut the room door behind them and continued down the hallway. They passed by a wooden chest and an old wooden chair with a burgundy cloth seat. Amberlin walked beside the brunette and spoke to Victoria.

"I'm detecting a lot of poltergeist activity here, Victoria. We should be careful. They don't like us being here and don't want us snooping around their house." Amberlin warned her.

"We're looking for a book, not moving in. As soon as we get what we want, I'll gladly leave here and never come back again." Victoria replied to the shorter mage. Amberlin did not seem satisfied with that answer but accepted it anyway.

"We should find it as soon as possible." Amberlin said to the Sabertooth mage. Moments later a black cat appeared from nowhere and crossed their paths. Amberlin paused in place and covered her mouth with her hands. Victoria paused in place and took a step back. The cat also stopped and began swishing its tail left and right.

Victoria took a glance at the cat and did not like what she saw. Every part of it appeared normal except for its fur being matted. Its eyes were also blood red and did not have any pupils. The brunette backed away from the cat and its head spun around on its neck exactly like an owl's head. Its red eyes met hers, it maneuvered its body to face them with its head facing the right way, and it opened its mouth.

The black cat gave a loud yowling noise and its matted fur stood up. It arched its back and continued to yowl at them. It was warning them to back away and give it some space. The mages soon thought it prudent to leave it alone. They slowly backed away and began briskly walking back to the entrance to try the other hallway. Maybe that hallway would not have any territorial black cats with red eyes staking it out.

"We'll give it some space and let it go on its way. When it's gone, we'll go left again." Amberlin rationalized the decision to back away from the cat. Victoria was not going to argue with her. Any cat that could turn its head like an owl was bad news.

When they reached the entrance they turned left and faced another empty hallway with more dusty furniture and dusty suits of armor placed in heroic poses on display stands. The decor needed a lot of work; the beige wallpaper was beginning to peel off and had already peeled off in multiple places along the wall. The picture frames were crooked and coated with so much dust that it was impossible to see the pictures contained within the frames. The whole place was an allergy sufferer's worst nightmare.

"You'd think that someone would dust this place." Victoria commented on the unclean surroundings.

"It's been abandoned for decades, if not centuries. I don't think cleaning is high on anyone's list of priorities." Amberlin gently suggested to the brunette.

"Anyway, do you think that cat's gone yet?" Victoria asked. She walked back down the left hallway and saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring at her from around the corner. The brunette quickly turned around and walked away to rejoin the cleric who was waiting on her at the entrance.

"Nope, it's still there." Victoria reported to Amberlin. The pink-haired mage looked puzzled.

"What's it protecting?" She asked Victoria.

[Word Count: 1,125]
[Total Word Count: 2,125/12,500]

"I don't know. Maybe it's protecting the entire house. It's seriously creeping me out." Victoria said to her companion. That black cat with the blood-red eyes was still staring at them from around the corner. It had not moved the entire time they had first came across it and beat a hasty retreat.

"Yeah. It's definitely protecting something." Amberlin commented. She was as creeped out by the black cat as the brunette was. Their concern only grew when the cat abandoned its position and began to walk towards them. Amberlin looked almost frightened and Victoria was not too far from fright herself.

"Why is it walking towards us?" Victoria asked with audible concern on her voice. Her concern grew the more the distance between her and the cat decreased. Earlier it was eager to sink its claws and teeth into them. Now it was actively seeking their company.

"I...I don't know. None of my cleric classes ever prepared me for something like this." Amberlin admitted to the brunette. The black cat walked up to them and brushed against Victoria's leg. Clumps of black fur came off of it and stuck to her leg; Victoria stifled a scream as Amberlin clamped her hands over her mouth. It was a zombie cat because they could see its bones protruding through patches where fur was missing!

"It... it just touched me!" Victoria squealed. Amberlin looked at her in sympathy as the cat meowed softly at them and purred, the air passing through its ribcage. Both females were creeped out by the sight of the cat's body partially inflating and air passing through the holes where clumps of fur came off.

"Wonder what it wants?" Amberlin asked. The brunette shrugged her shoulders and watched as it looked up at her with blood-red eyes and meowed. It then started trotting off towards the hall it had been guarding earlier.

"I think it wants us to follow it." The brunette suggested. The mages looked at each other and decided to take a chance. They had very little to go on, so what harm could following a zombie cat do? They briskly walked behind it, involuntarily clenching their teeth whenever the cat turned its head like an owl to face them. That was so creepy that it defied explanation.

The cat meowed and the mages fell in line behind it. It then set off in a leisurely walk down the hallway that they could not get into earlier because of the guard cat. They passed by more paintings of people in old formal attire, including a few in old-fashioned military uniforms and wearing cavalry sabers at their sides. They also passed by shut doors and dusty wooden chests while following their four-legged tour guide. It stopped in front of a door and pawed on it with its left paw, which would have been cute if it was not a zombie cat with patches of fur missing.

"I guess it wants us to go in." Victoria commented. Amberlin nodded and put a gloved hand on the door, then opened it to find an old wooden rocking chair rocking back and forth. Occupying it was the ghost of an elderly woman who sat facing a fireplace that was empty. The cat meowed and jumped into the ghost woman's lap.

-Inside the room-

"Hello dearies. I see that Umbra brought you two to me." The ghostly woman said without turning to face them. Umbra the cat meowed at the old woman, who patted it on the head and rubbed its back.

"What... what do you want?" Victoria worked up the courage to ask the woman. She simply chuckled.

"I want peace. Some necromancers have left a book in the house but have not come back to claim it. Its dark energy calls to me and to Umbra. We just want to be left in peace." She said to them softly as the chair continued rocking. Amberlin asked the next question.

"Why are you telling us this?" Amberlin asked.

"My dear, I used to live here centuries ago and this house still belongs to me. I just want some peace for me and Umbra." She answered softly. Umbra meowed.

"Umbra is a good cat. He will guide you around the manor. He will help you find the book so that you can get rid of it. But be warned, dearies. Not all the residents of the manor are friendly like me." The old woman warned them. Umbra arched its back and hissed at something that neither mage could see.

"Umbra can see that which humans cannot. He will guide you well and keep you out of danger the best he can." The old woman assured them. Amberlin again asked a question.

"What kind of danger?" Amberlin asked.

"Other spirits. Restless spirits. Umbra can see them and make them visible." She answered. Victoria thought that a guide cat who could make ghosts visible would be handy. What the mages could see they could avoid or fight. Then she thought about something. That was just too good to be true... there had to be a catch.

"What do you want in return?" Victoria asked the woman.

"If you remove the book, peace will return to the manor. Umbra and I will finally be able to rest in peace." She answered. Victoria could not argue with that. The old woman almost sounded sad when she gave the answer.

"OK. We'll do it." Victoria answered. Umbra meowed and looked at his owner, who petted it on the head.

"Go now, Umbra. Help them find the book so that we can find peace. We have been here for far too long." The woman bade the cat. The cat meowed and leaped down from the chair. It walked up to Victoria and meowed, circling her right leg.

"OK, Umbra, let's get going." Victoria said to her new four-legged guide. Umbra purred.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 3,125/12,500]

-Outside, in the main hallway-

Victoria exited the room with Amberlin behind her and Umbra in the lead. The cat sniffed the hallway, then turned to his temporary master and looked at her expectantly. Umbra acted like he did not see any spirits or other hostile entities, but that did not mean that they were not any around. They could be onto Umbra and using special powers to hide in a way even he could not detect.

"Hey Umbra, do you see anything?" Victoria asked the black cat. She could not believe that she was talking to a cat in the middle of a haunted manor, but here she was talking to a cat in the middle of a haunted manor. It was a fairly smart cat because it seemed to understand what she was asking it. He shook his head and meowed in a way that approximated a "No" response.

"OK then. Amberlin, do you see anything?" Victoria asked her cleric companion.

"Not yet." The pink-haired mage also replied in the negative. The brunette could not see ghosts, so she would just have to take their word for it. She and Amberlin followed Umbra as the black cat trotted down the hall at a brisk pace as if he had spotted something. They both wondered what could have caught their guide's interest.

"What is it, Umbra?" Amberlin asked. The cat ignored her and continued to trot down the hallway while swishing its tail back and forth. The pink-haired mage appeared a little upset that the cat did not answer her like it did Victoria. The Sabertooth mage wondered why Umbra answered her and not the Order mage. Finding the answer to that question would have to wait for later because Umbra paused in place, arching his back at something that neither mage could see.

Umbra hissed and a red light flashed in the hallway, exposing three transparent blue ghosts dressed in old-fashioned formal attire standing in front of the cat. Victoria dispelled her Light Machine Gun and drew her Silver Dagger. Amberlin's hands began to glow gold as she closed her eyes and muttered an incantation. The ghosts noticed the mages and began to float towards them at human walking speed.

Victoria rushed forward and stabbed a ghost in the chest with her dagger, making it dissipate with an unexpected reaction. Instead of screaming or groaning, the ghost actually thanked her for killing it. The brunette was caught off guard by that reaction and felt a cold hand grasp her left forearm. Amberlin fired a golf ball-sized ball of light that hit it in the chest and dissipated the ghost. The third ghost reached out for Victoria and she slashed its right arm, making the ghost draw it back seconds before the dagger stabbed through its chest.

"Thank... you." The ghost said as it passed out of existence. Victoria was puzzled as to why the ghosts would thank her for killing them. Amberlin was quick to provide an answer to that question.

"I sense suffering throughout the manor, suffering that is centuries old. The spirits here long for us to end their suffering by removing the book that caused their pain to begin with." Amberlin said to Victoria. The brunette raised an eyebrow. How did the pink-haired mage know that the book was the cause of the ghosts' pain?

"I can hear the whispers of the spirits. They tell me that necromancers invaded the manor and used its staff and residents as subjects for unholy experiments. Once all the occupants had lost their lives to the experiments, their souls were bound to this place to protect the book." Amberlin explained, her eyes glowing gold and her ears twitching slightly. Victoria was not sure which of the three was creepiest: the manor they were in, the cat they were following, or Amberlin's ability to hear the whispers of the dead. Since she was unable to interact with the spirit world, she would have to rely on Umbra and Amberlin to guide her in the right direction.

"So by getting this book, we can release the souls of the murdered staff?" Victoria asked Amberlin. Amberlin nodded. Victoria looked at Umbra and remembered what the Order cleric had just said about the residents of the manor being used for experiments by the necromancers who had left behind the tome they were looking for. Was Umbra a victim of their experiments too?

Umbra turned his head towards the mages and meowed before resuming his journey at a quick trot. The two mages quickly followed behind the cat, not wanting to get lost without a means to see the ghosts occupying the manor. They walked down the hallway and saw Umbra pawing at another shut door. Silver Dagger at the ready, Victoria opened the door and peered into a trophy room occupied by a single well-dressed ghost.

"Do come in. I see that Umbra guided you two to me." The male ghost said. He was dressed in red hunting attire with knee-high black leather boots with the back of the knee cut out for mobility. On his side was an old cavalry saber.

"I am Roger Stanton, the previous master of the hunt for this manor." He introduced himself in a friendly manner. He had short hair covered by an old-fashioned tricorner hat and a set of three parallel scars on his left cheek. He looked the part of a hunter.

"Umbra was my mother's favored companion. He was a smart cat with special powers. He had an uncanny way of finding people no matter where they went. He also was able to see ghosts and expose them to normal sight." Roger explained, looking down at the cat and kneeling down to pet it. Umbra meowed and trotted over to the spectral man. It was oddly heartwarming to see the black cat reunited with one of the family members from his past.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 4,125/12,500]

"Do be careful of the ghosts on the second and third floors. They will not be as friendly as I am." Roger warned them.

"What do you mean?" Amberlin asked the red-clad ghost.

"I mean that most of them would rather kill you than try to engage in conversation. I... I can still retain control of myself and so can my mother. The others are not so fortunate." Roger answered the question.

"OK. We'll be careful." Amberlin said to him. Umbra purred and rubbed against Victoria's legs, leaving behind more clumps of matted black fur. She tried not to show disgust in front of his former owner but was not entirely succeeding.

"Good luck to you both. We are counting on you." Roger said as the pair left the room with Umbra leading the way. Victoria opened the door and Umbra went through first, followed by Amberlin and finally Victoria herself.

-In the main hallway-

The pair of mages were back in the main hallway being led by Umbra the wonder cat. The cat was on a mission and did not slow down for its human companions. He trotted down the hallway at the equivalent of a brisk human walking speed with its tail swishing from side to side as he walked towards a destination only he knew about. Victoria and Amberlin did their best to keep up.

Umbra guided them down the hall and to a staircase that led up. He pointed at the wooden stairs with his left front paw and meowed at them. The mages looked at each other and watched as Umbra tried to jump up the stairs but could not manage to climb them for more than four steps before giving up and turning to Victoria for help. He meowed at her and looked back towards the stairs.

"You need help to climb the stairs?" Victoria asked Umbra. The cat meowed again. The brunette did not want to handle the zombie cat, but he had helped them get this far without injury, so she figured that she owed it to him.

"OK, c'mon little guy. I'll help you up the stairs." Victoria agreed, putting away the Silver Dagger and picking him up with both hands. Umbra meowed and began to purr as the two mages ascended the staircase with their feline guide in tow. He was heavy for a zombie cat, but Victoria was not going to say that out loud.

-On the second floor-

Victoria and Amberlin reached the top of the stairs at roughly the same time. The brunette set down Umbra, who brushed against her legs again. Victoria brushed off the clumps of matted fur from her legs and hands, then peered down the hallway ahead of them. In contrast to the hallway on the first floor, the hallway on the second floor was devoid of furniture, pictures, or other decorations. The hallway was bare except for the occasional dust bunny huddled along the baseboards.

"I feel their presence. I can hear their voices. There are ghosts here." Amberlin warned Victoria. Victoria drew her Silver Dagger and waited for Umbra to hiss and arch his back, which was a sure sign that specters were near. Moments later the cat hissed and a flash of red revealed four ghosts standing only feet away from the duo. The revealed ghosts raised their hands and began to float towards the pair.

"Begone, spirits!" Amberlin shouted. She raised her glowing hands and muttered an incantation, then pushed her hands forward and fired four small balls of golden energy that homed in on the ghosts and hit their chests, causing them to vanish in a puff of blue mist. The pink-haired cleric closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"There are more where they came from. We'd better get moving." Amberlin suggested. Victoria gave a thumbs-up. Umbra meowed and began a brisk trot down the hall without waiting for his human companions. The two mages scrambled after their guide and soon caught up with him.

As the trio walked Victoria looked in the barren hallway out of curiosity. She had never seen one that looked or felt so barren, even when she and Lawrence moved into their single-story apartment back during what seemed like ages ago. Uncovered windows letting in moonlight broke up some of the monotony but did little to assuage the creepy feeling of walking down a barren hallway. That feeling only got worse when the pair approached a wooden door that Umbra was pawing at.

Victoria opened the door and stepped back because she heard Amberlin shriek. Victoria hurried around the door and saw what had caused the cleric to scream. It was a quintet of ghosts like the ones from the first floor!

Victoria pulled Amberlin back and stabbed the first ghost to get to her repeatedly until it faded, then stabbed the second until it vanished. Amberlin recovered in time to channel magic into her hands and punch straight through a third one, punching a hole in its torso that caught fire and burned outwards. She repeated the process for the fourth ghost while Victoria stabbed the fifth as it reached for her neck. Once the ghosts were disposed of the pair peeked inside the room to see what made it worth Umbra's attention.

They walked inside the medium-sized room and found a red book sitting on a stand next to a red sofa placed against the wall. Amberlin walked over to the book and picked it up. She began to read its contents while Victoria watched the door for any more ghosts coming after them.

"This is a journal of some kind." Amberlin announced while skimming through its pages. Victoria listened to the sound of pages being turned and waited for more information about the journal's contents to come to light. Victoria wondered what drew Umbra to the room. Was it the book or was it something else?

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Word Count: 5,125/12,500]

Victoria continued to watch the door as Amberlin read the journal. It was slow going because the Order cleric had not announced any updates in the last few minutes. In the pink-haired mage's defense, the journal looked to be somewhat on the thick side, so it would be slow going even without them being in a house full of hostile ghosts that only Umbra could detect and make visible. Speaking of Umbra, he had jumped onto the red sofa and was staring intently at a painting of a cornucopia with fruit inside of it hanging on the wall to the right of Amberlin.

"So far I've gotten nothing of any real interest. It describes how life in the manor was before the necromancers arrived." Amberlin said to Victoria. Victoria sighed in exasperation. She wanted to learn about the necromancers, not what the Stanton family did all day.

"Yeah, I know. It's not the most riveting subject matter, but it is what it is." Amberlin said in response. She was clearly as unhappy about the dull writing as Victoria, but there was nothing that could be done about it except to endure it and hope that something more useful was buried in the text. Meanwhile Umbra continued to stare at the painting with his blood-red eyes. Victoria pointed that out to her companion.

"Hey Amberlin, why does Umbra keep staring at that painting?" Victoria asked her. The pink-haired mage shrugged her shoulders and momentarily turned away from the book in order to look at the painting. She saw nothing out of the ordinary about it, but then she looked at Umbra, who had not shifted his gaze ever since laying eyes on the painting.

"You'll have to take a look, Victoria. I'm kinda busy reading this journal." Amberlin told the brunette. Victoria obliged and left the door to walk over to the painting that had so captured Umbra's attention. It did not look out of the ordinary in any way, but there had to be something significant. The brunette grabbed the frame and lifted the painting off the wall to show a square alcove with a key inside of it. Victoria took the key out and examined it.

It was a small silver key with a handle that had a small eagle with outstretched wings engraved on it. Victoria did not know why someone would go to so much trouble to have such a fancy key made, but she felt that if someone hid it like that, there had to be some significance to it. Victoria pocketed the key and hung the painting back onto the wall so that the spectral tenants would have one less reason to get mad at them.

"Looks like you've found a key. I wonder what it goes to?" Amberlin asked. Umbra quietly hopped off the sofa and began walking briskly down the hall. Amberlin closed the journal and took it with her as she began to follow the cat. Victoria also started to walk after them.

-Inside the hallway, second floor-

Amberlin hurried to keep up with Umbra and Victoria hurried to keep up with Amberlin. The cat walked down the hall and past a series of closed doors until it stopped at one and began looking intently at it. Amberlin walked up to the door, grabbed the brass circular knob, and twisted it. It did not open. The mage's eyes darted up and down the door and focused on the lock; her eyes narrowed when she spotted something of interest.

"Hey, there's an eagle etched on the lock." Amberlin casually noted. Victoria obligingly fished out the silver key with the eagle engraved on the handle. She placed the key into the lock and turned the key, hearing an audible CLICK as the tumblers were pushed aside by the teeth of the key.

"Try it again." Victoria suggested to Amberlin. The cleric turned the knob again and this time the door opened without any problem. The cleric turned to Victoria, who still had her Silver Dagger out.

"I wonder what's in here that required a special key to access?" Amberlin asked the brunette. Victoria simply shrugged at her. Amberlin turned back to the door and went inside. Umbra darted past Victoria's feet and the mage nearly fell over, grabbing the doorframe just in time to avoid falling onto her face. Once she had recovered from that she entered the room that had just been unlocked.

-Inside the room-

Amberlin was inside the moonlit room, which looked to be a small library because of the presence of wall-to-wall bookshelves crammed with books on all manner of subjects and a small brown leather chair with a high back. Victoria looked at the books and discerned from a glance at the titles on the spine that it was one without a singular focus. The books covered a wide variety of topics like Cursed Lands lore, Cursed Lands history, flora and fauna, and more.

"Well, I'd be happy here." The pink-haired mage said aloud as she looked at all the books that were on the shelves. There were more books than Victoria could count. She was willing to bet that at least one of the Stantons was a certified bibliophile. So was Amberlin. She looked like she could spend the rest of her life in here and be happy.

Umbra hissed and turned towards one of the shelves. The room flashed red and a pair of ghosts appeared before the mages. Not wasting any time with a warning to her partner, Victoria stabbed one of the ghosts to "death" and heard its whisper of gratitude as it passed from the world. Amberlin's hand glowed gold and punched through the chest of the second apparition, making it disappear as its body burned like a piece of paper that had caught fire.

"Well, that was easy." Victoria commented. Amberlin turned back to the shelves and looked at the books.

"I wonder what they were protecting?" Amberlin asked Victoria. The brunette shrugged her shoulders. She had no idea.

[Word Count: 1,025]
[Total Word Count: 6,150/12,500]

-In the reading room-

"Let's find out." Victoria suggested to her partner. She started looking around for anything unusual like an odd-colored book on the shelves or something else that did not quite seem right. Finding an odd-colored book would be a challenge because the books were all of different colors and crammed haphazardly on the shelves like they had been frequently moved and removed according to the whim of the owner. The lack of organization was more than mildly frustrating for Victoria. Amberlin looked on the verge of tears from how the books were "organized."

"There's no organization! They're just crammed onto the shelves!" Amberlin lamented, setting down the red journal in the seat of the chair and beginning to organize the books herself according to subject and author. Victoria watched the process and felt a bit sorry for the pink-haired mage as the latter muttered to herself and began compulsively organizing the shelves more to her liking. Amberlin was working on a shelf devoted to Cursed Lands lore and history and making dust fly everywhere, forcing the brunette to cover her nose with her hand to try and block out the flying allergens.

"How could someone let these books get like this?" Amberlin asked no one in particular, continuing her self-appointed task with zeal and more than a little despair. Victoria kept an eye out for ghosts and Umbra stared quizzically at Amberlin, lying down and looking at the pink-haired cleric with red eyes. The cleric continued her task without concern for the outside world, muttering to herself all the while.

Victoria was starting to grow bored when she heard a CLING on the wooden floor that made her pay attention and made Umbra stand up on all fours. She walked over to a small object that twinkled in the moonlight and picked up another metallic key. This one was a silver key with the image of a howling wolf etched onto the handle.

"Hey, look, a key!" Victoria said to Amberlin, trying to get her to stop compulsively organizing the books and pay attention to her. The smaller girl ignored her and kept shuffling books around. Umbra walked over to the mage and put a paw on her back. Amberlin kept going. Umbra began to meow and tap on her back with his right front paw like a human would tap on someone's shoulder.

"Huh, what?" Amberlin asked in a daze.

"You helped find a key. This one's got a wolf on it." Victoria said to Amberlin, lowering her hand so that the smaller mage could see the key clearly. Amberlin's eyes focused on it and she put away the book in her hand, then stopped organizing the shelf she was working on. She took the key into her hand and examined it.

"I bet that key goes to a special lock on the third floor. Something important's gotta be behind the door if a special key was made just for it." Amberlin opined aloud before handing the key back to the Sabertooth mage. Umbra meowed and started rubbing against Amberlin's leg, leaving clumps of black fur on the mage's white ankle-length skirt. Amberlin gave a pained smile and gently brushed the clingy fur off of the garment  while Umbra trotted out of the room on the way to who knew where. The mages hurried to keep up; Amberlin quickly grabbed the red journal and hurried to follow Victoria and Umbra, being certain to shut the reading room door behind her.

-Inside the main hallway, second floor-

Umbra trotted out of the reading room and down the hallway, pausing a quarter of the way to turn his head around and make sure that the mages were still following him. They caught up and he continued down the path to the staircase, which was most likely where they had to go next. He continued walking until he reached the staircase, then looked expectantly at the mages and pawed at the stairs. Amberlin looked at Victoria with a look that said "I'm not gonna carry him!"

"OK little guy. Up we go!" Victoria said to him, putting away her Silver Dagger and lifting the feline with both hands, then cradling his back legs under her right arm. She walked up the stairs with the purring feline while Amberlin followed just behind and to the left of Victoria.

-The main hallway, Third Floor-

Victoria set Umbra down and glanced around the hallway of the third floor, which was largely the same as that of the second floor except for being one floor higher in the house. Umbra stood in place swishing his tail while Amberlin ascended the stairs and stood just to the left of Victoria.

"We need to find that door. That shouldn't be too hard." Amberlin commented because the hallway was bare except for three doors and the occasional dust bunny along the baseboards of the floor. Three doors only meant three possibilities as to which lock the key opened. The trio walked down the hall and tried the first door to the right, which was not the right one because it had an ordinary lock on it.

They then moved on to the second lock on a door to the left and tried it, but it too was just a normal lock. They tried the final door, which was a door all the way down the hall with a window in front of it. This was the right one because the lock had an etching of a howling wolf with a full moon positioned behind its head. Victoria inserted the key and turned it, unlocking the door to another reading room.

"Not again." Amberlin sighed. She preceded both Umbra and Victoria into the room and began organizing the contents of the nearest shelf. This room was just like the last reading room, only larger in scale and slightly more decorated.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 7,150/12,500]

-Inside the reading room, third floor-

The pair found themselves standing inside another reading room that was larger than the first and was more decorated to match. There were a few wooden chairs upholstered in leather and a brown leather sofa to sit on. The bookshelves extended all the way to the ceiling and even had a sliding ladder that could be used to access books higher on the shelf. Amberlin was beside herself with frustration over the condition of the books and the shelves, both of which were coated in dust. Victoria sighed while Umbra dramatically stretched his back and then curled up into a ball on the floor to wait for something interesting to happen.

"This place is so dusty. So dusty! Someone really needs to clean this place!" Amberlin mumbled under her breath while the brunette took a look around the place for anything unusual. All she saw were rows and rows of bookshelves with books of all colors jammed onto the shelves. Like with the last room there was no rhyme or reason to the organization, only whatever organization the previous owner felt like imposing upon the place. The little organization that they did impose was nothing to write home about.

Victoria looked around in boredom and saw a black book that looked just out of place on a shelf full of red and green books. That shelf happened to be one that the sliding ladder could reach, so Victoria climbed onto it and carefully maneuvered the ladder just to the left of the particular shelf that the black book was on. She reached out with her right hand and pulled the book, but it refused to budge. The brunette tried again and pushed on the book this time and got results. A shelf in the left corner of the room pulled back, then receded into the wall on the left, exposing an alcove with something metallic inside of it.

Victoria carefully climbed down the ladder and walked over to Amberlin, who was still fussing over the shelf in front of her. She would try to get the cleric's attention with a gentle tap on the shoulder. She failed to get the despondent cleric's attention because the pink-haired girl continued to sort books. Victoria sighed. She left the girl to her work and walked over to the alcove with an interested Umbra at her feet.

She reached inside and pulled out a circular silver medallion with a grinning skull on it. That was an unusual object to find in a reading room. She wondered what it was doing here and what its significance was. None of the locks on the second or third floor had medallion-sized holes in the locks, so it would be useless here. Victoria grabbed the medallion and showed it to Amberlin, who had finally stood up and faced the brunette.

"Look what I found." Victoria said to the pink-haired cleric. She ignored the books and took the medallion into her hands,running her fingers along the front and back. Her fingers focused on the back of it and looked like they were feeling something out. Amberlin flipped the medallion around and read the words engraved on the back of it.

"De mortuis nihil nici bonum." Amberlin said aloud. Victoria and Umbra looked at her with the expectation of a translation of the phrase.

"Of the dead, say nothing but good." Amberlin translated for the benefit of the Sabertooth mage and Umbra.

"Oh. That's interesting, but how's that going to help us?" Victoria asked the scholarly mage. Amberlin ran her fingers along the edges and felt some marks that had been worn into the edges. She held it up to the moonlight and examined it again. It gleamed in the moonlight but did not reveal any other special properties.

"See those marks on the edges? It looks like it can be set into something. I don't know what that something is, though." Amberlin said to Victoria. The brunette nodded to indicate that she saw them just before Umbra turned around and started to leave the room. Both girls sighed and hurried to keep up with the cat. Amberlin grabbed the journal again and shut the door behind them.

-At the entrance, the first floor-

Victoria and Amberlin found themselves at the main entrance to Sombras Manor and looked down the hallway they had used as shelter from Umbra before her was revealed to be friendly. The paintings were still there and the hallway beckoned for them to go down it. Victoria looked at Amberlin, then at Umbra.

"Looks like we're going down this hall." Victoria said to them.

"Yeah. Looks that way." Amberlin said without much excitement as she clutched the skull medallion and the journal. Victoria wondered why she still held onto the journal after all this time. Maybe Amberlin had taken a personal interest in the affairs of the people who had once lived here and planned to finish reading the journal.

"OK. I'll take the lead." Victoria asserted with her Silver Dagger at the ready. She walked carefully while Umbra trotted just in front of her and Amberlin followed behind her. The trio walked past the paintings and further down the bare hallway, which had no furniture and no paintings to adorn the walls. They kept walking until they saw a staircase to the right that led down.

"Well, looks like we found it. I bet the book's in the basement." Victoria opined to her companions as they stared into the darkness. As was often the case during the exploration of Sombras Manor, Umbra took the lead and began hopping down the stairs while Victoria and Amberlin watched their four-legged guide blend in with the darkness. Amberlin conjured a golden ball of light in her left hand and followed Victoria down the creaking wooden steps and into the inky darkness. The book was likely down in the basement.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 8,150/12,500]

-In the basement of Sombras Manor-

Victoria led the way with Umbra following just behind her and Amberlin provided light for them to see down the long hallway that reminded her of the basement of the Haunted Guild. Like the basement of the Haunted Guild, it was a long, straight hallway without much in the way of decoration. Unlike the basement of the Haunted Guild, this one was crammed with at least fourteen hostile ghosts who materialized without Umbra needed to use his ability.

"END OUR SUFFERING!" One of them, a woman dressed in an old-fashioned maid outfit, shouted at them. She had a distinctive gash in her chest that extended from the top of it to just below her heart. It looked like someone had stabbed into it and dragged the knife down her chest until her heart was exposed. Just seeing the gash, even if it was spectral and just left over from her mortal life, made Victoria recoil.

"We have been kept here against our will! We long for the release of death but cannot find it!" The ghost of an older man dressed in butler attire and sporting a monocle said to the mages. He reached out with a bloodsoaked glove, brushing against Victoria's arm and making her shiver. He sported a gash on his chest as well. She stepped back as the ghosts drew closer.

"Destroy the cursed book! Free us from our servitude!" Another maid, this one a young woman, demanded of Victoria and Amberlin.

"We'll destroy it! Just tell us where it is!" Victoria replied to their pleas. They paused in their tracks, stared her down with empty eye sockets, then turned in unison and pointed towards the back of the basement. Were the ghosts really helping them find the necromancer's tome or were the mages just being pointed towards a trap?

"Find it! Destroy it! SET US FREE!" An older maid who was missing an ear and her nose begged them. The ghosts all floated back to allow the mages safe passage to where they needed to go. Victoria was more than a little put off by their abrupt shift in personality, but if the ghosts were not hostile she would not look a gift horse in the mouth. The trio walked past the ghosts and towards a metal door with a prominent stone skull carved into the wall beside it. Its mouth was open and there was a large circular indentation inside its jaws.

"Hey Amberlin, do you think we should put the medallion in its jaws?" Victoria asked Amberlin. She walked over to the jaws and examined the indentation closely. Victoria obligingly handed over the silver medallion and the pink-haired mage pushed the medallion in with the inscription pointing inside.

The jaws of the skull snapped shut and Amberlin screamed, retracting her hands just in time to avoid having them injured... or worse. The skull's empty eye sockets momentarily flared red and the metal door to the right of the skull opened, releasing the awful stench of decay into the air. Both mages clapped their hands over their noses and Umbra ran away from the door and huddled close to Victoria for protection.

"Sorry little guy, I've got my hands full trying to deal with the odor myself." Victoria issued an apology to the hapless feline. It must have been especially bad if a zombie cat could not stand to be around it. Victoria soon felt an overwhelming feeling of dread and Amberlin began to clutch her head with both hands, dropping to her knees.

"I can feel their suffering. I can feel it. All of it." Amberlin whispered as her eyes glowed solid gold. She stared at Victoria and began to talk.

"I can see what happened to them because they're showing it to me. They were sacrificed one at a time while their friends were forced to watch every moment. A knife was plunged into their chest and their heart removed." Amberlin informed Victoria. The brunette winced when she heard that bit of information. That confirmed her theory on the origin of the deep gash on the chests of all of the ghosts floating in the basement.

"We'd better find that book and set them free. If we destroy it, they should be free." Victoria told the pink-haired mage. Amberlin held her head a bit longer before her eyes stopped glowing and they returned to the bright blue that they were when she first started the job. She seemed to be able to speak for the dead or otherwise express what they were feeling. She nodded her head slowly.

"I know the Order wants us to bring them the book, but we may be better off destroying it." Amberlin opined. Victoria nodded. She did not want to leave the ghosts here to harm other travelers because the pair went back on their word. The two covered their noses and walked into the room they had just unlocked.

-Inside the room-

Victoria and Amberlin walked into a large rectangular room dominated by a tall podium in the center. Scattered around the room were skeletons that had daggers stuck in their chests. Even though the bodies had long since decomposed, the room still had the unmistakable stench of death lingering inside of it. It was also full of an overwhelming feeling of dread.

Amberlin walked up to the podium while Victoria looked around the bare stone walls and stone floor of the room. Both were liberally coated with bloodstains that had long since turned a dull brown from the passage of time. Umbra finally trotted into the room and sought Victoria.

"Oh, hey there Umbra, what is it?" Victoria asked the cat. She really did not expect him to speak in human language, but she had grown attached to the little guy during the "tour" of Sombras Manor and liked him for his personality as well as his ability to detect and reveal ghosts. Umbra purred and walked towards her feet, then paused and stretched his back in front of her. He then looked at her with his red eyes and turned his head.

"Yeah, this book's definitely the book we're looking for. The cover's bound with human skin and the pages are made of human flesh. It's also written in blood." Amberlin announced to Victoria with palpable dread.

"If it's the one we're after, we need to destroy it now." Victoria suggested. Umbra stopped stretching, turned his head towards the door, and hissed. The brunette picked up on that sign and hurried towards the doorframe. Her stomach dropped when she saw a small army of ghosts floating towards them. A quick eyeball count tallied at least four dozen floating towards them.

"Uh, Amberlin, if you're gonna destroy that book, you'd better do it now because at least four dozen ghosts are headed right for us!" Victoria urged her. Umbra hissed and ran for the safety of Amberlin, whose hands glowed gold as she got ready for the spectral onslaught. Victoria retreated from the doorframe and hurriedly brought out her Silver Dagger.

[Word Count: 1,200]
[Total Word Count: 9,350/12,500]

Victoria stepped back towards the podium as she heard the ghosts draw closer to their position. Shutting the door would not help because the ghosts could pass right through it, so putting some distance between her and the ghosts would be a good idea. She did not have long to wait because the specters began to pass through the walls in front of them and reach towards the brunette. Victoria slashed and stabbed at the first ghost, a butler with a deep gash on his chest who grabbed at her throat.

Victoria defeated him with several stabs to the chest but then had to deal with two more stepping through the wall looking for blood. She cut the hand off of the first one to reach for her and stabbed through the palm of the second ghost, forcing the second to back off and let a maid take his place. She rushed at the brunette with a high-pitched scream and was silenced with a decapitating slash at close range just as the spectral hands wrapped around her throat. Two more ghosts stepped in and rushed Victoria simultaneously; they were stopped by two golden balls of energy fired by Amberlin.

Victoria retreated to the podium and looked to the Order mage for help.

"If you're gonna destroy that book, you'd better do it now. These ghosts mean business!" Victoria urged Amberlin while four more passed through the wall. Amberlin turned to the brunette and put her hand on her shoulder.

"You can use weapons, right?" Amberlin asked her, four more ghosts stepping into the room and extending their hands towards Victoria. The brunette looked away from them and looked towards Amberlin.

"Yeah. Why?" Victoria asked. Umbra hissed at the spectral intruders and arched his back.

"I can empower your weapons so that you can fight the ghosts with them. The dagger's not stopping them fast enough. If you use your Light Machine Gun on them, I can make it shoot Holy magic!" Ambelin explained. Victoria could not put the dagger away fast enough. She sheathed it and brought out her Light Machine Gun.

"OK, let's do this!" Victoria urged the pink-haired mage. The latter closed her eyes and began an incantation. A golden circle formed on the floor and Victoria herself began to glow gold as runes circled around them, then disappeared in a burst of light and attached themselves to her weapon.

"OK, it's done. Now you can fight them with the weapon you're holding. You hold them off while I work on destroying the book!" Amberlin said. Victoria took aim at the first ghost, then opened fire with a fully automatic burst that punched holes in its chest and made it dissipate. Victoria then hosed down the room like an action lacrima star and got rid of four more ghosts.

The ghosts noticed that the brunette could not fight more than one at a time and began to withdraw from the room, turning around and floating back through the wall from whence they came. Victoria ran to the doorway and began shooting at the ghosts retreating down the hall, getting rid of three more before they vanished again. With the current batch of ghosts gone for the moment, her attention turned to the Order mage inside the room.

"Hey Amberlin, how's it going? Found a way to get rid of it yet?" Victoria asked, her eyes staring down the hallway and looking at the walls to keep ghosts from sneaking up on them.

"No! I'm still working on it!" Amberlin called back. Victoria sighed. A quick and easy solution was too much to ask for.

"The hall's clear for now, but they'll be back. They won't stop until they're dead or we're dead." Victoria called back to the mage. A tense silence then filled the air as the brunette waited for the spectral guardians to come back for a second round with the mages. She did not like simply waiting for an attack to come, but she could not abandon Amberlin to go ghost hunting. Amberlin was relying on her for protection from the ghosts and the brunette was not going to abandon her, not when they needed to rely on each other for protection.

Amberlin gasped aloud. Victoria turned from the hallway to the mage.

"What? What is it?" Victoria asked Amberlin. The latter hesitated for a moment before answering.

"This isn't a book of necromancer lore." Amberlin said nervously. Victoria did not like the nervous tone of her voice. They must have stumbled onto something a lot worse than people who tried to summon and control the dead.

"What is it then?" Victoria asked, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer to that question. Amberlin hesitated again.

"It's... it's a book of demonic pacts. Pacts made with a demon lord. A demon lord named Zupazu." Amberlin finally answered.

"Son of a bitch!" Victoria blurted out. Amberlin looked towards her with concern written all over her face.

"I know about him. A few months ago I fought him under some recently discovered old ruins under Hargeon Town." Victoria explained to the mage.

"He offered to make a deal with me. If I pledged to serve him, he'd give me the power to find my father. I refused the deal and fought against him. I fought him and he nearly killed me, but I barely eked out a win. I didn't banish him for good, but I bought Earthland at least a hundred years if no dumbass tries to summon him sooner." Victoria finished the explanation with information furnished by the client she had taken the job on behalf of. The client had warned her to never tell anyone of Infernal Lord Zupazu, but the brunette could not afford to be secretive when dealing with a book of pacts owned by the demon lord. Amberlin's concern only grew after hearing that story.

"I don't think I can destroy this book on my own. I'm gonna need to call for help." Amberlin declared. She closed her eyes, put her hands together in prayer, and began to chant as a golden circle formed at her feet. The chanting continued as golden light danced in the circle and raised itself towards the ceiling, surrounding her in a golden column of light. A second circle appeared on the floor about ten feet from Amberlin and soon another young woman stepped through it.

The newcomer wore a predominantly white outfit with black and gold trim. She carried a spear with a fancy golden spearhead and had long dark red hair that was almost brown. She turned to Amberlin and spoke to her.

"You called for me?" The newcomer asked. Her blue eyes focused on Amberlin's eyes. Victoria turned her attention back to the hallway to keep a watch for any more ghosts.

"Yes, Cleric Athena. My job partner and I have found a book of demonic pacts. It belongs to Infernal Lord Zupazu." Amberlin grimly informed Athena. Victoria heard Athena gasp. The brunette was no demon expert, but she could tell that this "Infernal Lord Zupazu" was bad news if he made a group of demon hunters nervous.

"Where is this blasphemous book? Show me!" Athena demanded. Amberlin handed over the book to the taller and older cleric, who looked it over and shook her head.

"These poor, poor idiots. They don't know what power they're trifling with. They think he'll give them what they want, but all Zupazu has to offer humanity is death and servitude." Athena announced solemnly. Victoria was glad that she did not take the deal back in Hargeon Town.

[Word Count: 1,300]
[Total Word Count: 10,650/12,500]

Umbra meowed to break the tense silence that filled the room. He approached Victoria and began to rub against her legs while purring. The two clerics debated on what to do with the book of pacts and how to destroy it. She looked down towards the cat and was momentarily distracted from the grim situation by his display of affection.

"What is it, Umbra?" Victoria asked the cat. Umbra meowed and looked towards her with red eyes. Victoria leaned down to pet him when he suddenly arched his back and hissed, looking towards the empty hallway as he did so. The formerly empty hallway was soon packed with ghosts and an overwhelming feeling of hatred filled the air.

"Oh damn!" Victoria blurted out. She stuck her head inside the room and interrupted the meeting of the clerics, who were still debating on her to destroy the unholy tome clutched in Athena's hands.

"Uh, guys, you'd better get rid of that book fast because we're gonna have company real soon!" Victoria announced to the pair. She then turned down the hallway and aimed her glowing golden weapon and opened fire. The ghosts were so tightly packed that it was almost impossible for her to miss, but there were so many of them that she doubted that she could get rid of them all before they reached the room door. She started firing anyway because the Order mages needed time to do their job.

Victoria heard chanting sound behind her as the room began to glow gold. The book was set on the floor and the two mages were holding hands and chanting an incantation. A golden circle formed around the book and had created a glowing column of light that surrounded it. Victoria turned back to the hallway and started shooting again. She killed three ghosts with one burst because the rounds punched through one and hit the ghost behind it.

Victoria aimed again and fired on fully automatic as the chanting began to increase in speed and intensity. Whatever it was that Amberlin and Athena were doing, the brunette hoped that it would work because there were over fifty ghosts surging down the hallway and forming an oncoming wall of pale blue. She fired another lengthy burst and took out two more ghosts, but the rest just kept coming without regard to their losses.

"We're halfway there! Keep them away for a little longer!" Amberlin yelled to Victoria. The clerics had closed their eyes and began to chant faster as the column of light gradually filled in and went from transparent to opaque. High-pitched screaming began to sound from within the cylinder of light. Victoria turned back to the hallway and looked at the advancing wall of specters bearing down on them.

The brunette opened fire with a lengthy burst and did away with three more ghosts. She repeated the process and got rid of two more, but they were not stopping no matter how many of them she killed with her magic weapon. These spirits were relentless.

More high-pitched screaming erupted from the room as the clerics chanted something in response. It felt like the floor began to shake underfoot as the ritual progressed. The ghosts had passed the halfway point of the hallway and were closing in fast. They must have sensed what was happening and renewed their determination to stop the Order mages before the ritual was completed.

"We're almost there! Just a bit longer!" Amberlin shouted. Victoria focused again and aimed her weapon, firing a lengthy burst and sweeping the Light Machine Gun back and forth as it chewed up the ghosts in front of her. They were so tightly packed that it was impossible to miss and they did not even bother to dodge the relentless hail of bullets. They probably figured that they could get to her and kill her before the Sabertooth mage had killed all of them.

Screaming sounded from the room yet again. The clerics shouted in response. This time Victoria could understand them over the automatic weapons fire and the howling of the oncoming ghosts.

"UNHOLY BOOK, YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD!" The two clerics shouted in unison. A low growl rumbled back at them. They repeated the shout with unflinching conviction.

Victoria kept shooting into the ghosts and kept ripping holes in the wall that quickly refilled as more ghosts poured from the walls to join what was to be the final attack on the three mages trying to destroy the tome of pacts. She was not liking these odds. No matter how many she killed more ghosts joined the wall surging towards her and the clerics. They had now passed the point marking three-fourths of the hallway that they had traveled down.

"UNHOLY BOOK, YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD! GO BACK TO THE INFERNAL PIT FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!" The clerics shouted in unison. A gutteral voice answered their chant with something spoken in a demonic language the brunette could not even pretend to understand, but it sounded threatening. The Order mages were unfazed and continued their ritual. They both raised hand glowing gold to the ceiling and a golden disc of light formed at the top of the cylinder they had created.

"WE BANISH YOU FROM THE MORTAL REALM! WE CAST YOU OUT OF THE LIGHT AND INTO THE DARKNESS! BEGONE AND NEVER RETURN!" They shouted, bringing their hands down in unison. The golden disc fell onto the book and set it aflame. The gutteral voice released a deep howl of agony as the book began to burn with golden flames lapping at its edges. The ghosts paused their attack, shrieked at once, and fell to the stone floor in poses of supplication.

"We did it." Amberlin weakly announced to Victoria. She and Athena stumbled out of the room, supporting each other with a shoulder. The brunette was glad that the ghostly attack was over.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 11,650/12,500]

The glow faded from Victoria's Light Machine Gun, but something told her that she would not need it any more tonight. The ghosts were no longer a threat and the book of pacts had been burned to cinders. The ghosts who had been kneeling earlier now stood up and Roger Stanton and the old woman who had introduced them to Umbra appeared before the rest of the spirits.

Gone was the feeling of dread and suffering. Now the spirits were free to leave this place since they were freed from being forced to guard the unholy book. Roger looked at the trio with empty eye sockets, but they no longer inspired dread from the brunette.

"Well done! We are now free from the curse that was laid on us by that band of demon worshipers. We can now pass on from this world and be at peace thanks to your efforts." Roger told them with a calm expression on his face. The spirits of the household staff bowed to the trio in respect. The old woman took Roger's hand and began to chime in.

"I knew that we could count on you, my dears. We are no longer bound to this place. Soon it will be time for us to go." She informed the trio. Umbra meowed and rubbed against the legs of each mage, leaving behind patches of his fur. He then trotted over to the ghost of the old woman, who lifted him into her arms. The black cat looked at them from the safety of his owner's arms. Victoria's heart began to sink when she realized what was about to happen to the cat she had grown attached to over the course of the night.

"Our time in this world is at an end. We will finally find the peace which has been denied to us for so long. Farewell, brave mages." Roger bade them goodbye as the ghosts began to fade from the world. Umbra meowed one last time before disappearing along with his owner. Victoria had to fight back tears because she had grown to like the zombie cat despite his habit of leaving patches of fur whenever he rubbed against her legs and the creepy way his head turned completely around like an owl's. She would miss Umbra. Maybe he would finally be at peace in the great cat palace in the sky.

Once the ghosts had completely faded from the world Amberlin and Athena turned to Victoria, who dispelled her Light Machine Gun. The ordeal was finally over. Amberlin produced the red journal from earlier and held onto it with her hands.

"Our work here's done. Let's get out of here." Athena suggested to Amberlin and Victoria. The two mages nodded and Athena began to chant as a circle formed around them. Moments later a cylinder of light erupted around them and the brunette felt herself being transported a great distance.

-Outside Holy Castle, mid-morning-

The trio arrived in a kneeling position just outside of the Holy Castle. They stood up and brushed themselves off, then faced the castle. Victoria was glad to be out of Sombra Manor and away from the ghosts and poltergeists and all the other dangers of the place.

"We did it. The book was destroyed and the people cursed to wander the manor for eternity were freed." Amberlin said to Athena and Victoria.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't take the book and bring it back like we were instructed to." Victoria apologized to Amberlin. Amberlin raised a hand to cut short Victoria's apology.

"Don't apologize, Victoria. Father Morris will understand why we destroyed it. Demonic objects are too dangerous to be left in this world. They tempt the weak and foolish and lead to nothing but destruction." Amberlin assured Victoria that everything would be all right despite not having the tome they were sent to retrieve. After hearing the pink-haired mage's assurance the brunette let the matter drop. She was not going to argue with members of an order devoted to the destruction of demonkind and all its artifacts.

The castle doors opened and out came Father Morris to greet the trio.

"Welcome back, everyone! I am glad that you made it!" He said to them. All three mages turned to face Father Morris. Amberlin was the first to speak to him.

"We had to destroy the book you sent me and Victoria to retrieve, Father. It was a tome of demonic pacts that was owned by Infernal Lord Zupazu. We couldn't allow it to remain in this world." Amberlin told the man in a straightforward manner. Athena nodded towards him and Victoria nodded in support of the pink-haired mage's story. Father Morris looked lost in thought for a moment, then closed his eyes and nodded.

"So you did. You three did the right thing in destroying that unholy tome. It could not be allowed to remain in this world. Its mere existence was a threat to everyone and everything in Earthland." He said to them in a tone of understanding. Victoria was relieved that Amberlin and Athena would not be punished for what they did. Father Morris faced the Sabertooth mage and spoke.

"I thank you for your support of Amberlin during this dangerous task, Miss Sheridan. I invite you to be our guest for the day. You must be tired from your ordeal." Father Morris suggested to her. Victoria was kind of tired and more than a little hungry. She did not offer a single word of protest.

"If you'll have me, I'll be glad to spend the day here." Victoria voiced her acceptance. The older man clapped his hands together and smiled.

"Splendid! Please, do come in! We of the Order of Lightbringers welcome you with open arms!" Father Morris said to her. Victoria, Amberlin, and Athena followed him into the castle and the doors closed behind them. Victoria had just completed another important job for both the people of Earthland and for the glory of Sabertooth.

[Word Count: 1,021]
[Total Word Count: 12,671/12,500]