Back in the gardens, Yume had calmed down, but she was being very clingy and was very nervous. “Dang-danger… He… I’ll Protect…” Yume tried to speak. I knelt down next to her, and stroked her dark hair. “I know. It’s alright, don’t stress yourself.” I spoke gently, as she reverted back into her Demon Hound form and began to lick my hand. “Me and Tobi will deal with this one.” I said, stroking her paw and standing up. I turned round and as expected, he was there waiting for me. “He’s in there. But he won’t be for much longer.” Tobi spoke calmly. Emily began to panic. “Didn’t you say he showed interest in the library, Miss?” Emily’s voice shook a little. “Then… Where is he now?” She finished. I chuckled and turned around. “The library, of course.” Thomas seemed shocked as he jumped over Yume’s swishing tail. “But having Tobi take him there- your playing right into his hands!” He panicked. “Incorrect. The Young Mistress knows exactly what she’s doing.” Tobi smiled, looking at me. “I know what he wants- but he won’t find it there. Not anymore.” I replied, turning my head to look at the main building where Roger probably was. “Then… What’s the plan?” Emily asked, slightly reassured. “Were going to get on his nerves… The plan here is to make our Fr. Pettingale a little angry with us.” Tobi replied. “Precisely- We know what he wants, but currently… We don’t know why. If we can anger him, there’s a chance that he’ll make a mistake and he’ll tell us.” I explained. “It’s a little childish, but it’ll work.” I added. “However, Tobi, as you know… He’s dangerous, please, be careful.” I turned back to face him. “That’s right! Just because you’re an amazing butler doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt!” Thomas yelled to him. Tobi seemed somewhat surprised. “Please, if you are going to be irrational, just be safe, for the young mistress’ sake.” She smiled, trying to get rid of her worried look. Tobi sighed deeply. “None of you need to worry, I have no intention of being harmed by a simple priest.” He started, then he looked at me. “Not when my master needs me.” He smiled. It made me happy, and I smiled too. “So…” Thomas started. “Is there anything at all that we can do to help?” He finished. “He does have a point.” Emily added. “We can’t very well just sit around and wait for it to be over when we know that there’s a possibility that you two might be fighting.” Emily finished, sitting on the side of the wall next to Yume. “There is one thing you can do.” I replied, pulling a set of keys out of my pocket and handing them to her. “Split the keys between the four of you when you meet up with Michael and Shannon back in the mansion. I then want you to go and lock all of the windows and the doors once you go back outside.” I explained. “Oh and… Grab some tools from the kitchen… If you know what I mean. I have a feeling this day is going to be somewhat eventful.” They chuckled and nodded to my addition before running around the corner and entering the large building from another side.
With Yume now calm and asleep, Tobi attached her chain to her collar so that she couldn’t destroy the mansion if Roger was still here when she woke up. “Now then,” I started. “I believe we have a job to do… We should pay our kind guest a visit.” I smiled. And with that, Tobi had disappeared ahead of myself into the mansion, so that he would be the first out of the two of us to get to Roger and keep him busy while I picked something up.
Back in the main building of the library, Roger’s expression was that of anger. There were books scattered everywhere around the room, so much so that there was very little of the actual carpeted floor to be seen. There was still plenty more books being sent flying out of Roger’s hands as he violently rummaged through the old bookcase, seemingly looking for something in particular. He stopped for a moment. Panic filled his eyes as they widened. “This cannot be…” He started, a hint of fear rose in his voice as it trembled. “If not here, then where else could it be?” His voice was almost thick with panic, but he tried to regain himself. He began to look around at all of the books that had been carelessly tossed on the floor, scattered around the room, making sure that he hadn’t overlooked it. There were as many as six books left on the bookcase shelves, and Roger began to look desperate. But his face almost seemed to twist, almost in realisation of something, as if he couldn’t control his rage.
“Confound that girl!” He yelled in anger. He was just about losing it now. The kind man that the Ashdown family had known, once a dear friend to the family, would now look like a complete stranger to them. He had seemingly done everything but lose his mind as he dashed into the hallway of the weaving mansion, muttering to himself as he sped around the corners. He stopped and gently placed his hand over a pocket on the inside of a waistcoat that he wore, grabbing something. He had reached the Mistress’ office. Before entering, he smiled to himself. “Here we shall meet, heathen.”
Tobi let out a deep sigh. “Oh dear… Fr. Pettingale… What a mess you’ve made.” He stood at the entrance of the library, looking straight into the what was once, tidy, room. Just this morning. Tobi peered around the door and looked at the old clock that was hanging on the wall just near the window. He sighed again. “Nearly that time already… If this doesn’t hurry up, afternoon tea will run late… And I have this room to tidy yet… Oh well, I had better get started.” With that, he swiftly turned around and walked down the hallway, heading straight to the office, smiling.
By this point, Roger was standing still behind the desk, looking out of the window. He sighed almost despairingly before raising his arm and placing his hand under his chin. Once again, the paperwork was strewn all over the floor and so were all of the books containing some form of notes in the room. “This is impossible…” He began. “Where on earth could it be?!” He yelled in frustration, placing his hands on the window-ledge. After a few silent seconds, the man started to chuckle under his breath. “Of course…” He laughed. “She’s definitely your daughter. She’s had the blasted thing all along…” He sighed. “And you… Heathen. Where do you fit into this puzzle?” Roger finished, slowly turning to face Tobi who was standing silently in the doorway, staring right at him; smiling in reply.
“I can fit anywhere in the puzzle that I am required. The young Mistress sits in the centre. However, it is unfortunate, but; there are a few puzzle pieces missing, making the picture’s depiction unclear. The true question here is in fact, where do you fit in?” Tobi placed his hands under his chin, tilting his head.
Roger was not the least bit impressed by the riddle and question that he had received. The fact that he had received this kind of answer from a demon who was also smiling at him as if there wasn‘t a clear hatred in the room, made it all the more worse. This was more than enough to tip the scales. “Silence!” Roger yelled, quickly putting his hand into his waistcoat pocket and pulling out what appeared to be a cross and threw it forward; straight at the demon. Tobi’s eyes widened as he realised the danger of the weapon coming straight at him at break-neck speed. Swinging himself to the side, Tobi just managed to dodge the attack from the sharp cross blade in time. With a loud ‘THUD’ the cross became lodged into the wall of the hallway, causing a crack to appear that would have to be fixed later on. “Heaven’s blade… The Scared Cross. The fact that someone like yourself is fledged to be wielding such a weapon. This is interesting.” Tobi spoke, straightening himself up.
The Sacred Cross is a blade made of pure silver, and is filled with exorcising qualities; making it the ideal and perfect weapon for people who were of God, and couldn’t stand the sight of creatures belonging to Hell, or were classed as evil. Werewolves, demons, almost anything could fall to this weapon. Angels and Grim Reapers however would be a little more difficult to take down.
“Indeed. It seems even someone of your breed understands quality. The blade also has the ability to change size according to the size of it’s master’s target and how it is thrown. You should also know that you are going to perish here in this room.” Roger smiled back at the demon before raising his hand, calling back the great weapon. It managed to shake it’s way out of the crack in the wall, causing handfuls of rubble to fall out with it. The blade itself flew at Tobi once more, just missing him by a hair again as he moved his head to the side, as the cross had now got itself wedged into the lower window ledge, causing yet another crack that would need repairs.
Tobi looked behind him at the damaged wall. There was a huge crack, everywhere was covered in dust, and a part of a picture in a frame had been torn. He then faced back to the window in the Mistress’ office. The window itself was now dusty too, had a slight crack in the bottom and the wall underneath was cracked too, the wood all smashed and broken. Seeing all of the damage that had been done already got on his nerves. “You,” His eyes began to flare red as he removed his gloves. “Should learn to be more respectful of other people’s houses. Especially this one.” He glared at Roger.
“So you are finally going to show your true colours…” Roger chuckled. Tobi had removed his last glove and was readying himself for the battle. Roger walked calmly over to the Sacred Cross, pulling it from the wall. As he turned back to look at the demon, his face became filled with horror and disgust. For on the palm of the demon’s left hand, was a contract seal. He almost dropped his weapon. “ That’s… Who is… You have a master… Who is it?!” The man spat.
The demon chuckled.
“Fr. Pettingale, you disappoint.” A familiar voice appeared. Both Roger and Tobi turned to face the doorway at the entrance of the office, to watch Miss Ashdown walk in. “Surely you of all people should have figured it out by now.” She smiled at him as she sat in the armchair. “You’re also wrecking my walls.” Her tone had changed completely as she opened a hidden pocket in the side of the chair, pulling out a rapier from it. “Pack it in.” She threw it to the demon, who caught it flawlessly. Tobi nodded.
“As you wish.”
Roger was seething. “What could you possibly hope to gain from this!?” He screeched. The woman stood back up from her seat. “You’re a fool!” Roger ran at her, but was abruptly stopped by a rapier swinging at him, that he barely managed to collide the Sacred Cross against, making a horrible twanging sound. “I’m afraid I cannot let you proceed any further Sir. You have over-stayed your welcome, and now; you must leave.” Tobi’s eyes flashed again. “Or there will be consequences.”Roger smirked. The cross blade shone brightly, illuminating the room, making the demon wince in pain.
“You were so intent on protecting your master that you almost forgot what you were dealing with.” Roger began a furious set of swings with the cross blade, all of which Tobi had managed to parry with his rapier. The two were furiously clashing weapons until Tobi had ducked underneath Roger’s cross and swung at him from behind, cutting his back. Roger grunted with pain as the sword slashed at his back, starting to bleed. He looked over to Natalie, who had just seemingly flicked one of three different switches on the wall. “I will ask you once, and once only. Where is-” Roger was cut off by the ringing of the black telephone at the side of the room. “This is the Ashdown household.” Tobi began. “How can I help you?”
Troger was astonished that he had the time to be answering a telephone in the middle of a fight, let alone when he was standing in front of the demon’s master who was un-armed. It was annoying. Roger smirked again. He had her cornered. This was his chance. “Fiend, tell me where it is!” He yelled. “It is not in any of the places that it should be… You have it, don’t you…?” Roger grabbed something that was tied around his neck. Natalie had soon realized that it was in fact a rosary. “Please,” He started. “Do not make this any more difficult than it already is.”
Natalie sighed. “You know that I have it. And you also know that I will not give it to you.” She stared at him.
“Then you give me no choice.” Roger pulled the rosary free from his neck and wrapped it around his free hand before holding it out at Natalie. She knew that any moment now, she was likely to be in pain, so she did what she could to prepare for endurance. The rosary lit up and became almost snake-like as it moved around with Roger’s swings. He swung it straight at Natalie, and she shut her eyes for a second. But instead of feeling tremendous pain, she only felt a little that made her wince, and she felt strangely light all of a sudden.
Upon opening her eyes, she was cradled in one of Tobi’s arms. He’d protected her, even though he was still on the phone at the time, making the cord stretch as far as it could. Down the side of his arm and chest was slit and bleeding badly, but he still smiled. “I’m sorry, but Miss Ashdown is dealing with other affairs at the moment. I’ll make sure that she discusses this with you later. Thank you for your time.” He placed her carefully back down on the floor, and placed the phone back too. It was at this point that Shannon walked in happily with mugs of tea and gently put them on the office table and looked at Roger. “Sorry to make you wait, want some tea?” She smiled. “They might be a while..” She giggled.
“Not really, but thank you.” He replied.
“Fine, fine!” She skipped back out of the room.
“Your hurt miss.” Tobi began, looking at Natalie’s wrist. “I’ll be alright. It’s just a little bit of a cut is all. Nothing to worry about. You on the other hand are a little worse for wear now.” A hint of worry was in her voice. Tobi chucked a little before smiling. “I shall be fine. But I thank you for your concern.”
“If we are just about finished here;” Roger interrupted, “I would like to proceed.” Tobi walked back to the rapier that he was given and he picked it up once more, readying himself for a fight again.
“I’m afraid there is no-where to proceed to Roger.” Natalie began. “You are out of time.”
Just moments after Natalie had finished speaking, everyone working inside of the mansion poured into the room, including a very distressed Shannon. Emily was carrying two brooms, which she quickly broke in half, showing the two, long knives inside of them. Thomas was holding a large reap hook, while Michael and Shannon were both holding pots and pans and Yume could be heard stomping around outside. “Sorry Roger, but your surrounded.” Thomas spoke.
“You’ve hurt both the Mistress and her butler.” Emily continued.
“You can’t get away.” Michael added.
“And you didn’t drink my tea!” Shannon scolded, holding out a frying pan.
Natalie smiled.
Roger put his rosary into his pocket. “I shall take my leave. But this however, is not the end. We will, meet again.” Roger grabbed hold of the cross blade with both hands as it grew larger. “You really are like your sister.“ He smiled. “And that, is going to kill you.” Natalie’s attention was drawn immediately to those last few words. What did he know of her? Either way it was too late now.
“I bid you farewell.” And with that, the cross illuminated the room completely once more, and as it faded away, Roger Pettingale had vanished.