Zel walked through the aisles of books that made up the library of Saillune. There was something here that he was searching for, that was why he didn't go with the others. Something he saw the last time he been here came back to him as he contemplated about what happen last night.
The werewolf.
He heard what it called itself.
Loup-Garou.
That was a dead language and Zel recalled a book that he remembered seeing that in, but where was it now?
"May I help you?"
Zel took a step back as he found himself face to face with a shaggy old man wearing a thick pair of bifocals. Harold the Librarian of the Saillune Royal Library. Zel had met this man, who spent his whole life here, on a previous trip here.
"Ah Zelgadiss, it's a pleasure to see you. I see you still sport stone skin." Harold chuckled.
Harold didn't get out a lot.
"I've come looking for a book," Zel said flatly as Harold stared at him. "I seek the book with the - "
"Scarlet skull?"
Reaching into his robes, Harold produced a thin, slightly tattered tome. Its binding was starting to break as the cover showed signs of much wear. A scarlet red skull was engraved into the leather cover of the book.
"That's the one." Zel acknowledged as he took the book. Walking down the aisle to a table near the entrance, Zel sat down as he opened the book and studied its contents.
Flipping through the pages, Zel found the page he was looking for. Scanning through the text, he stopped at the word. The one the werewolf had called itself. This book was written over three thousands years ago, the civilization from which it was spawned had long since passed. Looking at the text again, Zel couldn't decipher any of the words written down. Even with all the dead tongues he had learned, he couldn't make any sense of what was written.
"Having problems?" Harold smiled as he looked over Zeal's shoulder.
"This text is indecipherable," Zel muttered as he flipped through several pages.
"I know what it says, roughly." Smiling as Zel turned to look at him with a puzzled gaze, Harold stroked his beard and continued. "It was about a decade ago, when a scholar versed in many languages that have since passed away came here. By my request, for several nights he labored on the text trying all his might to make sense of the words. One night he succeeded, but he went hideously mad as a result. I only managed to save a few texts of the translation before he burned the rest."
"And those texts?"
Shaking his head, Harold muttered, "They've been recently stolen from my vault, there was no sign at all how the person managed to accomplish it. However, I managed to study the text and translation enough for me to decipher part of it for you."
"Good," Zel said as he flipped back a few pages to the page where he had found the word. "Can you translate this page?"
Scanning the page for a bit, Harold observed. "I can figure out what a few of it says, but not a lot."
"Well then what does it say?"
"The Greater Werewolf, Loup-Garou." Harold translated as Zel ushered him to continue. "A split off from the normal werewolves, these beast are far more powerful and dangerous then their lesser cousins. At one time, there can be only 3,000 of these beast at a time."
"Can their bite infect other people?"
Scanning briefly through the text again, Harold shook his head, "No, wounds from them do not transfer their affliction. They are weak against silver, except for a few of their type that can only be hurt by gold. It seems they have incredibly fast regeneration capabilities such that any weapon not of the right metal won't even hurt them. They are completely healed instantly after the weapon passes through. Also, magic is not very effective against them due to their moderate resistance to it."
"That's enough, I believe I heard enough." Zel stated as he got up and handed the book to Harold, who continued to look through it. "Look through it and tell me if you find anything else." he requested as he turned to leave.
Harold merely nodded as he continued to look through the text he translated. His eyes widened as he recognized one of the lines that he missed when he was telling it to Zel. The Loup-Garou can't infect people with their attacks, unless they are killed. Then the last person, who was bled by the beast will be afflicted to take its place.
The sounds of footstep came slowly closer to Harold as he continued to look even deeper through the text.
The Loup-Garou all served under the power of an entity that was impossible to discern or describe. All earlier attempts at divining it had resulted in the death of the scryer. It was wise to believe that the powerful aspect this cousin to the werewolf may have was a direct result of serving this vile entity.
The footsteps came to a slow stop behind Harold.
"Is that you Zelgadiss? I've just discovered something very important for you." Harold asked not looking up from the text.
"No, I'm afraid Zelgadiss will not be able to talk to you."
The hair on his neck stood up as Harold hesitantly turned his head. What he saw caused him to drop the book in shock as he stumbled back.
An black amorphous hand reached down and picked up the book. The being before him was large humanoid shaped ooze that stared at him with a single large red eyes in its 'head'. Floating inside its center, frozen in the image of a mid scream, was Zelgadiss, his arm flailing out to grab at some unseen object.
"I was looking for this," the thing said as the book in its hand burst into flames. Tossing the burning remnants in front of Harold, it smiled, "And now to deal with you, no loose ends."
Tendrils extended from its body and slowly encircled the paralyzed librarian in their grip, wrapping themselves all around him, until only his head stuck out from their coils. Then they slowly tightened as sounds of bone cracking could be heard.
Screams echoed throughout the library hallway before all was silent again.
"My darling Carlissa," the Phantom said as he traced his hand across her smooth face.
Carlissa sat upright on her bed, her long black hair trailed all the way down to the floor as she wore only her night gown. Her eyes had a dull and empty look as she remained oblivious to everything around her.
"Such a sweet music you did tonight, I truly enjoyed it." tHe Phantom congratulated as his fingers traced across her lips. "Don't worry, my darling. Soon, we won't have to meet like this anymore. I have gotten help to ensure that we'll always be together," he chuckled before he noticed some mist seeping in through her door.
Scowling, the Phantom reached over Carlissa's dresse to pick up the mask he had left there. Quickly placing it back on, he turned to watch as the mist rose up and took the form of Dracula.
"Has it been done?" the Phantom asked as he tightened his glove.
"Yes, I saw to it that she would see it my way. In fact, we'll be getting the result very soon," Dracula smiled.
A silence passed between the two before the sounds of screams could be heard.
"Maria is dead!"
"She leaped off the Opera House!"
"Why did she do that!"
The Phantom listened to the cries for a bit, before he said, "Well done, I'll be sure to have our master reward you for this. Now no one will be able to rival my Carlissa."
"Speaking of Master, tomorrow is the night."
Pausing to think a bit, the Phantom sighed, "So it is, are you going to attend? I'm sure the Master will come."
"No, I'll stay here."
"Very well then, I must be off now. I have a guest to attend to now." the Phantom said as he turned to Carlissa. Waving his hand before her, he said, "Sleep, my angel."
Carlissa eyes fell shut as she slumped down upon her bed in sleep. The two watched silently at her gentle breathing. Taking his hat off the rack and placing it onto his head, the Phantom opened up a panel in the wall to step through.
"Remember, Tepes. She's mine." he added before he departed.
Dracula just smiled as the panel closed shut behind the Phantom.
"So the supporting opera singer apparently leaped to her death off the Royal Saillune Opera House. How does this connect fit in with everything?" Amelia commented.
Fiddling a bit with the red sash wrapped around his neck, Ichabob remarked, "Oh I doubt it has anything to do with the Horseman. People dying with their heads on isn't his style, he always cuts off their head."
"But maybe he was chasing her?"
"On the roof? However likely, I don't believe this death has anything to do with the Horseman." Ichabob snapped.
"Well what do you think Lina?" Amelia asked.
Said sorceress along with her swordsman were busy stuffing their faces full of food as the waiters brought more meat. Lina snatched one of the big chunks of meat and devoured it in one huge gulp.
"You're friend is quite the ravenous beast, isn't she?" Ichabob commented as Amelia chuckled slightly.
"Actually, Lina and Gourry are always like that. But I guess they're just really hungry since we skipped breakfast and lunch to do all that searching." Amelia reasoned.
"Well the night is still young," Ichabob sighed as he got up from his seat and stretched a bit. "Why don't the two of us go searching a bit while your friends are finishing stuffing themselves?" he suggested.
Finishing her coffee, Amelia nodded, "I guess that's a good idea. Oh don't you want anything to eat? You haven't touched anything since we came in?"
"Oh, I'm not the least bit famished." Ichabob assured her. "Besides after all the searches, I believe I have deducted where the Horseman might be."
"Really, then let's go." Amelia cheered as she grabbed Ichabob by the hand and they went running out of the restaurant.
Meanwhile the two eaters continued to eat, completely unaware of their friend's departure.
After getting Amelia to let go of his hand, Ichabob managed to lead her through the dark streets of Saillune. The sky was clouded over, making the night even darker without the light of the stars and moon. After turning down a street, Ichabob stopped before a structure as Amelia looked at it in surprise.
"The Saillune Stable?" she asked as Ichabob nodded.
"Even though the Horseman may be a dark demonic entity of killing, he still has to keep his horse somewhere. A tall dark steed, I assure you, will bring a lot of attention in your fair city of light." Ichabob explained as the two stepped in.
Before them were stalls upon stalls of horses, stretching quite a considerable distance.
"I guess that makes sense. Well, let's start looking." Amelia said as Ichabob agreed and they started looking through the stalls.
Amelia reached the last stall on her side, while Ichabob was searching the other parts of the place. Her nose twitched a bit as she caught the overpowering aroma of blood, scenes started to dance in her head. Shaking her head trying to banish those painful images, Amelia reached up and opened the stall door.
The door swung opened as a dark steed came leaping out causing Amelia to leap aside to avoid being trampled beneath the beast. The horse pranced on the ground a bit, before it just turned its red eyes at her.
Careful of the beast, Amelia quietly moved toward the open stall all the while keeping perfect eye contact with the black horse. Entering the stall, Amelia spotted a rather large bag filled with round objects in the back. The stench of death became nearly overwhelming for Amelia as she reached to untie the knot on the bag.
The horse turned its view from the girl as it spotted a person coming. The figure's black cloak flapped behind him as he unsheathed a massive blade coated with blood on it.
With a final tug, the knot came loose as the bag opened up, spilling its contents before her. Amelia bit her tongue to keep from screaming as she stared down at almost a dozen severed heads. Starting to crawled back from the grisly find, the sound of hay being crushed under a heavy boot caused her to swirl around.
"Ichabob."
Ichabob merely smiled at her.
"Why are you dress in all that dark clothing with the cape and the...sword?" Amelia asked, her voice starting to waver at the look on Ichabob's face.
Ichabob merely reached up toward the red sash that he wore over his neck. Gripping it in his gloved hand, he gave it a tug as he pulled it off.
Amelia mouth opened in a silent scream.
Ichabob's head came rolling down in front her, stopping right at her feet. The face still looking up at her smiling.
Turning back to the headless figure before her, Amelia whispered, "The Headless Horseman."
The Horseman merely took a step closer as he raised his blade up.