//------------------------------// // Squatters // Story: Three More Things! // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As the group entered Song Shi Manor - as Uncle informed the group it was called from the information Mr. Lam had provided him - they found the ancient structure to be filled with vases, urns, tables, and various other items that seemed ancient but well-made, plainly of the finest quality. The whole place was shadowed, however, between the high peaked roofs casting long shadows and the stormy sky blocking out the light, making it difficult to see clearly. Between that and the soundless air that hung still in the halls, it felt like entering a tomb. As the group stared, Uncle spoke up. "This mansion is...a gold mine!" He moved forward to examine a particular vase sitting atop a stack of books. "We must begin work at once! So many items to appraise, and if I am to maintain air of disgust with quality to negotiate good price, we must be finished by sunrise!" "This place is amazing..." Jade murmured as she walked in, looking around in awe. "It's like Haunted Mansion meets Bram Stoker! We gotta check this place out!" "Indeed!" Uncle agreed. "We have much to check! Apple Bloom, check for basement. Sweetie Belle! Find library. Scootaloo! Explore towers! Tohru, Sofia, you are with me in main room. Jackie, Viper, check second floor. Jade, Hsi Wu, check third floor." "We just entered into a spooky mansion after Audrey refused to come with us in a place that looks straight out of a horror movie...and the first thing you say to do is split up?" Hsi Wu demanded, his tone somewhere between exasperated and stupefied. "Okay Uncle, hand over the Dog Talisman," Jackie insisted firmly. "No way you're this reckless without it." "Uncle does not have pass to access vault in Section 13, and girls would not get it for me out of worry," Uncle insisted. "How would Uncle get Talisman?" "Uh..." Jackie began awkwardly. "Don't worry so much, handsome," Viper teased as she headed for the stairs. "The sooner we finish, the sooner we can find any furniture that isn't antique..." She brushed lightly against him. "Perhaps somewhere private where no one will notice a few scratches?" she purred teasingly as she briefly sprouted her panther tail to brush up along his spine. "Okay, to the third floor before that gets worse," Jade insisted to Hsi Wu before racing for the stairs. It didn't take long for everyone to scatter to explore their areas of the manor. Finding no basements, Apple Bloom rejoined Uncle, Tohru, and Sofia on the main floor. Sweetie Belle had already found the library and begun cataloguing all the books, sorting between antique, ancient, intriguing, and magical. Scootaloo had been buzzing the towers for the past hour, checking for anything worth bringing down for Uncle to examine. Hsi Wu insisted on sticking with Jade as she checked every room on the third floor, despite her insistence that they could cover more ground if they each took a room. "Seriously, why are you being so overprotective?" Jade demanded finally. "Emeraude's been teaching me how to sense different types of magic in my environment, and there's nothing here!" "There are all sorts of magical things that could be threats that could read as nothing," Hsi Wu pointed out. "Especially types of undead. And Audrey refusing to come with points to that being what we need to look out for. But setting that aside, there's a more practical reason for me not to explore separately from you." "Okay, what's that?" Jade pressed irritably. "The term 'antique' didn't exist last time I was free," Hsi pointed out logically. "What am I supposed to be looking for, exactly?" Jade blinked, completely stupefied. "Okay...I...can't really counter that..." A sudden giggle from the room they'd just entered startled the pair. "Get behind me!" Hsi roared out as he leapt between Jade and the source of the sound, instantly assuming his demonic form. A terrified scream echoed as something blurred through the room, ending in the curtains shaking. "B-b-back demon!" a female voice called out fearfully. "I d-d-d-do not fear your kind! I shall s-s-s-strike you down if you do not withdraw!" Jade quickly grabbed Hsi Wu by his tail and tugged hard. "Down boy!" she insisted. "I don't think she's a threat. Sounds like she's more scared of you than we are of her." She stepped around Hsi. "Sorry about that. He takes the 'protect me' aspects of being my familiar a little too seriously-" "And here I thought I was trying to be a good boyfriend, Mistress," Hsi teased playfully. "I'm not your Mistress, and now's not the time!" Jade snapped back. The voice giggled softly. "You...you aren't going to hurt me?" The curtains moved...and a see-through face showing Asian features peeked out, the only color visible her very pale yellow kimono. "Only in self-defense, if that," Jade promised. "Who are you?" The figure phased through the curtain, revealing itself to be a ghost or spirit of some sort. "M-my name is Mei-Ling," she introduced herself softly. She appeared to be a teenager in age...though with ghosts or spirits, that could be deceptive. "Forgive my brash declarations. Since I lost track of my sister, I have been...forced to maintain bravado to maintain safety." "Your sister?" Hsi Wu asked curiously. "Is she here?" "Unfortunately not," Mei-Ling offered sadly. "We...had an argument some months back, and I refused to stay with her when she laid down to rest as I always have. It...was not that serious, and I thought we would make up when we awoke with cooler heads...but when I awoke, someone had moved her resting place, I know not where. And what was left in her place..." Viper carefully peeked into one of the rooms on the second floor. She'd managed to get Jackie looking for 'someplace private', leaving her to patrol for any trace of monsters she could dispatch. While she hadn't found anything yet, she did find something intriguing. A covered casket...with a lock on it. "You only lock something like this for three reasons," she murmured as she approached, lockpicks in one hand and a bottle in the other. "One, hiding treasure. Two, hiding information." As she spoke, she carefully picked the lock and lifted the lid...only to find a wizened figure in colorful robes, long claws for nails and sunken eyes that opened as her shadow fell on it, revealing golden pools with no other color visible. "Three, undead!" she snapped as she tossed the contents of the bottle over the figure. The water cascaded off its body, and the figure sat up. His hands snapped out, wrapping around Viper's neck. Shocked, she pulled the bottle around to thrust the silver cross emblazoned on its front in the figure's face...only to feel her life force draining out as he opened his mouth wide. As she was dropped to the floor, the figure blinked, red slits appearing in the yellow pools as it examined the bottle. It was no longer wizened, its musculature fleshed out as it looked much younger as it smirked at Viper. "Oy!" it breathed playfully as it crushed the bottle in one hand. "Do you got the wrong vampire..." With a dark chuckle, it flowed through the air elsewhere. ...knew I shoulda grabbed the mezuzah... Viper thought just before she sank into darkness.