England, West Coast
Devonshire, Dartmoor
Dyowl's Hollow - Woods of Dartmoor
5 November 1898, 10:33 p.m.

The man with the red feather had played a crying, weak, hurt girl. He had used her, reaching for that innocent soul at her weakest moment. Ben's hand clenched into his painful fist. His urge to put an end to this thing blazed brighter, displacing doubt and reason. Ben had always felt protective of children, now this story made him boil. The way the villagers had treated the little thing was despicable. It was incomprehensible to him how such a thing could be done to an innocent child. Especially one that had lost its parents and had such a scar on its soul and flesh. But this creature was clearly enjoying the pain and his cunning in taking advantage of it. 

"She complained to me of her suffering and I generously proposed a solution. A deal..." putting extra sticky emphasis on the word, "The ignorant girl helped me break my chains, and in return, I promised her that five of her tormentors would never harm her again." he recounted, spreading his hands. The long, curved finger-limbs cast gloomy, stretched shadows on the masses of dead leaves and wet earth.

Trade. Pact. Ben let him speak. Mostly because horrible nausea stuck in his throat like a sticky lump. This creature was something ungodly, of that there was no doubt. Only WHAT, exactly? Cursed. Benjamin resolved to stick his nose in the Order's books more often if he and Crowford got out of there alive! But for now, all he could do was listen and try to remember it, so that he could give the wizard back what was most important later. For the more he learned, the sooner they might be able to do something about it. This pact, its exact terms, and effects. WHAT had little Annabeth known and done? The thing spoke of shackles being loosened.

"You must know Doctor, I am extremely creative in my craft. But in the case of a pact, I am unfortunately bound by the exact word. So when I asked her in what way I should punish these people, the only thing that came to her mind was her little storybook." he snorted snidely. He almost looked disappointed, then his long nose wrinkled and he pulled back his upper lip. The pointed, yellow rows of teeth flashed in the dull moonlight like razor blades. "So I took a little inspiration from that. I just left out the 'and if they didn't die, they're still alive today'."

Ben understood. Everything was slowly falling into place piece by piece. So that was why all these murders had some similarity to the Grimm's German fairy tales. Presumably, the child had thought of nothing evil. Just a lesson for all the pain and suffering that had been done to her. But the child's heart did not understand what cruelty lay hidden behind the many flowery words. Ben thought of the huntsman who had to cut out Snow White's heart or the queen who had to dance in red-hot shoes until she died.

"That means you used the poor thing," Benjamin observed. As much as he tried to be cool, he couldn't quite hide the disgusted tone.

"And now I know why the wizard is so annoyed with you. You are incredibly slow on the uptake." his counterpart said, rolling his eyes, "Of course I used it! It's in my nature!" he hissed, almond-shaped eyes narrowing into even narrower slits, "Everything was going perfectly. And then you and your little magical friend came along."

"Oh no? We didn't get in your way, did we?" came cut coldly from Benjamin this time, dripping with sarcasm. He put his second hand to his revolver, feeling the cold metal, and stabilized his grip by placing it at the bottom of the handle. He could feel the air charging, thickening, and the time for chit-chat drawing to a close, the way one inevitably noticed the approaching storm when the first rumble moved across the sky. "We're sort of a thorn in your side. Good thing!"

"That's nothing to be proud of doctor." growled this spawn of hell, baring its teeth like a wild animal. "You robbed me of my freedom when you pulled little Victor out of the water." he hissed with increasing fury, "THEY prolonged the fulfillment of the pact!" his voice resonated higher with each word, again mingling with the barking sound of other voices that stood out in a nerve-wracking way. But then suddenly the creature seemed to calm down. So quickly and so unexpectedly that it sent a shiver down Benjamin's spine.

Ben sensed the approaching disaster. The figure straightened up and made a smooth movement toward him like a snake crawling through the undergrowth. Closer, ever closer. Little by little. Just a little bit at a time. And Benjamin reacted by instinctively taking a step back. The greater the distance between him and this thing, the better!

"You saved the little boy's life. So I needed a new victim. Fortunately, they both scared the little thing to death." the black man now told him and again he tilted his head to the side. His neck formed an unnaturally disgusting kink, far from any natural posture. Tapping his pointed chin with his long spidery fingers, his head tilted, he pursed his lips and visibly with difficulty stifled the serpentine grin, "Tell me, doctor, don't you wonder where your little friend is?"

A second passed. Then the color drained from the doctor's features and his heart faltered for a moment. The quiet, down-to-earth man, felt the sudden hurricane of worry tearing at the usually firm roots that had always kept him firmly grounded until now. His finger on the trigger trembled and where before his skin had gone sallow against the shadow of his beard, it now took on a blush of anger. "WHERE is Crowford? What have they done to him?!" his voice thundered, far from any coldness of feeling or controlled tactics. And that bastard? He smiled. Then he raised his hand, bent the already curved finger so that it looked like the blade of a scythe, and drew it symbolically across his throat.

As far as it was possible, Ben turned even paler. Something in his chest squeezed, robbing him of his breath. As if he had opened a door he had previously kept carefully closed. All at once, the air was so much thicker and harder to breathe. Ben felt the spell, which became more intense with every step of this monster, the closer it came. It crept up, slowly and deliberately. The leaves rustled so loudly in his ears now, as if it had wanted to scream and wake him from this trance into which the chatter had drawn him like a mouse staring into the eyes of its certain death. Ben had the feeling he could hear sand trickling. Like the grains sliding off great dunes.

"Concentrate!" his own voice drove at him, though his heart was beating ever more wildly. Worrying about Crowford made it hard for him to think straight. The bastard was lying. He just HAD to lie!

Feigning mockery, the black charcoal eyes sparkled, the fire of scorn blazing brighter in them." In a short while, my pact will have been completely fulfilled. That leaves only you." he said, and then he took a menacing step towards the doctor. A jolt went through the body in front of him as the black man tightened his claws, making each of the misshapen, bony joints crack.

"After all, it was YOU who brought Victor back from the brink of death. YOU robbed me of my prize. That business with the wizard was business. The one with you, Doctor, that's personal." A sickening crack and crunch accompanied its neck as it bent from right to left, elongating shapelessly and stretching its skin sickeningly. The creature's upper body tilted slightly forward as the grin now stretched from one side of the distorted grimace to the other. In the glowing red of its eyes, there were now narrow, vertical slits.

The sight reminded Ben of a poisonous snake, ready to shoot forward, and his fingers tingled with haunting tension.

"YOU. The 'thorn in my side' as you so beautifully put it. It is now time to remove that thorn."