Homecoming II

The clacks of his wooden sandals rang against the grains of the hardwood floors as the metal door to Charlotte's prison opened with a dull whoosh.

As if she was an android programmed by her master, Charlotte's now-hazel eyes scanned the oncoming visitor. Her gaze widened at the sight of a clearly more powerful form of his vessel, Richard Greythorne.

"Charlotte." Irwin greeted, grabbing the wooden chair and placing it in front of her bed.

Irwin had come here for one reason and a message. Although Ella had fixed her first two mistakes, she had no knowledge that she had made a third one. "Looks like Ella made a silly little mistake yesterday. Know anything about that? What? Cat got your tongue?"

Charlotte did not respond, nor can she do so.

He chuckled at his joke. "Retrieve all the items you stole from every member of the manor."

It filled him with a sense of guilty pleasure when he saw how she resisted the effects of the Witchcatcher. As if he was watching porn in the living room television.

With rigid, almost robotic movements, Charlotte stood from her bed and removed the bed's bedding. The cover hit the floor, revealing pieces of chicken bones, twigs, twines, and a smooth black stone measuring at two cubic centimeters.

"Huh, your luck must be astronomical for you to gather that." He muttered. "Throw it to me."

"I will make sure that it won't happen again. But that got me thinking; I should secure your allegiance and do so sooner." He said, retrieving the items. "Even I wouldn't know what would happen in the near future. Well, I do, actually, but you get what I mean."

Irwin could sense the multitudes of words unspoken by the storm brewing behind Charlotte's eyes. A hurricane of curses and pleading waiting to be unleashed.

"Many in my family beheld you as a danger restricted only by the artifact encloses around your neck. The mask of subservience you continue to perform is but a facade. And I suppose they are right." He gave an irritated sigh, but that too soon turned into a devious smile. "So, for the next few days, you're going to help me scour Lady Anastasia's tomes for a memory spell or a dominating spell. Preferably one that removes any sense of hostility without taking out your personality or sense of self."

He chuckled to himself, "Think about it: Charlotte, daughter of Agatha, at my beck and call, serving my every need. MY VERY OWN WITCH SERVANT! How glorious!"

Irwin winked at Charlotte as he left the room, the door closing and locking behind him with a terrifying BANG!.

●●●The Very Next Morning●●●

A fresh morning sun and fragrant flower smell roamed within Irwin's bed chambers as he awoke with a relaxed expression.

The sheer exhaustion from yesterday's fight and paperwork relieved itself from his body, unburdening the Greythorne heir.

With a satisfying yawn, he strode to his closet and affixed himself with loose pants and a grey tank top, before donning his morning silk robe. Yes, he was only wearing boxer shorts while he slept.

As he went down the second-floor hallway, one of the guest room doors opened, to which Gordon Walker exited. Wearing jeans and a plaid shirt over a brown jacket.

'Must be hunter fashion,' Irwin surmised as he waved at the man. "Morning. Slept good?"

"Better, man, better." Gordon had a satisfied smile on his face as he joined Irwin towards the stairs. "So what's on our itinerary, Uncle Phil?"

"Well, I figured breakfast, some light training for me. I have scheduled a meeting with my trainer this afternoon." He responded, now self-conscious of his robe, so he tied it up. "And by dinner, answer some of your questions."

Irwin led Gordon towards the dining room where Ella, having woken up early to order breakfast from the diner, was putting away the styrofoam packages into the trash.

"Sup, hunter bros!" She greeted, sneaking in a strip of bacon into her mouth. "Breakfast!"

Eggs, bacon, a whole roasted chicken, corn and crab soup and various other sausages bedecked the dining table of the Greythorne Manor.

"I thought you'd be cooking breakfast. I loved that paella last night." Gordon, rubbing his hands on his stomach in a circular motion as he took a seat.

"Thank you. That was the first time I cooked that." She said, taking the seat next to the head of the table. "But I don't cook breakfast. Don't have too much energy when I wake up."

Irwin nodded in confirmation. He and Ella had agreed neither had the time nor energy to cook in the morning, so they made a deal with Margaret's Diner. The two alternated days to pickup their breakfast.

Irwin grabbed half of the roasted chicken and began the process of devouring the poultry. With him so busy, Ella and Gordon conversed under the spectacle of an olive-skinned man fighting against a dead chicken.

About five minutes later, Gordon wiped his mouth and gazed towards Irwin, who was now finishing his fifth blueberry pancake. "So, since we're all here. How about I ask my questions now rather than later?"

Irwin looked up from his food, wiping his mouth off the dribble and maple syrup. "Well, I usually finish my breakfast quickly and do a 2-hour workout routine."

"I thought that would be in the afternoon?" Gordon was confused.

"Magik training." Ella supplied the information. "That flaming whip of his... that's his magik."

Seeing Gordon adamant about the matter, Irwin figured it wouldn't hurt. "Alright, ask away."

"Well, to start, how do you know about this yellow-eyed demon?" He asked his first of many questions.

Ella, although hiding behind her own stack of pancakes, listened intently. Although he had told her parts of his plan, there was still some confusion regarding the sources of the matter.

Irwin, for a second, mused the thought of telling them that he was a reincarnated soul. That from the world he had come from, they were nothing but television characters. That he had seen them die and that world-ending threat would be so common by the next fifteen years.

He gave a weary sigh and banished the thought from his mind. It would not do any good if they had known.

"I died a month ago. Her mother ripped out my heart under the orders of our werewolf ancestor." He began telling a story, one he had conduced if people started asking about his sudden moves. "To them, it might've felt like... seconds. But, to me, I was there for weeks."

"There?" Ella asked.

"Hell," He muttered grimly, much to the shock of Gordon and Ella. "What I saw there would... it had changed me. I could no longer be as hedonistic as I was."

"That's where you knew of the Prince of Hell." Gordon came to an understanding.

"Yeah. I overheard their plans." He told them. "Azazel will raise a demon army. But it won't stop there. There were deeper plans, one that I had no power to listen to."

"I see," Gordon contemplated Irwin's words. "What about that Special Children?"

"Yeah, one of them will be the general in Azazel's army." Irwin answered.

"I thought there were many of them? Only one general?" Asked Ella, her expression unreadable.

"Demons are creatures of chaos and lies. Azazel gave these children... special powers and told them that they have a place in their army. But they only need one." He explained. "Can you guess how they're going to pick one?"

"They're going to let them kill each other." Gordon's eyes widened in realization. "Do you know where?"

"Not yet." He replied with a shrug, a hint of mysteriousness was always advantageous for an employer such as him. "Soon, though, there will be more chances to meet and even kill some demons."

"Kill?" Gordon scoffed at his words. "Look, you're powerful and all, but don't you think that's absurd? Even if you found that knowledge when you were in hell, how would you know-"

"Just, chill, man. I know what I'm doing." Irwin gave a toothy smile, exploding in utter confidence.

Gordon, feeling helpless, looked for Ella for some sort of guidance or help from the man.

"Don't worry about it. He's like that every time." She said with a knowing smile.

Irwin assented to her statement with a nod. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, Sam Winchester." He stated the name laced with venom. "From what I've heard and seen... is he one of them?"

"Oh, yeah. One of the powerful ones." Irwin nodded. "Be careful of him or you might die."

As soon as he said those words, an inexplicable feeling welled up within him. A sense of superiority, of victory against... fate, it seems. Irwin relished in this uncommon feeling for no one knew if he would ever again. 

A smile appeared on Irwin's face, but he covered it quickly with a glass of juice. His gaze upon Gordon changed for he knew the man took his warning seriously.

"I will." Gordon pursed his lips. "Will we be killing them, then?"

"Of course, not. We'll give them a chance. They're still humans, just more... corruptible." Irwin then went on and answered a few of Gordon's questions.

Most of his queries from here on in were regarding his future plans, and his magical ability. Gordon didn't touch the subject of his employment and, subsequently, his payment. He'll have more time to do that in the future.