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"Why can't you understand that it was a mistake? I would never marry you."

"I've spent so long in the darkness, I'd almost forgotten how beautiful the moonlight is."

Thirteen Hallowed Nights

The Fourth Night:

"The Avarice"

By Corvus no Genmu

The house wasn't the biggest house on the block but it was certainly not the smallest. Aside from its dark colorations of midnight blues and stormy grays, the house was no different from its neighbors though it did lay claim to the largest yard on the street. Maple trees grew boldly upward, their leaves already awash in the colors of summer's end in marvelous hues of reds and oranges, a tree aflame. Truly the house was no different than any other house but then, it is not the house itself but the people therein that give it a solitary standing amongst its peers. In this house there were no adults or rather, there wasn't anyone above the twilight of their teenaged years therein.

The house's occupants bounced between the numbers two and three for a woman of distinction would often drop by for days on end and would be gone only a day or two in-between, never leaving a sign of her comings and goings save for the gentle knocking on the door and its enthusiastic opening by the home's lone child, a young girl with long glossy black hair and eyes so blue as to rival the midday sky. The last was a boy of late teenaged years, if one could assume as such for though he appeared young he carried himself with an age most did not have even with decades of experience. A cat was often be spotted coming and going as it pleased but it was never seen more than a flash of obsidian fur and eyes of oceans depths and ancient amber.

Inside the house was nothing but bare necessities though everything from the couch to the table, from the floors to the delicate lamps hanging above and about, were all ancient in their design but fit quite well to the standards of the old home. The bottom floors were reserved as the common traffic areas, a living room with a large television that was for the most part unused with only a small collection of videos shelved beneath it but the other shelves were dominated entirely by books. The kitchen was fully stocked, never seeming to be missing anything be it a simple ingredient to a grand dish waiting to be completed, but it was the upstairs that was most interesting.

The staircase curved upwards on one side with its brother curving downward on the other side, hidden behind secret doors. The hallway from one side of the second floor to the other is decorated with scattered photographs from different ages and places and if one looked carefully enough, one could almost see the connection between them all but for the most part it eluded them. A young brunette sitting on the steps of her home, a kitten curled asleep on her lap with a toy rabbit at her side. A young man dressed in his Sunday best but with his blonde tresses wild and untamed, his toothy grin cocky and self-assured. A blank spot where another should be…

Wait…

Jacque paused and took a few steps back. A photo was missing and by the way the cupboard had been moved there could only have been one culprit. He walked down to the far side of the hall, to the room next to his own. He noted the open door and the glimmering candlelight from within, painting interesting shadows across the door and into the hallway before he glanced inside.

The young girl sat at the headboard of her bed, her comforter blanket nestled about her like a massive cloak. She was already dressed for bed in a pale green nightgown, a color she was quite enamored with, and the cat sat above her, staring almost transfixed at the picture in her hands. The girl herself was frowning, looking as though the photo were some great puzzle she had couldn't solve.

"Samara?"

The child gasped and clutched the picture frame close, staring at Jacque knowing that she had been caught and likely to be punished for it. "I'm sorry! I didn't—"

"The next time you feel like taking a closer look at the photographs, please just let Morrigan or I get it down for you." He sat down beside her, rubbing her head affectionately. "I don't want you hurting yourself for your curiosity's sake." I have seen too much of that before and it did not end well for anyone…

Samara blushed and squirmed embarrassedly but did not try to move away. Love and its sister Affection were strangers to her but they were welcomed all the same. "Okay…" She whispered, a pleased smile on her porcelain face.

"Now then, let me see what's got your attention so?" Shyly, still embarrassed to be caught so easily, Samara handed him the photograph and the light in Jacque's emerald eyes dimmed at the sight. It was a wedding photo between a young man of eighteen and a woman of the same age. Both were smiling though there was sadness in the eyes of the boy. "Ah… I had nearly forgotten about them…"

"Are they your grandparents…?" She asked for the photograph was easily the oldest of the lot, having been taken just when the device was in its first decade of age.

A bit of teasing light entered Jacque's eyes as he smiled down at her. "Sorry but no, grandparents for either of us. No they're just… some old friends…"

Samara pouted as Nibi landed gracefully at her side, curling up for sleep though one ear twitched towards them, both tails curled tightly around its paws. "Tell me about them?"

Jacque raised an eyebrow at that, staring at her in thoughtful silence. She wasn't stupid, she knew what she was asking but did he dare to let a part of himself go, just enough to satisfy her? He looked into her eyes and realized the answer was already there. "His name is Victor Van Dort…"

Victor sighed sadly to himself as he watched Emily vanish down the cobblestone steps to the city below. The day had started out so well for him; he was to be married to a beautiful young lady of class who, if nothing else, appreciated his talent at the piano. Of course, being an arranged marriage and having never met her before, he was a nervous wreck at the rehearsal and botched up his vows enough to have Pastor Gallswells banish him from the church until he could properly recite them. Well, long story short he managed to successfully recite his vows but had inadvertently recited them to a corpse, specifically a corpse of a bride. One who took his recited words to heart and accepted him as her husband to be.

With his one chance to get back to the Land of the Living failed miserably Victor expected the depression but he certainly did not expect the guilt. Oh yes, he felt guilty for lying to the poor girl but a marriage between the two of them, it was impossible. Yes, he tricked her into going up to the Land of the Living under false pretenses but he had to get back to his true bride-to-be… Of course, that all came crumbling down rather spectacularly… At least it can't get any worse than this can it?

"That was rather insensitive of you. Why not go for the real deal and stab her in the heart, what's left of it anyway." A voice of sensuous silk and chilling cold spoke from behind Victor, startling the poor man something bad as he stumbled forward and turned to see a startling sight.

The man couldn't have been much older than Victor when he died but it was hard to tell for most of his face was covered by a thick purple scarf that matched well with the dark plum of his duster jacket. His ratty hair, long and tied back in a pigtail, rested beneath a large black fedora adorned with the remains of a feather. His skeletal hands were bedecked with a pair of gloves and at his side was a leather satchel that looked heavy with a thick book of some kind. Overall he was the most well dressed skeleton Victor had seen yet and that more than anything else frightened him terribly.

Emerald eyes rolled in a skeleton's sockets, meeting the pinpricks of Victor's own as teeth clattered into an amused smile before looking up at the aged skeleton sitting at his desk above the library of ancient and forgotten books. "If you'll excuse us, Elder Gutknecht. The boy and I have a few things to discuss."

"Oh by all means, don't let these old bones keep you."

The skeletal rider nodded and started out of the Elder's tower but paused to glance back at the frightened Victor. "Coming?"

"Ah, I… I suppose I may as well…?" Victor hesitantly followed behind after him.

An emerald eyeball moved independently of its brother as the rider regarded how utterly frightened the young man was. "So… Victor was it?"

"Ah, y-y-yes?"

The rider sighed, reached up to scratch his bony forehead. "Relax before you pass out, boy. I'm just as dead as anyone else here and I abide by the same laws."

"L-Laws?"

"In a moment. First, my name is Mortimer and you, my dear boy, are going to stroke if you don't stop acting like I'm the Spirit of Death."

"S-Sorry…"

"Stop stuttering, you're an adult, try and act like one. Now tell me just what the problem is?"

"Problem? What problem?"

Mortimer amended his question. "What is the problem you have with Emily? You are aware that you've sworn to be her husband—"

"That's just it!" exclaimed Victor, suddenly anxious, "I didn't know she was there!"

Mortimer suddenly stopped walking and Victor stumbled to not run into him. A crackling of bones sounded loudly as Mortimer's skull twisted about to stare angrily at Victor as his body followed slowly behind. "Only the one who broke her heart before killing her body knows that she was buried there in the woods of your town. Do you have any idea how long it was until she started talking again? How many days she spent wallowed up in her room crying her eyes out? It wasn't until today that I've ever seen her smile like that and then you had to go and break her heart all over again."

Victor slumped with shame at that. Bone Jangles hadn't spared any details of Emily's story but it was far different hearing of it and the aftermath in actual words rather than in musical lyrics. He never really bothered to question Emily about it either and really, he should have at least made the attempt of getting to know her and perhaps finding out for himself just why she was so quick to proclaim him as her husband, even being so kind as to reunite him with his long-dead pet, when he hadn't even known her name!

Mortimer sighed and shook his head, his eyes rolling back and forth. "Boy, just who is this Victoria person?"

"She's, um, she's my…"

"Fiancé?" supplied Mortimer as he started walking again with Victor dutifully following behind.

"Um, actually ours is an arranged marriage you see…"

"An arranged marriage." Mortimer deadpanned, made all the better as he was actually dead mind you. "How long have you even known this girl?"

"We-Well… yesterday afternoon, really…"

"Yesterday." Mortimer smacked his forehead, dislodging both his eyes which he was quick to catch and pop back in. He started to massage his forehead, not feeling any actual pain but it was an old living habit he hadn't quite gotten rid of. "Was this before or after you made your vows to Emily?"

"Before… but—"

"Ah, let me guess," Mortimer held up a gloved hand to stall any further explanation. "You didn't do well with rehearsal and you tried practicing in the forest and the first time you managed to get it right, you said them to the wrong person."

"Exactly…!"

"And, you'd rather marry Victoria because…? Leaving out the still-living part of course."

"She's-She's… well, she's really rather kind, sweet, and c-c… cute…"

"Most girls are." Mortimer sighed and shook his skull. "Hold on, let's try this from a different angle. What has Victoria ever done for you?"

"She… she complimented my playing the piano… she always wanted to play but her parents forbade her from learning you see…"

"And what about your vows? Did she help you memorize them or help you keep a steady head?"

"No she… She didn't help at all."

"And Emily?" asked Mortimer. "What has she done for you?"

"Sh-She… danced with me… she brought me back to the Land of the Living so that I…" The young man looked ashamed, remembering his crimes, however small, against his corpse bride. "So that I could tell my parents the good news."

"And you went running to this Victoria instead." Mortimer said, "But that's not all she had done is it?"

"No, she," Victor smiled somewhat sadly. "She found Scraps and reunited him with me."

"Ah yes, your dog." Mortimer nodded. "She went through a lot of trouble to find him."

"What do you mean?" Victor asked.

"Haven't you noticed, that the only animals down here are bats, spiders, the odd raven or three, and the occasional maggot?" asked Jack. "Not a single dead animal anywhere save for the horse in town square and your dog."

"Now that you mention it…" murmured Victor. "That is rather strange."

"Actually, it isn't." Mortimer explained, "Animals don't have the same troubles as humans so most pass on to their rightful places straight after. However, there are still some that don't want to go and so stay here to wait for those they called friend or master though many spend eternity waiting." He sighed rather forlornly. "When one is dead, I'm sure an old family pet is the least of their concerns after all."

"So… Scraps…?"

"Has been waiting for you all these years since he died, even if there wasn't a chance of you finding him." Mortimer nodded. "It was Emily who went to the wild lands surrounding this town and found him amongst all the other pets waiting for their masters. Found him and brought him to you, boy."

"Oh Emily…" Victor sniffed and shook his head.

"A real sweetheart, isn't she?" Mortimer paused and glanced down a nearby alleyway. "Well speak of the dog…"

"Eh? Scraps, what are you doing here boy?" Victor kneeled down to scratch the dead canine's skull as the little thing deposited a familiar bouquet of dead flowers in the young man's hand. He started walking away and glanced back over at his living master and whined, looking back the way he came to Victor again.

"Go with your dog, maybe he can talk some sense into you that I can't."

"I'm too late…" muttered a forlorn Victor as he sat slumped against the wall of the pub, numerous empty caskets leaning about all around him as he stared forlornly at the small stem of flowers in his hands. Truly it seemed that for every step forward he took, he was forced to go back several more just because, if for no actual reason. He had learned something knew of Emily and of himself as they played a marvelous duet on the pub's piano and had just as quickly learned of Victoria by way of his recently

"Too late?" Victor snapped his head to stare in surprise at Mortimer who sat across from him, using one of the coffins as it was originally intended, rising up like a fleshless vampire and scaring the poor boy half to death. "Boy, it has barely begun. Unless you're speaking of your fiancé again in which case, yes. Yes it is over. Love is a greedy thing, live with it."

"Greedy? Love isn't greedy!"

"Isn't it? Yours is an arranged marriage of convenience between your parents and hers isn't it? Your family supplies the money, while hers supplies the nobility. That's a marriage of convenience. Your Victoria must recover from heartbreak quickly to marry another man so quickly after losing her first fiancée in the same day."

"Stop it…"

"Even Emily, for all her kindness, is selfishly in love with you simply for the fact that she has always been the bride's maid and never the bride."

"I said stop it!" Victor was on his feet, the echoes of his shout fading away into the shadowed alleyways as Mortimer stared up at him in complete silence before suddenly smiling and pushing himself up to his feet. Victor stumbled back half-a-step suddenly losing his daring but still remaining firmly on his feet as he did his best to glare at the skeletal rider, managing just above disgruntled puppy.

"I apologize but I wanted to see for myself whether or not you actually had some guts beneath your skin." Mortimer cracked his spine back into place. He walked past Victor and carefully glanced into the kitchen of the pub. Sporting a wicked grin hidden beneath the folds of his scarf, Mortimer gestured for the living man to stand where did. "Come over here and see for yourself how selfish love can be."

Hesitating for only a brief moment, Victor complied and peered through the crack of the door while steadfastly ignoring Mortimer popping out an eye and holding it above his head so that he too could see. Emily was standing in the kitchens with Elder Gutknecht, the ancient skeleton looking over the pages of a book older than his ancient bones while Emily's maggot friend looked positively delighted at whatever news the Elder was hesitant in delivering.

"There is a complication with your marriage." The Elder said.

"I don't understand."

"The vows are binding only until death do you part."

"What are you saying…?" asked Emily, looking nervous, her fleshy fingers playing with the bones of her left hand, gently caressing the golden band that adorned her ring finger.

"Death… has already parted you."

Emily gasped, actually afraid for that meant, "If he finds out, he'll leave." She finger-twiddling reached new heights as she stared imploringly at Elder Gutknecht. "There must be something you can do."

"Well, there is one way…"

The maggot writhed where it sat on the page, looking like it was about to burst with excitement. "Oh, please! Please let me tell her!"

"It requires the greatest sacrifice." Elder Gutknecht explained.

The maggots little teeth spread in a vicious grin. "Go on, get to the good part!" It squeaked.

Emily's eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

"We have to kill him!" shouted the maggot, sounding like Christmas had come early for it had been a good little corpse-eater.

"What?"

Victor gasped and stumbled back but a bony hand held him firm, one green eye staring at him while the other was still held up over his head. "Wait, I want to hear her say it."

"Victor would have to give up the life he had forever." Elder Gutknecht turned the pages of his book until he revealed a page where a potion was dominant on one page, its ingredients on the other. "He would need to repeat his vows in the Land of the Living and drink from the Wine of Ages."

"Poison!" Emily looked away in disgust at the sight of the skull and crossbones, not daring to even consider…

"This would stop his heart forever." Elder Gutknecht walked around the table as Emily stared deeply into the flames of the pub's fireplace as though a new answer may be derived from the green flames. "Only then would he be free to give it to you."

Victor tried to step back but Mortimer's grip was like steel on his shoulders and the skeleton's teeth were nearly chattering in excitement as they waited for Emily to make her decision.

"I could never ask him." Emily collapsed to her knees, her hopes crumbling and her heart breaking anew once more.

Victor's back straightened in shock and he heard more than felt Mortimer's hand drop from his shoulders, his eyeball falling to the ground. He didn't hesitate as he pushed open the door to the kitchen and stepped inside, his choice had at long last been made. "You don't have to." Emily gasped, surprised that he was there and horrified at what he had likely overheard but still he continued, "I'll do it."

"My boy, if you chose this path you may never return to the world above," warned Elder Gutknecht. "Do you understand the choice you're making?"

Victor smiled and gently took Emily's hand in his own, helping her to her feet as he gave his answer not to the Elder but to his bride. "I do."

At the door stood Mortimer, both eyes back in his skull staring at the scene inside before turning away and stalking off into the back roads of the city. "I don't… understand… She said no… but he still… and… It doesn't make any sense…"

"Which in its own way was rather understandable for you see Mortimer was… asleep…" Jacque sighed exasperatedly but with a fond smile on his face as Samara slept with her arms wrapped around a spare pillow. Shaking his head, Jacque rose to his feet and switched off the light at her bedside and carefully walked out of the room, pausing at the door long enough to whisper, "Pleasant dreams, Samara." He shut the door behind him and wasn't at all surprised to suddenly feel a pair of arms sensuously wrap themselves across his shoulder, a pleasant breath tickling at the back of his neck. He smiled and leaned back into his fiancé's embrace. "Morrigan."

"Just once I'd like to be able to sneak up on you… Stupid bond…" A teasing kiss behind his ear before cool jade eyes glanced down at the photograph in his hands. "So…?"

"… What?"

"I can read you just as well as you read me." Another kiss at the back of his jaw. "You only have to ask."

"… Could you please?"

"Just call my name when you're ready to come home."

That surprised him and he turned to stare at her human form questioningly. "You're not coming?"

Morrigan smiled and shook her head, taking the photograph from his hands and placing it back in its proper place as she spoke, "You're not ready to share that part of your life with me just yet. I can wait until you are."

"… Morrigan—" He didn't have time to say anything else as he vanished away in a burst of emerald flames leaving only a few specks of soot from where he stood.

Morrigan didn't so much as bat an eye as she continued to straighten, or rather play, with the photograph her eyes on the groom's best man. "Mortimer huh…?"

The town had changed in the decades past but that was to be expected really. It had been well over a hundred years since the Victorian age and time waited for no one. But as he walked down the cobblestone streets, Jacque noted a few structures remained standing though their use had been changed in the years of their original creation. The Everglot's mansion had been changed into an orphanage while the Van Dort's was now serving the city as a funeral home. Ironic and sad at the same time really but it was not these places that interested him. Jacque spotted the church and crossed the bridge that led from its holy grounds to the nearby cemetery where once a scraggly wood dominated with crows stood centuries ago.

"Dearly beloved and departed… We are gathered here today to join this man and this corpse in holy matrimony…"

He stopped at the entryway into the graveyard, frowning as he gazed over the numerous headstones and grave markers the littered the freshly mowed landscape. It had been years since he came here last and it seemed that the number of citizens departed had grown since. He had no idea where to even begin looking. A raven flitted past overhead, landing atop a nearby grave marker.

"What's wrong?"

The raven cawed and fluttered off to another grave marker, scratching at its rocky perch before glancing back at Jacque and cawing again. A small smile on his face, Jacque followed along after the cantankerous little bird as it flitted from stone to stone, occasionally cawing at him whenever it felt he was taking too long and falling behind.

"Oh how touching. I always cry at weddings."

The blackbird suddenly took to the skies, vanishing away into the wind but that was alright. Jacque recognized where he was now and knelt down in front of the grave markers. Though there was many in the long row only three really had his attention but only two had empty vases for flowers in front of them.

"You…"

"… Emily?"

A few whispered words and a few dead autumn leaves changed into a small bouquet of pear and peach blossoms with a single black rose at the center that he placed in each vase. The left gravestone was marked with but a name and a phrase, no year of birth or of death marking its gray surface. Victor Van Dort. Beloved Husband and Departed Father.

"You…!"

"But… I left you!"

The other was marked in the same fashion, a match though she died long before him. Emily Van Dort. Beloved Wife and Departed Mother.

"For dead…!"

The third grave marker sat between them and was one of the few in the entire cemetery to be damaged almost beyond repair. It was smaller than the other two and sat nestled between them. What words were inscribed upon the gravestone were gone, washed away by years of harsh wind, unforgiving rain, and bitter snow. Strange considering that the markers on either side were in pristine condition. He slowly started to hum a song, starting slowly to build up the music.

"But first! A toast, to Emily. Always the bridesmaid and never the bride! Tell me my dear, can a heart still break once it's stopped beating? Hmm?"

Elder Gutknecht held his bony limbs out, stopping the crowd of departed from rushing the arrogant little ponce and showing him just how they felt about back-stabbing murderers. "Wait! We must abide by their rules! We are amongst the living."

"Well said."

Barkis smirked viciously at the utter devastation on Emily's face and took a generous swig of the goblet and with all the regality years of practice gave him, stepped towards the church door before his heart painfully clenched upon itself. He gasped for air as he struggled to breathe before his heart finally gave out and he died standing on his feet.

Bonejangles grinned, cracking the knuckles of his hands. "Not any more…!"

"No." Mortimer pushed himself to the front of the crowd of spectators and glared down at the shivering Barkis with empty eye sockets, one hand painfully clutching something while the other twitched as though he himself was having problems in holding back his urge to throttle the man. "Do you know what happens to a soul that delights in the sin of avarice as much as you, Barkis?"

A crack appeared on the church floor.

"A soul that steals hearts and gold alike and kills fair virgin maidens in the dead of the night?"

Two more cracks, larger than the first with faint reddish light dancing beneath.

"A soul that leaves the bodies where they fall to be ravaged and forgotten, never to be laid properly to rest?"

The floor started to sink underneath the gasping Barkis as more cracks appeared beneath him as he struggled to breathe, the air suddenly becoming hot like the flames of an inferno were alight beneath him. Agonized screams echoed from the cracks as gear grinded and demons great and small cackled in mad glee at the tortures of the damned below.

"They are taken to the Fourth Circle of Hell, Barkis. Where they are sheared in money presses, boiled in melted gold, and buried by the weight of their peers. This is all you have to look forward to for the rest of eternity. I hope that it's exactly as you deserve."

The cracked floor suddenly opened in a massive fanged maw and Barkis hung in the air for a long moment as though held up by an invisible hand.

"Goodbye, Barkis."

The jaws slammed shut and the church floor was clear of any damage with naught but a fading cloud of smoke to show for what had just occurred.

Mortimer's shoulders slowly sagged and he looked up at the gaping Victor and Emily. He shook his head at the pair of them as he popped his eyes back into his skull, his one hand still clenched tightly. "I hope that whatever choice you make, to wed or not to wed, that it is the right one and neither of you come to regret it as the worst mistake you ever made." He laughed and stared at Emily. "But then what do I know? You're both human after all." He laughed once more; another's hooting laughter echoing just beneath his own as he walked out of the church, a trail of dust falling from his empty hand.

He stepped out the church doors and sighed, glancing down at the ground. "So much for Plan B… guess I'll just have to stick with Plan A after all… Damn…" He muttered to himself before continuing on as he always did, never once looking back at what he left behind. That was an instinct he would not have for years to come but when he did, it would be one he cherished.

Victor stared after him in thoughtful silence. "Now what do you suppose he meant—Emily!" He gasped, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest.

"What? What is it?" She turned to him, ignoring the startled gasps and cries of shock from the gathered beloved and departed, the clattering of jaw bones dropping to the floor and the occasional eyeball popping out of its socket.

"You… You're—"

"—alive and well… I'm alive and well… And today you know that's good enough for me… Breathing in and out's a blessing, can't you see? Today's the first day of the rest of my life…! Now I'm alive and well… Yeah, I'm alive and well…" Jacque sighed and pushed himself to his feet and bowed his head to the gravestones.

"I know I didn't treat you like I ought to have… I wasn't the worst but I wasn't the best either… I don't know if you care to even hear me now but… for what it's worth? You two were the best parents a kid could ever ask for…" A gust of wind blew past and with it a pair of butterfly, one with sapphire wings the other, with shades of violet at its edge. They danced in a wild circle around him before another gusty breeze carried them away with black rose petals trailing along behind. Jacque stared after them for a long moment before smiling sadly.

"Heh…"

Generosity brings together the broken pieces of avarice.