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Sebastien switched the engine off. They were there. All he had to do was take the hitchhiker down into the crypt...feed him to the phantom, and then this would be over.

          He let go of the wheel and looked back at the hitchhiker. "We're here," he told him.

          "Here...to be free?" the hitchhiker asked.

          "Yeah," Caleb answered.

          "Come on," Sebastien said as he got out of the car, but that was when he was hit with the awful stench of rotting flesh. He knew what it was, and it struck him with fear and angst. "Get back in the car!" he insisted, pushing the hitchhiker back in just as he was about to get out. "And you!" he instructed, looking at Caleb.

          "W-what's going on?" Caleb questioned as Sebastien slammed the car doors shut.

          Something was coming. The stench was getting stronger, and Sebastien's instincts were going haywire. He moved away from the car; he looked left, right, and back at the estate gates. But his eyes couldn't locate whatever was stalking him.

          And then came an ear-piercing shriek.

          He swung around to face its direction, and when he set his eyes on the creature standing at the edge of the forest, he tensed up, and his instincts urged him to shift into his kludde form.

          It looked like a stag with a very long neck...and human-like arms on each side of it. He'd seen it before on his way to the estate, and he was convinced this creature was the stag that the phantom mentioned. But why was it here? Why was it staring directly at him? And why did it look like it was about to charge out of the woods?

          The stag's glowing eyes shifted from Sebastien to the car, and as the fog cleared enough to reveal its face, Sebastien saw that the creature was actually some sort of centaur. Half stag, half man. And as it screeched again, it started running towards him.

          Sebastien snarled in frustration. The last thing he wanted to do right now was fight, but he wasn't going to let anything take away the phantom's sacrifice.

          He morphed into his winged hound-like kludde form and bared his wolfish teeth. With a roar of warning, he charged towards the stag, but it didn't slow down. And it looked like he was going to have to fight it after all.

          But just as the stag was about to reach him, it swerved to the side and raced towards the car. He wasn't going to let it get there, though. Sebastien skidded along the ground and turned around, and then he gripped the stag's back leg with his teeth. But as the beast shrieked and tried to kick him off, Sebastien caught sight of the hitchhiker in the back of his car, and the guy was screaming and trying to get out of the car while Caleb struggled to keep him in.

          There wasn't time for Sebastien to wonder why the hitchhiker was panicking, though. This creature wanted to get to him, and he wasn't going to let it.

          Sebastien used all his strength to pull the beast back, and when it stumbled and fell, he pounced at it—

          The stag slammed its front legs into his side and sent him tumbling to the ground. He groaned painfully but forced himself to his paws, and just in time to launch his body at the stag, which was trying to run to the car again.

          When both he and the stag crashed to the ground, Sebastien hurried to his paws and watched the beast struggle to get up. He wanted to kill it; it was obviously a threat, but what if it was important? What if what the phantom told him after he fed it somehow required the stag to be alive for him to confirm something, such as Henry's death?

          He didn't want to risk it.

          Sebastien snarled in frustration, and before the beast could get up, he sunk his teeth into its back leg. He avoided the kick of its other leg and then used his wings to assist in pulling the stag back.

          The stag shrieked and struggled, trying to kick him off. It even reached back with its human arms and attempted to grab him, but he dodged its swings and tugged on its leg, pulling it further and further away from the car.

          But then the stag's screeching sounds carried words. Words that Sebastien recognized. 'Demon' and 'spirit' were among what it said, and it started to make sense. The stag killed Henry because he was a demon, right? He wandered into the stag's territory, and now it was trying to get to the hitchhiker...because he'd been possessed by an evil spirit.

          If that were the case, though...why hadn't it come after Sebastien? He was a demon. He was probably more of a threat than Henry was, and since he couldn't see a spirit currently clinging onto the hitchhiker, it was easy to say that he was a whole lot more stronger than him, too.

          Maybe the stag knew who the hitchhiker was. What if it had seen him standing along the roads waiting to be picked up by his next victim? What if it knew a spirit owned him and wanted to kill him while it had the chance? Even if that was the stag's intention, Sebastien was the one who was going to kill the hitchhiker. He wasn't going to lose the phantom's meal.

          With a strained snarl, he pounced onto the stag's back and sunk his teeth into the side of its human-like torso. It shrieked and cried, but he wouldn't show it mercy. He stretched out his wings and used them to propel himself backwards, and he pulled the stag with him. The beast landed on its side and immediately tried to get up, but Sebastien mercilessly pulled it away and back towards the forest. Maybe if he showed it that he would rather it leave than have to kill it, then it would back off.

          But it didn't stop fighting. No matter how far Sebastien pulled it away—even when he dragged it across the tree line and into the woods—the beast continued trying to get to the car.

          Sebastien growled in frustration and used all his strength to pick the stag up and swing it around, and when he let go, it crashed down onto the ground fifty feet away from him. And then he pushed himself up onto his back legs, slammed his paws into the ground, and roared so ferociously at the stag that it stopped trying to get up.

         The stag seemed to understand his final warning. It grunted and muttered in a language he didn't understand, but it sounded defeated, and with a cautious look on its face, it backed off, turned around...and fled.

          With a sigh of relief, Sebastien calmed down. His heart was racing, and his legs were shaking. He didn't want to kill that thing before he knew everything the phantom did about it. But now...he wanted to know why the hitchhiker was so afraid.

          Sebastien turned around and raced out of the forest. When he approached the car, he morphed back into his usual form and pulled the back door open.

          "Why are you so afraid of that thing, huh?!" he questioned the hitchhiker, grabbing his collar.

          The man whimpered and shook his head.

          "Sebastien, woah!" Caleb exclaimed as he got out of the car and rushed around to him. "You don't have to get all attacky on him; he told me."

          "What?" he snapped, sharply turning his head to glare at him.

          "He said the stag had some sort of quarrel with the evil spirit that he made a deal with."

          "Spirit...kill stag," the hitchhiker said, nodding frantically.

          "Kill it? Because that thing looked so dead to me!" Sebastien growled.

          "The stag's herd," Caleb corrected, grabbing Sebastien's wrist. "The stag and its family protected this land, right?"

          The hitchhiker nodded again.

          "The evil spirit was a threat, so they tried to chase it out, and...."

          With a fearful look on his face, the hitchhiker dragged his finger across his neck. "All but stag," he said, pointing at the forest.

          Sebastien took a moment to take it all in...and then snarled as he let go of the man's collar. "So, this stag and its family were trying to chase the evil spirit that possessed your body away, and it killed them? What, did it use your body to do it?"

          The man nodded shamefully. "Evil...make me kill more than man. Stag. Witch. Demon. Evil hungry. Searching for something. Never find it."

          "Searching for something?" Caleb questioned. "Like what?"

          "Never told m—"

          "You expect me to believe that?" Sebastien snarled.

          The hitchhiker looked up at him and shuddered. "Truth!"

          "Oh, really?"

          "I believe him," Caleb said. "I mean...why would a shady spirit tell someone all the details?"

          Sebastien wanted to argue, but he knew spirits better than anyone else, especially damned spirits. It was likely all it told the hitchhiker was that it would cure his brother in exchange for his help, and the hitchhiker had been so desperate to save Peter that he'd accepted...just as Sebastien had so blindly accepted his deal with Lord Caedis.

          He sighed and looked down at the wolfsbane-covered ground. That was when it hit him: why did the stag smell like that undead raccoon? Another question to ask the phantom, maybe. Unless the hitchhiker knew.

          "Would you happen to know why the stag smelled like the undead animals that people have seen around here?"

          The hitchhiker frowned. "Stag...protect land. Stag...kill undead."

          That made sense. "Whatever," he mumbled. "Come on. It's time to send you to wherever people go when they die."

          The hitchhiker eagerly got out of the car and waited.

          "What happens after this, then?" Caleb asked as Sebastien locked the car. "You ask all your questions...and then you get Clementine back, right?"

          "Yep."

          "But...you are gonna try and help find a cure while you're at it, right?"

          "I said I'll find out what I can. That's what Lord Caedis wants me to do, so I don't really have a choice," he said as he started leading the way towards the crypt. But then something else hit him. "Wait a sec...you don't have anything to say about the fact I just turned into a giant winged black dog and fought a deer-man?" he exclaimed, staring at Caleb.

          "No," he said with a shrug. "I told you; I've seen my fair share of Caeleste."

          Sebastien didn't say anything else. He headed towards the crypt...and he let himself wonder why he was so confused by the fact that Caleb wasn't freaking out. Maybe it had something to do with the way Clementine acted when he first found out that he was a kludde. Clementine's reaction stuck with him for a long time, and he was sure that it would stick with him for many more years to come.

          But now wasn't the time to give in to his dismay. He was moments away from getting everything he needed for Lord Caedis, and he wasn't going to waste a moment pondering or worrying.

          "Come on," he said, pushing the crypt door open.

          "Why...in there?" the hitchhiker asked.

          "Because that's where I wanna do it, okay?" Sebastien snarled. "You first." He wasn't going to risk the guy changing his mind and running.

          The hitchhiker headed inside, and as he started making his way down the stairs, Sebastien followed, and Caleb trailed behind him.

          "You know," Caleb said, "I've never seen a kludde before. I've heard stories and read stuff, sure...but it's not the same as seeing one."

          Sebastien sighed quietly. "Ask your questions. I know you're going to."

          "Oh...no, I wasn't gonna ask anything. I was just saying."

          "Uh-huh. And I'm just doing this for Lord Caedis because I like being an errand boy."

          "Fine, sheesh. I don't know, I was just wondering why you're on your own. Kludde are pack Caeleste, aren't they?"

          Sebastien rolled his eyes and huffed to himself. "My father cut me off when I left Aldergrove Academy and refused to go on to become a lawyer. The moment I got to the New World, I started my search for Lord Caedis so that I could get Clementine back. There wouldn't be time for that and work. My father already disapproved of my relationship with Clementine, and his threat to cut me off was his final warning. I didn't give a shit about being a lawyer or getting his money—I didn't even care that I'd be banished from the family. I just wanted Clementine back," he explained sullenly.

          "Oh...wow, I'm sorry. Your...dad sounds like a dick."

          "He's the biggest fucking dick in this whole entire world," he grumbled, scowling.

          Caleb laughed amusedly. "Well, have you thought about what you're gonna do after all of this?"

          "No."

          "Really?"

          He shrugged as they reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the tunnels. "I've been so focused on getting Clementine back that I haven't really thought about what I was going to do after that happened. I guess...he and I can talk about it when I see him again."

          "I'm gonna take my mother far away from this town," Caleb said. "I know she'll want to stay and help, but...this place is just...."

          "Odd," Sebastien said.

          "Yeah. I think maybe we could set up in Ulrora Slope again."

          Sebastien glanced back at him. He wasn't sure why he was about to say what came to mind, but he let himself say it anyway. "You could come to Eimwood."

          Caleb didn't reply.

          With a confused frown, Sebastien looked back at him.

          The kid looked stunned.

          "What?" Sebastien asked him.

          Caleb shook his head. "Wait...what? Really? Can you do that?"

          "Sure. I mean...maybe. When I get this done, I'm gonna ask to see the contract Lord Caedis made me sign. I'm sure there's some sorta clause in there that'll let me make more demands since he made me do more shit. I'll use one of those demands to have him let me bring Clementine, you, and your mother back home with me." He knew why he offered. It was because when he was reunited with Clementine, and he had to inevitably tell him who Caleb was, Clementine would tell him to offer Caleb and his mother to come back with them as thank you for Caleb's assistance.

          "I...I don't...really know what to say," Caleb stammered. "I...that would be amazing!" he squealed, hugging Sebastien from behind.

          Sebastien tried to shrug him off of him. "All right, I get it. Let's just focus on getting this done first."

          Caleb let go of him and laughed excitedly. "My mother could get a job in The Royal Eimwood Hospital. She's always wanted to work there."

          "I said: let's focus on this first," Sebastien repeated.

          "Sorry, sorry."

          Sebastien sighed and nudged the hitchhiker's arm as they approached the dome room the phantom was waiting in. "You better be ready. It's almost time."

          "Ready to be free," he said with a nod.

          "Good," Sebastien said. Then, he glared ahead. He was moments away from having to make a sacrifice to a phantom, something he was never comfortable with. But at least this time...it was for a good cause.

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