Eric Asche was an opportunist. He’d built his horde by pouncing on the opportunities that came too close, and he’d become very good at spotting them.

Across the room, the fire in the white marble fireplace crackled and lit the hand threaded rug over the floor. The rug covered up a majority of the room’s dark hardwood floors. Outside the tall windows, the wind blew down giant chunks of snow. Hanging in the center of the room was the massive crystal chandelier that was a nightmare to have cleaned and when the light burnt out, getting it changed was an ordeal and a half. However, there was nothing in the world that could shed the amount of pure white light that the chandelier could. It left no corner in the massive study in shadow.

Eric sat at his desk, behind him were massive oak cabinets that held files, books, and papers all organized to the letter. Sitting on his desk was a new file, one he’d labeled; Winters. Behind his eyes, numbers were crunching. Risks and rewards bouncing back and forth. The sound of the floorboards interrupted his concentration creaking. He looked up to the double doors, listening for the head of house staff; Mrs. Houper to knock.

“Mrs. Houper, it’s nearly midnight. Go to bed.” He called. The room was silent, as was outside the door. Eric sighed, slipping his hand under his glasses to rub at his eyes. He thought maybe he needed to go to bed. Again the floorboards creaked and Eric looked at the door accusingly. The house was old, but newly renovated, there was no reason for it to be creaking, not without some weight being put on it. Eric stood up from his chair and walked around the heavy desk toward the study doors. The heavy handles clicked as Eric pulled them open, revealing the empty hall behind them.

Eric took a step out into the hall and looked back and forth down the hall. The lights in the halls were off and the only light came spilling out from the study. It was silent as the grave, even the wind died down to add to the grim quiet. Eric took a breath to call out but shook his head feeling stupid. He let out a sigh and rubbed at his eyes again. He would just have to finish what he was doing in the morning. Eric moved back into the study, closing the doors with him. He turned and froze at the sight of the teen standing at his desk, inspecting the notes.

“Can I help you?” Eric demanded. “How did you get in here?!” Eric grabbed the door handle and only turned it when the teen turned to look at him. Half of his face was smashed in and covered in already coagulated blood, he had only one eye and it was glazed over and bruised. Dirt covered his clothes and in spots all over the floor. The sight stole the air out of Eric’s lungs and made him dizzy.

“I’m not surprised I’ve been replaced,” the dead man said. “I knew I would be, but I can’t rest having been replaced with this one.” Sudden realization struck Eric.

“Acoran?” Eric fumbled over his words. “The doctor said you were dead, I can’t believe they released you from the hospital like that.”

“They released me straight to my grave,” The dead man placed the files back onto the desk, leaving a smear of dark semi-dried blood. “Which you would know if you ever bothered to visit.”

“Visit?” Eric’s sensible side suddenly returned to him. “A petty thing to be unfinished business, isn’t it? What did you give so you could come and whine to me about my prerogative?”

“I don’t give a fuck about your prerogative.” Acoran’s corpse crossed his arms and leaned onto the desk. “You can rot in the hell that’s set aside for you. You’ve earned every second and I wouldn’t deny you your comeuppance.”

“Generous.” Eric scoffed. “Why are you here?”

“This,” The dead hand picked up the papers in the Winters file. “What do you actually know about this new enforcer?”

“Not much. You’ve actually interrupted my search.” Eric left the double doors, no longer feeling in danger. “Finding any information on the kid is hard given the amount of legend, rumor, and hearsay around the rest of the family.”

“What an excuse,” Acoran sneered around his disfigured jaw. “You don’t need to dig that deep to know what’s wrong with this picture.”

“And what is wrong here?”

“You treat people like they’re disposable. Like I was disposable.” Acoran tossed the paper onto the desk, it slid to a stop before Eric. “My body wasn’t even cold before you replaced me with a literal child!”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“So this is about you.” Eric crossed his arms and scoffed. “I’d be careful about lying in death, I hear the gods frown upon that.”

“I was worth more than that!” Acoran snapped. “I was worth more than five minutes, worth more than a wide eyed little ten-year-old being slapped over my abandoned post like a used bandaid!” Acoran kicked the desk, throwing papers to the ground. Eric barely flinched.

“Take it up with the higher powers then.” Eric said. “This is the land of the living. Things aren’t fair and everyone wants to give less than what it’s worth. You want revenge? Are you going to be haunting everyone who makes an uneven deal?”

“No, just you.” Acoran shook his head. “And I’ll be here every night, in every shadow, in every creak and every whisper in every hall. I’ll never let you rest.”

“Until?” Eric placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward. Staring at the blank dead eyes.

“Until I am avenged!” Acoran slammed his fists onto the counter. Eric jumped back from the desk, the yell making the chandelier shake.

“You have something specific in mind? Or do I just get to be surprised?” Eric asked, crossing his arms once again.

“Specific?” Acoran laughed, “how about you start with some damned human decency!”

“You should be grateful I’m bothering at all!” Eric yelled, his patience was running out. “Your death had nothing to do with me! Go haunt the bastard who smashed your face in!”

“Nothing to do with you?” Acoran’s voice dropped low, and he snarled, showing his cracked teeth. “Nothing to do with you? Who put me in the situation in the first place?! Who couldn’t be bothered to pay enough to live off of? Who made it my responsibility to supply proper protection?”

“You made poor choices and put yourself in the situation.” Eric said without a hint of sympathy.

“You did this to me! And you will not rest until you’ve paid me what you owe!” Acoran yelled, that was a statement that sent a spear of panic into Eric.

“I owe nothing!” Eric shouted, Acoran’s form vanished. “Do you hear me?! Don’t you fucking run away you coward! Get back here!” Acoran vanished entirely and left Eric alone in his study. He snarled through his teeth and fell into his desk chair. Muttering swears and curses to the gods under his breath. He leaned on his desk and held his head. Rubbing his tired eyes. He sighed, feeling himself drift off towards sleep for a brief second.

Eric forced his eyes open, and he sat up. The silence in the room was broken only by the stoic ticking of the grandfather clock. Eric sighed, he idly wondered if he’d fallen asleep and in a second he’d had the interactions with a guilty subconscious. He sat up and rubbed his face, standing in the next second to go to bed. He paused looking at his desk, the papers in the Winters file had a clear, bloody thumbprint on it. Eric jumped out of his skin at a kock on the study doors.

“Sir, are you still up? It’s nearly five in the morning. You have to be up in an hour.” Mrs. Houper opened the door and peeked in. “I brought coffee?”

“I would love coffee, Mrs. Houper.” Eric sat down again. He looked out the window and saw the sun rising over the snow dusted landscape.

“That file giving you trouble?” Mrs. Houper brought the tray with a single large cup of coffee and a metal carafe on a little plate warmer. Mrs. Houper placed the tray down and looked at the file. “Did you cut yourself?” She picked up the file and looked it over.

“Why are you looking at this? The Winters family has quite a legacy of pride, I can’t imagine they’d ask for any kind of assistance at all.” Mrs. Houper tried to brush the bloody print off the corner.

“You know about the youngest one?” Eric asked, grabbing the coffee.

“I wasn’t aware there were any children in the Winters family at all,” Mrs. Houper lowered the file to look at him in surprise.

“There is.” Eric grimaced at the searing heat of the coffee. “Serenity. By piecing together the interactions and what few files exist, I think this kid belongs to the older sibling.” Mrs. Houper stared at the file as if it would bite her. She put it down and wiped off her hands.

“You know what-”

“The rumors, yes.” Eric nodded, “No charges, no reports. All hearsay.”

“Everyone knows it’s true.” Mrs. Houper shrugged indignantly. “People don’t just disappear in the forest.”

“Kid’s fae-touched.” Eric said, having already drained the first cup of coffee and pouring a second. “The fae don’t appear unless someone calls them.” Mrs. Houper started another argument but Eric wasn’t in the mood for a debate.

“We will discuss nothing other than provable facts, Mrs. Houper.” Eric said sternly.

“Right,” she said, swallowing whatever her argument was. “I’ll cancel your morning appointments, get breakfast on the way, and bring around the carpet cleaner.”

“Not all the appointments, I- wait, carpet cleaner?” Eric paused in pouring the third cup of coffee.

“Yes, for that abhorrent stain on the other side of your desk.” Mrs. Houper left the study. Eric stood up and rounded the desk. Staring at the dark reddish brown stain in the carpet.