A Birth day

Ruby and Aria stood with Jack, Joseph, Yu and Jessie all in their mission wear. Seeing Robert arrive and start to talk each nodded they understood. As Robert asked Jack to send word to Jess to stand by she walked in the back door " and there she is" he said thumbing behind him.

"I'll get the sick bay ready in case of injuries" she said " don't worry I'm ready" she said to Robert heading down to the sick bay. When Robert told Jack to pair people he started to do so , Joseph stood where he was and Jack walked over to him " your with me, do as ether I , Robert or any of the first stringers says and do not question, we'll be with Edward." he told him. Joseph nodded he understood. Ruby stood with Aria and together they all ported to .Evens home and quickly met up with Edward both waited for Edward to give the order of here they were to go.

When they landed in Tuscany, Angus couldn't help himself. He took off at a run for Evan's house, with Marcus hot on his heels. 

"This way," Edward told Jack and Joseph, and he headed for the main house.

There wasn't much left of Evan's house. The roof was caving in. There were holes in the west side wall.

"Ru, stay back," Angus shouted to her. "The place is caving in. It's not safe. I'll go get Anise." Marcus went in with him, and to Angus's surprise, so did Robert and Kate. 

"Anise! Where are you?" Angus called above the dust falling from the ceiling and the whole house groaning and threatening to cave at any moment. "Anise, it's me. We're here..." He listened, and he glanced towards Kate and Robert who were casting reveal spells, looking for any sort of clues left behind. Angus listened for a moment and then he heard the soft sounds of crying. He followed it to the stairs and opened the door to the closet under the stairs. Anise screamed, but Angus reached in and pulled her to her feet. 

"It's me," he told her, making her look at him. "Anise, its me. You're safe." When she realized it was him, she clung to him with all she had. 

"Angus?" Robert called. 

"I've got her," Angus called back, helping her out of the closet and through some of the rubble. Robert came up and took a look at her. 

"She's in shock," Robert said. He used his medallion to page Jess to come to tend to Anise. "Let's get her out of here. Kate, bring that and come. It's not safe in here."

"Coming," Kate said. They all went outside.

"Ru, can you look after her for a moment til Jess gets here, please?" Angus called.

As Edward entered the main house, he saw a priceless vase shattered on the floor. Windows were broken out. Light fixtures were broken. The walls appeared to be mostly intact but there was some evidence of structural damage. Edward could see floor to ceiling cracks in the plaster.  Things that had been sitting on table and in cabinets were now on the floor, lots of them broken. this house didn't look much safer than what little was left of Evan's. He was also concerned now about all the other houses on the estate.

"Rosaria? Carlo? Dove sei?" Edward called. "Would one of you check the conservatory? Carlo spends a lot of time in there tending the plants." Edward headed for the kitchen, knowing if Rosaria w3ould be anywhere, she would be there. When he got to the kitchen, he saw she had fallen and hit her head on the marble floor. "Rosaria!" Edward flew to her, thinking she was dead. He breathed a breath of relief when he found a pulse. The back of her head was bleeding significantly, though.

Jack and Joseph followed Edward to the house seeing the state of it both men looked at each other but continued to head to the houe hearing a shout that Anise had been found and the sound of porting as Jess ported in but ehaded to Jess who held Anise close to her.

Both men entered the house carfully and made their way to teh kitchen Edward found Rosaria as Jack lifted a beam out of the way it was Joseph that saw Carlos " over here" he said to jack who moved and lifted some brick work off his legs. Gently Jack lifted Carlos and together they made their way back out to Jess and Ruby.

Jess had ported in and sat smiling to Anise " its okay were here now" she said her hand gently placed in Anises head as she cast a calming spell on her to ease her shock and fear.. Seeing Jack with Carlos and Edward with Rosaria she smiled to Anise and Ruby and moved to tend to Rosaria, first she stopped the bleeding and then set the wound to healing then wrapped a bandage around her head , moving to Carlos she found he had a mild concussion and some cuts and scrapes on his legs.

"Jess," Robert found her tending the wounded. "I've paged Owens. He's coming with a few of the men from Paris. They'll help you put the wounded to rights, help check the rest of the estate and do whatever they can to get the damaged houses cordoned off. You can certainly take Carlo and Rosaria back to the main house until we get Edward's house structurally sound. Looks like Evan's going to have to start all over. His looks like a total loss. Owens and his team will be here any minute. Anything you need, Owens can get it for you. Make sure you update Nigel if you communicate with our main house back at home. We could well have more wounded coming. We haven't even gotten to the main event yet tonight."

Robert walked over to Angus and handed him an envelope. "Kate found this in Evan's. Be very careful when you open it because we don't know exactly what's inside." Angus opened up the envelope and took out a piece of parchment. He opened it, read it, and was disgusted.

"The bitch actually sent me an damned engraved invitation," Angus told Robert, "and I'm to bring all my friends. Take a look." He handed the parchment to Robert.

"Well, that's beyond cheeky," Robert scowled. "So she's gone out of her way to construct this just for you for some reason."

"Yeah, well, I'm ready to get on with it whenever you are."

"Heads up, Boys and Girls," Robert called them, holding up the piece of parchment with the skull engraved on it. "Pearl has actually left Angus an engraved invitation, and she's invited all his friends as well. So be very, very careful. She knows he's not coming alone. She's waiting for us."

Jess heard Robert and nodded " I'll keep an eye out and fill them in, I'll get the injured to the min house" she said as Jack picked up Carlos and Joseph picked up Rosaria gently. Together they walked to the main house once there they were set down on a couch and chaise while Anise was sat down in a chair while Ruby went and made some sweet tea to help calm her down..

Jack and Joseph paused as they heard Robert tell them they had been invited by pearl. " well we shouldn't disappoint" Aria said to Robert and looked to Angus as he continued " would not be polite" she added with a wicked grin as her father ported in  close by.

"I just heard , my lord , I offer my services" he said disappearing his long coat to stand in his suit and wand holster at his hip.

"If you don't mind prowling through an Irish castle, then come along," Robert told Radagast. "Michael, you have some portkeys for us?"

"I do," Michael said. "Do travel two or three to a portkey please. When you land, wait at the landing place for the rest of us. Do not forge ahead, as much as we know you're all going to want to." He handed out six portkeys. 

"We'll see you all there," Robert said. They ported out in pairs, and they arrived at the far end of a long lane. Clearly, at one time, it was done in cobblestone all the way from the gates to the front entry of the place. Now the cobblestone lane was crumbled, broken and rather badly overgrown with weeds that now were dead. Even they could not flourish here. The once magnificent trees were twisted and disfigured, and they looked like they had died a slow, suffering, agonizing death. 

Angus wasn't one given to emotion or flights of fancy, but something in his own spirit felt grief for the way they had died. He took a couple steps forward, but when his foot hit the second step forward, he felt a massive blast of icy energy, as if his entire magical system had been struck with sub zero temperatures. It made him shiver hard. And then he felt a hand take his. He looked beside him to see Kate there.

"I felt it too," she told him. "Do you recognize it?"  Angus had to think a moment, and then it came to him. It had hit him in his very last moments in the casket before his lungs and his heart had stopped working. Death. This was the signature of death, surely.

"Yes," he told her quietly. 

"This place is cursed," Kate said. "Everything here has been subjected to dark magic. Everything good on this property and, surely, in the castle, is full of it."

"Agreed," Angus said, knowing she was right. She turned to look at the others. 

"Trust nothing," Kate told them firmly. "This entire place is cursed with powerful dark magic. Stay on guard, wands at the ready."

"Forward slowly, in pairs," Robert said, prepared to take the lead.

"I'll go," Angus said. "I am the guest of honor, after all."

"Carefully, then," Robert said. Walking at the front of them all, Angus and Marcus led the way, their wands drawn and at the ready. Michael held back, waiting to bring up the rear with whoever ended up being part of the last one or two. Robert and Kate followed Angus, Kate's hand in Robert's. Edward hung back with Michael, not wanting to leave Michael without a partner, letting the others go in between.

Jack , joseph and Yu with Jessie each listened then took a port key porting to the castle.heading to the spot Robert had told them to gather. Joseph moved to stand on Michaels side while Jack stood on his other side while Yu and Radagast stayed at the back as they walked towards the castle. Each saw Angus stop and paused watching as Kate walked over and stood with him seeming to say something to him.

Aria had walked to a tree and taking down a leave as she held it she closed her palm over it and it turned to dust . " poor thing" she said and followed the others. when they paused she looked around feeling like she was being watched but shook his off as they entered behind Angus letting him go first.

As they walked up the lane and got near the house, old wrought iron torches along the outside of the castle, one on each side of the massive oaken doors. 

"Show off," Marcus said quietly under his breath. 

"Perfect hostess, isn't she?" Angus said.

"No. Where's the damned butler?" Marcus asked.

"Um. Right there," Angus said. 

"Where?" Marcus frowned.

"Look down. It looks like a zombie house elf."

"A what?" Marcus laughed. Then he looked. "Oh. Well, yeah. Kinda does, doesn't it? You know what that is, right? That's some sort of sick looking pukwudgie. They're gray skinned anyway, but this one is definitely ill or something. So he's the butler, is he? Well, this is just going to be a laugh a minute."

"Damn," Angus sighed. "I hate to see what the chef looks like."

"I've got a little advice for you. Whatever it is, don't eat it," Marcus said.

"Yeah, I'm sorta thinking I lost my appetite," Angus said. As they got to the main doors, they swung open behind the pukwudgie."

"Mistress is waiting for you," the pukwudgie said in a truly reptilian sort of voice. "Wipe your feet."

"What?" Angus asked incredulously.

"Wipe your feeeeet!" the creature shrieked loudly at Angus with a voice that could have terrified a fwooper. Angus and Marcus had to cover their ears because of how loud and horrendously painful the pitch and the volume was. Kate and Robert and even Edward and Michael at the end of the line, they'd all had to cover their ears.

"Don't piss him off again, will you, Boys?" Robert mumbled to them. "Just wipe your feet as you're told."

"Lord love a duck," Angus said, regaining himself. "That little bloke has a short fuse. Wonder if that voice breaks glass."

"Well, don't make him do that again. I really don't want to know that badly if he breaks glass or not," Marcus said. The two of them walked inside, saw a threadbare rug inside the door, and they wiped their feet and walked on ahead into the round foyer made of gray stone. There was a fountain in the center of the room that spewed muddy water.

Aria and the others followed Angus to a row of lit lanterns and a creepy thing stood by some doors " eww" Aria said moving close to Marcus hearing them talking she looked confused " ah pukwudgie?" she said softly and looked at the creature " hum, not read about those yet " she said then heard it give a screech as Angus asked it what it had said . " shesh give that thing laryngitis" she said as Joseph walked beside Michael.

Hearing Michael say he was not going to eat he nodded " yeah I agree I just lost my appetite" he said making Jack chuckle.

"I don't eat anything made by any one I don't trust and I defiantly do not trust this place" he said wiping his feet as they entered along with Aria , Joseph and Radagast who was marveled by the way the house was set up.

"pretty strong charm they have here to take in this whole building." he said picking up a vase then placing it back in the exact same place. he followed and pause seeing the fountain spewing murky water instead of crystal clear water, but he was not surprised seeing everything else.

"It isn't a charm," Kate told Radagast quietly. "It's much more powerful than that. This is one of the most powerful curses I've ever seen." 

"Through!" the pukwudgie ordered, pointing to the double doors straight ahead of them. "Go through. Do not keep Mistress waiting." 

The pukwudgie seemed ill tempered just by nature. But then again, Angus thought, if he had worked for Pearl very long, he was entitled to be permanently snarky. Angus took a breath and walked forward to the doors. He glanced at Marcus, and Marcus nodded. Angus stood at the left door, and Marcus stood at the right. 

"Move off to the sides, out of her line of fire," Angus said to the others, motioning them to stand out of direct line of the doors. Then he opened the left door while Marcus opened the right, half expecting to be fired upon.

"So suspicious," a woman's voice sounded, and she sounded amused in a way that was far too cold and calculating for Angus's and Marcus's likings. "Come in, all of you. Now!" At that, the doors and windows bolted magically, and the foyer's walls started to close in, magically, behind them, shoving them towards the drawing room. For better or worse, they were all locked in now, and everyone was going to be forced into the drawing room, whether they liked it or not. Robert gave everyone a very quick hand signal to be cool. He didn't want anyone approaching this with open hostility or aggression. Not yet. 

At that moment, Angus regretted bring them here, all of them. The woman that stood before them was dressed in a floor length gown, in what muggles would describe as gothic black. This was no cosplay, though. She was the real deal, and Angus noticed at once that she didn't look 120. Then again, though, he wasn't sure what a woman of a 120 was supposed to look like. If he had to wager, though, he thought she didn't look much over Kate's age of 62-ish. Was she somehow killing just for some sort of parasitic youth potion or incantation? No. It couldn't possibly be that simple. This was deeper than that, but what her motivations were, Angus just didn't know--yet.

"Mrs. Sanders, I presume," Angus said.

"And you are, at long last, Mr. Donohue. And I see you've been kind enough to bring a couple celebrities along tonight I see. Deputy Minister Lupin, and the celebrated slayer himself, the elder Mr. Donohue. How nice," she said. She walked towards Angus, looked at him closely, gave him a rather menacing smile, and then walked over towards Robert. Then she looked at Kate. "Oh, and look who else you've brought me, Mr. Donohue. The seer, the protege of Albus Dumbledore himself. You, my dear, have been a very interesting opponent."

"Always happy to oblige," Kate said calmly.

"Why are we here?" Robert asked.

"Impatient, are we?" She asked Robert. "I've heard much about you, and just so we're clear, I know who you really are. I have your advantage tonight."

"Then perhaps it will be an interesting evening," Robert said, not wanting to tip his own hand.

"Oh, it shall, Mr. Lupin. It certainly shall," she told him.