Opera Cake

Seeing Red

[Ghosts are vindictive little shits and Danny, being the Ghost King, isn't any different]

~

Danny knew that he shouldn't be doing this but the bastard have been pushing his buttons all day. Elsa was invited to talk about mythology in the University of Cambridge and this dude have been making offhand remarks about her being a woman and then...well, misogynistic stuff. He can tell that Elsa wasn't feeling it and she tried to stay professional. However, as the week gone by, it did not seem like the idiot was letting it go.

She didn't know that Danny was in London. Didn't know that he kept an eye on her through Technus inside her phone. Although Elsa can sense spirits and other fey beings, she could not detect the dead as well as he. Naturally, Technus started infecting every piece of technology inside the ancient university and fed the security feed to Danny's private phone. And since the place was so old, there were other ghosts in the place but they were the least of Danny's worry. The Ring of Rage around Elsa's neck was enough warning to them. They should be around when Pariah Dark was in power so they should be aware the importance of Elsa wearing the Ring.

No touchy.

Even so, this David that have been harassing Elsa have been getting on his nerves. Upon completing his mission in London, Danny flew all the way to Cambridge. There was a druid there that he knew well and was part of his circle of informants. Although Danny mostly dealt in ghosts, it cannot be helped that carrying the title of the Ghost King meant that he would be called for some things other than ghosts. After all, Pariah Dark made quite the reputation when he wasn't as power mad and that reputation followed Danny after he wore the Crown. Basically, making contracts with Danny as witness was as binding as it can get without directly invoking Death or, Ancients forbid, the Devil. A powerful as the Ghost King was known to be, some powers were better left undisturbed and those that dabbled in true magic knew better than to make deals with the Devil.

He was known to be binding but also backstabbing.

But back to David, Danny watched over the man as he staggered his way out of the pub, mumbling about a, "...bitch that don't know her place! I ought to bend her over that stupid table and gift her what she deserves!" He chugged down the gin before continuing, "A woman's place is on her back with her legs wide open! Not taking over a man's job! Fucking whore!"

Danny's possessive nature flickered to life.

No one talk about his woman like that.

Danny looked over at the dog sitting close. He smirked as he made his way to a nearby cemetery. It did not take him long to find the Grimm who immediately stood up to growl at him in warning. He didn't want this to lead back to him so no ectoplasm must be left behind. So he only knelt down, making himself less of a threat. The dog stopped growling but it's crimson eyes continued to glare at him.

Danny started, "How do you feel about punishing a grave robber?"

Danny had seen a the disgruntled foreign nobleman's ghost trailing after the drunk bastard. However, it seemed that since the man lacked faith in curses, the ghost's curse was barely working on him. Things like curses needed the belief in the supernatural forces to truly work, as part of its power came from psychological attack. It can work but humans have gotten good at clearing the worse of it's effect that resembled medical complications. It might ease the worse of the curse's effect but it will not be able to clear it. It might take a while but once the man's body grew immune to the medicine's effect, the curse will took hold of him until he waste away.

The Grimm sat on it's haunches, giving him full focus.

David didn't know what had gone wrong with his life. Ever since he helped those foreign grave robbers with their business, he have been feeling all sort of weird. He swore there were squatters in his roof. But whenever he tried to catch them, there were nothing but shadows. He have also been hearing someone telling him to "give it back" or "return it" in that same foreign language. But maybe that was just his tinnitus, one that kept getting worse despite the medicines.

Then the bitch from Norway kept sending mixed signals. He knew that she wanted something from him but whenever he made his interest known, she acted confused or, worse, disgusted. It irked him that a woman like her get to stand on the podium like a somebody when he bet she slept her way to the top.

"Fucking bitch!"

Why else would she give him those bedroom eyes?

David grumbled as he looked around, his tinnitus ringing worse in his ears. He froze at the sight of a red eyed black dog in an alley. But that was just ridiculous. Those people in mythology don't know what they were talking about. They didn't even know about gravity. Obviously a dog who had lost an owner would guard their graves. It was stupid of them to bury themselves with their wealth. Might as well hand it over to the living that would make better use of it.

David waved his mostly empty gin at it, "Shoo! Shoo, you dumb dog!"

The red eyed beast snarled, "Thief!"

David froze.

That...that wasn't the tinnitus. It was clear. But...animals can't speak...

"Thief!"

"Return it!"

The dog stood up, standing almost as tall as a car and David couldn't stop his bladder from failing, the warmth of his shame burning a trail down his pant leg. He forgot about talking as he turned tail and ran...

"Return my locket!"

"Defiler of the dead!"

"Thief!"

"Disturber of rest!"

David screamed into the night as the snarling brushed against his neck and he fell on his front. He tried to fight the black dog back, cursing in his ears as more dogs circled him. He croaked at the sight of a man standing among the dogs and reached out, "H-help...me..."

The man squatted and lowered his shades, showing strange eyes that glowed blue and green, "I don't deal with criminals," He then sneered, fangs flashing, "Not to mention...you have been eyeing my woman all wrong," He scoffed, "Why would she want you when she have someone like me?"

David can't do anything as a foreign man dressed like...the corpse whose locket he stole snarled at his face, "Return my locket!"

David screamed his death knell as he was torn apart...

Elsa sighed as she frowned over the paper, a small section mentioning the name of a familiar David being found mauled by dogs in the back alley. Oddly enough, no one heard him at all. He was found dead by the milkman making his round and saw animals sitting in front the alley, staring at something. Certainly not what anyone would want to see so early in the day.

Still, her lecture had to be canceled until the matter with David's case was settled...

"Elsa?"

Elsa looked up from the paper and saw a face she dearly missed, "Danny! I didn't expect you in Britain!"

Danny kissed her cheeks, brushing his lips lightly against the corner of her smiling lips, "I was here for business and saw your social media. Garrett is one of my business partner," He gestured at the owner of the bed and breakfast who manned the bar, "He was one of the people who taught me how to be a bartender,"

Elsa hummed, "What a fine coincidence. I was just thinking...do you want to do some sightseeing?"

Danny smirked, "Are you inviting me on a date?"

Elsa giggled, "...maybe?"