"Where?" Both Blake and Terry asked in unison.

"Back at the Overlord's mansion. There is one hung above the fireplace. It's a good one, and has some history to it."

"You were in the Overlord's mansion?" Blake's eyes popped from his skull. Anh Hai was scary!

Luis sniffed with disdain. "That mansion used to be mine until he stole it from me and turned me into his ghoul. I know every inch of that place."

Terry gave him a creeped out stare. "Man. How did you..you know..die?"

Luis eyed Terry's blasted jagged skull with disgust. There were remnants of his grey brain matter still wedged within what was left of his brain case. Not that Terry cared one way or the other.

"I am a man who hates blood and gore of any sort. To go out with a bang like you is something I cannot do."

He turned away. "I sat in my Mercedes Benz with the engine on and my garage door closed and I took a nap."

Terry touched his head. "I must look pretty bad."

Blake nodded. "You do."

Terry grimaced. "If I'd known I'd stay this ugly, I would at least shoot somewhere that wasn't so visible."

Blake waved a hand. "Well, no time like the present to grab that ax. Jazzie and Adam are safe for the moment because we took out all three goons that Anh Hai sent."

Luis nodded. "You guys follow me, but let me scope the place first. Anh Hai can sense sprites and ghouls when he's in the room."

They flew through the air, following close on Luis' heels. The sky was the same sapphire blue they'd always looked upon when they were alive. Surprisingly, now that they were dead, it was so much more vibrant.

Perhaps it was because they knew they could no longer return to this dimension, it made Earth that much more poignant, that much more precious and exclusive.

It didn't take long before the curved green roof of the Tiger Temple came into view. Luis flew past the temple, to a huge mansion adjacent to it.

The mansion was a separate property from the Tiger Temple but Anh Hai had made a few modifications. The privacy wooden fence between the two properties had been taken down and the two back yards had merged into one.

He had also installed double doors into the side of the mansion that faced the Tiger Temple along with a long covered canvas awning that stretched from the Mansion all the way to the side of the Tiger Temple.

Luis waved a hand at them, signaling for them to drop back a bit. He looked around and landed on top of the mansion's black slate roof. With a single hop, he slid through the chimney and disappeared.

Two minutes later, his head reappeared through the roof. He waved his hands for them to follow and popped back into the mansion.

Blake and Terry flew towards the roof and slipped through. They found themselves within a fancy home filled with expensive chintz furniture and huge oil paintings covering walls that rose up twelve feet high.

Luis waved another finger and pointed to an ax that was hanging on the wall.

Terry's eyes popped. "Whew. That's a Vietnam Trench Tomahawk! And it's a genuine real deal, used in the Vietnam war back in those days!"

Blake hovered closer to stare at the ax.

With one quick slam of his hand, it clattered to the floor, making a deep ding in the hardwood floor.

?Congratulations. You have gained a new weapon: Ax, Vietnam Trench Tomahawk. Level 1?

At the top left was a new entry under the weapons cache showing the ax as the 5th of 10 available weapons he could own.

In grabbing the ax, he had lost only a single green passive point. It was relatively inexpensive, and very much worth the point.

He was still standing there admiring the ax when Terry came up behind him, whacking him over the head.

"Hey! I found something you might like! Come!"

He turned on his heels and left, not even bothering to see if Blake would follow.

"Take a look at this thing!" Terry pointed to something that was inside a glass case.

"Woah!" Blake whistled with appreciation. It was a wicked-looking curved karambit with leather handle and a long silver blade. The fact that it was encased within a wooden box with a glass top attested to the fact that this weapon was of importance.

Without hesitation, Blake broke the glass and took the karambit.

?Congratulations. You have gained a new weapon: Knife, Sumatra karambit. Level 1?

Of course, breaking the glass meant the alarm system got set off all over the house.

"Quick! Get out!" Luis flew back towards them and led them up the rafters and out of the house.

As they flew away into the chilly February afternoon, the guards were crawling all over the mansion looking for the thief that stole two items of relatively low value, leaving behind million-dollar paintings and exquisite antique Ming vases worth a fortune.

Anh Hai stood in front of the case with the broken glass littered on the floor, intently staring—saying nothing. Ten minutes later, a guard ran to his side.

"Sir."

"Speak!"

"We checked the video feeds. No one was here. The glass suddenly broke by itself and the weapon disappeared without a trace."

"And the ax?"

"It was the same, Sir. One moment it was there. The next moment, it had clattered to the floor and vanished."

Anh Hai pursed his lips and took a deep breath. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. It was almost an obsession now because he knew who had entered his home.

He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a photo. It showed the masculine face of a young man in a white button-down shirt with a lime green bass guitar.

The young man stared into the camera with an intense amber gaze that spoke of passion and desire. The combination of youthful lust and carnal delight that screamed out from him through the photo almost drove Anh Hai mad.

He wanted this young ghoul with every ounce of his being. He had to have this ghoul at all costs.