Ichabod Crowley - series 1 Life and Legacy

Chapter 9

Ichabod hefted the most recent armful of books into the trunk of the car and pulled away with a morose sigh.

"And, that's pretty much the size of it," he turned back to Toulon, who was leaning against the door frame, "I sold my soul to buy some time and, in a few days, we're going to summon him again, on our terms, see where the cards fall."

"I see..." the scarecrow ran a fingertip over his bottom row of teeth, the road flare dangling from his fist like an overlarge cigarette, "All told ser, this may not have been your best plan."

"Well, you have to excuse me, I was suffering from a massive head injury at the time!" Ichabod snapped incredulously, already heading back inside to the library.

"Yeah, but, in five years, the most brilliant plan you came up with was to just pull an ambush?"

"It's a little more layered than that but...yes, that's all I could come up with," he deflated, "This isn't just your run of the mill demon, it blindsided me, sure, I was worn out, but it was strong, fast, and, according to Della, I haven't even seen all it can do yet."

"So what? You're plannin' to blow it all on one last stand, just the two o' you, goin' out like Butch and Sundance?"

"I have to look at this realistically..."

"And, to that effect, you're giving up?"

"Okay," he stopped in the middle of the library and turned back to his friend, "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want?" Toulon shook his head, "You're Ichabod Crowley man, I just never thought I'd see you going quietly into that good night."

"Trust me, I'm not, now come on, still plenty to do," he went over to a nearby shelf, "Alright, you see these, with the Gold Lettering?"

"Ibeze Crowley?" Toulon read from the symbols etched across the book's spine.

"My Great-Grandmother," Ichabod nodded, "She was something of a 'paranormal zoologist', traveled the world and made one of the most comprehensive beastiaries ever put to paper, even had these theories on how you could fuse souls to items, make them more powerful, add special abilities."

"Fascinating," Toulon seemed legitimately impressed, "You know, for all that you've got a storied family history, you never really talk about 'em that much."

"My Great-Grandmother and her brother Friedrick were incestuous and rumored to be half-demon spawn from their father who, from what I can tell, was a gibbering mental patient, and, after you've gone through four generations of crap, you just kinda stop rooting around for the diamond."

"Ah," if it was possible for a Jack-o-lantern to go pale, Toulon achieved it, "So the ones with the Gold lettering then?"

"Right, I scattered them over the years, not by design but...If you see anything with that lettering, grab it and put it in the trunk with the rest, uh, I'll help in a second, I gotta go preheat the oven."

"Wait, preheat the What?"

"I'm making dinner."

Hustling off into the kitchen, he pulled out a cookbook and double checked the recipe. Setting the oven to three-fifty, he quickly pulled the ham out of the freezer and plopped it onto the table, lackadaisically throwing some spices over the top as he was already hurrying to get back to the library. He froze almost as soon as he looked up, seeing his Father standing under the archway, glaring at him.

"So you're a thief now too?" Victor surmised.

"Yeah, go ahead and call the cops," Ichabod tried to move past him only to be blocked, "What do you want?"