7 June, 1870
The household arrived home at a surprisingly early hour, not quite eleven p.m. No one appeared to have been shot of had broken any bones.
Everyone was quite exhausted and wanted a bit of refrshment before going to bed. They were willing to relate most of their adventures. Mr. Salmalin and Edward filled me in after most of the others retired. And Miss Chigwidgeon had further details to relate in the morning.
The search party consisting of Miss Chigwidgeon, Miss Whitnell, the master, Lt. Wooster, and Salmalin succeeded in finding Mitzi. Mitzi had consulted with Mrs. Godwin and certain other forces and had a bit more information. The Order of St. Jerome knows of several other incidents in history where this demon and the curse have been called down upon a city. The demon's price is not just a sacrifice, but a mate. The person who makes the bargain with the demon may provide the mate by presenting the "token" (the necklace made from a coin) to a person. Sometimes the demon finds another person who is persuaded to sacrifice themselves.
While they were discussing this, they noticed a pair of street performers: a man playing a Spanish guitar, and a woman. They were dancing a "Flamenco." They were not human, but demons. Apparently servitors of the demon associated with the curse. Mitzi produced a silver sword from somewhere and attacked.
The others followed.
The female demon tossed her castanets toward the approaching party, and the castanets magickally transformed into two more demons. One dressed as a matador, the other dressed as a dancer wearing a papier mache bulls' head. There was a terrible fight. The creatures seemed completely unharmed by Wooster's bullets, though swords, fists, and a heavy walking stick did damage them.
While fencing with the female demon, Wooster was dazzled by her beauty and actually proposed marriage. He prompty vanished as the others destroyed the remaining demon. It seemed that Wooster's proposal had been accepted. The group headed with great haste toward the center of the City.
Meanwhile, Edward, Mr. Cuthbert, and Miss Bertild were observing the dancers at several music halls. At one of the halls, all the the persons on stage seemed to magickally transform into Flamenco dancers. Before Mr. Cuthbert was able to determine whether anyone was in danger, one of the dancers made a comment about how "the bride had been chosen" and with a flash, everyone returned to their previous costumes... and appeared quite confused and disoriented. They decided to hurry to rejoin the others.
At the Orphium Theatre, Mrs. Cuthbert, Dr. Wilson, Mr. O'Flaherty, and George had no trouble finding Mr. Burnand and following him. Mr. Burnand took a leisurely pace to the Royal Gallery of Illustration, stopping to talk to several passers-by. During the walk, they heard the sound of a Spanish guitar. Mr. O'Flaherty pointed to a woman dancing on a corner while a man played the guitar. Mrs. Cuthbert said that she couldn't see them.
Mr. O'Flaherty walked up to the pair and tossed a couple of coins into the hat. The dancer's vanished as if they had never been there, leaving a piece of paper fluttering in the air. Mr. O'Flaherty snatched the paper, and found printed upon in at advertisement: 'Foreign noble seeks potential mate. Object, matrimony." They took as a message from the demon.
At the same time, Miss Sinclair and Inspector McGregor were plotting the locactions of each burning victim on a map of the city. They met up with Mr. Frazer at the Detective Department. Once they were satisfied that the locations of the incidents was equally distributed around the city, they made haste to join the others at the theatre.
As everyone made their way to the theatre, they heard a sad waltz. And several of them felt compelled to sing about a crossroads. Even Mr. O'Flaherty, Mr. Cuthbert, and Miss Bertild found themselves singing a few lines. When the song reached it's conclusion, all of the League found themselves standing in front of the Royal Gallery of Illustration. The first thing the sorcerously-inclined noticed was that the ushers greeting audience members at the door were more of the demons bearing the appearance of Flamenco dancers.
Miss Whitnell and Miss Chigwidgeon informed the others about Wooster's rash words. Mr. O'Flaherty pointed out that the slip of paper which had contained the advertisement had become blank. It seemed clear that the demon was going to take Wooster as his or her price, and that the Gallery was where the deal would be finalized. The Marquis de Montmerial du Dragagulan was there with many of his friends from his club. He also had a bouquet of roses, a bucket of vegetables, and a case of champagne. He was urging everyone to go inside.
Miss Whitnell and the master were inclined to go in through the front door. Mrs. Cuthbert and Miss Sinclair wanted to try to come in through the stage entrance. The League formed two parties and entered the theatre. Not long after entering, everyone met up back stage. According to the sorceresses, some of the doors in the dressing room area had been transformed into magickal portals to hell. The new program for the show listed a the character of a Groom prominently in the credits, with Henry Wooster to play the part. The Bride was to being played by "a foreign noble."
Miss Chigwidgeon and Mrs. Cuthbert found the "token," which was an amulet being worn by one of the actresses in the play. While Mrs. Cuthbert tried to reverse the curse, Mitzi took the place of the conductor. Mr. O'Flaherty announced a change in program, Edward and Miss Sinclair positioned themselves in the rigging above the stage (so as to drop heavy objects onto any villains), and the orchestra began playing songs which were definitely not on the program.
Alas, the demon's power was too strong. Even though Edward had gone to considerable trouble rendering the curtain-raising apparatus inoperable, the curtain rose, Mitzi's control of the orchestra was overwhelmed, and the demon and her troupe of dancers appeared on the stage -- with Lt. Wooster dressed in full dress as if for a wedding!
There was many attempts to attack the demon. But each member of the League that tried was caught into the enchantment and began dancing with the demons. Edward and Mr. O'Flaherty had located Mr. Burnand. With only a bit of intimidation from Mr. O'Flaherty, Burnand confessed all. He had summoned the demon to guarantee that each new show he wrote would be a bigger hit than the last. He had given the token to the actress knowing full well it would mean her death.
Mrs. Cuthbert had deciphered how to undo the spell, by pronouncing its latin inscription backwards. The demon's music stopped. The dancing stopped, and everyone was able to act according to their will. Mr. O'Flaherty shouted, 'Fire!' in hopes of sending the audience out of the building. The demon was attacked for more than a dozen directions at once.
While she seemed angered by the attacks, they caused no permanent harm. She confronted Burnand, retrieved the amulet, and after pronouncing that Burnand would never make music again, vanished. There was a final song (which Edward said was like the "Tick Tock" song, but a bit more serious), and the curse appeared to be lifted. Everyone came home, safe, though worn out.
This morning Miss Whitnell, Miss Sinclair, and Mrs. Cuthbert organized an expedition to St. James Street intending to destroy the "vampires"...
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