Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/11762517. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: F/M, Multi, Other Fandom: The_Loud_House Relationship: lincoln_x_all Character: Lori_Loud, Leni_Loud, Luna_Loud, Luan_Loud, Lynn_Loud, Lincoln_Loud, Lucy Loud, Lola_Loud, Lana_Loud, Lisa_Loud, Rita_Loud, Lupa_Loud, Libby_Loud, Lacy_Loud, Lupe_Loud Additional Tags: Work_In_Progress Stats: Published: 2017-08-10 Completed: 2017-09-25 Chapters: 4/4 Words: 22199 ****** The Loud Mountain ****** by Thundermoonbear Summary Commission fic. A story about the Louds going back to their ancestral home to learn the dark and mysterious history of the family name. Fluff and Lewd ensues. Notes Commission fic. A story about the Louds going back to their ancestral home to learn the dark and mysterious history of the family name. Fluff and Lewd ensues. ***** Chapter 1 ***** Loud Mountain, chapter 1:  New arrivals. As a summer dawn broke upon the loud house, the sun barely shining its good morning over the horizon, a family gathered into a van that started with a loud “BANG!” as it pulled out of the driveway and began its long trip to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina. During the long drive, much of the time was taken up by the Louds entertaining themselves in one fashion or another, with Lori messaging Bobby, Leni sleeping with her head on Luna’s shoulder, Luna and Luan listening to music and comedy albums, Lynn chowing down on some jerky while looking out the window, Lincoln reading an adventure novel since he knew he’d need a bigger book for the trip,  Lucy resting her chin against the door and doodling on the frosted glass from her breath, the twins doing their best to ignore each other from their most recent scolding for roughhousing in the van, and Lisa balancing between reading to a sleeping Lily and finding a way to prevent the worn out shocks from smacking her against the roof of the van every time they hit a bump. All the while, Lynn Sr. was listening to the radio and driving while Rita was on the phone with her father, Albert. Lincoln looked up from his book, speaking in a low and hushed tone: “When you live in a house as big as mine, you never know what might happen next. For instance, Pop-pop apparently just inherited some land from one of his big brothers. It’s some kind of big manor and he wants all of us to come out to see it and help clean up the place.” He looked down for a second, troubled by a thought: “You ever get the feeling that maybe you’ll never know who you really are? Like, I don’t know a lot about my family outside of my sisters. I didn’t know Pop-pop had any siblings…come to think of it, I don’t know any of my extended family outside of him.” As he was lost in this thought, Lucy looked over from the window to stare at her despondent brother. In spite of her usual demeanor and appearance, she hated seeing him this way. She liked listening to the conversations that he’d have with nothing.  She felt his words dig into her a little, in spite of her knowledge of a lot of history, she knew next to nothing about her own family’s past. She pushed her worries away for a moment as Lincoln began to speak again. “This could be a good opportunity to learn some new things about the family, assuming I’m able to find anything while we fix up the house for the summer” He went back to reading his book while Lucy swam in her thoughts, she decided she’d work with him, the curiosity gnawing at her. She needed to know what kind of secrets her family held in one of their ancestral homes. Several hours of driving, two meal breaks, five bathroom stops, one flat tire and a pickup game of rugby later.  The exhausted Louds took their final exit and followed the winding roads through the quickly thickening forest to a small town of mostly wooden buildings that looked very old, but still decently populated with lights on throughout the down and the few people that must have passed for the local nightlife walking around. The van drove to the edge of the town before turning onto a dirt road and going further into the thicket. They finally pull into a clearing in the forest to find a series of lamps leading to a shack. The van stopped in front of the small building to see Albert in front of it, waving at them. The family crawled out and stretched themselves under the pale moonlight as the parents spoke with Albert. Albert hugged his daughter, “Hope the trip treated you well enough, and nobody got hurt?” Lynn Sr. rubbed the back of his head, “Nothing too bad, Lisa has a bit of a headache, but I’d say everything went as well as it could have” Rita looked around for a moment before turning back to Albert, “So…where is the place?” “Oh, right” Albert gestured to the stables that were nearby, “This place is pretty old, since this is still here” He gestured up a lit wooden path that was slightly overgrown with weeds, “The actual manor is up that trail, off to the left path.” The parents decided to scout ahead with Albert to get a better lay of the land. Before leaving the van, Rita turned around and eyed Lori for a moment, “Lori, sweety. Make sure that the others don’t wander off anywhere, keep them here until we get back, okay?” Lori looked up from her phone from a moment for a moment before shrugging, “Sure, mom. Just try not to be too long, most of us are literally dying to see the place and get some rest.” “Speak for yourself!” Lynn piped, “I wanna see what this place has” Many of the sisters were in agreement, favoring exploration over sleep at the presence of a new area. Lori groaned, “Fine, then explore the stables and the shack until they get back. And no wandering off, got it?” She ended with her authoritarian voice. The others mostly sighed in compliance wandering over to the old wooden building, most save for Lincoln, who watched the adults wander down the trail. He walked into the shack and started looking around. The place looked as though it were untouched for the longest time. The rough structure still standing strong against the test of time with the leather furniture and wool rugs covered in a decent layer of dust. Lincoln wandered into the lodge’s lounge area, covered in cobwebs and lit by a single lamp in the doorway. Lincoln cracked his neck,” Jeez, this place really is old, there isn’t any power here. And look at this room, everything looks like its straight out of a haunted house.” He wandered around the room clearing the webs off of one of the chairs before sitting down and immediately getting back up and coughing from the dust cloud he created by upsetting the massive amount that was on the seat. Opting not to try that again, he wandered around the room, looking at old paintings of hunts and stopping at an old cabinet. He opened it to find a lot of nice looking glass bottles full of liquid, he opened one to smell it and felt his nose hairs burn. He but it back and closed it before wandering out to the stables to join his sisters. Meanwhile, with the older Louds… As they walked along the trail, Albert gestured to the branch in the path,” Off to the right, that path leads to the larders and grain storehouses. We’ll take the left one to get to the next branch.”  They walked for several more minutes before hitting the next branch, “This right path leads to the farmhouse and the fields, with an orchard beyond it. Let’s keep moving on the left path” As they reached the next branch, Albert cleared his throat,” This right path leads to a lake with one of the paths to the garden going past it. Let’s keep moving.” As they went on, Lynn Sr. Wiped his forehead, “Jeez, this place is huge, what happened here anyway?” Albert took a deep breath, “ I’m not really sure myself, the family was pretty disconnected for a while, the last generation before mine barely talked at all about the history of the place and my generation was the last to even see the place. My big brother got it after our dad passed, and he visited the place only a couple of times before he kicked it. Now it’s mine and no one’s really lived here in over 65 years.” Rita walked beside her father, “So then, why do you want to restore the place?” He chuckled and looked at her, ‘You’re kidding, right? This place is massive and appropriately sized for a big family like ours. If you and the kids don’t want it, I can at the very least sell it so that I can leave you guys something that you can actually use.” Albert was always one to think about his family first, even when they were worlds away. They reached the final branch,” This one leads to a clearing with some outbuildings for guest housing, the left leads to the manor with the path going forward to the garden as well. We should head back for the kids now; they’re probably getting antsy to see the place.” Back at the lodge… The twins had fallen asleep in the lodge while Lori kept Leni from wandering into the forest. Lisa had Lily laid down with the twins as she was collecting dust samples and wood chips. Luna was singing country songs while Luan dropped a hip-hop beat. Lynn was tossing horseshoes that she found in the stables while Lincoln sat on the roof of the stables, watching the trail as the adults made their way back to the van. Lincoln slowly got up and stretched and got ready to climb down when he spied Lucy on the roof as well. She was staring up at the moon giving Lincoln an idea that brought a mischievous grin to his face. He slowly walked towards her, being sure to remain completely silent. His moment came with a rush of summer midnight air that rustled all the trees, distracting the little black haired girl as her brother wrapped his arms around her and jumped off of the roof. He could feel her tense in his arms and could have sworn she was about to scream when his feet hit the ground. He rolled on his shoulder and let go of Lucy once he was kneeling. She spun a little as she recovered from the shock and stared back at him. He got up and patted her head, “Just making sure you were awake.”  “I am always awake Lincoln, even as this body rests, my spirit wanders an eternal plane from which no rest can be found.” She said with a sigh. Lincoln chuckled and walked with her, “If you say so, sis. But for a cold creature of the night, I don’t think I’ve ever felt your heart beat that hard before.” He couldn’t see her begin to blush at his last statement, but she wasn’t talking anymore. He chose to leave things be for now as he saw Lori come out holding a sleeping Lisa.   As the older Louds came back they gave everyone directions to the manor to make sure they didn’t get lost while they brought the van and everyone’s bags to the manor ahead of them. “Hey, Linc. Go grab the twins for me; we need to get everyone to the manor before it gets too late.” Lori said, the exhaustion as clear in her voice as it was on her face. Lincoln grabbed Lynn and each of them carried a twin. He looked around for Lily to see that Leni was cradling her with half closed eyes as she wandered up the trail with Lori. Luan and Luna were continuing their duet as they strolled up the path. He noticed Lucy was with Lori, but couldn’t see her now. He assumed she went to the manor already and focused on keeping Lola asleep and enjoying the night air. Meanwhile with Lucy… She had disappeared from sight when Lori looked back to make sure everyone was in tow. She didn’t look it, but Lucy was rather athletic, being able to run even faster than Lynn when necessary. She darted ahead of her family to clear her mind as she wandered the dimly lit trail to the ominous building in the distance. She couldn’t believe that Lincoln was able to get the drop on her, but she was lucky that he didn’t hear the poems she was reciting tonight. She had been in a strange mood lately, ever since she saw the image of a vampire lying naked with a woman, she began to have odd thoughts. Thought about being that woman, about how it would feel to be taken completely by some dark and sinful force. Her poems now began to reflect it as she read more into something called “dark fantasy” erotica. She began to blush even harder at the thought of Lincoln hearing her depraved thoughts. There was a strange mix of fear and excitement in the thought, the same feeling as when he grabbed her and jumped off the roof, it made her feel like she’d have a heart attack. She now had two missions while she was here, to learn about her family’s secrets and to explore this strange feeling she got around Lincoln. While she was lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even notice she reached the manor until she almost walked face first into the door. She opened the large wooden doors, delighting in how it creaked loudly as it swung open, echoing throughout the halls of the old building. This kind of place was a dream come true for Lucy, being filled with the perfect atmosphere for her dark hobbies. But before she could start on her new journey and in spite the act she put up around her brother, she was as exhausted as everyone else. Rita showed her to her room, a decently sized one that seemed to be somewhat clean of dust and cobwebs on the second floor. The manor was more than large enough with plenty of rooms already made as bedrooms that everyone could have a room to themselves. She didn’t have time to revel in the beautiful atmosphere as she flopped onto the large bed and drifted off to sleep as she heard the doors begin to creak open again bringing one final smile to her lips before being claimed by slumber. Back with Lincoln… He walked through the large doors into a large entry hall that led into a massive foyer. Their bags decorated the entry hall mixing backpacks and duffle bags with old paintings of family members and copper coat and hat racks. He and Lynn walked up the stairs to the second floor of the massive room and followed it back to a large series of halls littered with random doors. He walked with Lynn to the rooms where the twins would be staying and laid Lola down, watching her cuddle a pillow before closing the door behind him. He and Lynn high-fived before parting ways and finding their respective rooms. His was at the back of the second floor, next to another pair of double doors. He grabbed his backpack and sauntered over to the room, opening it to find an open window letting fresh summer air into the room as the moonlit up what the small lamp in the corner didn’t. He had a massive bed to himself, which was all he cared about at the moment. He hesitated for a moment, remembering his experience with the lodge's furniture, but threw caution to the wind, valuing some well-needed sleep over cleanliness. He quickly sunk into slumber just as easily as he sunk into the pillow mattress, managing to grab a nearby blanket and bun-bun before losing all consciousness. In the morning… As the morning rays shone over the mountain, Lincoln found himself slowly crawling out of bed and landing on the floor with a thud and a groan. He got up slowly and stretched before covering his nose my being greeted by his own body odor after the long trip. It was only then with a full bladder and stinky pits that he realized, “Oh crap, I don’t know where the bathroom is!” He stumbled out of his room feeling the dusty wooden floor under his bare feet as he began to wander the halls. He didn’t quite get a sense of scale for the manor until now, with the large network of halls that made up the second floor. He tried to be as careful as possible as he peeked through each squeaky door. After searching for a few minutes and possibly waking up Luna, he wandered out to the foyer and down the stairs to find Lynn, wandering just like him. Their eyes met and Lincoln looked around before asking, “Bathroom?” Lynn shrugged and kept walking around, “I didn’t find squat on the second floor, but there’s gotta be one around here somewhere, right?” She said with an exasperated tone. Lincoln nodded as the pair continued to search for a washroom of any kind. They found a set of stairs leading to a large, empty room with large sinks and counter tops with hooks dangling from the ceiling in the back of it. They spied a bathroom in the front of the room, but Lynn was faster than Lincoln as she dashed into it with a celebratory “woot!” Lincoln was willing to wait for his sister, but his body wasn’t able to keep up as he was about to burst. He looked around frantically before spotting one of the sinks and thinking for a moment to himself. The internal argument didn’t last long as he rushed over to the substitute urinal and let out a long sigh as he felt himself getting lighter. As he zipped up his pants, he stretched again feeling ready to face the morning before turning to see a stunned Lucy in the doorway. His blood ran cold as he saw her frozen where she stood. He went to speak to her, but she dodged into the room and out of the doorway as Luna descended the stairs behind her, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.   “Please tell me you bros found a can in this joint—“ she stopped when she saw a relieved Lynn exit the small room before slipping in behind her with her own celebratory “WOOT!”. Lynn looked over to Lincoln, “Well, I was going to say it’s all yours but—“ “No worries, Lincoln was just looking for it to make sure we knew where to go” Lucy said with her stony expression. Lynn looked between the two for a moment before shrugging, “Whatever, thanks for the help then, Linc. I’m gonna see if there’s any food in this place.” Lincoln waited for Lynn to leave before swallowing the lump in his throat and looking back towards Lucy. She darted over to him in an instant and got on her tip toes to whisper in his ear, “I won’t tell, but remember. You owe me for this, big bro.” The way she phrased it seemed strange to him as he nodded and ducked out of the room. He disappeared up the stairs as a smile touched Lucy’s lips. She had never actually seen a boy’s private before and was surprised at how big Lincoln looked as he hung his length over the edge of the sink. The thoughts of her fantasies returned in full force as she caught herself licking her lips. She was pulled from her mind as she heard Luna walk out with a satisfied smile as she strolled up the stairs. She would have to keep a close eye on him to see what else he does today. Upstairs… As the rest of the family gradually found themselves in the foyer, the parent came out last, going over to a set of large bathrooms near the entry hall. As they disappeared behind the door a set of audible slaps could be heard by Lynn and Lincoln with their hands over their foreheads. The day began with the parents leaving for the town to pick up food for the family to sustain them past the breakfast bars they brought for the morning. After they left, Albert came out of his room running, flipping himself over the railing of the second floor and shoulder rolling once he hit the ground. He stood up, laughing, “HAHA, I’ve still got it, kiddos.” The kids gave a series of golf claps as Luan lifted up a card with a 10 on it. Albert began showing the kids the whole of the manor,” Through these door in the back, we have the main dining hall; the bedrooms are above it on the second floor. Through the door on the right there’s an old ball room with viewing decks and eating areas on the second and third floors overlooking it. To the left there’s the main kitchen. The basement is mostly a local storehouse for the manor with its own larder and grain storehouse with even a small stable in it that has a ramp leading out of the side of the manor. The second floor has the bedrooms, along with a few bathrooms, with a drawing and tea room to the rights and the viewing decks to the right. The third floor has rooms that used to be dedicated to the family members that lived here before. There’s probably a bunch of their old stuff in there. Finally, on the roof there’s dining areas, an observatory with a small lab and library in it, along with a small rooftop garden at the back of it.”   Each of the children’s faces began to light up as they saw just what this massive forgotten place had in store for them. They first headed north from the manor up the trail that led to the garden, and even though it was overgrown, many of the original plants were still alive and well with a certain magical majesty  still in the air of the winding paths of cobblestone leading to a large greenhouse that was too dirty to see into. They headed down the trail to see the other areas of the grounds. Exploring the nearby clearing that had what looked like a small neighborhood built on it. Old wooden houses in various states of disrepair decorated the field in three cul- de-sacs with a main building standing at the front of it all nearest to the trail. The Lake was bigger than any of them had thought, being unable to even see the forest trail on the far side of it. There were a couple of shacks with a few small boats beside them, and a fishing dock wrapping around a small portion of the lake’s bank.  The farm was completely overgrown with weeds from not being used in so long, with the farmhouse overlooking it, the mill, and the barn. They went further back to see the orchards and the vineyards that still seemed to be functioning well despite being left alone for so long. The larders and storehouses were cleaned out, leaving the massive underground stage chambers to serve a nothing more than an echo chamber.  They finally ended back at the stables and the welcome lodge to find the van pulling in through an enormous iron gate. They parked before stepping out and opening the doors to reveal a metric ton of groceries. Everyone began hauling the goods back to the manor, finding that Albert had done what he could in the couple of weeks he had before they arrived to update the old place. He put coolers in the manor’s larder dusted some of the rooms to the best of his ability, hauled gallons of water to be stored for baths and brought in a couple of portable generators to keep some better lights in the manor running.  As they got everything stored, the met up for the official family meeting in the foyer, letting Rita take center stage as she delegated everyone’s missions.  Rita cleared her throat, “ Alright Loud family, here’s what I need from everyone.” She began pointing to each of her children in succession, “Lori, I need you to work with Pop-pop and help him to get the manor cleaned up.  Leni, I need you to work with us to figure out new décor for the grounds.  Luna, I need you to work on getting this place some power, we’ll work out the details at lunch.  Luan, I need you to help with cooking, making sure everything gets used properly and that none of it goes to waste.  Lynn, I need help Lana with structural repairs for the grounds.  Lincoln, I need you to go through and make a list of necessary repairs for each of the areas of the grounds. Well decide our next missions based on your findings.  Lucy, I need you keep watch over the others and if anything happens, you tell me immediately.  Lola, I want you to work with Leni in fixing the aesthetics of the manor before moving on to the rest of the grounds. Lana, I need you to handle the structural repairs with Lynn and later I want you to work with Luna to get other plumbing, water, HVAC and electrical systems running in the grounds.  Lisa, I want you to see what we can do about preventing the grounds from decaying further and to work with Luna and Lana to make sure everything operates as well as it possibly can.  Hon, I need you to keep an eye on Lily while I run out to get all the paperwork signed for the permits and contracts and get materials with the girls.” She finished with a deep breath and clapped her hands, “Everyone got it?” The Louds stood up and saluted her before dispersing. They all began to head either towards Albert or the door when they were stopped by a yell. “WAIT!” Rita boomed, loud enough that it echoed throughout the manor and some birds scattered from the nearby trees. “Before any of that, all of you, get cleaned up. It smells like a locker-room in here.” She said, waving a hand in front of her nose. Albert chimed in, “There are three full bathrooms upstairs and a couple more of the third floor. First come, first serve.” The kids then scurried up the stairs, some of them trying to remember the rooms they slept in before rushing to one of the bathrooms and finding that the taps yielded nothing. An echoed yell from Albert came from below, “You have to boil the water in the basement and pump it up the upper rooms!”  A groan echoed in return as the kids rushed to the basement to find they needed to start wood fires o boil the water. Lori almost screamed, “This place is literally stuck in the stone age!” Lana and Luna overtook her and began stuffing the furnaces as Luan lit the fires and operated a large set of bellows that blew into all of them. Lynn and Lincoln were hauling the gallons of water over so that they could be put into pots while Leni scoured the store rooms and found some hidden soap.  Lori began priming the pumps under Lisa’s instruction while Lisa checked every water valve on the way to the bathrooms to make sure there were no further hiccups. Albert saw Rita off before coming down to check on the kids, his face was struck with surprise as a delighted smile lit up his face. He mumbled under his breath, “They work better together than any crew I’ve ever worked with in my life; this place is in good hands. I’m sure they’d be proud to know how the family’s grown since their day.” After some baths… They all got into some clothes more befitting their environment with Lori favoring some jorts with a low-cut red flannel shirt. Leni wearing a loose canvas colored blouse and a set of jorts like Lori. Luna was wearing skinny jeans with an old Metallica shirt and work gloves along with a tool belt. Luan was wearing a chef’s smock and yellow capris. Lincoln was wearing an orange flannel shirt with a tank top underneath and a pair of dark jeans. Lucy wore a pair of pants under her signature black dress and for the first time, she was wearing running shoes instead of her usual flats. Lola had her hair tied up with a red and white spotted neckerchief and wore a pair of overalls similar to Lana’s. Lana wore a long sleeved red shirt under her overalls with a pair of work gloves and a tool belt. Lisa wore a pair of boots and coveralls, her glasses being protected by goggles. They all set out to start their jobs to get a rough understanding of the sheer scale of the project they were working on. The most excited of them all being Lincoln and Lucy. Lincoln was beyond psyched for this new adventure and the opportunity to explore his ancestral home. Lucy was just as excited, but for a few more reasons. Being one of the most observant children in the bunch, she had already noticed a slew of secrets during their tour. There seemed to be hidden rooms throughout the manor, with a system like the vents at home going throughout the building. The buildings nearby seems to be built be different generations based on the style in which they were built and the state of decay they were in. In the forest trail between the lake and the garden, there was a hidden path that she could see leading deeper into the forest. There also seemed to be a small trial that continued around the lake and let to another hidden place. The farmhouse was much bigger than she would have thought and she could have sworn she saw a woman in the window when they passed by it. She also spotted a series of markings at the back of the storehouses, with what looked like a few doors set into the floor near them. She wasn’t one for squealing, but since no one was around, she began to skip down the trail filled with glee at the wonderland of mystery she had found, giggling to herself. Her speed led her down to the stables quicker than she anticipated, attributing her increased speed to the fact she was wearing proper footwear for the exercise for once. She hopped on top of the welcome lodge, crouched down and waited for Lincoln to arrive, knowing that he’d be the only one other than Luan to do some actual work today.  As she saw his orange form jogging down the trail with a smile on his face, she knew that in that moment, they were exactly the same. And she couldn’t wait to start exploring the grounds with him, but decided to hang back, making sure to not to give Lincoln the feeling she’s hanging over him. She lay down on the roof so that he wouldn’t see her as he took a break to stretch in front of the stables. She closed her eyes and focused on him, she could hear his breath, his mutterings about how he kind of wished there were some horses still around to make use of the stables before walking into the lodge to explore it properly. In the town… Rita pulled up to the town hall and went in to sort out the permits she’d need to restore the grounds and found that as soon as she mentioned the manor, the gazes went wide with surprise that someone owned the place. After she proved that she was working with the current owner, a record keeper for the town approached her with the permits handing them to her with a kind smile, “I thought I’d never see a family return to that place after the history it’s had.” He said with a gentle and tired voice. Rita gave him a puzzled look, causing him to shake his head, “you should probably learn about the place you’re staying in, It used to belong to an old family, and they were the life of this town. The members of that family kept a quite home here while they managed various projects and pursuits around the country.” Rita was signing the permits when she finally thought to ask,” What was the name of the family that originally owned the place?” The man was surprised at her question,” you don’t know why it’s called ‘Loud Mountain’? It was originally owned by an old and vast family. Your family, the Loud family.” Rita couldn’t even begin to understand her family’s true history, but her children were about to begin unraveling the story that spanned back over 200 years.   End Note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my first commission fic, “The Loud Mountain” This is the first in a five-part saga that I was commissioned for, but I may very well pursue this story beyond the commission as it has a really interesting premise that I want to thoroughly explore. Look forward to the following chapters, coming very soon. ***** Loud Mountain, Chapter 2: Scratching the surface ***** Loud Mountain, Chapter 2: Scratching the surface As Lincoln opened the door to the lodge once more, He felt a new sense of control and curiosity fill him. This was his time to shine, to fully exercise his investigative abilities to help make their new home as amazing as possible as well as learn his family’s lost history. He looked over to a desk near the door that had a lantern on it last night and started there. The desk had a drawer containing a ledger with dates, names, objects, and amounts. “Bartholomew Davis: Fillington Delivery Co.: June,16,1835: Grain, 5T. Barley,50lb. Beef,80lb. Potatoes,60lb. : Lawrence Loud. As Lincoln scoured the ledger, finding similar entries going for the next several years, the gears spun in his head. “This lodge must have been like a check point for things they ordered for the manor before having them delivered to other places on the grounds. Looks like one member of the family did this job for every generation, going until about the 1950’s. Wait….Lawrence….LOUD!?” Lincoln was struck with surprise seeing that all of the family members on the ledger had the same name…Loud. He scratched his head before setting the ledger back down and looking around the rest of the lodge. He noticed that the paintings in the walls had extremely old pictures. One showed the manor while it was in the final stages of its construction, with a semi-completed roof and a large family standing in front of it. Another showed the manor with more of the forest cleared in the background, making it look more like it did in the present, but this had a completely different, yet equally large family in front of it. Another showed the manor with an observatory on the roof, with yet another different large family in front of it. This continued for several more portraits until there were too many faces to keep track of. All of these painting had one common thread, their titles. Each of their plaques read “The Loud Legacy: Circa” and then the year the painting was made. He looked at the room as a whole once more and noticed a series of chairs with a table in the center, a bar off to the corner next to the liquor cabinet and a writing desk on the adjacent corner. He realized that this was likely a meeting area for business deals, and walked over to the writing desk. He found it cluttered with old receipts and documents, signed by the same family members as the ledger. He gave the whole lodge another look, taking note of the solid structure of the building and that it only has some bad dust and worn furniture before leaving it to look at the stables. Lucy heard him leave and carefully got down from the roof before sprinting to the tree line of the forest to observe him from afar. Lincoln looked over the stables, finding it to be in a much worse condition that the lodge, with the wood splintering and being eaten by termites. He saw a horseshoe embedded in the wood and sighed, “And that was probably Lynn’s doing. This place will probably have to be torn down to make room for something like a garage.” He walked over and yanked the stray metal out of its wooden prison, and looked at it, surprised by how heavy it was. He turned it over to find a set of spikes that looked well-worn along with a set of strange symbols engraved into the shoe between each spike. He sketched the shoe and symbols in his notebook before tossing it into the bucket it was taken from and walking off. After Lincoln had walked far enough down the path, she bolted over to the lodge with a large sack, looking around and grabbing the ledger as well as one of the old liquor bottles before rushing out to the stables and grabbing a horseshoe and stuffing all of them into the bag and placing it on the roof. She was going to need all the historical data she could get if she was going to fully research their new home the best way she knew how. Back with Lincoln… He had reached the storehouses and upon closing himself in, he found that the door was the only light source the place had since the lamps were out of fuel. But as he went to grab his flashlight he noticed the room started to become brighter. He looked up and saw a glowing blue trail start to form on the ceiling going from the door and following a strange pattern before ending at the far corner of the room. He carefully walked over under the minimal light and saw that the glowing trail light up five strange markings that went deep into the stone, one was a diamond shape, another was an upside down triangle, one was a star, one was a heart, and the final one was in the shape of a chalice. He used his flashlight to see what he was writing as he took note of all the oddities in the room before scanning the room for any structural damages. He took his final notes about the massive stone room, noting only a few small cracks in the plaster before walking back out. “Oh man, I need to check this place out again when it's dark. Lisa might like to know that someone here knew how to use bioluminescent materials. Those looked something like keyholes…I wonder if I can’t find the keys. Heh, or maybe Leni could pick them.” Lucy watched him walk away before darting into the room and gasping at the glowing trail. She reached into the bag and pulled out a small beaker, collecting a sample of it before taking her treasure trove with her once more as she hid it and watched for Lincoln to enter the next area. She had goosebumps for the past two hours at all the strange things she was finding. She was certain that something strange was going on and couldn’t wait to investigate further, but tempered herself remembering her secondary goal as he disappeared around the bend of the trail. Meanwhile, back at the manor… Luan was successfully balancing three different cooking stations while making sure that a large tank of water was kept at simmering heat for the night's baths. While she danced between the different stoves and ovens, she couldn’t help but giggle to herself. No one really noticed how often she cooked for her pranks, and the only thing she loved more than the payoff was the preparation. Putting effort into small details and having the patience for the perfect moment to act was her true talent. As the smell of a freshly baked pie began to waft through the kitchen, she paused for a moment as her eyes rolled back and her knees trembled as she drank in the sweet scent that her meticulous labors produced. Lunch would be ready soon and she could hardly wait to see them dig in. Luna, Lynn and Lana, were walking around the outside of the manor, looking for any major structural issue with the building, but finding none. Lana scratched her head, “Something’s not adding up here. This place has been left along for a REALLY long time, but the outside of the place looks fine.” “Yeah”, Lynn added, smacking the outer wall of the manor with her fist, “This place is ridiculously strong, it’s like a castle or something.” Luna looked up at the roof, “you dudes saw the fricken observatory up there, this place has to be ridiculously strong to support all of that weight.” They walked up to the roof and walked to one of the corners, when their eyes went wide. The corners of the building were made up of the stripped logs of seven trees arranged in a hexagon, with the spaces in-between filled in with metal. Lana wiped her hand across the cornerstone, “Holy cow, This thing is unbelievable, how did they get all the metal to fill all of this in? Is all of the manor like this? No wonder it hasn’t fallen.” Lynn stretched her arms above her head, “Welp, guess we only need to throw a fresh coat of paint on the place and call it a day for this.” Luna knelt down and scraped some of the bark and showed it to Lana, both of them having a puzzled expression, “Uh, dudes, the wood is still alive, this bark is still fresh and everything. It’s like the trees were shaped into the house or something.” As the three sisters continued to look around the strange building, Lori, Leni and Lana were on the second floor with Albert, gradually cleaning the rooms on the second floor. They had gathered a metric ton of dust and cobwebs before taking a small break while Albert hauled it all outside. Lori flopped onto one of the bed, “Good lord, this is literally more work than I’ve ever done before in my life. I guess it’s worth it though if we wind up getting this sweet place.” Leni looked out a window, breathing in the fresh summer air, “I dunno, sis. I think it’ll take like, a lot more work before this is the dream place we want. It doesn’t even have a washing machine yet.” Lana rested against a chair, sighing,” True, plus we still need to get electricity and running water in this place. We’re living like cavemen right now, and I do NOT do pelts, not in this summer heat.” “I dunno, I think you could, like totally pull it off if we got some nice faux fur and made a skirt and crop top for you.” Leni giggled, half joking. Lana thought about it for a moment before the chair slid from her leaning and she landed face first on the floor, “…Not one word” Lisa was up in the observatory, wandering around in amazement as the setup she was given to work with. She had already investigated the exterior and interior for decay, which she found none. This raised several questions when she remembered there was a lab on the roof. The observatory itself was impressive enough, needing only a good cleaning of the telescope lenses before it could be used again. But it paled in comparison to the lab proper. She tried to open the door at the back of the observatory, but found it wouldn’t budge. She looked around and saw a metal valve on the wall nearby. After jumping to grab on and trying to pull herself back to the ground be yanking on the wheel, she finally got it to loosen. A hissing sound came from the door as it depressurized, surprising Lisa. “To think that this old place maintained a lab, and not only that, but kept a vacuum seal on the place when it wasn’t in use. Whoever owned this place knew their procedures.” She slowly pried open the steel door to find a spotless lab that looked like she was teleported through time. Everything from the reinforced leather hazmat suits, the veritable library of aged chemicals and miscellaneous ingredients to the large clean metal workbenches that look properly optimized for a wide range of live experiments. Toward the back she looked up to see a library with a series of small walkways and ladders that went up the tall walls to match the height of the observatory behind her. Next to her, she found a large wooden cabinet, locked behind a large stone lock with an upside down triangle on it. She pulled out a tape recorder and clicked in the record button. “Lisa Loud, Loud Mountain, Loud Manor, laboratory, 5/4/17. Premises retains a staggering amount of stability from a seemingly unknown source. The maintenance of the premises may be linked to the information contained in a secured on-site laboratory. Must conduct further investigation to confirm or deny such hypotheses, stand by for updates.” She clicked the stop button and slid the recorder back into a pocket before leaving the lab, closing the door behind her and going to the valve to re- secure the lab and preserve its condition. Next to the valve, she noticed a panel of the wall had swung out like a small door to reveal a metal lever. She reached up to pull it down, and upon hearing it click into place, felt the walls shiver slightly as she heard another hissing sound. She looked over to see the door sinking in slightly to become flush with the doorway. And a few seconds, the hissing stopped and the lab was as she had left it, in a vacuum seal. She made her way back down to the foyer, it would be lunch time soon, and she would need all of her strength for what was to come. As Lisa made her way back down, Lynn Sr. had his eye on Lily as she crawled around the large dining room and he got it cleaned and ready for the coming meal. He wiped his brow, “Whew, you ever think that just like people can be happy that they are needed, that houses are happy when a family stays in them? Like it feels what the family feels? I always used to wonder that when I was a kid, alot of times it sounded like my house was alive. Like how there would always be something that was just perfect that the house had, and that it did it for the people in it.” He looked over to see Lily walking around and giggling as she walked in circles or in some random path in the room. “Heh, probably not.” He shrugged as he struggled to get the ridiculously sized tablecloth set. Back with Lincoln… His stomach gave a low growl as he reached the farm. The light morning meal wasn’t going to last him much longer. He decided to head back after he investigated this place. As he passed through the wooden gate to the dirt trail for the farms, he looked up at the large farmhouse. It was much bigger than he would have thought, reaching up two stories with a large roof and looking to have a great deal of room inside. “Did they hire farmers that weren’t part of the family? Why else would they have this big of a building?” He scratched his head as he walked up to the door. He found a large stone lock on it, with a symbol of a diamond on it. “Another lock, are all of them made of stone…let’s see about that.” He looked around and saw an old axe covered in rust. He shrugged his arms, “Worth a shot.” He said before picking it up and lining it up with the lock. He put the axe over his shoulder and swung it as hard as he could. A sudden shock sparked as the axe hit the lock, turning the handle into matchwood as the axe head fell onto the deck. After checking his hands for any splinters, he looked over the lock to see it was perfectly fine, but the axe head had a sizeable dent in it. “Okay, key it is then. Great” he huffed as he took note of the building. It wasn’t in perfect condition, but it was still solid, with some wood rot creeping up the sides of the building. He saw a couple of windows were cracked, but none were broken, and he wasn’t about to risk a fall to get into a place he might not be able to get out of. He left the farmhouse alone for now, turning his attention instead the old barn that was on the other side of the dead and overgrown fields. He made his way over, noting that of all the buildings he saw so far, this one actually reflected its age. It looked as though it were about to fall over, with several extra supports being added to the sides to prevent it from falling over. He contemplated just marking it for removal when he saw a light in the upper floor of the barn. He tried to get a closer look, but couldn’t get a decent vantage point. He swallowed hard and entered the barn, hoping Lucy was watching in case anything went wrong. The place was decrepit, but still looked like it might support his weight if he climbed up the ladder. He stepped through the dead hay and eyed the ladder carefully. It looked new, oddly enough. And as he climbed up the ladder, he found that the loft of the barn had rugs covering most of the floor. A couch and chair were hauled up into it, along with an old TV and some boxes. There was a cooler with a small AC unit attached to it, and everything was hooked up to a battery that had a wire going up to the roof. He took his notes, before looking in the boxes. There were old movies and gaming stations with all of their accessories. His jaw dropped at the treasure trove before him. He made a note to return later to take advantage of the place before leaving. He kept heading back, finding smaller barns and houses for the livestock. He approached the houses; but felt something strange about them, like a monster was in them. He was about to turn away from it when he remembered. “That’s right, if you can’t do it yourself, get someone you trust to help you. And no one has your back like family… LUCY!” A shadow popped up right next to him in an instant, groaning, “You didn’t have to shout, I have been following you since you left.” He rolled his eyes, “That sounds about right. Hey, I need your help checking these out, this one’s giving me a bad feeling.” Lucy simply nodded before walking towards the houses, with Lincoln quickly catching up to her. They both walked up to the houses, finding that the feeling was coming from the largest of the henhouses. They inched closer, finding that they became more scared they closer they got. Lincoln felt something touch his hand, and he instinctively held on to it. Lucy focused on the feeling her hand, feeling a little safer knowing that he was there with her. They steeled their nerves and walked closer, but stopped as they saw a pair of glowing eyes from inside the small dark house. Lincoln squeezed his little sister’s hand, “Lucy, I want you to run and get out of here, get the others let’s take care of this after lunch.” She squeezed his hand, “I’m not leaving you for dead, we’ll leave together and come back together, with the others.” Their eyes snapped forward as they saw a twisted smile in the darkness as it let out a raspy voice, “Whichever path you choose, you are at least smart enough to know you can’t win. Go, leave, and come back when you are prepared.” They nodded before Lucy put a death grip on his hand; “Hold on tight” was all she said as she bolted away, dragging Lincoln with her. He struggled to keep up with her, almost tripping several times as she escaped the place. She stopped at the main trail, giving them both a breather. As soon as Lincoln could claw air back into his burning lungs, he screamed, “What the FUCK was THAT!?” He was still hyperventilating while Lucy gasped, “I…I think that was a wraith…a dark spirit that inhabits a place of rest .” “Why is it here?” he said, still reeling from the encounter. Lucy stood up straight and looked back at the farm, “I don’t know. Like most of this place, it’s a mystery.” Lincoln was finding his lungs and trying to get his heart out of his throat when he noticed that Lucy’s hands were shaking. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her, and hugging her close. She felt her arms around his shoulders as she buried her face in his neck. He began stroking her midnight hair, whispering in her ear, “It’s okay, sis. We’re okay. Let’s go back, we’ll get some of the others and go back once we’re ready…you’re sure that’s what it is?” Lucy was released from his embrace as she wiped her face with her sleeve, “I’m not sure, but I think it could have been a wraith. If we’re taking it down, we’ll need some salt, a lot, actually, and oils and silver or gold.” They agreed on getting some proper assistance and taking that thing on tomorrow. But for now, they needed to get some food. The pair made their way back and Lincoln felt his hand intertwine with Lucy’s once more. She squeezed him gently, “Thank you” He smiled at her, “Thank you too, Luce” Back at the manor… The children started gathering into the freshly prepped dining room as the smell of freshly cooked food started wafting into the room, causing a choir of moans to come from all present. A shout came through the door, “Quit standing around like a bunch of jive turkeys and help me with the food!” A sweaty Luan burst through the kitchen doors with large platters in each hand. She set them down on the table before grabbing Lori and Luna by the arms and pulling them into the kitchen with her. They came out moments later with the rest of the food. A large spread of freshly cooked beef short rib with shitake mushrooms, sided with a small bowl of jambalaya along with large pitchers of sweet blackberry iced tea were set along the table. The kids were all washing their hands when Rita walked through the door, with a large envelope in her hand. She tossed it on a nearby table before joining her children. They all took a seat, save for Luan, who was feeding Lily. They all dug in and the meal passed with little idle chat before everyone thanked Luan for the meal. Luna, Lana, and Lynn joined Luan in the kitchen for dishes while Lori, Leni, and Lola went back up for cleaning detail with Albert. Lynn Sr. took Lily and went to the ball room to start cleaning it. Rita joined the girls in the kitchen to discuss their next step. She helped to dry dishes while she spoke, “I got ahold of all the permits, so tomorrow I’ll need you girls to work with your father and pop-pop to get contracts for all the materials and equipment for installing the new systems in the manor. Lincoln should have a full report on the grounds by the end of tomorrow, so we can start working on that after we get the manor in working order.” They all nodded in agreement before finishing the cleaning, leaving Luan to prep the next meal while the others dispersed to investigate the manor further. As they came out of the kitchen, Lincoln and Lucy came up to them. Lincoln beckoned Luna closer, so she bent down to hear him. “I need you to do me a favor, and find us either some silver or gold, preferably crosses. We had a bit of a problem back at the farm and I’ll need all of your help to get rid of it.” He carefully explained, in just above a whisper. She slowly nodded, “Sure bro, this oughta be good.” He looked to his side to see Lucy emerge from the kitchen, giving him a thumbs up. “That should take care of the materials. I’ll look over the rest of the grounds and we’ll meet up tomorrow evening. That should be the best time to take care of this.” He said, with a determined look. They parted ways as Luna rejoined the others upstairs and Lincoln went back out with Lucy. They made their way back down to the lake and started investigating. The place was mostly water, giving little to look into. The fishing shack was slightly decrepit and the small boathouse was in decent condition, with barnacles crawling up the posts of the house. The slowly rotting wood of the shack hid nothing interesting, housing only old fishing rods, bait and tackle, and some materials to repair the fishing boats. When they looked on the side of the shack, they noticed one of the baits had rotted completely, but one of them looked ancient, but was in perfect condition. He jotted down a few more notes before walking up to the boathouse, which was also locked, but this time with a star symbol. Remembering his last experience, they decided to leave it for now and instead check the forest trail that led to the garden. The path was slightly over grown, but got worse as the path went on. As they drew nearer to the garden, the forest around them became far thicker, until no sunlight reached the ground. They arrived at the gate, finding it oddly clean of the vines and weeds that had claimed the rest of the trail. Upon entering, they found the garden’s cobblestone walkways to be completely clean, but the flowers and plants had grown out of control. They continued forward to the greenhouse, but found it locked by the heart lock. “How many keys does this place have?” Lincoln groaned. “Just the five, I think.” Lucy replied, looking up at the greenhouse. “Well, after we get the initial report done, we really need to start working on all of this crap. We have a bunch buildings locked off and a fricken monster in a henhouse. We have a lot of work to do. “He said, mostly to himself. They followed the trail back to the manor and went to their last stop, the outbuildings. They arrived at the front building, noting a large wooden fence with symbols carved into the tops of the posts. They found the door unlocked and entered the dark house. It was still in good condition, holding only a light layer of dust on the surfaces of the large house. Its first floor had a few tables with couches on either side with a long desk in the back of the room that was set in front of five pairs of doors in an indentation on the wall with three facing them and two set into the sides of the indentation. There were staircases on either side of the room leading to an upper deck with a pair of large double doors in the back. Lincoln lit their way with his flashlight as they explored the place. There were two small bathrooms, a small bedroom and a large bedroom that were through doors off to the sides of the main room. The tables and the desk all had empty oil lanterns. The floor cracked under their feet as they went behind the desk to examine the doors. The three on the rear wall had different locks on them, one was a crescent moon, another was an atomic symbol, and the last was a dog’s head. The two sets of doors of doors to their sides were locked with the chalice lock. Lincolns eyes began to twitch with frustration as he took a deep breath, “Make that EIGHT keys, great.” Lucy grabbed his hand, pulling him out of his thoughts, “At least we have a bigger mystery to solve, and we can do it together. Just think of the secrets we’ll learn once we get through this.” He looked over to his little sister, “Lucy…did….did you hear?” She nodded in reply, “It bothers me too, I want to help, I want to know where we came from, and maybe I won’t feel so empty or alone if we do.” He pulled her into a hug, “Alright, Luce. Let’s give them our report so far and keep investigating this place on our own until tomorrow night. We’ll help the others get the rest of the manor cleaned up and see if there are any clues in there.” They broke from their embrace and began their trek back to the manor. Back at the manor… With the second floor’s bedrooms and bathrooms cleaned up, Lori, Leni, and Lola went down to help Lynn Sr. get the last of the ball room cleaned up before heading to the drawing and tea room as well as the ball room’s viewing decks. Lincoln and Lucy walked through the doors and gave Rita their report. She was slightly confused as they explained what they could without getting her involved in the mystery. After that, they joined the sisters upstairs. They found that most of the second floor was almost spotless, with the rooms being tidied up as much as possible without a proper washing machine. They walked into the tea room to find the other sisters ogling the cabinets full of fine china and ornate tea sets along with the kitchenette with a cabinet full of spices, herbs, and leaves for teas. They got the tea room cleaned up, which went quickly with the extra hands, before moving on to the drawing room. The room had a bunch of empty lanterns in it with the doors closed and the curtains drawn. There were canvases and paper tablets set onto easels in the corners of the room with a series of pillows and sheets arranged in the center of the room. There was a strange scent in the room, it set everyone in a strange mood, and the girls began to shift awkwardly while Lincoln and Albert began to struggle with their pants. Everyone in the room was beginning to blush as the room felt like it was heating up. Lucy held her breath as she rushed to the back of the room and threw the curtains back before flinging the doors open, causing a rush of fresh air to flood the room. Once everyone caught their breath and calmed down, they started carefully cleaning the room up, Lincoln and Lucy both found that the lanterns had two reservoirs, one for oil and another still had something in it, a strange violet liquid. They both took a vial of it from the lanterns and hit them in their pockets. With the rooms cleaned out, they quickly cleaned up the viewing deck on the second and third floors, noting that Lana would need to fix up the furniture with Leni to make everything comfortable again. S they finished the last of the cleaning, dinner was almost prepared. They headed down and cleaned up before helping Luan to bring out the pots of beef stew and platters of loaded baked potatoes with pitchers of milk and water. With the table set, the family indulged themselves in Luan’s culinary prowess. Once the meal was finished, Lincoln gathered up the dishes, “hey, Luan gets the first bath, she’s more than earned it for all the work she did today.” No one was in a position to argue as Luan ruffled her little brother’s hair, “Thanks, Linc. you’re really the apple of my eye, get it?” She said as she tossed a red delicious to him, giggling as she hopped up the stairs. It shined like a diamond as he stuck it in his mouth, looking like a stuck pig as he freed up his hands to carry dishes. Luna, Lucy and Lynn helped him to clean up the meal’s mess and add more water hot water to the tanks for their baths. Once they were finished, they all left to enjoy their free time until they sent to bed. Lucy went and grabbed her back of treasures, which she hit in a small cubby in the hidden vent system. Lincoln made sure that there was plenty of water before walking back up to his room. He found fresh sheets and blankets on his bed with an oil lantern ready to be lit with a box of matches next to it. The sun hadn’t set yet, so he went up to the room to look at the sun as his set behind the trees. When he got up there he found Lisa walking out of the observatory, mumbling into her recorder. She was muttering something about locks, and figured that there was another of the stone nightmares in there as well. Despite the difficulties he was facing, Lincoln couldn’t help but be excited; he had already seen so many new things and started working on a mystery in his ancestral home in only one day. “Speaking of secrets and mysteries…” he said, pulling out the vial in his pocket. He popped the cork lid off of the small glass container and waved it under his nose. A rush of warmth washed over him as he felt his lips, ears, hands and groin start to tingle. He quickly stuffed the cork back into the vial and took several deep breaths to get the effects out of his system. “Damn, this stuff is strong.” He huffed as he slowed his breathing. Lisa walked over to him, “And what are you doing with that? I doubt that inhalation is a viable method of testing an unknown substance.” “hmm?” He asked, looking down at her, “No, I think I know what this is, but I don’t know how or why it was in the drawing room.” He handed the vial to Lisa, who examined the liquid closely before repeating the test Lincoln performed. As soon as the fumes hit her nose, she struggled to stand. She quickly re-corked the bottle and tried not to drop it as she steadied herself. “Y-you…said you…found this in t-the…drawing room?” She stuttered as he handed the vial back to her brother. He nodded before slipping it back into his pocket. “Interesting, I will have to obtain a sample and run some tests” she said, wiping some drool from her chin. Lincoln tried not to worry about the possible mess he may have just started as he headed down to get a bath. Once he was clean and in some fresh clothes, he realized how worn out he was from the stressful day. He turned I for an early night and wrestled with thoughts on how to find the keys as he drifted off to sleep. Back at the farm… The shadow in the henhouse drifted out of its dwelling, letting out a loud screech. As the echoes rang out through the mountains, a few more shadows appeared in front of the first one. Its twisted smile return as it spoke with a growl, “He have intruders, they’ll be coming to remove us soon, find a dwelling here for the night and let us prepare for their slaughter.” The group of dark clouds laughed as they spread out into the barns and pens, sinking into the ground as they took their rest. ***** Loud Mountain, Chapter 3: Our home ***** Loud Mountain, Chapter 3: Our home As Lincoln dreamt, he found himself in a large wooden chair with ornate carvings in the middle of a large circular room with a cobblestone floor and a pattern etched into it. He looked around but couldn’t see far into the wall of darkness that obscured anything that was more than a few feet in front of him. Suddenly, a pair of eyes appeared in that darkness, then another, and yet another. More pairs of eyes appeared until the darkness was full of them. Lincoln was starting to sweat now as he worried what might happen next. The eyes became faces that he had never seen before, and they started to float to and fro as they started to hum in a strange song. Another chair slid forward from the darkness until it was a few feet away from Lincoln, facing him. A light that shone above him released one final shadow as it descended closer to Lincoln. It came to rest on the other chair and took form. It transformed from bottom to top, revealing what looked like a 25-year-old man with shiny black leather shoes, a full old-timey suit with gloved hands, and ending with a soft, round pale face with a light grey beard and shoulder length white hair. The man gave Lincoln a sly smile and stretched his arms out to his sides, gesturing to himself. “Lysander Loud, in the almost flesh.” He said with an equally sly tone, full of pride and a mischievous glee. He extended his hand out to Lincoln, “And you are?” Lincoln eyes him carefully, “Lincoln Loud, how did I get here?” he replied as he shook Lysander’s hand. “Well I’ll be damned, we still live on, that’s a hoot.” He said with a chuckle. He looked Lincoln dead in the eyes now. “I’m a Loud that came from before, a long time ago if I had to guess. We contacted you and a couple others and I’m letting you know the mess you just got yourselves into.” His expression was softer now as he sat back in his chair. “Lyvia, my sister, left a few guardian spirits to ward off any intruders should everything go to hell in a hand basket, which I can only guess it did.” He looked at the wall of humming faces surrounding the two of them. “You and Lucy are on the right track, but I’m afraid without the right incantation you’ll have to get rid of those things the hard way, good thing Lucy and Lyvia are kindred spirits, otherwise the entire concept of magic would go right over your snow-capped head.” He finished with a smile. His form started to become smokey again, “Looks like I’m not long for this little encounter. Just remember that this is Loud Mountain, and you are a Loud. This is your home, now prove it.” And with that, he tapped Lincoln’s forehead, causing him to jolt awake in his bed, covered in a thin film of sweat. He took a few minutes to calm himself down, deciding to talk with Lucy about it after he got a morning bath out of the way. He grabbed his essentials and wandered out of his room to the nearest bathroom. Having an actual lay of the land was nice as he didn’t have to aimlessly wander this time. He walked over to the closest bathroom and walked in, wiping the last of the sleep from his eyes. He opened them to see the small, pale, and naked frame of Lucy sitting on the edge of the bathtub facing away from with her arms covering her soft budding chest. She turned her head slightly, with a blush covering her cheeks. “If you could please stop staring, I’d like to take a bath now, unless of course, you want to join me?” she said in a meek tone, trying to tear her eyes away from the bulge in her brother’s underwear. Likewise, Lincoln was almost captivated by how soft and full her butt looked despite her young age, her lack dress hid an already developing figure of a beautiful young lady. Lincoln stammered, “U-uh, right…sorry, I thought I was the first one up.” And turned to leave. “Wait” her voice froze him in place, “Did you see her too?” She asked, her words burning with curiosity. “her? Wait…do you mean…what was her name?...Lyvia?” he struggled to remember. “So you did?” She inquired. “No, I met her brother, Lysander. He told me about the wraiths she left and that we have to prove ourselves.” He recalled. “She told me she forgot the incantation she used to conjure the guardians, so we'll have to go with plan A. We’ll go at twilight, that’ll be when they’re still weak, but the spells will be strong.” She explained. “Alright, until then, we should keep an eye on them, just in case they try to move before then.” He said as he walked out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him Lucy took a few minutes of deep breaths before sinking into the steaming tub. She looked over at the pink vial that was with her clothes. “Soon”, she thought to herself. After breakfast… The kids broke for the day’s jobs, with Lucy and Lincoln walking towards the bard with a large bag in hand. With some effort, Lincoln had gotten himself, Lucy and the bag into the loft of the barn without shitting himself as they both realized there were more pairs of eyes coming from the animal houses and pens. They restocked the cooler with drinks and snacks and got comfortable as they began waiting for twilight. As Lincoln was about to sit down, he turned around to find Lucy had gone missing. A moment of panic that she may have been taken was quickly quelled when he saw her on the ground, walking towards the pens and houses. He was about to have a heart attack as he jumped down from the loft and ran towards her. Only to have her make a “stop” motion with her hand. Lucy walked a few more steps before kneeling down and putting something in the ground, then doing the same about 30 feet out on either side from the first one. Lincoln got a closer look and realized that they were crosses, and she was sprinkling blessed salt around and in-between them before spritzing everything with holy oils. She turned back to her brother with a small smile on her face, clearly proud of her handiwork. Lincoln gave a concerned look, “Will that really work?” Lucy gave a sigh as she turned around and walked up to the line she had made, looking directly into a pair of eyes in the pigpen. “Our father who art..” She was interrupted by a loud crash that moved faster than she could see, the shock from it nearly knocking her over. They both looked in amazement at the barrier of pale golden light that had formed from the line she made, keeping the twisting shadow at bay. Lucy reached into her dress and pulled out a sizeable cross and held into her lips while she pressed a hand to the barrier, feeling a strange warmth envelope her hand. “Daemones incendimus” was all she said, but the shadow immediately burst into flames, letting out a horrendous shriek as it fled from the barrier, retreating back to the pigpen and sinking underground. Lincoln could hardly believe what he was seeing, his little sister had just stopped and repelled something that froze them with fear the day before. She turned back again, slipping the cross back into her dress, and looking back at him with a bigger smile this time, “Convinced yet?” His mouth was agape as he nodded, he had never seen something so awesome up close. She walked past him, grabbing his hand and leading him back to the barn. Once he was sure they were safe, he looked at her. “So, want to explain what all THAT was?” Lucy looked back over to the barrier, sighing, “I have been studying both sides of the occult for years, learning all about how different cultures use magic and how different kinds of magic work well against others. Those wraiths were summoned as guardian spirits, so they’re bound to the land they were summoned to. The church has its own rules of magic, and by turning the ground into hallowed ground, I took the land from the wraiths. That barrier may as well be a giant brick wall to them.” She looked up to see Lincoln with his eyes closed, slowly nodding, “So…we’re safe until twilight?” She nodded in response, eliciting a small celebration from Lincoln as he got up from the couch, “Awesome, because there’s a bunch of old games and movies from when Pop-pop’s brother was staying here.” She looked over to the old boxes as Lincoln began rummaging through them. “No offense Lincoln, but I’m not really a fan of videogames.” She sighed. Lincoln chuckled as he set up a PlayStation and popped Castlevania: symphony of the night into it before losing it and booting it up. “I think you’ll like this one.” He said as he sat back on the couch and let the 16-bit soundtrack ring out in the loft. “Where to begin, Alucard.” He said with Lucy becoming intrigued by the world of the game. Hours later… “Alright, now we’re in the long library, what now?” he said, looking over to Lucy, who was holding a guidebook that they found they needed after about half an hour of dying and wandering aimlessly. Lincoln looked at his watch to find that it was almost lunch time, and they began to wander back to the manor. Lucy found herself staring at Lincoln more and more on the way back, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her. She wandered closer to him and wrapped an arm around his as they walked, “Hey, do you think we could grow your hair out?” A smile touched his lips, “Only if we can get Leni and Lola to make the outfit I can really look the part.” “It is good to see a non-insulting depiction of a vampire.” Lucy reflected. “Oh, that reminds me, I think I saw a dvd with the complete series of something called Hellsing, we might want to watch it, I think it has an Alucard too.” He said looking up at the noontime sky as clouds began to roll in. Lucy let out a contented sigh, “I’d like that, maybe after we clear a bit more of Castlevania.” After Lunch…back at the barn… With a few more hours of Castlevania completed and Lincoln banging his head against the wall known as Galamoth, Lincoln decided to give his brain a break as he rummaged around in the boxes once more before laughing as he grabbed the Hellsing disk and slid it into the dvd player. After five minutes, they were both hooked. Before the first episode ended, a storm began to rain down upon the grounds and the pair found themselves called to by an afternoon nap. Lincoln looked over to the barrier with a hint of concern when a pale hand touched his chest. “It’s okay, the barrier won’t disintegrate. I would have to remove it to make it go away, or something really strong would have to break it.” Lucy reassured. Lincoln took a deep breath before nodding and lying down on the couch, with Lucy lying on top of him. Lincoln closed his eyes, but couldn’t rest, worrying over what might happen if something managed to break the barrier, all he could do was get Lucy out of there and get her back to the manor. As he continued to ponder over what he’s able to do with this whole mess, the keys, the wraiths, and the phantoms were only adding to his sense of helplessness as he was met with more and more challenged that he could never overcome in his current state. He was pulled from his thoughts as he realized that roughly an hour had passed and Lucy was already deep sleep. He sighed, wishing he could relax like she could, when he felt her shift on top of him. He thought she might be awake when he heard her begin to mumble, “Come on, just be my Alucard, by silver haired king of the night.” She must be having an interesting dream, he figured. Then she began to crawl closer to his face. “It’s alright; you don’t have to be afraid. I’ll always be yours, even if you doubt me. I can feel my sins crawling on my back, but you grant be salvation in an even deeper darkness.” She had her arms around his neck now with her cheek resting against his chin. “No matter what happens, I’ll be yours. You make me feel alive and make every day worth living. So please stay with me…Lincy.” Her last word sent a shockwave through him. He knew that the last few days had certainly brought them closer, but he had no idea that she thought about him like this. After his experiences with Ronnie Ann, he had no idea that love could manifest itself in such a sweet and nonviolent way. He was a little conflicted, he knew that he loved his sister, and that he’d protect her at any cost. But, he’d do that for all of his sisters. There was another feeling though, a sort of seizing, tingling feeling in his gut, similar to how he felt when he was around Ms. DiMartino. This feeling was a little different though, he felt comfortable around Lucy, he knew her better than most, even better than most of the family. He was still lost in thought when he felt a pair of warm lips again his chin. In spite of the heat that was now spreading through him, he figured that she was still in a dream, not noticing the blush that was spreading on her cheeks. They both tried to stay perfectly still, trying not to let each other know that they were awake, but their accelerating hearts betrayed any possibility of stealth. Lincoln finally took a deep breath, “Once we get rid of those things, want to spend some time together…alone? I need ot talk to you about some stuff.” He felt his little sister shift on top of him, “Okay…am I in trouble? I didn’t mean to come on so strong.” Lincoln cleared his throat, “No, no. It’s okay, I just want us to have some time alone together to talk through this, I still have a lot to figure out myself, so how about we find some place tomorrow?” He felt her nod against his chest, then get up. She stretched wide before putting her hands down, one of them landing over the crotch of his pants. They both jumped a little at the sudden sensations before quickly getting off of the couch and looking out the barn door. It was late afternoon now, and they would need to head back for dinner soon. Then they would need to prepare for the coming fight. As the siblings awkwardly got their bearings, two pairs of eyes watched them through a smoky window, invisible to the children. On the other side was Lysander, lying on a large burgundy upholstered dark walnut chesterfield sofa with a young woman lying on top of him. She had pale skin with jet black hair that came to her shoulder blades with her bangs covering her eyes. She wore a deep purple high-low dress with a silver necklace bearing the symbol of the seal of Solomon. The pair looked on at the children when Lysander ran his fingers through the woman’s hair, parting her bangs to look into her brilliant blue eyes. “Reminds you of the old days, doesn’t it?” He asked with a gentle smile. She returned it and nodded, “Doesn’t help that they look exactly like us, weren’t you surprised to see Lincoln?” “It was like looking into a time warped mirror.” He chuckled. “Looks like their hearts are awakening.” She said to herself. “Hmm, but Lincoln…he hasn’t awakened yet. The other two have, but this whole thing kinda hinges on him.” Lysander said, with a hint of concern in his voice. The woman nuzzled into Lysander’s chest, “Leave them be, Sandy. They’ll be fine, just give them time.” “I know, I know. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Now…where were we, Lyvia my dear?” Lysander cooed looking down at his sister. The pair shared a gentle kiss, gradually deepening as the window closed, leaving the two in darkness once more. Back at the manor… Luna, Lynn and Lana went with Rita to the town to see if they could get orders for materials for the grounds while Lori, Leni and Lola were with Lynn Sr. investigating the underground level of the manor. Luan was still in the kitchen today, baking pies and toffee bars. Lisa was tucked away in the lab again today, but found that most of the tomes and encyclopedias had little locks on them, and she had figured that the key was in the locked cabinet with the strange lock on it. She was about to ask Lincoln if he found anything when she remembered that no one had entered the third floor yet. She followed one of the stairways down and opened the door to the hallways of the third floor. She looked around, finding that the layout was almost the same as the second floor, the main difference being that there were balconies on each side of the house. The bathrooms were in the same place as well. But, instead of the floor being filled with bedrooms, it was filled with rooms that housed the hobbies and private passions of the previous residents. She began looking for a room that might have belonged to the last scientist of the manor. After opening doors leading to rooms related to fashion, the occult, animal care, and other specialties, she finally entered a room containing metal tanks and a cabinet of glass beakers with a messy desk full of folders and loose papers and an armchair in the corner. “Victory at last!” She exclaimed, rushing over to the desk, rummaging through it. She quickly grew more frustrated as she searched the room, finding it full of distractions but missing her true prize. Exasperated, she threw one of her very rare tantrums, collapsing on the floor and pounding the ground with her small fists in frustration. “What curse lies on this land that prevents me from attaining the hidden knowledge of this place? Even after that accursed Lysippe tempted me with her secrets.” Lisa moaned. After huffing for a few more minutes, she looked forward to see an abandoned lab coat under the armchair. Desperate for any answers, she crawled forward. Reaching under the chair, she pulled out the lab coat and got herself up. Searching the pockets, she left her hand wrap around something. She opened her hand to find a small key, the key to the library’s books. While not being the key she wanted, it was certainly the key she needed. She excitedly rushed back to the lab and locked herself in, grabbing an encyclopedia off of one of the shelves and feeling an utter euphoria as she heard the lock click open. The book was still in perfect condition and opened with a large appendix of flora that she hadn’t even heard of. A wide grin stretched across Lisa’s face as she discovered what she would be doing for the several days. She pulled a vial of pink liquid out of her pocket and looked at a light through it. “I will unravel the secrets of this place yet.” Back with Lincoln and Lucy… They were just finishing dishes when Luan emerged from the kitchen, stretching her back as Luna came down with Lisa under her arm. Lynn stood just outside of the manor, under a second-floor window. A bag flew out the window and fell towards her. She caught it effortlessly before looking up to see Lucy’s head, popping out the window to look down at Lynn. Lynn gave her a thumb’s up before running down the trail to the farm. Lori and Leni began walking out the back door of the manor, sneaking off to the farm along with the others. After the others had left, Lincoln and Lucy waited for their parents to go upstairs before giving a wink to Albert and walking out the front door. As the pair approached the farm they found the rest of the sisters, standing around the barrier that Lucy had made. Lucy walked up and grabbed the bag from Lynn, taking out a large bag of salt and handing it to Lynn. Lynn slowly poured it out in a circle surrounding the pens and the houses while Lucy handed a bundle of crosses to Luan and a spray bottle full of holy oil to Luna. She turned to Lincoln, giving him a book out of the bag, “Read the page I have marked, we’ll hold them off until you get the ritual working”. The girls quickly set up the rest of the barrier and they all saw a faint golden glow flow through the circle before dissipating. With the preparation complete Lucy approached the circle, cross in hand. She pulled a small bag of ashes out of the larger bag and dipped her thumb in it before crossing her forehead. She stepped through the barrier and stood just on the other side of it, trying her best to stand tall in face of what was happening in front of her. A series of shadows that stood out against the fading twilight climbed out of the ground in the pens and houses. Their eyes lit up with an orange glow and glistening fangs shimmered in their dark mouths. Lucy could feel a bead of cold sweat roll down her face as they lumbered toward her. “Back again, and with allies this time I see” One of them rasped. Lucy held tighter onto her cross as she stared them down. As soon as they came within ten feet of Lucy, the others joined her. Luna entered the arena with silver knuckles, Lisa came in with a strange liquid in a vial that had a spray nozzle, Lynn came in with a large bone that had symbol etched into it. Lori and Leni entered with crosses of their own, and Luan entered with a set of tarot cards. Lincoln didn’t enter yet, as he was thumbing through the book that Lucy gave him. One of the shadows cackled, “Seems like they don’t know how to use religious magic” “Indeed” said another, “It lends itself rather poorly to offensive applications” The girls stood firm, but nervous. All save for Lisa, who stepped in front of the others and pulled the trigger on the vial. A mist of green came out and hung in the air in front of her. She sprayed it several more times before stepping back and pulling a match out of her lab coat. A smirk touched her lips as she held it against a piece of flint. One of the wraiths began to chant in tongues before getting cut through by a glowing card. It let out a shriek and charged forward wandering into the mist as a flaming match flew into it. A column of fire erupted from the gas, turning the wraith into cinders. As the smoke began to clear, the shape of Luna rushed forward sinking a silver clad fist into another of the wraiths. A hole appeared in it as cards cut through two more that were near it, throwing the beasts back. Just as the girls were gaining confidence, they froze in their place as a familiar pressure surrounded Lucy. In the henhouse, a pair of eyes opened and a large wraith wandered out. “Good show, kids. But, I’m afraid you don’t belong here.” He said in a whisper that echoed in their minds. In a flash it was in front of Luna, picking her up and hurling her outside of the barrier with ease. She recovered from the blow and look to see Lincoln, with one hand holding a knife and bleeding while the other held a book. He had his eyes closed and was whispering something. She retuned her focus to the action, where things were quickly turning bad. Leni and Lori set up miniature barriers to protect Lisa as she threw more bombs and Luan as she threw cards to give Lynn and Lucy cover as Lynn fought of the lesser wraiths with the bone that was now glowing red and smoking from the symbols it had and Lucy was whispering something with a cross in her hand. Two more of the lesser wraiths were banished and the third was on fire and being attacked by Lynn. Luna rushed back into the barrier and felt like she hit a brick wall, she looked around to see what was stopping her to find a strange black mark on her shirt. She saw the mark beginning to spread and ripped her shirt off, throwing I into the barrier and watching it burn. She rushed in to back up Lynn and take out the last of the small fries, finding quick success. As the last of the lesser wraiths fell, they heard clapping and look to see the main wraith smiling and pointing to the sky, where the moon was now beginning to shine through the trees. The barriers began to fade a little as the wraiths eyes began to glow brighter. “This is going to be fun.” He grinned. He let out a booming roar that sent most of the sisters flying outside of the barrier. Only Lucy remaining as a strange dark red glow hung around her. The wraith set its eyes on her and stomped on the ground, creating a barrier of his own behind her.   “No way out, your folly ends here.” He said, with a smile too wide for any normal creature. He was on her in an instant, but stopped short. The wind he created blew past her, lifting up her bangs to reveal eyes that were glowing a dark shade of red as a small smile touched her lips. A hole opened up in the darkness behind her as Lincoln walked through. The threw the dagger at the wraith, who dodged it with ease. Lincoln reached out his bloody hand and Lucy opened her hand to reveal a strange necklace with a sigil on it that bore two ornate “L”s that mirrored each other. The rim of the necklace had small fangs on it that had punctured her hand. She held the necklace in her bloody hand and grabbed Lincoln’s. The pair took a deep breath as Lincoln began to glow orange to match Lucy’s dark red. They spoke in unison as almost sung an incantation. “We seek the echoes of the words our elders spoke and the streams carved by the old blood that flows through our veins. We beseech our pasts for the strength of the souls that surround us, protect us, and guide us. We upset the ashes of their bones and rekindle their souls from their cinders. Come forth, Louds. Join us in our plight that we may all rise above and carry on our glorious legacy.” The words froze the wraith as it stared as the two children before it. As soon as they had finished the ritual, a black smoke rose from their hands and shot up to the sky before turning the sky black. A massive choir of sinister laughter rang out from the pitch black sky as yes lit up the darkness. They flew down and the wraith looked at the kids one last time and gave a gentle smile and a farewell before he was consumed and shredded by the spirits. “Welcome home, masters.” ***** Loud Mountain, Chapter 4: Family secrets ***** Loud Mountain, Chapter 4: Family secrets Lincoln and Lucy looked on as a pillar of darkness swallowed the wraith before them. A sea of glowing eyes and laughter swirled above them, and as the pillar dispersed, two figures were left in its place. Lysander and Lyvia stood in front of their descendants with smiles on their faces as they held hands, mirroring the stance of Lincoln and Lucy. Lysander nodded, “Good to see you figured out a way to clear out the pests, children.” The other girls looked on in shock and amazement at the spectacle before them. “It’s good to see you two getting along so well, but you still have a long ways to go before you make this home your own.” Lyvia said with a soft monotone voice. Lucy began to fall as her knees buckled, but Lincoln caught her and held her close as he kept eye contact with his ancestors. “Looks like Lucy’s down for the count, you all did very well, we’re all very proud of you.” He chuckled The two began to fade into the air once more as Lyvia waved goodbye, “Get some rest, we’ll talk again soon.” As the specters faded, the sky returned to normal and the other ghosts returned from whence they came. Lori walked over, covered in dust and took Lucy from Lincoln, “I’ll get her back to the manor, you get the others and get meet us back there, we could all use some rest after this.” Lincoln nodded before rushing over to check the remaining sisters. Leni was cradling her hand, which looked like it was burned somehow as Lisa poured a random liquid on it. He heard Leni squeak as she winced before looking in amazement as her hand began to smoke. Within less than a minute, the smoke cleared and her hand was back to normal. She pat Lisa on the head before skipping back up to the manor. Lisa had holes in her clothing from splashes of the chemicals from her bombs. She looked like she already used whatever was on Leni on herself, as the skin under the burnt clothes looked pale and soft. She beckoned Lincoln over before placing a spray bottle of blue liquid in his hand. “If any of the others have injuries less severe than a broken bone, this should fix them up for now. I need a hot bath and to get back to the lab.” She groaned as she rubbed her neck. Lincoln nodded before looking around for the others. Luna was talking with Luan as they both reenacted the moves they used during the fight and laughed. Once he got over to then he realized that Luna was topless and glued his eyes to the ground as she turned around. “Think that spray can fix my threads?” she giggled, loving how cute and awkward her little brother was. He shook his head as he took his shirt off and held it out to her, “It might be a bit small, but it’s probably better than nothing. She pushed his hand back into his chest and pushed his chin up to look into her eyes. She gave a gentle smile and kissed him on the nose. “Keep ‘em open, love.” She spoke in her fake cockney accent. She backed away so that he looked at her full frame, her jeans were torn at the knees, her arms were stained with dirt and bruised slightly, but her chest was still mostly clean. He couldn’t look away. He was captivated by the peppering of freckles that ran along her shoulders and above her gentle breasts. She was built so much differently than Lori or Leni, with more modest features that gave her a beauty that was all her own, her arms were skinny as was most of her body with her gently sloping breasts, her slightly dark nipples, her tight stomach, her soft hips that were accompanied by a deep V that ran down into her pants. She struck a pose and gestured to herself, “There’s no part of THIS that needs to be hidden away, love.” She giggled at how much he was blushing before putting his shirt back on and watching her walk away, paying attention to how her hips swayed. She looked back one more time and winked before disappearing down the trail. He was brought back by a hand slapping him on the back; he looked over to see Luan with a huge grin on her face. “Enjoy the show? I swear that ghost thing was your wingman or something.” She grinned. Lincoln cleared his throat before looking Luan over, and aside from some dirt, she looked fine. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side before pulling a hand of cards out of her pocket. “I was in the back, and I wasn’t making a magic shield, nothing got close to me. Anytime they would get near, I would ghost ‘em before they could do anything.” She giggled. She put a finger to her bottom lip, “Unless of course you were hoping they managed to rip off my clothes too?” She said with mock shock. “Like THIS” She yelped as she pulled her shirt open, popping off some of the buttons. Lincoln looked away, but peeked after a few seconds only to be blasted in the face by water. He looked up to see Luan had rigged up a flower onto her bra. She almost fell over laughing as she walked off, “See you back at the manor, perv!” He dried off his face with his shirt before looking for Lynn. She was leaning against the barn, blowing on her hands with a pile of bone shards a few feet away. He walked over to find that her hands were badly burned, with blisters forming on her palms. She was breathing heavily as Lincoln walked up to her, holding the spray bottle. He put a hand on her shoulder, and could feel her jerk as she looked up at him. there were tears forming in her defiant eyes as the pain ripped through her. Lincoln held up the bottle, “this should fix it, just hold still and get ready for a slight pinch. She nodded and screwed her eyes shut; Lincoln pulled off his belt and gave it to her to bite down on as he grabbed one of her wrists. As soon as the liquid hit her burnt skin, he heard her squeak and steam erupt from her palm. He could hear a popping sound along with some sizzling. Within a minute, the steam cleared and her hand looked even better than it did, with her callouses disappearing as well. He grabbed her other wrist and sprayed it as well, feeling Lynn’s arm tense in his grip and hear her whimper as her hand steamed. After her hands had recovered, Lynn spat out the belt and hugged her little brother close and buried her face in his shoulder. He could hear her sniffle and hugged her tight, “It’s okay Lynn, we made it though. I promise we’ll be better prepared if anything like that happens again.” She looked him in the eyes, “It’s okay, I never did anything like this before. Next time I’ll use a weapon that doesn’t burn my fucking hands.” He pat her on the back and sent her on the trail before looking back at the pens and houses. He walked into the large henhouse to find how well made it was on the inside. It was almost like a rookery, with every stall of its four floors having screen windows with shutters and large empty troughs in the back of the building for food and two semicircular rooms on either side of the main building that had roofs similar to the windows of the house and dried up baths that had fountain spouts on them. In the middle of the ground floor, there was a statue of a chicken with a plaque on it. “To my beloved Henrietta, grandmother to my feathered friends and friend to all of the farms creatures, may you rest in peace.” “I guess this was an important place to the family, or at least to Lyvia, maybe Lucy knows something about it.” He mumbled to himself. A sting in his palm reminded him that he had cut his hand earlier for the rite. He held up the bottle to his hand, and pulled the trigger to feel an icy sensation cover his palm before being replaced with an unusual tingling. It didn’t hurt, but the tingling was uncomfortable, feeling like his veins were vibrating in his hand, causing him to squirm awkwardly. The steam that erupted from his pores didn’t help either as his hand switched from feeling very cold to very hot. After a few seconds it began to cool down until the steam had cleared and his hand was like new. He looked back and forth between his hand and the bottle, “I really need to find out how Lisa makes this stuff.” Back at the manor… Lola, Lana and Lily were already asleep along with the parents, leaving only Albert and a lone oil lamp in the foyer. He sat on one of the large dark brown upholstered sectional couches that surrounded a series of tables that decorated the open floor with the lamp resting on the table in front of him. He faced the main doors and watched as shadows passed the front windows and went to the back door. He grabbed the lamp and sprinted through the manor to the back door, easing it open to see what was coming. When he made out the figure of Lori holding Lucy, he feared for the worst. But, when he saw the little girl’s head shift to look at him, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Did everything go okay?” He asked, with a cautious curiosity. Lori nodded, “Went a well as could be expected, the others should be along shortly. They should be fine since Lisa made a compound in case anything went wrong.” He spied Lucy’s bloody hand, “And what about her?” he said, carefully eyeing the wound. “Hm? Oh, Lisa should be by soon to fix her up, she collapsed so I wanted get her back here first.” Lori answered. Albert nodded knowingly, “Ah, put her up in her room, Once Lisa gets back I’ll send her up to tend to Lucy’s wounds. In the meantime, you should get a bath. There’s a hot pot of cocoa for everyone in the kitchen when you get out. Lori smiled and nodded before wandering into the darkened manor. Albert greeted most of the girls similarly, and had to wait for Lincoln after being told by Lisa that he had it. He high-fived Luna as she walked in and rushed up to her room to get some clothes and a shower. Finally, Lincoln walked along the side of the manor holding a book and a spray bottle. He looked even more tired than the others, and seemed like he might collapse like Lucy. “You performed the rite, didn’t you?” He concluded, getting only a slow nod from Lincoln in reply. He put a hand on his grandson’s shoulder, “If I had to guess, that compound takes up some stamina too, I’m impressed you’re still standing. If you go up to your room, there’s a little something for you. I need you to go and fix up Lucy’s hand, there’s something for her too. I think you both have a lot to say to each other after that.” Lincoln gave him a puzzled look, but nodded again and trudged his way back into the manor. Albert sighed to himself as he closed and locked the door for the night, “It’s a good thing I made sure Rita and Lynn won’t wake up no matter how much noise those two make tonight. I hope Lysander knows what he’s doing.” In Lincoln’s room… The exhaustion was quickly taking over Lincoln’s body as he struggled to take every step. He tossed the book onto a dresser where he saw a small envelope next to a glass. He shuffled over to it, and opened it to find a note and a small glass of iced tea. The note read, “Go forward with renewed energy” He shrugged before drinking down the gently sweet liquid and flopping onto his bed. After a few minutes, Lincoln’s tiredness slowly drained away as a cool feeling washed over him. Breathing became easier and he felt refreshed. With his newfound stamina, he cracked his neck and grabbed Lisa’s spray bottle before wandering back out into the darkened halls. He reached for Lucy’s door, opening it to find the windows were open and the lamp was blown out. He could feel the summer air blowing in nicely from the mountainside as pale moonlight shone along the floor, giving a blue illumination to the room. He walked over to her bed and found her lying still. He leaned down to hear her soft breathing. He kissed her on the cheek and felt her stir, then suddenly jerk as she drew her hand to her chest. Lincoln wrapped an arm around her back, bringing her so that she sat up. “It’s okay Luce, I brought some medicine for that, let me see your hand.” He instructed. He gave him her hand and he brought the nozzle over her palm before pulling the trigger. She yelped as the cold hit her bloody hand, then he felt her squirm in his grasp as the steam poured out of her hand. Once she was healed, they both took a deep breath. Lincoln rubbed her back, “I’m going to go take a bath, you should to the same, and then we should probably have a chat about…stuff.” Lucy nodded, “Okay, I’ll get cleaned up, then let’s meet up in the drawing room, I laid down a bunch of fresh pillows and blankets.” Lincoln got up from her bed and walked back to the door before looking back again, “Let’s make sure there are no secrets after tonight.” He insisted Later… As Lincoln walked out of the shower, a plume of steam escaped above him. He took a deep breath as he wandered back to his room, he put on a pair of white basketball shorts and a loose orange shirt before walking to the tea drawing room.   When he arrived, he hesitated at the door, a million thoughts raged in his mind.   “What’s going to happen?”   “What should I tell her?”   “Am I ready for this?”   “Come to think of it, is she?”   His breath began to quicken and he risked hyperventilating when a strange smell touched is nose.   It only took him a moment to recognize it as his heart been to race and his body began to tingle.   “Well, I guess she’s prepared. No point in standing around like an idiot. It’s time”   He knocked lightly twice before carefully opening the door.   He peered inside to find that only a few candles gave very dim light to the room. The lanterns were empty, and the candles sat beneath the chambers of the lanterns that held the strange pink liquid.   He could almost see the wisping trails of pink steam that came off of the lanterns and filled the room, giving a slightly smoky appearance to the place.   In the center of the room was a large pile of pillows laid out in a large circular makeshift bed, covered with burgundy sheets and a large black quilt.   He saw something shifting underneath the blanket and moving towards him.   Suddenly, a pale hand popped out from the basket, inviting him in.   Lincoln crouched down to take her hand in his, he felt her jump little at his grasp before tugging him in closer.   Lincoln shifted himself under the blanket, being swallowed by complete darkness and warmth.   All he could focus on was the feeling of Lucy’s hand in his.   He could feel the blanket shift as she moved closer to him, he looked over to see a faint outline her in the darkness.   His face was drawn to hers as they inched closer to each other.   Her grip on his hand tightened as she could hear her ragged breathing.   She came closer to him until their noses touched, then retreated back into the darkness.   They both let out a heavy sigh, partially of relief and partially of exasperation.   He knew she wanted to keep going as she drew closer to him once more.   He reciprocated, shifting closer to his little sister, and stopped once he could feel her warm breath on him.   She rested her forehead against his and stayed there for a moment.   Lincoln took a deep breath to take in the lavender perfume that she was wearing.   She was really putting effort into tonight, making sure she was the only thing on his mind.   He was pulled from his thoughts from a whimper as Lucy began to shake before retreating once more.   She let go of his hand and disappeared from view.   He began to panic.   “Shit, should I have done something?”   “Did she leave?”   “Where is she?”   He started to move when a hand grabbed his arm.   He laid back down and breathed deeply. The potion was really taking a toll on him, making is member swell and strain against his shorts as he felt his balls were going to explode from pressure build up.   He couldn’t even imagine what Lucy was going through.   She had put so much effort into setting the scene, getting everything prepared to make the night perfect for her and her soon-to-be lover.   She had so much she needed to tell him, to do to him, and yet she still hesitated.   She was infuriated with herself.   “Why can’t I move closer?”   “What’s wrong with me?”   “Why can’t I talk?”   Suddenly they both reached out their hands and held onto each other. Then their voices rang out in unison.   “You’re not alone”   They both fell silent again as they finally heard each other’s voices.   Lincoln’s mind flashed with memories of the battle from earlier, they had already been through alot together.   He remembered e feeling of Lucy’s hand in his as their mixed blood dripped off his knuckles, the rush of energy that filled them as their family saved them, and how their hearts were beating as one as they took their stand.   They drifted closer to one another once more and stopped as their faces were inches away from each other.   He brought his face closer to hers and stopped with his lips right in front of hers.   A pair of lips touched his own in a soft and tender kiss.   He pushed forward and deepened their embrace, feeling her mouth open and her tongue gently prod his lips.   He returned the favor by parting his lips and giving her a proper sensual kiss as their tongues slow danced and they were able to taste each other.   After a minute or so, she broke their kiss and gasped for air before sliding on top of him and straddling him, using his shoulders as leverage to prop herself up above him.   “Thanks, Lincoln. I needed that. Now I can do this right.”   He felt her press is lips against his again before pulling back.   “I love you Lincoln, so much.”   “I love you too, Lucy. As way more than family.”   “I heard you in the car when we were coming down here, I feel the same way. Even in this big family it’s easy to feel like you’re alone and disconnected. Thanks to you I started investigating and we both found so much together. I don’t feel alone anymore and this doesn’t feel wrong to me anymore.”   “I know Lucy. I was so happy I wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Being able to have this adventure with you is so amazing. We don’t have to be afraid anymore, because we have each other, and all of our family.”   They both hung in silence for a moment, feeling like they were free of a massive weight.   “I wish I could see you ,Luce.”   She grabbed his hands and laid them on her shoulders.   “You can look with your hands if you want.”   Lincoln swallowed hard before taking a deep breath and sliding his hands under her arms and down her slender frame. He could feel she was wearing a silk robe, with a training bra underneath. His hands slid down further to feel a pair of lace panties. His hands hugged her tight butt and slid down to find a pair of thigh-high socks.   He felt himself lick his lips in anticipation for whatever might come next.   She could feel the bulge in his shorts pulsing against her pale pink flower through their clothes and felt something inside her shift, making her jump a little as an intense heat washed over her.   “I can’t hold back anymore, Luce.”   He said before hugging her tight to him and rolling over on top of her.   He propped himself up and threw the blanket off of them.   Lucy covered her face from the dim light with a squeak and a wave of the potion flooded Lincoln’s senses.   He grabbed her wrists and pried them away from her face, pinning them on either side of her head.   As he did so, her hands wept the hair from her face, revealing flushed red cheeks and piercing blue eyes with tears filling them.   He touched her nose to his and stared lovingly into her eyes.   “You have nothing to fear, Lucy. I’m here, and we’re together, right?”   She slowly nodded in response and took a deep breath. She sniffled and blinked away the tears.   “Okay, Lincoln. I’m ready. Let your heart go wild.”   Being given the go ahead, Lincoln released her arms and sat up. He looked down at her, his beautiful pale little sister was laying in sexy clothing, waiting for him to ravish her.   He wanted to tease her more when a thought came to him. If he was already about to burst, then...   He raised himself off of her a little and slid a hand between her legs, brushing softly against her panty covered quim and pulling his hand back to find it covered with love juices.   He chuckled to himself, “Well, guess there’s no need for foreplay, huh?”   Lucy nodded again, “You know, you don’t have to worry about fitting either, I’ve been training myself for the past couple of days, and I’m pretty sure I’m ready to take anything at this point.”   A smile touched Lincoln’s face, “Let’s see about that, but first we should slip you into something a bit more comfortable.”   He slid his hands under her sheer robe and touched her bare shoulders before sliding the robe down her frame and off of her arms.   He slid it out from under her and threw it to the side.   He turned his attention to her training bra as Lucy slid her arms above her head to make it easier.   He peeled up the tight garment to reveal her pale budding breasts that peaked with two light pink nipples and a red flush that covered the top of her chest before throwing it to join the robe.   He finally slid himself back and placed her legs on his shoulders.   Lucy held her arms to her chest and looked away as she felt her brother’s hands on her hips, wrapping his fingers around her lace panties and slowly rolling them around her tight, soft butt.   They were slightly glued to her girlhood as Lincoln eased them down her thighs to peel it off.   Once they were down to her ankles he took them in his hand and brought them to his nose before taking a deep breath.   He could smell it, her womanly scent as it filled his senses with her perfume. It mixed with the potion and drove him mad with desire.   He threw it with her other clothes before reaching for her socks.   A hand stopped him, “wait, keep them on.”   He looked at her, then back to his hands and nodded before stripping off his shirt and adding it to the pile. He stood up to remove his shorts and boxers in one motion and he slid his legs out and flung the garments onto the pile.   Lucy looked up to see it, her brother’s 8-inch member swinging as it pulsed in time with his heart. His balls were larger than she thought as they swung above her head.   “Hold still, there’s something I need to do.”   Lincoln had a puzzled look on his face as he looked down to see Lucy getting to her knees and wrapping her hands around his tight ass.   “I need to thank you for your help earlier, with the rite and for healing me.”   She closed her eyes and closed in.   Lincoln felt a warmth press against his groin before a tongue began to lick at his scrotum.   Her hands drifted down to her aching flower as she covered her hands in her sweet nectar. She took his throbbing member in her shimmering, slippery hands and began to slowly stroke back and forth as she began to tug on his sack with her lips and popping on of his balls into her mouth to suckle on it.   Lincoln gasped for air at the sudden assault from his little sister as she gave all her efforts into worshipping his cock.   Lucy opened her mouth as wide as she could to take both of his balls not her mouth, moaning and suckling on them as she squeezed his dick and slid her hands around it, giving it a thorough massage.   The buildup until now was clearly too much for Lincoln as his balls began to churn.   Lucy knew something was about to happen, so she let go of his balls with a pop and slid back so that her face was in front of his aching manhood.   She took the head into her mouth and rolled her tongue around it as she moaned, reaching her hands up to massage his cum-filled balls.   Lincoln bit his bottom lip and grunted hard as he felt his knees go weak.   He couldn’t see Lucy’s cheeks fill with his young stern as jet after jet pushed more into her mouth, she wanted to savor his flavor, but was forced to swallow as much as possible to not lose any of her prize.   As his orgasm rocked through him, he could faintly hear Lucy humming as she happily drank his milk.   Once the last of his spunk spurted into her mouth, Lucy carefully savored it, casting her tongue and getting all of it to coat her mouth.   Once he caught his breath, Lincoln looked down to see Lucy looking up at him with a mouth full of white goo that she let sit in her mouth as se drank the scent in through her nose before closing her lips to gulp down the last lump of hot semen and opening back up to reveal a clean mouth.   The sight and the potion were more than enough to quickly restore Lincoln’s energy and refill his cum tanks.   Lucy gave him an uncharacteristically large smile as she wiped her lips, “Thanks for the meal, Lincy.”   Lincoln gave a thumbs up, “That’s one hell of a way to say ‘thank you’.”   Though he’d be lying if he said he didn’t prefer this form of an oral expression of gratitude.   Lucy laid back down on the bed, “I’m glad you liked it, now we can really begin. Feel free to ravage me to you heart’s content tonight.”   As the ideas flooded into his mind, he looked to see the damp spot on the sheet that Lucy left, and that her girlhood was leaking onto the bed.   Not one to let an opportunity go to waste got on his knees and wrapped his hands around Lucy’s waist.   He put her legs over his shoulders and pulled her up so that her flower was level with his lips.   He took a deep breath, he smelled the source of what was on her panties, and couldn’t hold back anymore.   He began to kiss her lower lips, eliciting a small gasp from his little sister before it turned to a moan as he slid his tongue into her slippery hole.   Lucy started to thrash under his ministrations while Lincoln’s tongue scraped at her insides.   He was drinking her sweet nectar as he pulled his hands closer t his face to massage her lips.   Lucy grabbed fistfuls of the bedsheets and her eyes rolled back as she left lightning running through her body.   Squirts of fresh love juice splashed against Lincoln’s face as her organs ripped through her small frame.   After a mother minute of convulsions, Lucy finally calmed down with a red face and lust filled eyes.   Lincoln gently eased her butt back onto the bed and wiped the remaining juices off of his chin with his hand.   Lucy sat up and grabbed hold of his wrist before pulling his hand to her mouth so that she could suck her love juice off of each of his fingers.   She tasted her own sweet nectar as Lincoln was losing his mind.   Placed a hand under her chin and brought her in for another kiss. One far more passionate and sensual than before.   Their inhibitions were now gone as the two young lovers experienced each other fully.   “Linc, I want you to hold me tight underneath you when you take me, I want to feel like I'm a part of you.”   “Can do, Luce.”   Next thing she knew, she was pinned beneath her brother, wrapped tightly in his arms as his body forced her legs apart. She wrapped them around his back and slid her arms under his as she hugged him tightly.   He shifted his hips back and she could feel his head press against her girlhood.   She held her breath and screwed her eyes shut, but opened them when nothing happened.   She looked up to see Lincoln’s calm and sweet face looking down at her.   His look filled her with a warm tingling feeling different from the potion as she started to breathe normally again.   “I’ll go slow, okay? We don’t have to go all out at the beginning.”   “Okay, thanks. You’re right, I’m ready now.”   With that, she felt his head part her lips as he slowly eased into her,   He could feel every tight twist and fold of her love tunnel as he sank deeper, feeling her pulse around him as he went.   She could feel the pulsing of his manhood as it slid deep into her until it hit something that forced the wind out of her.   They could both feel it, as he was about three quarters of the way in, it felt like he hit another pair of lips.   He looked down to make sure that he wasn’t hurting her, but found that her face was full of bliss with her eyes begging him to keep going.   He pressed forward, feeling another tightness around I’m as he slid the rest of the way in.   They both hung there for a moment to catch their breath. He didn’t want to blow his load right after finally getting inside of her, and she didn’t want to pass out from the stimulation and miss all the fun.   Once they had both calmed down a little, he began to slide out of her.   The vacuum seal she had on him made them both groan from the tightness as Lincoln struggled for release from the vice grip she had on him.   Once he had taken all but the head out, he slid back in, faster this time and stopping before he hit her cervix.   He kept using short thrusts keep them both going without losing control.   They were finally doing it, Lucy and Lincoln Loud were actually having sex like grownups.   Two pairs of eyes watched from a dark portal.   Lysander and Lyvia were sitting on a pair of wicker chairs with navy blue cushions on them.   They each held up a glass of champagne.   Lysander smiled, “To the new generation.”   Lyvia blushed, “To our continued sins.”   They now spoke in unison, “May they never fade from this world.”   They both shared a toast and drank as they saw the pace pick up.   Lincoln was now going at a faster speed as Lucy buried her face into his shoulder.   She was trying to hide the tears of pleasure to not make him worry.   She was so happy, she was committing a horrible sin, but even better she as doing with someone she’d suffer any pain for.   Lincoln couldn’t believe the feeling he had, even though his body felt exhausted, the last thing he wanted to do was stop. He wanted to keep giving her as much pleasure as he could, he wanted to be one with her.   She squeezed him tighter as she grunted and whimpered from her orgasm.   Lincoln held her close and rubbed her back while she calmed down.   Once she stopped convulsing, he went all the way in once more, causing Lucy to gasp as Lincoln now rested in her deepest part.   Now he started building his pace again, “Lucy, this is so amazing.”   She pulled her face from his shoulder to look him in the eyes, “I know, I’ve never felt like this before.”   “I…I don’t want this to end, but I don’t think I’ll be able to keep going after this one.”   “It’s oaky, Lincy. Just enjoy yourself, and make sure to give me all of your love.”   “Okay, I hope you can take it.”   “I’m not worried anymore, give me all of your love….deep inside.”   Those words flipped a switch in Lincoln’s brain as he started going full force into his little sister, slapping his heavy balls against her soft ass.   Lucy has moaning out loud now as she felt so much pressure and stimulation.   Lincoln’s breath was quickly becoming ragged as Lucy’s velvety folds were squeezing him tight again.   He couldn’t stop for her now though, he was too wrapped up in the pleasure to stop.   Lucy wasn’t able to catch her breath as she was forced to cum continuously.   She was moaning louder and louder as he kept thrusting, almost screaming as she tried desperately to get him off.   “Please! Cum! I’m begging you! Lincoln!”   If he didn’t soon, she was worried he might end up hurting her.   “I can take it! I want to take it! Give it to me! Give it to your little sister! Stain me with your love! Your sin! Cum inside of me, Lincoln! CUM!!!”   Then it happened.   He moaned loud as he tightened his grip around Lucy and buried himself as deep as he could go.   Lucy kept gasping for air as he felt hot ropes of cum splashing into her, filling her up.   He couldn’t hold anything back as his geyser kept blasting into her.   They both felt that she was filled to capacity’s he slid forward so that her mound was facing the ceiling as he slowly pulled out of her, spurting the last of his loin to her as he held her ankles to her shoulders.   She had never felt so filled and he had never left so drained, but neither of them had felt so satisfied in their lives…or so exhausted.   Lincoln fell ahead of her and passed out.   Lucy was ready to join him, but one last thought entered her mind.   She reached over to the pile of clothes and grabbed her panties, but instead of putting them on, she bunched them up and pushed them inside of her. “There, I want to keep this feeling inside of me for as long as I can, maybe one day we’ll have a kid of our own.”   And with that, she crawled over to Lincoln to pass out beside him.   As they both lay unconscious, a smoky portal opened up above them and Lysander reached out of it,   He grabbed hold of the blanket and pulled it over them.   “Rest well you two, you’ve more than earned it.”   He hung in the air for a moment.   “Actually, let me do this first.”   He shot a beam of orange energy into Lucy’s body.   “We don’t need a bun in your oven quite yet, darling.”   Then he shot two more beams into their heads.   “But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think of each there as lovers and have some fun.”   He then receded back into the portal and disappeared. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!