Shine light into darkness 10: Almost a year

[ronfiction]

With proper funding, and most of his construction company working around the clock; Lou got his long awaited halfway home completed by the middle of October. He had organized a party at the end of the month around Halloween to celebrate the completion of the project. The evening of the party was perfect weather for the region that time of the year and guests showed up ready to party.

Harry and Charlotte had arrived a few days before, to double check on the house's security and internet systems. Lili had been working with Harry for some time on making sure every part of the house was linked up to each other and secure. Allison and Jacob had also arrived early, jokingly making sure Lou hadn't embezzled the money they had sent his way on season tickets to the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins and the Red Sox.

Mike and Alice were already at the house, having been living there from some time now. Lou had rushed the air filter systems to make sure that Alice and himself hadn't spent the entire summer sick due to proximity to Mike. Ness and Rufus had traveled in from the clinic on the outskirts of the county for the party and Ness checked up on Alice and Lou to make sure they were getting along well with the new air filters.

Lots of the old crew from Whisper Hill made their way to Shade grove for the evening. Lou gave tours of the house to Jacob's brothers, as well as Sheriff Tyler, Kevin Ackermen and even Doctor Kenningan made the trip to the house. Lou brought Doctor Kenningan and Jamie Kenningan to his dinning room where a display case showed pictures he was able to recover from the Winter's clan home. Both of them gave solemn nods in memory to the family.

During the party, Flo arrived at the party and was warmly greeted by all there. She had come with in a pick up truck and made Lou come outside to see what she had in the back of the pick up truck. Once Lou was outside with some other curious party goers, Flo pulled back a tarp she had covering the back and showed everyone an old relic. The jukebox from the AAA dinner sat in the back of the truck. The dinner wasn't going to be reopening, but she wanted something from the dinner to live on and couldn't bring herself to see the old music player go to waste.

Lou was so honored to be gifted it, he had it brought in immediately and with a beer in hand, started to work on the not working machine with Jacob. At some point Kelsey and Isaira appeared at the party and were telling stories about their window walking adventures. Towards the end of the night Geno and Gina made appearances, making sure to wait till the more mundane guests of the party had left for the evening. Bret too made the trip all the way up to Whisper and would be spending the weekend, determined to get the fishing he wanted to do finally in. Victor showed up with a small delegation from the dusk court.

Eventually Elizabeth Rue and Mike Everett arrived and Lou took a break from trying to fix the Jukebox. Him and Jacob had mostly repaired it, however it was now stuck playing Rock Lobster on Repeat. Lou brought the two of them down to a quiet portion of the hallway where they were stopped by a hologram of Lili.

"Good evening Lou, it's good to see so many people from the old days show up." She said, projected from a small section in the ceiling. Lou gave her a nod and put his hand on a scanner next to a door. "I see you're heading down to the store room?" Lili asked and opened the door once the scanner had checked out.

"bringing these two to make a deposit." Lou said and motioned for Rou and Mike to fallow him through the door and down the lit stair case on the other end. Lou had always designed Shade Grove 2 with the storage room in mind. Over the course of his time in Whisper Hill, he came to find a lot very powerful items. Cursed items, advanced technology, things from other dimensions. Lou worried that if things like these were left out in the world, they may cause other harm.

A sliding door opened at the bottom of the stair case to reveal a large storage room that was lit with an eerie blue light. Sturdy, reinforced glass cabinets. Lou lead Rou and Mike around the room and brought them over to a large central case. In the case was the Plasma glaive that he had been given many years ago as well as his old cult robes. Mike whistled when he saw the display and smirked.

"You really went through with your plan huh Lou?" He said and tapped on the glass case. Lou nodded and motioned over to an empty case near by. "Yep, and I'm glad you two excepted my invitation to add your pieces to the collection." Lou said and pulled out a key ring and moved over to the empty display case. He unlocked it with a key and looked to his two guests. First Mike pulled out a small unassuming hand gun. If one didn't know better, the small thing looked like a movie prop from a sci-fi adventure, but Lou knew the tiny little gun could pack a punch.

Lou took the gun carefully and put it into the display case. Lou turned back to Rou and smirked some. "I get that you're gonna keep the sword. I don't blame you for that. I'm sure the dawn court wouldn't like you giving that away." Lou said and then motioned to the ring she was wearing. "That thing however, could get you into some trouble, I'm glad you brought it in." He said.

Rou hesitated for a moment and slowly pulled off the simple ring. She looked it over some, rolling it over in her hand. "It's one of the few things of his I have to remember him by." Rou said in a sad voice. Lou nodded and she handed him the ring. Lou took the ring gently and put it in the display case next to Mike's gun. Lou lead Rou and Mike to the other side of the room to a small case that held a few items that they recognized to be Leo's.

"I want you to have this in exchange." Lou said as he opened the case with a different key and pulled out a small pocket watch with a white rose on it. Rou looked it over and smiled some. "I lost the one he gave me in a fight during the incident at the gate. I haven't seen it in almost a year." She said as Lou handed her the pocket watch. Lou brought the two back up stairs to where the party was winding down.

Those that were staying headed off to their rooms or even out to a fire pit that Lou had out on his porch. Others made their way out to the long drive way to their cars to head home. Lou escorted folks out to their cars and gave them all a polite wave good bye. Lou lingered in his drive way for time when Agent Levi gave him a call on his cell phone, saying he was sorry for not being able to make it, having been bogged down in work for the FBI. Levi said that he was dropping by next month, not wanting to miss the memorial that was planned at the gate for the 1 year anniversary of the incident.

Once Lou hung up the phone he saw a single set of head lights come down the drive way and was shocked to see old man Marner arrive. John got out of his car and spoke with Lou briefly. He wasn't going to go inside, but he did say that he was looking to doing some fishing with him and Bret soon. Lou spoke with him until he left, just happy to see the old Shaman. Parties weren't really his thing, and Lou understood it.

Once back in the house, Lou cracked open a new beer and started to look over the Jukebox that was now in the middle of his living room. "This is going to be a pain to move." Lou said with a chuckle and went back to work on it.