Felix stopped dead in his tracks as a thin iron wire struck down in front of him. Another cast behind him, followed by another and another. Within seconds he was trapped in a demon's spider's web. It didn't really scare him. Even though these strings could easily slice him into tiny pieces as a vampire, they couldn't kill a spirit.

Apollo walked in slowly from the shadows, "I'm done playing your childish games. Honestly, I would've never thought even Jasper would stoop as so low as to enlist a coward like you."

He crossed his arms, daring to sass such a powerful demon, "Coward? You think I'm a coward because I was running? You're even dumber than I thought." 

Drawing out the dagger Jasper had given him earlier in the night, he sliced through the strings with ease. Only a blade crafted by a very powerful magic user could do such a thing. Really, it shouldn't have been much of a surprise that one of Jasper's men had such a thing. Regardless, it did stun Apollo momentarily. 

Felix vanished again and ran towards another direction of the house. His opponent knew exactly where he was. It was just a matter of catching him. That's one thing that he'd learned easily in his years of drifting; How to slip through the cracks. Felix ran down the Play Pin ward, noting the bodies unconscious around him. He didn't stop, though it did set him uneasy.

Friday technically had put herself out of the fight. She'd cried herself to a point of exhaustion, laying asleep on top of Micah. Ghost was awake but had been using the time to regenerate his energy. He decided seeing his son in trouble was enough of a reason to throw himself back into the fray. As Apollo came down the hall, Ghost jumped in front of him and opened a tear. 

He might've been able to catch himself from falling in, if it weren't for the fact that Joy had just come to. The dark elf struggled to her feet and used the last of her energy to shove him through. In the process she fell through too but she really didn't care. The portal lead out from the newly painted portrait of Loki. Apollo fell down at least thirty feet before crashing to the ground. 

The black and white tiles of the entry way shattered around him. Joy stood up, thankfully unharmed since he'd broken her fall. She thought he'd been knocked out. Imagine her surprise when he suddenly grabbed her ankle. 

"Enough!" He yelled, his body becoming disembodied, "I was trying to be merciful, but I am done with this game of cat and mouse!"

Joy felt a wave a nausea wash over her. Her heart rate increase drastically, causing her to fall to the ground like a snowflake in the winter. Pulling away his hand revealed a nasty bruised mark on her skin, looking almost as if she'd been bitten by a spider. Having heard the commotion from down the hall, Beau rushed into the scene. His eyes were instantly drawn to Apollo's hand. There was a small opening on his palm, resembling a mouth with fangs. 

"What did you do to her?" Beau questioned, kneeling to help her, "Please, at least tell me so I can treat her." 

"The bite of a red-legged widow. It's not deadly but she'll feel like she's on her deathbed for a week." The mouth on his palm closed shut, only to be replaced with another. He used both hands this time, releasing a smoke into the air. "This is a vaporized version of the venom of a Brazilian Wandering Spider. In a gas form like this, it is not deadly, but it will still temporarily paralyze it's victims." 

"Why didn't you just do that from the start?" He questioned, feeling his body get heavy.

"We need the prince awake and alive. I know now that he's locked away in the armory, meaning this toxin won't be able to reach him." Apollo explained.

Beau tried to fight it as long as he could. He could feel his wings going numb first and his eyelids getting heavy. "It won't... Affect spirits."

"I know." He sourly responded, seeming pretty peeved by that fact.

The crow finally fell to the will of the toxic vapor. He collapsed next to Joy. Everyone else had either been knocked out in a fight or hit by the smoke. Apollo teleported himself towards the vampire ghost that had been causing him plenty of grief as is. He cast down more wires to trap him in a corner. These were a little different than before, though. They were dripping in a purple substance.

"Make one move and it will be the death of you. These strings are covered in the venom of a Fantôme Spider. It's a rare type of demon spider, infamous for being one of the only things that can kill a torn soul like yours." He explained, "You and your brothers aren't true ghosts. You're simply souls trapped here by a defect in your genetic code. Now, if you'd like be to spare your life, I suggest you hand over the stone and tell me how I can get into the armory."

Felix laughed, "You think Jasper would be stupid enough to tell us delicate information like that? He probably doesn't even know how to get in. He wasn't the one that coded the spell lock on the door."

The strings tightened closer to him as a way of threatening him. "And who did?"

"It doesn't matter because he's in the armory. You have no way of getting to him." He reached his hand out between some of the wires and dropped the stone on the ground, "Here. I might as well let you have it, since you're too late anyways. I was actually kind of shocked someone as smart as you didn't figure it out. I was just a distraction."

"A distraction from what?" He barked.

The doors around them began to shake suddenly. Inside the rooms, you could hear crashes and banging noises. Felix laughed again, this time more evil than the last, "Allow me to introduce you to my beautiful lady, Marci. When someone dies and manifests into a poltergeist, they lose their memories. Well, tonight she had her memory jogged. Her mind is really fucked up right now and she's looking for someone to take her pain out on."

One of the doors flew off it's hinges, flying towards the demon. He used one of his iron spider strings to shatter it before it hit him. For once in his life, he was actually displaying fear. A bright green light blared behind Marci as she stepped out of her room. Apollo had never sensed a power like hers. It was gut wrenching. He wanted to keep faith in the idea that he was still a man of great power himself. In this form, he wasn't going to be defeating her easily.

He managed to teleport out of the hall, back to the foyer. Here, he had the room to bring himself back to his turn self. While tables and chairs flew at him, he cast down the spell that engulfed his body in pink smoke. During this short time period, he was immune to anything hurled his way. Rose petals lashed around in the air and exploded like little bombs. The smoke settled, revealing a horrifying sigh. 

From the waist down, his body had transformed into a massive spider. His six legs were now a pure white color with cracked pink veins. His torso and face were still that of a man, but his fingers now drew down to dangerously sharp points. Weaved into his glowing pink hair was a black crown housing six additional eyes. 

"I won't be defeated by a little girl." He hissed. 

That was just another mistake. Nothing pissed her off more than getting treated like a delicate little princess. She spent too many painful years under her father's hand, locked away like a china doll. Like many have had to learn the hard way, you will respect her like a real woman. The poltergiest had found her way to the top of the grand staircase. She stared him down a moment, studying how strong his will really was. 

Marci smirked, raising her heel slightly. She tapped it back down on the rub and the fabric morphed into a black slug. From the oil, out climbed minions equally as disturbing as the demon. They were freakishly thin black figures with striped arms almost as long as their bodies. Their legs barred the same black and white stripes and their empty faces were covered with broken clay masks, painted with clown makeup.

"That's cute. I've got henchmen too, Sweetheart. An entire army, in fact." Apollo boasted.

The windows shattered as he summoned his followers. They looked like business men, but they were deformed with the face of a spider. Various things were changed on them. Some had the arm of a giant spider, others marked with the black widow's hourglass on their rotting flesh. If it's a fight he wanted, it's a fight he was going to get. Her conjuring weren't going to go down easily. 

Meanwhile, while Apollo was distracted fighting Marci, Felix was able to break free from his trap. It took his delicate nature to be able to get the dagger from his waistband. He sliced through the strings, causing them to fall to the floor. Now that the blade was covered in that demon, he figured it was for the best not to keep it on him. It would be more dangerous to him than anything else. He disregarded it on the floor. 

Felix saw the mess in the foyer. He needed to get across to the main hall, but there was no way he was cutting through this mess. Even he was a little creeped out by his girlfriend's minions anyways. 

"Babe!" He whined some, "Little help here?"

She crossed her arms, giving him that look of "Seriously? You can't handle this yourself?". Regardless, she could never be bad at him for anything like that. Marci figured now would be a good time to pull out a new trick anyways. As any good circus clown would have in their arsenal, she knew how to cause plenty of great illusions. 

The black and white tile on the ground started to shift. Some black ones turned into empty spaces, causing the spider men to plummet into darkness. The white ones across pillars. One of which Felix happened to be standing on. He took the advantage and leaped off of the marble. Grabbing onto the chandelier, he swung over the the other side of the foyer. 

"Thanks, Beautiful." He smiled at her, giving her a wave before running off into the Wanderlust Ward.

What Beau had said was true. The toxin would only affect the living, but it wouldn't phase spirits. For once, it seemed him and his brothers' inability to pass over was an advantage. Aside from his bloodline, there was one more person who wouldn't be affected by it. Felix just hoped he could get him to wake up after Joan's spell had knocked him out... 

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A/N: My apologies to anyone creeped out by spiders. Also, Apollo's true form was inspired by Arachne from SMITE so I'll leave a picture of that here: