Ralph loosened his tie, smirking smugly. "Barney used to be in love with this girl named Annie ten years ago, but one day, Annie killed herself. I knew the reason all along, but Barney didn''t. He wanted to know, so I finally gave him an answer."


    Wilbur stared at Ralph in shock. "What? Barney killed himself?"


    Ralph said, "I told her that Annie had been in love with me, not him. I rejected Annie very harshly, and she couldn''t take it. That was why she killed herself. You must know how beautiful love is to a young man and woman, sir. Thatdy had been the entire world to Barney, but I fooled him too."


    "You lied to him?"


    "That''s right." Ralph looked nothing but smug, looking extremely confident when it came to talking about women. "The truth was that Annie was in love with Barney, too. She knew Barney and I were close, so she came looking for me on her own hoping that I''d help her give Barney her love letter."


    "I took her body in my very house, and she hung herself not long after."


    Ralph smirked at Barney''s corpse. "It''s a shame Barney doesn''t know that, and now he''s shot himself over something so stupid that happened ten years ago."


    "What? How could you!"


    Wilbur grabbed Ralph by the cor, not expecting this studious-looking man to be such a monster.


    Ralph scrambled to exin himself. "No, Mister Penn, wait! Barney''s no good either! He''s killed plenty of people and fooled around with countless women! He deserves to die too! His death isn''t worth a shred of pity!"


    "Get lost!"


    Wilbur let go of Ralph. "F*ck off this very second, and I never want to see you again!"


    "Thank you, sir."


    "Goodbye!"


    Ralph bowed to Wilbur, turning to leave. Over in the stairwell, David had swallowed the purple test tube. He raised his head to the sight of Ralphing downstairs, having heard everything Ralph had said to Wilbur.


    "You''ve done quite a good thing, haven''t you, Mister Ralph?"


    "David? Did you choose Demetra as your host? You''re an idiot! Why don''t youe to me instead, and I''ll be your host."


    "Good idea."


    David mbered onto Ralph, who sensed his powerful strength. "Brilliant, David. You should have chosen me to begin with. No one is going to defeat us as long as we''re together."


    "Argh!"


    Ralph clutched his neck abruptly, reaching out to grab Demetra. Demetra held Ralph''s hand, watching him silently. "C''mon, David. Cut it out and get back here."


    David returned to Demetra''s body. Ralph''s body had turned into a withered mess as he fell against the wall. It was clear that he had been drained of his life, and he stared at Demetra while thest of the light in his eyes faded and he took hisst breath.


    Demetra''s expressions twisted, and David said, "Keeping a bastard like that around would just be a hazard to the world, he''s better off dead."


    Wilbur walked over then. "Are you guys alright?"


    "We''re fine, Mister Penn."


    "Okay."