Ralph looked at the enraged boy calmly. The elf wasn't one to be intimidated.
"I'm sorry," he said "but I can't do that, Victor did what he did for a reason." Then he looked sly. "Have you ever thought maybe you yourself just forgot him because you wanted to? Because the memory was too painful? Or maybe you didn't even know him and that young girl is just being hysterical. That could be the case, you know."
Spati shook his head, confused. "No. . .I feel like, like I know him from somewhere, like I ought to remember. . ."
Ralph smiled. "Victor wasn't a nice person. He made people think he was their friend before he slaughtered them and their families. He often referred to himself as a monster. Would you really befriend someone like that?" Laughing Ralph continued "why, why you'd be dead within a week!" His mirthful demeanor completely his the sorrow he was feeling. He hated saying these things, he wanted the memory of Victor to be a good one! How he wished he could repay those bastards who made that dear boy so twisted and so very jaded. He would to worse than kill them; after all there were much worse things than death.
Spati sagged against the wall, trying to comprehend everything. The part of him that felt like something was missing, Ghosti saying that the body had been a friend, this elf saying that the man - Victor had been an evil monster. "So. . .I did know him?" He asked feebly.
Ralph looked at Spati, he felt weary; "I'm not saying anything, boy. Now leave and let me grieve in peace." The elf turned away and walked to a small window.
"But if he was such a bad guy, why are you so sad he died?!" Demanded Spati triumphantly, he felt that he was on to something.
Rlaph whipped around. "Maybe" he said, his voice had gone deadly soft; who were these children to disturb him! He was tired of their games. They didn't know who they were messing with! He was favored by Them, the gods! No one could touch him, so WHY were these kids insisting on bringing up painful memories when all he wanted to do was curl up and cry? "Maybe, I'm not such a good guy either! Maybe even the worst people have at least one person who loves them!"
Spati was a bit taken aback. He felt the power that surrounded Ralph, that rolled off him like the sweet odor of a fresh baked cupcake; this was not a man to be trifled with! The boy wasn't sure that even HE could beat this mysterious elf.
"So. . .this evil guy is dead forever, then?" Spati was a wee bit sullen. He had never encountered a person like this; even when he had met Niddhogg for the first time he hadn't felt so hopelessly overpowered.
Ralph hesitated, quite honestly, there was a small chance that Victor could come back, if indeed he had been turned into a vampire like he had told Ralph.