It seemed as if it had been a woman at some point of time. That much could be guessed, since it had long hair and, well, the chest was swollen. However, in a very unsightly way. A normal woman has a normal bosom, and a voluptuous figure is much appreciated, but what we're talking about here wasn't, in any way, a woman. In fact, before commenting on its gender, we should take into account that it was difficult to discern whether that thing was human or not. And judging from the fact that its flesh was rotting, it was drooling a sickly mucus which no human should be able to produce, and the feature that most definitely screamed that it was some creature that didn't belong to the human world, was its wings. Two hideously deformed wings that protruded from its back, with which, flight seemed doubtful.
It was this hideous monstrosity that lurked in the darkness of the stranger's basement, and with which Maura and Gabriel found themselves currently faced. It was a few quiet seconds, neither of the two parties moved. The thing stayed where it was, and so did Maura and Gabriel. It was as if they were both assessing each other, measuring their opponent. It was quiet, calm even. All that could be heard now, was he slow drip of the mucus from the creature's mouth.
It was just the calm before the storm.
A piercing screech, ripped through the air. And before either Maura or Gabriel could fathom, the things spread its malformed wings, which were, incidentally, capable of flight. And fly it did, landing smack upon Gabriel, who had started an unsuccessful attempt at morphing into a bat and escaping. It was huge, and having half morphed into a bat wasn't doing any good for Gabe, since it seemed like it was even more difficult to pry the thing off with half wings-half claws. It stuck to him, and opened its mouth. His eyes were wide with panic. It was time to feed.
"Damn, did nobody teach you how to treat your guests?"
Jet black appendages shot towards the creature, faster than you could've said 'Yeehaw!'. Coiling themselves around it, they managed to weaken it a little, as its grip on Gabriel loosened. Expertly maneuvering her black masses of life-sucking extremities, Maura managed to somehow weaken it enough to make it let go of Gabriel, who was quick to breathlessly run up the stairs to where the door was.
There wasn't any hurry now, he knew that, since once anything got entangled in her appendages, it wasn't leaving without having all the dark energy drawn out of it. He watched from his safe little corner as the creature slowly weakened, its dark orbs closed and it fell, drained of all the chaos, darkness and life, if it could even be called that.
"What in tarnation..."
"Calm down, Gabe. And break the door down."
"I should've done that earlier, I'm just stupid."
"Well, I couldn't expect you to, back then, and I'm glad you didn't because now we know that the poor old lady wasn't delusional."
"Yeah, I guess... I mean, we're the find outers, right? We just absolutely had to find out what was going on, and get me covered, first in soot, and then in this... this green goo."
"Break the damn door down, before you're covered in your own blood, Gabriel. You're just a little... shook."
At this point, Gabriel knew that it was pointless to argue, because he heard the sharpness in her voice. He did as he was told. The claws might not have been good for prying off that monstrosity, but they sure were good enough for breaking doors. As he punched a hole through the door, and unlocked it from outside, Maura's appendages assimilated back into her body, and her arm, which had turned black as a result of the manifestation of her power, turned back to normal.
The sound of static filled the living room, and in the dim light of the television, they could see the silhouette of a man sitting on the couch. Maura spoke.
"At the very least, you owe us an explanation, don't you?"
The man turned back, and in the dim light, his hollowed out eyes and the pallor which rested on his face could have easily given him off as a ghost.
"So it finally is over."
"Now you're being extremely vague, mister-"
At this point, the doorbell rang. All three pairs of eyes turned to where the sound came from. And after a long time, Gabriel took the initiative. He went to get the door while Maura dragged a chair to seat herself right in front of the man.
The static hummed behind her, as her visage was shrouded in darkness. Only the red, hot pupils of her eyes glowed in the dark as she fixed them onto the man.
"I'll tell you every thing, it... none of it was my fault, if you'd just, please listen..."
"I'm all ears."
Meanwhile, Gabriel looked at Odette who stood outside the door, the gears of his brain functioning to think of a good story to tell her.
"Ah, Gabriel, I'm glad you answered the door. We heard some sounds, and the old lady sent me to make sure that the two of you were alright."
"Ye, everything is just fine. Turned out to be a psychotic guy who was taking the wrong meds. Maura is handling him right now, don't worry, just... uh, go tell the old lady that, yeah."
"Oh dear, that sounds awful. Will he be fine?"
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"No... I did not want to cause all this trouble, I just didn't know what to do with myself after she died... the death of a spouse is truly the most painful, and despairing. She was the love of my life, and when this girl next door convinced me that she could bring her back to life, I agreed immediately. I had nothing to lose. How would I have known that she would turn my wife... my beloved, into such a horrible monster? It hurt me. But I couldn't bring myself to kill her. It, whatever you may call it."
Maura clicked her tongue, adjusting herself in the chair.
"So you're saying that some girl next door turned the corpse of your wife into a monster? Where exactly is this girl now, and why didn't you contact us?"
"I don't know where the girl went, she just vanished... and then this old hag moved in. My wife... she used to, uh, make rather loud sounds at night. She was hungry. And I didn't have anything to give her. So when this crone called the policemen, I... I didn't have a choice."
"You... You sent those policemen to that monster?!"
"She was my wife!"
"Well, she was your wife, and that doesn't excuse you from killing people! Even if it would have been your wife. Which in fact, she wasn't. Or to be more precise, it wasn't. That thing in the basement wasn't even human, damn."
"I'm sorry..."
By then, Gabriel had successfully evaded any more questions from Odette and reassured her, sending her back.
"It was just Odette. I told her it was a mentally ill guy. And she believed it."
Maura stood up when he entered, and motioned for him to follow her outside the room. The man sat, weeping on the couch, mumbling incoherently.
"I'll see this guy in hell. Anyway, drop Odette home."
"No, wait, tell me what happened first. What exactly was that, and why'd he lock us down there, what the hell was going on!?"
"Gabe, now's not the time, drop Odette home for now, I'll tell you everything later."
Gabriel huffed and crossed his arms, knowing that he'd have to comply after all. Her moods had seen a change in consistencies lately and he wasn't going to argue much.
"What about you then? Aren't you coming?"
"I have a little business to take care of."
Without further ado, she passed him by, walking out of the door. There was a small smirk on her face, and she knew what she had to do. From the beginning, it had been a puzzle. The old woman, the monster, the man, the girl next door, even Odette. And the smirk said she'd solved it all.
She waited for a while, seeing off Odette and Gabriel, making sure they drove off far enough. Then she walked towards the old woman's house. Pressed the doorbell.
"Yeees..?"
"Ah, madame, it is I. The investigator. Just needed you to sign a document."
"Of course dear."
The door opened just a slit, and an unsure, unsuspecting face peeped through.
"Where's the document dear?"
There wasn't a reply, just the use of brute force to open the door fully.
"Move aside, we need to talk, you old bat. Or should I even call you that."
"Excuse me?"
"See, I don't have the time for you to be putting on an act, it will be in the best of our interests that you move aside, let me in and we can have a talk. I have a weapon, there's just you and me. And trust me, I won't hesitate to use force if I have to."
The old woman gulped, and gingerly stepped aside. Maura walked in, keeping an eye on a certain shiny accessory at the woman's waist.
"Alright, whip me up some of your horrible, horrible tea, you witch. I know what you did. And we have a long talk ahead of us.”
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