~ Marie ~
The nearby street lamps provided enough light for her to study the building. The apartment was a six stories tall brick building. The bottom floor windows were mostly boarded up and the ones that weren’t were broken. Graffiti covered most of the first floor and even some of the second and third as well. Parts of the lawn were overgrown and the parts that weren’t were dead and littered with garbage. And this was only what she could see in the dark. She didn’t want to know how much worse it looked during the day. Adrian didn’t wait for her to finish surveying the area and took a small path that led around the left side of the building. Path being a loose term for the overgrown area between the building and the edge of the nearby ditch.
Marie hoped his familiarity was only limited to the outside as she rounded the corner and stopped. A group of people were sitting in a half circle around the back door. Her irritation rose for a moment before she forced it back down. How many people had been in and out of this building at this point? Her investigation was not off to a good start.
“What do you want?” A woman stood up and glared at the two of them. Marie wanted to just walk past them but considering that they had a barrier up, effectively blocking passage into the building, it made things a little more difficult.
“I’m the Guardian. I would like to enter the building.” If they refused her then she would figure out a way to enter from the front of the building. That way she wouldn’t have to deal with them. Starting a fight when she had no idea what was going on, would not be a good move.
“We are servants from Westfall. Our Master wished for a neutral party to take charge of guarding the evidence.” The woman’s expression relaxed slightly as the others sitting next to her stood up and moved back creating a path between them. “We were told that the Guardian had taken on the investigation and to allow her passage. However, he is not allowed.” The woman jerked her chin at Adrian with a disdainful frown on her face. Marie walked past them and into the building. This worked in her favor but it also opened up more questions. How did the Master of Westfall find out so soon? And why was he interested in this? The one thing she was sure of, regarding vampires, was that they liked to handle their own affairs. What was Westfall’s stake in this?
She used a simple spell to create a small glowing orb that floated over her shoulder providing her with enough light to see where she was stepping. The inside of the building was just as bad as the outside. Trash and glass littered the ground. Every wall was covered in graffiti and several of the doors were falling off their hinges. Marie frowned. On second thought, this was worse than outside. Outside didn’t feel like she was trudging through warm, moist air or cause the hairs on her arms to rise in warning. These were familiar signs that she had experienced many times before. A demon had been summoned and that wasn’t even the worst of it. Someone had left the circle open and miasma was leaking out.
With a greater sense of urgency, she began to open each of the doors, looking for the stairs. Not this one. Not this one either. She found the correct door on the third try. Marie gazed at the first flight of stairs. If this was a hint at what was to come, then she was glad that she could use magic. Marie sighed before she shook her head. Standing here wasn’t going to make things easier.
She started to climb the stairs, mindful of the trash that littered the area. Not only was it dangerous, like the occasional nail and bits of broken glass, but it was also in her way. The larger objects, like boxes and broken furniture, hid bigger dangers like holes and broken steps. All of that was only half of the problem she was facing.
The higher she climbed the worse she felt. Her body began to ache as the chills increased. It didn’t help that her head was beginning to hurt from keeping her magic senses open. Normally, in a situation like this, she would shut her magical senses down. By keeping her senses open, not only was it a drain on her mental stamina but it was also having a negative impact on her emotions and body. Unfortunately, with six floors to check, it was the only way to pinpoint the location of the circle quickly.
Marie placed her hand on the door and extended her senses a few feet to check. Nothing on this floor. She repeated this process at every floor she came to. Time passed this way, until she reached the top floor. Her head was pounding at this point and she had begun to get nauseous as well. She needed to reach the circle quickly. Marie placed her hand on the door and checked even though she was sure this was it. Only one magic signal popped up. There was a weak seal on the door to keep people out but there were no other defenses or traps on the door. Hmm. She checked it again. There was nothing in the spell to let someone know she was breaking it. Did they not care or did they have something else for that?
There was nothing to be learned by standing out here. She forced her magic into the seal and brute forced it. Her magic ripped the seal apart like wet paper. Breaking the seal allowed her to open the door but also allowed more of the miasma through. Marie pressed her lips together as a wave of miasma washed over her. She swallowed, hoping to keep herself from being sick. It didn’t help that her head felt like it was about to split in two. Marie put her head against the door and took several deep breaths. Slowly. Little by little, the feeling faded back to a manageable level. A sigh escaped as she forced her emotions back down.
“What are you doing here?” She wasn’t sure how long Adrian had been following her but now he was coming up behind her. Even with her head about to split open, she had heard him coming up the stairs. Of course, he had let her hear him. There had been no noises before this. How long had he been following her?
“I’m going to be a part of this investigation.” His polite smile was gone. Even though his face was expressionless, his voice was laced with disapproval. Did he think she had something to do with Westfall? She stared at him. He was probably not going to leave. Marie kept a sigh from escaping as she turned back towards the door. Better to finish this quickly.
She opened the door and trudged down the hallway until she came to the last door. Another seal had been placed on this door but this one had deteriorated heavily. Seals were just like any other spell. Without a continuous supply of magic, a spell would eventually fade.
But there was one more rule when it came to seals.
A seal needed to be stronger than whatever was being sealed. If this rule was broken, then the seal's life span was cut in half at best.
The miasma had eaten away at the magic to the point that breathing on it could break it. This meant that whatever was behind the seal couldn’t be completely contained, which was obvious given that the miasma was felt on the first floor, but it also meant that the seal was still holding something back. She grit her teeth before she placed her hand on the door.
Magic was used to shred the seal. Marie stepped back as miasma leaked out. She could feel it rush out and flow past her. Adrian opened the door and went inside. Marie envied him for a brief moment as she leaned against the wall for support. It felt like she had to remember to breathe. Like the miasma was a real wave of water that was slowly drowning her. Wave after wave of nausea and vertigo flowed over her as more miasma leaked out. Marie took a deep breath and forced her body to move forward, even though the hallway was swaying under her feet. She wasn’t going to let him walk around the crime scene by himself. There was a possibility of him triggering a trap. Or destroying something before she saw it.
She tried to take note of any odd details, as she passed from room to room, searching for Adrian. Thankfully, there wasn’t really anything to take note of, considering the apartment was almost completely bare. Only bits of trash and ripped up carpet littered the floor. It didn’t take her long to find Adrian in the room at the very back. He was kneeling down in the center of the room and was running his hand over the carpet, searching for something. This room was just as bare as the other rooms.
Marie studied the carpet at her feet and scuffed it with her shoe. This carpet was new. It had dirt and stains to make it look older but the color was slightly darker than the color out in the hall and the feel of the carpet was different as well. The carpet up to this point was practically nonexistent, with there being little difference between it and the wooden floor underneath. Compared to that, this carpet was thick and plush. There were no rips or tears to be seen. Whoever put the carpet in wanted to cover something up. Her theory was proven right when Adrian began to rip the carpet up and reveal what was underneath. She moved closer to take a better look.
A summoning circle written in blood almost the same size as the entire room lay underneath. Inside the larger circle was a six pointed star with a small circle directly in the middle of that. The smallest circle held old script that stood for the demon’s name while the rest of the circle had old script written around the edges and within the star. Was this what Mark had seen? Marie searched her pockets and found an old receipt and pencil. The most important ones to write down were the demon’s name and the script within the star, those would give her the most information. Once those were written down, she placed everything back in her pocket and staggered over to the center of the circle. She had already closed her senses down since she didn’t need to keep them open anymore but she was still tired and worn out from the miasma. Marie knelt down beside Adrian and placed both hands on the circle.
Comments (0)
See all