The first task of the day was to identify the entity. Zaira sat in the middle of the ground floor. If she couldn’t identify it, she would lock it in a room until she could

Zaira stretched her senses. Once again, she felt nothing but the presence near the Ross home. This was inconvenient. Perhaps it could hide at will? A thought crossed her mind. She dug through her ever-bag. Tucked away at the bottom she found her spell book. She was not a great magic user. She could barely pass as fair. Rushka had given her the book a decade or so earlier when they found out she had power. She had the energy to do it, sure, but lacked the capabilities to harness it. Turns out she was a mediocre spellcaster at best. The book did help though, and she knew there was a more powerful sensing spell in it. She flipped the book open to said spell.

She read the incantation aloud. She stumbled through the unfamiliar dialect, swearing each time she messed up a word as that meant she had to start over. On what was her third or fourth try she managed what she believed to be a decent recitation, then she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

The world came back into view through her eyelids. It was like a red monochrome painting. It was hard to see material objects as they were all overlapping shades of red. She could see through them to unused corners of the house. More importantly, she could see souls. Souls came in a range of colors. Entities would usually appear dark brown or grey. And any potential link to another plane would be the blackest of black, a void.

Zaira looked around. The kitchen was clear, as was the living area and under the stairs. She could see two pale blue figures in the distance – the Rosses. Though no entity in their house, there was however another sentient soul amongst the animals of the forest. Curious. She would have a look later. As she scanned past to look at the back of her house, she spotted a light grey mist flickering on the stairs. She wondered what could be making that pattern… Perhaps there really was a second entity in her house?

The woman stared at the mist for a good while, but it didn’t move. She felt confident enough to look away. This time she turned her head upwards… And spotted a sliver of darkness almost right above her. Trying not to lose her grip on the spell she slowly moved to the stairs, reaching out in front of her for the banister. At this angle, the darkness took on a rectangular form. It reminded her of a mirror… Yet she had none in the house. Was there something in the ceiling?

Zaira slowly walked up the rest of the stairs. She kept her eyes on the ceiling. Light footsteps started ahead of her. She paused, listening. Nothing, no sound, and nothing to see around her.

She startled, jerked her head back, and gripped the banister tighter as a scroll appeared right in front of her face. Her eyes opened and her spell fell away. Her hunt would have to wait, she opened her eyes and let the spell fade away. Zaira plucked the scroll from the air and went back downstairs.

Three or more people. Trapped in a gorge.

53°27'21.6"N 96°10'52.0"W

Rushka…

Zaira unfurled her wings and ran to her back deck. She shot into the air, cloaking herself on the way up. She barrel-rolled and looked up at the sky, judging her position on the planet then headed towards the coordinates Rushka gave her.

She flew as fast as she could to the site. Her species was not renowned for their speed, but for their agility. Which was usually the reason Rushka called on her.

Stretching out her wings and flying always felt amazing, no matter how much or how little she had flown recently. Zaira couldn’t help but enjoy the wind and scenery, despite knowing there was someone in trouble waiting for her.

Zaira was still far away from her destination when a bright white light flashed above her. Recognizing Rushka’s signature she let her case worker and only friend grab a hold of her waist.

“Hello, sister.” She heard Rushka’s voice say in her head.

“Hello ndugu.”

She tucked her wings between them as Rushka picked up speed. Her species was agile whereas Angels were fast, very fast. It took but a few seconds for Rushka to bring her to the accident site. The speed wasn’t uncomfortable, Rushka was shielding her from it.

They let her go as they landed. Around them was a pack of shapeshifters, mostly in their anthropoid shapes, some in their bipedal canid state. There was also a second angel whom she didn’t recognize. One of the shapeshifters was lying perpendicular to a gash in the earth, looking down into the fissure. He wasn’t speaking into it. Not a good indicator. The gash wasn’t an obvious deformation; it was very narrow, and the shrubs surrounding it looked freshly cleared away.

Zaira didn’t bother introducing herself as they turned to look at the newcomers. She walked to the edge of the crevasse then kneeled and crawled headfirst into the space. There weren’t many ledges, so she relied on her strength and claws to scuttle down the side. She couldn’t see anyone immediately after entering. She continued down. About 8 feet down, she started smelling blood. At 14 feet the fissure broadened from 20 inches across to approximately 22 feet. Giving her the impression that this was a cave more than a fissure. When the sunlight couldn’t reach her anymore Zaira adjusted her eyes to be able to see in the dark. Hers was a diurnal species, but on their home planet, even the day could be dark. Her night vision wasn’t as good as some species and she could only see in greyscale, but it did the job. As soon as her eyes were adjusted, she spotted a ledge about 26 feet down, on it was an anthropoid covered in blood. There were also vertical blood smears further down the crevasse. She had little hope for those further down.

She jumped and glided to the ledge, landing on the wall just above the form. It was a female shapeshifter, naked as shapeshifters often were. Zaira was pleased to see the woman was breathing, albeit shallowly. Her ribcage was slightly deformed and both legs were unnaturally bent. She could see a bone poking out of the lower left leg. She immobilized the woman’s head. There was just enough room for Zaira to lay out the portable stretcher she kept in her ever-bag between the woman and the wall. Keeping a firm grip on the wall with her feet, Zaira, tentatively, trying to keep movement to a minimum, moved the woman onto the stretcher. The woman groaned. Good. There was hope for her. Zaira strapped her down tightly. It was going to be a rough journey up. Ideally, she would be able to keep her flat and lessen the chance of doing more damage.

“Do you have some rope?” She asked Rushka mentally.

“Yes.”

“Could you toss six lengths down?”

As an answer, she heard some soft noises above her head. The ends of the rope were a little high.

“How much give do they have?”

“As much as you want.”

“Good.” Zaira scuttled up and grabbed the lengths. “I found one survivor, she’s in bad shape. I’ve put her on a stretcher, and I’ll tie it to the ropes.” She looped the ropes at the head, middle, and foot of the stretcher. “The other people are further down. I don’t have much hope for them. Do you want me to guide this lady up, or go check on the others first?”

“Go see if the others are alive, if not come help guide her. If so, stabilize them. I’ll let you know if the stretcher gets caught on anything.”

“You are good to start bringing her up.”

Zaira kept her hands on the stretcher as it started to lift and swing into the middle of the crevasse. She heard another pained noise from the injured woman.

As soon as she knew the stretcher was clear, Zaira scuttled down the wall quickly, following the blood smears and keeping an eye out for more ledges. The crevasse started narrowing again. 30 feet down she could finally see the bottom of the crevasse, or rather where it narrowed so much it was impossible to go any further. The first person she spotted was dead, his head cracked open on the rock. Then she heard a whimper. Her ear perked and she turned her head towards the sound. She spotted a child lying on top of another person. Rushka had told her three people had fallen...

She slowly approached the child, who started whimpering a little louder when he saw her.

“Hey… It's ok little one.” She spoke softly.

Zaira stayed at arm’s length away for the moment. The boy looked at her with big eyes, his hand tightening its grip on the adult’s arm. Zaira scanned the woman below him, her neck was broken. She looked the boy over, he was lucky. He had severely broken legs, but his torso and head had been cushioned by the body of the woman and he had lived. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough room to set out a stretcher. Zaira looked closer at the boy’s torso. She thanked the gods when she saw nothing concerning. She should be able to carry him up without hurting him further.

She took out her bag of prepared painkillers. She took out a small dose. Unfortunately for him, it would still be a very painful journey up, but this would take the edge off.

“Little poke, ok?”

He cried out when she approached. She put the tiny vial against his skin and it automatically injected the dose into the boy.

“Mama! Mama!” He screamed when he felt the needle, his arms tightened around the dead woman’s waist.

The injection took but a second and she didn’t dally. Zaira backed away as soon as it was done, giving the boy space to breathe and calm down.

“There. All done! It's ok.”

She watched his breathing calm as she stayed away. But he couldn’t stay there.

“Ok sweetie, I’m going to pick you up. Ok?”

He whimpered as she came closer and started crying in protest when she tried to softly break his grip on the woman, his mama. Her heart went out to the boy. But he couldn’t stay here. She kept making soft noises, shushing him and whispering.

“It’s ok sweetie, let go… Let’s get you back home.”

He started crying, his irregular breathing forcing him to cough every few breaths. He steeled his grip on his source of comfort.

“What’s going on down there?” She heard Rushka ask.

“I found a boy. He’s alive. His legs are shattered.”

There was a moment of silence.

“His name is Mahikan. His father is overjoyed to hear he is alive. Is there anyone else?”

“Mahikan…” Zaira said aloud. The boy sniffled in response. “It will be ok. Your father is waiting for you.”

“Dadi?” The boy cried.

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“Yes. Dadi is waiting for you.” She said soothingly. “I’ll bring you to him.”

Mahikan, still crying and clutching at his mother, did seem to consider her statement.

Seeing a window of opportunity Zaira steeled herself for what was to come. She reached down and lifted him away from the woman. At first, he cried for the woman even harder. Then it turned to pained shrieking as he was lifted into the air and his legs shifted and dangled.

“Is there anyone else?” Rushka repeated.

She rotated her body to face the exit, shifting the boy to lean on her torso so she could have one free arm to climb.

Zaira climbed slowly, trying not to jostle the boy.

“Mama!”

Bile rose in her throat and her chest tightened at the sound of his cries. She wanted to go faster, so he could finally get some pain relief but continued to concentrate on a slow, safe, climb. Eventually, either out of pain or exhaustion, the boy swapped his screaming for whimpering.

“He was lying on a woman, she is dead. There is a man nearby, also dead.” The angel finally got his reply.

“Thank you, sister.”

It was at that moment that she felt the boy go limp. She froze and waited. She let out the breath she had been holding when she heard the boy’s soft ones. She resumed her climb, a little faster now that the boy was out cold.

The rest of the climb was spent in silence.

“Help!” She called out as she reached the top. The other angel appeared by the edge, and a crying man, was behind him trying to spot them. “Lift him straight out.”

The angel grabbed the child by the armpits and lifted him up and out. Zaira heard the man cry out. She hoisted herself up enough to see the scene in front of her. In the light of day, Mahikan looked even worse. His arm looked broken, and he was bruised and scratched, covered in blood. But he was alive and had a fighting chance. They laid him on a transport stretcher. She noted the other woman was already gone, as well as some of the pack members who were there when she had arrived.

The angel picked up the rope attached to the transport stretcher. Slowly they gained height, then, when the stretcher was clear of the trees, they shot off toward the hospital. The father and a few more of the shapeshifters shifted into their canid form and ran off in the same direction.

“Their name is Shahar,” Rushka stated as they approached her. “They started working three months ago. You said there was a man as well?”

“Yes.”

“Was he long dead?”

“No, fairly recent. Why?”

Rushka frowned. “The pack was only missing the two women and the boy. Someone else is missing a loved one.”

Zaira nodded.

“Can you recover the bodies?”

“Of course. Do you have some body bags?”

“How many do you need?”

“Just two.”

Her friend pulled two body bags out of their ever-bag and handed them to her. They also pulled out another portable stretcher to replace the one she had used.

“Thank you.”

The trip down was shorter. She jumped and glided her way down to the bottom. Getting the dead into the bags was a little awkward, but she managed to get them up in one piece. She slung one bag over each shoulder and returned to the surface. There weren’t any dry eyes when she gave the woman back to her pack. The leftover members of the pack shifted and also left in the direction of the hospital. This left her alone with Rushka and the unknown man.

They stood together in silence as they both digested what had happened. It was grim. Yet she considered this day a success. Two survivors and all bodies were recovered. Now she prayed for a quick return to health for the survivors and comfort in the loss of their family member. Staring at the ground she pushed about a rock with her foot.

“How is the move going?”

She shrugged. “The house is nice. I’m not sure about the neighbors yet. And… There’s an annoying entity I need to ride myself of.”

“Give the neighbors some time. You’ll like them. Let me know if you need help getting rid of the entity.”

“Thank you,” Zaira uttered as she thought about her neighbors. Her neighbors, who were much too friendly towards a very suspicious woman…

“You need friends, family.”

“And you think two old humans will do the trick?” She turned to face them. Rushka was staring into the forest, wings bristled in annoyance. She pushed further, her irritation leading the way. “Isn’t also immoral, if not a sin, to push people to do what they don’t want to do?”

“Fine, I’ll stop. But the spell doesn’t work like that and you know it. It cannot make anyone do anything they don't want to do.”

Rushka finally took their eyes away from the tree line and turned to look at her. Features tight at first, their eyes softened when they looked at her. They reached out slowly, she let them touch her leather wing and run their hand along the top edge. She closed her eyes in shame as they reached the small, currently invisible, horn at the apex of her wing.

“You don’t need to hide.” They said softly as they followed by running their fingers through her hair, avoiding the horns they knew were there. “Be proud of who you are.”

Zaira didn’t answer. It was easy for Rushka to say that; they are an angel. Most people just weren’t comfortable around horned, red-skinned beasts.

Rushka turned his attention back to the man on the ground.

“I have to go find his family,” Rushka stated as they opened the bag long enough to look at the ruined head. His species was identified, but another method would be needed to identify him. They closed the bag and slung the body over their shoulder once they got what they needed. Then Rushka flew off without a goodbye.

Her friendship with Rushka was very odd. She often felt like she was lying to herself when she called them a friend. She heard that distance was a normal consequence of being friends with an angel. Not that she knew any better. But they were also her caseworker. Would they just leave when they managed to fix her? If that even was possible.

As soon as Rushka was out of sight Zaira launched herself into the air once more, heading home.

The flight home took a long time. Five hours and several breaks later, her body felt heavy, almost numb. Perhaps she should take a nap before finishing her investigation. Perhaps a bath first? And a book? Everything but her investigation sounded like an appealing choice. There was always tomorrow.

Zaira uncloaked herself when her feet touched her back deck. She opened her back door and heard footsteps running toward her. She automatically braced herself for a cold impact.

Her ears perked at the distinct sound. The footsteps were light. Like tiny feet running towards her. They also stopped before reaching her. She frowned. She hadn’t imagined the earlier encounter. Was it possible that the entity was fooling her into believing there was another in the house? Perhaps there really were two? She needed to continue investigating the house… after a long nap. The sight of broken bodies floating through her consciousness and her aching muscles guided her up to her bed.

----------------------------------------

Zaira woke up with a start. She sat up and looked around, wiping the blood from her eyes. She saw nothing out of the ordinary. She guessed it was only about an hour later, based on the amount of sunlight making it through her curtains. She lay back down, all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. Yet the long, slow, incessant scratching which had woken her reminded her of what she had set out to do. She brought her covers up to her face and groaned. Her eyes shut and she nearly fell asleep again. It took her no time to jump out of bed when her semi-conscious state started making up images of what could be at her door. All unpleasant images of carnivores and deformed creatures. She shook those thoughts away as she walked to the bathroom to sponge at her freshly open wounds and patch them back up.

The scratching stopped when she opened the door. Nothing there. Zaira rolled her eyes and walked out of her bedroom, spell book in hand, and sat in the middle of the second floor. There were five bedrooms excluding her own. She didn’t need that many, but she loved the design and location and had the money for the home. She was facing away from the staircase, to where the entity seemed to spawn from. The hallway was spacious, as far as hallways went. Behind her were two bedrooms and a bathroom. In front was a line of four bedrooms, hers on the far left.

Zaira opened her book to the same spell. You’d think she would be able to complete the spell faster now that she had done it once, but she found herself making the same mistakes. When she was satisfied with her performance, she closed her eyes. Quickly opening them again when the broken bodies she had seen that day flashed in front of her. She huffed and closed her eyes again, trying to concentrate. Unfortunately, the spell had already been broken, she read the spell twice more and closed her eyes again. The bodies returned once again, this time they moved. Towards her. Grimacing. Her eyes shot open once more. This wasn’t her normal response to death.

She snarled loudly, threateningly, towards the end of the hallway. She read the spell once more, closing her eyes quickly, then let out a burst of energy. The energy radiated outward from her and shook the house a little. It was only meant to throw the entity off long enough for her to enter the appropriate state. It worked. She was seeing red once more… And an onyx figure. A black void of a head was coming through the far-right end of the opposite wall. It growled softly. Hands came out, fingers like claws, gripping the wall. Zaira felt as if they had locked gazes. It wanted to harm her. Instead, it slowly sank back into the wall. She was surprised it could disappear into the wall as she could see through said wall. Once she lost sight of it, she looked up. The dark rectangle was still there, in the ceiling.

Now suspecting a demonoid, she grit her teeth. Her gaze shifted from the ceiling to a more natural position, and she jumped at the sight of two large blue eyes looking at her. A tiny anthropoid was partially on her lap. The child was kneeling, her little hands were on Zaira’s crossed legs and she was leaning into the woman. The tiny, likely, human was looking at her with wide teary eyes, their little hands griping toughly unto the fabric of her pants. She was see-through and in color. A ghost... or an illusion? The latter option is what kept her from reaching out to the child.

Zaira stood. Her body passed right through the child who took off downstairs and crawled under the couch. Zaira’s lips pinch as she watched the child. When the ghost didn’t move further, she turned her eyes back to the ceiling, she made her way under the rectangle. It was further away than she expected. As far as she was aware, she only had a crawlspace above the second floor. Trying to find where the entity had disappeared, she entered the rightmost room. The entity wasn’t there or above her. It had simply disappeared, the only energy she could now feel was the child’s. That rectangle was probably a portal. But how did it get from the wall to the rectangle without her seeing it? Zaira frowned as she got close to the outer wall. Something didn’t look right. She took advantage of the spell’s ability and exited the room to look at the section of the wall where the entity had disappeared. There was an odd darker line to the left of it. She walked back and forth in front of the line, or rather lines. Two small darker red lines with several cm in between them… A wall?

Zaira took her waterskin out and went to place it against the far wall of the empty guest room, then returned to the hallway. She backed away to look at the odd lines. The waterskin was not against the outer wall.

What the hell?

Dropping the spell, she moved to the area where the entity had appeared – and sent her fist through the wall. She pulled her hand back, it was covered in drywall. Curious she put her hand through the wall and started to pull it down. It took only a few seconds for her to make a hole big enough for her to fit through. On the other side was a finished hallway that matched the one behind her. Same hardwood floor, wall color, and light fixtures. The lights were even working. However, it was narrower and shorter than the main one and led to…. a ceiling trap? There was already a crawlspace entrance in one of the rooms. Why make this small corridor? Why not extend the bedroom to the outer wall and make an entrance in the main hallway? And more importantly…

Why on earth would someone block this off?

This house was completed a week before she moved in. Who had sealed it? What were they trying to hide?

Zaira made her way to the access door and pulled on the circular handle. A set of narrow stairs pivoted down. It was dark upstairs, so she adjusted her eyes before going up. It was a fully finished room. In the middle of the room was a hanging lightbulb. She readjusted her eyes and pulled the chain. There was only one more thing in the room. A plain white wooden vanity, its paint peeling. Mounted on it was a rectangular mirror. She circled it but didn’t touch it. She needed to be cautious.

She would have to call the building company. Was this planned?

In any case, she was now fairly certain the entity was a demon. But what kind? Was it linked to the vanity? Was she in for a fight?

Zaira left the attic, closed the entrance behind her, and went downstairs. She looked at the time, 5:30 pm. The company closed at 6:00 pm. She had time.

"Nanowin Construction, how may I help you?"

"Hello. I just purchased a house completed by your company. I've found something unusual and would like to get more information."

"Alright, can I get your address?"

"200 10th line road, Nanowin."

"May I ask what was...unusual... about your house?"

"I found a hidden hallway."

"I see..." The woman on the other end of the line didn't seem to believe her. "One second, I will forward you to your contractor."

"Thank you."

Zaira picked at the bowl of rabbit entrails she had cleaned and left on the counter the night before as she was put on hold. She popped a small piece of liver in her mouth just as the phone rang again. She quickly swallowed to be able to talk but she was put on hold once again. In the end, she had time to eat the entire liver before the phone was finally picked up. It was nearly 6 pm when she heard the receiver lift.

"Lincoln Robertson, how can I help you?" The irritation at being held up was clear in his voice.

"Hi. I'm calling to enquire about the floor plans for 200 13th line road, Nanowin. I've found a hidden hallway."

"Excuse me?"

"I've found a hidden hallway in my home and would like to know if it was on the floor plan and if it was purposefully hidden by your company and if so, to what end?"

There was a pause.

"What was your address again?"

She repeated her address.

"And on what floor did you find this 'hidden hallway'?"

"The second. It leads to the attic's trap door, which is in itself odd. I was not told I had an attic, only shown a trap door to the crawlspace in one of the bedrooms during the tour."

“Mmm.” Robertson still seemed skeptical. “I’ll look up the blueprints and talk to the workers.”

“And you’ll call back with an explanation?”

“Yes.” He sounded far away.

“Sir, I can tell you don’t believe me, please, feel free to visit, I’ve not completely torn down the plaster wall.” As she said this, she hoped it would not come down to a visit.

“That will likely not be necessary mam.” She heard the sound of rustling.

“Thank you. Oh, and one more thing, I found an antique vanity in the attic.”

There was silence on the line. He hadn’t hung up on her, she could still hear rustling.

“Oh.” She heard. Robertson had spoken away from the phone but she soon heard him clearly again. “I’ve found the blueprints to your house.”

“And?”

“The original blueprint was modified to include a hallway. The trap door to the attic was supposed to be in that last bedroom, but the bedroom’s size was reduced, and the hallway was put in. It doesn’t mention why it was changed last minute nor is there any mention of it being sealed. You said you found a vanity in the attic?”

“Mmm.”

“Very odd, I’ll look into it. I need to speak with the workers. I will call you back in a couple of days.” This time he sounded genuine.

“Thank you, sir. I look forward to your call.” She told herself that if he didn’t call back within a week, she would.

“Have a nice day, goodbye.”

“Bye.”

The call ended. She sighed, on to the next matter. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. What did she need to seal an incorporeal demon into a room?

Firstly, she needed protection. Zaira flipped her book open. She started listing off potential ingredients for casting protective spells then some for exorcisms. She stared at her list. She hoped that she had not forgotten anything. She had followed the book’s vague instructions, the issue was many things could be supplemented or added to achieve varying effects. She clicked her claws on the table and leaned back into the chair.

And, in the direction her eyes just happened to settle on, standing by the fireplace & sucking her thumb, was the little child. Zaira stared at her. The little one did feel separate from the entity. When the child noticed Zaira was paying attention to her she walked up to the woman and laid her head on her lap. Oddly, she felt the child’s head and hands on her lap this time. Had the child gained strength now that Zaira had taken notice? Perhaps she really was a separate entity? Then, the question she had been asking herself from the start finally had an answer. The entity had power from the start because it had another entity to pray on. The second entity was simply too weak to appear to her.

She let the child keep her head there as she finished jotting her thoughts down. In the end, she had a long list of ingredients she could potentially use with the entities, as well as some that would just be good to have on hand.

She took a deep breath in, around her, in seemingly every crevice of the house, she could feel the other entity stirring. Its presence heavy, and hateful. It knew what was coming.