"Yes, we need details of every incident that went down that street. Especially the first one." Elias spoke, the receiver stuck between his raised shoulder and ear.

"Yeah, tomorrow, bring a bottle of holy water around the evening."

Soon the call came to an end. Elias placed the receiver back on the telephone and went to the table with the open grimoire.

Binding 101. A powerful binding requires an equally powerful object to hold the maddened soul, that or an object of with a strong presence.

"Why are ya reading a blank fucken book?" Thomas asked, materialising a ghostly afterimage beside Elias.

Ignoring him Elias took out another blank book from the drawer and started writing.

"All murders happened within the street. The murderers, I assume, have all had a voice telling them to kill everyone else. Which means it's bound to the location and can affect people with its malevolent will.

"Definitely not a lingering spirit, cursed spirit or undead. So that leaves spectre or a wraith, maybe a haunt? Which one could it be?" Elias echoed his thoughts while writing down the details.

"Me thinks it's a wraith. Mad murderous bastards, all of 'em." Thomas chimed in and he sounded eager to help.

Elias had been ignoring the ghostly hitchhiker ever since he almost landed him in jail.

Attention starved the ghost became a lot more chatty and Elias had every intention to exploit that, "Why are you so sure?"

"Aye, spectres are more focused on wearing down their prey to don their skins. Ya know, a little more human. Can't say the same for wraiths."

Elias caught the ghost shrugging at the end of his sentence. "What are you, Thomas? A wraith or a spectre?"

Thomas, picked that moment to disappear leaving behind the words, "Who knows?"

Elias shook his head, he had an idea about what Thomas was. But he needed to be sure to be able to do something about it.

This whole charade would have been a lot easier if he had a reliable way to raise his mana.

Sinking back in the chair, Elias thought back on the deal he landed himself in.

No harm shall be done from either side direct or indirect. And within the month Elias and Lily will bring down all ghosts within the city that posed a threat to the graveyard.

Amidst all this, the two of them will be accompanied by a ghost each; the ghosts are there to strictly monitor them and aren't under any compulsion to help. And Elias Thorn will not be allowed to touch the miasma in the graveyard for any purpose until he fulfils his end of the bargain.

From what Elias had gathered so far, every damned ghost in Rayton was gunning for the miasma in that graveyard. And he was to deal with every single threat within the month?

"Bullshit." Elias muttered under his breath. Somehow he just knew the consequence of failing his part of the bargain was eternal torment.

Rubbing his eyes he got back to the grimoire looking up information on both spectres and wraiths. Because he'll be damned if he believed any word out of the ghost in his head.

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–The Next Day–

Day of reckoning, Elias thought as he entered the pawn shop. Phil, the owner, watched him enter with glee, "Got something to sell?"

Elias shook his head. Today he was looking for an object with presence; whatever that meant. Considering the violent nature of the ghost in question, he needed some kinda weapon.

He took a good look at the products on display. A full plate armour was set on a mannequin by the door. Hanging on the walls were a set of swords that looked old, exactly what he was looking for but they were definitely out of his budget.

"Do you have any weapons? The older the better." Elias asked, giving up on finding anything relevant among the things on sale.

"Ah, brother. You should stop your violent ways, it's not good for the soul. But I do have what you need." Phil preached while going to the storeroom.

Elias saw him go in and went to pocket the blood stained brass knuckles he had spotted earlier. Running his hand over the 'borrowed' brass knuckle in his pocket, he smiled when he felt the crust of dried blood on the knuckles.

Earlier when he was looking through the items only this brass knuckle reacted to his mana. It felt like a bee stung him when he probed the thing with mana.

This will do.

Phil came out with a wide range of antique looking weapons. Elias pretended to be interested while browsing through. Randomly he asked for the price of an old spear.

"Just 2000 gilts only." Phil answered, loud and clear.

"You're serious?" Elias gave him a hollow stare. He had known this miserly bastard for quite some time. It was a wonder to him how his pawn shop was still up and running.

"Motherfucker needs to call it a scam shop." Elias fumed.

An inhumanly tall man brought his cleaver down on some goat meat. Swiftly wrapping it, he noticed Elias.

Sun shone on his bald head as Orno raised a brow, "What?"

Elias put two hundred gilt bills on the table. "Goat's blood, two buckets."

–Leon Street–

Outside the street. With a bloody bucket in each hand Elias stood side by side with Lily.

"You're drunk." He commented, his gaze glued on the gloomy street.

Lily didn't reply but took another sip from the flask.

Putting down the buckets, Elias asked, "You said you will get the intel so, spill."

Lily sighed, "This place was infamous as the brawl street. Many gangs used to come here to scrap it out. Nothing too grim for these parts of the city."

Putting the empty flask in the satchel on her waist she continued, "Then it all stopped when someone found a little boy's corpse here. Face swollen to the point of being unrecognisable."

"Ever since then, it's been the go to destination for crazy people who like to beat their victims to a pulp. Or they say but it always voices in their head according to murderers."

Elias rolled the sleeves of his shirt, "I memorised the names of the victims I found in newspapers. Any idea what the boy's name was?"

Lily turned to glare at Elias.

"There's a ghost living inside me that only ever talks about cannibalism or worshipping the red moon. There's a deal with our literal souls on the line and now you're taking me to a well-known murder spot."

Elias met Lily's eyes and raised a finger.

"One, I can't kill you even if I wanted to. You're way stronger than any mundane human."

"Two, that deal also has my own soul on the line and I would rather have a living breathing ally with me."

"Three, I'm sorry."

Without waiting for a response, Elias asked again, "What was the boy's name?"

Lily shrugged, resigning to her fate. "Anton, his name was Anton."

Elias felt a shiver run through his back as he snapped to look behind him.

"T-thought someone was standing behind me." Rubbing the back of his neck he brought his attention back to Lily.

"I'm getting the creeps already. Anyway, keep an ear out. If you hear me scream, douse yourself in blessed water and haul me out." Elias told Lily.

After he didn't get a response from the beast girl he asked with a raised brow, "Lily?"

Her face had paled. She flinched when he called her and then ran. Elias watched her go bewildered.

"Man, at least say something before you bounce. It's gotten colder too for some reason." Muttering Elias walked into the maws of the infamous street with two bloody buckets.

The dreary little corner, avoided by even the worst of what outskirts had to offer. A strange sense of being watched wormed its way in Elias's mind.

Steeling himself for the upcoming troubles he got to drawing the circular rune. He splashed the blood mixed with salt all over the cobblestone. It was a lengthy process but the result made him feel a little at ease as he could ignore the oppressive feeling.

Learning from past experiences he had drawn out a circle of protection big enough for two people. "You know, this will be a lot less unnerving if you hadn't stopped jabbering."

Elias talked to himself while starting with the second rune.

The air was filled with a metallic smell of blood as Elias kept working. Though he could have sworn the stench of it wasn't this strong when he tried it in the graveyard.

"Thomas, come on man. Speak up."

Elias waited a few seconds but didn't hear anything.

"Well, if you have left my body then that's good too." Right then he felt a sudden wave of headache followed by a shaky voice.

"Draw your sigils faster and stay quiet, ya lil git." Thomas the ghost's voice came in whispers. The urgency was something that made Elias tense up.

"Ugh, stop giving me headaches bastard. Also I am doing this as fast as I can, what happened?" Elias's voice echoed in the light-less street.

It was the moment Elias learnt that even ghosts could sound scared. His hand that was covered in blood trembled when he heard Thomas again.

"We ain't alone here."