Tarnished remains of what was once the structure of a home, painted black by flames extinguished long ago. Delilah carefully stepped through the charred rubble, heart heavy with pain at the small objects that caught her attention.

"What do you think caused the fire?"

Mavrik looked up from where he was inspecting the withered remains of a table, wood cracked from the intense heat.

"I don't know, but it wasn't an accident. Look at where the scorch marks begin on the outside of the home."

She continued to pick through debris, tenderly righting anything salvageable. The pair had been sent here by a frightened neighbouring farmer who had explained this had once been the homestead of the Everly family.

"I don't see any ghosts?"

"Ghosts can't tend to be seen."

Relieved Mavrik appeared to be back to his usual self, since they had left Soldeen the man had been particularly distant. Almost as if he was pulling away from her, holding her at arms length just as he had when they first met. For the first time in his presence the Devil-kin had found herself feeling lonely. Mavrik was already a quiet individual, but his silence had been deafening over the past days of their travels. Chasing ghost stories, and the promise of disappearances to investigate appeared to finally break him free of his burdens.

Her eyes fell on a floor board in the corner of the room, slightly lifting from curling in the heat. Narrowing her eyes, something drew her closer to it, gaze catching a slight glint in the shafts of sun the poked through the sagging roof.

She knelt, wrapping her wingers around the wooden board. Heaving it with a grunt, the sound of wood splintering. Mavrik's hands joined hers as the wood finally gave way, revealing a small stuffed bear. Button eyes catching the watery rays of light, brown fur stained with soot and dust, scorched raw in places from live embers.

"We need to find remains or an anchor that is tethering the family's ghosts, not a toy."

A gust of wind kicked up, buffet them, sending doors that still hung on their hinges closed with a bang. Flinching as debris of stone, wood and cracked pottery flew at them, aided by the invisible force that whirled through the room. The onslaught thinned, metallic tinks of the objects rebounding off of Mavrik's shield, replacing the wind screaming through her ears as he crouched over her. Hollow, translucent hands materialised before her eyes, reaching feverishly for the toy.

Delilah reacted, snatching for the bear. The moment her finger's brushed it's torn ear, a piercing scream filled her ears. Recoiling and clutching the bear to her chest, doubling over and squeezing her eyes shut at the painful sound that threatened to burst her ear drums. Then, silence flooded her ringing ears.

Timidly she opened her eyes, breath hitching in her throat at the sights that surrounded her. She was still in the charred remains of the house, but something was off. The sun was gone, replaced by a teal, cloudy sky that raced over the fractured ceiling over head. Sulphur was thick and suffocating on the air. Dread rose in her, panicking at the heavy silence that pressed in, had the scream damaged her hearing?

"Are you hurt?"

Sighing at the sound of Mavrik's voice, dispelling her fears as he retracted from her and stood.

"No, but where are we?"

He made his way towards the door, pushing it open. Twisted nightmarish trees stared back at Delilah once she stepped out, bear still clutched to her chest.

"Do they have.. faces?" She whispered in horror as if fearing the ghastly, muted screaming trees would hear her.

"The bear, it must have dragged us to a plane that is in limbo."

"What do you mean?"

"Ghosts and spirits are often trapped souls, unable to move on for various reasons. Particularly when their deaths are violent. Limbo is term used for the planes born from their restless soul's displacement."

A new fear creeping into her heart, could this be Nadia's fate?

She carefully placed her hand on the moaning bark, shuddering at the terror that gripped her, but there was a strange disconnection to it. This fear was not her own.

"I can feel them.."

"They're souls, dragged into this plane against their will."

"But why aren't we trees?"

Mavrik gestured down to the bear in her arms "you found the door way."

"So, now what? Are we trapped here?"

"Usually we would burn remains or what tethered the ghost, to force it to move on. But I don't know if that's the best idea here."

She looked down at the bear, tracing over the years of loving repairs it had undergone. Reminding her of the beloved, and battered crimson scarf that was settled around her neck.

"You shouldn't have come."

A new face appeared on the tree, causing the woman to leap back as a form slowly oozed out of bark like sap.

Mavrik stepped between the two as the form settled into a young girl, eyes red with rage, clothing ripped and eaten by fire. Her feet were bare, skin welted red with burns and hair matted.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Why are you taking people?" His voice level.

She shot forward, translucent form resembling smoke as she vanished and reappeared between the pair. Eyes locked with the bear in Delilah's arms. She smelt of ash, the devil-kin could taste the bitterness on her tongue. Some of the intensity in the girl's gaze had faded, trembling hands reaching for it.

She resisted the urge to flinch away, deja vu hitting her at the sight of the blackened hands drawing near.

"You're their daughter, aren't you?"

The girl cried out in anguish, lunging away from them at Mavrik's words. Crumpling to her knees, clutching at her hair.

"I-I just want to be with them again.. why can't I be with them?.."

"What happened?" Delilah cut in, stepping closer. Twisting out of Mavrik's grip as he snagged her wrist to try and stop her.

"Delilah.. we can't kill her in this plane.." his growled warning caused the girl's head to shoot up, eyes locking onto Mavrik.

"You! You're a guard?!" Scream thumping through her head, making her ears sting. Ignoring the searing pain Delilah pushed forward, drawing the girl's attention, noting her translucent form was shaking.

"He's not a guard." She assured, hesitantly holding the bear and inching closer "But, why are you afraid of guards?"

A gust of air threatened to rip the breath from her lips, feeling the ghost draw in close and pull the bear from her hands.

"They did this. Father couldn't pay. So they took everything."

"Let us help you."

"Help me?.." Eyes flitting to Mavrik as if recalling his warning.

"Help you move on from limbo." He affirmed, now at Delilah's side.

"How can you help me?"

"Your body was unaccounted for when it was searched, do you know where it is?"

"Gone" came her simple, empty reply.

Her heart sank, what could they do now without remains to lay to rest.

"Then something else must be keeping you here." He looked back at the ruined home, "Your victims, they're guards aren't they?".

"Father would be so disappointed in me... but they had to pay! But... others got hurt too.."

He nodded, adjusting his shield "and have all of them paid for their crime?" his tone hinting that he already knew the answer.

A sob wracked her throat "no."

Revenge? Was the emotion so strong it could be an anchor?

She placed a gentle hand atop the bears head, hoping the comforting touch would somehow transfer to the grieving spirit. "Will you let us avenge your family so you can move on?"

"You would do that?"

"Stopping evil in it's tracks is kind of our thing" Delilah assured.

"But.. I'm a monster.. I've done bad things" Her image waiver with each sob that tore through the very fabric of her soul.

"No, you're just lost. Your soul has been displaced for years."

She stood, time didn't appear to move the same way here or perhaps at all. An endless, empty cage that spanned as far as the eye could see.

"Come with me." the clump of trees bowed, distorting to part around them as the ghost stepped forward, beckoning them to follow through the tunnel they created.

"Can you tell us more about what happened?"

"The guards from a small outpost by the crossroad, they were supposed to protect us from bandits. But they extort and abuse their power, taking a 'fee' for their service. My father was unable to work after injuring himself in the fields. He couldn't afford to pay them, they came back and torched our home while we slept."

She stopped, turning to the pair, pulling her bear closer to her.

"We're here, see it done. The man with black hair, and a scar over his eye is the one who called for my family's ruin."

Sounds and sights melted in, filling her senses with warm tones and soft light. They were back, but not in the charred home.

"What the fuck? Where the hell did you come from?"

A sword unsheathed to their left, the buzz around them faltering as the wide eyes of several men landed on the pair who had appeared out of thin air.

They were in a mess hall, men getting to their feet in agitated confusion and abandoning their meals.

"We're here to answer for the crimes committed to the Everly family" She followed Mavrik's gaze as he spoke, eyes settling on a black haired man with a trade mark scar.

A few men closed in on them, weapons drawn as the black haired man laughed and slammed his fist on the counter.

"Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a while. That little lass cried and cried when her daddy couldn't pay up."

Delilah bristled, blood boiling as she stepped forward, heat rising off of her threatening to make her combust. Mavrik held out a hand to stop her, tilting his head to the men to their left as they approached.

They sneered triumphantly, knowing the pair were outnumbered 7 to 2. Black haired man standing back, sipping at his drink and watching his men with a confident smirk.

Molten eyes darting around as two locked into combat with Mavrik, who held them at bay, strain showing through cracks in his form as a third joined the fray.

Fingers curling around the neck of a bottle, mind whirling at the tight group of men closing in. Hemmed in by the long tables that stretched on either side of them.

"Mavrik, back up"

Risking not waiting to see his reaction, mustering her strength to fling the bottle. Red liquid erupting over the men's shoes and around their feet. She continued to kick, and throw chalices, bottles, anything she could find.

"The fuck is she doing?" One of the men shouted, another trying to catch her arm.

"Ignis."

Fire blazed to life, hungrily lapping at the flammable liquid that coated the men's clothing, shoes, table, floor. Catching and taking hold of anything like a famished rat. Confused curses swiftly gave way to terrified screams as the fire took hold, the pair taking their chance to cut down at the men, now no match for the flanking onslaught.

The dark man watched, with wide eyes as flames danced through them. Heat scorching the stone and licking its way to the wooden rafters.

"Gods, what have you done?!"

"Nothing you haven't."

He spluttered in reaction to Mavrik's firm hands that plunged one of his own men's knives deep into his chest, twisting it.

He slumped to the floor, a soft glow emitting from him, rising up off of his skin like steam.

"Thank you.."

A rafter beam cracked and fell, coated in flames devouring it, narrowly missing the area that Delilah occupied. She felt Mavrik shove her in the back, urging her towards the door on the other side of the room. The air thickening with every heart beat, making each breath more difficult than the last, heat against her skin unforgiving.

Forcing her feet forward, stepping over corpses still alight and groaning men trying to evade their fate. She danced around flaming debris, not daring to look behind her and trusting Mavrik would be there once they finally broke free of the smoke and flames.

Heaving open the heavy door, coughing at the soot scratching her throat, feet carrying her a few more metres down the road until the air cleared. Collapsing to sit on the grassy patch between the crossroads.

Bursting out laughing as Mavrik sat beside her, laughter catching in her throat and breaking into coughs.

"Delilah. Next time, warn me before you decide to bring a burning building down on our heads." His usually silver, satin sheened armour was black with ash and the source of her amusement, not that she looked any better. She raised a finger, tracing a shape in the dark soot on the rerebrace of his armour.

"I did." She defended, finishing the wonky circle, two small semi circles on either side of the upper half, whilst three dots resided inside the larger full circle. Rubbing her gloved fingers together at the soot, admiring the clean silver lines she'd left behind.

"And what is that supposed to be?"

"It's obviously a bear!"

"Clearly.." He replied dryly, looking towards the smoke rising from the small stone strong hold.

"Do you think she'll be at peace now?"

"I do."