Usually it would be the sun shining in through the cracks of the window that would wake Mitch when he stayed in Jasper's house since his room faced where the sun would rise and no matter how he covered the window a beam always managed to shine through directly onto his face.
But today was different, Mitch had been wide awake for a few hours by this point already dressed in his best. He looked over himself in the mirror occasionally when he took a break from pacing around his room.
He had taken a pair of black pants and button up grey shirt which he wore an unbuttoned jacket over it. For once he had even shaved the residual stubble from his chin, he wanted to look his best.
Once again he returned to pacing, watching the sun slowly creep its way towards his bed until it was eventually resting along the pillow where he often lay his head.
He checked his phone after some more pacing where he looked at the time, 7:58AM. It felt like he had been staring at it for hours until he saw it change to 7:59, but he still had some time to go.
Opening up the message again from Lara that read “I'll finally be set out of this place. Nick said he should take me to Jasper's house around 9AM.”
He still had an hour to wait for her to arrive and he had already been standing up waiting for nearly two hours at this point.
His heart had almost stopped as a loud bang was heard on the door, followed by two more in a near rhythm that mimicked that of the police ready to raid a building. “Are you alright in there?” He heard Jasper ask from the other side, sounding exhausted.
“I'm alright!” he called out, opening the door after a quick stop to brush his hair and try to look less scruffy.
Jasper looked down at him once he opened the door, his eyes carrying heavier bags than the weeks worth of shopping he helped carry home whenever he was there. “Thought I'd check on you, I could hear your pacing from my study downstairs the last two hours.”
While it would be normal for most to explain why they were anxious or struggled to sleep, Mitch could only ask “Why were you up the last two hours?”
He leaked on the door frame “I had a lot of paperwork that needed to be done for Lara arriving. You seem to just be anxious.” he replied drowsily
“How can I not be?”
“Come on.” Jasper motioned for him to follow as he turned around and walked down the hall that was now lit by the thin beams of sunlight seeping in through the curtains such as they did in Mitch's room.
He followed Jasper down to the dining room “Take a seat.” Jasper motioned.
Mitch followed his lead and sat across from him in the seats facing each other closest to the door. They sat in silence for some time where Jasper just looked at Mitch expectantly. “Oh, uh...” Mitch said aloud as he realised he was expecting. “It's a lot of responsibility still, knowing I brought her into the family and put all of this onto her back.”
“That was her choice.” Jasper replied quickly, leaning back into his seat “Ultimately you gave her a choice. She is the one who has made it.”
“But... I should have-”
His sentence was cut off by Jasper leaning into the table and placing his elbow atop it to point at him “All you did was offer, either she lived her life in fear or got help. Yes the second option could have led to death but you now opened her eyes to the world.”
Once again when Mitch tried to argue against his point, he would counter it by saying “Just calm down.” Before he would be able to speak again. “She seems to be happy from the texts she was sending, correct?”
Mitch could only nod at that as Jasper didn't give him a chance to talk aloud “Good, that's a sign she is enjoying this new life.” Jasper added once he did “So, take that and then think about the fact that she messaged that she was coming back to us herself. If she wasn't excited or at least relieved she would have had someone else message that she was coming.”
Jasper stood up after, walking to the kitchen door “I'll make us some toast and coffee.”
This would be when Jasper let him talk and it all led to “I'll have tea if It's not too much trouble.”
“Of course.” Jasper replied before he disappeared into the kitchen.
Mitch was left for a few moments to think about the situation at hand. What Jasper said was a minor reassurance to him in that he at least had hopes that she was ready to come and work with them, and in the best case she might even be looking forward to it.
Jasper would return with a plate that had a few slightly burnt slices of toast and a tub of butter “Eat up, she'll be here within the hour.” Placing down the plate he returned to the kitchen and came back with a mug in each hand.
“Thank you.” Mitch said as he took a hold of his mug once it was handed to him.
“So, as I was saying.” Jasper began, sitting across from him once more. “You don't need to be nervous, we will do fine with her here.”
“I'm more worried about her than I am about how we will deal with her being here.” Mitch replied, taking some toast and the dull butter knife that was left on the side of the plate.
“Ah whatever.” Jasper mocked, waving off his concern with a smile “With her around you can also take some time off to actually see your family and friends.”
“I still want to be there to help though.” He replied rather sullenly, “Sounds like you want someone to replace me.”
“Not at all.” Jasper replied hastily, picking up his mug to take a sip. “I just want you to also have time to spend with your own family and to catch up on studies.”
Mitch took his cup and drank some as well, Jasper always used far too much milk but any time Mitch mentioned it he would forget by the next time he went to make some, so he decided to just live with overly milky tea. “I guess yeah.” He replied once he placed the cup down “But I still want to help as much as I can.”
“Well, don't worry about that this week. You have friends coming up after all, I'll take Lara out and I can show her the ropes while you stay here and enjoy some relaxation time.”
They spent some time silently enjoying their slightly burnt toast and respectively overly milked beverage until they heard a buzzer sound from the lobby. “They might have arrived early.” Jasper said, checking his watch before walking out of the dining room.
Mitch made sure to make the place presentable first, taking the plates and empty mugs back to the kitchen to wash them. With how long it would take the gates to open he had plenty of it to clean and dry the plate and two cups before heading out into the main hall himself.
Jasper was waiting now with a smile across his face “Only a half hour early, leave it to Nick. Never on time, always early or late by a large margin.”
Mitch was feeling increasingly nervous now as he suddenly thought about all the things that he had said to her. He wasn't even sure if she knew that she was going to be killed if she had said no. He had talked with Jasper before and he mentioned even if she was informed, it would be best to not bring something like that up.
Jasper patted his back a few times “Come on, get those nerves out and let's make a good third impression.”
“Yeah, you're right.” Mitch agreed, straightening his usual slumped posture while Jasper opened up the door to show Nick getting out of his van outside, then opening the passenger's side to let Lara out. Her arm obviously had healed by this point and she looked like some colour had come back to her face through most likely eating properly and not vomiting due to stress. “Hey!” she would call out with a wave, despite retaining some weight she looked much healthier than before.
“Hey!” Mitch would respond, returning the wave while Jasper stood with his arms crossed next to him.
“It's nice to see you are alright.” Jasper added, visibly examining her “You also look like you have recovered quite well from that injury.”
“Thank you” She swiftly responded as she carried up her rather small suitcase. “I'm happy you'll both have me.”
“Three of us.” Jasper corrected with as close to a smile you could get through that furrowed brow and serious face “My wife lives here too, though she does not work with spirits.”
Lara looked slightly taken aback by his demeanour, which led to Mitch joking “Don't worry, he always looks like an angry beanbag. She still knows about the work we do.”
It was met with a swift, but light slap to the back of his head “I do not!” he huffed, causing the thick whiskers of his moustache to shift.
Mitch could only imagine what Lara must be thinking right now, one being “What have I gotten myself into?” Or “I have to live with these people?” Either or she still kept a smile on her face.
“Are we gonna come in, or stand out here all day?” Nick would ask from behind Lara “It's kinda cold.”
“I don't think you can, no.” Jasper mocked, uncrossing his arms and stepping aside for Lara “Come on in Lara. You can stay outside Nick.”
Though as Lara walked past Nick would push his way past Jasper and they shared a chuckle. Mitch closed the front door once everyone was inside and turned to ask “So, Lara is safe to stay with us now?”
“Not entirely just yet.” Nick explained as he took out a letter from inside his jacket “We will be doing some routine checkups for a while to make sure you are fitting in.” He turned to Lara as he explained and handed her the letter “But you are fine to live and work here with them.”
“I'm glad you'll both have me.” Lara repeated, offering a hand which Jasper and Mitch would in turn shake.
“It's nice to have someone else around here.” Jasper responded, one could almost say there was a hint of happiness in his tone.
“I guess we should get to work as soon as we can then.” Mitch added “Got a lot to catch up on.”
Jasper put a hand on his head and pushed it down after “Not you, you'll be staying in your own home for a few days.”
“Awh come on” He said annoyedly, pulling away from his hand and standing upright to fix his hair. He wanted to argue his case, but felt that it would be best to not do such a thing in front of guests so he stayed silent.
Nick would fix up his jacket after they were done and said “For now, I guess I should run back to Dublin.”
“Bad idea.” Jasper said which caused Nick to stop once he had turned and waited for elaboration. “The van would be much faster.”
Nick wound up letting out a snort of a laugh before shaking his head and walking to the door “I didn't know you still had a sense of humour.”
“A bad sense of humour is what he has.” Mitch added through Jasper’s laughing at his own joke.
“The world is full of surprises, isn't it?” Jasper asked with a slight smile creeping across his face that was almost hidden behind his moustache and beard.
Once Nick had left and the door was closed he turned to the two and said “Now that he's gone. How about a tour Lara?”
“That would be nice, yes.” She said, while she was good at hiding how she was feeling, the slightest gestures were enough to speak worlds about how she felt. She was fidgeting quite often when she wasn't holding her bag and swayed slightly while standing idle.
“We have a room ready for you to call your own too.” Jasper said, walking ahead to the dining hall. “Mitch” He added once there “You can head off home while I show Lara around.”
“Well, be sure to call me for work then.” Mitch said knowing at this point he was going to refuse to call him.
Through the rest of the tour, Lara was rather quiet. Jasper noted her quiet nature before he came to the final room of his tour. “A room for yourself, It's not much but you can personalise it however you want.” He had removed one of the runes from an old room to clean it up and make it livable.
“Thank you for your hospitality.” She would say quietly at the end, walking inside the room “I'd like to spend some time settling in if that's okay?”
“Of course. Come find me if you would like anything.” He added before leaving her to her own devices.
Lara sat on the single bed she had been given, looking around the rather empty room that had only a window outside where she could see the entrance gate. “A new home...” She mumbled, throwing herself back to lay across the bed.
The nerves were something that could easily get to anyone in this situation, a sudden shift in a view of the world and then being thrown into generic training where it felt like anyone outside of the immediate teachers were looking down on her.
“It beats the hospital.” She thought, and it was a reassuring one when she thought back on the state she had been in before being taken into this life.
Once the sun began to set and she had a few hours rest she decided to leave her room and venture into the halls, the rays of light shining into the room slowly shrinking along with those in the hall of this new home she wasn't familiar with.
These halls felt so vague and unfamiliar to her, but she remembered her way to the lower floors. The runes slashed across most of the doors was an unnerving sight for someone who was not used to this kind of life and she couldn't even fathom why the doors were locked this tight.
Curiosity would take the best of her when she stopped by one of the doors. There was this strong feeling behind it, something that she had felt before when living alone. It was enough to send shivers down her spine as she walked up close to the door and reached out, running her hand along the left tilted triangle with a strange symbol she didn't understand in the centre all encased in a circle with spikes on it.
As she traced her hand over it she would gasp and pull it away once the rune itself began to glow faintly at her touch. A quick glance between her hand and the door was all it took for the glowing to stop. “Was that me?” She asked quietly, but ultimately decided that it would be best to not mess with things she didn't understand.
She decided to leave it be and continued going downstairs where she heard some talking in the dining area. “It's for your own good, we will be fine tonight.” She heard Jasper say, gently knocking on the door once she reached it.
“Just spend the night relaxing or studying. I have to go.” She heard him finish, before opening the door “Oh, hello Lara.” He said warmly “Anything I can do for you?”
“Well, really I thought we had jobs and stuff to do at night, right?” She asked, shrinking back into a slouched position when talking to the rather large and well built older man.
“That would be right, I was going to come get you in a short while.” He nodded, stepping aside and motioning to follow inside. “We can talk it over at the table here.”
There were already folders spread across the table, all labelled from one to five. Jasper sat down on the right side of the table and said “Please take a seat.” Motioning to the one directly to his left that sat at the end of the table facing the other end.
Once she pulled the chair back and sat with him he pulled the folders close and laid them out “Normally I would let you pick, but since it will be your first night with us I chose the order we will do them for the week from easiest to most difficult.” He pulled up the first folder and set it in front of her “This is how we get our jobs, sent to us in these folders that contain what we need to start.”
After a hesitant look at Jasper, she picked it up and opened it, pulling out the thick sheets of paperwork to examine them. The first sheet was a very formal looking document with several boxes labelled with things such as “Poltergeist, fiend, demon, imp.” And so forth, this one being ticked as “Restless spirit?”
The next section under was a place to write the general problem which was written in cursive saying “Thomas Lenne has passed away recently and it has come to our attention that his family are seeking an exorcist under suspicion that he has not yet passed on. Strange noises are heard at night from his room, and some claim to still hear him talking.”
Lara shivered as she read how... informal this all was, dealing with someone's afterlife being turned into a simple text box. Could that be what people are reduced to in the eyes of this family crossed her mind as she flipped the sheet to find an image of Thomas in a pair of shorts and a button up Hawaiian shirt at a party. She had to get to know his face for this line of work so she took note of the large beard, small nose, full cheeks, and rather large ears.
The next sheet had directions to the house which was closer to Dublin than Carlow so it was going to be a long trip. After that was a set of nearly ten sheets that contained a similar format to the first sheet but were to be filled in once they had investigated the spirit and then promptly stated this must be mailed back to the family.
This one came with another sheet specifically for Lara, which showed what equipment she was going to need for hauntings like this with diagrams of each item and how they worked and what they were used for specifically. It came with a little signature at the bottom that read “I hope this helps. Nick.”
She would spend some time reading through all the pages once she lay them out in front of her, leaving the paperwork stacked off to the side. “So, this is how people's deaths are handled?” she asked, concerned.
“This is the nice way of doing it.” Jasper replied with a confident nod “Everything is kept this informal to prevent workers from getting too emotionally damaged from a horrific line of work every day. It begins to wear down your sanity if you get emotionally invested in every spirit we work with.”
“I guess that makes sense.” she responded, keeping her attention on the sheets. “Is Mitch going to come too?” She asked.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Not tonight, I told him to stay home and rest while we take the easy work.” Jasper took out his own notebook and flipped it open in his hand, taking a pen and crossing something out before he closed it over and slipped it back into his pocket. “Now, let me show you how to stock up before we leave, you can get familiar with the paperwork in the car.”
“Of course.” Lara stammered, putting all of the sheets back into the folder in the order that she took them out, except for the one that stated what she should be bringing with her and how it works.
Jasper led her into the kitchen where he unlocked the closet and showed her the walls of the very small step in space were lined with materials listed on the sheet such as holy water, blessed salt, the jolt tonics, and bag of smelling salts.
Her sheet said for this kind of job what she would need would be at worst one vial of holy water and one bag of salt. She took the two materials and placed the vial into her pocket. Jasper showed her quickly how he would tie the rope of the pouch around his belt and she did the same before Jasper walked out and closed the door, locking it once more. “So, now that we are prepared we can go to the car and start the trip out there.”
“Is it usually this far out?” She would ask, leaving the kitchen.
Jasper nodded, opening the front door “We are usually given the further away jobs one's people don't want so they can be anywhere.”
Once she stepped outside Jasper turned back to call out “We are heading out, I'll lock the door, love you and stay safe!” into the manor before he locked the door.
The next step was the car, where Lara felt she should be entering from the back seat. Jasper decided to say nothing and allow her to sit where she was comfortable as he entered the drivers side. “So, Lara.” He said, sliding the keys into the car, pulling his door closed. “Tell me a bit about yourself, it'll be a long drive.”
“Me?” She asked, somehow she seemed taken aback at the question. “There isn’t much to know. I studied a bachelor's degree in maths at Trinity college and spent most of my time there alone since I left my family to live closer to the college.”
“What led you to carlow then?” He asked while he turned on the radio, lowering it down to have some generic music in the background.
Once I finished college I was institutionalised for a while..” She explained sadly, staring down at her hands that rested across her lap.
“I've never liked those institutions.” Jasper said sternly, drumming his fingers along the wheel. “I used to work in one when I was younger as a therapist.”
She nodded along when he talked, waiting until he was finished to say “I wasn't released long before I met you two. They let me out and I moved into a cheap apartment with the money I had left over from my time working during college. Few weeks later, I was in the hospital for hurting myself in a fit, then a few weeks after that I was in for breaking my own arm.”
“Which is a rather good thing, I would say.” Jasper smiled through the mirror in hopes she saw and understood he was joking “I could only imagine how it feels to see all of this, and have no one believe you.”
“Wouldn’t have been long before I was sent to an asylum.” She sighed, quietly running a finger along the back window, wiping up a few droplets of condensation.
“How long have you seen these things?” He asked.
“As long as I can remember, my parents said I used to scream crying every night as a baby. The older I got, the more I hid my fear from my family because I was just treated as a problem any time I tried to explain it.”
“Clearly no one believed you, yeah?” He asked once more, shooting a quick glance in the mirror to see her sullen expression facing towards the window.
“Yeah, It is a very hard thing to believe. I hardly believed you until I saw it with my own eyes.”
Jasper responded. “I understand. Certainly a bizarre world we really live in.”
She fell silent for a few moments, still struggling with this revelation no doubt. “No need to worry about day jobs too.” Jasper added. “We get paid per case we take by the family, and that gets divided among us.”
“Well that is a relief.” she chuckled half heartedly in response, looking out the window to survey the town as they drove through “Hopefully I can learn quickly.”
“Hey, two weeks.” Jasper said “To learn the basics in that time is pretty good. I have high hopes for you.”
She didn't say it, but that helped her feel somewhat better about this situation.
The drive itself was rather uneventful as Lara felt far too nervous about what was coming to be able to focus on and she spent most of it reading over the file they were given.
Over an hour later they arrived at the house in the middle of a suburban area where Jasper looked over Lara before reaching into the glove box, which was full of keys, pulling out a set identical to the rest. “Let's get this over with quickly.”
She got out of the car and followed him to the front door where Jasper hastily opened and walked inside, urging her to do the same. She quickly entered and asked “What's the rush?”
“We wan't to avoid others seeing our faces when we take jobs in public housing.” He explained once he locked the door behind them “The family should be gone for the night, part of the requirement to have us here.”
Lara looked around the rather average house which had a living room to their right and stairs leading upward to the furthest left, straight down the corridor was a kitchen from what they could tell in the dark hallways. It reminded her of the home she grew up in, though that wasn't always a good thing.
“Watch your eyes.” Jasper said as he flicked on the light, not really giving her much time to brace herself when she was nearly blinded for a brief moment having travelled up here in the dark. This was where he expected the snarky remark about being flashbanged, but that would have been from Mitch if he was here.
While she rubbed her eyes Jasper walked up the stairs quickly “Come now” he said “We can't keep a spirit waiting.”
“Alright, I'm coming.” She grumbled, blinking repeatedly until her vision returned to normal. Once she was done she felt the air about them had gotten... colder, something felt off from upstairs so she warned “Be careful, there's something up there.”
Jasper stopped in his tracks halfway up the stairs and looked back at her “How... Can you tell?” He asked somewhat concernedly. He came back down to check the walls around her and found there were no scouting runes, nothing of the sort on her person either.
“I can just feel it.” She said, not exactly sure how to explain it “Always have been able to feel when an episode was about to come on. It always gets really cold.”
“Could you... perhaps pinpoint where it is upstairs?” He asked, still taken aback by this.
Lara shook her head and said “No, it's just cold here and it feels like it's coming from upstairs.”
“Well then, be sure to stay behind me.” Jasper warned as he walked up the stairs once more, this time with Lara in tow.
Now that they were up here though Lara looked about at the bathroom in front of them and the three rooms lining the hallway all with their doors closed. She shooed Jasper aside as she could feel something even stronger here, starting to get goosebumps as the temperature felt like it had dropped even more.
Jasper watched her close, deciding it would be best to let this go ahead on such a simple job. She walked between each door, placing her hand on them until she made it to the furthest side of the hall, placing her hand onto the door before she said “I think it's this one.”
“Then allow me to go ahead.” Jasper urged, placing a hand onto her shoulder.
She stepped away from the door, holding her arms close against her chest shivering. “It gets coldest here.”
“Well, it is good to know you are in tune with them.” he assured, taking hold of the handle to push it open.
Once opened they would find what they were told to expect. Thomas was still lingering in his home, but clearly only a shell of his former self as he stood in the centre of the room. He had a thousand yard stare and hardly even acknowledged that they entered the room.
No matter how prepared she was, Lara couldn’t stifle her gasp. She steeled herself once more when Jasper looked back at her. “Shock is expected at first, just don’t let it get in the way of your work.” He assured her.
Thomas shuffled slightly in place to face them, though not much else came from him. “Well, It seems the family were correct in their assumptions.” Jasper thought aloud “Did you bring your dagger?”
Lara felt over her pockets frantically from top to bottom before she said “Uh.. I think I left it on my bed” she said before she reached inside of her jacket “Wait, maybe not!” Pulling a rather plain and dull looking knife from inside.
“Looks like they gave you a burner one then.” Jasper said with a hint of sarcasm “But a better question is did they show you how to enter a spirit form?”
“They showed me how to, though I wasn’t very good with it.” She admitted nervously.
“Don’t worry about it.” Jasper said, turning his attention back to Thomas. “I wouldn’t subject you to doing this on your first job.”
Lara would quietly watch for now, not wanting to say anything and interrupt Jasper's train of thought. She watched him take a few steps back and hold his hands out where she could feel the natural magic of the room begin to swirl around him, all rushing to the centrepoint of his hands. She wanted to take mental notes of what was going on, but how do you try and even fathom what was going on here?
When enough came through he clasped his hands together and stepped out of his own body in a much more vague humanoid form.
“We start by grasping the spirit.” It took Lara by surprise how casual he explained it given the current circumstances. “We wan’t to comfort them, usually we do this by sharing a part of ourselves.”
Before she had time to ask, Jasper explained to her “I’ll show you how to do all of this another time. For now pay close attention.”
He placed both of his hands onto the spirits shoulders, his hands almost latching onto place giving off a light glow. She took note of how Jasper's expression changed from that furrowed brow and stern glare into a much softer expression of sadness.
She had an idea of what was going on since she had studied most of the theory of how the family operated, though she never saw it in action.
Jasper broke one hand away after a few moments and said “From here, we disperse their spirit.” and in one swift movement he pulled his dagger out and jammed it directly into Thomas’ chest, causing Lara to cringe and back up.
Though she saw the spirit was once again unmoved, he didn’t react to the blade in his chest or mana in the room swirling around him. “It’s time to rest.” Jasper said as he pushed the knife in deeper until the handle was pressed against his chest, violently twisting it once it was in which caused the man's form to break apart into those spectral orbs of energy that began to make their way back to the earth.
“Now, this is the hard part.” Jasper said before returning to his physical body. He had to take a moment to get used to being able to feel his body again while Lara just looked increasingly nervous surveying their surroundings.
“I.. I can feel something coming.” She stammered, pulling out that simple dagger to hold in both hands at once. Her hands were trembling as she heard the clicking of teeth and rushed, tiny footsteps.
“Can you tell how many there are?” Jasper asked calmly, pulling her back into the room so she would be standing behind him “I’ve dealt with these for years, you will be fine. Just be careful and stick behind me.”
She nodded nervously, closing her eyes in hopes that that would allow her to tune into the feeling more “Something is coming up the stairs..” though that one was easy enough even for Jasper since he could hear its desperate scurries for food.
“Then there’s another one in the street, and what feels like a larger one?” she seemed unsure of that last one but felt it was information that needed to be shared even if it made her sound stupid.
“If one gets close, stab it, preferably in the head or where the heart should be.” Jasper explained before shoving the door open to an imp that was already ready to pounce.
It wasted no time jumping at him the moment he opened the door. Jasper was prepared for that and swiped at it mid air, catching the creature's arm with the blade, smacking it into the wall where it fell to the ground with a screech of pain.
She couldn’t help feeling bad for the creature as it writhed in pain. The screeches were enough to make her stomach twist.
Jasper made quick work of it once it was on the ground, stabbing his blade down into its head which caused it to disperse as the spirit had beforehand.
“It’s coming fast!” She called out as the next imp would dart up the stairs, sticking low to the ground in hopes of taking them off with its speed.
Jasper had been working long enough to know all of the imps tricks and quickly sent a boot into its face, kicking the creature back through the hall until it hit the wash basket beside the bathroom. He quickly stepped forward and stabbed through this one's chest before it had time to recover. “Best we get out of here quickly.” He added.
“There’s still that large one.” Lara added nervously, looking down over the bannister “It’s waiting outside, not coming in.”
Even Jasper became somewhat concerned by that, it was unlike an imp to hesitate. “How big are we talking?”
“Much larger than Thomas.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Jasper grumbled, holding his dagger close while he began to take the steps one by one. Caution the best approach to an unknown variable. There was no telling what would be behind that door, and if it was bigger than an imp it was going to be a much bigger problem. “Be prepared to run if I tell you to.”
She nodded in response, holding her own knife against her chest “Alright, sir.”
They could have used their daggers to cut the tension in the air as Jasper came to the bottom of the steps. Since Lara hadn’t stated otherwise he assumed the creature was still on the other end of the door.
He reached out and placed a hand onto the door handle, taking a deep breath before he swung it open. Lara couldn’t help but flinch in anticipation before there was a loud crash from below which caused her to scream and cover her face. Removing her hands from her face quickly she looked down to see Jasper had been knocked backwards down the hall, taking some of the picture frames off the wall with him “Jasper!” She shouted out, beginning her rapid descent.
Her movement would soon be halted as he shouted out “Wait there!” In pain, slowly pulling himself up into a sitting position to watch the large shadowy figure crouch down to be able to step through the door.
Once it was inside it stood tall once more, its head close to touching the roof, its form was slender and malnourished to the point its bare ribs were on display. Its arms hung motionless at either side of its body with a set of long, thin claws that themselves almost reached to the floor and its face was only discerned by its rounded shape and a pair of white eyes and pierced the blackness of its form.
There wasn’t really anywhere for Lara to run being on the staircase and Jasper was still recovering from that hard hit back. Though his clothes were unchanged, he had certainly taken a hit directly to his chest which left large gashes across his soul.
He wasted no time taking a vial of holy water and splashed it across himself, though not as powerful as a concoction to heal the wounds of the soul, it was useful to stop any excess magic from seeping out and causing further damage.
The creature would begin making its way towards Jasper as he struggled to pull himself off the ground. It seemed to have no care for Lara as it didn’t even glance in her direction. When it got half way down the hall she made it to the bottom of the stairs and stood with her back to the entrance. Knife in her hands as she held it out, hands trembling as she got ready to take a stab.
Jasper was shouting at her to run as the open door was behind her, she couldn’t tear her view away from it getting closer to him as he backed up into the kitchen.
Taking a tight grip on the dagger she was given she didn’t want to disobey a direct order from the man she was now working under either.
There was only one choice of action she could think of, which was to do both. “I’m sorry!” She shouted out as she raised the dagger and slammed it down into the creature's back while its attention was on Jasper before she rushed out the door into the dark streets.
Its screech of agony filled the streets, though only those in tune with the spirit world would be able to hear such a frightening sound echo from the family home.
Its gasps of pain as it thrashed against the bannisters gave Jasper enough time to get to his feet once he felt the kitchen sink at his back. He placed a hand up on it so he could raise himself to his feet, though they were shaking his legs were still able to hold him upright after a moment once he caught his breath.
“You’re certainly a big one.” He joked, laughing weakly as he watched it try to grasp the blade which caused it to screech once more.
He took up his dagger and thrusted it forward quickly in an attempt to catch the shade off guard, but his hand was slapped away.
With a loud grunt, he grabbed the salt pouch off of his belt with his free hand. Taking a fist full of salt he slung it into the creature's eyes when it attempted to strike him once again.
It staggered back further into the thin hallway grasping at its face as the salt began to burn its way through its form.
While it was staggered, Jasper took his chance and turned on the tap. Once water was flowing he rinsed his blade through it and shook it off so it was only slightly wet.
Stepping forward once again he plunged the blade into the salt pouch before pulling it out and thrusting forward once more into the shades chest, making a loud sizzling noise as the blade plunged deeper into its form.
This time Jasper moved away quickly as it swiped at him, leaving the blade stuck into its chest.
Lara wouldn’t have run too far before her fear for her own safety was replaced with the fear for Jasper's safety. Standing by a street lamp at the end of the street she couldn’t help but look back and wonder if he was safe, and also the grim possibility that he could be seriously harmed or worse from that thing.
“He said to run…” She tried to explain to herself, pacing back and forth by the street light. “I would only get in his way…” Several thoughts passed through her mind of whether she might even be the reason he gets hurt if she tried to get involved.
“But…” She said, stopping her pacing and turning her attention back to the house she ran from. A voice slipped into her mind “What if he dies because I ran.” a disembodied voice she often tried to ignore but found it very hard to refute any points it made.
“I could be the reason he dies.” It repeated, her hands beginning to tremble at the very thought of it. “I need to help him then.” She said, starting to walk towards the house but the voice would once again whisper to her “But then again… Helping could also be the reason he dies.”
She stopped dead in her tracks at the thought of it, thinking hard on what she should do. “I’m not built for this, he’s the expert, right?”
“It hurt him a lot.” She responded to herself, shaking herself off and following the path once more towards the house.
“I could get in his way.”
“I am being trained to work on this with him, I have to be okay taking some chances.” She spat back. The internal argument was often something that would cause her to always lock up and prevent her from making the important decisions that had to be made in life. “I’m going in there, whether you like it or not.” The voice fell silent. Lara took that as her chance to stop debating with herself and charge back towards the house.
Once she came to the door of the house she saw the creature reeling back, that screech of pain enough to shake her resolve and activate her feelings of flight.
She froze once more, her face turning pale and her legs about to buckle under her. She wasn’t built for this. She only knew the theory, on paper she was useless… Eventually, she went numb, running up through the hall she grabbed the dagger in its back, pulling it out quickly and stabbing it back in lower down into its back. This would cause it to screech in pain once more and turn as fast as it could, which caused the dagger to slip out of her hand.
Now that it was looming over her, her resolve would melt away and she was only left with a sensation of utter terror as she stared into the cold, dead sockets of the creature.
As she froze up and the shade looked down on her, Jasper said out from the other side “The water, Lara!”
She would hear him, but it took her a moment to react before she fumbled with the bottle. She grabbed it from her pocket and tried to quickly uncork it as she stepped back.
The shade was moving closer with each moment, though its movement’s were sluggish. It was clearly weakened now as it stepped across the fallen photo frames with the crunches of glass.
Once it was upon her she continued to struggle with taking the cork out and found herself staring up at it as it was upon her, she was too slow.
Though the creature stood still, unmoving as it stared down at her. She wasn’t sure what was happening, the world felt like it had come to a standstill in this tiny hallway that barely had enough room to hold this creature's height.
After a moment it would begin to fade away, the smoke separating from its form until the dagger embedded into its chest fell to the floor and the creature was no more.
Jasper stood on the other side, clutching Lara’s dagger as he fixed his scruffy hair, handing her back her dagger “Hesitation can lead to death.”
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked, her nervous demeanour taking over once the fight or flight sensation left and though the adrenaline was still there it just caused her to shiver as she talked.
“I’ll be fine.” Jasper huffed grumpily. “I appreciate the attempt, but if you do that again be sure you can actually open the damn thing.”
“I’m sorry..” She mumbled, looking down at the floor and clasping her hands together “I’ll be more careful next time…”
He put the empty vial into his pocket and sighed, picking up his dagger off the ground and putting it into its sheath on his waist. “Don’t get so down. Be happy we are both still alive. That is the best outcome.”
He flipped the blade in his hand to hold the blade and held it out to her “You can always do better next time.”
She hesitantly reached out and took the handle “Thank you. Is it always this dangerous..?”
Jasper paused for a moment before he boastfully laughed and said “There was never really any danger. You were perfectly safe, I could have ended that at any moment.”
Lara was left in a pause, unsure how to take such a revelation but she asked “So you just… let that play out..?”
“Yep.” He stated tersely, “Come on, home time.” He motioned for her to head back out to the car.
She didn’t feel like conversing at this time and silently returned to the car while Jasper set the alarm in the home and locked the door behind himself, slipping the key through the letterbox.
“What was that?” Lara asked once they were in the car and her curiosity got the better of her nerves, her hands still trembling as she struggled to sit still in her seat.
Jasper turned on the gas and pulled out back into the street before he responded “A shade. They are certainly much more rare than the imps we usually deal with.”
That was enough of an explanation for her, but he continued “They are the interim of an imp and a demon for natural born imps.
She wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but felt a lecture would come on if she specifically asked about it so she nodded along with it and lay her head against the window.
Jasper looked at her through the mirror and decided to turn on the radio at a low volume, neither of them wanted a lecture right now.