The Ghost Town

This time around, Aegeas didn't let go. He gripped the man's hand tightly, blinking away tears and trying to press his fur down with the other. "W-what was wrong with her?" Aegeas said. "Why did she scream? Why did she attack us?"

"She's something called a partial. It's a type of ghost," Dean said, checking the street before he pulled Aegeas into it. He kept his bat out in front of him. If another partial tried to surprise either one of them, he would be prepared. "Ghosts in general are stuck between life and death, but partials are even more trapped. While most of their soul passes on, a small part is determined to stick around. They fixate on whatever made them stay, and, if they're weak enough, can even be controlled."

He gestured behind him as they hurried past the houses leading up to the building. "That lady back there was strangled to death - there was handprints on her neck. The last thing she focused on was a will to survive, and partials like that are absolutely terrible at distinguishing friend from foe."

"She was dead?" Aegeas said. Suddenly, he regretted running away without his swords in hand. As though that'd do anything against the dead. "Was she the only one out there?" He frantically glanced up and down the rain-soaked street of the town, looking for any odd silhouettes as Dean dragged him towards a building. Aegeas could smell a fire, and relaxed ever so slightly - that had to be where Lasan was.

Cornyx fell in behind them, glancing back towards the woods where the partial had been. His senses were on overload and he knew that the moment the adrenaline faded he'd go back to being too sensitive to follow everything that was happening. His dark gaze scanned their surroundings for more ghosts.

He heard Cornyx fall into step behind them, the others having already returned to the building. Dean had been through an explanation like this hundreds of times. It was boring and repetitive, but it was part of the job. He kept his grip tight as he brought Aegeas to the front of the building. "I know it's hard to handle, but, yes, she was dead. Ghosts looked surprisingly a lot like you me - they're not transparent, and only partials tend to flicker. The regular ones have all of their soul, so manifesting a physical form isn't all that difficult. What's hard is getting normal people like you to see it."

He glanced behind them for a quick second. "And I'm not sure about that second question. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there are, but I've only noticed that partial. Who, by the way, is definitely going to come after us again."

Aegeas stared up at the building. He shook his head to get some more of the mud off. "So," he said, looking back at the man with the bat, "You're telling me that we're being attacked by at least one dead person, who, somehow, I can see, and I'm guessing there's no way to kill what's already dead." As much as he wanted to make a snarky comment about how he wasn't a 'normal person,' he realized that neither the time nor his emotional state made it worthwhile. Besides, it was pretty obvious the man was referring to someone like himself, someone who did know about and interact with these ghosts.

"At least there's the others," Aegeas muttered, opening the door.

"The only way you can get a ghost to permanently go away is to get it to pass on," he said, following Aegeas into the house. "The stuff on Supernatural looks cool and all, but it doesn't exactly work that simply. Burning the bones, salting the body - all of that is just fiction."

Dean already wasn't liking the feeling he was getting about this partial in particular. He had just come from a case with another one, and that one had ended poorly in comparison to some of his previous ones. He rubbed his neck. Oh, this time he was definitely going to die. There was no doubt about it. Now how could he get away with it when no one was looking? She likely had been killed in the woods - partials love to fixate on things and places. So he had to wait until this small little group was thoroughly distracted and protected by either holy water or salt. Neither of which was in great supply at the moment.

He sighed.

"What happened?" Zalio questioned, getting to his feet when he saw the three enter.

"We confirmed my theory by getting attacked by a ghost," Dean casually said, plopping himself down in front of the fire.

Aegeas was tired of all this talk about ghosts and death and the supernatural. As soon as he saw the roaring fire in front of him, he realized how cold he was. Teeth chattered, clothes clung to his fur, mud fell off in small clumps around him. He took a few steps towards the fire and sat down, crossing his arms and feeling the warmth slowly seep into his chest.

And then he found himself buried in a coat.

"Lasan," Aegeas said, voice muffled by the fabric, "Your coat is bigger than me."

The otter could hear Lasan sit down next to him - Lasan's frame was big enough to make the floorboards creak. "Well, you need it more than I do," Lasan said. "I feel warm enough now."

Feeling his way around, Aegeas finally found the collar of the coat and poked his head out through it. He stared at the fire intently. "Thanks," he mumbled.

Lasan pulled his knees to his chest, also focusing on the fire. "No problem," he said. "It's been a long day, but I don't want it to be a pain for everyone."

Cornyx slipped inside behind Dean and stood towards the back of the room in his usual, silent, unassuming fashion, fading into the background.

"Let me get this straight," Kartiel said, scooting over to where Dean was. "You got attacked by a ghost?"

"Aegeas did, too, if that helps," Dean helpfully added, holding his hands up in front of the fire. It felt good to get some warmth. There was little reason to be concerned about having too low of a body temperature, but the warmth was just the destressor he needed.

"A ghost?" said Lasan, turning his head to look back at Dean and Kartiel. Then, realizing that Aegeas also had the answer, stared down at the otter.

It took a few seconds for Aegeas to respond, mainly because the otter didn't seem to notice Lasan at first. "Dead people. It's complicated."

Lasan couldn't help but feel pity. Aegeas looked miserable, wrapped up in a coat and watching the flames. Whatever had happened during and after the fight had clearly shaken him up, and Lasan blamed some of that on himself. He'd helped set up the end to the fight, after all. He reached out and gave Aegeas a hug.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Aegeas said after a couple of seconds, "But I'm a little uncomfortable being hugged by a guy who isn't wearing a whole lot."

"Right, sorry," said Lasan, letting go and wincing.

"It's not that complicated," Dean chimed in after the awkward moment passed, thereby creating another awkward moment in the process. "That ghost wanted to vengeance so she tried to murder us. Simple as that."

"She what?" Charlotte asked. Maybe he didn't want someone like her in Heaven after all; he had enough to worry about without the endless slew of questions from her and her companions.

He sighed. "Look, ghosts are real. They're created from someone's soul when they die, if they have strong enough regrets about their life. If that regret is just a little too weak, they become a partial and try to make things right. Unfortunately, those ghosts tend to suffer violent bloody deaths and then make the word of the poor paranormal investigator a hundred times more difficult. Questions?"

No one spoke.

"Good," he said, getting to his feet. He couldn't focus when there was so much to do. "Now, I'm going to need some water and some salt. I doubt anyone here has that, so we're going to have to leave as a group and go look for some. Under no circumstances should you leave the near vicinity without at least one other person with you - namely me - or we might be finding your dead body a few minutes later."

"Water should be easy to find," said Aegeas, pulling off the overcoat and throwing it over Lasan's head. Now that the mud had dried somewhat, it was easier to spot. Not easier to rip out, but at least he could get rid of most of the rest of it. "Where do you expect to find any salt?"

Lasan tried to push the overcoat back into Aegeas's hands. "You need it more than I do," he said, "I feel pretty warm already."

Aegeas stepped back. "You're going to freeze out there without it, so no. You're too nice for your own good sometimes."

After a brief hesitation, Lasan put on the overcoat, squeezing it past his snout. "So are you," he mumbled; Aegeas chose to ignore it.

Standing up and swiveling around, Aegeas said to the team's leader, "Ready to go?"

"I am," Dean confirmed, already heading towards the door as he spoke.

Water, like Lasan had said, would be relatively easy to find - though not because the entire place was drenched in it. That would require gathering it, and he had no idea how to even begin doing that without some sort of spell. Seeing that his brother wasn't here with them at the moment, he would have to do things the old-fashioned way.

Salt, on the other hand? They could go search the town for salt shakers, but there was a much better source of it - road salt. They might even find some iron tools if they were lucky, though he knew that the salt was going to be the best form of protection.

And the best way to keep everyone in one place when he left to go deal with the partial from earlier. After all, he was the only one with the actual weapon here.

Lasan waited for Dean to open the door - it was the polite thing to do - before stepping out into the rain. He was happy to have his hat on, because the drizzle had grown a bit thicker than he'd last remembered. Still, compared to last time, this was far more tolerable. Now that he was warm and cozy, he knew that he had at least a few hours. More than enough time to get what they needed.

He felt something poking his back. Whoops, he was standing in front of the door. He moved out of the way, allowing Aegeas to step out. The otter stretched and yawned, staring out at the expanse of rain.

"Where do you think they'd keep any salt?" Aegeas said. "There's not a lot of it where I come from, and I'm not familiar with a place like this."