Hecata on the Hunt 

Rain fell onto the pavement, as a historical house in Tacoma's Stadium district emanated a dark aura.

A three-floor house colored a dark blue, almost black, with thin white curtains in the windows, and a gothic woman standing on the sidewalk outside, holding a large umbrella, facing the front door.

She was an immensely pale woman with a thin and flat face, with long barely kept black hair. A thick pair of sunglasses covered hauntingly silver eyes adorned with spiky black mascara, and the rest of her outfit consisted of a snazzy black long coat, a white t-shirt portraying some abstract art on sorrow, and a pair of ripped black jeans, with extra wear on the joints.

However, she also had several key items within her coat and even had a leather utility belt of sorts that had a variety of bottles and tools, including a skeletal jawbone, which the woman put her hand on.

"Well, now or never, rise and shine Bellamy." The whites of her eyes turn pitch black, illuminating the silver among them even more, as a spectral figure appears over her shoulder.

Despite the transparency that comes with being a ghost, the figure still had a slight copper tone to their body, riddled with bruises, with a black funerary shroud making up their clothes.

With a large yawn and a stretch, they opened their eyes, the same pitch black as the woman's, and fluffed their short brown curls.

"G'evenin' Amets! Do we have another case?" Bellamy asked with a youthful grin on his face.

"Yep, and we're going to need to be in top shape for this one, so no slacking off."

"Aw man, and I'm still so tired..."

"Well they say people can rest when they're dead, so I can't fault you, but suck it up."

The young ghost noticed their friend's focused demeanor, as her eyes hadn't moved from the entrance to the house.

"You're really serious about this, what're we dealing with?"

"If what our client said was true," she began,

"It's an absolute disaster!" Said the ever-flashy Baron Fiore of Tacoma, as he sat across from Amets the evening previous in the dimly lit gothic bar, The Church Cantina.

"It's just a haunted house, isn't it? You must have at least a handful of other Hecata to handle it, even Tremere can do that much, or hell even a few of those Lasombra you poached from the Sabbat." Amets was deep in her latest book, despite Fiore's sudden appearance interrupting her evening.

"Ugh, believe me, I've tried every option I could tap, but some wouldn't even go near the thing, and the others could only tell me that something supernatural was going on. I'd send Labalaba, but if it's immensely dangerous I don't want her to get hurt, or worse."

"What am I, chopped liver?"

"No, you're a professional, my dear detective Amets. I know you took a bit of a Sabbat-ical these past couple of years, but you're the only one I can count on for this case in particular." Fiore said, seeming all too proud of his wordplay.

Amets looked up at him to match eyes, finding them truthful, but still kept her book open.

Fiore had been an ally of hers for many years, and he had even joined her on a few of her cases with ghosts and unruly spirits in the past, so seeing them now in the position of the Baron, and still coming to her, it was a weird sensation, to say the least.

"Tell me the details, and then I'll decide."

"We're on E street, lots of historically modeled houses that've been around for a while, long enough to gather a specter or two, but this one, in particular, has been causing trouble." Amets began in the present, reciting the information to her incorporeal companion

"Apparently there have been strange sounds and wails heard during the nights, as well as harsh screams every now and again. Plus, a string of bad luck and near-accidents have been afflicting the neighbors." She continued, pointing to skid marks in the soil where people slipped, and at least one broken window.

"Think we're dealing with another poltergeist or something more like a manifested grudge?"

"Well either of those would explain the effects on humans, but out of the past three Kindred who tried to make this house their haven, two haven't come back outside, and the one that did was in a sheer frenzy for a week, and even after that nearly goes into a panic attack at the mention of the house. I don't think even a deep seeded grudge would be able to harm a Kindred like that."

"What could it be then? There's not much else that I can imagine would work, except maybe a werewolf, but they're a bit more obvious in their attacks." Bellamy wondered, scratching his head.

"We won't exactly know until we go in, but...I have a feeling this is connected to the issues with the veil all around this city."

"Right, even the smallest opening isn't healing right. So, a gathering of spirits then?"

"Again, only one way to find out. Are you ready?"

Amets walked towards the front deck and closed her umbrella, tipped with a silver point, and flicked off some of the water along her path.

She held it in her hand, as she kept her free hand ready to reach inside her coat or for her belt. Bellamy, meanwhile, did what he did best, and kept an eye and ear peeled for any ghosts that were in the area. 

But as he did, and as the pair got closer, a dark feeling sparked his consciousness.

"Amets! There's something at the door!"

She focused her attention on the door, but nothing obvious appeared. "Do you see something, or feel something?"

"It's that weird feeling I've been getting every now and again, something dangerous is at the door, but I can't spot anything."

It was moments like these that Amets wished that whatever type of abilities he gained as a ghost were stronger, but at the end of the night it was better than nothing.

Drawing a silvered dagger, and brandishing her umbrella like a rapier, Amets moved forward towards the door, as Bellamy clutched to her shoulder as much as he could.

Producing the key that Fiore had given her, along with her 'prepayment' to get her in the best shape she could be, Amets unlocked the door, and the pair took a cautious first step into the house.

"So far, so go-" As both her feet crossed the threshold, the dark wood entryway was suddenly replaced with a dark void, and Amets dropped a few feet from where she stepped.

"Ah, this was the danger..." she whispered, half exasperated and half anxious.

As she looked into the darkness, and heard wails of the dead in the distance, along with a strange sound of scraping against stone, a single thought crossed her mind.

"I better get paid fucking extra for this."