Dance of the Gods

Cory knelt next to the corpse, his hand on her head. His face was resembling perfect tranquility. He haven't moved for a long while, in that time both Michael and Gerald made sure not to miss anything in the room.

They found twelve casings shot from the same position. They tried looking for the bullets too, but most of them had either went through the roof or were still stuck in the woman's body.

When they were done Cory still wasn't ready, so Michael had spent the time talking with Gerald, who was currently smoking a cigar.

"You know those things will kill you!" Said Michael and as an answer Gerald blew a puff of smoke in his face.

"If I die because of cigars instead of some corrupted, then I have lived a good life!" Said Gerald, while looking towards the night sky.

Below them the cops were still keeping away the few people who lived in the nearby buildings.

"Can't argue with that." Said Michael, then they both stayed silent occupied with their own gloomy thoughts.

After a while Michael sighed and looked towards his co-worker. "Do you think people like us have a happy ending?" Gerald glanced at him, then took a long drag of his cigar.

"I think its certainly possible... We just have to find the right circumstances to do so!" Suddenly a mischievous smile appeared on Michael's face. "So if I don't live like Ted, then I will be fine?"

They both laughed at that, which caused Gerald to start coughing. Eventually he began shaking his head, while looking outside.

"He really needs to take a break. Just because he doesn't age and won't die from natural causes doesn't make him truly immortal." Said Gerald, while Michael nodded along.

Being from the Lost path was truly a curse and a blessing at the same time.

The temperature slowly began to turn colder. The two of them looked at each other and sighed. They pulled out their weapons, they were loaded with Heavenly Bullets. It would've been stupid to summon a spirit without any insurance.

Behind them an ethereal glow appeared. The ghost resembled the dead woman, but she looked very peaceful. Down on the ground Cory kept the channel open for the two of them to ask questions.

The spirit turned towards them. Until Cory done his job well, she wouldn't cause any problem and they didn't need to do a forced exorcism.

"What's your name?" Asked Gerald with a firm voice. The ghost tried to move around, but she seemed to be shackled to the corpse below her.

Her eyes stayed closed, but her head moved around, like she was recognizing the room. At one point she turned towards her own body and tilted her head to the side. There was a bit of confusion on her face, but she wasn't at all disturbed by the sight of her own corpse.

"My name is... Mia Patton..." Her mouth moved, but the sound came from all around her. It was like a cold whisper... It felt really uncomfortable.

"How did you die Miss Patton?" Michael spoke this time and a small tremble went through the ghost's body. For one moment her ethereal glow turned black, but then it went back to its light blue color.

On the ground a small trail of sweat made its way down Cory's face. It wasn't easy to keep control of the spirit.

"It was a pair... They came asking questions from my mistress... Then they found my home... I let them find my home, I think... The female got through my anti-divination... She was the one who killed me..." The spirit's eyes moved under her closed eye lids, but they didn't open.

There were still so much Michael wanted to ask, but Gerald spoke before him.

"How did they do it? She shouldn't be able to kill someone of your order!" The question was interesting, but it seemed to distress the ghost quite a bit. She turned black again and this time it took longer for Cory to get her under control.

"She did it alone... I underestimated her... Even after I used Eye of Madness on her companion, she managed to kill me... There was something strange about her... When I was dying I saw it... Something strange is dwelling in her... Something old... Something from before the universe... Something Unknown..."

Slowly her body began to get absorbed in its previous blackness, but before she had fully awakened she spoke again.

"The end is nigh! You don't know what's going to happen, but I do, everyone on this side does!... You fight your battles and don't even know about the real threat..."

Her whole body turned black and her eyes opened, they were like two blackholes as they seeped in the light.

"LET THE HEAVENS TREMBLE!" She screamed and suddenly two gunshots resounded at the same time hitting her in both of her void-like eyes.

She wailed loudly, then dissolved into tiny particles, that slowly turned to nothing.

Michael and Gerald just stood there with their smoking revolvers pointed at the empty space. When they were sure that the spirit was destroyed they put their weapons away.

Down on the ground Cory was breathing heavily. He looked very tired and pale, but otherwise alright.

"Well, that wasn't very helpful..." He mumbled from the floor, then stood up, walked to a corner and without much ceremony proceeded to vomit his guts up.

This was a side effect of the summoning. Sever exhaustion combined with heavy nausea, and these only got worse with stronger spirits and longer summonings.

There wasn't much more they could do. What the ghost said meant little to Michael. Spirits tend to go insane after dying, so he took everything she said with a large grain of salt.

He was about to speak when he heard a commotion from a downstairs. He and Gerald walked to the large opening in the roof. Down there they saw two person walking into the house.

Michael knew instantly who the two of them were and made a few preparations in the room before they came up to the attic. Gerald on the other hand just stood at the ladder waiting for them to climb up.

The two people were a man and a woman. They were dressed as police inspectors, but they weren't really part of the police. The two Lawbringers stood straight as they looked around the large attic.

After a few seconds of silence they turned towards Gerald and Michael. Cory was still trying to catch his breath in the corner.

"Good night, seems like you beat us to the crime scene." Said the woman with a neutral voice, she looked above average, not as beautiful as most ascended, but also better than a normal human.

Michael made a quick examination of her looks. She had dirty blonde hair with green eyes. Her hands were placed on each other, but to the side a bit. They had a tiny tremble to them... 'She is nervous, probably new to the ascended life.'

Also, he spotted a tiny glint on her ring finger... 'A wedding ring. Pretty new by the looks of it, so she is freshly wed'

His eyes next went to her partner's hand, they were empty of a similar ring, but the two of them stood a bit too close to each other... 'They are either really good friends, or she is already cheating on her husband... or he just simply lost his wedding ring.'

The man looked a bit older, but still younger than Michael. He placed a hand on the woman's back, which caused a small smirk to appear on Michael's face... 'So, it's either the second or third option!'

The woman noticed his look and unconsciously leaned away from the man, which caused Michael's smile to turn into a grin... 'Cheater it is!'

There was no real importance to this information, but it was fun to observe people on so thoroughly, and it gave him an advantage in conversations.

"Good Night to you too, but I don't really understand why are you still here. As you know we were here first, so this is our case." Said Gerald, trying to remain friendly.

The man took a small step forward and took out a paper, which he handed to Michael. He quickly read through it, then handed it to Gerald. Behind them Cory arrived as well, he still looked awful, but at least the puking stopped.

"So you had a similar crime before?" Asked Gerald after reading through the document.

"Yes and by the Co-working Pact Section 3, we require you to hand over every evidence and give an accurate script of the spirit commune!" Said the woman and with a bit of reluctance they complied.

Gerald transcribed everything the ghost said to the man. His head perked up a bit when he told him about Mia Patton's mistress, this didn't escape Michael's eyes, but he pretended that he didn't see anything.

He was currently speaking to the Lawbringer woman, telling her all of his discoveries. She diligently wrote down everything. He purposefully dodged every question related to Veronica, which caused a bit of suspicion to rise in the woman.

"What are you hiding?" Asked the woman after Michael evaded another question, at which he just laughed and whispered to her ear, "You don't need to know that, but it's much better than an affair!"

The woman's face went pale causing Michael to smirk. In the next moment he walked away leaving the woman in a bewildered stupor.

At the entrance of the house he stopped dead in his tracks, then walked to the side and grabbed the pair of brown female shoes and part of a woman's dress. He looked up at the large opening in the roof, then laughed to himself and walked away.

...

– Red Swan –

Madam Sierra stared at the large mirror above her office. Her eyes seemed a bit dazed, like they were focused on a different point than the actual ceiling.

Suddenly they returned to normal and she shook her head. She was a bit dejected, but mostly annoyed...

"Seems like my cover is blown... That's irritating... Anyways, I should probably leave..."

She looked around the room, then something strange happened. She stared up at her reflection and her body suddenly broke into glass shards, which in turn dissolved into specks of dust.

On the ceiling her reflection remained looking down for a few moments, then she proceeded to stand up and walk away. She opened the reflection of the door, but the real one stayed the same.

She closed it behind her, leaving the room empty and unassuming.