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thelampisaflashlight · 11 months

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Narthex

[Best described as "A ghoul goes ghost hunting", Aether travels to the US to help solve a murder with a demonic twist. This part is primarily from Aether's POV, but it will likely swap between his and Alma's moving forward. Not suitable for younger audiences.] Below the cut.

"There is a church, a smaller branch of the ministry in the United States that sits on the fringe of our control." Papa had debriefed him the night before his flight, sliding a thick manila envelope -near bursting at the seams with documents- to him, "Recently, there... Ah, it's all described in the file. Please review it on the plane."

Aether had assured the other man that he'd do his best, smiling brightly, but, now, bleary eyed and tired, the ghoul wishes he'd saved some of his earlier enthusiasm and left the documents aside until this morning.

Yawning, Aether rubs his eyes and tries to go over the details of the case in his head to distract himself from the light headache setting in, sipping his coffee.

Saint Mary's Cathedral is a deconsecrated church; Although, the file explained, the altar stone was never broken, nor its sacred artefacts removed.

Construction on the building began in the mid 1800's, but the events of the Civil War halted progress on the cathedral for nearly a decade as the people of the surrounding township attempted to return to some sense of normalcy in the wake of the war.

It was not fully completed until 1885, almost two decades after the project was initially begun.

Aether stretches, glancing out the window at the passing cars, trying desperately not to fall asleep.

In 1918, the church was used to quarantine those afflicted with influenza, with over 100 individuals passing within its walls during the span of the outbreak.

Unsurprisingly, this is often cited as a main cause of the supposed haunting taking place inside the building... however.

"You will meet with the caretaker when you arrive, her name is Alma Amato." Papa had said, handing him yet another file to read through, "She believes the haunting to be demonic."

"Demonic, huh?"

Aether leans on his palm.

"And you're sending another demon to deal with it?"

"...I can see how that might seem counterintuitive."

He snorts and returns to aimlessly flipping through the file on his lap.

Alma Amato, Age 30, Caretaker and Administrative Officer of Saint Mary's Cathedral, one of three employees -now two- who work to maintain the property.

"Ms. Amato is a diligent worker, and has been in service to the church for eleven years now. In that time, she has never lodged a single complaint about the haunting at Saint Mary's, but, after the events of last month, she is, understandably, more than a little disturbed."

Aether looks at the newspaper clipping he'd pulled from the envelope earlier and frowns.

Two Dead, One Injured During Ghost Hunting Investigation.

As the car stops for a red light, Aether flips the page over to look at the photos attached to it with a paperclip.

Four faces stare back at him; Jason Vine, age 37, a ghost hunting show host, Maxwell Kurt, age 68, an administrative officer at Saint Mary's, Howard Walker, age 51, the church's lone security guard, and lastly...

Alma Amato.

Aether shivers, something about her gaze, so forward, so focused, it feels like she's watching him through the photograph.

Her eyes are a reddish brown, her brows thin -darkened with make-up from the looks of it- and her hair a pale blonde.

She seems a dour sort, but looks can be deceiving.

"We'll be arriving in fifteen minutes." the driver says, peering back at him in the rearview mirror.

"Ah, I see, thank you." Aether tucks the files back into his backpack and returns to looking out the window.

Saint Mary's is... less imposing than Aether imagined.

It's not a particularly large building, but it is a rather peculiar shade of green.

Huh.

"It's serpentine." a clear, sweet voice answers his unasked question.

Aether looks towards the large, red doors at the front of the church and sees a woman in a...

A...

It's more so what she's not wearing that causes Aether to inhale sharply.

Before him stands Alma Amato, dressed in a wide brimmed black sunhat and a low cut black dress with a short skirt that Aether has to actively NOT think of how little fabric is between the hem and the swell of her ass.

She gives a little, testy huff, and Aether realizes she must have asked a question.

"Apologies, I was... I'm a bit tired, long flight." He says, then holds out his hand, "I'm Aether, the ministry sent me to assist in the investigation. I presume you're Ms. Amato, the caretaker?"

"You're earlier than expected." Amato shakes his hand, "I'm surprised."

"I took the first available flight." Aether explains, "I hope that's alright."

"Perfectly alright. You will have to make your own bed though, I hadn't gotten around to visiting the Bishop's Palace yet, that's where you'll be staying." she gestures for him to follow, turning and entering the church, her heels clicking on the stone, removing her hat.

"The Bishop's Palace?" Aether questions, "That is...?"

"It's a fancy way of saying a house that a bishop used to live in from what I've gathered, but these days the building is primarily used for storage." Amato says, "When the church contacted us that they'd be sending someone, we made sure to clear it out and moved everything down to the cellar for the time being. I hope you don't mind the idea of residing on the property during your stay?"

Aether shakes his head, "No, no, that's fine. That's preferable to wasting my money on a hotel when I'm not sure how long I'll be here... speaking of which."

"I read in the report I was given that you also live on the property, I'm not... displacing you from your home am I?"

Amato shakes her head.

"Like I said, the Bishop's Palace is mostly for storage, I live in the caretaker's cottage passed the cemetery."

Aether pauses.

"I hadn't realized how much would be out here, I was really only debriefed about the church itself..." he admits, "How big is the property?"

"I believe it's roughly 7 acres, everything is relatively spaced out, but as it shakes out... The church itself sits on 1 acre of land, the cemetery takes up about 3 acres including the out buildings, then the Bishop's Palace and the cottage take up about an acre combined, and the remaining 2 acres accounts for the gardens and miscellaneous greenspaces across the property." Amato gestures towards a display case hanging from the wall, "We have a map of the general layout here for visitors."

Aether approaches the display case, taking out his phone to snap a picture for future reference.

"We haven't been giving tours since the... I'm sure you read what happened." Amato sighs, guiding him towards a side door, "I'll let you get settled before we get into all of that."

"Right."

The Bishop's Palace is less a palace and more a simple, Cape Cod style house, but compared to living in a hotel room for an indefinite period of time, this feels a bit more.... homely?

Comfortable.

Amato gives him the tour, which takes all of ten minutes, if even that.

"It's really just three rooms, four if you count the bathroom; kitchen, living room, bedroom upstairs..." she gets him connected to the wi-fi, and shows him where the washer and dryer are, tucked away behind a curtain in the kitchen, "...Any questions?"

"I don't think so... You've been very helpful." he smiles, "I suppose, if it's alright with you, I would like to start by interviewing you about the... the incident."

Amato nods, "We can walk and talk to get you acquainted with the property better-"

It's just after sunset when Aether finally makes his way back to the Bishop's Palace, having conducted his interview with Amato in the morning, using the afternoon to make a run to the grocery store to pick up some necessities, he's feeling more than a little rundown.

Jetlag combined with marching back and forth across the property, the nature of his conversation with Amato, and the tedium of grocery shopping in a foreign country has, understandably, worn him out, but years of traveling have well prepared him for this sort of thing.

Glancing at his phone, Aether frowns, it's late back home, too late to call and check in on his packmates, but, then again, he doesn't think he'd be able to hold a conversation with how tired he is.

Yawning, Aether decides to call it a night... but it's not long before he feels... something.

It's the lightest shift in the mattress, something he's more than used to back home, but here...

Aether cracks an eye open, peeking through his lashes at...

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

He blinks, reaching out into the darkness to smooth the sheets, feeling his hand brush through a cold spot that makes the hair on his arm stand on end.

What.

Sitting up, Aether fumbles with the bedside lamp, hissing as he accidentally looks directly into the bulb, and looks around the room.

Again, nothing.

He wets his lips, furrowing his brow.

"Hello...?"

No reply.

Aether breathes.

"Look..." he says wearily, "If there's any... spooky bitches in this house right now, just let me sleep. You can haunt me in the morning, but if you wake me up before 7am, I can and will devour your soul and send you straight to the pit. Do we have an understanding?"

...

"That was mean, I'm sorry, I won't actually do that, just... we're cool, right?"

...

"Cool."

"I'm gonna sleep. Goodnight."

"...Good... night..." a disembodied voice responds, "Sleep... tight..."

Aether makes a noise in the back of his throat.

Oh boy.

#Lamp writes #shitghosting #nameless ghouls #aether ghoul #ghost band #ghost bc #the band ghost #ghost band oc #sibling of sin #sibling of sin oc #ghost band fanfic #Alma Mater

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