Hecata Hunted
The wails of the dead were heard through the shadowed labyrinth as Amets Chaput, the gothic Hecata detective, rushed through the halls, pursued by dark distortions of mortal souls.
"Uhhh, up here there should be a right! Wait, don't right, DON'T RIGHT!" Her ghostly companion, Bellamy, instructed.
As Amets quickly course-corrected to the left, nearly slipping on the cold stone floor as she skidded, another shadowy specter burst from the hall to the right, nearly slamming into her head.
"God DAMMIT!" Wielding a strange hunting knife, Amets carves a gash across the two Specters currently chasing her, giving her a small second of reprieve against their assault.
"I-I'm sorry Amets." Bellamy said, clutching his head, his form a bit more transparent. A tight expression of anger was still on her face, but after a few seconds, it fell to her normal expression of anger.
"It's not your fault, if I had known we'd get stuck in this labyrinth, I wouldn't have taken the fucking job. Not alone at least." She rested against the wall. Kindred may not need to breathe, but Amets mind was racing far too quickly for her liking.
Amets, thankfully, had gotten a full meal before she took this job, graciously provided by Fiore as her down payment, and luckily the poor S.O.B was knocked out too, so her conscience was clearer than it would've been if she had to see him recoil and struggle against the bite that, unlike other Kindred, induces intense pain rather than pleasure.
Next to the pair, a jagged image of a mouth and eyes appeared in the empty space of the darkness. The owner of the image, whoever they were, had been following, some might say harassing, the pair since they had arrived, in a deep and rumbling voice.
"I must say, you are faring much better than the others who have been trapped here." The sharp mouth in the darkness said. "Allow me to sate my curiosity, how is it you can fend off the wild Shadows brought here?"
"I've got a couple of special order knives, the sharpened edge is lined with melted down silver coins, old world coins too, and while I have to get them re-upped, I get the edge blessed every so often too."
"And yet you can clutch to its handle so easily?"
"Helped a mage a while back, they did me a favor, and said that the handle is in a state of stasis, so no matter how blessed or desecrated the rest gets, the handle is just a normal knife."
"Ah yes, those ever-talented Awakened, I don't think any of them have been lured down here just yet. A shame, it'd be fun to see how they reacted. Well, how will that knife fare against the real threat of the labyrinth, I wonder?"
As the voice reminded her, a scraping sound could be heard getting closer, as the true horror of the labyrinth got closer.
She had only caught glimpses before, but that was all she needed to know it was a true monster. Large, misshapen, with large blobs of flesh off of its body, a face that even a Nosferatu couldn't love, and two long arms, which appeared to be able to stretch further, with claw-like hooks on the end of them.
"You seem to know quite a lot about this place, is it your creation?" Amets asked, bracing herself to dash once more.
The voice merely chuckled. "If I told you, what would the fun be in that, Detective?"
Amets couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"I'll tell you what, I've asked plenty of you, so it's only fair that I give you three questions in return, no more and no less! I will not lie, but if you ask something as boring as 'who are you', I won't give a direct answer."
Her brow furrowed, but then an idea crossed her mind,
"How about we spice it up a bit, make it a deal?" Amets said with a grin.
There was a terse silence, save for the scraping getting closer.
"I'm listening."
"In two questions, I'll know what you are and your relationship to this place, and in return, you'll let us out."
The laughter continues. "And what makes you think that I even have the capabilities to do so?"
"Because not only have you been following us throughout this space without seemingly much effort, implying at least some familiarity with the area, but also because while this projection may be an illusion," her hand slapped the wall the face had apparated on, passing right through it.
"The voice projected from it is very real, and in fact, I've been following your echo to know which paths go further in rather than hitting a wall. That tells me that you one way or another are able to manifest physically here."
More silence.
"Very well then, ask your questions, make your guess, and I might be able to give you a hand. But, you might wish to run first."
After realizing the scraping had stopped, Amets narrowly ducked to avoid the hooked, stretched arm of her pursuer coming around the corner, and booked it down the available passageway.
"A-Amets, I-I can't focus enough to see which path will be good!" Bellamy said, straining to activate his spotty abilities.
"Don't worry about it," Amets began, dodging the hook once more. "I can handle it from here."
"Alright, creepy voice stalker, first question!" She called out, the jagged illusion appearing next to her, even as she ran forward.
"What was the weather like today?"
"Really? Is that what you're really going with?"
"Oi, I'm asking the questions now!"
"Ugh, fine, and here I was prepared for something a bit more philosophical. It was raining today, a nice fall rain."
Another swing of the hook, and another narrow dodge, this time with Amets twisting her ankle a bit as she ducked. She wouldn't be able to keep this up for too much longer.
"Second question!" Rising to her feet once more, she reached a crossroads, with her lumbering foe quickly closing the distance behind her.
The enemy launches another attack via its hook, and instead of dodging, Amets actually catches it in her hand, the jagged and bony edge piercing through her palm.
"Amets! What are you doing!?" Bellamy wailed.
"Something I really don't like!" Her eyes go black, and the veins around her eyes as well as her fingertips do as well, as a black jolt of necrotic energy shoots from her hand up the elongated limb of her attacker, making it turn gray and limp all the way to the shoulder, as the fleshy target recoils from the pain.
Plucking out the hook, the monster fled for now, and Amets focused her Vitae to heal the wound.
"Here's my second question, if I hit you with that attack, what would happen?"
"Hmmph, well at least that one is a bit more relevant. I suppose it would hurt a bit, and I'd have to spend some time recovering."
As the hole in her hand closed, a devious yet exhausted smile grew across Amets face.
"It's a long shot, but I got all I think I need to know!"
The lumbering beast began to recover, and readying its remaining hook, began to rush toward Amets once more.
"You are a Demon, one of the Fallen! Not only that, but you are not the owner of the house or this labyrinth, even though you have some domain of power involving it!"
There wasn't a response of words, only a second of silence, but then a cacophony of laughter slowly built, like the rising of an orchestra, and the walls all around Amets grew closer and closer and closer.
Until the floor beneath her gave way, and the same sudden replacement of sound and sight occurred, as she landed on the hardwood floor of a warmly lit room.
Looking around the room she found herself in, it seemed to be a well-stocked library and reading room, with a lavish-looking table and several soft reading chairs, one of them being occupied by a tall and broad-shouldered man, with amber eyes and a wry smirk on his face, accented by long dark orange hair, and a long stitch running the left side of his face, from forehead to chin in a straight line.
"You know, many of the people who came before you called me a demon, but you're the only one who has used the proper terminology, Detective." He said, his voice still deep but no longer booming and trembling.
"Yeah, well, when you're in my line of work, you pick up a lot of terminologies. Everything and their mother has some fancy name or three." Amets said, picking herself off of the floor.
"So, how did those two simple questions solve the 'mystery' for you, not that I intended to set it up."
"The 'who' was pretty easy. Clearly, you weren't a standard human, and not a lot of Kindred would be able to set up all the bells and whistles of that place, especially without being right in front of me or being notable. But, this all didn't feel like a Garou tactic either. That left me with three options, Wraith, Awakened, or Fallen."
The fallen was gracious enough to get her a seat, and helped her up, as she plopped into the soft cushioned chair with a grace befitting her exhaustion. "Awakened was already out of the running before I made our deal, since you mentioned 'them' as if they were different from you. That just left Wraith or Fallen. Honestly, that was tripping me up a bit, but when I used my powers, that sealed the deal."
"Oh? And how is that?"
"What you saw, and no doubt sensed, was the power of Oblivion. It draws from a dark and twisted side of the afterlife, one that, in its offensive state, is a nightmare for Wraiths. For you to just claim that you'd essentially walk it off sealed that bit."
The fallen moved his chair opposite of hers and put his palm against his forehead. "Ah, of course, I should've expected that when I answered. But, I said I wouldn't lie to you. Could've couched it up better at least."
"Then came the matter of 'what', as in what your connection with this whole situation even was. Honestly, that one was a bit of a gamble, but in all the language you used, I didn't get the impression that you had much of a choice over who came in and who didn't, plus you never concretely claimed to be able to release us from the Labyrinth. Not to mention, you are a victim as well, not able to see the outside world."
"Now that's quite the leap. This room is windowless, yes, but how do you know I'm disconnected?"
"The weather."
"The weather?"
"The weather. You see, it wasn't a typical rainy day today. Instead, this morning was unseasonably bright and sunny, but after sunset, a sudden shower began. But, after seeing me come into the Labyrinth wet and with my umbrella, which I seem to have misplaced in the chaos, you assumed it had been raining all day given the season, and answered accordingly so as to not give me too much information."
"I see...clearly, I need to not underestimate the caliber of questions I receive."
"So, from the fact that you seemed to only get information from what was inside the labyrinth, it seemed rather logical to me that you were stuck in it too, albeit not one of the prisoners like the Wraiths or that abomination. That didn't make it easy to tell the difference if you were a bound Fallen or Wraith to the location, but again my second question cleared that up. And now, we're here."
"Indeed we are."
"So, how do we leave?" Amets eyes focused on her companion, who sat across from her, and she intensified her glare.
"I figured that'd be your next question." The fallen smirked, his amber pupils turning to cat-like slits. "Only the master of the house decides who leaves and who stays, including even me."
"And how does one become the master?"
"By owning it, of course."
"And you can decide that?"
"In place of the original owner, who I suspect is no longer in the position to do so, I can be the arbiter."
"And what would you get out of this?"
"Why, freedom of course!"
"If that was it, then you would've been gunning to help me from the get-go. What's really your angle?"
A sharp grin grew across the width of the fallen's face. "I am of a sect within my kind who are focused on learning the mysteries of the universe. Therefore, what I require of any proper owner is to provide me with knowledge I have not tasted before, knowledge that furthers the width of my own understanding. If I do not receive it," The light in the room flickered, and Amets field of vision twisted around the fallen.
"Then only madness will follow, and you will end up one of the lost specters in the darkness beneath the land."
"Is that it?"
The warping of light and sight paused. "Excuse me?"
"No draining me of my faith? Not that you'd find any. No hunting for souls? No child sacrifices?"
Since the only response she got was a face of confusion, Amets pulled out her phone.
"A-Amets, you aren't going to work with this guy, are you?" Bellamy worried, struggling to stay manifest from the exhaustion he felt.
"It's our only way out of here, and besides, don't we come across more than enough mysteries already?"
Her gaze went from the spectral eyes of her friend to the slitted eyes of her opponent. "I'm sure we can keep you pretty well fed, big guy. Although the real pain in the ass of this deal is,"
She was happy to see that she still had signal in this room, and called up Fiore on his private number. "This is definitely going to be taken out of my pay for this job."
The other side picked up.
"Yello, this is Fiore, what can I-"
"Need this quick pretty boy, you have the ownership info for this house?"
"Amets? Yes, I have it, or rather I can get it really quickly. Need it for the case?"
"Kind of, we're gonna have to talk to renegotiate my pay for this later," she began with gritted teeth, "but I want this to be my place, legally and territory-wise, capisce?"
"Well territory-wise, Sunny Gardner is the overseer, but if you really want it to be your haven, I suppose I can arrange that as a part of your pay. I thought you were a bit more of a wanderer, though?"
"I'll explain later, just, repeat the fact that it's mine real quick, real authoritatively." She said, putting her phone on speaker mode.
Fiore on the other end was confused but figured that this was another weird magic thing, and went along with it. "By my power as Baron of Tacoma, you, Amets Chaput, are now the rightful owner of the house on 407 N E St and its associated properties."
"Thanks, talk soon."
Ending the call, her stare doesn't move from the fallen.
"So, your turn. What's your name, big guy?" She holds a hand out.
His smile grows, and sharp teeth peek out from underneath his lips. "My friends call me Tovah, Miss Chaput. I'm sure this will be the beginning of a long and wonderful partnership."
As they shook hands, and the agreement was forged, a labyrinth was sealed, and the house returned to normal.
Of course, this would not be the end for the three creatures of the darkness, and many more mysteries were left to be uncovered, but that could be left for after the three had rested.
