28 Fulfilling the Quota

In a field in Zuideinde, Valentine Hymes was struggling to find his way back to the hotel. Everything looked the same to him. He was standing in one spot a distance away from the Bauwens' house and looked around. Around his was overgrown grass as tall as his knee. He watched the direction of his shadow cast by the afternoon sun and approximated the direction, which was to the right from where he was standing.

Since the field where the old house was was north of the hotel, he had to go south. He strode in the direction, cutting through the tall grass and possibly stepping on unfortunate critters along the way. He came back to the small path which led to the street. From there, the hotel was only a close distance away.

Valentine opened the hotel door and was greeted by the teenage receptionist, Stefan. He smiled at his guest and asked curiously,

"Was there really a ghost there?"

"Yes, there was," Valentine said shortly while nodding.

Stefan was surprised and worried after hearing the response, but after looking at his guest's intact clothes and neat overall appearance, his worry disappeared in an instant.

"Did you take care of it?"

Valentine gave a strong thumbs-up gesture while nodding, "It's still there, but It won't be able to roam around freely anymore."

Stefan felt awe towards his guest. In such a short period of time, he had managed to deal with the ghost. Although he had never seen the ghost himself, he believed the witnesses' words truly.

Valentine walked up the stairs, leaving the teenage receptionist who was looking at him admiringly. He went into his hotel room which was dark inside because the sunlight couldn't penetrate through the heavy blinds. He prepared a ritual for anti-divination after putting down his briefcase in the dark room. Valentine slit his palm quickly with his knife and let the blood pool.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, offer this blood as a medium,"

A mysterious mist came out of his blood, quickly spreading around his hand.

"For I declare this place under the Shroud of Secrecy hereafter!"

He dropped the mist-emitting blood to the back of the hotel wardrobe. Once the blood made contact with it, the area became obliviously quiet for a second. After finishing his ritual, Valentine lied down in bed and closed his eyes. He fell asleep soon after.

Only a short time had passed after Valentine fell asleep, and Graham woke up. He got up from the bed and took the votive candles from his briefcase and set them up according to the formation on the table. He then lit the candles one by one and concentrated. He repeated the question he needed answering in his mind.

'What is Pravitatem?'

The room gradually became darker and darker, until it was pitch black. The flames danced and burned more brightly than usual, but it still failed to illuminate the room as if they were separated by a spiritual veil. From within the flames, an image started to appear. It was even blurrier than usual and looked like it was covered in fog. Graham felt like he was staring at television static. He needed to focus hard to make out what was shown to him.

The image showed something that looked like people gathering. No face could be seen because of the fog, not even the gender could be guessed. He could only make out the number of figures in the image, which was seven. The ever-moving fog made it really difficult to see anything else other than the silhouette of those people. After a while, the image slowly disappeared, leaving Graham with a headache.

"So Pravitatem is a gathering of some kind... a hidden organization? They seem to be able to interfere with divination to some extent," he said analytically while rubbing his chin.

Graham had used a lot of divination attempts today, but he still needed to divine some more things. The headache he felt was rather mild, unlike days ago when he first got his power. He ignored the headache and continued with his next attempt. Graham concentrated on the flames again, repeating a question in his mind.

'What caused the death of the Bauwens?'

Little by little, he could see an image form in the dancing flames. It was of a family of six, just like the number he had deduced. The faces were blurry, but Graham could still somewhat see the expressions. They look terrified and were running away from something. He couldn't see what they were running away from because the vision didn't show that. The image then changed to that of six dolls in different rooms of the house. After that, it slowly disappeared.

"Were they turned into dolls? A Contractbound is capable of doing that? That seems like a very dangerous power, Val" he said while massaging his temples. The headache was getting stronger, but still bearable.

He concentrated again and repeated a question in his mind. It should be his tenth divination attempt of the day.

'What is the nail that is stabbed through the girl doll in the Bauwens' house?'

The room suddenly became darker and more silent than usual. The flames flickered violently and a blurry image started to appear. It was an indescribable substance emitting a powerful dark aura. Once he saw it, Graham suddenly got an excruciating headache and was pushed back in his chair. The flames went out by themselves and the room returned to its normal darkness, with the sunlight trying to penetrate through the blinds unsuccessfully. After overcoming his pain, Graham realized that there was knowledge transferred to his brain.

"The nail was the power of a Sinner," he said while breathing heavily, "Those who are in-contract with the Deity of Necromancy and Sin."

Once he was done with his divination rituals, Graham cleaned everything up and took a quick rest. It was already five in the afternoon when he was done. He then packed up and went down to the receptionist.

"Already checking out?" asked Stefan confusedly. His guest hadn't even stay half a day at the hotel.

"Yes. I have something to do in central." he said while approaching the young receptionist.

Stefan nodded while smiling, without realizing that his guest's eyes were glowing red. He could not see the glow because of Graham's contact lenses.

"Anyway, I need you to change my name in your guestbook, and also, forget that I ever come here. We totally didn't go to the Bauwens' house today. It's important that you do so, because I need to keep my identity a secret, and you are a kind boy, so you'll help me out." he said without breaking eye contact with Stefan the whole time.

Stefan looked confused and slowly nodded. After a while, his smile came back. He was still young and rather naive, so it was easier to persuade him. Stefan took out the guest book and was visibly doing something to it. Graham left the hotel after making sure his persuasion worked and waited for a public motor carriage by the big street.

...

On Thursday morning, in Zuideinde, a Police motor carriage pulled over by the street. Two officers wearing blue coats with the Police logo on it came out of the carriage. One officer had a scar on his rough-looking face while the other was a female officer with bob hair. The male officer was much taller than his partner and was carrying a briefcase.

"Oranje, you ask people in the street, I'll ask those people in the restaurant," he said with a hoarse voice.

"Got it. The house shouldn't be far from here." said the officer called Oranje with a sunny voice.

The two officers split up. The male officer entered a restaurant that was not very busy but still had quite a few people in it, while Oranje walked up to someone walking in the street.

"Good morning, sir. I'm from the Police," she said with a friendly voice while showing her badge.

The man looked worried and nervous, even if the officer in front of him didn't look threatening.

"Y-yes?" he said cautiously.

"Do you know if there is an abandoned house near here? It is in the middle of a field," she asked with a warm smile, trying to diffuse the man's nervousness.

The man suddenly became calm once he heard the question. He was relieved that he wasn't actually in trouble.

"There are a lot of abandoned houses here, but if it's in the middle of a field, it should be the Bauwens' house." the man said calmly.

"Can you show me where it is?" she asked.

"I'm sorry I cannot. I don't remember the way. It's rather complicated. And I'd rather not. I heard there is a ghost there." the man said apologetically.

"A ghost?" Oranje asked seriously.

"Yes. A ghost. I heard it's really scary." he said nonchalantly. He didn't seem to believe in the ghost story, but he still would rather not find out.

"Where did you hear it from?"

"A lot of people are saying that. News travel fast around here, you see." he shrugged.

Feeling that she would not get anything useful out of the man in front of her, Oranje thanked him and walked in the direction of the restaurant. As she approached it, her partner came out.

"Rood, the house is somewhere here, and apparently there is a wraith there," she shared the information with his partner. Although she was speaking in a serious tone, her voice was still warm like the morning sunlight.

"So I've heard. I've found someone who'll take us there." the officer called Rood nodded at his partner.

The two officers followed the man on foot towards the next street where the man then led them through a path. After walking and turning for some distance, they arrived at the house, but the man didn't dare approach it.

"I can only take you this far. Good luck, officers!" said the man while starting heading back.

Rood and Oranje looked at the man whose back slowly disappeared from sight. They then approached the big, abandoned house and observed it.

"It's much bigger than in my divination," said Oranje.

Rood walked up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.

"We have to get in through one of the broken windows," he said with his hoarse voice while pointing at the many broken windows.

The two officers carefully climbed up the window frame and entered the house. The entered the main hall with the broken chandelier.

"Be careful. The wraith should be around," Rood reminded his partner who can sometimes be clumsy.

At that moment, they saw a white bed sheet near the chandelier that started to squirm about. The thing inside it seemed to have noticed their presence and was desperately trying to get away from its current seal.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!" it shrieked loudly.

"Aargh!" Oranje shouted while covering her ears.

The two officers were stunned by the shriek. Once they recovered, Rood gestured to his partner and the two got ready. Oranje stood next to he bed sheet while Rood stayed in his spot. He threw the briefcase to his partner. Oranje took out a charm from the briefcase and activated it.

"Silence!"

The area around her became mysteriously quiet. Not even the sound of her breathing was audible.

Rood, who was standing a distance away from Oranje and the wraith, took out a pocket knife, which he used to slit his wrist and let the blood flow out.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Wit and Blood, let my blood cover the Earth,"

The surrounding area became warmer and the atmosphere became tense. The wraith inside the bed sheet sensed the great danger and tried to let out a wail, but the effect of the charm prevented it from making any noise.

"May it burn wicked beings that are not welcome in this world!"

The blood on the floor started boiling, and it rapidly flowed towards the blood-stained bed sheet that was wriggling about. The boiling blood touched the bed sheet and it set it on fire. The wraith, seeing a tiny opening in his seal, tried to get out through it. The boiling blood didn't stop; it kept flowing rapidly like lava and covered the wraith. The wraith's whole body was set on fire by the boiling blood and it writhed in pain. Its wail was still inaudible because of the effect of the charm. Moments later, the wraith was consumed entirely by the bloody flame in silence.

The two officers watched the aftermath of their quick battle. The charm's short-lasting effect had disappeared, so they could talk freely again. The bed sheet had turned into ashes, while the wraith had left behind something that resembled a rotting eyeball. Oranje took the round object and put it inside the briefcase.

"The wraith was already sealed. Can you use divination to find out who did it?" Rood asked his partner while looking intently at the bed sheet. He had seen the bloodstain on it before it turned into ashes. "Whoever did it couldn't kill the wraith directly, but knew well that their blood could injure it. They must be an experienced Contractbound, or a divinator" he added.

Oranje took out a small crystal ball from the briefcase and sat down with her knees on the ground and put the ball on her lap. She then borrowed Rood's pocket knife and slit her palm and smeared her blood all over the crystal ball. Once it was done, she put both hands on the ball and concentrated. She repeated a question in her mind.

'Who sealed the wraith?'

After a while, her blood that was smeared on the surface of the ball slowly moved inside it and tried to form an image. However, the blood suddenly turned into fog and disappeared.

"I cannot use my divination." Oranje turned to Rood and said seriously.

Rood had seen the whole process and came to a conclusion,

"I guess we're dealing with a Shroud."