The drive through the city at 1 a.m. under the protection of several convoys was slowly becoming Liam's favorite activity. It gave him the opportunity to enjoy the wind and the silence of the lonely roads of Lanista. The silence was mostly because of his jovial stance toward spirituality that annoyed Lia, so she wasn't speaking to him.
"It's crazy fighting with your girl on the first official day of your union. But it's alright though; the silence is nice," he thought, though he didn't dare voice it out.
At approximately 1:28 a.m., their vehicles finally rolled to a halt in front of a building complex primarily rented out to college students living off-campus. According to the little information the government had extracted from the shady situation, a man had murdered his girlfriend amid an invocation ritual. Her cries and struggles drew the attention of neighbors, but it was so horrific they dared not approach and simply called the police. The site was promptly raided, but according to the officers, they couldn't reach the body and were forced to maintain a standoff for hours while they waited for Lia's arrival.
When Liam finally got the details of the job out of her, his first suspicion aligned with Lia's. They both believed the price of the spirit's help had been the girlfriend. What they were curious about was the identity of the spirit the boy came in contact with.
Glancing at the building, Liam felt a stir in his soul. His spirit felt uncomfortable in a way he couldn't explain. He felt restless, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake the feeling. His gut told him to leave—or be prepared to face something horrifying.
"My God… what did these kids get themselves into this time?" Lia gasped while looking at the building.
Her words were amusing because these were youths their age, but simply because they weren't ascendants, Lia referred to them as kids. The bias amused him mostly because she couldn't see it in herself. Curious about what had bothered her, Liam activated his curse, causing his entire eyes to turn pitch black. The world instantly lost its luster.
The silence of the mortal world vanished and was replaced with a strange sound—a mixture of choked crying and laughter. Above the building was a dark cloud spiraling like a black whirlpool. Every other building was untouched except this one, and the more he looked directly at it, the stronger the strange pull he felt.
Knock. Knock.
Liam jerked back to reality when he felt Lia's grip, and as soon as he left the veiled world, he heard a knock on his window. Standing on the other side was an old sergeant with an expression that said he'd rather be home, in bed with his wife.
"Always stay aware of your surroundings when looking into the veil. Your habitual deep focus is a problem," Lia said with a small frown, showing she was still annoyed with him.
Liam shrugged and pulled away from her grip. "Sure, sure. I'll keep that in mind."
Lia frowned at his nonchalant response, but this was not the time to scold him over it. She let out a sigh and opened her door.
"Welcome, CPs… this way, please." The sergeant gave a small bow and gestured toward the building entrance as soon as they got out of the car.
Before they could respond, the man was already walking away. Liam shot Lia a look, only to see she was already walking in as well, so he shrugged his shoulders and followed.
The building was a large apartment complex with over a hundred rooms, each a self-contained unit tailored to suit the taste of young, adventurous college students. There were four floors, and walking through the ground and first floors made Liam realize everyone had already been evacuated. The inhabitants had been replaced by police in navy-blue uniforms. However, once in a while he spotted one or two people dressed in a black-and-red version of the uniform.
These people were usually alone or speaking among themselves but never interacting with the police. Liam suspected they were the legendary Spirit Police Lia had told him about. They offered her a greeting each time she walked past, but they treated him like air, only sparing him a glance at best.
"This place… it's kinda cold," Liam said, noticing how much colder it was inside the building.
With his curse activated, he could see the chilly mist everywhere, completely unlike the normal atmosphere of the mortal plane. It made him wonder if this had something to do with the spirit.
"Could it be a water spirit?" Liam mumbled with a thoughtful expression.
The closer they got to the room, the louder the sound of choked crying mixed with laughter became. By the time they reached the fourth floor, there were five Spirit Police. Three held up old-fashioned steel lanterns covered with talismans, producing violet flames instead of the usual orange.
While the three blocked the entrance of the room and held up the lanterns, the remaining two stood behind them, murmuring inaudible words quickly, like a desperate prayer.
The sergeant stopped accompanying them some distance away from the entrance. The Spirit Police at the door were too busy with whatever strange thing they were doing to acknowledge Liam and Lia.
They stepped into the room and were surprised to find no furniture—not even a bed. It was almost as if the place hadn't been rented for accommodation at all.
Blood was splattered across the ground and walls, with bloody handprints, footprints, and scratch marks showing signs of struggle.
To make matters worse, the place smelled exactly as it looked. The stench of blood was overwhelming. On the floor was a broken circle drawn with ashes.
"Circle of Echoes…" Lia gasped, noting the breakages at the north and west—each marking the direction of loss and the direction of decay.
At the center of the circle was a decaying head set carefully beside a bowl of water partially dyed red with blood. The trail of blood leading to the center was particularly concerning, making Liam believe the victim had been dragged there while bleeding out.
Seeing the bloody strands of hair everywhere, it was clear the man had been rough and ruthless while taking her life.
"The head. It belongs to him, right?" Lia asked the dark-skinned boy dressed in black robes with a dark veil over his head.
His clothes, hands were bloodied and he sat on the ground with his blank gaze fixated on the head laid next to the bowl. Beside him lay a dagger whose hilt was tied with a piece of red cloth. Behind him was a tall, gaunt silhouette draped in a dripping black funeral shroud. Whatever it was, it had no face—only a wide, vertical mouth stretching where the face should have been.
Six arms hung limply, each covered in torn prayer papers soaked with black ink, while its feet never touched the ground, making it seem like it swam through the air.
Intrigued, Liam gazed directly at the shroud, but all he saw was a trail of blurred human faces flickering beneath the fabric like trapped souls.
After looking at it for more than two seconds, his vision unfocused, then refocused as the faces of dead people superimposed themselves over his sight.
Suddenly he saw his dad and stepmother's faces, crying out in pain, their pleas for mercy ringing in his head like a bell. He staggered back a step, but then his vision went dark and the hallucinations faded almost instantly.
Lia had placed her palm over his eyes, blocking his gaze from the vengeful ghost. His pitch-black eyes were already turning gray. Had she waited a few seconds more, he would have been lost in those hallucinations until driven to madness—and then suicide.
She knew this spirit.
This was a Veil Predator referred to as the Veil Mourner!