Chapter Text
They should have known things were going to take a turn. Sometimes there was such a thing as a 'too easy case.' It’d been a standard exorcism, simple enough that both the boys had figured both Niko and Crystal were safe to tag along once more.
Their client, a newbie witch who had dealt with forces far beyond her years and experience was the current host of something particularly nasty. A recently deceased friend had sought out the agency's help, which is why they were currently dealing with a rowdy super-powered witch hurling all sorts of things at them.
“A minor level demon, Charles. Does anything about this creature seem minor to you?”
“She said she thought it was a minor level demon, clearly she was wrong, alright?"
"Guys, shut up a minute! I gotta get closer." Crystal piped up, ducking out of the way of a particularly nasty looking metal projectile.
As the witch flew back towards them, they'd all grabbed for the sheet inscribed with runes, reminiscent of the one that they'd needed for Crystal in the beginning. In one perfectly timed swoop, they'd enveloped the amateur witch with it, her unconscious form falling to the ground shortly after.
The evil little thing wasn't done with them, though. In a spectacular feat of speed, it morphed into a smokey rendition of a snake, leapt over the still body of the witch, and headed straight for Charles. Unconcerned, he'd poised his bat. However, the demon wasn't aiming to strike him. He hadn't noticed at the time, but his left foot had toed the line of the protective circle they'd set up prior, just enough to give the demon an opening to exit through another host. The demon smoke engulfed him, bringing the detective to his knees.
Edwin and Crystal began to yell, their client momentarily forgotten as they raced over to try and help.
It was too late.
Charles had risen to his feet, expression completely wrong.
It grinned at them both and waved a finger, sending Edwin and Crystal flying a few yards away.
From Charles mind's eye, the demon sauntered around, predator stalking prey, circling around him intently.
“Get the hell out.” Charles seethed, bracing to fight.
The misty reptilian figure laughed. “I kind of like it here, might make myself at home. There's so many interesting little things for me to peek through.”
Crystal shouted back to Edwin as they righted themselves, the girl dusting some warehouse grime off of her pants. “Demons can possess ghosts?”
“It is uncommon, but possible. Do keep up, Crystal.” Edwin shot back hurriedly, already aggressively drawing symbols into the dirt beneath his feet.
“Okay, that's great. I vote we destroy it now.”
Edwin shot her a look. They were, for once, on the same page about something. “Between your powers and this---” he punctuated his words with a final scratch of symbols on the floor. “We can send it away, but I'll need Charles in the vicinity for it to work.”
“Sure, right, yeah, I'll get him over here.” She picked up a heavy rock, threw it at their friend's figure. It passed harmlessly through, but got its attention.
She popped a hand to her hip, irritation in her voice. “Possessing people is not hot.”
Edwin rolled his eyes, but had to admit it was effective, seeing as the creature possessing Charles started making its way towards them again.
He glanced back towards the large old crates of overstock inventory that littered the building, satisfied that Niko had kept her promise to stay hidden unless they gave her the signal they'd really needed help. After nearly losing her in Port Townsend, none of them were quite ready for her to be fully immersed in field work again.
Charles was still trying to eject the creature, but anytime he was sure his fist would connect with it it merely turned back into a smokey untouchable substance. “Such an angry little thing. I wonder why? Is it the daddy issues? The fact you can't help your friends? Or maybe it's because you know that boy you like won't be able to hurt me while I'm wearing your pretty face.”
Outside, the demon lunged at Crystal, nearly knocking her off her feet for the second time. She made to grab for him, but it ducked out of the way, making a beeline for Edwin.
Edwin barely missed the fist flying at his face. He balled up his own in an attempt to retaliate, poised to swing when he suddenly dropped his arm.
Charles had backed off slightly, the demon morphing his features into an expression Edwin never wanted to see on his face ever again.
He'd looked shocked, worried, frightened, even.
“You'd hit me?” The impression of his voice was so spot on Edwin faltered, just in time for the demon to get a hold of him, fingers tightening around the front of his blazer.
Edwin took a step back, moved to shove him out of his space.
He hadn’t, however, counted on the knife. It had produced the weapon out of seemingly nowhere, catching the boy in the abdomen with it. The demon wearing Charles like a suit sneered, twisting the blade upwards and onwards with an audible squelch. It didn’t make sense, considering Edwin no longer had organs to tear through, but magic knives were funny like that. The entity leaned in close, voice making a mockery of the friendly trill Charles normally spoke to him with. “Wow, that looked like it hurt. Bet you wish he would've gotten you flowers instead, huh?”
With that, it withdrew the knife sharply, pushing Edwin away like he was simply tossing away waste into the garbage can. The elder of the two stumbled backwards, unable to stop himself from falling flat on his back.
It was an odd sensation, blood. He hadn’t bled much when he died, but there was an ever-growing pile of the stuff starting to accumulate below him. He'd been caked in it in Hell numerous times, but this was different somehow. This shouldn’t have been possible, and yet----
Niko was there suddenly at his side, stumbling to her knees beside him. She stared, wide eyed, afraid to touch him. “Oh my god, oh my god, Edwin.”
No one had given her the signal to come out of her hiding place, it was still dangerous. Edwin so badly wanted to shoo her away to where it was safer. Someone could still get hurt. But then he'd caught sight of the red painting his side. Perhaps someone already had.
Charles looked horrified, even as the demon curled tighter around him, self-satisfied with the work it had done. “See what you did? You hurt him. But that’s not surprising, is it? Hurting people’s just hard-wired into you. Like father, like son.”
The creature opened its mouth like it was going to continue, only to be a stopped by a hand suddenly crushing around its windpipe. It lurched and spluttered, disbelieving of the fact it was trapped. It hadn't been corporeal enough to be grabbed. Then again, Charles was also mad enough that he figured he could do just about anything he put his mind to. From the outside, Crystal had taken advantage of the momentary distraction and latched onto Charles' leg, eyes glazed white. Between the both of them, the snarky demon didn't stand a chance. It was little more than dust within a few minutes, not that anyone had time to bask in the victory.
Charles was at Edwin's side the second he was sure the demon was gone, hands hovering over the Edwardian boy uncertainly. Edwin must have sensed him already catastrophizing the situation, because his first thought was to lay out the reassurances. “It’s quite alright, Charles, I know that wasn't you.” He choked, attempting to cover the gash with his arm, keep it safely tucked away from the other boy's view.
“I've gotta see it, mate.” He croaked in response, peeling Edwin's arm away carefully despite his initial refusal.
Sure, Edwin always chided him that ghosts were incapable of getting sick, but the sight before him nearly had him puking.
A wound that shouldn't have existed. It was a long and horrid gash along Edwin's side, about the length of his forearm gushing with gore and viscera. Organs would have been perforated if he had them, but even still, Charles couldn't wrap his head around the sight and the feel of blood. The smell. He gagged, tears welling in his eyes. He'd done what Niko had been afraid to try then, pressing gloved hands harshly overtop to stem the blood flow.
Edwin bit back a scream, Niko rubbing his shoulder in an attempt to soothe him.
Crystal was beside him, eyes glued to the injury. “Why is he bleeding?”
“I don't know, I don't know.” Charles shot back, looking desperately around. The witch was unconscious, useless as ever. And the demon had already been sent back to whatever dark pit it crawled out of.
“This is very much unlike iron.” Edwin rasped around clenched teeth, “There is no longer a point of contact, however…” He shifted slightly, causing more blood to sluice out of the tear in his side. Charles panicked for a moment, free hand gently shoving him back towards the ground. “Don’t move yet, mate. Just hang in there, yeah?”
Crystal left the group for a moment, giving the floor a few hard looks before she skidded to a stop and picked something off the ground. She’d jogged back over to them quickly, the hilt of the knife clutched in her hand. “There’s blood on the blade, too.” She said softly, setting it down on the ground like she could set it on fire with her mind. Maybe she could, she kind of wanted to.
Charles glanced away hurriedly, focusing on the fact his hand was now covered in blood.
Niko stared down at the blade, disgust evident on her face. “That thing sure looks nasty.”
Edwin turned his head to get a better look, frowning at what he saw. By all accounts, it looked like a normal hunting knife. The blade was serrated along the edges with a splash of red, the hilt a dark woodgrain. No runes, carvings, or otherwise noteworthy symbols were visible.
He breathed a sigh that turned into a grimace, even the little movement ached. “This isn’t something I recognize. There is the potential that it is a cursed object, but I'd need to examine it further.” He paused. “Charles, if you could retrieve some of the curse grimoires from the office, I may be able to fabricate a healing spell.”
“You can barely move. We don’t have time to try and hope a spell works. You’re...”
“Bleeding out?” Edwin closed his eyes. “That’s highly impossible, Charles.”
“Okay, but clearly this is a huge problem.” Crystal cut in. “You look like shit, Edwin.”
And now that she'd said it, they all truly noticed it. Edwin had always been on the paler side before death, but this was something else. Any pigment to his lips had long gone away, skin taking on a greyish hue. Dark circles formed around his eyes, giving his face an almost sunken-in, corpse like appearance. Crystal hadn't been far off with her assessment.
But what was their next move?
“Wait,” Niko piped up, looking between Charles and Crystal. “What about the night nurse? She might know what to do, right? I mean, nurse is in her name---they don’t just give that title out to everyone, do they?”
There was a beat of silence. The only sound was the quite unnatural and sudden rattle of Edwin’s breathing. Something else Charles filed away in the very bad category.
It wasn’t much of a plan, wasn’t a plan at all, really. But it was all they had. She’d boasted about the fact she was a trans-dimensional being before, so she had to know something.
Crystal grabbed Charles by the shoulders, making sure he was paying attention. “Charles, listen to me. You'll be able to get to her the fastest.” She'd pointed to shards of glass littered about the floor, leftover from the mirrors used by the possessed witch for whatever rituals she’d been conducting there. One was about the size of a windowpane, enough room for him to jump through. “Niko and I can't mirror travel, but you can. I promise you we'll take care of him until you get back.”
Niko shot him an awkward thumbs up through the blur of her tears, now pressing her beanie to the wound even as it soaked through within seconds.
It went against nearly every instinct he'd had for the past thirty years, positively gutted Charles, but it had to be done. It had to be.
He leapt through the mirrored glass and left Edwin behind.