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Feeling the rain fall on him even inside the house brought one thing to mind immediately: regret. He knew he should have taken an umbrella. However, he was already inside the house. It was too late to just go back and return. It wasn't actually, but he didn't feel like going there and back, despite it only being maybe 100 feet away at most. For the time being, he'd do his best to avoid the spots that were most prone to rainfall or looked too rotten.

That was actually a more difficult task than it would seem, given how bad a state the house seemed to be in. There were either pieces of roof scattered about, or the floorboards looked rather compromised in terms of structural strength. He didn't want to see if this house had a basement because he stepped on the wrong place. But despite the setbacks facing him, Harry still managed to make his way across the room to the front of the foyer, where he had spotted some of the few remaining pieces of furniture.

The PI had a long, hard look at the photo. It was an odd feeling. Just seeing the man's face again, even in the form of a painting was enough for his spine to grind together. But on the other hand, whatever that thing was now carried with it some context. This was a lead that he could pursue. It had a name, and that made it a real thing he could deal with. Or at least attempt to. This was a good decision, coming here.

Harry set the image down and pulled out his notebook to jot down some ideas. Namely, setting aside a page or two of blank space for him to deduce what exactly that man in a suit was. Given this new piece of evidence on the first line under the header he simply jotted down "Ghost?"

Given that he'd likely be talking to others about this, he'd need some sort of reference other than just a name, item and location, so he pulled out his insanely durable but underutilized phone. With a bit of fiddling, he was able to snap a few pictures of the portrait, only one or two of which came out looking good. Marveling at the convenience of modern technology, Kingsfield moved on from the foyer to investigate deeper into the abandoned house.

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"I'll totally pay for your next dinner Oli." She watched Declan run off into the woods. That seemed like a bad idea to her. Had she missed something?

"I don't want to get anything important wet." Heather frowned looking at Dancing Queen. "Declan has a point. You sure you're okay with me getting into the van this wet?"

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"Don't worry about it, Heather," Robin said, with a casual wave of his hand, pushing in his chair and leaving the cafe, holding the door open for the others as he left. "What's a van you don't make use of? A waste of money, that's what." He patted the Dancing Queen on her mural before unlocking the passenger side door to let Olivia in and heading around to the back to get the main doors for the 'extra seat'.

After, he hopped into the front of the cab. "Alright. Directionally-challenged," he continued, starting the engine. "Since you called shotgun, that's your job. What's the best way to get to this house?"

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Finley was a bit miffed Declan wouldn't be coming along with her, instead she would share a car with people she had no intention of interacting with socially, but beggars could not be choosers. She hadn't ridden her motorcycle in the rain for safety (and her grandparents were very adamant about it). So she bid Declan farewell with a cold stare, but a small smile.

She turned to the others and shrugged. She had no qualms about where she sat. "Whatever. Let's get there soon though." She thought about sending Taylor a quick text, but she assumed Declan would bring her up to speed. She then thought about texting Jenna, then decided against it. She wanted her friend back, but if she was going to be stubborn about it, then Finley was only happy to oblige.

She got into the car and buckled in, waiting for them to stop talking and just drive. Who gave a fuck about being wet and the rain! They had a case to solve and a girl to find.

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Jenna frowned, watching her cousin's words - incident at the abandoned house? She doubted that it wasn't connected somehow. She knew horror movies and apparently, she was living in one, which meant that all of these threads had to have some relation to each other. The Mayor's murder, Riley's disappearance, this incident Lydia had mentioned - she was willing to bet they were all supernatural events. The Mayor had been killed by hellhounds and had attempted to summon a demon. Could the demon or the hellhounds be responsible for the other two events?

"Once they've transformed, however, do they have control over their actions?" Jenna stressed. She knew that the Mayor had been killed by a hellhound. But she needed all of the facts and information - and Declan wasn't going to give that to her. While it may not have seen necessary to know the inner mechanics of how werewolves work, Jenna couldn't help but see it as essential. She couldn't be expected to solve a puzzle without having all of the pieces, no matter how insignificant a single piece may seem. "And Lydia...What incident? Tell me everything."

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Lydia fell silent, just listening to Robert. The idea of werewolves was still a little weird, but she was getting used to the weirdness in the town. She had basically seen, well more of heard, someone get killed this week already, there wasn't much that would surprise her now. Jenna's question at the end about what had happened at the abandoned house took her by surprise. She had only mentioned it in passing, not wanting to elaborate to much about it, but looks like she wasn't going to let it go.

"I found some letter that was addressed to the mayor... Some guy who helped me out suggested we go to where the return address was to see what we could find out. Found this basement at this weird house, storm cellar door, or something, and it looked like some whacked out cult shrine or something, still not too sure about it. We started to walk out, the instant I was outside, and Robert was there too, the doors slammed shut, trapping the guy inside. By the time I was able to get the doors open, he was dead," she said, her voice trailing off towards the end.

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@BlueSky44 @Morose Robert stared at Jenna and then nodded. "Yes, once they have experienced a few changes they will be able to have full control of their actions when they are fully transformed." He answered calmly before looking over at Lydia as she mentioned the events back at the house. He shuddered slightly remembering seeing that body as well, and gave a slight nod he was there to witness the killing, well the dead body in the end. "That would be a demon of some kind." He said towards her, remembering the scent of sulfur very clearly. "Why do you want to know so much about werewolves anyway? Everything that has happened so far is demonic related." He asked Jenna. "Also what are you guys going to be doing?"

@Dragoknighte As Harry continued to investigate the house, the floorboards continued to occasionally make an eerily creaking sound. Then suddenly one of the floorboards gave way, Harry's right leg fell through the floor. There was a cut along his leg, however he would see through the broken floorboard that there was a small wooden box. Inside the box contained several pictures of women. Some of them looked extremely old one of them however was newer and recent. It was a picture of Riley tied down to a chair, in the back of each photo had the words 'possible vessels'. Then Harry would be able to hear two cars starting to pull up to the house.

@Infamous Auror The 'run back' to Declan's house was pretty much uneventful, there was nothing interesting at his house once he had gotten there. And the others would have ended up beating him over to the abandoned house by the time he had gotten to his house. The rain had stopped completely now at this point, but the clouds remained very heavy in the sky and looked like it could start again in a few minutes.

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Olivia stared at Declan as he decided to just go on his own, which was probably a very bad idea, and he pretty much just hinted that he was a werewolf right then and there if it weren't for the trees just behind the café. She looked over towards Robin, Heather, Finley and Miranda. "Might as well just go and get there now, Miranda and Finley meet you there." She said as she climbed into the car, looking over her shoulder at Heather and smiled slightly. "I'm sure he wont mind." She started to notice now that the rain was clearing up, her attention turning towards Robin asking for directions on where they needed to go.

"No problem at all, just follow the main road like you are driving out of town, and then turn right on the rocky unpaved road that will take you directly to the house." She said, once Robin had started the drive wasn't that far and was rather quick as well, they would be able to notice Harry's car parked by the house as well. "It looks like we aren't the only ones here." Olivia said softly.

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Abraham looked over towards his niece and nodded slightly as he stood up finishing up the last of his call, it was one of his hunting buddies back in the day. "Well got in contact with a friend of mine, there is a way to protect ourselves from them, goofer dust, salt, which we already have and Devil Shoestring also act as barriers against them." Abe said, and then thought about going to that shop again. "We could get that stuff at that witch shop." He said Abe then got up and nodded as he started to make his way towards his drawer and pulled out some white chalk and tossed one over towards Kosara. "I don't want no paint in my room, that will be just fine." He said.

Abe then made his own way over towards his own bedroom and started to make some devil's trap over his bed, and then after finishing it up Abe came back out of his bedroom and then gestured towards Kosara. "Lets head towards the townhall then as well see what else we can find about the mayor."

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“Well those work... don't forget also good old iron... it's as effective in making the supernatural non possessed form of a demon to get forced to retreat sometimes. Still a wall of salt is usually the best though... or a sealing box of some variety or another, Abe.” Kosara commented with a shrug. She had encountered a variety of ways to deal with demons over the years. Some people just banished them, especially over in Europe she knew for fact about a few exorcists that can perform the act of expelling a demon from a host and away. There were demon killing capable weapons which were rare and least we not forget to simply seal a bloody demon into a holy container or whatever. It could happen but who knows if it's quite possible to find one of those here in the middle of nowhere.

Then she had finished dealing with her bedroom. She drew a bunch of protective runes all across the place. Hid a demon trap right in front of the door and the window. So not only did they have salt blocking all openings such as windows and doors she now had protection hidden there in case a demon manages to make the salt vanish or something and it tries to enter it will get right into the trap. She actually went one step further and painted a demon's trap on the wall behind the wardrobe. That will put a demon bugger into a fun situation heh. Then she returned to Abe.

“Fine, let's go while you are dealing with the townhall, I will hit the library. I want to go through the old newspapers and the like to see if anything pops up there.” She agreed with Abe.” Will also call a few weather stations in the air or something to check if there are weather distortions. Who knows what might happen.”

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Heather was thankful as they pulled up to the creepy house that at least the rain didn't seem like it was trying to drown her anymore.

"So, what is the plan Oli? What are we looking for?" Heather asked, looking at the stranger's car ahead of them. "What if that is a cop?" The thought crossed Heather's mind seconds before she asked. This was technically trespassing, and most assuredly also tampering with an active crime scene.

Heather made a fist with her left hand as a new fear introduced itself to her. What if she was caught and someone figured out what she had done? Had she made sure for certain no one was watching when she had healed the plants? _{Why had it started now?}

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Harry carefully stepped through the house. When he was walking through the forest towards an unknown danger, he had a stride full of confidence. Yet here, where the most danger he was in was a simple fall, he walked as if he had to cross a barely frozen lake top. However, despite all of these cautions, suddenly he felt the ground give way from underneath his right foot, until his hip and arms hit the floor, preventing any further drop.

Immediately, he couldn't see his leg, but there was a pain the beyond the initial impact in his arms and hip, and there was heat that ran down his leg. With a bit of effort, his other leg found a foothold on the wall. With a bit of effort, Harry was able to push himself up and out of the newly created hole. Luckily enough, his pants remained intact; however, there was a ragged gash on his calf that ran red. He didn't have the time or supplies to properly clean it right at that moment, and it didn't seem that bad, but he couldn't just leave it to bleed all over his sock. Hastily, he removed his tie, and used it as a makeshift bandage for the wound. As he rose from where he'd been seated, he noticed the box.

So it seemed that this house wasn't entirely abandoned. Perhaps whoever was behind these crimes were using the house as a base. If nobody visited, they could plan as they pleased. He was almost about to start writing down notes when he heard the cars up front. Harry stacked all the photographs together and tucked them into his front jacket pocket before he went over to a nearby window to investigate. They weren't police cars, so they were either perpetrators/accessories, or nosy kids. Miranda's exit lent credence to the latter theory, but he couldn't be sure, for the time being he'd try to stay out of sight and observe what they did.

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Finley was quiet on the drive over. She really wasn't thrilled about this turn of events, but what could she do now? She wanted to investigate and they were going to be here anyway. What, did she want to be alone with Declan?

Of course she did! God, this was so stupid.

Once they got near, the others mentioned a car. She looked out and, sure enough, noticed the vehicle. Speculation aside, Miranda seemed to know whose it was. Some PI? Was it the man she saw before with Jenna? She had a feeling he was a detective of some sort, but not one of their police officers. If so, then it made sense why he was here.

She got out of the car. "If it is the PI then he can't tell us to leave. And if he is here, then we must be on the right track." She started to make her way inside. PI be damned, she would find more clues.

It had taken some time, but Declan finally made it home. He opened the door and quickly ran through the house on the tips of his toes (as if that would help ), running into the bathroom to drop all his wet things into the tub so they wouldn't leak all over the wood flooring in his room. Declan pulled his shirt and hoodie up over his head, as well as stripping his soaked pants off. A glance in the mirror forced his eyes away from his own, growling to himself. He was never one to look in the mirror, dispite his good looks, but especially since he was infected. He could never get past the fact he had a monster lying just under the surface. He tossed his soaked clothes into the tub beside his bags and stepped out of the bathroom only to find his mom standing in the hallway with her hands on her hips, Declan yelling out 'MOM!' before retreating back into the bathroom for cover. His mom raised an eyebrow, looking from the open door to her son.

"You bring a girl home?" Declan's face scrunched up in confusion, somewhat dumbfounded. "Um, mom..no, for one. Two, why are you home?" Mrs. O'Connor smirked slightly, shaking her head at her son. "Meeting was cut short today. Boss had a family emergency." Declan nodded, then turned beet red with his mother's next words. "I'm doing laundry. Leave your stuff in the tub and I'll come back up to get it. Take a towel, and leave your underoos, kay?" Declan rolled his eyes but muttered 'Yes mom.' loud enough for her to hear and be satisfied. He watched her walk down the hall and out of sight before doing as he was told, stripping bare and leaving his boxers inside the tub, using his towel on the back of the door to cover himself as he made his way to his room.

Declan pulled the last piece of clothing on, looking at the time on his phone. He'd only been home a good 10 minutes. A text came in from his mom, then.

тaĸe тнe нorѕeѕ oυт ιғ yoυ're plannιng тo go ѕoмewнere. aт leaѕт тaĸe вrago. нe'ѕ done noтнιng вυт pace тнe laѕт ғew dayѕ.

Declan pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily. Really? He shook his head and stuffed his phone into his pocket, walking out of the house and back out into the rain towards the stables where Sen and Brago were kept. Once inside, he unlatched Brago's door and led him out, grabbing a rope for a halter and lead, fastening it to his horse before hopping onto his bare back and gently kicking his sides to push the horse forward and out intothe rain. 'Here we go,' he thought to himself. Declan lead Brago off towards the abandoned house, putting him through his paces on the way there.

Once Declan could see the house in his sights, he pulled back on Brago's rein and slowed him to a walk, sliding off his back with a splat! onto the muddy ground. He could see the cars all around the place. 3 of them, to be exact. The decorative van, Miranda's car, and the P.I.'s car? Why was he here? Declan narrowed his eyebrows at the house, tying Brago to a tree a good 15 yards from the place, slowly approaching.

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Robin parked up somewhat haphazardly outside the house, keeping a wide berth (or as wide as possible) from the other car already present. That it could have been a cop, as Heather worried, was a daunting prospect that set him on edge, a live-wire of anxious energy. Before leaving his van, he slipped out his lockpicking kit from a storage box under the driver's seat, which fit – barely – into the deep inner pocket of his leather jacket.

"A PI?" That was reassuring. At least it wasn't the police. Hell, there was a part of Robin that would rather have a murderer or kidnapper than the police at this point. "Could be worse. Plus, the door might already be unlocked if he's inside."

Robin approached the front door, just behind Finley, who was correct in saying that they were on the right track if the professionals were here. He kept his back facing the abandoned house to shoot Heather a reassuring grin. "Even if it was cops, we're all squeaky clean, law-abiding citizens, so I'm sure it wouldn't come to much. Unless one of you have some literal skeletons in your closet..."

He didn't lock the Dancing Queen, but kept a careful eye on it for as long as he could before they entered the house. Sometimes a quick getaway was crucial, but he hoped it wouldn't be one of these times.

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Jenna nodded, absorbing all of the information her cousin told her. It sounded like a nightmare, but it all was falling in nicely with the other pieces of the puzzle she had uncovered so far. The Mayor had been killed by a hellhound and involved in Satanic practices - which involved summoning demons. She doubted it was an activity he would have done alone - it seemed like something he would have been introduced to. "What did the letter say?" Jenna asked. She then took into consideration what Robert had added, clarifying the mental image in her mind slightly. Whoever wrote the letter to the Mayor may have been possessed by a demon - the one that attacked Lydia's friend and killed him.

She then looked at the cat lover. "Werewolves are involved somehow," she said simply. She wasn't going to share exactly why she was asking questions about them - but after Declan's reaction to the silver mine and the strange symbols carved there, as well as the fact that the hellhound attack nearly framed a werewolf...It was all too much for Jenna to leave it as coincidence. "As for what I'm doing - I'm getting justice for the Mayor and then...Then I'm leaving Red Lake for good," she replied bluntly.

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"I don't know what it said... I only looked at the return address on the envelope, I didn't open it. I gave it to the police when I ran to go get them to let them know what had happened. I was curious, I'll admit that, but I didn't open it, I'm not a detective," Lydia said, looking at Jenna and answering her question. All of this seemed kind of crazy and far-fetched to her, but she was in way over her head and she couldn't get out of it very easily clearly.

She listened to what the two of them were saying, thinking about what she should do about all of this. The fact that there were now demons involved, as well as people who could turn into animals scared her a little bit, but she didn't say anything about that. It wasn't like she was going to admit it. "I have no idea what I'm really going to be doing Robert... No idea whatsoever..." she said, giving the kid a smile.

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@BlueSky44 @Morose Robert stared at Jenna she still seemed that she was dead set on thinking that it was werewolves that did it, but then again he was also still pretty young and he didn't know to much on being a detective. He could understand wanting justice for the mayor, even if he was proven to be a corrupted person and doing a demon deal that ended up being cashed in and taking his life very quickly. "You could see that letter if it's still in the evidence room." He suggested looking over at Jenna he could understand wanting to leave town right away. "The letter could be useful for any information on whats going on."

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Once they were out of the car Olivia stared at the PI's car in front of the abandoned house, she hadn't really talked to him to much, but she had a feeling as to why he was here right then and there. He was still looking for Riley or any evidence of it, Olivia climbed out of the car and stretched out slightly. Just as she looked and saw Declan coming over on his horse and raised an eyebrow towards him, it was certainly very weird for him to come in on one. "Welcome back to the party Declan." Olivia said towards Declan and gave him a friendly smile as she looked over at Heather when she asked her question.

"Well we could go to that basement and see what is down there that's where that murder happened if anyone is opposed to that Or we split up and some of us take the basement and then some of you guys take the house itself?" Olivia suggested. Back inside Harry would be able to hear bits and pieces of what they were talking about, but the distance was still a bit to far for him to pick up the whole conversation on what they were doing here. Olivia then started to make her way towards the side cellar door of the house, which was were the killing had happened just five days ago.

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Abraham turned his attention towards his niece as she came up to him as she finished up the rest of her wardings on the house, could never be to careful when it comes to demons. Though he didn't like the idea of separating he didn't want his niece to deal with a demon alone and quickly shook his head. "No it be easier if we hit the library together makes researching just as quick." Abraham said as he turned and left the house and made his way towards his car.

That and he also did enjoy the company of his niece as he opened up the door to his car Abe climbed in and then beeped the horn looking over at Kosara he wasn't taking a no for an answer. Abe then started to turn on the cars radio to an oldies station playing music from the 40's as he leaned back they would hit the library first then the townhall.

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Finley watched Declan return, wondering why he had to go off on his own. Still, they were back together again, even if they had added baggage from the others. And a PI it seemed. Regardless, they had a job to do. A girl to find and a murder to solve. Werewolves were involved somehow. She was reasonably sure Declan was not involved. Hell, Olivia was a werewolf too. Why wasn't she suspected? Finley was sure Olivia wasn't involved either.

First things first was investigating this building. "Basement it is." Finley made strides towards the house, ready to enter the basement. If the others followed, great. If not, all the better. She wanted to go at this alone anyway (or at least with Declan). No one was going to stop her from investigating this.

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Harry stepped away from the window and started to make his way back to the entrance. Well, he wasn't sure exactly what to do from here. As far as Harry could tell, they probably weren't here as part of any criminal activity from what he could gather. And judging from the week prior by the lake, they were here for a similar reason: trying to investigate something or other. Was every teenager in this town part of Mystery Inc. and he was just never told of this?

It would be a major problem if their bungling around happened to destroy an important piece of evidence, but he didn't exactly have the authority to drive them away. Nor did he really have much of a leg to stand on, since he just fell through the floor as well. Wait, that gave him an idea. The PI kept moving, being careful to stick to the spots he knew from experience were stable enough until he was at the entrance proper, face to face with Finley.

"I wouldn't go in that house," he cautioned her. His tone wasn't authoritarian, he wasn't trying to command her or intimidate her into compliance, but actually help her out here. Harry could only hope that she'd listen to reason, but then again, these kinds of kids rarely paid heed to their elders.

"It's really unsafe in there right now. The floors are unstable and rotting, and the rain is only going to make it a lot worse. If you really have to go check it out, I'd wait until it had the time to dry out. I'd hate for you to end up hurt or worse just over some curiosity." To demonstrate his point, Harry lifted his right pant leg just enough to make the tied up gash on his leg visible, and the blood that trailed down to the bottom of his leg. If everyone decided to leave for the time being, great. If not, he did what he could. But he'd see how this would play out before leaving and getting some better medical treatment.