Ray pressed on into the house, guiding by his fire and his own indignation. Sure, he was still scared shitless and wanted to back out swiftly, but he was also hot-tempered and stubborn to a fault. They threw the first bitch-slap, so no he had to respond with a right hook.
If you let the spirit world push you around, they'd never let you be. Malevolent spirits and demons were really just a bunch of bullies...evil, scary, powerful bullies.
He resisted the urge to shudder and shake; his jaw was clenched so tightly his teeth couldn't even chatter. 

There was nothing else on the first floor of the house, whatever had been there had either retreated upstairs (if they were lucky) or downstairs (if it knew what was good for it).
It may sound crazy but spirits and demons drew strength from strong foundations, whether they be literal building foundations or natural formations of stone and earth. Call it a demonic feng shui if you will, but it was real and anything evil escaping into a basement was more than likely looking to seek the power of nature for its own dark needs.
Ray's fire on the other hand was a bit different. It needed to be drawn from an open space, from the air around him. Small, closed spaces weren't too great for that.
If whatever was here had gone downstairs, it would definitely have the field advantage.

Ray paused a moment, and uttered a quick scrying spell. Very simple, it sent a pulse out into the house that told him where any recent spiritual activity had taken place...and sure enough, the door at the end of the hall.
"Get your chainsaw, Ash. Time to go down into the cellar," Ray sighed grimly.
He strode onward, appearing far bolder than he felt, and roughly opened the door. His fire lit the way down, slippery orange light flickered on the walls of the confined space.
Ray stopped at the foot of the stairs. The first thing he noticed was the table set against the far wall, bare but for a pair of half-spent candles, the scent of tallow lingered subtle in the air, a common ingredient for people playing with the other side. Then, on the floor was a summoners circle, broken thankfully.
"They were here, I know it...they must have been. The circle, the candles...why else would it be here?"
Ray stepped down onto the floor, and immediately felt sick. He played it off like it hadn't happened, if he freaked now, what would Kyra do? He went over to the table and uttered another incantation, this one for the detection of magic in the room.
It came to him in hits, first telling him that a combination of conjuration and divination had been employed, both with a dark tinge to them. Blood had been spilled to create a link. The second told him that residue was still fresh, perhaps a day or two old.
The third pinged back at him like a ricocheting bullet, and a sharp stabbing agony assaulted his temples. He had only time for a single rational thought before he witnessed a shadow on the wall peel away and dart towards him, man-shaped yet terrifyingly blank.
[i]It's a lure, damn it to hell![/i]
It was all Ray could do to raise his arm up in time.