Chapter Text
London, 1993
The first time Charles ever heard Edwin say the word ‘poltergeist,’ he thought he was pulling his leg. Sure, they were both dead and obviously ghosts now, but poltergeist felt so…. Corny? It was a word that belonged in horror movies and over the top scary stories. He’d never thought that he’d actually have to deal with a real one one day.
“So these poltergeists,” Charles butted in to Edwin’s explanation. “They’re… angry, yeah? Like properly, mentally angry.”
A small look of annoyance flashed across Edwin’s face at his interruption, but he quickly recovered. “Most of the time, yes. Poltergeists usually experience an extreme emotional stressor that causes them to lose control.” He held his hand out and waited for Charles to give him the book he’d handed him earlier.
Charles dug around in his bag until he found it and handed it over. Edwin gave him a tight smile then flipped through a few pages, humming as he searched for whatever was going to help them in this situation.
Charles hunched his shoulders as he looked up and down the street. There was no one around, especially not anyone who could see them, and yet it felt as though they were being watched.
Being a ghost should mean you were exempt from those kinds of creepy feelings.
Edwin, however, seemed to be oblivious to everything. It was like this occasionally, Edwin getting so sucked into a book that he didn’t realize the trouble that had stumbled right on top of them. Which was fine, that’s what Charles was there for.
“Extreme emotional stressor? What, like dying wasn’t enough?” Charles joked. He resisted the urge to pull out his cricket bat. There was no need for it yet.
“Not usually, no,” Edwin said, tilting his head to the side. It was a sort of charming habit he had, where he would tilt his head this way and that like a bird while reading. “Poltergeists are tremendously strong, and that sort of strength usually comes from being deceased for a while, although there are exceptions. I believe our client mentioned having known Miss Betty when she was alive. It seems as though they were previously employed together.”
He snapped the book closed with both hands, clearly satisfied with whatever information he had learned. “Stay close. Miss Betty will likely be scared and will resort to violence at the slightest hint of provocation.” His eyes shifted down to where Charles’s hand was hidden in his bag as if he could sense he had thought about pulling out his bat. “So, no bat.”
“No bat?” he repeated. At Edwin’s side eye he repeated more assuredly. “No bat.”
A scream tore through the night air, seeming to chill their already cold existences. Street lamps flickered like dying embers until finally giving out and leaving them in extinguished darkness. That all but proved the office building in front of them was the one their client had mentioned.
While most sane people would take that as a sign to get out of there, Edwin took it as a sign to head in. Charles stuck close, knowing that no matter how smart his friend was he might need him if this poltergeist actually ended up as dangerous as she sounded.
The office building was cold, ethereal ice spreading over a good chunk of the lobby. Charles was sure he’d be able to see his breath if he still had a body temp or needed to breathe. Papers littered the floor; it looked as if a hurricane had rolled through there at some point. Something was scrawled on top of the papers but he didn’t stop to read what.
“Our client Susan says that the poltergeist usually starts up about sundown,” Edwin whispered and waved a hand at all the papers on the floor. “It seems that she has only targeted one person with her aggression so far, but there is always the chance she will advance. And the company’s employees are beginning to get suspicious due to Miss Betty’s destructive nature. I hardly think I need to tell you that it is in every ghost’s best interest if the mortals remain unaware of the paranormal, as they then become prone to doing things like hiring priests and placing iron stakes in inconvenient spaces.”
Before Charles could even open his mouth the sound of shattering glass surrounded them. The skylight had collapsed, glass raining down on top of both of them. He reached out towards Edwin, intending to shield him even though neither one of them really needed to fear the glass. Old habits die hard, as they say.
A split second before he reached Edwin, something grabbed his ankles and pulled. A scream split the air, shrill and sharp and full of pain. It didn’t even sound like a noise a human could make.
“Charles!” Edwin yelped. Charles caught a glimpse of Edwin reaching out to him just as he was pulled into the lift. The doors clanged open and shut and would have likely snapped a human in half had they been pulled in and not Charles.
“Get off me!” Charles yelled. He kicked out with all his might until one of his feet connected against something solid that cracked. The pressure around his ankle disappeared immediately.
He grunted as he climbed to his feet. All of the buttons in the lift seemed to react to his movement and lit up. The lift rumbled and shook as it began to climb floors, the door still opening and closing the whole time.
“Well that’s no good,” Charles said. He’d have to hop out at the next floor. While a fall from this height obviously wouldn’t kill him, he didn’t want to see exactly what it would do. He’d only been a ghost for a few years now and he hardly thought tonight was the night to test anything.
Especially when Edwin was on his own.
He steeled himself and leapt from the lift. As if it were aware he was free, the power suddenly cut and dropped it back down the shaft. Dust and debris flew up the lift shaft and covered him in a fine layer of filth.
Silence reigned. Where was the electric hum of the computers? Or the sound of traffic outside? The only sound was his panting breath and the crackling of ice.
Charles froze. Where had that poltergeist gone? Or Edwin for that matter.
Ice slowly started to creep out from the lift, covering everything in its path. A shadow stepped out from the open shaft, nothing to their shape except for a darkness that flickered like a black hole. Electricity seemed to stream from where Charles figured their finger tips would be, siphoning all the energy from the room.
What had Edwin said? Something about draining energy and converting it? Or had that been the case before?
Charles swore that once they were done here he would start paying better attention to their case notes.
“Get out of here,” the figure growled. It was hard to understand, flitting between too loud and too quiet for seemingly no reason.
Slowly, Charles slid his hand towards his bag. He did remember Edwin’s warning that poltergeists would not react well to violence, but what choice did he have? He didn’t have Edwin’s knowledge on the subject, and he didn’t even know if Edwin was okay.
So he’d do what he did best. He’d fight to get back to him.
“I’d love to,” Charles said, reaching into his bag for his bat. “But you first.”
Without a moment’s hesitation he hurled himself towards the poltergeist, his cricket bat swinging towards where he assumed their head would be.
The door to the stairs banged against the wall. “Stop!” Edwin yelled. But it was too late.
His bat swung straight and true towards the poltergeist’s head, but it never reached it. Instead, a ghostly hand seemed to form and catch the bat in midair. His momentum pulled him forward, straight into the other waiting arm of the poltergeist.
“Charles!”
He must have been struck by lightning. That was the only thing that Charles could think would make everything hurt this bad. It wasn’t often ghosts felt pain, but when they did God did it hurt.
He tried to form a fist, anything that he could use against the force holding him in place, but it was as if the shock had paralyzed him. He could feel himself shaking and hear Edwin screaming, but there was nothing he could do about it.
“Miss Betty!” Edwin said. “Miss Betty, we were sent here by your friend Susan. She is very, very concerned for you.” His voice was edging closer, Charles was sure that he’d be able to see him if he could just turn his head.
Electricity crackled even louder than the ice. He could hear a scuffling sound, likely Edwin dodging around something. His voice was closer still, yet slightly more muffled the next time he spoke.
“I know what they did!” Edwin yelled. The energy surrounding Charles seemed to change, still charged but wary. “They ruined everything you worked for, everything that ever mattered to you.”
Shrill cries split the air and Charles felt himself be released. His breath was knocked from his lungs as he hit the frozen floor.
His body ached all over. He hadn’t hurt this much since that time he tried to walk through an iron gate. A little thing like pain wouldn’t stop him from protecting his friend, however. He rolled over and reached for his bag. Maybe there was something else he could use to slow down this poltergeist while Edwin figured something out.
The shadows melted away until it was just a woman standing there. She still seemed wrong, like she had too many teeth that were too sharp, and her eyes seemed to follow Edwin’s movements like a lizard watching a bug. Blood dripped down her body and splashed against the floor until it froze on the ice.
They’d seen ghosts who’d gone off the rails before, but never one this far.
It seemed as if Edwin was encouraged by her change in appearance. He stood from his place crouched behind a desk and it took everything in Charles to not yell at him to get back behind it.
“You worked so hard, only for the next person they hired to throw it all out, correct?” Edwin said. He stepped forward, an arm outstretched as if he were asking for her hand. When she flinched back, he stalled for a moment, glancing down towards Charles.
A silent conversation took place. Charles tried to reassure Edwin that he was going to get a weapon and everything would be under control. And Edwin tried to tell him no, that he had everything under his control.
“And your secretary,” Edwin continued. “She was recently fired. And without her stable income she….”
Another shrill scream. The woman had barely opened her mouth, yet blood bubbled between her lips until it choked off her scream.
Charles blinked and she was standing directly in front of Edwin.
“They killed her,” Miss Betty’s voice scratched out. “They threw out everything I ever worked for and then they killed my best friend.”
Edwin stood ramrod straight, clearly aware of how close this poltergeist was to him and how easily she could overpower him. Despite his previous warnings, Charles reached into his bag to search for another weapon.
“She died,” Edwin nodded. He had his Reasonable Voice on, as Charles liked to refer to it. It was the voice he’d used when he’d explained that he was dead, and that Charles had just passed away as well. On anyone else it might sound patronizing, on Edwin it just sounded sympathetic. Matter of fact.
Blood rolled down Miss Betty’s cheeks like tears. “I told her she’d be safe. That even once I was gone she’d still have a place at this company. I thought that was true.” She paused, lost in her own thoughts. “It took a year for them to replace me. And then once they did they fired her. They refused to even give her a reference for another job unless she did him a favor.”
The air tensed with pent up electricity, a warning unlike anything Charles had ever seen. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he eased to his knees. This was about to go south again, he could tell.
“The day I saw Susan here I thought for sure I’d crossed over. I thought that despite everything I must have made it to a good place,” she said. “To learn that I hadn’t, that she had been killed by that prick-” Edwin winced at the sparks coming off of Miss Betty, “Well, I knew what I had to do.”
Edwin nodded. “You wanted to make him hurt like you do, like she did,” he said.
Miss Betty nodded. “I do. And no one is going to stop me.”
Everything happened at the same time. Charles jumped from his place on the ground, a sword swinging straight for Miss Betty’s back. Miss Betty’s hand reached out, electricity and ice leaping from her hand and into Edwin. And Edwin, bless his damned soul, Edwin reached back at her, the small golden string he kept in his pocket glowing as it wrapped around her wrist.
His sword swung true, and sliced down Miss Betty’s back. She cried out in pain, but was unable to disappear or turn to shadows with Edwin binding her to him. Edwin’s body tensed like he was being electrocuted and only relaxed once he managed to complete his spell.
Edwin collapsed, sparks jumping from his form as he twitched on the ground.
“Edwin!” Charles cried. He hit his knees with more force than he’d intended as he slid next to him.
One weak arm flapped around, seemingly to reassure Charles. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said faintly. Still, he allowed himself to be helped into a seated position by Charles, with one firm arm wrapped around his friend’s shoulders.
Miss Betty blinked, almost like she was seeing the two of them for the first time. She lifted her wrist and looked at the glowing light circling it.
“Betty?”
Everyone turned. Charles raised his sword up, still keeping an arm around Edwin’s shoulders. The last thing he wanted to do was let go of his friend, but he also couldn’t leave him undefended.
Miss Betty’s face seemed to clear up. Her teeth creaked and groaned until they formed a more normal smile, her eyes slowly shifting to look more human as well. The only thing that remained was the blood, which was hardly surprising considering everyone in the room was dead.
“Susan?” she asked. There was something to her tone that made Charles’s heart ache. Hope?
Susan stood in the same doorway Edwin had burst through earlier. She sniffed, tears streaming down her face against her will.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” Susan said. She made a motion between the two of them. “Not like this, anyways.”
Miss Betty stood up, clearly having forgotten about the two boys on the floor. Perhaps it was better this way. It would be so much easier to sneak away from Death if they didn’t even remember them.
“Let’s go,” Charles said, hauling Edwin to his feet. Edwin puffed out in pain, but stood nonetheless.
“Thank you,” Susan called out, clearly seeing the two of them trying to sneak away.
Betty turned around, surprise covering her face. She looked down at the tether between herself and Edwin and smiled.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
Charles grimaced. “We’re aces,” he said. Or they would be, at least. They were ghosts, it didn’t take long for them to recover.
Edwin nodded primly. “Yes, well, if you don’t mind, we need to be going. Death comes for us all, and all that, but we really cannot be caught.”
Susan smiled and slid her hand into Betty’s. “I think we’ve got it from here.” She reached out for the string in Edwin’s hand, which he reluctantly handed over. The last thing either one of them wanted was for her to turn back into a poltergeist, but they also couldn’t be here when Death came.
A blue light began to fill the room, spurring Charles into action. He hauled both of them towards the stairs, intent on finding a nearby mirror to get them back to the office. He hadn’t yet mastered mirror travel, but Edwin was brilliant at it.
Neither one of them spoke until they were in the bathroom on the floor below. Edwin had almost found their office when Charles spoke up.
“How did you know?” he asked quietly. He didn’t want to speak too loud and bring Death down on them, but he just had to know.
“Hm?” Edwin asked, tilting his head towards Charles.
“How did you know that Susan and Betty were… That they cared for each other?” he asked.
Edwin lifted his hand from the mirror to fully face Charles. They both looked a bit singed and frostbit at the moment, something that would likely fade by the time they got back to their office. Charles couldn’t help the swooping feeling he felt in his stomach at seeing Edwin’s mused hair and red tinted cheeks.
“Susan had mentioned that she knew Betty in life. And with Susan being recently departed, and poltergeists being created from severe emotional distress, the only logical conclusion was that the two of them had cared deeply for each other.”
Sure, Charles supposed that tracked. That still didn’t explain everything, however.
“How did you know about that dick undoing all her work? Or killing Susan?”
Edwin smiled. “Did you not observe the papers down stairs? They were all centered on one man who recently took up a position in this company. That, combined with what Susan had previously told us about Betty led me to believe that there were two stressors in this situation. And both of them were centered here.”
Charles nodded. He hadn’t noticed anything in particular about the papers downstairs, but then again that’s what Edwin was for. Edwin was the brains and Charles was the brawn, that was how this agency stayed afloat.
Although maybe he would have to start paying attention when their clients visited.
“And what about that prick,” Charles said. “We can’t just let him get away with murder.”
Edwin nodded. “No, we can’t. Which is why an anonymous report will be sent to the police with everything we know.”
Charles felt a grin split his face. God, he loved his afterlife.
XXX