Claire Constance's Story

That same day, outside Claire's office. "Good morning Ms. Constance. How are you?", he said. He was leaning against her door in a freshly pressed brown suit, white button down, and a cream colored tie. A brown belt, brown shoes, and a brown leather banded watch rounded out his attire. He often flirted lightly with Claire, unaware of her nature and she normally let him down easy on account of it.

In the next room Alphonse and Chloe sat talking though these two could not hear them. The two wolves would soon leave to continue in search of the serial killer Alek who they knew by description but not yet by name. With Bowen out of the office, Nerve working on the case to find the rogue werewolf, and Léon responding to a body found at the Den they were left at the office to help clients that walked in.

The woman looked up from the paperwork she had been filling out since the night before. A polite smile rose on her lips. "Good morning, Mr. Ombre." Her accent was soft, but noticeable. "I am well, thank you for asking. And how are you doing this morning?"

Her hair was hanging loose down her back and behind her ear. She was wearing a dark grey suit jacket and a black pair of dress pants. Her office was rather neat and tidy, everything in perfect order and had an old air to it. Her pistols laid flat on her desk, as they normally did when she wasn't out on call. "Have we been called in by Mr. Davion for a case yet? If I have to fill out one more bloody report, I am going scream." She sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"No. Nothing...", he managed to say before Ms. Snow interrupted him. "There is a gentlemen here to speak with a detective. Are one of you free? Chandler turned to Claire and then back to Brittany with a smile. "Yeah. We are free. Show him back.", he would say to Brittany and she would walk back down the hall. A moment later she would escort a young man with a haggard look and a torn and dirty suit that had once been quite expensive.

"Mr. Giles, this is Mr. Ombre and Ms. Constance.", said Brittany. She nodded and then turned down the hall to return to her desk. "Mr. Ombre... Ms. Constance...", said the man as he shook both of their hands in turn. Thank you for seeing me without an appointment." He looked haunted, tired, and dirty. He was even missing a shoe.

Claire stood up as soon as the man entered the room, smiling as she would anyone else: A polite professional smile. She shook her his hand firmly. "It is our pleasure, Mr. Giles." She said. "Please, have a seat." She would wait until he did before taking her own seat.

"What can we help you with, Mr. Giles?" She asked, picking up a pad and pen to take down notes.

He sat down. "I am so sorry for my appearance. I assure you that I have the money to pay for your services.", he would say as he tried in vane to fix his suit and tie. He gave up a moment later. "My father recently passed and left me a large estate in Luskonios. We had been living in Wing City and I returned to Lutetia to reclaim the property but I have encountered problems."

He ran his hands through his hair and bent his back. "I think my family's estate is haunted."

Claire looked up to Chandler for a moment and then folded her hands out in front of her. "Haunted, Mr. Giles?" She asked, as if to confirm. "And may I ask what evidence suggests the fact that your late father's estate is haunted?" Her voice carrying a sincere and understanding tone in her voice.

"Pardon, I am listening though." She slowly stood up from her desk and walked over to a small fridge. She took out a small bottle of water for herself before taking out another and offering it for the tattered man. "Would you like some water, Mr. Giles?" She asked.

He nodded that he would like some water. Chandler fetched some for him and then stood by with his arms crossed. After Mr. Giles gulped down the water and took a moment to breath he would start to talk again. "I brought two of my buddies from Aslund. I had plans of auctioning the estate off. They were going to help me and I was going to pay them for the help. They vanished on the first night in the house. I could hear them screaming. Then something attacked me. It chased me off the property. It looked like shadows."

The man started to hyperventilate and grip his chest but he was a relatively young guy. He was more likely having a panic attack than heart problems. "Easy. Calm down.", Chandler said and put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Can you tell us anything else about the estate?"

Mr. Giles tried to calm himself down. "No.", he said, looking to the floor.

Claire slowly walked back to her desk, dropping two tablets into the bottle of water she had for herself, shaking it. The bottle turned blood red. Taking a swallow from it she sat down at her chair once again.

She waited for the disturbed gentlemen to calm down again before resuming her questioning. "Mr. Giles, I hate to ask.. Could you tell me some about your late father?" She asked softly, looking concerned.

Marcoux Giles nodded, took a moment to compose himself and then started talking. "My father left Lutetia a few days after I was born and brought me to Wing City. I never knew my mother but my father was a business man. He worked in trading stocks but many of his endeavors failed at the end. He had a drinking problem you see and I blame that. During one of his drunken ramblings he said that the Giles name was a noble name. I did not give it much credit until I discovered evidence of the estate in some papers I was sorting through a few months ago. This was shortly after his death.", explained Marcoux.

"Do you know anyone in particular that would or could wish you harm or that may have some other claim to the estate?", asked Chandler. The man shook his head in response. "My friends are still in the house for all I know. I went down to the precinct station but they thought I was a crazy man and wouldn't give me the time of day."

Claire took down a few notes as he spoke. Chandler could see a slight worry line form between her brows, one that only formed when she was around humans too long after her last feeding. Taking another sip of her water she looked up at Marcoux again with that smile of hers. "Mr. Giles, you will find that our facility takes all of our customers very seriously." She said, sitting up straight in her chair, folding her hands together.

"Every case that comes through our doors, we feel it is with the utmost importance that we solve whatever dilemma , whether or not it comes from a person down on their luck or big corporations. VINDEX is not a police station with half baked detectives. We are a privately owned company of highly trained individuals with special skill sets that people, like yourself, seek out when everyone else turns you away."

She slowly stood up with her notepad and walked around until she stood in front of Marcoux. She bent down slightly, carefully and tenderly straightening out his collar and tie for him. Her OCD had gotten the better of her. "We will take your case, Mr. Giles, and we will find your friends, or what has happened to them. Do you mind if Mr. Ombre and myself take a look at your estate? You do not have to join us if you do not wish, but we do need your permission to enter as well any keys that could bar our investigation." She said. Her voice had just the slight seductive edge to it and Chandler knew she was walking that fine line of keeping sane and losing it to blood lust.

Marcoux pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and placed this on Claire's desk. He then wrote down the estate's address in Luskonios. These were passed to Claire across her desk.

Chandler scribbled some instructions on a piece of paper and handed it to Marcoux. "If you exit the main door you came in and turn left you will see the Professor Hotel. They will provide a room for you. We want you to stay there until we look into the trouble that is going on at your estate.", Chandler said and Marcoux nodded as if he were sleep walking. He was in shock and it was perfectly clear that he did not wish to go back to the estate at that time.

"Rest and recover. We will do out best to find your friends.", Chandler said and helped the man up, escorting him out of Claire's office before turning back to her. Behind them Chloe and Alphonse walked by on their way to work on their own case. Chandler and Claire would speak briefly before headed the same way. "What do you think ma chérie?", he said with a sigh.

When he turned back around, Claire was in her seat, looking at the address of the estate. She was partly biting her thumb, and Chandler could see a trickle of blood running from it. "I think that if I keep skipping meals, I'm going to regret it some day.." She sighed, sucking the blood off her thumb.

"As for this case.." She slowly stood up, gathering the keys and the notes. "Well. We will see when we get there. I doubt those two boys are still alive, be it ghosts or.. Other things." She hesitated. She opened her jacket to holster both her weapons under her arms. "You're driving." She smiled as she said, buttoning up her jacket and grabbing her bottle of water. She ushered him out of her office before shutting off the lights and closing the door behind her.

"Ms. Snow, we will be back, but if there are any calls please forward them to my cellphone." She directed. "And if Mr. Davion requires us, we shall be at the Giles Estate." She informed.

He frowned, a look of genuine worry. He was not worried for him, but for her. "We need to stop by Gable's shop first and pick up some supplies before we head to the estate." Titus Gable was a local alchemist that specialized in arcane concoctions. Vindex often dealt with him in cases that could not be solved or adversaries that could not be overcome with smarts or a bullet to the face.

When she told him he was driving he nodded and walked with her down the hall and into the sitting room. Ms. Snow nodded and let them know that everything would be taken care of when Claire spoke with her. Like a true gentlemen he held the door for her and exited after her. They jumped in his car together and rolled out of the parking lot.

Claire sighed as they pulled up to the shop that Chandler needed to visit. She honestly hated this shop, but he needed to stop her occasionally. "So tell me, what is that worried line on your forehead for, Mr. Ombre? Surely this case isn't worrying you, unless you know something that I don't." She said, a gentle smile upon her lips. Still, she got out of the car and walked towards the store's front door.

The store front was almost a catastrophe in Claire's opinion. The clutter was screaming at her to clean it, her OCD itching at her. Still, she restrained herself enough to only straighten one of the cauldrons. "This place.. Is going to be the death of me.." She muttered to Chandler as he passed. It was a joke, of course. At least, it would seem so.

The shop was indeed a variety of messes and possible death traps as the chaos that was strung about the store was not only outside of the main door but even more evident as anyone would walk in. Old and musty books held sway over the shelves and ruled over vials and jars of unknown origins while housing strange and bazaar things while bone and stone kept their place on ancient mantles no longer in their prime as once grand fires would crackle over an open yule log.

The old building seemed to groan slightly and nothing stirred except for the turning of a single page and the blotched sound of ink on a quill against the pages of an old ledger. The long figure who kept to his work waved over a small candle like creature with its wick aflame only to write a bit more before glancing up at the newcomers with little interest.

"Welcome to the Cackling Cauldron, best prices and fine merchandise abound. Feel free to peruse items of interest and.... " Titus began to look back up and began to recognize Claire Constance only to smile and then frown. With one ounce of trouble there was always surely to follow the other. The small waxy creature sat down next to the book and Titus himself began to lean over his own work just to offer a shitty grin and open arms.

"Welcome back. I wonder where your partner is located?" The Alchemist began to look towards the door wondering if that lout would show up again. After the last order Chandler placed in it seemed like the payments kept getting slower and slower these days.

He had entered the Cauldron with her but had been looking at some knickknacks around one corner. When he heard Titus speak he put the object he had been examining back on the shelf and walked around and behind his partner. "Good morning Mr. Gable. We need about fifty twelve-gauge packed rock salt and iron shavings shot, a big bag of crushed rock salt, a bag of iron filings, and anything else you can think of that will help protect me and my beautiful partner from a possible malignant entity, spirit, or ghost intent to possibly rip me or my beautiful partner's throat out."

He turned to Claire, smiled, and then turned back to Titus. "Sorry about the slow billing. I could ask Mr. Davion to open an account if you prefer.", he said with a grimace. He did not know exactly how long Bowen took to pay his bills. The truth of it was that it took Vindex on average two or three days to make payment available to the Cackling Cauldron.

Once the Alchemist spoke up, she turned to face him, making an 'ah' sound. "Good Morning, Mr. Gable. I do hope you are doing well these days." She said. She always had this 'professional' air about her, and even though they've probably visited the store over a dozen times, she treated him with the same politeness and professionalism as she always had.

However, hearing from Chandler that the billing was slow, caused her smile to fade. This had not been the first time, and it was slowly becoming an increasing problem. She would need to speak with Bowen about this.

"No need to worry Mr. Davion about this. I shall pay the balance that VINDEX owes your shop, Mr. Gable." She pulled a check book from her pocket. "Once we've settled our business for today and you help my partner find the items that he requires, I will write the check." She promised. "We wouldn't want the nasties to rip Mr. Ombre's throat out." She gave a tight smile.

Titus just looked over the two and then down to the waxy figure's now blue flame only to frown slightly. It would be a real shame if something bad would happen to the two of them. The Alchemist began to smile a bit as he looked back at the two and his mind began to wander ever so slightly on a darker path. "No need to pay this time." Titus offered as he closed his ledger and set the large book on a shelf behind him. The Alchemist came back to lean on the counter and waved the two over as he produced from underneath a few boxes of shells marked with his own crest. "It would be a real shame if the two of my finest customers just vanished from the good graces of the Cackling Cauldron. Hell you both have kept me in the green for a good week as not many of my clients are willing to come out this far unless they feel like they can get away from the church in town. You know how it is."

The Alchemist suddenly waved the small waxy creature off and watched as it trotted off and down off the counter only to run up the steps. "Now as for the other goods you asked for. I am to assume that you know what kind of spirit you are dealing with?" Titus allowed the question to hang on the air as he produced a couple more boxes of shells and rounds. "Instead of the iron shavings might I suggest a few trinkets from the upper level of my shop. I am sure there are plenty of goodies to keep evil spectral nasties at bay. Maybe a good smudging would help also." Titus began to snicker a little as he walked over to a door leading to a back room just to vanish within and come right out with a few small bags which he set next to the shells and bullets.

"Besides that you two can still take damage so might I suggest some of my specialty recopies? You know my Blood Block is a family secret handed down from generations and can stop blood from flowing out." The Alchemist began to look over a few more shelves and produced a small book which he opened up just to look at the two. "Of course even though I am not billing you for any of the goodies I am going to provide I do expect some kind of compensation. Mostly on information regarding your lovely case and bits and bobbles from the case itself. I have strings I need to pull and offer and there is little profit for a business such as myself when I cannot get any information...I am sure you two know how that is."

Chandler would take what was offered. He had grown to trust the alchemist's advice in regards to the supernatural despite his own healthy experience with ghosts and other spectral creatures. "I honestly have no clue what we are dealing with yet. I won't know until we get where we are going. It could be anything from a ghost to a demon or some other horror I am not familiar with. I am hoping that it is just the lost soul of a human and not something worse and you know I can't use anything that may repel a ghost outright." His geist sent him shivering. She was trying to throttle him as he thought about white sage smoke and holy incense.

He loosened his collar a bit but knew he wanted to take the Blood Block as soon as it was mentioned. He had used it before and it worked much better and stung less than coagulant powder and a bandage. "You know we will tell you what we can Mr. Gable but much of the information you tend to try and pry from us is confidential. We have been through this a couple of times. I honestly think it would go better for you if you just allowed us to pay you.", he said with a frown as he collected the items.

Chandler would feel the chill of Claire's cold gaze upon him as he spoke those words. But as he turned his attention towards the vampire, he would find her as she always was. The woman gently leaned on the counter, a playful light gleaming in her eyes as she bent towards Titus, her teeth stark white against the crimson lipstick she wore.

"Mr. Gable, it would be my pleasure to just pay you for your wonderful services. We at VINDEX have appreciated your cooperation, and we understand the finer.. Details of your operation. But we will keep to strictly business." She said, her tone with almost a hint of a threat. She honestly hated this shop. And she did not like dealing with Titus Gable. "But as we must keep our clients files confidential, and if our money is not good enough.. I'm sure we can find business elsewhere." She added quietly.

She opened up her check book and brought out a pen. "So! How much is the total, Mr. Gable?"

Titus did not stop to argue with either of the two at the moment. No his mind began to wander as to what each of them would look like cut open on his surgical table. The sharp glimmer of his scalpel easily slicing through the tissue to reveal the crimson ooze that made up their insides would drop to the side only to be mopped up by the damp white cloth he used to collect their bodily fluids. Titus seemed to be off in his own little world as Chandler and Ms. Constance remained in his shop but he did stop to look at the two of them with a cold gaze that could unnerve even the hardest criminal.

"I have a dozen small vials of my families special recipe. The Blood Block will be the cheapest item on the list of course. I will also toss in some Liquid Blade but I doubt it will be any use against foes that are of a spectral variety, been running a bit low on silver flakes." Titus began to look at Chandler a bit more and then to Ms. Constance who warranted a rather nasty look. "I suggest next time you make a threat you bring it full circle instead of prancing around the subject like a fop. Put that damned checkbook up as I expect to get payed in a couple of days for the goods I offer anyway."

The Alchemist turned his back on the two for a moment as he stepped out from behind the counter only to shake his head and roll his shoulders a bit while muttering something under his breath as he began to head upstairs. "Sit tight and I will find some chalk and maybe an extra assortment of goodies for you to take. Oh and Chandler." Titus stopped on the stairs looking down at the two. "Make sure to keep your partner on a short leash." It was with that said that the Alchemist vanished a bit upstairs as he began to retrieve the rest of the goods.

Chandler diverted his eyes and scratched his head as if he rather not get in between the two of them. Vindex had been dealing with the Cauldron for a bit more than a year and he doubted Bowen wanted to find an even less reputable place to get such supplies from. The off chance that any new supplier they bought from was a flimflam and endangered his people would have been enough for Bowen to be put out by the prospect. For Chandler's part he tried to play a peacekeeper.

"We need this shit if it is a legit haunting. We can't shoot ghosts with guns no matter how big they are ma chérie.", he said and turned to her. "We will be out of the shop soon...", he said with a sigh.

The vampire's tight smile widened as she watched as Titus disappeared upstairs. "Yes, because I'm such a loyal dog." Still, she already had a new plan in place. VINDEX would be receiving a hefty anonymous donation in the next few days. Putting the check book away, she turned around and bit into her thumb, sucking on the blood.

"Yes yes, I know." She sighed irritably, brushing off Chandler. "But it doesn't make it any easier one way or another. This entire shop is just a reflection of the man that runs it.." She murmured. Her irises shifted from hazel to a muddy color of red and brown. She too had her own thoughts of what the insides of that insufferable Alchemist looked like, but for a whole different reason.

"What I would love to burn this heap to the ground." She muttered around her thumb. Her hunger was getting to her bad today, and her patience was thin.

Titus would come down the steps with a rather large box and a wicked smile crossed his face as he looked at the two. "I have brought all that you have required and then some." He walked back over to the counter only to glance idly at the woman only to find his attention on the floor as Waxy seemed to brush up against his leg. The little things fire burned with an auspicious green and as it found its way up onto the counter it sat next to the box and waited for its master to act.

"The few extras I have pulled out from my stocks are usually rather helpful against ghostly encounters. The mixture of salt and other ingredients when burned should prove a bit easier to identify your apparitions that are near. Besides that I tossed in a couple Alchemical Nightmares for shits and giggles." Titus produced one of the vials and upon hitting the light of the shop the contents began to stir and take shape into monstrous things with many eyes and sharp claws. The bottle seemed to be so packed full that the creatures seemed to be able to break free at any moment. "I do hope you recall how to use these little bastards Chandler. Just toss them at your enemies and they will take on a form that should be frightening providing you some time to run. Keep in mind these will not work against ghosts."

With that said Titus put the vial back into the box with the other five that he had stored within just to then take his place back behind his counter. "Happy hunting and do bring me back something will you. I have customers I need to keep happy too you know."