Traveling back to the human world with Donn was easy, and it felt like walking into another room. Zagreus is a different story.
Not only was Alessia too distracted by his hands on her waist, but she didn't even get a chance to close her eyes. With one hand on a tree and the other holding her stomach, she was trying to prevent herself from throwing up.
She could feel Zagreus smirking at her. Even if Alessia wasn't looking at him, the jerk enjoyed this. They instantly arrived in North Dakota at the expense of her feeling sick to her stomach. "Humans are so fragile." The amusement in his tone annoys Alessia.
She pushes herself up and inhales the cold winter air into her lungs.
"Screw you." Alessia walks past him and pulls out her phone. She looks up the address of the girl who requested help. It seems pretty close to where they are.
Alessia starts heading down the sidewalk with her GPS in hand. She reaches the house that her client resides in, it's two stories, and it was a victorian style home. A big iron black gate wraps around the home, and rose bushes line the front of the house.
Zagreus steps in front of Alessia and puts out his hand to stop her from entering the gate. He eyes the house with a look that he can sense the evil aura. Alessia can feel it, too, it's intense, and the hate that is seeping out of it, it's disturbing.
"There is an evil presence in there, not from a demon. It is an unregistered lost soul," Zagreus says, looking back at Alessia.
"What do you mean unregistered soul?" She has never heard of such a term before.
He quickly switches back to his other form. Alessia stumbles back and almost trips over a rock. Why did he change back to his God form?
"I can handle removing the soul from this house. To do so, I cannot be in my human form. To answer your question, an unregistered soul is one that didn't cross over and is left wondering in the human world. We don't spend too much looking for these souls, as they are mostly harmless. Unlike this one, in this house." Zagreus looks back towards the house.
"I get it, so that explains why there are so many spirits in the world." Alessia steps closer to the gate and glances at Zagreus. "By the way, Zagreus. I'm going to get rid of the ghost. I can't have you storm in there guns blazing, or more so sword a blazing. I prefer to handle these myself, as it strengthens me. It proves to clients that I am a capable exorcist." She pushes open the gate, ignoring the rage that Zagreus is putting out.
"Whatever you say, human, if you die by this soul, it won't bother me much. I will enjoy the show." Zagreus leans against the iron gate and lets out a yawn.
What an arrogant b*stard. Alessia rolls her eyes and steps through the gate. The sidewalk is paved with bricks instead of standard cement.
If Alessia wanted to, she could put Zagreus to work, and she would be able to relax. Alessia didn't like that idea, only because she wouldn't be able to get stronger, and how can she stand up to a God if she can't even get rid of an evil ghost?
She kicks a small pebble that was in front of her. Alessia knew that he could easily walk into the house, take out his sword, and the ghost would be gone with one swoosh. It just didn't sit right with her. If she has the power of a Goddess, then she needs to work hard to control it.
There is no telling when Zagreus or Donn will turn against her. If the worst situation happens, she will need to fight them. For that to happen, she needs to continue fighting the fight against evil.
Alessia reaches the door and rings the doorbell, a girl with brown eyes and short curly hair answers. She must be Jamie.
"Hi, I'm Alessia. You reached out about a possible haunting?" Alessia hands a business card that she put together months ago.
The girl was dressed in a hoodie that was twice her size. Her skin was pale, and her eyes looked like someone who hadn't slept in a few days.
"Thanks for coming. You are the only one that decided to show up. Come in." She opens the door wider, and the stench of the ghost is pungent.
Jamie leads Alessia to the living room and gestures to sit down.
"Thanks again for coming." Jamie pulls her hands into her hoodie. She looks exhausted and scared.
"Don't worry, Jamie. I'm here for you. Before I can get started can you start from the beginning of when things started to change or when the haunting turned violent" The kindness in Alessia's voice is sincere.
Jamie looks nervously around the room, unsure if she should speak. The ghost will come out to attack.
"Well, we moved in 6 months ago. At first, nothing was wrong, and everything seemed normal. Until my mom started to remodel the basement, the things that happened got worse over time. It started with simple accidents. Then one day, my mom was walking downstairs, and she flew down them, and it wasn't a simple trip over her foot. It was more like someone pushed her." Jamie's eyes gloss over with tears. The fear in this poor girl's voice pulls at Alessia's heart.
Standing up, Alessia walks over to the girl and bends down. She reaches for Jamie's hand and holds on to it.
"Look, Jamie, I know this is scary, and I promise I will get rid of that ghost for you. But I need you to trust me no matter what you hear downstairs. Do not come. It sounds like the ghost has something to protect down there." Alessia meets the girl's eyes and nods while sniffling in her tears.
Alessia stands back up and looks down at Jamie. "Thanks. Now which way to the basement?"
Jamie stands up and points to a door in the hall. Alessia turns around and takes one last look over her shoulders.
"It'll be okay, Jamie." Alessia flashes the girl a smile and gives her a wink.
Looking back at the basement door, she can feel the aura seeping through the cracks. The ghost must have something down there that he doesn't want to be touched.
Alessia opens the door and peeks down the stairs. They are old and wooden, and the basement was filled with a moldy and musty smell. She takes a flashlight from her pocket and shines it around the bottom floor. There is little to see besides the cement floor and construction supplies scattered around the basement.
She takes the first step down the stairs, and the basement door slams shut behind her, making her jump a little. Alessia can never get used to the jumpscares that ghosts or demons do.
Alessia knows the ghost is angry with her being here, but she could care less about its feeling. She reaches the bottom of the floor, and a wooden plank comes flying at her from her right side. She dodges and lets out a laugh.
"Come on, Stuart. You got to do better than that!" Alessia shouts at the empty basement.
She scans the area and doesn't see anyone. He must be hiding. Alessia takes a piece of chalk from her pocket and scribbles things on the ground.
Wham!
Another piece of wood comes flying at her, and again she dodges it easily. The problem with a ghost is that the more powerful they are, the more they can do, such as pick up objects or hurt the living.
Alessia's biggest issue against ghosts is that she can't physically touch them like a demon. So, she has to trap them in her web and send them across the river of the dead. She stands back up, dusts her hands on her pants, and looks down at her beautiful art. It was one way to bind the ghost, and that one can exorcist it once it came into the middle of it. She found this in the history books.
Now, time to piss off a centuries-old ghost. Alessia starts kicking, throwing, and smashing things in the basement. The angry the spirit is, the better the chance of getting it into the middle of her web.
"LEAVE!" A voice booms. It is a voice that smoked too many cigarettes—a man dressed as if he stepped out of the 1800s steps into the basement. He was angry, and his neck has bruises around it.
This must be Stuart.
Alessia smiles at the ghost, and his eyes light up with more anger.
"How dare you hurt my home!" He flies towards Alessia with his hands, aiming for her neck.
Swoosh.
A flash of blue light slashes through the ghost, and he quickly vanishes. Alessia's mouth was left open. She looks to where that energy came from and sees Zagreus leaning against the wall. He was smirking at her.
"You were taking too long. I was getting bored and sent him to hell."