The Unthinkable.

10. Drenched in Sin.

"They're the white men. The white men from The Cube." Beauty nodded, her tone desperate.
"What's The Cube?" Alika asked.
"I ain't seen it myself, but they say they're building an army in there." 
"Who's building an army?"
"The white men." 
"Who exactly are the white men?"
"The people in cloaks. I saw three the other night."
"Are they mages?"
"I dunno. They were carrying a little girl. She was snoozin', and they just carried her off somewhere."
"That's certainly quite alarming."
"Do you think they have something to do with X?" Genevieve wondered.
"Most likely..."
"Seth said that the symbol on his neck was of ownership, right? So maybe these white guys are kidnapping kids and branding them." Leo said suddenly.
"That sounds sickeningly plausible." Alika grimaced.
"But what use would an army of ankle-biters be?" Beauty puzzled.
"I wonder..." Alika breathed, gazing up at the ceiling, deep in contemplation.

A petrified shriek cut through the air inside the house. Genevieve's doe eyes widened, Leo jumping from his seat. Alika remained perfectly composed as the Southern girl came rushing out to Beauty. 
"It's happened again!" She cried, trying to get her hyperventilating under control. Leo noticed the tears blossoming in her dark eyes, and felt sorry for her for a fleeting moment.
"What happened?" Alika pressed, eyes cold and hard as glaciers.
"A client- He went for a shower and-"
"And?"
"He's... Dead." She whispered the last word. 
"Did he kill himself?" 
"Come and see for yourself." The Southerner wailed. It came to Leo's attention that she was stark naked, but he had enough respect not to gawk at her. 

The man's body was dangling into the tub, hanging from the curtain rail. The cord of a bathrobe had been tightened around his neck, leaving angry bruises underneath. His eyes were wide and glassy, dribbles of spit and blood trailing down his chin. Alika surveyed the scene.
"You say it's happened before?" Alika questioned, biting her lip.
The girl nodded.
"How many times? Under similar circumstances, or?"
"Always the same type of fella, but never the same way. If this keeps on, the cops are gonna raid this place." 
Alika sent a look at Beauty, asking if this girl was a mage. Beauty shook her head with subtlety.
"Go and calm yourself down. I'll handle this." Alika said to the distraught young woman. The shaking girl departed, leaving Alika free to voice her theory. Well, it was less like a theory, and more like a conclusion. She'd seen far too much of this to be wrong.
"I'm afraid you've got a phantom on your hands." 
"Oh. Oh my god." Beauty took a moment to draw in a few deep breaths. The dripping of water prevented silence from enveloping the room.
"Do you- Do you think you could help me get rid of it? Please?" Beauty asked quietly.
Alika couldn't bring herself to say no. She was going to be in for a hell of a challenge.

Getting rid of things and helping people wasn't typical for Alika Nazneen. She was more of a 'personal vendetta' type of girl, so taking care of a phantom wasn't on her list of accomplishments, nor was it something she would've usually done. If Beauty wasn't one of her most liable connections, she would've walked straight out of there and not lost any sleep over it. But she couldn't afford to lose somebody as valuable as Beauty, especially since there were so many unexplained deaths occurring. 
Creating a trap for a phantom was definitely not one of the skills she possessed, so her first plan was to contact Seth, through Athanasia. No response arose. She was left to her own devices, and whatever assistance Leo and Genevieve may have been capable of providing.
As it happened, Genevieve knew a thing or two about traps. 

"I'm no expert, but I'm certain you have to create a salt ring. Then you'd need bait. Someone to draw out the phantom... Somebody who matches the victims it's been attacking." The three of them turned to look at Leo, who's face fell instantly. 
"Wh-Why me?" He stammered, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead as a blush rose to his cheeks. 
"Young man, decently good looking, in good shape. You match the victim in the bathroom. You're perfect bait." Alika reeled off the reasons, and they slid off her tongue without thought. 
"Well damn. If I die, I'm totally gonna haunt you guys. I can't believe this." Leo sulked.
"You won't die. Don't worry." Genevieve said with a reassuring pat on his shoulder. 
"What do I get if I'm good bait and don't die?" 
"You can-" Alika began.
"Can I take you out?" He blurted to Alika. She was slightly taken aback. Alika was used to people throwing themselves at her feet, both men and women alike, but never outside of the influence of her power. 
"Sure. Yes. Okay." Alika finally responded, after several moment's hesitation. 

Leo was rather convincing bait, nice and natural and not at all suspicious. Right up until the phantom actually appeared. He shrieked at the sight of the scratched-up face of the creature, it's eyes bottomless pits of darkness. It hovered like a wraith, but did not carry the coldness, and was vastly different in size. Wraiths were about four feet tall, while a phantom was easily six feet in height. It wasn't shrivelled and corpse-like, instead it was strong, evil, and bloodthirsty, all of it's own accord. Leo, in a state of alarm, began throwing flames left, right, and centre. All of this caused no damage at all to the creature, and only succeeded in scorching the wallpaper. 
Leo, being himself, went and tripped over his own feet in fright, and toppled over. The phantom went straight for him, nicking his arm with a serrated talon. Leo picked himself up and threw himself over the bed to escape the claws of the thing, but in his haste, he ruined the ring of salt. He stared down at the broken circle and bolted from the room. 
"Help!" He hollered, causing enough of a raucous to wake the dead. 
Alika and Genevieve appeared at the end of the corridor, armed with salt and determination. 
"Get out of the way." Alika instructed, pulling Leo out of the path of a razor-sharp slash. She flung the salt into a crooked ring, but it did the job. The phantom was caught, now all they had to do was get it out of there. 

"Any idea's on how to kill it?" Alika asked, drinking tea that the Southern girl had made. A unexpectedly interesting conversation had revealed a lot about the girl. Her name was Bella, she often went by Belle, and she moved from the states to escape an abusive family. She had graduated college, had a degree in medical science, but couldn't afford living expenses in the city, so had no choice but to move into the house with the rest of the girls, and few guys. 
Bella was not present for that particular part of the conversation, though Alika wanted her to be involved. She thought it only right, but Beauty didn't share the same views. Her knowledge of magic had to be kept minimal. It was an unusual opinion to have on the matter, since Bella was one of the only residents of the house that was not a mage, but Alika respected her decisions. 
"I wouldn't know anything well enough to trust my knowledge. Sorry." Genevieve apologised. 
"There's really no need for you to apologise. You've contributed enough, don't worry about it." Alika replied. 
"So... Uh... What now?" Leo asked sheepishly, cradling his injured arm, which was bandaged up; courtesy of Bella.
"If Athanasia would respond to my messages, that would be brilliant. But as things stand, I hae no idea what the plan of action is. Give me a few minutes and I'll probably come up with something." Her tone was steady, her composure strong. It would take a lot to crack this girl, and everybody around her knew it.