Whispers in the Dark

Ye Who Enter

When the cab arrived at the house they'll be staying in, Kol eagerly jumped out and stretched his legs. Both the flight and the drive had been long, resulting in his body being stiff all over.

"Still can't believe you dragged us to another continent," Luke, best friend number one, said as he followed him out. "For a dog, no less." He was the athletic and buff to Kol's lanky, and easily towered over most people he came across. The journey had been particularly rough on him, as he barely fit anywhere.

Kol shrugged. "Seems interesting. Never got a call about an animal before."

Eve, best friend number two, paid the driver and went to retrieve their stuff from the trunk. She was a short, pale Asian girl with more fire in her than she knew what to do with. "Better be more than interest that brought us here."

"Yeah, yeah. Cash is pretty good, too."

"Good enough to cover the trip and the work we'll put into it?" she asked, but Kol's casual moving-on from the subject gave her all the info she needed. She watched him walk up to the rather large, seemingly ancient house. "I'm gonna kill him one of these days."

"Won't he just switch to annoying you from the other side?" Luke offered, then, upon receiving a death glare, decided to pipe down until she cooled off. Being the biggest of the group, he knew it was on him to bring their bags in, and went on with it.

Kol rang the doorbell, then waited a minute. Nobody answered.

"Does it even have electricity?" Eve groaned. "I'm not gonna last long without internet."

"One of these days, you'll realize you've spent so much of your life staring at a screen you've forgotten to live at all," Kol told her, then proceeded to knock.

An elderly woman opened the door and said something in a language none of them understood.

"Hi," Kol replied, completely undeterred. "We were asked to investigate the case of the-"

"The damn dog. I know," the woman interrupted, then stepped back and let them in. "Sure took you long enough. Expecting an old woman to wait into the ungodly night hours, are you?"

"No, ma'am," Kol told her, then introduced himself. "And these are my friends, Luke and Eve. Anything you have to tell me can be said to them, too."

"Don't got a thing to say to any of you. I am Natasha Petrova, and I'm not the one who called you here."

Eve decided to join the conversation. "But the address we were given-"

"Is this one, yes," Natasha interrupted again. "That fool mayor of ours said you needed a place to stay, so I offered, since no one else has any room. Now, let me make one thing clear; I don't believe in ghosts. Never have, and never will. If they were real, sure as heaven, my late husband Mirko would have visited me by now. Too much unfinished business between us, and yet he's stayed away."

"But then why-" Eve tried to ask, but the old woman waved her off.

"They weren't gonna let the nonsense go until something was done about it. They were gonna call someone regardless of what I said; It might as well be you. The town will pay for any living costs you might encounter here. If you need help navigating, ask the mayor's granddaughter. She's about your age. Not gonna find many English speakers here, sure as heaven."

Kol nodded, then turned to Luke. "Could you show him where to put our stuff, please? I'd like to get started right away."

Natasha Petrova nodded. "Talk to the Milkoviches first. They live right down this street, in that horrid yellow house. Can't miss it."

Kol nodded again, still as respectful as possible, then left the house, Eve in tow.

"You wanna kill her, don't you?"

"Extremely slowly, if at all possible," he replied. "But we need her house, so courtesy it is."

"Cruel of you to leave Luke with her, though."

"That's what he gets for being such a grump the whole flight."

Eve chuckled. "The ride, too."

As they made their way down the street, Kol took his surroundings in. Almost every house was ancient, and the road was made from many small stone blocks, unlike the modern ones he was used to. Starigrad definitely lived up to its name. Natasha was likely still the oldest thing there, of course.

"Feel anything?" Eve asked, and Kol shook his head.

"Everything seems normal. The dog might not be visiting this place, though. Might be tied to a certain part of town."

"Should we go sightseeing?"

"No. Let's just talk to the family for now."

And so they did. They walked up to the ugly yellow house, then rang the bell. A relatively young woman, but still their elder, opened. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. She said something in the same language Natasha had spoken at first.

"Sorry, but we only speak English," Kol clarified. "Natasha said to talk to you. We're here about the dog."

The woman's eyes widened, and she called for someone in the house. A beautiful red-haired woman around her age joined her. She had piercing green eyes, and just a few freckles scattered across her face. "Ah, you must be the ghost whisperer!"

"Yeah, we don't call it that," replied Kol awkwardly. "I'm sorry. You are?"

"Oh, where are my manners," the woman gasped, extending her hand. Eve couldn't help but turn green from looking at her chest. "I'm Olivia. I'm the one who called you here."

"But the mayor did that," Eve countered as Kol and Olivia shook hands.

"After I told him all about you, silly. I heard about you being a medium, Mr Kol. Please, do come in. These people really need your help."

"Why them specifically?" Kol asked. "I was under the impression the whole town is seeing the dog."

The redhead nodded. "Yes, but Igor - that's the only child of Ana here - is the only one who says he saw the dog vanish into thin air."