The 19th Century Paranormal Investigator

\"Oh dear. It seems the young man is coming around. He pushes himself off the ground and climbs to his feet. Standing up, he looks to be even taller than I am. His hair is neatly combed into a part on top of his head. The resemblance to Lance is uncanny, though. It really could be his brother. Or potentially some kind of shape shifter. Too many options. We\'ll just have to wait and see.\"

I\'m a little strained on what I\'m doing, but I think my original plan might still work. I go back to the book from my bag, studying the process to de-spell this room. This spirit, ghost or not, is likely an anchor for whatever is manipulating the spiritual pressure in this room.

“The spirit can\'t understand you. All you\'re doing is-”I began to speak, but was cut off. “He says he\'s 23, Branner!” “I- Well- What?” Did he just talk to a ghost?

I begin the chant, enticing the energy in the gem to show me what made this room feel so odd. I could sense some presence manipulating the flow of spiritual pressure around me, but what it was, what it was doing, and why this room was so special, I couldn\'t tell. The gem hums, not glowing just yet. Wind whips up around me, as I feel my body become weary. The spell was doing its job, draining me of some energy to complete its work. Everything was building to a boiling point.

The doctor’s hand is shaking slightly. He holds onto that anger so tightly. I will admit, if any of his workers were in the room, I wouldn’t dare be so audacious. But if they were here, I doubt an appeasement would have helped my case anyway.

Con looks uneasy during all this. More than uneasy. This poor child. I\'ve had to take away his strength, put him through the awkward position of walking among the people he has become so used to seeing as enemies, and now he must endure the rage of Doctor Maladar himself. This will not stand.

“See, when a demon is summoned, the place to which it is brought forth belongs to the demon, acting as an anchor to keep him on this plane. Even then, he is severely limited in his abilities, normally requiring an additional sacrifice to gain his full power.\"

I didn\'t say this aloud, but he makes a perfect bodyguard. He seems resistant to physical and magical attacks. Not to mention that whatever is occurring at this residence wasn\'t enough to drive him away either means it isn\'t as dangerous as I thought, Con is stronger than I initially assumed, or he\'s just foolish. Considering how easily he\'ll let emotions control him, I can\'t rule out the third option. Still, he will come in handy.

Good. This boy is an entirely different mystery altogether. Demon half-breeds are rare, but to be human as well is truly unheard of. That said, he is part demon, and I should take some sort of precaution.

Ah, it would seem Con is coming around. I had been waiting, unsure what he might know, or how he might be involved. A few tests showed he was most certainly not human. Not entirely, at the very least. But at the same time, I don’t know enough to really threaten him. As far as I can tell, he’s a supernaturally strong young man.