The two of us stood in silence. Despite her earlier outburst, Greta seemed afraid to speak now. She watched me as if I were some wild animal about to attack. I flashed her a smile. 

"Hey, you look like you have questions, but I don't-" Her hand flew up, a finger pointed at me. The shouting that followed drowned me out.

"You murdered him!" Greta gave no time for me to answer. "Where'd he go?" Her words flew at me in a frenzy, "What did you eat?" Another question, "Why can you see us?" The woman refused to stop. "Oh god, what's happening?" The older woman threw her barrage of questions at me.

Rude, just coming into my condo like that while I make content. Guess it saves me some time. At least I'm not coated in ghost blood anymore... that should make me less terrifying. 

I locked eyes with Greta, her hand trembling as it pointed at me. While the seconds flew by for me, time seemed to drag as the dread in her expression deepened. 

"Oh no, it's ok. He was already dead." To mimic Greta, I pointed at her. "Like you! So it's not murder." I moved towards her. With the distance between us shrinking, she let out a panicked noise before raising her arms up. I stopped my advance and watched as she trembled like leaves in a breeze.

"Stay away from me! I'll scream!" Greta said. I fought the urge to laugh and antagonize her further. My eyes went silver. As the world changed colors, I saw the dull gray ball that sat inside of her.

Neutral, I can't devour her soul. Though I can exchange it.

"What are you?" She asked, a sigh escaped me.

I promised Cassie an explanation. I'm not giving one twice today.

"Ok, first, you're not my type. You don't need to worry about me hurting you." Greta refused to lower her arms. In response, I reached for her wrists. She let out a shriek. "You know I'm seeing why you aren't getting into heaven. Trespassing, you don't listen, and worst of all, you point at people." Bewildered and at a loss for words, I brought her hands down to her side without resistance. "There we go." I said, then took a step back from her.

"What are- " I shushed Greta and put a stop to her second attempt at an answer I was unwilling to give. 

"I'll answer some of your questions, but you better listen." She gave a nod. "By my standards, ghost hunting isn't murder. I just hurt him enough to break his manifested form." Greta's eyebrows rose as she tried to process my answer. "He would have eventually come back if I didn't devour his soul like I did." She let out a gasp.

"Devour?" Greta asked. I first gave a nod, then came my answer.

"It's how I send them to hell for their eternal damnation." Greta stared at me in abject terror despite the cheer I put into the last part. "Oh... you don't need to think about that. It doesn't apply to you." My suggestion resulted in the opposite. Tears fell from her eyes.

And she's gripping the sides of her head while crying out to god. To be fair, Eunie is the expert at comforting people. I'm the one who likes to hunt things. But... guess I can try to help her.

I clapped my hands together to catch her attention. She flinched, her eyes darted to me.

"Ok, let me put it this way." I thought about how to word my response. "He was bad and bound for hell. I deal with the bad things that should be there." I paused and looked at her. Despite her terror, she nodded. "You don't need to worry about me since you're not hell bound. In fact, if I were to devour your soul, I'd get put to death for it." The elderly ghost watched me. Skepticism filled her gaze.

"You mean it? You won't hurt me?" She asked, watching my every move.

"I mean this respectfully, but you are not worth being put to death over." With my reassurance given, I allowed her time to let it sink in.

If this doesn't get her to relax, I don't know what will.

"Okay," I gave a smile in response to her understanding. With Greta at ease, I passed by her and entered the living room of my condo. "So you're something different from Sean and Cassie then?" With my back to her, she couldn't see the grin that formed on my face. 

Alright Greta, let's see what you can teach me about them.

I turned to Greta and watched as she made her way into the living room. Once she stood before me, my probing began.

"So I met Cassie. She's really sweet. From what she told me, her twin brother is Sean, right?" Greta smiled for the first time in our interaction. 

"She really is a sweet young woman! Cassie has been the only comfort I've had since." Greta's smile faded when she paused. "Well... you know, this." After her moment of self pity was over, she picked back up. "If you need to know Cassie told me she and Sean are werewolves, it's why they can see me." Greta laughed, "You know, I'm still kind of getting used to all this, but I guess seeing them and whatever you are shouldn't be a surprise-." As Greta rambled on, I tuned her out.

Werewolves... Cassie is a creature that can murder me with ease. Guess I should be glad she's down bad for me right now. Werewolves have packs and when you piss off the pack, you feel their wrath. Their claws that cut through your flesh like paper. Their teeth that shatter your bones like glass. Though I suppose the heightened sense of smell could help explain why she went loopy so quickly.

"Your name is Vincent, right? I didn't mean to eavesdrop earlier, but I heard you and Cassie when you were outside." The nod I gave in response confirmed her suspicions.

"From what I've gathered, you must be Greta." She met my inquiry with an answer.

"Yes, that's right. I am." The weak smile she gave way to a crestfallen stare. "Or at least I was." I gave her a sympathetic smile. 

"So what exactly happened to you? I've heard a few things but, I have my doubts." She turned away from me a moment, then stared me dead center in the eye.

"Vincent?" She asked, her voice calm and even.

Well, she's about to ask for something. If it gets me souls, I won't mind.

"Yes, Greta?" I feigned ignorance at her incoming request.

"You said you hunt the things that should be in hell, right?" I watched Greta with no reaction. She gave a nervous smile.

"As long as it's hell bound I'll hunt it." My answer was all she needed for her to stop beating around the bush.

"Please, can you hunt Harold down? He's going to kill my daughter. That monster already killed me!" She put her hands together, as if in prayer.

I knew her death was odd. Seems Harold killed her. He'll probably be easy enough to kill, but Greta needs to be careful with what she's asking for.

"Greta, How exactly did you die? Are you sure it was murder?" I asked, my tone dead serious.

"Yes, I'm sure! I was walking down the stairs to get the mail when my leg caught on something. I went down the stairs and hit the tile at the entrance." She paused a moment." When I came back, I saw my body on the floor and he was at the top of the stairs." A sniffle escaped her as she wiped her eyes.

"What was he doing on the stairs?" I asked, then waited as she collected herself.

"Well, when I saw him, he was running a couple of hair dryers over the walls around the top of the stairs. I started yelling at him, but he never heard me! I don't know what he did, but I know he killed me!" Greta's skin paled as she entered the aggro state.

"Greta, I need you to stay calm and tell me what else you saw." She exhaled, then took another breath when her pallor appearance faded.

"Once he was done with the hair dryers he used some sandpaper on the walls. When Harold went into my condo, I headed upstairs and saw a box he was using." I held my hand up to interrupt her.

"Okay, what was in the box? I don't care how random it is. Tell me everything you saw." I set my hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Besides the hair dryers and sand paper, I remembered seeing a thing of fishing line, a box of those loop hooks like what you would use to hang something in the ceiling. I think that was all?" She paused until she gave a sure nod. "He came back out and used my vacuum to clean up the mess, then left me there." Tears welled up in her eyes. "Eventually Virginia came home and I'll never forget the scream I heard when she saw my body." Sobs escaped Greta. 

"Ok, that's plenty, thank you, and sorry for what you went through." I said, in the hope it would pull her back from the memories she just relived.

It takes fifteen minutes from death for a ghost to manifest if their soul gets bound to earth. Five minutes for the soul to separate from the body and the remaining ten to emerge from their soul and into their manifested ghost form.

"Greta, when you were going down the stairs, did you see anything? Can you describe what you felt on your legs before you fell?" I probed her in hopes of more info coming forward to help me.

"I don't recall seeing anything on the stairs, but it felt like something pressed into my legs and then I fell, like wires." She said, as she thought about the moments before her death. 

Clear, high-impact fishing line, Harold set it up with some loop hooks. Greta got caught on it. Then fell to her death. She must have come to in the later stages of his cleanup.

"Please, stop him! I know he did it because I finally convinced Virginia to leave him. He knows about my life insurance policy and it's going to pay out in a few weeks." Her tears returned. "He's a con man. He'll kill her and run with the money. The only reason it hasn't paid out yet is because of the investigation into my death. Unfortunately, they've just determined my death was a tragic accident." Greta wiped her face again, a sight I was becoming used to with her.

"Do you know what it's like to hear him talking about what he'll do to her? As soon as my daughter leaves for work, he and his piece of shit partner discuss it. They're going to drug her, put her in the tub, and make it look like a suicide where she sliced her legs open!" Her composure was gone. Greta was a blubbering mess. 

That must be awful to be right there and not be able to warn her daughter. Normally, I'd be against killing someone so close to home. But if they found Virginia like that, I'd get hounded by the police and have people gossiping more about my building. I'd also have Virginia's ghost to deal with.

"I'm losing my mind as I beg and scream at my daughter to hear me! I can't see her like that!" Greta looked at me as if I were an angel sent to answer her prayer. "Vincent could you-" I cut her off.

"Greta, if you're about to ask that I kill him. Know this." My Brown eyes went silver, I stepped forward, and the world around me shifted back to photo negative. "You'll damn your soul to hell and you saw how I deal with that." I watched as she tensed up.

"I don't care! If it means my daughter lives, you can do whatever you want to me!" I watched as her dull gray soul darkened.

She means it. Must be nice to have a mother who cares about their child. If I say yes, it would damn her soul. As tempting as that is, helping Greta and keeping her from being dammed could help me earn some points with Cassie. She seems to know Greta... I wonder if this is what she wanted help with?

"No," I said when she gasped.

"What? But you... You said..." Greta fell to her knees, as her crying grew louder. "I don't know what to do." She said between sobs. "What do I do?" As her crying filled the room, I went to my backpack in the kitchen.

Ok, I just need her to take the bait.

I took out my vial of ghost goo and poured what remained onto my forearms and spread it across my arms and shoulders. Greta was too distraught to notice me standing in front of her. I dropped to my knees to be level with Greta when I wrapped my arms around her and held her.

"What?" she asked in surprise at my action.

She might have had Cassie to talk to before I got here, but there's only so much talking can do. This is the first time she's been able to feel someone hold her. The first hug she's gotten since waking up in this nightmare. Greta's first shoulder to physically cry on.

"Tell me this Greta, do you want your daughter to be safe and happy? To not have to worry about Harold being around her ever again?" I asked, still embracing her as I switched my sight back to see her soul.

"Yes." was the only word she could muster before her cries resumed.

"I can work with that." I replied and watched as her souls lightened back to its original shade of gray.

Harold is still going to die. He's too much of a risk to leave alive. I just need Greta to believe I'm only going to scare him off. As long as she believes the lie, she's not doing anything malicious or asking for his death. Then she passes on to death's domain like the other neutral souls. 

After all, she just wants her daughter to be safe.

"Thank you, Vincent." She said, relieved that her daughter would live.

Like jail, the road away from hell and damnation is brimming with technicalities. 

"Just let me know when you're good and we can stand back up." Some time passed until the two of us were back on our feet.

"Thank you." She said, her eyes still red and face stained with her tears. "Is there anything I can do to help you with Harold?" She asked as I made my way to the kitchen.

"Oh, definitely, but I need to talk with Cassie first. Could you wait here?" I threw my backpack on and moved for the front door.

"Sure." she said, with no argument.

"Thank you. I'll be back soon. Why don't you take a few minutes and then head home? We can talk once I'm back." Before she could answer, I was out the door.