The old Hertford cemetery wasn't supposed to look like this. At least not according to what Lucía had learned about the place; it was supposed to be abandoned. It had been ever since the city council decided to build a new cemetery in a less gloomy area, with more space and better accessibility.
Normally, a place like this ends up forgotten, consumed by time and indifference. Tombstones tend to be broken, weeds reclaim the ground, and the memory of the dead slowly dissolves into the shadows. Just like other old cemeteries she had visited.
But this one was different. Katherine had made sure of that. The graves were still in good condition, the inscriptions still legible, the paths—though covered in dry leaves—weren't entirely neglected.
"This place is way too... tidy," Lucía remarked as she moved the flashlight to get a broader view of the area.
Katherine shot her a sideways glance before exhaling. "It's because I take care of it. I don't like it being a mess."
Lucía raised an eyebrow, her flashlight sweeping across the path ahead of them. "You're starting to sound like you really are the cemetery girl. Do you like spending time here?"
Katherine took a second to respond, and when she did, she didn't look at Lucía but at one of the nearby tombstones. "Someone has to." Her voice came out more solemn and sad than usual.
Lucía nodded in response, choosing not to joke or comment further. With what she'd learned about Katherine and her gift, she already had an idea why the redhead would do such a thing, so silence and understanding felt like the better response.
The silence stretched for a few seconds as both girls continued walking among the graves. Until Lucía noticed the first detail that didn't fit. The ground wasn't completely firm. Not like it should be.
Lucía stopped, her gaze slowly dropping. Anyone else might have missed it, especially in the darkness of night with only a flashlight to try and pierce through the fog, but Lucía wasn't just anyone. The shift in pressure under the soles of her boots when they hit the ground, though subtle, had caught her attention.
Just as she suspected, the soil beneath her feet didn't have the same consistency as the rest of the cemetery. Shining her flashlight, Lucía spotted the anomaly. It was a grave, recently dug, though someone had made sure everything was in place so it wouldn't appear disturbed.
Lucía didn't say anything yet. But her expression changed. As limited as her experience was with magic, rituals, and similar things, even an ignorant person could guess that nothing good came from graves being tampered with. "This screams black magic," Lucía muttered under her breath.
After pointing out her discovery to Katherine, both girls continued exploring the cemetery. Katherine grew distracted after hearing about the disturbed graves especially because she was now painfully aware of the absence of ghosts in the area.
It was subtle at first. No whispers, no translucent figures gliding between tombstones as usual. The cemetery, which was usually inhabited by its own echoes of death, was empty.
Katherine opened her mouth, a thought forming in her mind. But before she could analyze it, her flashlight caught a glint of exposed earth, messier than the rest. An open grave.
The edge of the structure still showed signs of having been moved, the soil hastily disturbed, as if the process had been interrupted or carried out carelessly. Katherine stopped, her breathing slightly uneven. "Lucía…"
The hunter had already turned, noticing the same thing. Without needing words, both moved toward the edge of the grave. The edge of the structure looked like it had been shifted in haste, the soil disturbed, but not enough time taken to properly conceal the tampering.
Lucía leaned over the edge, her expression losing the last trace of relaxation it still held. Today was only supposed to be a light exploration with Katherine to gather clues, yet Hertford seemed far too active on its supernatural side, and that was beginning to worry the hunter.
Katherine swallowed, her flashlight trembling slightly in her grip. "Should we check it?"
Lucía exhaled slowly, weighing the idea for a moment. The night hadn't gone as planned. Not only had they found nothing significant about the werewolf, but now she had a possibly more sinister mystery on her hands, and she didn't necessarily want to involve Katherine. After all, Lucía was confident she could protect the redhead from a creature she could see and shoot. That couldn't be said if they were now dealing with black magic or something similar.
Finally, Lucía let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and replied, "If someone tried to close this in a hurry, it's because they didn't want it found. So yes. Let's check."
Katherine didn't respond. She just inhaled deeply and began to descend cautiously.
Lucía moved faster than her own thoughts, taking the redhead's hand and helping her down, making sure the descent wasn't too clumsy, keeping her flashlight fixed on the coffin. Once Katherine was safely down there, Lucía jumped in after her.
"Hold my flashlight and help me see. I'll have to get my hands dirty," Lucía told Katherine before handing her the flashlight. Before the redhead could voice any doubts, she saw Lucía pull a small folding shovel from a pouch on the back of her belt and begin to dig around the edges of the coffin.
The casket wasn't completely covered by soil, so the process didn't take long. And as soon as Lucía found the edge and slid her hand over the wooden surface, she noticed something was off about the seal. She knelt beside it, and Katherine immediately shifted position to better illuminate the area.
Katherine swallowed hard as she watched. Lucía, meanwhile, ran her fingers along the outline of the coffin, finding small notches left behind by whatever had opened the grave. "It was done very carefully, but they still look like claw marks. Though they're too small and faint to be sure," Lucía commented as she examined, a way to articulate her thoughts and share her findings with Katherine.
Working more cautiously, Lucía managed to open the lid with controlled effort. And then they saw it. The body was still there, decomposing in the time frozen within its confinement. Whoever had done the embalming had done a poor job, as the stench of death and rot was nearly overwhelming. The worms feeding on the decaying flesh had left their mark on fragments of bone.
But as striking as the sight was, Lucía was far more accustomed to this kind of thing than Katherine, who was trying not to vomit beside her. Lucía passed the light over the body, analyzing every detail with precision. Then something in the image made her pause. There weren't just signs of tampering—something was missing. One of the femur bones had been stolen.
Katherine exhaled sharply when Lucía pointed out the discovery, her mind already processing what it meant for the remains to be manipulated. Her thoughts were so distracted she nearly forgot her nausea until she felt Lucía gently rubbing circles on her lower back, helping the redhead calm her stomach.
"Thank you. And sorry, I'm not much help," she said sincerely.
Lucía smiled tenderly and replied, "Don't worry. This kind of thing can be overwhelming the first time. You're doing fine. Besides, it's my job to take care of you, and that doesn't just mean keeping something from killing you."
Katherine felt her heart fill with a warmth that was unfamiliar but pleasant. The smile she gave Lucía in return was so beautiful and radiant that it left the other girl completely speechless.
Unaware of the effect she had on the other girl, Katherine shook off the fear and discomfort still lingering inside her and said with enthusiasm, "We need to check the rest of the graves. If they're stealing bones, I need to know if it's a pattern."
Lucía nodded, closing the coffin with the same care they had used to open it. She might not be particularly religious, but she still believed in not disturbing the dead. Especially considering she was accompanied by someone likely very sensitive to such matters.
Once everything was put back in place, Lucía was the first to climb out of the hole, managing it with little effort. Once outside, her gaze wandered across the entirety of the old cemetery as she reflected on the number of disturbed graves they had found so far.
"We won't be able to do this in one night. Checking everything will take days," she told Katherine after thinking it over. A moment later, Lucía reached out and adjusted her grip on Katherine's wrist, pulling her up with ease to help her out of the hole.
"Come on, let me get you out before you get even dirtier. You're way too cute to be this filthy," Lucía said with a mischievous smile, trying to lighten the grim atmosphere with her usual playful attitude.
Katherine exhaled sharply as her feet touched solid ground again, brushing off her clothes a bit before looking toward the grave, trying to ignore how warm her cheeks felt in that moment.