From an early age, Vagatha "Vaggie" RamÃrez had always been fascinated with what lay beyond death. It all went back to growing up in El Salvador and how every October she would celebrate the holiday known as Dia de los Muertos or in English The Day of the Dead, it made her constantly wonder what the afterlife was like? What became of those deceased? Now she had been brought up Catholic so she believed in heaven and hell but she was more curious about other things. Like the spirits who couldn't or wouldn't ascend into heaven just yet. The reasons for why they still lingered on earth. She also wondered if there was a place that existed between the living and the deceased. As she grew older she found herself wanting to discover if ghosts or other paranormal beings somehow remained on earth and if she could scientifically prove it.
That's what sparked her interest in science and even though her family didn't have much, her amazing intelligence and advanced gifts in science helped her earn a scholarship into a very impressive university. There she majored in chemistry, physical science, psychology but especially parapsychology and for one of her assignments she did a project on how emotions could be channeled into other organisms. For her tools she used a small machine that could produce and connect waves while her test subjects were a common potted plant and her future assistant Anthony "Angel" Gianelli.
Angel was born into a family of thugs and drug addicts who didn't fear nor respect the law. His father and brothers made him into a pickpocket almost as soon as he could walk and when he was ten years old he was already pulled into the business of illegal drug selling. He was fourteen when the police caught him assisting his folks on stealing shipments to a local drug store and because of his young age both the judge and the man pressing charges decided to give him community service and parole rather than jail time. For six months he cleaned that drug store and once he had paid his debt to society he decided to make custodian work his career.
He bounced from cleaning restaurants to gas stations to public schools to colleges which was where he met Vaggie and he was almost instantly smitten when he first laid eyes on the attractive, hazel eyed, brunette. When she went around asking for volunteers for her project he jumped at the opportunity. Of course he flirted with her almost the entire time they worked on the project which annoyed her greatly but in the end he proved very helpful by not only being a test subject but by also having a nack for working electronics like cameras, lights, and motors.
When she voiced her beliefs on ghosts and an existence beyond death, she was pleased to find that he shared her beliefs. Albeit he never really tried to seek them out but he told her that he somehow always sensed that there was more out there. This meant a lot to her because despite her intelligence, a lot of people mocked her for believing in the paranormal and thought her to be crazy. The two became friends and over time a relationship developed.
For her career she had chosen to be a college professor in parapsychology but when she wasn't teaching she was conducting experiments and doing research on ghosts and spirits. Angel served as her camera man and tech producer for these experiments, making sure that all possible evidence was recorded and that the technical equipment worked properly. Unfortunately the dean of the university eventually became impatient and annoyed with Vaggie's studies. So much so that he not only fired her but he called her quack and recommend that both she and Angel see a shrink.
This only prompted them to start their own business of paranormal investigation and elimination. They had the gear and the knowledge all they needed were clients but no one really took them seriously and when they had to be evicted from their apartments due to running out of money they moved in with Angel's old partner from his pick-pocket days, Husk Talanov.
Husk was now a gambling man, an alcoholic, and a world class cheapskate who wasn't too keen on letting two "free loaders" live with him. But he owed Angel from way back so he decided to be hospitable. At least for a year then he would kick them out but in the mean time he would try to tolerate them for as long as he could. But they were by no means easy to tolerate. He was the only one of them who owned a vehicle so he would often have to drive them everywhere, they were always asking him lug around their equipment, Angel would sometimes steal from his liquor cabinet, and worst of all he would sometimes have to spend the night listening to them, as Angel put it "Get kinky." He would have complained but they always managed to keep him quiet with a booze bribe.
It wasn't the best existence, they were always looking for work while facing endless money problems and would soon find themselves getting evicted by their landlord. Luckily though opportunity finally seemed to have come when Alastor Devalcourt made that call.
"Comb your hair, brush your teeth, did you shower last night?" Vaggie said to Angel as they readied themselves to meet their client.
"Relax babe." He replied.
"Don't tell me to relax. This is our first legitimate client, one who is actually willing to pay us so we have to look professional."
"How much is he paying?"
"Well that depends on what we're dealing with. An all out haunting or just a minor disturbance."
"Did he describe the problem?"
"No but he said that he would explain everything at his house. That's where we're meeting him and judging by the sound of his voice I think we may have a legitimate haunting."
"Who is the client anyway?"
"Some taxidermist. A family man. Last name Devalcourt."
"Devalcourt? What is that? English or French or something ?"
"Maybe. I think it's either Mid-Atlantic or Deep Southern."
"Oh no."
"What?"
"Protestants."
"Huh?"
"If he's from the Mid-Atlantic or the Deep South then he's probably one of those crazy zealot Baptist types. My Ma warned me about those. She said that they don't take kindly to Catholics."
"Your mother also told you that I was a stuck-up and shameless floozy and she called my studies witchcraft. Shows what that lunatic knows."
"Don't you start with my mother."
"A horrible woman."
"She was a saint."
"You mean a sadist. Ever since that day she walked in on us doing it in the basement she's gone out of her way to punish me for apparently stealing your virginity. Even though we both know that I was definitely not your first."
"Hey I couldn't tell Ma that I had been sleeping around long before I met you. It would have broken her heart."
"I didn't think the old witch had one."
"Vaggie!"
"I'm sorry Angel but you do know that her last words to me were and I quote 'I hope you're next and I hope you go slow.' That woman hated me til her dying day."
"Okay but you know that I did tell her constantly that I loved you, that I didn't want anyone else except you, and that she was just going to have to accept that."
"Yes and every time you told her that she would try to convince the police that I was an illegal immigrant and have me deported."
"Well...She had issues. Pop screwed up real bad. You know that."
"I know, I know. But that didn't give her the right to torment me." She slipped on a beige colored blazer and adjusted it. "We can discuss this later. There's work to be done. Is Husk still passed out drunk?"
"I think so."
"Well don't just stand there. Wake him up! He's our ride!"
"Okay, okay, okay."
It took him almost two hours but eventually Angel managed to get Husk off the couch. The man woke up in a very foul mood and had absolutely no interest in assisting his roommates.
"My hangover is too fricken painful for this shit." He said. "Call a taxi or take the bus."
"Come on Husk, we don't have time for this."
"No way! I've had it with being your personal chauffeur. From now on you both can just use public transportation."
"But all our equipment won't fit in a taxi and the bus driver won't carry it. We need your van."
"I said no."
"Fine. I'll just drive your van there."
"Over my dead body! Do you know how much that can cost me?! I spent months restoring it from the junkyard."
"You didn't get that van from a junkyard. You won it off of a crooked card game in Vegas. I was there, I helped you cheat."
"Well you're still not driving it. That van is literally the only thing of value I own. I'm the only one driving it and I'm driving it when I want to, not on your lady friend's say so."
"But Husk this is a really big job. It's what Vaggie and I have been waiting for."
"And I care why?"
"Because she's positive that this one is not a false alarm. That this time we're going to be investigating real paranormal activity."
"And I care why?"
"Because this client is actually going to pay us and we'll split the money with you."
"Now you're speaking my language. Help me find my keys and I'll start up the van."