Home / The Healing Souls
The Healing Souls
Shop Talk
Shop Talk2079words
Update Time2024-11-01 09:40:49
[Victor] Searching through the files in my cabinet, I found the drawing Kartini had done based on Dennis and Sybil’s description of the creature. I could explore the family angle later, but at the moment, I needed to gather information, and I had a demon slayer available to me. Perhaps it would be what he would need in order to trust us.Exiting my office, I could hear raised voices down the hall, where the television room was. It appeared Echo and Grayson were having some issues with their communication attempts. I didn’t have time to referee them. They would have to work it out.Outside of the guest room door, I straightened myself out. Grayson said I should dress more casually when working from home, but I didn’t want to have to go change if I was leaving. Instead, I kept my ties and jackets in my office closet and added them to my attire when the need arose.Currently, I was dressed in dark slacks and a black button-down shirt. Grayson said I owned too many black clothing items. Apparently, it was too vampire-ish for his tastes. He was amusing when he would roll his eyes at me for my choice in clothing. I never thought I would find a werewolf amusing in a friendly way….I opened the door to find Spencer finishing his dinner. Neil was eating at the table on the other side of the room. He wasn’t tucked behind the table, instead sitting sideways so nothing would block him if he needed to get up quickly. I nodded to him and he nodded back.When I approached Spencer, he set aside his food and sat up straighter. He was looking better than he had been this morning. I noted the cool expression on his face. He wouldn’t give away anything about his thoughts and emotions. I would need to watch him closer as I talked with him.“If you need more time for your meal, I can wait outside,” I offered.“I’m fine. Seems I’m pretty popular around here. I’m guessing you don’t get many guests.”He smiled in a friendly way, but I noted how the smile never reached his eyes. I knew he had assessed me the first time he woke up, but it appeared he was doing so again. Perhaps he thought he missed something.“Echo is eager to help people. She wasn’t acting on my instruction today, but I hope she helped in some way. I wanted to ask you something, if you are willing to talk with me,” I replied.“What did you want to ask?”“I have a drawing of the creature that attacked you. None of the supernatural leaders has any idea what it could be. If you would look at it, I would appreciate it.”Spencer’s brow furrowed. “Why would you be asking me? I was sleeping when it attacked me. I never even saw it.”“The scar on your back.”I was gambling on him not seeing through the lie I was about to tell him. He stiffened slightly and nodded, then held out his hand. I gave him the paper and watched him as he looked it over.He never even asked what about it. It was a shame that I had thought up a perfectly believable lie and wouldn’t be able to use it. The scar was all he needed to decide I knew more than he originally thought.“It was wearing a cloak?”The drawing had just been of the thing’s face. He knew what it was.“It was,” I confirmed.“That cloak is to keep light from getting to it. Not just sunlight. Think of it like a vampire, but more delicate. Your dark spirit can’t withstand the full unfiltered light of the sun. It retreats into your body and makes you sleep. If you’re out in the sun, it could die, even if it’s buried inside of you. The younger a vampire is, the more fragile the dark spirit is. At your age, you might actually survive your sleeping body being in full sunlight for a while.“This isn’t like that. Even the sunlight reflected off of the moon can kill it and there is nothing for it to retreat into. They don’t live above ground. If one is hunting on the surface, it means there’s something more powerful feeding in the area. These creatures are like remora. They stay close to a much more dangerous creature in order to feed and avoid predators.”“These things are prey to something?” I asked. “What could they possibly fear? This one survived a fight with a vampire who has trained to kill since he was a living child.”He smirked. “Me. Now it makes more sense. The thing wasn’t getting bolder. It was trying to eliminate me before I could kill it. They’ve always been easily frightened. The body is like a host, but it’s not alive. They can’t control a living being.”“We think it might have been a vampire, because the bodies have holes very similar to a vampire’s bite.”Spencer nodded. “That makes sense. It would also have the sense of when the sun was coming up left over from the dark spirit that used to reside there. But I have never heard of one having access to a vampire corpse. Typically, they feed on the servants of demons.”The demon had vampires following it. Dennis said the creature seemed familiar looking. Perhaps it had been a vampire he knew.“What is it called?” I asked.“A revenant beetle, though, it’s only similar to the insects in that they have a fairly durable exoskeleton. It grips the body in several places. One of them is around the head, that makes the skull and head warp to look like this. The limb they use for that then slips down the head and acts as an anchor point around the neck. Their feeding limb isn’t sharp enough to puncture newly dead flesh. Gripping the head helps.“It takes a lot of force to get into the body and is inserted at the bottom of the spine. The tip goes into the brain and ‘limbs’ form along the trunk. The limbs pour out a toxin that putrefies the internal organs while reinforcing the muscles. They also cut off the connections to the brain and attach them to itself, making it the new brain for the corpse. “Feeding on a corpse can take them days, never as long as this thing has been hunting. The addition of blood from draining the homeless people in town must be making it take longer. Probably a leftover urge from the vampire part of the mind. There’s one thing that’s really bothering me, though,” he said.“What’s that?”“You didn’t seem surprised or curious when I brought up demons. You didn’t ask if I thought there was a demon nearby. I would have at least expected you to ask if demons were real in that shocked, disbelieving way people normally do. Either you are a very learned and experienced vampire, or you knew there was a demon in the area.”In my attempts to keep from giving anything away, I had given away everything. I had forgotten how much information one could give from a lack of response as much as from a response. I turned my head.“Neil, we won’t need you in here for a while. Go see your mate.”“Master Nightshade, I need to know the answer to his accusation. Did you know there was a demon in the area?” Neil asked.Refocusing on Spencer, I let my face fall into what Echo called my indifferent vampire face. She didn’t like it much, but it was how I delineated from polite vampire Victor to Master Nightshade. A shift like this made people realize I wasn’t playing games. “We are investigating a cult, and last night, a lead suggested that a demon might be involved. It appears they are worshipping the demon as a god.”“And how did they get a vampire corpse?”“The worshippers are supernatural, not human,” I replied.Spencer pinched the bridge of his nose. It appeared this was as bad as it seemed. I could only imagine if his god didn’t want humans doing it, then supernaturals doing it could be even more of a concern.“Demons and angels are made from the power of God. Most demons used to be angels, if they weren’t the result of demons or angels breeding with humans. The dedication of souls can strengthen that power. They never try with children of the goddess. She isn’t the one they believe wronged them,” Spencer explained.“Will you help us, Spencer? You hunted demons in your previous life. We have no experience with them. All we have is information from a warlock,” I told him.He frowned. “You’re working with a warlock?”“Is that going to be a problem for you?”“They turned away from God and accepted magic from a dark spirit. In my past life, I wouldn’t have worked with anyone who associated with one. Now, we may not have a choice. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be of much help. I haven’t been able to draw my sword since my family died. I can get you in touch with the people who can help you, though.”“I believe something guided you here to heal and that, if you stay and help us, you will regain the ability to draw your sword. The warlock is our ally. He is a member of the supernatural community. If calling your former masters would put him in danger, we don’t want that.”“You think God guided me here?” he scoffed. “I have no room to judge that warlock. I turned my back too. Even though I was doing His work, and He let my family die. Your goddess did nothing to protect them, either. We learned that sometimes the answer to prayers is no. We learned it was because God saw something greater for us if we didn’t get the answer we wanted.“There is no greater thing for me without my family. I was a tool before I found them. I’m useless and empty without them. The first time my heart beat was when I met Stephanie. The last time it beat was when I saw her in that morgue, laid out in a drawer with my children lying next to her. I’m not a knight any longer. I’m not even a man,” Spencer whispered. “I’m a corpse, like the creature you’re hunting.”“I understand how you feel. After I lost the last member of my family, my little daughter, I wandered, empty and aimless. One night, a rogue werewolf attacked me. As I lay there, dying, I prayed to God that death would hurry. I wanted to see them again. But the goddess had other plans. My sire found me and revived me as a vampire.“When I got my memory back, I felt shattered and desired to end my second life. My sire wouldn’t let me. She urged me to keep living. If I hadn’t, I never would have found Echo,” I replied.“That is where we differ. I will never love anyone again. There is no room in my heart for anyone but Stephanie and our children. I will help you. I’ll even come with to fight the demon, but if it looks like I’m going to die, don’t save me. Promise me you will not try to save me,” he insisted.I placed a hand over my heart and bowed to him. “Spencer, I vow to issue an order that no one is to save you if you might die. I will not intervene, and I will do everything in my power to ensure no one else does.”“One more night of rest, then I can start training again. I’ll fight your demon. It’s the least I can do in return for your hospitality.”Standing up straight, I nodded to Neil, who followed me out of the room. Spencer was now an ally. We didn’t need to have someone watch over him anymore. I dismissed the guard once the door was closed.He was hesitant, but did as I said. There was a sense of overwhelming calm in me when it came to Spencer. I was only just gaining some trust in the goddess. Perhaps this was her way of telling me it was meant to be. For now, I would accept it.I headed downstairs to find Echo and Grayson. If they were finished bickering, I wanted to tell them what was going on with our guest before I contacted Trent, Maeve, and Saleh about it. After all, this was their home as well.