Chapter 7
Blinking, Viria tried to hold onto conscious and draw herself out of the oblivion she had fallen into. It was hard, like moving through jelly. She worked through it gently, not wanting to waste energy fighting against it, and she was soon up on her feet, still very sluggish. Mitch seemed very much okay, as if whatever had happened hadn’t affected him at all. But it was too dark to tell, with only his silhouette to spare among the shadows.
A thin mist spread about in the dark, glowing softly in multiple hues. Something was enough to properly wake her up. The mist curled and twisted around the two of them, pulsing their light and spreading about like a fog. Viria looked up in awe as it lifted and took over the whole room. Figures glowed against the mist in solid neon colors, coming into shape. People marked in various symbols she could not read, stripes and circles on their flesh and bones, streaked in their hair.
“Who have you brought with you, Mitch?” one of them spoke, their voice deep, echoing through the room. No one had moved their mouth, though. With enough light to spare she looked over at Mitch and almost gasped. Even his body was painted in glowing colors. Looking down at herself, she realized that she wasn’t exactly in solid form. She was made of nothing but mist, slightly see-through and pulsing with colors.
What’s happening here? she thought, but it echoed aloud in the room. Viria felt embarrassed as she recognized what had happened. She’d read it in the books, about crossing over to the other side while still alive. The temple was one of those points where it occurred and what she was seeing was simply dark energy. It was rather colorful to be considered dark energy, though. But Viria was awed by it.
“You asked for Viria Schovsky,” Mitch claimed. “I’ve brought her to you.”
“Well, thank goodness,” a female voice echoed. “I was starting to think she was a myth. Step forward, young witch. We have a tremendous favor to ask of you.”
Viria had to hold herself back from thinking something snarky in return, knowing her thoughts were not safe in this realm. It was easier to move than before, and she walked forward to the center of a glowing hexagon and looked up at the figures, all bones with their flesh rotting and falling apart.
“We’ve been looking for you for a long time,” one of them said, and Viria couldn’t figure out who.
“How do you know about me?” she asked.
“We have a alliances with different communities of witches,” another female voice echoed. “They informed us about you helping them and we knew we wanted to get in touch with you.”
“They should have told me about their affiliations with you,” Viria retorted.
“One of the terms of our treaties is that no one speaks of us, except to us,” an old voice quavered around the place. “We try not to be too easy to reach or our ways could be easily exploited.”
“I’m sure you’re familiar with Lucille Cleawer’s ways then?”
“Yes, she was a dangerous one we chose to represent us,” someone admitted. “We’re glad she’s been executed.”
It was weird for Viria to be looking at the ghouls, not knowing who was speaking. There were six of them. Every lower Council had six members.
“All right, so what do you need from me?” she asked.
“Protection,” a male voice stated.
“I’m ready to offer you that,” Viria stated. “Is there any credible proof of danger to you from anywhere?”
A slight murmur passed through the room as heads turned to each other. Viria already knew enough and had guessed the rest, but she wanted to see if she could be taken seriously by these people so that this could work.
“Our kind is being visited frequently,” a female said. “Other communities have reported sightings and visits by humans. We’ve experienced the same for about a month. It seems one of the witch communities have betrayed us and told a foreign syndicate of our existence. We’ve resorted to staying in our graves and not going above ground for our recruitments, which is necessary.”
“All right, I’ll help,” Viria stated. The ghouls, despite their dead faces, looked surprised. Viria continued to speak, “How do you expect me to do it, though? I can’t move you guys over to my sanctuaries where I’m giving sheltered to the others affected by attacks.”
“You know who is doing this?” someone asked.
“Yes, I knew it from since Mitch found me,” she admitted. “I can carry out an investigation and work out a plan with you guys. I’ll need some information from you in return for my assistance.”
“We offer whatever we can,” said another. Viria found this very odd. They were ready to trust her all too easily.
“You guys really have no other choice right now, do you?” she asked. “Has something else happened other than the visits?”
The air grew very uncomfortable. Even in her state of deadness she could feel Mitch shuffle behind her.
“We don’t really think anyone would understand our other problem, but you deserve to know since you asked,” they said. “They dig our graves. Sometimes, they take our people away. Mostly women. They come back very disturbed and won’t tell us what they did with them, but we have an idea. The last incident was a few days ago.”
Viria scrunched her eyes and sighed. Necrophilia happened even amongst the undead. And why shouldn’t it? No one was invincible from the despicable crimes of humanity.
“I understand,” she said with a nod. “I completely understand. It’s a horrible crime. I’ll bring them justice, I promise.”
Something struck Viria like a ton of bricks, and she looked up at the Heads.
“Could I meet the recent victim?” she asked.
“They won’t tell you anything, I’m afraid.”
“They don’t need to,” she rushed. “I only need to extract essences. It will help me in my investigation and lead me to the culprit.”
The ghouls studied her. “We shall call for her after this meeting is over and everything planned for.”
Viria knew she couldn’t leave if she wanted to, so she relaxed herself. “Before I can initiate anything at all, I’ll need access to a few things.”
“Name them and they’re yours.”
Viria tried not to smirk, “I need source of information, preferably books, on your kind and your ways.”
The ghouls were shocked. “Whatever for?”
“First, my curiosity for knowledge is insatiable,” she confessed. “Second, I need a list of every other pack, group, and community you’re involved with. Affiliations, rivalries, and alliances. I need contracts for proofs, signed treaties, and of services you provide each other.”
“Services?”
“You have the rabbit shifters acting as agents, like a lot of other shifter communities,” she deadpanned and the ghouls stilled in guilt and amazement. “Anyway, moving on. Third, if I give you protection, you give me your arms. Fourth, I really need to go to the bathroom.”
“Well, it can all be arranged for, but why do you want to read into us?” they asked skeptically. “And how can we trust you with such sacred knowledge?”
“You’re trusting me with my services to you,” she stated. “You want my help and protection, so be it. I need to trust you, too. And as a provider, I also need some form of payment. If it’s knowledge, then I’d be more than happy to accept it.”
The ghouls murmured amongst themselves once again, eyeing her suspiciously.
“What if we say no to the first one?”
“Then I’ll leave and never return,” she stated. “My people are already facing problems of their own and I’m using my own resources to help you. My people will be providing their labor to protect you. I wouldn’t have asked you for such a request if you guys could be easily shifted into one of my sanctuaries where I could protect and keep an eye on you people. I need to be careful of who I make a friend or any enemy.”
“How can we be assured you won’t double cross us?”
“Leap of faith? Hey, I’m not forcing you to agree to my terms. I came here to offer and ask befittingly. If you have a better deal elsewhere, then I can go.”
The old quavering voice breathed deeply. “I can tell she’s a sincere one. How about we give you only half of what you ask in advance, and the rest when it is all over?”
“That works, too,” she agreed. “It’s not like I’ll make any use of what I ask for, anyway. It’s for my own personal enlightenment.”
“You’re a strange thing,” a female ghoul said softly as her eyes closed and a spot on her forehead glowed. It zipped off of her skin and right into Viria’s head. Viria felt nothing at all. The ghoul moved, her hand extending toward her chest. She produced a book and let it levitate in the air. It floated gently toward Viria and right in her hand.
“Ghouls pass their knowledge down through memory fields,” she explained, “You’ll have to cross realms in order to read this.”
Viria knew well she could access the book through simply meditating and opening the memory field chambers. She smiled at her, “Thank you.”
Two other members of the council plunged their hands through their chest and pulled out books, different in shape and volume. Those came floating to her, too. She hugged the books to her chest and they disappeared into her.
“That’s half the payment,” someone said. “Mitch will give you the rest of the things you asked for and aid you in your investigation if any assistance needed.”
Viria only nodded. They all bowed their heads to her lightly.
“Thank you for your service, Viria Schovsky,” the old voice quavered. “We have faith in your abilities. We didn’t ask you to come here without a good reason.”
“I’ll do my best,” she promised. The mist fell dark. Everyone vanished.
Absolute darkness filled the room and it grew cold, as if nothing had ever happened there before.
She opened her eyes, finding herself on the cold hard ground. Her chest hurt, but the pain was slowly subsiding. Lifting herself to her feet seemed tough. She felt like her limbs were made of jelly, chained down by lead. She really couldn’t move. She felt so tired.
“Ah, meeting the Heads can really drain you of your energy,” Mitch said and walked closer to her. “May I pick you up and take you somewhere to rest?”
“Yes, please,” she said. Mitch dropped to his knees and curled his arms under her back and knees, lifting her off effortlessly. Viria felt it was nice, to be carried this way. She didn’t feel it as a threat to her independence in the slightest, understanding that being cared for at some point and in some circumstances was essential.
He walked out of the temple. The gentle rocking of his arms due to the steps he took was making Viria feel very sleepy.
“You should rest,” he said noticing her drowsiness. “I’ll keep watch and make sure nothing happens to you. The Heads will make sure of it, too, since we need your help.”
“I really appreciate that, Mitch,” she said softly as her head rested gently against his bony chest, eyelids dragging themselves down over her eye balls, no energy in any of her muscles to move.
She didn’t see where they had been going, but the interior was nicer than the temple.
“We get rabbit shifters here to stay sometimes,” Mitch explained, “so we extend our hospitality to them and let them stay a night or two before they head on back.”
She felt herself be lowered onto her side on a soft mattress. She hadn’t had a good, soft mattress to lay on for months now. It felt heavenly. Mitch pulled soft and fluffy blankets over her, then moving away to pull the curtains together and allow for some darkness. It was all so soothing.
Viria was out in seconds.