Hunters

Chapter 18

Rachel craned her head back and turned round, taking in the arched ceiling of the chapel. It sported the figures of Romania's greatest leaders. Vlad was one of them. The mosaic face stared back at her with bulging brown eyes. She shuddered.

"We keep forgetting it's not actually him, don't we?" Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets. "Let's go downstairs and see the bones. Might as well do something fun."

She smiled and followed him down some narrow steps toward the underground part of the chapel. The room was tiny. Two neon lights buzzed, casting a flickering light on the stone floor. The walls were filled with marble slabs engraved with the names of those who had died in battle on that hill.

"So many of them," Rachel whispered, hugging herself.

Daniel rubbed her back as though trying to warm her up. He then led her to the other end of the room. A low archway and forged iron gates led to a glass container filled with bones, covered by the Romanian flag. They stopped in front of the gates.

"Check out all the nifty skulls." He sounded indecently excited.

"You're so insensitive sometimes."

I'm just trying to cheer you up, babe.

"Well, it's not working. These people died for their country." Rachel moved closer to the forged doors and tried to see inside the room, past the bone container. The annoyance she'd felt before returned and there was still no rational reason for it. Daniel was only kidding.

A man's hopeful face popped out of thin air in front of her, on the other side of the gate. She screamed and jumped back, heart beating wildly. In a split second, Daniel was next to her, his dart gun out and pointing.

"No, wait." The man raised his hands. "I won't harm you. I need your help."

Daniel lowered his gun, but kept a firm grip on it.

Catching her breath, Rachel squinted at the curly, dirty blond hair and big blue eyes of the slightly transparent man before her. "Justin Timberlake?" she asked in disbelief. He felt like noxious fumes and almost made her cough.

He grinned and did a pirouette. "That's what I'm talking about. Recognition."

"Don't be fooled, Rach. It's a wraith." Daniel pulled her back and holstered his gun. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"Funny you should mention that." The wraith pulled at his collar. "I'll tell you the whole story if you let me out."

Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. "How about, you tell us or we walk away and leave you to the skulls?"

The wraith stared from him to Rachel, his eyes wide. Daniel turned to leave.

"No, wait, okay. Vlad had me locked in here."

Rachel tilted her head. "What do you mean, locked? You're transparent. Can't you pass through walls?" Though he did look solid enough to actually touch things.

"This is Holy Ground, Rach," Daniel said. "Wraiths are forlorn spirits. They can't enter or leave Holy Grounds unless accompanied. So he can't get out." His eyes narrowed. "Why did Vlad lock you in here?"

"I-I... um, I refused to pass him some information..." The wraith's eyes shifted from one of his sneakers to the other.

Daniel watched him through half-closed lids. "Let's go. There's no use talking to a liar."

She nodded. Her old idea of getting a wraith persisted, but this one obviously worked for Vlad.

"No, wait! You can't leave me here! Who knows when and if anyone able to see me will show up?" He rattled the forged iron gates. "I'm claustrophobic."