The Vampire and The Ghost | ✔︎

Chapter Fifty One: Recovering a Soul

                                                                           Annalise 

Annalise fiddled with her fingers as they walked back up and into the garden. Both her and Eugene were dead silent, no pun intended. Gene himself seemed hardly bothered by the dirt and blood that coated his shirt, but she couldn't stop glancing back at it every few seconds. There was so much swimming in her mind. Worry for Dawn, worry for Eugene.

God knows what had happened to Dawn, and Gene seemed to be so out of it that he hadn't even spoken to her once since everything had transpired. Anxiety, what would her body be like. She had only seen her hands, and who knows what had happened after Vitus had ordered her body to be burnt. The pain that had only now began to subside seemed to be a very sinister explanation.

The walk seemed to last miles, the distance between the two so close but she had never felt further from him. Slowly they made their way to where the four figures sat on the mud. Annalise breathed a sigh of relief as Dawn slowly began to sit up from being cradled on Victoria's lap.

The feeling didn't last long as her gaze shifted from Victoria to Cassius. He was hunched over a pale body with wavy brown hair. Their torso delicately covered by his leather jacket, protecting their modesty. The body was completely naked, caked in dirt. It was hard to think of it as her own body. As herself. She remembered how she died, or was cursed. However it worked, she remembered it clearly.

The knives jabbing into her skin repeatedly until she couldn't move. Bleeding out slowly on the wooden flooring, asking someone, anyone for one last chance to hug her mum. That brought her to her next thought. Where had all the stab wounds gone? Looking over the body there was no sign of anything. No knife wounds, nothing.

The only thing was the burnt charred skin on her legs. And even that wasn't that bad in comparison to the pain she felt. She was expecting much, much worse. She sent a silent thank you in her head, to Cassius, Raul and Victoria for getting there so quickly. A waft of burnt flesh interrupted her thoughts, as she got closer to them. The smell made her want to puke, not that she could anyways.

She stood behind Eugene as he went forward to kneel down next to Cassius, a frosty look on his face as he glared at the man. "Cassius." Gene ordered, his voice stone cold steel, "Go back to the house and help Harvey and Raul with clean up,". He held out his arms, as if to take the body from him.

It was so surreal, looking at your own dead body. It wasn't something Annalise thought she would ever be doing. Especially not surrounded by a bunch of vampires. Cassius opened his mouth to protest but no sound came out. He looked like he wanted to refuse, which was surprising. Normally the two of them agreed on everything. Cassius steely in his silent agreement, while Eugene took the lead.

Eventually Cassius nodded, checking over Annalise's body to make sure everything 'private' was covered with his jacket, before gently passing the body over to Eugene. Who took her with open arms, as he shifted her to rest on his knees. Cassius made to stand up and walk away but he stopped him.

"Go and get Harvey. I've changed my mind. I need his opinion on what we can do to return Annalise to her body," Eugene asked, not taking his gaze off the body. Cassius looked at Annalise briefly and not her dead body before nodding and disappearing in a burst of speed. In moment there was a popping sound behind her, causing her to jump with an 'eep'.

"Oh my god, Harvey. It's just you," Annalise huffed, rolling her eyes. She palmed her forehead, there was no point talking to him just yet, he couldn't even hear a word she said. Harvey, like Harvey does, took everything in his stride, waving his hands and arms around widely looking thoroughly pleased to see the sky again.

"I can't believe you had me in that dungeon cleaning out dead bodies!" Harvey bemoaned walking straight past her. "I hate the smell of blood!". Eugene scoffed at him, halfheartedly telling him to shut up. With a groan, Harvey sat down besides him, eyes scanning over the body his brother held.

"So this is her then?" He asked with a suspicious grin. Annalise narrowed her eyes at him, just what was he planning? "She's really pretty, besides the you know, being dead bit," he mumbled, nudging Eugene in the side. Eugene elbowed him back, not being even as half as gentle as Harvey had been. Harvey 'oofed' grasping his side.

"Did you really have to hit that hard?" Harvey moaned. Gene had the gall to look at least a little bit sorry for his actions, but then his face hardened again when he looked back down at the body.

"I need your help," Eugene demanded more than asked, "We need to know how to return her spirit to her body. It's a curse, right?". Harvey hummed, glancing over the body, slowly he lifted up her lifeless arms scouring them. Then he turned to her legs, making sure not to reveal anything. Finally he stopped at her neck, softly he turned her head to the left. Ghosting his fingers over the birthmark that was there. 

"Of course," He muttered under his breath with a stern nod. He shifted his head to Gene with a smile. "Didn't I tell you curses were incredibly personal things? Well, I can't help you return her spirit but I know this magic signature," Harvey explained, gesturing wildly to the birthmark on her neck. Annalise scrunched up her face in confusion.

"I recognise this magic signature. I know exactly who can help you. Angela Smith," He enthused. Of course it was, who else could it be? The same woman who had cursed Victoria, had also cursed Annalise.

Despite the bitterness that built up in her chest, she was actually kind of relieved. At least they knew who it was and where she was. It wasn't going to be that hard to find her. But still, Annalise was confused, why was Harvey so fixated on her birthmark? It had been there for as long as she could remember, right?

"In fact! If you give me a moment, I can go get her!" 

Authors Note: 

Hi all! How are you doing? Thanks for all the love on the community post i made it really meant a lot to me! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! 

Lots of love,

Sam.E

Word Count:1123