Nameless Ghoul

Family

Shay was in his office waiting for Itzal when he arrived. Omega dropped him off there and went about his business. The old ghoul smiled kindly at him and beckoned for him to sit down.

His eyes wandered around the room and he felt a pang of homesickness as he saw various pictures, books, and artefacts from his home dimension. Most of the books on the shelves were written in Ghoulish, and as he sat, Shay handed him a cup of the tea that they drank as an everyday beverage in their homeland. He accepted the glass with thanks and took a small sip.

His eyes closed as the sweet and spicy taste took him straight back to his youth, to the memory of his family gathered around the table at mealtimes. When he opened them again, he met Shay’s knowing silver stare and he quietly thanked him again for the tea.

The old ghoul spoke to him in Ghoulish, which was music to his ears after all this time. It had been so long since he'd used it and he no longer even thought in his mother tongue. The primary language he used now was English, but Santos had spoken Spanish most often and he knew French from his time in Paris.

“I trust you are well after the ritual yesterday? I am assured that it has worked for now.”

Itzal nodded.

“Yes, thank you. Secondo seemed to think it will hold for now. I have a new room with some of the other ghouls in their lair. They’ve been very kind to me.”

“And so they should,” he said. “I think they’ve all taken a good look at themselves since they met you. They've realised they should appreciate their positions here a little more. Too often they take their comfort for granted.” Itzal didn’t know what to say to that, so he kept quiet. “I’m sure you are curious as to why I called you here. I told you we would be investigating your situation and the ghoul Council on the other side of the Divide called your sire and your mother in for questioning yesterday. We need to follow up a few things and question your siblings also, but it seems it was your sire who dealt with Santos.”

Itzal felt Shay’s words like a punch to the gut. He did not feel the anger that he'd felt when Shay told him his blood had betrayed him this time, though. It was more of a soul deep sorrow at the news that the sire he had looked up to all of his life and tried so hard to please had sold him to a monster. Shay got up and walked around the table, putting his arm around Itzal’s shoulder to give him a hug, but he quickly got up and moved away.

“Please don’t,” he said as he went to stand by the bookcase. His eyes roamed the titles of the books, but his brain didn't register any of them. He took a calming breath. “Did he say why? What did I do to him that made him hate me so?”

Shay resumed his seat behind the desk and rubbed his eyes with weariness.

“Do not blame yourself for this, child. Your sire is a ghoul of multiple lives, it seems. Your sire maintains a good public image, but once we scratched the surface, we discovered all kinds of debts and dodgy dealings. He had dug himself into a hole that he couldn’t get out of, so he did the only thing his twisted mind said he could. He sold his biggest asset. The price you fetched brought him back to an even keel, so he was never found out.”

Itzal's mind was reeling. He wasn’t the oldest of his siblings. He had two older brothers who were all more than qualified enough to be summoned. So what was so special about him?

Shay must have read the train of his thoughts.

"We checked your records from the Academy. They had earmarked you for their elite training because your blood had the markers for being a powerful alchemist when you reached your full powers. You already excelled in all of your studies there so you would have been an excellent candidate to be summoned here by the Clergy when you were old enough. We do not currently have a shadow ghoul, as your kind are in the minority.”

That puzzled him. Nobody had ever mentioned this to him. He knew he was near the top of the classes he studied, but he'd worked hard and he didn’t think that he'd stood out above the others too much. His sire had never even hinted at the elite training. Surely he should have been proud of his son? But instead, he had seen the monetary value and hatched his plan to treat with Santos and sell his own flesh and blood to get rid of a few debts.

“Did my mother know about any of this?” he asked.

He almost didn’t want to know the answer. His world had already been flipped so much in the last few days, but he needed to know.

“No, it seems he concocted a story about you being whisked away to join the Shadow Council’s ranks. She believed they'd selected you for their elite task-force and had to sever all connections with family.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. All these years, nobody had even been looking for him. They thought he had been living a secret, privileged life with the sacred warriors of the Shadow Council; the representatives of his species of ghoul. He sat back down heavily and put his head in his hands.

“Do not worry, child. We will fully investigate and then prosecute him to the fullest extent of ghoul law.”

Which, Itzal knew, meant beheading. He was almost disappointed that it would be over so swiftly for the ghoul who was supposed to be the head of his family. He had been the one who had taught him and his brothers how to hunt, who had told him bedtime stories of the glory days of the old Shadow warriors; the one who had sold him and whored him out to Santos for a few measly pounds of gold.

Itzal wanted to rip something apart. He wished so badly that his sire or Santos were here right now so that he could give in to his bloodlust.