Nameless Ghoul

The Sentence

After Itzal cleaned himself up and Sunshine had looked at his head wound, they ate breakfast in his room. He’d enjoyed running with the ghouls and ghulehs. Even though the fight with Alpha had been intense, he was feeling okay.

Sunshine’s phone rang, so she went and answered it. She looked over at Itzal and spoke.

“Sure, okay Papa. We’ll come down now, then.” She hung up and said, “Looks like you’re needed downstairs. Secondo and Shay need to speak to you.”

Great, he thought.

A few minutes later, they were knocking on the door of Secondo’s study. One of Secondo’s ghouls, Earth, opened the door and beckoned them inside.

“Is it okay if Sunshine comes in?” 

Secondo nodded and they entered. Earth closed the door behind them and then went to stand behind Secondo, who was seated at his desk. Shay was sitting in the armchair near the window. He smiled when he saw Itzal and Sunshine together.

“Ah Sunshine, my lovely, how are you this morning?” asked the old ghoul.

“Very well, Councillor Shay, thank you,” she answered with a sweet smile.

“Good, good, very good,” he said, before he sighed and looked at Itzal. “My peers on the other side of the Divide inform me that they have concluded their investigation. Your sire has been found guilty and sentenced. The rest of your family is cleared of any wrongdoing.”

Itzal moved to the chair in front of the desk and sat down. He felt Sunshine move behind him and she gently touched his shoulder. Secondo was watching them closely.

“Ordinarily, the sentence is carried out by the wronged, but in your case I’m afraid you cannot travel back to your home dimension. The collar prevents it.” Itzal didn’t know if he was angry or glad at that. He did not enjoy killing, but he would have made an exception for the ghoul who betrayed him and sold him to Santos. "A volunteer has come forward to act in your stead. Your mother asked to be the one to do it.”

Itzal heard Sunshine gasp behind him. For a ghuleh to kill her bonded partner was almost unheard of, regardless of what they had done. He found himself smiling as he thought of the fierce ghuleh who'd birthed him. He was not surprised at all.

“When will it happen?” asked Itzal.

“Tomorrow, as the moon rises,” Shay answered. “We have granted a temporary summoning for afterwards. Lena has asked to see you and it would be a shame to waste the blood of your sire when it could be used for something good.” 

His friendly demeanour slipped, showing a hint of the feral ghoul who lurked below the surface. Itzal thought he would have been a force to be reckoned with in his younger days. He hadn't got to where he was now by being friendly and helpful alone. He smiled an inhuman smile and Itzal took a minute to realise what Shay had said.

A temporary summoning was basically a visitor’s pass so that a ghoul could be summoned to Earth for a few hours, but then had to return. He felt tears pricking at his eyes as he realised he would see his mother again. He'd given up all hope of seeing any of his family since his summoning, and now he would get to see her.

“Thank you. I never thought I’d see her again,” he said with a tremor in his voice. He felt Sunshine’s gentle touch on his shoulder and was glad that she was there with him.

“I think she will greatly benefit from seeing you. She is fuelled by anger now, but when it comes down to it tomorrow, it will take every ounce of strength that she has to carry out the execution of her life partner. Seeing you again afterwards will go a long way towards healing that wound.” Itzal nodded and took a deep breath. “Are you coping okay with life here? You’ve been through the mill for the last few years and now this,” he said with a sympathetic look.

Itzal looked up at Shay and gave him a half smile.

“It’s a lot to process. Sometimes I cope okay, other times not so much. But I guess this is so much to deal with and it will take its toll.”

Shay gave him a warm smile.

“There was another reason we needed to speak to you too, I’m afraid,” Secondo added. Itzal looked over at him, and his face was grave. “We believe Santos has been testing our defences. The witches have alerted us to the wards being probed from someone outside of the Abbey. Have you noticed anything through the bond over the last couple of days?” 

Itzal remembered the dream and the dark presence reaching out to him, and he told Secondo about it. He nodded thoughtfully.

“He must be trying something else to try to get to you. He is more powerful than we gave him credit for.”

Itzal knew that Santos’ magics had grown. His witches had also gained power since they had arrived here from Paris. They had done deals with a lot of lesser demons of late, which he knew because he had been present at the summonings.

“We’ve been working on a theory about the collar for the last day or so as well. We have been watching Santos and it is about time that we nipped his little power play in the bud. He is drawing too much attention to himself again. We have had to clean up a lot of messes that he’s left behind over the last few days. He is getting desperate and he wants you back more than ever now that he is making actual plans to move against us.”

Itzal’s breath caught as he thought about what would happen if Santos somehow got him back. Shay noticed his panic and tried to soothe him.

“Don’t worry, child. Whatever he has planned, we’ll be ready for him.”