Nameless Ghoul

Reunited

Itzal ran for a good couple of hours, burning off the frustrations from the last few days and using the time to think about what Secondo had offered. He thought he had made his decision, but he had a bit of time before he had to commit to anything.

He headed back up to the ghoul lair to clean up before the summoning. There were a few hours until they needed to be there, so he took his time in the shower. He had butterflies in his stomach at the thought of seeing his mother again after all these years. He skipped dinner as he didn’t think he could face eating anything just now.

As he was putting on his boots, a soft knock sounded at the door and he knew it would be Sunshine, so he called her in. When he laid eyes on her, he smiled. She had dressed in the traditional way that most ghulehs chose back home: soft, dark grey leggings and a flowing black blouse tied with a belt around her hips. Her feet were bare and she even wore the gemstone pendant that ghouls and ghulehs’ parents gave them when they reached maturity. The vivid purple stone, marbled with white and black, brought out the color of her eyes. She smiled back at him and it took his breath away.

“You look amazing,” he said.

“Thank you. I figured if I was going to meet your mother, I’d better dress up,” she said with a wink. “Are you doing okay?” His smile faltered as his brain churned out all the worst-case scenarios that could happen tonight. Sunshine walked over to him and stroked his cheek and when he looked up at her, she wore a sad smile. “Hey, she will be so happy to see you. Don’t even doubt it.”

He put his hand over hers and thanked her, taking a deep, calming breath before he stood up.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

They walked to the chapel in silence, except for greeting the few people they saw on the way there. Secondo and Earth showed them into the room next to the chapel, where they would wait for her and then excused themselves to begin the summoning.

The room was quite large and comfortable. Two enormous sofas faced each other with a low slate table in between them. There was a large granite fireplace, which was just about containing a roaring fire. It warmed the room to the perfect ghoul temperature and the crackles and pops from the logs were soothing. They'd laid out a glass jug filled with Ghoulish tea, and six small glass cups on the coffee table.

Itzal walked over and leant on the mantelpiece, letting the warmth from the fire permeate into his bones as he stared into the flames.

“I could use some of Omega’s mojo right about now.” 

Sunshine walked over and joined him, placing her hand at the small of his back and gently tracing circles to soothe him.

They stood there for a little while. The flames roared and sputtered suddenly with a great whoosh. Itzal jumped and Sunshine rested her head against his side. A few minutes passed, and the door leading in from the chapel opened. They both turned towards it and looked over to see Shay and Papa IV walk in, flanked by Aether and Earth. Behind them was a strikingly beautiful, tall, black-haired ghuleh with arresting green eyes.

Itzal’s gaze met hers and his heart stopped. When she saw him, she let out a sob and her hand flew to her mouth to stifle it. She broke away from the others and then turned to black smoke, ghosting the rest of the distance between them. When she reformed in front of him, Itzal’s knees gave out. He knelt before her and she pulled him towards her, resting his head on her belly. His initial reaction was a flinch at the contact, which she immediately broke when she noticed. Itzal climbed to his feet and she took his face into her hands, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs. He managed not to shy away from her, but again she noticed that he'd flinched at the contact.