Nameless Ghoul

The Decision

Itzal held off Santos for as long as he could, giving Sunshine precious seconds to run. The shutters in his mind fell down though and his body gave in to do Santos' bidding.

He tore off after her, hoping that he'd given her enough time to get to safety. As a ghuleh, she would be quick, but he knew he would be quicker.

As he ran down the corridor, Aether and Dew stepped into his path, holding up their hands to placate him. Itzal didn't even hesitate; he head-butted Aether, who fell to the side, and he grabbed Dew by the hair at the back of his head and smashed his face into the wall with a sickening crunch. He heard Swiss shouting after him as he ran, but he didn't turn around.

He scented the air to see which way Sunshine had gone. Her unique scent lingered in the air, but it was laced with tangy notes of fear and adrenaline.

She was heading into the lair where Terzo's ghouls lived.

When he reached their corridor, he stopped short as a wall of ghouls blocked his path. Omega, Alpha and Ifrit stood shoulder to shoulder and he tilted his head as they stared him down. Alpha's heated glare was positively volcanic now when he looked at Itzal. The hatred was palpable. He looked beyond them to the end of the corridor and saw Sunshine. Mist held her protectively and she was staring at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"Sunshine, you need to come with me. We are going home," Itzal heard himself say. He held out his hand for her.

His accent was always more pronounced when Santos had him on his leash. It was barely there when he was himself, but he could hear the Spanish sounding pronunciations as he spoke the words that Santos would want him to say.

She shook her head as she looked at him, unshed tears in her eyes.

"No, I can't go with you, Itzal. I have to stay here. You need to stay with me. Come back to me," she said as she held her hand out to him, too.

He bared his teeth in a humourless grin as he looked at Omega.

"Let me through, Omega. We need to leave here. I will kill you to get to her if I have to."

He saw Omega's eyes narrow and he felt the ghoul send him some calming energy, but he knew it wouldn't work. He took a step forward and the ghouls tensed up, ready to fight him.

Just as he was about to throw himself at Alpha, something heavy smacked him in the back of the head. He had just enough time to feel himself fall to the ground before everything went black and he lost consciousness. His last thought was that he would be forever grateful to whichever fucker had knocked him out.

When he woke again, Itzal was chained to the altar in the chapel at the Abbey. His head was killing him and his eyes couldn't focus properly. Urgent voices were speaking in hushed tones nearby and he turned his head towards them, wincing at the stabbing pain in the back of his head. He wasn't sure, but he thought that maybe his skull had fractured. He heard himself laugh; maybe his sanity had finally fractured too after all these years.

Itzal remembered everything from when he woke up in Sunshine's bed, and he was thankful that he hadn't followed through with what Santos had asked of him. Secondo appeared in his line of sight and he blinked slowly, trying to focus on the face that hovered above him. It felt like Santos was still in charge, but he could push the limits, which was not usually possible. The chapel must have been warded with something extra that was blocking the signal again.

"Itzal, it is time. We cannot risk this happening again. Are you yourself?" Secondo said. He nodded his head before the pain made him see stars, and he instantly regretted not speaking out loud. "We need to go ahead with the plan. It has been finalised. Do you agree to this?" Secondo asked him. "You need to say the words out loud. Can you do this?"

"Yesss," he gritted out from between clenched teeth.

"Very well. Did you make your decision on what else I asked of you? You can send me the thought if you agree. Do you agree?" Secondo asked as he gently touched Itzal's forearm.

Itzal looked him dead in his mismatched eyes and projected his answer to the ex Papa.

Do it.