Nameless Ghoul

Hellfire

It was the day before Yule, and the Abbey buzzed with activity. Busy Siblings and ghouls made last-minute preparations, and socialised with lots of food and drinking.

Tonight, Papa would give a special midnight mass which was open to the public, as was traditional, in the main part of the Abbey.

Itzal was curious about the mass. He hadn’t attended one since he’d been here, but he was fairly certain it would be different from the ones that Santos used to give.

Sunshine and Itzal had woken up late. Itzal's body ached in the best way, and the two of them had chatted about the previous night’s social gatherings. Sunshine told him about the pack and Papa's antics, and it sounded like they'd had a fabulous time. She said next year, Itzal should come too.

He told her what had happened with Secondo’s ghouls, and she was glad it had gone well, despite how nervous he’d been beforehand. She didn’t really know them too well as they kept to themselves and gave off scary vibes, which made him laugh.

“You’re one of them now, so you need to keep up your air of mystery. You need to stay aloof and unapproachable,” she said with a cheeky smile. He frowned and she laughed. “Yes! Exactly like that! You fit right in with them already!” she said, kissing his forehead.

“They’re actually really nice. But I know they have an image to keep up. I’m not exactly friendly and approachable, so maybe I will fit in." Itzal stretched out, groaning at the ache in his muscles. "I still can’t believe I’m a Clergy ghoul now, though.”

And he couldn’t. It felt like his brain was still catching up with everything that had happened. He was trying to go with the flow, but he’d lived for so long in survival mode that if he thought about it too hard, every thing just seemed too surreal to take in.

“It’ll be fine. Just don’t think about it too much and let it happen." Sunshine leaned in and rested her chin on Itzal's chest. "How are you doing after last night?” she asked.

His cheeks burned, but he met her gaze and smiled.

“It was perfect.” The smile she gave him echoed through their bond, and Itzal shivered. “It’s going to take me a while to get used to this, though. It’s a different kind of bond to what I’ve had before.”

She nodded her agreement.

The bond Santos had forced on him couldn’t compare to this one at all.

Secondo explained that a forced bond was much more painful than the bonds with the Clergy would be because of consent.

When a ghoul chose the bond, it was closer to a natural one, like the ones ghouls shared with each other. That type of bond didn’t take much maintaining with magic.

But an unnatural, forced bond, like the one Itzal had with Santos, was painful for the ghoul because of the magic needed to keep it in place.

The collar Itzal had worn was like an extra chain linking him to Santos. The ghoul’s body and soul constantly fought to reject the bond, so it was an ongoing battle between the two. That’s why it had felt like an aching dread in Itzal's chest.

A natural pairing bond between ghouls and ghulehs was something much less complicated, but also more intense. It didn’t need any kind of ritual or magic to put it into place. Nature decided who was a good match, and if they both felt the same way about each other, a bond would form.

Only bonded pairs could produce offspring, and they both had to agree to it before it could happen. Families also had their own, more diluted form of bond.

A pairing bond linked one soul to another, and some pairs could even speak to each other telepathically.

Itzal could feel Sunshine’s emotions now as an echo of his own, and it made everything seem more intense, because he was feeling her responses too.