Nameless Ghoul

Closure

“Itzal!” Sunshine’s voice cut through the haze and he felt her hand on his shoulder. She pulled him towards the back of the cell. “He’s bleeding out. What do you want to do?”

He looked over to Santos, who had thankfully finished screaming and was now breathing in shallow pants. His head was hanging down again and blood was pooling underneath his feet.

He wasn’t sure.

By all rights Santos deserved to suffer indefinitely and he should string this out for as long as possible. But now that he was here, and he knew Santos was suffering and had suffered at the hands of Secondo and the other ghouls for the last couple of weeks?

He didn’t know.

His thoughts were clouding over again now that the red hot anger he had felt at Santos’ comment was dispersing.

Sunshine could feel his uncertainty and he felt her resoluteness through the bond. She stepped around him and approached Santos. He didn’t even seem to be aware of her standing there until she reached down to touch him and he started screaming again. The smell of burning flesh filled Itzal’s nostrils, confusing him for a second, until he realised Sunshine had used her fire ghoul powers to stop the bleeding and cauterise the wound.

She walked back over to him, shaking the ashes of his blood from her hands with a shiver. Santos was moaning and twitching around, and Itzal saw streaks of tears and sweat marring the dirt on his face.

“Okay, so, just in case you didn’t want him to bleed out just yet,” she said with a shrug.

He pulled her into a hug and breathed her in. The smells of the room were overpowering, and he needed a second to think. He watched Santos as he was struggling, and he shuddered. It made him think of the times from his life where he was similarly helpless and hurting. It gave him peace to know that this was almost the end for Santos; that the world would be rid of his evil for good and that he was suffering on the way out.

Santos made a sound, and they both looked up. At first, Itzal thought he was crying; his body was shaking as if wracked by sobs. But as he walked closer, Santos lifted his head. He glared at Itzal through curtains of dirty black hair that hung in his eyes. His soulless stare glinted with malevolence and Itzal realised he was laughing.

“What’s so funny Santos?” asked Sunshine.

He took a wheezy breath between giggles and shook his head.

“I was just remembering something your Father said to me, Itzal.”

Itzal growled low in his throat at the mention of the sire that his mother had ended.

“That piece of shit paid for his crimes with his life, the same way you will," Sunshine said.

Santos smiled at her, the scabs on his parched lips splitting with the sudden stretch of his skin. He swung his gaze back to Itzal.

“I’m sure he did. I communed with him many times before I purchased you.” His voice was cracking, and he was having to take deep breaths in-between words to carry on speaking. “He told me you were weak and that you would be easy to break, and he was right. That little demonstration you just gave me? You are pussy whipped by a Clergy ghoulette," he said, his lip curling in disgust. “It sickens me to think of all the gold I paid and the years I put into breaking you. It was all for nothing, for you to give in to that?” he said, raking his gaze over Sunshine.

She sauntered over to him, putting her face level with his.

“You’re awfully cocky for someone in your position, Santos. There’s nothing weak about Itzal. He is more male than you’ve ever been. You think you broke him and you think you own his soul, but you do not. You never did. He has always been free. He could have let you contaminate him with your corrupted soul. Itzal could have given in and become the monster you wanted him to be, but he didn’t. His soul is still pure and he will heal from what you did to him. He has already begun healing here with me. We have our whole lives ahead of us now.”