Gods and Monsters

IV

Mortuary - St Thomas' Hospital, London – Two days later

Cream tiles covered the interior walls of the mortuary, almost the polar opposite to the charcoal black floor that Katherine stood on as she was led to the basement of the hospital. The strong smell of formalin-filled her nostrils as she walked, likely due to the variety of specimens kept on the shelves which Katherine could only presume were going to be collected by another department later. Besides that, the smell wasn't too bad for a place which dealt with death. She zipped up her hoody due to the cool temperature of the room, nervous about what she was going to find as the coroner opened the door for her to walk through.

Katherine had been dreading the earlier phone call. After waiting in her apartment for what seemed like weeks, praying for Jacob to stroll back into their flat, the phone had eventually rang. The voice on the other end of the mobile-informed her of a body which had been found washed up on the shore a bit further down the River Thames from the Millennium Bridge, and they had asked her to come and identify the body. As much as Katherine tried telling herself that it was going to be someone else, deep down she knew that it was Jacob, she just wasn't sure how she was going to react.

Jacob's body lay on the stainless steel table, a sheet preserving what little dignity he had left. Bruises and cuts covered his arms and legs, whilst a thick scar ran along his chest in the shape of a Y which indicated that his body had been opened and examined. His skin was a sickly greyish-blue, unlike the healthy tanned tone that she had last seen him with as he fell into the murky water below her.

Placing her gloved hand on his face, Katherine brushed his messy brown hair behind his ears as she had always liked. The coroner had informed her that, despite suffering extensive damage from collisions as Jacob's body had been dragged down the Thames, he had died from drowning and wouldn't have felt any of the bone-crushing impacts. She still couldn't wrap her head around it all.

Dead. Jacob couldn't actually be dead, could he? After all the risks he had taken, the dangerous nights out, had he really succumbed to a silly drunken game? A few tears began to trickle down her cheeks, planting themselves on Jacob's upper body before they slid down onto the cold metal of the table.

The coroner grabbed his notes and headed towards the large wooden door. "I'll leave you alone for a few moments," he said, with a lump in his throat. The bald man left the room, stroking a hand across his waxed head in a sign of relief, glad that he could leave Katherine to grieve for a few moments. Despite over twenty years as a coroner, he still couldn't help getting a little choked up when it came time for a loved one to say goodbye. He had been a true gentleman, and it seemed he truly sympathised with Katherine's ordeal.

"C'mon baby, wake up, do it for me," she muttered under her breath, clenching onto his arm tightly, desperate not to let go. Jacob's body refused to move no matter how tightly she held him. Katherine thought back to the night before, and the last moments she had really spent with Jacob before he was pressured into walking along the bridge. The little spell she had shown him was nothing special, just a way of creating a small light source without burning anything, but it gave her an idea. The coroner was still out of the room, probably having gone to get something to eat or drink, but she only had a small amount of time.

Quickly rushing around the office, Katherine grabbed various pills, powders, and bottles. She mixed them all up in a small bowl she had found, to create everything that was needed for her next act, until she was left with a small amount of fluorescent blue powder. She sprinkled the powder over Jacob's body and around the table, quietly praying to herself that this was going to work.

"Okay, grab each side of the head..." Katherine positioned herself at the top of the table, placing her hands on Jacob's cheeks. Pausing for a moment, she tried to remember the spell as best as possible. She took a deep breath and began in a booming voice. "Taker of life, God of Gods, accept my offering. Bone, flesh, breath. Yours eternally." A door slammed in the distance, momentarily forcing her to lose concentration. She only had a few more moments. "Bone, flesh, breath. I beg of you, return to me!" With that, Jacob's lifeless body began to glow. Katherine wasn't sure what to do. She stepped away from Jacob as the light encompassed the whole room, so blinding she stumbled back, tripping over a chair leg.

After a few moments, Katherine dared to open her eyes, but she was not prepared for what she saw. She rapidly blinked, hoping that it was just an illusion while her eyes adjusted to the standard light, but she soon realised that what she saw was real. Jacob stood next to the table, naked... his body had changed though. His usually tanned skin was now a shiny, silvery-blue colour, glistening under the artificial lighting of the room. His messy brown hair had been completely removed, along with all other hair on his body. Jacob looked at his hands, unsure of what had happened to him.

"J-J-Jacob...?" Katherine stuttered, unsure of what she had done, or whether the spell had maybe gone wrong.

"Katherine... you did... this?" His voice sounded different too, deeper, and more artificial, although Katherine was sure that it was still the man she loved.

The two lovers stared at each other for a moment, unsure how either should react in this circumstance, until another door slammed in the distance, prompting them into action. Katherine shot up from the floor and grabbed hold of a trench coat, that presumably belonged to the coroner, before placing it around Jacob and taking him into a side room whilst the coroner passed by. Here Katherine found a few leftover clothes, quickly dressing Jacob in some jeans, a t-shirt, and trainers before placing the trench coat back over him, along with a Stetson hat in the hopes of concealing whatever it was that Jacob had become. They ran up the stairs and out of the building as the coroner walked back into the room he had left them in.

Looking at the empty stainless steel table, before looking back at his coffee, the coroner said to himself, "I'm going to need something stronger than coffee."

Continued in Part 5