Perverse Thirst: A Ghost Walkers Prelude

Chapter 15

Pilo's first appearance put Therion in motion. Leaping from the altar to the throne stairs, he planted his feet firmly in the stone, waiting to attack. When the High Priestess held Pilo out over the stairs, Therion calmed down, and moved to the side of the throne. Gripping the edges of the throne, Therion put himself in a position to be at the High Priestess' side, in the blink of an eye. In the middle of the coven's den, feet away from Therion's attack, inside the firm grip of the High Priestess, the odds weren't in Pilo's favor.

"My child," the High Priestess addressed Pilo. "Is hate the only thing that pumps your heart these days? After being blessed by my sister, after all these years, you still seek out revenge. Putting all your time in strengthening your abilities, your goal was to end it all? Because that's what this is. It's a suicide mission. Did you really think that the High Priestess, the commander of the dark, the Queen of realms, the defeater of life, didn't possess the abilities to see into the spirit realm? Honey, I entered the room from the spirit world. I saw you up there as plain as day. Your interruption has me irritated to the utmost. This is was a special night, but maybe I can still salvage it. You are an unexpected surprise. But I know your dead heart. We disgust you. Hell, you disgust yourself. If only I could make you a good boy like Therion. There's a place here for you, but I know you won't take it. There is a fire within you, and it beats for the one you turned. Knowing this, makes me even more disappointed in you. I've heard many things about the mighty Pilo. There's a lot of speculation that you are the ones that killed my sisters at the church. Impressive at is for someone like you, your ignorance is infuriating. Pilo, you've come to get revenge for the curse...but that only works for you. Just because you lose the curse, it doesn't save Demini. She's past the point of no return. The only way for her curse to be lifted, is for you to be killed. You should have had someone else turn her, that you would be willing to kill, if your plan one day, was to be mortal again. Your death is the only thing that will save her now." She looked into Pilo's eyes as he thought over her words. She could see everything begin to click in his head. "Poor Pilo. You all have kept your distance from the ones that could have helped you the most. And where has that stubbornness gotten you? Therion is now the last of his kind because he looked for refuge in the hands of the true enemy...That's what you don't understand, Pilo. We aren't the enemy. The men that run that city are more dangerous than us. My sister's and I are up here harnessing the powers that the world gifts us with. Lay lines cross underneath this volcano. Our structural formations, help produce energy, electricity. Free energy, for all the people, but there's no money in that. The men down in the valley don't like it when the masses get their needs for free. They want to act like they're gods, and the people should turn to them for all that they need. Up here, we think the world's gifts should be given to the people, the way that the creator intended...They never told you that, did they? In fact, they never did tell you a lot, did they? And there you were, following blindly, being willfully ignorant. In the beginning there was a balance...Did you know that the Light Witch used to live up here with us? She and I ruled the people in balance. I guess you could understand it as a kind of matriarchy. Our bloodlines were to choose the men that we would mate with. I chose Bynan, and her choice was Jarus. Yes, Jarus, the founder of P.A.C.E., and a true leader of men. There was a while that we all worked in balance, but our poles shifted. I'm embarrassed that it happened under my reign, and now my legacy is being tainted. Bynan had feelings for the Light Witch that he couldn't quell. Janus began to practice in the dark arts, something that is forbidden for the Light rulers...The men began to expand our kingdom, and were drunk with power. The balance kept the physical dominant ones away from ruling. As the men flexed their muscle, they lost sight of that. They couldn't understand, if they were the strong ones, why didn't they rule. When they dominated the village, now the city, they distance themselves from our kingdom up here. They found that there was more money in the church, and not in our practice of sharing the world's gifts for free...Bynan publically beat Janus in a duel, for the Light Witch's hand. Bynan took her from her throne up here, and hid her down there, away from my retaliation. Janus was given power with P.A.C.E., and they all began to live down there. My sisters, and I remained up here because this is where we belong. This is where the kingdom belongs. We will never be in balance until they return. Well now that Janus is dead, I have to pick another king, and that's what we were doing tonight. You interrupted us anointing Therion as our new king. We don't look for war, but that's all that Bynan is giving us. He sends his men up here to try and silence the truth. He feels that in exterminating us, he and the Light Witch can achieve balance down there, but that is not the case. Time away from here has allowed them to forget about what needs to be done. They don't want to accept it...We stayed to ourselves up here; never bringing harm to anyone. But it never fails that someone from down there finds their way up here, intending to do us harm. You have hate for us, but you don't realize, we were defending ourselves. Why did we deserve to die Pilo? That fateful night, when you marched up here with the rest of the hunters, why did you think that we deserved death? Because that's what you were told? Were we a threat to you? Because we harnessed the gifts of this world, did that scare you?" Her words confused Pilo, and he didn't know what to think. He didn't know how to answer. For a moment he thought about choking out something through the tight grip she had around his throat, but he remained silent. "See, Pilo, you don't know. I bet you're up here tonight on someone else's directive. You have no purpose up here, the more you think about it, do you? I know this is a lot for you to process, and it's only the start. I wanted to plant that seed in you before sending you back down to people. I can see you have power, and with the doubt that I've filled with you tonight, I know that it will have some effect on the structure that they've worked so hard to create. You've been lied to, by everyone except me...Now, I'm going to set you down. When I do, I'm going to need you to tell me who it is that sent you up here under another false directive."

The High Priestess lowered her arm until Pilo's feet touched the stone stairs. She released her grip, and Pilo kneeled before her. Keeping his head bowed, he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with her. He felt his actions were a mistake. Wondering if Chloria set him up, by sending him here, Pilo contemplated if it would be a smart move to speak her name to the woman that had humbled him in front of all her people.

"Well, Pilo," she asked. "Did someone pull your hate strings, and guide you to my doorstep?"

Pilo remained silent. He wondered what Chloria's plan could be. Did she plan to let him die, or did he still depend on her intervention for an escape. If she didn't plan on helping, and could stand by while he received his punishment, what reason would he have for protecting her?

"I'm going to need something from you soon, Pilo," said the High Priestess. "I've been nice because I was trying to win you over, but now I'm over it. Look at me." Pilo's eye's line of sight didn't move from the stairs, and it angered her. "Look at me," she yelled. Pilo looked her in the eyes, and they turned black. "You've got one more chance before I release Therion on you." She clicked her fingers, and Therion moved to her side. Standing on his legs, he towered over both of them. Strands of saliva dripped off the gray fur around his mouth as he growled, showing off his sharp teeth. Raising his large clawed hands, Therion took a stance to snatch Pilo off of the stairs.

Looking back and forth, Pilo took turns making eye contact with both of them, but he didn't say a word. Trusting in the plan, he held his ground. Placing his hands flat on the stairs, Pilo prepared to push himself out of the way if Therion made a move toward him.

"I've had enough of this...Therion," she commanded.

Therion spread his arms and howled into the night sky. Bringing his head back down, he ferociously barked and snapped in Pilo's direction.

"Now, Therion," the High Priestess commanded. "Do it now!"

Raring his head back, Therion made his attack. With a strong chomp, Therion sunk his teeth deep into flesh. The blackness in the High Priestess' eyes disappeared under the pressure of Therion's strong jaw muscles. With her in his bite, Therion began jerking her through the air. Sinking his claws into her torso, Therion used his strength to rip her to shreds. Pieces of her fell beside Pilo, and he stared in disbelief. Therion's jaws were crunching on bones and flesh when a bolt of lightning crushed into his chest. The blast knocked Therion off of his feet, and into the throne.

Looking over his shoulder, Pilo saw the bolt came from Chloria. Putting the pieces together, Pilo pushed himself into the air, and swapped into the spirit realm. Pilo had the bat return him to the ledge up above. Swapping realms again, Pilo watched as the rest of the plan played out.

Therion went to get to his feet, and Chloria struck him with electricity again. Therion's yelp echoed throughout the throne room. Swapping with her raven, Chloria brought herself to the top of the staircase. She built up more electricity, and held her staff above Therion. Therion's tail moved between his legs, and he didn't raise his head.

"Kneel before me," she commanded. Keeping his belly close to the ground, Therion moved to Chloria's feet. She then turned towards the rest of the witches. "This is our traitor. He looked for a way out of the union, but I'm here to show him that it's not that easy. Our former High Priestess underestimated the outside world. She looked for unity, but as we can see, that isn't possible. They want our death, and the only way for our life to continue is to eradicate every last one of them, and start over. Until then we will not see peace. I ask sisters, for you to stand by my side. I want us to achieve peace, and I believe there is only one way for that to happen. I never looked to be in this position, but under the current circumstances, we need a leader. Until we find peace, I will break this beast at my feet, and I will eliminate our threats. I'm tired of losing sisters, and I will no longer tolerate our passive behavior!"

The rest of coven applauded Chloria's speech, and appeared to agree with her thoughts. Pilo, watching from the ledge, came to realization of Chloria's plan. She never intended for Pilo to kill the High Priestess. He became a part of the plan to be the distraction, so Therion could get close. Remembering she said Therion was on her side, Pilo knew the beast willfully took the lightning strikes from Chloria. The whole incident played out perfectly for the witch. The act put her exactly where she wanted to be. Watching Chloria sit down on the throne, Pilo feared what he had just helped create. They were all united. The sleeping dragon had been shaken awake, and it began preparations to become the biggest threat the city had ever witnessed.