The Need

by Bilinda Ni Siodacain

  “Call forth the Blood Hunter!” Robert’s voice was filled with fervour as he joined the chant.

  Power began to fill the room as those gathered chanted the call of a blood Hunter. Jon could not understand the words but he could feel it stirring in his body. Something was beginning to awaken in his body and it terrified him. Could they truly turn him into one of them?

  If you had asked him a moment ago whether he thought it was possible, he would have scoffed at the idea. But as raw power flooded the room and tried to crawl down his throat, Jon knew it was possible.

  He closed his mouth and attempted to seal his lips against the press of magic that wanted to devour him whole but it was pointless. It seemed the magic did not need a way in with his consent. Jon could feel his blood beginning to boil as the power poured in through his skin and filled his body up. For a moment it felt as though it might simply fill him until it exploded out through his skin. Jon made the mistake then of opening his mouth to scream only to feel the black suffocating cloud rush inside him. It smothered his cry in the back of his throat and engulfed his body entirely until not one inch of him remained untouched.

  The smell of her perfume filled his nostrils. Jon drank in her scent and opened his eyes. Aisling stood not five feet away from where he lay on the cold ground. Confusion and pain marred her perfect features and Jon longed to take her into his arms and bring a smile back to her red lips. Jon opened his mouth and called to her but she didn’t even look at him. She seemed to be focused on something or someone just out of Jon’s line of sight.

  Getting to his feet he tried to move towards the woman he loved but something he could not see prevented him. He ran his hands across the cool clear surface of what appeared to be a wall of glass between him and Aisling.

  “Aisling!” He roared her name but still she did not turn towards him.

  Clenching his hands into fists he beat against the glass but the sound was muffled to his ears. Jon was forced to watch as she crumpled to the floor and tears coursed down her cheeks. He watched as she reached up towards whatever had her in such distress. Violently she recoiled backwards as though she had been slapped and pain lanced through Jon’s chest. Aisling collapsed forwards onto her hands, her red hair hung across her face like a curtain of blood. She arched her back upwards as though someone had kicked her in the stomach. Her body contorted in ways that no normal human could survive.

  Jon hammered on the glass harder than before, blood ran down out of his clenched hands but he didn’t care. He needed her to see him. If she would just look at him he was sure that he could make it alright but she never did.

  She faded in front of his eyes and something told Jon that she wasn’t long for this world. With a howl of anguish, Jon sank to his knees. He would save her, he had to. Without her, life was nothing. He knew now that he would do anything to get to her, even if it meant doing the unthinkable and willingly becoming a hunter.

  Chapter Thirteen

  My eyes opened slowly and I attempted to adjust to the light streaming in the window. For some reason it felt brighter than any sunlight I had ever encountered. Deep down I knew that was impossible and yet here I was, tears running down each eye as I struggled to focus on my surroundings in the light.

  “Aisling, how are you feeling?”

  I could hear the voice but I had no idea where it was coming from or even who was speaking to me. Very slowly a face came into view, I wasn’t sure if I could even call it a face. Two black holes where the eyes should be stared down into my face. The skin that covered its head was grey and drawn. When it moved its mouth to speak I could see it no longer had a tongue and what was left of the teeth were rotting, jagged stumps.

  I knew I should be afraid. I knew it was perfectly rational and normal for me to be afraid coming face to face with such a ghoul, but I wasn’t. Something had to be wrong with me when I could look into the decomposing face of such a thing and feel completely safe.

  “Aisling, can you hear me? Are you alright?” The ghoul spoke again knocking me from my reverie.

  “I think so but it’s very bright. Where am I?”

  The ghoul smiled and looked relieved. I couldn’t help but to smile in response and that action made fear tremble in my gut. I didn’t act like this. I wasn’t the type of person who could be totally comfortable with humans, let alone with something that had crawled from the grave.

  “You’re with the Croí. Well, in a fashion you’re with the Croí. You can see me and I am Croí... Was Croí.”

  The ghoul seemed to speak in riddles and it hurt my brain to concentrate on all of words it spoke.

  “I don’t understand, where’s Natasha and Jackson?”

  The creature nodded and a look of pure despair crossed his face. “They are here as they are Croí and we are in the dwelling place of the Croí.”

  I sat up and gave the creature a sour look. A feeling of emptiness filled my gut and the light that surrounded us continued to burn my eyes.

  “Look cut the cryptic crap. Where is Jackson and Natasha, I need to figure out how to get in touch with Jon. Something was very wrong, if I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes I’d have said it wasn’t Jon.”

  The creature looked a little confused. “You really don’t know what has happened?” His voice was filled with bewilderment.

  Scrubbing my hand across my eyes and forehead I sighed. “No I really don’t know what happened. Dammit, why is it so bright in here? Can we not shut the blinds?”

  “Forgive me for not being accustomed to this scenario. Most who come here know where they are and what has happened to them.”

  I shot him and a warning look which caused him to lift his hands in surrender.

  “Fine, you are in what is called the in between. When you tried to contact Jon the last time you gave too much of yourself and your power. In your physical body your mind has become disconnected and so you are here, with me.”

  My mouth hung open but I was still hopeful that the creature would begin to laugh. Surely it had to be a joke, I wasn’t in the in-between. That was one step away from death or was it death? I didn’t know for certain either way. The only thing I was sure of was that I wouldn’t take it lying down. I wasn’t ready to die.

  “How do I know I can trust you? Perhaps this is just my minds way of playing tricks on me.”

  With lightning fast reflexes, the ghoul’s wizened hand whipped out and he pinched me. I jumped and squealed pulling out of his grip.

  “That hurt, what did you do that for?”

  “Do you honestly believe your mind could do that to you?” His words struck a chord and my heart sank. I knew he was right, and the feeling of emptiness in my gut only served to emphasise the point.

  “Am I dead?” My voice shook as I asked the one question that truly terrified me.

  “Not yet.”

  His words hung in the air between us. On one hand I was relieved by his answer but it still meant that my dying was a real possibility. I sucked in a deep breath and mentally shook myself. Dying was not an option. If there was the slightest chance I could get back to Jon, then that is what I would do.

  “Does Natasha and Jackson know where I am?”

  “Yes, I have told them. Natasha had hoped you would wake unto the physical plane but as we can see that has not happened.” As he spoke, he gestured towards where I sat in the bed.

  “So all of this is in my head then?”

  He laughed and some of the tension in my body seeped out.

  “Aisling, you’re imagination is not so great as to dream up all of this.”

  “I might have.”

  He laughed harder then and I couldn’t stop myself from joining in. It would be a little farfetched for me to imagine all of my surroundings. Something nagged at the back of my mind. There was something very familiar about the ghoul but I wasn’t sure what. Closing my eyes I tried to concentrate on why he seemed familiar. That look of despair that had crossed his face when Natasha’s name was mentioned sparked
me to remember the creature I had met when I first woke in the house of the Croí. My eyes flew open as it dawned on me who the creature was.

  “You’re Jason! You’re Natasha’s soulmate!” I couldn’t keep the excitement from my voice. He looked down at the floor and I felt bad for getting so excited. He was dead after all and here I was constantly mentioning the one person he could not be with in the physical world.

  “Jason, I’m sorry.” I reached out towards him. The second my hand touched his arm something changed. The place where my hand touched his skin power ran in thin little lines up across the dry grey flesh. Each place my power spread to, his skin began to soften and change colour. The grey was replaced with smooth tan coloured skin. Healthy human skin. My power crawled up through his body I could see the little orange lines of power reaching his face. The dark black holes where his eyes had once been filled with white liquid. With a pop, the liquid became two white orbs and suddenly I was looking into two piercing blue eyes.

  With a cry of surprise, Jason ripped his arm from my touch and stood back from the bed.

  “Aisling, what have you done?”

  “I don’t know. I’m sorry...” I spluttered to a stop, shock overwhelming me. What used to be a ghoul now stood before me as a half formed man. Parts of his skin were healthy and looked normal, human even. However, the rest of him remained as the grey and lifeless creature he was before. If he had let me continue perhaps he would be completely human?

  Tentatively he reached his hand out towards me as though to touch my cheek. A thin strand of power extended between us like the wire strings on a puppet. I knew in that moment that if I reached out and touched him and completed the process that he would be mine. I could own his soul and make him do anything I wanted. It wasn’t just him that I could do it to, there were others and I could own them all if I wanted.

  I jerked away from his hand and scrambled off the bed. I didn’t want to own anyone. I could barely look after myself so the last thing I needed was someone else to mind.

  “Aisling, you took my death into you. Your skin, it changed, it died. You died.”

  “Don’t be dramatic, I’m still here I’m still in the in-between.”

  Jason shook his head in bewilderment and folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not sure how you did it, but I watched you die. I’ve never seen any member of the Croí do that before. There are stories from our ancestors that talk of the death walkers... those with the power to walk the line between life and death. They could take life and give it back just as easily. It was always at a great cost to their selves. It is said that some took death into their own bodies but only ever as a last resort to escape death. I have never heard of someone taking someone else’s death upon their self and surviving.”

  I smiled and began to move around the room. “Have you forgotten, Jason, that we are still trapped in the in-between. Perhaps that allows me to do what the death walkers could not do when on the physical plane.”

  I moved towards the bright light that was streaming in through the window. Curiosity made me want to know what was outside that window. The feel of Jason’s hand on my shoulder made me pause. I turned back to him with a questioning look.

  “It is not something you want to know. You need to stay in the in-between until we can find a way to get you back to the physical world where you belong.”

  “Is it the way to move on?” I asked whilst straining my eyes to see through the light.

  “You could say that. It’s not the place you want to move on to.”

  “Tell me what it is.”

  He smiled sadly and turned my body completely away from the light. “If I were allowed to then I would. I have strict orders to bring you to meet the Others. Perhaps they can tell you what lies within the light.”

  “Others?”

  “Others, like me. Shades, soulmates who cannot move on.”

  He held my elbow and guided me towards a doorway that was cloaked entirely in darkness. My stomach rolled, I didn’t want to go into the dark. It was a childish fear but it was real none the less.

  “Jason, i don’t want to go in there.”

  “Don’t worry, you are still anchored in the physical plane they cannot take you too far. Anyway, I will be with you every step of the way. I promise.”

  His grip became more insistent the closer we drew to the door. I hesitated on the edge of the blackness. Could I really trust Jason? I had no choice if I wanted to get back to my world and be reunited with Jon. I sucked in a deep breath and pushed my fear deep down into my body. I buried it beneath my false sense of bravado and stepped over the threshold.

  The darkness clung to my face and body like a thin veil of material. I inhaled but I couldn’t really feel any air entering my lungs. It was like trying to breathe inside a plastic bag. Jason urged me on by tugging on my arm. I couldn’t see him anymore but then I couldn’t see anything anymore. Everything that surrounded me was swallowed up in darkness. Panic was just beginning to build inside me when the room opened up in front of me. It was bathed in an odd grey light that seemed to filter in from the window that occupied the far wall. The walls were grey and every piece of furniture was also some shade of grey.

  I took another tentative step into the room but Jason’s hand on my arm prevented me from going any further. There was something very familiar about the room. It struck me then that the room was identical to the main hall I had met Jackson in. The only difference in this room was that there was no roaring fire in the grate and of course the colour.

  “It looks just like the main hall...” My voice was barely above a whisper but inside the room it echoed and bounced off the walls.

  “Everything here is an exact replica of what exists on the physical plane. Everything except the Others.”

  From the corner of my eye I saw a cloaked grey figure detach itself from its grey surroundings. It moved towards me and I fought the urge to step backwards.

  “You are welcome here, Aisling.” The voice sounded female but its face was hidden beneath the thick folds of fabric. “I would have preferred that we meet under more pleasant circumstances but as I am no longer a part of your world that is impossible.”

  “Who are you?”

  “That is a question that keeps its secrets for another day. We have more pressing matters to consider. I am aware that Jackson has told you to get Jon to come to you no matter the cost, is that so?”

  I nodded mutely as the cloaked figure turned from me and began to pace the room.

  “I have always known Jackson to be a ruthless man but to deliberately put his own daughter in harms way is more than I believed him capable of.”

  “What do you mean, deliberately?”

  “He has known all along what would happen to you and Jon. One might even say he engineered it. He is the reason you are here in this state. He is the reason Jason is here and he is the one who put me here himself, with his own hands.”

  “He killed you?” Fear crept up my spine.

  “Yes. However, my story right now is not important. We will have other times to discuss this. I am merely informing you so that you will be on your guard around him in the future. His sending you here was a dangerous risk, one I did not think he would take. Clearly I was wrong.”

  “But he didn’t send me here.”

  Her laugh sent chills through my body and I physically shivered.

  “He told you to contact Jon, at all costs? He did not assist you in the art of communicating with another. He knew the fragile state you were already in. Do not be naive, Aisling.”

  “Fine then,” I sighed in exasperation and threw my hands in the air. “Cut the cryptic crap already and tell me what I need to know.”

  “There is a way for you to contact Jon from here. It is the most assured way of talking directly to him. No matter what difficulties he might find himself involved in.” She reached one grey wizened hand out towards me. Her finger nails were long and black and the skin that covered her hand looked dry and f
laky. “Take me hand and I will show you.”

  I turned and looked at Jason, if he thought it was safe then perhaps I could trust her. He nodded his ascent at me. I reached out and took her hand in mine. Although her skin looked dry and flaky, it did not feel that way. It was as though everything that I could see was nothing more than an illusion.

  A cold chill crept up through my fingers and into my hand, from there it spread into my arm and down into my body. I tried to move as I felt the cold beginning to coax my power to the surface. The power swirled behind my eyes as she pulled my body in against her own. The scent of Jon filled my head. I wanted it to be him holding me. Feelings of pain and confusion threatened to overwhelm my mind.

  “Tell him you need him. Tell him to come to you. Tell him you still love him”

  “I can’t see him, how do I know he will hear me?”

  “He will hear you.” Her words brought me comfort and I found myself relaxing in against the power. I let it wash over my body until it felt as if I was floating in a sea of darkness. The air smelled of Jon. It was as though he surrounded me, his very essence entangling with my own. Memories of time we had spent together flowed around me like moving photographs.

  “Jon, I need you. Come home to me.” The voice that left my mouth did not sound like me. It was hollow and resonated with power. I had a sneaking suspicion that the cloaked woman was amplifying it somehow. An image of the woods behind our houses popped into my mind. I knew Jon saw it too and understood. I had never been so connected to Jon before. All the other visions had consisted of Jon and me as separate entities. This was beyond the physical realm.

  Pain seared through my back and I was back in the in-between. The woman that held me released me slowly and stepped away from me.

  “Your power is very interesting. You should be careful here in the in-between there are others who would not let you go. Some would trap you here and use your power to bring them back to the full potential of what they once were. I can see from the way Jason looks that you possess the power that others could only dream of. I urge you to go back to your realm now while you still have the chance.” Her voice was hurried and hushed as though she was truly afraid others would hear what she had to tell me.