Warm Food Cold Body

by S. Y. Robins

  “But I don’t want to be part of a coven! All of that vying for power, the sniping, the competition, the mumbo-jumbo and muttering chants. It’s just too much to deal with as far as I’m concerned!” Helena replied.

  “Yes, but when you are part of a coven your powers increase and expand. You become a part of a group and the group shares its strength. You can always try the Nine Ladies first, then consider a coven if it doesn’t work.” Oona replied, her purple hair glittering in the light of the pub. Taking a drink of her cider she looked around and Helena could see her giving a group in the corner a stare.

  Helena looked closer at the group, noticing one of the girls had some serious love for the Goth look. She looked like she barely had a drop of blood left in her.

  “Vampire?” Helena asked Oona, taking a sip of her own short glass of cider.

  “More than likely. Anyway, are you going to try the Nine Ladies or look for a coven? I think you should go up there first and ask for your powers to be improved. Although, I suspect a lot of your problem is psychological, you think you’re going to fail and doom yourself to it. Have some faith in yourself, my dear.” Oona said, taking Helena’s hand.

  Helena squeezed Oona’s hand and then let it go. Oona was her best friend, a mother figure, and a woman of wisdom. Helena had no idea how old she was, or where she came from because Oona always gave evasive answers, but she loved the other woman dearly and valued their friendship. Helena’s own mother and father were dead and Oona acted as friend and surrogate to Helena’s great joy.

  “I’ll give it a go then, it can’t hurt to ask, can it? Anything beats joining a coven or losing my license. That would be devastating.” Helena spoke in an unusually sombre manner Oona wasn’t used to hearing from her friend. No, this would never do, I’ll start checking around for a coven, she thought to herself.

  “You’re not part of a coven and you do just fine, Oona.” Helena suddenly blurted.

  “Not everybody needs one and you took such a hit with the previous examination that it’s made you doubt yourself, my dear. You need some of your confidence back is all. Now, I really must go. I have a meeting later. But I love you and know you can do this. You just have to believe in yourself. I’ll call you later, darling. Good night.”

  Oona left in a flurry of waving scarves, a floral perfume, and a quick, no-nonsense pace. Helena looked around the pub and saw a woman coming out of the kitchen with a worried look on her face and felt a pang of pity for her. She knew what it was like to worry. But perhaps she could do something about that?

  Picking up her bag and her coat Helena went out to the car park and looked in the direction of the stone circle. Yes, she could do something about that right now.

  Trudging up to the circle at night may not have been the best decision Helena had ever made. The fog wasn’t so thick up here but there was enough of it doing wispy fog type things that she tripped a couple of times going up, even with the light from her mobile to act as a torch. She finally reached the circle and looked around for a moment. A forest of trees decorated with ribbons and bows spoke of the wishes and spells others had given up to the spirits that ruled the area.

  In the moonlight Helena could see the stones, barely over a metre high, nothing at all like Stonehenge, but still somehow just as stirring an image. And just as powerful if Helena was any judge. She could feel it throbbing in the air, like waves of energy that were buffeting her as she walked through them.

  Helena abandoned herself to the energy, no specific spell or movement in mind. She just moved through the stones, asking for help, sending out a mental plea to the spirits to please answer her with more consistent powers.

  “I’m not even asking for extraordinary powers, I’d just like to not turn my examiner into a toad again, please!” Helena pleaded out loud.

  Helena received no reply that she noticed, and though she could feel the energy there, she felt like there simply wasn’t anyone home to answer her plea. Giving a great sigh she turned to leave the circle, wondering if she should have done some incantation or a more symbolic ritual but dismissed the idea. The gods knew without all of the candles and wavy hand stuff, she was certain. She was a born witch, after all, not just out to please herself with the accoutrements of modern witchcraft.

  Helena knew she was an odd witch and that, perhaps, this was why she wasn’t such a good one but she couldn’t help what she believed. She was making bubbles shoot out of her fingers when she was three, she didn’t need altar cloths to make magic. Sighing again she backed out of the circle she’d walked into and hoped that her pleas would reach somebody out there.

  As she walked the path back to the road she wondered if anything had actually happened and she just didn’t get all the bells and whistles that she’d expected in the back of her mind. A little bit of “bwahhhh” and a golden light shining down on her as a voice boomed out about how she was the chosen one would have been nice. Or just a tink on the head maybe, a falling acorn or something to let her know she’d been heard at the very least.

  Helena was still considering possibilities when she tripped over something yet again in the foggy dark. Stupid fog, always hanging around, always…

  “Wait, what’s this?” She asked as she reached out in the darkness to feel for the mobile phone she’d lost.

  “It feels familiar but it’s so gross and cold! Ew! What is it?” Helena called out to the darkness. She finally found her phone after scrabbling around for it and restarted the torch app. She shined it down into the darkness of the ground and held back a scream as she saw male fingers, a hand, and arm covered in a grey jumper, then a head and the rest of the man’s body. A bloody gash marred the back of the man’s blonde hair and Helena knew the man was dead.

  As she stared down at the poor fellow, knowing she should call the police a new thought occurred to her. The spirits were testing her or giving her a way to prove she was worthy! She knew that had to be it and tried to remember the procedure for calling a soul back to its body. Thinking she had it all straight Helena moved to the man and waved her hands over his body, muttering ancient words that would appeal to the man’s spirit. With a snap of her fingers she finished the procedure and stepped away.

  “Unnnggghh!” The man moaned as his limbs started to move as blood began to flow through them again. His legs twitched and he ground his head down into the ground as though he were in terrible pain.

  Helena knew this part could be terribly painful and snapped her fingers over his head once more to heal the wound on his scalp. Knowing there was little she could do to relieve the pain of reawakening Helena stood back, pleased that for once something had gone exactly right. She’d started to do a dance as the man sat up and she saw his handsome face for the first time. Lean but well-fit the man had a beautiful face, strong lines and full lips, and grey eyes that were…oh no.

  Helena had started to think the spirits had answered her prayers when the man reanimated. But those dead eyes, the “ungh” he continued to moan, and the way he held his arms out as if to reach for Helena screamed one word to Helena.

  “Zombie!” She shrieked as she ran from the man. Helena tripped again as she ran away but this time was able to hold onto her mobile. Flashing the light behind her to see if she was on the verge of being zombie chow Helena saw that the man was still sitting there, his face slack and his eyes incredibly sad.

  “Awww. You’re not going to eat me, are you?” Helena went back to the man, squatting down to have a look at him.

  “Can you get up?” She asked him, putting an arm under his shoulder. He seemed to understand and stood with her as she moved back up.

  “Now, let’s get you to my house and see if this is just a momentary delay or if it’s permanent, shall we?” Helena said, hoping the latter wasn’t the case.

  Helena soon learned that once she had the man walking he kept going on his own pretty well. He never tripped and seemed eager to keep going. She did have to put his arms down a few times because after a while they
’d slowly start rising in front of him and he’d start moaning again. This was not going to be an easy task, she could see that now.

  2

  “Well, what are we going to call you then?” Helena wondered aloud as she looked at the man trying to walk through her kitchen wall. She’d found no identification on him and he still wasn’t saying anything more than "ungh". Every now and then he’d pop up with a “marpf” but that was the extent of his vocabulary it seemed.

  No wallet, no tattoos that she could see, she’d momentarily lifted his jumper and pants legs to look for names or any other identifying words, no verbal help, and no other clues left Helena without a name for the man. The fact that the blood had been barely dry on his head hinted that his death had been recent so she knew looking online for news wasn’t going to be a great help either.

  “I guess we’ll call you Marpf for now. I believe it’s the closest we’re going to get to a name for you at the moment.” The idea to call Oona had already occurred to Helena but Oona had said she had a meeting when she left the pub. Helena didn’t want to interrupt her so tried to decide how to deal with this herself.

  Helena really had no one else to call because she wasn’t only a solitary witch, she was a solitary person. Both of her parents had died in a car crash, she disliked most of her family, and she wasn’t the type to go out getting into trouble or looking for parties. She’d rather just stay home and read a book than party. There was nobody else to call really so Helena knew she had to deal with this on her own for now.

  “Please stop trying to get out of the wall, you can’t walk through it.” Helena said to Marpf.

  Astonishingly the man seemed to understand as he shifted three feet and almost smashed through a window. She quickly pulled him away and he tottered over to the back door of her home. She turned him in the direction of her sitting room and watched as he went straight for the door there. At least there were no windows in it, she thought as he bumped into the door over and over again. When he grew quiet Helena began to worry. She found him trying to climb out of a window. An hour later he walked out of the front door somehow and was halfway down the lane to the main road. Not long after that she heard him clomping up the stairs and found him on the verge of falling out of a window upstairs.

  “Unghhhhhh!” Marpf moaned loudly back in her kitchen, sounding like a dying animal.

  “Oh, do stop that racket! Oh I hope Oona’s meeting is over soon, I have no idea what to do with you!” Helena exclaimed impatiently.

  She knew the man couldn’t help it and that her frustration was really with herself but she couldn’t stop the words. The man’s only response was another loud moan so Helena snapped her fingers at him, hoping it would make the man mute. Instead his moans were amplified and the whole house was filled with the sound.

  “At least I don’t have any neighbours to complain. Come along, down to the cellar with you then!” Helena said as she ushered the man down the steps then left him in the windowless room with a light on.

  Snapping her fingers once more Helena was relieved to hear the sounds of Marpf’s moans go back to their normal level and quietly closed the door, hoping the man would sleep, anything besides bounce into the walls. Feeling like a total failure she went up to her bedroom and prepared for sleep. Then her phone began to buzz.

  Thank goodness, Oona was home!

  “I need you now, please come to the house quickly. I’ve made a bit of a mess of things.” Helena typed, and then waited.

  Soon a knock came at her backdoor and Helena opened the door to reveal an out of breath and anxious looking Oona.

  “What’s wrong, are you hurt?” Oona asked anxiously.

  “No, no. I’m fine. It’s what’s in the cellar that’s the problem.” Helena replied.

  “Why, what have you got in the cellar?” Oona asked, confused. “I thought you were in the floor bleeding to death and you’re not hurt? I bloody well ran here Helena!”

  “I know, I’m sorry. Please don’t be angry. Just let me show you what I’ve done.” Helena said, pulling Oona to the cellar door.

  “What is that noise? It’s horrible!” Oona cried as they descended the steps.

  “That would be Marpf.” Helena answered back.

  “Marpf? Who the…holy smokes, what the heck is that?” Oona cried as she saw Marpf for the first time, his dead eyes, slack face, and extended arms making it obvious something was wrong with him.

  “Well, I went up to the stone circle, asked for help and stumbled on him. Literally. I tripped over him. I though he was a test, a sign, so I tried to bring him back to life. This is the result.” Helena said, waving her hand listlessly at Marpf.

  “Oh, Helena, you didn’t? I didn’t mean tonight! You have to go up on Halloween night, that’s when the veil is at its thinnest! Oh my dear girl, you’ve really messed it up this time and if you’re found out you’ll lose your license for sure.” Oona said with a pained look at Helena.

  “I know. How do we fix this?” She asked helplessly.

  “I have no idea,” Oona said, trying a few waves and snaps of her own. “Perhaps we’re simply going to have to wait. I can’t even fix this.”

  “No?” Helena asked helplessly.

  “No. And if you’re caught, you’re definitely going to be in trouble.” Sighing Oona tried a soothing spell on the man and he finally sat down in the floor looking lost and glum.

  “One week, we just have to get you through one week. It’s almost Halloween, thankfully. In the meantime we’ll just have to keep him hidden.” Oona said, sitting down in front of the man.

  Helena joined them on the floor, looking at the handsome man once more. The blank look on his face made him appear to be rather stupid but still handsome. He was like a child, Helena supposed, lost and clueless. She brushed a long lock of his blonde hair out of his face and wondered if he was hungry as his mouth moved towards her hand.

  She ran upstairs and came down with some cold pizza, offering it to the man. He turned his head and moaned “ungh” as she pushed the pizza at his face.

  “Maybe he’s vegetarian. Definitely a zombie, but maybe vegetarian?” Oona offered.

  Helena went back up and gathered up some carrots and took them down to the man. He gnawed at one for a while but then let it fall out as he started moaning again.

  “That’s going to drive you mental!” Oona observed.

  “It is already, believe me!” Helena replied, picking up the carrot from the floor.

  He’d refused water, wine, and a beer, and wasn’t interested in pastries at all. He didn’t seem to have any real needs so Helena and Oona decided to leave him alone for a while. As soon as the door shut they heard him thumping against the walls.

  “Well, I’d say it’s a good thing you work from home so you don’t have to leave him here alone but that means you have to listen to that racket all day and night.” Oona said as they settled on Helena’s sofa.

  “Can’t I come live at your house?” Helena pleaded jokingly.

  “Nope, this is your monkey honey, you have to, um, deal with it.” Oona said with a grin. “Besides, he’s cute. Maybe he’ll develop a crush on you and start moaning poems to you. Ungh, ungh ungh, ungh ungh. Brings tears to the eyes, doesn’t it?”

  “I hate you. Are you going home now oh unhelpful one?” Helena asked testily. She smiled then hugged her friend. “I still have no idea what to do but thanks for coming anyway.”

  “Not a problem, sweetness. I’ll call you in the morning, alright? And if your fella down there gets peckish in the night, don’t let him nibble on you, alright?” Oona hugged her friend quickly then headed to her own home.

  Helena went up and changed into her nightclothes, checked on Marpf once more, then fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. The sound drowned out the sounds of the man wandering in her cellar but she still had nightmares about him chewing into her neck as she slept. Waking up just as dawn broke Helena couldn’t get back to sleep.

  She opened her lapt
op up as she ate a breakfast of yoghurt and oats and did some research, looking for ways to properly bring a soul back from death. From what she read at the Ministry of Supernatural Beings website she’d done the right procedure but something had still gone wrong. Maybe he’d been dead too long and his soul had already departed this world. Helena stopped looking and went down to check on him.

  “Now, I think we should talk about this like rational people, Marpf.” Helena said, sitting down on the floor with him to write down her observations. “First, you were obviously murdered, that gash on your head didn’t get there on its own. You must have been dropped there because you were face down on the ground, not up as you would be if you’d fallen and hit your head. Obviously you could have rolled over, but you only had a jumper on, that tells me you either left home without a coat or you were dropped there. Hm.”

  “Ungh” came his reply as he looked around mournfully before repeating one of his two-word vocabulary.

  “Yes, ungh. Right then. We know you’re at most in your 30s by the looks of you, male, blonde, over 6 foot tall. From your clothes we can guess you were middle class, and the fact that your fit tells us you were taking care of yourself at your time of death. You don’t have grotty fingernails, and very few 'working man' calluses, so perhaps you were an office worker of some kind? So, you’re the average white Englishman with no real identifying marks that I can see, and you can speak two 'words'. We know exactly nothing about your identity Marpf, but some of what we do know could lead to identifying you.”

  Pulling out her laptop she started looking for missing person notices in the area online but found nothing. Perhaps it was still too early. Looking at her social media she saw none of the 'missing person' posters she would expect to see and nothing on the news about a missing person. Feeling like she was ready to pull her own hair out and shriek at the same time Helena put the laptop down and looked at the man across from her.

  “Do we really need to know who you are right now, anyway? It’s not as though I could give you back in this condition. I certainly couldn’t get you back long enough to fix whatever I’ve done wrong. No, I suppose, for now, I keep looking for how to fix you. There isn’t much more I can do.” Helena said to him.