Grave Beginnings (The Grave Report, Book 1)

by Virdi, R. R

  “Fine,” I said holding up both my hands in resignation, “this the part where I turn in the vessel, you say ‘good job Graves,’ and give me a pat on the back?”

  A flicker of a smile came onto Church’s mouth when he spoke, “all but the last part Vincent.

  I gingerly made my way over to Ortiz’s resting body and very carefully removed the item she had been holding when she had fallen unconscious. I then turned around to hand the brass vessel to Church.

  “Good job Graves,” he smiled as he took the vessel from my hands.

  I couldn’t tell if he was patronizing me or not.

  Church walked back towards the pew he had been sitting on when Ortiz and I had first entered and put the vessel down before returning back to me. He stood there completely motionless and just stared at me.

  “So uh, I’ve got some questions Church,” I said slowly.

  “I know.”

  I exhaled heavily in frustration at Church’s response, which wasn’t all too smart since it caused a painful twinge in my ribs.

  “Acting in anger is like picking up a hot coal with the intent of throwing it someone else, Vincent. You must first burn yourself in order to burn the other person.” He said in his soft slow voice as he spouted his Yoda…isms.

  “Tao of Church?” I snickered.

  “Words of Buddha,” he replied calmly.

  Oh…

  “So…where to begin?” I asked with a light shrug.

  “With your first question preferably,” he responded…to a rhetorical question.

  I sighed on the inside.

  “You pick which cases I’m supposed to work Church,” it wasn’t a question when I said it.

  He nodded affirmatively in silence.

  “So why this one?” I asked in confusion, “I mean I don’t get it,” I continued on.

  “What don’t you get Vincent?” he asked, sounding like a parent when trying to help a child with a complicated problem, it was a kind and understanding tone.

  “All of it, I guess,” I replied with a shrug, “the Ifrit, the short, really short timeline but mostly Ifrit,” I explained.

  He stood quietly and motioned for me to continue explaining.

  “I’m not used to, well I’ve never dealt with anything this bad before, that Ifrit was in a whole ‘nother league.” I said.

  “Yes,” Church replied quietly, “I’m sorry,” he said in his ever-soft tone of voice.

  “This case was just, I don’t know, a lot for me,” I continued.

  “Yes,” he added softly.

  “There was so much going on, so many people involved, I’m not used to people, having to watch out for them, I work…used to work—” I said before Church interrupted me.

  “Alone,” he said, finishing my sentence for me, “I know, that’s one of the reasons why.” He added.

  One of the reasons why? I thought to myself in confusion.

  “Uh Church,” I began hesitantly, “the hell are you talking about?”

  “Vincent, the Ifrit and short timeline were a test, a test that you needed, something to push you and see if you can handle it,” he explained calmly.

  “A test?” I growled, I jerked my head over to Ortiz and snarled, “she died in this test!” I said angrily emphasizing the word test, “it was a damn miracle that James decided to bring Ortiz back to life at all, he could have just as easily wished Marsha back and Ortiz would have died for NOTHING!” I shouted at him.

  Another painful lance shot through my torso and I gritted my teeth.

  Church gave me a knowing look.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I growled, “anger, coal, burned, I got it.”

  “Vincent, it wasn’t a miracle what James did at the end, it was you,” he said, “both of you,” he finished, nodding to Ortiz. “James did the right thing because of what you and she did, together, your words and actions changed him.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered dismissively, “a helluva lot of good it did me, people still died Church,” I croaked, thinking about the innocent lives lost in the hotel fire.

  “I know,” he replied sympathetically, “I’m sorry, but I’m surprised to see you so upset about it Vincent,” he added.

  Who the hell isn’t upset when people die?

  “Of course I’m upset Church,” I snarled, “my job is to protect people from this kind of stuff….” I said trailing off as I realized what I had just said and what Church had been hinting at.

  For the longest time, hell just yesterday, I had constantly been telling myself that my job wasn’t to save people, I wasn’t supposed to get involved in their lives. My job was solely and strictly to nail whatever supernatural thing was responsible for murdering the stiff I inhabited.

  All of that changed within a day of working with Ortiz.

  “Vincent,” Church began, “this wasn’t just a test, it was a reminder.”

  “A reminder?”

  “A reminder that your job was always to protect and help people, you forgot that sometime back, you had to remember to care about other people and not just the case,” he explained.

  It was suddenly obvious to me, “you arranged for me to meet Ortiz didn’t you?” I asked already knowing the answer.

  “You needed to learn how to trust people again, how to work with them, but no,” he answered. “I didn’t arrange for you to bump into her, but I hoped.”

  “You hoped?” I asked incredulously.

  “Vincent, one of these days you will learn that hope is all you really need,” he said, “you’re my hope Vincent.”

  …. Okay…just a little uncomfortable.

  “Uh…. Church, you’re not hitting on me right now are you?”

  He rolled his eyes and actually snorted when he replied, “no Vincent, don’t flatter yourself.”

  Gee, way to let a guy down easy there Church.

  I tried to bring the conversation back to the important stuff, “so, what did you mean about me being your…uh hope?”

  “I need your help Vincent,” he replied simply.

  “With what?”

  “Forces unseen, something dangerous, more so than anything either you or I have faced, something I cannot intervene in, alone atleast,” he explained without really explaining.

  I rubbed my temples in both frustration and fatigue, “Church,” I said as patiently as I could, “ambiguity is really overrated at whatever the hell o’clock it is in the morning.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “And what does any of that have to do with this case and why it was such a pain in the ass?” I asked. “Why couldn’t you have oh I don’t know, asked my for help?”

  “You can’t help, not in your current state Vincent.”

  “My…. current state, Church?”

  “This case was to help you remember the person you were, the person before you died,” he explained.

  “Who I was…I….I don’t get it Church?”

  “Kind, caring, would risk his life for others and always put them first,” he continued.

  My head starting hurting, he knew who I was? He knew about my old life?

  “This case was to help you regain your humanity, the things that make a soul something more,” he said, “like caring for others.”

  “My humanity? Why? Church give me a straight answer, I deserve one!”

  “If you can regain it,” he began, “you can regain your old life, your memories, your body….” He said some more things too but I had stopped listening after that point.

  I had a shot to get back my old life? My...body.

  “Only then can you help me Vincent,” he continued.

  “Well job done,” I said, “I passed your test and everything Church.”

  “No,” he replied, “you can’t just reclaim your past life just like that Vincent, it has to be earned. There’s much more for you to prove Graves, this is just the beginning.” He said heavily.

  I closed my eyes, rubbing them hard with hands as tried to make sense of everything Churc
h had just told me. I had a chance to be….me again, to get back everything I had lost.

  “Church,” I said opening my eyes except when I did, he was gone, the entire place was empty save for Ortiz and I.

  “Way to drop a bombshell on a guy and then leave,” I muttered as I approached the pew he had been sitting in. I removed both of my journals from the coat I had been wearing; placing them down on the pew knowing that somehow they’d be taken care of. I then went back over to where Ortiz was resting and sat besides her, weighing everything Church had told me, my head reeling at his revelations as well as what they meant.

  I could have my life back but then I would have to help Church, but still, I could have it back.

  A soft tingling and gentle tugging sensation enveloped my whole body, it was time to leave Norman’s body. I could feel it as my soul, my being was slowly pulled from Norman’s form, just before I left however, my thoughts went back to what Church had said.

  “There’s much more for you to prove Graves, this is just the beginning.”

  Fanfriggintastic…