CHAPTER THREE: The Undying Undead.
Unfortunately by the time that we got to Demon Inn, it was already seven o’clock in the morning and neither of us could be bothered to sleep. Seriously, we managed to get a room which just completely let the sun in to burn us.
If Celeste had been any paler, he would’ve been burnt to a crisp when he stepped into the room. Okay, that may be exaggerating, and there was probably an exceptionally wonderfully understandable reason why our room was so goddamned sunny.
They probably didn’t know how to deal with an undead who worked under Hades himself. Obviously Granddad had used some type of demonic way of contacting the owner of this hotel and informing him that we were VIP’s.
I also put it down to the fact that they thought that Celeste was a POS. Whatever the hell that was. I hadn’t got to switching off his air supply yet so I hadn’t found out. Something else kind of, just kind of, the littlest kind-of you could ever get, disturbed me.
The hotel manager had seen me and Celeste fun-arguing, you know insulting each other and laughing about it, and figured it was alright to give us one bed.
I could’ve let that slide, maybe he thought we were brothers or something, but then when we got up to the room, I realised something about the bed.
It was a king size bed. With roses. Sprinkled over it.
I had taken look at it and ran out of the room grabbing Celeste by the arm and slamming the door shut, then I dragged him downstairs and yelled at the man, “What the hell? What the hell do you think we are?”
The man’s face went red and he averted his eyes, then turned around and stayed facing away from us. OMG. Is that what everyone sitting here thought of us? Celeste had caught onto this fact and was trying to stop me from hyperventilating from anger.
It wasn’t working.
He stated, “If they want to believe that, let them. It doesn’t hurt me or you. So fuck ‘em, eh?”
Okay, when he put it like that it sounded alright. I was once again glad I had someone here that I knew. I nodded and we had returned to our room. And this was all before I got a phone call.
Now let me tell you something, I don’t have a phone and neither does Celeste. Okay? Got that? Well, now how did we get a phone call if neither of us had phones? I have no fucking idea.
One minute something was buzzing around in my head, and then I said, “What the hell was that?”
And then there was this voice, as if on the other side of the telephone line, speaking back. There was slight anger in his voice, “This is Drake. Hades has a job for you. Go downstairs, I’ll meet you there.”
Then it went all silent and I shared a concerned look with Celeste, he was obviously getting this “call” as well. Drake then added, “Did you like the bed I asked for you guys?”
The line went dead and I suddenly missed, with great sorrow, a phone I could physically throw at the wall. Celeste was pale again, as if only hearing Drake’s voice was almost too much for him too bear.
Actually he was beginning to look a little woozy. I figured it out before it happened and so I was already there to catch him when he began to fall. He looked up at me from my arms and smiled, “Thanks.”
“You’re a fuckin’ ‘tard. What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“It’s just, I’m not used to NOS energy,” then he gave me a very hard look, “and you shouldn’t be either.”
I shrugged, he hadn’t explained to me what NOS and POS meant so I couldn’t have been bothered to answer that as if it meant anything to me. I pushed him out of my arms, violently I’d liked to add, and he wobbled upwards, into a semi-standing position.
“Let’s go.” I said, trying for a monotone voice. I wanted him to feel like I was keeping something from him.
I heard Celeste say from behind me, “You have blocked nose or something?”
I was glad he couldn’t see my face as it went red and I replied hastily, “No, hurry up, you fuck-wit.”
I heard him laugh as he ran to catch up. What he did after he caught up was entirely unexpected. He pushed me down the stairs and I went flying. My arms and legs went crazy going in all different directions that I was sure was impossible, and the pain I felt was excruciating.
It was like someone was hitting me again and again in all different parts of my body. I thanked god when I got to the bottom, moaning I stood and felt several bones in my body pop back into place.
Celeste walked down the stairs with smug look on his face. I just wanted to tear off his face then. That was seriously uncalled for and it completely pissed me off. I rolled my shoulders and felt them creak as they resumed normal position. I watched his descent, my hand clenched into a throbbing fist.
“I knew it. You can’t die.” He said as he finally got off the last step.
My punch stopped mid-air suddenly deflated, “What do you mean?”
“Well, undead can’t die. Your soul is tied to your body through unsightly means and therefore unless something injures the thread you’ll continue to return to your body and heal your injuries without dying.” He replied, loud and clear.
Everyone watching could hear.
Then he walked up to me and whispered so no one could hear, “This is for your sake.”
What? Pushing me down the stairs was for my own good? What the hell was he on? Crack? I felt my hand clench into a very angry fist, then I noted something. His eyes were watering. He was holding back tears.
Once again my will to hit him depleted. Why was he crying?
Had I done something wrong?
Damn! He’s the one who pushed me down the stairs, so why the hell was he crying? I couldn’t understand anything at that moment in time. Except that my whole body was throbbing with pain and I was angry/confused and Celeste was trying not to cry.
The interruption of Drake suddenly seemed like a godsend. Though I knew it was from the ruler of hell. He took one look at us and began to laugh, “Trying to kill him off already? I’d have thought you would have some type of ceremony set up to sacrifice him.”
I tried to translate his words in my confounded mind, but nothing made sense so I left it up to Celeste to reply.
Thankfully, he was over his tears and was now hatefully glaring at Drake. We were a little screwed up family, weren’t we?
“So, what does Hades want Azrael to do?”
“Oh now, not just Azrael, but you too. I think I let it slip that I found a POS. He’s decided you’re under him now. Now, you guys are to collect souls for recycling.” Drake said this as if it were as common as a comment about the weather.
Which I have to admit was actually rather nice today, but onto more important matters at hand, “RECYCLE?”
Celeste and Drake both looked at me in surprise, then they looked at each other, and then said at the same time, “You didn’t tell him?”
It was almost like a mirror reflection. It made goose-bumps rise on my arms, but thanking Granddad for the tux and long sleeves no one could seem them. This was probably going to be the only time ever that they would’ve said something at the same time.
I mentioned as such.
They both ignored me, once again locked into a conversation I didn’t understand. Drake began, “You have to tell him or he’ll do something wrong and possibly destroy the soul.”
“No, he can learn as we go along. Beside’s what makes you think I know how to recycle souls?” retorted Celeste, his mouth curving into an upper-lip raised sneer.
“Well, you’re an OS for one. So, you should know unless you’re retarded . . . or you’ve forgotten past memories.”
Celeste remained silent. I have no idea what it is about Drake that renders Celeste soundless, actually I think I’d been like that as well in his presence. Maybe it was NOS energies that Celeste had mentioned before. Maybe they screwed with your mind.
Whatever they were they were probably bad.
Drake paused for a moment, then he flamed something into his hands, “Today’s list, let’s see. There’s about 25 close by, but 20 of them have already been claimed. Damn that commission rate for NOS’s . . .”
Celeste frowned, “So, we have 5 to do?”
Drake nodded and disappeared in a haze of flame. I turned to Celeste, “Well, that was fun.”
Celeste stood there silently, probably contemplating something. Then once again I felt that feeling in my pocket. This time I let it rest there for a while before placing my hand in and pulling the charred note out.
I looked at it; it had the words on it, “1. Greg Grey.”
Scrunching it into a ball, I decided to try something that could possibly snap Celeste out of the state he was in, so I threw it at Celeste, “Think fast.”
Rather stupidly, he did the opposite. He froze, utterly and completely, and then he crumpled to the floor. I watched him in fascination. Then he began to sob, his body racking with harsh ragged breaths.
I rolled my eyes and knelt down next to him, “Hey, what’s up? What's the go with the crying all the time?”
He looked up at me, his dark and fathomless eyes filled with sorrow, “The last time you said that. I killed you.”
Well, that explained his sudden tears. I also partly blamed Drake, he had nothing to do with it, but it made me feel a little better at least. I pulled Celeste up and wiped his tears off with the sleeve of his white tux. As soon as the water droplet hit the material it hissed off into a sliver of steam.
I watched perplexed and raised an eyebrow, “These tuxes are something.”
Celeste stopped crying to insult me, “Nah, you’d think that the god of hell’s hand-made suits wouldn’t be special or anything, hey?”
Sarcasm back and that expression meant he was all good. Sometimes, I swear Celeste is a sufferer of bipolar disease. I let out a sigh of relief. Celeste looked at me, “What was that for?”
“Glad to have the same old idiot back.” I replied with a twisted smile.
Celeste smiled back and stooped down to pick up the piece of paper. He looked confused as he read it. I voiced my own query, “What does that mean?”
“It’s the guy we’re looking for. He’s name is Greg and he’s a neutral.”
Well, that clarified why his last name was so dull. Maybe grey was neutral, white was good and black was bad. It made me glance down at my own suit. Black as a moonless night sky. A queasy feeling entered my stomach, but I set it aside,
“So, where do we find him?”
Celeste shrugged and stood still. I stood still with him. It wasn’t like I could do anything else. So, we stood there, still.
Then after a while Celeste flicked a finger up into the air, his eyes shining like two black holes.
He turned to me and laid his hands on my shoulders then shook me back and forth, “I have it! I’ll hit two birds with one stone!”
I was a little lost for a second. Firstly because my world was spinning, secondly because I knew what he meant, but I didn’t know who he meant. Me? Or this Greg guy? And what was he going to use a stone?
I mentioned this to him.
He smiled, his teeth dazzling me, white and bright, “I’ll teach you warding and using that we’ll draw in Greg!”
Ahh, well, there we had it.
“What?”
Celeste looked furious for a second before letting a huge smile form on his face, “It’s all coming back, you know? I can just get them right now.”
No, I didn’t know. But this was the happiest I had seen Celeste for a while now and I wasn’t about to just let it go to waste.
“You’re going to teach me warding? Like those symbol things?” I had to ask just to make things a little clearer for me.
“Yeah, I understand them more and more.” He replied, enthusiasm growing on his face.
So, it was true. Drake had hinted about it earlier about Celeste not remembering stuff, but now he had just proved Drake right. Celeste was remembering these things, but I didn’t know how. Or why.
In time he would tell me.
“So, what are wards?” I asked dodging the question I think we both knew I wanted to ask.
He smiled at me obviously thankful that I was not suddenly bursting forth with questions. He didn’t know how much it hurt to hold them back. He drew something in the air and I watched at it take a form.
“”
I looked at the glowing symbols, which had been made seemingly out of thin air. Something compelled me to Celeste and I felt undeniable need to suddenly hug him. I bit my bottom lip, drawing blood and tasting the metallic tinge as I forced myself to stay still.
Celeste, recognising the pain I was suffering from, immediately erased it and instead drew something else in the air.
“”
A sudden serenity filled me and I felt like I was on some type of trance high. Everything seemed to slow and my eyelids drooped, I turned to Celeste, “What the fuck?”
“Wards are written commands, and cannot be defied, unless of course it is written. Only a truly strong soul can stop themselves from succumbing to them. Also, a ward can only be truly used if there is at first the inkling in the victims’ mind that they actually want to do it or do something like it.” He explained.
“What was the first ward?” I asked wanting to know.
Celeste’s face went totally red, “I just did the first one wrong. They come back differently, so I’m never sure. The second was RELAX.”
I knew he was lying, I knew it from the tips of my toes all the way to the ends of my hair. I just couldn’t think of what could possibly want me to hug him. I shrugged it away and looked closely at the symbol floating in the air.
I still felt extremely calm and unworried, and as I glanced it over I realised something; wards were written everywhere. On the walls, on the floors on the rooves, on peoples clothes and on people’s bodies. My mouth fell open. I turned to Celeste as he erased the that was floating in midair.
“Are there wards everywhere?” my mouth hung open again after I finished the question.
“Everywhere here, all these people are NOS’s. They can ward as much as they want.” He replied biting his lip in thought.
“NOS’s?” I asked. Maybe he would let it slip. I hoped he would.
He didn’t, “Why do you want to know?”
I stayed quiet for a second then shot him a smile, “Can’t blame a bloke for being curious can you?”
“Curiosity killed the cat.” His voice was silent and dark. It gave me goose-bumps.
I grinned, “And satisfaction brought him back.”
“Nothing can bring back the dead.” The tone in his voice distant.
(By the way, I never finished this story...)
