An hour later I pushed the large double doors open. After being led through a door I hadn’t noticed before by Decklen, I had found my own private bathroom. Praising the world for hot showers, id had the longest one I could manage. After changing into a pair of comfortable jeans, and an old t-shirt I was ready. I went into the hall and walked down the bright corridor.
I came to the stairs and the smell of bacon hit me at once. MY stomach growled as I remembered I hadn’t eaten the night before. Cautiously I walked down, with Decklen in tow. I followed my nose and came out to the kitchen where my aunt was busy bustling about.
She was dressed in tan slacks and soft peach sweater that looked like it may be cashmere. Almost as if sensing me, she turned to me suddenly.
“I hoped you would wake soon. Are you hungry?”
“Yes. But I think we should talk first. Decklen and I have questions, a lot of them.” I said.
She frowned at Decklen’s name but nodded. “I too have some questions for you. But you must be hungry. Let’s eat first. Does brunch in the garden sound nice?”
I agreed, and she grabbed a bowl that was covered with cloth. We followed her through the glass doorway. The courtyard was a large expanse of stone tile. Pillars stood at the edge of the tilework while ivy and other vine like plants climbed and stretched around the pillars. A table was set out with various dishes. Together we sat down, and she began uncovering various plates and bowls. Before I could do anything, she had filled both of our plates with food. Seeing a teapot, I filled my mug with a hot black tea. I added milk and sugar and took a tentative sip. My aunt had already began eating daintily. Well I thought, if she wanted to kill me, she could have done it last night. I began to eat.
I leaned back in my seat with my mug in my hands. Decklen reappeared at my finishing. He hated being around when I did mundane things he didn’t really have to. Together we glanced at my aunt who was watching Decklen with guarded eyes.
“Well, we’ve eaten.” I said after a few minutes of quiet.
“Yes, I suppose you should start. You have questions.”
“A lot. We both do.”
“I will do my best to answer.”
I looked at Decklen. “You said last night that Decklen was, a changeling. But it wasn’t what I thought it was, if not. Then what is a changeling.”
“A changeling, is cursed creature. At least to my people. A long time before it was the known as the dark ages, there were a group of people that considered themselves to be messengers of god. They strived to spread God’s word. And they did. But one day, they realized they were aging. How then could they spread god’s word? So they began to seek the source of life. Immortality.” Cherise said.
I listened on in disbelief.
“For years they searched, and across the world they travelled. They sought the darkest people, they became obsessed, long forgotten was their reason for searching for the cause of their quest. They became enraptured with their purpose, they did the dirtiest of deeds and tainted their souls. God became a second until they found it. Eventually they got what they wanted. They got their immortality, but it came at a price.” She stopped.
I looked at Decklen already knowing what the ‘price’ was.
“There immortality cost them their ‘life’. No one could see them, no one could hear them, how then could they pass on God’s teachings? They found their answer not long after. If they made the world immortal, they could become supreme. And so, they started a new journey. Those they deemed worthy would become god’s chosen.”
She stopped once more.
I absorbed what she said in quietness. Decklen didn’t say anything to her words as he stared off in the distance quietly.
“So where do we come in?” I asked.
“It is said that God seeing the blackness that had captured his messengers heart chose a new set of envoys that he gifted with the ultimate site. The Eshu. They saw what had happened with God’s chosen, that they had lost their way, and had become too obsessed with their idea of utopia. So the Eshu set out to stop them. By then, the changeling had become black with greed at their own power. It was a long and bloody battle. We are descended from that envoys. It was our job to hunt the changelings and prevent them from changing others.
She leaned back finally finished with her story. I stared at her quietly before turning to Decklen. He was silent, but I could tell that he believed her.
“There’s just one problem.” I said.
“What?” Cherise said.
Decklen looked at me.
“I don’t believe in god.”
“Rheya.” Decklen said. “That is blasphemous.”
I ignored him and instead stared at my aunt.
“I don’t care, I call bullshit.” I said.
My aunt sighed. “Whether you believe in god or not. It is the only story we know. It could be a legend, or it could be true. We have no way of knowing now for sure.”
“That’s sort of too convenient don’t you think?” I replied.
My aunt looked at me, “I must say Rheya, I was not expecting you to be so.”
“Rude.” Decklen murmured.
I looked at him annoyed. I turned to my aunt. “Well I’m sorry, having to grow up in an orphanage when it turns out you’ve had family alive and well will sort of make you blunt.”
She sighed, “your right. Forgive me.”
“To be honest, I’m more interested in learning about Decklen. No matter how ludicrous it might sound. So please, tell me more if you have it.”
“Very well. We lived our lives chasing them across Europe, until at last only two families were left with ties to the old ways. The Rousseaus and The Gwenaels. In a final front we staged an attack. On this land in fact. Half of us targeted the Rousseaus and the other half targeted the Gwenaels. There were no survivors. We took this land as a symbol to all who wanted to practice the old ways. It wasn’t until later we learned that the Gwenaels had survived and that our half had been slaughtered. We had no choice but to ward ourselves from them. But now it appears they sent a Rousseaus to brainwash you into learning their secrete. This is why I do not trust your friend, he is clearly a spy.”
“I am not a spy.” Decklen declared.
“So you say.” She replied.
He stood angrily. “My name is Decklen Gwenael and your family slaughtered mine and chased me from my home.” He said.
She paled. “That is impossible, we killed all of you.”
“You missed one.” He said acidly.
“Impossible.”
“What is impossible to believe, is that you killed my sisters, my mother, and my father due to what as Rheya said is a bunch of bullshit.”
“I’m not lying.” She said standing as well. “I have proof. Open your shirt. You should have a scar over your heart. As well as one your wrists and ankles, and inner thighs.”
Decklen stopped and stared at her. Quietly he opened his shirt and sure enough there was a jagged scar over his chest. I stared at the vicious looking wound. Starting on the left shoulder and going downwards over his heart and stretching to his abdomen it was deep and rough looking. My aunt pulled her chain and the dagger appeared. She held it in her hand.
“If what I am saying isn’t true, you should have no reaction to this.” She said and walked forward.
But I stepped in the way. “How do I know you won’t hurt him.”
“You have my word. I will simply prove what I am saying that is all.” She swore solemnly.
“It is fine Rheya.” Decklen said.
I stared at him and moved out of the way slowly. My aunt stepped forward and brought the dagger close to Decklen’s chest. At first nothing happened. Then suddenly despite reason, the dagger glowed and Decklen cried out in agony. I stepped forward and Cherise moved backwards.
Decklen fell down to his knees. I stared. His chest had a burn mark from the dagger. I felt coolness on my arm and turned to see Cherise pressing the blade to my own skin. She then lifted it and touched Decklen’s arm who grimaced in pain. A new burn appeared.
“Okay, I get it.” I snapped.
I pulled Decklen up and away from Cherise who watched quietly.
“I’m fine.” Decklen said.
“If he were one of us, the dagger wouldn’t hurt him. There is of course the fact that no one except us can see him.” She said.
“Maybe we should take a walk.” I said.
“You believe her. This is nonsense. My family were aristocrats that were esteemed in society.”
“You were blinded by power.” Cherise replied.
“Decklen is two hundred years old. What’s done has been done. And what you showed me is proof yes, but it also showed me that you in fact killed a family believing they were involved in some immortal cult.”
“So then how do you explain his existence?”
“He’s a poltergeist and that daggers been laced in holy water.” I stated simply.
Cherise and Decklen stared at me silently. Defiantly I stared back.
“A what?”
“A poltergeist.”
“You say you don’t believe in god and, yet you believe I am a poltergeist. That seems plausible to you?” Cherise said.
“What is a poltergeist?”
“A vengeful spirit. Or a ghost, they go around causing havoc and torture.”
Decklen sighed, “That is what a Changeling is Rheya. Or what we called Kith. But really, have I gone around creating havoc and torture?”
“So, you reformed.”
“Then I would have moved on. I do not think I am a poltergeist. This theory that I am a changeling makes more sense. Though I very much doubt this stories authenticity.” He replied staring at my aunt.
“There is a chest in the attic. It has all the proof you need. The wards are too strong even for you.”
“He got through the wards just fine.” I said.
“Yes, which I spent the night reinforcing.”
“Wont that hurt him.”
“If I do not, we could very well be murdered in our sleep.” She replied.
“Basing your fears on the premise that someone is even after you.” I replied.
“They are always after us. They wait until we are at our most vulnerable. That was how they got your parents.” she said.
I stilled. “My parents.”
She nodded. “They thought the threat was gone, there had been no attacks, no threats. They thought that finally, we would have peace. I told them not to go, but they would not listen. They were murdered in a night, and you. I feared the worst for you. And when the investigators took so long, I thought the worst. That they got you and turned you, a child into one of them. That was why I sent Mr. Lark after you. Luckily you were safe and unharmed. Albeit alone, or so I thought.”
I sat back down at the table dizzily. I stared blankly at Decklen’s bare chest, still red from the print of the dagger.
“So my parents didn’t abandon me. They,”
“Were killed, by his kind.”
“But how do you know it was his kind?” I asked her hopelessly.
“Because of how they were killed.” She said.
“Enough.” Decklen suddenly said.
We both turned to him. He was straightening his shirt.
“She doesn’t need to hear something so horrible.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He doesn’t want you to hear about how your parents died, because it was the same way he died.” Cherise said.
Decklen’s face became stony. I laid a hand on his gently. He looked at me.
“I’m going to find out one way or the other.” I said.
He stared at me before nodding. I turned back to Cherise.
“Okay then, how do you go about making someone into what Decklen is.”
“His kind will kill by cutting out the vital spots on the body for blood flow. The wrists, the ankles, the thighs and lastly the neck. You let them bleed out slowly to keep them alive and say a prayer. While they pray, they cut out the vitals and chant over them and when done, if the person is still alive though barely, they put everything back chanting repeatedly, until the chosen one ‘dies’. They continue the prayer until they reawaken. But without the prayer, you are to die painfully and slowly.”
I sat horrified. “That was done to my parents, and to you?” I asked Decklen. He nodded slowly. “That’s sick.”
“It is why I didn’t tell you.” He said to me.
I shook my head at the gruesome images.
“What happened when you woke up?” I asked him finally.
“I was surrounded by a small group of people, I recognized them from the attack.”
“The attack here?” I asked.
He nodded.
“And then?”
But Decklen seemed to finally lose patience, “What do you bloody think Rheya it was 1773. I killed them all.” Decklen snapped.
I leaned away shocked and he looked embarrassed at his outburst.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you mon coeur. This is not something I want to think about let alone discuss as if it is up for debate.” He said to me.
“But we only have your word that this story is true. For all we know you are a spy sent to kill the last of those in your way.”
“How exactly are you preventing anything when your hiding out here?” I asked her.
But Cherise had finally it seemed come to a close.
“I cannot discuss anything else to you, while he is in same vicinity.” She said.
“Decklen isn’t saying anything to anyone.” I said.
She sighed. “I will tell you a little bit. There is a relic. His kind know of it and want it. They need it to perform the changing ceremony. It is hidden and only I know where it is.”
“What is this relic?” I asked.
But she shook her head. “I cannot say, not even to you Rheya.”
I sighed disappointed. I looked at my aunt. The basis of her story. I still thought it was a bunch of crap. But the rest, it made sense however slight. I leaned away from the table and looked over at Decklen. He looked at me quietly and I frowned.
“There’s still the question of why he could get through the gates in this place if it was supposedly so protected. Why are they useless against him?” I asked.
She frowned. “I do not know, I don’t understand why you got through. It could be because Rheya wants you to be here. The schematics of the wards is beyond me.” She replied.
“Or that they don’t exist.”
“I do not think she is lying.” Decklen said.
“Well how are you here?” I asked.
“I have a theory on that.” Decklen said.
“Which is?” I asked.
“This house, it was once known as the Gwenael estate. Technically, I am the true owner of this land.” He declared, “I’m allowed here because I have the right to be.”
“That’s a little arrogant.” Cherise said.
“Is it?” I asked. “For arguments sake, let’s say this ward this is like a spell. That’s basically a ward right. If it is, then it would most likely recognize true ownership.”
“We paid for this property through the government the moment we took up residence.”
“On the assumptions that the owners were dead.” I said.
“It’s true owners are dead.” She said in reply.
“But he isn’t.” I stopped, “So.”
“You would now legally have to buy this land from my person, and since I in no way signed any piece of paper stating so, your wards are acknowledging my right to be here.” Decklen finished.
“This is based on your theory.” I said slowly. “But.”
“It makes sense.” Decklen said.
I leaned back in silence. To say this was overwhelming was an understatement. As my brain tried to process everything I felt like it was all too much.
A week ago, I was an orphan with an invisible best friend. And now I was in a garden that belonged in a storybook. I stared out and saw that the gate was just a little while away.
“How do you know their after you?” I asked wondering exactly what the who was.
“Because I see them.” She answered.
“What?” I asked.
“They stand sometimes, just a way away from the gate watching, and waiting. They never stay long; the wards exhaust them. But they stay long enough for me to see them. And then they leave.”
“That.” I said. “Is creepy.”
“Very.” Decklen said softly. He looked up. “but the sea. Surely the wards don’t go around.”
“We continued the gate to the water for some distance. Eventually they do end.”
“Can’t they go around it?” I asked.
“That.” Cherise said. “Is not how wards work.”
“No, the gate is just the focus point. It pushes away anything that comes near like an invisible wall.” Decklen said.
“Oh.” I replied. I looked away from where the water was and stared at my Aunt. I stood. “Well I’ve had enough information for now. I take it now that I’m in, I’m not allowed out am I?”
“Of course not. Not without wards to protect yourself.”
“Wards that would banish Decklen from me.” I said.
“Yes.”
“Well there goes sightseeing.” I said.
Cherise frowned. “I am sorry Rheya, I did not wish to endanger you.”
“Well then, you probably should have just left me the hell alone.” I said standing.
“Rheya.” Decklen said softly. He placed a hand on mine, but I shook it off.
“I’m going for a walk. I need to think.” I said.
I aimed for some tree’s in the distance and left the two of them at the table behind me.