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The apparition's grin struck Sebastien with a confusing concoction of emotions. A part of him was afraid; he knew what he was looking at. He could feel its power. This dark, smoke-like creature was a phantom and the fact that it was the same as the creature which haunted Aldergrove Academy was what made him feel fear.
But opportunity smacked his face, too, and it came with a feeling of relief. If this apparition haunted the estate's walls, then it might know things he needed to know.
Sebastien jumped off the bed and raced out of the room.
"Hey!" came Caleb's voice. "Where are you going?!"
He ran through the hall, down the stairs, and out to the front of the house. It was much darker now, and the fog was thicker, but he focused his ethos into his eyes, activating his kludde sight, and the apparition lit up bright red like a beacon in the pitch-black sky.
"Sebastien!" came Caleb's voice.
But he ignored him. He kept his eyes on the phantom as it sprung down from the bedroom window and started slithering along the grass.
Sebastien followed it. He hurried across the grass and through the murk; he leapt over a wall, slipped through some broken fence, and trailed the dark apparition into a cemetery.
But then he stopped. He watched the creature ooze into a crypt, and using his senses, he could tell that was where it was staying. It wasn't going anywhere, so he turned around and walked back over to the fence. Through the gap, he waited for Caleb, who he could see scampering across the garden like a nerd running to class, except he wasn't carrying any books, but the way he held his arms in front of him made it look like he was.
"S...Sebastien!" he called, panting, holding his hand up. "Wa...wait for me!"
Sebastien rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "In your own time."
It took him half a minute, but Caleb finally reached the fence and slipped inside. "What...the hell...are you running for?" he breathed, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees.
"Chasing a phantom," he answered as he turned around and started heading towards the crypt.
"A what?"
"Phantom. It's a disembodied being which usually takes hold of large buildings, specifically those surrounded by death. Phantoms feed off carnage. You've got to have heard of Aldergrove Academy, right?"
Caleb caught up to him and walked at his side. "Uh...yeah. The school where all those rich kids go to kill each other over ten spots in the New World."
"A phantom haunts the academy. The professors are all kludde, and when they devour the dead bodies, they feed the phantom."
The kid grimaced. "Yeah, I'm so glad I never even thought about going to that place."
Sebastien side-eyed him. "You wouldn't have made it anyway—no offence."
Caleb scoffed. "You're such a dick. I have asthma."
"And that's why you wouldn't have made it."
"Whatever. Why are you following some spirit that likes dead bodies?"
"Because it might have the answers I need."
"W-wait, it's not gonna try and kill us, is it?"
"No, dumbass. Did you not just hear what I said? It needs kludde to feed. And if I give it what it wants, then it'll give me what I want."
"You're...gonna feed it?"
"Maybe," he said, and when they reached the crypt entrance, he stopped and slowly pushed the old, crooked door open. "These things can be devious as hell, and I learned my lesson when it comes to making deals. We gotta be smart...careful."
"We?"
"Yeah," he said, looking at him. "If it thinks you're not with me, it'll turn your body inside out before you can say fuck."
Caleb turned pale. "Uh...maybe...m-maybe I should just go back. This is getting a little—"
"Don't be a wuss," Sebastien dismissed as he started walking down the stairs.
Caleb grunted and sighed, but he eventually followed.
Sebastien's kludde eyes deactivated, and his demon eyes let him see in the dark. "Stay close," he told Caleb.
"I can't see anything," he exclaimed, keeping his voice hushed.
With a tut, Sebastien reached back and snatched the human's sleeve. As he pulled him along, he made his way to the bottom of the stairs and emerged into a tomb. There was a wall of coffins on the left and right, and ahead was a tunnel. He could feel the phantom close by—beneath him, actually—so it looked like the only way was forward.
"Let's go," he said, tugging on Caleb's sleeve.
"W-what? In there? Dude, this is a crypt. For all we know, there could be a tonne of not-dead dead things down here," he panicked, looking around. "We should just go back to the books."
Sebastien snarled irritably as he spun around to face him. "Can you stop whining? Books aren't gonna do anything right now. Unless you can find all the answers for me, fine, we'll stick to them—"
"If books aren't gonna help, why were you in the library in the first place? Why did you snatch them from me?!"
"That was when I didn't know there was a phantom hanging around here!" he growled. But as he felt his anger boiling inside him, he realized that he was letting himself give into his emotions again, the very thing he'd been trying to stop doing since he met Clementine. He sighed deeply and shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. Look, this phantom could help both of us, okay? It might know where the dead things came from, and it might even know how we can stop it. That's what you want, right?"
The kid pouted and nodded. "I wanna save my mother before it's too late."
"Exactly. So...let's just see what this phantom has to say, and then we'll go back to the books, all right?"
Caleb sighed and quickly let up. "Fine. B-but don't let it even look at me!"
"Fine, fine. Come on." He took Caleb's sleeve again and led the way through the tunnel.
The deeper Sebastien went, the stronger the sudden stench of death became. It wasn't like the rotten raccoon, though. The smell was rotting flesh, yes...but it had the sulphur smell of a demon.
Could it be Lord Caedis' man?
Sebastien walked a little faster. His heart was racing, angst and desperation gripped his body, and his senses told him that he was just moments from coming face-to-face with the phantom.
He emerged into a large, dome crypt, and when he felt Caleb trembling in fear, he waved his free hand and sent several small blue flames towards the lanterns he could see lined around the room.
The crypt lit up blue, and as it did, the walls rumbled, and something stirred.
"Kludde..." came the voice of the phantom.
"I-I don't see it," Caleb whispered. "Is it here?"
A cold breeze raced past them. Caleb whimpered in terror and gripped Sebastien's arm with both of his hands. Sebastien didn't shake him off, though. He watched the black, smoke-like apparition swim through the air like a shark, poisoning every inch of the room with its presence. It was almost as if it was checking to see if they were alone.
Sebastien let the phantom investigate. He shifted his eyes to what lay on the floor beneath the stone altar in the centre of the room.
Bodies.
At least ten dead men and women were piled beneath the altar, and some of them possessed wings and horns.
Demons.
He tensed up. By the looks of it, someone was already offering this phantom sacrifices...and now he felt a little worried. He thought the creature led him down here so that it could strike a deal with him, but now it seemed that he and Caleb might be next up on the altar.
"Kludde," the phantom called again.
Sebastien looked up at it and kept his composure. He couldn't let it think he was afraid.
The creature had chosen to hover fifteen feet above the altar, and it was gazing at him with its big, shimmering green eyes.
He held out his arms—one of which Caleb was still clinging to—and smiled at it. "Here I am."
"Here...you are," it said, its voice rumbling through the crypt.
"What are you doing with all these bodies?" he asked skeptically. "Looks like someone's been serving you, so that brings me to my next question: why did you lead us here?"
It grinned. "Bodies," it said, dragging out the word. "Given to me by the man who came before you."
"Henry?"
"Yes...that was his name."
Sebastien quickly eyed each body. "Is he among them?"
"No...no. Poor Henry expired when the stag caught him alone in the woods."
"Stag?"
The phantom pondered and hummed. "So many questions, such—"
"All right, phantom," Sebastien confidently interjected. "Here's the deal. You tell me what I wanna know, and I'll feed you. Sound good?"
It grunted and grumbled. "No...it does not. Hungry now. Feed now," it demanded as an arm-like limb stretched out from its smoke body and pointed down at the corpses.
"I-it wants you to—"
"I know what it wants," Sebastien cut Caleb off. Then, he looked at the bodies again. "Dude, those things are I don't even know how old. I'm not touching rotting shit," he complained.
The phantom frowned. "So...you will fetch something fresh?"
"I will...but I want answers first."
It angered. "No. No answers. Feed first!"
Sebastien sighed and pulled his arm away from Caleb.
Caleb whimpered and backed off—
"Calm down," Sebastien said with a sigh, glancing back at him. Then, he slowly approached the phantom. "All right, counteroffer. You answer three of my questions, I'll go grab a delicious fresh human and eat it for you, and then you answer the rest of my questions. Deal?"
It looked him up and down as he stopped a few feet in front of it. Then, it gradually sunk lower to the ground until it was eye-level with him. "Two questions," it said. "I have already answered your question about poor Henry."
Sebastien sighed and nodded. "Fine. One: what's the stag?"
"Hmm. Big, powerful mutant. Afflicted by the sickness sweeping this land. Half man, half stag, all monster. Hungry for flesh...specifically demon flesh."
"Where did the sickness come from?"
Its eyes widened ever so slightly. "Far, far away from here. Created by the hands of the very thing it now kills."
"Humans."
"No more que—"
"It was a statement, not a question. Finish your answer."
The phantom snickered. "Yes. Humans are greedy, selfish creatures. They like to mess with what shouldn't be messed with. Their desire for power birthed a horrible creature...a creature with the ability to kill and rebirth anything it touches."
Its answer sent a cold shiver spiralling through Sebastien's body. So, a creature was responsible for all of this. He wanted more details, but he was out of questions. Now, he had to live up to his end of this deal and find some poor human to feed the phantom.
"Thank you," he said gracefully. The goal was to make this phantom like him, too. So he was going to have to make it think he cared. "Do you have a preference for sacrifice?"
With a wide grin, the phantom edged closer to Sebastien. "Your little friend...Caleb—" Several snake-like arms stretched out from the phantom's body and raced towards Caleb.
"H-hey!" Caleb screamed and then started running.
But the phantom's arms snatched and ensnared him moments later, silencing his horrified screams as one of the arms wrapped around his mouth.
Sebastien sighed and shook his head. "No. You don't want him. He's all...weak and nerdy. He's probably stringy," he said with a smirk.
The phantom laughed quietly but didn't let go of Caleb.
"How about I go and grab you someone who you'll get a good show out of? That's what you guys like, right? Dinner and a show."
"Yes...yes, you know my kind well. You have served us before."
"Sure have," he said with a nod. "Don't worry. I'll get you what you want...and then you will give me what I want."
The phantom held out another smoky arm. "A deal...is a deal, kludde."
Sebastien shook its hand. "Pleasure doing business. I'll be back soon."
With a quiet grumble, the phantom released Caleb.
The petrified kid fell on his ass and scrambled towards the closest wall. "I-I did not sign up for this!" he cried, pointing at the phantom.
"You're fine," Sebastien dismissed, waving his hand as he made his way over to him. "It can't kill you."
"Oh, really?!" he exclaimed.
"It was just fucking with you."
"Fu—" He cut himself off and shook his head as he followed Sebastien into the tunnel. "It wrapped its snaky arms around me! It was seconds away from choking me, Sebastien!"
"No, it wasn't. The worst it can do is shake you around a little. Relax," he mumbled, snatching Caleb's sleeve as they got too far into the tunnel for the light to reach. "Now quit your whining. We've got a job to do."
"Uh, excuse me, we? You just told that thing you're gonna find some poor, innocent person and feed them to it! I don't want any part in whatever freaky ritual you're about to do. You said we could go back to the books!"
"I know what I said, but didn't you hear what it said?"
"All I got was ritual sacrifice," Caleb grumbled.
"Henry was the guy I was originally sent out here to look for. If I can find where that stag is, then I might find Henry. That's one of two things my boss needs me to do. It also told us that a creature started all of this—a creature created by humans. It could lead us to that creature, and when we find it, we might be able to find out exactly what this disease is and how to stop it, right?"
Caleb tutted and rolled his eyes. But then he shook his head and tugged on Sebastien's arm. "Offering someone up to a weird spectre ghost thing can't be the only way—"
"Well, it's the way I'm choosing to do it. The quicker I get this done, the quicker I can go home."
"And the quicker you get your loved one back, right?"
Sebastien stopped and stared at him. "What?"
Caleb shrugged. "I heard you on the phone earlier. Clementine, right? That's why you're doing all this. Lord Caedis is gonna bring her back, isn't he?"
"Him. Clementine was...is my boyfriend. My mate, actually. I imprinted on him."
"Oh, really? But...you're so young."
"So?"
"I heard most demons don't find their mate until they've reached maturity. Some don't even find them until they're hundreds of years old."
Sebastien rolled his eyes. He could see that Caleb was fascinated, and he wasn't about to become some sort of exhibit for him. "That's the deal," he said, continuing forward. "I find out what happened to Lord Caedis' guy and what the cause of this disease is, and then I get Clementine back. If I have to sacrifice some stupid little human in the process, then so be it."
"Is that how you see all of us? Just stupid little humans?"
He glanced back at him. There was a time when he did think all humans were pathetic, but Clementine changed his view. "Not all of you, no. You, for example...you're helping me out. You're useful."
"Don't try to flatter me into helping you murder someone."
"I'm not, come on," he said with a shrug and a smirk. "Actually, I was going to ask you if there's a prison around here."
"Why?"
"I'll grab some guy from there. There's always someone due to be hanged. I mean, dude's gonna die anyways, right?"
Caleb pouted stubbornly, but he was very clearly trying to keep a smile of amusement off his face. "There is this one guy that got brought in recently."
"Oh?"
"He was a hitchhiker."
Sebastien frowned strangely. "Hitchhiker?"
"He stood on the side of the road not too far outside Alderon. He'd wave people down, and those who let him catch a ride were never seen nor heard from again. His mistake was waving down an ex-cop last month. When the hitchhiker had him pull up to an abandoned barn and tried to choke him, the guy fought back and knocked him out cold. Brought him to the police station in town. He killed thirty-three people. Claims it wasn't him, though. Said it was some spirit out on the highway that possessed his body and used it to kill his victims. But there were no traces of possession on him."
"Yeah, I...think we should take someone else." The guy in question made him think about the decaying hitchhiker he saw on his way to Alderon. He didn't want to remember that, nor did he want anything to do with that man. He had the strangest feeling that it was best he kept away from him, and he wasn't going to ignore his instincts.
Caleb frowned. "Why?"
"Because...the phantom won't be interested in someone like that," he lied.
"Okay...well I don't know of any other people who got the death penalty, but I can take you to the prison."
As they climbed the stairs towards the exit, Sebastien nodded. "Good. I'm sure they'll have records or something."
When they got outside, however, Caleb stopped. "Wait...you mean, right now?"
"When else would I mean?" Sebastien scoffed, turning to face him.
"It's dark—it's late. You heard what that thing said about being in the woods. Shouldn't we wait until morning?"
"I don't want to wait until morning. We're going now," he insisted and then started walking through the cemetery.
"Wait up!" Caleb called, running after him. "What if something happens to us? I know you want to get this done as soon as possible, but it's stupid to take risks like this."
Sebastien rolled his eyes.
"If something happens—if you get killed—then what about Clementine, huh?"
He stopped walking and glared at the human. But as much as he hated to admit it, he was right. He was being careless. The phantom told him there was a mutant stag out there and considering the fact he'd seen a stag creature on his way here, Sebastien would be wise to heed the phantom's warning.
With a quiet sigh, he looked down at the grass. "Fine. We'll go first thing in the morning."
Caleb sighed in relief. "Boy, I'm super glad you said that. So, can we hit the books now?"
"Yeah, whatever," he grumbled and started leading the way back to the house.
As desperate as he was, he couldn't let his determination cloud his judgement. The smart thing to do was wait and head into Alderon in the morning. Doing a little reading couldn't hurt, either. After all, the more he knew about necromancy and alchemic ways to bring things back to life, then the more he might be able to work out on his own once he found the creature responsible for the disease.
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