Chapter 13: 13__Ghoulish shadows

“Ghost.”

Rogan frowned and lowered his head to better hear what Maia was whispering. “What?”

Maia’s gaze remained fastened on the face staring from around the corner. “Rogan…”

Turning his head, Rogan followed her gaze through the crowd, trying to find whatever it was that had her looking so frightened.

When his eyes landed on it, it hadn’t even been a second before the thing disappeared.

Rogan’s frown deepened. There’d been something there, he was sure of it. Like a face, looking at him from around that corner.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Cassidy asked suspiciously.

Without even looking at them, Rogan simply stepped forward, stretching Maia out to them and the women gasped in alarm, all rushing forward with outstretched arms so the girl didn’t end up on the floor.

With Maia held in all three of their arms, they watched Rogan stalk off towards the dark alley at the corner of a building.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Cassie yelled after him.

“He was really gonna just drop her,” murmured Claudia in disbelief as they watched Rogan go. “That psychopath.”

With a sigh, Cecile slowly inched back, Maia’s legs draped over her arms. “Let’s take Maia in for now.”

“W-wait,” said Maia, craning her neck to get a peak of where Rogan had disappeared. “It’s gone.”

“Indeed it is,” said Cassie, referring to Rogan as the ‘it’.

Inching back, they carried her inside and shut the door.

The women set Maia on her feet, groaning with their effort.

“My, you weigh a ton!” said Claudia, gasping for breath.

“Shut up, you’re just weak cause your Gemini side is also a person,” Cassie told her, leading Maia to a sofa as Cecile brought water.

Claudia crossed her arms. “She’s not a person, she’s a Seductress! People have morals, she doesn’t.”

Maia cringed at that.

Claudia gave her a look and tugged on the collar of Rogan’s jacket. “What’s this? Why’d he make you look like a beggar? And those huge pants? Are they held up by some rope?”

Maia looked curiously at them. “He said I should ask you for clothes. But… what was that I saw at the door?”

“Whooooo!” echoed a sudden scream though the house and sliding off the end of the wooden stair rail, Clover landed on the floor with a hop, narrowly missing Claudia who was running to go upstairs.

“What’d you see?” Clover asked Maia as Cleo calmly walked down the stairs like a normal person.

Maia’s eyes went wide. “A large beast!”

“Ha-haaa!” Clover threw her head back with laughter. “A large beast, LOL!” She pointed at Cassidy. “That was Cassie.”

“And it’s not a beast, it’s a Gemini white Tigress” Cassidy defended.

Maia gaped at Cassie in amazement. “That was you?! Woow… teach me!”

Cassidy tried not to beam with pride but failed miserably.

“She scares people like that,” Clover told Maia, leaning an elbow on Cleo’s shoulder as she bit into a juicy apple.

Maia looked at Clover. “And you? What about you?”

Clover flicked her rainbow hair and winked. “I, my dearest, am a Gemini Unicorn! Everyone loves to see me in my Gemini form, it’s so pretty!”

Maia blinked, mouth parted in awe. “Like… the magical horses with one horn?”

This was insane! What kind of kingdom was this? Maia had never read anything like this in all of her novels.

Clover nodded. “That’s right.” She jutted her chin at Cleo. “She’s a Panther. Far more frightening than Cassie cause she’s so quiet, you can’t tell when she’ll rip your head off. Cassie roars to the hills before she does any damage, so you have time to run for cover, if her roaring doesn’t scare you to death first.”

Cleo tilted her head, studying Maia. “But… you.”

Maia blinked up at her. “Huh? Me?”

Cleo nodded once. “Yes. You. What are you?”

The question was clearly pronounced and yet Maia found difficulty answering it. Her? She frowned. What was she?

There was a silent pause during which the others waited for Maia to answer the question, but Maia found, very sadly, that she couldn’t fill the silence with an answer.

What *was* she?

“Enough chit-chat!” yelled Claudia as she came scampering down the stairs, grinning in excitement and her arms overflowing with clothing. “We’re gonna play dress-up!” She looked at Maia with sharp eyes of assessment. “Alright, darling. Strip.”

******************

Rogan stood at the mouth of the dark alley, scanning the place with sharp eyes. It was at times like these that he drew out his Vampire half, using its exceptional hunting skills to find his prey.

The shadows beckoned and Rogan walked into the alley, accustomed to the dark and calling it his friend.

If there was a ghost here and it had been the one frightening Maia, Rogan would snatch the living aura out of the thing and shove it in a glass jar for eternity.

Raising a hand, he pulled his glasses off and shoved them into his jacket for clearer vision. The thing was here. The sense of it made him stop and a smile curved his mouth.

Rogan would have been worried about how pleased he felt to terrify and destroy another being if he hadn’t felt it plenty of times before. The thrill and satisfaction Rogan felt at times like this was not new to him. What it was, however, was the reason why his soul was in shambles.

He didn’t give a damn about his soul right now, though, dark and cold as it was. He would be dying soon anyway.

With a sigh, he walked over to some large crates. What Rogan *did* give a damn about was that there were a bunch of ghosts peeking into his house and following him around the kingdom.

With minimum effort, he flicked up a wooden crate and sent it crashing onto the back wall of the alley, uncovering the glow beneath it.

Satisfied, Rogan turned his attention back to the pile of crates and, more importantly, to the quivering creature on top of it.

With its cover smashed to bits on the ground, the ghost had nowhere to hide. In the presence of the Vampire Sorcerer, held prisoner by his powerful aura, the little ghoul couldn’t even disappear as it usually would.

Rogan smiled, his expression holding as much cheerfulness as a bloody knife. “Hello, Casper,” he greeted.

The ghoul froze, pale and wispy as it crouched on the crates.

It had its head down and so Rogan couldn’t clearly see its face.

“Who sent you?” he asked calmly. “Tell me and I might let you go.” Rogan had no intention of letting the thing go. It had been too long since he killed a dead being, it was far too much fun.

“C-c-ca…” stuttered the ghost, unable to even look Rogan in the face.

“C-c-ca?” Rogan imitated with a raised brow. “Who’s that?”

Slowly, two transparent hands rose above the ghoul’s bent head and Rogan watched it place its trembling hands together, silently pleading for mercy.

Rogan scratched his jaw. Well, this was awkward. He’d run out of mercy a few centuries ago.

In one swift gesture, Rogan emitted power from his palm and raised the ghoul up before him, forcing the being to look at him as he slowly drained its aura out.

With its face exposed, the little ghost could no longer hide from Rogan and it was forced to look at him. Its eyes widened, the nearly white iris patterned red from a sudden invasion of miniscule veins.

Rogan clenched his hand, increasing the power that was currently torturing the ghost.

“Please…” rasped out the ghoul. “M-m-mercy…”

Rogan felt the old hunger for destruction stir within him and he smiled, hating and loving himself at the same time. “Mercy?” he asked. “Sorry, Casper. I happen to be a villain and… we tend to run out of that.”

Clenching his jaw, Rogan pressed even harder, feeling the power emitted from his hand destroy the being before him.

Its head snapped back, body filled to the brim with Rogan’s power. Its aura was long gone now and Rogan watched as the rest of what was left of the being splintered apart before his eyes, fading into the air.

The power he’d exerted into the little ghoul drew back into him and Rogan released a heavy breath, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

For a moment, he stood that way, feeling the darkness within him churn.

Of course. Geminor hadn’t changed him. Nothing could change him.

It was only right for the heartless killer Rogan to kill as he was used to.

Opening his eyes, he righted his head and looked down at his hand.

Who was missing him? It seemed like someone from his dark past was sniffing around about him, getting him shadowed by ghosts.

And Rogan didn’t like it.