Shades of Grey

AUTOMNE DE FLEURE— MARCH 1843

He stepped backwards, watching me closely as he turned to the fearful crowd. I let the Flesh Pistol drop slowly in brief surrender, keeping my eyes on him.

The ghosts finally let Forma out of their grasp and she changed quickly into a hawk, flying swiftly over to my shoulder where she collapsed and began gasping for breath.

“Oh...that was...that was awful. So many memories...unfamiliar… going through....my head—”

I placed one finger over her beak.

“Don’t speak. Stay here and rest,”

“What are you going to do?! I can’t protect you if—”

“I won’t need your protection.”

I felt Forma stiffen in reluctance but she obediently flew up to a nearby rooftop to rest. I stood very still, calculating the best attack angle. I had to wait for the perfect opportunity…

Simon had abandoned his human façade and joined his Letum brothers in their ghostly ugliness, educing gasps of shock from the townspeople.

“Citizens of Automne de Fleure!” he cried, addressing the frightened crowd with the confidence of a seasoned showman. “I’m sure you have noticed that once a month, one of your children disappears.”

Murmurs of horrified realization swept the crowd. Simon’s eyes lit up with maniacal pleasure as their horror and fear increased.

“Yes, we have been taking your children. You see, once one contracts the Caedes virus, you can no longer ingest regular food, but your body still craves its sustenance. So, alternate methods of satisfying your hunger are required. Children can…” — Simon paused, taking in an eerily ravenous breath — “…satisfy…”

Murmurs of horror swept the crowd as the veil of Isis was lifted from their blind eyes. My anger swelled. I had to act now: the opportunity had come.

“THIS ENDS TONIGHT, BLOOD GHOSTS!” I shouted.

Simon looked at me with his deformed, discoloured eyes and I wasted no more time. I raised my Flesh Pistol and unleashed my fire as I leapt above the crowd and landed on the roof of the nearest building, keeping my aim fixed on the Letum.

As I made my first attack, the ghosts all flew into the nearest human, jumping from body to body in an attempt to avoid my shots. They knew that while they inhabited a human, I could do nothing to them.

In frustration, I next began to try and jar them loose from the citizens by slamming my Lagorgian club into the ground to shake the Letum’s grip on their innocent hearts. All that resulted, however, was an accidental increase in the strength of the possessed citizens as the Letum absorbed the shock from my blows. They proceeded to throw me across the courtyard where I crashed painfully into various buildings.

“Your bravery is admirable, young Hunter, but you have one weakness,” Simon sneered as he threw me on the roof of the blacksmith shoppe.

Suddenly, the ghosts flew into the citizens again and locked themselves into their collective unconsciousness, pumping Caedes particles into the bloodstream until all of the humans were vessels for the Letum and future victims of the lethal disease.

“How dare you...” I cursed beneath my breath.

“What’s wrong? A little conflict with a certain Creature Hunter Code of Honour; ‘never harm a human?’”

I dropped my Flesh Pistol on the roof of the blacksmith shoppe, at a loss for what to do. I could not attack while they inhabited the humans…and they knew that I could do nothing. They had rendered me powerless.

“Grey, there has to be something you can do!” Forma cried from her Darklight Dragon form across the courtyard. “We can’t just sit here and let these people become infected!”

An idea then struck me.

“Simon!” I called as I retrieved my pistol.

Every eye turned to me with calculated condescencion: they could see I had a plan, but they were certain I wouldn’t succeed. I ignored them, concentrating on Simon.

Simon manoeuvred his host body to the front of the crowd, frowning at me in confused surprise as though I were a naïve child daring to stand up to my domineering father. I cocked and aimed the pistol at him, waiting to see if he would play into my hands.

“What do you intend to do?” he laughed. “You cannot shoot a human.”

I said nothing. I merely moved my pistol downwards, aiming at the blacksmith shoppe below me. In one quick, blinding instant, they all left their humans and I blacked out as a hundred ghosts fought their way into my consciousness in a desperate attempt to stop me from blowing up the blacksmith shoppe, hoping the force of the blast would knock them out of the people.