***
This was too long of a night for Jezryall. Her body ached from the battle and the urge to transform was strong. Everywhere she went the smell of blood and death greeted her. For all the work she did to save these humans, at this moment, she had no qualms about taking their lives.
This thought bothered her greatly.
She walked alongside Barbara into the ritual chamber. The scent of blood and death was powerful and she made her breath shallow to avoid inhaling the intoxicating scent. Their work here would be finished soon, and she focused on the release her ethereal form would bring.
Barbara hurried to the young man chained to the wall.
“Who are you people?” he asked after Barb removed the gag. Jezryall caught his scent of fear.
Barb smiled as she scanned the area for the key. “Let’s just say we know what’s going on, and we’re here to help.”
The key rested on a small table at the back of the room. Barb grabbed it and headed toward the captives. Jezryall focused on her secretary, watched as the young woman’s aura appeared before her. Bright colours radiated around her, and Jezryall smiled. It was good to see her happy again.
Jezryall stepped up to the altar and looked down at the pallid face of the dead girl. “The people in robes who were here, did you know any of them?”
The young man rubbed his wrists as he moved away from the wall. “Just one. A young man by the name of Rocco. He was our new groundskeeper after Clement died. He showed up and then all sorts of strange things started to happen.”
Barb pulled the gag out of the woman’s mouth, unlocked her restraints and then walked up and stood in front of the male zombie. She tilted her head from one side to the other.
“I wouldn’t get too close to him,” the young man said. “Don’t ask me how, but he’s not dead.”
Barb looked back at him. “I know.”
The young woman walked over to the man’s side. “Can we leave? Please?” Fear was even stronger on her and Jezryall fought back the urge to strike.
“No.” Jezryall turned away. “Not just yet. We are making sure it is safe before we allow you to leave.”
The young man walked over to the dead girl on the altar, then looked back at Jezryall. “They didn’t ask for money or anything. They just started killing everyone.” He brushed away some of her hair from her face. “Why did they do this?”
Jezryall sighed. “That is what we would like to know as well.”
Small sparks began to leap off the body on the altar and the zombie, as the candles on the walls flicker. The sparks snapped and sizzled as a strong wind blew through the chamber, churning up dirt and throwing small pieces of furniture around. The room grew dark and Jezryall’s urge to become ethereal intensified. Her demon eyesight dominated her view as everything around her turned a dark red. Moving within the gusts, dark shapeless forms, quick as the wind itself, rode the air currents around the room, touching items and turning them to dust.
“What’s happening?” the girl yelled as she gripped the young man tighter.
Jezryall glanced at Barb. “Stay still. All of you. It will not hurt you.”
The wind grew stronger, picking up dust and debris as it forced itself out through the exit and down the stone corridor. When the winds calmed, all evidence of the ritual were gone. Turned to dust and taken away with the wind.
Barbara walked to Jezryall’s side. “I don’t want to know, do I?”
Jezryall shook her head.
Chains rattled as the zombies fixed to the wall began to rapidly decompose and fall into heaps of bones on the floor. Through her demon eyes, Jezryall saw the souls of the dead Embassy workers shimmer a pale blue and float by the altar. They nodded and smiled, then floated upward and vanished. Jezryall smiled. Martin would be pleased to learn they had been set free.
The humans stood by the altar, mouths slightly open, and their eyes wide.
“Everything’s gone,” the young man said. “No one is going to believe us when we tell them what happened.”
Barb walked over to him and gently placed her hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “We will.”