Poison Orchid

Chapter 26

When they both set off for the deepest and densest part of the forest, Gruffy full well knew that he needed to find out the smell which he had got on his mistress’s body in the morning. It was the smell of baby powder, some pine-cones and mud and a hint of floral perfume, which was unique to Riley herself. Among all the spirits that had come to Isis Gruffy liked that girl the most probably because she had suffered the most. And Fluffy had already told Gruffy that Riley will be reborn tonight and they have to be her protectors. Gruffy was really excited about the whole prospect of going on the mission that Isis had chosen for herself. Actually Fluffy had told him that Isis need not choose anything for her because her destiny was so strong that everything in this universe would choose her themselves when the need aroused.

Suddenly he got the strong smell of the odour for which he was searching and started sniffing carefully slowing down. Isis also slowed down behind him and started looking for something in the ground when he suddenly found a small shiny thing which was almost invisible in mud. He looked at Isis and pointed his nose at the object. Isis crouched down and picked it up, it was Riley’s lost earring. That means her body would be somewhere near. Isis took out the lemon from her bag and started swinging it over the ground checking it to change colour. And suddenly the lemon turned blue. Isis put the lemon back in the pack and brought out the hand shovel and started digging the mud. Gruffy also followed the suit and started digging the mud in supernatural speed probably which only he could do and suddenly Riley’s legs were visible. Isis was in doubt that whether she would be able to see the corpses in such condition. Gruffy removed the mud completely from the corpse and well the body was not in a condition to be looked at. The face and the softer parts were completely eaten up by maggots and ants. Isis stopped looking at Riley’s body and took out the lemon once again and started moving it on the ground once more. The lemon which had regained its original colour was again blue when they reached Naomi’s corpse. In this way when finally all the five bodies had been already exhumed it was fifteen minutes left to strike twelve when Isis found out that the bodies were placed, rather had been buried in the form of a star. No it was not a star, it would have been six pointed. It was a pentagram which meant that these bodies were being used for some other kind of magic. Probably this was the reason for which the police had not been able to track the bodies.

Isis crouched down in the middle and drew her own pentagram and started chanting the hymns which she had learnt by heart calling the spirits back to inhabit their bodies. One by one the spirits returned back to their place of torture and looked balefully at their corpses thinking their condition. Isis said to the spirits,” All those from the land of spirits are present here today have suffered horrific deaths which were unplanned in your destinies. So you have been given a chance to choose to live a life you want. You can choose your parents and your family for the life you will lead next. But for that you need to empty your souls from the lingering of these bodies which are made of mortal elements.

Spirits, open your eyes and look at the portal of light which is open for you to pass. Go towards the light, someone will be waiting for you there to take you to the place where you should have gone long ago.”

The spirits who were wailing and sobbing in different pitches of voice started moving towards the light and gradually faded away to nothingness. The last to pass was Riley whose spiritual essence was captured by Isis in an urn--- a small one so that she could take birth again tonight.

Isis started jogging towards the barn from the place where the graves were after covering them up with fresh mud once more. When she was running she only thought that why the hell could she not run faster but her only hope was that Fluffy was taking care of Sarah.

She was almost breathless with her jogging when suddenly someone swooped down behind her. Immediately Isis knew that she was under attack of those leeches in human form, the ones whom they called Nosferatu. She knew that this was exactly the same situation in which Riley had been tortured and murdered and today also Riley was here but Isis was in a situation to protect her. Gruffy had started growling viciously at the figure but Isis ordered Gruffy in her mind,” Take the bag I am dropping on the ground now and take it to Fluffy and stay there. No more arguments now. GO.”

The creature which had swooped down behind her tried to grab her neck but she swerved down knowing its move before hand. She remembered what Grandma Brassia had said, the attack had to be absolutely mental and she needed to play this game of hide and seek like a pro. She slid behind a tree and closed her eyes focusing on the energies surrounding her checking if there were any other assailants waiting in the trees to swoop and attack her but to her utter surprise that there were no others which meant that this animal was hunting alone tonight.

The vampire was stunned that how could a human that too such a weak girl anticipate his attack, but unfortunately he had no idea that this time the hunter was going to be hunted. Within a split second he found that his feet were bound with coils of something alive and wriggly and he fell on his face without even thinking of doing anything with that. The vampire started growling in a way that would have shamed Fluffy and Gruffy. Isis stepped forth from behind the tree holding the rein of the cord of psychic power with which she had trapped the vampire and tightened the cord.

“Hmmm, so you are where are your partners in the crime? Alone tonight??” Isis asked with a smirk while she was chanting calling upon all the creepers nearby which would become alive and bind him up in such knots which won’t be possible to free. The creepers were at work when the hood fell down and Isis could see his face. It was a young face but the eyes---they were speaking of age old hunger and insanity.

“I can kill you in a second you b***h but you are not human right? You are one of those f*****g little witches whom we had burnt them so many hundreds of years ago but you are alive, how I don’t know but I will kill you for sure….” The vampire was interrupted when Isis pulled the cord from his ankle and choked his throat cutting off his voice.

“It is good to see that you have the knowledge about what and who I am. But it is unfortunate that you do not know properly who I am. But have the satisfaction that you shall die tonight with the knowledge but will be unable to do anything about it,” said Isis in a cold chilling voice.

By then the enchanted creepers had bound and gagged the vampire completely choking him slowly. Isis knew that the Nosferatu did not need air to live because they did not need to breathe but it was a natural physiological conditioning that air was necessary to live. Isis was taking great pleasure in finding that the vampire’s eyes were bulging out and he was desperately trying to breathe. She just smiled and started drawing the symbols which she knew was necessary to call upon all the existing spirits in their bodily form in vicinity. Once she was done, Isis sat down on the forest floor and she called upon, “Listen all those who are near, listen well O Spirits. This is Laelia Isis Haronti, the blood of Great Priestess of Haronti, who by the power of death in her blood calls upon you. Arise and come forth all those dwelling in the Land of Not Living. ARISE!!!!!” The whole forest reverberated with her voice. If Isis wanted she could have sucked out the life power from that vile creature a long time back and it would have been easier but she did not want it to be easy for him. She wanted to make his death as much painful and dreadful possible like he did for his victims and she would tonight take great pleasure in seeing him die. This pleasure was pure undiluted and dark.

Slowly but steadily the spirits arose from the grounds, from the trees and from wherever not. It was a huge forest and was the witnessing ground of many a crime and there were no dearth of violent spirits who were screaming for blood. When the air before her was thick with mist like spirits and she could not see even the distance of one hand before her Isis addressed the spirits saying,”O inhabitants of the Land of the Not Living, before you lies a creature who is a murderer of innocents just for the sake of pleasure. I Laelia Isis Haronti, command all of you to make his worst fears true. Let this creature live through all the pain that you have suffered and then make him live all the memories where you have suffered the maximum violence in your life. DO NOT SPARE HIM. HE IS ALL YOURS FOR TAKING. GO!!!!”

And as Isis said this, rather issued the command, as if by the sheer force of her voice the spirits started plaguing the vampire lying on the forest floor. Isis could see when the spirits were going inside his body and coming out. And it was not one at a time, several spirits together inhabited his body and sometime later nothing could be heard except the screams of the vampire who was named Jake. He was not normal by any standards and he also had committed many crimes in the most vicious ways possible his entire life but inflicting pain and relieving that same pain multiplied hundred and thousand times accompanied by the brutality of several years was something which essentially more painful even by paradoxical standards. Gradually his screams slowed down but the spirits did not stop they were relentless. They kept on doing this until the last moment when a speck of amount of life force was left in his body, blood poured out of his ears, nose and eyes and his life force was sucked out of his body only by torture. When the spirits were finished with their brutal attack, the body was unrecognizable. The face and the whole body had shrunken and caved in it was battered and bloodied just like those of his victims. Isis witnessed the whole thing with her eyes open and not even turning away for one moment.

Finally she said, sitting down on one knee and bowing down her head,”O inhabitants of the Land of Not Living, I thank you for listening to my pleas and coming here tonight to aid me. Return back to where you belong and stay there until called upon forth. Your world and realm is stronger than ours and take pride in the fact that you have done something to help this realm. My eternal gratitude to you all.”

The spirits who were less old gradually went back but the older ones who were very old lingered back and waited as if wanting to say something but this was not the night nor the situation for Isis to hear something, because there was at the back of her mind that she needed to go and birth Riley in her new body and ease Sarah of her pain. Isis said,”I shall be back to listen to your woes but please I am short of time tonight. Forgive me.”

Isis started towards the barn where Sarah was being protected by Gruffy and Fluffy.