Shadow Under the Starlight

2. Under the moon

“Are you sure?”

Isla asked staring up at the four story building. Was it standing, yes but did it look like it should, most definitely not — she could tell it had been a while, a long while, since it was used as an office or whatever it was for.

“And why would I lie?”

With a shrug, Isla turned to her right. “My misery is your joy.” she mumbled lazily staring at the person — ghost — beside her, Eda wasn’t exactly alive anymore for a while now.

Eda scoffed. “Give a dead girl a break — how else do you think I’ll find joy?” She smiled while Isla simply shook her head, not bothering to reply.

Well why? Because the more she spoke to Eda in public like this — the more people gave her crazy stares, there was literally nothing beside her, as far as their eyes could tell.

Isla walked past the cut tape by the entrance, someone had to have cut them which meant Eda was spot on. As she strode up the steps, one after the other, Eda had been right beside her bubbling to her hearts content.

“You’ll finally send that thing to hell!”

She heard Eda shouted, the only thing she caught escape her mouth, Isla had been too busy in her mind and observing everything — being caught off guard and unprepared, was something she hated.

She couldn’t exactly die but she can get hurt, wounds weren’t sweet & sunshine. “I should send you to hell as well, haven’t you wandered enough.” she shot back looking over her shoulder at Eda, who hadn’t seen her small smirk.

She would never send Eda, she needed her company and liked it. She, Isla, would not — never — tell her that though.

“I’ve changed?” Eda questioned, not exactly sure she had ‘changed’ but what was that anyway — change? — she was now practically haunting down evil and troublesome spirits than tormenting living being.

So maybe — change, that was changed enough, a start.

“Yeah right—” unfortunate for Isla, she had no time to finish her response as she was yeeted across the room, making hard contact with the wall before hitting the dusty floor.

She hated these type of advantages, this inhuman strength spirits gave the body it possessed.

What she hated most though were Eda’s words that followed. “That’s gotta hurt.” yeah, no s**t detective.

Eda was an informant, she gave Isla enough information she needed from ghost gossip and occasionally went undercover snooping around, also possessing a living bodied. That meant, she was totally useless right now because the only thing she could touch as a ghost was the f*****g grim reaper, Isla alone & nothing else.

On her feet again , Isla glared at the muscular man with all his eyes turned black, she was sure a bone was broken by the way breathing hurt.

He charged at her again, his right hand tightly gripping a bloody knife. Teleporting, she dodged it in time, now standing behind the man — she shoved the man straight into the wall.

Isla held out her arm pointing directly at the man, a black dagger appeared in hand out of thin air. “Let’s get this over with.” Isla gritted her teeth.

Swinging the dagger at the man, it managed to leave a minor cut on his left cheek bone — the bastard kept dodging her attacks, again, over and over.

In a millisecond, Isla was thrown across the room against, right at Eda — who teleport herself out the way, which meant Isla roughly hit the wall then the floor followed.

Again.

“I’m fine!” Eda cheerfully said, waving at Isla. “—But incoming!” with that, Isla was off the floor holding the man in a chokehold, her legs firmly wrapped around his torso.

One disadvantage spirits had after possessed a human being, was being unable to teleport like Eda — yay for Isla.

Fidgeting left and right, he tried shaking her off. That did nothing, she clinged onto him, it was taking much longer for this beast to pass out than she estimated.

Feeling sharp shards piecing through her skin, Isla hissed noticing he threw them out the window— so f**k it, still gripping onto him she teleported them to the rooftop.

Isla’s body launched off the man rolling on the rough surface as he landed back first to the ground, the hit to the head knocking his unconscious. As fast as her grip slipped off the man she teleported back right before him, she wasn’t letting this spirit run away — holding the dagger again she had it lunged into his heart.

Finally — rest. She rolled off the unconscious man.

Disintegrating light fragments left the man’s body as well as her dagger disappeared from his chest, of course a grim reaper wasn’t going to kill the man — it only killed the parasite & possibly have a man aching in pain tomorrow, oh well.

Eda stood over Isla’s body laying like a star fish, her hand pointed at her own forehead. “You have a bit of blood here.” Isla simply rolled to her side, sighed then stood wiping the blood off.

“Are you upset?” a masculine voice asked, and Isla snapped her head so far it might have popped while it was at it but no sight of Eda gave her relief.

“And what are you doing Eda?”

“We can’t live him here, I’ll drop his body on the street or something.” the mascular man had his hand resting on Isla’s head — a fast glimpse of his lifeless body in a car crush flushed before her eyes.

Shaking Eda’s hand off her head, she walked away trying her best not to continue thinking about — one thing she hated was directed contact, seeing someone die wasn’t pleasant.

It had been quiet so far, Eda hadn’t spoke for the last couple of building they passed by — she saw it too, she was after all controlling the body.

“How long has it been?”

Small talk, this quietness was s**t. She needed something out of Isla.

“Years.”

“Years.” Eda mocked, in the exact tone Isla used but deeper.

With a sigh Isla sighed. “Since then?” Eda agreed with a nod to her question. “About 200 years, I think.”

“You are 225!” she gasped.

“You’ve been a ghost for 40 years!”

“Yeah but NOT a walking corpse for 225 years though stuck on 25, collecting and killing souls.”

“Eda — if I call your name two more times.” she hissed in a warning tone glaring up at the tall man beside her.

“Woah woah — calm down big reaper.” she waved her or his arms in defeat, walking up to the bench — Eda sat down then immediately stood, the man’s head falling forward. “It’s a joke.” Eda appeared again beside her this time as her lively self — as dead as she could get?

“Sure it is.”

“You’ve been waiting on her to be reincarnated for 180-ish years.” her tone was more in disbelief than awe, how could she torture herself so long. Isla noded, “—Damn, they’re so cruel.”

“Life is cruel.”

Had been all Isla said as she walked away from the unconscious man, uncomfortably resting on the bench, Eda right behind her.