I am who I am. That is an absolute. But who cares? I am just this rotting corpse you see through the bars of you worst nightmare. But I’m here. Waiting.Just waiting.For you.

 

The girl got up with a jerk, the voice of the figure of her dreams fading away with the appearance of reality. She took a deep steadying breath and closed her eyes briefly. This was the third week of nightmares that always had the voice of whatever it was lurking behind it. She lay back down cautiously but didn’t brave the darkness behind her eyelids just yet. She took a few moments to let her heartbeats decrease and to shore up her courage. When she was ready she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and fell instantly back into to formless, shapeless nightmare.

Light was a welcome pain. As was the voice of her maid calling anxiously, “Miss, are you okay?”

She gave the woman a reassuring smile despite the fact that she was still breathing hard, and nodded. The woman didn’t seem reassured but she let it pass.

“Mr. Hacid is here to see you miss. He wonders if you would meet him for breakfast, if you so desire,” she said instead.

Seira looked surprised but nodded. “Of course,” she replied, “Mr. Hacid is an honored guest.”

The maid nodded and said, “I will inform him then.” Then she left and the rest of Seira’s maid servants came to help her prepare for breakfast.

When she finally descended the steps and entered the dining room, she found Mr. Hacid waiting for her. He stopped as she entered and crossed the room to take her hand and lift it gently to his lips, where he placed a delicate kiss on the back of his hand.

“You are as lovely as ever Seira,” he said smiling.

She smiled back at his customary greeting. “And you haven’t aged a day,” she told him back.

He laughed. “You are too kind,” he replied.

“Come, let us eat,” she said, “And you can tell me what brings you to my door this time.”

“And what, dear lady, makes you think I need a visit to enjoy your lovely presence?” he replied.

She laughed. “Knowing you too long, Mr. Hacid,” she said, “You always have a reason. Your research hardly lends you time for casual social visits, no matter how much you may desire them.”

Mr. Hacid sighed, “You are all too correct,” he stated.

“How is that going?” she asked, “Your research I mean?”

Mr. Hacid gave another sigh and his eyes darkened. “When you have the fate of several countries and by extension the fate of the world hinging on your research, it certainly doesn’t make things easier.” He scrubbed his face with his hands and took a deep draught of tea. “It’s coming along, “He said, “But the more I discover, the more I am becoming afraid. The more sure, I am becoming that this is not the way to go.”

“But,” Seira prompted gently.

Mr. Hacid grimaced, “It may be too late now. In fact I think that it was too late many, many years ago.”

Seira tilted her head, “Why do you say so?”

Mr. Hacid gave her a considering look and then said, “You know lady, I am not to tell any of this.”

Seira nodded, “Not a word will pass from my lips.”

Mr. Hacid smiled. “I do believe that was a warning that I will not say anything.”

“I do believe that was a command for you to say what you know.”

Mr. Hacid raised his eyebrows and Seira stared steadily back.

“I know you have a reason for coming here,” she said quietly, “I will not give anything while being in the dark.”

Mr. Hacid nodded in approval. “Very well,” he said. “You know that the government believes that if they find the upper level Casils, or the secret to making them, that they will be able to control them right.”

She nodded, “It was the major assumption in the Sell Your Soul Project. It was the only reason that it was accepted. And that assumption was accepted because all of the Casils that were made intentionally were made to be controlled.”

Mr. Hacid nodded again. “Yes, but what I’ve began to realize as I uncover and decode more and more transcripts, is that none of the upper level Casils were made together; as a batch. They were all made separately, by different people, at different times. They were not made as a front as the government intends. They were made as personal bodyguards for the ones who made them.”

Seira nodded and then said, “But I don’t see how that impedes any of the government’s plans.”

“Because,” said Mr. Hacid, “They didn’t want their power superseded by another person or by lower levels or by any of the leading upper levels. They put in fail safes that ensured that the Casils they made would serve them and only them.”

“Oh,” said Seira and sat up straighter, “So the assumption that the Casils would be able to be controlled…”

“Exactly,” said Mr. Hacid, “is a false one. They can only be controlled by their makers or someone of their family, because often the Casil would have to protect the family as well. Then there is the fact that has recurred several times, that some of the Casils can’t even be awakened unless the maker or someone of their bloodline awakens them.”

“So,” said Seira, “What do you want from me?”

Mr. Hacid was quiet for a moment and then he said slowly, “From the latest transcript I decoded…well, you see, the name Evantosh, came up a few times.”

“What!” said Seira, going ramrod straight. “It can’t be! What are you implying?!”

“I believe,” said Mr. Hacid, cringing slightly, “That your family may have made a Casil, a long time ago, in the first coming, like all the others. From the condition of the transcripts, I gather that the Casil was made sometime in the middle of that time period; the height of Casil making.”

Seira had got white to the lips and then said slowly, “Are you sure?”

Mr. Hacid nodded. “That’s why I’m here. You see, we believe have found the location where the Casil was stored. If you, well, if you go with us…”

“I might be able to awaken the Casil, or if it is already awake, control it.”

Mr. Hacid nodded.

Seira pursed her lips and sat back in her seat. Finally after a while she said, “I do not believe I want to sell my soul, Mr. Hacid. I will leave that to the government.”

“Seira,” said Mr. Hacid, “I will have to go down for that Casil, whether or not, you will come with me.”

“Blackmailing on my love for you?” she said her voice cold, “I think I can learn to hate you.”

“No!” said Mr.Hacid forcefully. “I am not blackmailing you. This is the plea of a frightened man. I do not want to die. I do not want to sell my soul, any more than you want to sell yours. I am aware that having you there will place you in danger. Don’t think I haven’t thought of that. But it isn’t my soul alone I’m worried about. If we release it, and we can’t control it, lots of people will die. This will be an out of control Casil, within the lines. We can’t have that. You can hate me Seira, but you can’t hate the innocent people out there.”

Seira clenched her jaw tightly and stood up sharply. “Or you can leave it!”

“I can’t. The government wouldn’t have it. This is the first breakthrough we’ve gotten in years. And we need help. The lines are beginning to fall. Everything we’ve tried...”

“Has failed,” she cut him off.

He nodded and she sank back into her chair wearily. “And what will become of me, Hans,” she asked, “If only I can control it? What will the government make of me?”

Hans Hacid sighed. “Oh lady,” he said shaking his head sorrowfully, “I don’t know. You are too young to be mixed up like that.”

She pressed her lips together. “I suppose we must blame my ancestors,” she said, bitterly.

“So will you come then?”

“Yes,” she said, sighing, “I will come.” 

2: Chapter 2

Seira stood outside of the excavation, looking down into the hole. There, in one side of the roughly rectangular hole, a smaller passageway was seen. It was into that passageway they must venture. It was there that her ancestors had hidden the Casil they had made, or so they thought. Mr. Hacid came up next to her.

“Are you ready Lady?”

“I don’t think I ever will be,” Seira told him, “Let us get on with it.”

Mr. Hacid nodded and then they and several other members of Mr. Hacid’s research team, were lowered into the hole. Mr. Hacid lit a torch and they continued forward. They went for some way along the narrow, stone, winding passage way. Finally, after what seemed like ages, they emerged into a larger room. It still wasn’t very big and had nothing save one thing: a stone cell with thick, iron bars that showed no signs of weakness. The cell itself was in shadow. The torch flickered from a small gust of wind coming from the passageway. The air in here was dank and cold. The presence of the place was dark and oppressive. Instinctively the group drew together.

Finally after a long moment Seira took the torch from Mr. Hacid and walked forward to the cell. She thrust the light out in front of her and peered inside of the cell. The others held their breaths. Seira drew in her breath sharply. Mr. Hacid leapt toward her, thinking she was in danger but when he came to her side, he found that it was not so.

Inside the cell lay a husk of a body, in tattered rags. It lay hunched against the wall, its head drooped forward.

“Oh,” he said. Silently the others came forward and watched what was in the cell.

“Well, that’s it then,” said Mr. Hacid.

At his words Seira came to life again and said, “And good riddance.” She thrust the torch back at him and made her way out of the passageway where she stood and drew in deep breaths of fresh air.

Eventually, the others came out and they silently went about setting up camp, for they had planned to camp there that night and awaken the Casil the next day.

 

“I am who I am. Just this rotting corpse stinking, sending the stench of death, and the fear of it, into your worst nightmares. And I am waiting. Waiting just for you. And. Here. You. Are.” Laughter. Deep malicious laughter that followed her out of her dreams and into the waking world. Or so it seemed. Seira couldn’t tell.

She sat up shivering; both from the cold and from the nightmare. She looked around. She was still inside her tent and outside was still dark. She shivered again but this time it was from the heavy oppressive feeling that the very place seemed to exclude. She took a few deep breaths to compose herself and then lay back down and closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep albeit a dreamless one.

It appeared that she had succeeded for an hour or two, when, into the darkness of her mind a single word drifted in, dark and commanding.

“Come.”

Seira snapped awake and sat up as if she’d been shot. This time though, she knew she didn’t imagine it. There were still the soft echoes of the word coming from the passage.

Oh no. She thought. The voice. Her dreams. Her family. A rotting corpse.

Just this rotting corpse you see through the bars of your worst nightmare.

Seira slowly got up and went outside her tent. She stood for a long time, staring into the blackness of the passage and then, slowly, deliberately, she walked in.

Soon enough, she was standing in front of the bars of the cell. Her eyes had adjusted on her way to the cell and she could see, although not clearly, the corpse, behind the bars. It appeared to be the same. Nothing had changed about it. Just when Seira was about to admit to herself that she had really been hearing things, she heard a sort of slight, crunching sound.

She squinted into the darkness and slowly came a little bit closer to the cell. She waited again, but nothing happened. Then the sound came again and the corpse lifted its head. Dark red, glowing eyes bored into her own. Seira gave a little scream and stumbled back until her back hit the opposite wall. The corpse regarded her for another moment whilst she stood there frozen and then it did something even worse. It smiled.

Seira slapped a hand across her mouth to keep from screaming, even as she slid down the wall, her eyes fixed on the moving corpse. She took several frantic breaths and forced herself not to hyperventilate. She had to move. She had to get out of here. She tried but she seemed pinned by the hypnotic gaze of the grinning corpse. So instead she steeled herself and glared back at the corpse as hard as she could, while she was completely terrified. The corpse’s smiled widened. Then to Seira’s surprise it opened its mouth and a deep laugh escaped.

Seira would know that voice anywhere. It was the voice of her nightmares .The voice she had heard from the passageway tonight. For some reason, the realization, took away most of her terror.

“It’s you then,” she said. And she was pleased to find that her voice was steady. “You’re the one from my dreams. The casil my family made.”

A slow smile spread across the corpses face.

“Why didn’t you move earlier? When we came?”

The corpse simply tilted its head. She waited a moment before she realized that speaking was hard for it. She slowly stood up and walked forward, though still keeping herself some distance from the bars of the cell.

“You are my family’s casil?”

The corpse gave a slight nod.

“You are awakened already?”

Another nod.

“Then what do you need me for? Why have you haunted my dreams? Is it just to escape?”

“Restoration.” The casil corpse breathed one word.

“Restoration?” asked Seira.

The corpse moved then. In one powerful move it yanked its body up and across the cell, to come crashing down with its head by the bars. Seira jumped and rapidly backed away.

“Restoration,” it said again. “Restore me.”

“Why?” asked Seira, and she fought to keep the tremor out of her voice.

The casil smiled. “Need me.” It said. “Darkness comes closer.”

“Yes, and light will prevail,” Seira told it.

The corpse smiled again. “Not before.”

Seira stiffened. What the casil said was right. Light hadn’t prevailed before. They themselves had used gray to fight black. Her own family had made a casil.

“And how am I to know you aren’t lying?” she asked it.

The corpse smiled. Then with effort it said, “I will still be here when you come looking for me again.”

Seira couldn’t help but hear the smug assurance in its voice. It knew their lines were falling. It knew what it said was right. And it knew that she knew too.

“And what must I do, if I want to restore you?” She asked it coolly.

The corpse smiled once more and its red eyes glowed even fiercer. “Come,” was all it said.

Seira walked slowly forward and then went down on her knees beside the cell.

“Hand,” It said, almost crisply. The tone would have been businesslike if Seira hadn’t heard the underlying need and anticipation. She hesitated. She was not renowned for being a fool and she didn’t want to start building that particular reputation now. She had come to raise a casil but now that she was hear, now that she had hear it speak, knew that it had tormented her dreams, all her insecurities about raising one was flooding over her.

The casil caught her hesitation, grinned at her and rasped, “Now, or later.”

Seira’s jaw tightened, hating its smugness, hating that it was right. She took a deep slow breath, exhaled, and then equally slowly extended her had through the bars of the cell.

The casil’s red eyes flickered greedily. Then with much effort, it raised its withered arms and grasped Seira’s hand between its own. Seira had to stifle the gasp at the contact with the leathery, ripped skin and bony fingers. Then one hand clamped tightly around her wrist. Seira instantly tried to pull away but she couldn’t free herself. After a tense moment, she relaxed and stopped trying to get free. Then the corpse took its other hand, opened her hand out and then, with its long, pointed nail, atop its skeletal thumb, jabbed deep into her palm.

Seira cried out but stayed still as the nail slowly slid down her palm, straining with the effort to get that much force out of the shriveled limb. Seira watched her hand shaking violently as the casil laid open her palm but refused to scream again.

Finally the casil retracted its thumb. Then it raised its head as far as it could off the floor and brought her hand to its mouth. Seira shuddered at the contact again and then she felt its lips seal around the cut and it began sucking greedily, its leathery tongue flicking over the wound every now and then to keep it open, to keep the blood pouring. But even as it drank Seira began to feel dizzy and lightheaded. However she knew she hadn’t lost so much blood for that to happen, at least, she didn’t think so.

The darkness of the place seemed to draw around her, laughing and celebrating in deep, dark tones of bloody torture and murder, saying ‘we have won! we have won!’ Then something even worse happened. She felt like the life inside her was slowly being drained out. The world twisted, the darkness laughed. And then she felt the threads of darkness thrumming through her veins, filling the empty spaces where her life had been drawn out. And the darkness laughed more. Seira swayed on her knees, sure she was going to fall into the arms of the dank, dark but red eyes glowed brightly, piercing the black and a violent whisper of ‘Mine!’ filled her ears.

 And then suddenly she was back and alert again, kneeling next to the cell with her hand still between the bars. She felt the warm, wet roughness of a tongue slide over the wound in her hand and soft, moist, full lips slowly scribe over it to meet in the middle of her palm and then the lips puckered and a light, insolent kiss placed there.

“Seira,” said a voice, filled with terror. She turned to see Mr. Hacid standing in the entrance. But he wasn’t staring at her. His gaze was fixed firmly on the cell, his eyes filled with a mixture of terror and horror.  Seira turned back to the cell to see what he was staring at, only then aware that her hand had been released.

He was on his knees, head tilted up as he pulled back his shoulder-length, dark hair away from his face. His skin was a pale tan colour. His body, naked except for the wisps of cloth that still stuck to him, was lithe and muscular. He carefully tucked his hair behind his ears and brought his face down to look at her, his tongue still licking at the blood around his mouth. He had a sharp, chiseled jaw, a full, sensuous, lower lip, a straight nose that had been broken once and had healed a little crooked and dark red eyes where light and dark danced.

Even as they watched, his face broke into a wide insolent smile and he said mockingly, his deep voice filling the room in a way it hadn’t done before, “My lady.” Before she could respond. He slid smoothly to his feet, walked over to the bars and casually tore them apart. Then he held out his hand to Seira. Seira stared at him a moment, still unable to process that the man standing before her had been the corpse in the cell. Finally she registered his hand, and, after a moment of hesitation, took it. He smiled and hauled her gently to her feet.  Then they both turned to look at Mr. Hacid who still stood frozen, staring at them both.

3: Chapter 3

Then the casil calmly ignored him in favor of ripping off the scraps of cloth that hung onto him as they were obviously serving no purpose.

“He was awake,” Seira said calmly, “I restored him.”

“But…!” Mr. Hacid sputtered. Seira frowned.

“Isn’t this what was wanted Hans?” she asked him.

Mr. Hacid glanced at the casil and then back at her. “Not…well…not so free before we know if…..”

“I see,” said Seira, “You didn’t expect him to come of out the cell.”

Mr. Hacid shook his head. The casil flashed him a wicked grin from behind Seira’s back.

But before more could be said there was a sound of raised voices and then shots. Seira and Mr. Hacid both jumped and looked in the direction of the entrance with wide eyes. The casil simply tensed slightly. More shots rang out and then Seira instinctively moved towards the entrance. An Arm wrapped around her shoulders and held her back.

“Wait,” the casil commanded her in his deep voice.

She struggled for a moment and then said “Hans?”

Mr. Hacid had frozen. “Sell Your Soul project,” he whispered.

“What about it?” asked Seira frantic.

“It’s top secret,” he rasped.

“What does that mean?!” she shouted.

“They were watching us. The government was waiting for when we woke it. No one knows about the project in the public. They’d want to hide the casil until they were sure of it. Or maybe hide him forever from the people.”

Seira finally caught on. “Tying up loose ends,” she whispered as more gun shots went off into the predawn accompanied by the screams of the dying.

“You and I  are probably the only ones….” Mr. Hacid trailed off.

“Then they won’t shoot me!” Seira said firmly. She pushed at the casil’s arm. “Let me go!” she told him harshly. He released her.

She ran for the entrance, evading Mr. Hacid as he came to life and tried to stop her. She came to the opening just in time for one of the members of the research team to be shot and fall into the hole.  She screamed and stumbled back.  Her back hit something and she instantly reeled away from it but something caught her hand and pulled her back. She found herself pressed into the casil’s chest as he whirled her around and shield her with his body. Another shot rang out and Seira flinched.

“I can stop them,” he told her quietly, his lips near her ears, “Just tell me to.” Seira winced as more people died, more retaliating shots rang out. She wanted to. She wanted them to stop. But…She could not order him to kill people. Even as people evil as this. She wouldn’t be any better than them. And she hadn’t forgotten the way the darkness felt as it thrummed through her veins. Even now she was sure she heard the echoes of dark laughter in the cacophony of noise that accompanied the slaughter. He couldn’t do it. It was if the Darkness was daring her. And she wouldn’t fall into its trap.

“I…I can’t,” she told him, her voice shaking. Another shot, another person screaming, another sudden silence. Seira shuddered violently, her eyes filling with tears. “I can’t!” she told him again, screaming it out in frustration.

There was a pause and then he said “Then ask me to protect you.”

Seira hesitated long enough for another shot to ring out. She flinched again and the tears spilled out.

She took a deep breath and then whispered in a voice filled with tears and regret, “Protect me.”

“As you wish, my lady.” And then he was gone.

Seira started as she was suddenly alone. She stared upwards at the edge of the hole hoping to see where he was but there was nothing she could see from where she was. Then a different kind of screaming began. She had thought the screams before held held fear. It was nothing like the terror that filled the voices now. It was the terror of the unknown, the terror of nightmares come to life.

Guns fired ceaselessly now and she could hear frantic orders being shouted to shoot the thing. As far as she could tell, none of the rounds being fired helped because the screaming still continued and one by one, the number of guns firing were reducing. And the wet sounds, ripping sounds increased.

Seira stood frozen by the entryway, her eyes wide as she listened to what she had unleashed onto the people outside. Then there was a lull in the shooting, sounds of a short grapple near the edge of the hole and then a man’s scream and a rich spray of blood flew into the air and splattered into the hole. Seira jerked back instinctively and then covered her mouth to stifle a scream when the right and left halves of a man followed the blood into the hole.

Then the sounds of guns being reloaded shattered the lull and it all started again. This time it didn’t last long. The guns firing were snapped silent with a ridiculous feeling of precision.  Then the sharp crack of a limb  followed the silence of the last gun.

Seira stood ramrod straight in the entrance, waiting. A trembling silence had settled over the whole camp with the exceptions of the whimpering cries of people. But even those sounded like they were being suppressed. Then there the slightest scuffing near the edge of the hole and the casil leapt down into it and landed at the bottom with absent ease. 

Seira drew in a sharp breath at the sight of him. He was not so much blood spattered as blood covered. His whole skin was slick with dark red blood  and his hair dipped rivulets of it down onto him. He approached Seira with cat like grace and then stopped just in front of her. She inspected him from head to toe, noting the volume of blood on him, remembering the screams of the people he had killed to ‘protect her’  and taking in, in full measure, just what she had done and accepting, as she should, the responsibility of it.

The she looked at him and asked, albeit shakily, “Are you hurt?”

“No, my lady,” he told her solemnly.

“Good,” she said, and swallowed harshly.

He regarded her for a moment and then extended a hand to her. She took a deep breath, steeled herself and then took it. He pulled her forward and held her flush against him and then moved. In between one breath and another they were already out of the hole. Seira staggered away from him and he held her arms to steady her. She took a few moments to get a few breaths and then extracted herself from him.  He let her go without a fuss and then looked up at the sound of more guns being cocked.

Seira looked up to find that more soldiers had been sent, probably reinforcement for the ones who had been here.

“Wait!” she said to them sharply. “There is no need for anyone else to die today. Tell that to your superiors. Tell that to the government. If you attack the camp, I can guarantee that more people will die and most of those will be soldiers.”

There was a pause while the soldiers deliberated. After what seemed like a long time the guns lowered. One of soldiers slowly made his way to her but the casil smoothly whisked in front her.

“Tell your government,” he told the solider conversationally, “that she is my master. And so, no one will be her master. Am I clear?”

The solider stopped where he was and then replied, “Crystal.”  He then stepped to the side so he could see Seira behind the casil and addressed her.

“The government wishes that you will accompany us back to one of their facilities where the Councilors of the S.Y.S Project will like to speak with you and the casil.”

“Tell the government that I only obey their laws not their wishes,” Seira told him, “If they want to speak with me, I will be at my home. You should also hint to them that all the men and women here who are hurt should receive medical treatment and all of the research team who are still alive should remain alive. Tell them that the fate of your team depends on it. Am I clear?” She felt the wave of approval from the casil at the way she had handled the situation.

The solider had stiffened but all he said was, “Perfectly, ma’m.

Seira nodded. “Good.” She watched him as he went back to his team and continued watching him until he had contacted his superiors and had given her a terse nod to tell her that her terms had been accepted.  Only then did she turn away from him and made her way over to Mr. Hacid who had climbed out of the hole but had stayed on the very edge of it, not daring to go any further. Next to him was pool f vomit. Seira didn’t blame him. Now that the situation with the soldiers was over, she felt strangely light headed and trembly and her stomach had decided that it had gotten permission to roil at the sight of all the dead, ripped apart bodies and the coating of blood everything wore. That fact that the sun was now coming up and spilling red rays over everything didn’t help.

She stooped down next to where Mr. Hacid sat with his head in his hands and said softly, “Hans?”

He looked up and then jerked away from her. Seira was startled and hurt. She almost got up but Mr.Hacid said, “Forgive me. I didn’t expect….” He trailed off but lifted a hand to her face.  Seira frowned and touched he own cheek. Her hand came away sticky and red. She stared at blankly and then looked down at herself to find her clothes smeared with blood. She was at a loss for a moment as to how she had gotten so covered with blood and then remember that the casil had pulled her against him before he had carried her out of the hole.

“Oh,” she said. “It’s okay,” she told Mr. Hacid, “I didn’t realize.”

He gave her a weak smile and opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. Seira gave him a look of understanding and then stood up and held her hand out to him.

“Come,” she said kindly, “Let us go from here.”

He looked at her hand and then took it and struggled to his feet. He took another look around at the remains of the camp and his face paled.

“Shall I take you lady?” came the casil’ s deep voice.

She looked at him and shook he head. “We came here in vehicles. We can take one to go home. That is, if all of them haven’t been shot to pieces.”

The casil smiled. “That may be a problem,” he told her. She sighed and then beckoned to one of the soldiers. 

4: Chapter 4

Seira’s maids cried out when they caught sight of her with blood on her clothes. She raised a hand to forestall their frantic questions.

“I’m not hurt,” she said. Instantly some of the tension leaked out of the room, only to return when the maids caught sight of the casil standing behind her, covered in nothing but a coat picked up from somewhere. However the maids and servants were not worried about his well-being but rather about the casil himself. 

Seira calmly directed the attention back to her with a slight clearing of her throat. Gazes quickly snapped back to her.

“Prepare baths for us three. Prepare a room for my guest.” She paused and slid her eyes back to where the casil was behind her. “Put it in the same wing as mine.”

She felt the casils amused approval at the same time she heard Mr. Hacid begin to protest.

“Hans,” she said, cutting him off. He shut up but he didn’t look happy about it.

“Also,” she said addressing her maids again, “I think some light soup will be in order for Mr. Hacid and I.” She paused again and turned to look at the casil. He stared back at her impassively. She studied him and then turned back to her servants and said, “Prepare a full meal for my guest.” She turned to look at him, “Perhaps more than one,” she said rather wryly. She thought for a moment and then said, “I think that is all. Are there any questions?”

“Please Lady,” said one of her male servants, “Is your guest allowed full reign of the mansion?”

It was a good question but Seira didn’t have to give it any thought. “Yes,” she said.

Instantly, as before, Mr.Hacid protested. “Seira you can’t!”

She turned to him. “Why?”

“Why?!!” Mr. Hacid was so surprised and outraged he couldn’t get another word out for a moment or two.

Seira took the time to raise a hand to stop him and then said to him.

“I have seen what people would do to control him. To keep him under their command and safely locked away until he can be used. I won’t be like them. I won’t do the same. He will have the freedom of my house.”

Mr. Hacid took a deep breath and let it out and then said, “Seira, still. It is dangerous.”

“I know,” she said softly. “But I think the alternative is worse somehow. Trust me Hans.”

He looked at her and she could see him struggling with what he knew and with what she said. She didn’t blame him. It was dangerous. But she didn’t think the casil would do anything. She had a feeling even if he had been free and restored when they found him he would have neither killed them nor gone with them. He didn’t seem to care.  The Dark would hardly affect him as it would affect the rest of them if the war was lost.

Finally Mr. Hacid sighed and nodded his head in acquiescence. Seira gave a sharp nod and then turned to her servants and maids who were waiting for her final decision.

“Get to it,” she said simply and walked up the stairs with Mr. Hacid and the casil following her.

 

Seira had meant to speak with the casil after her breakfast but the events that had occurred had taken more out of her than she had realized and after she had eaten she had fallen into to a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep.  It was late in the afternoon when she rose. After she had properly awoken and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she went looking for the casil. When she inquired about him from her servants they told her he was in the garden.

She found his sprawled out on a bench in the garden. He glanced at her but didn’t acknowledge her until she sat next to him. Only then did he look at her properly and said, “My lady.”

To her surprise, he had hacked his hair short so now it stood up in short spikes from his head. It accented the sharpness of his angular face and highlighted his red eyes.

Seira looked at him and then said, “I don’t know your name.”

“What make you think I have one Lady?”

“You were made,” she told him, “You must have had a name before. Besides,” she added, “I find it hard to believe that one of family would not have called you something.

He smiled that rather exquisite smile of his. “You are an Evantosh,” he told her. “Very well, my Lady,” he said, “I am called Salexous.”

“Salexous,” repeated Seira. “It’s an interesting name.”

“You can change it if it pleases you,” he said offhandedly.

“No,” Seira said, “It’ll stay.”

He shrugged fluidly.

There was a stretch of silence and the Seira said, “I need you to explain to me some things.”

He looked at her and then sat up properly on the bench and angled his body toward her. He fixed his gaze on her face and waited. It took Seira a moment to get accustomed to his full attention.

“I need to know how they made casils,” she said.

An eyebrow slowly arched upward. She sighed. “Not for myself,” she explained. “I need to know to explain it properly to those men from the government when they come. Hans said that only those who made the casil can control it. I want to know how they are made so I can tell them why. Also it might prevent them from trying to get another line around us both.”

“They can try,” he said softly, “but I already told them no one will be your master. And I meant every word of it.”

Seira just stopped herself from shivering with the amount of death that was promised in that voice. She nodded jerkily. “But they will try,” she said, “and I rather no more deaths.”

He stared at her and then elegantly shrugged a shoulder. Then suddenly he slid back down the down the bench until his head could rest on the backrest with his legs extended in front of him and turned his head to look at her.

“They won’t be able to do what they’re planning,” he told her. “They can’t. Not unless they’re willing to sacrifice people who love them. That is, people who love the heads of your government. I can tell them everything they want to know how I was made; each casil is made a little differently because it depends on the person. But it won’t matter. ”

“Why?” she asked frowning.

“Because that’s how it works,” he said. He turned his head and stared out over the gardens. “To make a casil, you need someone who is willing to do it or someone who volunteers. But that’s not all. The person must bear a deep love, and respect, for whoever they are going to protect and also their family, if they are to also protect the family. Love for country and whatever else isn’t going to work. Love for an ideal won’t work. There has to be an individual. There is no other way. So unless they’re willing to sacrifice people who love them, they can’t recreate casils.” He stopped and tilted his head. But then, they just might be willing, won’t they? They are desperate.”

Seira pressed her lips together. “They are,” she agreed. She thought about the ramifications of what he had said. She swallowed. “How is a casil linked to the person who,” she faltered not wanting to say it, “who…”

“Who controls them?” he suggested. She nodded.

“Blood,” he said simply. “You can’t hide blood. And you can’t fake it thrumming through your veins. The families placed their blood with us sometime during the procedure.”

“Is that why my blood restored you?”

“Yes.”

“Would it have awakened you if you were still asleep?”

“Yes.”

Seira paused and studied him. “There weren’t many people who became casils,” she ventured, “Why? Some people would have done anything to protect their family in that time.”

“Fear,” he said. “People feared the Dark far too much to become part of it.”

She looked at him. “Were you scared?”

His eyes slid to her and then back again. “Yes,” he admitted.

Seira hesitantly asked what she suspected what another reason that people didn’t choose to become casils. “Did it hurt?”

He smiled. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Seira shuddered at the wealth of things left unsaid in that simple phrase. There was silence for a long moment and then Seira asked him.

“Who were you to my family? You must have known them very well.”

He slanted his eyes at her and then said, “I was a friend of one of your ancestors. Probably your many times great grandfather. He was only a little older than me and he already had a young family. Things became worse. He needed protection for him and his family, especially as his wife was expecting another child. I volunteered.”

Seira blinked at him, overwhelmed again by how much he had left unsaid. However, “I see,” was all she said.

“Are there any other casils who are left?”

“Yes,” he said, “But I don’t know where.” She nodded.

They fell into silence once again and then she shifted and said, “Can you tell me what it all means?”

He turned his head to look at her.

“What is it that you are asking?”

Seira took a moment to compose her thoughts, yet even so, when she tried to say what she meant it came out stilted.

“You. Me. What happened there in the cell when I…when I restored you. What are the bounds to…to this relationship I suppose.”

“When you restored me with your blood,” he said, “you and I became bound to each other. I can be bound to no other but even so, before I tasted your blood, we were not bound. But I am a creature of the Dark, Lady and to be bound to me is to have a connection with the Dark. If the Dark consumes you, Lady, we will both be lost. The Dark already has part of me. However, it does not have all. The Dark will not get to you from me.” Then he leaned forward and cupped her face in his hand and dragged his thumb over her lips slowly.

“Because you Lady,” he said softly, “have all of me. You own all of me.”

Seira sat, almost breathless, caught in his deadly gaze and suddenly intense aura. There was so much death and danger tied up in this man, this casil. It frightened her and yet, the intimacy of the bond she now shared with him, the power she now held, was far more terrifying.

She pulled away from him and he leaned away from her casually.

“Does that answer your question Lady?”

Seira took a deep breath to regain her bearings and then nodded.

“Yes, Salexous,” she said, “it did.”

Then she stood up and said, with a glance at the sinking sun, “It’s getting late. We should return inside.”

Salexous nodded gracefully and slid to his feet and offered her his arm. She was startled at the gesture but then smiled and took it and they started back towards the house.

5: Chapter 5

Seira was awaked by her maid with a message that members from the government were coming to speak to her today. Seira nodded and got up and got ready to go down to breakfast. When she finally came down to the dining room she found an odd scene.

The servants were hovering round the table, obviously at a loss at where to place the two remaining places. Mr. Hacid was in the room but he was standing back from the table, politely waiting for her, before starting breakfast. Salexous was nowhere to be seen. Seira gestured for her servants to set the place at her left hand side for Mr. Hacid and then gestured for Mr. Hacid to sit. Just before she was about to sit, she sensed someone behind her, who was most definitely not one of her servants. She turned to see Salexous as he carefully edged one of her servants out and pulled out her chair for her. She looked at him and then switched her gaze to her anxious servant and gave him a little nod to tell him it was okay and then sat down in her chair carefully. Salexous gently lifted the chair up to the table and then slipped into the space at her right hand side. Her servants efficiently set the place before him.

Seira nodded to them and they began to bring out the breakfast platters.

“Good morning,” she said to both of them, trying to ignore the subtle tension in the room.

“Good morning Lady,” said Mr. Hacid warmly.

“Good morning my Lady,” Salexous drawled his deep voice. It rolled over her and reverberated throughout the room. Seira nodded to them both, not missing the way the casil had placed stress on the word ‘my’ and the way his eyes had flickered over everyone in the room when he had said it. She also didn’t miss the dirty looks more than one of her servants had scrunched their faces into a spit second after he had looked at them. She bit down a pleased smile at her servants’ rather impeccable behavior.

Breakfast started and continued at a steady pace in a rather strained atmosphere. There was almost no conversation. Seira didn’t mind. She was busy putting her thoughts in order for the upcoming meeting with the government officials from the S.Y.S.P. She would have to be on the top of her game and she must come out on the top of this. She would not forget the unnecessary murder of the research team. She couldn’t condone that and wouldn’t be under the control of anyone who would order such a thing. And she wouldn’t put a casil under their disposal. Salexous was right in that. She was his master and so no one could be her master.

Once she had eaten enough, she pushed away from the table.

“Excuse me,” she told them both. They nodded graciously and resumed eating. Seira left the dining room and hoped fervently that no unpleasant incidents would occur without her presence to buffer.

She went into her study and sat in her chair and stared at the oak door, simultaneously formulating her plans and fortifying herself for the meeting ahead. It was perhaps an hour later when her butler sent a message saying that the men from the government were here. Seira patiently waited another half an hour before she went down to small, informal sitting room, not too far from the stairs, where the men were waiting.

There were two of them. When she entered they both stood to greet her cordially. Seira returned the greetings just as cordially and pretended not to see the anger in their eyes at being made to wait. She also knew that they wouldn’t say a word about it of course. They couldn’t. Not if they wanted her corporation. Besides they knew full well why she had done it. And so they knew to choose their words carefully.

“Good morning Gentlemen,” said Seira, “I trust you were comfortable during your wait. I’m afraid my presence was required elsewhere.”

“Of course. It is no matter,” said the one on the right.”I am Agent Trunelus, and this is my partner Agent Yon.”

“It’s a pleasure,” said Seira, she waited a beat and added “To meet you both. It is nice to see all whom I will be dealing with for this partnership.”

The two men smiled but there was nothing pleasant in their smiles. “We have much to speak about,” said Trunelus.

“Yes, we do,” said Seira. “For instance the management of the Casil under me. His custody, I trust you know, is not up for discussion.”

“We find that point debatable Lady,” said Agent Trunelus.

“I don’t,” she said sweetly. “I am aware of our precarious situation. It is especially in that light that I view the Government’s decisions. Our government is desperate and that makes them go to dangerous lengths to protect their own. I stand as a barrier to those lengths.”

“To stop the government from protecting the people is treason Lady,” said Agent Yon, quietly.

“But I am afraid we must restrict our reaches into the dark. Who knows what we may grasp and bring back. We have already sold our souls gentlemen. Let’s not make it in vain.”

“We cannot have you rouge Lady,” said Agent Yon, simply.

“And you won’t,” said Seira abruptly, “But you won’t have control of me either. The only reason the government is not called a rabid creature already, is because they are the ones in charge. I will not leave a casil in the charge of those who do not know how to handle power of the extent he carries. Yes,” she continued, answering their unasked question, “he is powerful.”

“And that,” said Agent Trunelus,” is precisely why we cannot have a casil, free  in the hands of one of our citizens without any censure.” He frowned heavily at her.

“I don’t see why not,” said Seira simply.

“Don’t see….?” Began Agent Trunelus in a slightly strangled voice whilst Agent Yon tilted his head at her inquisitively.

“After all,” Seira continued, “I already control the farms on the west side of Davindre, the trade routes for iron ore on the east. I also hold a considerable share in the Hydrocompany that pumps water for central Davindre and I own also own farms on the north side that provide much needed, rare medicinal plants. They are in fact the only farms who grow as such. You don’t censure me there. And yet, should I put all my operations on hold I would cause as much damage would I not, if I were to use a casil?”

“And would you if we push for charge over the casil?” asked Agent Yon.

“Certainly,” said Seira, “My casil will obey no one but me. And I’ve seen what he can do and I have seen what the government can do. I don’t trust the two together. You’ll have to live my terms gentlemen,” she said.

“We cannot,” said Yon simply.

“Let me be clear, I intend to work with the government,” Seira said, “But I will not work for them. The casil and I choose if we will obey the orders given. We will have a voice in this war that we will be fighting. We are not tools to be used at will. Is that sufficient?”

The Agents shared a look, Trunelus furious, Yon strangely calm.

 Finally Yon spoke, “Yes,” he said, “However the government would like an evaluation done on both of you. I will carry your reply back to my superiors.”

“Fine,” said Sera, “If that is all…?”

“We’ll take our leave,” said Agent Yon and he and Agent Trunelus rose, inclined their heads and left.

Seira let out a breath of relief. The hard part was done.