Between the Sheets

Stepping back, he ignored his brothers’ conversation to instead focus on the well.

He remembered the late nights he spent sneaking around with Omega, listening to how his ghoul described how to truly feel the elements around them. How to feel the wind brush past every hair, the heat of the summer evenings warming his skin, or the chill of the lake’s water during the peak of the day. How to feel everything at once and just be there, existing in a small window of peace.

He imagined Omega’s voice guiding him along, talking him through feeling how the earth trembles ever so slightly under his feet, and how the wood of the trees swaying in the breeze creaked. The sweet scent of grass and pine filled his nose, melting the tension in his shoulders. He almost didn’t want to open his eyes, wanting to stay in the trance.

That was until the sweet smells of nature turned bitter.

Immediately, Terzo’s hands flew up to cover his nose and mouth, a soft gasp of, “Dio-” before his eyes flew open.

All around him was green. Trees, taller than any the Cardinal had seen before, surrounded him. Moss and vines covered the trunks that looked to be as thick as cars. Ferns bloomed with intricate leaves that curled, small fiddleferns sprouting around the base, and flowing grass fluttered in the wind. The same wind that carried the bittersweet stench of death.

Swallowing hard, Terzo tugged the collar of his cassock up to cover his nose, blinking back the pricks of tears in his eyes as he stepped forward. “Hello?” He called out, looking at the towering foliage all around him, eyes scanning for any motion.

What he first thought were fallen branches jerked to the side, the movement being accompanied by the wet sound of flesh tearing. Terzo’s eyes widened, seeing the small-ish antlers, freezing in awe at how a thin layer of moss covered the bony structure.

“Whoa… look at you,” He breathed out, mostly to himself as he stepped closer. He cleared his throat for a moment, keeping his nose covered before switching to the limited Infernal he knew.

“Krezath, exelkethusele mal?” He struggled to stay, his tongue curling oddly to pronounce the strange words. He saw how the ghoul hidden in the tall grass paused, freezing like a statue. Noticing he had the ghoul’s attention, Terzo continued,

“Nex welitel…h-hel val Melineliseltelryel,” He spoke slowly, careful not to fumble his pronunciation. Oh, how he wished Omega was here to guide him.

The human kept his gaze down in consideration, brow furrowed, “Welouldel fel krezath welitelhel…” Terzo began to ask before seeing a shadow cast over him, bringing his gaze up before the color drained from his face, “O-Oh Baphoment below-”

Staring down at him was a ghoul bigger than his Omega. A thin layer of deep maroon fur covered his body with a blaze of white across his nose and throat. Well, it would be white if it wasn’t for the crimson soaking into the ghoul’s fur and skin around his mouth and dripping down his chin to his chest. A strip of raw flesh hung from the buck’s sharp teeth before disappearing with a snap of his jaws. A pink tongue licked his lips as unblinking emerald green eyes stared straight through Terzo.

The Cardinal couldn’t bring himself to move, his heart starting to hammer in his chest. He could only keep his eyes locked on those horizontal pupils staring through his soul, or what counted as a soul.

He knows well that earth ghouls are all opportunistic omnivores; he’s been around Primo’s ghouls long enough to know they won’t pass up on meat, no matter how old and rotten, but this felt wrong. That blood was far too fresh. “E-Enjoying a meal?” Terzo stammered in English, smiling nervously as the hand holding his cassock over his nose slipped, dropping the fabric.

The ghoul silently stared back at him, blinking slowly. A shiver ran down the Cardinal’s spine at seeing the slightly translucent third membranes slide across those eyes.

“I didn’t mean to intur-” Terzo began to apologize before jolting when the ghoul suddenly let out a harsh blow of air through his nose, creating a sharp sound. The human’s eyes widened, watching how the light filtering in through the trees above lightly illuminated the mist of the ghoul’s breath, creating the illusion of breathing fire.

Then that ghoul went right back to staring at Terzo, as if waiting for a reaction.

Terzo stood still for a moment, trying to process what that behavior meant. Maybe it was a greeting? Like the soft chuffs Omega often made whenever he’d approach him. Taking a deep breath, Terzo blew air back up at the ghoul, trying to mimic the sharp sound the best he could.

He watched as the ghoul’s ears flicked forward immediately, leaning more over Terzo with that unblinking stare. Again, he blew a harsh puff of air through his nose, and again, Terzo mimicked the sound with a small smile.

That smile faltered slightly when the ghoul repeated the action, but this time accompanied it with a slow raise of a cloven hoof, slamming it hard back down on the ground with a step forward.

It was then that the Cardinal noticed, a bit too late, the stance the ghoul was in: his head tilted forward, the light above them casting harsh shadows through the curved forks of his antlers, the rich maroon fur along his spine standing on end, trailing down to a tail raised and waving the club at the end slowly from one side to another.  

He watched as the ghoul tilted his head slightly more towards the side, taking another stomping step forward while keeping his antlers lowered. With each step, Terzo took one back, raising his hands in surrender.

“Hey! Hey, it's ok! I-Im not a-” a frightened scream was ripped from his throat as he dove to the side in time, the ghoul lunging forwards with the intent to gore him.

Terzo was moving like he hadn’t moved before, rushing back and forth in the restrictive summoning circle to dodge and weave out of both the reach of the ghoul’s clawed hands and sharp antlers.

Every attempt he made to try talking the ghoul down was ignored. It didn’t even matter if he tried to plead in Infernal or not. That ghoul wanted him dead.

He didn’t want to have to use magic; he didn’t want to have to restrain any ghoul and drag them to the Ministry. He just wanted to try talking this ghoul into joining of his own free will. A shriek came from the Cardinal as he scrambled back just in time to dodge a swing of that heavy clubbed tail, the bony end slamming hard into the base of a tree and getting momentarily stuck.

The tree shook with each yank the ghoul gave to pull his tail free, his lips curling in a snarl as Terzo stumbled back, breathing hard and hair disheveled. The demon watched the human back away, shaking like a newborn fawn, staring back at him in terror and not watching where he was going.

He watched as that human continued to back up, watching as he finally yanked his tail free, sending splinters and small chunks of wood flying. Now free, the ghoul let out a horrid, high-pitched bugle that rattled the branches and shook the ground.

Terzo shrieked as he took another step back, his ankle hitting something soft before tripping, landing on the ground with a thud. When he looked at what he had just fallen over, all the blood drained from his face.

It wasn’t some creature native to the Pit; it wasn’t a creature at all. It was another ghoul. Their light brown fur was ragged, gashes and bruises decorating their piebald pelt. The neck was bent at an odd angle, one antler snapped clean off at the base, and cloudy eyes stared blankly at the human. Their chest looked almost like it had exploded, a hole peering into the dark cavity inside with only flecks of white bone breaking up the crimson.

His eyes only lingered for a second on the body, but it felt like an eternity. Only when he heard that ghoul, that monster move did he look up in time.

“Ligare!” Terzo shrieked, putting his hands out in front of him to brace for the ghoul to tear him to shreds.

A screech shook the forest, and the crackle of electricity.

Terzo’s ears rang as he kept his eyes shut tight, his hands outstretched in front of him. He could both hear and feel his heart hammering in his chest, rattling his ribs and pounding against his sternum. He waited, waited for claws, for the point of antlers to meet skin or teeth to sink into flesh. But nothing came.

Slowly, the ringing in his ears faded, and he blinked one eye open. A scream was torn from his throat as he lurched himself back just in time to avoid the snap of jaws.

He scooted back, watching as the green electricity of his magic wrapped and tangled around the ghoul now on the ground, writhing and refusing defeat. Jaws snapped uselessly at the arcs of green, biting into nothing but air as that heavy tail slammed against the ground.

Terzo could only stare as he kept one hand on his chest, breathing and swallowing hard as the glow of the summoning circle changed. Their eyes never left each other, staring as the world of the Pit started to blur around Terzo, the last thing to fade being those glowing emerald eyes.

Then air rushed into Terzo’s lungs, clean and cold. It didn’t stop the scream that clawed up his throat as he stumbled away from the well before him, his heart sinking at hearing the bugle of that ghoul echo up and scare any birds roosting nearby.

He didn’t think; he just ran to the only place he felt safe, behind his older brother.

Fingers curled to cling to Primo’s black and red robes, shaking hard as he pleaded, his voice trembling, “Send it back! Please, send it back!”

Primo could only stare at that well, listening to the scrap of stone against claws and hooves as another screech echoed up.

“What the fuck did you summon?!” He blurted out, but didn’t move. Instead, he outstretched an arm out of instinct to cover his youngest brother with the cloth of his robe’s sleeve.

Not even Secondo could find words, subconsciously hiding by Primo’s other side, their argument about his own freshly summoned ghoul now far from his mind.

The trio watched as that mountain of a ghoul pulled himself from the well, his fur dripping with both blood and old water. Lips curled into a snarl and nose flared as he went to let out a roar.

With a quick flick of Primo’s hands, he was quick to conjure his magic to restrain this ghoul as well, the red, misty chains of his spell wrapping twice, almost thrice around the earth ghoul before anchoring to the ground.

“L-Less murdery, you said?” Secondo swallowed hard, glancing at Terzo from the corner of his eye.

What was meant to be a light, brotherly jab backfired. All the adrenaline in Terzo’s system and the near-disastrous summoning brought tears to the youngest’s eyes.

“Fuck- shit! No, no, you are not crying!” Secondo was quick to switch his tone, begrudingly comforting his little brother.

“He tried killing me! He actually tried killing me!” Terzo stammered through tears, shaking as he clung to Secondo the moment he was close enough, letting Primo go, who cautiously approached this new ghoul.

His eyes stared back at this buck’s, ignoring the harsh breaths coming from the ghoul who strained against his magical chains. His eyes studied the blood, noting how big the ghoul was despite being on the younger side. He knew this ghoul wasn’t done growing yet, and that he’d be a beast to handle.

He sighed softly, glancing back at his brothers before looking at their respective ghouls.

An overly protective and rebellious fire ghoul with a water pup, and a very murderous, absolute unit of an earth ghoul.

“Let's get them to quarantine. Secondo, you can handle your ghoul,” He stated calmly. “Terzo, I’ll help you with yours.”

Secondo just nodded as Terzo wiped away the tears running down his cheeks, smearing his Cardinal face paint.

Primo released his magical hold on Alpha only when Secondo replicated his spell, quietly guiding Alpha the best he could towards the Ghoul Den’s infirmary. There was still the occasional mutter of a swear since Alpha still fought against him.

Primo watched as Secondo led the way. The eldest kept Terzo by his side as he expertly manipulated his own magic to guide the earth ghoul forwards.

“What do you want to name him?” Primo softly asked.

“I-I… I don’t know…” Terzo muttered, putting a healthy distance between him and his ghoul.

“May I make a suggestion?” Primo asked next with a soft smile. When he saw Terzo nod, he said, “Mountain.”