Chapter 43Where She Sees Monsters

Isabel spoke, her young voice clear in the empty space. "Time has come for something else."

I looked around. They'd left it thoroughly cleaned. Next to the smell of bleach, no one would expect anything happening here. Almost no traces except for those that wouldn't matter. It was so surreal that it almost seemed as if nothing had happened. Nothing but the memory and the lingering smell of bleach.

"Isabel, who is Ba'al?" I wondered.

"Outside, we cannot linger here." Again her sweet voice sounded so off with the words she spoke.

Valerie nodded and I agreed. We silently went outside and helped Isabel down. We jumped again over the concrete wall and landed easily on the streets. No one here that saw us, no one even knew we were there. Even our footsteps would probably go unnoticed. Isabel led the way toward town. I wondered about that but I had questions on my mind.

"Isabel, who is Ba'al?"

She giggled, it sounded... creepy almost. "Valerie knows. He's just a god with many faces."

"Ba'al is the god of the heavens. Rain, thunder, clouds. One could say all the stuff for dreams and nightmares. They told me that the Daughters of Ba'al were inhabited by his spirit. Speaking words as if he spoke them." Valerie didn't sound comfortable saying that. "Supposedly, the process of binding is... painful."

I didn't like how she said that. It wasn't just painful, a thought came, it was a destruction of the mind. Brainwashed one could say. But different. Possessed. I could hardly believe people crazy enough to do such a thing. But after what I'd seen just now, how they treated the boy as just a tool, I could fathom it.

It wasn't a nice feeling to have. More and more I started to realize I was in the real world now. I didn't just drink blood. I drank human blood. And despite of how much of a monster I felt, humans themselves did things far worse then I. Far far worse. The worst thing was that they didn't do it because they wanted to harm someone, but because they simply didn't care about what happened to the other.

Like the boy.

He was nothing more but a vessel for their dreams. The only thing they realized is that they would be in trouble if he died. Not that they cared about his physical condition at all. It made me sick.

We walked onwards on the streets. I didn't want to ask, but I wanted to know.

"What do they do?"

"What do you mean?" Valerie asked.

"The process of binding?"

valerie fiddled as Isabel still led the way. "well... that..."

"They kill my body, bring me close to death with poison so it's open to the spirit. Then the spirit heals me, allowing me to wake from my slumber." Her cute voice made the words even more painful. How could she say that so calmly.

I stopped.

Valerie stopped and said nothing, I guessed her mind was full as well. Isabel turned around and looked surprised. Odd to see an expression on her otherwise always innocent looking face.

"You can't stop now. We have to get somewhere."

"I... I need time." I tried to sound resolute.

"There is no time, we need to be there. She's in trouble."

I frowned. "She?"

"You must come." Isabel started walking again, a little faster this time. I looked at Valerie and she nodded. I guess we had to follow her. We took a few quick strides to catch up with her again and kept on walking. I had a feeling she wouldn't give an answer about this. So we walked and walked.

We didn't go directly into town, I noticed. We walked to some of the poorer streets with cheap shops for unknown brand electronics, Afro hairdo's and all kinds of other things. The store we headed was empty and for sale. But the glass was broken, and looking there was probably no alarm system present. Or enabled.

Isabel pointed to the broken window. "She's in there."

We headed over and looked in.

There was a girl on the floor that looked as if she was thrown there. Her skin was exposed with many cuts from the glass but no blood was pouring from them. There was some blood on the floor among the shards of glass. The girl was my age, my height, long auburn hair... We both recognized her.

Khuna.