Tantrics Of Old (27 page)

‘My body cannot leave the crypt as long as I’m in it,’ Mazumder spoke.

‘You planned this crypt yourself right?’ Adri asked.

‘I was a different person back then. I have—
improved
over the years in the eternal sleep.’

‘Sure.’

‘So what I was getting to, putting aside your direct criticism of my foolishness in trapping myself in, was that I will need to make the switch right now so that my body may be carried up.’

‘It’s a long walk,’ Adri said.

‘We’ll manage,’ Mazumder replied.

‘I don’t like the way you said “we”.’

‘Fool, you better get used to it.’

Adri readied himself. His body was trained to resist possession, it would not be ready to accept the Wraith; he would have to override his subconscious defence systems.

‘Having second thoughts, are we now?’ the Wraith smirked.

‘Merely trying not to kick you right out of my mind,’ Adri said.

‘Anytime you’re ready, sweetheart. I’ve got all day!’

‘I haven’t got all day,’ Adri breathed, sweating slightly from all the focusing. ‘Okay, I’m ready.’

The Wraith did not waste any time. It left its older body with a liquid like spin, erupting as a mass of black, a murky form covered with shadows and tentacles, radiating blue energy from cracks within itself. It spun in the air, and lightning fast, manoeuvred itself and shot straight into Adri’s body.

For a few scattered moments, Adri’s mind experienced a loss of control, like he had upon initially entering the chamber. The feeling stayed until Adri fought it and calmed it down. It was simpler this time and put up lesser resistance; probably because of the Wraith controlling its magic, Adri thought. The turmoil was lessening and his vision, blurred and bleary until now, was clearing. But there was no more spirit energy around to act as a light source. He could see nothing.

Cosy
. A voice inside his head.
Not bad, Adri. Not bad at all
.

‘You found out my name?’ Adri asked incredulously.

That’s not all
.

‘Mazumder. You have to stop looking into my head,’ Adri said.

Make me
, the Wraith smirked.

Adri sighed, then concentrated. Hiding information was simple enough if you had the right training for it. The Wraith realised what Adri was doing.

No fun! All right, I lay off your stuff. Was just curious. It’s like entering someone’s house, you know—you see all their things and feel like snooping around a little
.

‘Respect my privacy, Wraith. There are things I don’t want people to see.’

I know. I caught glimpses. Most . . . interesting. But then again, how would I possibly tell someone? I cannot reach out to others while I’m in your body. And when I finally do leave, it will be to enter the next Plane. Your secrets are safe with me, even if you do choose to reveal them
.

‘Ha!’ Adri gave a bark-like laugh. ‘I don’t trust you.’

Well met. Was still worth a try, though
.

They were silent for a moment. Then Adri spoke, ‘We should go.’

But you can’t see. Easily remedied
.

Adri felt something like water flow into his eyes, cold and liquid-like. He blinked, and immediately the liquid heated up. He could see in the dark. His eyes burned with blue flame and it took him a moment to get used to it.

This is how spirits see the world, Tantric
.

There was a blue tint to the world and everything was blurry except what he immediately focused on. But the lack of light did not matter now, he could see everything in the small chamber, though whatever he did not focus on seemed to visually merge, ingrain, combine, expand, and contract like a slow kaleidoscope. It was weird, and he did not prefer it over his normal eyesight, then again, he would prefer anything over the darkness. He walked towards Mazumder’s now lifeless body on the floor.

Handsome devil
, the Wraith said.

The vampire hunter had been handsome, yes. He must have been in his mid-years when he died. The man’s head was bald; the eye sockets had sunk back in with the eyes mercifully shut. A sharp, prominent jawline and a muscled neck lead to a well-built body, trained and maintained.

‘How do I get him to the top?’ Adri asked.

There is a separate exit. That way
.

Adri tried to lift the body and couldn’t. Grabbing a leg, he started dragging the body in the direction the Wraith motioned to. If the Wraith was offended by the dragging of its past body, it refused to show it. He saw one of his revolvers on the floor and picked it up. There was a secret switch built into the wall; and once the new passageway opened up, the exit was a few minutes away. Adri watched the door open with surprised anguish—he walked out, dragging the body behind him, into bright sunlight. He wished he had known about this route instead. He looked up and saw the silhouette of an Angel against the sun; the exit was built on the base of a giant Angel statue, right outside the church. He left the body there and walked inside to inform his companions that he was back. The Wraith remained quiet, but removed its energy from Adri’s eyes.

He found them where he had left them. Fayne was watching the entrance, while Gray was lolling around lazily, carrying Adri’s bag with him. He had been exploring the church, apparently.

‘I’m glad you made it. You were beginning to take some serious time down there; we have to get back to JU before nightfall, remember?’

‘I haven’t forgotten, Gray,’ Adri said.

‘You look like hell. What happened to the shirt?’ Gray asked, looking at the scraps Adri was wearing.

Fayne was facing Adri. ‘I can smell a Wraith on you,
pashlin
,’ he said before Adri could react.

‘I had an encounter with one,’ Adri replied.

There was a red blade in Fayne’s hand, Adri noticed. A dagger, something red and translucent; Fayne was toying with it as he faced Adri.

‘Are you sure you are still the same person who walked inside the crypt?’

‘There’s no way to confirm that, is there? If I were possessed, the creature would have access to all my memories. Thus it would answer any question you put to it. Enough of this, assassin. We should move, I’ve already have had a hard time inside the crypt.’

‘If you are a Wraith you will have access to Adri’s memories,’ Fayne said, unmoving, ‘but not his skills.’

Adri looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and anger.

Fayne pointed at a mural on the wall. ‘The black knight—you see the black knight? Fire a shot and hit his helm.’

The target wasn’t near. It was quite a shot with the free hand and though Adri knew why Fayne was doing this, he couldn’t help but be annoyed at this lack of trust after his ordeal. Fayne had seen him shoot though, and he would be able to easily see if the same person was firing the shot. Adri did not dally; he roughly yanked a revolver out of its holster and taking aim, fired the shot. Without even waiting to see if it hit, Adri turned around and walked out of the church.

Fayne and Gray stood, watching the black bullet hole exactly in the centre of the knight’s helm.

‘It’s Adri,’ Gray said.

‘The Wraith was a vampire hunter, bound to have been an equally good shot,’ Fayne said.

‘Then now what?’

‘I was watching the way he
drew
the weapon, not the shot. He’s used to it. It seems it is indeed Adri.
Khayer
, I will still keep a watch on him,’ Fayne said. They turned around and followed Adri out of the abandoned, silent church.

Interesting how you didn’t mention little old me in front of your friends. Scared, Adri? Scared they’ll stop trusting you?

‘Shut up,’ Adri murmured. ‘Don’t make me talk to myself.’

You could always open up your mind to me. Then you’d merely have to think it
.

‘I said shut up.’

The Wraith obeyed. Adri looked around to see if either of the other two had been watching him. Thankfully, Gray was checking the open road for Demons, and Fayne had gone scouting ahead. The vampire killer’s body lay in front of him, wrapped up in a sheet. They were almost back at the university—Adri could see its gates in the distance.

The young Tantric was having troubles of his own. Having to cope with another creature living in his mind, for example. It was very distracting; the Wraith talked all of a sudden and would always take him by surprise, mostly being its usual sarcastic self, an entity Adri could not learn to trust. It observed a lot, seeing through his eyes and hearing through his ears. It did not share any of Adri’s physical pains or mental pressures though—and he always had to consciously hide his secrets from the creature, though he would know immediately if the Wraith tried to dig around for them. He didn’t know yet what would happen when he slept; he was sure the Wraith needed no sleep.

He slapped his forehead without realising it. He was getting himself into more and more trouble. Not something he needed.

‘There’s a problem, Mazumder,’ he said.

Yes?

‘We can’t possibly take on the Ancients. You know how powerful they are; and there are perhaps fifteen or more of them waiting in there.’

Fifteen?

‘Yes.’

You walk in there and you are not walking out. Getting the girl is out of the question
.

‘What would you suggest?’

Leave the girl. She’s clearly a liability. And, you have already hit her with a corruption. She’s not going to turn, she will just die and have her peace afterwards
.

‘Not possible. I have made my oaths.’

And I have made mine, human. If you die, your body is useless to me, and I cannot wander free like other spirits. I will be trapped in your loathsome body without a foreseeable future. That’s not possible either
.

‘There’s a word called
compromise
, Mazumder. I can stay alive
and
get Maya out of there.’

So what’s the catch, fool?

‘The catch is the assassin. He must not know of your presence. That will make me a threat to him, and he will kill me. Immediately.’

So that is why. Your survival is my survival. I shall show no signs
.

‘Which also means that I can’t count on your help in taking care of the Ancients. You must be invisible. I can use no help you give me, not even the sight of spirits.’

Or you could convince the assassin to not come along
.

‘His charge is to protect the girl. He’ll come. We’ll have to think of something else.’

I love the way you are already saying ‘we’
.

Fayne was back soon. ‘The road is clear. I thought I had seen something, but it was a dog, hiding among corpses,’ he said to Gray and Adri.

‘No wait,’ Adri said. ‘Before we go on, I think we should talk about this.’

‘Indeed,’ Fayne nodded.

‘You’re not expecting a fair handover, are you now?’ Adri asked.

‘Hold on,’ Gray spoke. ‘Yes, I was.’

‘There’s going to be none. We hand over the dead body, they slaughter us
and
Maya.’

Gray’s eyebrows climbed.

‘How many Ancients are in there, Tantric?’ Fayne asked.

‘Fifteen, maybe more.’

Fayne did not reply. The eyes of his mask shone without expression; yet it was clear what his silence indicated.

‘You could take them out if you were fortunate and fast enough,’ Adri continued. ‘But you will
not
be able to save the girl.’

‘You didn’t tell me about this!’ Gray protested.

Adri stared at him. ‘Shut up. There is much I did not tell you about. There are more complications after I save Maya.’

‘What complications?’

‘I have had to choose the lesser evil,’ Adri replied.

‘Don’t talk in riddles man!’ Gray shouted.

Fayne interrupted. ‘The sun is almost gone and the
fatiya’s
life hangs in the middle. You speak the truth, Tantric’ —he turned towards Adri—‘I cannot take out all of them and yet fulfil my charge. So what is it that you suggest we do?’

Adri looked at the setting sun, casting the usual red sky in more red.

‘I need to call upon a spirit,’ he said.