H. Mallory - Ghouls Rush In

When he returned to the circle, he placed the dagger and the bowl of salt on the table and then faced me. “Are you ready?”

I simply nodded and watched as he cleared his throat. “Begin your deep breathing in and out again. You must allow the spirit world into your lungs, into yourself. Imagine bringing Drake into your body, becoming one with him.”

I nodded again and started to breath in and then breathe out again for a count of five. I watched Christopher place his hand on top of mine, which still lay limply on the top of the skull. He closed his eyes and they immediately started to twitch as he began to chant something in his head, his lips moving with the words.

He opened his eyes, and with his right hand still on the skull, he placed the palm of his left hand on my forehead. “Is Drake with us still?” he whispered to me.

Figuring that was my cue to try to make contact with Drake, I closed my eyes and thought to myself, “ Drake, are you still here? ”

“ Oui. ”

I opened my eyes and glanced up at Christopher, merely nodding. Christopher looked down at the table and, picking up the lancet, faced my hand where it lay on top of the skull. He then picked up each of my fingers and pierced the fleshy pad of each one, squeezing until a drop of blood appeared. Just as with the last time, I couldn’t feel anything. Then he pushed my fingers onto the threshold of the skull, smearing it with my blood.

He faced me. “Do you, Peyton Clark, agree to open yourself up to the spirit of Drake Montague so that he shall inhabit your body?”

I figured my answer was supposed to be a “yes” so I answered in accordance.

Christopher nodded and then faced the air again, holding up his arms as he continued speaking in a loud voice, “This woman has agreed to open herself up to the spirit of Drake Montague. As she has shed her blood, so shall she offer domicile to Drake’s spirit only. No other spirits are given permission to become one with her body. As administrator of this ritual, I call forth the spirit of Drake Montague into this sacred circle.”

I suddenly felt a whoosh of cold air against my face, and the flame of the white candle began to flicker back and forth. I reminded myself to continue with my deep breathing even as my heartbeat began to escalate.

“Drake Montague, is that you?” Christopher called out as he glanced around himself. “If it is truly the spirit of Drake Montague, I beseech you to give us word.”

“ Oui. I am here, ma minette, ” I heard Drake’s voice in my head.

“He’s here,” I whispered, finding it difficult to speak when my heart was beating uncontrollably and I was starting to feel like I might pass out.

“Repeat after me,” Christopher started as he focused on me. “I, Peyton Clark, open myself to receiving the spirit of Drake Montague.”

I did as I was told and suddenly felt a wash of cold air all around my body, as if Drake had suddenly enveloped me in his cold embrace. My skin tingled all over my body as if I’d just escaped a freezing cold pool and now stood in a draft.

“Repeat after me,” Christopher instructed before taking a deep breath. “I, Peyton Clark, welcome the spirit of Drake Montague to enter me and become one with me, to make my body his body, to make my home his home,” he finished and I repeated the words immediately after.

The light-headedness continued to plague me, and my breathing was now coming quickly, in short gasps, as my heartbeat continued to increase. I felt my eyes close of their own volition.

“ You can still change your mind, ma minette, ” I heard Drake’s voice in my head and, from the breathiness of his words, I had to imagine he was experiencing something similar to what I was.

“ No, I’m not changing my mind, ” I responded adamantly.

“Repeat after me: Enter me through the blood of my offering,” Christopher continued, eyeing me speculatively as if he wasn’t sure if I could handle whatever was happening to me.

“ Enter me through the blood of my offering, Drake ,” I said in my mind.

“ Ma minette, ” his voice sounded strained but exhilarated. I could feel the numbness of my fingers slowly giving way to a tingling sensation. “ I can taste your life! ” I could hear the smile on his voice.

“ Enter me through the blood of my offering, Drake, ” I repeated.

I arched forward at the same time that I yelled out as feelings of an incredible wind beat through me. It was as if the wind blasted against my face and then traveled through my fingers into my being, spreading into all the corners of my body, bonding with me, filling me until I was brimming with something that was almost impossible to explain. It felt like energy suddenly buzzing through me, only the feeling wasn’t at all uncomfortable, just new, different.

“Peyton!” I heard Christopher’s voice but was only barely aware of it. “Peyton!” he called out again and then smacked my cheek to get my attention.

I opened my eyes and thrust myself forward, panting as I tried to catch my breath. Once I could see clearly and once my heart stopped pounding, I sat up and took stock of my surroundings. Christopher was just staring at me while Lovie did the same from the far side of the room.

“Did it work?” Christopher finally whispered to me, his eyes wide.

“ Ma minette ,” Drake’s voice sounded in my head. “ Being inside you is pure bliss. ”

I glanced up at Christopher as I tried to will my pounding heart to regulate. I ran my hand across my perspiring forehead. “It worked.”

I was suddenly bombarded with thoughts and images and memories that weren’t my own. I grasped my head and clamped my eyes shut tightly at the same time that Christopher reached down and gripped my shoulder.

“You must control the flow of his thoughts, Peyton,” he said in a firm voice. “You must be able to regulate his thoughts.”

I glanced up at Christopher and frowned, part of me thinking I was seeing him for the first time. I had a feeling that part of me was Drake. “How do I do that?” I demanded.

Lovie stood up and approached us, stepping over the powder circle as she reached for my hand. I glanced up into her kind face and took a deep breath. “Yers is the more powerful spirit as yer body belongs ta you,” she said tenderly. “If you want ta silence him, ta shut him out, you simply think those exact words. Whatever you want from him, envision it an’ so shall it be.”

I nodded and then took another deep breath, thinking to myself and apparently to Drake, “ I need to shut you out for a moment, Drake, until I can gain control of myself again. ”

As soon as I thought the words, the buzzing flow of energy seemed to die down within me and all the foreign images, thoughts, and memories that had been bombarding me simply stopped until I was left with only the quiet splendor of my own thoughts.

“Did that work?” Lovie asked.

I just nodded, feeling Christopher’s eyes on me. “Just remember that whatever you want or need from Drake, you just ask him for it,” he said. “It’s very important that you don’t allow his will to overtake yours. That’s when people lose their minds.”

“Nice of you to tell me this now,” I grumbled, feeling suddenly exhausted.

Lovie laughed and took both of my hands in hers, squeezing them gently as if to remind me that everything was going to be okay. “You need ta sleep now, Peyton,” she said in her bell-like cadence. “Yer body has been taxed, which means you will need plenty ta eat an’ drink. Even though you might not realize it, you’ve been through an enormous experience so it’s best ta imagine yer body is wounded an’ needs time an’ nourishment ta rehabilitate itself.”