Post by Celestial on Jun 9, 2014 19:54:22 GMT -5
Written by PFA, Pixie and yours truly. It's been a long time coming and some of you may have seen us talking about it. It's set sometime after the six month timeskip and features copious amounts of ghost-torture and murdershipping. You know, the good stuff. ^^
Don't feel like it needs much of an introduction, really, anything else said would spoil it. So, enjoy!
Don't feel like it needs much of an introduction, really, anything else said would spoil it. So, enjoy!
“Diana?”
Dr. Diana Pallada looked up at the sound of the voice, and was greeted with a familiar face standing in the doorway: Professor Leland G. Bardsley. She smiled when she saw him. He looked as serene and in control as always but his eyes behind his glasses were a bit more thoughtful than usual, which was saying a lot. Even normally, he looked like he was thinking more than ordinary people. Something was on his mind and she wanted to know what.
“Yes, Leland? What is it?” she asked and drifted over to him. “Did you need something? I would be glad to help you with anything you want.”
“Ah, no. Well, sort of,” was Professor Bardsley’s response. “It’s more of something I’ve been curious about for a while now, and I was hoping for your input.”
“My input? Why, certainly. Just tell me the subject and I will be glad to voice my thoughts on the matter, or more if necessary,” Pallada flashed him a grin.
Professor Bardsley chuckled politely. He always knew he could count on Diana when he needed her. She was so intelligent, and always offered such invaluable insight. “Well, I’ve been wondering: what, exactly, can harm ghosts?”
“Harm ghosts?” This gave Pallada pause as she gathered her thoughts on the matter. She gave a small, demented laugh. “From personal experience and observation, I can say for certain that the following hurt ghosts: salt, holy water, special ghostbusting equipment, other ghosts and most importantly, ghost weapons, the last one being how I ended up in the void. Theoretically, there are also rituals in order to drive us out, superstitions to ward us off and occult symbols which could do us harm but I have not encountered them personally or experimented with them so I cannot say that they work for certain.”
“Hm… interesting.” Professor Bardsley mused on this for a moment. “Perhaps it would be worth further study…”
Pallada laughed at the remark. “Of course, anything like this is worth further study. Especially for a mind such as yours,” She suddenly grimaced, “Of course, I am not keen to partake in such a study as a test subject. I do not like pain, Leland, I hope you understand, and you would not inflict pain on a fellow intellectual such as myself, right? Not even you are that cruel.”
“What? Oh, no, of course not,” Professor Bardsley assured her. “I would never do such things to you, Diana.”
“Thank you. But in that case, for this study, we are going to need to find somebody else to take the punishments that a test subject would have to endure,” Pallada said.
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Professor Bardsley said with an eerily pleasant smile. “But who could we use for our research?”
“Luckily for us, thanks to the efforts of you and your colleagues, we have a selection of ghosts to choose from. However, our test subject must be one who is easy to track down, capture and would be no great loss if we killed them,” Pallada said with a small laugh. “While it would be a delight to see her gone, the nun, Lucille Erata, is more trouble than she is worth. I like Christopher, he amuses me and it would be a shame if we killed him, accidentally or otherwise. Which leaves either Leopold Endicott or Liliana Parker. Either would be good choices but you know them better than me. What do you think, Leland?”
Professor Bardsley thought on this. Mr. Endicott was such an interesting fellow. He was a hair stylist with a taste for the unique, with a penchant for always being very flamboyant and over-the-top. This didn’t change, even after he was killed by Abominable Aifam. But now, he was known to be a very zealous member of the Resistance. If they did anything to him, he would fight back; that much Professor Bardsley was sure of.
Ms. Parker, however…
He remembered her as the innocent young blue-haired woman who had attempted to form an investigation party with him just over six months ago, all while remaining completely oblivious to his true nature. He chuckled to himself at the thought. She had no idea that Professor Bardsley himself was one of the murderers that she was trying so desperately to stop. When she finally found out, Liliana Parker was in tears. And ultimately, for her efforts, the woman ended up being killed by the mafia. By her own best friend, no less. The whole ordeal had thoroughly broken her, and it really was quite amusing to him.
As a ghost, Ms. Parker had a decidedly different appearance than before her death. Her previously blue hair had turned red, and she would no longer wear the dainty doll dresses she did before. The first time Professor Bardsley saw this new form of hers was a moment that stuck out in his mind: it was shortly after the mafia takeover, and she was among the several (as was Mr. Endicott, come to think of it) who came forward and shouted bitter words at him and the rest of the mafia. In fact, Ms. Parker had made some rather accusatory comments directed at him specifically, telling him that he would never understand what it was like to feel emotions. She was wrong, of course... as both he and Pallada were able to explain to her shortly afterward.
He glanced over at Pallada. The woman who he understood so perfectly, and vice versa. The woman whom he had made so much excellent research with, and who had even taught him so much about himself. The woman who… he ultimately had fallen in love with, something he hadn’t previously thought was possible.
Yes, it seemed Liliana Parker was very wrong about him.
“I think Ms. Parker would be an excellent candidate,” he eventually concluded. “Mr. Endicott is an interesting possibility, but I think he would be less likely to… cooperate.” He chuckled. “I wonder where she is?”
Pallada grinned widely, “From my rare observations of her in the town, she appears to move around. But nevertheless, she does appear in Aifam Cove occasionally. We can always try to find her...I would love to see what Ms. Parker is up to and whether she has changed her naive viewpoint,” she drifted through Bardsley and towards the door. “Aifam Cove is small. Let’s look around, Leland.”
Professor Bardlsey chuckled darkly. “Sounds like a plan.”
---
The epiphanies were not coming to Liliana Parker as she had hoped they would. She was restlessly wandering the world, but not a step closer to finding her abstract mark. Despite her efforts to deny it for Leopold’s sake, she felt mostly dead. It made her wonder why the universe was not allowing her to move on, but the answers came to her much quicker than she would have liked. As it also came with them, she knew there had to be a scrap of something she could take from her past life and make a new one from- proof she hadn’t wasted it away with her selfish deeds and her delusion.
Lili had to talk to Leo again, and find out what it was that she was missing, to fix her metaphorical compass and find the elusive path to self-realization. For another time, the young wanderer found herself back in Aifam Cove. She might as well check up on Alma while she was there. She greatly hoped that her friend had not murdered anyone in her absence; a second later she regrettingly noted the familiarity of the thought. Alma was certainly a lot to handle, and their uncertain relationship together was one of the many forces that dragged Lili in every direction. She resigned to visit Leopold first, and floated into the town to seek him out.
When she started on Stalberry, it wasn’t a friend she found, but two people she would have been perfectly content never to see again.
Pallada smirked happily as she spotted Liliana. She disappeared into the nearby wall and then reappeared in an instant behind the ghost. Grabbing her arms, Pallada pressed Lili down forcefully, pushing her knee into her back to keep her from fighting Pallada off.
If Lili still had breath, it would have flown from her as Pallada had brought her to her knees. She had foreseen that they would not have left her without a confrontation, but was still shocked with the corporeal sensation of Pallada’s violent hold on her. Touch itself had grown foreign over the past few months. She was not willing to hurt even villains like them, but she had to escape somehow, or… They were terrible and she feared the things they might do to her, even in a public space.
“It seems like we’ve run into Ms. Parker first, Leland. Lucky for us,” Pallada smiled up at Bardsley.
“Good day, Ms. Parker,” Professor Bardsley spoke, his voice smooth and charming as usual. “We’ve decided to do a bit of a… study, so to speak. We thought you’d make an excellent candidate.”
“Where shall we begin?” Pallada asked. “I would not be insulted at all if you decided to confirm my experiences with things such as salt and holy water, or we can move on to what I have been unable to tell you about. I am curious myself to see what works on a ghost and what does not.”
“What is this?” Lili hissed, trying futilely to phase away from Pallada’s grasp. The meaning from between the words stung through. Though the answer she had inferred, she squeaked, “What are you intending to do to me?”
Professor Bardsley said nothing, chuckling softly. Then he reached into the tote bag he was carrying, pulling out a brand new, sealed container of table salt. Considering what Pallada had said, and that salt had been known to harm ghosts in the past, it wasn’t hard to guess what he was planning on doing with it.
“No!” Lili gasped, as a cascade of memories of her own wrongdoing flashed across her mind. She thought that salt hurt only wicked ghosts, but she considered herself among them in a minor form. If it touched her, she thought it would hurt like her darkest memories of Alma. In trying to distance herself from the substance, she wound up further restrained. Pallada made sure she did not get out of her grip while at the same time positioning Lili in front of herself, using the latter as a shield against the salt. This required her to partially fade into the ground in order to be low enough but she made up for her lack of leverage by simply gripping Lili harder.
“You see, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of ghosts is something we would have a vested interest in,” Professor Bardsley continued, breaking open the container and pouring some salt into his other hand. “I know this one was rather uncomfortable for me. Shall we see what it does to you?”
Lili froze in place as Bardsley approached her with the now-opened canister of salt. To scream at the salt would be putting her guilty conscience on display, and perhaps if she was truly a dark force, then she deserved whatever suffering was about to come upon her. She braced herself as he unceremoniously hurled the salt at her form. She was expecting agony, and was partially relieved to feel instead quiet pain, like pinpricks, where it had landed. She cried out softly, not hurt but surprised, perplexed on why it hadn’t harmed her more. She was safe for that moment, but it was foolish to pretend her tormentors would let her off with only a fraction of their experiment done. Once again, the two of them had made Lili incredibly vulnerable, but this time they had so many new ways they could do her harm.
Professor Bardsley, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow, seeming puzzled. “Hm. That didn’t have as much of an effect as I thought it would...”
“Interesting. It seems that salt only works on ghosts who have committed some form of sin, like me or other mafia members. It is similar to what I suspected but nevertheless, it is a good find,” Pallada said calmly. Even so, a scowl flashed across her face for a moment at the salt’s lack of effectiveness. “Nevertheless, we have more methods we should experiment with. This is only the beginning.”
The ineffectiveness of the salt had surprised Lili when Pallada confirmed that it only hurt sinners. Had she really been that innocent? To her, it did not seem so, but the facts seemed to point that way despite her heart. Her fears were confirmed that her aggressor's trials would continue. The panic that had been slowly filling her began to rise. She watched them with wide eyes as they prepared to continue with the cruel experiment.
“Well, if salt doesn’t work, I doubt holy water will have much effect, either… let’s see what else we have here…” Professor Bardsley rummaged myriad of items he had stashed away in his bag, all of them claimed to be harmful to ghosts.
As he rummaged, Pallada once again rose up from the ground and returned to her old position in which she held Lili, now that the salt was out of the way, She grimaced slightly as a few lingering specks touched her form but he pain, however, was not enough to detract from the experiment. This was so fascinating.
As she realized how trapped she was, Lili begged, “Please. You don’t have to do this.” The moment she called the words out, they seemed as terribly, viscerally familiar as the position she was forced into. They were vivid ties to her death, and to Alma. The pain of demise shot through her, but her hands could not reach her throat this time. She bit her lip, not wanting to give Pallada or Bardsley the satisfaction of hearing her scream. It was no use and a distressed cry flew from her.
However, Professor Bardsley didn’t seem to be paying much attention. “Ah, here we go,” he remarked, pulling something else out of his bag—a book. He flipped it open to reveal that it contained a number of symbols that were supposed to ward off ghosts. He picked one in particular, then approached Lili with it.
Lili felt a dizzying blow like a punch to the head as he touched it lightly to her shoulder. Something like the marks of a burn radiated from the spot of contact and through her entire shoulder. She gasped, struggling to gather herself and noting the thickness of the book. He methodically turned the pages and introduced new icons to her form, but thankfully none of them compared to the very first one he chose. She realized had she taken a different route to the church, she would have had Leopold’s companionship instead of being subjected to the couple’s torment.
“Hm. Interesting,” Professor Bardsley remarked, making note of which symbols had the most effect. “Well then, I suppose the next thing to test would be… ghost weapons.” He smiled at Pallada. “Which I shall leave in your capable hands, Diana.”
Pallada frowned as she thought about this. Her weapons had been taken from her before she was condemned to the void and unfortunately, she had not acquired any new ones. The vials of poison and the small pistol she had kept on her person in Wafflenet had disappeared along with her revenant powers. However, soon, the frown was replaced by her usual vicious grin. She was inventive and among her many, many fields of study that history had provided her with was a fine working knowledge of torture devices and what they did. She would find a way. A weapon was merely a thing designed to inflict physical damage and that definition was broad.
She gave Bardsley and nod and first dug her fingernails deep into Lili’s arm to measure her pain response. They did not pass through her but instead dug in, leaving marks as they would on a normal human. It was so interesting. Lili obviously felt the nails tear through her, as her solemn expression contorted with a shriek when Pallada clawed. Despite their lack of a nervous system, or anything that perceived pain, ghosts still felt it. It must have been a psychological response. The pain reflex was deeply ingrained in the human mind, which explained why it was so often used and abused over the course of history for all sorts of purposes.
Perhaps it was not just pain. Pallada’s grin grew even wider and more vicious. There was something she could use as an improvised weapon. It would not hurt, not as much as a knife or a gun would, but it would nevertheless cause Lili enough discomfort to be enough for the purposes of their research and prove the point that ghosts are affected by ghost items as the living are by ordinary items. Furthermore, it would give more evidence to her theory that pain and death in ghosts were more psychological than physical.
“Hold still, Ms. Parker,” Pallada murmured in Lili’s ear before throwing her to the ground and putting a foot on her to keep the pressure on Lili, making her escape harder. She then shucked off her jacket and began winding it tightly around itself. In torture, it was always more effective to let the victim know what method they were going to use to that the anticipation of the pain would begin to do their work for them. But this was not torture, this was research, so Lili’s reaction had to be authentic. She remained silent as she formed the jacket into a makeshift rope.
In Pallada’s study of Aifam, she had taken care to read up on each individual death, whether it was done by the mafia or the townspeople, which in most cases turned out to be the individual Morty Gunderson. It was important for her research to know every single detail, even if that detail was ultimately irrelevant to the grand theory. She had to know in case it was. But in doing so, she had found out that Lili had died by being suffocated with a scarf. It would make an interesting addendum to find out how ghosts reacted to being introduced to the method by which they became ghosts in death.
“I won’t kill you,” Pallada stated matter-of-factly before she released the pressure off Lili and brought the jacket up around her neck, wrapping it around her tightly and using it to hold her in place. Slowly, she then begun to count. If ghosts were the same as humans, two minutes should be enough. Pallada was frail as a human so it was unlikely she would exert enough pressure to suffocate Lili in that time but it would be enough to cause her pain.
After the crude garotte was drawn around her past-mangled neck, it was only a moment before Lili was writhing in agony before Pallada. She had thought her previous flashback to her death was painful, but she was wrong. It may have been that the distressing reprises were lessening before, but months of recovery were undone in that instant. Instinct was telling her that the promise she would endure it was false. It was too much, it was excruciating, and she could not bear another second of it.
“Ooh, very clever,” Professor Bardsley remarked, as Lili squirmed in her intense discomfort. “Using a ghost’s method of death against them.” For a brief moment, as the words left his lips, he felt his own throat clench—memories of a blade that split it open once. But he ignored it, continuing to watch Lili’s reaction with interest.
Lilii found silence began to take its hold on her, although she shouldn’t have needed blood or air in her ghostly form.“Help! Leopold! Alma! Anyone? Help me... I can’t take this! I can’t…” Help did not arrive.
The strangulation was coming from the inside and out. The pain from it all was debilitating, and her hands failed to wrench the rope away from her throat, Lili’s voice failed her. It was Alma and Pallada collapsing her throat at the same time. She had trusted Alma so much, had kept her welfare on the top of her mind, and had lost her life by her hands. Even more so than Bardsley, but perhaps less connivingly, she had betrayed her. The betrayal felt in a dingy restroom of a movie theater, where a single risky decision ended her. It was Alma’s choice. It was her best friend Alma’s choice to kill her. Though she was aware of the accomplices, it didn’t register as greatly with her. It was Alma holding her vulnerable to her knees, Alma binding the scarf around her throat, and Alma abandoning her to death with cold and dizzy words. She had been too close to Bardsley and Alma and the cost was heavily felt from unknowingly loving two Mafiosos.
Finally, after two minutes had elapsed, Pallada loosened the jacket around Lili’s neck and let her catch her breath, or at least recover from being choked. Casually, she got up, knowing that it was unlikely that Lili would go anywhere after that for a little while and unwrapped her jacket. Pallada shook the creases out of it and put it back on her, smoothing it out and acquiring a grip on the other ghost before she could recover enough to run.
Lili slumped in Pallada’s arms, feeling the bursts of pain jump out from her system. They weren’t finished with her yet. She felt small and breakable, like a porcelain doll. “Bardsley… Stop this horrid experiment! This isn’t science, this is torture. Torture. I trusted you,” she choked, looking at Bardsley in the eyes, “With all else wicked you brought, you now do this to me! At least Alma meant well.” Her voice dropped to an almost-whisper. “I- I had loved you, Bardsley. Haven’t you broken me enough already?”
This time, Lili’s cries gave Professor Bardsley pause. He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. “You… what?”
Pallada was also slightly taken aback by Lili’s words. Her first reaction was to grip Lili even tighter, gritting her teeth and scowling. She loved him, yet she was completely unworthy of him? It was disgusting.
But in a split second, her scowl had turned into a wide grin. She threw her head back and burst out laughing. The laugh was loud and piercing, full of the sadistic amusement that she normally felt when dealing with foolish, naive individuals like Lili. Clearly, Lili had not matured at all since they had met last time.
“Humans are resilient, which means there are always new ways to break a person. Just when you think things cannot get any worse and you’ve had enough, there are always new ways in which you can still suffer,” she hissed, just inches away from Lili’s ear. “You amuse me and fascinate me. Your naivety is so typical of foolish people who believe in the just world theory. But you say you loved Leland? Did you love him while knowing all the while what he was? I doubt it, otherwise you would not have been surprised at this turn of events. But regardless, I wonder what it must feel like for you; to love somebody who would never love you back.”
Lili shivered, the combined pressure of Pallada’s laughter, her words and grasp, suffocating her. She wished that Bardsley had not been false, and that in that illusion of a world, they would have been quite the pair. Now she was at a sadist’s mercy, who reminded her that for all she fallen she still had farther to go. She could tell Pallada intended to send her into those depths.
Faint doubt entered Pallada’s mind and she glanced up at Bardsley. Her smile was fairly even but her eyes behind her glasses glittered angrily. “Unless...Leland, tell me, have you ever felt anything for Ms. Parker? I do not believe you do but in our professions, it does not do to make assumptions. I want to hear it in your own words.”
Professor Bardsley had been silent during the exchange, seeming thoughtful, but at this point he looked up. Before hearing his answer, Lili already knew what it would be.
“Of course I didn’t,” came the words from Bardsley’s lips, like a dagger to Lili’s heart. “I’m a sociopath; I’ve never cared for anyone besides you, Diana.” And then, to twist the blade, he started to laugh. “I never realized you actually had feelings like that for me, Ms. Parker. How... interesting. I suppose it makes sense, looking back on it...”
Pallada smiled. She did not doubt that Bardsley cared about her but there was something about hearing him say it which made it even better. The fact that he was bringing down Lili at the same time somehow made it all the better. She wondered what cognitive dissonance Lili would use to reconcile her belief in a just world with this new revelation.
Or perhaps she could break Lili’s world view completely by hammering home the point.
“Don’t run, Ms. Parker, I think you’ll want to see this,” Pallada murmured in Lili’s ear and unwrapped her arms from her. She disappeared into the ground and reappeared in front of Bardsley before Lili could even blink.
“Leland,” Pallada turned towards Bardsley. She flew behind him and put her arms around him, focusing on becoming more solid so that she could touch him. “It’s such an honour, being somebody that you care for. I know how difficult it is for people like us to have such emotions.”
“Oh, ah… yes, indeed,” Professor Bardsley replied, smiling back at her and blushing a little.
She rested her head on his shoulder briefly, giving Lili a glance before returning all her attention back to Bardsley. Without unwrapping her arms, Pallada moved around to face him. The ability to fly came in quite handy while performing this maneuver.
“I’m so happy I met you,” she lifted up one of her arms to run it through his beautiful hair, savouring the sensation against her fingers. His face turned even redder as she did so. “And I’m happy that you care for me as much as I care about you.”
With that, Pallada hovered up until she was eye-level with him, brought her head forward and closed her eyes, giving him a passionate kiss. Whatever Lili’s reaction would be to this, it could wait. She could enjoy one thing at a time.
Speaking of enjoyment, the man who didn’t usually feel strong emotions was flooded with some very pleasurable ones at that moment. Professor Bardsley couldn’t help but return the kiss, losing himself in the moment and almost completely forgetting about what was going on with Lili. Before long, he had his arms wrapped around Pallada in a warm embrace...
Paralyzed on her knees by no physical force, Lili began to quietly sob as she watched their romantic display. In fantasies that had formed in past times, it was her kissing him, not Pallada. He demonstrated enough that Pallada was the only woman he was interested in. For all of her efforts and daydreams, Lili was nothing to Bardsley. She had been deluded about every aspect with him. Watching the two embrace hurt her worse than the runes. He could have been a force of happiness, she thought, and he could have been with her...
The kiss lasted for a good while as Pallada took the time to savour it. Even without imagining Lili’s reaction, Bardsley kissing her was still a sensation she loved greatly, especially when he embraced her like that. Being a ghost and not needing to draw breath helped too. Finally, however, she tore herself away and smiled for a moment as she looked at Bardsley. Unlike her usual smiles though, this one was a warm, genuine one. He returned the smile: a loving, legitimately adorable smile, which could have shattered poor Lili’s heart. However, the moment was soon lost when Pallada glanced over at Lili, her warm smile immediately replaced with her usual vicious grin.
Pallada sighed as she relaxed and become incorporeal again, drifting out of Bardsley’s arms and over to Lili. She laughed slightly as she looked her over, seeing tears flowing down Lili’s cheeks.
“I know this was not a method I proposed but it nevertheless bears mentioning for the sake of completion: ghosts are just as capable of having emotional trauma inflicted upon them as they do physical and it is inflicted upon them in the same way that it would be inflicted upon a living human,” she said in a satisfied tone before moved around Lili and gripping her arms again. “I hope I have laid out my argument on why your theory of the world is wrong, Ms. Parker. I told you before to not expect a happy ending and now, I hope you understand what I mean more fully.”
“Understand this, *****!”
Professor Bardsley’s eyes widened. “Diana!”
Pallada turned her head just as the water arcing through the air hit her. She screamed. The water burned and her ghostly shape fell apart, large chunks of her essence disappearing into thin air. She could not maintain her grip on Lili and was forced to let go of her. Pallada wrapped her arms around herself, trying to quite literally keep herself together despite the pain. Holy sea water. She HATED that stuff.
Looking like a ragged sheet, Pallada floated towards Bardsley. He moved in front of her protectively as she hid behind him, not wanting to be hit by the seawater again. Both of them turned to glare at the newcomer: the nun, Lucille. Pallada gave an angry, impotent hiss but the water had weakened her too much to fight right now.
Satisfied that Pallada was safely neutralised, Lucille corked the bottle of seawater and aimed her (real) gun at Bardsley.
“Leo heard you shouting and sent me to deal with this pair,” Lucille said quickly to Lili, giving her a quick lookover. The bruise around her neck looked like it was fresh instead of old as before and there was what looked like a burn around her shoulder but otherwise, she seemed fine. Good enough to get away on her own two feet, which was all Lucille needed.
“Don’t gawk, just run. Run!” she shouted to Lili, still keeping her weapon firmly fixed on a point at the centre of Bardsley’s forehead.
As the arms that held her fell away, Lili forced herself to her feet. She was grateful and surprised that someone had heard her pleas. She swung around looking for the best way out, shaking off her resignation to helplessness. The church would be safe, so she staggered off in that direction as quickly as she could. She could hide away there where the holy would deter her torturers, and perhaps Leopold could find her there.
Professor Bardsley’s eyes narrowed. As much as he wanted to make Lucille suffer for interrupting, for what she did to Diana—he even already had all his ghost-harming materials with him!—he knew it would be a bad idea while Pallada was injured and there was a gun trained on him. Loath as he was to do it, it seemed the best option at this point was to retreat.
“You’ll come to regret that,” he snarled, continuing to guard Pallada as he carefully pulled away from the scene. “Come on, Diana.”
Pallada snarled but she was far too weak to do anything to Lucille. Besides, it was unlikely that she would tolerate another blast from that holy water.
“We’ve gotten what we wanted here anyway, Leland,” she murmured in his ear and began to drift away with him, always making sure he was between her and Lucille. “We can always continue another time if we do not have enough information.”
Professor Bardsley managed a small, twisted smile at that. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Yeah, you better get out of here,” Lucille glared at the two as she watched them go. This was surprisingly easy. She did not expect Bardsley to back down without a fight. But then again, he was a smart man. It was likely that even with the resurrection potion helping him, he knew dying would still hurt. She looked back at Lili, making sure the girl got out of their sight before she lowered the gun.
“******* sickos,” she spat and moved on after Lili towards the church.
Dr. Diana Pallada looked up at the sound of the voice, and was greeted with a familiar face standing in the doorway: Professor Leland G. Bardsley. She smiled when she saw him. He looked as serene and in control as always but his eyes behind his glasses were a bit more thoughtful than usual, which was saying a lot. Even normally, he looked like he was thinking more than ordinary people. Something was on his mind and she wanted to know what.
“Yes, Leland? What is it?” she asked and drifted over to him. “Did you need something? I would be glad to help you with anything you want.”
“Ah, no. Well, sort of,” was Professor Bardsley’s response. “It’s more of something I’ve been curious about for a while now, and I was hoping for your input.”
“My input? Why, certainly. Just tell me the subject and I will be glad to voice my thoughts on the matter, or more if necessary,” Pallada flashed him a grin.
Professor Bardsley chuckled politely. He always knew he could count on Diana when he needed her. She was so intelligent, and always offered such invaluable insight. “Well, I’ve been wondering: what, exactly, can harm ghosts?”
“Harm ghosts?” This gave Pallada pause as she gathered her thoughts on the matter. She gave a small, demented laugh. “From personal experience and observation, I can say for certain that the following hurt ghosts: salt, holy water, special ghostbusting equipment, other ghosts and most importantly, ghost weapons, the last one being how I ended up in the void. Theoretically, there are also rituals in order to drive us out, superstitions to ward us off and occult symbols which could do us harm but I have not encountered them personally or experimented with them so I cannot say that they work for certain.”
“Hm… interesting.” Professor Bardsley mused on this for a moment. “Perhaps it would be worth further study…”
Pallada laughed at the remark. “Of course, anything like this is worth further study. Especially for a mind such as yours,” She suddenly grimaced, “Of course, I am not keen to partake in such a study as a test subject. I do not like pain, Leland, I hope you understand, and you would not inflict pain on a fellow intellectual such as myself, right? Not even you are that cruel.”
“What? Oh, no, of course not,” Professor Bardsley assured her. “I would never do such things to you, Diana.”
“Thank you. But in that case, for this study, we are going to need to find somebody else to take the punishments that a test subject would have to endure,” Pallada said.
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Professor Bardsley said with an eerily pleasant smile. “But who could we use for our research?”
“Luckily for us, thanks to the efforts of you and your colleagues, we have a selection of ghosts to choose from. However, our test subject must be one who is easy to track down, capture and would be no great loss if we killed them,” Pallada said with a small laugh. “While it would be a delight to see her gone, the nun, Lucille Erata, is more trouble than she is worth. I like Christopher, he amuses me and it would be a shame if we killed him, accidentally or otherwise. Which leaves either Leopold Endicott or Liliana Parker. Either would be good choices but you know them better than me. What do you think, Leland?”
Professor Bardsley thought on this. Mr. Endicott was such an interesting fellow. He was a hair stylist with a taste for the unique, with a penchant for always being very flamboyant and over-the-top. This didn’t change, even after he was killed by Abominable Aifam. But now, he was known to be a very zealous member of the Resistance. If they did anything to him, he would fight back; that much Professor Bardsley was sure of.
Ms. Parker, however…
He remembered her as the innocent young blue-haired woman who had attempted to form an investigation party with him just over six months ago, all while remaining completely oblivious to his true nature. He chuckled to himself at the thought. She had no idea that Professor Bardsley himself was one of the murderers that she was trying so desperately to stop. When she finally found out, Liliana Parker was in tears. And ultimately, for her efforts, the woman ended up being killed by the mafia. By her own best friend, no less. The whole ordeal had thoroughly broken her, and it really was quite amusing to him.
As a ghost, Ms. Parker had a decidedly different appearance than before her death. Her previously blue hair had turned red, and she would no longer wear the dainty doll dresses she did before. The first time Professor Bardsley saw this new form of hers was a moment that stuck out in his mind: it was shortly after the mafia takeover, and she was among the several (as was Mr. Endicott, come to think of it) who came forward and shouted bitter words at him and the rest of the mafia. In fact, Ms. Parker had made some rather accusatory comments directed at him specifically, telling him that he would never understand what it was like to feel emotions. She was wrong, of course... as both he and Pallada were able to explain to her shortly afterward.
He glanced over at Pallada. The woman who he understood so perfectly, and vice versa. The woman whom he had made so much excellent research with, and who had even taught him so much about himself. The woman who… he ultimately had fallen in love with, something he hadn’t previously thought was possible.
Yes, it seemed Liliana Parker was very wrong about him.
“I think Ms. Parker would be an excellent candidate,” he eventually concluded. “Mr. Endicott is an interesting possibility, but I think he would be less likely to… cooperate.” He chuckled. “I wonder where she is?”
Pallada grinned widely, “From my rare observations of her in the town, she appears to move around. But nevertheless, she does appear in Aifam Cove occasionally. We can always try to find her...I would love to see what Ms. Parker is up to and whether she has changed her naive viewpoint,” she drifted through Bardsley and towards the door. “Aifam Cove is small. Let’s look around, Leland.”
Professor Bardlsey chuckled darkly. “Sounds like a plan.”
---
The epiphanies were not coming to Liliana Parker as she had hoped they would. She was restlessly wandering the world, but not a step closer to finding her abstract mark. Despite her efforts to deny it for Leopold’s sake, she felt mostly dead. It made her wonder why the universe was not allowing her to move on, but the answers came to her much quicker than she would have liked. As it also came with them, she knew there had to be a scrap of something she could take from her past life and make a new one from- proof she hadn’t wasted it away with her selfish deeds and her delusion.
Lili had to talk to Leo again, and find out what it was that she was missing, to fix her metaphorical compass and find the elusive path to self-realization. For another time, the young wanderer found herself back in Aifam Cove. She might as well check up on Alma while she was there. She greatly hoped that her friend had not murdered anyone in her absence; a second later she regrettingly noted the familiarity of the thought. Alma was certainly a lot to handle, and their uncertain relationship together was one of the many forces that dragged Lili in every direction. She resigned to visit Leopold first, and floated into the town to seek him out.
When she started on Stalberry, it wasn’t a friend she found, but two people she would have been perfectly content never to see again.
Pallada smirked happily as she spotted Liliana. She disappeared into the nearby wall and then reappeared in an instant behind the ghost. Grabbing her arms, Pallada pressed Lili down forcefully, pushing her knee into her back to keep her from fighting Pallada off.
If Lili still had breath, it would have flown from her as Pallada had brought her to her knees. She had foreseen that they would not have left her without a confrontation, but was still shocked with the corporeal sensation of Pallada’s violent hold on her. Touch itself had grown foreign over the past few months. She was not willing to hurt even villains like them, but she had to escape somehow, or… They were terrible and she feared the things they might do to her, even in a public space.
“It seems like we’ve run into Ms. Parker first, Leland. Lucky for us,” Pallada smiled up at Bardsley.
“Good day, Ms. Parker,” Professor Bardsley spoke, his voice smooth and charming as usual. “We’ve decided to do a bit of a… study, so to speak. We thought you’d make an excellent candidate.”
“Where shall we begin?” Pallada asked. “I would not be insulted at all if you decided to confirm my experiences with things such as salt and holy water, or we can move on to what I have been unable to tell you about. I am curious myself to see what works on a ghost and what does not.”
“What is this?” Lili hissed, trying futilely to phase away from Pallada’s grasp. The meaning from between the words stung through. Though the answer she had inferred, she squeaked, “What are you intending to do to me?”
Professor Bardsley said nothing, chuckling softly. Then he reached into the tote bag he was carrying, pulling out a brand new, sealed container of table salt. Considering what Pallada had said, and that salt had been known to harm ghosts in the past, it wasn’t hard to guess what he was planning on doing with it.
“No!” Lili gasped, as a cascade of memories of her own wrongdoing flashed across her mind. She thought that salt hurt only wicked ghosts, but she considered herself among them in a minor form. If it touched her, she thought it would hurt like her darkest memories of Alma. In trying to distance herself from the substance, she wound up further restrained. Pallada made sure she did not get out of her grip while at the same time positioning Lili in front of herself, using the latter as a shield against the salt. This required her to partially fade into the ground in order to be low enough but she made up for her lack of leverage by simply gripping Lili harder.
“You see, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of ghosts is something we would have a vested interest in,” Professor Bardsley continued, breaking open the container and pouring some salt into his other hand. “I know this one was rather uncomfortable for me. Shall we see what it does to you?”
Lili froze in place as Bardsley approached her with the now-opened canister of salt. To scream at the salt would be putting her guilty conscience on display, and perhaps if she was truly a dark force, then she deserved whatever suffering was about to come upon her. She braced herself as he unceremoniously hurled the salt at her form. She was expecting agony, and was partially relieved to feel instead quiet pain, like pinpricks, where it had landed. She cried out softly, not hurt but surprised, perplexed on why it hadn’t harmed her more. She was safe for that moment, but it was foolish to pretend her tormentors would let her off with only a fraction of their experiment done. Once again, the two of them had made Lili incredibly vulnerable, but this time they had so many new ways they could do her harm.
Professor Bardsley, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow, seeming puzzled. “Hm. That didn’t have as much of an effect as I thought it would...”
“Interesting. It seems that salt only works on ghosts who have committed some form of sin, like me or other mafia members. It is similar to what I suspected but nevertheless, it is a good find,” Pallada said calmly. Even so, a scowl flashed across her face for a moment at the salt’s lack of effectiveness. “Nevertheless, we have more methods we should experiment with. This is only the beginning.”
The ineffectiveness of the salt had surprised Lili when Pallada confirmed that it only hurt sinners. Had she really been that innocent? To her, it did not seem so, but the facts seemed to point that way despite her heart. Her fears were confirmed that her aggressor's trials would continue. The panic that had been slowly filling her began to rise. She watched them with wide eyes as they prepared to continue with the cruel experiment.
“Well, if salt doesn’t work, I doubt holy water will have much effect, either… let’s see what else we have here…” Professor Bardsley rummaged myriad of items he had stashed away in his bag, all of them claimed to be harmful to ghosts.
As he rummaged, Pallada once again rose up from the ground and returned to her old position in which she held Lili, now that the salt was out of the way, She grimaced slightly as a few lingering specks touched her form but he pain, however, was not enough to detract from the experiment. This was so fascinating.
As she realized how trapped she was, Lili begged, “Please. You don’t have to do this.” The moment she called the words out, they seemed as terribly, viscerally familiar as the position she was forced into. They were vivid ties to her death, and to Alma. The pain of demise shot through her, but her hands could not reach her throat this time. She bit her lip, not wanting to give Pallada or Bardsley the satisfaction of hearing her scream. It was no use and a distressed cry flew from her.
However, Professor Bardsley didn’t seem to be paying much attention. “Ah, here we go,” he remarked, pulling something else out of his bag—a book. He flipped it open to reveal that it contained a number of symbols that were supposed to ward off ghosts. He picked one in particular, then approached Lili with it.
Lili felt a dizzying blow like a punch to the head as he touched it lightly to her shoulder. Something like the marks of a burn radiated from the spot of contact and through her entire shoulder. She gasped, struggling to gather herself and noting the thickness of the book. He methodically turned the pages and introduced new icons to her form, but thankfully none of them compared to the very first one he chose. She realized had she taken a different route to the church, she would have had Leopold’s companionship instead of being subjected to the couple’s torment.
“Hm. Interesting,” Professor Bardsley remarked, making note of which symbols had the most effect. “Well then, I suppose the next thing to test would be… ghost weapons.” He smiled at Pallada. “Which I shall leave in your capable hands, Diana.”
Pallada frowned as she thought about this. Her weapons had been taken from her before she was condemned to the void and unfortunately, she had not acquired any new ones. The vials of poison and the small pistol she had kept on her person in Wafflenet had disappeared along with her revenant powers. However, soon, the frown was replaced by her usual vicious grin. She was inventive and among her many, many fields of study that history had provided her with was a fine working knowledge of torture devices and what they did. She would find a way. A weapon was merely a thing designed to inflict physical damage and that definition was broad.
She gave Bardsley and nod and first dug her fingernails deep into Lili’s arm to measure her pain response. They did not pass through her but instead dug in, leaving marks as they would on a normal human. It was so interesting. Lili obviously felt the nails tear through her, as her solemn expression contorted with a shriek when Pallada clawed. Despite their lack of a nervous system, or anything that perceived pain, ghosts still felt it. It must have been a psychological response. The pain reflex was deeply ingrained in the human mind, which explained why it was so often used and abused over the course of history for all sorts of purposes.
Perhaps it was not just pain. Pallada’s grin grew even wider and more vicious. There was something she could use as an improvised weapon. It would not hurt, not as much as a knife or a gun would, but it would nevertheless cause Lili enough discomfort to be enough for the purposes of their research and prove the point that ghosts are affected by ghost items as the living are by ordinary items. Furthermore, it would give more evidence to her theory that pain and death in ghosts were more psychological than physical.
“Hold still, Ms. Parker,” Pallada murmured in Lili’s ear before throwing her to the ground and putting a foot on her to keep the pressure on Lili, making her escape harder. She then shucked off her jacket and began winding it tightly around itself. In torture, it was always more effective to let the victim know what method they were going to use to that the anticipation of the pain would begin to do their work for them. But this was not torture, this was research, so Lili’s reaction had to be authentic. She remained silent as she formed the jacket into a makeshift rope.
In Pallada’s study of Aifam, she had taken care to read up on each individual death, whether it was done by the mafia or the townspeople, which in most cases turned out to be the individual Morty Gunderson. It was important for her research to know every single detail, even if that detail was ultimately irrelevant to the grand theory. She had to know in case it was. But in doing so, she had found out that Lili had died by being suffocated with a scarf. It would make an interesting addendum to find out how ghosts reacted to being introduced to the method by which they became ghosts in death.
“I won’t kill you,” Pallada stated matter-of-factly before she released the pressure off Lili and brought the jacket up around her neck, wrapping it around her tightly and using it to hold her in place. Slowly, she then begun to count. If ghosts were the same as humans, two minutes should be enough. Pallada was frail as a human so it was unlikely she would exert enough pressure to suffocate Lili in that time but it would be enough to cause her pain.
After the crude garotte was drawn around her past-mangled neck, it was only a moment before Lili was writhing in agony before Pallada. She had thought her previous flashback to her death was painful, but she was wrong. It may have been that the distressing reprises were lessening before, but months of recovery were undone in that instant. Instinct was telling her that the promise she would endure it was false. It was too much, it was excruciating, and she could not bear another second of it.
“Ooh, very clever,” Professor Bardsley remarked, as Lili squirmed in her intense discomfort. “Using a ghost’s method of death against them.” For a brief moment, as the words left his lips, he felt his own throat clench—memories of a blade that split it open once. But he ignored it, continuing to watch Lili’s reaction with interest.
Lilii found silence began to take its hold on her, although she shouldn’t have needed blood or air in her ghostly form.“Help! Leopold! Alma! Anyone? Help me... I can’t take this! I can’t…” Help did not arrive.
The strangulation was coming from the inside and out. The pain from it all was debilitating, and her hands failed to wrench the rope away from her throat, Lili’s voice failed her. It was Alma and Pallada collapsing her throat at the same time. She had trusted Alma so much, had kept her welfare on the top of her mind, and had lost her life by her hands. Even more so than Bardsley, but perhaps less connivingly, she had betrayed her. The betrayal felt in a dingy restroom of a movie theater, where a single risky decision ended her. It was Alma’s choice. It was her best friend Alma’s choice to kill her. Though she was aware of the accomplices, it didn’t register as greatly with her. It was Alma holding her vulnerable to her knees, Alma binding the scarf around her throat, and Alma abandoning her to death with cold and dizzy words. She had been too close to Bardsley and Alma and the cost was heavily felt from unknowingly loving two Mafiosos.
Finally, after two minutes had elapsed, Pallada loosened the jacket around Lili’s neck and let her catch her breath, or at least recover from being choked. Casually, she got up, knowing that it was unlikely that Lili would go anywhere after that for a little while and unwrapped her jacket. Pallada shook the creases out of it and put it back on her, smoothing it out and acquiring a grip on the other ghost before she could recover enough to run.
Lili slumped in Pallada’s arms, feeling the bursts of pain jump out from her system. They weren’t finished with her yet. She felt small and breakable, like a porcelain doll. “Bardsley… Stop this horrid experiment! This isn’t science, this is torture. Torture. I trusted you,” she choked, looking at Bardsley in the eyes, “With all else wicked you brought, you now do this to me! At least Alma meant well.” Her voice dropped to an almost-whisper. “I- I had loved you, Bardsley. Haven’t you broken me enough already?”
This time, Lili’s cries gave Professor Bardsley pause. He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. “You… what?”
Pallada was also slightly taken aback by Lili’s words. Her first reaction was to grip Lili even tighter, gritting her teeth and scowling. She loved him, yet she was completely unworthy of him? It was disgusting.
But in a split second, her scowl had turned into a wide grin. She threw her head back and burst out laughing. The laugh was loud and piercing, full of the sadistic amusement that she normally felt when dealing with foolish, naive individuals like Lili. Clearly, Lili had not matured at all since they had met last time.
“Humans are resilient, which means there are always new ways to break a person. Just when you think things cannot get any worse and you’ve had enough, there are always new ways in which you can still suffer,” she hissed, just inches away from Lili’s ear. “You amuse me and fascinate me. Your naivety is so typical of foolish people who believe in the just world theory. But you say you loved Leland? Did you love him while knowing all the while what he was? I doubt it, otherwise you would not have been surprised at this turn of events. But regardless, I wonder what it must feel like for you; to love somebody who would never love you back.”
Lili shivered, the combined pressure of Pallada’s laughter, her words and grasp, suffocating her. She wished that Bardsley had not been false, and that in that illusion of a world, they would have been quite the pair. Now she was at a sadist’s mercy, who reminded her that for all she fallen she still had farther to go. She could tell Pallada intended to send her into those depths.
Faint doubt entered Pallada’s mind and she glanced up at Bardsley. Her smile was fairly even but her eyes behind her glasses glittered angrily. “Unless...Leland, tell me, have you ever felt anything for Ms. Parker? I do not believe you do but in our professions, it does not do to make assumptions. I want to hear it in your own words.”
Professor Bardsley had been silent during the exchange, seeming thoughtful, but at this point he looked up. Before hearing his answer, Lili already knew what it would be.
“Of course I didn’t,” came the words from Bardsley’s lips, like a dagger to Lili’s heart. “I’m a sociopath; I’ve never cared for anyone besides you, Diana.” And then, to twist the blade, he started to laugh. “I never realized you actually had feelings like that for me, Ms. Parker. How... interesting. I suppose it makes sense, looking back on it...”
Pallada smiled. She did not doubt that Bardsley cared about her but there was something about hearing him say it which made it even better. The fact that he was bringing down Lili at the same time somehow made it all the better. She wondered what cognitive dissonance Lili would use to reconcile her belief in a just world with this new revelation.
Or perhaps she could break Lili’s world view completely by hammering home the point.
“Don’t run, Ms. Parker, I think you’ll want to see this,” Pallada murmured in Lili’s ear and unwrapped her arms from her. She disappeared into the ground and reappeared in front of Bardsley before Lili could even blink.
“Leland,” Pallada turned towards Bardsley. She flew behind him and put her arms around him, focusing on becoming more solid so that she could touch him. “It’s such an honour, being somebody that you care for. I know how difficult it is for people like us to have such emotions.”
“Oh, ah… yes, indeed,” Professor Bardsley replied, smiling back at her and blushing a little.
She rested her head on his shoulder briefly, giving Lili a glance before returning all her attention back to Bardsley. Without unwrapping her arms, Pallada moved around to face him. The ability to fly came in quite handy while performing this maneuver.
“I’m so happy I met you,” she lifted up one of her arms to run it through his beautiful hair, savouring the sensation against her fingers. His face turned even redder as she did so. “And I’m happy that you care for me as much as I care about you.”
With that, Pallada hovered up until she was eye-level with him, brought her head forward and closed her eyes, giving him a passionate kiss. Whatever Lili’s reaction would be to this, it could wait. She could enjoy one thing at a time.
Speaking of enjoyment, the man who didn’t usually feel strong emotions was flooded with some very pleasurable ones at that moment. Professor Bardsley couldn’t help but return the kiss, losing himself in the moment and almost completely forgetting about what was going on with Lili. Before long, he had his arms wrapped around Pallada in a warm embrace...
Paralyzed on her knees by no physical force, Lili began to quietly sob as she watched their romantic display. In fantasies that had formed in past times, it was her kissing him, not Pallada. He demonstrated enough that Pallada was the only woman he was interested in. For all of her efforts and daydreams, Lili was nothing to Bardsley. She had been deluded about every aspect with him. Watching the two embrace hurt her worse than the runes. He could have been a force of happiness, she thought, and he could have been with her...
The kiss lasted for a good while as Pallada took the time to savour it. Even without imagining Lili’s reaction, Bardsley kissing her was still a sensation she loved greatly, especially when he embraced her like that. Being a ghost and not needing to draw breath helped too. Finally, however, she tore herself away and smiled for a moment as she looked at Bardsley. Unlike her usual smiles though, this one was a warm, genuine one. He returned the smile: a loving, legitimately adorable smile, which could have shattered poor Lili’s heart. However, the moment was soon lost when Pallada glanced over at Lili, her warm smile immediately replaced with her usual vicious grin.
Pallada sighed as she relaxed and become incorporeal again, drifting out of Bardsley’s arms and over to Lili. She laughed slightly as she looked her over, seeing tears flowing down Lili’s cheeks.
“I know this was not a method I proposed but it nevertheless bears mentioning for the sake of completion: ghosts are just as capable of having emotional trauma inflicted upon them as they do physical and it is inflicted upon them in the same way that it would be inflicted upon a living human,” she said in a satisfied tone before moved around Lili and gripping her arms again. “I hope I have laid out my argument on why your theory of the world is wrong, Ms. Parker. I told you before to not expect a happy ending and now, I hope you understand what I mean more fully.”
“Understand this, *****!”
Professor Bardsley’s eyes widened. “Diana!”
Pallada turned her head just as the water arcing through the air hit her. She screamed. The water burned and her ghostly shape fell apart, large chunks of her essence disappearing into thin air. She could not maintain her grip on Lili and was forced to let go of her. Pallada wrapped her arms around herself, trying to quite literally keep herself together despite the pain. Holy sea water. She HATED that stuff.
Looking like a ragged sheet, Pallada floated towards Bardsley. He moved in front of her protectively as she hid behind him, not wanting to be hit by the seawater again. Both of them turned to glare at the newcomer: the nun, Lucille. Pallada gave an angry, impotent hiss but the water had weakened her too much to fight right now.
Satisfied that Pallada was safely neutralised, Lucille corked the bottle of seawater and aimed her (real) gun at Bardsley.
“Leo heard you shouting and sent me to deal with this pair,” Lucille said quickly to Lili, giving her a quick lookover. The bruise around her neck looked like it was fresh instead of old as before and there was what looked like a burn around her shoulder but otherwise, she seemed fine. Good enough to get away on her own two feet, which was all Lucille needed.
“Don’t gawk, just run. Run!” she shouted to Lili, still keeping her weapon firmly fixed on a point at the centre of Bardsley’s forehead.
As the arms that held her fell away, Lili forced herself to her feet. She was grateful and surprised that someone had heard her pleas. She swung around looking for the best way out, shaking off her resignation to helplessness. The church would be safe, so she staggered off in that direction as quickly as she could. She could hide away there where the holy would deter her torturers, and perhaps Leopold could find her there.
Professor Bardsley’s eyes narrowed. As much as he wanted to make Lucille suffer for interrupting, for what she did to Diana—he even already had all his ghost-harming materials with him!—he knew it would be a bad idea while Pallada was injured and there was a gun trained on him. Loath as he was to do it, it seemed the best option at this point was to retreat.
“You’ll come to regret that,” he snarled, continuing to guard Pallada as he carefully pulled away from the scene. “Come on, Diana.”
Pallada snarled but she was far too weak to do anything to Lucille. Besides, it was unlikely that she would tolerate another blast from that holy water.
“We’ve gotten what we wanted here anyway, Leland,” she murmured in his ear and began to drift away with him, always making sure he was between her and Lucille. “We can always continue another time if we do not have enough information.”
Professor Bardsley managed a small, twisted smile at that. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Yeah, you better get out of here,” Lucille glared at the two as she watched them go. This was surprisingly easy. She did not expect Bardsley to back down without a fight. But then again, he was a smart man. It was likely that even with the resurrection potion helping him, he knew dying would still hurt. She looked back at Lili, making sure the girl got out of their sight before she lowered the gun.
“******* sickos,” she spat and moved on after Lili towards the church.