Upper Fens Of things Alive and Dead

[Jules Durand]

Day Walker in Effect

Jules pulled his car up into the small parking space then turned the key off at the wheel. The dealer had wanted him to get one with a button that he pressed while always having a key in his pocket. That bothered Jules for a reason he couldn't exactly explain. He had only driven in the last couple years and while he was perfectly proficient the machine was still foreign to him. Just shy of two tons of metal and plastics screwed together and averaging speeds that would put a purebred horse to shame all for the low price of the pulped and pumped bones of long dead lizards.

What a world to live in.

Jules pulled at the handle and opened the door to his black car. The sunlight seared against him and he narrowed his eyes as he stood up, a shadow of black bones playing across his exposed flesh for a moment. He straightened his crisp suit and adjusted the watch on his wrist with casual slowness, as if insulting the sun and its paltry attempts to needle him with its cleansing light. Wasn't enough five hundred years ago, not enough today.

Speaking of today, Jules looked pale... his skin tight against him and his eyes sunken. He would need to ground in a day or so and he was looking forward to it. He'd taken a trip to Boston not to long ago and offered a nice young man a few hundred dollars for a tour of some of the seedier locations that would take him to whatever drugs were popular in such circles. Then after inhaling a series of things that did nothing to his very dead respiratory system he'd talked the young man into an agreement. The agreement wasn't particularly favorable for the young man but magic didn't care about fair most of the time.

They shook on it and then the man died. Oh he was still walking around and talking to people, but he was dead. Empty inside, all hollowed out and just going through the motions. He would start to rot inside too, not his organs but everything that made him... him. Not that he was a beloved member of the community. The part that was gone though, the part Jules had hollowed out. That had come back to Easthaven with the lich. It had come back with him and was held inside his Phylactery. In a day or so Jules would need to ground and he was looking forward to taking in that soul.

The old man pushed open the door to Spiritum and heard a chime go off when he did.

Looking at the shop it didn't look that different from half the other esoteric shops that the walking corpse had visited since coming to Easthaven. It was a comfort and an annoyance. So many little shops but so few results... Still though, he was feeling lucky today.

"Is there anyone who can help me?" he asked, his voice sounding strained with age but not weak. Reedy might be a good word for it.

[Serafina Duarte]

outfit

“One second, please.” Serafina called from the back room. Normally, she would have emerged with only the rattle of the beaded curtain announcing her presence. She gave time for the customer to browse unrushed. Of course, there were some who entered Spiritum and knew exactly what they wanted. This man sounded like that kind of customer.

It took more than a second for Serafina to work her way from the back room. She parted the veil between rooms, and it rustled to her touch. With fingertips brushing the wall as she moved towards the cash register, Serafina kept her head up, yet her eyes were affixed to a spot somewhere towards the wall.

Her t-shirt may have not looked like much, but it was a Maharishi original, as was the hoodie; just something she threw on. She settled on the stool behind the short glass counter, an array of crystals and trinkets haphazardly arranged on the shelves. “How can I help you?” She asked the room with a quiet smile.

[Jules Durand]

The lich entered the store and looked around as he waited for the arrival of whoever called back to him when he asked for help. After a second a young woman appeared and made her way behind the counter. As usual the undead watched with quiet intensity to a new person's movements. The flash of tensing muscles and the flow of their body, he made a mental note of how she held herself and some flash decisions on how her musculature was likely arranged. He also noted her hand against the wall, the certain but unaware motions, her steady stare. This young woman was without a doubt blind. Rather obviously so the lich thought to himself. This was actually rather pleasant he considered, no longer bothering to mask his facial features or the own flow of his body.

He didn't need to focus on twitching the muscles in his face to smile or scowl. He didn't need to force a natural rise and fall of his chest or those little swaying motions that the living always did. Instead he became very very still in a way that came easy to the dead. When he moved the motions were fast and neat, no wasted movements as he knew every muscle he needed to use to make the effort. When he arrived at the counter he looked with care at the young woman's face. Rather her head, she had he decided- a very nice head. The skull was a lovely shape and would likely make a pleasant ornament on a shelf one day should someone have the wherewithall to collect it.

"Hello. I was hoping to inquire about any... unusual items you may have for sale. Things of an occult nature, old things that is... not this... Not any of these crystals or bobbles up front." Jules said. His voice pleasant but just as reedy as when he first called out.

He'd worked on this line of phrasing since his first few visits to stores where he openly declared he wanted magic items and the aid of someone to help him craft new ones. Several of those visits had turned into near threats on the shopkeepers lives due to their insistent that he was a madman. See how much of a madman he was when they were calling exorcists to sort out the little hauntings he had laid on them. Stupid wretches.

[Serafina Duarte]

He moved closer. Serafina knew this by the swish of fabric and the steady footfalls in her direction. She placed him somewhere before her and adjusted her head as he spoke. She stared as if watching something out the store-front windows behind him. A wry smile grew on her lips as the man explained his situation.

“I’m sorry none of my crystals or bobbles interest you.” No offense taken; she heard it all before. “Spiritum specializes in healing and renewal. I don’t deal in antiques. Is there something specific I can help you find?”

Serafina sat still as she spoke. She made no gestures and few mannerisms. Her expression remained pleasantly placid.

[Jules Durand]

None of my.

She said it was a kind of quiet confident authority that told Jules she had some say in the store as a whole. Not a simple desk clerk like most the other stores' employed as their faces. He leaned forward while his body released the slightest of low creaks, his face growing nearer to the girl who adjusted her own posture to be looking more at his direct position. "Do you ever have anyone come in hoping to sell items they claim are capable of real magic?" he asked more directly. He was planning to avoid being this direct but the woman couldn't actually see him so her testimony could hardly affect his reputation. And if she did get too uppity he would just curse her with hauntings... or maybe kill her directly. He couldn't help but think that such a girl alone in this store was remarkably brave... and vulnerable.

The lich's dead eyes watched her face for microtwitches and expressions before asking, rather abruptly, "How long have you been blind, child?" he asked.

[Serafina Duarte]

Serafina flinched when he spoke again, not realizing how close he came. She did her best not to shirk back, but it was difficult when she couldn’t see where he was. His question also reminded her of Billy, the latest to walk in searching for real magic. She’d explained effulgence to him. Yet this man and his questions struck a different chord with her.

“Not often—” Serafina admitted, and then he asked about her blindness. She hesitated. “—Since I was two years old. Why do you ask?”

[Jules Durand]

"Because I am curious." he said simply. He was still... very still. He looked over the girl, at the shop, at the things for sale and what might be done with them. How much was useful and how much wasn't.

He looked at her and considered things like potential and effort... he looked into her dead eyes.

That was how he thought of them. Dead.

If someone was watching him he would have smiled. He went for broke.

"Are you magic child?" he asked calmly.

[Serafina Duarte]

If he hadn’t spoken, Serafina would have been hard pressed to know he was even there. It was as if the sounds of life stopped at his border and dared not cross. She sat still herself, unsure how to respond and fighting a dreadful unease rising within her. There were always one or two sought true enlightenment. Again, she thought of Billy, and to those she would have opened the doors wide. However, this person was Billy’s antithesis. He offered nothing but questions, and those questions made her cautious to engage.

“I don’t think you will find what you seek here.” Better to dissuade him now.

[Jules Durand]

Jules looked at her as she displayed a range of expressions, not starkly different ones but small ones. Touches of facial muscles that came with the small sparks of thought that moved the human meat suit most existed in. Jules was after all intimately familiar with the human body in its many peculiarities. Did he detect surprise when he spoke? Apprehension? The exact emotion didn't matter, as a whole emotions didn't matter save when used in magic for the only thing that did matter.

Results.

Jules moved his hand to his neck and adjusted his tie.

If this girl was as the Lich believed he could turn her into his newest student and eventually a powerful necromancer. If she was not... well she still had mortal blood that he could use in rituals himself. In the end he would only use a few resources and time, both things he had in abundance. When he spoke his voice held the trace of his French accent as well as something more decisive and commanding.

"Mademoiselle, I will make this simple." He said. He was no longer as close to her as he hoped that small distance would make her feel more comfortable. Even if that comfortable safety was just an illusion. "I require aid in certain matters of rite and ritual. If you help me, I will help grant you sight. I swear this on my power." He said, feeling the words bind into his very bones as he spoke them.

[Serafina Duarte]

Now they were on to business. Serafina appreciated the straightforwardness, even if his promise made a knowing smile of her lips. Such a bold claim to build upon assumptions. He thought her broken and something to fix. In that, the Frenchman reminded Serafina of her father. Both her parents tried so hard to fix her.

“Many have tried before you. All have failed.” All but one, and Serafina didn’t talk about that ill-fated witch often. That spell twisted her vision and elevated her sight to another plane. Miraculous sights lay before her, but it didn’t help with the day-to-day. She still didn’t know her colors, or have the language to describe anything therein. Painful lessons awaited her. The spirit realm was not meant for mortal eyes and had no notion of reality as a mortal might. Astride both, Serafina could not rely upon what she saw nor that it had a counterpart in the real world. Now she stole glances like a bashful schoolgirl.

“What power do you swear this?” More confrontational than her character ascribed, but she wouldn’t be drawn into a charlatan’s lies.

[Jules Durand]

Jules watched the child as she assumed a more business-like approach to their conversation. That was preferable to him, he only had so much tolerance for the whims of children and their outbursts. Not that this girl was some mewling thing, but he'd seen too much of such things. People trying to grow into who they were meant to be as if it was a process that halted once you reached your goal. The single defining trait of true life was that growth... without it you would be truly something dead.

The woman told Jules that many had tried and failed but the lich cared little for the flailing of others. He assumed they worked to heal something and while that was a fine effort it was one path to tread. The lich had always been one to walk those roads least travelled though.

However when she asked on what power he swore on the lich calmly extended out his hand, palm up. "May I see your hand, child" he said solemnly. Should she provide it, Jules would let the skin of his face recede, dropping the necromantic shroud that gathered and formed the false trappings of a man over his bones. The old thing would raise the girl's hand up to his skeletal face and let her fingers pierce the sockets where eyes should have been... the empty skull of the lich.

"I swear this on the power that lets me see you now." he said softly. His teeth making the faintest click against each other as his jawbone moved.

[Serafina Duarte]

Serafina hesitated when he asked for her hand, yet declining didn’t feel an option. More and more she felt at his mercy. His questions pointed like thorns and his intent sharp as a razor. Most of all, his lure—a promise of true sight—sat heavy upon her soul. Curious and without recourse, she offered her hand.

His cheeks were angular and bare. Her fingers recoiled at first touch, a jitter and hitched breath followed. His grip urged her onward, and with a grim set to her jaw, Serafina touched bone. Cool as the grave beneath her fingertips, her heart beat a panicked tattoo in her chest.

Her fingers traced over the peaks and valleys of his face, drawing towards the recesses where his eyes nestled. She tried to slow her approach, no one wanted to be poked in the eye, but the lich’s insistence brooked little concern. Serafina’s fingers sketched the edges of a hollow socket and slipped into the recess of his eye. Barren as a desert, she found only bone. Her other hand joined the exploration, caressing the other side of the lich’s face and found similar.

Now it was her turn to see. Serafina opened her eyes to the realm of the dead. Here he stood, magnificent in a peal of cloying light. His aura roiled like oil upon water. That the dead could walk and talk was no surprise to one of the unspoken arts. But to have her fingers to the knuckles in its eyes made her balk. Serafina jerked her hands back, set to free herself of his grasp.

[Jules Durand]

Jules did not hold her hands once she willingly started her explorations. He felt her hands touch his bone, the smallest of pressures that couldn't escape his preternatural sense of self. Her touches were soft at first as if they might cause damage or he may snap at her but they grew more comfortable and bold a moment later. Her fingers entered his skull, nearly hooking at one point and could have pulled though a human's strength versus his own fueled by magic was unlikely to yield any satisfying results. When it seemed the girl realized the situation of it all she pulled back so suddenly the Lich thought to chuckle with amusement. He didn't. His body never did anything he did not wish it to.

His hands fell passively to show he had no intent of forcing her to continue exploring the empty chambers of his skull. Instead he turned his head toward her and spoke in crisp clear words. "You are Caucasian, wearing a white shirt with three lines. Red on top, blue in the middle, and black on the bottom. You have on a hoodie, charcoal grey and a bit big for your frame. Your hair is blond and shoulder length, it could also use a brushing if you don't mind me saying so." Jules said.

The sentences had no real inflection in them past simple declarative statements. Proof that he could see her perfectly fine without any eyes at all. His point made, Jules pulled at the threads that made up his body and willed the necromantic magic to fill his form back in. It was mostly cytoplasm given shape by way of his original human body. Unaware she was looking at more than his general direction, or anything at all really, Serafina may have seen that roiling oil of power that suffused his form grow thicker and twist about his face for a moment before settling again.

"I have no ill intent toward you child. I come here today to bargain in good faith. I swear this oath Sur ma pierre tombale." he said. Feeling the bindings of the oath lock in on himself. If he did want to kill or harm her he'd have to come back another day to do so now.

[Serafina Duarte]

Thankfully, the lich released her. Part of her suspected otherwise. She sat small, cowled by this confrontation, and fearful where it led. Yet as the seconds passed she tentatively reevaluated her position. If anything, the lich went out of his way to reassure and calm her. The show of his eyes, the offering of sight, and what it would cost. Cautiously, she unfurled.

She touched her hair at the shoulder. He got her description right as far as she could tell, though the colors were little more than names to her. It was enough to prove his point, and whether his intent, he paved the road to her agreement. Red. Blue. Black. Charcoal grey. Her hair was blonde. Serafina had never seen these things and accepted long ago she never would.

Bolder than she had any right to be, she hoped. The hope hurt. “What will you ask from me in exchange? These matters of rite and ritual?”

[Jules Durand]

Jules was pleased. She hadn't rejected... she was asking questions. She was at the line. She simply had to step past it now. It was the way of Necromancy, the way Jules himself had been taught.

Once you'd done one ritual the next was easier. Once you touched a soul the next Manipulation of death seemed less wrong. Once you took a life you couldn't give it back. There was no going back, only forward to the next threshold.

"I will not lie to you. My work can be... gruesome. I deal in the dead and in spirits. These rituals will be to balance humors of lost souls, conjure protections at times or nets at others." he said, easing into the subject.

"I will not have you commit to a ritual without understanding. Nor are my intentions nefarious. I would hope, in the end, you might even see value to my work and take up the art. As some of my students have in the past."

Jules softened his voice, a simple task, and spoke with calm certainty. "Should my work be too much, we can always take a step back and try again later or in another way."

Which was true. Small steps until she could prove to be a fine necromancer on her own.

[Serafina Duarte]

Gruesome work in exchange for sight. No way about it; she’d get her hands dirty in this devil’s bargain. He promised to lead her reasonably into this partnership. She wouldn’t be going in blind, and he had good intentions. He even thought she’d follow him willingly after a time, as others have. And if things got too much, there was always next time. And he wouldn’t lie to her. Soothing words never sounded sweeter.

Beyond the lure he dangled before her nose, Serafina thought of her brother long dead. She’d been powerless when he died and only watched his soul escape. Did this man hold the key to the gate of life and death? Was she really being offered everything she sought and more? The offer tantalized her more than her suspicion allowed. But she couldn’t just agree, not without a better understanding of the road ahead. Ask all the questions that she might, there was only one way to know for sure.

“I’m interested.”

[Jules Durand]

Jules almost beamed at her reply.

Well that was hardly true. He was as straightfaced as ever simply because he felt no need mimic the expressions of the mortals when his only audience couldn't see them. Yet. She said she was interested and that was enough for a start. From that interest would grow passion in the greatest of magical arts Jules was certain. "Excellent." he told her simply. He straightened himself while watching her.

"You'll need a primer first... We can't hope to give you sight until you understand the basics. I will also need to know your own learning base, this will go faster if you have some knowledge of the ritualistic arts already. I'm sure you have questions as well, of course." said the lich. He sounded pleased speaking to the girl. To the potential student. The prospective necromancer.

Jules was honestly rather excited by the prospect. The only thing he enjoyed more than teaching a new arcanist was his work with the dead.

[Serafina Duarte]

“Of course.” Sight was the carrot and she’d yet to prove herself. And probably granting her sight was more complex than just the reward at the end of the tunnel. This was some necromantic vision, maybe similar to how Serafina peered into the sightless realm of the dead. Considering it now, Serafina wondered how the sight offered to her by the necromancer would play with her window into the spirit world.

Before all that, she had to prove herself. Serafina gave a quiet clear of her throat and began. “I am practiced in the ritualistic arts, as you call them. Most of what you will find in this store is my work. I am a seer and dabble in futures.” She offered a small smile for the irony of a blind diviner. “But first and foremost, I am a healer. That has always been where my heart guides me. But the healing arts, I do not suspect, are that different from your work? Balancing humors of lost souls?”

[Jules Durand]

Jules raised a hand and tapped a long thin finger against his lips as the girl spoke. She knew magic already- by her word alone- and that was good to know. She claimed most the work in the store was hers and she worked with divining arts and healing. The lich cocked his head slightly at her statement that healing could be comparable to the balancing humors of the lost souls. It was... appropriate only on a base and simple level... proper for comparison or metaphor but not practicality. The closest the lich could think of would be a doctor adding in new organs to balance out failing ones. But that wasn't a good use of a doctor or an organ so the comparison fell apart quickly enough. "In a... sense. Though I hesitate to like them to one another. If you have a mind for flesh I can teach you that as well- it would be closer but was never one of my passions." he said.

Jules knew another necromancer, one of his teachers from so far back, the man could twist flesh and bone like an artist. The things he made move... it was a marvel. "Though I must stress that such acts are often considered... improper by society at large." Jules added. Not many people approved of shambling horrors and undead stitched together into hulking masses. Oh the practice had its uses to be sure... but it was harder to hide. Spirits, that was both practical and subtle. A good zombie was enough for labor while shades could handle the minute and simple tasks.

"Would you be willing to show me some of your ritual work? It is fine if you would like time to prepare but I need to know your own talent." the lich said amicably.

[Serafina Duarte]

The way he said flesh and alluded to improper applications of his craft made her skin go all goosebumps. Frankenstein’s monster danced through her head. Grave robbers and midnight rites, with the dead walking the earth. It gave Serafina pause and she considered what she was signing up for. It made her hesitant to demonstrate her skill, especially when she still knew so little about this man.

“In time, monsieur.” She gave the word a little accent and smiled faintly. “You haven’t yet told me your name.”

[Jules Durand]

"Ah, Mes excuses Mademoiselle." he said apologetically.

"I am Jules Durand." he said, offering a slight bow even though the woman couldn't see his visage. "Currently I am a criminal defense lawyer, but many years ago I was one of the greatest Sorcerers in all of France." He decided not to elaborate too much on his work in that time. It was... unpleasant even then. Sending out hoards of undead to attack after a battle and bring back survivors so he could experiment and perfect his art. It was in such times that he learned he had little interesting in the twisting and altering of flesh. No no no, it was mildly interesting but true study could only be given to the soul.

"I like to keep busy from century to century, to keep my mind sharp. And the law is a fascinating web of study." Jules explained as he pulled out a small card and offered it to the woman- placing it down audibly for her on the counter. While she wouldn't be able to read it the letters and number were raised and he was curious to see if she could determine any of them from feel alone if she took up the card.

"Though, I have found teaching to always be more rewarding than indulging in a new hobby." Jules added.

[Serafina Duarte]

Serafina heard the snap of card onto her counter. Figuring it a business card, she let it lay while Jules Durand spoke. She smiled, finding some entertainment from the similarity of their family names. It wasn’t much to hold onto if she dwelt upon the coincidence long. But such an illustrious history to claim to be one of the greatest sorcerers in all of France! Whether a boast, she couldn’t say. Serafina could make no such bold claims, and wondered what she would find of Jules Durand online? No doubt his profession first and foremost, but like the cold skull she caressed not a minute ago, what was beneath the surface?

“My name is Serafina Durate.” She said conversationally and then felt for the business card Jules earlier placed upon the counter between them. Picking up the card, she ran her fingertips across the edges and brushed the card’s face. There she slowed upon discovering the embossed lettering and delicate fingers traced out the words. Serafina didn’t dwell long here, reading letters by touch wasn’t quick.

“What about teaching do you find rewarding?” Perhaps a poor litmus, but her question aimed to pry into his character and maybe provide insight how far she could trust him.

[Jules Durand]

Jules liked this girl. She asked a good question- he would have smiled if she could see him. He also appreciated that she couldn't as the process while often necessary was entirely tedious. "It is my absolute pleasure to meet you Dame Durate." He said with respectful reverence. Serafina... it was a name with gravitas. A few hundred years ago it would be the kind of name nobility relished rolling around their tongues. But that was as worthless a sentiment now as it was back then. The only thing that really mattered was progress. In the end what you wrought was all you ever were.

The lich tapped one finger against another as he considered her question- maybe it was because he had just met her recently... was it recently? He was fairly certain it was within the last five years or so at least... maybe only a decade. No matter. He would check his notebooks later to be certain. Jules recalled an apprentice of his, a young lass named Delilah, that sought to study under him. The lich had chosen to take students to keep himself busy for a time while he worked out some problem in his arcane formulae that he couldn't actually recall at the moment. He spoke in a calm almost far away voice. "There is a moment when you teach... she had so much trouble with those two runes- she swore she would never understand how they interlaced with the circle without interfering with each other. She was red in the face after hours of trying but when she got it to work for the first time- that look in her eyes. Pride. Real pride that said for the first time yes I could do it all along." The world was fading in and out for the lich as he recalled his little songbird's triumph in the small but important step.

His eyes found focus as he turned and spoke directly to Serafina again. "That look, the moment a student goes from I can't to I did. That is what I find most rewarding." he said with a strange kind of content to his voice that seemed out of place with his speech up until now.

[Serafina Duarte]

Serafina paid rapt attention to how he answered, trying to read between lines she could only imagine. If she sought some deception in his words, somewhere to jab and pry and break open, Jules left her wanting. She vaguely considered the man behind the words—a necromancer. How had the command over life and death twisted him? How many lifetimes had he honed his trade? Questions upon questions…

Yet from the words he spoke, she found little fault. Were this another conversation, a learned professor at some esteemed institution, his rhetoric would have swept her to admissions. But to hear him speak of individual growth and pride of those in his charge, was intoxicating. She wanted to be that student. And this was all in her grasp, if only she had the will to seize it.

Serafina smiled. “Thank you. I… I’ve felt that before, yes.” She fell silent, contemplative. “I want to say yes. But I need some time to think.” He would allow her this time, pressuring into an immediate decision would make her think better of this arrangement. But if anything, Jules seemed a man who played the game with time on his side.

[Jules Durand]

Jules looked her over, his gaze more than a little intense. If she could see it she might realize that he was mentally peeling her apart. Layer by layer. An idle habit of his. He pictured her skin gone and watched her muscles as she twitched her mouth and drew her brow tight. He stripped away the muscle to see the blood vessels as they must have surely been pumping everything around herself. He pulled the veins free and scooped out her organs from his mental image as he pictured her jaw waggle slightly while she gave the words. He imagined the return of several layers as he pictured the length and vibration of her vocal chords to get his pitch of voice. He had no malice or ill intent to her, it was just something he did.

She thanked him... and asked for time.

He tapped the card he laid in front of her, loud enough for her to hear, but made sure not to directly touch her. "Of course. Take your time, I won't hold a few years against you to think it over. Regardless I would not be against paying for any spare components of quality you happen upon." he said. He worried he wasn't being very reasonably by only offering her a few years but he couldn't guarantee the life of a lawyer wouldn't bore him back to his home in France come a decade or two.

[Serafina Duarte]

His fingernail against the cardboard, rapping against the countertop, resonated. She wormed a hand towards the sound and took up the calling card. Holding the ticket to her future, she pondered his words and couldn’t keep a reserved smile from her lips. “Thank you. I will let you know.” Serafina said to both offers, though the first occupied more space in her head. If Serafina let emotion sway her, she would have agreed without hesitation, but magic always had a price.

[Jules Durand]

Jules didn't bother to nod, she wouldn't have seen it. Instead he simply turned and started to walk away. When he reached the door he turned and spoke. Though his voice was reedy and, more often than not, unpleasant, a softness had managed to touch the words.

"I look forward to hearing from you." he said before excusing himself.

All in all, this had been a fruitful encounter. Now he just needed to speak with that broker about the acquisition of the mortuary and mortician- whom he still needed to kill and raise as a servant. Always so busy busy busy.