Secret Of The Crest (13 page)

   Marina came in to answer to her scream thinking she had fallen off a chair or something. 

   ‘What is the matter, why did you scream?’

   ‘I thought I saw someone or something in the mirror but now I’m not sure.’

   ‘Well, if someone had been in here we would have seen him come out; we were right outside the door when you screamed’ Marina replied.

   ‘Perhaps my eyes were just playing tricks on me.’

   ‘Come on, there is much more to do. This room is fine, let’s move on.’ The women both left the room and went down stairs.

   Gregor stood at the desk with a cup of coffee in his hands.

   ‘What was all the yelling about?’ Marina showed her anxiousness. Gregor took on quickly. Again something was wrong. 

   ‘Go to work, girls, I have things to do here.’ 

   Marina thought that it had been Gregor upstairs in the mirror but it wasn’t possible for him to have come down before them. “
Someone else was in that room!
” she thought to herself.

   ‘Gregor, we must talk. There is a ghoul in the hostel. Maria screamed because she saw someone in the mirror. I thought it was you but here you stand in front of me.’

   ‘If there is a ghoul in here, then the girls are in danger and where is he hiding? I will search; don’t let the women come upstairs for any reason.’ Gregor went to the upper level and searched for the intruder.

   He kept thinking how he got in without them noticing. Gregor opened the doors of the wardrobe. It wasn’t to see if the ghoul was hiding there but to see if this is how he got into the room. All the wardrobes of the hostel had secret passage ways that were built in the days of the ottoman invasions so that when the people were under barbarian attack they could flee through these passages. He opened the sliding camouflaged doors and to his surprise found Fanis trying to lither his way through it.

   ‘Fanis! You are ghoul?’ 

   ‘I am sorry Mr. Gregor. Yes, I turned couple of months ago. I was ashamed, I didn’t want to lose my job and I have only been watching them, I swear!’  Fanis was more frightened of Gregor sending him away than he was of him uncovering that he was a ghoul and he didn’t even know that Gregor was one too. 

   ‘Fanis I’m not going to send you away but you mustn’t go into the girls’ rooms or any tenants for that matter. Also, if you are tempted to drink you must go far, very far from the inn. It would be best to go to another village. We don’t want to bring trouble down on our home, do we?’

   ‘No, we don’t, sir. And yes, I will do as you say, thank you!’

   ‘How did you find out about these passages anyway? I never told you about them.’

   ‘By accident sir, I was cleaning out the closet when we started renovating and the door somehow opened.’

   ‘So, are you infatuated with this girl Maria?’ 

   ‘Yes, sir! Since I first saw her a year ago I was attracted to her. I finally got the courage to ask her to dinner or a walk but never got around to it because I was turned brutally. Now, I haven’t a chance in hell to be with a beautiful, sensitive girl like Maria.’

   ‘I know you don’t believe this but I actually know how you feel. Come on, let’s get back to work, I’ll explain to grandmother. She will understand. Fanis, one day we will take walk together and I will tell you a story. One that will be very helpful to you. Now remember, no feeding on our tenants. You must control your urges.’

   ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ After saying that, Gregor felt guilty because he had not abided to his own instructions. He had lingered in those wardrobes and he had drunk from his tenant. He lowered his head and was disgusted by himself.

   Rebecca came down the stairs like a fifteen year old girl and took that look right off his face with her romantic girly way of hers.

   ‘Good morning! Kiss me, my love; I have missed you greatly for the last five hours and thirteen minutes that we have been apart.’

   Gregor smiled deeply and taking her in his arms, he kissed her so passionately it seemed as if he were kissing her for the very first time. Gregor didn’t take her presence for granted. He wanted to make all of their moments special. He wanted them to see each other as a reason to live, now and forever.

   ‘I have missed you more!’ He led her to sit down. ‘I will bring you your coffee this morning while you wait for your friends.’

   ‘You are absolutely spoiling me, love!’

   ‘Yes, that is what I intend to do so get use to it.’    

   ‘I would rather we have our breakfast together if you have the time.’ 

   ‘What? Our first breakfast together? Sure, why not.’ The couple went into the diner and had breakfast.

  Meanwhile, Sam, Sarah and Cassandra were preparing for another adventurous day. They were determined to see the rest of the points to finish their photo shoot. Cassandra wouldn’t let all the events that took place to distract her from achieving her goal. She was determined to win that scholarship she would finish up what she had originally come here for.

   ‘Come on you guys, shake a leg! We’re running late! I’m the one who should be dragging my legs, I didn’t get to sleep until this morning’ she said.

   Alright, dark eyes; calm down. We’re almost ready and by the way, I can’t work on an empty stomach so let me have my breakfast first!’ said Sam.

   ‘One hour tops, Sammy! Not a minute more!’

   ‘Understood, now stop wasting my breakfast time.’ He laughed.

   ‘Aren’t you in a big hurry today?’ asked Sarah.

   ‘I’m not in a hurry; I just want to get all the points shot before we leave on Sunday.’

   Rebecca heard this while they all walked toward them. 

   ‘Good morning, love birds’ said Sarah.

   ‘Good morning, guys, come sit with us. Are you really leaving on Sunday as scheduled, love?’

   ‘Yes, I really need to get things done. The developing of the films, the contest, my parents and who knows what else. I need some closure.’

   ‘What are you talking about?’ Sarah asked.

   ‘Okay, let’s see. My parents are not my real parents, my real parents are ghouls, my new friend is the brother I never knew I had and my grandmother is the owner of this beautiful hostel that I was attracted to from the moment I stepped foot here. I think that about covers it! Don’t you all think that I need some time to let all of that sink in slowly?’

   ‘Sammy, bring her a tranquilizer, she’s babbling awfully!’ said Sarah joking around.

   ‘Every word of it is true! Have some breakfast and we’ll fill you in’ Rebecca continued. 

   ‘Are you coming with us or not Rebecca?’ Cassandra asked in an irritating tone. 

   ‘Of course we’re coming with, we’re a group and we have our own personal guide to protect us.’  Gregor said nothing, he just nodded.

   ‘I don’t really know which point we haven’t seen yet but I’d like to see them all if possible by Sunday. Can we do that, brother?’

   ‘Yes, we can get most of them done today if you’re up to it.’

   ‘Alright then, let’s finish up here and roll on out of here.’ Everyone realized that Cassandra was very upset. She was over last night’s shocking news and was now angry. Not at Gregor or her grandmother but at all of her parents, new and old.

   She hated the fact that her step parents had kept the truth from her. She hated that she had been adopted and that her real parents gave her away even if it had saved her life. Cassandra felt stripped of the opportunity to grow up with her brother. The sibling she always wanted to have actually existed and she wasn’t aware of it all those years. Her anger grew even more as time went by and she thought more and more about it. She planned to confront her parents and they in return surely expected that day would come. She gulped the second cup of coffee and mechanically and checked her lenses for a third time.

   ‘I’d like to follow the same trail we went on yesterday to get to St. George’s point, that you mentioned brother. Is it possible?’

   ‘Of course, it is the longer way and it will take up some precious time but if that’s the where you want to go then that’s where we’re headed.’

   ‘Yes, that is our heading today for starters. Any rejections? Great! Alright then, lead the way, Gregor, we’re right behind you.’

   All of them picked up their bags started off. At the door, Marina gave each one a bag of lunch that she prepared at the hours of the morning. Cassandra was the last to go out the door and Marina grabbed her by her arm.

   ‘Cassandra, anger makes a person wither away little by little. Let your work help you escape it. Forget what happened in the past and live your present, live for your future.’

   ‘I will, grandmother, I will! All in good time’ Cassandra kissed her on the forehead. ‘Wish me luck; I need to get that best shot!’

   ‘Good luck, may you find whatever your heart desires!’

   They all stayed close together and followed Gregor tightly as they had done the day before. Gregor really didn’t want to take that trail again but he knew that his sister had the family hardheadedness ever since he first laid eyes on her. He had a good intuition and he felt that they would have surprises pop up again today. Besides, the ghouls that met them yesterday were very deviant and extremely dangerous, they would even attack family had they not fell upon Gregor.

   What was to stop them from lurking around to find one of them alone? These ghouls had no barriers and they ignored all prohibitions. Never had they complied with the laws of their kind, they were beasts but for some reason they kept to Gregor’s wishes and that is what he counted on.

   As the friends went along the trail they told Sarah and Sam all the details about Gregor that they had missed. Gregor listened, but didn’t say a word the whole way.

   ‘You’re not serious! Gregor is your brother! Your brother is a ghoul and now your best friend’s fiancée! Where were we through all this? On another bloody planet?’ Sam screeched. 

   ‘Yes, that’s right!’ Cassandra answered.

   ‘So, that is why we weren’t attacked by the ghouls we met at the falls. Because they knew Gregor in that way, right?’ Sarah asked. 

   ‘Not exactly, it’s not like that’ said Gregor, finally speaking. ‘They know me well, that’s true. But they are flesh eating ghouls, they shift into ugly feens when they are hungry and make dinner out of anyone and everyone in their sight. No exceptions! The only reason he didn’t harm you all yesterday was because long ago Georgio had been seriously injured. I helped him get recuperate. It was then that he swore to me that he would never hurt a family member of mine in that showing his gratitude. If he should realize that I was lying about you all being my family members he will surely attack and I cannot save all of you, only one at a time!’ Gregor kept walking at a quick pace hoping that they wouldn’t meet the ghouls again.

   ‘What do you, ah, they look like when they change?’ asked Sam.

   ‘Sammy! Don’t ask questions like that!’ Rebecca scolded him.

   ‘No, Rebecca it’s quite alright, let the man ask. It’s natural. We all change according to our hearts or should I say souls. If the person was mean, insensitive or in general a bad personality then the changes are horrid. Some take the form of the person they feed on a different figure each time. Those that had good qualities such as love, kindness and such, do not change very much. They might slouch a little, grow out their fangs and their eyes become a very bloody red. It’s frightening but for sure someone could tell the difference between the two kinds of ghouls. The second group can change back at their own will. The first cannot. To get a better understanding of what happens, you must know that the original ghouls fed on corpses that were in the cemetery or tortured their own relatives. As time went by, they have come to be very close to their once human nature. In this way they, ah, we have been able to survive instead of being shot down by the hunters.

   ‘Who were the hunters love?’ asked Rebecca.

   ‘The hunters were a group of very brave men who took an oath not to end their lives without first taking down every ghoul possible as to rid the next generations from their horrific acts. It all started during the first Turkish invasion where all the corpses from the battle laid on the damp ground for days. Greeks, Turks, men, women and children. A massacre. There were too many to bury in one day. Families lined up the dead bodies outside the cemetery walls waiting days perhaps weeks to finally get their turn to receive a proper burial. The souls of the dead weren’t at peace. All that blood smell and rotting flesh emanated into the air and spread out for miles luring the feenish ghouls here.

   They fed off the dead that hadn’t been buried yet and then returned for more repeatedly. It became more frequent as time went by and war continued. No one really knew where the ghouls originated but they were deeply afflicted by their dreadful hunger. A hunger, which would never be satisfied. Families were devastated with their losses. Family members and friends, neighbors and enemies, all were devoured by the freaks. No one could do a thing about it. Well, we are here! We are just over those trees over there.’ He stopped talking.

   Rebecca took Gregor by the hand.

   ‘I love you. Don’t forget that.’