Chapter 203 - Ghosts Of The Willow Creek

Panic started to seep into Julie's mind when she noticed Roman wasn't breathing, nor was his heart beating the way it used to. She quickly turned to look at Cillian and asked, 

"What did you do to him?!" 

"Nothing," came the reply from the Corvin, and he came closer to check Roman. 

Julie placed both her hands on Roman's chest and started to pump it up and down with as much force as she could, but even after seconds passed, Roman didn't wake up, and it had made her mind starting to spiral in worry. 

Cillian placed both his twig-like hands on Roman's chest after Julie pulled her hand away for a moment. He said, "You are right, he seems to be not breathing. He's dead."

Her eyes turned as wide as the saucers, and her hands turned cold, "H-how is that possible? You only checked the condition of his heart, didn't you?" she asked him with a look of disbelief. She got her hand in front of Roman's chest again and was ready to use her soul energy when Cillian placed his twig-like hand on her hand, pushing it down. "What's going on?" Julie questioned him. 

The Corvin moved its beak near Roman as if it could smell through its boney head. He said, "It is the dark stone that has reacted. Not to me, but to the magic that resides in Willow Creek. The dark stone might be created by the witches, but it doesn't mean that it takes well when it comes to residing in a vampire's body. Consider it to be like a shoe that can or cannot fit a person. After all, the dark stone was considered to wield the highest powers." 

"Are you telling the dark stone isn't accepting him?" questioned Julie, and she turned back to look at Roman, whose face was turning pale, and the flames in the candle were dimming. She used her own ability to bring light into the room. 

Was he dead? Asked Julie to herself, unable to believe it because it couldn't be. Roman couldn't die like this. 

Cillian took his time to reply to Julie's question, and he said, "He is the son of a witch and a vampire, so somewhere there must be a fight inside his body on which can dominate when it comes to the dark stone being accepted. He is dead, but at the same time, he isn't." 

Minutes passed in silence, and Julie and the Corvin stood there staring at Roman. Suddenly the flames in the candle brightened in a way like never before, and they saw Roman's eyes snap open, and he took a deep breath as if gasping for air. 

"Rome!" Julie's hand moved to place it on his arm. "Thank God," she whispered, with her eyes closed. 

Roman felt something wrap around his heart as if a string was moving quickly to wound around the organ that started to beat. His eyes were blood red, and it went back to being black with one blink of an eye. 

He sat up on the bed, and Julie asked him with concern, "Are you doing okay? Your heart stopped beating." 

"I was dead," remarked Roman, as if he wasn't surprised by the thought of him being dead. But he turned to look at the Corvin, and his eyes narrowed. "What did you do?" 

"I fixed the dark stone that resides in you," replied Cillian, and Julie looked at it with accusing eyes. 

"You said you didn't do anything," said Julie, and the Corvin looked down. 

"He was dead. I didn't want you to blame me for it," came the reply from the creature. 

"You cannot lie to me. From now on, I forbid you from lying, hiding anything or cheating me in any way," Roman was important to her, and she didn't want the creature or anyone hiding things from her when it came to him, especially when it involved his life. 

"I promise to not do that," replied the Corvin. It then said, "The dark stone that was created, it held impurities that needed to be removed, now that it's gone, even if someone wants to, they cannot hurt you. Not the vampires, witches, nor me. What I mean to say is, the process of dying and reviving will happen immediately."

Roman brought his hand in front of him, staring at his palm where the flame was quick to appear on it. The intensity was much higher than he usually held it, and he covered the flames with his fingers as if hiding it in his hand for it to disappear. 

When the three of them stepped out of the house that they had occupied, they came to notice something very bizarre in the town. 

"Are these..." Julie's voice trailed as she noticed translucent figures around them. Most stood next to the skeletons.

"Ghosts of the witches," remarked Roman, who stood next to her. "Do you know what they are doing here?" The question was directed to the Corvin. 

"I don't know what happened," came the raspy words from Cillian. "I have never seen anything like this before. But it doesn't look right." 

"What do you mean?" asked Julie, noticing the translucent ghosts weren't looking exactly transparent, but they had a greyish-blue hue covering them. She noticed one of the ghosts standing next to a skeleton, watching and touching it as if in shock.

"The souls of the witches, they are supposed to stay in the ground, and not walk around like this," explained Cillian, his raven head turning to look in the other direction. "Did you put the soul back into rest after connecting with the soul energy?" he asked Julie. 

"I think I did. How many ways are there to stop the connection?" Julie asked him before her eyes fell on the ghosts, who were standing next to the poles where the skeletons had been tied. Her feet moved by itself, heading in the direction of where her siblings' skeletons were, and she reached the spot. Roman was quick to follow her so that nothing bad would happen to her. 

Julie came to stand next to one of her sisters ghost, and she noticed how sad her sister looked. To think that there had been a time where she was supposed to be part of a large family with brothers and sisters, a mother and a father, they were all gone, leaving her all alone. 

She brought her hand to touch the ghost's shoulder, and when she touched it, the ghost turned to look at her with a look of anxiousness in its eyes. 

"She can see me," whispered Julie, somewhere her heart bursting in joy. Roman had a subtle frown on his face, watching the interaction, who stood two steps away from them. "What is your name?" she asked the girl, but she received no response. 

The Corvin glided across the land like another ghost in the land, coming near where Julie stood. He said, 

"The ghosts can touch you but they can't see you, Julie. They are people who have passed to another life, and they don't belong here. Only their energy is left behind."

Hearing this, Julie was slightly hurt, but she put on a smile on her face. She was glad to be able to see them. She asked him, "Do you know what her name is?" 

"Claudia," replied the Corvin, and they moved towards Julie's other sisters and brothers, where the Corvin introduced each one of them to Julie. Before Julie could move towards her mother, one of the ghosts started to cry out as if it was in pain. The cry was similar to the one that she and Melanie had heard during the time before both of them went to the past. Another ghost started crying and screaming in pain before the other ghosts did the same. 

"They are going to alarm every vampire and humans if this continues," commented Roman, his vampire hearing ability picking up the screams and the wails much more than Julie and Cillian could hear. 

The Corvin said to Julie, "You need to put them back to sleep." 

Julie looked at Corvin if he was being serious. If singing a lullaby to the ghosts would help, she would have done it, but she didn't know where to start when dealing with the spirits of the witches. 

Sensing Julie's worry, Cillian said, "Raise your hands and try to push them back down. Below the ground is where they are supposed to rest." 

Julie shook her head, "That's not right." 

"It is how it is done," responded Cillian, but that is not what Julie meant. 

"The reason why the vampires have been trying to get to Willow Creek all these years is because this place turned into a witches spirit power, when in truth they are just souls of the deceased. Can't we help them rest in peace than live like this?" asked Julie, feeling a sense of pity for the dead. 

The ghosts around them cried out in a melancholic tone, and it was turning uncomfortable with every passing second. 

"I doubt burning them would help if you mean to exorcize them," remarked Roman, and he was right. Witches had always been burnt either by the humans or by the vampires and even after doing that, their souls had been trapped in this land. 

Julie tried to think and then she quickly ran to the La Fay's house. She rummaged through the drawers one by one until she got her hands on a vial of glass. When she returned, Cillian stared at her, "Do you think hundreds of souls can be captured in that vial?" he asked her. 

"I need to start somewhere," replied Julie, before asking him, "What are the requirements for creating a potion?" 

Cillian had been an experienced witch when he was still alive. To a lot of witches, it took years of experience when it came to making a potion, and it included him. He wondered if Julie would do it because a wrong step could make the situation worse. But more importantly, it was because the good witches had difficulty completing one of the steps. 

"Flame, two pentagons in the same circle, a spell and lastly a sacrifice for it to complete," Cillian listed the things. On hearing the word sacrifice, Julie's thoughts flew out of the window. "Did you think the potions can be made just with a few ingredients? You need to temper and change it with the help of the spell. Each potion and stones are made that way. They all come with a negative link to it."

"Isn't my blood not enough?" questioned Julie, and the Corvin shook his head. 

"No."

"I thought witches tried not to harm anyone…" Julie's voice trailed.