Page 25 of Where Exorcists Cannot Lie

“No way. Same here.” I sighed with nostalgia, remembering my favourite subject. “What was your final mark?”

Inuel smirked. “Outstanding.”

I craned my head upwards to look at him and almost gave myself a cervical injury due to the abruptness of my action.

What the fuck?

Nobody got an outstanding from Master Yataná. Not ever. That just didn’t happen. I’d been top of his class for four years and only ended up with good, which I’d considered a badge of honour.

“How about you?” Inuel asked.

“Yeah, same,” I said and winced at the burning pain in my stomach.

Inuel snickered. “Liar, liar, grey robes on fire.” He bent down to kiss the tip of my nose. “Come on, Taz. Let’s get our mogõ and go home.”

6

Epilogue

Six months later, Ghadarra, Southern Quadrant

Inuel

The slider kept raising an almighty ruckus in the corner of Taz’s and my study. It began to grate on my nerves.

“Quiet,” I said.

The slider flashed me a rude hand gesture. “How about I fuck your mother?” he barked.

“Not without a very skilled necromancer, you won’t.”

The slider cackled.

I regretted not slapping the bastard with a silencing spell prior to binding his powers under the dome-shaped shield. An oversight on my part. It was too late to fix now unless I fancied dismantling the entire elaborate protection and starting over, which I did not. Weaving it took a lot of time and effort the first time around.

I massaged my temples. Of all non-humans, dealing with sliders—non-corporeal body-snatching spirits—was my pet peeve. Such a pain in the arse. The sneaky shits slid into the bodies of their hosts while their victims were asleep or drowsy with illness or intoxication, thus taking over their physical form.

Even though the snatched body in front of me belonged to a woman, the spirit inside her emitted pure male energy and spoke the Old Language in a deep baritone. His choice of host couldn't be faulted—the tall beauty sported a mass of glossy auburn hair, a full figure and sharp, distinctive facial features.

I’d trapped the slider within the semi-transparent safeguard right after Taz and I had captured and brought him home the previous evening. He liked it very little in there, judging by how he kept scratching at the edges of his confinement, hissing and snarling, making for an altogether disturbing sight.

Our outing had been prompted by a report about suspected possession filed at our Ghadarra Division. Concerned family members had informed of their eldest daughter’s violent, out-of-character behaviour. On route, we’d sensed the slider’s presence from two streets away, which demonstrated he had strong juice brewing in him.

At that stage, we couldn’t determine if the soul of the human originally inhabiting the body had remained unshattered and, if so, whether she would still be of sound mind upon liberation. While keeping the slider bound didn’t constitute much difficulty for Taz and me, freeing his victim amounted to a more complex problem.

“Why don’t you do everyone a favour and get out on your own?” I tried reasoning again. “It’s going to be much worse for you when we force you out of her, you know. There’s still time to save your skin. If the woman is alive and you cooperate with the Guild, we’ll cut you a deal. Type-Four offence. But if she dies, that's it. Say hello to the Ultimate Rite.”

“No thanks, I’m staying put.” The slider sneered. “Besides, what are you going to do? To cast me out, you need the Gathering of the Dozen. I’m guessing it’ll take ages to arrange for another ten Exorcists to turn up in this shit heap.”

“You’re guessing wrong, idiot. We’ll have the full Docerh Conventis here by the end of the week. And then you’ll be fucked, well and proper. But have it your way.”

The string of profanities and invectives he threw at me didn't, of course, lack two of my personal favourites. An alphahole and traitor of the race tended to be regular items on the agenda when dealing with my kin.

I did, however, tell the slider the truth. We had called Docerh Conventis—the Gathering of the Dozen—into our home. We had no other option, given that exorcising a high-level snatching spirit from a potentially alive host required a shitload of spiritual energy, way more than two Exorcists, no matter how skilled and powerful, could supply. Therefore, nine senior Mages were on their way to Ghadarra as we spoke.

The tenth and the Head of our Department, Xendra Hun, had already been staying with us since late morning. By chance, she’d had a short distance to travel from one of the border towns, where she’d attended a work-related function.

Taz, unlike myself, had been thrilled at the prospect of entertaining guests in our new abode at number eighteen Birch Lane in the Southern Quadrant. We’d both been exhausted, having worked without much respite for the last fortnight. Even still, Taz had readied the guest rooms, fussed over bedlinen and planned the menu with starry eyes, that excited smile of his giving me a prickle behind my ribs. Although the latter could also result from all the furniture he’d had me rearrange.

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