When A Ghoul Falls In Love

[Two years ago]

Eli Sanguine squints his eyes at the bookstore. Does it have what he’s looking for? He gets out of the car. If he doesn’t find it, he will get something else. His younger sister has nothing better to do. She could ask for a human heart, but she wants a book written by a human author.

When did he become a smuggler for his younger sister?

Let it be. It’s her coming of age ceremony. He is going home after three hundred years. Who knows? His philanderer father might have more surprises for him.

“Mr Sanguine, you are here.” Mr Emerson greets him with joy on his face when he enters the bookstore. This man was one of his patients. Since Mr Emerson is knowledgeable about books, he might be able to help him find the book.

“Mr Emerson, I hope that you are doing well.”

“I am doing well, thanks to you.” Mr Emerson grins at him. “If you hadn’t –”

“It’s my job, Mr Emerson.” Humans are easily moved. They are quite emotional and fragile. They are most afraid of death, even though they know that death is unavoidable ending. “I am hoping that you could help me with something.”

“I will do anything for you, Mr Sanguine.” The man grabs his hands. “Just tell me what you need.”

Before he could speak, a pleasant scent wafts into his nose. The scent of the faint glimmer of rays of moonlight in the surface of the ocean after the storm during the frigid winter. He looks in the direction of the scent. A petite light-skinned woman with pale hair and hazel eyes emerges from the shelves while holding a pile of books in her hand.

“Mr Emerson, where should I put them?” Her clear yet emotionless voice sends shivers in his body.

“Put them in the storeroom,” Mr Emerson tells her.

Eli is stumped for words. The woman is human for sure. Then, why does she have that kind of scent? He rarely meets humans who appeal to his other side.

She doesn’t give him a single glance and walks to the back of the store.

“I recently hired her. She is new, but she’s quite hardworking like her stepfather. She doesn’t know that I used to know him well.” He hears Mr Emerson sigh. “Her mother and stepfather died in the terrorist attack five years ago. She doesn’t talk much, but she’s a good child.”

He doesn’t ask any questions. He gives the name of the book to Mr Emerson. Mr Emerson orders the woman to find the book. After a few minutes, the woman comes back with the book. When she gets closer to him and Mr Emerson, he takes a step backwards to keep a distance from her instinctively.

A human manages to make him feel nervous for the first time in his long life.

She glances at him. There’s nothing in her eyes except for a disinterest toward everything in the world. She turns her head towards her boss and gives him the book. He doesn’t hear another word from her and watches her leave with a complicated expression.

***

Standing behind the bookshelf, Eli peeks at her. He can’t stop himself from coming here once in a while. Though he has a thousand reasons to not do this, she keeps invading his mind. He’s just curious. Honestly, he has seen many broken souls. This is the first time when he’s seeing someone who is being protected by a motherly blessing from the goddess of night. The human female isn’t aware of it. He wonders how did she manage to get the blessing of that extremely moody goddess.

She’s so tiny and weak. He can swallow her in a single gulp. She won’t even feel the pain.

Eli shakes his head. He can’t eat her. She’s not dead yet. Besides, he changed his profession.

But the darkness of her mind is pulling him to her. He lets out an exasperated sigh and picks up a random book. He won’t come here next time for sure.

He puts the book on the counter. She scans the book’s barcode and packs the book. As always, she says to him the same word with the same artificial smile, “Please visit again.”

Though he knows that she is speaking the word that her boss told her to say to the buyers, he doesn’t have the strength to deny the request of this woman. So, he ends up visiting her again.

Spring blossoms in his heart for the first time. It doesn’t make sense that a ghoul is falling for a human. Somehow, he’s always looking forward to seeing her. He smiles when he sees her smiling when she’s reading. He becomes affected by her sadness. He wants to get to know her more. But a 632 years old ghoul doesn’t know how to start a conversation with the woman he likes. She makes him so nervous whenever he gets close to her.

Should he get closer to her or not? He’s a ghoul. She’s human. She might pass out if she finds out that he’s a ghoul.

“Sir, the card machine is not working.” She asks him with an anxious tone, “I apologize for the inconvenience, but can you make the payment in cash?”

For the first time, she shows him a different expression. He blinks at her in surprise. “I can make payment in cash. It’s not a big deal.”

“Thank you.” She lets out a breath of relief and smiles at him. It’s not the usual artificial smile. The ghoul doctor finds himself in a daze.

He will take a chance. After all, he’s a doctor. If she passes out of shock, he can take care of her.

But Eli is not an expert when it comes to these things. He asks his human colleague who knows a lot about women.

“They like men who can cook,” Dr Dylan Parry tells him. He leans closer and whispers to the ghoul who is clueless about how to start a conversation with a certain woman with a wicked look in his eyes. “You know, they love getting breakfast in bed after that.”

“After what?”

“After thaaaaaaaat, Dr Sanguine, thaaaaat.”

When Eli realizes what ‘that’ is, his face turns flaming red. He hasn’t thought that far.

***

When he visits her again, he goes for the recipe book. He even practices cooking human meals at home. Though that kind of future is nearly impossible, he still wants to be prepared. Since he doesn’t like what kind of food she likes to eat, he keeps buying the recipe books. Maybe she will ask him a question or strike a conversation out of curiosity.

If people from his past could see Eli now, their jaws would have fallen to the floor.

“Merry Christmas.” He hears her say, “Please visit again.”

The depressed Eli is surprised to hear her say something else other than the usual words. Though it doesn’t mean much, he still wags his non-existent tail and manages to keep a calm expression. “A Merry Christmas to you too.”

That’s the end of it. But Eli is happy.

***

When he enters the bookstore today, their gazes meet. He is taken by surprise. He dashes toward the same bookshelf. This human female can give him a heart attack using her eyes alone.

She seems a little distracted. He purses his lips. She seems tired. Did she not get enough sleep last night? Humans are more fragile than they look. They need the sun and fresh air. She hasn’t been taking care of herself lately.

What is she worried about? She is looking at the counter today. But there’s nothing on it.

She relaxes her shoulders and leans back in her chair. He wants to go to her and smoothen out the creases on her forehead. Why is this weak human thinking so hard? Too much thinking is also bad for them.

Eli notices something strange about her. She has the scent of death on her. He looks toward the door and sees a glimpse of the reaper. Why are they here? He stares at Nell.

There’s no other human here. Is it her time? She is moving her hand in the air as if she’s petting something. He knits his brows. Even reapers cannot escape his eyes. He would know for sure if there was any creature on the table.

His sharp ears have caught her mumbling to herself often in the past. He already knows that her soul has been broken a long time ago by something. What did she go through?

“Please visit again.”

He doesn’t go to the hospital. He has to find a certain reaper. Reapers are always moving. It can’t be helped. Someone is dying somewhere at any moment. It’s been a long time since he visited a graveyard.

Under the willow tree, a confused man appears before the ghoul doctor.

Eli crosses his arms and asks, “So, when, where and how?”

“Sire, you know that it’s illegal to leak such information.” The reaper wonders why his luck is so bad. He was only doing a routine check on the person who was close to death. He didn’t expect to see this man in the bookstore. Which reaper doesn’t know this man? He left, hoping that he wasn’t noticed.

Alas!

“It is illegal indeed.” Eli claps his hands and grins. “I apologize for this. It’s been a while since I visited reaper’s world. Maybe I should visit sometimes to reminisce the old times. You know how much I love all of you.”

“No!” The horrified reaper raises his hand. He lowers his head and says, “Sire, if you do this, our boss will do something crazy again.”

It’s not a secret that the god of death hates anything that cheats him. If this ghoul invades the realm of death, they can be sure that the god of death would start planning something insidious again. They haven’t gotten over the last mess that he created. They barely have time to breathe because of overwork.

“But I miss my old friends.” Eli looks up at the darkening sky and lets out a defeated sigh. “It’s been so long.”

The reaper swallows his saliva. He has no choice. If he must choose between the lesser evil and greater evil, he would always choose the one that would lead to less work. “Tomorrow at 1307. She will kill herself by slicing her wrist at her home.”

***

It’s already late in the city. Eli still has time, but he wants to see her just in case. He visits the bookstore. The strong scent of death nearly stops his heart. However, he gets a grip over his emotions. That’s not her scent. It’s Mr Emerson.

He doesn’t bother going inside the bookstore to check. 99.9% of the time, reapers are right about someone’s death. She must be on her way home. In the last two years, he has seen her around in the neighbourhood quite a few times. He heads toward her house.

When he inhales the familiar scent mixed with another death, he clenches his teeth and runs in that direction. Did that reaper lie to him? He pushes through the crowd and sees her sitting on the bench with a look that he never wants to see in her eyes again.

She looks down on her hands and laughs. Eli halts on his track. Her laughter is mixed with despair and pain. Even a ghoul like him can’t grasp the situation. Was that cat important to her? The crowd is looking at her with terror and accusation. This is bad. The police are already here. He watches the officer handcuffs her wrist. Suddenly, she raises her head and glances in his direction. She widens her eyes.

“It will be alright,” He whispers. But those words aren’t heard.

He is unable to help her right now. He can’t interfere with the laws of human worlds. He must find some other way. He walks away from that place. First of all, he must find out what’s happening. Who dares to play jokes on her? The cat was not killed by a human.

***

“Why do you want me to defend a human?” Benny looks at him with disbelief. Has this ghoul lost his head? “I ONLY work for the creatures who end up in messy situations because of humans, not the other way.”

“Come on, Benny.” Eli gives his best smile to the dwarf. “How long have we known each other? I wouldn’t come to you if a human could do it.”

Nell Solomon’s situation is trickier than he imagined it to be. She’s being targeted by something not human. Deaths of Mr Emerson and the cat aren’t caused by a human. He has to find who is trying to drive her to corner like this and why. Before all that, they have to deal with human’s blind laws. Since a supernatural creature is involved, an ordinary lawyer won’t be able to prove that it’s not her. He needs to convince Benny. He is one of the best in this field.

Benny narrows his dark eyes on him. “Why do you want to help a human? Is being a doctor who treats humans not crazy enough? You are a ghoul. Ghouls eat humans. If you don’t want her to go to prison, then eat her.”

It’s not like he didn’t consider that once. But he likes her alive than dead. He doesn’t mind eating her in other ways. Eli coils his arms around his small plump friend with curly black hair. “Benny, Benny, Benny!”

“Don’t call my name like that. I won’t do it,” Benny barks at him. They might be old friends, but this is a matter of principles.

Benny tenses his shoulders when he hears a sinister laugh. Trembling, he looks up at Eli is watching him with an evil glint in his eyes.

“Benny, I will tickle you if you don’t do it.”

“Aaaaaah!” Benny screams. “Don’t do that, you evil ghoul. Just eat me alive.”

“No, tickling you is better.”

Though it takes a while, the tickling monster manages to convince the cynical lawyer.

Eli and Benny go to the police station. But the woman is already gone. Someone released her earlier than the intended time. He lets out a curse. He looks at the time. 10:05 AM. He still has time. Her house isn’t far away. He leaves Benny at the station to deal with the police.

He reaches her house in five minutes. He knocks on the door. He is scared of how she will react. Humans are instinctively wary of creatures like him. The woman already makes him so nervous. Will he be able to talk to her? How should he explain?

Blood.

His eyes turn dark. He lets out a command. The shadows seep into the house through the tiny gaps between the door and the floor. They condense into a black hand and unlocks the door from inside. He finds her lying in the bathtub, blood deluging the floor. Her body is ready to embrace death; however, the reaper isn’t here to collect her soul yet.