“Fuck! I thought you said it was a geist,” Lily shouted as she darted into the room and slammed the door. She pushed a shoulder firmly against it and the old wood creaked in protest.
“It was supposed to be a geist!” Nessa waved one hand erratically before trailing a finger along the tome cradled in her arm (because of course her sister brought the entire tome on the job).
“‘Supposed to be’. Right. And I’m supposed to be queen of fucking-”
“Shhh! Shush. Shut it,” Nessa said, huffing her flaxen bangs from her eyes. “Alright. Blah, blah… Here! ‘Ms. Tandryn met an early death when the south wing of the manor burned in 4476. Though never proved, many believed it to be arson. Her spirit still stalks the halls of the manor, blah blah…’ The legend sounds like a poltergeist!”
“Well the legend can go fuck itself. Or are you going to tell Ms. Tandryn she’s the wrong kind of dead?” Lily’s voice strained as the creature rattled the door from the other side. “Please tell me you’ve got a plan.” The door shuddered, hinges creaking as someone—no, something— raged against it. Lily was more athletic than her sister, sure, but their nearly eighteen centimetre height difference made her a sub-optimal choice as barricade. She regretted her choice of chunky heeled boots, which scraped against the floorboards for purchase as she pushed heavier against the door. She winced as the wood bent and splintered against her. “Nessa! Plan?”
“Figure out how she really died? Or-or where in the house? There’s only so many things it could be.”
“Let me guess: I need to buy you time.”
“Well…”
Lily groaned. “We should’ve brought Uncle Gal.”
“Absolutely not!” Nessa said, shooting her a reproachful look as though scolding a child who’d sworn. “We’re ready.”
The sisters held eye contact for a moment as the door bucked. Then Lily sprung away from the door. With the next bash the lock body, which had long given up on its own survival, gave way instantly.
A gust chilled the room, and at first the spectre wasn’t visible. That was the problem with spirits: they were sort of hard to see. Then a flicker, a hiss like the strike of a match, and a smoky figure took form. A face which once was a human, now gaunt and stretched thinner and longer than it should be, as were its arms, hands, and talon-like fingers. Long hair flowed behind it like a cape. Below the waist the smoke turned a darker grey, flickering to simulate a billowing skirt.
“Get going,” Lily told her sister. Feeling like an unprepared matador as she spread her arms wide to hold the spectre’s attention. “I’ve got to give you fair warning, I don’t reckon you’re up to the task of taking me on,” she said, watching Nessa skirt the room and exit. “If you had any sense in you, you’d realize we’re here to help. Crossing on, and all. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
The creature wailed.
Lily covered her ears, half expecting her hands to come a way bloodied when it stopped. “I’ll take that as a no.”
The creature surged, its elongated fingers becoming physical enough to audibly whoosh through the air as it swiped at her. Lily jerked back just in time to avoid them. A sour burning stung her nose, and she reared back to see a singed chunk of strawberry hair on the floorboards. Her gaze snapped back up.
“Motherfucker, now I have to get layers!”
The spectre’s mouth opened, prepared to shriek once more, and swung at her with both arms.
“Oh, kyth.” Lily staggered backwards, trying to find something she could put between her and the very angry not-geist. At the last second her hands found purchase on something and she held it up as she cringed away, expecting little more than delayed maiming. There was a thunk, then a hiss. Lily opened her eyes to see the spectre’s talons sunk into the thick, old tome. She winced. Nessa will kill me if she sees that.
The creature that was once Ms. Tandryn seemed equally confused. It hesitated, weighed down by the unwanted passenger skewered on its talons. Lily grinned, stuck her tongue out impishly, and ran, utilizing the precious few moments before the book finally toppled from the creature’s grasp. As thudded to the floor smoke once again hit her nostrils. Lily risked a glance over her shoulder to see curled, smoking pages.
“Wait, Ness-Nessie! It’s got fire,” Lily shouted, careening toward the stairs.
“What?”
“Fire!”
“I heard you!” Her twin’s voice got louder before the blonde appeared at the top of the stairs, staring down at her quizzically. “What do you mean it’s ‘got fire’?”
“I don’t fucking know, it’s burning stuff,” Lily said as she ran upstairs to the landing. She panted, gesturing to the chunk of hair with singed ends. “This. Paper. Touched it.”
“Died by fire. Manifested at that location. Geist-like, yet semi-corporeal. Able to burn…” Nessa mumbled as she led them back down the hall, pulling out their uncle’s hunting journal. She flicked through the pages faster than Lily could see what was on them before stopping at a passage. “Here. It’s a nymph!”
“And you sound excited because…?”
“Because they won’t be able to deny us licenses if we take out a nymph,” Nessa said, tapping her fingers against the page pointedly as though that were a law stated within. “At this rate I’ll be a Tracer in no time!”
“Can we celebrate your good grades later? Like, after it’s dead? Please tell me you know how to make it dead.”
“I’m getting there,” Nessa said tensely, returning her focus to the journal.
Rather than keeping its physical form, the spectre continued its geist-like antics. The temperature dropped rapidly, accompanied by smoke wafting from between floorboards. Though most of the manor was long abandoned, now strewn with litter and graffiti of the poor souls foolish enough to trespass, this room had their toolbag in it. Said toolbag was being emptied as every small item in the room began to levitate. There was even a dead rat in the mix.
Lily really, really wished they had brought Uncle Gal along. She launched forward to grab weapons before they were entirely in the creature’s control. Retrieving the bag, she started stuffing objects back inside as they begin swirling around the room.
“Nymph will-” Nessa ducked without lifting her gaze, waiting until something hit the wall where her head had been before she straightened again, “-will continue to relive whatever killed them. Their deaths are elemental in nature, often linked to natural disasters. With each repetition it becomes increasingly consumed by the element that killed it until the soul is entirely consumed.”
“Poltergeists on steroids,” Lily said, stopping beside her sister with an armful of projectiles she’d managed to retrieve. “Killing it?”
“This one’s barely corporeal. It must have been a fire nymph, and there’s nothing left to burn, so it’s just… air.” Her eyes widened. “I have an idea.”
“How dead am I if it doesn’t work?”
“It’s going to work.”
“Oh great. Very, then.”
It wasn’t much later that the front door slammed shut and Lily closed her eyes in momentary relief, exhausted by what had felt like the most fucked up game of tag she’d ever played.
Nessa rushed into the study. One hand clutched Lily’s windproof lighter, the other a sloshing bucket of well water. Setting the bucket beside the door she dropped to her knees in front of the singed and punctured tome on the floor. “I’m so sorry,” she mournfully told it as she ripped paper from its binding and crumpled the pages into a ball.
“You’d better be ready. She’s physical, and not happy about it!” Lily called, heeled boots proclaiming her incoming footfalls.
Nessa lit the paper with shaking hands before hopping back, pressing herself flat against the wall beside the door. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in-
The damaged door flew open, splitting the antique wallpaper as the handle ricocheted off of the wall. Lily rushed around the makeshift firepit before she stopped and whirled, back to the wall. Nowhere to go.
Mere moments later, the nymph surged after her, once again taking form. As it reached the center of the room it began to flicker. Smoky lines lapped toward the true flame as though reaching for it, wanting to be complete once more. It erupted into flame the moment it reached it. A line of fire shot upward, giving form to what had been feet, legs, and a thick petticoat. The smell of burning flesh permeated the rapidly heating air, and the girls had to try not to gag. Former-Ms.-Tandryn began to wail until the crackle of fire consumed the sound. It flailed, as she likely had in death, before becoming a body of angry flame.
“Now!” Lily shouted.
Nessa moved quickly, grabbing the bucket and tossing it onto the nymph.
The water hit as though it were a physical form. Flames hissed and crackled in resistance. The nymph opened its mouth in a silent scream. It was futile. As the water dripped it quenched the flames, leaving nothing behind but a puddle.
The manor was silent; the room was still.
“There’s…” Lily blinked. “There’s no way it was that simple, right?”
Nessa huffed, resting the bucket on one hip. “Nymph were essentially extinct in the early years of the crusade. Most texts referencing them have-” she could’ve guessed the disapproving look she’d find on her sister’s face. “Long story short: probably not. For us? Yes.”
“Great,” Lily said with a sigh. “Then let’s get the fuck out of here, yeah? Drinks are on me.”
While I’m working on the final part of He Who Hated Pirates, I finished up this story introducing Lily and Nessa. Some fun facts: they are based on characters I made almost 15 years ago now, and are part of the book that started Ekhypso! These hunter twins are near and dear to my heart so I hope you enjoyed the story.
As always thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you think about this nugget of nymph lore, and of the new characters. You will be seeing them again (:
Until next time,
M.K. Moretti