The Prince's body

“Quis fecerit?” - A deep, ominous voice whispers.

The floor feels wet with a thick substance. It smells and tastes like blood. Barely opening my eyes I see a figure, no, two. One feels like a man but the other is different. Tall, no light touching it. Music starts playing, and in a matter of a blink, I’m in the car, with the rest.

“Who did it?” - I hear from someone in the car, but the music was too loud to make out who it was.

“Yo this is my jam, turn it up b”

“Shh relax Santiago” - Alexandra replies smiling. “We’ve still got loads of time to listen to it, besides let Peter choose next” - She winks at me.

I let out a yawn, still getting my head around my surroundings. A nice van, loud music and the 5 of us going on the trip that we planned. Somehow it feels strange like I can’t believe it’s happening.

“Man the dream I had” - I say, stretching my arms.

“Maybe it was the owler sending you a vision” - Replied Roberto, jokingly.

“The who?”

“The Owler man, the monster from Shine Woods? The whole reason we’re going there?”

Teresa lets out a sigh with a smile. “Roberto loves these creepy conspiracies, don’t let him drag you down the conspiracies rabbit whole”

I smile at Teresa, a little concerned for ‘the Owler’, when did we talk about it?. But before I could think any more of it, William grabs my shoulder. “Relax, they captured the guy that did it, a man obsessed with owls and-”

Roberto suddenly interrupts him. “How do you explain the way its victims died though? The back of their necks had the same scars as if eaten and picked with a beak”

“Nice rhyme baby” - Santiago replied with a smile.

“Whatever you want to think” - William said, fixing his glasses looking back into his phone. “Anyway, just be careful when going around the house, the worst that can happen is that you get lost and we lose a whole day trying to find you”

Puzzled, I get my phone to google this ‘owler’ noticing that there’s no signal. “Does anyone have a signal?”

“I do” - William replied without lifting his face.

“Wait Pete did you already forget? No phones for the whole 3 days” - Alexandra smiled, grabbing my hand with the phone. “Don’t be shy, baby, I’ll take good care of it” - She says while her eyes study me, up and down.

“I don’t remember agreeing to this but sure, how can I say no to you”

“Good boy” - She grabs my phone and puts it in her bag.

“Chill Peter, we’re here anyway” - Said Santiago, putting his things inside the purse he had with him. “And btw Peter, I’m DJ tonight for not letting me finish listening to my song”

“Whatever honey. Peter and I will probably be busy, right?” - Alexandra looking at me with a smile.

“Babes, leave Peter alone” - Teresa tells her by hitting her leg jokingly.

“What? he’s a cop, bet he’s handled worse”

“Damn girl, this was supposed to be a family-friendly trip” - Santiago replied looking at Alexandra with a smile.

I’m speechless and can only let out a smile. Then I think ‘A cop…’ I immediately check for my gun on my waist, behind the seat in front of me, and inside my backpack. It’s there, I sigh. I’ve never been as careless as to forget where I put my gun, Alexandra has me distracted. Can’t remember the last time someone had me in their hands like that.

Roberto takes a turn and joins a dirt road. After a short few minutes we see the house, somehow it doesn’t feel familiar. I thought we had booked something different but it’s beautiful regardless. The view doesn’t disappoint, the sun reflected on the stones that made the house’s wall. A mix between modern and rustic styles, wooden window frames with a mosaic, resembling a church.

Two floors, two balconies with sliding glass doors from the floor to the ceiling. The tint of the glass reflects the sun, making it impossible to see through. Apparently with a pool on the top, too modern for the area, almost out of place.

“Alright everyone fuck off the car, we’re here” - Roberto lets out a smile while stopping the car.

William lifts the tip of his cap to get a better view and whistles while looking at the house. “Prettier and bigger than I thought”

“So glad Uncle hooked us up” - Santiago says.

“Shut it, uncle only found it” - Roberto replies nudging Santiago with his elbow.

“Everyone, give me your phones” - Alexandra requests. “And that’s an order” - She finishes grabbing the rest of the phones from everyone.

Roberto moved to open the house and as we were going in. I noticed a symbol in the frame. A circle with what seems like letters in a different language. Another circle inside with lines crossing each other ending in small circles and crosses.

“What’s this?” - I ask, pointing at the symbol.

William takes a closer look, touches it. “I wonder, who did it?”

A shock inside my head makes me close my eyes. “Quis Fecerit?” again that ominous voice. The darkness and the strange figure coming closer. I can see the man next to it, whispering some words. I can be sure that I feel the blood under me, but no pain, I can’t feel anything.

“Man, probably the builder, who cares? Can’t you help bring the stuff inside instead?”

“Sure Santiago, relax” - William replied. “Everything okay?” - He asked me.

“Yeah, just zoned out for a second thinking about my dream” - I replied, it felt like a second. I can barely remember what I saw, maybe it was the same dream I had in the car, it feels gone, harder to remember the more I try.

Everyone is helping around the stairs when I see Alexandra and Santi lifting up a heavy cosmetics train.

“Cousin, if you break this present, I will murder you, you’ve been warned” - Alexandra threatens as she drags the luggage upstairs, her high heels announcing her movements with every step.

“Fuck!” - Santi screams.

“What did I tell you” - Alexandra replies calmly looking at the train falling down the few steps.

The train lands and opens the bottom drawer, revealing some black bag. It seemed like one of those suit protectors for travel.

“Jesus nobody told me this was a formal event” - It feels like nobody told me much, actually.

“Look, can't you just help?” - Santi requests, anxiously.

“Nah you’re on your own. Don’t want to stain my shirt with all that cheap makeup” - I laugh, with Alexandra, Roberto and Teresa joining me.

“Where’s William btw? Did he already go to his room?” - I ask

“He’s helping me set up the rest of the house, we just need to check everything works as it should. Btw Alex why don’t you show Peter the rest of the house?” - Says Roberto pausing to look at Alexandra before going inside his room,

“Would love to, follow me upstairs” - Alexandra grabs her bag and carries it upstairs as I follow.

“You’ve been here before?” - I ask her.

She looks back at me giving me a side look with a smile. “No... I just spent a lot of time looking at the pictures, and my dad found the place a while ago”

That’s when it clicked. “Roberto’s uncle?”

“Yeah, Roberto loves him but really he’s just self-absorbed and obsessed with his little club”

“What do you mean?”

“Ugh nothing, don’t worry about it” - She turns to a door upstairs. The expression on her face changed, she looked upset now. “Here’s our room” She says with a flirtatious smile.

“Our room?” - I smile

“Well if you have any complaints take them with my cousin” - She winks.

Her phone suddenly rings and she picks it up to read the screen.

“I thought you said no phones?”

She lifts her finger up to her lips as if to shush me. “These men seriously create nothing but problems... Look, you want some advice? Never join the movie business, excuse me” - She finishes walking downstairs while talking on the phone.

“Yes Ma’am” - I say laughing, now ready to settle in the room. Since when did she start liking me so much? My mind started wondering, excited about the night.

After a few hours when everyone was settled, the sun was gone and the moon was lighting the beautiful trees of Shine woods. Apparently, some kind of bug or leaves in the trees makes little shining spots when the moon is fully out.

I hear a loud thud and lights go off. I hear a scream from Teresa, immediately running downstairs.

Everyone else is here except for William who is missing.

“Everyone okay?” - I ask, exalted.

“Yeah, sorry just slipped from the scare” - Teresa replied, lifting herself up with Roberto’s help.

“Come up baby, are you okay?” - Roberto asks, supporting her by the arm.

“Yeah babes thank you” - She stands up, tapping her back as Roberto slaps her ass.

“Hey!” - She tells him off.

“Sorry I had to, you said you were okay”

“Don’t be smart” - She replied smiling and hugging Roberto.

Alexandra was on her phone unphased by the light change, and apparently by the no phones rule she set up herself.

“Yo who did it? they messed me up” - Santiago says coming downstairs

His steps seemed quiet, like in the background. I can barely see in the darkness now. Was I able to see better before? My head started feeling heavy just like the air around me. My body feels the weight of another as if someone massive was on top of me. The taste of blood, once again. Until the lights turn on, and the feeling disappears completely. Did I imagine it?

“It was my fault, sorry… should be good now” - I hear William’s voice from the basement.

“Oh shit Santi, are you okay? Let me see your hand” - Teresa demands.

“Don’t worry, I was just opening a new set of makeup blenders and the fucking lights went off”

“Come here Santi let me fix you up” - Teresa grabs Santi’s hands so as to not drop any more blood and takes him to the kitchen where she sets up her nurse kit.

“Why did she bring her whole kit?” - I ask Roberto

“She even takes it to the mall and leaves it in the car buddy, so if you want to break something, she’ll take care of it”

“Thanks but... No thanks” - I smile.

“I’ll get the fire ready, see you all in a bit” - Roberto leaves, it seemed like his mood changed.

William comes up the stairs, without saying a word, cleaning his hands on an old rag.

“Is the water ready?” - Alexandra asks William.

“Ready as soon as everyone is” - He replies without looking at her, going upstairs.

“Finally, see you at the fire” - Alex leaves, placing a call.

I go upstairs after a while and see the light in Santi’s room on. There was a bloodstain on the door and I got curious about the mess he made. Inside his room, I could see a few clothes on top of his bed. Some makeup on top of the dressing table and a small circle, I could barely see. The circle had a bloodstain inside of it and something else.

“Excuse you?” - Santi demands behind me.

“Fuck! Santi. Jesus” - I jump back from the door.

“Anything here goes missing and I will murder you” - He smiles squinting his eyes.

“Sorry, was just checking”

“Sure” - He replied jokingly

Everyone started helping around to set the fire pit. Roberto, William and I arrange the wood, the food for the grill and marshmallows for dessert. We were lucky to see several birds, but there was one barn owl always looking at me. It kept its fascinating gaze on me, even when he moved.

Once the fire was running I went upstairs to call Teresa, Alexandra and Santiago. When I reached the door, I heard my name.

“How many triggers have we used?” - Teresa asked Santiago.

“Three” - He replied.

“Wait, you used yours not long ago, I used mine in the car and…”

“My brother” - Alexandra interrupted.

“So Santiago, William and I, and he saw one sigil in the entrance. That almost fucks everything up” - Teresa replied.

“Don’t worry, he didn’t pay much attention, that’s why William used his trigger earlier than he should have”

“Look both of you, I think he might have seen mine, from when I cut my hand” - Santiago said concerned.

“Did you let him see it?” - Teresa moved closer to him.

“No, I stopped him before he came inside… Look I don’t think I can do this, my hand hurts a lot and I’m scared. I don’t think Manny would have liked this”

“Listen, Santi, Manny is not here anymore because of a corrupt motherfucker. Now, do you want him back or not?”

“Both of you, relax, we’re already this far. Santi” - Teresa whispered. “Manny would want to see you happy, and he’ll be able to once we’re done, just a few more hours and that’s it.”

“At least you got the easy part, I feel like puking every time we talk”.

“Everyone, where are you?” - Roberto screamed, startling me right outside Santiago’s door. I quickly shuffled to my room to get my gun. What the fuck was that. I’ve felt strange ever since we arrived, no, since the car. I need to figure out what’s going on. And who the fuck is Manny.

I had too many questions, so I decided to keep quiet for now while I hid in my room. It was too late to call them. I hope they don’t ask where I was. The three of them go down and I stay hidden in my room until I hear.

“Yo Pete, where are you at?” - Roberto was screaming my name.

I go downstairs. “Coming”. I scream while running outside to the fire pit. Everyone’s faces had a serious, almost sad expression on them.

“Why didn’t you call them? Where were you?” - Roberto asked.

His eyes were fixated on mine. It was so intense that it made me feel in danger, putting my hand closer to my gun by instinct.

“I was..” - I pause trying to find an excuse. “...looking for my wallet” - I just realised, where the hell is my wallet, I haven’t seen it since... Well, I don’t even remember. “Has anyone seen it?”

Their faces were puzzled, Teresa just kept looking at me while Santiago avoided my eyes completely. Alexandra and William just ignored the question as if I didn’t exist, but Roberto replied.

“It doesn’t matter right now” - He puts his hand on my shoulder while giving me a plate with meat. “Just sit and enjoy with us”.

It was too quiet while we ate, I’m not sure if it was just me being paranoid, trying to make sense of that conversation. But nobody made a sound until Santiago broke the silence.

“Listen y'all, this is not what baby Manny would have wanted”

“Shut the fuck up, Santiago” - Roberto stands up slowly, the same menacing look as before.

“No, I can’t, I won’t”

“I know it must be hard for you, it’s as hard for everyone else and I hope that you understand that we would love to have him back” - Roberto widened his eyes.

“Sorry guys… I’m a little lost” - Finally finding my way to get a lead on who Manny is. “What’s happening? Who’s Manny?”

The sound of the wood breaking is the only thing filling the silence. Everyone looked to the floor, except for Roberto, who looked straight ahead, with his eyes watering.

“You wouldn’t remember Manny, how could you? He is Santi’s and I, little brother. He died” - He pauses. “He was killed by a cop, 3 years ago. Manny was out playing with his friends while I was working in the repair shop and Santiago was looking after him.”

Santiago interrupts. “I was supposed to take care of him but my then-boyfriend asked me to go dance so I made a deal with Manny. He would stay in the house and not open the door and I would come back after 3 hours.”

“But Manny got bored, or at least that’s what we think, and went outside the house for a walk when he saw the pig doing drugs. The cop got scared and started hitting Manny, so many times that his body ended up broken in too many parts”

At this point, I could see everyone started letting tears out, except for William, who kept focused on his beer.

“The cop escaped and was declared innocent by lack of evidence”

I’ve heard this before, I saw it somewhere. I think it was someone from my station.

“3 Years ago, somebody from my precinct was accused by the family of a little boy, accused of abuse, I just can’t remember who” - I say.

“We don’t know who did it either” - Replies Roberto drinking his beer.

My mind gets filled with the flash of a chair, a psychologist, and other people surrounding… me? It’s strange, it happens too quickly and I barely see it. It feels like the same guy from my dream, the one next to the thing.

“He was sick, always too weak to do any sports, but he would love to see his brothers play. I used to take care of him most days, as a stay at home nurse. Manny was the sweetest patient for all of those years. Thanks to him I’m with Rob.” - Teresa says, looking at Rob in tears.

“Shit, I’m really sorry, I wish we would have met” - I reply, trying to compose myself from the vision.

“Like I said don’t worry” - Roberto takes the last sip of his beer and throws the bottle away. “Agh fuck.” He had cut himself with the bottle but continued walking. The barn owl’s wings made a lot of noise as he moved away from the place, in Roberto's direction. I was surprised to see that Teresa didn’t go help him.

A few minutes go by, I’m still nervous and Alexandra makes some chit chat with me until we hear “Ahhhh fuck go away” - Roberto screams followed by the breaking of a window.

We rush inside the house. There’s glass and a couple of windows completely broken. A mess of blood on the floor. I take my gun out and yell at everyone to go to the car, but they stay behind me.

“Oh fuck fuck fuck who did it?” - Alexandra says, making me feel dizzy again. I can see the man and the thing in front of me, so I shoot.

“Get the fuck away” - I shoot again. They’re standing there. I can make out a deep demonic sound from the thing “hoo hoo… hoo hoo…” My head starts hurting and I see the older man in front of me. He repeats the same words over and over and over. Asks me to follow his fingers.

I can see them, I can see the others there but they are repeating after the man. I can see the man’s rings, one of them has the same symbol I saw on the frame of the door.

The kid is here. I see it, it’s in front of me so I point my gun and shoot. The kid is still there, I feel another shock to my head and we’re in the alley. The kid is unharmed so I shoot again, he saw me. He made me do this, it was that or prison.

But there’s something wrong, I don’t feel the gun in my hand anymore. It’s my baton, covered in blood along with my hands. The kid is on the floor, his eyes open, bleeding. I see a flash and hear a loud bang.

I’m back in the living room of the house, confused, panicking, trying to remember my training. I focus on the thing in front of me, it’s not the kid anymore. The lights go off and they start to scream. I try to keep calm.

“Leave or I will shoot”

It stood there, looking at me, getting closer. I could make out his body from one flashing light inside the house. This thing was tall and had an abnormally huge body. It had talons for feet and big muscular chicken legs. Its belly and torso were white with dark brown colors in the back. Its arms were human-like but had bleeding feathers coming out from them starting from the back to each elbow. The face was the worst part, an abnormally large white face, with black, dark and round eyes. It had a sharp beak for a nose.

“The owler!” - Alexandra screams

I shoot again and again until my magazine is depleted. This thing didn’t even move.

Defeated and confused, I drop my gun, still in shooting position but the thing, the Owler, comes straight to me and hits me on the head until I drop unconscious. I do feel several hands carrying my body.

Some familiar voices are chanting what sounds like “Quis fecerit” over and over again. I open my eyes and see myself inside the now empty fire pit. It’s them.

“Uncle there’s only his sigil left” - Roberto tells his uncle dressed as the Owler while the others continue chanting.

“Well done” - The uncle lets out a smile picking out a knife from his robe. He proceeds to get closer to me and I feel the heaviest sting in my stomach, he stabbed me once and picked the knife. I can only find comfort in the same barn owl as before as my mind starts to get heavy.

The shine from the moonlight stops and the place feels heavier. I can barely breathe. My head gets foggy and I have the same crushing feeling as before. The owl is no longer there, I can barely focus but I feel somebody fall down next to me.

“What is this?! Uncle? What are you doing?! Teresa!” - It was Roberto’s voice screaming, followed by a crack and the drop of a body.

“You all wanted to see him again, Prince Stolos will make it happen once it becomes king on earth. Stolos, feed from this sacrifice and gain strength” - The uncle laughs, chanting from a small book he holds in his hand.

“Father don’t do this” - Alexandra begs him.

“You all signed the sigil with your blood, now be blessed by Prince Stolos”

I can hear the others' screams stop and bodies drop near me one by one. Teresa, Alexandra, William and Santiago.

Suddenly, the heaviest silence I’ve ever heard. This thing is in front of me, waiting. Next to it, is Roberto’s uncle. I know him, he’s the psychologist I went to before I woke up in the car. I can feel other people get closer as the blood from the bodies gets to my back.

“Quis fecerit?” - The deep, ominous voice whispers.

“I know” - I say laughing. “It was me, I killed the kid.” The smell of blood gets stronger. People all around me chanting, using words I can’t understand.

The thing gets closer, I can see it now. It’s real, the fucking owler is real. It has robust wings attached and falling from its elbows all the way back to its shoulder blades.

Round white face, like an owl, pitch-black round eyes. A large beak, stained with blood from where his nose should be, with uncannily large human teeth inside. Its legs are thin and end with strong talons with sharp nails.

“Stolos” - The uncle screams next to the Owler. “Grant us eternal wisdom, Oh great prince of hell, give us the wisdom to understand the stars. Bring your legions and let us serve under you. Become the king on earth and surpass the others that came before you”.

I can just smile at the madness I’ve just seen. The Owler comes closer to me. Deep noises start coming out of his beak without moving. The closer he gets the better I can make his words.

“Vessel… on… earth… it… is… you” - It says. Jumping inside my stomach. The pain is unbearable and I can only see darkness now.

I hear laughter from a familiar voice. It’s me, I’m laughing, or at least my body is. I can see it now, how it uses it, how I lost control. How I can only watch trapped in my body, as this prince learns how to use it… I can feel it… my thoughts… leaving… chang…