All Hallow's Eve
Authors: Wendi Sotis
All Hallow’s Eve
By Wendi Sotis
ALL HALLOW’S EVE
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher and author.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
First draft was written in 2011 and 2012,
and posted serially beginning October 11, 2011 and ending July 14, 2012
Several passages in this novel are paraphrased from
the works of Jane Austen
Cover art by Matthew Sotis Copyright © 2012
All Hallow’s Eve copyright © 2012 Wendi Sotis
This book is dedicated to
Gayle Mills
and
Robin Helm
who
correct
my
blunders, fine-tune my prose,
and h
o
ld my hand through the dark times
,
with loving care.
Prologue
All Hallow’s Eve - 1096 A.D.
Although the
E
vil
S
oul
had purposely travelled
to
the point
on Earth that was
as far
as was possible
away
from t
he
High Priestess of
Sanun
,
i
t
knew from experience that when the time came,
it
would still be
able to hear her Song. Part of i
ts consciousness anticipated that moment with pleasure, optimistic that this night would be one of victory. But another part remembered all too clearly the bitterness of defeat, as
it
had endured so many times in the past, causing
it
to rethink the endeavor.
Disappointment and remorse had been plentiful throughout the decades since
it
had realized
it
s
ambition. Especially strong were these feelings soon after the Song of the Return had been sung
during the rite,
when
it
had been dragged by some invisible force to the Thin Place
,
pulled
through the portal, and
returned
to i
ts prison once again. No amount of effort on
i
ts part had been able to prevent it from happening every year, at least, not thus far.
The
E
vil
S
pirit
had spent much time mourning the opportunities
it
had missed
while trying to
perfect this scheme, regretting that
i
t had not spent the few short hours between Songs toward
i
ts immediate advantage.
It
was jealous of
that with which
the other
Olc
souls would amuse themselves during the ritual—frightening and torturing the living
,
making for
horrific
memories that could be
savour
ed all year long. B
ut, b
eing a very old soul,
it
had been involved with these same activities during ages past and had those recollections to review, at least, whenever these longings arose.
Although
it
could experience a trivial amount of sensation as a spirit, the ability to see, touch, and taste through proper human organs were pleasures beyond anything
a
disembodied
E
vil
S
pirit
could experience again. Therefore,
it
had learned to do what not many other
Olc
souls could accomplish
—
possess
living
bodies. Being subjected to
a person
’s terror from within their own mind created an ecstasy that could never be matched
, but s
pending
such a
short time outside of the void
while
dominating a living body was no longer enough to satisfy.
The
B
east
had become greedy, wanting more—much more—and determined to attain
satisfaction
, devoting the entirety of
i
ts
days
planning
toward that end
.
Its
one night of freedom per year was spent modifying the safeguards that
had been
so eagerly designed in hopes that someday
i
t
would be successful in escaping the Return.
By forcing
i
tself to
remember the time before the Tribes had joined together
as
one, before there existed a
Sanun
ritual to be performed on All Hallow’s Eve, and before all souls were allowed to wander the Earth on that one night a year,
it
had learned patience. During the centuries preceding the
Sanun
, the
E
vil
S
oul
had been convinced that spending eternity confined within the numbing nothingness of the
Olc
Otherworld would be
i
ts fate. Recalling this
period
always did
it
some good, reinforc
ing
the speculation that when the desired goal was finally achieved, the great effort
it
had expended during these scores of attempts would ultimately be thought of as necessary and worthwhile.
Now, as
it
heard the Song begin, the
D
epraved
P
hantom wondered if
i
ts
imagination was tricking
i
ts senses. Was the urge to return truly not quite as irresistible as it had been in the past?
C
ould it be that after all these years of
plotting,
it
had finally found a way to defeat the High Priestess of
Sanun
and her Song?
As the minutes passed, the chant continued
incessantly.
Struggling
against e
ven these newly reduced demands of the Return
was
exhausting. Just as the
F
iend had been thinking that
i
t would not be able to
resist
much longer, the pulling sensation stopped.
It
took this opportunity to gather
i
ts strength to begin the battle anew.
Time passed
,
yet
it
heard and felt nothing more.
Here
, deep under the ocean near New Zealand,
it
watched the
sun
as it
set
, and yet
it
waited
.
After several hours,
it
felt comfortable enough to allow the thought to enter
i
ts
mind—t
he
sun had
surely
risen by now in England
, signifying that t
he
Song of the Return had
, indeed,
ended.
It
was free! A renewed sense of power coursed through
it
at the victory.
The entire world was i
ts plaything!
~%~
For two centuries, the
m
alicious
c
reature
ha
d
been loose amongst the living
. At times,
it
had possessed men and women who fought wars
—
Crusades
,
they had called them
—
sometimes
enjoying the cohabitation of the lowest of soldiers, and at others, the highest.
Whenever its name had not mattered, it
chose to be called
Cher-nog
.
The
se human
battles kept
it
occupied for quite some time,
as it
leap
t
from mind to mind, from victor to victim, experiencing the
exhilaration
of the kill and the terror and
agony
of death.
Cher-nog
found
an extra thrill
when
forcing
good
, ordinary
people to act in a despicable manner, filling their days with debauchery and sin
, so
it
had added these into the
assortment of people that
it
would inhabit
.
A
lternat
ing
these employments with possessing the evil
leaders of the world, egging them on to act in a manner worse
than they would have done alone
kept
it
entertained—
for
a while.
But all this had now become repetitive and mundane.
Avoiding the Return had not become easier with time, but even
escape
had become routine.
Cher-nog
was bored.
Owning to itself that i
t
ha
d
appreciated
the power of authority
most of all
,
it
conceived of
a
new
scheme
. Not very long ago, the High Priestess of
Sanun
had added certain phrases to the Opening Song so that during the ritual,
no
Olc
souls
could pass through the portal to Earth.
It
imagined that
, by now,
all of i
ts kind would be desperate to be released from the interminable emptiness of the Otherworld
.
By forcing the High Priestess to sing the Song of old instead of the new, this plot would free
all
Olc
spirits
through the
ritual
by which
it
had been
liberated. Since
it
would
be
the one to
release
them, they
would surely
do
it
s
bidding
!
Afterward,
Cher-nog
would forbid the
Song of the Return from being sung until the end of time. In doing so,
it
would not only gain what
i
t wanted most, but
it
would take revenge upon all the High Priestesses
who had ever existed
through
i
ts punishment of the current lady to hold the title. They shoul
d not have stood in the way of i
ts ambitions throughout the ages!
And so, the pursuit
of
the High Priestess
of
Sanun
began.
Unexpectedly,
Cher-nog
found the task daunting. All
four
of the
current
Priestesses had gone into hiding, and it seemed that none of the people of the Tribes
that
it
could find
knew where they were
. I
t
learned as much as
i
t could of the history and practices of the Tribes through
i
ts
victims
’ minds
.
As the centuries passed,
it
searched, continuing to
liv
e
through others, stealing their lives away from them.
Then
, one day
,
by chance,
Cher-nog
occupied the very messenger who was
to
deliver the Sword of the Soul Mate to the Keeper, as would always happen when
ever
a
Soul Mate
of the High Priestess
died before his mate. In seizing the courier’s mind,
it
learned all that he knew
.