10:47 PM

Deceit returned to the old graveyard where she had summoned her children and groaned when she saw the church.

Still standing.

Taunting her.

Menacingly.

She decided she would find a way to kill them later, but first, she had to focus on the task at hand. Only one meatsuit would do for her father. The only meatsuit that had defeated the Empire, leading a rebellion.

Deceit wanted him for more than just his power. She knew her father, a born rebel, a free thinker, would love to have a host that thought the same as he. That no one being should live by the rule of others.

As she traversed the dead leaves, sticks, and dirt, bodies from the nearby graves sprouted up. They pushed out of the ground, bursting through their coffins, scratching away from the strong grip of death to her call.

From skeletons to the barely decomposed, they trailed behind her.

She wanted a precaution against Michael Slater. She worried that his soul would fight against her when she brought him back. Deceit wasn't sure if he was as strong as everyone claimed he was, but if it was at least half the power that Acheus held she knew it would be worth it.

She found the mausoleum in the center of the graveyard. In it laid the remains of Michael and his wife Sara. Deceit was now confident she could bring back his body with the new strength her father gave her.

The more decomposed a body, the harder it would be to reanimate it. She could grow flesh from bone, but it would take hours, for the body to return to even a shade of its former self.

She knew, however, that with Michael's ability her father would be unstoppable.

She was willing to risk her life for the first man she had ever loved.

Deceit waited as the cold bodies all worked together to push aside the large stone door. She walked inside and was surprised at how decorated the inside was. It had white marble and gold floors, and it was calming to look at in the moonlight.

Tall white pillars were in the small tomb, along with writing on the back wall. It was in English. It had been so long since Deceit had read it, that it looked like the scribbles of a mad man to her.

On the wall laid many pictures of people she did not recognize. An inscription next to the pictures said

Friends and Family, Together Forever.

Upon further inspection, there was one person she did recognize.

Deceit found a vial of blood next to a picture of Santos. It was inlaid into the frame, and the blood seemed to sparkle.

“Weird,” she mumbled. "Why is Lyrica here?"

She resisted the urge to touch it and focused on her duty to her father.

Her victims pushed aside the heavy lid on the coffin that read MICHAEL W. SLATER, and Deceit peered inside to find nothing.

Nothing.

His body was gone.

Instead was a piece of paper, laminated, written in English, and with a Union translation at the bottom.

Hello Thief! Or Thieves! Yes, the body of Michael Slater once rested here, but no longer! You have taken my father's body one too many times, and he is now resting peacefully with my mother in a place you will never find. They will sleep forever protected by Sarai.

I hope that this letter does not find you well.

Thief.

Spitefully yours, Perseus M Slater.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” she whispered. “The body is gone? It’s fucking gone!”

She looked at her drones, expecting them to answer back, but none did. None of them knew where the body of Michael Slater was. Candice flickered her eyes back and forth, communicating with all her children, but no one was even aware his remains were moved.

She wondered what being protected by Sarai meant. She racked her head over it, pacing the tomb, her heels clicking against the marble and leaving red footprints. Deceit stared at the picture of Santos on the wall and she had a wonderful idea.

“He knows where it is. Why the fuck else would he hang around this dump?”

Deceit now left the cemetery to find Santos, and then finally she could give her father Michael Slater.

Two gifts in one, neatly wrapped, and best of all, she knew she would get Acheus as well. It was only a matter of time.

She always got what she wanted. She just had to be patient.