Bones of Salt

Roman

Roman knew that, with the spell he'd conjured, the Dybbuk would have little possibility to possess Atticus again, but he was still glad when he saw the person of his choosing hadn't been his older brother again.

"I feel very good in here," Jason, or should Roman think of him as the Dybbuk, said. "There is a lot of space in this head where I can be comfortable."

Roman would have normally enjoyed such a thing to be said about Jason, but he understood the situation was too complicated to let him enjoy himself as he normally would.

"You are just a troubled soul who can't pass on," Roman tried to make the Dybbuk reason. "You told us ourselves you were just a person once. In this, you are not so different from the Apparitions I see every day. My powers can help you go on, if you'd let me. You just need to tell me your story."

Roman tried to be as calm and collected as he could, and he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes just once, but it was hardly his fault. The Dybbuk, troubled soul or not, had already cost the team much trouble.

"I don't know," the Dybbuk appeared unsure. "I still can remember the person I was before I died, and I do recall the circumstances of my own death, but they don't feel important now. I just want to be able to get revenge. If you help me pass on, who's going to avenge me?"

Roman stopped Jonathan from saying something. He could guess the young man was about to say they would avenge him, just to get him to tell the story and move on.

Roman didn't feel like making promises to a Demon, especially promises he didn't know if he could keep.

"Revenge," Roman spoke carefully, "might feel like a good idea right now, but it's not. Not in the long run. My brother taught it to me. He said that those who seek it are digging two graves, for they're already started digging their own, too."

"It doesn't really apply to me," the Dybbuk mocked him. "But I do get the meaning. Though I am pretty sure you shouldn't go around quoting your brother all the time. A lot of the things he says are common knowledge, and it's up to a person to decide whether they believe them or not."

Roman could feel he was losing the Dybbuk's interest. The Demon was more invested in taunting him about Atticus now.

"I know a lot of the things my brother taught me when I was younger might not have been his own ideas to begin with," Roman tried to remain calm. "But he always taught me things for a reason. He really helped me become a better person, even when it was hard, and I'll always be grateful for that. The only problem is, I'll never be able to repay him. Nothing I can give to him would be of equal value."

"Besides," he added. "You say you only care about revenge now, but what do you mean? It seems to me you're fooling around, not looking for it."

"Yes," Matias agreed. "To be a Demon, you surely died a gruesome death, but none of the people you're possessing is the killer. And, if they're in the castle, which I doubt, you're not looking for them."

"I am sure they are in the castle," the Dybbuk said. "Or, at least, they were when I died. They might have run away since then."

"How can you be so sure?" Jonathan taunted him.

"Because he can't leave this place," Roman replied with a shudder. "Can he?"

Cypress sighed.

"Okay then," the Dybbuk said. "I will tell you my story... but if it troubles you, remember I didn't want to talk about it."

Roman thought it was the first time that the Dybbuk nailed his impression of Jason, making him say the right amount of words that required him to be mysterious and dumb while staying in character.