Chapter Nineteen

Meeting the Mortician

"Keep in contact, got it?" Ruby said from the passenger seat of Jeffrey's faded brown car. Tanzi nodded firmly.

"You too. Good luck with Jade."

"Thanks," Ruby cast a wary gaze over to Jeremiah who stood with his thumbs in his belt loops. "I hope we can get some answers from Jeremiah and his friend. See you later." With one last nod, Ruby settled in her seat. Jeffrey reversed out of his parking space and gave a quick wave to Tanzi. Paige sat in the backseat and nodded and then the three were gone.

Tanzi and Jeremiah had already seen Zach off in his Volkswagen with Naomi in the passenger seat and Lacey and Lucas squeezed in the backseats. Now away from them all, Tanzi felt oddly lonely. She quickly sucked in her feelings and turned to Jeremiah. "We'll take my car, if that's alright?"

"Not necessary," Jeremiah said.

"With all due respect I still don't trust you. I don't really want you driving," Tanzi said firmly.

"No, you misunderstand," Jeremiah pointed over the car park to the tall grey buildings in the distance. "I told you, my friend has a morgue. That morgue is under the General Hospital. This car park is free and I don't have any loose change on me. We may as well walk. It is a good day, after all."

Tanzi didn't really like the way this man spoke. He seemed too confident, too well-meaning. She couldn't tell whether he was just a good man or whether he was playing an act. Either way she watched him carefully as he led the way across the car-park, his white suit immaculate in the sunlight.

"So have you been living in Eastbourne all your life?" Jeremiah asked.

"No," Tanzi replied. Deciding that she wanted to get on his good side in case he did turn out to be somebody other than he seemed, Tanzi wanted to be honest. "I was born in Japan and moved to England when I was a little child. I only moved to Eastbourne later on in my life."

"I thought the name Tanzi sounded foreign," Jeremiah mused. "But even so it doesn't quite sound Japanese."

"It's not," Tanzi admitted. "My father named me that."

"And he was not Japanese?"

Tanzi looked at Jeremiah's back. She couldn't tell whether he was prying into her history or whether he was being generally inquisitive. "No. He was English."

"Does it mean anything in particular?"

"He never stuck around to tell us," Tanzi said as a way of response.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. What about you, Jeremiah? Have you lived here all your life?"

"Not quite. I used to live in Texas over in America. I only moved to England around twenty years ago. I've been teaching for fifteen of those."

"Well, that at least explains your appearance," Tanzi said dryly.

Jeremiah glanced over his shoulder with that cheery smile of his. "Exactly. I grew up on Cowboys and the Wild Wild West. It was a way for me to disappear from the ugly real world." He turned away again and came to a stop at the road splitting the college grounds from the hospital grounds. "Let's just say I can relate to father issues."

The two crossed the road into a back car-park. Jeremiah led Tanzi behind the buildings into a much less-used road. There were no vehicles on this back road, only large rubbish bins and a lot of leaves that had fallen from the trees. After a moment Jeremiah turned on his heel.

"Here we are. Follow me." Jeremiah motioned towards an unmarked grey door. He paced over to it and pulled a key out from his breast pocket. With a bit of a wriggle he twisted the key, placed it back in his pocket, and opened the door wide. It led to a set of concrete steps leading down. "You first. I gotta lock up. Security measures. William is through the door at the bottom."

Tanzi didn't move for a second. She didn't like the fact that this was an unmarked door. But it was on hospital grounds so it couldn't be too suspicious, right? So far there had been no evidence that Jeremiah was anyone but who he said he was. Taking a breath, Tanzi took a step forward.

"Oh, wait," Jeremiah quickly put his hand in front of Tanzi. "A word of warning. William can be a bit… peculiar… at times. He is a smart man but perhaps lacks certain social graces. Be patient with him, okay? He does hold the answers you need."

Tanzi nodded, her throat dry. She couldn't bring herself to respond. Instead she started down the stairs, hoping she looked more confident than she felt.

As she got to the bottom, Tanzi heard the sound of somebody whistling some kind of nonsensical tune. She placed her hand on the push-door at the bottom and took a deep breath. Was it too late to back out now? Of course it was. Ruby was counting on her to get vital information that could save the lives of all of them. What was it Ruby had said after the first vision? She made sure to remember the names of those she failed. Tanzi only had a few names to remember… Daniel… Jay… she didn't want any more to be on that list. So instead she wanted to remember the names of those that she saved. Lacey… Paige… Zach… Naomi… Jeffrey… Jade… and of course, Ruby. Tanzi couldn't be weak, she couldn't fail. She had to find a solution. She had to save the lives of those that relied on her.

With her mind made up, Tanzi pushed open the door and stepped into the chill air of the morgue. Directly ahead of her she found the source of the whistling. A man was standing with her back to her, whistling away as he scrubbed down a silver table. He seemed completely oblivious to her presence as he systemically moved the cloth in circles, sending rivers of what looking like blood sloshing down the drains underneath the table.

The man was quite tall and broad-shouldered and completely bald. She could see his dark ebony skin of the back of his head, gleaming in the one sole light above him. He wore a white coat that hung loosely over his shoulders. What struck Tanzi was the presence of this man. There was a very particular atmosphere in this room.

"Are you going to stand there like a lost sheep, girl?"

His voice took her by surprise and Tanzi let out a small sound – a twist between a gasp and an apology which sputtered out. It was a deep, slow voice that seemed almost musical.

"Hm?" The man stopped the movement of his cleaning and cocked his head. "Do you plan on sneaking like a mouse? Speak up, girl."

"Ah… Uh…"

"Words make the world go 'round. Explain yourself quick."

Tanzi glanced back to the stairway but there was no sign of Jeremiah. She gulped. "Jeremiah wanted me to come and visit you."

"Jeremiah?" That slow voice echoed around the cold sterile room. "And why would he want you to visit me?"

"I'm a visionary!" Tanzi found herself raising her voice in the tension. She quickly gulped and shook nervously. It still felt strange saying that she was a visionary. It was a foreign word – a foreign idea.

"…A visionary…"

The man slowly turned and Tanzi couldn't help but gasp out loud. The man's eyes were completely black as if he had none at all. No pupil, no iris, no whites of the eyes, just continuous blackness. Three small scars extended through each eye as if he had been clawed at by some animal. Tanzi's eyes quickly flitted down to the man's chest and saw that he wore a black shirt under the white coat that was open at the collar. She could see many small scars criss-crossing his hairless chest. Finally she settled on the lack of a right arm where the sleeve of the white coat had been pinned down.

Whatever was wrong with his eyes it seemed like the man could still see clearly. He smiled – a strange smile, as his teeth were either sharpened or grown into points – and the smile didn't reach his strange black eyes.

"This is the first time I have had the pleasure to come face to face with a visionary. I have seen many in pictures, I have talked to some over the phone, but I have never met. This is a wonderful day indeed." The man extended his left hand and Tanzi could see even more tiny scars poking out from the sleeve of his coat. "My name is William Bludworth, the fifth of my name. Welcome to my morgue. I appreciate it may not be the most glamorous of locations but it is, for better or for worse, my home. What is your name, girl?"

Tanzi forced herself not to stare into those hypnotizing black eyes of William. "Tanzi Sakamoto."

"…Tanzi Sakamoto…" William echoed in that deep voice. "You have experienced a vision, you have prevented death, you are part of a List, correct?"

"Yes." All worries that Jeremiah was lying was gone now. Tanzi could easily tell that this William Bludworth character definitely knew something.

"Then I fear for your lives and the lives of those involved." William beckoned Tanzi to follow as he walked through a doorway. Tanzi followed into a bleak office looking area. He pulled a thin wooden seat from the desk and placed it in front of Tanzi. "Please, sit."

Tanzi obeyed, sitting down on the delicate chair.

"I imagine you have many questions but I will warn you, I do not have all the answers, no matter what Jeremiah may say. He is a man who enjoys embellishment."

Tanzi had been thinking all through the walk to the hospital on the questions she would ask Jeremiah's friend. Now she was here her mind only settled on one – and perhaps it was the most important one. "How can we stop Death?"

"Ha!" William's bark of laughter was unexpected and took Tanzi off guard. "Stop Death, girl? To stop Death is to stop the natural human order of things. We all die and rot in the ground, after all. Stopping Death is impossible. What you mean to ask, girl, is can you stop the List? To that I say – perhaps."

"…Perhaps?" Tanzi blinked. Was that all? Did she come here just to hear perhaps?

"I have heard many tales of how to stop the List. My father used to think new life could break the List but that was proven false. Another is to kill the one you love and while that has its merits it is far too unseemly. A life for a life. In order to save your companions then each of them would have to kill somebody they love and I don't believe that is likely to happen." William turned around and stared at the wall. "The List has been active throughout history, for many hundreds of years and my family has been researching the List for just as many years. The furthest back we could track it is to the ancient Egyptians.

"It is said that Shishak Kaka was the first Visionary. Nothing more than a boy – a slave. This boy searched for answers. Just as you do, just as many have done before you. It is said that the boy sailed the Nile with his trusted companions to seek Osiris himself. Shishak wanted to stop Death but it is written that Osiris merely laughed at the boy and killed the ones he held dear and attempted to kill the boy himself. The boy's blood fell upon the ground of the dead and turned into the spirits of the damned and taunted Osiris. Distracted by these spirits of those that had died Shishak plunged a hand-crafted dagger into the God's heart – spilling the Nectar of the Gods and thus opening the doors to hell."

William's slow voice stopped and he turned to Tanzi. "I tell you this small story because it is a story passed from father to father to father of the Bludworth family. It is not a story of victory. When Shishak killed the god of the underworld, then people could not die and those that had rose from their graves, nothing more than mindless beasts. This grew heavy on Shishak's heart and he earned the rage of the Gods. He was punished but as he could not die he merely lived in eternal pain. It was then that Horus himself descended to the Earth and told Shishak that if he became the gatekeeper of the Underworld, then the dead could die and the scales would balance. Haunted by what the world was like without death Shishak agreed. You see, in his hunt for answers Shishak ended up torturing his people."

William smiled with those sharp teeth again. "I know not how much of this story is true – if any of it is. But perhaps Shishak never should have acted on his Vision. Perhaps Shishak should have let the natural order of fate play out and met Osiris in the Underworld."

"Are you saying that I shouldn't have tried to save the lives of those I saw die?" Tanzi asked, disbelieving. "That I shouldn't try and find answers like this Shishak did."

"I'm just saying that there is a lot we don't understand of this world of ours. Perhaps, Tanzi Sakamoto, you were meant to die. Perhaps the people you saved were meant to die. It may be as simple as Death is trying to claim what is rightfully his. Your very souls. Why else would he pursue you so much?"

"I-I'm not satisfied with that!" Tanzi stood so she could look deep into the black eyes of William. "Surely we should fight for survival."

William grinned a shark-like grin. "I completely agree with you. I personally think Shishak had the right idea." William turned again and walked towards the blank wall. He reached with his left hand to a latch hidden in the shadows of the corner. With a click he pulled on the latch and pulled open a hidden door in the wall. William beckoned to Tanzi once again. "Come," he said as he walked into this new room.

Half amazed and half disbelieving, Tanzi followed the man through the hidden doorway and looked around the large room. Filing cabinets lined the left and right walls, reaching the ceiling. Each cabinet had a small white label attached to it with small scribbles in a swirly handwriting Tanzi could barely read. The wall directly ahead of them was covered in hundreds of images – photos, drawings, maps – all connected with strings of varying different colours. Finally a table stood in the middle of the room, surprisingly bare.

"There are other groups out there that deal in the supernatural," William said as he moved to the wall, "and because of this, they have lost the focus on Death. I said it before: the world is a strange and mysterious place. When the skies opened up above London I could scarce believe my eyes. But whatever that was I do not believe it was to do with the List. I think that was something more. So while these other groups investigate what they perceive as 'bigger threats', only we, the Bludworth family, investigate Death and his List. We want to stop unnatural deaths and especially discover the source of and stop the List."

Tanzi looked over the images and found it hard to take in all this information. "This is… amazing…"

"It is. All on paper and in our minds. None of our information is on any computer or network. That way we can't be tracked by those who I mentioned, the groups that seek to ignore Death and his List."

"Do you mean the DSI?" Tanzi asked, looking to William. He seemed a little bit surprised that Tanzi knew the name.

"You know of the Department of Supernatural Investigation?"

"Not really… My friend, she knows of them. She mentioned what you just said, that they thought the List was 'small'."

William nodded. "Exactly. If we Bludworth's kept our information on digital networks then the DSI would shut us down just like that. Hence these physical archives." William tapped on the wall though this was more to himself than to Tanzi. "I am glad Jeremiah caught sight of you. I do not believe in coincidences; rather, I believe in fate. Tanzi Sakamoto, I believe it was fate that you came to me. I want you to help me – Help me save your companions and help me and my family stop the List for good."

"How?" Tanzi asked.

"There is a man… He is called an Oracle by the DSI. He has answers that we need. If possible I would like you to head to his home up at Belle Tout Lighthouse."

"…What kind of answers can he—" Tanzi started to ask the question but suddenly sucked in a breath. The wall seemed to blur in a combination of colours before fading completing out.

She sat in a chair, feeling small but never lonely. Was being quiet so wrong? She glanced around the room and could see blurred figures sitting in other chairs. They raised Her right; She knew that much. What more could She want? But the world was so loud and expected Her to be loud as well. It scared Her the way other people would speak with no thought, would act with no warning.

The chairs and the figures faded away and She felt drops upon Her head. She looked up to see grey clouds roiling above her. The drops hurt every time they hit Her naked skin. They grew heavier and heavier and She felt her knees buckling. So many people with so many thoughts… So much fear and expectation and failure… The drops started to draw blood and She saw the crimson swirl down into a deep black hole…

Then the crimson disappeared and the drops stopped hurting. She stared ahead of Her and saw that beacon of light, of hope. The boy who the world has turned against yet who remained strong. His face was clear. That strong jaw, those light eyes, that slightly lop-sided smile. He walked to Her and took Her in his arms. Never had She felt safer than in the arms of the one she loved…

"Hah…" Tanzi let out a gasp and took a step backwards. She looked wildly around, momentarily confused as to where she was.

"Was that truly a Vision?" William asked, looking at Tanzi in wonder. "Tell me, how did it feel?"

"I-I-I…" Tanzi shook her head and felt the walls bearing down on her. "W-Where's L-Lucas…?"

William blinked slowly. "I do not know of-"

"Ah…" Tanzi suddenly clutched at her head as a sharp ringing extended from what felt like the depths of her brain.

He stood in the middle of an empty Hallway, looking around with a frown. Why was it so hard to be so damn good? He slowly walked down the corridor towards a clear door in the distance but the closer He got the further the door extended outwards. He started running but the faster He went the further the door got. He continued running, His breath catching in His throat. He reached out with His hand, His fingers reaching for the doors…

The door disappeared and He found himself surrounded by figures. Figures He recognised as His friends – friends turned enemy. And there – laughing – demonic. The one that ruined everything, the one that took everything from Him. He swung His fists at this demon but the laughing face dissolved into mist. Why was it like this? Why was it that no matter how hard He fought, no matter how hard He tried, it felt useless?

The floor opened up and He felt himself falling. He closed his eyes and looked deep into the blackness. Perhaps this was His fate, to fall with the others. It would be so easy to just give in… Why fight an impossible fight, why fight when you know you're going to lose? No… No, He had to fight, He had to fight with what He believed in… what else was there? He reached up towards the hole but it was too late… it got smaller and smaller the further and further He fell…

Tanzi let out a strangled cry as she stumbled forward, her legs giving way. William put out his hand to steady her but Tanzi slapped his hand away and backed up. "Get off, get away!" She turned and hit her hip painfully in the corner of the table. "Ah, fuck!" She twisted away and slammed her back against one of the filing cabinets. "This is fucked up, this is not right! I can't believe in all this…" Tanzi's eyes suddenly focused and she looked at William. "Hah… God…" Her breaths came out hard as she took a step forward.

Tanzi managed to pull out her phone and tried to push the buttons but her hands felt numb. "Hah… Ruby… Ruby, both of them…" She realised she was speaking out loud but Tanzi didn't care. Her brain felt like it was in a vice and she needed to contact Ruby. "…I-I… Ruby…" Tanzi felt the phone slip from her hand before she saw it. It clacked against the floor and Tanzi felt the floor twist upside down. She put her hands out to steady herself but her legs seemed to twist and fall away.

Tanzi caught sight of William Bludworth moving forward before a sharp pain filled the side of her head and she fell to the cold office floor, her eyes moving about wildly. She could see something red quickly spreading across the tiles before the ringing came back and overcame her, striking her into darkness.

A/N:- Y'know, as I wrote Elimination Game I wasn't sure whether I wanted to introduced William Bludworth or not. In the end I decided that at the end of the day this is a Fanfiction, so having ties to one of the more intriguing characters of the FD Universe can't hurt. William Bludworth (the fourth, of course) turned out to one of my favourite 'new' characters of this trilogy. Of course, back in the original Elimination Game the movie William Bludworth was running about but not so this time.

Anywho, as you'll no doubt notice, we're creeping into the more Supernatural territory. That 'Supernatural' tag ain't just for show!

As always, thanks for reading, excuse the random thoughts and 'till next time!