A Caress Of Twilight   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

"How did I act like a child? Because I wouldn't drop shields and see all that horror?"

"No, because you say there is only one type of ghost, like it's the only truth. Trust me, Merry, there are more than human shades running around."

"Like what?" I asked.

He took a deep breath, flexing his hands on the steering wheel. "What happens to an immortal being when it dies?"

"They're reincarnated like everybody else."

He smiled. "No, Merry, if it can be killed, then by definition it's not immortal. The sidhe say they're immortal, but they aren't. There are things that can kill us."

"Not without magical help there isn't," I said.

"It doesn't matter how it's done, Merry. What matters is that it can be done. Which brings us back to the question, what happens to the immortals when they die?"

"They can't die, they're immortal," I said.

"Exactly," he said.

I frowned at him. "Okay, I give up, what did that mean?"

"If something can't die, but it does, what happens to it?"

"You mean the elder ones," Frost said.

"Yes," Rhys said.

"But they are not ghosts," Frost said. "They are what remains of the first gods."

"Come on, guys," Rhys said. "Think with me. A human ghost is what remains of a human after death, before it goes to the afterlife. Or in some cases, a piece gets left behind because it's too hard to let go. But it is the spiritual remains of a human being, right?"

We both agreed.

"So aren't the remnants of the first gods just ghosts of the gods themselves?"

"No," Frost said, "because if someone could discover their name again and give them followers, they could, theoretically, rise to 'life' again. Human ghosts do not have such an option."

"Does the fact that the humans don't have the option make the elder ones less a ghost?" Rhys asked.

I was beginning to get a headache. "Okay, fine, say that there are ghosts of elder gods running around. What has that got to do with anything?"

"I said I knew the spell. I don't, not exactly. But I have seen the shades of the elder let loose on fey. It was as if the very air turned deadly. Their lives were just sucked out of them."

"Fey are immortal," I said.

"Anything that can be killed, even if it reincarnates, is mortal, Merry. Length of life doesn't change that."

"So you're saying that these ghosts were let loose in that club?"

"Fey are harder to kill than humans.