"I'm not sure if that's a good..."
"It's okay," I said quickly. "I want to learn about all this. It's family stuff, after all." Mum nodded reluctantly.
"Okay. I'll see you at home."
"Wait till you see my car," said Darius as we walked out of the front door. "She's..."
"Sweet. I know."
Chapter 10
To me it was an old green sports car with an open top. But to Darius it was a "1978 Triumph Stag, three litre engine, less than fifty thousand miles on the clock, a complete babe."
"Uh huh. But how fast can she go?"
Darius flipped me a sideways look, then pushed his foot down on the accelerator. I remembered belatedly that as a Warrior, the word 'safety' probably didn't feature in his vocabulary. I fastened my seatbelt.
We tore down the country road, the wind whipping my hair into a wild black cloud. I laughed delightedly, as he manoeuvred the sports car effortlessly around corners. His reflexes were fine-tuned, and I didn't have a moment's worry that he would lose control. He slowed as we reached the edge of town, looking smugly at my flushed face.
"Fast enough for you?" he asked, with a wicked grin. I smiled back, feeling free for the first time in days.
"So who is this Michael then?" I asked.
"I thought you knew him?" He sounded puzzled. "He's been hanging around in Mallow Bottom for years. Even I know about Michael, and I've only just got here. The dude who lives behind the off-license?"
"You mean Mumbler? The old guy, the one who shouts obscenities at everyone?" I was horrified. Mumbler had been possessed?
"Yeah, that's him. Except he's not old."
"He looks about eighty."
"He's twenty seven."
I was silent the rest of the way. We pulled up outside the off-license, which was closed on a Sunday afternoon. I peered down the side alley where the bins stood, but I couldn't see any movement.
"If anyone asks, we're volunteers for a homeless charity," said Darius. "Come on. Stay close."
We spotted Mumbler - Michael - halfway down the alleyway rooting around in one of the big industrial bins at the back of the off-license. No doubt looking for wine bottles with some of the dregs left. One of the Cleansed, but far from clean.
"You stay here, I won't be long."
"Why can't I come with you?"
He turned to me patiently. "Because it was your Mum who did the exorcism on him. And you look a lot like her. He's mental already, it might set him off."
I watched as he approached Michael. I felt a pang of sadness for the man. His whole life taken away from him, everyone thinking he was mad, when actually he knew the truth. That demons walked the earth.
I frowned, realising Michael and I had something in common. We both knew what it was like to have people thinking there was something wrong with you.
I watched Darius approach the homeless man. He spoke gently to him, and at first Michael seemed calm. But then his muttering becoming more agitated. Darius put a hand on his shoulder, tried to soothe him, but he started thrashing his arms around. Suddenly he turned away and looked straight at me. He started running up the alleyway with an odd sideways gait, looking unnervingly like a great spider scuttling towards me.
"ABOMINATION! UNCLEAN! DEFILED!" he screamed at me. Spittle was flying from his mouth, and his eyes looked wild. I stepped back, shaken, and the next second Darius was between me and the old man.
"Calm down, mate. It's okay, everything's fine, just calm down." Darius kept his voice even, his words soothing. Still muttering and mumbling to himself, Michael turned away. He hobbled back down the alleyway, and resumed his rummaging as if nothing had happened. Darius turned to me with a grin.
"Well, that went well."
◆◆◆
"So the demons are at the seaside."
Darius and I were sitting on the playing field waiting for Em to come out of her maths exam. Darius was lying flat out, eyes closed, a piece of grass hanging from the side of his mouth.
"That's not what I said," he answered patiently. "Michael mentioned saltwater and a pier. He didn't exactly draw a map though. I've got Mrs Peters cross-referencing coastal towns with child disappearances."
"Okay."
In the distance I saw Gobbo and his mates walk out of the science block and start across the playing field. They stopped abruptly as they caught sight of me. The blood drained from their faces. Then they turned and slunk off in the opposite direction. I sniggered silently to myself.
"So, you and your Mum." Darius interrupted my thoughts. "Doing a bit of bonding in the combat room were you?"
"Something like that."
"She's a bit of a legend, you know. The only Warrior to ever defeat a Named One. I'd give anything to know how she did it."
I side-stepped the unspoken question.
"Did you know Mum was a Warrior? When you were pretending to be a student?"
He shook his head. "Nope. No-body knew there was a Warrior child. But when I saw you, you looked so like her that I started to wonder. And you had the same surname, of course. But I was only absolutely certain the night I found you at the caravan site." He grinned. "I thought she was going to rip my head off."
"Yeah, sorry about that," I said. "That was quite a night for all of us. Talk about skeletons in the closet."
Darius looked at me for a moment, then sat up so that his face was on a level with mine. He reached for my hand, his greeny-blue eyes regarding me intently.
"I know it's been a lot to deal with. You've handled everything really well. I mean it, Kaz. I think you're amazing." His hand felt warm over mine, and I curled my fingers into his palm, thinking how small my hand looked against his. "All the stuff you've found out about your family, about the Guild. It must have been a shock, but you've been so cool with everything." I looked up, meeting his gaze. I couldn't answer, my voice had completely dried up. I felt a pulse start to flutter in my throat. His words washed over me, his gentle Irish lilt like a caress. "I feel like I know you. Like I could tell you anything."
"Mm," I murmured. He was so close, I wondered if he could hear my heart beating.
"So I want to ask you something. As a friend." As a....? I blinked back to reality, focusing on his words. "I want to ask Em out. What do you think?"
"You... of course. Em."
"I mean, she's been through a lot too, and she wasn't born to it like you were. But she's taken everything in her stride. I've never met anyone like her. She's so kind, so caring. All the girls I know could kill you with a toothpick whilst wearing a blindfold." I pretended I needed to scratch my ear and gently extracted my hand. He flopped back down on the grass. "She makes me feel like there's more to me than just being a fighter," he said quietly. "Like I could be anyone I wanted."
I stared down at him for a long moment.
Em and I had never, ever gone for the same bloke before. I preferred the sporty devil-may-care type, she liked the smart ones. Who knew we'd stumble onto a two-for-one deal. I smiled ruefully to myself, shaking my head.
"What?" he said, watching me.
"Men," I sighed. "The answer to your question is, yes. Of course you should ask her out. But here's the thing." I paused, and then looked him in the eye. "If you hurt her in any way, I will hurt you back in spades. And before you say 'but I'm invincible', just remember who my Mum is. And she loves Em too."
"Okay, okay," he held his hands up in surrender. "I promise."
His mobile phone beeped, and he sat up to fish it out of his back pocket. I viciously picked the petals off a daisy while he talked. He loves me not, he loves me not. He got off the phone and turned to me.
"Mrs P has come up with two possibilities. Bournemouth and Weston-Super-Mare. Missing kids in both towns. I'm going to take one, your Mum will scout the other. See if we can find anything." His eyes slid to a point behind me, and his face lightened as he scrambled to his feet. I didn't need to look round to know Em had finished her exam.
"That was easy! I managed
the paper with twenty minutes to go!" she said breathlessly. "What have you two been doing?" Her eyes went from one to the other of us, and I detected a flash of something there.
"We went to talk to someone who was exorcised," I said. "You'll never guess who."
"Who?"
"Mumbler, that's who. The old guy who lives down the alley, the one who's always talking to himself. He's like that because he used to be possessed. It really messed with his head."
"Mm. So you two have been skulking down dark alleyways without me?" She said it lightly but I could feel her eyes on me.
"Beats a maths exam," said Darius. "Glad I wasn't in there. I'd rather hunt demons than do trigonometry."
"Wait a minute, weren't you supposed to take that exam too?" I asked Darius. "Won't they miss you?" Darius shook his head.
"Ed Davies has already been expunged from all school records. You'd be surprised how little fuss teachers make when a computer tells them a pupil has moved on."
"Well, I'm as free as a bird. What shall we do now?" asked Em.
"I've got a bit of time before my next assignment. Do you fancy a coffee?" said Darius. Em nodded happily.
"There's a great cafe just down the road. Kaz and I go there all the time."
"Yeah, the carrot cake is..." I stopped, as I clocked the fact that Darius was glaring at me pointedly. "Um, actually Em, I have to go and finish something at home. You two go on."
"Are you sure?" asked Em.
"Positive. Come to mine afterwards and tell me all about it. The maths exam, that is," I added hastily, as Darius frowned at me.
They walked off together, Darius giving me a thumbs-up behind his back. I headed slowly towards the school gates, feeling deflated.
As I reached the bike shed, I heard the sound of voices. I didn't pay too much attention; kids sometimes went there to smoke, or hook up with their boyfriend or girlfriend. It was hidden from the school windows, and if anyone came you could pretend to be checking on your bike. But as I drew level, I realised one of the voices wasn't happy.
"Stop it. Not here."
"Oh come on. Don't be a tease."
"I'm not, I... ow!"
I peered into the dark shed. There were about a dozen bikes secured to the racks with chains, and in amongst them, a familiar blonde figure trying to hold off some wandering hands.
Rebecca Anderson, and her boyfriend, Mark Stephens. Mark was in the sixth form, a full three years older than Rebecca. A good-looking boy, if you liked the crew-cut military type, and well-built. He was in the local boxing team, and I'd heard one or two of the teachers say he had real potential. Right now, he was trying his potential with Rebecca.
"Mark, seriously, stop it!" Rebecca hissed. He was holding onto her upper arms, and his fingers were pressing so hard the skin beneath was white.
"Hey!" I said, before I knew what I was doing. Immediately they both turned to me. Rebecca looked flushed, and the top buttons of her sleeveless blouse were undone. The anxious lines on her face relaxed when she saw it was me.
"Had a good look, have you?" she asked rudely, doing up her buttons. "What do you want?"
"Nothing. I heard voices. Are you okay?" Mark's face looked angry, and I was already cursing myself for interfering.
"Why wouldn't she be okay, you nosey cow?" he demanded. "Piss off."
His words started a dull throb of anger in my chest, but I held my hands up amicably.
"I'm leaving." I flicked a glance at Rebecca, but she glared back wordlessly. She clearly didn't want or need my help. I left them to it.
When I got home, there was a burnt lasagne on the table and Mum was standing in front of the picture of Kali, lighting an incense stick below it. She looked at me, a little embarrassed, and shrugged.
"It's an offering. To bring good luck. I have a job tonight in Weston-Super-Mare. "
"Yeah, I know. Darius told me. Was the lasagne an offering too?" Mum looked at it regretfully.
"I thought I'd make dinner for us, and I know you hate Indian food. But I can't seem to cook anything else."
"Don't worry about it. What are you hoping to find in Weston-Super-Mare?"
"The plan is to force the demons to tell us where the missing kids are, and what they intend to do with them." Her expression turned cold, hard. "And then kill every last one of them." She turned to me, and her face softened. "And what about you? How are you coping with all this?"
"I'm not sure," I said slowly. "I feel like I should be freaking out or asking more questions. But it all feels... " I fumbled for words.
"It feels right. That's how it feels, isn't it? As if everything all makes sense at last." I nodded dumbly. Mum paused, then asked, "You can really see possessed bodies?"
"Well, it's only happened with Miss Smith. But yes, I think so. It happened when I touched her. I could see her body rotting, smell her.. " I stopped, remembering it vividly. "But your possession, it's different. You didn't die. Why not?"
"I don't know. A genetic quirk? Some physical trait that protects me? But I promise you Kaz, I am still me. I still have my soul. I've touched you thousands of times, held you when you were a little girl. But I've never turned into a monster, have I?"
Slowly, I reached out to touch Mum's hand. Her face never changed as she looked at me steadily. But the shadows were there again, curling over her head in smoky wisps, proving what I already knew. She was my Mum. But not just my Mum.
I let go.
"Let's order some food," I said. "That lasagne's a goner."
Mum went out later that evening. I watched silently as she put on her long leather coat. She told me she didn't keep weapons in the house, in case I had found them when I was younger. They were either at the Mansion, or hidden in a secret compartment under the back seat of the jeep.
"I'll be back before dawn," she promised.
"Mum," I called out, as she started the engine. She wound the window down. "I don't hate it, you know." She looked at me questioningly. "Indian food. I don't hate it. I like it. Just, you know, not all the time."
She nodded.
"Good to know."
Em arrived shortly after.
"Darius has gone off to Bournemouth on a demon hunt. Can I talk to you?" She looked unusually serious as we sat down in the kitchen.
"What's up?"
"Darius asked if I'd go out with him when he gets back from his mission," she said. "And I said yes but... am I being insane? I mean, he's not like normal boys, is he? This world he belongs to, demons, ancient organizations. How can it ever work?" She looked at me anxiously, and for a wild moment I thought about agreeing with her, trying to put her off. I sighed and shook my head.
"You're missing the bigger picture, Em. First off, he likes you precisely because you're not from that world. That's what he told me."
"He said that?"
"Yes. He did. And secondly, I hate to break it to you, but you are part of the team now. Even those Naga snake things thought so.”
"But I'm not a fighter. I'm not strong and fearless, like your Mum. Or like you."
"He doesn't want a fighter. He likes you because you're smart. He said he's glad you can't kill him with a toothpick. Or something."
"Huh?"
"Look, so what if he's a bit different to the other boys? That's a good thing, right? He's brave and good-looking and he fights the forces of evil. All great qualities in a boyfriend."
She bit her lip. "But someone like him... he can't possibly find someone like me interesting, can he? I mean, I could understand it if he asked you out." She looked at me, and again I saw a flash of something in her eyes. "I was half expecting him to do that, actually. I was convinced he fancied you, not me."
I shifted uncomfortably.
"What do you mean?"
Her voice was quiet as she answered.
"I see the way he looks at you sometimes. And the way you look at him."
"You're wrong, I..."
"I'm not an idiot." Her voice sharpened. "I know you like him.
Don't say you don't. And let's face it, he has far more in common with you than me. So when he asked me out I was pleased and surprised, and then I started wondering if... if...." she trailed off miserably.
"Wondering if what?" I prompted her.
"If he'd already asked you out, and you'd said no."
"God, Em, no!" I leaned forward, looking her in the eye. "I swear, Darius hasn't asked me out. All he ever talks about is you."
"But you admit you like him?"
"You know I would never do anything to hurt you," I said, deliberately avoiding the question. "And you're worried about nothing. Darius likes you, not me. He asked you out. Although if I were you, I'd be more worried about his feelings for that car."
It was a lame attempt at a joke, but it did the trick. Em grinned back at me, and the tension broke. We spent the next hour talking about the demon-hunt, wondering what Darius and Mum would find. I showed her my bruises from Mum's training, and told her about my Dad. And finally, she told me Darius had kissed her.
She was so happy about it, I could almost ignore the little knife twist in my gut.
◆◆◆
This time, Kali climbed out of the frame in the living room. I heard the skulls around her neck clacking and scraping as she slowly mounted the stairs. My mouth was dry as she stood at the foot of my bed. She pointed her scimitar at me, a gently curving blade with dried blackish blood crusted along the edge.
"The time of prophecy is near," she said in her graveyard voice. "You must be strong. You will not be alone for long."
"But I'm not alone," I told her.
"You will be."
I jolted awake, covered in sweat, heart beating madly, with one thought pounding through my head.
Mum is in danger.
Chapter 11
I don't know why I felt it so completely, with such certainty, but I did. I got out of bed and reached for my phone. Mum didn't answer.
I paced the room, the panic growing with every minute that passed. This was ridiculous, I told myself. It was just a dream, a stupid dream. But I couldn't shake the dread that was gripping my heart. In the end, there was only really one person I could call.
Daughter of Kali- Awakening Page 10