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Fallow Heart

Page 24

by K. C. Finn


  “Looking for?” Lori clutched the phone hard. “Why would she be-?”

  The bathroom door slammed open. Kasabian’s gaze snapped to Lori.

  “Who are you calling?”

  Allardyce was shouting down the phoneline, his breath coming in starts. “Lori, you don’t understand! Get out of there, now!”

  “What’s happening?” Kasabian rushed towards her.

  “I-”

  There was a bang at the door. The front door. The locked door. Lori’s lip quivered as she watched it opening. She scrambled to her feet, Kasabian yanking her with one hand. They stumbled backwards in the little bedsit, backs hitting the far wall. As the door opened, a warm breeze picked its way across the room. Lori saw tiny flecks of red dust swirled up in the air, scattering everywhere. A figure followed them, suited and smooth as she ever was. She swept her short blonde hair back into its perfect wave, small face pulled into a tight smile.

  “Kasabian,” said Matilda Vane, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  She held her hands behind her back, small shoulders squared and back straight. Lori saw the crimson glow of her outline. She had left the door open behind her. Lori’s mouth fell open as the dry, melting heat of the wind continued to fill the room. Beyond Matilda’s petite little head, a red mountain of fire exploded in the far distance. The sweeping sands were made of that same stuff that Lori had mistaken for brick dust, and bright orbs of matter floated in the black sky like clouds. It was the stuff of her nightmares – her nightmares – the ones she’d had when the first touch of the demon sank into her heart. Lori was looking into the landscape of Hell itself.

  Kasabian pulled at her arm, and Lori fell into him with the suddenness of it. She watched his lips, but it took her a moment to feel his words sink in.

  “The window! The window!”

  Kasabian let her go, pelting forward as Matilda advanced too. The heat was unbearable, boiling at Lori’s skin, making her feel like she’d pass out at any moment. She saw Kasabian’s shape as he forced the window open, and a sudden blast of icy air smashed into the atmosphere. The coolness reached into Lori’s head and punched her brain back into gear. Matilda lunged for Kasabian, and Lori leaped in that moment towards the pair of them. She barrelled her full weight into the little woman, knocking them both off balance. Matilda’s eyes widened, and Lori saw the glossy sheen flash over them for a moment.

  “She’s human!” she said, scrambling back towards the window. “It’s possession, Kas! She can’t hurt us!”

  “She still can’t know where I am!” he yelled in reply.

  Lori turned to climb out onto the fire escape. Kasabian was already pelting down the stairs to the floor below. As Lori forced her body through the window, she felt Matilda tugging at her hoodie from the other side. There was a tearing sound, like stitches popping, and Lori suddenly came loose and went flying out onto the metal platform. She scrambled to her feet, shoving Matilda back into the hot little room before she could climb out too. The small woman went rolling on her bony backside. Lori shut the window from the outside, but it wouldn’t be enough. Her hands were wet from the drips on the frame. She pressed her palms against the bottom seal of the window, pushing hard, channelling the cold all around her.

  She ripped her hands away quickly, yelping in pain. Here and there, tiny scraps of skin had come away from her palms, leaving them covered in blood. But she’d done what she needed to do. As Matilda struggled back to the window, Lori watched the little woman pushing it hard. It wouldn’t budge. Lori’s handiwork had frozen it shut from the outside. Matilda grimaced through the window, shouting something that Lori couldn’t hear. Lori turned her back and hurtled down the stairs. The metal structure shook as she ran, clanging all the way, and she saw Kasabian look back up at the bottom step.

  “I’ve got her locked in,” Lori said, panting as she reached him.

  Kasabian offered her a hand. She took it, squeezing his palm. She smiled, but Kasabian shook his head.

  “She can walk through Hell and open up doorways wherever she likes,” Kasabian said, one hand on his chest. “We have to run. Open ground. No doorways. Nowhere she can appear from.”

  He looked around, eyes wide. Lori’s heart thrummed in her chest as she looked back up at the high window she’d sealed.

  “The park?” she asked. Kasabian didn’t answer. She heaved another breath. “The river! If we can get out to the fields-”

  “Yeah!” Kasabian nodded. “Come on!”

  They broke away, running through the empty streets of the early morning. Lori felt the old phone smashing against her tummy in the hoodie pocket. She wished it was her own phone, that she could call Allardyce again and get help. His warning had come far too late. She was pounding harder and harder into the ground, feet burning with every thud. Kasabian led the run, curving them down towards the parkland that would lead them through to the riverbank. As they ran down the blur of shops and Tudor buildings, Lori saw the colour of the bricks change.

  Red bricks. The stunning houses opposite St Werburgh’s Catholic church were straight ahead. They were running to the park gates on that corner where she’d seen Ryan’s head mounted on the weather vane. She tried to tug herself out of Kasabian’s grip, but his hold was like as vice as he kept them running.

  “No!” she cried. “Holy Ground! Kas, it’ll hurt us!”

  “We’ll dash by!” he called back, running on.

  Lori hissed at the hardness in her chest, clutching it as she tried to keep the pace. Her skin fizzled when she saw the spire of the church ahead, and Kasabian yanked them around the corner to run alongside the red brick houses, straight into the park. There were three people standing in their way, and Kasabian skidded, trying to veer around them. It was Lori’s turn to yank him, pulling him back as she came to a dead stop. She knew the three figures ahead. One of them was a tall woman dressed all in black, her hair hidden under a habit. She was looking down at a phone screen, her brow creased.

  “There!” yelled the second figure, a tall thin man of eighty-five.

  “Where?” cried the third, his block-headed shadow shifting with him as he looked to and fro. “I can only see a couple of kids.”

  Agnes, Granddad and Walker. The nun looked up, straight into Lori’s eyes. She didn’t linger, turning instead on Kasabian. Granddad was rushing towards them both up the empty road, fumbling for something in the pocket of his coat. His eyes widened as he thundered closer. Perhaps he hadn’t realised who he had seen from a distance, but Lori knew he recognised her now. He waved his free hand frantically. The other had pulled a bottle from the pocket at last. Clear liquid sloshed inside as Granddad fought with the cap.

  “Lori, get out of the way!” he shouted. “It’s not safe! It’s not safe!”

  He uncapped the bottle just as Lori dodged in the direction he’d waved. Granddad sloshed the water forward, catching Kasabian on his right side. Droplets splashed off him onto Lori, and both of them screamed. Though it didn’t look like it was burning, there was a wild sting like acid had seeped into her skin. Everywhere that the water could reach, it sank red-hot agony into her body. After a moment she hissed, stumbling back away from the church. She eyed the spire, then the bottle.

  “Holy Water!” she gasped.

  “Get thee behind me, demon!” Agnes cried.

  She had rounded on Kasabian, another bottle smashed over his head. His cry of pain stabbed at Lori’s heart. She staggered around to see him soaked and shuddering on the ground, his whole body curled into a ball. His face was contorted, teeth gritted so hard that his lip was bleeding. He rocked to and fro, limbs thrashing wildly as he cried out again and again. Walker was running up next, and Lori was relieved to see no bottle in his hands. He looked down at Kasabian, nodding and pointing.

  “You’re right,” he said, turning to Agnes. “That’s the one I saw carrying the severed head at the funeral.”

  Lori’s gut flipped. Kasabian had covered that up for her. Granddad was appro
aching her, holding out one hand. She shied away from his touch, lunging towards Walker and Agnes instead. She got herself between them and Kasabian, hissing as she let go of her bleeding hands and burning arms. She flung those arms wide, palms open and facing backwards.

  “You’re not coming anywhere near him,” Lori said, jaw set. “Leave. Now.”

  “Sweetheart, you don’t understand what he is,” Granddad said, hands raised and open as he approached again. “You need to let us handle this. We know what we’re doing.”

  Lori started as something brushed against her ankle. Kasabian was trying to climb to his feet, spluttering behind her. His wet hand sent a shockwave through her ankle, burning her. She stood firm.

  “How did you find him?” she said, her voice rising.

  Agnes stepped forward, touching Granddad’s shoulder. “Through that phone in your pocket.”

  She pointed, and Lori looked down. The old phone was clearly visible, pressing between the hoodie and her stomach. Walker narrowed his eyes at her, his shoulders squared and arms open like a wrestler.

  “I called Tim’s home number to ask about the times that you wanted,” he said, lips curling downwards. “And then it all made sense. You’ve been helping him all this time, have you? Accessory to murder? Perhaps you even chose the targets.”

  “Nonsense,” Granddad snapped. “This is all a misunderstanding. She’s… taken in, that’s all.” He held out a wrinkled hand, his sharp eyes gleaming with water. “Lori, please come to me. He’s dangerous, this boy, in more ways than you can ever imagine.”

  Kasabian climbed up Lori’s back to get to his feet, every damp hand burning. She didn’t care. She held firm against the pain and, once he was steady again, she stepped towards the three would-be crusaders. Agnes’s painting, the three figures attacking a great beast, came to her mind. Lori smiled, letting out a breath. No flutter came to her chest, only a sour taste in her mouth as she shook her head.

  “You think I’m some stupid kid who doesn’t get it, even now,” she said, looking into her grandfather’s eyes. Her stomach pinched for a moment, but she pushed the feeling away. “You don’t get it. Any of you.”

  Lori coursed with power, the surge in her blood coming more quickly than it ever had before. She felt her features shifting faster, the muscles reforming and the weight moving to other places. As her body stretched up taller, she saw the three pairs of human eyes beneath her widening. When her demon form was fully in place, she strode forward a little. The tarmac on the road cracked beneath her feet. Walker scrambled backwards, falling onto his back. Agnes stood firm in the centre of the road, but her face was tight and silent tears fell from her eyes.

  She had known her since childhood, when Agnes was a young nun just starting out, running the Sunday School. Lori had asked awkward questions about God, and Agnes had always had an answer for them. Now she was silent, staring up with quivering lips and huge, wet eyes. Lori’s chest pulled, and she looked away from the nun. Granddad was white as bone. He shook where he stood, his head moving back and forth, repeating the word ‘No’ like he’d lost all control of himself. Lori’s heart tugged again, and slowly her body sank back from the demon form.

  She grew smaller, the dizziness overtaking her for a moment, but she managed to stay on her feet this time when she landed back in her human body. Granddad’s voice had turned to a squeak in the ‘no, no, no’ loop. He dropped to his knees, looking up at her. His head stopped shaking, eyes watering as he reached out both hands towards her. Lori stepped up and clasped them, feeling how cold he was in her grip. She wanted to cry too, but the tears were frozen behind her aching eyes.

  “Not my Lori,” Granddad said, his words broken by coughs and sobs. “Please God. Please God, no.”

  Lori swallowed against the dry block in her throat.

  “We’re not monsters, Granddad,” she told him. “It’s you that doesn’t understand. I’m sorry, but we have to go. Don’t follow. Please. I can’t protect you if you do.”

  She let him go. Her grandfather fell to his knees on the ground, still sobbing. Lori’s tears finally dropped and she sucked them back with a violent shudder. She turned to find Kasabian leaning against one of the brick houses. She grabbed him by the shoulders, and the damp burn of the water was a lot less painful than it had been before. He hobbled as quickly as he could, his whole body shaking, and Lori half-carried him to the gates of the park. When they were out of sight of Walker, Granddad and Agnes, Lori slowed the pace a little.

  “You saved me,” Kasabian said. He panted the words out slowly.

  “Of course,” Lori answered with the same huffed breaths.

  He pulled her to a halt, looking into her eyes. His chin leaned on her shoulder, dark gaze glittering so close. Lori glanced at his lips. Kasabian smiled widely. She smiled back.

  “Tell me where to take you,” she said. “You still want to hide out by the river?”

  He blinked, nodding a little. Kasabian propped himself up on Lori to stand a little taller, resting his head against hers. He whispered, his words warm and soft in the morning light.

  “I know a place where nobody will find us.”

  Darkness, and what it reveals

  Kasabian’s secret place was a tunnel, not so different to those that Marax liked to use, but on the other side of the river to his meeting place. Lori revelled in the coolness as they sank down into the dark little space. She lit their way with the light from Granddad’s old phone. There was a wet thump behind her, and she looked back to see Kasabian throwing his soaked shirt away. His tattooed chest glistened with the last droplets of the burning water, but he could walk and talk for himself now. He waved a hand ahead.

  “Go on,” he said. “It’s another minute down there. Not too deep.”

  Lori walked on, eyes adjusting to the darkness. As she’d expected, the tunnel opened out into a cavern, though this one was absolutely huge. There was a little break above one corner of the cave where stark daylight shone down in a single beam, but the rest was dark as pitch. Lori took in a nose-full of damp earth. It smelled like Kasabian usually did.

  “You come here a lot,” she said, hitching her voice at the end of the sentence.

  “Yeah,” he said, clipping his words. “It keeps me sane.”

  Lori chuckled, her chest fluttering. She listened hard. There was drip somewhere, like the trickle of running water, but she couldn’t see far enough ahead in the dark to find out where it was coming from. When the light of Granddad’s phone faded, she walked towards the single shaft of light in the far corner. There were strange shadows on the cavern wall there, long spikes of darkness cast out beyond the light. It took Lori a moment to figure out where they were coming from. She turned, standing at the edge of the spotlight. Her breath caught in her chest, sitting at the top of her lungs like a hard pebble.

  “Oh my God…”

  Antlers. Massive pairs of antlers. They were embedded into the soft mud of the wall beyond the light shaft. Lori tried to count, but there were dozens covering a floor-to-ceiling space. It must have been twelve feet square, twice as tall as Lori at least. She closed in on some of them, reaching out. There were jagged, broken ends on many of them, and places where the velvet coating had started rotting away to leave just bone. Though they were no longer attached to any beast, they were sharp and lethal.

  “Impressive, isn’t it?” Kasabian asked.

  Lori jumped. He was right behind her, his voice echoing through the space. It took the echo a while to come back. She turned to face him, trying to edge her way away from the antler wall. The coolness of the cave had soaked through to her spine, making it shiver. She smiled at Kasabian, sighing out a breath.

  “What made you pick a place this creepy?” she asked, chuckling.

  Kasabian’s smile cast a long shadow over his chin and neck. His eyes glittered, picking up the light from the single beam a little way off. The black centres glowed like stars. He shrugged, then nodded towards the antlers.

  �
��It’s a handy place to put them when you shed them,” he said.

  “Shed…” Lori began, her mouth running dry. “I don’t get it.”

  “When the antlers break in battle, you shed them and grow new ones,” Kasabian explained. His smile widened.

  Lori’s mouth hung open a little, her brow furrowed. The shiver in her spine grew bigger, shaking her core.

  What would he have ever seen in an ugly, fat girl like you?

  “You told me that you didn’t know what kind of demon you were,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. The fearful words carried around the deep cavern.

  Kasabian flashed out a hand and Lori yelped. The phone was out of her grip. It went skittering away in the darkness. She looked beyond Kasabian. She couldn’t see the place where they’d entered the cavern from anymore. No exit.

  Fool.

  “I told you a lot of things, Lori,” he said. “And you believed them all.”

  She stumbled backwards in the darkness, watching as Kasabian stepped into the shaft of light. He looked up into the daylight, too high above their heads to reach it. When his head lowered, his eyes glowed crimson. Lori’s voice was nothing more than a squeak, her body tense. She wanted to run, but had no idea where. Straight into a wall wasn’t a smart move at all. Her heart rammed against her chest like it wanted to burst out and try anyway, but her feet stayed planted, watching Kasabian’s every move.

  You were right all along. He doesn’t want you. He never did.

  “Why?” Lori asked, lips quaking. “Why are you saying this now? Kas, I saved you. You helped me. What-”

  “Quiero vivir, Lori,” Kasabian said. “It’s as simple as that.”

  Spanish. Lori’s mind flashed. It was any easy enough translation.

  I want to live.

  But why Spanish? What was the connection? Kasabian’s red eyes glittered. He wrapped his arms around his body, starting to laugh.

 

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