Dwell (Kassidy Bell Series Book 2)

by Lynda O'Rourke

“Raven,” I called. “Are you at the bottom?”

  “Not yet.” Her voice sounded muffled. “But I can see it.”

  “Move. Move!” Max’s voice filled the chimney. “He’s climbing in, I can hear him.”

  I panicked. Fear gripped my insides at the thought of Alex scuttling down the chimney. I lost concentration. I slipped and fell. I blindly flung my arms and legs out – the skin on my hands grated against the bricks. My stomach turned upside down as I continued to drop – like I was falling on a bungee-rope. I hit something – a small bend in the chimney. It was enough to break my fall and allow me to regain myself. Stunned, I continued to edge myself down. I felt shaken and dazed. The fall had scared me but not as much as the low-pitch wails coming from Alex above. I breathed a shaky sigh of relief when my feet touched ground. The fall, although frightening, had helped me reach the bottom of the chimney faster. Collapsing to my knees, I crawled out from the fireplace and found myself in the large hall. Somewhat disorientated, I stood and tried to find my bearings. My heart pumped loud in my ears and my legs felt like they wanted to buckle. My eyes spotted the door to the lounge and I ran toward it.

  “Raven… I’m here…” Suddenly I was snatched up. My feet left the floor. My back hurtled against the ceiling of the hall, my body pinned to the plaster. I gasped at the sight of Ben. He hung below me – horizontal to my body. It was like we were lying down on the ceiling – me facing the floor and Ben facing me.

  “What… what…” was all I could stutter? Ben pressed his body tight to mine and pushed his finger against my lips.

  “Shhh,” he hushed. “The police are outside.”

  I could feel myself tremble. I was pinned to the ceiling – Alex was after me – the bishop had tried to kill me, and now the police were outside. My head swam. My breathing juddered like an old car engine.

  “I have to tell the others,” I whispered, my voice cracked as I stared down at the floor. My body stiffened. Ben held me firm, his hands gripped tight about my wrists – his feet locked against mine keeping me pinned flat to the ceiling.

  A loud scuffle came from the fireplace. Jude clambered out with Max close behind. I opened my mouth to warn them about the police but Ben suddenly pushed his lips against mine – stopping me from making a sound. I could feel the rough of his stubble against my skin. His lips parted from mine as Raven called out from the lounge.

  “The police are here.” She ran out into the hall.

  “Shit,” said Jude. “Where’s Kassidy?” I watched him spin around as he looked for me.

  “I don’t know,” hissed Raven. “What about Alex?”

  In their blind panic, I watched as they hesitated – unsure which direction they should go.

  “Kassidy – Kassidy,” Max called out. “We can’t leave her in here.”

  I looked into Ben’s black eyes. “I have to go to them… they’re my friends… please,” I whispered.

  He shook his head. “I’ll drop you… if you call out… I’ll let you go.”

  Before I could plead any more with him, the scattering sound that I had heard so much of since arriving at Dusk Fall Retreat echoed out from the chimney. A pile of brick and soot tumbled out across the floor. Alex appeared.

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

  Gasping, I watched Jude, Max, and Raven scatter. They fled toward the dining room. Alex scuttled across the floor after them. His body was emaciated and covered in large black and purple bruises. Every vein in his body looked as though it had burst under the skin. I struggled against Ben. He didn’t budge.

  “Drop me then,” I snapped. “I don’t care. I want to be with my friends. They need my help.”

  “Do you want me to help them?” Ben’s eyes peered at me like two deep, black wells – a tiny ripple babbled over them – like a glimmer of amusement.

  “Yes,” I snapped, trying to pull my arms away from the ceiling – it was like they were glued to the spot.

  “Are you going to beg me?” he whispered before kissing my neck.

  To beg him was the last thing I wanted to do but when I looked down, I could see Alex hurling himself against the dining room door desperate to get at my friends.

  “Well…?” Ben smiled, a tiny wave of blue bobbed across the black sea in his eyes.

  Alex threw himself against the door and I could see through the dark that it was beginning to buckle against his weight.

  “I’m waiting, Kassidy.” Ben’s teeth nipped at my ear.

  “Yes…” I hissed through gritted teeth. “Yes… I’m begging you, okay? See…I’ve done it…”

  Ben smiled.

  A loud bang came from the front door. It echoed up through the hall. Alex stopped in his tracks and spun around, his attention momentarily taken off my friends.

  “Shall I let the police in?” smiled Ben, pushing his body tighter against mine.

  I knew what his intention was. I nodded my head.

  The front door flew open, almost falling from its hinges. Six police officers piled in, obviously expecting to find me and my friends. But instead they were faced with Alex.

  I held my breath. More blood was about to be shed and I closed my eyes to the sight of the bloody murder. The hall was filled with screams and cries. I opened one eye. The floor was like a sea of blood with body parts scattered over it. It was like the aftermath of a plane crash in the sea. I could hear bones snapping and flesh being ripped and torn. Four of the six officers lay scattered in bits across the stone slabs. Alex moved like lightning – a wild animal catching his prey – an endless torrent of slaying.

  “Get outta here!” The officer cried to his colleague as Alex turned his attention to them.

  Even though the police were a part of all this, I watched, willing them on – wanting them to make it out the front door and escape from Alex. I wanted to scream at them to run – to run for their lives but I didn’t. I knew that if I made a noise then Alex would turn his attention on me. I gasped as both officers slipped and stumbled through the sloshy mess, their goal to make it out the door and escape. Alex sprang to his feet. He hurled himself up onto the wall and scuttled at speed, swooping his arm low and snatching up both officers by their hair. They screamed. Alex threw them down – their bodies smashed onto the stone slabs. I watched as Alex flung himself from off the wall. He landed on top of the officers and quickly set about ripping open one of their chests – burying his head into the cavity and tugging with his teeth on the innards. He moved onto the last police officer who was trapped under the body of his dead colleague.

  “No… no… please!” the officer screamed. I closed my eyes as Alex began to stamp on the officer’s head. I didn’t want to see it. I couldn’t bear anymore. Something wet splattered up onto my face as the hall was filled with the sound of breaking bones and a slushy kind of popping noise.

  Ben’s body shuddered against mine and I opened one eye and looked at him. He was laughing quietly.

  I wanted to wipe my face. I could feel lumps of flesh – bits of brain – stuck to my lips. I tried to spit them away. My eyes slowly rolled over the sight below – eyelashes clumped together with jelly-like clots of bloodied tissue. The stone slabs were like a crimson carpet. Alex lay on his stomach, thrusting a severed hand into his mouth. The fingers flapped about as he tried to gulp the hand down.

  I heaved.

  “There’s someone else who needs to be dealt with,” Ben smiled.

  “Who?” I swallowed hard.

  “Look,” Ben turned his head toward the snug. The bishop’s body was dragged out into the hall – appearing to move by itself.

  “No… please,” the bishop cried out when he saw Alex covered in blood.

  “I thought he was dead… I …” Clenching my fists, I tried to loosen the grip that Ben had on my wrists. “Alex will kill him.”

  “And?” hushed Ben.

  “He doesn’t need to die… he…” I shut my eyes as Alex started to crawl toward the bishop. He choked out a garbled laugh.

  “He t
ried to kill you… he was going to send you down the chimney into the lounge,” glared Ben. “That chimney’s boarded up. You would have been trapped inside it.”

  Ben was right. I remembered now how I had peered up into the chimneybreast on the first day we had arrived here. I shuddered at the thought. The bishop had tried to kill us twice.

  “Please… someone help me…” the bishop cried out.

  “Well…?” whispered Ben. “Doesn’t he deserve to die?”

  I closed my eyes as Alex lunged forward, taking the bishop by the throat. I cringed at the sound of his neck snapping and the noise of Alex’s teeth brutally crunching into bone.

  “You… you were meant to help me…” Alex starred down at the bishop’s dead corpse. A loud wail echoed through the hall as Alex clutched his knees up to his chest and rocked back and forth. A mixture of emotions suddenly shot through me. I was stunned to hear him speak. To me, he had seemed like a crazy, out of control monster. I hadn’t once expected him to be able to talk – to still feel – to understand what was happening. My heart ached. Although a killer – none of this was his fault. He was trapped inside a body and mind that was slowly dying – infected. This young guy had once been like Jude and Max but now… now…? Was there any helping him? I looked into Ben’s black eyes and whispered, “Can anything be done to save him?”

  Ben shook his head slowly and murmured, “He’s too far gone.”

  “Put him out of his misery then.” I blinked back tears. “He shouldn’t be left to suffer.”

  “I like watching people suffer,” glared Ben. His face had clouded over with a dark shadow.

  “Well I don’t,” I hissed. “Do it.”

  Ben dropped to the floor leaving me still, somehow, pinned to the ceiling. Expecting Alex to lunge at Ben, I was surprised to see him cower away.

  “Help me… you can… help… me…” Alex held up both arms like a toddler reaching for his mum. “You’re a part of me… I have… you in me…” He knelt up – his fingers snatched at the air – his black twisted nails clattering together.

  I watched as Ben pulled Alex up and held him by the neck in an arm lock.

  For the first time I could see Alex’s face clearly. His bloodshot eyes peered up at the ceiling. The skin on his face was hanging in large shreds and his lips had rotted away. He snarled up at me and tried to pull free from Ben.

  Suddenly, the sound of bells could be heard. They jingled through the hall sending goose bumps racing across my skin. They were the bells that chimed when the bishop pulled on the cords for Mrs. Gables. But who was left in the house to pull them – all of them? The radio in the snug suddenly burst into life playing Toy soldiers by Martika. I looked at Ben. But he seemed as surprised as I was. My heart thumped in my chest. Something shadowy seemed to glide across the hall toward Ben. It wasn’t a cleaner; there was more form to its shape but not enough to tell who it was.

  “What are you doing here?” its voice rasped.

  “Cleaning up the mess you’ve made,” snarled Ben, still holding Alex tight.

  “We don’t need you,” hissed the shadowy form. I couldn’t tell if it were male or female – its voice was distorted - almost like static – stuck between two radio stations – unable to tune itself in.

  “I think you do,” glared Ben. “I guess you’re still keeping up with the pretence. She’ll find out.”

  “Do you even have any idea who she is?” The dark form took a step closer to Ben.

  “Sssshhhh.” Ben’s eyes peered up at me.

  Who were they talking about – me? I watched as the shadowy form appeared to look up toward me. The radio suddenly turned up full blast and I strained to hear what Ben was saying. I squinted my eyes as I tried to lip-read but it was no use. Then as fast as the dark shape had appeared it vanished – melting away into nothing.

  “Who was that?” I shouted at Ben. He ignored me, and then taking Alex by the hair with one hand and the other around his neck, he twisted Alex’s head with one quick wrench. I screwed my eyes shut, wishing that I could move my hands so I could stick my fingers in my ears and block out the terrible sound of splintering bones. When the hall had fallen silent, I opened my eyes. Ben dropped what was left of Alex to the floor and calmly walked over to the dining room. Kicking it open, he looked inside, then turned away and gazed up at me.

  “Are you gonna stay up there all night?” his lips twisted up into a grin.

  “I can hardly get down by myself,” I snapped.

  “You could if you really tried,” said Ben, brushing down his trousers and waistcoat.

  “Yeah, if I want to just drop to the floor and break all my bones,” I glared down at him.

  “Suit yourself,” he shrugged, rolling down the sleeves of his white shirt. “But a little practice and you’ll soon be crawling across walls and ceilings.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. Was he trying to tell me that I was going to turn into something like Alex?

  “You’ve got a bit of demon in you – that’s all I’m saying.” He jumped up, springing through the dark, pinning his body to mine. “Shall we go?”

  “Where?”

  “We need to find your friends. The cleaners are coming.” He slipped his arms around me, and before I could blink, my feet were already on the floor.

  “Mind you don’t slip,” whispered Ben, stepping between the puddles of blood and body parts.

  I followed him across the hall to the front door, jumping between the bodies like I was on stepping stones. Should I even go with him? He was one of the six demons that the bishop had told us about. Could I trust him? How did I know that he wasn’t trying to lure me and my friends together so he could gain control of the cleaners? But he had just stopped me from getting killed by Alex and getting taken away by the police. He had helped me get away from Cruor Pharma. But that could be for his own gain – not because he truly wanted to help me or cared about me.

  I hesitated by the front door. Peering back over my shoulder, I looked at the bloody carnage spread across the stone slabs of the hall. There was nothing here for me. There was no reason to stay, and besides, the cleaners were coming. For now, I would take my chances with Ben and his demon. And if I were being honest with myself, there was a part of me that wanted to be with him. Demon or not – one of them had got under my skin and I couldn’t shake those feelings off. I would find the others and then we would head north – to Doctor Langstone’s. I had so much to find out and I intended to get my answers from Ben. No one else was gonna give them to me. I had no idea how long Ben would stay. Would he go back to Cruor Pharma – would the demon in him drag him away, or would Ben be strong enough to resist him? From what I had seen inside the bishop’s home, the demon had prevailed – reigned over Ben.

  I took a step outside. The early hours of the morning were filling up with fog, a sight that only reminded me of being at the top of Strangers Hill. I shuddered. Ben turned to face me, his eyes were still black but his face had lost that dark shadow.

  Taking my hand and smiling at me, Ben, or was it his demon, led me out into the night.

  ‘Demon’

  (Kassidy Bell Series) Book Three

  Now Available!

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