Bitter Moon

by R. L. Giddings

  I tried to gauge the intensity of the firelight which rose above the buildings and as I did so I spotted a black shape moving across the roof tops. It only lasted for a few seconds but it left me feeling anxious. I didn’t know what it was that I’d seen but I was sure of one thing: whatever it was, it wasn’t human.

  I kept low as I headed across the grass. In this area, the grass was reduced to little more than a rutted. It looked as if cattle had been herded across it. The temptation to get my phone out and use my light to take a proper look was strong but I knew that do so would be to destroy my night vision. I’d have to satisfy my curiosity later.

  As I explored further the buildings became burnished by the reflected glow from the fire and, every once in a while I’d catch sight of a golden glow in one of the windows. It gave the effect that the fire was moving, always just out of sight. I’d been nearly ten before I saw my first bonfire – my mother was naturally averse so wanted to keep me away – and I remembered how adult and exciting it had appeared to me. There’s an unpredictability to fire which I still find exhilarating – it inspires as it consumes.

  “Bronte.”

  I stiffened. Whoever it was had approached from behind. Not good. I turned slowly to find myself staring at Carlotta, her white jacket transmuted to a deep orange by the glow of the fire.

  “How did you get here?” I wanted to know.

  She held up her keys as she fought for breath. “I’ve still got the Ferrari. I spotted your biker friend coming back out of the entrance and now I’m here.”

  “You must be very pleased with yourself. Now take yourself back to your car, get in it and get on home. It’s not safe.”

  Carlotta took a step forward, her arms folded, her hand tucked beneath her elbows. “You said something about Millie. I assume she’s alright?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to find out. Now, if you wouldn’t mind…” I indicated for her to return the way she’d come. She didn’t move.

  “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. Besides, I want to help.”

  God she was annoying.

  “Stay here then and I’ll be back in a minute with Millie.”

  “No you won’t, you’ve got no idea where she is. Admit it.”

  She was right of course. I could have located Millie easily enough using a Triangulation spell but that wouldn’t have been very wise. If Kohl was in the area he would pick up on my magical signature straight away. But what if Kohl had already taken Millie … that didn’t bear thinking about.

  “Okay,” I conceded. “You can come with me but on one condition: if I tell you to run for it I want you back in your car as quickly as possible. No questions asked.”

  But Carlotta wasn’t listening. She was too busy looking over my shoulder. I started to turn.

  The thing moved low over the ground, tracking across between the two buildings ahead of us, many-legged and precise in its movements. Its dense head was pointing away from us so I couldn’t get a really good look at it but, as it disappeared behind a bush, I remember thinking how the glow from the fire reflected off its shell.

  “What was that?” Carlotta gripped my arm.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “My brother’s a werewolf. You’d be surprised what I’d believe.”

  She was still staring at where the thing had been as if mesmerised.

  “You’ve heard of demons, right? Well, I’m guessing that’s one.”

  “You’ve got to be shitting me. What’s it doing here?”

  “Carrying out the commands of whoever summoned it.”

  She pointed across to one of the central teaching blocks. I couldn’t see what she was looking at initially but then it became clear. A huge hole had been punched right through the wall leaving chunks of masonry scattered around.

  “Did they do that?” she asked. “The lesser demons?”

  “I don’t know. I think: probably not. That looks like proper magic.”

  “I’m going back to the car.”

  “Too late for that,” I snatched her sleeve to keep her with me. “At least now we know what we’re up against.”

  Though, I suspected, that wasn’t the half of it

  The second one came from over to our right moving with sinuous speed. It didn’t see us until the last moment and then, when it did, it came to an abrupt halt, its front legs splaying out clumsily. It had a single set of front legs and two larger sets of rear legs. It shifted its blunt head from Carlotta to me and back again, its black eyes coldly comprehending.

  Then it charged.

  It butted me so hard in the chest that it lifted me off my feet, sending me reeling back onto the concrete.

  Then it lunged at Carlotta, gouging at her with its chitinous beak. It snagged itself on the fabric of her white jacket and pulled, wheeling her around. Carlotta had to work to stay on her feet, all the while pulling away from the demon which, for its part, splayed out its legs as it tried to gain purchase. They stayed locked like that for a long time and might have gone on for longer if Carlotta hadn’t had the sense to shrug off her jacket. She went about it coolly, shedding first the right arm and then the left as though surrendering it to an overly attentive waiter. With a shout, she was free causing the demon to stagger backwards, the jacket hooked over one of its antennae. It didn’t seem to have the wit to realise what had happened, dropping its body down as it attempted to shake the garment free.

  There are specific spells for dealing with demons. You have to be cautious though because you’re dealing with something from another realm and there are certain combinations they actually find nourishing. I’d even done a course on “How to Deal with Demons,” attracted by the name as much as anything else. It had been run by a middle aged witch who didn’t take herself too seriously, in marked contrast to the other lecturers at Newton. We’d had enormous fun taking it in turns to play our demon of choice. They all had deliciously exotic names which everyone struggled to pronounce, including me. This, though, was different. This was the real thing.

  I tried to remember just one of the spells from the course. I’d done well in Demonology but, standing there watching that thing shredding Carlotta’s jacket, everything just seemed to go out of my head.

  Iron, I recalled. They don’t like iron, and the purer the better.

  Then, I had an idea.

  Grabbing hold of Carlotta I pulled her across to the lecture block opposite. The gaping hole we’d noticed earlier looked twice as impressive up-close not least because an almost completely spherical chunk had been removed, cutting one of the computer tables cleanly in half. The only thing that under-mined the impressively clean lines of the magic employed was the fact that bits of plaster had subsequently dropped down. As I stepped inside Carlotta stayed on the threshold her eyes never leaving the thrashing demon.

  I took a moment to survey the glass still in the window frame. It too had been sliced through in a clean arc, the glass bubbling and blackening around the edges. The temperatures involved must have been enormous.

  An easy chair lay on the floor smouldering. A pure blue flame playing around its edges. A metal strut hung down from the ceiling. I reached up and gave it a pull but it resisted. Eventually, I gave it a series of hard yanks causing it to twist before coming away in a shower of plaster. The problem was that, as I handled it, I knew just from the weight of it that it wasn’t what I was after. More likely aluminium than iron and, as such, completely useless.

  “That thing,” Carlotta was saying. “It’s coming!”

  “Just a bit longer.”

  I looked around, reluctant to relinquish my hold on the strip of metal. A man’s jacket was hanging on one of the chairs. I took hold of it, located the rear seam and gave it a hard tug, ripping the jacket straight up the middle. Only the collar refused to give. Tearing the collar away I wrapped one half of the jacket around the end of the metal strut. Then I lowered it over the dying blue flame coming from the chair. I thought at first that I�
�d simply extinguished what little flame there was until a sharp tongue of fire leapt up and my improvised torch caught light.

  If anything, it burnt a lot more readily than I’d expected and I was forced to hold it away from my face. Carlotta was inside the classroom now standing just behind one of the computer tables.

  The demon moved across the grass, sweeping its articulated body from side to side as though tasting the air. It came up as high as a horse at the shoulder but its legs were arachnoid in design giving it an oddly sinuous bouncing gait. It must have sensed me somehow as it slowly scuttled around to face in my direction.

  I held the torch at arm’s length, the greasy smoke rolling up into the ceiling. I’d hoped that the sight of the flame might frighten it off and I was right in that respect. It stopped just short of the entrance to the classroom moving from side to side, uncertain how to proceed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carlotta trying to hide behind the desk but, in doing so, she dislodged one of the monitors which crashed to the floor. The demon didn’t hesitate. One second it was crouching, the next it had launched itself at Carlotta, demolishing the computer desk in the process and knocking her to the ground.

  A jumble of different coloured computer cables fell from the ceiling where they had been attached to the desk. When the demon attempted to move forward it quickly became enmeshed in the cables. The more it tried to pull clear the more cabling unfurled from the ceiling, confusing the creature further. All the while, Carlotta lay on her back, chest heaving looking up at the demon looming over her. But when the thing pushed forward, I saw the cables pulled taut, the joints in its legs clicking with the effort.

  My eyes were streaming from the smoke as I jabbed the torch against the creature’s back leg. I ran it over the hooked barbs covering its hard outer shell. Still the thing paid me no attention so I decided to try my luck tackling it from the front.

  As soon as the monster caught sight of the flame it shuffled sideways and froze. Its front legs had become mired in the mess of wires looping down from the ceiling and the more it struggled the more entangled it became. Carlotta pushed herself to her feet, wobbled slightly but managed to get round behind me. Sensing an opportunity, I walked towards the creature holding the torch directly in front of me. The demon tried to twist away but, as it did so, the wires snaked under its thorax pulling tightly against its left leg.

  I motioned for Carlotta to get out through the wrecked window, driving the torch at the demon’s face every time the thing tried to move. But, instead of leaving, Carlotta started pulling at a length of curtain. When I turned to see what she was doing I unintentionally lowered the torch. The demon surged forward - but it only got so far. One of its rear legs had become caught in the wiring to the extent that in its attempts to escape, it had been hauled clear of the ground.

  Carlotta darted forward, hurling the strips of curtain beneath the demon’s scrabbling legs.

  All that was left for me to do was to apply the torch. The material caught light immediately. The demon shrieked, its legs pumping feverishly in an attempt to get away from the flames. But its efforts were wasted, suspended as it was by the mesh of wires. As the curtains blazed, the demon struggled to tear itself free. It twisted first one way then the other but all to no avail. Maddened by the heat, it reared up on its back legs, its mandibles twitching and its front legs pawing at the air. The room quickly filled with choking black smoke and I had to grab Carlotta to pull her away as the creature went into its death-throes. All the time it was shrieking as hot fluid bubbled from its joints.

  Smoke washed and billowed around us as we stumbled out onto the grass, our eyes watering.

  Carlotta was wheezing and gasping. “Are there any more of those things around?”

  “I hope not.”

  We moved away from the lecture block and down a narrow alley which brought us out by a corner laundrette. As we came to the end of the alley it started to get considerably brighter and I was reminded that it wasn’t just the lecture block that was on fire.

  The Sports Hall stood in front of us, a blazing inferno. Every window and door way had dense black smoke streaming out of it whilst fire raged from the rooftops. A terrible idea occurred to me then. What if the Novices had been trapped in there when the fire had been set? There were only a couple of fire exits. It would have been relatively easy to lock them all.

  I panicked at the thought of it. Kinsella had been adamant that Kohl was only interested in Stahl. But what if he’d been wrong?

  Beyond the Sports Centre itself was a patch of open ground and scattered across it were several dark shapes.

  “Oh shit!”

  “What is it?” Carlotta whispered.

  I didn’t know what to say. In the distance I could see the Secure Unit, the pale shapes of demons moving freely around it. This wasn’t a small scale incursion. From the look of things, the campus had been completely over-run.

  I turned back to Carlotta who was crouching in the shadows.

  “You were right,” I said. “There are more of them.”

  She looked at me, her eyes wide. “How many?”

  “I don’t know but it’s not looking good.”

  My eyes went back to the dark shapes lying on the grass. I had to go and check that Millie wasn’t lying out there on the grass but, in order to do that, I needed to first ensure Carlotta’s safety. I went over and tried the door of the laundrette. It was locked. A quick spell would unlock it but would also give away our position. There was a narrow alleyway running down the side. It wasn’t an ideal hiding place.

  I turned back towards Carlotta, checking that I still had my handbag. As I opened it my face and hands were bathed in a strange luminescent glow. I’d brought both Temporal Spheres with me. I stared at them for a moment. Had they glowed before? I didn’t think so.

  “What’s that?” Carlotta said.

  I held one out to her but she pulled away.

  “Bottled magic. If one of those creatures tries to come for you then smash this thing on the floor.”

  “What, you mean throw it? Like a hand grenade?”

  “No, throw it down. It’ll surround you in a sort of protective bubble. Seal you in. You won’t be able to get out but then nothing will be able to get in.”

  She pushed my hand away. “Don’t like the sound of that. I’m claustrophobic.”

  I hardened my voice. “Carlotta, I want you to have it. If one of those things comes after you, smash this on the ground. Is that clear?”

  “You can shout at me as much as you like. I’m still not taking it.”

  I pursed my lips, half tempted to just smash it at her feet right then and there. In the end, I put it back in my bag.

  “Okay. I’m just going to sort something out. Back in a minute.”

  *

  I scouted along past the Sports Centre, the heat emanating from it had become intense. It was consuming all the air around me making it difficult to breath. There were a number of bushes surrounding the building one of which I used for cover, dropping down under the smoke. I welcomed the chance to be independent and not have to look out for Carlotta. Tiny particles of ash were falling all around me, some of them still alight and I had to keep brushing them out of my hair. One landed on my arm and burnt me but I hardly noticed, I was too distracted by the bodies strewn in front of me. From the glow of the flames I could just make out that one of them was female.

  I was struggling to make sense of what had happened. Had Kohl come himself or had he simply unleashed these demons just to create chaos? I’d assumed that Kohl would be working alone but apparently I was wrong. The temptation to rush straight over to the bodies was strong but I forced myself to wait, crouching behind the bush and checking for signs of a possible ambush. The set-up had all the hallmarks of a well-laid trap but time was against me. If Millie was lying over there she might be seriously injured. I had to do something.

  My plan was to count to a hundred and then, if I still hadn’t seen anyone, I’d make
a run for it. That was before a huge explosion ripped through the Sports Centre, lighting up the sky. A wall of heat washed over me, the noise of the blast echoing around the surrounding buildings. It sounded like gas canisters or something but I didn’t have time to investigate. I was already up and sprinting across to the nearest body.

  It was little more than a blackened corpse, its teeth exposed in a rictus smile. The heat it had been exposed to had been intense enough to split its belly open, like a tomato thrown onto a bonfire. There was nothing more for me to do so I moved on. The next figure was male. At first he seemed to be wearing gloves but then I saw that his hands had been scorched black and I immediately thought of Valeria.

  After checking that he was still breathing, I quickly rolled him into the recovery position. I just didn’t know what to do about his hands.

  I recognised the next person from the clothes they were wearing. I’d seen them that morning at the funeral.

  A little sob escaped from my throat. It was Millie. I bent down and kissed her. Her skin was warm. She was still alive.

  “Millie!” I whispered. “It’s Bronte.”

  “Bunty? That you?” her words were thick and slurred.

  “Where does it hurt?”

  “All over.”

  I quickly ran my hands over her body, checking for any obvious breaks. When my hand brushed against her thigh her whole body tensed but she didn’t cry out. I couldn’t see well enough to give her a proper examination. What I could see was that she wasn’t wearing any shoes.

  “What happened to you?” I asked but she didn’t hear me.

  Her eyes opened wide. “Those things. Are they still here?”

  I stroked her face, looking back the way I’d come, trying to calculate the distance back to the laundrette. It was a long way – much too far to carry her. Perhaps if I could persuade Carlotta to give me a hand? I still had my phone with me. Could I risk giving her a call?