by K T Kaye
“It was small, its stomach had shrivelled up.”
“What did it look like?”
“It looked like a cat, but with a longer body and webbed feet.”
“Did you say everything is in here?” Angel asked pointing to the book.
“Yes, everything.”
“Good, thank you for your time,” Angel got to her feet. We left McLean’s office, shutting the door behind us. We headed down the corridor.
“This isn’t good,” Angel muttered.
“What isn’t?” I asked.
“The demon he described; I’ve met that kind before. They’re small but deadly.”
“Then it’s a good job they released it.”
“There’s more. When these demons give birth, the babies suck all the blood and minerals out of the mother, causing the mother to shrivel up.”
“You think that the demon was a mother?”
“I’m sure of it. The babies would have been small, they could have got out of the box without being seen.”
“You mean,” I gulped as anxiety began to bubble in my chest.
“The babies, they’re still on the base.”
25
‘Trouble’
Blood, guts, dead demons, and potatoes painted the floor of the supply room. Danny slid to the floor exhausted whilst Alexander finished off the last demon. Roger and Ethan transformed back into their normal forms and collapsed to the floor. Jason and Angel stared at the chaos opened mouthed as they entered the room.
“What happened?” Angel asked.
“Well basically,” Roger started.
“Open box and BANG there’s a huge demon! Then shoot, shoot, shoot and finally the thing is dead. Then open another box and OH SNAP it’s an even bigger demon who isn’t very pleased when you try to shoot it. So it goes CRASH BANG GROWL and tries to eat us! So we cut off its head and everything is fine. But then there’s another demon and another and another and another! And like man they just won’t die! Then finally they do and yeah,” Ethan explained with extravagate hand gestures and loud sound effects.
“What he said,” Roger nodded unable to think of a better explanation.
“Right. Okay,” Angel muttered, “Err how many?”
“All the boxes that have arrived recently had a demon inside,” Ethan gestured around the room, “As you can tell.”
“What about before then?”
“Nothing. Judging by the boxes, this started about a month ago.”
“A month, why a month? Why now, what’s changed in a month?”
“Oh lemons,” Jason muttered. Jason wasn’t sure why the word ‘lemons’ had popped into his head, but he suspected that it had something to do with all the fruit that was rolling across the floor.
“What is it?” Angel asked.
“It’s me.”
“What?”
“That’s what’s changed.”
“I’m not following,” sneezed Ethan.
“This started a month ago, right? Well it’s only been a month since Mr Jet killed my mum and…”
“The Master of Darkness entered the paranormal empire. Jet’s been planning this from the start. Damn it! We’ve been set up!” Angel ran out of the room. Jason looked at the others who shrugged and followed Angel down the corridor. She led them to the white room they had been in before. Once inside, Angel rushed to the phone on the wall.
“Captain Night, number 7354, come in,” she said quickly but her voice was met only with static. Angel slammed her hand and the phone down, “Damn! Mobile phones?”
“No signal,” Danny muttered staring at his phone, “Your telepathic link with Jin?”
“Nothing. It’s like his mind is blocked. I can’t even reach Roxy and we’re in the same building! The wolf bond is blocked as well,” Angel pulled out her wand and tried to send a messenger spirit, but the spell crumbled into blue dust, “Messenger spirits are blocked, how is this possible?”
“Guys look at this,” Roger beckoned them over. They crowded around the computer screen. The scanner was flickering. One moment it seemed as if the base was surrounded then moments later there would be nothing.
“What in Jupiter’s name?” Alexander muttered under his breath.
“Interference?” Angel asked.
“I have no idea,” mumbled Roger as he tried to fix the scanner.
“Right stay here, I’m going to teleport outside and find out what’s going on.” Angel glowed white. She disappeared only to reappear less than a second later.
“That was quick.”
“I didn’t go anywhere,” Angel muttered. She tried to teleport once again, only to reappear seconds later. She collapsed to the floor and coughed up blood.
“Angel!” Roger exclaimed kneeling next to his sister.
“I still haven’t gone anywhere,” Angel hissed getting to her feet, “My teleportation powers, they’re not working! Something is stopping me from teleporting. It’s like there’s some kind of forcefield.”
“What’s going on?” asked McLean walking into the room.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Angel gestured to the computer screens.
“That’s not right, not right at all,” McLean muttered. He hurried to the computer and started pressing buttons, “That’s not good.”
Then everything went black. The screens faded and the lights disappeared. Angel could no longer see Roger despite him being stood right next to her. The entire building was in shadows.
“Is it dark for everyone else or have I gone blind?” Jason asked from somewhere in the darkness.
“The powers gone!” McLean squeaked.
“Is there a backup system?” Angel asked, flicking her wand, and sending a pale white ball of light into the air. The ball of light glowed, illuminating the room.
“I…I…Yes I think there is one…just a minute,” the rat man hurried to a cupboard, “Something’s wrong.”
“Really? I never would have guessed that! What’s wrong with the power?”
“I…I…I…”
Angel went over to McLean and the power box. She stared at the wires and, after realising she had no idea how to fix the problem, she punched the power box. To her surprise the red safety lights came on.
“Everyone alright?” asked Angel, “The power box has been eaten! The wires, something has taken a massive bite out of the wires! This is the only power we’ve got.”
“Teleportation is down,” Roger muttered, “And communications are down.”
“So we are stranded on a floating iceberg!” Danny summed up.
“Well actually the North pole isn’t…” McLean started.
“Shut it!” Danny snapped at him before turning to Angel, “What’s the…?”
Danny was interrupted by a roar.
* * * * *
The lights had just gone off. Clover and Elsa stood unsure what to do. After a few minutes of darkness, the red safety lights flickered into life.
“What just happened?” asked Elsa.
“They’re the safety lights, we should get back to the others,” Clover whispered. The darkness was unnerving. The shadows followed them wherever they went. A single red light swung back and forth, as cold gusts of Arctic wind whistled and broke the silence. Clover and Elsa walked slowly down the corridor.
“It’s quiet,” muttered Elsa.
“Very,” Clover replied, she pulled out her torch, “Worried?”
“The quiet is disturbing.”
“Why do we always end up in situations like this?”
“I don’t know.”
“I blame Angel. We never had this much trouble with Jackson.”
“I can remember when she first joined Lightning Squad, she never used to listen to Jackson despite him being Captain.”
“It’s a shame the Colonel created Alpha Squad. I liked having Jackson in charge.”
“I don’t know, I quite like having Angel as captain. She’s very good at her job and our squad’s success rate has massively
improved.”
“I…”
Then there came a noise. It sounded like someone, or something, was breathing heavily.
“Hello?” Elsa asked, “Is anyone there?”
There was no reply.
“Identify yourself!”
Still there was no reply.
Then suddenly a large demon raced towards them. It had twenty-two small eyes and its skin was stretched so thinly that Elsa could see the red veins and green bones that lay beneath. Elsa shot at the demon, but her bullets bounced off its body.
“Clover go get Angel!” Elsa yelled.
Elsa jumped on to the demon’s back and stabbed into its thin skin. The dagger slashed across one of the demon’s veins, causing burning black blood to drip onto Elsa. She screamed as the acidy demon blood melted her cold dead skin. She jumped off the demon and ducked as it slashed its claws in her direction. Elsa rolled across the floor and stabbed the demon in its belly. The demon roared. It grabbed the vampire and threw her down the corridor. As Elsa pulled herself up, she noticed that Clover was stood watching her.
“What are you doing? Go get Angel,” Elsa yelled.
But Clover didn’t move.
“What the hell is…?”
Elsa didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence for the demon slashed its claws in her direction. Elsa ducked out of the way. She then ran forwards and climbed onto the demon’s back. She stabbed the demon repeatedly. The demon roared and slammed its back into the wall. Elsa fell to the floor. Acidy blood poured onto the vampire. Elsa crawled away from the demon.
“Don’t just stand there, help me,” Elsa pleaded to Clover.
“Of course I’ll help you,” Clover knelt quickly and stabbed a wooden stake into Elsa’s heart.
“Fern…was right…about…you…” Elsa gasped as she crumbled into ash.
Clover smiled and blew the ashes of Elsa across the corridor. She stood up and walked over to the demon, trampling on Elsa’s remains as she did so. Clover raised her hand, it glowed red. The demon stumbled backwards in fear.
“Good boy,” Clover smiled, “The rest of your dinner will be joining us shortly.”
As if on cue, someone shouted, “Elsa! Clover!”
Clover clicked her fingers and the wooden stake burnt into nothingness. The murder weapon vanished just as Angel and the men of Lightning Squad arrived at the scene.
“What’s happened?” Angel asked racing over to Clover.
Clover put on a terrified expression and answered, “There’s a demon, it killed Elsa, she’s…”
Angel turned to Alexander, “Get her to Rowan and tell the others to get armed.”
Alexander nodded. He grabbed Clover’s wrist and they zoomed away. Roger and Ethan transformed into their wolf forms and attacked the demon. Jason just stared. He had never seen a huge demon in person before, so it took him a moment to recover from the shock. By the time Jason had returned to his senses, Danny had climbed onto the demon’s back and had cut open its neck. However the demon didn’t die. Instead it healed itself quickly then slammed its body against the wall, knocking Danny to the floor.
Angel transformed into a phoenix and attacked the demon. Her beak pecked at the demon’s eyes and her flaming wings scorched its skin. The demon stumbled backwards and began to claw at the phoenix. Its sharp claws slashed across the phoenix’s chest. The phoenix fell to the floor and transform back into Angel. Angel stumbled to her knees, her chest bleeding.
“Jason shoot at its eyes!” Angel ordered.
In quick succession Jason fired his gun at the demon’s eyes. The bullets dug deep into its eyeballs. Danny did the same. The pair continued to shoot until the demon went blind. The visionless demon stumbled backwards. The two werewolves pounced on top of it. Angel glowed white and transformed into a fire nymph; a small red creature whose footsteps scorched the floor. The fire nymph ran up the demon’s body, setting it alight. Roger and Ethan jumped off the demon as it burst into flames. The demon crumbled into ash. Angel transformed back into herself and collapsed to the floor. She glowed white and began to heal her wounded body.
“Angel,” Roger exclaimed as he raced over to his sister.
“I’m fine,” Angel reassured as Roger helped her to her feet.
“I’m good too, thanks for asking!” Ethan muttered as he transformed back into his usual self, and then sneezed repeatedly, “It’s really hard being allergic to dogs when you’re a werewolf!”
“Idiot,” Roger smiled punching his brother affectionately.
“Nice shooting Jason,” Angel complimented.
“Thanks,” Jason squeaked, panic had stolen most of his vocabulary but stuttering he forced out the words, “That didn’t look like the demon McLean described.”
“No it didn’t. Can you hear that?”
“What?”
Angel dropped to the ground and placed her ear to the floor, “It sounds like there’s something below.”
“There are cells beneath us, right?” Roger asked kneeling next to Angel.
“I believe so. It sounds like there’s something down there,” Angel muttered, she looked up and noticed the pile of ash on the floor, “Elsa.”
“Where?” Jason asked confused.
Angel pointed to the pile of ash, “There.”
“What…but that’s…wait…”
“She died Jason. Elsa. She died.”
* * * * *
All of Lightning Squad, Rowan and the workers from the Polar Base were cramped into the small medical room. They stood in an uneasy silence.
Angel cleared her throat, “Elsa…Elsa has died. She was killed. Err I’m afraid I can’t give you time to mourn her as the base is currently under attack. We have absolutely no idea how many demons we are up against. We also have no back up and no means of communication, we are completely on our own.”
“What do you want us to do captain?” asked McLean firmly.
“We need to get the communications working, is anyone here good with technology?”
Becks raised her hand, “I spent two years at a technical college.”
“Okay, I need you to see what you can do. Fern will assist you.”
“What!? Why me!?” Fern exclaimed.
“Because Fern as well as being the most annoying member of this squad, you’re also the cleverest. So put your personal differences aside and work hard with Becks!”
“Yes Cap.”
“There have been noises coming from the cells. There’s a high possibility that it’s a demon. I want to lead a team down there to check it out. Roger, Ethan and Jason, I want you to come with me.”
“Why me?” Jason squeaked, on the verge of having a major breakdown.
“Because you’re the Master of Darkness…and half demon. The best thing to fight a demon with is another demon. Don’t worry Jason, I’ll protect you.”
That didn’t make Jason feel any better.
“I’ll go too. I know the cells, I used to manage them when they were in use,” Angus explained, “I may be of some help.”
“Okay. Do you have any weapons here? I know this is a science base.”
“We have an armoury,” Joel explained, “We’ve just never used it.”
“Alex, Clover and Danny go with Fredrick and Joel and bring all the weapons here. This room will act as our base.”
“Some of the weapons are very outdated,” Fredrick muttered.
“I don’t care. Just bring them all here,” Angel turned to Roxy and Willow, “From here can either of you sense if there’s demons outside?”
“Not from here, but this room is right in the centre of the base,” Roxy explained, “If we were by the main door, we might be able to. That’s only if the demons use the same telepathic frequencies we use. If they don’t then our powers won’t be able to sense them.”
“Right, you two head to the main door. If you can’t sense them then just open the door slightly and look.”
“Can’t we just look out of a window?” Jason asked
.
“This base doesn’t have windows.”
“What!?”
“I know, it’s ridiculous. We need to know if there are demons outside. We need an escape route. Are the main doors the only way in and out of the base?”
“Yes,” McLean nodded.
“Wait so this place doesn’t even have a fire exit!?” Jason exclaimed, “That’s so stupid!”
“We didn’t think we’d need one.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Angel muttered, “If necessary, we’ll just blow up one of the walls and escape that way. Though if we have no teleports, I’m not quite sure where we’ll be escaping to.”
“Angel can’t you just walk through walls and see for yourself?” Araminta asked.
“No, I tried but there’s something stopping me. I can’t walk through walls and I can’t teleport us out of here.”
“What about your telepathic link to Jin?” asked Sophie.
“Can’t reach him,” seeing that Jason was about to ask, Angel explained, “Jin, that’s Captain Lu, and I have what’s called a telepathic link. It means that we can mentally communicate. Normally no matter how far apart we are, we can talk to each other.”
“But you can’t reach him?”
“No. Whatever forcefield Mr Jet has put on this base is blocking it.”
“Paris knew about your telepathic link,” Sophie said suddenly, “He also knew about your wall walking and teleportation powers.”
“He must have told Jet, who must have created a forcefield specially designed to block those powers. Sophie, I want you to go with Roxy and Willow to the main doors.”
“What do you want me to do?” Rowan asked.
“I want you and Sue to turn this room into a proper medical bay. Araminta, you and McLean need to collect all the classified documents that we can’t let Jet have and bring them here.”
“Yes Cap,” Araminta nodded.
“Look this isn’t going to be easy but I swear I will do everything I can to get you all out of this alive. I am so proud of all of you. You guys are the bravest, smartest, loudest, and greatest squad the paranormal empire has. We can win this,” Angel smiled, “And when we do let’s all go for a drink at Bertie’s.”
“Only if you’re paying,” Fern called cheekily.