“Do you really think they’ll kill his son? Wouldn’t it be better to try and fix him so he can do what he’s destined to do a kill her?” one of the girls asked her breathlessly.
“My uncle would never show that much humanity and he would never trust Nathan again. His life is over. He chose wrong and the consequences are entirely his fault.”
A loud noise broke the sleepy silence, someone’s phone went and the girl who’d done most of the talking spoke excitedly, “they have them. It’s time to go.” As her and her friends walked out of the bathroom, I almost groaned allowed. My head was cleaving in two again as I saw the crowd around alternative us in Sligo. Nathan was being beaten and dragged away from me and I heard the crunching of bone and his cries of pain. He fought with everything to get back to me and I knew they would kill him.
My whole body wanted to break as I saw them drag him away from me, but I came back to myself and I splashed some cold water on my face as I breathed a sigh of relief. I stared into the mirror over the sink, when the door burst open and Nate ran in, grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards the kitchen of the pub. I didn’t ask him what was going on. I just allowed him to pull me along with him. We ran out the back of the kitchen and he pulled me away towards a huge bin and pulled me behind it. It smelled so bad, of rotting food and rubbish that I felt like I would throw up.
I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on, but he turned towards me as I was about to speak and kissed me, pulling me towards him. I kissed him back, but then remembered after a second what had happened and pulled away, intending to say something, when voices on the other side of the bin stopped me.
“Are you sure it was him, Netty?” a hoarse male voice asked.
“Of course I am. I have known him since he was a baby,” the other voice answered. They looked around and when they moved the bin, even though they looked right at us, they didn’t see us. They then shoved the bin back and Nate stopped hugging me. I looked at him, wanting to ask how they had seen him, but I didn’t know if it was safe.
We both knew we couldn’t hide there forever and edged towards the end of the row. I got out first and Nate followed me. I walked forwards, to lead the way, when Nate grabbed my hand and told me to keep a hold of his; no demons would see or sense us if we stayed linked. I just nodded, again feeling like I was totally and utterly exhausted.
We walked out of the car park and up the hill to the big supermarket and shopping mall. We needed supplies to go into hiding with.
We walked through the doors of the shopping mall and went into the store nearest the exit. This brick-a-brack shop sold bits and pieces of everything. The walls were lined with dolls and trinkets, gifts, and tenting equipment. We bought a three-person tent, two sleeping bags, a gas cooker, a blow up bed, a torch with batteries, and a pump. We then went into the shop next door, and got two waterproof jackets, two backpacks, and some duct tape. I didn’t ask what the duct tape was for and after we had paid for them, we had just over one hundred euro left.
We walked into the food store and got a trolley for the supplies we would need. We got tins of food — pears, canned meats, and potatoes, herbs, rosemary, thyme, sage, and basil, and bottles of water. When we had paid for all of our purchases, we had thirty euro left and we still needed clothes. I looked at Nathan and asked him silently if we were going to get clothes. He just nodded and when I asked him how he would pay for it, he smiled at me and walked over to the bank machine.
We then left the shop and walked down the hill, looking for some clothes shops. After about five minutes, we found one and after a quick sweep, we found that it was free of demons. As I was walking in, he took the bags I carried and gave me one hundred and fifty euro, telling me to get whatever I needed.
I looked at him and asked him why he wasn’t coming in. He just told me he had something to do and would be back in half an hour. As he walked away, looking more like a packhorse than ever, I realised I was worried about him, but I didn’t have space in my head for too much more. I needed to buy some clothes. I walked inside the shop, hearing a bell tinkle above me head. The shop assistant walked over to me and asked if I needed any help. I just shook my head, looking around the shop to see I needed anything.
I walked over to the denim part and picked up two pairs of black denims and two pairs of blue, checking the price tag as I went. Buy one; get one free, and twenty-five euro each. I then walked to the jumpers bit and picked up two black and one grey jumper, a large black cardigan, gloves, and a scarf that we’re out of season, a pair of calf-high, flat, black boots, and a pair of trainers. I also picked up some underwear and a few pairs of thick woolly socks that were on sale.
By the time I had finished, I heard the bell tinkle again and I looked towards the door, in time to see Nate coming in. He walked over to me as I paid and asked if I had everything I needed. I just nodded at him, and watched him walk over to the men’s section; pick up some jeans, jumpers, socks, t-shirts, and underwear. He paid for his items alongside mine and altogether we spent two hundred and twenty-three euro. As our purchases were being bagged, he smiled at me and said in a voice barely above a whisper, “I have a car.”
I didn’t know what to say and since he whispered it, I realised he didn’t want anyone to hear. We left the shop, walked towards the car, and loaded our purchases. The car was parked just outside of the town, on one of the country roads leading away, in a small car park.
I almost collapsed onto the car. I felt weak with hunger and more tired than I had ever felt in my life. Nate looked at me and decided we should go and get something to eat before we left the town. He took my hand and half-pulled me into the centre of town, into a small, busy cafe, where no demons were present. We had a cooked meal for the first time in ages; he had fish and chips and I had a chicken burger. I was so hungry that after I had eaten, I felt a little sick, but I was full and content.
As we walked back towards the car, we passed this old-fashioned bookshop and I really wanted to look. Nate didn’t think it was a good idea, but upon checking, we both agreed that the man inside was not a demon. We walked through the door and both looked around. The shop was panelled in pine-coloured wood, from floor to ceiling, and was small, but neat and tidy. The lighting was low coming from some chandeliers in the ceiling. The cash desk was up two wooden steps and had bookshelves running alongside it.
I looked around for books on potions and Nate walked over to a small table a little further in, and picked up a book on golfing. He laughed but I sensed that something wasn’t right in this store. When I glanced around the shop, I noticed three other customers, looking at books, but I knew something was wrong. I walked over to Nathan and from the corner of my eye, caught one of the customers turning into an awful-looking creature, with red eyes, a brown grisly face contorted in anger, hands like claws, and much taller than myself or Nate. I spun around and the other two customers had changed into creatures that looked exactly the same.
I just stared, transfixed at them, watching them all come closer and closer. Oh my God, we’re done for. I forgot all about my powers, forgot all about Nate. We’re going to die. I could smell their putrid breath in the air and feel the heat from their bodies. I couldn’t move; I was completely frozen in fear. I couldn’t even turn my head to see if Nate was okay.
They came closer and one of them swiped a hand at me, throwing me across the room. I landed hard against a bookshelf and felt myself falling to the floor, surrounded by books. A few minutes passed and when I opened my eyes, I could see I was tied up in a corner of the floor and Nate was on the table he had been standing at. As I looked over, I saw the creatures peeling of a piece of his skin and heard Nate scream in agony. I saw him turn to look towards me and heard him tell me to get myself out of here before they started on me.
I looked at him, feeling tears fill my eyes and at that moment, I wanted it to be over. I wanted to die, but I knew things would not be that easy. As I thought this, one of the creatures spoke, in a horrible, raspy voice
that made my skin crawl.
“When will they get here?”
“Not long now,” his companion answered and with a look at me, he said, “We shall be handsomely rewarded for capturing these two.”
At that moment, I felt the life drain away from my essence and I felt sick. Now they knew that we weren’t really in Sligo. I wriggled about a little on the floor and managed to get my hand free. The creatures again became preoccupied with peeling Nate and hearing his scream of agony made my soul hurt.
I managed to get loose and untied my feet as they got another sliver of Nate’s skin and his scream masked my shuffling around on the ground. They were all preoccupied with Nate so they didn’t see my movements as I shuffled along the floor. Then as I stood I saw Nate’s eyes widen in alarm, but he closed his eyes over, focusing on projecting his voice to me. He sounded weak, but he was trying to mask the agony he was in, “Jas. Get. Out. Of. Here. Now.” Each word was painful and I shook my head to clear it as I made my way towards them.
Another creature had joined them. They didn’t notice me and I realised, by looking at Nathan’s face that he was trying to give me a chance to escape. He was using the last of his strength to cloak me from them. He was obviously more worried than he let on.
One of the creatures bit his arm, released, and bit again. “Nathan, oh cousin, you will stay awake for this,” he said repeatedly, between bites.
I needed a weapon if I wanted to save Nate from these creatures, then I realised I was a weapon. I walked behind the creature, bit his arm, placed my hands on his neck and turned them. His neck broke with a loud crack that made me shudder, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I had to save Nate so I crept around the table and twisted the neck of one of them on that side. The sound of his necks snapping was loud and I realised we were almost home free.
Mistakenly I laughed, as one of the creatures lunged for me, but I moved myself a fraction of a second before he would have hit me, and the creature flew right into the bookshelves, knocking himself out. Again, I looked at him and twisted my hands, heard his neck break, but at the same time, I heard a small groan as the one remaining creature, picked Nate up off the table and placed his hands around Nate’s neck.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are. I will find you. Ask Nathan here how good I am at finding things.”
He squeezed Nate’s neck while doing this and I could see in Nathan’s face that he was worried. I flickered in and out of view. I kept moving around for a few seconds. As Nate lost consciousness, the creature threw him to the side, and he bounced off a bookshelf and landed with a thud on the floor. I prayed that he was okay, but now I was visible to this creature. I knew it was a matter of life and death and that some of my powers wouldn’t work on this thing.
The creature lunged at me and caught me on the chest, but I managed to stop him, sinking his claws into my body by breaking his hands. He yowled in pain and I struggled out from under him. When I got up, I saw him preparing to lunge at me again, from the reflection on the shop window and as he made a move, I twisted my hand and broke his neck.
After I had done this, I sank to the floor, exhaustion threatening to overtake me, but I knew that the demons would be here very soon. I needed to get Nathan and myself out of here before they arrived.
I crawled on my hands and knees over to Nate and gave him a small shake. He made no movement. I called out his name and got no response, but I could hear his raspy breathing. I sat up and looked around. The bookshop was covered in blood and bodies. I looked around me and saw a few books that would come in handy. I decided to take three of them, one for herbal healing, another on protecting home and dwellings from demons, and the last was baby delivery at home, which I thought would come in handy for Joe and Lisa.
I got up from the floor and walked over to the cash register. I placed thirty euro inside and picked up a brown paper bag to put my books in. I knew that his family would be here soon and it would be best if we were nowhere to be seen, or sensed, when they arrived. I walked over to Nate, pulled him up, and put his arm around my neck. I knew we weren’t far from the car and I decided I would drag him along.
It was harder work than I expected, but I managed to get us outside the door. As I turned to look back into the shop, it disappeared. Clearly, it was only there to trap us and I fell for it. Now Nathan was hurt and guilt rose up in my stomach, choking me because it was me who wanted to go in there. I walked slowly, under pressure from Nathan and the books. The rain had started and the sky was black, but after ten minutes of toiling, we made it to the car. I fished around in Nate’s pocket and got the keys out, before lowering him into the backseat and closing the door.
I walked to the driver’s seat and even though I had only had a few driving lessons, a few months ago, I somehow knew, or remembered what I was doing. I put the key in the ignition, put the car into first gear, and turned on the lights. I then moved forwards, paid the barrier, and drove out of the car park and onto the country road. I drove for over an hour, passing countryside and little villages, not that I could see any of it in the pouring rain, before as sense of anger crashed over me. The bookshop had been discovered.
I heard Mr Stevenson scream in fury at everyone around him and knew I would have to find a place to hide us soon. At this point, I drove along, hoping to find somewhere I could pull the car over and hide us for the night, when suddenly lights flashed in my rear-view mirror. “Damn it, it’s the bloody Garda.” They got out of the car and walked slowly towards us. I noticed that although one of them was human, the other was a demon.
I didn’t know what to do, but I knew sitting here talking would mean that the demons would find us faster and then we’d be dead. Having an unconscious person in the back of your car raised an awful lot of questions. I mulled this over for about ten seconds and then I transported both men back into their car, on the road, making them forget all about us. This was dangerous; if any of the upper echelon of demons caught wind of that little bit of magic, they’d be on to us like sharks smelling blood. It would tell them exactly what they needed to know. Where we were, where we were going, and that we had a car. I could only hope that it went undetected, as I pulled out into the road again and drove.
I noticed woods coming up and turned the car into the pathway. I couldn’t see much from the road and I put the lights on brighter to drive on the caretaker’s road. The further into the woods I got, the darker it was, and the more tired I became.
After half an hour of driving in the woods, I saw a space between some trees just big enough for a small car, like this one to fit through. I drove towards it, just as it began getting dark and squeezed the car through the space. As I got through, I realised that the demons were on the hunt and were angrier than I had ever felt them, both at our lucky deception of them the day before, the hurting of those left behind in the shack, and the killing of the monsters in the bookshop.
I drove, twisting the car here and there, to avoid hitting branches and trees, and finally managed to hide the car behind a clump of bushes, making it invisible to anyone on the road. I then decided to move a tree there, which I just managed, not because my powers were weakening, if anything I was buzzed and full of energy, but because of the oppressive air in the woods.
I got out of the car and pulled my hand through the air, pulling some branches and leaves towards the car, and I walked around to the back, opened the trunk, and rummaged through the bags until I found the herbs we had purchased at the shops.
Looking around, I saw some conifer trees and I ran over to grab some leaves, before running back to the herbs that I had placed on the boot of the car. I mixed the herbs together and walked in a circle around us, creating a barrier between us and any evil. I could have used my blood to strengthen the mix, but I needed the energy I had left to help Nate.
I walked around to the back of the car, got out the sleeping bag we had purchased, walked around to the right-hand door, climbed in, and locked it behind me. I reached through to the front an
d turned off the headlights before locking all of the other doors. I put the inside lights on and moved the branches covering the car to make sure no one could see the lights. I knew this was only an interim measure to allow us to rest for the night. We would need to find somewhere safer to hide out for a while.
Nathan stirred as I ran my hand over the cuts, where his skin had been ripped off, on his arms, legs, and stomach, but they didn’t heal completely. I ran my hands up his arm, trying to heal the bites, some right down to the bone, but I found after twenty minutes of trying, that I had no energy left. I was exhausted.
Nate then awoke, looked at me, and told me, “Don’t worry, baby. I’m not in any pain.”
He then fell asleep again, and I climbed over into the front seat to try to get some sleep, turning out the front light as I went. I lay there for a few minutes thinking about whether we were safe, when I heard some leaves and twigs rustling outside the car. I looked around and waved my hand in a very lazy way, creating a small space for me to see out.
As I looked out, I saw the faces of spirits, trying to get through the protection I had placed around the car. I could hear them moaning and groaning, alongside the sound of the wind. I waved my hand again, closing the gap, and tried to get to sleep. Just as I was about to drop off, I heard a voice that chilled me to the bone.
Jenny had arrived and was looking through the woods, not ten feet from where we were. I knew I had to find some magic and tap into it, because if I didn’t, there was no way for us to escape now. I heard her walk into the space behind the bushes, but because the car was completely black, I knew she wouldn’t see us, unless she had a torch. I placed my hand on the door of the car and tried with all of my might to make the car invisible, but my hand shook and my power waned.
I keep thinking how Nate was in the back, unconscious with cuts and bites, all over. I was so tired out from the last four or five days that I could sleep for a week and I knew that if his family caught us, we were dead.
Ignition (Escaping Demons Saga Book 2) Page 22