by Luca Veste
‘It was an accident,’ Louise said, feeling a tear fall down her cheek. She wiped a sleeve across her face, taking another step backwards. She remembered it now, the moments before, the panic, the fear. She could control it. Setting fires had become her favourite hobby. She remembered watching the flames dancing, the power she felt with it.
She thought of the curtains in the living room. The Zippo lighter her mum had, kept hidden in the kitchen. Smoking out the back door, so as not to do it in front of her and Martin. Her brother. He was older than her, fifteen or sixteen. She could see him perfectly. Always had been able to. She remembered not being able to sleep, the thought of the lighter within reach downstairs playing round and round in her mind.
Louise had never allowed herself to think about what happened that night. Not fully. Only afterwards, the feel of the heat and the sound of the house burning inside. The cold outside, as she stood watching the fire.
Now, she could see herself, creeping down and playing with the curtains in the living room. Hating the colour of them. The trip she had taken with her mum to buy them, made to think she would have a say and then being overruled.
Flicking the lighter and watching the flame catch them, the noise it made. The excitement she had felt. Watching, as the flames spread around the room, until she had to get out. The burning sensation, as her pyjamas caught light, burning her leg, before she managed to get out of the house and roll on the grass outside.
‘I never wanted them to die . . .’
‘Stop lying to yourself, Louise,’ he said, only a foot or so away from her now. She could smell him, the cloying aroma assaulting her. His face was aglow, the fire still burning beside them. ‘You know what you are. I wanted you to be. I waited for you. I came to these woods. I killed again and again. The story of me taking hold once again. Local kids, spotting me in the woods, creating more lavish parts to the story.’
‘I don’t want to hear this.’
‘You need to. And I know you want to know. I knew if that woman was found near those woods, you would be involved in the investigation. I couldn’t just come to you, understand? I needed to put you in this place again.’
‘Rhys Durham . . .’ Louise said, shaking her head at the incredulity of it. ‘He’s what, your pet project?’
He smiled, sick and sweet. ‘Every body buried in the woods is a mistake. A failure. I spent years trying to replace you, before I realised that it couldn’t be done. I found a few people. Young men, lost and directionless. I gave them the purpose I should have given to you. I made them into something more than they could ever have possibly imagined. Gave them the tools. You have to understand what people like you and me are. We’re saving these souls, while also keeping the darkness within us happy. Taking them to the wonder of death, away from the horror of their lives.’
‘You made them into killers. Steven Harris, Rhys, who knows how many.’
‘Steven was never right. Not like Rhys. He was the only one who came close to what you’re going to be,’ he said, his face darkening suddenly. ‘He has become more than I ever thought he could be. It took him time, but he can go off on his own now. Become his own story. Leaving just the two of us to become even greater.’
‘He’s dead,’ Louise said and enjoyed the reaction she got from this lie. His face fell, sank into itself. She could feel the pain she had caused him. ‘I warned them. That he was going to Caroline and her mum. They had to kill him. To save Caroline and Val Edwards.’
‘They needed to die . . .’
‘Not tonight. I stopped him. Steven Harris isn’t dead, but he may as well be. He’s in a cell now, waiting to be charged for two murders.’ Louise took a small step forward. ‘He raped the woman, did you know that? He broke into their homes and killed them in their bed. Raped her while she was still alive. Did you teach him that?’
‘No . . . that wasn’t supposed to happen. I never told him to do that.’
‘Well, I guess you’re not as good a teacher as you thought. You ever wonder about the others, Dad? Were they always ones who needed saving, or did your little boys sometimes kill because they wanted to? Because they wanted to feel powerful? The women they killed, maybe they were just like anyone else, any other man given a bit of power. Maybe they did that to them all.’
‘They’re not like that.’
Louise didn’t flinch as his voice rose in volume, bouncing off the trees around them. ‘I’m not like you. You could see that even then. I saw through you. I saw what you were. That scared you, didn’t it? That I was more powerful than you could ever be. It didn’t matter how many people you brought into these words and murdered, you couldn’t even deal with your own daughter. A little girl. That frightened you. You were petrified that I would come after you next.’
He shrank back now, as Louise stepped closer to him.
‘You’re weak,’ she said, enjoying the way he couldn’t look at her now. The way he seemed smaller, more insignificant. ‘You could never control me, like you thought you controlled them.’
‘He never controlled me.’
Louise spun, the new voice from the darkness behind her pausing her heartbeat for a second. Her breath caught in her throat as the shadows began to speak.
‘He didn’t have to. I wanted this.’
Louise squinted past the glow of the fire to the trees beyond, as something shuffled out of the night there.
‘Is she with us?’ the voice said, scratched and low. ‘What should I do with him?’
‘Who is that? Who is he holding?’
‘Please, just let me go,’ the man said, struggling against this new acolyte of her father’s. ‘I’m just a cameraman. I won’t tell anyone you’re here, honest.’
‘Put him with the others.’
Louise turned back to her father, lines creasing her forehead as she tried to understand what was happening. ‘Others?’
‘You thought it was just you here, in these woods? Louise, you know better than that. This, is one of my “pet projects” as you call them. The guy he’s holding . . . he could be your first.’
The lad – as he came closer, she realised he was no older than twenty – continued moving forward out of the shadows, as Louise stepped back and tried to keep the two men in her vision. He came into the light from the fire and she saw the man he was guiding into the clearing. Light glinted off the knife in the young lad’s hand, its point resting against the back of the man’s head. He had finally fallen silent, the fight leaving him. He turned his head slowly in Louise’s direction, but she couldn’t see the expression on his face. She was almost glad of that. She didn’t want to see the fear in his eyes, the slackness of his features as he came to terms with what was happening.
She couldn’t let this happen.
‘Let him go,’ Louise’s shout echoed around the woods, but her father didn’t flinch. ‘He’s not important. You have me. He’s got nothing to do with any of this. He’s nobody.’
‘You came back here because you knew this was your destiny.’
‘Let him go. Please.’
Her father looked across at the lad pushing the man along, then back at Louise. She hoped he could see how much she needed to be listened to.
‘Kill him.’
Her body had already reacted before she knew she had heard her father’s words. She turned to see the young lad taking in the order. Her legs were moving her towards him before she realised. Time slowed for a second or two, the world blurring around her as she sprinted to where they were standing. The fire burned beside her, as she skirted around it and to the other side, as the lad smiled at her, holding the knife in the air.
The man struggled against him, but as Louise got closer she could see that he was overpowered. The battle already lost, beaten out of him. Blood on his face, his arms flailing with little effect against the lad’s grip.
She was a few feet away when she realised she was going to be too late. That it was futile.
Keep going. You can stop this.
> Louise watched as another Bone Keeper thrust the knife in his hand into the man.
Fifty-One
Louise came to a stop a few feet from them, her breath coming in short bursts, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. She felt as if she could smell the blood exiting the man’s body as he slumped slowly to the floor at their feet.
She wasn’t fully aware that she was screaming; it seemed like distant noise as she walked towards where he had fallen, as if she were walking through a sea made of blood.
‘No . . . no.’
He had fallen on his side, the side. Where the knife had entered him. His eyes were closed, his breaths short and almost imperceptible. She watched the rise and fall of his chest, only faintly aware of the laughter coming from above where she kneeled. Louise held the back of his head, willing him to open his eyes, but they remained closed. His breathing became more laboured as a drop of blood seeped from his mouth, visible in the glow of the firelight.
The laughing continued as she laid the man’s head carefully back down on the ground. Wiped a sleeve across her face as the world shifted back into focus, her senses returning. Something stirred inside her, the anger, the darkness within her, spreading through her veins and pouring over her like a second skin. Louise stood up slowly, a guttural noise building inside and then escaping from her mouth without warning.
The lad flinched a little at the sound, as she stood up fully and faced him. ‘You killed him.’
‘And you’re next,’ he replied, the grin fading, replaced by an empty expression as he went glassy-eyed, focusing on where she was standing. ‘No more games.’
Louise clenched her teeth, her fists closing as she finally allowed the rage to take her over. Let the floodgates open, her body reacting as she allowed the fury that had always been there, waiting, to be set free.
She moved towards him as he raised the blade above his head again, closing the gap between them swiftly. She ducked as he lunged, shifting to one side of him and dodging the first blow. He turned quickly, his arm coming around him first, slashing at the air she had just been occupying. She was breathing heavily, but every part of her was awake. She could see every movement he was making, waiting, watching.
Something raw and animalistic within her took over.
He came at her again, but this time she was ready. She sidestepped to her left as he thrust the knife towards her. It missed by millimetres, but she didn’t check her momentum, grasping his wrist and forcing it back.
In one movement she drove his arm upwards, towards his chest, the knife in his hand following.
She missed.
The knife entered his throat, just under his chin. He stepped back, but Louise followed him, sweeping his legs out from underneath him and falling with him down to the ground.
Louise fell on top of him, her weight pressed against his arm, as the knife went further into his throat. His eyes were wide with surprise as she screamed into his face, spittle flying from her mouth and landing on him. His hand was still clasped round the handle of the knife, but now he was trying to pull it from where it was firmly lodged.
‘How does it feel, hey? How does it feel?’
Louise kept her weight on him, both hands now covering his own around the handle, saliva raining down on his face as she screamed. She watched his eyes widen more, his legs kicking underneath her begin to slow; his face begin to turn a different colour, before he finally stopped moving.
Her hands were white in the glow of the fire, as she slowly released them and allowed the anger to subside a little.
Until she heard the sound of hands clapping behind her.
‘I am so proud,’ her father said, sounding as if she had just won a race on sports day, or brought home a painting from school. ‘I knew you had it in you.’
Louise didn’t speak, standing up to her full height without turning to face him.
‘This was what I wanted,’ he continued, his voice carrying over the crackle of the flames between them. ‘Now I see it in you. That same feeling. That darkness. I knew it was there. Do you feel it? Do you feel that power? It’s always been there. You’ve become something else now. You’ll never be the same. This is it. You and me. No more failures. I’ve worked hard to replace you, but it never worked. You’re me.’
Silence fell on them as he stopped talking. Louise could feel her breathing start to quicken, become shallower. Her heart pounding still, as she looked towards where the man was lying on the ground. Prone, unmoving.
She closed her eyes, breathing deeply through her nose as she remembered the look in the young lad’s eyes as she’d forced the knife deeper into his throat. She could feel the calmness come over her.
Now she knew how it felt to kill someone.
Louise turned, opening her eyes and looking at her father. He was smiling, black and yellowed teeth revealed, noticeable even in the dull light between them.
‘It’s time, Louise. You’re ready.’
She didn’t speak, simply walked slowly back to where he was still standing. He hadn’t moved the entire time. Her heart rate increased as she imagined him watching what had just happened in front of him in the space of a few minutes. Impassive, turned-on, enjoyment? She didn’t care.
‘There’s two more behind those trees, Louise. We can start tonight. Leave your old life behind and start again. I will teach you. How to release that anger, that rage you feel. Channel it into doing good. It’ll never hold you back again.’
She allowed his words to wash over her, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, making her way around the fire back to him. She didn’t break stride as she came to within ten feet of him.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
‘I’ll never be like you,’ Louise said, a sick smile appearing across her face. ‘But I will make sure you can never hurt anyone again.’
‘I’ve been doing this a long time. Don’t make this mistake again.’
‘You’re nothing. You’re pathetic. I’ll kill you as easily as I did your protégé. You watched him die.’
Louise felt a wave of pleasure course through her as her father reacted to the words. A slight twitch in his neck, as the verbal blow landed.
She came forward another step, fists clenched at her sides. He took a step towards her, as a crack from the fire made her flinch.
She didn’t see the blow coming, just a blur of movement, then she was on her back, looking up at a clear sky, wondering how she’d ended up there. Confused, disorientated. She had underestimated him. Again. Her view was blocked suddenly as he roared above her, then crashed down on top of her. She could feel his weight crushing her chest, his hands slipping around her throat.
‘This time, you don’t get free,’ he said, spittle falling from his gritted teeth and onto her face. She could almost feel it burning her skin, infecting her with his poison. She bucked, grabbing hold of his arms and trying to free herself, but he was stronger. Much stronger. Now she knew how she’d escaped before – he hadn’t really wanted to kill her then.
He did now.
‘We could have been something, you and me. I thought we were the same. But you’re just like them. Out there. You have my blood inside you, I thought it would be different, but you’re just like them. Why won’t you listen to reason?’
Louise couldn’t breathe; his hands were locked around her throat, impervious to her struggle as she battered his forearms, her fingers as she tried to prise at his. He dodged her attempts to land a punch on his head, on his face. When she did land a blow, it had no effect.
This was him, this was the Bone Keeper.
She tried turning, squirming underneath him, but his full weight was on her and she couldn’t move more than an inch. She could feel her grip on consciousness slipping, darkness creeping into her vision.
Her arm fell to her side, landing on something.
‘I’m sorry it’s come to this, really I am. But I’ve got to start again.
I hoped you would be able to join me, but I can see that’s not going to happen.’
Her hand slipped around the thing on the ground beside her. She lifted it and flicked her wrist.
He didn’t see it coming.
There was a soft thunk as the baton she had brought with her this time – but then dropped when the second protégé had arrived – landed at the back of his head. His hands slackened around her throat a little as she hit him again.
And again.
And again.
She extricated herself from beneath him, crawling across the ground away from him, as he shook his head and came for her again. Louise ducked his first blow, striking him in the knee with the baton. He let out a cry, but didn’t stop moving. Simply turned in her direction again and let out a scream and dived for her.
She moved to the side, hitting him again, in the thigh this time. He lost his balance and she didn’t have to think what to do next.
She raised the baton as he was about to fall and struck him in the temple with all the force she could muster.
He teetered on the spot, almost pirouetting in a circle. His face sank into itself, his eyes glassed over, like a drunk in the street.
Then, he fell face first into the fire.
She moved towards him, baton poised over her shoulder ready to strike again, but it was too late.
He was ablaze, still unconscious. He lay there for a second. Then another, as the fire took hold, burning through his clothing. His hair was fast disappearing.
Louise counted.
The agony of the fire destroying him snapped him back into consciousness. Ate at his skin, turning it red, then black. His screams filled the night.
It was too late, Louise thought. In those seconds, she imagined it all leave her body. The hate, the anger, the fear. It all dissipated from inside her and lifted from her shoulders. A burden gone.
She hoped.
She watched him burn.
After