by Wood, Rick
And with that, it could feel that love, it could feel those women, it could smell them, like rotting or potent chemicals. It took it all in, filling its body with it. It gave it direction. It gave them a path to follow that would take them to these women.
They were the key. They were the ones Eddie cared about most. If it found those women, it could draw Eddie to it.
And it knew where they were.
29
Jenny practically floated downstairs, despite a quick stumble that wasn’t so elegant. Her legs were still weak and she could still feel Lacy on her tongue. She loved the taste of her; it was unique to her and that made it special.
She perched at the edge of the kitchen and closed the blinds, ensuring the neighbours didn’t see her nudity. They had no doubt heard what she had been doing; didn’t mean they needed to see it too.
The coldness of the kitchen floor made her foot jump up, so she tiptoed to the kitchen and opened the fridge.
“Hey, Lacy?” she called out.
“Yeah?”
“Where’s the beer?”
“Bottom shelf.”
She reached to the back of the bottom shelf, withdrew two bottles of lager, and closed the fridge door, getting a bottle opener out of the drawer.
She paused, listening to the rain pounding against the window. She hadn’t noticed it until then, having been otherwise occupied. She opened a gap in the blinds with her fingers and peered out at the late afternoon sky. It was getting dark early and winter had definitely arrived. She was glad she was inside, warm and cosy, with the one she loved.
She couldn’t help but smile, happiness filling her to the brim. After more than ten years and through all the things they’d faced, the prejudice they’d come up against, the unacceptance from their families, they were still going strong. And still desiring each other as much as they ever had, still feeling as strongly as they ever did.
She knew she was far more highly strung than Lacy, and that was fine. That was why they worked so well. Lacy kept her grounded, kept her calm, showed her a way of viewing the world that she would never ordinarily see.
A loud knock on the door made her jump and abruptly ended her thoughts. Who on earth could that be now? It was a long time since Eddie would be banging on their door in a mess, but there was no other person she could think of.
Her thoughts had delayed her in responding and the knock rang out again.
“Hang on!” she shouted, looking around for something she could put on.
She found a dirty shirt in the basket beside the washing machine and shovelled her arms into it as she scurried to the door. The knock banged out again as she quickly did up the buttons.
Lacy appeared at the top of the stairs. “Who is it?” she asked.
“Don’t know.”
BANG BANG BANG BANG.
“All right, all right!” Jenny blurted out with agitation, finally doing the bottom button up. Her legs were still on show and her breasts were quite clearly outlined, but she would still be able to keep herself covered up by the door.
She took off the chain and opened the door ajar, leaning her head around it and keeping the rest of her behind it. Before her stood a young woman, hair drenched to her head, bare-foot, gushing blood that got washed away in the rain. She looked empty, like her eyes had nothing behind them. That was until she looked deeper into the woman’s eyes and became deeply unsettled.
“Can I help you?” Jenny enquired.
“Edward King,” the woman spoke in a blank tone of voice, then looked back at Jenny expectantly.
“Er, Edward King hasn’t lived here for years, but I’d be happy to pass a message on for you.”
“I need you to get him here, now,” she spoke. Her voice didn’t suit her; it was unnaturally low and aggressive, like it was being spoken by something entirely different. Having known what line of work Eddie was in, Jenny became immediately unsettled as caution dropped over her.
“I think it’s best that you leave,” she concluded, as Lacy edged down the stairs and appeared beside her. She went to close the door, but without any movement from the woman in front of her, it flung wide open in an antagonistic gust, forcing Jenny and Lacy onto the floor. Rain forced its way in from behind the woman, who stepped over the threshold and peered around.
Jenny and Lacy clambered away, racing across the hallway, but were sent falling onto their knees from a huge surge of wind coming through the hallway and into their backs like a sucker punch.
The woman glided forward and stood over them.
Lacy suffocated.
She didn’t know how or why, but her throat was closing in and she grabbed at it with pure terror. Jenny’s eyes shot up at the woman, taking Lacy in her arms and stroking her hair.
“Let her go!” she demanded.
The woman sliced her arm down and Jenny felt a deep claw in her face, leaving a gash. She howled in pain and tears began to flow.
Then Lacy could breathe again. She was relieved, taking in as many intakes of breath as she could.
“What do you want?” Jenny bellowed out above the deafening volume of the wind and the rain.
“Edward King,” she answered. Then her head lifted and her eyes focused dead on something in front of her, something only she could see. “I see you.”
30
The crime scene tape had only recently come down around Mindy Parker’s previous room in halls of residence. Eddie could still see the faint remnants of red over the walls and the carpet. The whole flat block had since been moved to another to allow for investigation by the police, then cleanup by the university; cleanup that had clearly not taken place yet.
The window was shattered, and small shards of glass still lay engrained in the carpet beneath it. The room had been stripped of possessions, but the unique smell of pain only present to Eddie choked him. He knew she had been here, knew everything it had done in her body. The way it had taken control of her fury and viciously attacked her boyfriend and her best friend found in bed together.
Eddie had read that Kelly’s boyfriend, Doug, didn’t even remember entering Mindy’s bedroom. He claimed he had no recollection of how or why they ended up having sex, just that he was somehow there. Eddie had no doubt this was part of the plan all along; to latch onto the poor girl’s anger and use it to take control. He’d seen it before.
Once he had finished in that room, he joined Derek in what used to be Kelly’s room. The bed was upturned and the wall was covered in morbid red writing. Writing that would have been covered up by the bed sheets, writing that was previously concealed by the wardrobe and writing that had been covered by bags still packed high, piled against the wall.
The writing was repetitive and gave Eddie no comfort. “My son cometh” was repeated over and over again in the lines of words plastered together into an unorthodox order.
Next to the repeated words was Latin, written in clear letters. Eddie did not know Latin, but he knew Derek did, from the studying of dying languages that demons used.
“What does it say?”
Derek bowed his head and rested his eyes. He was despondent, almost resolved with having to comply with Eddie in the reality of the situation.
“Derek, knock it off, what does it say?”
“Ille cum inferno. It means…” he hesitated and looked up to the heavens. “He brings hell with him.”
My son cometh. He brings hell with him.
Eddie stepped out of the room. He didn’t make the conscious decision, it just happened. He couldn’t stay in there, not with such a clear prophecy written on the wall that was blatantly connected with him.
Maybe he was just going to have to stop living in denial, as was Derek. Maybe he wasn’t put on this earth for good.
But if that was so, why did he hate it this much? Why was he battling against his clear destiny if he was meant for such evil?
If he really was the son of hell, bringing hell with him, the heir to all that is bad in the world, then why did he have
a conscience? Why did he love? Why did he choose to battle the forces of darkness rather than join them?
He felt Derek’s warm hand on his shoulder. He shook it off, taking a step out of his reach, keeping his back to him.
“I know you are pissed off with me about the whole thing,” Derek admitted. “But I’ve been in denial about all this too. I want you by my side, fighting the evil with me. Maybe I was being selfish. If so, I apologise.”
Eddie had never heard an apology from Derek. With a nod of his head, he turned to him and made eye contact. Without a word being spoken, they shared a moment of silent reassurance, an understanding that they were on the same team.
“I –” Eddie went to speak, then froze. His body turned to ice. In a flash, he felt an extreme freeze followed by an extreme heat surge up his body.
He fell to his knees, crying out in agony. His head filled with swirling thoughts and images he couldn’t make out, pounding against him harder than his heart in his chest. He could feel the cells in his brain throb. He could feel everything. He could feel…
Jenny. Lacy. They were in pain. He could feel it.
Then he saw it.
In his mind, Kelly was at Jenny and Lacy’s house, an image as clear as the hallway in front of him. The patterned wallpaper, the quaint crockery, the blood on the wall.
Blood?
Jenny was suffering. She was on her knees, bent over Lacy, whose neck was shrinking in on her, Kelly’s hand reached out toward her.
“Let her go!” he saw Jenny shout.
“Stop!” Eddie screamed, and Lacy’s throat was released.
“What do you want?” Jenny cried out, grasping Lacy’s hand in hers as she reached out for air.
“Edward King,” Kelly spoke, but in a voice far deeper and unsuited to the body presented. Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot and her pupils dilated. Her eyes settled on Eddie; even though it was in his mind, her eyes met his, dead set, looking directly into him. “I see you.”
“Let my friends go,” Eddie demanded, trying to force confidence into his breaking voice.
“Come join me. Or they will suffer.”
And with that, the vision ended. Eddie collapsed into a ball on the floor, all the energy zapped from his muscles, a lump of bawling mess crying out for his friends.
“Eddie?” he heard Derek’s voice softly prodding him. “Eddie, can you hear me?”
As Eddie’s strength mildly returned, he sat up and focused on the room around him. The plain walls and old carpet came back into focus and he looked to Derek next to him.
“It’s at Jenny and Lacy’s house. It’s going to kill them.”
Eddie rose to his feet and stumbled forward. He used the walls to hold himself up and knocked toward the doors.
“Eddie, stop.” Derek rushed before him, putting his arm around him to balance him. “You are in no fit state to face it.”
“I don’t care. It’s got my friends and I’m going after it.”
Eddie attempted to push Derek off but just stumbled again, his knees giving way to his shaking thighs. He made it to the door and burst it open, holding onto it for support.
“Have you considered this is what it wants? You weakened, more easily influenced, bait in their trap?”
“I’ve still got to –”
“Got to what, Eddie, you’re a mess!” Derek shouted out with force. “You can barely stand. This thing has killed people, for God sake! This isn’t like anything we’ve come up against before. And it’s your soul it may well need to claim this world, and you’re just going to fumble in there and give it to them?”
“Go to hell Derek!” Eddie turned his head and screamed with all his rage, louder than he had ever screamed before. “Go to hell! I don’t give a shit about the world! Maybe it’s not for me, maybe – but I will not rest while my friends die. You can help me or you can get out of my way.”
Derek saw there was no stopping him, so he chose the latter. He scooped his arm around Eddie’s shoulder and helped him on his way.
31
Jenny and Lacy lay in a pile on the floor, blood dripping from their various wounds, their fractured bones confining them to each other’s loose, cowering embrace.
Kelly’s body barely resembled a young woman anymore, but more a morbidly ill, deformed, psychopathic monster. The bags under her eyes had grown darker, fully dilated pupils growing to the size of her eyes until the pupils were black, hair mixed with blood so thick it turned dark red. Its lips were cracked and peeled, its face dead pale and the skin of its body tight, thin, over rigid bones. Wherever Kelly was, she was buried deep within.
“May thy mercy, Lord, descend upon us!” Eddie’s voice cried out as he burst through the door. He strode forward with commanding gusto, advancing with teeth clenched into a snarl and his face full of fight.
“As great as our hope in thee,” Derek answered, entering behind Eddie and staying well out of the way.
“You came,” it smiled.
“We drive you from us!” Eddie roared, disregarding the aching in his lungs and the scrape of his throat as his voice shot out.
The demon stood no more than a yard away from him. His outstretched arm pressed the cross toward the creature, who returned his dead stare.
The demon smiled at the sight of the cross burning in Eddie’s hand, but Eddie ignored the warm tinge, overlooking the smoke protruding from his palm and discounting the smell of his burning flesh.
“Whoever you may be, unclean spirit, all satanic powers, all infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies and sects. Be gone, demon!”
The torrential storm outside bashed against the window with an immense clatter. The lightning echoed the thunder, the mood matching the sinister scene. An almighty showdown between good and evil, the devil and the servants of God – the fight between Eddie and what lies inside, up until now obstinately dormant.
“Your hand burns by the cross,” came the multiple voices combined into a tuneless chorus from Kelly’s warped mouth. “And you still think you are one of them?”
“Demon, your name?”
“My name is Lucifer. Satan. The devil himself. And I am no demon.”
“In the name and by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ –”
“I am your lord!” bawled the demon, trembling the house, the cracking of an earthquake beneath their feet. A tree branch collapsed through the window, recurring flashes, thunder and lightning persistently pounding.
“You are not my lord, you ignorant bastard!”
“You exorcise me like you would a demon. I am no demon. I am a fallen angel. I am a ruler of demons, a king of the kings, I am the god of hell!”
“Then, god of hell, you will leave this servant of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and be banished back to where you came from!”
“You think your name is Edward King? That is not the name I gave you.”
Eddie glanced over his shoulder at Derek. A different name? What was it on about?
“Don’t listen to it, Eddie. Remember what you tell everyone in an exorcism.” It was a simple reminder but Derek prayed Eddie would take heed. “It will say whatever it must to deceive you, just continue.”
Eddie twisted back to the demon. It was callously amused. Smirking at him, breathing intensely, uncomfortably still.
“He knows, you know. Your friend Derek.”
Eddie let the thought echo in his mind for a moment. Then he remembered what Derek had said. He must continue the exorcism, no matter what.
“The most high God commands you, leave this body.”
“Derek knows. He’s known all along. He read the prophecy. He read that this would happen.”
He didn’t look over at Derek. He didn’t need to. He would not be tricked.
“God who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
“Ask him. He read that you would be born as the devil’s son and some-day would have to command hell. He won’t lie. Not now.”
Eddie paus
ed. He looked to Derek. Derek looked back at him like a lost puppy, his resolution gone, devastated, tears in his eyes.
“Is that true? Derek?”
Derek bowed his head.
“You lied to me?” Eddie prompted him again, to which Derek said nothing.
The laughter vibrated through Eddie’s spine, his face scrunched up with tears and anger.
“You see, it’s true,” spoke the devil. “You are my son.”
32
“You lied to me?” Eddie cried at Derek, his eyes breaking, betrayal consuming his mind.
“Don’t listen to the demon, Eddie. It’s the basics.”
“Don’t you dare tell me how to do my own job!” Eddie screamed so hard he ended up violently coughing. “Did you lie to me?”
The demon smiled. Derek bowed his head. Eddie closed his eyes and pulled his face away from either of them.
“So you understand,” the demon continued, determined, its deep booming voice filling the room. “You know where your place is in this world.”
“My place in this world,” Eddie stood up straight, raising his posture, feet shoulder-width apart, “Is between it, and you.”
The thunder and lightning rang outside the window, thunder a constant rumble, and lightning a constant blinding flash. Broken glass sailed around on the torrential wind, a tornado of objects surrounding them. The house was filled with weather, the devil’s fury encapsulating the room.
Kelly’s unrecognisable form lifted into the air before Eddie.
Its mouth grew angry. Its calm demeanour had ceased, the room bursting with chaos. Eddie had to cling to the wall to avoid getting swept away in the wind, continuously rubbing the rain-water out of his eyes. He took a quick glance at Jenny and Lacy laid on the floor beneath the window, cowering behind Derek’s feet.