by Wood, Rick
“Devil, please help us silence him,” Bandile spoke, looking Eddie straight in the eyes.
A slash of blood appeared over Eddie’s face, stinging him with agony. It felt like a knife had pierced his skin and it did nothing but strengthen his resolve.
“I pray thee, those gathered in The Devil’s Three, please. Continue our prayer.”
Jason and Anna did as they were instructed, chanting repeatedly, “Diabolus enim accersam te, diabolus enim accersam te.”
Bandile withdrew a grand knife from the back of his waist band. The handle of the knife was brown leather, with spaces for fingers to grip. The blade was like a stretched-out claw, bumps in the inside and a sharp, fierce curve on the outside.
He put the knife next to Kelly’s throat.
Kelly locked eyest with Eddie. For the first time since she had entered the room, she looked him in the eyes. She had resisted up until now, but in that moment, facing the final seconds of her life, she couldn’t help but look into the eyes of the man she loved.
“Eddie…please…”
He willed his powers to do something. His gift to reveal. Conjure a fireball, rip out the demon, throw some piece of wind forward and throw the bastard with a knife next to her throat flat out against the far wall.
But nothing happened. And Bandile’s prayer continued.
“We sacrifice this, the suffered. Suffered by your hands. We hope you take it.”
Kelly’s eyes faded. Her mouth quivered into a tearful, hopeless mess.
Eddie saw the woman he loved and everything he loved about her.
The moment he first met her. In the hospital. They shared the awful hospital dinners. They discussed their life philosophies.
He never left. By her side, he had stayed for days.
Their first date. She got ice cream down her face. He laughed. He said he’d get rid of it for her. He kissed her.
Their first kiss. Her lips had been so soft. She tasted like chocolate flake. They had paused in that moment for so long.
When he had told her he loved her. She said she had been waiting for him to say that for so long so she could say it too.
“Edward King. It is time to embrace your destiny.”
Kelly’s eyes closed. Her face scrunched up. She begged for her life.
“Once the suffered is dead, your true form will rise.”
“I love you, Kelly,” he whispered.
She didn’t answer. Her eyes were tightened close, her face scrunched up, preparing herself for the impact of the knife.
“It is going to happen.”
Bandile retracted the knife back, pulling it, preparing to lunge it forward.
“Not if I have something to say about it,” announced a voice from the far side of the room.
Kelly’s eyes opened with a start. Eddie’s jaw dropped. Bandile’s head shot around.
“Let the girl go,” demanded Derek.
46
19 July 2002 (6 days before ritual)
Derek was thrashing, kicking, and punching, doing whatever he could.
Until he couldn’t.
His body went limp.
That’s when he saw it. A bright, shining, white light.
Was this it? Was this the end?
A hand reached down, grabbing hold of his arm. He felt it being pulled. A very loose acknowledgement of something happening crossed his mind.
Then it went blank.
When he opened his eyes, he was on his back, on a surface of hard sand. He coughed, spewing water out of his lungs, turning onto his side.
He tried leaning up, but couldn’t. His arms were motionless. His body too weak.
He was alive. He knew he was alive. But barely.
“Derek.”
A woman’s voice echoed in his mind.
He saw nothing.
The amber glow above him was out of focus, the light-blue sky a hazy blur. He could smell sea. He could feel sand trickling between his fingers. He could even taste the clean air.
But his vision did not return.
“Derek.”
He heard it once more.
“Look at me, Derek.”
A soothing, sweet female voice rang out. It sounded like it was in his mind. A hallucination. A mirage, maybe.
“Look up, Derek, you can see me.”
A bright, blurred light covered his vision. Slowly but steadily, it came into focus, and Derek could see before him.
“What?” he muttered.
“You’re okay, Derek,” this woman’s voice told him. “You’re going to survive.”
Squinting, readjusting his eyes, shaking his head to allow him to see, he finally laid his eyes on the beauty before him.
A woman, with long, blond, flowing hair and a white dress that glided off her body, floated in the air. From behind her came a blinding-white light, so bright her faultless, smooth face was barely visible.
She illuminated over him. An angel. A gift from the gods.
“Who are you?” Derek managed, still coughing up water.
“My name is Cassy,” the heavenly voice announced. “We have never met.”
“Cassy?”
“I am Eddie’s younger sister. I died when he was young. Eddie freed me.”
Derek’s mind came into focus. His ringing ears diluted to clarity, the strength returning to his muscles. He leant up, propping himself up on his elbows, and cast his eyes over the floating spirit.
“You’re dead.”
“It’s true, I died. But when I died I was given an option. Go on to heaven, or return and help save Eddie and the world from the fate of hell.”
“What?”
“You need to listen carefully to me, Derek. Jason Aslan returned in the devil’s name and sent your plane crashing and you to a certain death. Now heaven has played its part. They sent me. To save you.”
Derek sat in awe, speechless.
“But I come with bad news.”
“What?”
“You have six days to return home.”
“Why? What happens then?”
“Bandile Thato and Jason Aslan have been tasked with assisting the devil in his ascension. They are determined to summon and unleash the antichrist within Eddie.”
“What? Jason Aslan? He’s dead.”
Cassy remained silent. Derek slowly appreciated that maybe there was more going on than he could be completely aware of.
“How do you know this?” he demanded.
She looked away from him for a moment. He thought he could see the sadness in her expression.
“It is my job to know,” she told him. But Derek knew there was more to the story. Beatific angel, hallucination, or ghost; she was not telling him the whole truth.
“I was sent back to intervene on this day. And I will intervene. I will come, I will do my part. But I can only provide humanity with the tools; heaven cannot intervene with free will. That is where I need you.”
Derek looked around himself. He was on an island. A piece of desert surrounded by water.
“Where am I?”
“Somewhere in the Andaman Sea. South of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.”
“What?”
“Go north up the sea, to a place called Rutland Island. You will find transport there.”
“How do I…?”
“Good luck, Derek. Please. Save my brother.”
She faded, her bright luminosity dissolving into absence of matter. Around him was nothing but emptiness.
No other survivors were on the island. He was alone.
Getting to his feet, he peered across the sea. Sure enough, in the distance, he could see the outline of another island. There was movement he couldn’t make out.
But there was movement nonetheless. This meant there was life.
He approached the sea. His muscles felt full of vitality, which was peculiar, considering they were immovable only moments before.
He knew what he had seen. What he had been told.
Cassy had given h
im a helping hand.
Finally, they were not fighting this fight alone.
He dove into the sea and swam. It took him only eighteen minutes until he reached the Port of Rutland Island.
The first thing he did was find a map, indicating where he was. A small island. Next to Thailand, south of Myanmar. East of Sri Lanka.
Southeast of India.
That was his starting point. He could take a boat from the port and use it to get to India. From there, he could travel across Pakistan, risk his way through Iran and Iraq, cross into Turkey. Then he would be in Europe. From there, he could make his way across Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, to France. He could make his way to the Channel Tunnel.
It was doable.
The only question was whether he would make it in six days.
It was too long to go to be able to reach England by then. Then another reality check occurred to him; he had no passport. No money. How was he supposed to get across any borders or find any transport with that?
“Excuse me?” came a voice from behind him. Derek spun around and saw a short, thin Indian man. “Is your name Derek?”
Derek nodded absentmindedly, still focussed on his travels.
“My name is Ahmed. This is hard to explain, but…”
Derek turned his body fully toward him. “You saw her too?” he asked.
“Yes… I did,” Ahmed nodded.
“And what did she tell you?”
“She said there was a man called Derek, who needed my help. That the world may depend on it. And it was my choice to intervene.”
Derek stepped toward him. “And are you able to help?”
“I have a boat,” the man offered weakly. “It’s not big, but it will get you across the ocean. It will take a while, but –”
“How long is a while?”
“Six days, maybe,” Ahmed shrugged.
Derek put his hand on Ahmed’s shoulder and nodded. He had no time to lose.
47
25 July 2002
As she glanced at the dashboard clock and saw 2.58 a.m., Jenny couldn’t believe how awake she actually was. Lacy sat faithfully in the passenger seat beside her, but her head was dropping and she was dozing. Her urgency obviously hadn’t paid off.
All she cared about was getting to Eddie’s house before he did anything stupid.
What could it be? Could he have reverted back to the Eddie from around six or seven years ago? The Eddie who tried to kill himself?
He had come so far, achieved so much, it would be hard to envisage his strong personality dropping so much as an inch these days. He had, quite literally, taken on hell itself.
So why was it that phone call terrified her so much?
“I wanted to tell you I love you.”
“Thank you for all you have done.”
The words rang in her head like the crash of a cymbal that wouldn’t stop shaking. Those words did not sound hopeful – those words sounded like good-bye.
Like he was preparing to do something drastic.
Jenny meandered the car into the fast lane of the motorway and started stewing at the ridiculously slow driver in front. She was fully aware she was speeding excessively, but there was a middle lane free beside her, why wasn’t this idiot moving into it?
After she rode their bumper, the car finally moved over. Ignoring the middle finger that went up at her as she overtook, she remained focussed on the task ahead.
“Slow down, sweetheart,” Lacy requested, her eyes opening quickly as she became more aware of Jenny’s driving.
“I can’t.”
“We want to get there in one piece, don’t we?”
Lacy placed an affectionate hand on Jenny’s leg. She was right. Crashing would be no good to anyone.
But Lacy hadn’t heard the phone call.
She wasn’t aware of the reason behind the panic.
Swinging into the slip road, she accelerated the car toward the roundabout and broke suddenly as a car came to her right. Shifting into second gear, she sped up quickly, ignoring the strenuous sound of the strained engine and zooming onto the A road.
“What did Eddie say?” Lacy enquired, keen to know why Jenny was driving so recklessly.
“He said… he said goodbye.”
Her heart sank.
Lacy nodded in understanding.
Shooting past a speed camera, not caring about the white flash, Jenny turned into an estate and spun around the corner down Eddie’s road.
It was as if the weather got even worse as they entered the road. The tyres skidded over the icy, wet surface and the windscreen wipers could barely keep the rain off the car long enough for Jenny to be able to see.
Eddie’s curtains were drawn.
She screeched the car to a halt, pulled on the handbrake and sprinted out of the car, Lacy following.
By the time they got to the front door, they were drenched. The space of twelve yards down the driveway was enough to drown them.
Jenny thumped her fist against the door.
“Eddie! Eddie, open up!”
The door opened. A man in his fifties answered, looking calmly back at her.
“Where’s Eddie?” Jenny demanded. “Who are you?”
“My name is Jason,” replied the man. “It’s so lovely for you to join us.”
48
Eddie’s mind was full of fear. Terrified, wide eyes stared at Kelly struggling on the floor, her whole body bound, attempting to wriggle away. Terrified for his own safety, what he was becoming. Terrified for what mankind was about to face.
Yet, before him, was his mentor. Derek appeared tired, worn-out, downtrodden, but resilient. Determined. Chastised but adamant he would not be defeated. His strength was overwhelming.
Bandile, however, was not one to give in easily.
He charged forward, stepping over the dead animals laid over the floor, putting his hand around Derek’s throat and shoving him against the wall.
“You said he was dead!” Bandile bellowed at Jason.
Four loud thumps resounded from the front door.
“Get it,” Bandile sneered at Jason, baring his teeth. “And deal with whoever it is.”
Jason bundled out of the room with his head down, ashamed, saddened. He had failed his part of the mission.
Derek did all he could to fight against Bandile, but Bandile’s muscles were large and his will was strong.
Derek flailed his hands out, punching Bandile in the gut, in the face, anywhere he could reach. But Bandile’s hand around Derek’s neck was suffocating him so much he couldn’t even choke. He could feel the walls of his throat closing in, pressing toward his oesophagus.
With a quick surge of strength, Derek flung his arms upwards and landed them into Bandile’s elbow, momentarily knocking his hand away from his throat. Bandile did not falter for long, punching Derek in the face and throwing him to the floor by the neck.
Eddie turned his head toward Kelly. She was creeping away toward the door, slowly but determinedly, desperate to lurch herself out. The rope around her body was fraying and he could see rashes on her bare arms, and her ankles were restricting her legs quite severely.
Anna sprung forward from behind Eddie and pounced upon Kelly. Anna’s legs were unusable, her body crippled and exhausted, but her torso had enough gusto to hold Kelly down.
Bandile’s knife lay an arm stretch away from Anna.
Derek freed himself of Bandile’s gasp and dove forward onto Anna, reaching out for the knife until –
“Stop!” cried out Jason.
Everyone froze.
He stood in the doorway, a knife in each of his hands, Jenny and Lacy cowering in front of him.
Each knife was pressed against their neck.
“Derek,” Jason panted, out of breath. “Back away from the girl, or they will die.”
“No.”
“Derek…” Eddie whimpered.
His friends. His girlfriend. Everything he had to lose sat poised on a knife edge befo
re him.
“Eddie, come to your senses,” Derek furiously whispered. “If they finish the ceremony it will be done, no return. You will be gone. We have to make sacrifices.”
Eddie looked from Derek’s pleading eyes to Bandile, who returned the stare from his knees, pressurising Derek’s legs.
Eddie looked to Jason, whose eyes were going, a man at the end of his tether. Hopeless. Desperate.
Then Eddie looked to Jenny and Lacy. Their eyes full of distress. He had brought them here. That stupid phone call had brought them here.
Finally, he glanced at Kelly. The woman he loved. Bound, humiliated, at the end of her life. Laying beneath Anna, who held the curved blade high above her head.
Eddie’s eyes met Derek’s once more.
“No, Derek, I’m sorry,” he sobbed, his eyes full of tears. “There are some sacrifices I cannot make.”
“The fate of the world depends on this, Eddie.”
Eddie shook his head. He couldn’t. As much as he knew Derek was talking sense, as much as he knew he was right, he couldn’t. He rose his head to Jason.
“Let them go.”
Anna took the opportunity without hesitation.
She lifted the knife into the air and brought it down with shuddering speed toward Kelly’s gut.
49
Anna froze.
Her knife halted a foot above Kelly.
She was motionless.
As was Kelly, who was stuck in a wide-mouth gape of horror.
In fact, everyone but Eddie was frozen still in their fixed position. Derek staring back at him with feeble eyes, Jason’s knives pushing against Jenny’s and Lacy’s throats, Bandile lying upon Derek’s legs.
The scene had turned to a black-and-white, motionless still image. Whether it was his sight, his mind, his stress, he did not know. Nothing moved.
Then, as if answering his question, the reason approached Eddie from behind.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” came the voice of the little girl he had seen earlier that night.
She made her way around Eddie’s body and sat on his lap, tormenting him with her pretty, virginal appearance. Mocking the powers he fought for with her pure, white dress.