Crossroads

by Wendy Saunders

  Persephone had told them Nathaniel was closer to the fourth Crossroad than they realized and his adrenalin was now pumping as the ground trembled beneath his feet slightly. A warning…he knew this was a bad idea, they should have just headed straight for the gateway to the Underworld. There was no way they were going to pull this off.

  ‘Stop it Sam,’ Bridget told him calmly above the howl and shriek of the wind.

  ‘You know this is a bad idea, you know what’s at stake,’ he yelled back.

  ‘I do and believe it or not so do Olivia and Theo. They have not made this decision lightly. But to expect them to turn their backs on those they hold most dear is to ask them to fundamentally change who they are.’

  ‘And sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want for the greater good…for your duty.’

  ‘That’s your father talking Sam,’ she told him bluntly. ‘It’s time for you to grow up and start thinking for yourself…it’s time for you to decide what kind of man you are going to be.’

  ‘You don’t know anything about me or my father.’

  ‘I know exactly who your father is and I know exactly what you both are.’

  ‘Have you told Olivia?’

  ‘No,’ she shook her head, her hair whipping across her face as the wind picked up again. ‘That’s not my place. You’ll tell Olivia the truth when you’re ready to tell her and she’s ready to hear it.’

  ‘Not going to happen’ he shouted back, barely able to hear his own voice. ‘If there’s one rule you don’t break, that’s the rule you don’t break.’

  ‘Rules are meant to be broken.’

  ‘No this one.’

  ‘Oh no? What about Scarlett then?’

  ‘Don’t!’ he warned, his eyes flashing dangerously, ‘don’t bring her into this.’

  ‘Sam I don’t have much time,’ she yelled back. ‘Believe it or not I am trying to help you. A war is coming, everything we think we know is about to change. All the lines will be redrawn and when the dust settles this world, the mortal world and every other will look nothing like it was. It’s time to throw away the rule book and start thinking for yourself. The old rules and loyalties don’t work anymore; you have to trust yourself.’

  ‘What the hell would you know?’

  ‘I know plenty; you think I have waited around here for the last three hundred years for my own amusement?’ she replied hotly. ‘You think my sister was the only one who could see what is yet to come? I stayed behind here, not only to guide Olivia, but to warn you. Walk your father’s path and you will lose yourself, and Olivia and the others will fail. Finding Infernum is only the beginning. The other four books still exist and one by one they are waking and when they do they will start calling for their masters. You cannot allow them to fall into the wrong hands. You cannot allow your father or Azariel to gain possession of any of the books.’

  ‘What do you know of Azariel?’ he hissed.

  ‘It doesn’t matter; all I know is neither of them must gain possession of the books.’

  ‘You’re wrong,’ Sam shook his head, ‘even if the others still exist, Terra was destroyed.’

  ‘No it wasn’t, it was saved and hidden just as the others were. They are all hidden on Earth and they need to be recovered and protected at all costs.’

  ‘This is insane,’ he shouted angrily, ‘you’re asking me to go against my own people, to commit treason.’

  ‘I’m asking you to think for yourself, to do what’s right. Your father and Azariel are more interested in fighting each other than saving all of humanity. They will use the books as weapons and everyone will suffer. Olivia needs you and so does Scarlett, you have yet to even begin to comprehend your role in the coming days.’

  ‘How do you kn…’

  He broke off suddenly as the ground lurched beneath his feet. Bridget was thrown to the ground as it began to shake violently. He held onto the gateway with everything he had, knowing that if he lost his grip the gateway would snap shut and Olivia and Theo would be trapped on the other side.

  The violent shaking continued as the ground heaved and cracked beneath them. A loud splintering sound rent the air and Sam looked across in horror as the little Bachelier cabin collapsed and was sucked into the Void which had once again began to creep inexorably forward, devouring everything in its path. The bottles in the tree began to clank and shake as it moved closer.

  Damn it! There was no time left, any moment now the Void was going to swallow the gateway. He gave an almighty tug on the threads which bound him to Olivia and Theo, screaming their names desperately into the gateway, praying against all odds that they had heard him.

  Chapter 19.

  Olivia’s breath caught in her throat as she found herself yanked backwards. She felt a dry papery cheek brush against hers and her flesh began to crawl. Rank fetid breath gusted across her face as she dug her feet in and tried to stop herself being dragged back. Her dragonflies, which had been circling the tree detonating the glass bottles, now turned as if sensing her danger and dive bombed the dark figure holding Olivia in its furious grip. His dry white skin sizzled and blackened like paper wherever they touched. He opened his mouth to howl in pain, revealing his rotten teeth, but no sound came out. It was as if he didn’t have a voice.

  He swatted at them trying to beat them back and then he threw Olivia to one side as Theo tackled him to the ground, punching him square in the face. His head snapped to the side but he gave no indication that it had hurt him at all. He turned back to Theo his dark beetle like eyes burning with hate. He knew what they had done, Theo realized as the demon peeled back its lips into a thin dangerous snarl. He now had no intention of trying to harvest their souls but wouldn’t stop until he’d killed them both.

  Theo felt the molten metal of his blade melt and flow hotly down his arm to pool in his palm. He tightened his fist and felt it wrap around the cool hard hilt of his knife. He raised his arm to strike but before he could he felt the thread around his wrist pull tight and violently yank him backwards, causing him to land on the hard ground on his back. The Soul Collector looked across to Theo noting the thread around his wrist, burning bright gold and leading back towards the gateway. Theo struggled to rise to his feet but suddenly found himself pinned to the ground, the cruel dark figure of the Soul Collector sitting astride him, wrapping its long tapered fingers around his throat and squeezing tightly.

  Olivia gasped as she felt her dragonflies reabsorb back into her body. She fumbled in her pockets for the two halves of the collar. She pushed herself to her feet and rushed towards the demon but the thread at her wrist pulled tight once again and jerked her right off her feet. The breath was knocked unexpectedly from her lungs as she began to slide backwards towards the gateway.

  ‘No! No! Not now Sam!’ she growled as she pulled hard on the thread, wincing as it bit painfully into the tender flesh of her wrist.

  She could see Theo lying on the floor, pinned by the huge black shape slowly choking the life from him. Theo’s legs kicked and his body twisted as he tried to shake him loose. Olivia crawled agonizingly across the ground her fists tightly wrapped around the two halves of the collar.

  Suddenly the sound of a shot split the night air and the Soul Collector jerked roughly as if his body had been impacted by a bullet. His grip on Theo’s throat loosened as he turned to glance into the tree line, where two figures were emerging with guns drawn. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction Olivia surged forward, leaping onto his back and pressing the collar around his neck. It sealed together with a bright flash of green light and an audible click.

  He reared up and fell backwards clawing at his neck. Olivia tumbled to the ground and watched as his mouth fell open in an attempt to scream, but the only noise that emerged was a strange sound that was somewhere between a disgusting burble and a mournful moan. Tearing her attention from the disturbing sound she crawled over to Theo as he coughed and tried to draw in a desperate breath.

&n
bsp; The Soul Collector staggered to his feet, stumbling backwards as he tore lumps of his own flesh out of his throat in an attempt to free himself from the torturous collar. Olivia looked over to the Gateway which had reappeared and was fluctuating strangely. Another desperate tug came on the threads which bound them to Sam.

  ‘Olivia we have to go now,’ Theo yelled as he pulled her to her feet.

  Danae and Roni emerged from the woods, their mouths falling open and their eyes widened in shock as they witnessed the Soul Collector stumbling backwards, gripping his throat as if he were choking, and Olivia and Theo climbing to their feet.

  Olivia glanced across to the tree which was now almost dark. There were still maybe a dozen bottles left glowing. There was no time to save them and she turned towards the two figure running towards them.

  ‘SMASH THE BOTTLES!’ she yelled at them as both she and Theo turned and rushed towards the stumbling demon. Grabbing an arm each they powered him backwards towards the strange flickering disturbance in the air. There was a sudden flash of light and they were all gone.

  ‘Did I really just see that?’ Roni breathed heavily, ‘and what the hell did I just see?’

  ‘If I have to guess,’ Danae sucked in a deep breath of her own, ‘I’d say that Olivia and Theo found a way to pull the Soul Collector through to the Otherworld.’

  ‘You mean he’s gone, for good?’

  ‘I guess so,’ she shrugged as she turned and glanced at the tree, scuffing some of the glass on the ground with her boot thoughtfully.

  ‘Olivia wanted us to smash the bottles,’ Roni frowned.

  ‘I’m guessing that was what they were doing when Charun showed up.’

  Roni looked up into the tree at the few bottles left suspended from the branches half way up. Each bottle fluttered with a dancing ball of white light.

  ‘The souls,’ Roni breathed, ‘he was storing the souls in the bottles.’

  ‘Looks like Olivia and Theo set most of them free,’ Danae replied. ‘What do you say?’ she smiled, ‘shall we finish the job for them.’

  ‘I’d love to,’ Roni grinned as they both raised their weapons and aimed.

  Dr Achari snapped the latex glove at his wrist and leaned over the young lady laid out on the cool shiny metal slab. He sighed as he looked at the latest victim, so young barely more than twenty, newly engaged and so happy by all accounts. She’d collapsed in the restrooms of The Cauldron, one of the most popular restaurants in town and been dead before the paramedics had even gotten to her. He felt sorry for the girl’s fiancé, from what he’d heard from the paramedics he’d only just finished proposing to her before she’d collapsed.

  He peeled back her eyelids and sighed again. Her eyes were completely colorless, exactly the same as Jake, Mr Bailey and the others. This was getting out of hand. He didn’t know what Louisa’s game was, whether she truly believed all the crap she’d been spouting about a demon stealing souls or if it was some kind of joke. Of course he didn’t really believe that for one second, Louisa would never joke about a patient’s life, especially not when it was her own brother lying on the table.

  Which led him to conclude she truly believed the story she’d told him. He didn’t want to think that, Louisa had been a good friend to him ever since he’d moved to Mercy, but it was clear she was under some sort of delusion. Obviously the stress had finally gotten to her and caused some sort of minor breakdown. It was really the only explanation. He would have to say something, he had to. It was his responsibility to put the patients first and if Louisa wasn’t mentally sound then she shouldn’t be in charge of patient care.

  He leaned over to look at his notes, picking up the tape recorder on the metal table next to him and hitting the record button.

  ‘Dr Sachiv Achari,’ he spoke clearly and concisely, his voice echoing slightly around the cool sterile room. ‘The subject is a female, twenty-three years of age, approximately one hundred and forty pounds in weight and one point seven meters in height. Slim build, otherwise fit and healthy, no notes in her medical files.’

  He smoothed back her pale blonde hair from her pretty heart shaped face and checked through her hair and scalp.

  ‘There appears to be no evidence of external injury. The iris appears to be drained of color but otherwise the eye itself seems to have sustained no damage.’

  He stepped back and picked up the scalpel.

  ‘I will proceed with the usual ‘y’ incision.’

  He leaned forward to press the tiny sharp blade but paused millimeters from her skin as he caught a sudden bright light in his peripheral vision. Straightening up he turned to look at the strange light. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he took an involuntary step back, still clutching the scalpel tightly in his frozen fist. He could see a glowing ball of bright white light about the size of a grapefruit. It hovered in the air before it darted to the left, stopped and then darted back to the right as if it were looking for something.

  Abruptly it flew towards the table and hovered over the corpse of the young woman. Sachiv was about to step forward and shoo it away but it suddenly plunged down into her body through her chest. The body arched off the table and her rib cage ignited with a bright flash of light under the sheet which was covering her.

  Suddenly she inhaled a large noisy breath and her eyes flew open. She sank back to the table her eyes darting around nervously. Sachiv could do nothing but stare in complete disbelief, his mouth hanging open as she sat up slowly, clutching the sheet to her naked body. She looked down at the small tag attached to her toe and then down to her body in confusion. He could tell the moment she realized where she was, her eyes flew to Sachiv and then to the scalpel in his hand… and then she started screaming.

  Louisa’s eyes flew open and she shrugged the blanket off, uncurling herself from the uncomfortable chair and stretching the kinks out of her back. Yawning slightly, she stood and checked Jake’s vitals, before resetting the monitors. She smoothed his hair back from his forehead and dropped a kiss against his cool skin. Biting back the tears she pulled in a deep breath, glancing down at her watch. She was about to settle back down in the chair when she turned in surprise. A bright ball of light shot in through the window, straight through the glass as if it weren’t even there. She watched in fascination, her mouth hanging open, as it reared up and plunged into Jake’s chest. His body jolted violently and arched upwards, his torso glowed momentarily beneath his hospital gown and the monitors went nuts. His arms flailed wildly as he tried to drag in a deep breath but couldn’t because of the breathing tube. He began to choke and frantically reached up to pull the tube from his throat.

  ‘Jake stop!’ Louisa pinned his arms to his waist putting all her weight behind it. God damn it he was strong.

  She wrestled with him as he tried to pull himself up.

  ‘Can I get some help in here?’ she yelled as several nurses and student doctors rushed past the room. It was a pretty safe bet that if Jake had woken up, the other coma patients probably had as well.

  A young brown haired nurse ran into the room and helped her to restrain Jake.

  ‘Jake…’ Louisa grabbed his face and forced his wild blue eyes to meet hers. ‘Jake, calm down its me…’ gradually he slowed his frantic movements and turned to look at her. ‘There that’s it,’ she crooned softly as she stroked his face soothingly, ‘you need to calm down.’

  He watched her with quiet eyes as she relaxed her grip on his hands. He raised one hand and touched the tube taped to his mouth.

  ‘Okay,’ she nodded, glancing across at the monitors, ‘I’m going to take the tube out but you need to remain calm, okay?’

  He nodded slowly.

  ‘Josie,’ she turned to the nurse, ‘can you help me?’

  They both tucked a hand under each of his arms and helped him to sit up. Raising the bed and tucking some more pillows behind him, the nurse switched the oxygen off and unhooked the tube. Switching off another machine and
moving it out of the way Louisa removed the pieces of tape holding the tube in place and grasped the end firmly.

  ‘Right, on the count of three I want you to exhale as hard as you can okay?’

  Jake nodded.

  ‘Okay…one…two…three.’

  Jake blew out as hard as he could and as she pulled the tube out firmly and handed it to the nurse, he began to cough.

  ‘I’ll get him some water,’ Josie picked up the discarded tubing.

  ‘Thanks,’ Louisa turned back to her brother who had fallen back against the cushions.

  ‘Where’s Roni?’ he croaked in a whisper.

  ‘Jake,’ Louisa frowned, ‘I don’t think you should be worrying about that right now.’

  ‘Where…is…she?’ he grabbed her wrist tightly.

  ‘She’s…,’ Louisa sighed, ‘she went after the Soul Collector with Helga,’ she frowned and shook her head, ‘I mean…Danae.’

  ‘Damn it’ he croaked, grasping the sheets to push them back.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ she shoved him back against the bed and ripped the sheets from his fingers. ‘You’re not going anywhere yet.’

  ‘I have to find Roni,’ he pushed himself up again, ‘she’s in danger.’

  ‘I’m here…I’m here…’

  Louisa looked up in relief as Roni rushed through the door, breathing heavily as if she’d been running.

  ‘Thank God,’ Louisa sucked in a breath.

  Roni crossed the room to Jake’s bed and took his hand.