“Get out of the way, Tim,” the man said.
“I’m not moving, Quinn,” Tim replied.
“What the hell?” Joe said out loud. Neither of the other two men in the room looked in his direction.
“She doesn’t want to hurt you,” Quinn said. “You’re not why she came.”
“I want to speak to her,” Tim said. “She can’t hide behind you forever.”
“There are worse people you could see, Tim,” Quinn replied.
In another flash of light, Joe watched as the man morphed into someone else. He grew taller and his muscles beefed out. He even seemed older and his hair had turned jet black. On his face was a fu-manchu style mustache. Joe let his mouth fall open in astonishment, unable to process what was happening in front of him.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Tim said, and he held his ground.
“You should be, Mr. Anderson,” the man replied with a smile.
Joe suddenly realized the man held a knife in his hand. He couldn’t tell where it had come from. One minute it wasn’t there, and then it just appeared. The man put the knife’s edge against Tim’s face.
“I would so enjoy cutting you,” he said.
“She doesn’t want you to hurt me,” Tim said.
“Then why am I out of my cage, old man?” the man replied with a sinister grin on his face. “Besides, she didn’t want a lot of things. She didn’t want Quinn to die, she doesn’t want you here, and she doesn’t want this filth to keep living anymore.”
With that, he gestured in Joe’s direction and turned his smile toward him. For a moment, Joe was reminded of a predator, like a mountain lion. The man did everything but lick his lips as he looked at Joe.
“Why me?” Joe asked, but he knew the answer.
“Because you deserve it,” Kyle Thompson replied. “What was that you told him earlier? You liked Lord Halloween’s style? Well, you’re about to see it up close and personal.”
“You can’t do this, Kate,” Tim said. “You can’t let vengeance rule you.”
“Yes, she can,” Kyle replied. “She understands what we have to do now. ‘There are times in life when one must make a stand. We intend to do so. Our medium is the one best understood by every being on this planet, from the lowly maggot to us — fear.’”
“He wouldn’t want this,” Tim said.
With that, there was another flash and the first man — the one Tim had called Quinn — was back.
“What are you?” Joe said. But the two men weren’t paying attention to him anymore.
“I can’t control her, Tim,” Quinn said. “She’s in here, but she won’t be herself. It changes all the time. Sometimes it’s Kyle, sometimes it’s me. Most of the time, it’s the Horseman. Don’t ask me why.”
“You have to break free of this,” Tim said. “You can’t keep killing people.”
“Yes, we can. There’s nothing to stop us now,” Quinn said with an air of regret. “Besides, we’re only killing the guilty.”
“What happens when criminals aren’t enough, Quinn?” Tim asked. “What happens when you go too far?”
“We won’t,” he said.
“Are you sure about that?” Tim asked. “How many men did you hurt tonight? They are cops, Kate. Cops like your father. And you’ve brutalized them…”
“They were getting in my way!” Quinn said, his voice suddenly filled with anger. “They were defending this trash. They should feel fortunate she didn’t kill them.”
“They were doing their jobs!”
There was another flash of light and the man changed again. Its form became shorter and a woman’s body filled out. When she looked up at him, the figure in front of him had become a petite, blonde woman with piercing blue eyes. The expression in them as she gazed at Joe was pure hate. There would be no mercy from her. Joe looked around the cell again, but there was nowhere for him to go.
“You wanted to see me?” the woman asked as she looked at Tim.
“Kate, I know…” Tim started.
She grabbed him by the throat and lifted Tim off the ground. He struggled against her, clawing against her hands.
“If you get in my way again, I swear I will kill you,” Kate said.
She tossed Tim to the side with little apparent effort. He smashed into a nearby table and collapsed on the floor. Kate Tassel looked up at Joe McAdams — and smiled. That was when he started screaming.
“Now,” she said. “Where were we?”
With another flash of light, the Headless Horseman once again stood in front of Joe, who couldn’t stop shrieking. The Horseman kicked down the cell door and drew his sword from his scabbard. He crossed the room slowly, but Joe did nothing to stop him. Joe was still shouting when the blade separated his head from his body.
Chapter 3
Quinn had been running for what felt like three days.
He was sure it must not really be that long. But he didn’t feel hungry or thirsty, and without meals to break up the day, time was a blur. The strange sun in this place had gone down and come up at least once, he thought. But it was hard for him to be sure of anything. All he wanted anymore was to lie down and rest, but he didn’t dare give into that temptation.
The world was both strangely familiar and totally alien at the same time. He almost recognized the landscape. They walked on a narrow path along a cliff, with the ocean far below them on the right and high crags of sheer black rock to their left. The wind sometimes nearly blew him off the edge. Along the bluff above them, the landscape was mostly rocky and barren with patches of short grass. Occasionally, giant rocks jutted out of the mountainside, and Quinn could not escape the idea that they were once great stone guardians, now left staring out at the sea for eternity. Quinn felt sure he had seen this place before, or at least something like it. It reminded him vaguely of photos of Ireland or Scotland.
Yet if the landscape seemed familiar, the atmosphere did not. Everything was the wrong color. The patches of grass were red and the sky was a deep purple. During his first night here, a storm had raged through, and the lightning that ripped the sky apart was bright yellow. The entire world felt off somehow, as if someone had designed it specifically to keep people off balance. It was bleak, deserted and… Quinn searched for the word. Desperate. The world around him reeked of despair, as if a voice whispered in his ear with every step, “Give up. Just give up.”
“You coming or are you going to stare at the scenery all day?” Janus asked.
Quinn realized he hadn’t been moving. But rather than put another foot in front of him, he turned away and sat on the cliff edge. He had to stop. He couldn’t keep moving anymore.
“Ooookay,” Janus said. “You need a break. I get it.”
Quinn sat staring out at the ocean with his legs dangling over the edge. For the most part, the water seemed normal enough, but every so often he saw movement under the surface that was disturbing. Once, as they were walking, he spotted what looked like a gigantic tentacle coming out of the water. When he stopped to get a better look, it promptly disappeared. It reminded him uneasily of the Wyrm they had fled in the cavern.
“You going to talk to me, mate?” Janus asked. “I can’t read your thoughts like she did.”
Quinn thought about Kate again and felt the ache in his heart as he did so. How long had it been since he’d seen her? Was it just a matter of days? It felt more like years or even decades.
“I…” he opened his mouth to speak, but he had nothing to say. All he thought about was her. It wasn’t just the separation that hurt him, it was knowing that whatever pain he felt, it was worse for Kate. At least he knew she was alive. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he thought he might still be connected to her. When he closed his eyes and focused on her, he saw a whirlwind surrounding her, a cacophony of shouting voices.
Madness, he thought. My death has driven her mad.
“I’m sorry, Quinn,” Janus said. “I shouldn’t have brought her up.”
Quinn didn’t respon
d, but watched as something churned and twisted just below the surface of the water.
“God damn it, O’Brion,” Janus said. “Would you talk to me already? I haven’t seen you in ages and all I can get out of you is one-word answers. If I even get that much.”
Quinn opened his mouth to respond, but then shut it again. He was happy Janus was there, but his mind was a blank. He couldn’t think of what to say.
“Seriously, mate, I’m going to come over there and kick your ass if you don’t start talking,” Janus said.
Quinn managed a smile at that. Losing Janus had been one of the hardest experiences of his life. Even if he couldn’t express it, he was glad to have him back.
“I’d like to see you try,” he said.
“It’s a miracle! The man speaks!” Janus said.
Quinn turned to look at him. The smile dropped from his face as his doubts resurfaced.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“We’ve been over this,” Janus said. “We’re in hell. You’re going to have to face that.”
“Why?”
“Because we need to get moving, Quinn,” Janus said. “Things are hunting us, and they don’t want to have us over for tea and biscuits. Well, I guess they kinda do, except we’re the biscuits.”
“No, I meant why are we in hell?” Quinn asked. “What did we do to deserve this?”
“Well, you killed a man,” Janus said. “Actually, probably more than one by now. But I have no idea why I’m here. I’m sweet and lovable.”
“Oh,” Quinn said.
“Oh?” Janus replied. “That’s it? Oh? I just spout some bullshit and all you can say is ‘Oh?’”
“What do you want me to say, Janus?” Quinn asked, and his voice was flat.
“I want you to tell me I’m wrong, mate,” Janus said. “You killed a bad guy, not a good one. Probably any others you picked off weren’t going to win People of the Year awards either. There’s no reason you should be in hell. For that matter, there’s no reason I should be either. Other than mouthing off a lot, I’ve hardly done anything evil. Unless you count that time I stuck Doritos between Bill’s teeth when he was drunk, but come on, that was funny.”
“Oh,” Quinn replied.
“Bloody hell, Quinn,” Janus said. “Can you please snap out of it? I don’t know why you’re here. I don’t know why I’m here. It’s probably not because we deserve to be. The question isn’t why we’re here, it’s how we’re going to get out.”
Quinn stared at him in disbelief.
“There’s a way out?” he asked tentatively.
“That’s the rumor,” Janus said.
Quinn looked away and stared again at the ocean.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’ll never find it.”
“Oh, okay,” Janus said. “Why don’t we just throw ourselves off the cliff then and be done with it?”
Quinn shifted slightly and edged forward to look down.
“I was kidding!” Janus said. “Did you die and lose all capacity for sarcasm?”
“I was just wondering if the fall would really kill us,” Quinn said. “What would happen if we ‘died’ here?”
“Yes, the fall would kill us,” Janus said. “And I’ve seen people die here, okay? I’ve actually seen a few tortured and then killed. I can’t say for certain if anything comes afterward, but most of us don’t think so. This is our afterlife and if we die again… Poof! That’s it. Hello, oblivion.”
“You’ve seen people die?”
“I’ve seen a lot of things, Quinn,” Janus replied. “More than I care to remember. Since Lord Halloween killed me, it’s been nothing but constant terror punctuated by brief moments of panic and loathing. And what has kept me going is the idea of helping you. So get off your ass, quit the Charlie Brown my-life-blows bullshit and let’s get moving. I’ve come too far to let you just give up now.”
“How did you find me? Where was that place?”
“What place?”
“The tunnel,” Quinn said. “I was in a tunnel. I saw a bright, warm light and… then it was taken from me.”
Janus looked at him more thoughtfully, his brown eyes showing pity.
“So that’s what this is about,” he said. “Did you see heaven?”
“I don’t know what I saw,” Quinn said. “But it was beautiful. And then something dragged me here.”
“It wasn’t me, mate, if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t know that I can explain where you were. Everyone sees it differently. A tunnel is relatively common, but sometimes it’s a ship on the water or even a plane through the clouds. It seems personal in a way I don’t understand.”
“I was falling in the tunnel toward a pit of fire,” Quinn said. “You saved me.”
“Sanheim told me where you were,” Janus said. “He gave me less than a day to get there and save you. It was… weird. I had to go inside the cavern and find the Wall of… It doesn’t matter what it was called. But I had to stick my face through there and grab you. Then I fought like hell to pull you back. No pun intended.”
Quinn looked at him.
“I wish you had let me burn,” he said and surprised himself by meaning every word. “I wish you hadn’t saved me.”
Janus stared at him with his mouth agape. He looked angry for a moment and then his features softened.
“I know,” he said. “It feels like that at first. Give it some time, you may feel differently.”
“How long have you been here?”
Janus laughed a bit at that.
“Time’s funny here, mate,” he said. “How long ago did I die in the real world, before you showed up?”
“A little over a year,” Quinn said.
Janus nodded.
“It doesn’t feel like that down here,” he said. “We keep trying to work out a pattern.”
“We?”
“Some of the other prisoners and I,” Janus said. “I was usually kept near Sanheim’s castle. He wasn’t particularly nice to me, but he seemed to want me alive. Why, I’m not sure. Anyway, there were a few of us, all recently dead, trying to figure out the mechanics of the place. We never really did. There were some theories tossed about, but we never got the size of it. Everything about this place is… different.”
“How long has it felt like for you?” Quinn asked.
“Only a few months, but it’s hard to tell,” Janus said. “I think time moves faster in the mortal realm — if that’s what we even call it — most of the year and then slows down dramatically in October, at least relative to us. Still, I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to show up. From what Sanheim told me, you died a little while ago. I’m sorry about that, by the way.”
“Why did Sanheim send you to save me? Why not just let me burn?” Quinn asked.
Janus shrugged.
“I didn’t have time to ask him. I had to get to you.”
“What did he say?”
“Not a lot,” Janus said. “Go to this place. Pull Quinn out. Run before the Wyrm eats you. He’s not exactly a Chatty Cathy, if you know what I’m saying.”
Quinn looked out across the water. Was Sanheim doing this to torture him? He couldn’t imagine why he wouldn’t let him burn in those flames. What possible reason could Sanheim have for saving him?
“Who’s hunting us?”
“It’s more of a what than a who,” Janus said. “I haven’t been allowed to roam very far, but let’s just say this place is hazardous to your health. There are all manner of strange creatures here — most of which are ugly and unfriendly. And there’s really nothing to distract them from trying to take us out. There’s no food to eat, nothing to drink. All you have to do here is kill, be killed and sleep every so often.”
“We sleep here?”
“Not every day,” Janus said. “But we seem to require it eventually. And we dream too. Trust me, sometimes that’s worse…”
A cry interrupted him. Janus’ head jerked up and he scanned the sky where they had
come from. Quinn followed his gaze and saw what looked like a flock of birds in the distance.
“Sluagh,” Janus said. “Bugger. We gotta get moving, Quinn, or you’re going to find out what happens when we die here.”
From this distance, they didn’t look particularly frightening. But there appeared to be a lot of them, a cloud of black against the purple sky.
“What are those?” he asked.
“The souls of dead sinners,” Janus said. “They fly in from the west and kidnap or kill whatever they can get their talons on.”
“Those are people?” Quinn asked, his eyes wide.
“More like ex-people,” Janus said. “They’re part man, part bird, part ghost —and all nasty. Seriously, we really don’t want to be here when they show up.”
For a moment, Quinn was tempted to wait right there for them to arrive. The thought of running more filled him with dread. And what was he running to? He felt like a prisoner who was saved from hanging only to be told he must now face the firing squad. The outcome was the same either way.
But he watched his friend stand up and keep looking at the sky with fear in his eyes. If Quinn stayed, there was a very real chance Janus would as well. And Quinn would not be responsible for getting him killed twice. Almost against his better judgment, he stood up.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
Janus pointed up the path.
“This is the only way I know,” he said. “And no, I have no idea where it leads. This isn’t even how I got here.”
Janus gave one last look behind them and then started running. Reluctantly, Quinn followed.
The two of them ran along the cliff path, Quinn barely able to breathe as he tried to keep up. Still, every time he looked behind them, he could see the flock of beasts gaining ground. As they drew closer, he could make out more of their features. From far away, they looked like large birds. But as they drew closer, he could see they had no feathers and their faces were a mixture of avian and human features. One of them opened its beak and let loose an ear-splitting shriek. The rest of the flock followed suit and angry calls filled the sky.
Quinn and Janus kept running, now moving away from the ocean and up the mountainside.
Give the Devil His Due Page 3