‘Who? Who would they have found? What did you tell them?’
‘Paul. He’s buried in his cellar.’
‘Paul Foster?’ she asks, flicking through her notes. ‘Is he dead?’
Satori nods.
‘And you told the police where to find his body?’
He nods again.
She bites her lip. ‘What else did you tell them?’
‘Only that Lilith killed him,’ Satori answers.
‘Who is Lilith?’
‘She’s a demon.’
‘I need to get you assessed,’ Ms Wilson says.
‘By a psychoanalyst?’
‘Yes,’ she answers.
‘No. I refuse.’
‘You can be sectioned if necessary.’
‘No. You can’t. Don’t! Don’t do that to me. I’d rather go to prison,’ he says.
‘But you’re not well.’
‘I’m not crazy. I’ve just seen more than you have. I’ll plead guilty. I’ll say I killed them both. Just don’t section me.’
‘Why?’ she asks.
‘I can’t take anti-psychotics.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I have to save her.’ Satori’s body shakes.
‘Who?’
‘Star.’ He screams the name.
‘Star’s dead.’
‘I know, but death is not the end.’
‘What is it then?’ she asks.
‘A gateway.’
‘Are you sleeping?’ she asks.
He is silent for a moment. Sleeping? ‘About an hour in the last four days.’
‘Go back to your cell. Get some rest. I’ll stall the detectives. They can’t interview you when you’re in this state,’ Ms Wilson says.
He nods. ‘Okay.’
‘If they wake you up, don’t answer their questions. Wait for me.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’ll work on getting the last interview classed as inadmissible. You’re suffering from sleep deprivation,’ she tells him.
‘What about when they find the body?’ Satori asks.
Jane sighs. ‘We’ll talk about that later.’
‘Okay. Thank you.’
‘It’s my job.’
‘I know, but thank you anyway,’ he says.
‘You’re welcome.’
Ms Wilson crosses the room and knocks on the door. As the door opens she asks the police officer to take Satori back to his cell. Tidying up her papers, she smiles at him. ‘It will be okay,’ she tells him.
He nods, even though he knows otherwise.
***
‘Donna,’ Satori whispers. ‘Are you okay?’
She doesn’t answer. She lies where he left her, eyes still closed. He crawls to the cliff edge and looks down. Wolves gather at the base, noses sniffing the air. No more than half a mile away horses, mounted by armoured riders, gallop towards him.
‘We have to go,’ he tells Donna.
She doesn’t respond. He lifts her and staggers away from the cliff. Ahead of them the air glows orange. Trying to ignore his stiff legs and shaking arms, Satori walks towards the amber mist. The fog embraces him. The air is humid, more like steam than low cloud. It fills his throat making him cough. His eyes sting; he closes them and walks blindly onwards.
When the air starts to thin and cool he opens his eyes again. Nothing looks like the world they left behind. A crimson sky blazes above. Beneath it, dark jade earth spreads out towards the horizon.
Satori looks at the sleeping woman in his arms. The destruction of her face no longer bothers him. She is different from before. Did the agony of her wounds allow her to transcend weakness? He hopes the pain that awaits him in Binah might free him too.
He looks around him. Blemishes of hills and forests break the view. From his vantage point he can see the horizon, but Star’s beacon does not interrupt the blood red sky. He takes a step forward, then another. He feels strong. His muscles no longer shake and the earth yields easily to his footsteps. He smiles and walks faster.
To his left he hears wails of suffering.
‘Donna,’ he whispers. ‘Wake up.’
She stirs in his arms. ‘Are we safe?’
‘I don’t know. I can hear something. I want to check it out, okay?’
She opens her eyes and gasps. ‘Where are we?’
‘I’m not certain. I think it might be Geburah. If it is we’re getting close now.’
‘Geburah,’ she repeats. ‘Put me down, Satori. I think I can walk.’
He lets her feet fall gently to the ground. She tests her strength, swaying on unsteady legs for a moment. She steps forward and smiles.
‘This place is good for me,’ she says.
‘Me too,’ Satori replies. ‘But we could still be in danger. Can you hear those cries?’
‘Yes. Is it Sarah?’
‘I don’t think so, but I reckon we should take a look. What do you think?’
‘I guess it’s not the right place or time to be frightened,’ she answers.
‘Take my hand, Donna. We’ll walk together.’
She places her hand in his and he wraps his fingers around her knuckles. For a moment he is reminded of Star. He bites his lip and swallows his tears.
‘Are you ready?’ he asks.
She nods and they walk together. The wails of agony recede and sounds of knocking replace them. Satori opens his eyes. His cell is full of shadows. The door opens and D.S. Cummins enters.
‘It’s lunch time,’ she says.
‘My lawyer told me you’d let me sleep,’ Satori growls.
‘We have to feed you,’ the detective’s voice carries no emotion.
Satori stretches. D.S. Cummins looks away. He stands up and crosses the floor towards her. She walks through the doorway and he follows. Without speaking they walk beside each other through the corridor and up concrete steps. She unlocks the door at the top and pulls it open. He steps out into cool air. He turns around and sees her smiling behind him. Confused he looks away and sees a group of figures slouched in plastic chairs. Two familiar faces stare at him, Freya and Ivan. They look worried.
‘This way,’ D.S. Cummins says.
As Satori walks away from friend and foe he stares at the floor.
Chapter 42
‘I’m bored,’ Lilith’s voice calls up to Sarah. ‘Amuse me.’
Sarah ignores the plea. Lilith’s magic holds her above the ground. Sarah presses her wrists and ankles together. Lilith removes the prison of air and Sarah lands awkwardly on the earth. As she hits the dirt Sarah puts out a hand to protect her bruised shoulder.
‘What the fuck?’ Lilith screeches. ‘What have you done?’
The demon grabs Sarah’s hand and yanks it towards her face. ‘How?’
Sarah doesn’t answer. A smile plays across her lips.
‘Serpent!’ Lilith calls.
Sarah wonders if this is a new insult Lilith has decided to throw at her, or whether Lilith is summoning something. She tries to stay calm, but as she hears the subterranean scrape of earth progress towards her, she cannot suppress a shudder.
The noise gets closer and the ground vibrates. Sarah feels the earth rise and hears it crack.
‘There you are my love.’ Lilith’s words are answered with a hiss. ‘This one has been naughty, my prince. I need you to keep her under control. Hold her for me and if she dares escape again you have my permission to eat her.’
Sarah pushes her torso off the ground. The agony of movement she felt before doesn’t return. Instead of touching her stomach to investigate she kicks her toes into the soil and tries to push herself away. Her mouth tastes of bile and the smell of rotting flesh fills her nostrils.
Lilith laughs. Hate gives Sarah more strength. She digs her toes further into the earth, pushing. Her fingernails claw at the ground. Crawling, she inches away from the sounds.
‘Why try to escape? If you’d never met me you would still be cutting yourself, wishing for death and pining for somethi
ng, anything to take you from that empty world.’ Lilith voice is full of mocking laughter.
‘I never wanted this,’ Sarah answers.
‘And yet this is what you have,’ Lilith replies.
Sarah’s limbs shake, but she gathers speed. Behind her she hears a dull thud as something drops heavily to the ground. The serpent slides across the earth towards her. Sarah pushes onwards. Escape! She tells herself. Death would be better than this.
Something brushes against the soles of her feet. She kicks it away. ‘No!’ she screams. No, this can’t be happening to me. It’s a dream. Wake up. Wake up!
The ground starts to crumble. Her feet push against something damp and yielding. Her arms shake and tears fill her eyes. This cannot be the way my story ends. She struggles to find purchase and slides on slippery flesh. A mouth, a throat? Her face hits the ground. Her chin throbs. Her hands, pinned against her waist, still struggle; fingers tear at whatever surrounds her. Sarah is lifted. She bends her torso, trying to unbalance the creature and reclaim the earth, but she is dragged through the air to a vertical position. One thousand teeth bite into her rib cage. She uses what little air her lungs can release to scream.
‘Stay still,’ Lilith warns her. ‘He won’t hurt you. He’s simply protecting you from yourself. If you don’t move the pain will be bearable.’
Sarah sobs. ‘You fucking bitch! Why are you doing this to me?’
‘These are the choices you made, my love. You chose me and this is who I am. I am Lilith, the terrible mother. I give life and I bind humankind to pain and suffering. Worship me and I can set you free. Fight me and you will lose. You will condemn yourself to a life of confusion and torment.’
‘I hate you,’ Sarah whispers.
Lilith’s laughter assures Sarah that she could not care less.
Sarah’s eyes burn. She imagines watching Lilith being torn limb from limb and her face smashing into a thousand pieces. Hate flows from Sarah. She hears a hint of fear in Lilith’s laughter.
Her eyes refuse to open. She concentrates harder and something stirs inside her mind. Energy tickles the centre of her forehead as power builds there. She focuses on that point. Let me see. The power of her hate opens a third and invisible eye, one Lilith cannot seal. Through an emerald mist, Sarah sees Lilith looking up at her. The woman, if she was ever a woman, has changed. Her skin pinched over high pointed cheekbones. Her eyes are cold orbs that blink and reopen through folds of flesh. Her bare breasts hang heavily in loose skin. Below Lilith’s waist, where there used to be slender legs, is a black tail that coils beneath her.
With a shrug, Lilith turns and slithers away.
Around Sarah’s body is the mouth of the wyrm. The monster’s skin shines with the same green haze that covers the rest of the landscape. She cannot see any eyes in the creature. It is motionless, its jaws clamped around her body and arms just below her breasts. She follows the line of its tail and guesses that it measures twenty-five feet in length. She should feel afraid. If she tries to escape it has orders to eat her. Yet she is fascinated by the creature.
Turning her head, she inspects its bottom jaw. The same pitted skin, the same vicious teeth surround her. Embedded in the base of its mouth is the stem of something metal. Leaning back, she tries to understand what part of the creature this might be. The metal seems to hum as she stares at it. It looks alien to the creature, something it picked up rather than something it grew. The awkward angle of her neck and head makes her body shake. Teeth grind against her skin, biting through her flesh. Her nerve endings scream for her to stop. Straightening her body, she relieves the pressure and looks ahead.
Sarah searches the landscape. From her elevated position she can see for miles. Focusing first to the left, where Lilith had wandered, she sees a house, about a mile away. Windows dominate each wall. Around the building is a magnificent garden. Trees and flowers carpet the entrance while birds and animals move among the plants.
To the right of the house the ground unrolls before her. It is impossible to judge how far she can see. There are no buildings or trees to mark the land in this direction. She has no perspective by which to judge the seemingly unending plane. As her eyes become accustomed to the monotony she starts to see movement. A wisp of smoke floats across the ground towards the house. Tall, narrow and almost humanoid in shape, cloud arms and legs move in a silent march. As it leaves her field of vision she does not turn to follow its progress to the house. Instead she turns her head to the right and sees another mist traveller. What are they? She calls out to the second figure and it seems to pause for a moment before it continues its journey.
She tries to focus beyond the cloud figure on the landscape to her right. Light glows in the distance. She wants to understand the geography so she might plan her escape, but her attention is drawn back to the figure. Her third eye follows its progress until it reaches the edge of the garden then she loses sight of it and turns back to the light on the horizon. Is that the way out of this hell?
As if drawn by her desire for freedom she hears a familiar shuffling sound. No! At the coils of the snake she sees it and shudders. The mutant baby looks up at her. Teeth glint. It extends an arm and she sees its catlike claws. The baby isn’t human. Even though the shape of it looks like the plump body of an infant, its skin looks fractured. Tiny scales cover its back. She wonders whether it is green or whether that just the filter of her third eye altering its hue. Its huge eyes shine like Lilith’s.
Claws cling to the serpent and Sarah feels more pressure around her diaphragm as the wyrm grinds its teeth into her skin in response to its own pain. She struggles to free her arms, but she is held firm. Milk drips from her swollen breasts. In spite of her revulsion her body wants to feed this demon. She tries to close her third eye, banish the vision from her mind, but she doesn’t know how. Instead she turns her gaze away from its approach and focuses on the horizon and the light that shines in the distance. Mist creatures flicker there as if the light is their source.
The grunts of the baby move closer. It is just below her waist, clawing its way up the head of the serpent. Its grotesque face contorts into a smile.
‘Hello,’ Sarah says, trying to force her muscles to reproduce the smile on the infant’s lips.
It cocks its head to one side and stares at her. She focuses on it. Its alien skin glistens below its eyes. Is it crying?
‘It’s okay, baby. Everything is all right now.’
It reaches towards her.
‘I’m sorry. I can’t hold you. The snake has my arms.’
It looks confused and crawls closer to inspect the jaws fixed around Sarah’s torso then lifts its eyes to stare sympathetically at her face.
‘It doesn’t hurt too much, but I can’t move my arms. I’m sorry.’
The child pushes its hands between the razor blade teeth of the monster and pulls. It clings to the jaw and, using all its weight, stretches the skin. Slowly the wyrm’s mouth opens wide enough for Star to free her hands. She reaches forwards and grabs hold of the baby. In spite of its scales and claws she realises it is beautiful, in its own way.
‘Thank you,’ she says.
It reaches towards her breast. She rocks the infant in her arms while it clamps its teeth around her and suckles.
Chapter 43
Satori stares at his plate. Ivan and Freya are here. What are they telling the police about me? He imagines Freya chatting with the detectives, her innocence and sweetness adding credence to her lies.
Tiredness smothers him and he yawns. His stomach aches, but he cannot face the food in front of him. How did I get here? I only wanted to be loved.
Tears fall onto his plate, adding moisture to the powdered egg and pale sausages. He knows he’s being watched. He is always being watched, judged, and despised. I don’t belong here. I belong by your side.
Geburah beckons him. Not now, he tells the crimson world. Not yet. He stares resentfully at the food on his plate. If I don’t eat I can’t stay there. I need t
o be strong. With a shaking hand he impales a sausage. Just a few bites. He lifts the floppy meat from the plate. The smell turns his stomach. For Star and Donna, I must be strong for them. The meat slides from his fork so he stabs at it again, flipping over his fork this time so it rests against the plastic as it journeys to his mouth. It tastes as bland as it looks. This world has no flavour. It sticks in his mouth and it is all he can do to keep chewing.
It doesn’t matter what Freya tells them. I’m not walking away from this.
A police officer ushers Satori from the canteen to another room.
‘Where’s my solicitor?’ he asks D.I. Long.
‘She’s not able to make it. We need to talk about the bones,’ D.I. Long answers.
‘I’m not speaking to you without her present,’ Satori says.
‘Your friends have helped us fill in a lot of the holes in your story,’ D.S. Cummins says.
‘We didn’t find Paul’s body in the cellar. Whose bones are those?’ D.I. Long asks.
‘I’m not saying anything until my lawyer gets here,’ Satori replies.
‘Some of them were children. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? We just want you to explain, make us understand. If you refuse to answer our questions the jury will draw their own conclusions as to why you don’t want to help us reunite those children with their parents.’ D.S. Cummins does not try to hide her horror. Her face accuses him.
She thinks I’m a monster.
‘If you don’t have anything to hide, it’s much better if you just tell us. We’re only trying to understand where you fit into all this mess. The bones are old. We’re not saying you killed those people.’ D.I. Long presses his lips together. His eyes seem sympathetic.
‘We need to know who they are, so the families can bury their children.’ D.S. Cummins tells him.
‘I don’t know. I really don’t.’ Satori wants them to believe him. Their hate and horror infect him.
‘Why didn’t we find Paul?’ D.I. Long asks.
Satori shrugs.
‘Where is he?’
‘Why don’t you DNA test the bones? Surely that will tell you who they belonged to. I can’t help you. I don’t know.’ Satori shakes his head.
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