Mark stares at the space left by Raven’s absence. In it he sees her plan: the girl, Freya, a knife, and sees the flaw. Freya will not kill Star. She will try and fail and, in so doing, complete the plan he set in motion when he brought Freya here.
Chapter 49
Freya wanders back into the house.
‘Do you want me to take Jasmine out in the pram?’ her Mum asks.
‘So you can show her off to your friends?’
Lorraine blushes and laughs.
Freya squeezes the fingers of her left hand and forces a smile. ‘Sure, Mum.’
‘You’ll be here when we get back,’ Lorraine says.
‘Yeah,’ Freya answers. ‘I’ll watch TV or read or something.’
Lorraine takes Jasmine into the hallway and places her gently in the pram. ‘Could you get me Jasmine’s blanket?’
‘I’ll get her coat as well,’ Freya says.
Jasmine doesn’t wake as the women prepare her for the great outdoors. Lorraine leaves Freya with a peck on the cheek and wheels her granddaughter out of the house. ‘See you later.’
Freya waves goodbye then returns to the living room and sits on the settee with her head in her hands. Her brain aches. She feels dull and heavy. She cannot get the image of Ivan and Star out of her head. Maybe she could drink herself into oblivion.
As she stands up to fix herself a drink her arms prickle and her hair stands up on end. She looks around her, but the room is empty. The temperature plummets as a cold breeze fills the room. Wondering whether she left a door open, she checks first the front and then the kitchen door. The kitchen door is ajar. She peers outside and sees ribbons jostle in the branches of Ivan’s tree. ‘Ivan.’ She closes the door.
‘Star will take him from you.’
Freya spins around. The room is empty. The voice must be inside her. She nods sadly.
‘You can stop it.’
Freya’s eyes narrow. She is certain the voice is external. It doesn’t sound like her voice. Deya is not taunting her into action. So who?
Blinds rattle against the kitchen window. Cupboard doors open and close. The light flickers on then off again.
‘What?’ Freya asks. ‘Who are you?’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ the voice replies. It sounds familiar. ‘She’s hurt us both. If you want to save Ivan you must stop her.’
‘Stop her?’ Freya asks.
‘Kill her.’
‘Kill her…kill Star…save Ivan…’ Freya shakes her head again. ‘Ivan isn’t in danger.’
‘Satori was killed because of Star.’ The voice hisses in Freya’s ear.
Freya turns toward the voice. Freezing air rushes at her face. She closes her eyes against the cold assault. ‘Satori’s dead?’
‘Yes. It’s Star’s fault and Ivan will be next if you don’t save him.’
‘How? Who are you and where are they?’ Freya asks.
‘An old friend. Now grab a pen and paper.’
Freya’s hands shake as she transcribes the address. Staring at the piece of paper, she imagines walking in on the couple as they make love. Bile rises in her throat. Her mind recalls another time she watched Ivan with a woman.
‘Raven?’
Laughter fills the room.
Freya spins around trying to see some change in the air, any indication that this is not another aural hallucination. ‘Is it you? Why now? Why didn’t you come and see me before?’
‘Star is a worthless slut!’
Freya nods. Fuck it! Raven is right. ‘What do they see in her?’
‘She’s damaged, vulnerable and needs someone to complete and take care of her.’ The voice grows stronger as if rage gives it power.
‘Yes.’ Freya sighs. She leans across the work surface, afraid she might faint.
‘Men have never outgrown the desire to be knights in shining armour.’
‘And Satori’s dead?’ Freya hopes he is, yet a tiny part of her realises she will miss him. He may have treated her shamefully, but he did understand her. Perhaps he was the only person who ever did.
‘A boy killed him. Killed him to reach Star. He’ll kill Ivan too if you don’t stop it.’
‘Raven?’
‘Yes.’
‘Tell me about my brother.’
The air warms. Freya can feel affection and love wrap around her. ‘He’s too good for Star.’
‘Is it wrong that I’m in love with him?’
‘Of course not. Go, save him. Be the hero.’
Freya puts the scribbled address in her pocket and heads for the hallway. Shrugging into her coat, she remembers her own knight. Rob used to hold my coat for me. Now he’s dead. If I can kill the man I love, finishing Star should be easy.
Chapter 50
‘There’s someone at the door,’ Ivan calls.
‘Can you answer it? I’m just finishing on the toilet.’
Ivan steps towards the front door then stops. ‘What if it’s Satori?’
‘If it was he’d use his key.’
Star listens to Ivan’s movements through the bathroom door. She hears the front door open and close then low voices. ‘I’ll just be a minute,’ she calls.
‘It’s okay, Star. It’s Freya.’
‘Oh. Hi, Freya,’ Star shouts over the whooshing sound of the flush.
She doesn’t hear Freya’s reply.
‘Can I make you a cuppa, Freya or do you fancy coffee?’ Star walks from the hallway into the living room.
Ivan hurries over to Star and holds her back. Star stares at the back of Freya’s head. The woman sits motionless on the settee, facing away from them. Only her hair and the ribbons twisted through it are visible.
‘Freya?’ Star says. She cocks her head and looks askance at Ivan. Silently she mouths the word ‘what?’
‘Star.’ Freya replies not turning to face her.
‘Are you okay?’ Star tries to step forwards, but Ivan keeps hold of her arm and holds her back. ‘What is it?’ she whispers.
‘Something’s wrong,’ Ivan answers.
Star wrestles free of his grip and strides towards the settee. Ivan follows beside her.
‘Freya?’ Star looks at the woman’s profile.
Freya scowls. She turns her face to look at Star, snarls and pounces.
Ivan rushes between the two women. He grunts and falls. A deep red puddle spreads from beneath him across the carpet. Freya screams and falls to her knees beside Ivan. Star backs away, grabs the phone from the wall and runs to her bedroom. She pushes her dresser in front of her door and sits on her bed, staring at the blocked door and listening to the frenzied cries beyond until she remembers the phone in her hand and dials 999.
‘Emergency services. What is the nature of your emergency?’
‘Help. My friend’s been stabbed.’
‘Are they breathing?’
‘I don’t know. The attacker’s still in my house.’ Star stares at the barricaded door. Ivan’s blood spreads across her vision. She rocks herself back and forth.
The voice on the telephone sounds distant as though from a half remembered dream. ‘Where do you live, ma’am?’
Star hears a scream of rage beyond the door and quickly relays her address to the operator. ‘Please hurry.’
The bedroom door judders. The heavy thuds of a shoulder battering against wood, crash around the room. The wooden panels shake with the impact.
‘Freya,’ Star says. ‘Is Ivan okay?’
Another scream and three more thuds.
‘The police are on their way, Freya,’ Star shouts.
The wood cracks. Star pushes herself backwards across the bed until her trembling body rattles the headboard. Another crack, wood splinters and the tip of a knife breaks through the door.
Star feels like the victim in a horror film. Curled against her headboard, she tries to put as much space as possible between herself and the door. Fear paralyses her. Ivan is hurt, perhaps dead and his sister is trying to carve a hole in the door to reach Sta
r.
The knife is withdrawn and Freya grunts with effort as the slams the blade back through the door panel.
Star shivers. All I’ve survived, why am I afraid, now? ‘Freya. Go home. Let me see to Ivan. The police are on their way.’
Freya laughs. ‘You won’t take him from me.’
‘I’m not trying to,’ Star shouts back.
The knife hacks through the panel again. Fingers push through the jagged gap to drag out a large splinter of wood. Star glimpses fragments of Freya’s movements through the split. The headboard rattles against the wall as she shivers with fear and adrenaline. Sirens wail in the distance. The sound grows louder. Freya slams the knife into the slit and forces the blade left and right, trying to prise the panel apart.
‘Freya,’ Star says. ‘Is Ivan still alive?’
Freya withdraws the knife again. The sirens are close now. Freya places her eye next to the gap. ‘Star.’
‘Yes, Freya.’
‘Raven says “fuck you” and wants you to know Satori is dead.’
Freya jerks away from the door. Footsteps retreat along the hallway towards the kitchen. The kitchen door opens and closes. There are loud knocks and shouts at the front door. Star gets up from the bed and moves the dresser away from the broken bedroom door. With a crash, the front door explodes inwards.
Star reaches Ivan’s body as the police swarm into the room. One grabs her arm and pulls her back.
‘Freya, she stabbed him. She’s gone… that way.’ Star points at the open kitchen door.
The police officer holds Star’s arm. ‘We caught her. Let the paramedics to their jobs.’
‘Is he alive?’ Star asks.
‘Is there somewhere we can sit so I can take a statement from you?’ the officer asks, turning Star gently so she can no long see Ivan’s body.
‘Umm, the bedroom, I guess,’ Star answers.
Star and the police officer walk along the hallway. As they sit on the end of her bed the officer removes her hat.
‘What happened?’ the officer asks.
‘I don’t know. It was his sister. I think she was trying to stab me.’ Star feels numb. Her body shakes, her muscles are beyond her power to control. Her body feels like something distant and alien. She tries to stand up.
The officer grabs her arm and guides her gently back to a seated position. ‘Do you know why?’
‘She said I was taking her brother away from her. She also told me. Look, I don’t know whether this is true, but she told me Steve Michaels is dead.
The officer flicks back as few pages of her notebook and whitens. ‘This is 26, Brook Lane, isn’t it?’ she asks.
‘Yes,’ Star answers.
‘We were coming to see you when we got your emergency call. There was an incident, a fire.’
‘And Steve?’
‘We aren’t sure yet. We need to…we think we might have found his body in the fire.’
Star doubles over and weeps into her hands. ‘And Ivan?’
‘The man in your living room?’ the officer asks.
‘Yes, the man in my living room.’ Star’s voice grows shrill. Darkness fills her mind. Dead. All dead.
‘I’m sorry,’ the officer says.
‘Oh fuck!’ Star screams.
‘I’m afraid we’ll need you to come to the station with us.’
Star rubs the tears from her eyes. Her mouth tingles and her tongue feels too large. She swallows metallic tasting saliva and coughs. ‘Yes, of course. Does Marian, Steve’s Mum, know yet?’
‘Give me her details and if she hasn’t been contacted already we’ll make sure she is.’
Star nods. She grabs handfuls of her hair and stares blankly at the knife wound in her door. Tightening her grip, she tugs at her scalp.
***
‘Marian,’ Star says, running across to Satori’s mother.
Marian looks up. Her face is red with tears and her shoulders shake violently.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Star says, sitting beside the grieving woman.
‘They just told me. They’ve identified him. My son is dead.’
Star puts her arm around Marian’s shoulders. The woman shrugs away. Star drops her arm and sits with both hands on her lap staring at the floor.
‘What happened?’ Star asks.
‘Don’t you know?’ Marian spits in reply.
Star shakes her head slowly. ‘They haven’t told me anything yet.’
‘He died at Paul’s, in a fire. He was trying to save your son.’
‘My son?’
‘We found him. The other followers and I, we were going to secure him. Keep him away, safely. We knew…we knew how dangerous.’
‘My son? Satori’s son? Have you seen him? Is he here?’
Marian shakes her head. ‘I don’t know where he is now.’
‘Look, Marian. I – I’ve got to go. I need to find out what…tell them I’ll be back…later…and I am so sorry. I’ll find out what happened to Satori.’
Star glances across at the glazed door that leads to the front desk then looks around the lobby where she and Marian are seated. No police officers linger on this side of the desk. With each fist tugging at locks of her hair, she stands up and hurries out of the police station door, remembering the last time she fled from this building, naked, hand in hand with Satori. Satori, I’m sorry.
Chapter 51
Mark walks between the iron gates and out of Paul’s garden. The two skinheads Kevin and Simon wait for him outside. They stand there, comical almost, like Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, smoking and fidgeting. Their nervous eyes scan the empty street.
‘Mark,’ Kevin says as he turns and sees him. ‘What happened in there?’
‘I guess we were attacked by the same ghost that stopped anyone getting past the kitchen, huh?’ Simon adds, looking to Mark with wide eyes as if expecting the answers to one thousand unspoken questions.
Mark shrugs.
‘So, kid. Did you find out where your mam is?’
Mark shakes his head.
‘And that guy up there, do you think he will talk to us if we get him outside?’
‘He’s dead,’ Mark answers.
‘Fuck!’ Simon shouts. ‘Ghost kill him?’
‘No.’
Kevin walks over to Mark and offers him a cigarette. ‘What happened, mate?’
‘I got angry,’ Mark replies.
The two men nod their heads, knowingly.
‘We’ll find her,’ Kevin tells him. ‘Look, we’ll go and see Garlow. He always knows what to do. Come on. Let’s get out of here.’
Mark nods and they walk together to the car.
‘These neighbours aren’t nosey at all,’ Simon says as they walk. ‘Would be an easy job to rip this place off.’
‘Yup,’ Kevin answers. ‘But first things first. Let’s get Mark sorted.’
Garlow is in his usual spot when they return to the bar. Mark waits patiently until he is summoned, wondering whether the boss has a home. He feels empty.
Kevin touches Mark’s shoulder and the boy jumps.
‘Come on, cheer up, kid. Garlow’s ready to see you.’
He walks over to the table and Garlow gestures for him to sit on the chair opposite.
‘What happened?’ Garlow asks.
‘He wouldn’t help me,’ Mark answers.
‘Pity,’ Garlow replies. ‘Family is important. They’re the most important things in the world to me. I’d do anything to protect them and if one of them was lost, I’d kill to recover them.’
Mark doesn’t answer.
‘Did you kill the man?’ Garlow asks.
Mark nods.
‘But you still don’t know where or who she is?’
‘Her name’s Star,’ Mark answers.
Garlow nods thoughtfully. ‘Sounds like a stage name. Is she an actress?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Kevin tells me there was something else in the room with you. Is that right?’
&
nbsp; ‘Yeah. It scratched Kevin’s face and Simon.’
‘What was it?’
Mark shrugs.
‘A ghost?’
Mark looks up and snorts. ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’
‘Of course, don’t you? I believe in all sorts of things, kid: ghosts, magic, demons, demi-gods and the anti-Christ.’
Mark shivers.
‘I believe in you,’ Garlow continues.
‘Me?’
‘Yes. I knew there was something different about you when we met.’
Mark turns away and scans the room. About a dozen men sit around drinking and smoking, a few play cards and others play pool. He knows that they are also watching this exchange. They are Garlow’s protectors and enforcers.
‘Something in those bright green eyes, an unnatural arrogance, I suppose.’
Goosebumps rise across Mark’s arms. ‘You think I’m unnatural?’
‘I know who you are and I know who you met. I also know why people are chasing you.’
‘How?’
‘That woman, the one I had a package for, tell me about her,’ Garlow says.
‘She was…is she a friend of yours?’
‘You won’t offend me. Tell me what you thought of her.’
‘She smelled funny. Her flat was creepy. I thought she could see through me into my soul.’
‘She could. She did. What do you think she saw there?’
Mark shakes his head and swallows hard. ‘What?’
‘Darkness and power. How did you kill the magician, kid?’
‘I set him on fire.’
‘How?’
Mark swallows hard. His eyes darken. ‘With my mind.’
Garlow nods. ‘What do you know about your mother and father?’
My mother’s called Star and my father’s dead.’
‘Is that all?’
‘Yes.’
Garlow nods thoughtfully. ‘Where did you grow up?’
Mark stiffens and begins to stand up.
‘Don’t,’ Garlow tells him.
‘If you know so much you must know I can leave any time I want,’ Mark answers.
‘And go where? Continue to be chased by those followers of Sith? They’re just the first of many. You must realise that. Others will realise you are here – the anti-Christ.’
Starblood Trilogy Page 65