Suddenly the creature exploded, showering him with blackened soot and as he looked up he saw Olivia standing against the white woodland with a bow of pure blue fire aimed at him. He lay there, slightly dazed at what he had seen, as rough hands grabbed him and hauled him to his feet.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Jake asked him angrily. ‘You could’ve gotten yourself killed.’
‘Gently Jake,’ Theo reminded him, ‘can’t you see he’s in shock.’
‘We don’t have time for this,’ he hissed.
Olivia’s bow dimmed and disappeared as she approached Mac, pulling a crisp white handkerchief from her coat pocket and wrapping it around his hand to stop the bleeding.
‘Are you alright Captain Macallister?’ she frowned in concern. ‘Are you injured anywhere else?’
He shook his head.
‘Mac,’ he croaked, ‘call me Mac. Did you just save my life?’
‘Yes I did,’ a small smile played at the corner of her mouth. ‘Look we don’t have time to explain, so I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say, okay?’
He looked to Theo and then to Jake.
‘Is she always this bossy?’
‘Yes,’ they both answered in unison.
‘Okay,’ he nodded to Olivia.
‘I need you to stay with Theo or Jake. No matter what happens or what you see, do not leave their side, alright?’
He nodded in agreement as Jake handed him the gun he’d dropped. His eyes widened as he watched the flaming dragonflies hovering at their shoulders, but he wisely chose not to say anything.
Suddenly Olivia looked deep into the tree line, her eyes distance.
‘He’s casting the circle,’ she gasped, ‘we’re out of time. RUN!’
She darted through the trees, running flat out, with the others chasing behind her.
The sky was ablaze with purples and pinks, as the sun plummeted below the horizon bringing with it a blanket of darkness. She focused on the light ahead and as the trees began to thin out she could see the clearing and the hollow at its center.
Burning braziers were set up in a circular shape about two feet in from the edge of the clearing, creating a smaller circle within it. She could see a hooded figure standing in front of the tree and a body lying on the ground. Her lungs were burning as she pushed her legs faster.
A hazy, pale light pulsed at the edges of the circle, rising up to form a dome. She knew the minute it was complete the clearing would be impenetrable to her. Forcing one last burst of speed she broke out of the trees and leapt over the wall of light that was forming. She hit the ground on the other side and rolled to absorb the impact, turning just in time to see the edges of the shield meet, forming a solid barrier of power, with her on one side and the others on the outside. Theo beat his fist against the transparent wall, but it was no good, he couldn’t reach Olivia.
She turned back to the hooded figure in front of her and pulled herself to her feet. He seemed content to just stand and watch as her gaze dropped down to the man staked out on the cold snowy ground. Her mouth fell open in shock. Underneath the dirt and five day beard her eyes met the terrified gaze of Thomas Walcott.
He struggled against the huge cruel looking iron pins, which had been driven through his wrists and ankles pinning him to the hard frozen ground. He looked as if he was desperately trying to say something, but she couldn’t understand. His jaw had obviously been broken and he could barely do more than make a mournful, moaning sound.
Suddenly, he shrieked in agony, his back arching off the ground as his exposed chest began to sizzle and split down the center from his sternum to his navel. The stench of ozone and dark magic flooded the circle making her retch. Biting back the urge to vomit, she turned to stare at the hooded figure in front of her. There was no time for a binding spell, so with steady hands she raised her bow, satisfaction flooding her body and driving away the nausea as her flame blazed a bright sapphire.
‘No,’ she commanded resolutely. ‘As much as I hate him, you are not taking his life.’
As the figure turned toward her she heard a familiar voice calling her name. It came from behind her, chilling her down to the bone. She turned slowly and her eyes focused on the figure of her father, standing on the other side of the circle, trapped behind the wall of magic. Next to him was the pale haired man, Davis. An icy feeling of dread washed over her, locking her muscles as she twisted slowly back to the hooded figure in front of her. If her father wasn’t the killer, then who?
The figure slowly pulled back its hood.
Olivia’s bow suddenly disintegrated, the fiery blue flames tattered, as if torn apart by an unseen wind. Her legs collapsed beneath her and her breath rushed out of her lungs. She could feel her heart pounding in her throat as her mouth went dry and when she spoke, her voice was barely more than a dry whisper.
‘Mom?’
Isabel West was still a stunning woman as she towered over her daughter. Time had done nothing to diminish the beauty of her face or the long dark hair which cascaded from her hood in silken loops. A raised red burn scar fanned out from her cheekbone in thin spidery tentacles up into the hair line at her temple, turning a single lock of hair pure white. Even this did not mar her beauty as she watched Olivia with cold, whiskey colored eyes.
‘Hello Olivia.’
Her mother’s voice crushed her heart and clamped her chest in a steel vice. The pain was nearly unbearable.
‘NO!’ she whispered in absolute horror.
Isabel regarded her with fathomless eyes before turning back to Walcott. Once again his back arched and his chest began to burn and split further as her magic tore him apart.
His scream of agony seemed to shake Olivia loose and her lips thinned into a resolute line, her eyes narrowing as she rose to her knees and once again drew her bow, this time aiming directly at her mother.
‘I said you’re not taking him,’ she repeated shakily.
Isabel threw her hand out toward Olivia and she felt the full force of her mother’s power, but it barely nudged her. It seemed to split and run either side of her, as if something had deflected it. She watched as her mother’s gaze dipped to the moonstone at her throat, her eyes widening a fraction in surprise. Then Isabel reached into the fold of her dark cloak.
Olivia didn’t even see the gun, until the shot rang out in the stillness of the circle. She was suddenly thrown back and hit the ground with force as the bullet tore through her flesh. She tried to move, but she was still too stunned. She tried to drag some oxygen into her lungs, but the breath seemed to be caught in her throat.
Theo roared and smashed his fist against the shield as he saw Olivia thrown to the ground, her blood staining the snow crimson. Jake’s heart almost stopped as he saw she was not moving, but before he could say anything he heard a familiar growl behind him. As he turned he saw the surrounding forest glow with several pairs of red eyes.
‘Theo,’ he stashed his gun, knowing it would be no good and pulled out his knife. ‘Theo you can’t help her right now.’
Theo turned and saw the Hell Hounds as they slowly stalked out of the tree line and shimmered into solid forms.
‘What the fuck are those?’ Mac’s eyes widened.
‘They’re Hell Hounds,’ Theo replied dangerously as he passed Mac his gun in addition to his own. Here take this, bullets won’t kill them, but will slow them down.’
For a moment his gaze met the cool eyes of Charles Connell, but he didn’t have time to worry about him right now as they turned to face the hounds.
One of them leapt straight for him. He raised his arm to protect himself, but it knocked him back and sunk its teeth into his forearm, piercing through his coat and his skin. With a hiss of pain, he brought the knife up and plunged it into the hound’s throat. It exploded into inky dust in front of his eyes, the sudden release of his arm a relief.
Another lunged straight for Jake, but he dived and rolled across the snow
, bringing his blade up and driving it into the creature’s gut, watching in satisfaction as it detonated in front of him.
Mac, backed up against the shield, emptied his clip at the hound rushing straight for him. Bits of matted fur flew as the bullets bit into its dead flesh. He braced himself for the impact as it leapt, but it suddenly exploded as Theo swung around and buried his knife between its shoulder blades.
Theo glanced across and caught sight of Charles Connell and Davis. As one hound leapt for Davis he shimmered and it leapt straight through him as if he were as insubstantial as mist. Davis’ flesh rippled and once again solidified as Charles calmly raised his hand and with a flicking gesture the hound exploded.
Jake jumped out of the way as another headed for him, but it caught his jacket and pinned him to the ground on his stomach. Unable to plunge his knife into it at that angle, he growled in pain as it sunk its teeth into the back of his shoulder. Suddenly the pressure released and he felt rather than saw the creature explode and black ash rain down on him. A figure jumped nimbly over him twisting in mid air and skidding to a halt on the slippery ground. Jake’s mouth fell open.
Deputy Helga Hanson looked down on him with pale blue eyes. No longer in her bulky police uniform, but clad in a form-hugging black, she appeared to look slimmer and more willowy than he’d originally thought. Her long, straight, white-blonde hair hung to her waist and caught on the winter breeze. She held a whip made from pure silver energy that pulsed in her hand. He watched, momentarily stunned, as another hound headed straight for her, but she simply spun the whip over her head and brought it down in a smooth fluid crack, splitting the creature down the center as it crumbled inwards into a pile of ash.
Olivia tried desperately to breathe in, unaware of the deathly struggle going on outside the circle. She watched as her mother ripped the heart from Thomas Walcott’s chest, heard him take his last rattling breath and there was nothing she could do to stop her.
Isabel dropped the heart into a large glass jar and walked up to the dead tree where four sooty orange symbols glowed, melting the snow covering them. In the gap between the first and last symbol the ground began to churn upwards, spilling over itself to reveal a gaping hole in the ground. She placed the jar in the hole and watched in satisfaction as the ground folded in on itself, burying the jar and its gruesome contents. A fifth symbol glowed in its place and suddenly fire erupted, running in lines between each of the symbols, joining them to form a flaming pentagram.
A burning star, just like Theo’s premonition.
Olivia’s head dropped back against the wet snow, saturating her hair as she gazed up numbly at the dark sky. The lunar eclipse moved into place and the moon burned red, mocking her. Her eyes shifted as her mother’s face filled her field of vision.
‘Just tell me why?’ she whispered painfully.
‘Because I want what is rightfully mine,’ Isabel replied. ‘I want my birthright.’
‘Why kill those men?’
Isabel reached out and grasped Olivia’s shoulder, sinking her fingers into the bullet wound, causing Olivia to scream in agony.
‘Because you don’t raise a demon without a leash,’ Isabel studied her fingers. They were coated with Olivia’s blood, which ran down her skin and pooled in her palm. She rose to her feet and walked away from Olivia, pulling a knife from her cloak.
Olivia gritted her teeth and rolled to her side, gasping at the white hot pain of her wound, which was bleeding profusely. She dragged herself along the floor, trying desperately to pull herself upright.
Isabel calmly sliced across her palm and watched as her blood seeped through the wound, mixing with her daughter’s. Pressing her palm to the bark of the tree she closed her eyes and murmured something too low for Olivia to hear.
‘No,’ she croaked, trying to reach her mother.
A deep groaning began beneath the ground she lay on. She could feel the tremors, like the aftershock of an earthquake. Suddenly with a tremendous groan and a sharp, loud, splintering sound the tree split down the center and peeled outwards in an explosion of flame and heat.
Theo rushed back toward the shield at the agonizing sound of Olivia’s pain-filled scream. He’d watched helplessly as her mother had walked to the tree and touched it. He watched it split wide open belching fire and smoke. He knew what happened next, he’d dreamed it enough times, and if he didn’t get to her, Olivia was going to die.
The rage burst through his veins, surging through him like adrenalin. He raised his fist to strike the shield as he’d done a hundred times before in his dream, but this time he’d forgotten he was still holding Olivia’s knife. He brought the blade down against the barrier and it sparked and buried itself in an inch. The area surrounding it cracked outward like a spider web. Grasping the knife more firmly, he braced his shoulder against the shield and pushed it in further. The shield was slowly giving, the crack spread out, like glass slowly splintering under a great weight.
The black hilt heated beneath his touch until it was white hot, the lettering on the blade bursting into bright blue flame. He could feel the flesh of his hand burning, but he refused to let go, his only thought to get to Olivia.
The hilt of the knife began to soften and black tentacles snaked out and wrapped themselves around his hand like vines. It snaked further up his skin, entwining around his wrist and sliding under his sleeve, up his uninjured forearm to his elbow and further until he could feel it wrap tightly around his bicep. It squeezed tighter and tighter, until he could feel it sinking into his skin.
It burned as it went, but he kept on inexorably pressing forward. The hilt had completely disappeared into his flesh now and the blue-black blade also began to liquidize and wind up his arm following the same path. His whole arm was burning, the knife had completely melted and been absorbed into his flesh. It was now his own hand he pushed through the shield. Suddenly he felt it give and he ripped his way through.
Olivia watched as a naked, reddened form slowly clawed its way out of the exposed carcass of the tree. He climbed to his feet, unconcerned with his nakedness. He stepped forward, the snow beneath his bare feet hissing and melting instantly at the heat from his skin. His gaze locked on Isabel and something seemed to pass between them. He turned to Olivia lying bleeding on the snow and stalked toward her with agonizing slowness.
‘Take one more step toward her Nathaniel and I will kill you.’
The demon looked up as Theo stepped in front of him.
‘Theodore Beckett,’ his black eyes narrowed as a smile tugged at his lips. ‘You caused me a great deal of trouble. I was most put out that I couldn’t carve my frustration out of your skin. I’m delighted to have another opportunity.’
Theo looked at the creature he had known three hundred years ago as Nathaniel Boothe. He didn’t look exactly like the Nathaniel he knew, the eyes were different, the hair a slightly different color, the shape of his mouth was not the same, but regardless it was Nathaniel. He knew it deep down in his gut.
Suddenly, he understood what Sam had been trying to tell them about not raising a demon in its true form. That’s why Isabel had killed those men and harvested their organs and tissue. She had been building the demon a body. But not just any body, it was a prison of flesh. As long as he was trapped in that human form he was at the mercy of the person who’d raised him. Isabel had bound Nathaniel to her, but the question was why?
Nathaniel raised his hand, but all Theo felt was a slight nudge as the Demon aimed his power at him, it seemed to be deflected somehow. Nathaniel growled and tried again, this time more forcefully, but again Theo didn’t move. Diana’s crescent moon grew hot against his skin underneath his clothes, the amulet somehow protecting him from supernatural power.
Smiling slowly Theo stretched his hand and flexed his fingers. He felt the black and blue metal seared into his arm suddenly flow back into his palm and coalesce back into a blade. The knife was a part of him now; he could call it forth at will. Nat
haniel snarled and reached for Theo, intent on physically harming him, but Theo brought his arm up and sliced across Nathaniel’s chest under the demon seal scorched into the flesh over his heart. Nathaniel stumbled back as the wound split open and bled.
‘ISABEL’ Charles roared as he followed Theo through the tear in the barrier. His eyes were blazing with fury as he beheld his wife for the first time in twenty years.
‘We have to go,’ Isabel gripped Nathaniel’s arm and pulled him away from Theo.
‘I’m coming back for you Theodore,’ he hissed darkly as he grabbed Isabel and they both disappeared.
The circle suddenly exploded outward, knocking everyone to the ground and flattening the trees immediately surrounding the clearing, like dominoes.
Theo crawled over to Olivia and pressed his hand to her wound to stop the bleeding. He raised his head and found himself looking into the eyes of Olivia’s father.
‘She’s lost a lot of blood,’ he looked down at his daughter gently.
Jake and Mac approached Charles with their weapons drawn.
‘Put the guns down gentlemen,’ he looked at them calmly. ‘Believe me I could disarm you quite easily.’
Helga and Davis appeared behind Mac and Jake with weapons of their own trained on the two men.
‘Looks like we have ourselves a little Mexican standoff. Put your gun down Jake,’ Charles looked at the young man who’d run tame in his house as a child. ‘Trust me, you are going to want to hear what I have to say.’
‘Jake,’ Theo interrupted, ‘we need to get Olivia back to the house.’
Jake looked down at her and nodded, holstering his weapon.
‘Let’s get her back to Louisa,’ his cool gaze locked on Charles, ‘and after that you have a lot of explaining to do Mr Connell.’
28.
‘What the hell happened?’ Louisa looked horrified as Theo laid Olivia out on the island in the kitchen, her blood pooling on the tiled top.
She retrieved a pair of scissors and started cutting away her clothes to get to the wound, ignoring all the other people crammed into the small room.
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 45