by Jenna Grey
Bert gave a grave nod.
“That makes dreadful sense, like car stealing, best to keep switching to throw the police off the trail. Hel needs Gaunt and Winchard here on the earth to carry out her original plan – she would do everything she can to help them―”
Polly wasn’t sure how she should feel. The thought that her uncle and Winchard were out there somewhere wandering about in new bodies was just too much for her to cope with. She thought she had finally freed herself from him, but here he was, back from the grave before he’d even been buried.
“I guessed as much,” Bert said. “Gaunt tried to take possession of my body while I slept, but he wasn’t strong enough. He obviously decided to settle for what he could get. I believe he’s given up trying to take me now, but I’ve taken every precaution to keep him out.”
Polly felt sick to her stomach.
“I believe you, but the thought of him being back here. Do you know what he looks like now?” Polly asked, “For all we know he could walk into the shop and we’d have no idea it was him.” She thought back to when Liam had first visited the shop, and she’d almost convinced herself that he was one of Gaunt’s minions.
“Polly, they won’t be able to get in here, and we gave ourselves sigils, we are all quite safe. I’ve warded the place, and they won’t be able to set foot over the doorstep. I promise.” Bert said.
Blaine pulled out his phone.
“I’ve got a photo here if it makes you feel better. They were a gay couple. Decent people, they didn’t deserve this,” Blaine said, holding the phone up for her.
Polly looked at the snapshot of the two of them together, snatched from Facebook. They were on holiday somewhere by the looks of it. They looked so happy. One of them, the young one was wearing a tee-shirt that said, ‘I love bears’.
“What’s happened to their souls then?” Polly asked, her voice cracking a little as she fought back tears.
Blaine’s face tightened.
“Pushed out and gone on to wherever they were destined to go. In this case, a pretty decent place, I think. They seemed like nice people.”
“That is just so wrong,” Polly said, her tears fleeing to be replaced by sheer blind fury. “I want that man dead for good. I want him rotting in the lowest reaches of Hell where he belongs.” She was surprised at the hate in her voice.
"And we will see that it happens, sweetheart," Bert said, raising her hand and placing a kiss on the back of it. “I promise.”
Blaine had gone quiet, and Polly thought that he hadn't been listening to the last few words spoken. He came back from wherever he'd gone and said:
"Look, I've got to say this, and you're not going to like it, but people are pressing me for answers. Up until today, I could keep you out of this, but I’ve had to tell them something now. I finally managed to get through to the Home Secretary and brought him up to speed. I've told them mostly the truth about Gaunt, without going into specifics. I told them that Gaunt was trying to call up Hel to gain power and that Winchard was in it with him. They don't need to know any more than that; blinding them with magic was easy. I said that they had been sacrificing people to summon Hel, but said nothing about Polly’s part in this. I just told them that you were helping me with the translations and giving me advice on Norse mythology. They seemed happy with that. Basically, I told them as much of the truth as I could without involving you any more than I had to."
“Thank you. We appreciate that. We know that this must be very hard for you,” Bert said.
“Yeah, thanks,” Finn said, and he obviously meant it.
“I can't imagine how you would explain any of this to the Prime Minister or some hard-nosed politician,” Polly said.
Blaine chuckled.
“Well, they’ve had time to get used to these sorts of things. A few years ago we nearly lost this world to hell gods. That time they did take some convincing, but having seen it once it was a lot easier this time. They trust me now, and they know I'm better equipped to deal with it. It's cool, I promise. You won't be getting any hassle about this later on. We've had files on you for years. We know you're the good guys.”
“Great. Big Brother is watching, ay? Doesn't really fill me with joy,” Finn said.
“They’ve got a bigger file on me,” Blaine replied. “Trust me. Nobody is invisible, not these days. Right now, I need to know if there’s any way we can track down Gaunt and Winchard.”
Bert finished off the last of his tea and gave him a beaming smile.
“Well, Jack, I’ve always boasted I can find anything, now is the time for me to prove it. I think our first port of call should be the house where the couple whose bodies they have stolen lived. I seriously doubt they would have gone back there, but I might be able to pick up a trail from there.”
“It’s late,” Blaine said, glancing at his watch. “Would you rather leave it until the morning? It’s been a hell of a day.”
“Up to you, Jack. When you get to my age, sleep is a luxury. Trust me. I won't be sleeping for a while yet. I’ll feel better if I’m doing something, and we really need to get those two bastards before they kill anyone else.” He looked across at Finn, who nodded and said:
“I better come; two heads are better than one.”
“Do you need me to come?” Polly asked, praying that they said no. The last thing she wanted to do was go and see the world those two poor souls had inhabited. She didn’t think she could bear seeing all of their personal possessions, more photos and know that it was partly her fault they’d died.
Bert shook his head without hesitation.
“I don’t think you should put yourself through any more today, sweetheart. Why don’t you stay here, have a nice bath and get your balance back? I do promise you’re safe." Bert gave her a hard stare as he said it and she realised that he was silently adding, "Liam is here, and he’ll take good care of you.”
She nodded.
“I would like to get clean. Will you be all right?”
“Oh. Right as ninepence, my dear. We’ll just have a quick freshen up and be off. The sooner we find those two, the better.”
“But what are you searching for, Gaunt and Winchard’s souls, or the bodies they inhabit?” Finn asked.
“Oh, the bodies,” Bert replied. “I’ll treat this as I would treat the finding of an object, rather than a person. I’m searching for the flesh and blood, not the spirit.”
Blaine raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s just hope they haven’t jumped ship.”
Polly was exhausted; she wanted nothing more than to soak in the bath, just soak and soak until she got the stench of death from herself. The smell of death seemed to have sunk into her very pores, and she wasn't sure she'd ever get clean again.
As soon as the others had gone, she went upstairs and found Liam waiting at the top of the stairs where he'd been eavesdropping on their whole conversation.
“Bloody brilliant,” he said. “Have you got any idea how terrified I’ve been? I was watching all that stuff on the news, knowing you were there, and not knowing what the hell was happening. One of you could have phoned me to let me know you were okay.”
Polly felt her ears go red.
“I... we couldn’t. Jack didn’t leave us alone for a minute. How were we supposed to explain to him who we were phoning? You don’t know what it was like. People were dying and I...”
She finally broke down, a great deluge of tears and sobs, unable to hold it in any longer. Liam grabbed hold of her and held her. She buried her face into his shoulder and didn’t even try to hold back her misery, howling her anguish like a banshee until it hurt so much she had to try and calm down or crack a rib.
“I’m sorry,” Liam said, “I was just so worried.” He pressed her face against his chest, his tee-shirt rapidly turning into a soggy mess as her tears soaked into it. She clung onto him, trying to stop, and eventually cried herself into a stupor, just emitting hiccuping sobs every so often.
“Oh Liam, it
was worse than anything you could imagine. I never want to go through anything like that again as long as I live.”
“I know, love. You need a bath and a good sleep,” he said, pushing the tear-soaked hair from her face and kissing her forehead.
She nodded, but was only half aware of what was going on. The drink had dulled her senses, but not nearly enough.
Liam helped her through to the bathroom.
“I’ll run the bath for you.”
Polly just stood in the doorway, propping herself up on the door jamb, watching him.
“Stay with me, please. I don't want to be on my own. I’m afraid that Hel will pay a visit,” she said, not looking at Liam.
“Dad’s warded the place pretty well. I don't think you need to worry about that.”
“Please, stay with me. You’ve seen me with nothing on before. I don’t see the point in me getting all prissy now.”
Liam nodded, but Polly couldn’t help but think that he was secretly quite enjoying himself. She watched him filling the bath and putting towels out for her. Should she be doing this? What would Finn say if he found out? She loved Finn, she really did, but sometimes he didn't understand, he tried too hard to protect her. Liam understood. She stripped off and realised that she was covered in dreadful bruises. Some of them were as large as a dinner plate, almost covering her shoulder, the ones at the top of her arms literally circled them. It must have been where they held her to stop her from trying to escape. She couldn’t even remember how she’d got some of them. She looked up, suddenly realising that Liam was staring at her.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You left me for a minute.”
“I'm okay. I’m fine,” she replied, but she knew it sounded hollow. He moved towards her slowly and traced his fingers over the bruise on her arm; it sent a shiver through her, but she didn’t know if it was one of pleasure or fear. “This shouldn’t be happening to you. You don’t deserve any of it.”
“None of us deserve what’s happening to us. God knows you've suffered as much as me. I know that's why you understand me better than anyone else.”
He simply nodded and moved away from her, leaning against the sink, just watching her, trying to keep his eyes locked on her face.
She slipped into the water and sighed as its wonderful warmth enveloped her.
“You should be proud of yourself. A lot of people would have caved in completely.”
“You mean as opposed to merely turning into a blubbering heap?” she said, managing a smile. She sank back into the water and let its warmth seep into her. “I haven’t really thanked you for saving me back at the warehouse, have I? That was incredibly brave of you.”
Liam gave a huff of a laugh.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, I didn’t save you. You saved yourself.”
Polly fell silent for a moment then said:
“I read what you put in your notebook. I didn’t mean to pry – I thought you were dead.”
He looked a little chagrined but hid it well.
“It’s the truth. I love you. No big deal,” he said, with a shrug.
Polly stared down into the water, wondering if she should mention the pages that had been torn out. No, best not, not right now.
“I love you too, but...”
“But you’re with Finn. It’s okay, it’s cool,” Liam said, with another shrug.
“No, it’s not cool. I feel terrible about how I treated you, accusing you of raping me. I never gave you a chance to explain."
“Come on, how were you supposed to feel? You thought you were making love to Finn and suddenly found me inside you. You were right to turn psycho.”
“I did a bit, didn’t I?”
“I swear to you, I literally found myself in the body just at that very last split second. When Finn orgasmed. He was in charge until then. I would never have done that to you. I don’t even know how it happened. I can only think that I... I wanted you so much that my subconscious did it without me willing it.”
Polly was beginning to feel like a dead haddock, her skin puffing up where she’d been in the too-hot water for too long. She got out, and Liam came and wrapped the huge bath sheet around her.
“I believe you,” she said. “We should try to put it all behind us.”
Polly knew, even as she said the words that wasn’t going to be possible. Liam did love her as much as Finn did and truth be known; she loved him as much as she loved Finn. Liam was never going to be happy seeing her with Finn, never.
“I wish I could be with both of you.” Dear God, had she really said that out loud?
Liam looked as if he’d been harpooned. He just stood there staring at her, his mouth open slightly, his eyes wide.
“Do you mean that?” he asked.
Polly rolled her eyes and gave an embarrassed grin.
“I never really meant to say it out loud, but yes, I wish I could. You know as well as I do that this isn't going to work, the three of us being here together, unless we sort something out. You are going to see Finn and me together, and you're going to start hating us, you know you will.”
Liam took hold of the top of her arms, firmly but not roughly, and forced her around to face him.
“No, I could never hate you or Finn.”
Polly put her hand to his cheek.
“If you didn’t, then you’d end up hating yourself. I can’t bear to see you miserable. You’ve suffered enough in your life. It’s about time you had a bit of happiness.”
He gave an exasperated sigh and backed off.
“I don’t think this is the time to think about it. People are dying out there, and we need to get our priorities straight. We’ll work it out, somehow, but you saying that you love me, it means a lot. For now, it's enough. You need to get some sleep, come on. I’ll tuck you in.”
Polly didn’t even bother to dress, but got into bed with the damp towel still wrapped around her. Liam sat on the bed and stroked her hair, the way her grandmother used to. It made her feel safe and happy.
“You’ll get a chill going to bed like that,” he said, pulling the covers up and tucking them under her chin. She managed to extricate herself from the towel and dropped it over the side of the bed. “Better.” He bent forward and placed a kiss on her lips, so tender, so full of love. Polly slipped her arms from under the covers and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him in for another kiss, longer this time, and Liam moved into it, eating at her mouth. He pulled away suddenly, breathless and looking a little afraid.
“You have no idea how much I want you, but not now, not like this. Get some sleep, and I’ll go and chuck a bucket of cold water over myself,” he said, giving a fragile laugh.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, but the truth is, I want you too.”
Liam just nodded and left the room.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The others arrived back in the early hours of the morning. It must have been a flying visit because it was an almost fifty-mile trip each way. Mind you, the way Jack drove...
Polly was loathed to get out of the warm bed, but she wanted to find out what had happened, so forced the sleep from her eyes, got dressed and staggered downstairs, hoping that Bert had put the kettle on.
“Did it all go okay?” Polly asked, as she came downstairs, yawning.
“Oh, sweetheart, you shouldn’t have got up. Go back to bed; we can catch up in the morning.”
“No, I'm fine, really, what happened? Did you find anything useful?”
“Oh, well, that depends,” Bert said. “We didn’t have to search for Ernest and Terry.” Polly knew what was coming next and she gave a little moan. “They were at home and both dead. Gaunt and Winchard had already vacated their bodies and have moved on.”
Blaine looked away for a moment, and Polly knew he was discovering their bodies all over again.
“Yep, the same as the others. Their spirits just gone.” He sounded so.... broken.
“I’m not really surprised,” Polly said. “My uncl
e and Winchard were both homophobic. I have a feeling that they just didn’t like the idea of being inside those bodies. I suppose that means that we have no idea who they are now.”
“No, but we will find them again; we will.” Blaine sounded more as if he were trying to convince himself than them. “I put a call through to get someone to come and take Ernest and Terry’s bodies to the mortuary. I’ll square it all with the coroner.”
“It’s going to cause another hoo-hah – two more bodies whose cause of death will have to be registered as ‘cause of death unknown.’” Finn said.
“So what do we do now?” Polly asked.
Blaine gave a bear yawn.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to grab some sleep. I’ve got a cot at the office; I’ll bunk down there for the night and start fresh in the morning.”
Bert did look so tired. Polly was anxious for him.
“Oh, we’ll get some sleep as well. I have a feeling it’s not going to be long before we’re under attack again. There is one thing you could do for me, though, Jack. See if you can find anything out about the warehouse they were using for Polly’s sacrifice. I want to know why they chose that place for it. It just doesn’t feel right somehow.”
“No problem, I’ll see what I can find out for you. In the meantime, you better keep your eye on the news and let me know if anything comes up you think I ought to know about.”
“We will, and I have the dreadful feeling you won’t be long in getting that call.”