Demon Storm

by Justin Richards

  ‘And how does that help?’ Knight asked.

  ‘Well, we should have enough historical data now to assemble a sequence of the last few hours. If we zoom in – and I have no idea if the resolution will be high enough …’

  Webby clicked with his mouse and the image homed in on the South-West. Ben had seen similar images when he played on Google Earth. But the pictures of the houses, streets and fields were overlaid with a sprinkling of coloured dots.

  ‘As good as it gets,’ Webby decided as the image began to break up into pixellated confusion. ‘But that yellow splodge there is your friendly imp in his box. And this one –’ he pointed to a deep orange mark close by – ‘must be Miss Daniella Lawton’s personal Grotesque. So let’s run the sequence through and see where it goes …’

  The image tracked across the countryside, through several small towns. It was all a confused blur to Ben. But he could tell that the orange stain that marked the Grotesque was following the yellow indicator that represented the imp in the Judgement Box.

  ‘She waited,’ Webby said, voicing what they could all see. ‘And then she followed you …’

  The image stopped. It showed an empty expanse of green and brown, broken only by a narrow line of black – a lane leading to a large building in grounds behind a stone wall.

  ‘She followed us here,’ Knight said quietly.

  ‘Why?’ Ben asked.

  Before anyone could answer, there was a loud beep from one of the computers.

  ‘Whoa – not good,’ Webby announced.

  ‘What is it?’ Rupam asked.

  Webby turned a screen so they could all see. It showed a picture of a man. He was walking towards the camera, caught in mid-step. The light was behind him, so he was barely more than a silhouette against a city street. St Paul’s Cathedral rose up impressively in the background.

  Maria leaned closer to see the screen, her hand to her mouth as if in surprise. ‘So who is he?’

  ‘Fellow investor in the New Age lab research. And several other projects,’ Webby said, reading off yet another screen. ‘He’s flagged in the database as a person of interest.’

  Ben was staring at the silhouetted figure. He had recognised the man at once – the way he was walking, the dip of his left shoulder. He had seen the tall, thin man before.

  ‘That’s him – the man who was at the home. The man I was telling you about.’

  ‘Carstairs Endeavour,’ Knight said. ‘I had hoped he was out of the picture after that business over ten years ago. But just recently there have been rumours …’

  ‘Trouble?’ Mrs Bailey asked.

  ‘Trouble,’ Knight confirmed. ‘I was afraid of this.’

  Maria turned away, shaking her head.

  ‘Oh, you don’t know the half of it,’ Webby said.

  He had turned back to the screen showing the satellite image of Gibbet Manor. Where there had been a single orange splodge close to the lane outside the main gates, there was now a swirling mass of red, like a thunderstorm on the TV weather map.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Ben said. ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘I was running it on fast-forward to track the Grotesque,’ Webby said. ‘We can’t keep the satellite link for much longer, but it’s caught up with real time.’ He tapped the screen with his index finger. ‘That’s what’s happening now, right outside.’

  ‘And red is, like, demons or spooks or Grotesques or whatever, right?’ Ben said.

  ‘Right,’ Webby agreed.

  Knight was staring at the screen, his expression grave. ‘There must be dozens of them out there now. That’s why the woman followed us. We led her here. She was looking for us all the time.’ He straightened up and turned to Mrs Bailey. ‘Get hold of Alistair Growl. Tell him we need him fast. And have Captain Morton send a containment team as quickly as possible. Let him know what’s going on.’

  ‘What is going on?’ Gemma asked.

  She seemed suddenly like a frightened little girl – it was easy for Ben to forget how young she really was. Younger than him.

  ‘We’re under siege,’ Maria told her.

  Knight nodded. ‘Those creatures out there are preparing to attack.’

  15

  UP UNTIL NOW IT HAD ALL SEEMED LIKE A bizarre game. Ben had only seen the demons – and the Grotesque – on the screen of his phone. Like they were part of a computer game or a movie. Separate from the real world.

  But now the tension and trepidation in the cellar made the threat seem very real. He wished he’d paid more attention to Growl in the lessons where they had been told how to banish demons and ward off malevolent spirits. Too late now.

  ‘The grounds are protected by spirit traps,’ Knight was saying. ‘But only to a degree. We don’t know exactly what sorts of creatures are coming, but we can’t hope to keep them all out.’

  ‘Why not?’ Ben heard himself ask. He remembered Pendleton Jones setting the traps. ‘Aren’t we protected against them all?’

  ‘Depends what they are,’ Knight told him. ‘We do have defences. But something that will keep a rat out of your house won’t necessarily stop an elephant, or a wasp. Not all these creatures are the same size or power. Different types have different abilities and characteristics. The defences will keep them all out for a while, like a wall, but some will get through eventually. And we have to hold them off until Growl and Captain Morton get here.’

  *

  Maria, Rupam and Gemma seemed to know what to do. Ben followed them up to Knight’s study, where Mrs Bailey was talking urgently into the phone.

  Knight unlocked a cupboard at the far end of the wall. Ben got a confused glimpse of the clutter inside, but Knight pulled out several items, then closed and locked the door again.

  ‘Safe areas, one in each room, just in case anything gets inside the house,’ Knight announced. He tossed a box of chalk to Mrs Bailey. ‘Standard pentagrams. You’ll need to sprinkle salt round the edge of each.’

  She already had her hand up, exactly positioned to catch the chalk. She hung up the phone and hurried from the room.

  Knight gave Gemma an old leather-bound book.

  ‘Spells?’ Ben wondered.

  ‘Prayers,’ Rupam told him. ‘In different languages and from different faiths.’

  ‘Why not just the Lord’s Prayer or something?’

  ‘Depends what the demons believe in,’ Rupam said, as if that was obvious.

  He took what looked like an old lantern from Knight. Inside was a stubby yellow candle. Three of the fours sides of the lantern were mirrors, while the last was glass. Welded to the front of the lantern was an arrangement of lenses on metal rods so they could be swung away and put back in any order to focus and direct the light.

  Maria was strapping on a long, thin silver sword. Knight held what looked like an ordinary handgun.

  ‘Is that it?’ Ben protested. ‘What about me?’

  ‘You’re still learning,’ Maria told him.

  ‘I can help,’ Ben insisted.

  Knight nodded. ‘Of course you can. Go to the kitchen. Get a saucepan or something and fill it from the water cooler in the corner by the sink. If you can find some way to fire it at them as they attack, so much the better. If not, just chuck it.’

  ‘Water?’ Ben said.

  They were treating him like the new kid. Which, OK, he was. But he could help.

  ‘It’s holy water,’ Gemma said.

  The others were already hurrying from the room.

  ‘But I’ve drunk from that water cooler,’ Ben said.

  ‘You’re not a demon, are you?’ Rupam asked, grinning despite the situation and the urgency.

  ‘Well, no.’

  ‘Won’t do you any harm, then. I’ll come with you, but get a move on.’

  ‘Have you done this before?’ Ben asked as he filled a jug and poured the water into a large cooking pot.

  ‘Not too full,’ Rupam warned, ‘or we won’t be able to lift it. And no, I haven’t. Practised, trained
, even fought a few demons out on missions. But not here. Not like this.’ He sounded nervous.

  ‘What if they get inside?’

  ‘They’ll send us to Hell.’

  Ben wasn’t sure if that was a joke, an expression or the truth. He didn’t ask. He didn’t want to know.

  ‘What now?’

  ‘We get out there and help. I need matches to light the lantern.’ He found some in a cupboard by the sink. ‘This will be useful too,’ Rupam said, taking out a bottle of surface cleaner that had a spray attachment on the top. ‘Not much left – empty it out and you can fill it with water.’

  ‘Holy water pistol,’ Ben said.

  They both laughed, but it was nervous laughter.

  Outside the night sky was split by a sudden flash of lightning. There was no accompanying thunder.

  ‘They’re breaking through,’ Rupam said.

  *

  The battle was a blur to Ben. Huge security lights illuminated the grounds of the house and the main driveway. He had taken up position with Rupam near a large tree which they both thought might offer some cover. Gemma and Knight were on the other side of the drive. Maria stood in the middle of the drive, the wind whipping at her dark hair and blowing it round her face as she held her sword aloft. For once, her sour expression exactly matched the situation.

  Ben felt out of place and afraid. He was standing in the shadows holding a spray bottle of water. Even Rupam seemed better-armed. The light from his lantern was directed by the mirrors inside and focused by the lenses at the front, so that it shone out like a flickering torch beam.

  But there was little time to complain. Almost as soon as they had taken up their positions, the attack began. An invisible attack, accompanied by a chittering, giggling sound. The air seemed to shimmer – though that might have been the tears in Ben’s eyes.

  Maria sliced with her sword, practised moves that were at once elegant and brutal. Ben saw the sword slow and rebound as it struck the hidden creatures. He heard the ring of silver on their stony bodies.

  Gemma was reciting from the book, shouting into the increasing wind. Beside her, Knight held his phone open in one hand and aimed his handgun with the other.

  Rupam leapt out from behind the tree, scanning his beam of lantern light across the grounds like a searchlight. Confused images appeared in the light as it moved – creatures made briefly visible. Shrieking in agony and steaming in the heat from the light beam.

  Ben had his own phone out, copying Knight. But the image was a wash of swirling colour. He squirted the water at anything that moved, or he thought moved. And into empty space. Everywhere. On the tiny screen he saw something like an upright, grinning rat get a face full of the spray. It exploded into dust.

  Then he saw a group of three spiky, snarling creatures rush at Gemma. She stood her ground, reading from the book, but Ben could see she was trembling. He ran forward, squeezing the trigger of the spray bottle. The creatures clawed at Gemma, but she kept reading. One of them fell away, clutching its angular head. Another caught a burst of spray and staggered back, snarling in pain.

  A shot from Knight’s gun blew the last of the creatures into fiery pieces and Gemma was safe again.

  Maria gave a yell of what might have been anger or elation, and charged down the drive. The silver blade whirled and cut, sliced and stabbed.

  ‘Behind you!’ Rupam shouted. He swung the lantern and picked out a hideous creature like a gnarled, bald garden gnome standing behind Maria, its clawed hands outstretched. Smoke rose from the creature’s fingers as it froze in pain and fear.

  Then Maria spun round, the sword connected, and Ben looked quickly away.

  A shot from Knight’s gun exploded apparently in mid-air. A fireball spattered over the shape of an imp-like demon. Its wings flapped furiously as it rose out of the fire, shrieking in rage.

  Rupam had run after Maria and Ben followed. Knight and Gemma hurried to join them – all five standing across the driveway, daring the invisible attackers to try again.

  On his phone, Ben could see the creatures scuttling away. He didn’t have to ask if they would return.

  ‘That was the creature Ben saw,’ Gemma told them, pointing. ‘Daniella Lawton’s Grotesque.’

  ‘Leading the assault,’ Knight agreed. ‘She’ll be watching from somewhere nearby.’ His voice was grave. ‘We were lucky. Perhaps they didn’t expect such fierce resistance. They expected to sneak in and take us by surprise. But they’ll soon be back and we’ll have to retreat into the house. I need to make sure Mrs Bailey’s finished chalking out our defences.’

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ Maria told him.

  Knight nodded. ‘No risks,’ he warned. ‘Hold them off as best you can, but fall back to the house and we’ll wait there for Morton’s team and Growl.’

  ‘Right, new positions,’ Maria ordered as soon as Knight was gone. ‘Gemma, you stay with me. Rupam, with Ben.’

  ‘I don’t need looking after,’ Ben said.

  ‘Rupam does.’

  It was the closest to a joke that Ben had heard from Maria. He turned away to hide his amusement, pretending to be looking for a new hiding place to wait for the inevitable attack. And suddenly he was aware of movement in the gloom by the tree where he and Rupam had sheltered before. A figure – waving.

  It was Sam.

  Without waiting for Rupam, Ben ran back to the tree. The wind was thrashing the branches, making twigs and leaves fall in a swirl.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Ben had to shout to be heard, even though he was standing right next to her. ‘Where have you been? I thought – by the lake – I thought I’d imagined it all.’

  ‘I can’t be seen here. Not by them.’ Sam was looking down towards the gates, in the direction from which the first attack had come.

  ‘But why not? How did you find me? Have you come to help?’ He had so many questions he didn’t know where to start. ‘Why did you leave me?’

  Sam was still looking down the drive. ‘You need to find a way to turn this to your advantage. They know where you are now – where Knight is based. You need to find out where they are.’

  ‘Great, yeah, easy. How do I do that? You just turn up after all this time and start giving orders.’

  Sam was looking over Ben’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘It’s good to see you, Ben.’

  But he barely heard her as he turned to see Rupam running over to join them.

  ‘It’s all right. It’s only Rupam. He’ll –’

  But Sam had gone, swallowed up into the night.

  ‘You all right?’ Rupam asked.

  ‘Fine.’ Ben said, still staring into the darkness. ‘That was … Did you see anyone?’

  ‘What, just now?’ Rupam shook his head. ‘You sure you’re all right?’

  Ben nodded quickly. Was his imagination playing tricks on him? Was he going mad? But Sam had been here. He wanted to tell Rupam, but instead he heard himself saying, ‘I was just thinking, there must be some way to turn all this to our advantage. Some way to find out who these people are and where they’ve come from. That woman, whatever her name is …’

  ‘Daniella Lawton,’ Rupam said at once.

  ‘Yes – she must be nearby. Gemma saw her Grotesque. Knight said they stay close together, didn’t he? So maybe we can find her.’

  ‘How does that help?’

  Ben wasn’t sure it did. ‘We could get her car number or something,’ he said, stooping to refill his spray bottle from the cooking pot full of water beside the tree. But it sounded a bit lame. ‘Just – do something rather than wait here for those things to attack again.’

  Rupam was frowning. ‘You’re right. If we can find her, then maybe the Grotesque will call off the attack. If it knows she’s in danger …’ He was nodding enthusiastically, excited by the idea. ‘Yes, it might work.’

  ‘We can sort her out with a squirt of water and a bit of light from your magic lantern,’ Ben joked.

  Suddenly it wasn’t seeming
such a good idea. But Rupam wasn’t listening.

  ‘Come on – before they attack again!’

  He set off quickly through the grounds, keeping to the darker shadows as he led the way towards the main gates. The lenses over the lantern were set to cast just a pale glow that was enough to illuminate the ground in front of them.

  ‘We should tell the others,’ Ben said.

  ‘And have Maria stop us?’

  ‘Better she stops us than something else does,’ Ben murmured.

  From behind came the sound of a renewed attack. The clang of Maria’s sword, her shouts, the shriek of the creatures of the night.

  ‘We have to go back,’ Ben shouted above the noise.

  ‘No! It’s too late. We have to draw them off.’

  Ben could tell that Rupam would not be dissuaded. But a quick glance at the screen on his mobile showed him dozens of creatures pouring through the main gates and up the driveway. If they were to create a distraction, then they needed to get to the woman some other way.

  ‘They haven’t spotted us,’ Rupam said. ‘They seem completely focused on getting past Maria.’

  ‘They’ll see us if we head for the gates. Over the wall,’ Ben decided. ‘I’ll give you a bunk-up. Give us your lantern.’

  He made a step out of his clasped hands and heaved Rupam up. The wall was high, but Ben could just reach up enough to pass Rupam back the lantern. With the light balanced on the top, next to Ben’s spray bottle, Rupam reached back down to haul Ben up to join him.

  On the other side of the wall, they could see the woman standing by her car, just outside the grounds, the headlights shining past her so she seemed to be emitting the light from her dark silhouette.

  Rupam aimed the lantern, moving different lenses in and out of position. But it had no effect.

  ‘She’s no demon,’ he grumbled. ‘She’s real enough.’

  ‘Come on,’ Ben said.

  He leapt down from the wall. It was a long way and his legs jarred with the impact even though he bent his knees and fell forward.

  Rupam dropped down beside him. ‘What now?’