The Demon Collector

by Jon Mayhew

  Edgy’s reverie was shattered by a soft thump as Janus landed on the ice floor. He stood and stared up at the colossal demon.

  ‘Moloch,’ Janus hissed, his eyes wide and excited. ‘Look at the wound . . .’

  Edgy felt a wave of disgust wash over him as his eyes tracked down the demon’s powerful, green torso, studded with boils and sores, to the gaping raw hole where its heart should have been. Edgy’s chest felt tight, as if an iron band had been wrapped around it. He panted for breath.

  ‘It’s horrible,’ Edgy gasped, looking away from the scales that crusted the green skin, the leathery bat’s wings folded behind its broad back. Sweat trickled down Edgy’s back despite the coldness of the cave. What’s wrong with me? He could feel the blood pumping through his head and neck.

  ‘A terrible beauty,’ Janus whispered, shivering. He rummaged around in his pack and pulled out a small folded-up object. ‘This is a mattock,’ he said, opening it out into what looked like a small spade with a pick blade on the other side. ‘You must climb up to the chest and break through the ice that covers the hole.’

  Edgy’s head spun. ‘Up there, Mr Janus?’ He gazed up to the demon’s dark scar. It had to be a hundred feet at least. His whole body pulsed now. Every beat of his heart felt like an explosion. ‘But why?’

  ‘The ice is thinner there. If we begin to strip it away from the top then the job will be easier. Don’t worry – look, there are footholds,’ Janus said. His voice stayed low but trembled with anticipation. ‘Use the mattock to deepen any crevices that you can stand in.’

  ‘No,’ Edgy said, twitching and blinking.

  ‘What?’ Janus’s voice was barely above a whisper. He stared at Edgy in disbelief.

  ‘It’s horrible, Mr Janus,’ Edgy said, holding the professor’s stern gaze. ‘So many people have died. We’re trapped. We should be findin’ a way to escape instead.’

  ‘After all I’ve done.’ Janus shook his head then rubbed his eyes and groaned through his hands. ‘After my poor brother’s sacrifice. We treated you like family.’ Janus threw his hands down. ‘And this is how you repay us,’ he spat.

  ‘No, Mr Janus, I didn’t mean –’

  ‘What did you mean, eh?’

  ‘I just –’

  ‘Do you think I would leave us marooned?’ Janus hissed, shaking with emotion. ‘Do you think I’m some kind of madman? Do you think I wanted all those people to die?’

  ‘No, I’m sorry.’ Edgy took a deep breath, grasping the mattock and digging his foot into the first toehold in the ice.

  The wall didn’t turn out to be as sheer as Edgy had imagined. That didn’t make it any less slippery though. Each step required careful thought. His head throbbed and pulsed. Edgy hacked into the ice, trying to ignore the hideous form that lay inches beneath. The mattock splintered the smooth surface, gripping and reassuring Edgy. He paused at one point, hanging on to the mattock and staring down at the green mottled skin at his feet.

  ‘Keep going, Edgy,’ Janus called from below, his voice echoing across the chamber.

  Edgy heaved on the mattock and kicked his toes into the freezing hold underfoot. Finally, he looked down to see a dark gap, red and ragged, beneath the ice.

  ‘I’ve found it, Mr Janus,’ he called down.

  ‘Break all the ice over the hole. It should be quite thin by now, if my research is correct,’ Janus called up.

  What research? Edgy pushed his toes further into the footholds he had carved. He bent his knees against the ice and then raised the mattock above his head. His heart thundered, making the cavern spin.

  Edgy smashed the mattock down. The ice shattered like a pane of glass, sending shards tinkling around the cavern. His stomach lurched as the stench of rotten flesh took his breath away. For a second, the gory pit in front of him filled his vision and his left foot slipped. He whacked the mattock into the ice at the side of the hole as he fell backwards. The grating screech of the metal gouging the ice tore at Edgy’s ears as he plummeted down the side of the wall. Splinters of frozen water showered him, burning his face as he scrambled against the slick wall, trying to get some purchase. The mattock kicked and jarred, numbing his hand and arm, but it slowed his descent.

  With a yell of defiance, Edgy threw himself backwards as he neared the floor and landed on his feet, panting for breath. The whole cavern echoed with his cry.

  ‘Excellent, excellent,’ Janus said, hopping from one foot to the other. ‘That’s saved a lot of work.’

  Edgy looked back at the huge furrow that ran down the wall. The whole cavern creaked ominously. Cracks appeared along the ice that encased the demon.

  ‘One sharp blow and we’ll have the whole lot down.’ Janus beamed. His smile made Edgy shiver despite the pounding of the blood through his body and the sweat that slicked his temples. Edgy slumped down on the ground, exhausted. He didn’t care that it was cold. His whole body felt drained.

  ‘I don’t feel too right, Mr Janus,’ he said, rubbing his eyes.

  ‘That’s to be expected,’ Janus murmured. He set his pack down and reached inside it with shaking hands. Edgy watched flatly as Janus drew something from the bag, concealing it with his jacket cuffs. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said. ‘Just need to make a few preparations.’

  Edgy frowned. Preparations? He watched Janus stride off behind the ice pillar. What does he mean? He dragged himself to his feet. Janus’s bag lay on its side, open. Its contents hung out. The book lay there. The Legends of Moloch. Edgy leaned over and picked it up. He flicked through the pages. Janus could be back any second.

  The page flopped open and Edgy recognised the pictures straight away. They were the ones he’d seen just before the Leviathan attacked – Satan cutting Moloch’s heart out, Salomé with a babe on an altar, preparing to kill it with the spiral knife. Edgy read the text.

  Salomé, her wish granted, feared Satan’s distrust. She knew that only if she held the heart of Moloch could she keep the ear of Satan. So Salomé hid the heart where nobody would ever find it. Not even Satan himself.

  A scraping sound brought Edgy back to the cave. Janus was grinding something. Sharpening it. Edgy frowned and looked down at the book again.

  Salomé tricked men into lying with her and bore children by them. She took the heart and placed it in the chest of her cleverest, strongest child.

  The scraping of metal on stone continued, drawing Edgy’s attention, making it hard to concentrate on the book.

  This way, she thought, the heart would never be still but would roam the earth. Not even Satan would think to look into the heart of a young one. But every thirteen years, Salomé had to show Satan that she still had the heart.

  The grinding sound stopped.

  So every thirteen years Salomé would seek out her cleverest and strongest child and cut its heart out, placing it in a new child after she had shown Satan that it was still safe.

  ‘Happy Birthday, Edgy.’ Janus stood before him, a long spiral blade in his hand. Edgy glanced down at the book.

  The same blade as in the pictures. The same knife that Satan held to cut out the heart of Moloch. The same knife that Salomé held to cut out the heart of the babe.

  The same heart that pounded and hammered in his chest now.

  Eager to burst out and rejoin its true master.

  Edgy scrambled to his feet as Janus stepped forward with the Devil’s Dagger.

  ‘Mr Janus, what’re you doin’?’ Edgy whispered, his voice dry and quaking.

  ‘Think about it, Edgy,’ Janus hissed, wide eyed. ‘Once I put the heart of Moloch back into his chest, he will awaken. And I will be the greatest daemonologist in the world.’

  ‘But what about me?’ Edgy gasped. A vague, half-formed thought buzzed around in the back of his mind. If he carried the heart, it meant something else. What is it?

  ‘You’ll be famous too, don’t you see?’ Janus raised his eyebrows as if to show it was an easy and obvious conclusion. ‘You’ll always be known as the las
t boy to carry Moloch’s heart!’

  ‘You can’t, Mr Janus. If you bring Moloch back, he’ll destroy everything.’

  ‘Not if I ossify him before he truly wakes.’ Janus beamed, his face an insane mask of excitement. ‘Imagine me, Envry Janus, the captor of an arch-demon! They’ll make me chancellor of the Society. My brother’s so-called achievements will be forgotten.’

  ‘No, Mr Janus. This is madness,’ Edgy panted, backing away. ‘Think about what yer doin’.’

  ‘Oh I have, Edgy. I’ve thought long and hard.’ He moved closer, the knife reflecting the blue light of the cavern on to his face. ‘I’ve sat and watched my brother take all the credit for my hard work. I’ve thought about his patronising, pompous ways.’

  ‘But you said yerself, he died for us.’

  ‘Ha!’ Janus spat. ‘I only said that to get you to break the ice on Moloch’s body.’

  ‘But he cared about you. He saved your life so many times,’ Edgy pleaded.

  ‘Is that what he told you? Poisoned your mind against me as well, eh?’ Janus’s mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed. ‘Well, Mauldeth won’t win.’

  ‘He’s dead, Mr Janus, you saw him on the ship.’ Edgy’s back pressed against the creaking cave wall. ‘You mustn’t do this.’

  Janus wasn’t listening. He threw himself at Edgy, knifepoint first.

  Talk of the devil and he’s sure to appear .

  Traditional proverb

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  No Saviour

  Janus’s strength surprised Edgy. The old man was small but his whole weight bore down on him. Janus sat on Edgy’s chest, pinning him. Edgy clamped both hands around the professor’s skinny wrist, panting and sobbing as the sharp tip of the blade inched towards his chest. Edgy’s heart boomed, his body aching with every massive pulse.

  ‘You can feel it, can’t you, Edgy?’ Janus hissed. ‘The heart is growing. It wants to return to Moloch. It’s not yours. Give up.’

  ‘No,’ Edgy grunted, hurling Janus away from him. The professor stumbled backwards.

  ‘Sokket knew,’ Janus whispered, gathering himself up. ‘He’d been following my research more closely than I thought. That’s why he tried to kill you – to destroy your body entirely.’

  ‘The picture, the crusher . . .’ Edgy gasped. ‘There would have been no trace of me left if Sokket had succeeded. That’s why he wanted me at the bottom of the sea.’

  But Edgy had no more time to think. Janus lunged once again, slashing at him with the knife and cutting through his coat. The torn clothes flapped and tangled around his arms. Janus’s knife slammed down inches away, burying itself deep into the ice. Janus cursed, tugging at the blade. Edgy staggered to his feet.

  He put his hand to his chest, feeling something hard and metallic. Salomé’s charm. She wanted to protect me. Janus lied about everything. She doesn’t want to put my heart back into Moloch.

  Edgy tore the charm from around his neck and held it high above his head. ‘Salomé,’ he cried, ‘help me. Janus is tryin’ to –’

  But Janus launched into Edgy and dragged him to the floor, the knife in his hand once more. Edgy fell back, cracking his head on the icy ground. Pain lanced through his skull and bile filled his mouth. He retched and rolled to one side. Janus’s twisted face filled his vision. The knife blade flashed blue and cold. And then Janus’s weight vanished from on top of Edgy.

  ‘Well, well, what have we here?’ Salomé’s voice echoed across the cavern. ‘What are you silly boys fighting about now?’

  Edgy never thought he’d be glad to hear that voice. He scrambled to his feet, wincing at the pain as he did.

  Salomé stood, dressed in a flowing white summer dress, lace and bustles. Her broad sun hat looked incongruous in the ice-blue cavern. She twirled a parasol on her shoulder and flashed a white smile at Edgy. Janus lay at Salomé’s feet, glaring up at her, his knife on the floor a few feet away from him.

  ‘Salomé,’ Edgy panted. ‘It’s Janus – he wants to put my . . . my heart into . . . that . . .’ Edgy pointed at the demonic body that loomed over them. The ice that encased it had melted slightly, making it easier to see the green scales and the purple veins that wormed through its flesh. Edgy’s own body pulsed with pain. He touched his nose. A circle of blood darkened the finger of his glove. Salomé would help him. She was . . . what? He couldn’t think straight.

  ‘That’s not wise, Mr Janus, trying to bring Moloch back.’ Salomé shook her head. Edgy thought he saw a flash of contempt in those perfect green eyes as she looked down on Janus. ‘Here’s a riddle for you, Edgy Taylor. Who is worse, demons or men?’

  Edgy shrugged, making his neck and shoulders throb. He wiped at the blood at his nose. The whole cave seemed more red than blue now and it swung back and forth as if the sea rocked it. His head burned. He blinked at Salomé, who giggled and swam in and out of his vision. ‘I don’t care,’ he slurred. Edgy fell to one knee.

  ‘Quite right too,’ Salomé smiled. ‘Personally, I don’t think there’s much to choose between them these days. Men might even be a little bit worse.’

  Janus had slipped his hand into his pocket. Edgy opened his mouth to warn Salomé but Janus flicked his finger and a demon pearl bounced out on to the ground, cracking open in a flash of light.

  ‘Oh my,’ Salomé said as the flash enveloped her.

  And then she was gone. Only a small black pearl remained, dark and round against the frozen ground.

  Janus hauled himself upright and limped over to the dagger, picking it and the demon pearl up. ‘She couldn’t stop me, Edgy,’ he panted, smoothing his long hair back. ‘She even sent that stupid boy, Bernard, to be my servant. He was trying to stop me. Oh, I had my suspicions about the skull of Aldorath. That’s why the lad cut it up.’

  Edgy’s legs gave way and he fell flat. Janus had betrayed him. Tears stung his eyes. The man he’d trusted had always been a killer.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Janus sneered, holding the pearl up between finger and thumb before tucking it in his breast pocket. ‘He was taking it to her when I caught him. And you thought he was running from Salomé when he died? It was me he was running from!’

  Edgy saw Janus bend to pick up the knife. His left arm felt numb.

  ‘How do you think I found you? I followed you back to the tannery after your encounter with the boy and your chat with Salomé. Her interest in you piqued my interest. I knew all about her long before you met her. And you brought me all the clues I needed . . . and the heart, of course. The big fat pumping heart,’ Janus said, swinging the blade in his hand. ‘Scrabsnitch’s book just confirmed my suspicion – that you carried the heart.’ Behind him, meltwater trickled down the cracked ice that was slowly giving up the body of Moloch. ‘Thammuz knew what I’d come for. That’s why I had to kill him. Him and those gormless demons that worked for me. That’s right, Edgy, they weren’t Salomé’s demons – they were mine!’

  ‘But I trusted you,’ Edgy gasped. He peered around, looking for something to defend himself with. The mattock lay discarded a few feet away. Grunting with every movement, Edgy dragged himself along by one elbow towards it.

  ‘That made it so much easier, you foolish boy.’ Janus paced towards him, the blade loose in the hand by his side.

  ‘I saved your life,’ Edgy said, reaching for the handle of the mattock.

  ‘It’s true I didn’t expect the demon to turn on me like that, but it was perfect. It made a bond between us. A bond that brought you here.’

  Janus strode nearer, his face grim and determined. Edgy’s hand closed on the handle of the mattock. I’ve been tricked. All these weeks, he’d idolised Janus, wanted to be like him, to be part of his ‘big discovery’. Tears stung Edgy’s eyes. It felt like the heart thundering within him would burst out.

  ‘The heart is trying to reach its master,’ Janus said, his face cold, his eyes steely. ‘Give it back.’

  ‘No,’ Edgy hissed weakly. He swung his arm in a wide arc. His sweaty palm sli
d along the handle of the pick and left his fingers plucking at the air.

  Janus flinched, covering his head with his arms. But Edgy watched in despair as the mattock flew wide of its target. Janus glanced over his shoulder and then raised the knife. A metallic clang halted him as the mattock hit the wall of ice encasing Moloch. The tool bent up against the wall and rattled uselessly to the ground.

  A second of silence followed, then the cracks in the weakened ice where the mattock had struck the wall began to open one by one, widening with snaps and fizzes. Larger fissures began to race across the wall, chasing each other, joining and growing, moving faster, groaning louder.

  Janus swayed, hypnotised by the disintegration of the wall. Slivers of ice clattered down to the ground, shower­ing them. Edgy curled up into a ball as larger chunks bounced down, thumping him in the back.

  Janus rolled Edgy over on to his back and raised the dagger. The shower of ice chunks grew heavier. Bigger pieces rained down around them, shattering on the hard ground. Edgy tried to shield his face but Janus pinned his aching arm with his foot.

  ‘I’m sorry to have to do this, Edgy,’ Janus said. ‘Really, I am. You were a good companion but this was always going to happen.’

  And then the room exploded with a deafening boom as the whole ceiling collapsed. Edgy suddenly found his arm free and rolled aside as boulders of ice smashed down from above like fists. The cavern rumbled as meltwater poured down on Edgy, soaking and freezing him. The cold revived him too.

  Glancing up, he saw the huge demon body, exposed now, standing frozen to the bare rock of the cavern. He threw himself towards it, hoping to shelter beneath its gargantuan form.

  Janus stood, knife in hand, blocking his path. He’d taken a blow to his temple from the ice and blood trickled from his nose, but his mad grin remained. He raised the knife and let out a chilling scream of rage.