by Amy Cross
Putting her hands over her face, Alice felt her whole body starting to shake.
“I take it,” Hannah continued, staring at Donald for a moment, “that this guy was a friend of yours?”
“Why would someone do this?” Alice asked, trying to stay calm. “He was completely harmless, he was just... Donald!”
“Demons don't need a reason to kill,” Hannah said, making her way over and looking down at Donald for a moment, before gently closing his dead eyes. “They need a reason not to kill. Plus, this one probably wanted to get a little practice in. If it's any consolation, your friend Donald seems to have passed on successfully to the next life. I can look him up later if you like, and tell you how he's doing, but I don't see any scorch marks so I'm pretty sure there were no complications.” She turned and saw that Alice was still looking away. “Braxatel is a fire demon and he's drawn to war,” she explained. “Wherever he goes, conflict and suffering follow. If he's decided to hang around in London for a while, he'll bring misery trailing in his wake. Coincidences, again. He'll arrange lots of little coincidences that'll slowly deliver war right here to this city.”
“It's insane,” Alice replied. “All of this insane, but you talk about it as if it's real.”
“It is real.”
“So what are you?” Alice asked, turning to her. “You know all this stuff about demons, you don't seem to age, you talk about things that don't even seem possible, and at the same time you act like a complete idiot sometimes. None of this stuff seems to phase you, you act like it's nothing out of the ordinary!” She paused, with tears in her eyes. “Hannah, what are you?”
“I've been around for a while,” Hannah said cautiously.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning... Death is usually pretty stable. People die, they go to where they're supposed to go, but every so often there's a kink in the system, something goes wrong, and so someone has to drop by and put it right.”
Alice stared at her. “And that's you?”
Hannah nodded.
“Which makes you... what, some kind of...” She swallowed hard. “I can't believe I'm even saying this, but are you some kind of angel?”
A smile crossed Hannah's lips. “No, I'm not some kind of angel. I just have a role to play in the way things happen. Sometimes the wheels of the universe need a quick kick to make sure they turn properly, and that's what I am. I'm a kicker.” She looked back down at Donald for a moment, before turning and heading to the door. “An angel? Seriously? In what universe could someone like me be an angel? If you're going to try coming up with ideas, at least try to stay within the realms of plausibility.” She stopped and looked out, staring at the shopping mall nearby. “He's in there. We have to go and find him.”
“Is it safe?” Alice asked.
“No, it's not safe.” She glanced over her shoulder. “He's a demon from the fifth, maybe even sixth circle of Hell. He's mad and he's missing the carnage he usually enjoys, but this time, instead of traveling the world to observe wars where they happen to break out, he's going to bring a big one crashing into the heart of London. I mean, wars pop up everywhere from time to time without demonic intervention, but this guy is going to incite one that's a thousand times worse. Plus, last time we faced him he burned down an entire orphanage, so no, it's not safe. I can't even tell you it's going to be okay, because I said that last time and then you ended up dying. Still, I need you, because through a series of coincidences – there's that word again – this demon is linked to you, and I can use that fact to my advantage.” She paused. “This isn't the time to get scared, Alice. This is the time to be braver than you ever thought possible.”
Alice shook her head.
“Follow me,” Hannah continued, turning and stepping out of the porta-cabin. Keeping her eyes fixed on the dark shopping mall, she headed toward the main door, finally stopping when she was only a few feet away. She paused for a moment, before turning and seeing that Alice was just a few paces behind.
“What choice do I have?” Alice asked, sniffing back tears. “Whether this is really happening or not... I can't hide, can I?”
“No,” Hannah replied, stepping forward and pulling the main door open, finding to her surprise that the padlock had already been broken, “you can't hide.” Slipping into the darkness, she made her way across the dirty floor before finally reaching the huge, dark atrium, lit only by moonlight streaming through a domed ceiling several levels up. Stopping in the middle, she turned and looked around at the vastness of the place, turning a little more until finally she felt slightly dizzy and had to stop.
“So this was built right on top of the old monastery?” Alice asked as she caught up.
“Symbolic, huh?” Hannah asked with a faint smile, before cupping her hands around her mouth and looking up again. “Echo!” she shouted, and sure enough her voice echoed all around. “Echo!”
“Hey!” Alice hissed, nudging her shoulder. “Shouldn't we be quiet? If you shout like that, he's going to know we're here.”
“He already knows,” Hannah replied, taking a few more steps forward and looking at the bare balconies above. “He's most likely watching us from one of the many, many shadows. He's a demon and he's new to all of this, but he's not dumb. He knows to be careful around me.”
“How would he know that?”
“I guess my reputation precedes me. At least among demons, anyway.”
“Why would -”
“Hello!” Hannah shouted, her voice echoing once again. “Why don't we make this easy? Let's talk about things sensibly and see if we can come to some kind of understanding. You can't keep on like this, you know you can't. I won't allow it.”
“You won't allow it?” Alice whispered.
“I won't.”
“But are you sure he's still here? Maybe he's already left again.”
“What's wrong? Scared?”
Alice turned to her. “Well... Yes.”
“I guess that's only natural,” Hannah continued, heading over to one of the broken escalators and starting to make her way up. She looked around, seeing an abandoned birthday store and then an abandoned clothes shop, both with boxes of old merchandise that had been left behind. “The first time you met him, he killed you, which is pretty definitive. The second time, he killed a load of nuns and orphans, which is textbook villainy, it could only have been worse if there'd been a box of puppies in the room at the same time.” Stopping at the top of the escalator, she started jumping up and down, causing the escalator's metal steps to clang loudly and echo throughout the abandoned mall. “Braxatel!” she shouted. “Come on! Why are you hiding away like some kind of goddamn pussy!”
“Do you really think you should say things like that to him?” Alice hissed, hurrying up the escalators after her. “You might make him angry.”
“Damn straight, I'll make him angry,” Hannah muttered, walking to a nearby balcony and leaning over, looking first down at the atrium below and then up at the glass domed ceiling high above. “Are you a de-man or a de-mouse?” she called out, before turning to Alice. “That didn't quite work, did it? I thought it'd be funnier but -”
Before she could finish, they both turned to look at the next set of escalators as they heard a faint banging sound from the next level up. The sound was gone in an instant, but it had sounded like someone bumping into a wall.
“Was that him?” Alice whispered.
“Only one way to find out,” Hannah replied, making her way over to the next escalator and hurrying up, taking two steps at a time until she reached the next level. “Hey, Alice,” she called out, “stay down there for a moment, will you?”
“Why?” Alice asked, panicking a little at the idea of being alone, even for a moment.
“Humor me.”
“But why?” Looking around, she realized she could barely see anything in the darkness, other than the edge of the balconies picked out by patches of moonlight.
“Humor me,” Hannah said again. “And trust me. Have
I ever let you down? Apart from the time I got you killed, obviously.”
Stepping over to the balcony, Alice looked out across the vast atrium. Back when she'd started working as a security guard, she'd immediately felt as if something was 'off' with the mall, but now she was staring to wonder whether the things she was experiencing were really happening. Was it possible, she wondered, that she was still strapped into a chair at the hospital, ready for her next round of ECT? Or had the fantasy started earlier? Had she ever actually been released from hospital in the first place, or had her mind deteriorated until she lived only in dreams and shadows? Looking around at the nearby balconies, she realized she had no idea how to tell what was real.
And then she saw him.
Her heart froze for a moment as she realized there was a figure standing in the shadows behind the opposite balcony, watching her. As she squinted, she realized that although she couldn't make out his face beyond a vague shape and two dark eyes, she could tell that his whole body seemed to be blurry, almost as if, like his voice, his body was trapped in an eternal echo. Instantly, she knew it was the same figure she'd encountered ten years ago in her parents' house.
“Hannah!” she shouted, taking a step back while keeping her eyes fixed on the figure, too scared to look away. “I see him!”
She waited.
No reply.
Turning, she looked toward the escalator.
“Hannah!” she called out, before turning back to see that the figure had disappeared from the other balcony. Looking at the darkness all around, she realized he could be anywhere and that unless he crossed a patch of moonlight, she wouldn't be able to see him until he was close.
She took another step back.
“Hannah!” she shouted. “He's here!”
Bumping against the wall, she spun around, half expecting to find the echoey figure right behind her. Turning again, she looked around and saw no-one, but she knew he must be watching her. Finally, she hurried back to the escalator and bounded up until she reached the next level.
“Hannah!” she shouted, looking all around. “Where are you?”
She waited again.
Silence.
Her heart was racing as she made her way to the balcony and leaned over. She frantically looked at the other balconies for some hint of Hannah's presence, or the figure again, before glancing down at the empty atrium and then back over her shoulder, just to make certain that no-one could sneak up on her. Swallowing hard, she took a step forward, before spotting movement in the shadows nearby. She froze, watching as a figure lingered in the darkness.
“Hannah?” she asked, hoping against hope that she wouldn't have to face the figure alone. “If that's you, this isn't funny. You need to -”
Before she could finish, the figure stepped forward, shimmering slightly in the moonlight. With a pale, echoing face and two dark, deep eyes, he stared straight at her.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered, desperate to run but too scared to turn her back even for a second. “What do you want?” she shouted, backing against the edge of the balcony. “Why can't you just -”
Before she could finish, she felt a flash of memory burst into her thoughts: she remembered being back at her parents' house ten years ago, with her mouth and eyes sewn shut, fumbling through the darkness. There had been an echoing voice, too, whispering into her ear:
“You're going to be open when I need you to be open,” he'd told her, “and closed when I need you to be closed.”
With that, he'd pulled the wire tighter through her lips, sealing them shut even as she tried again to scream. And then a few hours later – or had it been days? – she'd heard the police officer calling out from downstairs, and she'd desperately tried to get to him in time, to warn him not to come upstairs. She remembered pulling the wires free from her mouth and eyes, and seeing the officer's horrified face as he was approached from behind. And then...
“You killed him,” she whispered now as she watched the figure stepping toward her, edging closer to the shopping mall's balcony. Reaching into a pocket, the figure pulled out a dark length of wire.
“Right now,” his echoing voice hissed, “I need you to be closed again. So that you're ready the next time I need to enter you. We can ride between lives together.”
Frozen with fear, Alice watched as he stepped closer. She wanted to run, but at the same time she was too scared to move an inch, even as the figure reached out to her. Now that he was closer, she could see that it wasn't just his voice that echoed constantly: his entire body seemed to be constantly shifting fractions of an inch in every direction, as if two of him were fighting for one space. His face was bare and pale, save for two dark eyes that stared at her and a torn mouth with scraps of damaged skin trailing down.
“Outtatheway!” Hannah shouted suddenly, bundling into Alice at the last moment and knocking her against the wall, before grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the escalator. “What the hell's wrong with you? Lost the use of your legs?”
Stumbling, Alice turned back just as the figure turned to look at her, and she saw a flicker of anger in his eyes.
“When a demon is trying to grab your face,” Hannah continued, pulling Alice around the next corner and then stopping, “you don't just stand there and let him!”
“I couldn't help it,” Alice stammered. “I just... I couldn't move.”
“Yeah, well...” Peering around the corner, Hannah looked for some sign of the demon. “Come on, big boy, where are you?”
“What's your plan?” Alice asked.
“Plan?”
“You've got a plan, right?”
“I've got a concept!”
“A concept?”
Hannah turned to her. “The demon was more or less harmless floating above the city seventy years ago, right?”
“If you say so.”
“He was happy just watching human conflict and soaking up the bad vibes,” she continued. “He's only become a pain since he got brought down here and started hatching other plans. He's getting ambitious, and it doesn't suit him.”
“So?”
“So what comes down, must go up.”
“Meaning?”
“We put him back up there,” Hannah explained, hurrying past her and looking around the next corner, still without spotting any sign of the dark figure. “Like I told you, demons are very single-minded and focused. Most of them, including this guy, aren't so hot when it comes to complex plans. If we get him back up there high above the city, he'll just be happy to slip back into his old ways and watch the carnage again. It's while he's down here that he's dangerous, because now he doesn't know what to do, so he's trying to come up with something.” She turned back to Alice. “He's a like a -”
She stopped suddenly, wide-eyed with shock as she stared at something directly over Alice's shoulder.
“What is it?” Alice asked, feeling a jolt of fear running through her spine. “He's right behind me, isn't he?”
“Not quite.”
Alice turned, just in time to see a vast fireball bursting through the air. Ducking down around the next corner, she felt the entire floor shudder with the force of the explosion.
“He's panicking,” Hannah muttered, dropping down next to her as debris rained down all around them. “This is what demons do when they panic, they resort to their base urges, and this guy's a fire demon so... Not very imaginative, huh?” She peered around the corner and saw that a large section of the building was already burning. “We're high up, yeah?” she continued, turning back to Alice. “Third or fourth floor?”
Alice nodded.
“You know,” Hannah continued with a frown, “I think maybe I could have anticipated -”
Before she could finish, there was another loud explosion nearby. The floor shook again as a larger fireball burst along the next corridor and then blossomed out into the atrium, filling the air with debris.
“So he's just going to burn everything down?” Alice asked, he
r heart pounding in her chest.
“He's new to this,” Hannah replied, staring wide-eyed straight ahead as she tried to turn her concept into a fully-formed plan. “When in doubt, rip stuff up. It's the demon way. He's experimenting, he's not used to having a body. Hell, he's not very used to having a mind. He's the kind of demon who usually floats along following his instincts. I doubt he's had to think much at all. If he did, he might realize that he doesn't actually need you, Alice. He's just a little slow on the uptake, in the -”
The whole building shook as another explosion rocked the floor, and this time there was a distant, ominous grinding sound, as if the structure was starting to collapse.
“So what's the plan?” Alice asked. “Please tell me you know how to stop a demon.”
“There are two main options,” Hannah replied, peering around the corner again and watching as the figure edged closer, trailing fire in his wake. “One is to travel to a far-off castle named Abscotchia and fight three troll sisters for possession of the Arridian sword. We'd have to get there by boat, but I'm sure we could bribe some salty pirates to take us at least half of the way, maybe even to the edge of the haunted forest. After that, we'd have to face a tribe of Grodlings, creatures that take your deepest fears and bring them to life. It's all very Freudian.” She frowned. “Of course, that would take months.”
“So what's the other option?”
“The other option?” Hannah sighed, before getting to her feet. Grabbing hold of her belt, she adjusted her trousers. “The other option is that I go and beat the living daylights out of this creep. After all, he's not very used to having a fleshy body, so he can't be that hard to bring down. In theory.” She looked around the corner again, and although most of the balconies were on fire, she could see the figure still making its way closer. “I guess this is it then,” she muttered, turning back to Alice. “Get out of here, okay? I can take care of myself, but I can't take care of you too, we've already proved that. So get out of here.”
“I'm not leaving you,” Alice stammered.