CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Ben
“You,” said Quint, pointing at Raven. “You walk in front where I can see you.” Quint, using my hands, snatched hold of Raven and shoved her into the passageway which led from the lighthouse. She was now sandwiched between Jude and myself. Robert followed close behind with Max.
It was dark and narrow as we followed the path down. The foghorn still screamed out its warning—a constant reminder that the Cleaners followed close behind.
As we continued to descend, I could feel the tension grow. We were close now to the end. And it was the end that frightened me and caused the unease between us all. Even Quint was feeling it. Not that he would admit it, but I knew. There was a feeling of conflict, mistrust, and apprehension building up inside of me. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach shooting out sparks of anxiety through every limb, muscle, and bone. And although some of these feelings were mine, a lot came from Quint.
“Robert?” Max’s voice echoed down the passageway. “I’m scared. I’m really fucking scared. What are we doing here? We could just go—leave. We’ve got each other back now. Why put ourselves through this?”
I carried on walking, making it seem as if I wasn’t listening to their conversation.
“We have to go through with this, Max,” answered Robert. “If we don’t, we’ll never be free. We’ll always be looking over our shoulders. We’ve both lost so much. All we have is each other and I’m not losing you, too.”
“I guess… but… do you really think that Kassidy is Doshia? I mean, she’s been with me right from the start. I can’t help thinking that… well… she just doesn’t seem the demon type. She’s always been there to help.”
“Help as in… she smacks us both over the head, you mean?” whispered Robert.
“She may have done it for a good reason?” hushed Max, sounding unsure.
“Listen,” replied Robert, “I’m here now. You and me, we help each other, that’s what brothers do. We stick to our plan—remember? We fight until we’re free. Mum and Dad would have wanted us to look out for each other, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
There was a short break in Robert’s voice and the passageway fell silent. And then with his voice lowered, he said, “I fucked up. I messed up. I promised Sylvia I would save her. I told her she had nothing to fear and that I would protect her… but… I didn’t. And now… now I feel like the biggest ever let-down. What must she have thought of me? The guilt is unbearable. I can’t stand it. I’m not letting that happen again. I’m not gonna let you down. I won’t let you die, Max. This time, I won’t fail. Even if it means killing everyone else in the process. You and me, we’re gonna walk out of this together, okay?”
The silence returned amongst us and I wondered what Quint was thinking. He would have heard Robert and Max, but he made no comment. Was he thinking the same thing as me? I knew deep down that Robert would never live up to the promise he’d just made to Max. And it made me feel sad. Robert could never defeat the demons. He didn’t stand a chance, and even if Trabek, Nellore, Doshia, and Vectis were destroyed, Quint would not allow Robert to lay one finger on Eras, Kassidy, or myself, of course. So Robert’s belief in Kassidy being Doshia was a non-starter. Quint would do everything he could to keep Kassidy from harm because somewhere in his deluded mind, he believed that Kassidy was really Etta.
Breaking into the silence, Jude’s voice echoed along the rocky corridor. “I’m fucking starving. When I get out of here, I’m gonna eat the fattest burger ever!”
“If we get out of here?!” came Raven’s voice. “In case you haven’t realised, we’re heading into some cave-like home for demons. It’s not gonna be like some picnic, you know. And if there is gonna be any food, it will be probably be us on the menu!”
“I don’t know about that, Raven,” replied Jude, a sarcastic tone to his voice. “It may well be you supplying the food. You certainly turned Charlie into a bloodied piece of meat.”
Raven fell quiet for a few moments and then said, “I don’t really remember doing it. Maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe I was set up to look like I had done it. Maybe it was Max?”
“What?” said Max from behind me. “Why would I do that? How? I wasn’t even there with you!”
“You did give me the knife, though!” whispered Raven.
“What knife?” asked Jude.
“The knife that was meant to kill you,” hissed Raven. “It wasn’t my idea… it was Max’s.”
Coming to a sudden stop, Jude turned around, causing us all to bump into each other. “Is that true? Did you give the knife to Raven and tell her to kill me?”
“No… no… I didn’t,” argued Max.
“Liar!” spat Raven. “You told me you were too chicken and that I should do it.”
Scratching his head, Max said, “I don’t remember… you must be mistaken, Raven.”
“You weren’t too chicken,” continued Raven. “You just couldn’t kill Jude because… demons can’t kill demons!”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” shouted Robert. “What are you trying to imply? That Max is really a demon? My brother?”
“Well, it seems highly suspicious to me,” snapped Raven. “Why don’t we kill Max now before it’s too late?”
“What the hell?!” said Jude, his voice high with surprise. “How many of you have wanted to kill me?”
“You are a demon,” said Raven. “What did you expect?”
“Maybe I did give Raven the knife?” whispered Max, “I just can’t seem to remember clearly. It’s like all mixed up. Like a cloud covering a part of my brain. But I’m not a demon. That much I do know.”
“Well, while we’re on the subject,” sulked Jude, “Anyone else want to have a pop at me?”
“Yes!” spat Raven. “Robert wants to kill you. I heard him discussing it in the car.”
I watched as Robert shifted uncomfortably, eyes avoiding the dark stare of Jude.
“This is ridiculous!” shouted Robert. “You’re the one with blood all over you. It was you who went off with Kassidy and left us in the middle of nowhere. You’re just trying to stick the knife in so that no one suspects you.”
“Listen,” I stepped in. “Enough! Have you all forgotten what’s coming up behind us? What’s in front of us? We’re trapped in the middle here. If you all want to end this hell, then move—move on.” I pointed down the passageway. “Or you stay in the dark forever like I have. Like Jude has.”
I broke off and stared down into the dark passageway. This was no good. I had to get to Kassidy. She could be in serious danger and here I was being held back by a group of squabbling idiots. The promise I had made to Kassidy weighed heavily on my mind and I knew that she was probably thinking that I was never going to show up.
Can’t break promises, Ben, said Quint. Or can we?
“Shut up!” I mumbled, pushing past Raven. Even now, when time was running thin, Quint knew how to get to me. Even though he wanted the same thing as me. He still liked to go out of his way to wind me up.
I glanced at Jude as I pressed on. He looked downtrodden. Staring at me, he said, “All I’ve tried to do is to be their friend. I thought that being Jude Middleton would be better than being my true self. I thought I would be more accepted—one of them. But now I see I haven’t done a very good job of it.”
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Eras, you will never truly be Jude Middleton, just like Quint could never really be me. You killed the real Jude when you took his body. Now, all that’s left is a part of his soul, his body, and his memories. You are far too strong a personality to truly be able to hide behind the remainders of Jude.”
“I’m still here!” snapped Jude, his face close to mine. “I’m not gone completely!”
I could see his blue eyes, yet they were tainted with black strands. I nodded my head slowly and said, “I know, Jude. I know a part of you is struggling to hang on in there, just like me. But how can we ever truly be liked—fit in—whe
n we only walk this earth because we have a demon in us? Can you really blame the others for not trusting us?”
“I’m not sure that I can trust any of them!” whispered Jude, peeking over his shoulder. “I mean, how many times must I have come close to getting a knife in my back?”
“Actually,” butted in Raven. “You were to be decapitated—a knife in the back just wouldn’t have been enough!”
Turning on Raven, Eras came forward and slammed her hard against the stone wall. “Maybe I should just kill you now before it’s too late!”
As quick as Eras had come forward, he vanished and Jude came back. He let go of Raven and whispered, “No, I don’t want to do that.”
Looking at me, he shook his head and turned away.
I reached out, placed my hand on his shoulder, and said, “And that’s why you will never be trusted—accepted. You and I, we flip from demon to ourselves faster than a blink of an eye. Only we are the weaker ones.”
I carried on down the passage. Doubts filled my head as the words I had spoken to Jude and Eras seeped through my own feelings. I wondered if Kassidy would ever truly be able to trust me. Especially as I wasn’t sure if I could trust myself.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Kassidy
I felt a strange kind of hunger. A hunger for death and violence. I stood tall and towered over Nellore, who backed away slowly. I watched her trembling shell of a body quiver and I relished in her fear. My appetite for killing and pain was so all-consuming, and I licked my lips in anticipation of the torture to come. But not yet. I had to wait. I had to force myself to hold off. The others had to come first. They would all die. Not quickly. Not silently. But they would pray for death to take them. I would make sure of that.
No. What was I thinking? I staggered back, knocking into one of the coffins. The movements inside my body continued to churn and thrust. My sickly black veins bulged as VA20 pushed around me. The cold sweat of fever was raging through my head. I felt drunk with evil—pure evil. I had been touched by something so vile, so tainted, that the ornamental knives on the plinth appeared like a gift to me—a way out—an end. I looked away from them. But no sooner had I—my eyes were back on the gleaming, long blades. I lusted over them—longed to feel the sharp stab—the slice through my body.
“No. Stop it!” I cried. I forced myself to turn away from them. “What’s happening to me?” I hunched forward and wrapped my arms about me. “Etta!” I called. “Please… stop this… help me!”
“Etta?” came Nellore’s voice.
I turned sharply. Nellore had sneaked up on me. Slithered over when my back had been turned. How dare she step over the line—get too close to me? I rose up. I hissed. Black spit sprayed from my lips like a virus spreading through the air. Nellore staggered back.
“Know your place, Nellore!” I screamed. Only that wasn’t my voice. The words that had rushed up my throat hadn’t come from me—hadn’t come from Etta. I cowered in myself and yet I stepped forward, unafraid. My head turned sharply to the entrance of the chamber. My senses were drawn to a presence approaching the room. I was scared. But Doshia wasn’t. I smiled. Another one of my audience had arrived.
Doctor Middleton moved into the chamber like he glided on the cold air. Trabek… Trabek… that’s all I could hear in my mind as my eyes watched him stop beside Nellore.
Look at them. Pathetic. Just the sight of those two had me gagging for their end. I was going to make them suffer. Their corpses would be nothing but dust and dirt by the time I had finished with them. I stepped closer. The hatred I felt was so strong that it turned me on. I was excited. Everyone would pay today—compensate for my demise—for the years I had lost. I wasn’t here for the Cleaners. I wasn’t here to create bodies for servants to use. There was no need for more like me. I was enough. I was the power and I would take the glory.
“Doshia… it has been many years since I saw you last,” said Trabek. “I am so glad you have decided to join us today. The other volunteers will be here soon and then… then we can…” He stopped talking and narrowed his beady little eyes. “You do have another body to use? The one you are in belongs to me. She is vital. I will need her back.”
I stepped forward again, overcome by some other will than my own. I seemed to stretch up high, yet my feet still remained firmly on the ground.
Speaking from another voice, I replied, “This body contains more than just me, Trabek. Its holds another. Someone who helped to destroy us all those years ago.”
Trabek widened his eyes and clasped his bony hands together. “You are speaking of Etta?” he asked. He glanced over at the coffins and said, “If so, then we shall put her back where she belongs… for good this time.”
“So you can allow her to escape again? Allow her to find her people so they can come and banish us all again? And what of Quint? Do you think he will let you shut away his true love? Are you really so blind?” I watched Trabek as he stood firmly, his wrinkled old face confident that he knew best. Trabek had shut himself away for far too long in that hospital. He had been so consumed with taking bodies for the Cleaners that he had lost his way. Had lost his power. And while he had sat in his kingdom on top of Strangers Hill playing scientist, I had grown strong. My bitterness and resentfulness had renewed my strength, and now, as Trabek stood before me, I knew that he had lost the fight already. Once, a long time ago, when Trabek had summoned me from the deep depths of where all evil resides, when he had given me the body of his son, he had been the strength—the power. But not now. Trabek was completely oblivious to the potency I now possessed. He would feel my force upon him, and so, too, would everyone else.
“I keep Etta so as to keep Quint in line,” spoke Trabek, glancing over at the coffins. “Quint strays too far sometimes, but he always comes back because I have Etta’s body.”
“And now I have Etta’s soul,” I replied in a deep, grating voice. “I have her locked and subdued inside this body and that is where she will stay. For now, anyway.”
“That can’t be so, Doshia,” said Trabek, his voice beginning to rise. “I can’t allow you to keep her, and I can’t let you have the body of Kassidy Bell. They both belong to me. It was I who gave you life… I rose you up. I gave you my son—his body…”
“Your son!” I sneered. “Don’t pretend that you have any sentimental feelings for your son, Trabek. He never was yours. He was the son of the man’s body you entered long ago—that body in there—in that coffin!” I flung my arm out and pointed at the coffin furthest away. “I don’t owe you any loyalty—I no longer even wear the shell you placed me in when my time began. That body is long gone like so many others I have travelled in since. I have jumped from person to person over the years—sometimes multiple bodies at a time. Watching… waiting… searching for Etta. She destroyed me… us! It was she and Quint who led us all to our confinement. And here you are now expecting me to just give her up… to hand her back? I once thought that you were a powerful demon. But you never were and still aren’t. You were weak. You let Quint fall in love with another demon from another clan that was forbidden. You crumbled under their might. You allowed us to be shut away because you were feeble!”
Trabek wavered on his feet, stood tall as if to show he was strong, and said, “Are we forgetting that you, too, loved Etta? Would you have rebuffed her if she had shown you the love she gave to Quint? I don’t think so, Doshia. Now give me the body!”
I felt trapped inside my own flesh. My thoughts were not just my own. They were twisted up with Doshia’s and mingled in with Etta’s. The other voices that had tormented me throughout this journey to this godforsaken island were like a background noise. I could feel myself twitch and shake as the two demons inside of me struggled to overpower one another. They moved around deep within me, pushing and pulling at my innards. I staggered forward as Etta tried to overcome Doshia. I gripped my stomach as another wave of black vomit rushed up out of my throat. My eyes were blurry as I tried to keep watch on Trabek and Ne
llore. I had to stay alert—I had to stay as me. If I succumbed now then what would I do? Who would I become?
My eyes fell upon the knives again. I stretched out my arm, fingers grasping air as I tried to move toward the stone plinth. But my head spun, and I stumbled from left to right, unable to get a grip on myself. If I was to make a move, to destroy the corpses, it should be now, while Doshia was so consumed with fighting back Etta. I glanced at the coffin furthest away. That had been the one Doshia had pointed out to be that of Trabek. That would be one down—one coffin I knew didn’t belong to Etta, Quint, or Eras. But every time I made my way toward the knives, I staggered back as if an invisible force pushed me away.
Through my watery eyes, I peered up at Trabek. His stare was on me, piercing right through my soul. It was him. He was the one pushing me back, but not enough to hurt me. Of course, he didn’t want to harm my body. Trabek needed me intact for his Cleaners. He was stuck. While Doshia resided in me, he couldn’t take me. All he could do was to stop me from destroying the corpses by holding me back.
You won’t win, I thought, staring straight back at Trabek and Nellore, evil thoughts creeping back into my head—Doshia’s thoughts overtaking mine. “You won’t ever get the better of me with your timid, fragile power. I’m going to have you destroyed, and when I’m finished with you both, I’m gonna get Kassidy to kill Eras. Then I’m going to make Quint watch while I get Kassidy to toil with his emotions, and when he can bear the torture no more—the sheer terror that Kassidy will kill Etta—I’ll turn the tables on him and Kassidy will kill Quint.”
Those words—that voice frightened me. I didn’t speak them. They didn’t come from me. But that was what scared me. I knew that if Ben now turned up with the others, they wouldn’t know that Doshia was in me. And when Ben came running toward me, completely unaware as to what I was, I would kill him. I would end up killing the man I loved.
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