Demon (Kassidy Bell Series Book 3)

by Lynda O'Rourke

  “When you get out of here – it’s gonna be in the back of another police van,” Eric grinned. “Inspector Cropper was very interested to hear that you lot were locked up in Carden. He’s on his way right now.” Eric stood with his arms folded, a smug look across his face. “Seen any more fog?” He turned his back on us and laughed.

  “See!” huffed Raven. “We should’ve gone with my plan. We might have been out of these cells by now.”

  “No, we wouldn’t,” glared Max. He turned towards the door that led into the cellblock. Two paramedics holding a stretcher had walked in. They went into cell 8 and crouched down over the drunk man. I turned away and climbed up onto the bunk. The rain still fell hard against the window. At least there was still no sign of any fog. But did that matter now? Inspector Cropper was on his way. Whichever got us first, we would still end up back inside Cruor Pharma – unless Doshia got here before them. I wondered about Ben. What had happened to him after we had separated along the train tracks? Fears of him being killed by Doshia had gone now, after knowing that it had been Ben who had called the Sarge about releasing Sylvia from the asylum. It meant that he was still alive. But why had he got Sylvia released? Did he know something about her that we didn’t? As far as I could see, she was nothing but a crazy killer. Not someone who Middleton would call a breakthrough for his drug trials. She was already fucked up. What would a cleaner inside her make her become? But there had to be something about Sylvia. Even if it had been Quint who had got her released, she had to be important in all this mess somehow.

  I stepped off the bunk and joined Raven and Max at the cell bars. The drunk man was carried away on the stretcher out of the cellblock. I could hear Dave and Eric talking quietly.

  “Where’s the Sarge?” asked Dave. “Why isn’t he down here?”

  “He’s booking in another prisoner,” answered Eric, peering through the bars at Sylvia. “What about her? We’re gonna have to move her out of that cell and put her in a clean one. The floor’s covered in blood and so is she. Complaints and discipline are going to have a fucking fit when they see this shit. We need to get this sorted.”

  Dave scratched his head. “I know, but there’s only us two available at the moment.”

  “What about me?” called Max. “My cell has blood in it too, I’m not staying in this one. I want to be moved.”

  Dave walked over to Max’s cell. Seeing the blood splattered over the floor, he said, “Okay, I’ll move you in a minute.”

  Max turned and winked at me. I knew what he had planned. But could Max pull it off?

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  A call came over Dave’s radio. Its static hissed and echoed through the cellblock.

  “You and Eric are needed up in Custody,” the voice hissed through the radio. It was the Sergeant. “Have you cleaned up that mess yet?”

  “No, Sarge,” answered Dave, rolling his eyes at Eric.

  “Leave that for the moment,” ordered the Sergeant. “I have a prisoner ready to be taken to the cells. You can clear up that mess after.”

  Dave spoke into his radio again. “Shouldn’t we contact complaints and discipline? They’re gonna need to…”

  “Just get your arse back here and stop questioning my orders!” the sergeant barked via the radio.

  Dave rolled his eyes again. “On our way.”

  “For fuck’s sake!” moaned Eric. “When is the next shift on? I’ve had enough of this bullshit for one day.” He looked at his watch. “I still haven’t had any grub yet and we still have to travel back from this shit-hole of a station.”

  “Let’s just get on with it,” said Dave, looking back at Max. “You – stay away from those bars – I don’t need another incident down here.” He took a quick look at Sylvia and then turned and left the cellblock with Eric.

  As soon as they were out of earshot, Max turned and whispered, “When that copper called Dave takes me out of this cell, I’m gonna push him into the one he’s intending for me. I’ll take his keys and lock him in – then I’ll get you two out.”

  He looked nervous. I could see in his eyes that he was going over the plan inside his head. Could he do it? What if Eric came back with Dave? Could Max fight off two police officers?

  “You’ll need to get Dave’s radio off him too,” I whispered, my eyes flicking from Max over to Sylvia. She had shuffled back over to the bars adjoining Max’s cell. Was she listening to our plan? Did she understand? Was there any reasoning left inside her?

  “If Eric comes back you’re gonna have to push them both inside.” Raven crouched down slightly so she could whisper to us. Her tall, scrawny frame shadowed both Max and me.

  “Do you think you can do it?” I asked.

  “I have to,” whispered Max. “You heard what Eric said. Inspector Cropper is on his way.” He let out a deep sigh, running his hands through his hair. Rolling his shoulders back, he stood up straight as if preparing himself for the fight. “When we get out, we head back to custody, through the doors, and down the corridor we first came in by.”

  “Then what?” asked Raven.

  “We run,” I hushed, ever aware that Sylvia was listening to us. “We run and we find somewhere to hide – until it all dies down. Then we find a way to Doctor Langstone’s. It can’t be too far from here.”

  “What about our stuff?” whispered Raven. “I want that jacket back. I’m not running around wearing this flower-power blouse so everyone can laugh at me.”

  “I don’t give a shit about your blouse,” I said, “But I do want the satchel back. Father Williams’ diary is in there, the iPod, and the rosary beads.”

  “And the two passports,” said Max. “I would like my brother’s passport. It’s the only picture I have of him now. Well, apart from the ones I have back in Holly Tree, but who knows if we’ll ever get back there.”

  “What about Sylvia?” asked Raven. “Are we leaving her here?”

  “You really need to ask that?” said Max, his eyes wide.

  “I know it’s crazy – she’s crazy, but I just don’t think we should leave her here.” Raven stared at us with her dark eyes.

  “Why?” questioned Max, screwing his nose up at the idea.

  “Hold on,” I cut across them both. “I’ve been kind of thinking along the same lines.” I looked at Max. “I know it’s crazy, and I’ve no idea of how we can do it without Sylvia trying to kill us, but I have this nagging feeling in me that she’s important somehow. If we leave her here then Middleton gets his hands on her.”

  “Don’t you mean Ben?” questioned Max. “It was him, after all, who got her released to this police station.”

  “I still believe in Ben, however mad that may seem, but I don’t think he’s against us – he had her released for a reason. I don’t know what that is but… he must think that Sylvia holds some relevance in all this.”

  “But how can we take her?” pushed Max. “She’s insane!”

  “The Demons want her – that’s her relevance!” hissed Raven. “But why let them have her? Why give them something they want which ultimately will harm us if they get their filthy satanic hands on her. I say we keep her – us against them!” Raven crossed her arms, a determined look in her eyes. She stared at Max, knowing that he was the one who needed to be pushed into agreeing. “We’ll whack a pair of handcuffs on her or something.”

  “This idea is as insane as Sylvia is,” whispered Max, shaking his head.

  “It probably is…” I agreed. “But…”

  The doors to the cellblock suddenly opened. We turned around and saw Dave walk in. I felt my mouth drop open as my eyes fell upon his prisoner.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  We stared wide-eyed in silence. What little colour Max and Raven had in their faces drained away. I was sure mine had done the same. I suddenly felt shaky. I could feel my legs tremble. I gripped hold of the bars and watched Dave unlock the cell opposite mine and Raven’s.

  “In you go,” ordered Dave, gesturing with his hands
.

  Jude strolled in. The cell door was locked behind him and he turned around. His eyes met mine and I looked away. I held my hand up to my chest, my heart thumping wildly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Max back away from his cell door. How did we play this? Did Jude know of our suspicions? But if he didn’t – should we act like we didn’t know who he truly was? Just so he wouldn’t attack us – take us for his soon-to-be servants – the Cleaners. But if he did know, what were his intentions? He had us in the perfect setting. Locked in these cells – unable to escape. I looked at Sylvia. He had her now also. Were we enough – all four bodies for the Cleaners to dwell in? Was Jude just going to sit this out – wait for the Cleaners to arrive? I turned away from him. My head was in a muddle. How did he even get himself arrested? He must have deliberately given himself up – just so he could catch up with us. I felt my heart pick up pace. That awful sensation of VA20 pushing through my veins had started up again – turning my stomach. Ben? What about Ben? What had he done to him? If Jude was here – then that only meant one thing. Jude – or should I say Doshia – must have killed him. Taken away the only thing that had kept Ben going for all these years – his body – leaving Quint with nothing. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to think about it. Ben had allowed us to escape from Doshia – died in the process – and now here we all were again. And for what? Nothing. But was that right? Hadn’t the Sergeant said he’d received a call from Ben Fletcher only a short while ago? Could Ben still be alive?

  “I’ll be back in ten minutes,” I heard Dave call out to Max as he left the cellblock and closed the door.

  Get it together, I said to myself. See what Jude’s reaction is first before you fall apart. I took a deep breath and spun around to face him. Our eyes met.

  “How fucking lucky is this, eh?” Jude’s face broke out into a grin, he rubbed his hands together like he’d won the lottery. “Back together again – just how we should be.”

  I hesitated. Was he for real? Did he really think that all was okay between us? Did he really not know that we believed him to be Doshia? Was this all an act? I really didn’t have a clue. I decided to play along. Glancing quickly at Raven and winking, I forced a smile at Jude and said, “I can’t believe it. Where did they pick you up?”

  “Not too far from where we got separated,” grinned Jude. His eyes darted to the left and fell upon Sylvia. “Who the fuck is that? That’s not… you know… that girl from the passport, is it? The one you took from Ward 1?”

  I nodded my head slowly. Still unsure of Jude.

  “She looks a fucking mess,” said Jude. “I hope your brother don’t look like that.” He peered through the bars at Max.

  There was an uncomfortable silence. I stared from Raven to Max. By the look on their faces, neither one seemed to know how to take the sudden appearance of Jude.

  “We have to get away from him,” hushed Raven, suddenly standing behind me, leaning into my ear.

  I pushed her away slightly. I didn’t want to alert Jude to our doubts.

  “What happened to Ben?” I asked.

  “I don’t really know.” Jude’s eyes narrowed. “He started acting all funny – you know – Demon-like. The police turned up and Ben fucked off. Who knows where he went. Probably back to Cruor Pharma.”

  My feelings of distrust raged up inside me. I opened my mouth to say something but shut it quickly before I said anything I would regret. Jude’s eyes told me nothing. They were the same as always. That same look of, ‘trust me’, that he had so well deceived us with. His laid-back demeanour was still present. He made the perfect ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. I didn’t know whether to believe him about Ben or not. It was plausible, after all, that Quint had come forward and taken over Ben and disappeared back to Cruor Pharma. It had happened before.

  “So, what’s the plan, then?” smiled Jude, holding onto the bars of his cell.

  “There is no plan,” hissed Raven, stepping forward and glaring at Jude.

  I snatched hold of Raven’s arm. “I’ll handle this.”

  She pulled away from my grip, skulking over to where Max leant up against the bars.

  “What’s her problem?” asked Jude. He held his hand up to stop me from answering. “Don’t tell me – there is no plan because Raven doesn’t have the aid of the tarot cards.” He smirked at me.

  “Max is being moved out of his cell into another one,” I said, reluctant to tell him, but I didn’t see what else I could say. “He’s going to attack the police officer – get the keys – push him into the cell and lock him in.”

  “Then what?” asked Jude.

  “Then we get the hell out of here!” I glanced at Max and Raven. They looked as on edge as I felt. Not only was the thought of escaping the police station eating up my insides, but now I had Jude-Doshia to escape from again. I had no idea how we were gonna pull that one off. I took a sneaky side-glance at Jude. He stood, eyes wandering about the cellblock. His black trousers and smart blue shirt not an inch out of place. Not like, Raven, Max, and me – dishevelled and dirty. I wanted to tell him I knew. Knew what he was – that he couldn’t fool me anymore with his suggestions of going on the run together and having fun. That I wouldn’t be sucked in anymore with his, ‘I’ll look after you’ lies. But I couldn’t. It was too risky. After seeing what Doshia could be capable of – making someone throw themselves to their death – get under the skin of large groups of people and turn them into crazy killers, I knew that if I wanted to stay safe – keep Raven and Max safe – then I had to play along with his deceit. At least for now.

  I began to pace up and down my cell. How much longer would Dave be? How much time did we have to make our escape before Inspector Cropper arrived? Or would it be the Cleaners who came first? I climbed back up onto the bunk. It was dark outside and the rain still fell in sheets but I couldn’t see any fog. Maybe the Cleaners wouldn’t come. It would make more sense to just send Inspector Cropper to come and get us. Middleton was probably still hoping to cover this all up, which he couldn’t if he used the Cleaners. There were too many people about for the Cleaners to go unnoticed. Inspector Cropper looked more legit.

  I felt the bunk wobble as Raven joined me at the small cell window. She whispered in my ear. “I don’t like playing along in this sham.” She gazed out into the wet evening. Her long, twisted nails clattered against the glass along with the thrumming of the rain.

  “Me neither,” I spoke quietly. “I really don’t know what to do other than act dumb to his pretence.”

  “We could leave him locked up – when we get out – just leave him behind,” mumbled Raven.

  “You think that a locked cell door will keep Doshia away from us?” I raised my eyes. Was Raven really that slow? “He could get out of there right now if he chose to. He could open up all our cells and let us out without a key. But he won’t, not while he has to keep up his act in front of us. Remember, Doshia won’t reveal himself until he has enough bodies for the Cleaners. He’s gonna want to keep us in the dark so he can manipulate – pull our strings – until he has us where he wants us.”

  “And where is that?” whispered Raven.

  I checked over my shoulder to make sure that Jude wasn’t watching us. Satisfied that his attention seemed to be on Sylvia, I turned and said quietly, “There’s four of us here – I know Sylvia doesn’t seem right but I think she will do – that’s why Ben had her released. Not for his own purposes but to get her away from harm. You, Max, me, and Sylvia. Only I don’t think that’s enough bodies. I think Doshia is holding out for one more.” My eyes met Raven’s. The darkness in her pupils almost seemed to light up as the penny dropped.

  “Robert,” she mumbled under her breath.

  “Jude’s gonna want to keep lying until we get to Doctor Langstone’s and find Robert. I think that’s his plan, anyway.”

  “He never wanted to go to Doctor Langstone’s though,” quizzed Raven.

  “Not until he heard for sure from the Bishop that Robert and Sylvi
a had headed there. Remember when we first found Father Williams’ diary? It was written that he suggested that they should head to the Bishop’s. It also said what a terrible state they were in. Jude didn’t know for sure whether or not VA10 had worked. It certainly didn’t sound that way from what Father Williams had written. And let’s not forget that as far as he knew, Sylvia had been declared insane. He and all the other Demons from Cruor Pharma must have believed that she had turned out just like all the other failed volunteers – that is until now.” I looked over my shoulder towards Sylvia. She stood motionless in her cell. Turning back to Raven, I whispered, “I think Jude has been waiting back in the shadows – biding his time – waiting for Middleton to finally come up with a drug that would work. Ben told me that Doshia hadn’t been seen for a long time. But I think he’s been waiting right under their noses. Only they didn’t realise Doshia can move from one body to the next. Take on anyone’s persona – live in multiple bodies at any one time. So going back to keeping Jude locked up in that cell is pointless.” I stared back out through the rain-splattered window. “We’ll have to let him come with us. There is no other option at the moment. We can’t fight against a Demon. But maybe Doctor Langstone can.” I stepped off the bunk and sat down. My head was spinning and my eyelids lay heavy. I yawned. This was one jigsaw that seemed impossible to fix together. The only thing that made sense to me was to get Raven, Max, Sylvia, and myself to Doctor Langstone’s – away from everyone else that was after us.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  I had only been sitting down for a minute when the door to the cellblock opened. I jumped up. That jittery feeling rushed through me. We all headed for our cell doors, clinging onto the bars liked caged animals waiting to get out. I looked at Max, who nervously watched Dave as he fumbled with his keys. My eyes fell upon the door which led into the cellblock. No sign of Eric. I looked at Jude. He had his head pressed against the bars so he could peer down the centre aisle between the rows of cells. Pretending that I didn’t know his secret was going to be hard. For every time I went along with his lies, it felt like I was turning a blind eye to what he’d done to Hannah. But I had to snap out of these conflicting feelings – stop thinking about Hannah. I couldn’t let them cloud my head – not when I needed a clear mind. My main focus for now was to get out of this police station and reach Doctor Langstone. Then, I would deal with Jude. I didn’t know how, but some way I would make him pay.