by Amy Cross
“What?”
“Rice and boiled chicken.”
“Seriously?”
“She cooks some up for the dogs, and she says she doesn't mind having some with them. How bland and dull is that?”
“It's pretty bland.”
“So, to answer your question, do not set your brother up with her. Not unless you want him to get bored to death.”
“Okay, fine,” Carla says with a loud sigh. “I just thought it'd be worth a shot, that's all. I mean, Stephen's pretty boring too. Maybe two boring people would suit each other?”
“Just don't,” Jackie says firmly. “Trust me on this. Don't!”
Realizing that this mind-numbing conversation seems set to go on forever, I reach out and push the door open, making sure to cause a lot of noise as I head through into the office. I glance at Jackie and Carla and see that they look a little worried, as if they're nervous in case I overheard them, but I simply smile and head to the filing cabinet.
“Sorry,” Jackie says, “we were just talking about the old computer system. I was telling Carla how much better things got around here once we upgraded.”
“Uh huh,” I mutter as I open the cabinet and start taking out the forms. “You're not wrong there.”
“So you're off for the weekend, are you?” Jackie continues. “I noticed this morning, you've switched around some shifts with Brennan. Have you got something planned?”
“Nothing really,” I reply. “Just some last-minute stuff.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“No.”
“Are you meeting up with someone?”
“No.”
“Are you -”
“I'm just having a few days off at home,” I say, as I close the cabinet and turn to see both Jackie and Clara watching me intently. “Sometimes you just get tired and you want to recharge. And since I'm the boss here, or one of the two bosses, I can do that.”
“Sounds cool,” Carla says meekly.
“I can assure you that I won't be doing anything interesting,” I continue. “Some gardening, some light work on the house. That sort of thing.” I pause for a moment, trying to gauge their reactions. “I'm sure that sounds totally boring to you guys.”
“Not at all!” Jackie blurts out. “It sounds... relaxing.”
“Tell me about it,” I reply as I head back to the door with the forms. “I'm sure you guys will be just fine for the weekend without me.”
“You're bleeding.”
I stop and turn to Jackie.
“Oh, yeah,” I murmur. “I caught my arm earlier.”
“No, your leg.”
Looking down, I see that a bead of blood is running down from beneath my skirt. It's gone so far, it's almost reached my sandals. How did I not notice that?
“I caught that too,” I explain. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a grass seed to remove from a patient.”
I step out of the room and pull the door shut, and then I hesitate for a moment. I can hear Jackie and Clara talking, and then a moment later I hear a very faint chuckle of laughter coming from the pair of them. That's good, it means they're carrying on with their little joke. And, as everyone knows, people are always more likely to believe jokes than the truth.
“Okay, Timmy,” I say as I make my way through to where Shayna and Karen are waiting with the puppy, “let's see about getting that grass seed out. You must be in so much discomfort.”
VIII
I should stop, but I can't. I thought I could, I thought maybe that Martin's arrival was a sign that my work was over, but that has not turned out to be the case at all. In which case, I don't think it'll ever be time for me to stop. I think I'm going to end up doing this for the rest of my life.
It's almost midnight as I make my way down the rickety, steep wooden staircase that leads into my basement. The air down here is so much colder than in the main part of the house, but that's alright. The coldness helps keep the temperature in the perfect range, and too much heat would make it difficult for me to maintain the right conditions. That's my assumption, at least. To be perfectly honest, I lucked out a little with this basement. I barely had to make any changes at all before it was fit for purpose.
And, oh, what a purpose!
As I open the door at the bottom and step into the main room, I feel a familiar swell of pride in my chest. Familiar, but never stale or boring. Never anything less than exhilarating.
The first thing I see is the latest piece of skin, clamped down and stretched out on the work bench. Stepping closer, I allow myself a smile as I see that the skin is really starting to smooth out. There's blood, of course, but that'll wash off during the next stage. I reach down and run a hand across the skin until I reach a little brown mole that was on the girl's back. I gently press against the mole from different directions, feeling its resistance, and then I move my hand over to the patch of skin where there's a tattoo of a snail riding a unicorn. I thought the tattoo was ugly earlier, but now I've come to quite like it.
Man, Angela put up a fight. She managed to get me on the arm and leg before I was able to subdue her. I had my hand clamped over her mouth, so I couldn't hear what she was trying to say as blood poured out from the gash on the side of her neck. Most likely, she was begging for mercy. For a second chance. That's what usually happens.
Stepping around the bench, I head out across the room, and as I do so I look around at all the patches of skin that adorn the walls. I stop for a moment, taking in my vast achievement, and then – as always – I slowly look up at the severed heads that hang from the ceiling.
All one hundred and five of them.
Angela's head is the freshest, of course. I'm pleased with how she turned out. Her eyes and mouth are open, and there's a pleasing mess of bloodied meat and bone packed into the jagged stump at the base of her neck. The blood has all dried now, of course, even around the hook ends that I slid under her eyelids when I was suspending her in her new position.
“Paula...”
I freeze as soon as I hear that voice, and then slowly I turn to see Martin over on the far side of the basement. The thick metal brackets have held nicely, keeping him pinned to the wall through his shoulders and pelvis. I'm very relieved to see that my suture work was successful, as was the branding that burned his wounds shut.
“Did you read the clippings I left out for you?” I ask, as I make my way over to him.
On a table in front of him, there are various newspaper headlines that I've saved over the years. I watch Martin's face for a moment, and then I look down at the clippings.
“The South Foreland Mutilator,” I read out loud as I scan the various headlines. “The Butcher of Broomstock. The Building 19 Strangler. The Monster of Rippon Cross. So many inventive names. And yet, nobody has ever thought to put them all together. Nobody has ever suggested that all these serial killers, and the others in the files, are actually the same person.”
I pick up one of the clippings.
“The Butcher of Broomstock,” I say again. “I don't know why, but I like that one the most. Actually, I think I do know why. I think it's because of the word butcher. After all, that's the word that the voice used when it first spoke to me in my head. You remember that day, Martin, don't you? When we were kids and I heard the voice in the forest? You said you heard it too, although...”
I step closer to him and see the fear in his eyes.
“Although,” I continue, “I often wondered whether you were just telling me what you thought I wanted to hear. Did you really hear the voice, or did you just pretend? Or were you just very impressionable?”
“Paula, please,” he whispers, barely able to get the words out from his bloodied mouth, “kill me...”
“Looking back,” I reply, “I realize now that I should have known you'd return. It seems so obvious now. When we broke up, you thought I was crazy. You didn't say that in the divorce papers, of course, but I knew it was what you were thinking. You didn't believe me when I said a d
emon was speaking to me. Then you ran off and married that woman Vanessa. Am I really supposed to believe it was a coincidence that she happened to work as a butcher? At the very least, that must have been a subconscious choice on your part.”
I lean closer to him.
“You suspected, didn't you?” I ask with a smile. “I'd made my first kill by the time we broke up. On some deep level, you knew.”
“Please...”
“So when you thought you heard your wife and her friend communing with a demon, what happened?” I continue. “Did you suddenly realize that I might have been telling the truth all along? Is that why you just had to come and find me, Martin? When you realized that the madness was real?”
“Stop...”
“I was ready to stop,” I tell him, “until that Angela girl showed up last night. She was delivered to me, Martin, as a reminder that my work continues. I have to take all these sinners off the streets, so that the great master can continue with his cleansing work. And if he wants you to be by my side, then so be it. I don't need to understand his decisions, I simply need to obey them.” I lean forward and kiss Martin tenderly on the cheek. “Welcome home, husband. Let's forget all that pesky divorce business. You're still my husband, as far as my work is concerned. And it's only fitting that you should witness my successes.”
With that, I turn around and slide down until I'm sitting on the floor, and I stare out at all the corpses I've gathered here in the basement. Martin is groaning, but I'm sure he'll stop making that awful noise eventually. He just needs to accept his new role, he needs to understand that we've been destined to come back together like this, ever since that day in the forest when – as two small children – we were chosen by the master to carry out his work. We're soul-tied. We're like two peas in a pod. We're the same. The only difference is, he couldn't keep it all hidden away, whereas I can.
I can't help grinning, as the house begins to shake. At first I assume that this is nothing serious, but the shaking is getting louder and stronger now. Is this some kind of new message from my – from our – master? There's a small, grimy window at the top of the far wall, and I can see bright light starting to burst through. There should be nothing but darkness outside, but it's as if some great and glorious light is filling the world. Is this it? Is this the deliverance that I've been waiting for? Is my work going to continue, or has the master chosen this moment to enter the world?
“It's really happening!” I gasp, as tears of joy start running down my cheeks. “Martin, it's happening! Finally, after all this time, it's really happening!”
Now the light is so bright, I can barely see anything else. I can only weep with happiness and wait, laughing, to see what comes next. The master is coming, his work shall be fulfilled, and He shall be victorious. And whatever He wants me to do in his new world, I shall do it with my husband by my side!
Epilogue
“Timmy's alive!”
I watch as Karen rushes over to the cage. Sometimes my job sucks, but sometimes I get to bring a little happiness into the world.
“Thank you so much,” Shayna says, stopping next to me. “I've got to admit, I wasn't hopeful.”
“Sometimes we manage to work miracles,” I reply, turning to her with a smile. “All in a day's work.”
BOOKS BY AMY CROSS
1. Dark Season: The Complete First Series (2011)
2. Werewolves of Soho (Lupine Howl book 1) (2012)
3. Werewolves of the Other London (Lupine Howl book 2) (2012)
4. Ghosts: The Complete Series (2012)
5. Dark Season: The Complete Second Series (2012)
6. The Children of Black Annis (Lupine Howl book 3) (2012)
7. Destiny of the Last Wolf (Lupine Howl book 4) (2012)
8. Asylum (The Asylum Trilogy book 1) (2012)
9. Dark Season: The Complete Third Series (2013)
10. Devil's Briar (2013)
11. Broken Blue (The Broken Trilogy book 1) (2013)
12. The Night Girl (2013)
13. Days 1 to 4 (Mass Extinction Event book 1) (2013)
14. Days 5 to 8 (Mass Extinction Event book 2) (2013)
15. The Library (The Library Chronicles book 1) (2013)
16. American Coven (2013)
17. Werewolves of Sangreth (Lupine Howl book 5) (2013)
18. Broken White (The Broken Trilogy book 2) (2013)
19. Grave Girl (Grave Girl book 1) (2013)
20. Other People's Bodies (2013)
21. The Shades (2013)
22. The Vampire's Grave and Other Stories (2013)
23. Darper Danver: The Complete First Series (2013)
24. The Hollow Church (2013)
25. The Dead and the Dying (2013)
26. Days 9 to 16 (Mass Extinction Event book 3) (2013)
27. The Girl Who Never Came Back (2013)
28. Ward Z (The Ward Z Series book 1) (2013)
29. Journey to the Library (The Library Chronicles book 2) (2014)
30. The Vampires of Tor Cliff Asylum (2014)
31. The Family Man (2014)
32. The Devil's Blade (2014)
33. The Immortal Wolf (Lupine Howl book 6) (2014)
34. The Dying Streets (Detective Laura Foster book 1) (2014)
35. The Stars My Home (2014)
36. The Ghost in the Rain and Other Stories (2014)
37. Ghosts of the River Thames (The Robinson Chronicles book 1) (2014)
38. The Wolves of Cur'eath (2014)
39. Days 46 to 53 (Mass Extinction Event book 4) (2014)
40. The Man Who Saw the Face of the World (2014)
41. The Art of Dying (Detective Laura Foster book 2) (2014)
42. Raven Revivals (Grave Girl book 2) (2014)
43. Arrival on Thaxos (Dead Souls book 1) (2014)
44. Birthright (Dead Souls book 2) (2014)
45. A Man of Ghosts (Dead Souls book 3) (2014)
46. The Haunting of Hardstone Jail (2014)
47. A Very Respectable Woman (2015)
48. Better the Devil (2015)
49. The Haunting of Marshall Heights (2015)
50. Terror at Camp Everbee (The Ward Z Series book 2) (2015)
51. Guided by Evil (Dead Souls book 4) (2015)
52. Child of a Bloodied Hand (Dead Souls book 5) (2015)
53. Promises of the Dead (Dead Souls book 6) (2015)
54. Days 54 to 61 (Mass Extinction Event book 5) (2015)
55. Angels in the Machine (The Robinson Chronicles book 2) (2015)
56. The Curse of Ah-Qal's Tomb (2015)
57. Broken Red (The Broken Trilogy book 3) (2015)
58. The Farm (2015)
59. Fallen Heroes (Detective Laura Foster book 3) (2015)
60. The Haunting of Emily Stone (2015)
61. Cursed Across Time (Dead Souls book 7) (2015)
62. Destiny of the Dead (Dead Souls book 8) (2015)
63. The Death of Jennifer Kazakos (Dead Souls book 9) (2015)
64. Alice Isn't Well (Death Herself book 1) (2015)
65. Annie's Room (2015)
66. The House on Everley Street (Death Herself book 2) (2015)
67. Meds (The Asylum Trilogy book 2) (2015)
68. Take Me to Church (2015)
69. Ascension (Demon's Grail book 1) (2015)
70. The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1) (2015)
71. Eli's Town (2015)
72. The Horror of Raven's Briar Orphanage (Dead Souls book 10) (2015)
73. The Witch of Thaxos (Dead Souls book 11) (2015)
74. The Rise of Ashalla (Dead Souls book 12) (2015)
75. Evolution (Demon's Grail book 2) (2015)
76. The Island (The Island book 1) (2015)
77. The Lighthouse (2015)
78. The Cabin (The Cabin Trilogy book 1) (2015)
79. At the Edge of the Forest (2015)
80. The Devil's Hand (2015)
81. The 13th Demon (Demon's Grail book 3) (2016)
82. After the
Cabin (The Cabin Trilogy book 2) (2016)
83. The Border: The Complete Series (2016)
84. The Dead Ones (Death Herself book 3) (2016)
85. A House in London (2016)
86. Persona (The Island book 2) (2016)
87. Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2) (2016)
88. Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories (2016)
89. The Ghost of Shapley Hall (2016)
90. The Blood House (2016)
91. The Death of Addie Gray (2016)
92. The Girl With Crooked Fangs (2016)
93. Last Wrong Turn (2016)
94. The Body at Auercliff (2016)
95. The Printer From Hell (2016)
96. The Dog (2016)
97. The Nurse (2016)
98. The Haunting of Blackwych Grange (2016)
99. Twisted Little Things and Other Stories (2016)
100. The Horror of Devil's Root Lake (2016)
101. The Disappearance of Katie Wren (2016)
102. B&B (2016)
103. The Bride of Ashbyrn House (2016)
104. The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal Trilogy book 1) (2016)
105. The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel (2016)
106. The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories (2016)
107. Laura (2017)
108. The Murder at Skellin Cottage (Jo Mason book 1) (2017)
109. The Curse of Wetherley House (2017)
110. The Ghosts of Hexley Airport (2017)
111. The Return of Rachel Stone (Jo Mason book 2) (2017)
112. Haunted (2017)
113. The Vampire of Downing Street and Other Stories (2017)
114. The Ash House (2017)
115. The Ghost of Molly Holt (2017)
116. The Camera Man (2017)
117. The Soul Auction (2017)
118. The Abyss (The Island book 3) (2017)
119. Broken Window (The House of Jack the Ripper book 1) (2017)
120. In Darkness Dwell (The House of Jack the Ripper book 2) (2017)
