by Gareth Otton
The world changed. They were no longer surrounded by walls of stone. Now they stood in the centre of an ancient garden. Flowers, unrecognisable but beautiful, were laid in wondrous beds that spiralled outward from their central location.
There was grass under their feet, trees interspersed amongst the flowers, and a stone pathway that weaved through it all. In front of Tad was a fountain that rivalled anything he might find in the living world. A large pool surrounded that fountain, both of which were formed of living rock. Men and women in various states of garb were carved into that rock, spitting water from their mouths. Though they were marble, they danced and moved with each other causing the water streams to dance with them.
It was stunning and distracted all of them from the person knelt in front of it.
For the first time since he had known her, Stella’s beauty did not compare to the world around her. At her best she might have belonged in this garden, but she was no longer at her best.
She knelt on the floor, her hands chained to a link in the stone ring jutting from the wall of the pool. There were bruises on her lovely face, her lip had split and had scabbed over, and Tad could only imagine what other damage lay hidden beneath her dishevelled clothing. She had put up a fight.
Stella was looking at the floor when they arrived, but when she noticed them her eyes widened, a look of hope crossing her face.
Tad rushed to her, falling to his knees and reaching for her chains. The knowledge of how to free her was instinct. All he had to do was know they would open at his touch and open they did.
The chains slipped from her wrists and fell to the ground. Stella stared at her freed wrists, at the cuts and bruises on her hands where she had tried to free herself. Then she lunged forward and threw her arms around Tad’s neck, drawing him closer so she could whisper in his ear.
“Thank you. I wasn’t sure you’d come… thank you.”
Tad was about to reply, but another voice beat him to it. It was deep, strong, and resonated with untold power. It was the first time Tad had heard it with his own ears, but he remembered it well from Dinah’s memories. It was every bit as chilling as he remembered, and worse thanks to this place.
“How touching. You came for her after all. I owe Dinah an apology. When she said she had brought me the next best thing to either you or your daughter, I almost killed her on the spot.”
Tad turned toward the sound of the voice. He didn’t need to in order to sense him, but it was a habit from the living world that was hard to break. As his senses turned on King, he got a feel for the man. He felt any remaining hope fade. For the first time he realised just how stupid he had ever been to think he could do this. He knew right to his core that he was about to let Jen down.
The man stood before Tad was not human any longer. The skinny balding man with the crippled arm was gone and in his place stood a figure from Greek mythology, a God of Olympus.
He still wore King’s face, but all weakness was gone. He had doubled in height and built a physique to make Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime cry with envy. He still wore a suit, but it did nothing to diminish his impossible presence.
Beyond everything, Tad got a sense of power unlike anything he could have imagined before. With his senses he could see not just King, but the hundreds of trapped souls within him, each of them granting him impossible strength in this place.
Despair filled Tad’s mind, and he knew all was lost. He was unable to find words so King continued to speak.
“I should have learned to trust Dinah by now. She always comes through for me in the end. I have to say, it was good of her to bring you all too me like this. Though, there seems to be one person missing.”
“Jen’s not coming,” Tad snapped, finally able to find his voice. “She’s beyond you now.”
King laughed at his bluff. “Oh, I don’t think so. I have sources everywhere. I know she’s undergoing surgery to help with a broken back. I’m sure you’ll be glad to know it's going well. She won’t walk again, but she’ll be well enough for me to claim her whenever I need to.
“No, I was talking about the person you left outside. The getaway driver. I thought it was rude that you didn’t invite her to the party, so I sent Dinah out after her.”
“What? Kate. No, you leave her alone.” Miriam was frantic and lunged for King. Tad reacted quicker, stopping her with a thought. He knew how useless it would be for Miriam to go against King in the real world, in this one she would have even less chance.
“Yes, the detective. I couldn’t have her going for backup, could I? Ah. Speak of the devil, here she is.”
His eyes had gone distant as though he was seeing something a long way off. Tad sensed him call on his vast powers and then Kate was with them. Again Tad had to hold back Miriam to stop her from going to Kate’s side.
Kate was on her knees, an agonised grimace on her face as the woman standing over her had Kate’s hand in a lock. Dinah’s eyes swept over the group in the garden before settling on King.
“Dinah my dear. I should never have doubted you,” King said. Dinah didn’t reply. “You keep bringing me such wonderful presents. The question now is, what are we going to do with them all?”
“You have me so why not let them go? You don’t need them.”
King laughed at Tad’s words and shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. It’s not worth the risk. Your two detective bitches here will call in back-up the first chance they get.”
“What good will that do here?” Tad asked.
“Nothing. But I can’t stay here all the time.” For the first time Tad detected discomfort in King’s voice. He didn’t like that he couldn’t stay in this place. “It’s not healthy to live here too long.”
“Not healthy? What happens?”
King shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re here and with your death, we might remedy that.” The smile slipped from his face and his eyes focused on Tad. “But I have to admit, you’ve caused me more than a little trouble getting you here. You’ve brought the attention of the police upon me and I’m not at all happy about that.” He took a few steps closer so he was towering over Tad. “You need to be punished.”
“Killing me isn’t enough?”
“No. I think it would be more fitting if you get to watch all these friends of yours die first. Why don’t we start with…” He paused and made a show of thinking about it for a second before he pointed to Kate. “Her.”
“What? No!” Miriam screamed and once again fought against the restraints that Tad had placed upon her.
Tad didn’t let her move. She would only get in his way. Keeping her in place, he threw himself at King, snarling as he did so and reaching for his own power. It was no good.
King simply looked at him and Tad was gripped by a force he couldn’t overcome. Every muscle locked in place as though he was stuck in stone. Even breathing felt impossible, and it consumed all of Tad’s will to do that much. He had no chance of saving Kate.
King smiled at Tad, then raised a hand toward Kate, and extended his will through the gesture.
Kate looked at Miriam one final time before suddenly her head spun around sharply and a loud crack sounded as her neck broke.
Dinah stepped back in shock and let Kate’s body crumple to the ground. That was when Miriam screamed.
Tad couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. It left him numb. How had this just happened? Surely he could have done something? King’s will was still holding him in place, but he felt he could have acted somehow. There must have been some way he could have stopped it.
The answer never came. He felt lost, powerless. Miriam’s screaming didn’t help. What really made him go cold was the other sound. It was a sound that made Tad feel weak and sick at the same time. There was no escaping this for any of them. That sound was the sound of their doom.
King was laughing.
35
Sunday, 30th November 2015
01:46
&nbs
p; Miriam’s scream was the worst sound Stella had ever heard. Her loss was unimaginable. Miriam had done what Stella never could, opened her life to another person, shared her most vulnerable moments, and loved completely. Stella could have told her it only ended one way, with pain.
Why then did she envy her so much?
Stella's attention was drawn to Tad. His back was to her and at first she thought he was frozen in shock, but it didn’t take long to realise it was more. His veins stood out and his arms were shaking. Everything about him told her he was straining against something. But what?
She got her answer from that laughter. Such an evil sound and so filled with madness. King was everything she feared. Worse, he was so much more than Tad.
Tad had surprised her at every turn, shown her things she couldn’t dream of, and exposed her to a new world. When she had heard Emily’s tales of Joshua King, she could not imagine someone so far beyond Tad. She had been wrong. King was in a different league.
“You’re looking angry, Thaddeus,” he teased, taking a step closer to Tad.
“I’ll kill you for that,” Tad said from between clenched teeth.
King laughed again.
“Still defiant right to the end. I like that. It makes these final moments more interesting, don’t you think?”
“Why’d you do it? Why not let them go? They’re no threat to you, not really.”
“One of the many lessons I learnt when I was young, was that no one will give you what you want in life, you have to take it. I have lived by that rule my whole life and it has served me well. But I’m not prepared to take any chances with what I have. After all, if someone else wants it, they might one day take it.
“Why take the risk? I leave your detective friend alive and who knows what trouble she could bring to my door. Either of them.”
He looked pointedly past Tad to Stella who shivered under his gaze. She had never felt less comfortable and she turned away.
She was surprised to find a woman standing over Kate’s body, a woman who looked like Kate. No. It was Kate. Somehow she was standing over her own body. For a second Stella's fragile mind couldn't wrap itself around the problem.
It was Kate's ghost.
"Oh thank God," Miriam said loud enough to catch everyone's attention. All eyes turned to her in time to see her break free of whatever restraints she had been under so she could run to Kate. The two hugged fiercely and Stella could see tears in their eyes.
It would have been touching had King not been there, had he not started laughing again.
"Ah. Welcome back. I see you're a glutton for punishment. You could have moved on and spared yourself oblivion."
Kate looked up from Miriam defiantly.
"I've come back to help them kill you."
King laughed again. "Keep thinking that, love. We'll see how far you get with it later."
He turned his attention back to Tad. "Only one more life to take before I start on your ghosts Thaddeus. Any last words to say to the lovely Stella before she dies?"
Stella’s blood ran cold.
She found herself filled with a nervous energy fuelled by terror. The trouble was she didn't know what to do with that energy. She could run, but where would she go? She had seen enough of this place to know she couldn’t escape it. Maybe she could fight him? No. That was ridiculous. If Tad couldn't fight him then what chance did she have?
She looked at Tad one last time, seeking a glimmer of hope. She found none.
There was something strange about his eyes. Normally they were sharp, a reflection of his intelligence. Now she saw nothing. It was as though he were…
A memory triggered from one of her many conversations with him. There had been a time before his ghosts when his eyes didn't work. Was he blind again?
The longer she looked the more sure she became. He was blind. With that blindness, any last scraps of hope fled.
Tears filled her eyes, and she struggled again to think of something to do. There had to be something. She had spent her whole adult life making sure she could protect herself. Why was she looking to Tad for protection now?
Suddenly something clicked in her mind. King might kill her for what she was about to do, but he would kill her anyway. She might as well try it.
She kept looking to Tad, not letting on to King what she was thinking, but preparing herself nonetheless.
Her fingers curled around the hated chains and manacles that had secured her to the fountain just minutes earlier. They were hard and heavy. They could be a weapon.
Her muscles bunched and her heart beat quicker. She'd only get once chance.
"Well, Thaddeus. I'm waiting. I don't have all night," King teased.
Stella jumped to her feet, dragging the chains behind her and swinging them in a long ark. Tad was only two paces ahead of her, King maybe two beyond that. Two steps and he’d be within reach. Surely even he couldn't react that quickly.
She had already taken the first step and was starting her swing. She knew she was on target. Once they completed their path, the chains would catch King in the side of the head. She didn't care how powerful he was, that would hurt.
The second step was nearly complete, and she saw the chains blur past as she competed her swing. Through it all King stood still, smiling at her with contempt written across his expression.
The manacles were within a fraction of an inch of his face when he moved.
It was like something from a TV show. He moved so quickly he blurred, his head moving back out of reach and then moving back into place again once the chains had passed.
Stella was stunned, worse she was over balanced. The chains were heavy, and they were dragging her with them. She took another step forward, unable to help herself as she stepped into King's waiting hand.
His fingers were as hard as the iron she held in her hands and they clamped around her throat. It was like running into a stone barrier. Her head stopped moving but her legs kept going.
The only thing that stopped her falling was King's unmoving grip that held her off the floor.
"Nice try," he said. "But foolish."
Stella was barely listening. She was fighting hard at the hand holding her throat, digging her nails into flesh and trying to pry him loose. It was no good. The hand might as well have been carved from stone.
"It's about time I put an end to you," King said. "You should have died in the alley that night. Nothing personal of course. It was all just—“
His words cut off as a hand wrapped around the wrist holding Stella. For the first time King looked shocked as he followed that hand to the person connected to it.
He opened his mouth to speak but was forced to let Stella go and defend himself as Tad came in swinging. Stella had time to see Tad attack King’s surprised face before she fell to the floor.
She wanted to watch, but it was no use. She desperately needed air, and she coughed as her eyes watered and she struggled to catch her breath. She was so preoccupied with doing this that she had to fight back a scream when she felt a hand on her shoulder and another on her arm helping her up.
“Easy Stella, it’s just me,” Miriam said from her place at Stella’s shoulder. Stella turned to the other arm and found one of Tad’s ghosts, Charles, helping her to her feet. He wasn’t looking at her though, he was staring forward with naked terror.
“Come on Tad,” he whispered.
“What happened?” Stella asked as she turned her gaze to the direction he was looking. “How did Tad get free?”
“Because there’s more fight in Tad than King knows,” Tony answered. He was riveted by the fight. In spite of his words though, he looked terrified. Tad had lost the upper hand.
King had been surprised that Tad had broke free of whatever bonds had been holding him, but that surprise was quickly overcome. He was smiling again as he dodged Tad’s clumsy punches. He actually laughed when he countered, landing a heavy blow to Tad’s ribs which lifted him off his feet and sent him face first into a be
d of unidentifiable flowers.
“I’m impressed,” King roared. “I didn’t think you had it in you. How did you break free like that? You shouldn’t have the strength.”
Tad didn’t answer, just pushed himself back to his feet with a roar and came for King again. King was ready this time. He held up a hand and Tad froze mid-step… only to move again a fraction of a second later.
Once again this caught King by surprise and this time Tad landed his punch. It was a hell of a blow that caught King just below the chin and staggered him back a few steps.
Stella was as stunned as King.
Not only was that a great punch, much stronger than a normal man’s, but Tad had somehow thrown it blind. She had no idea how he was moving so well without being able to see, but she could tell by the look on his face that he was still blind.
He tried to press his advantage, but King had already recovered.
He didn’t use his Proxy powers to counter Tad this time, but instead used his hands. He caught Tad’s fist in one hand and backhanded Tad with the other. The blow rocked Tad’s head around so fast that Stella was surprised his neck didn’t break. Something cracked though. Judging by the blood that flew from his mouth as he turned, Stella wondered if it had been his jaw.
“You continue to surprise me,” King said. He was not smiling now. Instead he looked wary, a predator who realised that the prey he had caught had horns and knew how to use them. “We had best get this out of the way before you can surprise me anymore.”
Stella would have swore that the giant stone table that looked all too much like an Aztec altar had not been there a moment before.
Tad was still stunned from the blow to his head, so he didn’t put up much resistance as King casually dragged him toward that table and threw him down on top of it.
“No!” Charles cried, making all of them jump, including King. Charles’ charge might have looked comical at any other time were he not so serious about it. The anger evident in his roar was enough to make Stella think he might actually be in with a chance.
