We came to feel that the thing was indeed an evil force of some kind, although we didn’t know that for sure. But some of the people who heard the wail seemed to be perfectly healthy, and showed no signs of illness or disease. Of course, those people could have all been slated to fall victim to an accident, but that seemed more and more unlikely, especially when they were kept in safety at Magnus’ Temple, and they still died.
Those that did die in the temple did it the same way as those in the streets, or in their homes. They all stared at something that no one else could see, they all lost focus and would stop responding to anyone else around them, and they all died with blood running from their ears and horrified looks on their faces.
For me, it was frustrating. We ran into some horrible things before, but never anything that we couldn't plan for and defeat in time. But with the banshee, we didn’t even know where to start.
It was a warm evening when Lilly and I decided that we needed a break from it, and went to dinner. We returned to Pierre’s, which was the site of our official first date, and ate a great meal. Lilly looked gorgeous, as she always did, and even I cleaned up for the night. We tried our best to talk about other things, but our conversation often turned back to the banshee, or Father Magnus, or how we could fix things. Then we’d purposely swing to something else to try to give our heads a rest.
The walk back home was pleasant. The crowds on the streets were lighter these days, as people thought that if they stayed inside, they’d be safer from the banshee. It didn’t seem to matter, but people would think what they were going to. The air was warm, but not oppressive and I was with the woman I loved. In spite of everything else, I was happy.
I suddenly realized that while I was wool-gathering, Lilly was talking.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was off in a fog. What did you say?”
Lilly repeated herself, but she must have been annoyed, because whatever she was saying, it came out in a mumble, and I couldn’t make it out.
“I said I was sorry,” I said. “Come on. What were you saying?”
Lilly stopped and pulled me around so that I was looking at her. She didn’t look angry or upset, or even like she was playing a game. She was looking at me with concern, and I could see her mouth moving, but the words coming out were muffled.
Well, actually, when I thought of it, it wasn’t that they were muffled. It was more like her voice was being overridden, and there was another noise drowning her out. I shook my head, but instead of going away, it came clearer.
It was a high pitched, wavering noise, but low, almost to the point of my not being entirely sure that I was hearing it. It was on the edge of my hearing, but gaining in strength now that I recognized it, and it was drowning out Lilly’s voice and any other sounds around me.
My heart started to hammer in my chest, and a sweat broke out on my brow. I could see Lilly looking at me, asking me what was wrong, but I couldn’t answer her.
Instead, I looked around wildly, not seeing anything, but that noise was making me feel disoriented and dizzy. I stumbled slightly, and Lilly grabbed me, holding me steady.
Across the street, I saw her then. There was a beautiful woman watching me, her mouth moving slightly, as if she was singing softly. She wore a pale blue gown that flowed to the street, covering most of her form. There was a bluish tinge to her face and long hair, and she seemed somehow…unsubstantial. As if she wasn’t really there.
I tried to pull my gun from my belt and set it to “banshee”, but I didn’t even clear it when the world started to spin. Lilly’s cry of “Duke!” penetrated that horrible noise and then the world went dark, I felt something hard hit me, and that was the last thing I remembered.
When I woke up, I was home and lying in my own bed. Lilly was sitting in a chair nearby, an anxious expression on her face.
“You’re awake,” she said, and now, I could hear her easily.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Duke,” the words sounding harsh, but I could hear the tears that she was holding back. I hated it, so I held my arm out to her, telling her silently to come over to me.
She crawled up on the bed next to me and snuggled in.
“You heard it,” she said, her voice quiet.
“I did. I saw it too. Have to say, she was pretty hot stuff.” I smiled as I said it, and Lilly took it for the joke it was meant to be and punched me softly on the arm.
“I said not to be an idiot.”
We lay silently for a few minutes. She felt nice, lying there with her head on my chest, breathing. Hell, just breathing felt nice at this point. I wondered how much longer I would do that?
“You know what this means,” she said, not looking at me.
“Yep. But we’re not finished yet. Maybe we’ll find an answer.”
“Maybe. How are you feeling now?”
“I feel fine. Some buzzing in my ears, but it’s low. I can hear and I don’t feel dizzy or anything anymore. Want to get up?”
“Not yet,” she said, and turned her face to mine.
The next morning, we were up and moving, heading to the watchhouse to see if anyone came up with anything overnight.
“Hey, Sarge,” I said.
“Duke. Doing alright?”
News travels fast.
“I’m good. Be better if someone comes up with an answer.”
“We’re all trying, Duke. There’re a lot of resources being thrown at this now. Hell, even some of the other Nuisance Men have asked if there’s anything they can do. If there is an answer out there, we’re going to find it.”
“Thanks, Sarge. I’m a little surprised at how fast the news has gotten around.”
“Really? With Lilly as your girlfriend? She grabbed a couple of guys passing by off the street to get you home, and then contacted one of the other necromancers here. Don’t ask me how. But the call went out right away, messengers sent around. Did you expect anything less?”
I was touched, not only by Lilly’s actions, but by Sarge’s words, and by the support from all the others. But, being the tough Nuisance Man that I was, I swallowed that and forced a light tone into my voice.
“Well, thanks, Sarge. Let everyone know that I appreciate it, but not to worry. I’ll still be around to annoy everyone for a while.”
“You got it, Duke.”
I followed Lilly down to her office and took a seat, ready for a long day. She was insisting that I wasn’t to be out of her sight for long, and since I wasn’t about to spend what could very well be my last few days arguing with her, I went along.
All day, she flew in and out of her office, while others entered and left. I heard voices raised at times and once I heard what I could have sworn was Lilly pleading with someone, but I really wasn’t sure. Sometimes, it was hard to tell what was going on. I didn’t want to tell Lilly, but that buzzing in my head was starting to get louder again.
Not only that, but it was changing, turning back into that same type of undulating wail that I heard the night before. The world dimmed around me, as if I were looking at everything through a heavy, dark fog. Lilly’s blonde hair and red robes took on a washed-out appearance, and even though she was talking, I couldn’t really focus on what she was saying. It sounded like she was speaking through a thin tube, from very far away.
Then there was a bright spot that cut through the fog. Along the wall of Lilly’s office directly across from where I sat, a light appeared. A small dot at first, but then it started to grow. The cry that I could hear grew louder still, and then she was there again; the woman in the pale blue dress.
Only now, she wasn’t as pretty. There was something harder, more angular about her face. Where last night she was almost pure and innocent looking, she was now much more severe. Her eyes were darker and bored into mine, leaving me feeling like she was looking into my soul, judging me, and finding me wanting.
I shrank back, pushing my chair until it slammed into the wall. I wanted to get away, stop he
r from looking at me, or at least to turn my gaze away. But I couldn’t. She held me with her eyes, and all I could do was try to beg her to stop. But I couldn’t speak either, my voice was frozen in my throat, and all that came out was a pitiful mewling sound. With a feeling of shame, I realized that tears were freely rolling down my cheeks.
Suddenly Lilly was there, in front of me, cutting off my view of the woman. She was shouting, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. She turned her head, looking in vain for what only I could see.
Finally, the light that was behind her started to fade away, and the wailing dropped down. It didn’t get as quiet as before, and remained very distracting. It also didn’t sound like a buzzing noise anymore, but distinctly like a woman screaming over the loss of a child, or something equally as bad. I shook my head, trying to clear it, so that I could respond to Lilly.
“I’m okay,” I was finally able to croak out. “It’s gone.”
“The hell you are!” Lilly cried. She threw her arms around me and started sobbing. All I could do was hold on to her, and try to ignore the noise in my head.
What can I say? The rest of that day was pretty much the same. I failed miserably at trying to ignore the sound. When it seemed to fade, I would start trying to focus on it, to hear if it really was getting quieter, or if I was imagining it. It would definitely get louder at times, causing me to close my eyes, and try to shut it out, which never worked.
Twice more the banshee showed up, and each time it was worse. The wailing got louder and more desperate sounding, and the woman got more and more vile looking. She was hideous to see, and there was no feeling of good or love in her. It was like looking into the face of pure evil, and every time, I couldn’t turn away. I was forced to stare at her and every loathsome thing I ever saw came back to me, every vile thing I ever did was repeated, and even every unclean thought that ever passed through my mind was paraded in front of me again. No wonder all of her victims died with horror on their faces. It wasn’t only at the sight of her, part of it was at the crystal-clear glimpse at the unpleasantness inside of us.
The third time that she came, I ended up on the floor, staring at the wall vacantly, unable to respond to Lilly’s frantic cries. Not to reassure her, or to ask for help, or to beg her not to leave my side. After that, I didn’t know anything else. The dark came down over my vision like a heavy curtain, and that was it for a while.
When I finally woke, it was only to come back to more misery. I was now lying in my bed, how I got there, I wasn’t sure. I guessed that Lilly had some of the Watch members bring me home, and even through the noise and the pain, I was grateful for that.
I didn’t see Lilly anywhere, but I also didn’t have much of a chance to look. My eyes were only open for moment when that blue light appeared on the far wall, and then there she was again. Gone was the beautiful, young woman in the blue dress. Now, she was old, ancient, with a withered smile and blazing, hateful eyes. Her hair still had the pale blue tinge to it, but it writhed around her head like snakes, or blind worms found deep in caves. She was huge now, obese and moist looking, and the pale blue that infused her skin earlier had turned the color of old bruises.
Still, I couldn’t turn away. She opened her mouth, revealing sharp teeth, bits of rotted flesh stuck between them, and screamed. It was as if every loss, every pain, and every fright in the world were all bundled together and let loose at once. It was terrifying, saddening and maddening, in equal measures. I pushed my head into my pillow, trying to force it to come up around my ears and block out some of the sound, but it didn’t work.
I thought I would go mad. My mind was slipping away, eager to escape the pain and the terror. I was whimpering shamelessly, but I had no idea how loud. There was no other sound in the world other than that terrible wail coming from the banshee.
And then Lilly stepped in front me, at the foot of the bed. She looked at me with such sadness, and such love that if I wasn’t already weeping, I surely would have then.
She carefully mouthed the words, “I’m sorry”, and raised her hands, sparks dancing around her fingers. Her hair stuck out around her in a wild tangle and her eyes turned completely black.
I could see her chanting, but couldn’t hear the words, not that I would have understood them anyway. There were tear tracks down her cheeks, and she pointed at me.
A spear of black light sprang from her fingers, striking me in the chest. It felt like I was hit by a bolt of lightning, and I cried out. There was a horrible pain in my chest and my vision went black.
And the noise faded.
When I could see again, everything was foggy. Not only the banshee, like when I first saw her. But everything. Lilly, the bed, the room itself, and me. There I was, my body sprawled on the bed, while I stood to the side of it looking down.
I became aware of a noise, but it was faint and far away. Glancing over, I saw the banshee, looking at my body in confusion, her song slowly fading. Lilly was still standing at the end of the bed, her face in her hands, shoulders racked with sobs.
I very much wanted to go to her and tell her that it was alright, I was still here. But surely, she should know that. She was a powerful necromancer, skilled in death magic. If she cast the spell to free me from the banshee’s evil, she must know that I was still here, watching.
After a moment, she stopped crying and looked up. There was the Lilly that I knew and loved. Her face was a mask of determination, and she started spell casting again. It was hard to pay attention to it though. It somehow didn’t seem all that important. Neither she nor the banshee, still there and screaming again, with more and more force, really held my interest.
There was something beyond them. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel its pull. It felt like home. Someplace that was more home than I ever knew. Someplace with no nuisances, no Nuisance Men, and no pain or fear. All I needed to do was start walking that way and it could all be mine.
I took a step, but then felt a tug, as if I was still tied to my body somehow. Like a string was stretched between the lifeless husk lying in the bed, and where I was now. I could break it. All I needed to do was pull. If I did there was no going back, but I wasn’t sure that I cared.
A new noise broke into my thoughts, and I realized that it was Lilly, chanting louder and stronger, making me look at her again. This woman, who I loved so much, was doing something that was obviously very difficult. The strain of it showed on her face, and in her whole body language. I didn’t know what it was that she was doing, but I didn’t like it.
The pull of that place of peace wasn’t as strong now. Why would I want to go there, when Lilly was in need? No, I needed to stay, to be by her side, to fight another day, and all that other stuff. There was no one, and nothing, that was going to keep me from her.
I moved forward, stepping further from my body, but closer to Lilly, and I felt the step. I could feel the floor beneath my feet, and the temperature of the room. Everything was coming clearer, like the fog was dissipating.
The wail from the banshee was gaining strength again too, but it lost most of its power now. It still sounded horrible, with all the pain of the world rolled up in it, but now it sounded like a trick. Something that showed all the terrible, mean parts of the world, and left out all the good, the love and the joy.
I looked down at myself, amazed at how solid I was, including all of my clothes, and the gun at my belt. My gun. My Ultimate Weapon.
I casually pulled it free, said, “banshee!” in a clear voice, stepped around Lilly, and shot the banshee at close to point blank range.
The little, metal ball that came out this time looked like a ghost ball, clear and with a vaporous cloud behind it. It struck the banshee directly in the mouth, and the wail was cut off immediately.
The banshee exploded. In a soundless flash, it flew apart into several pieces, passing through the walls, the ceiling and the floor without any resistance. Some passed through Lilly and some flew threw my bodies, both the one standin
g and the one still lying in the bed. There was no feeling from it. It was as if the banshee was really nothing after all.
Lilly was still chanting, the strain showing horribly on her face, while I felt stronger with every passing second.
I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “It’s over, Lilly. You can stop.”
She jumped and looked around, her eyes not finding me, but the chant dying on her lips. Then she straightened, and lowered her hands, her hair settling back onto her shoulders. The tug from the string on the bed grew stronger, and I let it pull me back, moving faster as I neared my body.
There was darkness again, I not sure for how long. I felt like it was only moments until I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly as the light flooded in.
Lilly was sitting next to me on the bed, her face drawn and gray. I reached up and stroked her cheek, still wet with her tears.
“What did you do?” I croaked, suddenly aware of how parched my throat was.
“I found an answer, or hoped I did. Your gun, that thing that’s done so much, could kill it. But it needed to find it first. The only way to do that was for you to be dead, but still have the strength of will to draw the gun in with you.”
She stopped, and bowed her head. Her voice sank to a whisper.
“I killed you.” She stopped, and I pulled her to me to let her cry it out. She sobbed, clinging tightly to me.
“I’m still here," I said. "Whatever you did, it worked. The gun did come with me, and I was able to kill it. It’s gone.”
“I needed to hold you here,” she said. “I had to make it so that you would be dead, but still here enough to do the job.”
“I know. You did wonderful.”
Then, a terrible suspicion came over me.
“Lilly,” I said. “How, exactly, did you do that? How did you give me that strength?
“It has to come from somewhere…” she whispered.
Duke Grandfather- The Whole Story Page 30
