by Amy Cross
“I couldn't leave Andy to die,” she tells him. “There'll be another chance. I'm sorry, it was just my instinctive reaction. Andy has a child in -”
“Enough!” Raven shouts, turning to her. “Do you really think I want to hear your pitiful excuses right now? I laid out and executed a perfectly-designed plan that would have led the Devil straight into my hands, and it was all ruined because you couldn't let one dumb little stage-hand die! Did you seriously put that fool's life above everything we've been working for? If the ambulance hadn't left already, I'd go out there right now and finish him off myself!”
“Dumb little stage-hand?” Sam stares at him for a moment, shocked by his callousness. “I saw the Devil, he's still weak, so we can still trap him! I didn't ruin anything, I just did the right thing! Whatever else we have to do here, we can't just let people die, not when there's a chance to save them!”
“The Devil could be wearing these shackles right now,” Raven replies, stepping toward her with menace in his voice. “He could be kneeling before me right here, his head bowed as he waits for my first instruction. I've dreamed of that moment for so long, and it was within my grasp until you got in the way! Do you have any idea what it's like to get so close and then to have something snatched away? I could be the most powerful man on the planet at this very moment, but instead I'm still having to wait!”
“Why do you want him to kneel before you?” Sam asks, her mind racing as she tries to understand Raven's plans. “The whole point is to get him back into a grave, right?” She pauses, waiting for him to reply. “Right?”
“You don't get it, do you?” he replies. “Try to imagine the power that would be possessed by anyone who had the Devil as a slave. Try to imagine what one could achieve if one could just order the Devil to use his abilities on command. We've worked so long and so hard to get to this point, we've waited and waited, knowing that the time had to be just right, patiently letting the clock tick because we understood that timing was everything, and then what happens at the crucial moment?” He walks past Sam and then moves behind her, stopping for a moment to stare at the back of her head with disgust. “Some stupid little idiot ruins everything simply because she wants to save another stupid little idiot she barely even knows.”
“But -”
“You'd put everything at risk just for the sake of one man's life?”
“I thought I could lure him inside,” she replies. “I had my own plan! I was going to -”
Before she can finish, Raven reaches around and places the shackle's chain against her neck, pulling it tight.
“You had a very bad plan,” he tells her. “A very human plan. I can't imagine what kind of fool would even consider the possibility that an unarmed little girl could possibly stand up to the Devil. You must have a very high opinion of yourself, Ms. Marker. I think it's time to dissuade you from the notion that you can change anything.”
“Stop!” she replies, struggling to get free for a moment before he pulls the chain tighter.
“You will listen to me,” he sneers. “It seems you haven't been paying attention so far. Since you somehow managed to survive a face-to-face confrontation with the most evil creature in existence, I can only assume that you must be a little smarter than you seem.”
“He didn't want to attack me,” she gasps, struggling to breathe. ”I thought he'd come after me, but instead... It seemed as if he knew me, as if he wanted to let me live.”
“You talked to him?” he asks, relaxing the chain slightly.
“I didn't really understand everything he said,” she replies. “He told me to warn you, though. He told me to tell you that you should leave Rippon.”
“Excellent,” Raven says with a faint smile, “then he must be scared of me. Why else would he issue empty threats? And they are empty, Ms. Marker. Believe me, in his current state, the Devil couldn't so much as fight back against a gnat.”
“Please,” Sam continues, “I still need your help. We have to find him and get him back to the cemetery so I can -”
“He's never going back there,” Raven replies, interrupting her. He lifts the chain over her head and makes his way back across the room, stopping at his desk. “No matter what happens, his time in the Rippon cemetery is over. I'm still going to get these shackles on his wrists, and then he'll be mine to control. I'll succeed where Fenroc failed, and with the Devil at my side, I'll be unstoppable. Even those who sent me will end up kneeling before me.” He smiles. “Do you know the best part, Ms. Marker? I haven't even decided what I'm going to do when I have so much power. The truth is, I'll just make it up as I go along. I'll have absolute control over the entire world, and there will be no limits to my abilities.”
“You're insane,” Sam replies, taking a step back as she recognizes the glint in his eye. “You can't turn the Devil into your own personal slave!”
“Of course I can, and he knows it. That's why he woke in his coffin and broke free. He knew I was going to get down there and take possession of his body, and he was scared. It's also why he's lurking in the shadows around Rippon, feasting when he can, trying to grow stronger in a desperate attempt to get away from me. He wants to be back to full power before I track him down and use the Shackle of San Shaheth on him. There's still time, but not much. With every victim, he'll become stronger until eventually I won't be able to capture him. Fortunately, there are still a few ways I can track him down, and I think I might start by forcing you to help.”
“No,” she replies. “I'm never going to -”
“Henry,” he says firmly.
She stares at him, terrified by the thought that Raven is aware of her son's existence.
“If you value the life of your son at all,” he continues, “then you won't anger me again. You can't leave Rippon, Ms. Marker, but I can, and so can my men. Do you think it would be difficult for me to track little Henry down and send a swarm of ravens to pick his apart piece by piece? I could even get them to bring the pieces back here, so you could see the child's body. His eyeballs, his tongue, his heart... Imagine if they were all torn out of his body and delivered to you. The only thing you can possibly to do help your child is ensure that he's safe, and you're dangerously close to failing even in that!”
“You wouldn't -”
“Sit down,” Raven sneers, “and shut up. The only reason you're still alive, Ms. Marker, is that I might need your assistance when it comes to the passages beneath the cemetery. Your knowledge could yet prove invaluable or, at the very least, mildly useful. Enough to let you breathe for a little while longer.”
“There's no way -”
“Sit,” he says again. “In fact, no, don't sit... Kneel.”
She stares at him, stunned by the order.
“Didn't you hear me? I told you to kneel.” He steps closer to her. “I can easily send some of my ravens after your son, so if you value his life at all, I would suggest that you kneel before me immediately. My patience is running thin.”
Realizing that she has no choice, Sam gets down onto her knees, even though her whole body is shaking with fear. In the space of just a few minutes, she's gone from having an ally in her search for the Devil to being subjugated by a man who wants to take full control over the most evil creature in existence. Even worse, she knows that one wrong move could result in ravens being sent to kill Henry.
“I...” she starts to say before her voice trails off.
“That's better,” he continues with a faint smile. “See? Anyone can be made a slave if one merely knows their weak point.”
“And you know the Devil's weak point?” Sam asks.
“I have the Shackle of San Shaheth,” he replies, holding the metal up for her to see. “There is nothing he can do once this has been attached to his body, and in his current weakened state I will be able to subdue him. The only question is how I get close enough.” Pausing for a moment, he stares at her until his smile finally broadens. “In fact, I think I might have an idea, and you, Ms. Marker, are going
to help me.”
Five
“Sam!” Anna shouts as she rushes into the cottage. Racing through to the second room, she stops for a moment, desperately out of breath and trying not to panic. “Sam, are you -”
“She's not here,” says a calm voice nearby.
Turning, Anna sees that there's a figure on the floor, curled up in the corner of the kitchen and almost completely hidden in the shadows. Instantly feeling a strange shivering sensation in her body, Anna freezes for a moment; somehow, she can already sense that the visitor is bad news, as if something dark is radiating out from his body and filling the room.
After a few seconds, she realizes she can hear his heavy, rasping breaths. The sound reminds her of the way her grandfather used to breathe in hospital a few years ago, while he was waiting to die of pneumonia.
“Who...” She pauses as she steps closer, and finally she realizes that the figure's body seems to be blackened and charred. On the floor nearby, pieces of burned skin have fallen like dark snowflakes.
“She's with him,” the figure continues, before coughing so hard that it seems he might bring up a lung. “She's with Charles Raven. She probably thinks he can help her, or at least that's what she thought when she went to him. That's the problem with humans, everything's so -” Before he can finish, he starts coughing again, and it takes a moment before he can regather his composure. “Everything's so relative. She assumed that because Raven was my enemy, that must make him a nice guy. So... wrong...”
“Okay...” Anna pauses again, her mind racing as she tries to work out exactly what has happened. “Who are you?” she asks finally. “How do you know about Sam? How did you even get in here? Sam always locks the door when there's no-one here. Always.”
“We met before, remember?” he continues. Slowly he raises his head to reveal two faint red eyes burning in the darkness of his face. The light isn't as intense as before, but there's no mistaking the bloodied stare. “I let you live when we met in the shed, so I hope I earned your trust. To some degree, at least. I desperately need more energy, and I had you right where I needed you, but I just let you... wake up and run away.”
“But...” Taking a deep breath, Anna finally realizes that she can no longer deny the obvious: she's face to face with the Devil himself. “Oh...” she stammers, taking a step back. “I... I... But... I...”
“Calm down,” he replies. “Don't you get it yet? If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already and I'd be feasting on your meat.” He coughs again, and this time he accidentally sprays a little blood against the kitchen wall. “I'm healing. Slowly, but it's happening. Charles Raven unleashed his regeneration energy in an attempt to revive me, but it didn't quite work the way he'd expected. Some of the energy was drawn to another undead thing, which I believe might be you. As a result, I was able to sense what he was planning before he had a chance to come and get hold of my body. I should thank you. Without your presence, I'd be in chains by now.”
“That... wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing,” Anna points out. “I mean, you are the Devil...”
“For me, it would be bad,” he tells her. “For the world, too. I'm really not as awful as the history book suggests.”
“Really?” she asks. “The Devil isn't as bad as everyone claims?”
“I have my moments,” he continues. “Charles Raven, on the other hand, is a pathetic, power-hungry little man but right now he actually has a shot at getting what he wants. If I'm not careful, I'll end up as the servant of a pitiful fool who I'd otherwise be able to flick away without even breaking a sweat. I need him to remain distracted while I recover, but I'm not sure I can hide for long enough. You have to go and stop him.”
“Me?”
“He uses something to focus his regenerative powers,” the Devil explains. “I don't know what, but it must be something he keeps close to him at all times, something he carries with him. Destroy that item and you'll destroy Raven.”
“And give you time to recover?”
“Well...” He smiles. “Sure, that might be one side-effect.”
“I'm not... I don't think I want to go down in history as the person who helped the Devil.”
“In this rare case,” he continues, “I'm the lesser of two evils. Trust me, even once I'm back to full strength, I'll still be trapped here in Rippon, just like you. There's also the matter of your friend. If you don't act soon, Sam Marker will be just the next in the long line of Raven's many victims.”
“But...” Anna pauses, horrified by the thought that Sam might be in trouble. “How do I know that you're telling the truth? How do I know you're not tricking me into helping you to get free?”
“Because I'm being very open about the fact that you're going to set me free,” he continues. “I'm not trying to trick you, you have two very simple options. One, ignore my request, let your friend die, and wait until I've been captured by Charles Raven, who will then force me to help him with whatever he's planning. Or, two, help me, help your friend, stop Raven, and then work out what to do about the fact that I'm awake. Well, actually that would be Sam's problem. After all, if you destroy Raven, you'll destroy every creature that benefited from his energy.”
“Including you?”
“No, I'm the exception. I'm past that point. But you'll destroy Raven and...”
She waits for him to continue.
“And what?” she asks finally.
“You'll go back to how you were. Worse, maybe. The reason I didn't kill you in the shed is simple. I could sense that you'd been affected by Raven, that you were in a very select club of which I am also a member. You were rotting, weren't you? Before Raven turned up, your body was dead and you were slowly falling apart.”
“So if I stop him,” Anna replies, “I'll go back to being a zombie?”
“If you're lucky. The process will probably cause significant damage, so you'll most likely be signing your own death warrant. I doubt there'll be very much left of your body at all.”
“I...” She pauses, trying to work out what to do next. “There has to be another way.”
Slowly, the Devil hauls himself to his feet. It's clear that even the slightest movement requires a great deal of effort, and he lets out a gasp as he limps forward. Once he's out of the shadows, Anna can see that his face is healing rapidly, with the first hints of his features starting to appear. He grimaces with pain as he takes a few more steps.
“Let me redefine those choices for you,” he continues. “Option one, you let everything bad happen right now. Option two, you sacrifice yourself and save your friend, and you trust that further down the road there'll be an even better option. It's your choice, but if I were you, I'd start by saving my friend. If in doubt, if you're ever in a situation where you don't know what to do, always go for the option that involves saving someone you care about.”
“I...” Anna takes a deep breath.
“There isn't much time,” he adds.
“But I... I...”
“You... what?”
“I...”
He smiles. “Having trouble deciding?”
“I don't know what to do,” she replies. “I can't... I can't save anyone. Look at me! I'm not Sam! Sam's the one who saves people and puts things right, I'm just her helper!”
“Think fast,” the Devil continues as he reaches her. “It seems to me that Sam Marker is very important, not just to the world but also to you. Even if you can't decide about any of the other things, I'm sure you can work out whether or not to save her. Or to try, at least.”
“We'll come for you,” Anna replies, hurrying to the door before turning and looking back at him. “We'll find a way to get you back in your tomb. I can't do it by myself, but me and Sam, together, we can do pretty much anything. This... This doesn't mean that you're going to win!”
“I look forward to a demonstration of your joint skills,” he says with a faint smile. “Now get going. There isn't much time! All your options are bad, but you've still got to pick o
ne of them! The world has to end some time, it's just a matter of when. If I were you, I'd start running.”
Six
“Before this night is over,” Raven mutters to himself, gently twisting the ring on his forefinger, “I will have the Devil under my control. He's so close, and he's already begun to make mistakes. I swear I will make him kneel before me.”
“You seem to have a thing about making people kneel,” Sam replies, watching from the other side of the tent's preparation room, where she's down on the floor herself, waiting for her next order. “Ever think about talking to a psychiatrist?”
Raven turns to her, and it's clear from the darkness in his eyes that he has no time for her comments.
“How long have you been after him?” she continues, trying to buy some time while she desperately tries to come up with an actual plan. “Don't take this the wrong way, but you've got the gaunt, slightly feverish look of someone who's been chasing after something for a hell of a long time. I mean, that kind of hunt can really take it out of a guy, can't it? I'm starting to think you've been tracking the Devil down all your life, and I can't help wondering exactly how long that might be...”
“I first learned of the Devil's grave when I was a young man,” he replies. “I knew immediately that if I could find that grave, I'd be able to turn the Devil's powers to my advantage. The details were hidden, but eventually I learned that the grave was hidden somewhere, and that its true location was known only to a select few. In order to find that location, I needed to hone my powers, so I dedicated myself to working with the carnival and...” He pauses. “Slowly they came. The ability to see into the minds of others, the ability to peel back the layers of death... I don't know whether I was born with these gifts, or whether sheer hard work allowed me to go further than other men, but eventually I began to see order in the chaos of the world. The more I elevated myself above ordinary men, the more I realized that I was marked out for something special.”
