The Devil Inside

by Heather Atkinson

  “You can’t say I didn’t give you a chance Brodie.” Malachi got to his feet and looked down at them, his gaze once again fiery. “What happens next is your fault, because you refused to allow me to cleanse the world of more devils.”

  Edith stepped forward, feeling confident now imminent violence appeared to have been averted. “Right you, out. We’ve had enough of your weirdo talk for one day.”

  Malachi’s smile was sympathetic. “It’s not your fault you’ve been infected. It’s the company you keep.”

  “Infection? I’ll have you know this place is spotless,” she replied, wagging her finger at him. “I’ve never once had environmental health in.”

  “No, he means…,” began Cain. He went silent when Malachi held up a hand.

  “It’s alright,” said Malachi softly. “We have more urgent things to attend to.”

  The whole café watched them leave in curious silence. Once they’d gone the chatter started up again, noisier than ever.

  “I’d say that was weird,” said Elliott, retaking his seat and picking up his now cold cup of coffee. “But weird seems to have become the norm lately.”

  “I don’t like it,” said Brodie. “He’s up to something.”

  “Isn’t he always?” said Christian.

  “Aye but I think he’s going to do something bad and…”

  “He’ll use that argument with us as an excuse,” said Cass. “He’ll try and blame us for his own actions.”

  “That’s right hen,” he said, taking her hand. “And going off what Gardner said, it’s gonnae be big.”

  “The compound?”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “We should warn Pete.”

  “He’s already prepared for a fight, he knows the cult won’t go down easily.”

  “So what do we do?” said Elliott.

  “There’s nothing we can do. We just sit and wait.”

  “That’s not like you Boss.”

  “I’ve no idea what the freak’s gonnae do now. Everything that happens in this city gets back to me. Don’t worry, we’ll soon find out what he’s up to. Relax and have a doughnut.”

  “I can’t relax.”

  “Try and make the most of it. It’s no’ gonnae last long.”

  “By Christ that was easier than I thought it would be,” said Black as he left Judge Murphy’s chambers clutching a search warrant, accompanied by Pete and Donaldson. He was still surprised by the look of panic on the normally unflappable judge’s face when he’d mentioned Brodie’s name. He didn’t even want to think what that was about.

  “Our team’s ready to go,” said Pete. “It’ll be a combined operation between Glasgow City Centre and Glasgow West End. All selected officers have been sworn to secrecy on pain of having something large and pointed shoved somewhere small and round.”

  “You’ve been hanging around with Brodie too long.”

  “The team are meeting us at the scene in an unmarked black Ford Transit,” said Donaldson.

  “Let’s hope they don’t tip Malachi the wink.”

  “I set two men to watching the compound,” said Pete. “Malachi and two of his bodyguards left an hour ago followed half an hour later by a van full of disciples.”

  “How many?”

  “It was difficult for them to count as the rear windows were blacked out but judging by the way the back end of the van was weighed down, the sergeant said it was jam packed.”

  “Does anyone else get a bad feeling?”

  Pete and Donaldson both nodded.

  “Let’s get over there quick. And make sure you’ve got your Kevlar on. This could get nasty.”

  Brodie’s table had just ordered another round of coffees and pastries when his phone rang.

  “Alright Mickey?” he smiled. “How ya doin’ pal?” He overturned his chair as he shot to his feet. “What? I’ll be right there. No, get yourselves away. It won’t be good.”

  “Malachi?” said Cass.

  “He’s back in George Square, preaching his utter shite to a big crowd.”

  “He does that a lot.”

  “Aye but my gut’s telling me we need to get down there. Natalie’s with him.”

  They all got to their feet and rushed for the door.

  “I’ll box your cakes up for you,” Edith called after them. She was used to this behaviour, it wasn’t the first time they’d had to run out after getting a phone call.

  “Jeezo, look at that,” said Brodie as they leapt out of his car at George’s Square, leaving his motor illegally parked. “The crowd’s even bigger.”

  Malachi was atop a small wooden stage, Eve stood on his left, Natalie on his right. Cain and Abel lurked behind their group, carefully watching the crowd. A group of fifteen disciples formed a protective semi-circle at the foot of the stage, looking out at the crowd.

  What made Brodie truly furious was the sight of Mason standing off to one side of the stage.

  “There’s the two faced wee rat,” he spat.

  “Take it easy,” said Cass, putting a hand on his arm. “This place is too crowded to get into a fight.”

  Malachi was already in full flow, his eyes a little wilder than normal as he preached.

  “Higher Light offers you a way,” he announced into the microphone, his deep voice echoing across the square, so loud it even managed to drown out the sound of the passing traffic. “A way out of the misery of modern life. Who wants the rat race to end?”

  A cheer of approval rose from the crowd.

  “Who wants the never-ending misery of work and bills and stress to vanish?”

  Another cheer, even louder.

  “I’m gonnae circle around the crowd and try to reach Nat,” Brodie told the others. “Cass, you’re with me. The rest of you, get behind the stage. If Cain and Abel try to stop me getting my sister away, you stop them.”

  They all nodded in understanding.

  While Elliott, Ross and Christian peeled off from the group and headed to the left, Brodie and Cass made their way to the right, slowly walking through the crowd, trying not to draw attention to themselves. However there were so many people in the square it would be difficult to spot them.

  “Then, beautiful souls,” continued Malachi. “I will give you the answer to salvation right now, this very minute. No need to wait any longer. The path to God is opening right before you, a divine gift sent from heaven.” He closed his eyes and raised his arms to the sky. “The kingdom of God is all around you. I bring you…deliverance.”

  With that, the disciples gathered around the base of the podium flung their coats open to reveal large, deadly knives clutched in their hands. There was a collective moment of silence as the crowd took in this shocking turn of events, attempting to work out whether the blades were real or part of some bizarre trick.

  The silence was shattered by screams when the disciples began slashing at those in the crowd closest to them. Panic broke out as those trapped at the front fought to escape but those at the back, ignorant of what was happening, craned their necks to see, refusing to move until they’d found out.

  “Move you fucking idiots,” bellowed Brodie, attempting to fight his way through the throng. Up front he could see more people being felled by the lethal blades. Blood lust had the bats firmly in its grip, their eyes wild, faces spattered with blood. They were enjoying it. He could see a mother with two young children desperately trying to escape but she was trapped in the crowd, the bats hacking away with their knives getting nearer to them. Glancing at the stage he saw Malachi standing with his arms outstretched, in crucifixion pose, face tilted to the sky, zealous gaze fixed on the heavens, as though he expected to be lifted into them any second. Cain, Abel, Eve and Mason stood calmly around him, as though people weren’t being slaughtered where they stood. Natalie however was looking back at her brother with huge fearful eyes, frozen to the spot with horror. It seemed she wasn’t really a bat. He hoped anyway.

  Finally word had spread to the back of the crowd a
bout what was going on up at the front and the mob began to disperse, fleeing the scene, enabling Brodie and Cass to force their way to the front. As Brodie broke through to the bottom of the stage he shoved aside a man, knocking him out of the way of the blade that had been arcing towards his chest. Brodie headbutted the knife-wielding bat, who collapsed in a heap. He snatched up the dropped knife and rammed it into the shoulder of the disciple standing beside him before wrenching it free, causing the man to scream and sink to the ground. The mother and her two children were still fighting to escape, tears coursing down the little girls’ faces but there were still too many people in front of them. A female bat lashed out at the mother, who stood protectively before her children, the knife slicing through her right upper arm. The mother screamed and her knees buckled but she refused to go down and leave her children vulnerable. Two disciples blocked Brodie from reaching them. Putting his head down, he charged at a third disciple, knocking him into the two barring his way and the three of them fell. Brodie kept on going, running over them, ignoring their cries of pain. He reached out just as the woman raised the knife to deliver another blow to the weakening mother and grabbed a handful of her hair. Normally he wouldn’t dream of hitting a woman but after witnessing the bitch attempting to kill a mother defending her children he had no problem with driving his fist straight into her face. He felt her nose crumple under the blow and she dropped like a stone. Brodie hastily snatched the knife from her hand.

  “Are you okay?” he asked the mother.

  The woman nodded, face white with pain and shock, one hand clamped to her arm, blood trickling through her fingers. “I’ll be fine,” she said bravely.

  “Good. Get your weans out of here.”

  She inhaled deeply and took her crying children’s hands. Her eyes widened. “Behind you.”

  Brodie spun round, arm already raised, blocking the knife thrust to his back. “Go,” he told the woman as he started to fight with another disciple.

  “Thank you,” she called before fleeing from the square, dragging her children with her.

  The bat Brodie struggled with was strong and was succeeding in driving the knife towards his chest, despite how hard he was pushing back. Brodie slammed his foot into his knee, there was a crack and the man’s face turned ashen. Brodie snatched the knife from his hand and punched him, knocking him out.

  He glanced sideways at Cass to see her knock out one bat with a kick under the chin but they were still outnumbered.

  Malachi gazed down on the scene with triumph, this time certain of his nemesis’s destruction, his inner circle calmly gathered around him. Eve’s eyes shone with pleasure as she revelled in the carnage.

  The bats broke off from attacking those who hadn’t managed to escape the square and surrounded Brodie and Cass instead, leaving people lying injured or dead on the ground. Sirens were approaching but Brodie wasn’t sure they would arrive in time to save himself and Cass. Between them they’d neutralised six disciples but they were still outnumbered and he had no idea if the rest of his team was safe.

  Brodie’s hand found Cass’s and they glanced at each other, wondering if they would ever see their wedding day.

  The circle surrounding them was broken when Elliott, Christian and Ross charged into it from both sides, knocking bats to the ground. At the same a police car drew up and two officers leapt out and ran up to assist.

  Abel drew a gun and aimed it at the approaching officers who, seeing the weapon, halted in their tracks. Brodie leapt up onto the stage, grabbed Abel and hurled him to the ground. He landed on a bat who was fighting with Cass, squashing him. She stomped on his wrist, grinding the bones under her boot heel, making him squeal and the officers rushed to restrain him, snatching up the gun.

  “Nat,” cried Brodie, running towards his sister, coming to a halt when Mason aimed a gun at her.

  “Don’t just stand there Brodie,” she yelled at him. “Do something.”

  “Want me to shoot her?” said Mason. “After being in her company for the last two hours I really think I’d be doing you a favour.”

  “You’ll leave her alone,” he roared.

  Mason turned his gun on Brodie instead, making Natalie scream.

  “I can’t believe you bought into Malachi’s bullshit,” Brodie told him. “I thought you were intelligent, for a journo anyway.” He forced himself not to look at Cass, who was hauling herself up onto the back of the stage, unseen by Mason. In one deft move she was on and she began to creep up behind him. Malachi had failed to notice her as he was still in his Christ pose and Cain and Eve were pointing their guns at the second police car that had appeared, keeping the officers at bay.

  Cass’s legs wrapped around Mason’s and he toppled forward, landing facedown with a smack, the gun clattering from his hand. Cain spun round with his own gun, startled by the noise. When Brodie leapt forward to snatch up Mason’s dropped weapon Cain fired, hitting him in the back, pitching him onto his front.

  “No,” screamed Cass.

  Cain aimed the gun at her next but she jumped off the stage and ducked down behind it, narrowly avoiding the shots that were pumped her way.

  Natalie threw herself down by her brother’s side. “Brodie,” she cried, tears rolling down her face. “Brodie, wake up.”

  He didn’t respond.

  With relish, Cain aimed the gun at her and all she could do was stare down that gaping barrel.

  Cass appeared out of nowhere, clutching a knife, running at a speaker sat at the bottom of the stage, using it to leap up onto the platform. Cain screamed as she slashed him across the face with the knife. He dropped the gun and clamped his hands to his face, blood pouring through his fingers. She rammed the blade into the back of his right knee and he fell. Shots filled the air as Eve fired at more approaching police officers. Cass scooped up Cain’s gun and fired. Eve caught the movement from the corner of her eye and jumped off the stage just in time to avoid being hit. She raced away from the square, firing over her shoulder at the pursuing officers as she went, keeping them at bay before disappearing into the fleeing crowd.

  Cass ran over to Brodie and threw herself down by his side.

  “He won’t wake up,” Natalie told her. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Cass pressed her fingers to the pulse in her neck, swallowing down her fear and panic. “He’s still alive,” she breathed shakily. “Brodie? Brodie?”

  No response.

  “Do something,” Natalie practically screamed at her.

  “What the fuck do you want me to do?” Cass screamed back at her, tears running down her face. “I’m not a doctor. I daren’t even put him in the recovery position because it might do more harm than good.”

  Natalie didn’t respond, watching as Cass gently tilted Brodie’s head to one side so he could at least breathe better.

  Armed police and two ambulances raced into the square. Elliott, Christian and Ross were struggling with the remaining disciples and the police officers ran to help.

  “Help him,” Natalie cried at them, pointing to Brodie. “He’s been shot.”

  Two paramedics ran to help those down on the ground while another two ran onto the stage to assist Brodie. Cass and Natalie moved out of the way to give them access, watching helplessly as they went to work on him. After assessing his injuries they gently turned him onto his side.

  “The bullet passed through,” said one of them.

  “Is he going to be okay?” sobbed Natalie.

  “We need to get him to hospital ASAP,” was all one of them was willing to say.

  Natalie looked to Cass. “Why aren’t you upset?” she demanded. “I always knew you were cold. This just proves that you don’t care about my brother.”

  The look Cass gave her silenced her, Natalie taking a few steps back as her grip on the gun tightened, her knuckles turning white. When she began to advance on her she gasped and staggered backwards but Cass marched right past her and up to Malachi, who was still standing on the stage with his
eyes closed and arms outstretched, muttering to himself.

  His murmurs were silenced when she punched him full in the face. He would have toppled over had she not grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him upright. Malachi smiled when the gun was jammed under his chin.

  “You’ve gone too far,” she hissed in his ear, tears rolling down her face.

  He smiled at the click as the safety was taken off. “That’s right Cass, do it. Make me a martyr. Then I win. You’ll go to prison and I’ll go home to the Lord.”

  “You say that but I bet you don’t really want to die.”

  “Death holds no fear for me. So please, pull the trigger. My church will live on with me as its founder and saint. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of.”

  The scene of Brodie being shot replayed itself through her head, the spray of blood from his back, being thrown onto his front with the force of the projectile passing through his body and she jammed the gun harder against Malachi’s skin, her finger tightening on the trigger. Determination flooded her body. She was going to do this, she was going to kill someone, for the first time in her life…

  A thought occurred to her that made her change her mind as she considered Toni McVay’s words. The punishment she would dole out to him would be much more satisfying than a bullet through the head. That was far too quick.

  “You know what? I’m going to let you live,” she said, releasing him. “Death is too easy for you. I want to see you rotting away in prison, being used as a sex toy by men even more psychotic than you.”

  “Dear Cass, that won’t happen. I wasn’t responsible for what happened here today.”

  “Course you are. You ordered your disciples to do it. You said you were going to free everyone.”

  “But I never told them to do this. The whole thing was recorded so I would have proof. I never told any of my disciples to attack anyone and none of my followers will say that I did. They’ll happily go to prison for me.” He regarded her with that unsettling wide gaze. “I’ll go free and my church will continue to thrive. Your police friends will find nothing at the Glasgow compound. I made sure it was emptied before they even got there. I knew that was exactly what they’d do once they hacked into my accounts.”