RECRUITED: A Mike Humber Novella (Demon Series Book One)

by Haywood, RR

  We’re almost there, but metres away from entering the café blocked from our view by a press of tourists and in these last few seconds the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as a deep shiver runs through my core. The air seems heavy and charged with static and my inner voice of survival screams to run away. Nerves and the after-effects of getting pissed again.

  As the Red Sea parted for Moses, so the crowd does so for us and there he is. John Williams. Older but unmistakable. A man of average height and with a heavy build. A man with an ingratiating smile and charm. A man with short cropped brown hair flecked with grey that gives him the appearance of a kindly uncle. John Williams the destroyer of lives. John Williams the manipulator. John Williams the child rapist on his own at a table with two empty chairs just waiting to be used by the sheep we are.

  He looks up and smiles as though old friends he greets. Genuine delight on his face. My hand reaches down to take Elizabeth’s and I give her a reassuring squeeze, ‘everything will be okay,’ I whisper across, ‘I promise.’

  She nods and although her face is impassive, her eyes show a battle of fear, rage, trepidation, nerves and a desire to flee. Every action has a reaction. I look into her eyes and see those emotions. That action dictates the reaction.

  John Williams is a cunt and I’m not a fucking sheep. I cross the last few steps with powerful strides as my body floods with adrenalin-fuelled rage. He smiles a witty puzzled look but then I stop. I was going to hook his chair out and slam him down then start the beating but the expression on his face tells me he’s waiting for that…wanting it. I won’t be played again so I come up short and stand over him while I glare down into his soft brown eyes.

  He smiles knowingly, goading. Taunting me to do it but the gentle hand of Elizabeth rests on my arm and that touch takes me back just enough to let some oxygen into my brain.

  ‘So close.’ Williams smiles wryly.

  ‘It’ll happen,’ I mutter as Elizabeth sits down and I follow her lead. ‘In a few minutes,’ I say between gritted teeth, ‘I will either kill you,’ I drag the chair in closer to the table, ‘or I will restrain you and effect a citizen’s arrest during which time the footage of your…’ I struggle to phrase it, ‘while the footage is passed to the local police. I just haven’t decided which one yet.’ I look up and see not a flicker of fear or concern on the features of the man that has invaded my nightmares for so long. Elizabeth is silent, watchful and the years of business stand her proud as she shows neither fear or concern.

  His humorous brown eyes twinkle with mischief as he glances between us like that kindly uncle waiting to hear if I proposed. ‘Look at you two!’ he beams, ‘such a nice couple.’ His voice is deep and rich, baritone and the kind of voice you’d expect to be giving after-dinner speeches.

  ‘Drinks?’ the busy waiter asks brusquely.

  ‘Ah,’ Williams chuckles, ‘I shall have a pot of tea and my two young companions will have coffee…er…’ he glances at me, ‘unless you’d prefer a vodka that is?’ he asks openly. ‘I heard you fell off the wagon.’

  I clear my throat. ‘Coffee is fine,’ I say to the waiter but don’t take my eyes off Williams. The last time I saw him was during the footage of him and just the thought of it sends a surge of pulsating fury through my body.

  ‘Steady now, Mike.’ He looks straight at, straight through me. ‘Can’t be good for your health getting all worked up like that. Mind you,’ he smiles ingratiatingly, ‘all that exercise you’ve been doing, fit as a fiddle these days aren’t you, Mike?’

  ‘Stop.’ I cough to clear my throat again. ‘Stop saying my name.’ My voice comes out too high pitched and too strangled.

  ‘Given up the vodka and sleeping pills,’ he continues conversationally, ‘addicted to exercise now eh? Still, all those calories burnt off and you still can’t sleep. Can you?’ He speaks softly yet his voice carries easily in this busy place. ‘And you,’ he switches to Elizabeth, ‘you look radiant, my dear, absolutely radiant. How is your dear sister? Not so well I understand? Locks herself in all day doesn't she? But mind, you do look glowing which is probably the after effects of your afternoon love making.’ He smiles kindly to both of us. ‘And,’ he winks at Elizabeth, ‘Mike didn’t think of Tessa this time.’

  ‘Enough you prick,’ I snap, ‘mind games don’t…’

  ‘Mind games?’ he asks softly. ‘No, Mike. Not mind games. Not this time. Just the truth,’ He adds casually.

  ‘The truth?’ Elizabeth asks coldly. ‘What truth?’ She adds when he doesn't reply.

  ‘I’m leaving soon,’ He says snootily with a disdainful look around. ‘This place bores me terribly.’

  ‘Fuck you.’ The snarl is out before I can stop it. ‘Dirty fucking cunt…’

  ‘Ah there’s the old Mike.’ He gives a wan grin but suddenly looks tired and drawn. ‘However, I can only say that the last day or so has been an unexpected pleasure. A fitting end to my time here. De Smet,’ Williams waves a casual hand, ‘was mediocre…’

  ‘Mediocre?’ Elizabeth asks in a choked whisper. ‘We saw what he did…’

  ‘Oh no no,’ Williams cuts her off, ‘not that, I never meant that. His death is what I meant. That was mediocre. I somewhat expected more from Mike. Strangling,’ He tilts his hand back and forth as though weighing it up, ‘so so…the bleach was good but the fire killed him off too quickly. Personally I would have let him recover a bit before I did the bleach and then waited before I set fire to him…but then,’ He rolls his eyes, ‘the silly arse went and fired his gun so you had very little time.’

  ‘Surveillance?’ I can’t help but ask.

  ‘Verhoeven though,’ William’s chuckles, ‘oh now that. That was good.’

  ‘How did you…’ Elizabeth starts to say.

  ‘Honey trapping him in his own car,’ William’s ignores the interruption, ‘but then,’ He offers Elizabeth a questioning glance, ‘if you don’t mind the feedback, why the rush? I mean you had him in a forest clearing and all the time in the world?’

  Elizabeth shoots a glance at me and for a second I catch myself trying to figure out how he saw everything. Then I realise this is just another form of control.

  This time I tilt my head to one side and smile. ‘So you enjoyed it then?’ I ask lightly. ‘Your turn is next.’

  ‘Oh I enjoyed it immensely,’ He says with sincerity. ‘Verhoeven was a useless prick always flapping about getting caught and how we should stop…He was a gibbering wreck when he heard about De Smet and of course I had some fun with that,’ William’s chuckles.

  ‘Why are we here?’ Elizabeth asks bluntly. ‘To give you an audience?’ She shakes her head firmly. ‘You have five seconds to tell us why we’re here or…’

  ‘Or what?’ He asks gently and leans forward. ‘And what happens after five seconds? Do you let Mike get me? Been there. Done that. Got the t shirt,’ he smiles.

  ‘One,’ Elizabeth counts.

  William’s sits back and smiles.

  ‘Two.’

  He chuckles lightly.

  ‘Three.’

  ‘Oh I love ultimatums.’ He smiles gleefully.

  ‘Four.’

  ‘We’re getting closer to five,’ he says.

  ‘Five…’

  William’s looks about calmly, ‘…and nothing,’ He holds his hands up, ‘you got to five and nothing happened.’

  ‘Mike,’ Elizabeth says.

  ‘My turn,’ Williams’s cuts in with a knife edged voice, ‘my greatest pleasure is taking a man, a good man,’ he speaks fast and brutal as that soft image melts away, ‘and ruining him. And when I say man I mean it in the sense of a human being, not a man per se. A woman, a man…’ He shrugs, ‘either way. But it’s the degradation of seeing them fall that pleases me oh so very much.’

  The way he speaks, the animation of his face and pitch of his voice is mesmerising and both of us are drawn to just listen.

  ‘Truth be told,’ The anger abates as quickly as it flashed across his fac
e and he sighs, ‘I used to get a kick out of murder but that waned, then adult rape but,’ He shrugs with distaste, ‘ a natural progression one might say…to child rape that is…’

  ‘You utter…’ I start to seethe but he holds a hand up.

  ‘But the kick, the kick of any of those things can never stand up to the emotional destruction that grief and loss cause. It wasn’t the child that pleased me, it was the pain to the family and…’

  ‘I’m not listening to this.’ I start to rise.

  ‘Sit down, Mike,’ He snarls, ‘or shall I count to five.’

  ‘Count to ten for all I give a fuck.’

  ‘One,’ he locks eyes on me and all trace of humour is gone to be replaced by a steely eyed man with a depth of look in his eye the like of which I have never seen before. A distant scream rips through the air followed by a soft thump. Waiters rush to the front of the café and patrons stand up to see what caused the noise.

  ‘Two,’ he doesn't blink but keeps me rooted to the spot. Another scream but from a deeper voice followed by a muffled whump that cuts the wail off instantly. Screams fill the air as people start rushing towards the tower. The static charge in the air feels heavy but the temperature drops instantly by several degrees.

  ‘Three,’ he continues and the breath from his mouth mists in the sudden chill. This time I glance round just in time to see something falling down from the tower. Something fast and heavy, something that screams as it falls and then dies when it lands.

  ‘Four,’ my eyes on the tower and the crowds of people surging towards it. Another body seems to just drop from the highest point and down it plummets with increasing velocity and a gut flipping scream.

  ‘Five,’ another person falls and the crowds throughout the square are screaming with panic. Waiters run from every café as the diners disgorge to get a better view.

  ‘Six…’

  ‘STOP!’ I yell but it’s too late and yet another falls with a low groan that sweeps through the crowd. In the distance I can see the waiters sprinting flat out for the door while shouting at the attendant.

  ‘Do I have your attention?’ His voice is cold and distant yet commanding with a resonance that seeps deep into my gut. Elizabeth sits down and in my shock I don’t recall seeing her stand up. Her face is deathly white and her eyes large with creeping horror.

  I sit down slowly with my eyes fixed on John Williams but he looks different now. Less the kindly uncle and more, more something else and I can see his hands gripping the edge of the table so hard it turns his knuckles white.

  ‘Who is up there?’ The café is empty now, everyone else having raced towards tower. ‘You’ve got someone up there,’ I add with care to avoid any anger to seep into my voice and therefore avoid any provocation for his accomplice to kill again.

  ‘No,’ he says dully but his eyes remain fixed on me, ‘you were my favourite, Mike.’ He says slowly, almost drunkenly. I don’t reply but watch him speak while I try and figure out what the hell I can do. ‘A good man,’ He slurs, ‘a good man that came after a monster and a good man that did what any good man would do and he fought the monster…but your society let you down,’ He switches his gaze slowly to Elizabeth, ‘the monster that destroyed your childhood...the monster was caught but then given money and released,’ He sags into the chair but slowly brings those terrible eyes back to bear on me, ‘you have suffered, haven’t you.’ It almost seems painful for him to speak, like the energy is draining from him by the minute. ‘Your wife left you, your friends deserted you…your job…your life…and then the mental anguish.’ He lets out a tired but content sigh. ‘Oh and that debacle at Huntington House,’ He gives a wan grin, ‘now that was a treat.’

  Elizabeth leans in towards him. ‘How do you know these things?’

  ‘Same way I know about you.’ His eyelids seem heavy and slow to blink. ‘About how you took power back into your life by fucking men. You saw it as a way of control, of controlling your emotions but then every night you would cry and sob and wash that filthy spunk out from your dirty used cunt,’ He blinks heavily, ‘I’m tired…it’s time for me to leave.’

  ‘I will find you,’ I gasp and he gives me a withering look of utter contempt.

  ‘Find who?’ He asks. ‘John Williams? Go ahead, find him…kill him…torture and kill him for all I care, I’m sure it’ll be an entertaining event.’

  Elizabeth and I exchange a glance. The way he speaks, so tired and drained, so weary but like a man waiting for a train he can’t relax. ‘Oh dear,’ He shakes his head at the looks on our faces, ‘I,’ He says clearly, ‘am going…John Williams will be here…’ He yawns and seems to go unfocussed for a second. He looks sick, drawn and getting worse by the second. The grinning man of just a few minutes ago transforms to sickly looking and tired to the bone. He blinks heavily as though he’s about to pass out then falls silent. I glance round the café to see we’re alone now, everyone else having run to the massed crowds staring at the suicides.

  The suicides. The mass suicides. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. Not murder but suicide. Who could force six people off a high tower at such regular intervals? The first would generate panic and screams that would be heard from here. My eyes look to the tower at the far side of the square and the people clustered round the base. I glance at Elizabeth who locks eyes then she turns to see Williams and the shock that crosses her face has my head snapping round to see him grinning like a wolf. Terror roots me to the spot. Held in place and unable to move by something the like I have never seen before. John Williams but not. John Williams with a dark shadow spreading across his face. John Williams with dark eyes in place of the light brown eyes he had before. Sunken, deep and hidden. His mouth snarls and contorts into that of a beast. His image flickers in front of my eyes. A man to a beast and back to a man. Something primeval and terrible, so terrible. The air becomes static and cold and I suppress a shiver.

  His eyelids twitch, his lips curl and the muscles in his face seem to spasm uncontrollably. I can’t breathe can’t move can’t speak can’t cry or scream and I want to do all of those things. I want to run and get away for this is not human, not of this place. This is a dream, a fucked up bad dream caused by the influx of alcohol in my system. I’m in bed with Tessa in the shitty hotel. Not Tessa. The other woman. Shit, I can’t remember her name. Where are we? Why am I here? Did I kill two men? Why did I kill them?

  Utter confusion grips me and swirls my mind round in a maelstrom of fear and terror and all the while the beast watches me with a growing hunger. An explosion of force and Williams is out of his chair and ramming into the table that it sends me reeling back to sprawl out on the hard ground of the café. A solid metal table and he casts it aside like it’s made of paper as he surges forward and drops down to pin me in place. I’d fight. I’d rage and punch, bite and gouge. I’d kill him within seconds but that face bears down on me with such a thirst and hunger for vengeance that I’m unable to do anything except whimper.

  ‘Mike?’ Elizabeth screams right next to me but faraway and distant.

  ‘Feeling sleepy?’ I glance up to a now exuberantly grinning Williams, ‘you look tired,’ He adds with a wry smile.

  A rush spreads through me, a sense of tiredness that hits me like a hammer. A yawn escapes my mouth and it’s like every ounce of energy I have expended in the last two days is suddenly being robbed from my body. My mind fugs over and my vision blurs as tears prickle my eyes from the heavy yawning. I shake my head trying to rouse myself.

  I struggle to focus and watch as the colour fills his face again. He grows stronger by the second and grins wolfishly at me. ‘My god,’ Elizabeth screams in a voice full of terror, ‘stop…stop now…’ She pleads, ‘John…stop it…’

  Stop what? I don’t know what she means. I can’t think straight. Poison. I’m being poisoned but…but I haven’t drunk the coffee or…did we order coffee? Did I drink it? Christ I can’t remember anything. All I want to do is sleep, close my eyes and sleep
forever. Why is this man holding me down? Did I do something bad? Did I hurt someone again?

  ‘Please,’ Tessa is begging someone. Not Tessa, the other woman. Elizabeth, she’s begging someone to stop doing something, ‘Mike, he’s draining you…’

  That doesn't make any sense.

  John Williams speaks in a voice that is rich and full of life, ‘do you understand now, Elizabeth?’ So much commanding power in his voice that it fills my head.

  ‘Yes!’ She sobs, ‘my god…please…’

  ‘Don’t beg,’ He snaps, ‘you did that before and it never suited you…except you didn’t beg for yourself did you, Elizabeth. You begged for Alison. Dear Alison. She was never as strong as you and look at poor Mike now, he’s fading quickly.’

  ‘Stop,’ Her voice rushes out in a whisper, ‘just stop…I….’

  ‘I need energy,’ He explains matter of fact, ‘do you understand the drain it has to make six people commit suicide and this feeble body doesn't give me what I need anymore. So,’ He adds slowly, ‘it’s time to go.’

  ‘Go…go…go where?’ I slur the words as though drunk, ‘find you…’ I try and sound convincing but I feel weak.

  ‘For the love of God,’ Elizabeth begs, ‘stop…you’re killing him…’

  ‘Killing him?’ William’s booms with laughter, ‘Why on earth would I want to kill him? Oh no…not Mike…I’ve got a whole new set of plans for Mike and as for your God? God ain’t here my dear. Just me. I am here. I am waiting…’ The grin spreads across a flushed a ruddy face.

  The room spins as I chuckle drunkenly. ‘The devil is waiting…’ Where did I hear that? Someone said it recently.

  ‘Oh the devil waits,’ Williams chuckles, ‘but no…I’m not the devil…we have different rules you see,’ He explains calmly but his voice rolls around the inside of my brain, bouncing off the sides of my skull and I can feel the resonant bass in my bones, ‘the church says the good one doesn't like His name being taken in vain…which is a lot of tosh,’ He sneers, ‘however my lord doesn’t give a shit how many times you say his name…the more the better…’