by Lauren Algeo
She checked on the bacon and got out two plates. ‘I’ve asked him to send over some insulin. It wasn’t what I wanted but we can’t waste any more time trying to source it ourselves. I don’t want you around Daniel without the protection of it.’
‘I don’t think I would have got away with injecting him last night,’ Brewer snorted.
‘No but it will make me worry less to know that you have a weapon to use against him, even if the timing isn’t right.’
Ellen made them bacon sandwiches and they took them back through to the living room. Brewer tucked into his crispy bacon and the warm food settled into his empty stomach. The news was focussed on the financial crisis that was sweeping the country and Brewer tried to keep up. With Lawsons collapsing there was a huge strain on the other banks. The pound was taking a hit as other countries anticipated the trouble ahead.
‘I found a story online about last night,’ Ellen told him.
Brewer noticed that the laptop was open on the sofa beside her. ‘What did they say?’
‘Just snippets of what you told me,’ she said. ‘That David outed Jenny’s affair on stage, then he went crazy at McDowell. You did the right thing by getting Daniel away from them. I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn’t broken his hold over David. The innocent people who were trying to intervene could have been killed.’
‘It was instinct,’ Brewer shrugged. ‘I didn’t really have time to think about it.’
‘There aren’t any more events coming up are there?’ Ellen looked worried again.
‘I don’t believe so. Even if there were, I don’t think Connors would want to take Daniel to them yet.’ Brewer barked a laugh. ‘You know he was actually concerned about the violence his poor boy witnessed last night? If only he knew the truth.’
‘Unfortunately no one ever will,’ Ellen sighed.
Brewer chewed his sandwich as her words repeated in his mind. That was the scariest thing of all – no one knew what dangers were really out there. People were going about their lives completely ignorant of the evil in the world. They didn’t dream about black eyes or whispered voices. They thought they were safe.
He put down his plate, no longer feeling hungry. He was determined that people would never have to know. He would make sure that the last hiker was dead. That it was over, once and for all.
Chapter 18
‘Come on, Daniel.’ John rapped his pen on the table. ‘Pay attention.’
Daniel raised one eyebrow and stared at him with his dark eyes but said nothing.
John pushed the textbook closer towards him and pointed at a maths sum. ‘It’s quite simple if you think about it. You’ve already done most of the working so what’s the answer?’
Daniel had known the answer before they’d even gone through the working out. He bristled silently at John’s demanding tone and pretended to study the page.
His tutor had arrived an hour ago and maths problems were the last thing Daniel wanted to be doing with his afternoon. He’d rather have been in his bedroom, reading all about the night before on the internet. The build up had been exciting but the actual attack was a let down. His father’s security team had whisked him away before the real fun could begin.
His eyes narrowed at the textbook. That new one, Scott something, had gotten in his way. Daniel had preferred the old, less-competent bodyguard. He wouldn’t have made it into the hall in time and Daniel might have succeeded in releasing the TV producer.
‘It’s 75 degrees,’ he said out loud to John.
His tutor nodded. ‘Very good.’ He turned to the next page. ‘Let’s try this one.’
135. Daniel knew the answer instantly yet he picked up his pen and pretended to try and work it out. His mind drifted back to the dinner. Most of the people there had been boring but he’d discovered that one of the women had been having an affair and she felt really guilty about it. Her boyfriend was sitting at the table with her and Daniel hadn’t been able to resist informing him of her infidelity.
The poor man had no idea what she’d been doing – he’d been planning to propose on holiday next month. Daniel had quickly made him see sense. Getting the boyfriend to out the cheating woman on stage had been amusing. They were both celebrities and the audience were shocked by the revelation. Daniel had felt their combined emotions ripple through his mind. All that confusion and self-righteousness.
The woman had met her secret lover in a bar although Daniel had thought it would be more fun to pin the blame on someone at the dinner. The woman’s producer was in the room too and Daniel quickly singled him out. He was married and loyal but that was of no interest – his mind was full of boring thoughts about DIY and babies. Daniel would be doing the world a favour if he released him from it.
The boyfriend was powerless to resist the anger that surged through him when Daniel kindly informed him that the producer was his girlfriend’s lover. There was no doubt in his mind that it was the truth. No one ever questioned Daniel once he’d planted the seed and helped it to flourish.
The wine bottle was the only weapon to hand but he thought it would be nice and painful. He’d been relishing in the boyfriend’s fury when that annoying security man had sent him flying and broken his iron grip on the man’s mind. He’d tried to get it back only he was bundled from the room and the boyfriend started to resist him.
He’d had to let it go by the time they reached the car and the disappointment tasted bitter. All of that effort for no pay off. Even reading about the misery he’d caused the people involved was no substitute for the sweet satisfaction of releasing someone. He craved that feeling more than anything.
Daniel sat back and put down his pen. John studied what he’d written on the page and shook his head.
‘The answer is right but the working is all wrong. How did you reach this conclusion?’
The working wasn’t wrong – it was simply the working for the problem below the one he was supposed to be looking at. Anyone with half a brain could see that. John began to rattle off how he would have solved the equation and Daniel tuned him out.
It was Saturday but his parents had insisted on keeping his lessons that afternoon. Daniel knew from a brief skim of their minds that it was because they were concerned about what he’d witnessed last night. They thought that occupying him with lessons would prevent him from becoming ‘traumatised’. It was laughable to Daniel yet he played along, anything to keep his mother from being glued to his side.
His plan to have the staff interact with her more wasn’t having the desired effect. She still felt lonely and wanted the company of him or his father. Most of her friends lived close to their old house and couldn’t visit Downing Street very often, and she didn’t like the hassle of having to take a car out to visit them.
There were always people trying to photograph her every move – what she was wearing, where she was eating. His mother was a beautiful woman and the public adored her but she was uncomfortable with all the attention. She preferred to have his father by her side to distract people.
In Daniel’s opinion, she relied far too heavily on her husband for emotional support. She wasn’t strong enough on her own. He would never have chosen her for a mother if it hadn’t been for his father – she was too weak.
He knew that she would be sitting in the living room now and waiting for his lesson to finish so she could spend some time with him. She’d come into the dining room twice in the first fifteen minutes to offer food and drinks, and John had politely told her to leave them to it for a couple of hours. He’d closed the dining room door after her to make his point.
Daniel was grateful for the break from her but now he was stuck in the stuffy room with John and his dull maths problems. The desire to release someone was still burning inside him and Daniel studied John with renewed interest. The man was in his late sixties, divorced, and he had grown up children who he rarely saw – would anyone really miss him if he was gone?
The need was too strong for Daniel to
fully suppress… he didn’t want to. If he was clever then he could get what he’d been deprived of last night.
‘Daniel, are you listening to me?’ John rapped on the table again and cemented his fate.
‘No,’ Daniel replied calmly. ‘This work is tedious. I’m planning ways to kill you instead.’
He saw confusion cloud John’s face as he tried to process what he’d said.
‘Excuse me?’ John spluttered. ‘These lessons are very important for your exams. You can keep the dramatics to yourself, young man.’
‘I’m deadly serious.’ Daniel’s tone was cold and his voice unwavering.
He could feel the desire within him like a physical presence. It was squirming its way to the surface and begging to be appeased. He yearned to see the light fade in this man’s eyes.
‘Daniel.’ John’s voice had risen. ‘If you don’t…’ He stopped speaking abruptly as Daniel entered his mind.
There was no need to tiptoe and disguise his presence. He went in enthusiastically and hunted through John’s memories. John opened his mouth to speak however Daniel kept a firm hold of his body. He fought against him but he was an older man and nowhere near strong enough. His tutor had no choice but to sit still in horrified silence until he found what he wanted.
There it was. John had had a heart scare a couple of years ago and spent some time in hospital. It could help to mask his death.
‘It’s hot in here. Open the window,’ Daniel instructed John firmly, both out loud and in his head.
John obediently lurched to his feet and staggered towards the window. The garden was directly below and Daniel knew that no one would be out there at this time of day. Even if they were, they would think nothing of his tutor opening the window. John pushed the wide glass pane outwards and a cool breeze fluttered the curtains. Daniel nudged his mind gently and John walked jerkily back to the centre of the room.
Daniel remained sitting at the table, with his hands neatly clasped. They wouldn’t be disturbed and he had time to savour this moment.
‘Are you finding it hard to breathe?’ he asked.
John’s eyes had already been wide with shock and confusion but suddenly they bulged open unnaturally and his hands flew up to his chest. His mouth opened and closed rapidly until he resembled a goldfish.
‘Shh,’ Daniel soothed his mind. ‘Don’t fight it. You’ll be released soon. It will only be agonisingly painful for a short while.’
He sniggered cruelly, relishing the feel of the old man battling against him. The boyfriend last night had been stronger and put up more of a fight at the start but he couldn’t complain about the lack of challenge – a target was a target.
John’s face turned scarlet with the effort of trying to suck air into his screaming lungs. The mind was a funny thing. Daniel had learned during one of his first releasings that you could use different parts of it to control the body. He’d started with just movements then with the right amount of concentration, he could affect bodily functions too.
There was nothing at all wrong with John’s airways or lungs, he simply had to inhale if he wanted to live, but Daniel had a firm hold and he’d put that action on lock down. Breathing – that one subconscious function that everybody takes for granted.
John’s hands clawed near his throat and his bloodshot eyes bugged at Daniel. Internally, he was screaming but his attacks were growing feebler by the second as he was starved of oxygen.
‘Now, now, we don’t want you to injure yourself,’ Daniel tutted, forcing John’s hands away from his neck. Scratches would only arouse suspicion.
‘Do you know why I’m doing this?’ he whispered to John’s weakening mind.
‘Why?’ The word was barely audible in his head.
There was an unpleasant rasping noise coming from John’s chest with the force of his body trying to breathe. It was somewhere between a moan and a gasp.
Daniel leaned forward in his chair. ‘Because I like it,’ he smirked. ‘Your pain is perfect.’
John sank to his knees on the gaudy patterned carpet and his eyes rolled back in a head that was almost purple in colour. The old man was slipping away. Daniel kept him conscious for as long as he could to make sure that John knew he was dying. His tutor’s fading thoughts were of his children’s faces, which disappointed Daniel – where was the hatred towards him? Where had that fighting spirit gone?
Daniel was weakening himself as he stayed connected for too long and he released John’s mind a moment before he collapsed to the floor and curled up on his side. His eyes were still locked on him and the boy leaned further forward eagerly to watch the life fade from them.
As his tutor lay dying in front of him, he was reminded of his first releasing. He had been eight years old at the time and it had been a pivotal day in his life. For months beforehand he’d been longing to take that step up from animals to humans. He was confident in his ability to control minds but thought it would be wise to start with someone weaker to test his strength. Failure was not an option for him.
Being cocky and taking on a strong person first could jeopardise everything he’d been building. He hadn’t spent years under the mask of an idyllic child to have his true form revealed by naivety. He would start small and work his way up.
For him, the natural transition from animals was a child. They had strong minds but their innocence was easier to manipulate. He wanted his first human releasing to be perfect so he had to choose carefully.
In the summer of 2020, his opportunity presented itself. The housekeeper at their old home, Dorneywood, had a young daughter who she began to bring to work with her during the school holidays. His mother had thought it was a good idea as the girl was only a year younger than him so they could play together. His father had been promoted to Deputy PM when Davenport had taken power so he was away a lot.
The girl was called Isabella, Izzy for short, and she’d followed him around for days. She wanted to play childish games in the garden, like skipping and football. It drove Daniel mad but his mother often sat outside in the sunshine and watched them so he had to interact with her. Izzy was stupid for her age, playing make-believe with teddy bears when she should have been reading and learning to sharpen her mind. He didn’t understand when his mother praised her ‘vivid imagination’ – where was that going to get her in life? People of power didn’t have imaginary friends.
Izzy was far beneath him yet he forced himself to smile and run after her ridiculous pink ball in front of his mother. When she wasn’t looking, he sometimes tripped Izzy over to get a small degree of satisfaction. Physical violence was fun but it carried the danger of repercussions. Hurting Izzy himself would only lead to him getting in to trouble with his parents.
Mental torture was far more discreet. No one could ever trace that back to him and he could maintain his mask of innocence. It was the perfect way to feel his victim’s pain too. Every heightened emotion rippled through to his mind.
After nearly a week of Izzy’s constant giggling and following him around, Daniel snapped. He just wanted to be left in peace. On the Friday morning, he formed the ideal plan to rid himself of Izzy for good and try out releasing on a human. It was a hot day and his mother was lying on a sun lounger with a magazine while Izzy’s mother, Julia, was inside cleaning. His father was at work and there was no one else at the house at the time.
Izzy was playing on her scooter and wanted to have a picnic with her teddy bears for lunch. Daniel had swept her mind over the last few days for anything he could use and discovered that she couldn’t swim. Her mother had been meaning to take her for lessons for months and hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Their house had a large pond at the side of the garden, which was deep in the middle and full of fish. It had no wall or fence around it. Daniel knew just how to get rid of Izzy.
When she was lining up her teddy bears around a gingham blanket, he planted the first seeds. He whispered softly to her naïve mind.
‘Before the picnic, we should go for a
swim.’
He was sitting on the grass close to her with a book in his hand. He saw her pause and stare at the teddy bear she’d just put down.
‘Did you hear that?’ She turned to him with her big, blue eyes. ‘My teddy talked!’
‘Of course he did,’ Daniel nodded, biting the inside of his cheek to keep his smirk at bay.
He watched her tuck her blond hair behind her ear and lay down on her stomach so she was face-to-face with the bear.
‘You did talk, didn’t you?’ she asked its blank furry face.
‘Shh,’ Daniel said quietly to her mind. ‘It’s a secret. I can only speak to you.’
Izzy grinned widely and hugged the bear tightly with a squeak of joy.
‘It’s ok.’ Daniel heard her hushed words to the ‘talking’ bear. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’
She mimed zipping up her lips. Daniel wanted to laugh out loud at how stupid she was. She deserved what was coming to her.
Izzy began arranging plastic plates and cups in front of the bears, ready for their picnic. Daniel stood up from the grass.
‘I’ll get some food and drink for the picnic,’ he said graciously.
‘Thanks Danny!’ Izzy exclaimed.
Daniel bristled as he walked towards the house – no one called him Danny; that was a childish name. He stopped by his mother’s sun lounger on his way inside. She was wearing a pale orange sundress and oversized sunglasses.
‘Can you help me get some snacks for Izzy’s picnic please?’ He gazed at her innocently.
‘Of course,’ his mother smiled and put down her magazine. ‘That’s very nice of you, darling.’
She headed towards the back door with him, calling out to Izzy to stay on the blanket for a minute as they went. Daniel knew that wouldn’t be happening.
As soon as he reached the kitchen, he began whispering to Izzy again. ‘Let’s go for a swim now, before they come back with our food.’
Daniel could see part of the garden from the kitchen window but not Izzy or the pond. He heard her doubt in his mind.
