The Need

by Bilinda Ni Siodacain

  “Are you ready?” Max pushed himself away from the wall and slowly circled Jon.

  “Don’t you need to unshackle me? I have a feeling I won’t get very far when I’m still attached to the floor.”

  Max laughed it was the first real laugh Jon had heard from him and it filled him with fear. Somehow Jon knew that what Max found funny wasn’t something normal people would agree with.

  Max leaned down and looked Jon in the eye. “Jonathon, if I had my way you wouldn’t even be here. You’d be dead along with your parents. A horrible murder. Of course, the killer would never be found. But he would find your beloved and well she wouldn’t meet quite as quick a death as you and your parents. Silas likes to play.”

  Jon struggled to lunge at Max but the chains held him back. Max laughed and slapped him across the back of the head. The world spun in sickening circles once more for Jon and he struggled to keep his body sitting upright. The pain roared through him and his head felt like and over-ripe melon on the verge of exploding. As Jon tried to get his body back under control, Max lifted and unlocked the chain from the floor. Jon caught sight of him beckoning forward two more guards who dragged Jon to his feet.

  “I can walk.”

  “Oh, we know you can walk but it is so much more fun this way. Humour us. We don’t often get to keep prisoners.” Max chuckled as he led the way out of the cell.

  Jon stumbled between the two guards and just managed to keep his balance. The last thing he wanted to do was appear completely weak in front of them. He knew how pathetic he must look already and he didn’t want to add to it by falling on his face. The guards tightened their grip on his arms and dragged him from the room.

  The chains clanked against the stone floors and Jon tried to take in as much details as his head would allow. The walls were stone, in places they were covered in moss and he could smell damp earth. The sound of water dripping didn’t help the throbbing in his brain. The floor sloped upwards and the electric lighting grew less as the natural light took over. He guessed his cell was probably somewhere underground.

  They emerged into a large court yard and Jon glanced around. Nothing about the place struck him as familiar. They could have been anywhere for all he knew. The guards continued their relentless pace and Jon struggled to keep his feet moving forward. He watched as Max paused before a set of large double wooden doors. He waited for the guards to catch up with him before knocking on the dark wood. They swung slowly inwards and Jon gasped. Never before had he witnessed a place like this.

  The room beyond was filled with who he presumed were other hunters. They glared at him as Max had him escorted into the centre of the room. The silver chains dragged across the black stone floor. Large lighting fixtures hung from the ceiling casting eerie shadows across the hunters that were gathered. Their yellow eyes hungrily drank in the sight of him and the hairs on the back of Jon’s neck stood to attention. Whatever was happening here wasn’t good.

  The two guards dropped Jon suddenly and he stumbled forward. Landing on his knees he winced. The group gathered around him tittered at his show of weakness and Jon felt anger rising within him. Who were these monsters to treat him like an animal. To hunt him and Aisling as though their lives meant nothing. Jon’s eyes widened as another man melted from the shadows at the opposite end of the room. It couldn’t possibly be him, Jon thought to himself. The man glided towards him and Jon struggled to stand. The sight of the man walking towards him had cured the throbbing in his head but it was replaced with a sickening feeling of dread.

  The man’s eyes were a pale blue. So pale one might describe them as white but in comparison to his hair they were blue. His white hair hung about his face like a curtain. It was his face that drew Jon’s attention. A long scar ran from the left side of his temple, down across his cheek and through his lips. It marred the perfection that should have been there. A type of perfection that Jon had only ever witnessed in pictures.

  “Jonathon, we meet at last. You do not know how good it is to finally see you.” The man spread his arms out before him in a gesture of welcome but Jon didn’t believe it for a second.

  “I’ve seen pictures of you... It can’t possibly be you...” Jon’s voice faltered as the man smiled at him.

  “They showed you pictures of me? Well I suppose that is something. And yes Jonathon, it truly is me.”

  “But how? How have you not changed?”

  The man moved closer to Jon. “Not changed? This scar was never in the picture. They ruined me, ruined what I was!”

  Jon shrunk away from the venom in his voice. He had to be losing his mind there was no way the man standing before him could be real. The man reeled away suddenly and began to laugh. The hunters that stood gathered in the room remained silent. They watched with interest but not one of them moved a muscle.

  “You want me to believe that you are Robert Hatcher. My grandfather.” Jon tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible. Who knew what this lunatic was capable of?

  “Yes. My name is Robert Hatcher. Your father John Hatcher was my son. He married Rebecca Frey. Against my wishes might I add. The chose a mortal life so they might bring you up. Granted they would not die like every other mortal but they allowed themselves to age. Let me tell you a little secret Jonathon.” Robert glided back to Jon’s side and knelt on one knee beside him.

  “You’re crazy. You know nothing about my parents.” Jon spat the words into Robert’s face who just smiled back at him.

  “Your father was a hunter. He was one of us.” Robert spread his arms wide and gestured to the other hunters gathered around. “He was one of the best... after me, of course. I took over the hunter’s from my father. By take over, I do mean kill.” He paused as though for dramatic effect and lowered his gaze to the floor. “Your father should have taken over from me. Well that was before he met that whore.” Robert spat on the floor beside Jon.

  “Don’t call my mother that.”

  Robert moved faster than Jon’s eyes could follow and before he could stop him the man’s hand had clamped around Jon’s throat. He held him for a moment before drawing his face closer and whispering into his ear.

  “She was a whore. Past tense. Now she is just dead.” Robert released Jon abruptly. He collapsed back on the black stone floor and the cold seeped into his bones. His own grandfather had passed on the orders to kill his son and Jon’s mother.

  “What did she ever do to you?” Jon’s voice was small, it reminded him of a child’s voice. A child that was afraid of the dark and who had been sent to bed with no night light.

  “What did she do to me? She was Croí. A hunter’s sworn enemy and your father fell in love with her. Fell in love with her and defied me. It was he who gave me this scar you know. Right before he ran away to be with her. We fought and he managed to scar me. I don’t think my heart was truly in that fight, for if it was then he would have died and you wouldn’t even exist. Perhaps it truly is fate.”

  Jon’s mind swam with the information. His mother had been a member of the Croí? His father was a hunter? How was that even possible? Natasha had certainly never mentioned it. Neither had his parents. In all the years, even with him coming into his powers his parents had not mentioned one word of any of this to him. Could he blame them though. After all, he hadn’t told them about his powers. He never asked about where it might have all come from. He had simply kept it all to himself and now they were dead. Perhaps if he had told them they would still be alive. They could have prepared and they would still be here. All that he had left was Aisling and he didn’t even know how she was.

  Robert whirled back towards him. “Don’t feel guilty boy. You couldn’t have prevented any of this. Even if you had told your parents, it would have done no good. They couldn’t have evaded me. I gave them all the time I was willing to allow and then I took my revenge.”

  Jon shook his head and dug his fingers into the skin of his palms. “Why are you telling me all of this? What difference does it make? You kill
ed my parents and now you’re going to kill me. Why tell me any of this?”

  Robert stared at Jon hard, his pale blue eyes seemed to look straight through his skin and into his very soul. “I’m not going to kill you boy. I have a much better plan for you. You won’t like it but by the time I’m finished with you, there will be no other choice.”

  Jon shivered and it wasn’t just because he was sitting on the stone floor.

  “Yes boy, you will know fear. True fear.” Robert smiled and it reminded Jon of a wolf. A very hungry and crazy wolf.

  Chapter Nine

  “Natasha, I don’t understand. My father can’t possibly be here.” My voice carried down the hall after her. I hurried to keep up but when I quickened my pace so did she. My side still ached but whatever the Other had done to me seemed to have worked. I could move and walking was easy. Although when I picked up my pace, it began to tug uncomfortably. Natasha never turned to see if I was following her and she never answered my question. I slowed down to an easy walk and looked around me.

  The hall was covered in a plush red carpet. The colour reminded me of the blood on the linoleum. I tried to block the thought from my head but it kept creeping back in. The way the blood had smelled, the taste it had left on my tongue. It was as though I could still taste it even though I was nowhere near it. The sight of my mother’s body on the floor. Bent at an unnatural angle and opened up for the whole world to see. There had been parts of her on the outside that should never be outside. A chill crept over me as I remembered how broken she had looked. I couldn’t fix her. No one could.

  She was broken, a lot like a porcelain doll that was dropped. Someone had cracked her open, cracked her skin like you would crack the porcelain. The only difference was that with a porcelain doll there was nothing messy inside. The doll simply broke and if you wanted you could grind her into dust. My mother was messy. You couldn’t grind her body into dust, she was filled with wet things. Wet bits and pieces that had been spilled across the floor. The laughter sounded strange in the hallway. It bubbled down and across the carpeted floor, spilling out of my body. I wondered did the blood spill from her the same way the laughter spilt from me?

  My feet felt heavy as I trudged after Natasha. All the blood on the floor was making it harder for me to take each step. It seemed to stick to the soles of my trainers and pulled my foot back to the floor. I giggled harder. Everything felt so helpless. Jon was gone. The woman I had called my mother was gone and now I was gone too.

  I sagged against the wall and slid down it until I was sitting on the blood soaked carpet. I ran my fingers through it and they came away red. Panic stirred inside me. What if all the blood on the floor wasn’t from my mother. What if all the blood belonged to Jon and I was calmly sitting in it. Opening my eyes I stared around the hall. If it was Jon’s blood, he had to be here somewhere. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees and began to crawl. I had to find him. I had to know if it was his blood.

  A hand touched my shoulder and I screamed before scrambling back against the wall.

  “Don’t hurt me. Please God don’t hurt me!” My voice was stringy and shrill and I batted at the hands that tried to grip my shoulders.

  “Aisling! It’s Natasha, open your eyes.”

  I opened my eyes slowly and stared at her. What if it was a trick? She looked back at me and I could see genuine concern and confusion filling her face. I grabbed her arm, my fingers digging into the flesh. She tried to shake me off but I was stronger.

  “She’s broken. Broken everywhere. Can’t you see it? Broken pieces of her in the carpet. Natasha what if they break Jon? I have to stop them before they break Jon. I don’t want his inside on the outside!”

  Natasha slapped me. The blow left me disorientated and the sting of drew colour into my cheeks.

  “You hit me?”

  “Aisling, what the hell is happening to you?”

  I released her arms and watched as the marks of my hands blossomed across her pale skin.

  “I don’t know. I feel as though I’m losing my mind. It feels like I’m losing myself down this black hole and no matter how hard I try not to let it take me, it just keeps creeping up on me. Natasha, I don’t want to go mad but I’m afraid that if I don’t get Jon back, that I will.”

  “What made you freak out?” She pushed my hair back off my face before taking my hand in hers.

  “The colour of the carpet. There was blood everywhere. I remembered my mother and what she looked like when they had finished with her. I know it’s crazy.”

  Natasha nodded slowly before pulling me to my feet. “I think we need to get you to your father as fast as possible. If anyone will know what is happening here, it will be him.” Gripping my hand she pulled me down the hall after her.

  Following after her, I did my best to ignore the thoughts that threatened to crawl inside my head. The fear I was feeling seemed to make it harder to push the thoughts away. I knew they were stronger than me and that it was just a matter of time before they overcame me again. Would a slap in the face work the next time it happened?

  “Natasha, please. Don’t walk so fast, it hurts.” I indicated to my side as I spoke and Natasha slowed her pace almost imperceptibly.

  “We need to get you to your father. He needs to know what is happening.”

  “Natasha, if I lose my mind what do you think will happen to my magic?”

  She faltered and sucked in a deep breath. The answer was not going to be something I wanted to hear of that I was certain. A set of cream double doors came into view at the end of the hall, the closer we go to them the more I could make out the gold inlay that covered them. Everything about this place screamed money.

  “You’re not going to answer me?” I stopped walking forward and the grip I held on Natasha’s hand forced her to stop.

  “No Aisling, I’m not. I really don’t know the answers. All I know is the sooner you can talk to your father the better.” She pushed her hand back through her shimmering dark hair before tugging me forward. “Now come on.”

  I followed. What else was I supposed to do? Natasha pushed the handle down on the door and it swung open. Stepping in after her I gasped. The room we stood in was beautiful. The wallpaper was a warm gold covering the bottom half of the walls. The upper half was painted a rich terracotta red. The drapes were heavy and complemented the gold in the wallpaper perfectly. The carpet was a similar colour to the one in the hall but it was much thicker and with each step I took I sunk deeper into it. Two cream stripped couches were placed near a large marble fireplace. The entire room could have been taken straight from a Jane Austen novel. It was perfection. It was then I saw him. He stood near the ornate fireplace with his back to the room. Natasha coughed as though to clear her throat but I realised it was just to draw his attention.

  “No need Natasha, I know you are here.” His voice was rich and caressed over my skin like the touch of a hand. He turned towards us and smiled at me. His hair had once been entirely black but a shock of silver ran through the front of it. His brown eyes were filled with kindness as he gestured for me to sit. I wasn’t sure how, but I felt as though I knew him.

  “Please sit, Aisling, we have much to discuss.” I sat on the couch nearest to me, it seemed like the thing to do.

  Natasha piped up, “Jackson there is something you need to know. She is experiencing some episodes.”

  I watched as his expression grew serious and he took his seat opposite me. “What sort of episodes?”

  Natasha sat beside me and spread her grey dress around her slender frame. It seemed she had time to change and I wondered when she had.

  “It’s her power. Or at least I think it is. You remember how it was. Coming into your full power was traumatic. More so for her I think.”

  Jackson nodded and returned his gaze to me. “How do you feel now Aisling?”

  I swallowed back the fear that threatened to escape from my mouth and chose anger instead.

  “I want to know exactly what
is going on? Starting with who the hell are you?”

  He lifted his hands as though to fend off the questions but I jumped from my seat and began pacing.

  “No. Don’t give me that evasive crap. I heard that you’re supposedly my father but how the hell do I know you’re telling the truth? Jon is gone. The hunters have him. And I’m beginning to think that I’m losing my mind.

  “I was happy before all this you know. Actually happy! And now everything is gone!”

  I stumbled and my vision seemed to blur. I was in the room with Jackson and Natasha but it was overlaid with somewhere else. Some place dark and cold and I could feel pain.

  “Jon?” My voice was little more than a whisper but I knew he heard me. Pain flared through me as I felt him. He was cold terribly cold, almost as cold as the Other who had touched me earlier.

  I felt more than saw the boot that connected with my ribs. I doubled over but knew it wasn’t my body taking the beating. Jon needed help. Power rippled inside my body. Jon needed to use his power but he couldn’t so I would help him. The dark dank room became a little clearer as I let my power flow into me. “Jon, take it.” I pushed the power into him. White heat flared against my skin and I screamed as Jon did. The pain stopped with a pop and suddenly there was nothing but power. It flowed between us and through us. For the first time, I felt truly alive and connected to everything. I knew the heartbeats of everyone who stood in the room. I felt them all. I knew that if I wished it I could stop all their hearts. They would drop dead to the floor. The person who had kicked Jon came at him for another strike. Reaching my hands out towards him I let the power go. It poured from the tips of my fingers and into the man who would dare hurt Jon. His body lit up like a Christmas tree. The power flowed faster until I knew there was nothing left inside him. What was left of his body crumbled to the floor and I smiled.

  The ground rushed up to meet me and the cold dank room disappeared. It was replaced with pure darkness and I slipped into it.

  Chapter Ten