Spirit

by Daniela Sacerdoti

  “Niryani!” Elodie called out her family’s battle cry and leapt towards the demon, dagger in hand. The creature howled in anger and pain as Elodie’s dagger pierced its skin, black blood spewing from the wounds. Sarah stood, the Midnight gaze at its full power, her hands raised and burning. She was about to throw herself on the beast . . .

  “Sarah! This way!” Sean shouted. Sarah turned around just in time to see that a second demon had come out of the forest and was towering over the mother and child she’d spotted earlier. They had fallen on the grass in a trembling heap, the woman desperately trying to shelter the little girl with her body. Sean and Sarah stood frozen for an instant as the demon bent down and grabbed the girl from her mother’s arms, lifting her up.

  “Let her go!” Sarah commanded. Sean lifted his sgian-dubh and closed his eyes, tracing his runes with the blade, murmuring the Secret words. The creature shuddered with pain from the runes and Sarah’s gaze, then it took a running jump and landed on Sean, flattening him on the grass. He tasted blood, and then consciousness trickled away from him until everything was black.

  Elodie clung to the demon’s body, her arms around its neck, trying to touch its lips with her own poisonous ones – and she nearly made it, gagging over the eyeless face and the cold, rubbery skin, when a clawed hand cut her skin open, running a trail of agony down her back. She fell.

  Elodie’s moan of pain resounded in the air and reached Nicholas. He was standing beside his car, the world whirling around him, his brain incapable of telling him what was up and what was down, his balance shot to pieces. He shook with fury and frustration. Leaning against the car door, trying to keep himself upright, he raised his arms. His fingers sparked blue. He was ready to strike, but he couldn’t see where the demon was. To let himself be guided by noises only and start a fire in a petrol station was too risky. He let out a scream of rage. Look what you’ve done to me, Father! I’m useless!

  He heard Elodie whimpering and his wrath rose again, mixed with terror. Instantly, the ravens heard his call and surrounded the white demon, trying to peck it – but the deadly, clawed reel of its arms prevented them from coming close. Nicholas felt a touch on his shoulder – he would have recognised that touch among millions – and Elodie’s voice filled his ears. He turned around and wrapped his arms around her, taking care not to burn her. He couldn’t fight, but he could protect her from the blows.

  “Nicholas, I need to get into the car. I’ll try to run the Surari over.”

  Nicholas helped Elodie inside, feeling his way inch by inch, his hands slippery with the blood that seeped from her torn back. Then he let himself slip in beside her. He felt the car starting, and the surge of the vehicle moving, and then a deafening noise exploded inside his skull and blood rushed to his head. There was banging, banging, and screaming.

  “Elodie!” he tried to shout, but a raspy whisper was all that came out from the agony that was his throat, his face, his head. “Elodie!” he repeated, but there was nothing but silence.

  Elodie . . . Elodie, he kept calling in his mind. She couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t be.

  The strange bond between them, born of pain and suffering, had led him to save her life before, when his aim had been to kill them all except for his chosen bride, Sarah. Something tied him to Elodie, something he couldn’t explain.

  He couldn’t lose her.

  Once again he cursed his blindness as he felt around him with his hands.

  And then he heard her breathing. She was alive. His hands met hers and held her tight.

  “Elodie!”

  “That thing sent us flying. We’re upside down. We need to make it out of here!” she whispered. “Oh . . .”

  “Are you okay? Elodie? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine,” she whispered, and banged on the window beside her. Nicholas started banging, too, his mind damning the safety glass, which was nearly impossible to break. His ravens were with him at once, pecking the glass on the other side until it cracked. Harder and harder he hammered the window, until his hands started bleeding too.

  Sean opened his eyes just in time to see the demon standing over Sarah, its long white limbs poised to cut her throat, or take her head clean off her neck. He desperately tried to raise his hands and trace the runes, but blackness came over him in waves, and even if he kept willing his limbs to move, he couldn’t. Confused, he heard Elodie and Nicholas screaming. From where he was lying he could see no sign of Niall and Winter, though he could hear Niall’s song coming from somewhere far, far away.

  The creature raised its clawed arms, ready to inflict the final blow. Sean knew then it was all over. Sarah would be dead any second, he realised, and a strangled sob escaped his throat.

  What happened next made no sense to Sean.

  The demon let its arms fall to its sides, and lifting its head up to the sky, it let out a long, eerie howl. Why was the demon not striking? Incredulous, Sean saw it stepping out of sight. With an enormous effort he scrambled to his knees, and then to his feet. The world went black once more, and he found himself on the ground, stars exploding behind his eyes. Again he tried to lift himself up; he was about to fall when a slender arm wrapped itself around his waist and sustained him.

  Right at that moment he heard Niall’s song starting to climb once more, like smoke, stronger and stronger. Sean managed to turn his head just enough to see that Niall and Winter were on either side of him.

  The demon came back into view. It was convulsing on the ground, hit by the full force of Niall’s song. It had something yellow in its hand – oh God, it was someone. Elodie? No, she was blonde, but smaller.

  A child.

  Behind the demon a woman was screaming and Sean held his breath, overcome by the horror of what he was seeing. The demon was shaking the child like a rag doll.

  Sarah lay on the ground, stunned. She couldn’t quite believe she was still alive. She regained composure and jumped to her feet. She heard Niall’s song, and then screams. Where was the beast? She turned around and there it was, the white demon, crazy with the agony of Niall’s song – and in its arms, the little girl Sarah had seen with her mother.

  Sarah leapt towards the creature, her hands melting with the heat of her fury, her eyes blazing. A flailing leg nearly hit her, the white rubbery skin brushing her cheek, but she threw herself on the ground, and then stood behind the demon. She grabbed its back, burying her hands into its skin, and the demon screeched and arched itself in agony. It let the child fall to the ground. Sarah forbade herself from looking at the little girl – she couldn’t let anything disrupt her concentration as her hands burnt and the creature’s skin started weeping.

  Through the haze of the Blackwater, Sarah saw Sean lift the child into his arms and limp away with her. Niall’s song was dancing in the air, deadly and beautiful at the same time. The demon let out one last, terrible howl, and it exploded in a gush of Blackwater. Nothing was left of it but a puddle of foul-smelling liquid on the asphalt.

  Sarah fell to her knees and took her head in her hands to try to regain control. Then the faintest noise caused her to look up. Her gaze darted frantically, and for the first time she realised that Nicholas’ car was upside down, and somebody was trapped inside it. Somebody was banging on the windows. It was Elodie, and her face was covered in blood.

  Sarah ran to the car and crouched in front of it, trying to ignore the ravens’ feathered bodies twirling around her, pecking the glass. She rested her hands on the window where Elodie was hitting it with her fists.

  “Hold on, Elodie!”

  In despair, she tried to lift the car, but there was no way she could manage on her own. She realised that the sounds of Elodie’s fists on glass had stopped. Silence had settled over the car. Only occasional cawing broke through the eerie calm.

  Sarah tried once more to pick the car up, grunting. She knew that there was no way she could succeed, but she had to try. She had to do something to help Elodie.

  A siren shattered the sile
nce – the police. They had to go. They had to go now. But leaving Elodie . . . and Nicholas, who was the only one who could lead them to the Shadow World . . .

  “Sean!” screamed Sarah. “Where are you?”

  No reply.

  “Sean!” she called again, a note of despair colouring her voice.

  “I’m here!” he called back, and suddenly they were all at her side – Sean, Winter and Niall – and she wasn’t alone any more. The noise of breaking glass filled her ears, and she looked at her hands, expecting them to be bloody and full of shards, but Elodie’s window was intact. The noise had come from the other side of the car – and when she looked back, Elodie wasn’t there. Nicholas had crawled out, his face and hands bleeding. In his grasp was Elodie. He was trying to pull her out.

  “Be careful! There’s glass everywhere!” Sean called. “Let me move her. You can’t see!” Nicholas knew Sean was right, and reluctantly let him take charge, but his handsome features were twisted in frustration.

  “We need to go!” whispered Niall. Two silver and blue police cars and an ambulance had appeared in the distance, their sirens flashing and blaring like angry spirits.

  Sean got up, swaying a little. The blow to his head had messed with his balance. Niall took Elodie from him, her face covered in red, a long, bloody trail running down her back where the demon had clawed her. Sarah took Nicholas by the arm to guide him – just touching him revolted her – and they all ran towards Sean’s car. They could already hear the police officers shouting in Polish. Nicholas tugged on Sarah’s arm and stopped her.

  “Where are the police cars? Take me to them,” he whispered. Sarah’s eyes widened, but then she understood. She grabbed his arms tighter and strode towards the police cars and the ambulance. People in uniform were already jumping down from the vehicles, med kits and guns at the ready.

  Nicholas raised his hands, his fingers extended, and cold, blue flames sprang from his fingertips – the blue flames from her dream, Sarah thought. He guided them carefully in two parallel lines in front of him, over and over again, to build a wall between them and the cars. The policemen and paramedics were panicking, shouting something down their radios – possibly calling for reinforcements, thought Sarah. Dread knotted her stomach. Soon there’ll be more of them. Every escape route will be blocked.

  All of a sudden, Sarah heard a succession of short, sharp noises, like fireworks. They were shooting at them! A bout of pain travelled down her arm as something grazed her shoulder. Hurt mixed with horror filled her mind as she realised that innocent people would be burnt alive by those cold blue flames.

  “Take me around in a circle!” Nicholas shouted, ignoring the shots. Sarah tried to ignore them too and block out the terrified screams of the people trapped inside the flames. The shots stopped and the screams intensified while she took Nicholas in a loop, until the police cars and the ambulance were surrounded by fiery blue walls.

  There on the ground, not far from her, Sarah saw the elderly couple she’d spotted earlier lying senseless near the store door. Her heart broke for them. The child and her mother were nowhere to be seen.

  “Will the flames kill them?” she whispered, dreading Nicholas’ reply.

  No choice, no choice, no choice, she answered herself. If we get arrested, we’ll be easy prey.

  Nicholas didn’t respond. His silence said it all. Sarah felt her legs give way.

  “Come on,” she said, and they raced back to Sean’s car. Nicholas’ Jeep was still upside down. They jumped in and Sean took off at once, the engine roaring, forced to its limits.

  “Elodie?” called Nicholas, and Elodie turned towards him.

  Sean’s stomach lurched as she saw in his mirror the way Elodie looked at Nicholas. She couldn’t possibly have forgotten that he was a half-demon, worse than an animal. A murderer. A monster. And the way he spoke to her, like he needed her, it revolted him. Sean feared that Nicholas was mind-moulding her. That he was trying to control Elodie like he’d tried to control Sarah. For now, he couldn’t see any signs, but he’d watch over her. If he saw as much as a hint of Elodie’s eyes glazing over, of her being dazed and unable to think clearly, Nicholas had it coming.

  “I’m here. I’m okay. Just a few cuts.” Elodie was bent forward, her head against Winter’s shoulder. Her back was too painful to lean on. Winter’s T-shirt was stained with Elodie’s blood.

  Sarah saw Nicholas close his eyes briefly, relief sweeping his face. It looked like he cared.

  But he was a good liar, she reminded herself.

  “Sarah, are you hurt?” Sean asked.

  Sarah brought her hand to her shoulder, and felt blood between her fingers. It was just a graze, but it hurt like hell. “I’m all right. Sean, the little girl . . .” She felt her stomach tightening as she remembered. Maybe she didn’t want to hear his answer.

  “She was alive when I left her. She and her mother ran into the forest.”

  Sarah let out a sigh of relief. Then her thoughts went to the man in the petrol station shop: somebody’s son, somebody’s husband, somebody’s father – and they’d brought destruction on him. She steeled herself, trying to get everything out of her mind except the only thing that mattered, why they were there: to kill the King of Shadows and stop this war with demons. There could never be another Time of Demons. If the Surari ruled the human world again, nobody’s son, nobody’s daughter, would ever be safe again.

  They drove in silence for a while, anxiously watching behind them. But nobody followed. The police had lost them.

  “Sarah,” called Winter in a quiet voice. Her arms were wrapped around Elodie’s waist, helping her to sit forward, the French girl’s blonde hair strewn over her shoulder and chest. “The demon could have killed you.”

  “Yes.”

  “But it didn’t.”

  A wave of unease swept over Sarah. She knew what Winter was trying to say. Sean looked for her eyes in the mirror, and unspoken words flew between them.

  “Why?” Winter continued.

  Sarah kept eyes locked onto Sean’s. She shivered, her cuts and bruises hurting all of a sudden, her shoulder throbbing painfully where the bullet had grazed her.

  “I don’t know. How would I know?”

  A voice resounded in Elodie’s mind, strong and clear, the voice of her psychic power: Because they need her.

  And then, the voice told her something else.

  “Someone is following us,” she said.

  “Surari?” asked Sean.

  Elodie closed her eyes. A pause. “I don’t know. I can’t tell.”

  “Is it close?” said Sarah.

  “I think so.”

  “Let’s just think of getting to the Gate,” Nicholas intervened. He brought his hand to his forehead as if he were hurting. “There will be more attacks.”

  Elodie shot him a sideways glance.

  Nicholas was in constant pain. Day and night, a life of endless agony. That was how his father had punished him.

  Elodie could feel the heat of Nicholas’ body beside her. She could feel the suffering seeping from his skin. Elodie dreamt of the day she’d meet the King of Shadows at last; she dreamt of every blow she’d strike, and after the first one – the one she owed to her husband and love of her life, Harry Midnight – the second one would be for Nicholas and what had been done to him.

  4

  Night Closes In

  I keep my soul

  Where I know you’ll never find it

  They wanted to drive on through the night, but none of them had slept for more than three hours in two days. They were all near delirious with exhaustion. One more stop only, Nicholas had promised, and then they would be there. They would leave in the small hours and be at the Gate before dawn. They saw to each other’s wounds, ate a cold dinner of bread, ham, cheese and biscuits, and then they settled in for the night. Going against every human instinct, the primal urge to create light and warmth, they wouldn’t light a fire, even in the freezing winter night in the
forest. They couldn’t afford to attract attention. Sarah couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t felt cold.

  She was curled up in the front seat of Sean’s car, Niall and Winter entwined in the back. She had reluctantly agreed to sleep inside the car, cocooned in one of the sleeping bags they had taken from Midnight Hall, though the arrangement made her feel claustrophobic and squeezed the air out of her lungs. Sean would not allow her to sleep outside, and as much as she didn’t take orders from him or anyone else, she had to admit he had a point.

  She whimpered in her sleep and jerked suddenly, hitting her hand on the glove compartment and waking with a jolt. Her shoulder hurt. Once again her dreams had been meaningless, confused, a carousel of frightening images and swirling colours and lights – and then the deepest darkness, as if she’d turned blind like Nicholas. Reality seemed to mirror her dream, as everything was black around her.

  She pulled the sleeping bag up to her throat, the silky waterfall of her hair tucked inside it to keep her warm. It was impossible to sleep. Not with all that was going on, not with the dreams tormenting her with their bloody, blurry pictures, not with the ache throbbing in her battered body.

  She knew that if she opened the door and slipped outside she’d find Sean, sleepless like her. He was an insomniac at the best of times. Sarah couldn’t remember any occasion when she’d seen him deeply asleep. Even when he’d first turned up at her house, pretending to be her cousin Harry Midnight but really bound by a promise to him to protect the last of the Midnights – Sarah. Even in those days, she could hear the soft sound of the radio coming from his room until the small hours.