“What’s happening?” shouted Cash, bewildered.
“Quinn’s attacking Ruby,” Theo quickly informed him, “he’s punching her in the stomach. We all have to get out of here.”
As everyone except Linda turned, the kitchen door slammed shut. Why hadn’t the ‘experts’ removed it when they were preparing the house for exorcism? “Shoddy work,” Ruby heard Theo mutter. Doors were a well-known hazard – a tool used by wound-up spirits to form a physical barrier. Quinn had employed that ‘tool’ before and now he was doing it again.
Conversely, elsewhere in the house doors began to open and shut, the racket quickly becoming deafening.
“What’s he doing? What’s he bleeding doing?” yelled Samantha.
At this rate the neighbours would flood back in, the reporters, everyone.
When Quinn finally let them go – if he did – they’d be spat back out, ejected again, their moment far from glorious.
“Quinn,” Ness shouted, “you’re not welcome in this house. You must go. It’s in your interests to go! Why would you want to remain in hell?”
As she rushed to join Cash, as Theo and Corinna did, Linda stood firm.
“He’s saying something isn’t he? I can’t hear him, but I know he is.”
Theo turned to her just as the spotlights overhead fizzled and went out. “Yes, Linda, he is saying something. He’s calling you a murderer. But you didn’t murder him. We know that. So what’s he talking about?”
Not waiting to hear her answer, Ruby dropped to the floor and curled up in a ball, Cash lying over her for protection. Quinn was spinning furiously around, deciding on whom to attack next. His eyes rested on Corinna.
“Corinna,” yelled Theo, “he’s coming towards you.”
As quickly as Quinn had moved so did Ness, shielding Corinna as Ruby was being shielded. As Ruby looked up from her position on the floor, she saw Ness wince as she received blow after blow into her side. Meanwhile, Samantha had edged her way to the door, her lips moving furiously.
“Even if you do get rid of him, I’m not staying. He’s ruined this house for me now. It’ll never be the same again. Never.” Her words ended on a sob.
Theo, do something!
Ruby hated to shift the onus onto Theo but she didn’t know what else to do. She sent the thought out clear and direct, knowing she’d catch it.
“Linda,” Theo started speaking urgently, “he’s attacked Ruby, right now he’s attacking Ness, and all the while he’s yelling ‘murderer’. You mentioned ‘unfinished business’. Please, if there’s something you’re not telling us, tell us now, because believe me, this situation can get worse, a whole lot worse.”
Rather than reply, Linda just stood there, staring straight ahead. Ruby found herself mentally pleading with her too.
Linda, please help us.
How much more could Ness take, could any of them take?
Linda!
At last Linda started speaking, her voice at first a whisper in the darkness but rapidly growing stronger.
“He’s right, I am a murderer.”
Cash moved slightly, allowing Ruby to sit further upright. She was safe for the moment, Quinn wouldn’t fly back at her, he had swung round, was looking at Linda. Everyone was, still as statues. Waiting for what was coming.
“I thought I’d murdered Quinn, but I was wrong. I know that now. But the baby,” she paused. “Well… the baby didn’t get away so lightly.”
“The baby?” Ruby gasped.
Linda continued staring. “That’s right, I told you I was evil and I meant it. Don’t go to the light, Quinn, burn in hell and I’ll burn right alongside you.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The sound that emitted from Quinn now was not one of anger it was one of agony – terror and grief mixed up in it. Ruby too felt alarmed. With Cash’s help, she struggled to her feet; the pain from Quinn’s blows causing her to take a sharp intake of breath.
“Linda,” she implored again, “we need to know what you’re talking about.”
But still Linda refused to say. Instead she remained trance-like.
Theo crossed over to Ruby. “We do need to know, but not now. We have to get out.” To Cash, she said, “I’ll look after Ruby, just get the door open.”
With no hesitation, Cash hurried over to the door, to where Samantha stood with her back against it. “Help me,” he said, “let’s get out of here.”
Together they started yanking on the handle.
Meanwhile, Theo and Ness – the ‘giants’ as Ruby thought of them, drew closer to Quinn, his eyes still trained on Linda, his fists clenched by his side, ready to strike. Ruby felt pride again but this time in a positive sense – if her colleagues were nervous of him, they showed no outward sign of it.
“Quinn,” Ness said, doing her utmost to reason with him, “I know in life your actions were questionable. It’s never right to use physical violence against a person or to try and control them. But I also know that at the root of such actions lies fear.” Would Quinn appreciate Ness’s insight or would it elicit more violence? At the door, Cash and Samantha were still tugging, a few expletives escaping from both of them at various points. “I’m guessing your childhood wasn’t an exemplary one. There was damage done to you. Quinn, were you beaten?”
Ignoring her, Quinn began to raise one hand as if to deliver a blow. When he did, would Linda feel it? Ruby guessed she would. His energy was at peak level, a psychic attack would cross the line, become a real attack.
“Quinn,” Ness continued, her voice not unlike Ailsa’s – smooth, monotone, hypnotic even. A deliberate ploy Ruby guessed. “Although you’re not answering me I think you were beaten. A lovely little boy, you were born into the wrong hands, brutal hands.” Ruby sensed the atmosphere shift slightly, a swing from anguish towards something else – self-pity? If it was, it could be just as dangerous. Still Ness persisted. “But here’s the thing, Quinn, the glorious thing. When a soul is born into this world, it’s pure. We come from the light, and we go back to it. During our stay on this plane our experiences bend and shape us, sometimes in a positive way, sometimes not. If we are struck, we may choose to strike out too – it’s the only way to dull the pain inside – at least temporarily. But then the pain builds up again, becomes worse than ever. And we explode with it, we do, I understand that. You’re not the first to be affected and you won’t be the last. I was beaten too, as a child. The choice I made as an adult, however, was never to do the same thing. You still have choices, Quinn, even now. Particularly now. We know that evil was committed here,” Ness looked at both Quinn and Linda as she said it, “but it’s the act that’s evil, not the soul behind it. There will be atonement on the other side I won’t lie to you, but not hell. This hell is of your own devising. It’s a world you created and you can let it go. Let us go.”
Was he listening to Ness? Were her words making sense to him? Ruby couldn’t call it either way. She caught Cash looking at her, a question in his eyes – should he and Samantha carry on trying to open the door? She nodded in reply. Most definitely – the attacks could start again at any minute. No sooner had she thought it then it happened. Quinn lunged at Linda and she stumbled backwards as he closed his hands around her neck.
“Wha… what’s he doing?” There was genuine terror on her face. Somehow Linda hadn’t expected him to do that, she still thought she had the upper hand. She was wrong. He had pushed her too far and now she had done the same to him. Linda started clawing at her neck – trying to throw the attacker off but it was impossible to get a grip on spectral hands.
“Cash!” Ruby screamed. “Get the door open!”
They had to get Linda away from Quinn. They had to know the full story.
“Cash!” she screamed again.
“I’m trying! The bloody thing won’t budge.”
Meanwhile Theo and Ness were still trying to reason with Quinn but he was beyond listening now – his only intent was to break the woman who had broken him. And
he could do it, Ruby had no doubt, his hands tightening around Linda’s throat, her face turning crimson as she struggled to breathe, her legs beneath her beginning to buckle. They had no other option but to open the kitchen door, drag her away from him and get out of Gilmore Street. Nothing else mattered, not the press waiting – if they were waiting – the neighbours, nothing. It had come down to basics, to survival.
Joining Corinna, Ruby rushed towards Cash and Samantha – perhaps with all four of them tugging or pushing – the door would cave in, one way or another. Linda had fallen to the floor now, the dark shape of Quinn bunched up on top of her, his grip relentless. He would either succeed in strangling her or her heart would give out in shock. Every second counted. Theo and Ness were sending as much light and love as they could muster to combat the darkness in him, to try and dissolve it, but he was blacker than pitch. If he won this battle, if Linda died… It didn’t bear thinking about.
She and Corinna did their best to help Cash and Samantha but it was a case of too many people making matters worse.
“Just let me focus,” Cash instructed, waving the three women away with his hands. Not a split second later he was hurling himself at the door with all the desperation of something rabid. Jed, meanwhile, had run through the door, was barking at them from the other side and urging them to hurry.
We’re coming, Jed! We’re coming.
Silently she willed Cash on.
Believe he can do it. Believe!
She daren’t look at what was happening behind her.
He can do it, he can!
Sweat was pouring off Cash’s face.
Cash, please!
Suddenly Cash was through the door, flying into the hallway and smashing into the bannisters opposite. The door was open! He’d done it! A small triumph that seemed huge. He must have hurt himself on impact, certainly the whoosh of air that left his body suggested it, but he was needed still.
“Cash, help me get Linda out of here! Corinna, Samantha, stay by the door, put your full weight against it, make sure it doesn’t shut again.
Doubling back, Cash and Ruby reached Linda. Theo and Ness had already started to tug at her but Quinn was proving too strong. His energy was bound to wane at some point but when?
“We need to lift her,” Ruby said to Cash.
Bending, he placed his arms under Linda and wrapped them round her torso. Ness and Ruby grabbed a leg each and Theo continued to send white light towards Quinn – her face fierce in concentration.
“Go, go, go!” Ruby said, indicating for Cash to get moving.
Immediately he obeyed. “It’s like she’s made of stone!” he complained.
Ruby didn’t have time to explain that Quinn was weighing her down.
“Just get her through the door!”
“Quinn,” Theo entreated him, “if you kill Linda, the chances are she’ll remain grounded too, right here, with you. Is that what you want? Either of you? To be stuck here, side by side, forever?”
The slug that Linda described him as continued with his aim – to destroy.
“QUINN, STOP!”
Ruby interrupted. “Theo, we need to get her out of the kitchen, down the hallway and out of the house; he won’t leave Gilmore Street, he won’t leave hell.” She felt Linda’s body go limp. “Time’s running out.”
Theo transferred her attention to Linda, “Okay, okay, hang on, Linda, do you hear me? Hang on or remember, you’ll be with him again.”
Jed was beside Ruby, nudging her urgently and whining.
With Corinna and Samantha ensuring the kitchen door remained open, Cash, Ruby and Ness pulled Linda through it, Cash at the helm. In the hallway, Quinn looked up as though surprised to find himself there, but quickly he collected himself, snapped his head one way and then the other – searching for a way to stop them leaving, the only way he knew how – by means of violence. Not Cash, he wouldn’t attack Cash, he preferred to pick on the more vulnerable of the species. Releasing Linda completely – a mercy of sorts – he spun round to face Ruby and Ness.
Ruby tensed, knew Ness was bracing herself too. Just a few more yards, that’s all they had to go. But how was Cash going to open the front door? He had his hands full. She damned the narrowness of the hallway, they were filling the width of it, but Corinna or Samantha had to find a way to squeeze past, drop to the floor, crawl under their feet, anything. She called behind her and issued the instruction.
Still a few yards to go… so near and yet so far.
Deciding on his target, cold, hard hands started squeezing Ruby’s neck, the strength in them belying his ethereal state. They were like steel.
Ruby sent love towards him, love and understanding, wave after wave of it but it was no good – this was a man in no mood to receive. Hell was all he remembered – perhaps since the day he’d entered the world.
“Ruby, can you cope?” Ness asked, knowing full well what was going on.
Unable to speak, she sent a thought instead.
Get us out. He won’t leave Gilmore Street.
She was beginning to gurgle, her eyesight swimming in and out of focus. Her great-grandmother’s tourmaline necklace that she wore formed something of a barrier between them but even so, there was no denying it, what he was doing, it hurt. How she longed for fresh air, to breathe freely.
You bastard, Quinn!
She couldn’t help thinking it.
You deserve to rot in hell!
“Ruby, stop that. You cannot fight hate with hate.”
Was that Ness admonishing her or Theo? She couldn’t tell.
“Ruby, we’re almost there.”
‘Almost’ was too far away.
She could stand no longer, so fell to her knees. As his hands grew tighter still, hatred seemed to pour from him into her, the coldest of liquids. If she were Linda, she would have done the same thing when the chance presented itself. She would have turned on him, maimed, tortured and beaten him. She would have taken it further, made sure she killed him. Revelled in the culling. It would give her such strange comfort to watch his life-force drain from him. He’d ruined Linda’s life and now he was trying to ruin hers – destroying all she’d worked so hard to achieve, such as her reputation, her livelihood. He was trying to take her from the man she loved too – from her friends, Theo, Ness and Corinna. How she’d miss them if he succeeded.
Was it Linda who’d said evil was infectious, or Ellie? Perhaps they’d both said it. A soul divided: one and the same.
There was no air left in her lungs now. This was it – she’d cross and she’d get her revenge. Like Linda, that’s all she wanted – to make him pay. And she would. He’d never have witnessed evil like it. She’d welcome the bad wolf to the surface, let it devour the good wolf, she’d be everything its darker shadow was. And he would suffer. Oh how she’d make him suffer.
“Ruby! Ruby! Breathe, in and out. Come on. Breathe!”
Ruby’s eyes snapped open. What was happening? Where was she? Shouldn’t she be dead? A bright light caused her to squint. There was a street lamp directly above her. Shifting her eyes from that, she looked into the eyes of Cash instead. They were so different to Quinn’s; so full of warmth – the light to her dark. This wasn’t hell. This wasn’t the other side. She’d been dragged back, the tide of hatred within her beginning to recede.
“Oh, Cash!” she reached up to throw her arms around him and then drew away, looking frantically around her. “Where is she, Cash?”
“Linda? She’s fine; she’s conscious. Theo and Ness are seeing to her.”
“Who opened the door?”
“Corinna did, she had a job getting between everyone’s legs I can tell you, but she did it. Samantha’s just slammed it shut, locked Quinn back in.”
“We need to know the full story.”
Cash shook his head vehemently. “No, Ruby, you need to rest.”
She pushed him away entirely now and with something akin to relief noticed only a few neighbours had gathered, stunned faces n
ot knowing what to make of the latest events. “Are there any reporters?” she asked Cash.
“There’s no one with a camera, no.”
That wouldn’t last long.
“Where can we go? We have to get off the street.”
“Delia’s.” Samantha was standing nearby and it was she who answered. “Come on, she’s waving us in.”
Ruby didn’t need asking twice.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Half walking, half stumbling, the team made their way over to Delia’s living room, the ‘normality’ of her chintz decor like the most refreshing of breezes. Linda had been helped to the sofa and was currently lying down on it, her face pale and her breathing shallow but regular. Theo had asked Delia for a cold facecloth and pressed it to the prone woman’s forehead.
Ruby crossed over to her. “Linda, do you want us to call an ambulance?”
She raised a hand. “I’ll be okay, just… get me a glass of water would you?”
“Water?” Delia queried. “It’s a reviving cup of tea you’ll be wanting.”
Ruby stopped her. “No, she prefers water. I’ll go and get it.”
Linda might refuse tea but the others were gasping for a cup and so Delia joined Ruby in the kitchen to explain she’d make a pot anyway.
As she bustled around Ruby, she sighed. “It’s a right old to-do over there isn’t it? A real debacle. The rumour is it’s the devil himself in residence. No wonder people want to move. The thing is, who’s going to buy?”
“Quinn’s not the devil,” Ruby countered, “as much as he thinks he is.”
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