* * *
Kaelia killed another Dybbuk. It didn’t please her, she knew she was also killing the innocent person whose body the demon had possessed but she couldn’t allow them to kill everyone in the service station. Blood dripped from the wound on her head, running into her eyes and she wiped it away on the back of her hand. She looked behind and caught sight of Bran standing some distance away.
‘That’s it,’ she screamed. ‘Stand there, pretending you can’t help. You selfish arsehole!’
Hating him, Kaelia returned her attention to the final Dybbuk left standing and wounded it. It screeched, falling to the ground and Kaelia collapsed beside it. Pulsating light into its chest she worked on saving the human. If she could save one of the possessed humans, it would be worth it.
Air-splicing screeches erupted from behind the furthest parked cars and a tidal wave of Dybbuks surged over and around the vehicles. Exhausted, Kaelia saved the person from the Dybbuk beneath her hands and swiftly destroyed the spirit. It was hard to breathe, her chest hurt, arms ached. She couldn’t give up. The demons couldn’t be allowed to win. Kaelia stood, hands splayed outwards. With her hair whipping wildly in a sudden gust of wind, she trembled. Doubt enveloped her. She couldn’t win. She was losing too much energy. The fresh army of Dybbuks rolled forward. A scraping of metal against concrete sounded behind Kaelia, coming to a halt beside her.
‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ a male voice said, ‘but I’ll help you or die trying.’ He brandished a length of metal from the broken doors of the service station. ‘Aim for the head, right?’
Kaelia nodded tightly. He was attractive, even with blood smearing his rugged features ‘Right. I’m Kaelia.’
The man, who had previously been comforting the woman and child, nodded his dark brown haired head. Eyebrows furrowed above hazel eyes. ‘Damon.’ He tensed as the Dybbuks reached mid point of the car park. ‘And the woman’s my sister Mya. I don’t know who the kid belongs to; he’s too young to talk properly.’
A Dybbuk inhabiting the body of a curvaceous red-head launched at them. Glossy red lips inched upwards, her mouth opened monstrously wide, her whole face becoming teratoid. Damon swung the hefty metal and clubbed her around the head. There was an eruption of blood and Dybbuk screeches, bones cracked. The Dybbuk fell but rose again, head hanging at a grotesque angle. A sudden blur of grey-white charged at the Dybbuk and brought it down, fangs ripping at the Dybbuk until it was still.
Kaelia’s heart lurched, a smidgeon of relief lifting her spirits. Her eyes shone with a renewed surge of power, the ends of her hair smouldered with the beginning of fire. The Vallesm lifted its head and howled before launching at another Dybbuk, capturing the possessed human in its immense jaws. Kaelia fired vigorously, taking out Dybbuk after Dybbuk, the return of the wolf empowering her.
More Dybbuks surrounded them, forcing Kaelia, Damon, and the Vallesm to form a circle around Mya and the boy. The demons screeched, one reached in and snatched the little boy. Kaelia moved fast to rescue him, wrestling the wailing child from the Dybbuk’s clutches. Her light burned clean through the evil creature, she turned to save Mya but was too late. A Dybbuk sunk its teeth into Mya’s head, jaws horribly wide enough to encompass the top of her head in one bite. Damon cried out, bringing the heavy metal down on the Dybbuk’s skull.
The Vallesm howled as four Dybbuks circled it, and then it pounced at the nearest demon. Kaelia shot bolts of light one after the other in rapid succession. Damon was dragged underneath a pool of screeching Dybbuks. Several launched in unison at Kaelia, grappling her to the floor. Teeth tore at her skin, clawed hands ripped clumps of hair from her head. Suddenly all the Dybbuks fell to the ground and were still.
Kaelia dragged herself over to Damon and lowered an ear to his chest. He was still breathing but his eyes were closed. She pulled the length of metal he had used as a weapon from underneath his legs, using it to help her to her feet. The Vallesm shook free from under a layer of Dybbuks, its fur stained crimson, an injured paw held gingerly off the ground.
Floating a few metres above ground, near to the restaurant doors, was Bran. Violet shards of light crackled and forked from the ground, draining power from all of the demons and pouring into Bran, causing him to convulse erratically with the absorption of evil.
Kaelia limped over to Bran, leaning heavily on the length of metal. The Vallesm slunk beside her, it too moving slower than usual.
‘Help me.’ Bran’s eyes glittered with the energy coursing through his body. ‘Take my hand and join me in sending these evil spirits to where they belong.’
The Vallesm growled and pushed its heavy head under Kaelia’s hand. Kaelia let her fingers sink into its deep fur. ‘I must,’ she told the wolf. ‘I must help if I can. There’s already been too much destruction.’
She reached up and touched Bran’s fingers. Light streamed between them, pulling her into the air. Bran grabbed her hand properly and together they drew all of the demons from the human bodies. The evil spirits filtered through Bran, he recited strings of words in the old tongue, banishing the demons.
* * *
Three hours later Kaelia was exhausted and collapsed on the grassy hill leading to the cliff top. She had healed as many people as she could and Bran had brought back as many as he could. Some were beyond revival and the humans whose bodies the demons had possessed, were lost.
‘You can’t rest here.’ Bran’s shadow cast Kaelia’s face into darkness. ‘We must move. The people who are recovered will be calling others who will come looking for explanations. We can’t stay.’
‘But there’s CCTV anyway,’ Kaelia pointed out. ‘We can’t hide now.’
‘I fried it all. Come on, get up.’
Kaelia stood, the Vallesm beside her. She had healed its paw once the people had been seen to. ‘Why didn’t you stop the Dybbuks sooner if you knew you could? Why did you let all of those people go through that?’ Anger reddened her cheeks, darkening her freckles. ‘They died and you let them.’
‘Do you feel less scared?’
‘What kind of a stupid-arse question is that?’
‘Earlier you said you were sick of being scared and of hiding.’
Kaelia stiffened. ‘So you left me to deal with the Dybbuks to overcome my scardey-cat-ness?’
‘That’s not even a word.’
Kaelia punched him hard on the jaw, sending him flying backwards. ‘You should’ve done the sucking spirit thing earlier!’
Bran jumped up, rubbing his chin. ‘You handled those Dybbuks fearlessly but,’ he chuckled, ‘you still needed my help. I thought you’d be happy. I thought this is what you would want. People know about us, word will get out and we will no longer have to hide our powers like a dirty secret. You’ve also proven to yourself you are no longer scared.’
Light glowed from Kaelia’s hands; she clenched her fists to extinguish it. ‘I was terrified but I still had to help. I can’t believe you’d sacrifice lives to prove a point. You’re disgusting.’ She stomped off in the direction of the motorbike.
Bran watched in amusement, flinching as the Vallesm slunk past, snarling warningly at him. ‘Piss off, fur-ball,’ he muttered.
The Vallesm stopped and turned back around. Its amber flecked eyes narrowed menacingly.
Bran laughed. ‘What will you do, attack me? I could easily kill you and you know it.’
The wolf’s head lowered, its withers rose and tail swished. In one pounce it reached Bran and drew to full height, even its fur fluffed out, making it appear larger. It reared up unexpectedly, standing on its hind legs, snout pressing against Bran’s nose. The Vallesm’s eyes flared unblinkingly, it growled. Warm breath and spittle hit Bran’s cheeks. A moment passed before the wolf dropped back onto all fours and bounded after Kaelia.
Bran wiped his face and stuffed his shaking hands into his coat pockets.
* * *
Kaelia waited impatiently by the motorbike. A distant wail of sirens carried in the air and altho
ugh she didn’t want to go anywhere with Bran, he was the only one she knew who could lead her to Hel’s realm.
‘You’re leaving?’ Damon startled her. ‘What were those things? They sure as hell weren’t normal people.’
‘No, they weren’t. They were demons, we call them Dybbuks. They possess people.’
Damon eyed her critically. ‘And you’re not normal either. The thing you did with your hands, it’s not human.’ He tentatively lifted a tendril of her hair before letting it sliver through his fingers. ‘Your hair burned.’
‘I am human.’
Damon shifted nervously from foot to foot as the Vallesm joined Kaelia. ‘What kind of dog is it? It’s massive and moves lightning fast but so do you.’
The Vallesm snarled, not taking its eyes off of Damon.
‘He’s a Vallesm.’ Kaelia laid a hand on the wolf’s gigantic head, shushing it. ‘He’s a wolf.’
Damon shook his head. ‘He’s no ordinary wolf and you’re no ordinary woman.’
Kaelia smiled wryly. ‘No, we’re not ordinary but we’re not the same as the Dybbuks. We don’t kill people.’
‘Do you help them, the same as you did today?’
Kaelia shook her head. ‘Today was the first time I’ve encountered such a battle.’
‘And it won’t be your last,’ Bran interrupted, shoving Kaelia’s bag at her. ‘Now, we must leave.’
The cry of sirens grew closer and Kaelia nodded tightly.
‘Thank you,’ Damon said to Bran. ‘For trying to bring Mya back.’ His eyes blurred. ‘I don’t know how to explain all of this.’
Bran looked at Kaelia. ‘Report what you witnessed. We’re no longer hiding ourselves away.’ He started up the motorbike.
‘I live in Broadstairs,’ Damon said. ‘I have a small shop by Viking Bay. If you need me, you’ll find me there. If there’ll be more of these things.’ He shuddered, casting a wary eye over the mutilated bodies the demons had inhabited. ‘I will help you.’
Bran laughed mockingly. ‘We don’t need the help of a normal.’
Kaelia eased onto the back of the motorbike behind Bran and prodded him in the side. She smiled apologetically at Damon before pushing her helmet on.
Damon jumped out of the machine’s way, Bran narrowly missing running over his feet. He watched the motorbike shoot onto the motorway, followed by the Vallesm which instantly disappeared into the undergrowth edging the tarmac motorway lanes.
Damon looked around the car park, turning slowly in a clockwise circle to survey the entirety of the slaughter. The sirens were still some way off and the people Bran and Kaelia had been able to save, littered the area. Some clung to each other in relief, others wept over bodies of loved ones, a few stood isolated and motionless - staring into thin air. Damon’s rugged features knitted together as a tall man with a long, black ponytail walked calmly through the broken bodies and sobbing survivors. The man’s hair flicked at the end where it reached mid-point between his shoulder blades and Damon rubbed his eyes. It couldn’t be. The ponytail looked like a snake. Damon shook his head and the ponytail appeared to be nothing more than hair. He must have imagined the snake.
Damon’s heart missed a beat then raced to catch up. The tall man’s shape juddered with each deliberate step he took until in his place stood a monstrous, pale-blue tinged figure. One by one, as they noticed, survivors broke into screams. Damon glanced around for something heavy to serve as a weapon. This one looked different to the others but hopefully it wouldn’t be any different to kill.
* * *
Thom enjoyed the attention. The screaming served to booster his importance, pushing his shoulders back and head up. The people he passed trembled at his feet, the unfortunates wailing as he kicked aside whoever was in his path. Spirits from the dead people hovered apprehensively near their mortal bodies but Thom only needed one. Any one would suffice. He held a hand out to a quivering spirit. ‘I can make you live again.’
The spirit’s eyes widened. ‘But the others couldn’t help me. They tried but they couldn’t. I saw them.’
‘What is your name?’
‘Mya.’ Her lip wobbled. ‘What are you?’
‘I am the Draugr.’ Thom smiled evilly. ‘My name is Thom and, unlike the other two, I can make you live again.’
Mya looked at his hand and back at her body, the top half of her skull missing, and slipped her hand into Thom’s. ‘The only other option is heaven, yes?’
‘That is not for you.’ Thom pulled the spirit Mya close to him, his eyes wolfishly hungry. ‘You have been a very naughty young woman.’
Mya opened her mouth to object but Thom laid a finger across it. ‘Stealing from your brother is not something a good person does.’
‘But I haven’t!’ Mya protested automatically.
Thom touched her spirit forehead with the tip of his finger, injecting an image into her mind of when she broke into her brother’s shop after a drunken session in Broadstairs and stole cashmere scarves. ‘That was not the worst way you deceived your brother.’ Thom’s long fingers stroked through Mya’s blonde hair. ‘You were the reason his fiancée left him.’
Mya gasped.
‘You told her he was cheating on her. You lied. You told her he did not love her. You did it all because you were jealous. Because you could not find love, you resented your brother for having done so.’ Thom lifted a black eyebrow.
‘I did!’ Mya wailed. ‘Oh my god, I’m so bad. I deserve to be dead!’
‘You deserve to live again.’ Purple tentacles twirled and twisted from Thom’s hand, covering Mya’s spirit hand and weaving up her wrist. ‘But you cannot live again in your own body because it is too damaged. We will take a less damaged one from here. Pick one you think will suit you.’
Mya looked around. Two bodies away lay one of a young woman, dressed in a tight fitting, white t-shirt and jeans; her neck must have been broken for she was perfectly unharmed in every other way.
Thom followed her gaze. ‘I can mend the break. The body will be perfect.’ He licked his lips. ‘It has nice breasts.’ He reached the body easily, dragging Mya’s spirit with him, and flung the dead body over his shoulder.
Mya screamed as the Draugr juddered and shook to form the shape of a beastly, earless horse. Its mane whipped her and the dead woman up onto his back. Even if Mya wanted to change her mind, it was too late to escape. The Thom horse thundered past the survivors just as emergency vehicles turned into the car park. Sparks from Thom’s immense hooves showered Damon as the beast sailed cleanly over the tops of the still moving vehicles.
‘Help me!’ Mya called out to her brother but Damon couldn’t see her spirit. All he saw was a dead body atop a rippling horse with flayed, rotting flesh hanging in ribbons.
* * *
Kaelia kept an eye out for the Vallesm but she couldn’t see it in any of the fields whizzing past the motorbike. A heavy feeling settled inside her, dragging her heart into her boots. The Vallesm had disappeared. Again. She tugged on the back of Bran’s overcoat as he eased the machine onto an exit road leading to an out-of-town shopping complex.
Bran parked in an available space furthest from the shopping centre building. Kaelia slipped off the bike, acutely aware of the state she was in. Blood stained her jeans, ingrained her hands, and she was certain it was caked in her hair.
‘Why have you stopped here?’ she asked.
Bran secured the motorbike. ‘We need to change our clothes. You more so than me.’
‘I can’t go in there, everyone will stare at me!’
Bran glared at her. ‘What size are you?’
‘I’m not telling you!’
Bran sighed. ‘You either tell me or go in and find something yourself.’
‘Fine. I wear size twelve in tops, a ten in jeans but I need a long leg length.’
Bran eyed her up and down. ‘I thought you’d need a size up to accommodate those boobs.’
‘Shut up, you shouldn’t even be looking. You’re over
four hundred years old and I’m not even twenty, it’s gross!’ Kaelia watched him saunter off. ‘And I only wear skinny jeans!’
‘Trust me,’ Bran’s voice wafted back. ‘The tighter the better.’
‘You’re an arsehole!’ Kaelia screeched, wishing she could think of a better name to call him.
Bran waggled his fingers without turning around and sped off at high speed across the large parking area. He blurred between parked cars, their alarms erupting as the vehicles rocked in his wake.
Kaelia wandered to the side of the parking area, to where soft landscaping sloped gently up towards the access road leading down into the shopping complex from the main road. The earth was dry, scattered with sparse blades of grass, and crumbled when Kaelia clambered up onto it and sat down. Taking the small book of Vanadis from her bag, she opened it and tried again to make it work. Frustrated when there was still no response, Kaelia angrily hurled the book onto the hard surfacing, pleased as it bounced several times before settling awkwardly open.
Kaelia thought of those she had lost. The image of her father’s face swam before her eyes, together with her mother’s, grandmother’s, and finally Bay’s; the boy who had been her friend since she could remember. Large, grey clouds rolled across the sky, casting shadows. Trickles of people drew into the car park, others returned to their cars to leave. Kaelia gulped, the people all had one thing in common. They all had someone else. Calix was on his own mission. The only one left by her side was someone she didn’t trust. She may as well be alone. She bit her lip, stopping it before it could wobble, determined not to cry. She would not be weak.
‘Miss me?’ Bran skidded to a halt, a cloud of dust shooting past him, making Kaelia sneeze. He held out a bag.
‘Did you steal the stuff?’
‘Would they be in a carrier bag if I had?’ Bran ran a hand through his floppy hair. ‘Give me a break. I was trying to help.’
Kaelia pulled a pair of distressed denim, skinny jeans from the bag. She looked at Bran. ‘These are the exactly the same as the pair I’m already wearing.’
Mortiswood: Kaelia Awakening (Mortiswood Tales) Page 23
