“This will take too long.” Jenny left Doris and walked towards the altar, keeping one eye on the pit and another on the Hell bat. She searched the debris that was scattered around. All she saw were candles and books. Nothing that would help. She felt the pressure of time and decided to return to Doris and try again with her fingers, when she saw the knife. The huge blade covered in runes seemed to wink at her from beneath the altar.
She froze. Something about the knife made her fear it. The thought of touching it repulsed her. “Damn it,” she said, breaking its hold, she walked forward and reached out to touch it. It was as cold as ice and felt alive in her hands. She rushed back to Doris and easily sliced through the remaining ties.
Doris pulled her hands around to her front, gasping as her shoulder muscles moved and blood rushed back into battered arms. She rubbed her hands carefully, to bring back the circulation. The cuts were not as bad as they looked, but still they hurt as the blood surged back into her fingers.
Jenny cut the clips on her ankles and threw the knife away with disgust. Doris stepped away from the post, draping the cloth over her naked form. She pulled it tight and secured it with a quick knot.
“We have to get out of here. Aldona is about somewhere. She fed on me.” Doris stopped, eyes closed, steadying herself. “I think she went back into the pit, but she can come out any time. Oh God I nearly forgot, there is another woman behind us. I heard her crying.” Doris turned and crossed to where she heard the sobs. On the floor before them, Mary slept. She was curled up in a ball, leaning against the wall. Her black top had slid up over her belly and the skirt barely covered her voluptuous form. Blood seeped across her belly where the top was pulled back, leaking from within the folds of flesh.
Jenny reached down and touched her gently, and Mary screamed as she was shocked back to the nightmare.
“Shush… we’re here to help you.” Jenny leaned in close, trying to calm the terrified woman.
Mary’s eyes focused, and she almost screamed again, but she swallowed hard and nodded to say she was alright.
Jenny reached down to her wrists, which were held in chains and secured with a tiny padlock. She pulled at the chains, frustrated, watching as Mary’ face collapsed with disappointment.
Jenny looked back. “Doris, look around quietly and see if you can find a bar, something to lever with.” Turning again towards the chained woman, she said, “My name’s Jenny. You’re going to be okay.”
“I’m Mary.”
“Pleased to meet you Mary. We have to get out of here fast, but don’t worry. The police are on their way.”
Doris returned a long metal bar in her hand. “Will this do?”
“Let’s see.” Jenny took the bar. It was substantial and reassuring in her hand. She inserted the tip into the clasp of the lock and applied pressure. Grunting with the effort she put her full weight behind it and the lock popped open. Repeating the procedure, she removed the other lock and pulled the chains from Mary’s bruised wrists. The two women smiled as Jenny helped Mary to her feet. She was unsteady, her legs stiff and weak. She swayed for a second and clutched at her head. Jenny grabbed her arm. “Are you okay? Will you be able to get out of here?”
“Believe me I can make it out of this fucking place.” Her tear stained face was resolute and determined.
“Now, quietly, we have to make it to the stairs. Follow me.” Jenny started back towards the stairs, slowly, avoiding the pit and hell bat’s perch. They could hear it breathing as they approached. Doris clasped a hand over Mary’s mouth to stop her screaming as she saw the hideous creature dangling from above.
They moved past it, and the sound of its breathing stayed even and low. Before them the stairs were tantalizingly close. Each step was agonizing as the two injured women, cold and exhausted, struggled to cross the expanse. At last they reached the stairs, and their exuberance bubbled up inside them as they began their ascent.
As Jenny put her foot on the third step, her breath froze in her throat as a shadow appeared above them.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Alex lay with his head on the desk. His breathing came slow and easy. His head hurt, and his neck was beginning to scream as white hot pain from the wound seared through him. He listened. The room was quiet. How long had he been out? Where was Robert?
He sat up and calmly surveyed the room. He was surprised that he no longer felt any grief. He had cried his last. Women weren’t worth it. They always betrayed you. He had decided to disappear, it seemed wrong, too much like giving in, yet every fiber of his being told him to go. He would leave Jenny to Robert and have no regrets. Get away from here, somewhere he could start again. He couldn’t stay here anyway. It would be difficult to explain how he was alive.
He looked around the plush office. Robert had done well for himself. The room contained a huge mahogany desk, leather chair and antique furnishings, along with some beautiful and expensive paintings. Robert had always seemed successful, and they gave him a good amount of business. He had a nice car and house, but did not flaunt his wealth. If he was as good an initiate of Aldona as their fight proved, he had a lot more than he showed. She was a generous god, rewarding those who fed her dark needs. Alex remembered his own meteoric rise to success. Still, who cared? Now it was time for him to go. He took one last look around the office.
To one side were the shower room and toilet. Alex had used it before and knew there would be a change of clothes in that room.
He got up and slowly walked towards the door. The bathroom was large, tiled in a beige and gold theme, very nice but very show-house, he had always thought. He stared at his face in the large mirror above a white basin. Switching on the water, he rinsed his hands. The water was cool and refreshing on his skin. He filled his hands and splashed it over his face; eyes closed tightly. He repeated the procedure, sighing at the cooling feel of the liquid running down his face and back into the bowl. He looked back at his image. He looked beat, as if he had just died. “Ha.”
To his right was a small wardrobe, the door a full length mirror. He caught his full reflection as he opened the door. The morgue green’s hung on his body. He looked like a walking ghost. The gash at his throat was the only color on his pale skin.
He pulled the door wide, removing the vision and reached in for a change of clothes. Robert had two suits and three shirts, as well as two pairs of shoes. Alex picked a plain black suit and white shirt. He pulled the clothes on quickly, casting the morgue clothes aside as he cast aside his old life.
The suit was slightly too big for him, the shoes a little tight, but they would do. He tossed the morgue clothes in one corner and stepped back into the office.
Walking through the room into the hall, he heard a voice inside his head. Simon was trying to communicate. Communication was difficult over long distance and only possible because the two of them had worked together for so long. He heard just two words, phone me.
Alex shook his head and removed the sound. He walked slowly to the stairs. He was done with this town. He would make a quick stop to Raseby Manor to liquefy his safe and then... who cared where he was going?
Half way down the stairs the noise came again, phone me. Alex stopped. A vision of Jenny filled his mind. He saw the sacrifice of his son, but this time it was Jenny’s sweet face looking up at him as he brought the knife down. He sliced through her throat; her blood spurted over his face and down his arms. He cried out and ran down the stairs, into reception and picked up a phone.
Breathing heavily, he fought back vomit and rested for a second before he dialed Simon’s mobile. The phone answered on the first ring. “Simon.”
“It’s Alex, what do you want?”
“Damn it, Alex, where are you. We have to get to Jenny.”
“Jenny is Robert’s child, did you know that?” Alex‘s voice crumbled.
“What? No she can’t be. Helen would never cheat on you.”
“Well, according to Robert she did and loved it.”
; “Damn it, Alex, have some sense. Who do you believe -- Helen, or Robert?”
There was silence on the phone. Alex felt shame that he had doubted his wonderful wife, that he had let Robert fool him with a spell. Of course, he had been weak and the other man was a powerful mage, which was why it seemed so right. He had been manipulated. “But he believes Jenny is his, is going to sacrifice her if we don’t stop him.”
“It’s possible he used a glamour on Helen and Jenny is his child, but I doubt it. She’s so like you at times it’s scary.”
Alex hesitated again, part of him still wanted to run, but he knew now that had come from Robert. He had cast a spell to make him leave and it had been so close to working. His weakened state had left him vulnerable to the mind control the other mage had given. He closed his eyes and saw Jenny, her eyes like her mum’s, her cheeky grin. “We have to save her.”
“Come to Lincoln. You are too weak alone. I have already sent the police to Robert’s house, so she will be fine. Meet up with me, and we will join together. We’re stronger that way. ”
“All right, Jenny is safe till Saturday. He can’t kill her till two a.m. the time of her birth.”
***
Alex arrived in Lincoln before Simon. He stood in the car park and swayed slightly in the wind. He needed blood, but guilt still racked him, after his encounter with the nurse. He thought about other sources, horses’ cattle but there were no large animals nearby as the local agriculture was mainly arable. He looked around him, and saw people everywhere in the busy car park. It would be easy. A mother and child walked past, there trolley bulging. No. He scanned the area and saw the walls of the prison in the distance.
Standing outside the prison, he eyed the huge red walls topped with black stone. Lincoln was a high security prison, and he knew there would be some serious criminals inside. He walked around the wall as far as he could and focused on records. About thirty meters away he felt a computer connection. Eyes closed, he concentrated and mumbled “Revelare.” A list appeared in his mind of cell numbers, names and crimes. Petty theft, car crime, burglary. No good. He mentally flicked down the list, coming to high security. Here he found rapists, murderers and the man he wanted, James Pearson a pedophile repeat offender and currently on remand for the murder of a little girl. He was in a solitary wing on the far side of the prison.
He stepped back for a moment, a light breeze cooling his head. Should he do this? He had promised Helen, but he had more chance of helping Jenny if he was strong, and this person, what did he deserve? Jaw set, Alex turned back towards the gate. He concentrated hard and sweat broke out on his forehead. Was he strong enough? His clothes shifted and changed into those of a security guard, and a clipboard appeared in his hands. He walked back to the gates and approached them confidently. His head up, he whistled as he walked. His clothes had not really changed, but he could project the image of the guard’s uniform if he had the strength. He tripped, just before the guard station and almost lost his concentration. But they took one look at him and opened the gate as if he was one of their own. The gates closed with a deafening sound of finality behind him.
Alex, brow furrowed with concentration as he walked across the open yard towards the inner gates. The security checks here were usually vigorous. He spoke to the guard’s mind, “preceptum obserua.” The guard pressed the buzzer, doing his bidding as the spell commanded. He allowed the gate to swing inwards and let Alex into the inner sanctum of the prison.
He negotiated the prison with ease. Each guard knew he was meant to be there. They never questioned him and forgot him as soon he was passed. But the strain was telling, and he weakened with each step. At last he arrived at solitary, and a guard paused from his novel and allowed him in. The guard went back to reading without registering what he had done.
Alex walked down the long narrow corridor, his steps echoing in the sterile environment. Green bars guarded the entrance to each cell. The cream walls seemed to close in on him for a moment as his concentration lapsed. He bit down hard, and continued to the cell he wanted.
The barred door stood open, and inside a small, neat cell, a man lay on the bed also reading a novel. He was an average looking man, if anything a bit on the wimpy side. It was hard to believe the horrendous crimes he had committed. Alex walked up to him and hesitated. Was this right? James continued to read the book, ignoring his visitor. Alex looked at him, short brown wavy hair, pale skin, gangly legs. Concentrating, he entered the man’s mind and saw the prisoner’s crimes. He saw James with the girl, felt her fear, watched as he ran the knife over her chin…
“Tenere,” he mumbled the spell to hold and approached the man from behind. James still had the book, and was ignoring his visitor, Alex bent over the prisoner. Rage fuelled him, and with the crime still vivid in his mind, he sank his teeth into the smooth, warm skin of the pervert’s neck. His teeth hit the jugular vein, resisting for an instant, and then tearing through. His throat was flooded with warm, healing blood. It ran into him, boosting his power and inciting him to further rage. He sucked deep, draining the killer’s blood. The anger continued as he drank more, unable to stop, unable to reason.
James did not struggle. Held by the spell and getting weaker, he could not fight back. Alex paused. He was close to taking a life. James’s heart was slow, and his pulse was weak and erratic. Should he kill him and prevent another child being destroyed? He penetrated the killer's mind read the desires there. Pearson had no regrets other than getting caught. As soon as he was out, he would find the nearest child and fulfill his perverse desires, it was all he wanted, all he lived for.
Alex pulled back. The desire to kill, to snuff out this evil man and the promise he had made to Helen circled in his mind like starving dogs around a bone. Guilt coursed through him as he heard Helen’s voice in his head, “Promise me you will never take another human life, and I will trust you with mine.”
He screamed his rage and released Pearson, who lay on the bed, his breath shallow and weak. Alex looked at him a moment longer and then concentrated hard, reaching with his mind. In his mind he saw Pearson, naked, saw the dental floss from his shelf move and wrap around his testicles. Alex pulled with his mind and the floss jerked. James Pearson’s scream was loud enough to alert the guards.
Alex exited the prison as easily as he had entered it. Passing the guards, who failed to notice him, those he needed to open doors never remembered they let him out. Running in the other direction the guards were frantically trying to find out who castrated James Pearson. Some of the guards were worried about their jobs, but even they smiled at the thought that the bastard had got his just desserts.
***
Alex drove the little lime green Renault into the crowded car park. He spotted Simon’s Audi straight away and piloted the small car towards it.
Simon opened the car door, leaning into Alex. “We have to hurry. Come with me.”
Alex turned the engine off and threw the keys on the floor. “What’s the rush?” he said, unfolding himself from the car.
“I sent the police to Robert’s over three hours ago, they haven’t called back yet and I can’t get hold of anyone at the station.”
Alex felt fear slide down his back. “Louth is a very small station. If they went together, no one would be there until they get back.”
Simon ran a hand through his blond hair and looked his friend in the eye. “Alex don’t you feel it. Damn it come on, hurry.”
They climbed into the luxurious steel grey Audi and left the car park amid a squeal of tires.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Robert steered the Omega effortlessly into the dark entrance of the garage. He parked the car, not noticing the bar missing from the tool rack. Flushed with his success over Alex, he hummed to himself as he locked the vehicle and skipped towards the house. He admired the garden with a touch of regret as he may soon need to leave this place. Still, gardening with magic was easy. The plants flourished and weeds could be removed with a simple flick
of the hand. He was undecided about his family. Sophie was held under a spell, but most of the time she did not need it. Occasionally, however, he would see her will surface, and she wondered how she ended up with him. But one simple word returned her to the loving wife he needed. If he left his family, he would miss the kids, but there again at times the little shits really got on his nerves.
Rounding the corner, he saw a panda car pull up in the driveway. Behind it, a beautiful rose, a Ferdinand de’ Pichard, which was one of his favorites, was fully in bloom. He hadn’t noticed the bush when he left earlier. Its candy striped blooms looked wonderful in the growing light. Panda car, he laughed again. The police car was actually a Volvo S60. It was a huge, powerful motor, with bags of style. Much too good for pigs, he thought. The car looked a little threatening, a huge white bonnet, with blue and yellow alternative stripes covering the side, and police wrote along the sills in large letters. “Oh, scary.” He shuddered in mock horror.
The Volvo pulled to a standstill, next to his Mercedes. Humming to himself, he approached from behind and a huge smile spread across his face.
“Hello, officers,” he called as the doors opened.
Two uniformed policemen climbed out. Their dark blue uniforms were impeccably pressed and seemed to put a downer on the day. They clasped their hats in their hands. The two men were matched in height and looks, both in their mid-thirties. They were six feet tall with dark brown hair cut short, and they both looked fit and athletic. “Hello, sir, we’re looking for Miss Jenny Stephens. Would you happen to know of her location?” the first officer said in a cultured British accent. He continued, “I’m Officer Ryan, by the way, and this is my colleague PC Harrison.”
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