‘This will hurt.’
He placed his hands on the wound.
It wasn’t a lie. A scorching heat erupted from Seb’s sternum, rippling outwards like waves of fire. He arched his back, trying to stifle a scream but failing, the noise resounding down the hall beyond. The fire ebbed away quickly, leaving a dull ache at the wound.
‘We could’ve done without that,’ the man chastised. He stepped back. ‘How does it feel?’
Seb blinked and let out a shaking breath. He looked down at the wound. The bleeding had stopped. An ugly black sludge covered the area now. Thin, dark lines spun away from the area like veins. He gingerly touched the area. Nothing. He touched it again. Still nothing. He dared to sit upright, and, aside from a slight tweak, he felt fine.
‘What did you do?’
‘You would describe it as a form of algae. It has unique healing and pain-killing properties.’
‘You mean it’s alive?’ Seb said, swallowing something unpleasant that threatened to rush up his gullet.
‘Sort of.’ The man moved to the door, Seb noting the complete lack of sound he made. He crouched and leaned out into the hall. He scanned both ways before looking back.
‘Come, we must hurry. More of them will be drawn to you.’
Seb felt like he was wading in treacle. He willed himself out of the bed and struggled to his feet. His mind, overwhelmed with so much information, much of it contrary to what he knew about the world, was on the brink of close down.. Something deep down though, a twinkling spark of resistance, wouldn’t allow it. He focused on this, gaining strength from it. He had no idea what was going on, what he’d stumbled into, but he was alive, and on some insane level, following this killer seemed the best way of remaining in that state.
‘Who are you?’ he said as he joined the man at the doorframe. He shot a look down the corridor, noting for the first time that the fluorescent lights were turned off, the only luminescence coming from emergency lights above the fire exits.
‘Cade. You are Seb?’
Seb nodded. ‘You’re not human are you, neither was that?’ he said, nodding to the still twitching corpse on the floor.
‘No, I’m not, not anymore, the woman too. She was human though, once. Tonight she was just a vessel for something else. Your people would call it a daemon, but they’re known to my kind as the sheol.’
Seb opened his mouth to follow that up. He had so many questions, his mind a tumult of thoughts and emotions. A sharp look from Cade stilled that though.
‘I know you have many questions. Answers will come, but for now, we must get you out of here. Something happened to you. Between you and Sarah. We don’t know what it was, or why it was you, but something did, and we need to understand why. Now, follow me. We’re not safe yet.’
They edged out into the corridor, Seb following Cade as he crept down the hall. The blade was drawn again, held in Cade’s right hand, pommel forwards, blade facing back and pressed flat against his forearm. Seb noticed another blade now, a twin to the first, was held in Cade’s other hand.
As they walked past the other rooms of the ward, Seb noticed a common feature. All the lights were out and all the beds were empty. They reached the reception. Seb nearly tripped as he saw the nurse sprawled over the counter, his neck twisted at an impossible angle.
‘Where is everyone?’ he whispered. ‘The ward’s empty.’
‘You were put in here by the police as they thought you’d be safer away from a public ward. You were a witness to a murder. The killer is still out there. This ward was re-arranged to accommodate you, and your guard.’
‘Where is -’ the words died in his throat as they rounded the corner beyond the reception. A mutilated police officer lay sprawled on the floor next to a vending machine. Still steaming coffee bloomed out across the floor.
‘She did that?’
‘She wasn’t a she, she-’
Cade stopped, his head snapping towards the green door marked "Fire Exit". At the same time, Seb became aware of a new sensation, a strange crackling, like static. He rubbed his fingers in his ears but the noise remained.
‘What is that?’
Cade spared him a glance, a look of what appeared to be shock on his face. A noise from beyond the fire exit stole his attention, and he moved towards the door. As he neared the barrier, where whoever was coming up was just behind the door, he did something that caused Seb to freeze on the spot.
He vanished.
The door burst open. Two hospital porters stood there, mouths agape, arms hung low like apes. It was their eyes though that gave their true nature away. That and the fire-axe and knife that each welded.
‘We wondered what had kept dear, sweet Mary. Now we know,’ the orderly on the left snarled, drool pouring from his mouth. The other grunted, his face one that did not display any real intelligence. They both stepped forwards, lumbering towards him.
The air shimmered behind them. Cade appeared from the shadows. The blades flashed and the dumb one dropped like a stone. The other, the one who’d spoken, was quicker, and he whipped the axe round to face the danger, aiming a wild strike at where he anticipated his attacker’s face would be. The axe fizzed but hit nothing but air. Cade dropped to a crouch, the movement preternaturally fast. He moved into the man, one dagger slamming into his stomach with such force that it lifted the orderly off his feet. Momentum carried him forward and Cade was forced to let go of the dagger as he stumbled forwards. He spun about, putting himself between Seb and the orderly.
‘You have no business here, Brother,’ the orderly grunted, clutching the wound in his abdomen where black blood streamed forth, pooling on the floor by his feet.
Cade didn’t respond. He merely maintained a ready pose, squatting close to the floor, the other dagger held forward, business end pointed at the orderly. Seb noticed that his free hand was reaching behind him, taking hold of something hidden in his tunic. His hand whipped, a blur, and something shiny flew out, striking the orderly in the throat. Blood poured freely as he collapsed to the floor.
Cade rose and retrieved the other dagger from the dead porter’s stomach. He looked down, studying the man for a moment before taking a phone from his tunic.
‘It’s me,’ he said, motioning for Seb to get up. ‘I had to go in. They found him.’
Someone spoke back, their voice loud, animated.
‘I don’t know, all I do know is that he’s lit up like a bloody Christmas tree. I need to get him to Skelwith.’
Skelwith?
That voice again, calmer, but still loud. Seb strained to hear with no luck.
‘Understood. I’ll need support. Anything in the area? Good. Let my father know, too.’
Whoever was on the other end of the line hung up. Cade slid the phone away and moved to the fire exit stairwell.
‘Come on!’
They hurried through the door and down the stairs beyond. Cade kept slightly ahead, checking every corner, his yellow eyes scanning the gloom. Seb stayed back, clutching, more out of habit than need, the black mass on his stomach. It didn’t hurt, only ached, the knowledge that something was feeding off his injury disconcerting to say the least.
They went through floor after floor, encountering no more of the things that had attacked them earlier. The lights on these levels were on, and Seb could hear the murmur of activity on each floor beyond the doors, the noise of nearby life making him feel more comfortable.
They arrived at the last door. “U1” was marked on the wall beside it. Cade kicked it open and they emerged into an underground car park. It was largely empty, save for a couple of vehicles stationed near to where they emerged. Cade headed towards a black Audi A4 that was parked nearest them. Seb followed.
The car bleeped as they approached. Cade opened the back passenger side door and nodded inside.
‘In.’
Seb ducked his head and jumped inside. The interior smelled new, fresh from the forecourt.
Cade got in and threw his sheat
hed weapons into the passenger seat. He dropped a coat over the top of them before gunning the engine. The car whipped round in reverse, the windscreen now facing the exit ramp.
‘We’re still a long way from safety. Keep your head down. It’s not over yet.’
The engine roared and tyres screeched as the car rocketed out into the night.
Chapter 6
Cade frowned as the boy slumped into the back of the car. The salve would be wearing off soon and the mad dash through the hospital would begin to take its toll. In all honesty it was a surprise that he’d made it this far. Most of the Unaware would fall into insanity when exposed to what this one had been through. Many would simply become catatonic, their minds unable to cope with this new reality. Yet this one still held firm.
They reached the car park exit in seconds, a car horn blaring out as he cut someone up. They bounced over the speed bumps, skidding onto the side road that was thankfully devoid of any other traffic. Cade tried to sense as they drove. Nothing came back, but it didn’t make him feel less uneasy. More sheol were no doubt on their way, the aura from the boy blazing away for all Aware to see. Like moths to a flame they would come, and in greater numbers.
They reached a dual carriageway that forced a turn to the left. He slowed down now, feeding into the near-side lane that funnelled traffic away from the town centre. Blue flashes erupted ahead and two police cars raced in the opposite direction at high speed. Looked like some poor soul had found the bodies in the ward. He resisted the urge to put his foot down. No need to draw attention to them now. The sheol were one thing but it still wasn’t advisable to get the local law enforcement on their backs.
His phone blared to life on the passenger seat. He noted the caller, and then pressed receive on hands free.
‘I hope you’ve got some good news,’ he said.
‘Depends what you mean by good,’ Thomaz said, his heavy accent even harder to understand on the phone.
‘Break it to me. I’ve got a passenger. A Latent.’
‘Why? That’s not your job.’
‘No shit. I think they need to see this one. Anyway, what kind of welcome party have you arranged?’
‘I’ve got four on route. They’ll be at the exit in thirty minutes.’
‘That’s not good enough.’
‘Sorry, boss, it’s all I could get with the notice. If you hadn’t gone off like that then -’
Cade ended the call. He could do without the told-you-so right about now. With the sirens in the distance he floored the accelerator and slipped into the outside lane.
Screw patience.
***
They travelled down Newton Drive, towards Stanley Park. The park was a mass of shadowed trees and bushes in the dark, but the Way shone out like a beacon, firing a bright white column of light into the sky.
Almost there.
He sensed again as he rounded the bend that turned onto a little-used side road that led to the park. Flickers here and there came back, but nothing coherent. He kept his probes gentle; sheol couldn’t sense, but they could feel it when others scanned them if one wasn’t careful.
He parked up at a small car park around the back of Stanley Park. It made the route back to the Way, hidden in the base of the clock tower, further than was ideal, but it gave them less chance of being spotted by any other being, be it human or Sheol.
‘Seb, wake up.’ He gave Seb a kick, the boy mumbling something that sounded vaguely like a curse. He kicked him again, hard.
‘Ow!’ Seb sat bolt upright, his face a mask of anger. His memory caught up with him and he visibly sank back into the car.
‘Come on, we have to move.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘Out of here. To safety.’
To his credit, Seb climbed out of the car without further protest. He had to be terrified, worse even. Perhaps shock had kicked in, protecting his mind from what its senses were telling it. Maybe he was hoping it was just a dream, that he’d just wake up in a minute and all of this would be nothing but a nightmare.
Tough luck, kid.
They entered the park, keeping off the main road that led into the centre where the clock tower stood. They kept to the trees on the left, the elevated ground providing a vantage point to spy any potential Sheol before they could have chance to act.
They’d come a few hundred yards along the ridge, the trees thinning as the nearest building, a café by day, formed out of the gloom. Cade waved a hand, motioning Seb to keep low. He scanned the surroundings, his eyes providing a green-tinted night vision, the vista before him almost as clear as day. Nothing there. He cast his sense forward, straining it to its limits, but picked up nothing. He made as if to rise when he felt Seb move behind him.
‘Hello there, fella, who’re you with?’ Seb said.
Cade spun round, blades out in a flash. A small dog, a terrier, was nuzzling the boy’s hand. The boy returned the affection, stroking the animal into a frenzy.
‘Seb,’ Cade hissed, ‘Come on, before…’
Too late.
‘Ruffie? Ruffie?’
An elderly couple emerged from the gloom, their voice tinged with a vague sense of urgency. The woman smiled when she saw the dog rubbing Seb’s hands. The man stopped, noticing Seb, before glancing up, seeing Cade as he squatted against the tree.
‘Who are -’
Cade’s sense flared. The man’s aura snuffed out and was instantly replaced by a black cloud. Somewhere, in the gap between realities, he heard a scream. The change was almost instant.
The man froze in mid-sentence. His head twitched, cocking sideways. His arms snapped up, hands drawn up towards his chest as a guttural growl rumbled from his throat. He blinked once, his eyes turning black. He bared his teeth, raising clawed hands as he dropped to a squat.
The dog suddenly stopped its play and turned towards the possessed man. It growled in return before launching itself at the man as the woman began to scream. The sheol caught the animal in one hand, the poor creature wriggling in a futile gesture as razor-sharp talons tore through fur into soft flesh.
‘Go.’ Cade said.
‘What, where?’ Seb said, eyes wide, locked on the still twitching animal.
‘Towards the tower! Now run!’
Cade didn’t turn as the boy scrambled away. Instead he held his gaze on the sheol as it ripped the dog in half. The woman’s cries had turned into a mindless babble now as she slumped to the floor.
The possessed man leapt at him without pause, staggering as one of Cade’s daggers found itself embedded in his throat. He spun wildly, clawing at the open wound as black ichor sprayed out in a grotesque fountain that covered the woman.
Without hesitating, Cade pivoted towards the woman, the gurgled growls that had suddenly replaced her terrified babbling telling him all he needed to know. She lunged forwards, leaping over the old man’s twitching body. Cade tried to duck and roll, but his foot snagged on a tree root. He dropped to one knee as the sheol reached him, falling forwards and grunting in pain as she leapt over, nails the strength of steel raking his back. Rolling with the impact, he brought himself upright in a crouch, blades at the ready.
The woman was nowhere to be seen. He sensed, receiving nothing but scattered, fleeting pulses. She was around still, but not in their immediate vicinity. He staggered forwards, collecting his other blade from the dead possessed, which again resembled that of its host – an old man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
‘You’re bleeding.’
Cade spun round. Seb stood at the edge of the clearing, leaning against a tree. His lips were pinched. His face locked in a pain-filled grimace.
‘I’ll live,’ Cade said, telling a half truth. Already he could feel the poison at work in his system, a dull heat that would only grow in intensity without treatment.
‘How are you feeling, you don’t look so good,’ he said.
‘I think that stuff you gave me is wearing off, it’s starting to h
urt like hell again.’
‘It will, you need proper healing.’ He wiped the black blood off his blade and sheathed it against his thigh. ‘Come on, we’re almost there.’
‘Where?’
‘Sanctuary.’
Seb grunted. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but his eyes glassed over and rolled up in his head. He slumped back, his head hitting the trunk with a thud.
‘Shit.’ Cade stepped forwards and hefted the kid onto his feet. He was going into shock. Without the treatment he would’ve been dead already, but it was a risk he had to take.
He doubted his father would see it that way.
Cade shrugged the thought from his mind and hefted Seb up so that his arm was swung over his own shoulder. Together they limped out into the open square.
They were halfway across when Cade’s sense flared to life. He dropped Seb, catching him at the very last just before he hit the floor, letting him touch the ground gently.
The woman sheol burst out of the undergrowth, galloping towards them at high speed. She’d assumed a more feral form now, running on all fours, extremities now morphed into wicked looking claws. Drool swung from her open mouth, where teeth, now elongated into sharp fangs, flashed in the moonlight.
Cade rushed forward to meet the charge. He feinted low as the beast barrelled towards him, the creature leaping high and right, straight into the blade in his off hand. The weapon ripped a hole in the beast’s gut that sliced along its body in the opposite direction of its momentum. The sheol slid to a motionless heap several feet behind them, entrails spooled out across the floor.
Without pause, Cade hefted Seb up and half dragged, half carried him towards the exit. They were in sight of the Way now, the rune-covered door, invisible to the Unaware, glowing in the dark. The sight spurred him on, and they were near jogging speed when his sense flared again. What now? He cast a look behind them and saw a slight figure, clad all in black, racing towards them across the concrete. He dropped Seb against the door before banging three times.
Message Bearer (The Auran Chronicles Book 1) Page 4
