The Devil's Blue Eyes

by Chris Sanders

  “It could be better.”

  “I’ve invited a friend down to stay here a few nights. I hope that’s not going to be a problem.”

  Elizabeth placed the book onto the kitchen table. “Friend? What friend?”

  “An old pal from London, that’s all. I thought he could do with a small break. I think the country air will do him good.”

  “Is he staying here?”

  “Yes. Why not? We have plenty of room.”

  “Shouldn’t you be asking my father if it’s okay?”

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He seems to have plenty of land to go around. An extra surf isn’t going to kill him.”

  Elizabeth smiled.

  “And like I said, it’s only going to be for a couple of days. Your father won’t even know he’s been here,” Luke finished, plugging the kettle in.

  “You think you’re so smart, don’t you, Luke? I can see why Lena has fallen for you.”

  “Fallen for me? Whatever gave you that idea?”

  “Ha! She’s my oldest friend. I can see the way she looks at you. She hangs on to your every word. I know when a girl’s in love, Luke. Don’t play so dumb.”

  “And what about you? You’re a smart, attractive woman. Where’s the ring on your finger?”

  “I’m saving myself. Let’s just put it that way.”

  “Right. Well, good luck with that. Just don’t leave it too long. Life has a nasty habit of passing people by. That’s my friendly advice for the day. You sure you don’t want coffee? The kettle’s boiled.”

  Elizabeth returned to her book. “No thank you Luke. I think I’m going to lay down for a bit. It’s been a tiring day. I need to get some rest.”

  “You know, I was thinking. I wanted to go back into the village later. Thought I’d sample one of the local pubs. Would you mind if I borrowed the car again?”

  “Go for it. Just be careful after dark. The country lanes are full of ditches and my mini isn’t suited for off-road just yet.”

  “Point taken. I’ll be careful,” Luke replied pouring the boiling water into his cup. “I shouldn’t be too long. I think I need to catch up on some sleep too. It’s been a long weekend for all of us.”

  “If Lena is well enough tomorrow I’ll be taking her back to Chatterton House, Luke. I just wanted to remind you of that.”

  Luke’s hand squeezed the coffee cup’s handle hard.

  “That’s fine,” he lied beginning to stir the coffee. “I’ll come along with you both. I’m sure Lena would appreciate that.”

  “Well, I don’t think that’ll be necessary, Luke. She needs lots of rest. Perhaps when she’s better you can come down and visit her again.”

  “Right.”

  “And Luke. When you go back into the village can you remember to pick up some toiletries? I noticed you forgot to buy them.”

  “Sure. No problem. Anything else while I’m there?”

  “No, that should be everything,” Elizabeth continued, her head still buried in the book. Luke took his cup of coffee and went to sit in the dining room. Benny would be in Chatterton before midnight if he could catch the train in time. Luke had already decided to pay Chatterton House another visit before his friend arrived. If Alexander was right, he wanted to see for himself. He’d be careful of course and make sure he wasn’t spotted. If the rumours were true then he’d find out where Lee and the other kids were being kept and get them out by force.

  Benny could still handle himself. Marshall looked tough but would be no match for both of them. Chatterton’s best days were surely over. He wouldn’t pose much of a threat.

  With this in mind, he left the cottage and jumped back into the mini. Within half an hour he’d reached the beginnings of the Chatterton Estate. Before he left the car, he logged into his mobile banking app and sent Benny the money. He then sent his friend a text with directions and switched off his phone. Benny was a helpless case in a lot of ways, but he’d never once let Luke down. Stepping out of the car, he hoped this would continue.

  Luke stopped a few feet before the estate’s tall iron gates. A narrow gravel pathway, peppered with potholes and ditches of various sizes, spiralled out of view beyond. Thick woodland lived on either side of the pathway. Luke had parked the mini a hundred metres back down the road, having found a small clearing in the adjourning woods. He’d kept to the wood’s fringes as he’d left the mini, knowing he could leap back into their shadows if another car was to approach. He walked slowly, being careful where he trod, not wanting to trip in one of the potholes or snap a rogue piece of wood. The quieter his progress could be the better.

  He stopped outside the gates and looked behind him. Thankfully, the car was out of sight hidden safely now as it was within the trees. Looking beyond the gates he could see no sign of life either. He checked for any sign of CCTV and found nothing but overhanging branches, their delicate leaves often kissing the iron railings in the gentle breeze.

  “To hell with it,” he then mumbled taking a small jump and grabbing onto the iron railings. Then, very slowly, he began to haul himself up the gate. Six minutes later, Luke found himself perched on top of the gates. Above the treetops, perhaps a mile or so from where he sat, he could see the outline of the Chatterton House. The turret lights were on and, as he listened carefully, above the sound of the wind, he was sure he could hear many different voices drifting down to him from the estate. Was that music he heard too? He listened carefully, his head cocked slightly to the right as he remained seated. He could hear the distant sound of a harp being played and occasionally, when the wind allowed him to hear, he heard the sound of piano as well. There was a soiree taking place that evening.

  Slowly, Luke began to lower himself down. He jumped the last few feet and landed awkwardly. A shot of fire immediately ran up his already injured ankle. Cursing his impulsiveness, he began to follow the pathway limping a little at first until the pain in his ankle went away and he was able to walk tall once more. The moon was thankfully full that evening. It allowed him to see the pathway clearly in front of him. It also meant that if anyone else was to come his way he’d be able to see them quickly and find cover with plenty of time to spare. As he walked, he couldn’t help but think of Lena laying helpless in her bed. He found himself feeling suddenly guilty. After the meeting with Alexander, he knew that she’d been telling him the truth.

  After several minutes of walking, the pathway began to widen. At one point he’d stopped having thought he’d spotted a figure in the woods watching him. He was almost right. There was indeed a figure secreted within the wood, its arms and torso just visible as Luke approached. It turned out to be another of the estate’s many statues. He stopped briefly to study his new find. The statue he’d stumbled across appeared to be some kind of strange hybrid. Luke recalled Alexander’s words as he studied the object and couldn’t help but shudder. The statue, like its siblings within the estate itself, was pure white marble and stood well over seven foot in height. Although it stood amongst the surrounding trees, Luke could make out the torso of a well-built man attached to the body of a snake, its tail twisting and twirling off into the wood’s invisible and impenetrable undergrowth. He looked carefully into the statue’s eyes. They were oblong in shape, much like the eyes he’d seen in the portrait up at the Chatterton House; only these eyes were larger and full of menace. The man’s expression hinted at great anger bubbling away beneath the surface at any moment readying itself to explode. Luke still couldn’t believe Alexander’s story about the serpents and the hybrid race. But he’d met enough people in his time to know that evil existed and that maybe, just maybe, these characters were more reptilian in their outlook than the rest of the population. Not wanting to linger any longer than was necessary, he continued up the pathway. The noises grew louder now the further he walked. Several times along the way he began to question if he was in fact doing the right thing. What if he did stumble across the beginnings of some debauched Satanic ritual? He was on his own and still exhausted
from his lack of sleep. He reasoned he could take evidence on his phone. Perhaps then he could travel to the nearest city and show the relevant authorities. At that point, Alexander’s words had slowly crept back into his head. What if the powers that he wanted to see didn’t want to listen? What if, as Alexander had suggested, those who inhabited the higher echelons within the system knew perfectly well what had been going on? What if, after all this time, they didn’t want the status quo to change one bit?

  Luke paused. There was movement up ahead. Quickly, he stepped into the woods and watched. Sure enough, a minute or two later, from behind the trees up ahead and opposite him, a young man appeared. The young stranger, perhaps no older than fifteen, stopped walking just as soon as he’d left the woods. He was tall and gangly. His hair was uncombed and lay in untidy heaps about his shoulders. His clothes were scruffy and torn in several places while his skin was an unhealthy white. When he began to walk once again, having stepped tentatively onto the pathway, he moved awkwardly.

  Luke slowly stepped clear of the woods himself. The boy was heading towards Chatterton House and Luke had no intention of letting that happen. He began to jog up the pathway trying to be as quiet as possible at first so as not to alert his new friend. It didn’t work. He’d only gone a few paces when, inevitably, he’d stepped on a pile of twigs. The boy had spun around immediately, his long and straggly hair momentarily blinding him.

  “Wait!” Luke shouted.

  As expected, the boy didn’t want to listen and had shot back into the woods just as soon as his startled eyes had seen Luke. Luke followed. The boy may have been scrawny, but he’d been blessed with great speed and it had taken Luke almost two minutes of charging through the undergrowth before he’d been able to catch up with his prey.

  “I said stop!” Luke ordered, now just a few feet behind the boy. Both were exhausted by this point and the teenager had been the first to stop running.

  “Stay away from me,” the boy spoke, flipping out a penknife from his trouser pocket.

  “What do you plan on doing with that?”

  “I’ll cut you is what I’ll do. So stay back,” the teenager warned. His voice was soft and uneven. It hadn’t even broken yet.

  Confidently, Luke walked forward. The boy swung for Luke’s arm as he did. In a flash, Luke had sidestepped the attempt and grabbed hold of the teenager’s hand. Then, holding his wrist tight, he knocked the boy’s legs from clean under him with a swift but firm kick to the shins. The boy yelled in agony and landed in a heap in front of Luke. Still grasping the boy’s twisted wrist, Luke said, “That was a silly thing to try, wasn’t it, son?”

  “Get off! You’re breaking my arm.”

  Luke kicked him hard in the ribs knocking the wind out of him.

  “Be quiet.”

  “Please…”

  Again Luke kicked him in the ribs, this time harder. The boy began to shake violently and sent himself into a coughing spasm. Luke let go of his wrist and leant himself casually against one of the tree trunks.

  “What’s your name, son?”

  “Tommy.”

  “Where you from Tommy?”

  “The village. Chatterton Village.”

  “And why is a kid from Chatterton Village all the way up here so late? You have a hot date?”

  “No, no sir, I don’t.”

  Luke smiled.

  “I didn’t think so somehow. Ladies like a well groomed man. You’re not at the moment son.”

  “I don’t feel so good,” Tommy then complained his hand rubbing at his stomach.

  “I don’t suppose you do.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Well, go ahead. You have plenty of open space to choose from. Just don’t splash my boots and we’ll get along just fine.”

  Tommy fell to his knees and began to empty out the contents of his stomach. For someone so thin he’d been packing quite a bit away. Luke was impressed.

  “You feel better now?”

  “A little,” Tommy replied meekly, wiping away loose strands of sick and saliva from his mouth. “You beat me pretty bad.”

  “You had it coming.”

  “So? What are you going to do with me now? Are you going to kill me?”

  “To be perfectly honest with you, Tommy, I haven’t quite decided yet.”

  “Well, if I promise to go right back home will you let me go please?”

  Luke walked from the tree and picked up Tommy’s penknife.

  “You should learn how to use one of these things before you pull it on someone, you know?”

  “I was scared. I don’t know who you are.”

  Luke held out his hand. Tommy took it and allowed Luke to lift him up.

  “You were heading up to Chatterton House. Why?”

  Tommy hesitated. Luke threw the boy’s penknife deep into the undergrowth.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “I was going to kill Chatterton. Then I was going to slit Marshall’s throat. That’s why I was going to Chatterton House.”

  “Then I think I did the right thing by stopping you. A little chap like you wouldn’t have lasted five seconds.”

  Tommy ran his hand through his hair brushing the strands as best he could from his eyes.

  “You feel better now?” Luke asked.

  “A little.”

  “Well. You’d better stick with me. I don’t think I could leave a runt like you alone in these woods. I’d imagine you’d get yourself into all kinds of trouble. Don’t you have an older brother to teach you these things?”

  “He passed away. A motorcycle accident. Three years ago.”

  Luke paused and then nodded.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Why are you here?” Tommy asked.

  “You don’t need to know my reasons,” Luke replied. “Did Marshall and his friends treat you bad?” he went on.

  “If it’s all the same I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay. That’s fine. You can keep your secrets,” Luke replied half suspecting that Tommy had been caught up in what Alexander had described. “Then I guess we should take a quick look at the Chatterton House together. That way I’ll be able to keep a close eye on you. Once I’ve had a good look around I’ll take you home.”

  “Okay,” Tommy replied. “How come you know Chatterton and Marshall?”

  “I’ll ask the questions from now on Tommy, okay?”

  “Okay,” Tommy replied.

  Together, they set off up the pathway. Luke walked in front.

  After ten minutes of walking, the pathway had begun to widen. At that point, Luke had grabbed hold of Tommy’s jacket collar and pulled him back into the woods.

  “What are you doing? What’s wrong?”

  “You stay here.”

  “But why?”

  “Because I’m bigger and meaner than you, that’s why.”

  “Right.”

  Luke stepped back onto the pathway. Turning to Tommy, who now cowered in the undergrowth, he asked, “Can you drive?”

  “I’m fourteen.”

  “That’s not what I asked. Can you drive?”

  “Yeah. I guess.”

  Luke threw him the keys to the mini metro.

  “If I’m not back within twenty minutes I want you to drive yourself home. Is that understood?”

  “Sure.”

  Luke then took out his mobile and flicked it on.

  “How’s your memory?”

  “It’s okay, I guess. Why?”

  “Memorise this number,” Luke replied, flashing Benny’s digits in front of the teenager’s face. “You got it?”

  “Yep.”

  “Good. Also call him if I’m not back. His name is Benny. Tell him you’re a friend. Tell him where you last saw me and then listen. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Good. Now stay where you are and wait for me to come back.”

  “Okay,” Tommy replied, stuffing the mini’s keys into his trous
er pockets. “You sure you don’t want me to come along? I mean, in case you need help.”

  Luke smiled. “No thank you, Tommy. I’ll be okay. You just do what I ask and keep your head down. I know what I’m doing.”

  “Right,” Tommy replied. “Hope you find what you’re looking for.”

  “Me too Tommy. Me too,” Luke went on leaving the teenager at his new hideout and following the pathway once again.

  ~ ~ ~

  The pathway took a sharp turn to the left. The woods fell away suddenly at either side as Luke rounded the bend. A large driveway appeared in front of him with Chatterton House at its centre. The earlier music had died and now there was eerie silence. The mansion’s ground floor lights were all out. Only two rooms appeared to be occupied. These were on the upper floors. Luke raised his head trying to catch movement from within these windows. There was nothing to be seen. He was about to leave the shadows and make his way carefully across the driveway when, to the left of the mansion, he spotted a peculiar procession approaching. He took a few steps back, watching as this caravan gradually grew. He watched them curiously as they each moved forward. The more senior members were positioned at the front of the procession, some holding long staffs, others scented lanterns which bathed the ensemble in smoke as they moved silently across the driveway. They all walked at the same pace, each one wearing a long, purple robe with a tall and pointed hood covering both their faces and sex. Luke counted ten people in total.

  Then, just as mysteriously as they had appeared, they stopped. One of the members, a tall and skinny character who held the longest staff, walked calmly away from the procession. He walked towards the mansion’s huge oak entrance door and then stopped. Raising his staff so that it towered above his own frame, he began to bang it against the door’s frame.

  The remaining procession had each turned to face Chatterton House by this point. They stood silently and patiently as if they’d each played out their parts many hundreds of times before. Slowly, the door to the mansion swung open. Luke couldn’t see clearly who had opened the door. He was, however, pretty certain it had been Mrs Harrison. One by one, they had then entered the house, the door closing slowly behind them as the last man had entered. Once again, Luke was left looking at an empty driveway with only the faint wisps of smoke hanging in the air.