“Are you ready for the ceremony, Magda?” he asked.
Aware of a heightened energy, of his darting glances towards her breasts and the way the late sun silhouetted the shape of her thighs, she smiled. There was only herself and her sister. It would have to be one of them.
The woodland thickened as they neared Tanners Dell, and she let him pull her down into the long, dewy grass. And turning aside as his stale breath blew into her face, and his fingers feverishly pulled at her underclothes; she allowed him to pummel her soft flesh and push himself inside her.
It was over quickly.
Afterwards he rolled onto his back, slavering and wizened.
He was just an old man, she thought. With no power at all really.
***
Chapter Five
Jasmine Cottage
Present Day
Becky began to top up the others’ glasses with more wine. Perhaps a bit more alcohol would loosen Amy’s tongue? There was so much she wanted to know but the girl was withdrawn to the point of rudeness, deftly avoiding eye contact and sidestepping questions. How disappointing.
“There’s plenty more where that came from,” she said.
“Not for me thanks,” said Amy.
Oh, well that was that then.
“Stop trying to get her drunk,” Callum said. “I know you – you want to fish for information.” Looking at Amy, he added. “It’s because she’s a psychiatric nurse – she has to analyse people – see if they’re bonkers or not.”
Becky laughed. “Says the detective.” She glanced at Toby. “You’re quiet as well. You alright, love? Here, have some cheesecake – you need a bit of padding if you ask me.”
Toby patted his washboard stomach and shook his head. “That’s a five mile run, is that! No thanks, I’ve got to get fit again – been off too long.”
“Well, I think that’s really cruel. Now every time I look in the fridge tomorrow it’ll be sitting there, begging me to eat it.”
“Tomorrow? I’d put money on it not getting through the night,” said Callum.
She punched his arm and he pretended it hurt, then filled up the wine glasses again.
Amy snatched hers away. “Not for me.”
“You can if you want, you know? We’re getting a taxi back.”
“No. Really, Toby.” She smiled and nuzzled against his arm.
She looks ever so distracted, Becky thought, like she wants out of here as soon as possible. Well maybe she was too young for a dinner party like this, although she and Cal weren’t exactly stuffy. “Shall I put some music on? John Legend, okay?”
Amy smirked.
“Oh no, torture,” said Toby. “Have you got any Rudimental or Massive Attack?”
“Yeah, lots,” said Becky, popping on the John Legend CD. “Now listen to this and be grateful it isn’t Bananarama.”
“Who?”
Sitting down she re-filled Toby’s empty glass yet again. Blimey, he was knocking it back.
“Rude boy. So, come on, tell us – how did you enjoy your first week back at work then? I suppose you’ve got to write up the report now? The trials start in a couple of months, don’t they?”
“Actually, I only went back yesterday, Becky.” He downed his fifth full glass of Rioja, immediately holding it out for another. “Ta. Yeah–” He gave a dry kind of laugh. “I had to go out to Woodsend – just for a wander, to tie up loose ends, that kind of thing.”
“It must be eerily quiet out there now with no one living there anymore? At least you were safe to take your time and have a good look round without the risk of running into any Dean brothers. You’re braver than me, though. It must have a really creepy feel to it after all that’s happened?”
“Hang on, no one living there? So what about Woodpecker Cottage then? The one that’s all overgrown?”
“No,” Callum chipped in. “It’s been empty for a long while, has that. Thought you knew?”
“Well, yeah...It’s just a bit odd, that’s all because there was a lamp on downstairs when I walked past. It didn’t really register at the time. It only hit me later when I was driving back.”
“I’m surprised it’s got electricity.” said Becky. “But maybe it was an oil lamp or something – a tramp or a squatter? My God, I wouldn’t want to stay the night there, would you? They must have nerves of steel.”
“Why?” said Amy.
They all turned to look at her, eyebrows raised.
“Well, because of what went on,” said Becky. “Toby’s told you about the devil worshipping, I assume?”
Amy nodded somewhat vacantly and Becky tried not to stare too much. There was something so disconnected about the girl; like some of her wiring had come loose.
“It’s a place with a very dark history, Amy. Children were abused there.”
“Not now, though? It’s just woods and trees and stuff – just a place?”
“Yes, I expect you’re right.”
“Of course she’s right,” Callum said. “What ’appened were bloody awful but there’s no one there anymore – not in Woodsend anyway. It’s just a place, and a gorgeous one, too.”
“Apart from it being the scene of hundreds of unmarked graves, you mean? Come on, there’s got to be some sort of negative imprint there – remember they used those woods for rituals involving human sacrifice. The cemetery became a satanic church. You yourself found evidence of black witchcraft in the caravans at the back. We’re talking about decades of devil worship…Well all I’m saying is that something like that has to leave its mark.”
“How, though?” said Callum, reddening in the face as he became increasingly animated. “I’m not arguing with the facts – yes all of that is correct and we finally got hold of a band of nasty, sadistic murdering paedophiles; but what you’d have us believe, my sweet, is that the area itself – woods and flowers and stones – are haunted and can scare you? Honestly, Becky, you don’t half come out with some crap.”
“No, actually, light of my life, what I said was there might be an imprint of all that bad energy in the atmosphere. We are all made up of energy you know? Even inanimate objects. And it’s been proven scientifically that in places where a particularly traumatic event happened – terror or a sudden death for example – that the negativity can linger and ‘haunt’ a place. Unless you’re a totally insensitive buffoon with the skin of a rhino’s arse, that is.”
“Becky’s right,” Toby said. “There’s something in that.”
He flushed as the focus of attention switched to him.
“Now this I’ve got to hear,” said Callum.
“Right, well, I um…had a bit of a funny experience yesterday–”
“I knew there was something,” said Becky. “I knew you weren’t quite right. Go on.”
He hesitated. Then drained his glass. Twiddled the stem. Finally the words came out in a rush. “Okay. Well, there’s a ring of stones in the middle of those woods – you know, like an ancient druids’ circle – they’re all over the country, aren’t they? Everybody knows about rings of stones–”
“Go on,” said Becky.
“Right, well it’s the only part of the forest floor that’s got thick, green grass growing, not bracken and dirt – and by that I mean it gets the light – so I looked up and that’s when I noticed the trees around it. A huge ring of gigantic oaks have deliberately been planted around those stones, like in a concentric circle.”
“Oak trees take hundreds of years to get to that size,” said Callum. “That’s all ancient woodland, that is.”
“Yes. I wouldn’t like to say how old they are but the trunks are colossal, the branches all twisted and gnarled – some of them arcing down to the ground, and the roots are like these giant claws you could almost climb under. Anyway, I don’t think anyone in the team picked this up because the report said there was nothing of note at the site; but it occurred to me the whole set-up had been purposefully designed long before the Deans showed up, and I started to think about the
history of the place – with skeletons being found under the abbey that were hundreds of years old as well–”
“My God, I never would have linked those,” Becky said. “I thought the skeletons they found might have been plague victims, but now you mention the ring and the oaks, it does make you wonder. I suppose you’ve got the anthropologists in?”
He nodded. “Oh yes, that part of it was handed over months ago; but it has piqued my interest as well. It isn’t connected to the crimes of recent decades, obviously, but–”
“But maybe that’s why it was chosen! Like evil was drawn to it or something?”
“Oh for Pete’s sake, Becky,” said Callum.
“Anyway, Toby – sorry about him – you were saying about the history of the place?”
“Yeah, well that’s why I was in the middle of this ring, thinking about the history of it all, when it was like suddenly I’d had fifteen pints and a couple of joints. I’m not kidding I couldn’t stand up. The ring was spinning round like hell, and next thing I was on the floor having this horrible nightmare, one of the worst, except I was wide-awake. I managed to crawl out and the minute I did it all stopped.” He clicked his fingers. “Over. Just like that. And I was lying there with a killer headache and sweat pouring off me wondering what the fuck happened. Only I couldn’t get up. Every time I tried I fell back again, and I suppose I must have hit my head on the ground because when I woke up it was dark and… Christ, are you ready for this because it gets worse and even more unbelievable?”
“Oh my God, Toby,” said Becky. “Are you okay now? I mean, do you think you should have gone back to work?”
“Yeah well this is just it – you’re all going to think I’m going daft again and this is the problem, that’s why I don’t want to say.”
“No, we won’t,” said Becky. “I promise you, absolutely not. Go on.”
He glanced at his girlfriend, whose face was blank. “Amy, are you alright with this? I’ve had to deal with some bad stuff but I’m not loopy, I promise.”
She smiled and nodded, her eyes more alight than they had been all evening.
“Okay, well I must have conked out like I said, but when I opened my eyes again it was dark and cold and smelled of wood smoke; the leaves had fallen and all the branches were bare… and there in front of me was a woman hanging by the neck from one of the trees. The wood was creaking and her long black dress was flapping in the breeze. I just sat there staring, and then slowly I realised there were loads of them – all these women hanging, their necks broken, everywhere I looked–”
No one spoke.
“I ran like a bleeding bullet – onto the main road and down to the car. It was only then I remembered about the light being on in Woodpecker Cottage when I passed it on the way up. I never thought at the time – stupid – but I didn’t.”
For a moment the four of them sat in silence, listening to John Legend singing, ‘All of me…’
“Seriously, do you think you’ve come back to work too early mate?” Callum said.
“No, don’t assume the obvious, Cal. It’s a very strange place is Woodsend with a weird history. And anyway, if it makes you feel a bit better, Tobes, I’ve had something odd happen to me too, recently,” said Becky. “And I don’t know, maybe it could tie in somehow, I’m not sure.”
“Oh, I love all this,” Amy said, as if she’d only just switched on her personality. “All these spooky stories.”
Becky hesitated briefly, but seeing Toby’s stricken face decided to continue. “Okay, well let’s agree on the principle that traumatic events can linger in an atmosphere, yes? Apart from him.” She inclined her head towards Callum and rolled her eyes. “Obviously. Well the thing is, I know Celeste – remember, the medium I told you about - had a bad feeling about Woodsend and that woman was never, ever wrong. It was when she first went to live there, but I assumed it was because she’d tapped into what the Deans were up to. Now though, I’m thinking it may well go back much further because she said some very peculiar things the afternoon before she died…about Ida Dean in particular…that just didn’t make any sense at all at the time. We all assumed Ida was just Paul Dean’s wife, a bit player, someone who helped channel evil spirits with her witchcraft. But here’s the thing, Ruby told me–” She stopped and looked at Amy. “I have a clairvoyant friend.”
Amy nodded, smiling.
“I never used to believe in it either but it’s shocking really – she’s just spot on about everything – stuff she couldn’t possibly know. Anyway, I had a message from Celeste through her about the real Ida Dean. I’m thinking on my feet here but this may link in, so bear with.”
“You mean like a spiritual message?” said Toby. “From beyond the grave?”
“Oh, you’re not going to repeat all that twaddle, are you?” said Callum. “You know, a satanic sect I can get my head round, but all this demonic stuff and messages from dead people–”
“Well, how did Ruby know the name for Ida that Celeste came up with then? Celeste died within hours of telling me and Noel. She had no access to Ruby during that time and neither of us would have repeated it to a girl so unstable – why would we – to anyone at all even? So eight months later Ruby tells me to look up this name. To find out who Lilith is!”
“Who’s Lilith?” Toby asked.
“A bloody demon,” said Becky, who permitted herself a smile. “Okay, I admit it does sound bonkers.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“Oh shut up, Cal.”
“Anyway, I looked her up, didn’t I? And to be honest I really wish I hadn’t. Apparently, she’s a harbinger of death and disease, particularly to pregnant women and the new-born, and reputedly she possesses women through mirrors.”
The others sniggered. Even Toby had his colour back.
“Don’t tell me,” said Amy. “So you looked in the mirror and this scary demon was looking back at you.”
Becky stopped smiling. “Actually,” she said. “You’re not far off.”
“Get away,” said Callum.
“She had no eyes,” said Becky, suddenly serious. “They were all white with no irises. I couldn’t stop gazing in, almost obsessively, just couldn’t drag myself away until…well, until it seemed like she was gliding out of it towards me, and then I broke away.”
“How do you know that she was Lilith?” Amy asked. “The one Celeste said was really Ida Dean? I thought Ida Dean was a real person.”
“She is, love,” Callum said. “Flesh and blood and on the run.” He shook his head. “Demon...”
“What they were doing in Tanners Dell was raising demonic spirits, Amy. And Lilith is a female demon who brings harm particularly to women. There is something about hatred for women in that place, although I can’t prove it, of course, and I’m just guessing. Oh, and she’s the only one with white eyes. I still can’t really piece it together, except that I am now pregnant and I helped bring down that satanic sect. So if she was raised–”
“Holy crap!” Toby stared at her open mouthed. “You’ve broken the memory. That’s what it was in the vault just before I got ill. One minute I was fine and the next thing I was in a hospital bed and couldn’t move, couldn’t even wash myself. And no matter how many times I tried to remember what happened I just couldn’t. But now I know – it was right after I looked at this stone carving. It went right through me.”
Becky frowned. “What did?”
Toby was wide eyed, excitable. “Yesterday I just wanted to see if anything would make it all fit together so I could file the full report, wrap it up, but…fuck! Sorry…sorry…it’s just that it’s come back to me now you’ve said about the eyes–”
The music had finished but no one noticed. Everyone had turned to stare at Amy, who was laughing so hard her face was distorted, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“It’s just all so ridiculous,” she said, dabbing at the mascara smudges and trying to sober up. “Sorry, I thought it was a joke.”
***
Chapter Six
Drummersgate Forensic Unit
Next day
“Ruby wants to see Alice.”
Becky unlocked her office door. “She’s said that? Just now? How funny.”
Noel followed her in. “Why?”
“Because it was only half an hour ago I finally had a report from the adolescent unit – I’ve just come off the phone to them. Take a pew, I’ll put the kettle on.”
Noel slumped onto the armchair by the window and put his feet up on the desk. “God, I’m knackered.”
Becky spooned instant coffee into a couple of mugs. “Rough night?”
“Mmm...”
She turned and wrinkled her nose. “You stink of booze.”
“Do I? Sorry, I didn’t realise. It helps me sleep, that’s all.”
“Slippery slope, Noel.”
“Yeah…, yeah, I know…Becks, you remember Harry? The priest I told you about who did the exorcism on Kristy?”
She sloshed a drop of milk into each mug, handed one to him and sat down, holding onto Molly with her free hand. “Yes, of course.”
“Ah, are you suffering?”
She smiled. “No, not at all. I just feel very protective… Yeah, okay, I’m no spring chicken and I feel like a sweaty carthorse, my back aches and my legs have started to swell up…bet you’re glad you asked. I could go on with the list if you want? ”
“No, you’re alright. You going to be okay to work?”
She took a sip of coffee. “Yes, I think so. So far so good. Anyway, why do you ask about Harry? He and I never met, but of course I remember you telling me about him. Kristy’s going to Australia soon by the way, have you heard? Can’t say I blame her – fresh start and all that.”
He nodded. “I don’t blame her either. I cannot begin to imagine what she’s suffered. Anyway, it’s just I might go and see him, that’s all.”
Magda: A Darkly Disturbing Occult Horror Trilogy - Book 3 Page 4
