Gothic

by Steve Hester

CHAPTER 26

  It was at least an hour and a half before Smithy returned to the base. Things had gone to plan with Sarah; he'd staggered out to the other officers who had been watching the inferno that had up until recently been their station and a few had come running to his aid.

  An older man that Sarah's memories had told him was called Superintendent Lovell caught her as she stumbled forward and helped her over to one of the ambulances that had turned up. It had been a purely accidental stumble that happened because Smithy wasn't used to having real legs anymore but he was pleased with the effect. Moving a possessed body was the ghostly equivalent of patting your head, rubbing your stomach and singing a tongue twister in Latvian all at the same time.

  One of the paramedics had brought over a canister of oxygen and Smithy was gulping it down and enjoying the lightheaded feeling. It had been years since he'd been even so much as drunk so he was taking what he could get.

  After a few minutes he started to tell Lovell and the others about what had happened, taking great pains to omit certain details such as Jacob and Annie. According to his story there had been someone who had decided to die and take as many police officers with him as he could. He may have been some sort of terrorist but she hadn't stopped to get his details.

  He spoke about how she'd hit her head after running from Jack's killer and had woken up to find the whole place on fire. The papers the next day would talk about the horrible blaze, the loss of life and the mad man who started it all but they would never find out exactly who it was.

  For added effect he started crying. Lovell wrapped a blanket around Sarah's shoulders and it seemed as good a time as any for Smithy to depart. He had a little fiddle around with her memories to make sure that was how she remembered the night and left one or two gaps that could be easily put down to stress induced amnesia. Finally he let her collapse into the Superintendents arms and, with not a small amount of relief, left her body.

  Smithy watched her as she went limp. He turned as a couple of paramedics lifted her onto the stretcher in the back of their ambulance. She'll wake up with one hell of a headache! He thought as they made her comfortable and started to check her vitals.

  It was an odd experience standing round with no one seeing him. He'd spent a good few years being nothing but a suggestion of a whisper to people that when he went back to that it made him feel a little uncomfortable. He shrugged and walked over to the road.

  The occupants of the council houses on the other side of the A6 were out in force, watching the excitement. People were leaning out of windows, stood in their gardens or out on the street in groups, some drinking. Smithy ignored them. He turned in the direction of the city centre and started the walk back.

  As he walked into the fire station he could feel the power of the spirit stone that hung from the ceiling in the main hub several stories below him. As the passenger elevator took him down he started to feel more solid until the doors opened and he became as real and tangible as any of the others who were working there. He breathed a sigh of relief to be back and ran a hand over the top of his workstation, relishing the ability to be able to feel properly again.

  The others were already back getting patched up. There'd be a debriefing later but for now he had work to do. He had to make Rob disappear.

  Physical evidence of Rob being at the station would have been burnt in the fire by now and hopefully any on site records would be as well. The main problem would be anything that had been digitally sent off site but he had a number of tracing programs and a few other tricks up his sleeve to take care of them. He spun his chair round a few times and then sat, cracked his knuckles and got to work.

  While Smithy was busy erasing the files, Jacob was in the medical bay. His wrist had been properly reset and was now in a cast that had been moulded to his wrist. Thanks to some of the advanced medical supplies they had access to it wouldn't be long before he would be back to full strength but it'd still be a couple of weeks before it would come off. It was already starting to get itchy.

  Sian was busy stitching the rest of his injuries. She was probably one of the youngest members of the team, barely in her mid-twenties but her almost prodigious grasp of medicine had brought her to their attention a couple of years earlier.

  She had also been slightly cursed with the surname Connery which had led to a number of James Bond jokes when she'd started. The individuals that had come out with them soon realised she had a wicked sense of humour herself and after one incident involving a small pot of Memory Slime a truce had been called. It didn't stop the new ones from trying though but very quickly they realised it would be a very good idea to stop.

  “Ow. Ow. Ow.” said Jacob.

  She leaned back and looked at him over the rim of her glasses. “Oh come on, I didn't even touch you that time.”

  Jacob looked down at where her hand was hovering just above his chest.

  “Well... ow anyway.” he said. Sian threaded the needle through his skin again and grinned slightly.

  “You end up getting beaten up by a demon then to start whining over a few stitches. If you're going to drag me down here in the middle of the night you could at least sit still!”

  “It was no ordinary demon!” said Jacob

  “Yeah, yeah...”

  “No honestly! Nineteen feet tall he was!”

  “So smaller than last week then?” Sian said.

  There was a pause as she added another stitch. Jacob wrinkled his nose up and sniffed the air a few times. A scent was hanging in the air that didn’t smell at all medical.

  “Are you wearing aftershave?” He asked.

  “No. The guy I had back at my place was wearing aftershave. You remember Simon right?”

  Jacob thought for a moment. “Tall guy? Glasses? Does something with computers, doesn’t he?”

  “Well I've had to cut a very nice evening with him very short thanks to you getting cut into a slices and when I get back he'll be gone so sit bloody still!”

  The door opened and Annie walked in.

  “How's he doing?” She asked.

  “I'm not sure,” said Sian, “I dunno if he'll pull through, it's touch and go I'm afraid.”

  “Oh that’s right, laugh at the guy who got his arse handed to him protecting the world! Really professional that is! I’ll remember that at your pay review next month!”

  As Sian finished off the last stitch, Jacob and Annie locked eyes and for a moment his grin faded. Once everything was settled the two of them would have a lot to discuss. He felt a slight tug on his skin.

  “There we go!” said Sian. “Go put your clothes back on now.”

  Jacob hopped off the stool, wincing slightly and picked his shirt off the hanger.

  “How's he doing?” He asked.

  He felt a hand grab his shirt and hold it for him.

  “He's fine. Just confused.” said Annie. She pulled the shirt up onto his shoulders and started to button it up for him. Sian could see the tension in the air between them.

  “It's to be expected,” said Jacob, “it's been a rough night for him. Where is he?”

  “He's in the library.” She let Jacob tuck the shirt into his trousers. Something was bugging her. “How was he able to do that?”

  “Do what?” asked Sian.

  “Back there he manifested.” said Annie.

  “So? He should be able to manifest shouldn't he?” She said packing the last of her supplies away.

  “His chain is missing. Even... even Connor could barely do anything if he wasn't wearing his. He shouldn't have been able to do a damn thing and yet here he is!”

  “Then let's ask him.” said Jacob. “I think it's about time we both got some answers.”

  …

  Rob was sat in a wing-backed armchair in the library. Walls and walls of books dominated the room under concrete ceilings and floor level strip lighting. He had a blanket wrapped round him and someone had given him a mug of tea that tasted like the teapot had been used for ancient
alchemy experiments and never been washed.

  He had taken a look at some of the books on display. They all seemed to have titles like “Demonology”, “Sprites of the Forest” and “Practical Occultism”. Some looked very old and ones down the far end of the room were sealed in climate-controlled cases with instructions on the walls on the proper way to handle them.

  He'd decided not to touch any of them; the night had been far too strange without looking for anything to make it worse. Rob had settled into one of the armchairs that were set near a large fireplace and started to stare into the flickering flames. This tiny little carpeted section was at odds with the bunker feel of the rest of the room. It felt a lot like a Victorian study.

  As he took another sip of his tea the pressure door behind him clunked open and Jacob and Annie walked in.

  “Morning. How're you feeling?” said Jacob. He saw Rob noticeably tense up.

  “Am I a hostage?” he asked.

  “Tough ones first, eh?” said Jacob with a grin as he sat down in the other armchair. It didn't have the effect he was hoping for. “No you’re not a hostage but leaving just now would be a very bad move as you might have guessed from earlier tonight. Want some more tea?”

  Rob glanced down at his cup. It had gone cold but had done nothing to improve the flavour. He shook his head.

  “I can't say as I blame you. In case you’re wondering, the coffee is worse! My name is Jacob, this is Annie. We work for an organisation known as Gothic. Our job is to keep the earth safe from...”

  “...From the forces of the paranormal. The other guy said so earlier at the station.” Said Rob.

  Jacob grinned. “To an extent. There is more to it than that, much more.”

  He looked at Rob as he sat in silence. “I am sure that you have many questions, I know I would in your place.”

  “Just tell me what the hell is going on. Why am I here?”

  “There’s a war going on, a war between heaven and hell that’s been going since before the dawn of creation and we are right smack in the middle. You are a Key, a guardian, whose job it is to protect the earth and to hold back the apocalypse.”

  He leant back in the chair and watched Rob. A tight grin came over the boy’s mouth as he shook his head slightly.

  “I can tell what you’re thinking!” Jacob continued. ““Why me? Why not somebody else? This is bullshit. What’s he been smoking?” You have incredible power and we’re here to protect you as you do what you’ve been born to do.”

  “Protecting the earth?” said Rob. Sarcasm crept into his voice as he looked at the man sat next to him.

  “Yes. Just like the others.”

  “Others?”

  “Yes.” Jacob smiled. “Would you like to come with me?”

  He stood up and held out his hand towards the door. Rob looked at him for a moment weighing up his options before moving. He pulled the blanket tighter about him and followed the mysterious man out into the corridor.

  Jacob led them into the main hub of the base. When Rob had arrived he'd woken up in the infirmary and missed it all. The room before him was like nothing he'd seen before. The base technicians, researchers and one or two agents watched him as he passed by. They nodded and smiled at him and he wasn't sure if it was making him feel better or worse.

  His eyes were drawn to a huge screen that dominated the room with a map on it. Video footage and information from all parts of the globe flittered across but most was from the city and the surrounding area. One of the doors near him opened and Sian walked out buttoning up her coat.

  “Ah! Glad to see you back on your feet!” She said to Rob. “Boss, I’m heading off home to bed now! If you need any more patching up to be done wait till mid-afternoon at the earliest will you? Preferably after the Jeremy Kyle repeat?”

  “Will do, thanks Sian. Sleep well.” said Jacob.

  She threw her scarf on and walked over to the main door.

  “Good night guys! Or morning. Night or morning, whichever.”

  She tapped her code into the doors that opened with a pneumatic hiss.

  “Nice to meet you Rob. Good luck saving the world!”

  Rob managed a weak “thanks” as the door closed behind her. An expectant silence descended on the room that was broken after a few moments by Annie.

  “Sian says you can heal quickly. That's a good sign, shows your powers are trying to manifest.”

  Rob took a seat in one of the swivel chairs by a workstation. “I couldn't do that last week when I twisted my ankle falling down the stairs.”

  “You weren't the Key last week, you were only a potential.” said Smithy from his desk. “The last Key was still alive so you were, for all intents and purposes, normal.”

  He hit a few buttons on his keyboard with a flourish and turned to face them.

  “Right, job done. As far as police records show you were never in their custody last night, it was a different car that went on a joyride and you don't even have the slightest sniff of a criminal record. We have a couple of agents who can remove the last of the physical evidence going over there now. You're a free man again.”

  “That's nice.” Said Rob without any feeling. Everything around him was so bizarre and yet these people were treating it as if it was a normal day in an accountant’s office. At this point he just wanted his bed and to wake up safe in the knowledge that it was all a dream. He glanced up at the main screen.

  “What's all that then?”

  Jacob cleared his throat. “Gothic has agencies all round the world, thirteen in total. We’re Gothic 6. Each agency is there to support a key, just like you, keeping the barrier between our world and the other strong. An ancient bloodline marks potentials at birth but only one is the key at any time and the number of potentials is shrinking. When one dies the duty is passed onto another but they’re vulnerable until they can manifest their powers.”

  He perched himself on the corner of Smithy's desk.

  “That demon was trying to destroy your bloodline and if he'd got to you before we got there...”

  “He did.” said Rob. “But he didn't want to kill me; he said he wanted me delivered.”

  “It's true boss, he said he was going to take him somewhere, that he was valuable.” said Smithy.

  Jacob looked between the two of them.

  “That's not a good sign. Looks like I was right about him being an assassin and assassins get paid. We need to find out why that demon was after you and who sent him. If he took you back with him tonight, then...”

  “Then the world would end, right?” said Rob.

  “Most likely not but I can guarantee it would have been the start.”

  Jacob walked across the grilled floor and stared up at the screen.

  “You see when a key is broken, when one of them is killed I mean and their bloodline ended, it becomes harder for the others to keep the walls up. If they'd got their hands on you earlier it would have been like taking a wrecking ball to it. See, the world around us is flimsier than you think and the end of a keys bloodline, although rare, causes disastrous results. There have been recorded incidents of it happening in the past. They usually tend to go down as folklore or natural disasters and they can be fixed by the other keys but normally at a great cost. “

  Rob looked around at the expectant faces of the team.

  “You said that thing tonight was a demon. What about heaven, angels, can't they help us?”

  “Them?” said Smithy. “Ha! They're just as bad.”

  “Bad..?”

  “The human soul is a powerful weapon.” Said Annie. “That’s why we’re here. We’re walking celestial bombs, the lot of us. Heaven and hell have been at war for longer than any of us can imagine. We were created so heaven would have something to throw at hell to stop it, but Lucifer being how he is got access to earth through the back door and tried to take us for his own use. The Garden of Eden? That’s here. Earth IS Eden!”

  “So what happened?” asked Rob.

&
nbsp; “The original angels that were tasked with looking after us locked it down. They gave their lives to make sure we were sealed away safe from both sides. They felt pity on us.”

  She walked over to him and stood with her arms crossed.

  “Your power and that of the other keys is the only thing stopping heaven having unfettered access to all the souls on earth and there are a lot of us now, enough so heaven could win the war in a heartbeat but if it did then what use would God have for the earth? What’s the point in weapons if there’s no enemy to fight? One way we have eternal torment and damnation on a scale undreamt of and on the other, oblivion. Nothingness. Every man woman and child, every animal, EVERY living thing on the planet, gone in the blink of an eye.”

  Annie watched him as she let the information sink in. There was a long pause.

  “Wow...” said Rob at last. “This... This is...”

  “Yes, I know.” said Jacob. “It’s a lot to take in but you wanted answers, we never said that you'd like them.”

  Rob leaned back in his chair.

  “Wow. You know what? I really have no idea what you people are on, obviously something fantastic so why don’t I just leave you to it? I’m out of here.”

  He stood up and made for the main doors leaving his blanket spread across the floor.

  “Where are you going?” shouted Annie.

  “Home! You lot are out of your minds! Seriously, I don't know how you get off on all this but I'm not interested! You're all insane!”

  “Yep, pretty much.” Said Smithy to himself.

  “Think about it. If people knew what was really going on, how do you think they’d react? ‘Hey, heaven’s real and so is Hell and if you die you’re going to be used as a weapon’. People would go insane! Humanity would destroy itself.” Said Jacob.

  “Have you watched the news at all lately? They're doing a good job of that already!”

  “Believe me, it would be much, much worse.”

  “Then why aren't you out there helping? If you're here to help then why isn't Gothic trying to stop wars? You're fighting for humanity, aren't you?”

  “What we're fighting for is much, much bigger!” said Jacob. “You think we don't want to get involved? We do! But we can't do anything without exposing ourselves and it's far too risky. Our survival and yours too relies on us remaining hidden.”

  Rob marched towards him. “Alright, let's say you're telling the truth. You've been trying to fight demons and angels and god knows what else, off for how long now? What have you managed to do then? Hmm? If I’m not the first then how many have there been before me? How many have died trying to stop this before I got the tap on the shoulder? Hmm? They've done a great job haven't they!”

  He turned around on the spot and waved his arms.

  “Look at this place! This is insane! You think I WANT to be part of this? Till a few hours ago I had a normal life, I was happy! Then this shit cloud descended on me and now I'm stuck in the middle of a freak show with a bunch of crazies saying I'm superman! You want me to join you? Why? You don’t do anything, you don’t help! The world is going to hell and you guys just sit in here and whenever you do actually do something you don’t do anything for the world! You don’t try and make peace or try and bring everyone together to help! You're... You're trying to fill the Grand Canyon with pebbles! It's all going to go to shit and you know it!”

  Rob and Jacob locked eyes and for a moment it looked like neither one was going to back down. In the end it was Jacob that lowered his first.

  “You have a destiny here but I can't force you into it, none of us can. If you want to go, then go. We won't stop you. Before you go though I want you to see something.”

  Without waiting for a response, Jacob crossed the room and opened a door. As he disappeared inside lights flickered on and his shadow was seen briefly as he passed out of view.

  Rob stood staring after him. No one seemed to be making a move or stopping him. His glance shifted from the main doors back to the passageway Jacob had just walked down.

  “I'd follow him if I were you.” said Smithy. “He'll start sulking otherwise.”

  Jacob was waiting in the passageway, leaning against the wall in front of another door.

  “Ok, show me whatever it is you need to show me then I'm gone.” Said Rob. Jacob pulled Connors chain from his pocket.

  “Do you recognise this?”

  “Yeah... Yeah, I found one like it in my room yesterday afternoon. What is it?” Rob said turning the chain over in his hand.

  “The chain acts as a symbol of the Key's power as well as an amplifier. Whenever a Key dies, the energy released creates the next chain for the new key.”

  Jacob typed a code into the keypad on the wall and the locks on the door disengaged. He swung it open and stood back.

  The room on the other side was simple. It was more or less a large hollow that had been hewn out of the rock. Instead of the electric lighting, freestanding candelabras were set in intervals along its centre resting on the sandy floor. It felt like a place of peace and worship but that wasn't what shocked Rob.

  There were chains on the walls, hundreds of them by his count, each one resting on its own hook. The glint of the candles shone off them like tiny stars in the gloom.

  He felt Jacob gently brush past him.

  “When you leave here look about you. In a short time this city, this country, is going to be alive with people. Businessmen, shop workers, telephonists, child carers and none of them know we exist. It’s the same all round the world. None of them know we’re here or what we do or why but we do it. We do it to see the sun rise. We fight so people can go on living, no matter what they choose to do with that life. Regardless of why the earth was made we’re here now and it is ours. We don’t fight because we want to. We HAVE to.”

  He moved further into the cave, and in the candlelight Rob could see Jacobs shoulders sag slightly.

  “Humanity is becoming more of a danger to itself than anything out there but there will come a time when that'll all change. We were created to destroy but as times gone by we've shown we are so much more than that and we need to fight harder now than ever.”

  Jacob finally turned to Rob.

  “The last Key was a man called Conner. I knew him for a very long time and in a blink of an eye he was gone.” He took the chain out of Rob's hand. “We all go in the end but what we leave behind goes on. You have that inside you! You’ll awaken powers that you could never have dreamt of and there will be no thanks, no publicity, and no reward.”

  He moved over the sand to a free hook on the wall and gently hung Connor's chain on it.

  “No reward except the sunrise on a new day.”

  The enormity of it all was starting to sink in. Rob couldn't take his eyes off the chains as they sparkled in the half-light. He thought about how his life had changed over the last twenty-four hours and the huge task that had been put before him.

  Clearly it was all the creation of a group of escapees from a lunatic asylum but as he stood in the cavern he could... feel things. He could feel an energy in there surrounding him and the whispering came back to him.

  It wasn't intense or urgent as it was before, it seemed almost choral. It was a whisper made up of countless voices and they all seemed to be saying the same thing: Believe. Believe. Believe.

  In that moment he knew that the strange man with him was telling the truth.

  “What about my family? My friends? Will they be in danger?”

  “Yes.” said Jacob sadly. “I wish I could say otherwise but they will be. We can train you and your powers will grow, you’ll learn to harness them and you'll be able to protect them but the people you care for the most will always be a vulnerability. They will always be used as a way to get to you.”

  He put a hand on Rob's shoulder. “I'm not going to say that you have to leave them, cut them out of your life because Key or not, you still have the heart of a human and that's what makes you stronger. Just be war
y.”

  Rob's mind wandered back to Jason and realisation dawned on him.

  “I don't have my chain.” He said.

  “Yes we know.” said Jacob. “Do you know where it is?”

  “I gave it away to a friend. He... He died tonight.”

  Jacob looked worried. “We have to get it back. Mortals aren't meant to have them; the way they work can do some very bad things if you don't know how to use them. I just hope it's not too late.”

  Rob reached out and touched the nearest chain to him. A tiny jolt of ran up his arm and a very brief image of a woman in regency clothing flickered in his mind and was gone just as quickly.

  Somehow he knew that no matter what he chose to do here and now that his future would be the same. He would now be a target for creatures beyond his comprehension for the rest of his life and he had a choice to fight with someone or on his own. He let out a long sigh.

  “Well,” said Rob “we'd better start looking.”

  Jacob put his hand on Rob's shoulder and smiled.

  “Welcome to Gothic.”