Demon (Kassidy Bell Series Book 3)

by Lynda O'Rourke

  “I’m already in the shit,” I spat. “This is nothing compared to what I’ve already been framed for!”

  I pulled my arm back and clenched my fist. I felt my knuckles hit bone as they pounded into Grace’s head.

  “Again!” Raven yelled, her face dark with anger. “Knock her out!”

  I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that with my punch alone, so I reached down and gripped hold of the baton lying beside Grace. I could feel VA20 rush through me – anger, fury, rage. The emotions hit me and I screamed out as I swung the baton straight into Grace’s face. She immediately fell limp in Raven’s arms. Blood poured from her nose and ran down into her open mouth. I watched as Raven tossed her aside. My head pounded and my limbs shook. But it wasn’t over yet. My eyes fell on Eric. He stood with his back to me, egging on Max and Jude, his body language bolshie and arrogant, shoving his fists and knocking them into Max. I reached for the metal bars of a cell to steady myself. Whatever was going on inside me, it filled me with an annoyance, an irritation, and right now, that irritation was Eric. I hadn’t forgotten the things he’d said to us earlier on. His words lay deep-rooted and I found myself standing behind him without even realising that I had moved.

  “Eric!” I screamed behind him. He stopped fighting with Jude and Max. He spun around clearly shaken.

  Being the arsehole that he was, he regained some composure and stared back, a defiance in those smug eyes of his. His top lip curled up in a sneer.

  “Got something to say, you filthy crackhead?” He looked me up and down as though I was nothing but filth from the bottom of his shoe. “I ain’t got no needles for you to stick in those ugly, repulsive veins.” His eyes glimmered as if he had got one over me. Deep down, he had. Those words hurt more than any physical pain I had felt. He caught me off-guard as I rose my hand up to the side of my neck – a natural instinct that I had seemed to develop since the appearance of those black veins. I wanted to cover them up – pretend they weren’t there. As my fingers slid up the side of my neck, I felt a sharp sting to the side of my face. The next thing I knew, I was half lying–half propped up against a cell. Eric had slapped me clean over and had now knocked Max from off his feet. I shook my head, feeling stunned. As I tried to clear my mind, something in the corner of my eye made my heart stop. Bare feet shuffled past me. My eyes rose to see Sylvia out of her cell. I gasped in shallow breaths. I wanted to get up – to run, but I couldn’t seem to move. I felt petrified – frozen in time. I glanced back at her cell. How had she opened the door?

  “Sylvia’s out!” I yelled. No one heard me. They we’re still fighting. Sylvia snapped her head round and stared at me. I felt myself shrink back. I glanced about the cellblock to see if there was something I could use – anything to stop her from hurting the others. I pulled out the canister from my pocket – no, that wouldn’t do. I would have to get up close to Sylvia for it to have any effect and I didn’t fancy coming face to face with her. The baton still lay beside Grace. I scrambled on my hands and knees, my body jittery. As I grasped hold of the baton, I heard someone scream. Moving quickly, I struggled onto my feet. Sylvia wrenched Eric away from Jude and Raven. I watched in horror as she scuttled up the wall dragging Eric with her. One hand had disappeared into his chest, while the other hand was used to manoeuvre herself up the side of the cellblock. He yelled out in pain as each movement ripped open his chest some more. Smears of blood were trailed up the wall. Flashbacks of Cruor Pharma and its dark corridors flickered on and off. Those bloody handprints I had come to dread were now back in front of me.

  “Let’s go!” I screamed, pulling Max to his feet.

  “Help me!” gurgled Eric, his arms flapped loosely as Sylvia pinned him to the ceiling. A shower of blood sprayed from Eric like a fire sprinkler attached to the ceiling.

  I looked away feeling sick. There was no helping Eric, and besides, I didn’t want to. “Come on!” I yelled at Raven and Jude, who stood watching Sylvia.

  “We have to wait for Sylvia.” Jude was persistent.

  “Fine,” I snapped, “you wait for that freak – we’re going.” I snatched hold of Raven’s arm. “Move or we leave without you.” Time was running out and we still had to get through custody. I no longer cared of Sylvia’s importance. Jude or Doshia could have her. And if Ben needed her so much then he could come and get her. Taking hold of Raven and Max, I marched them to the door. Pulling it open, I ran out into the corridor.

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  “Let’s get out of here before Sylvia comes after us,” I whispered, aware that we shouldn’t make too much noise. I knew the police station seemed to be short of officers and we’d just removed three of them out of the picture, but the Sergeant was probably still in the custody suite and all he had to do was get onto his radio and call for back-up.

  We reached the end of the corridor. Max held his ear up to the door.

  “Can you hear anything?” I whispered, looking over my shoulder, afraid I would see Sylvia scampering along the walls towards us.

  “It’s quiet,” hushed Max. “I can’t hear anyone.” His eyes fixed on the door leading back into the cellblock. I knew he feared Sylvia like I did. His face was pale and sweaty and his hands shook.

  “Let’s go then,” I said, taking hold of the door handle.

  “Wait!” Max whispered. He pushed his ear back against the door. “I think there is someone in there.”

  Peering back towards the cellblock, I said, “I’d rather take my chances with whoever is in the custody suite. I’m not waiting for Sylvia to appear.”

  “Hold on,” said Raven, grabbing hold of my hand. “Perhaps we should send Sylvia in there – she’d soon get rid of anyone who might get in our way.”

  “No – no way!” Max shook his head. “She’ll kill us first before she starts in there.”

  “She’s not a trained guard dog, Raven,” I whispered. “She doesn’t follow instructions. You think that if we tell her to leave us alone and only attack who we tell her to, she’s going to comply – feed her a treat and she’ll obey?” I turned the door handle.

  “We keep out of her way,” argued Raven. “Keep that door open and she’ll go charging in – job done!”

  “Keep out of her way? We’re stuck in a narrow corridor, in case you haven’t realised. The only place we can stand is in here – pushed up against the walls – we’ll just breathe in and hope she doesn’t notice us!” I snapped.

  “We haven’t got time for this,” whispered Max, leaning in close. “Cropper will be here soon. We have to get out of this police station before he gets here. It won’t just be him either that turns up – he’s bound to bring the rest of his bent team with him.”

  “This is the perfect opportunity to get away from Sylvia and from Jude,” I said. “If we don’t go now… then…”

  The door leading into the cellblock slowly creeped open. We turned towards it. Jude stood just inside the doorway, Sylvia behind him.

  “Don’t panic,” said Jude. “She’s handcuffed. She can’t hurt you.”

  “How the hell did you get those cuffs on her?” gasped Max.

  “Doesn’t matter, does it?” said Jude. “What does matter is that we now have Sylvia and we’re free of the cells.”

  “She can’t hurt us?” I almost laughed. What the fuck was Jude on? She still had legs – teeth – arms that still had some free movement. Of course she could hurt us.

  “She’s quietened down a bit too, you know – trance-like.” Jude took hold of the handcuffs and led Sylvia out into the corridor, like a stable hand leading a horse from a field. She staggered forwards, her blood-spotted eyes twitching up and down – left to right. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “We get our stuff… and we leave,” said Raven, glaring at Jude. She glanced at me with a smile across her face. “Look what I’ve got!” She pulled a set of keys from out of her pocket and waved them about in the air. The narrow corridor echoed with the sound of the keys jangling.

  “What are
they for?” whispered Max, taking hold of them.

  “Eric dropped his keys,” smiled Raven. “I think the key to the van is on here.”

  “Great,” grinned Jude. He reached out to take the keys from Max, but before he could, I snatched them away.

  “I’ll take them,” I said, placing them inside my pocket.

  “I can drive,” pushed Jude, holding out his hand.

  “So can I,” I smiled. There was no way I was going to let him take the wheel. I had every intention of getting to Doctor Langstone and I didn’t trust Jude any longer to get us there. “You can sit in the back of the van with her!” I glanced at Sylvia. She stood motionless. “Right, let’s go.” I turned the door handle and pushed it open just a gap. My eyes searched the custody suite. All seemed very still. I looked at the counter. The sound of paperwork being shuffled came from behind the desk. As I peered around the door, I could see the Sergeant filing away sheets of paper. He had his back turned towards me. Leaning away from the gap in the door, I whispered, “The Sergeant’s behind the desk. It’s just him in there.”

  “Just go,” pushed Raven, shoving me in the back.

  “Stop it,” I whispered, knocking her arm away. “We do this quietly. Ready?”

  Everyone nodded except Sylvia. She had started to sway on the balls of her feet. I turned my attention back to the custody suite. Edging the door open slowly, I stepped out into the room. The light was brighter compared to the dark corridor we had just been standing in. I kept my eyes firmly on the Sergeant. The others filed out slowly – Sylvia shuffled out last.

  We edged our way towards the desk. One step at a time, careful to stay quiet. Every movement from the Sergeant had us stopping, breaths held. Would he turn around? Was he going to see us before we could reach him? It was like a game of Peep-Behind-the-Curtain, trying to stay silent but having to move quickly.

  I spotted our stuff behind the desk. It had been placed in clear plastic bags and put onto a shelf. As I took another step forward, the Sergeant suddenly turned around. His eyes stretched wide at the sight of us and he nearly stumbled over. In a fluster, he reached for his radio.

  I sprung forward and hurled myself up onto the desk. Max joined me. We swung our legs over the counter and threw ourselves onto the Sergeant. His fingers snatched for the radio but he couldn’t quite reach it.

  “No you don’t!” I shouted, taking hold of his arm and pulling it away.

  “Get off!” shouted the Sergeant, swiping his arms about and hitting me in the face. I staggered back but regained my footing. I lunged at him. Max pulled out the baton from his jeans.

  As we struggled to restrain him, Jude leapt up and over the desk, snatching the Sergeant’s head. He rammed it down onto the counter.

  “Dave… Grace…!” the Sergeant called out. Blood gushed from his nose.

  Reaching into my pocket, I yanked out the canister and as Jude pulled up the Sergeant’s head, I pressed the button and sprayed.

  The custody suite was filled with the sound of the Sergeant’s coughing and choking. He immediately stopped fighting and slowly slid from the desk onto the floor. He lay, clawing at his throat, his breathing nothing more than short, sharp gasps.

  I bent over him and took his handcuffs, snapping them onto his wrists. I stood up and grabbed the plastic bags from off the shelf. Throwing them over the desk, I took one last look at the Sergeant. Max smashed the baton down. I heard the sound of bone splitting and my stomach lurched. The sergeant stopped struggling and fell still.

  “Okay,” I breathed, “let’s go.” I climbed back over the desk and dropped to the floor. “Come on – hurry up.” I felt nervous, that panicky feeling chomped away at my insides. I looked at Raven. She had already removed Hannah’s leather jacket from out of one of the plastic bags and had put it on. She zipped up the front, covering up the flowery blouse that she hated so much.

  Sylvia had shuffled over to the door which led out to the yard. She swayed on her feet, mumbling something under her breath. Did she even know what was happening?

  “Get the keys ready!” shouted Max, snatching up the clear plastic bags.

  I pulled them out from my pocket. There were a lot of keys that looked like the sort you would use for a van, but which one was right, I had no idea.

  “What about our shoes?” Max blurted out, holding up one of the clear plastic bags.

  “No time for shoes!” shouted Jude. “Let’s just find the van and go.”

  “We’ll put them on when we get out of here,” I said, running over to the door.

  Raven turned the door handle and yanked it open. The corridor leading out into the yard was empty. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were almost there. Almost out of the police station.

  We ran down the corridor. As I reached the door to our freedom, I looked over my shoulder just to make sure we were all still together. Satisfied that we hadn’t left anyone or any of our things behind, I stepped out into the cold, wet night.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The rain hit me like hundreds of tiny needles peppering my skin. I shielded my eyes from the gusts of wind as it threw up my hair into a tangled mess. My bare feet sloshed through the cold puddles that swelled in large pools across the yard.

  Where was the van? I spun around feeling lost. The dark, the rain and the wind disorientated me.

  “Over here!” Raven called out. She had darted around the side of the police station and now I could just see her head poking around the corner of the building. Her hair lashed about her head like slick, angry tentacles.

  I hunched forward, trying to block out the wind as it whipped about me. I jumped over the puddles, Max at my side. The slosh of water behind me let me know that Jude and Sylvia were close behind. As I reached Raven, another sharp gust of wind nearly blew me off my feet. I turned down the side of the building. My eyes looked in dismay at the row of police vans parked in the bays. Which one was ours? Which key was the right one?

  “Hurry up!” cried Raven over the sound of the thrashing wind.

  I pulled out the keys from my pocket. Feeling panicked and knowing that we probably didn’t have much time left before Cropper arrived, I leapt into action. The first van wasn’t ours. After trying each key in the lock and failing to open it, I moved on to the next one. My hands were frozen and I dropped the keys several times. The others gathered around me. I could see in their wind-battered faces, the sheer will for me to find the right van. Only Sylvia hung back. She stood in the middle of a puddle, her white hospital gown flaying about. The handcuffs around her wrists glinting every so often from the floodlights that twitched on randomly. She watched in silence, not even flinching from the unrelenting wind.

  “Next van!” hollered Jude, after I had tried every key.

  I sloshed through the puddles, my feet feeling numb from the cold. This was the third van. I prayed it was the one.

  “Third time lucky?” Max said, hope in his eyes. His T-shirt clung to him like he had just climbed out of a swimming pool. He shivered – his limbs jerked uncontrollably.

  “Come on!” shrieked Raven, her annoyance directed at me as I dropped the keys again.

  “I’m trying!” I glared. “My hands hurt… I’m so cold.”

  I pushed the key into the lock. It wouldn’t turn. Pulling it out, I tried another and then another. Shaking my head and using my arm to rub away the stream of rain water flowing down my face, I looked at the others. It seemed hopeless.

  “There’s still two more vans!” shouted Jude, stumbling forward as the wind buffeted into him. He disappeared around the side of the van.

  Raven stomped her foot down, sending up a spray of rain. “This has to be it – it must be!”

  As the wind battered its way across the yard, another noise joined in the gusts.

  I blinked, the rain stung my eyes. “What was that?”

  We stood still, straining to hear over the blasts of the punishing storm. It sounded like a metal grating noise. The yard was suddenly filled with two
cones of light.

  “It’s a vehicle… maybe a police car… it could be the night shift?” shouted Max, trying to hold back his hair that twisted and coiled about his face.

  “It could be Cropper!” yelled Jude, running over to where Sylvia still stood. He grabbed hold of the handcuffs and pulled her over to where we stood. “Keep trying the vans! We’ll keep watch.”

  My fingers nervously twitched over the keys. I shook my hair from out of my face. First one didn’t work, second – nope – third. “Fucking hell!” I yelled out in frustration. My foot kicked out at the van. None of the keys worked. I would have to go around to the last van. “Can you see anyone?” I called out.

  Raven, Jude, and Max were crouched down, peering around the side of the van. I flinched as the two cones of light swerved around the side of the building. “Shit!” I pushed myself up against the van, trying to make myself invisible. Forgetting my fear of Sylvia, I grabbed hold of her and pulled her alongside me. Her bedraggled hair clung to the sides of her face. She leered out at me with her blood-spotted eyes. “Don’t move,” I warned her. Whether she understood me, I had no idea, but if I didn’t keep her out of sight then we would all get caught.

  Max crawled away from the spot where he had been crouching. He reached me and looked up, wobbling on his feet as the wind rushed down between the vans.

  “It’s Cropper,” he said, a grave look across his face. “He has another police officer with him.”

  “Are they still in the car?” I asked, my teeth chattering.

  “They’ve just got out,” said Max, cupping his hands around his mouth like a funnel so I could hear him over the wind and rain.

  “Have you tried this van?” asked Max.

  “Yes… it’s not the one,” I answered. I looked about me. I couldn’t go around the front of this van to reach the last one for fear of being spotted by Cropper. I would have to clamber my way around the back of it.

  “Keep trying, Kassidy,” shuddered Max. “It won’t be long before Cropper realises we’ve escaped. He’ll be back out here looking for us.”