21 Shades of Night, page 181
“I’ll talk to him,” Esais said.
“Babysitting as usual,” Adrian said. ”If you can spare me, I have a project I need to finish. Something special I have planned for Ose.”
“Fine,” I said. ”Marge, can you handle patrolling?”
“Yeah, whatever. Now get the fuck out of my head.”
“Gladly. Everyone get some rest.” I waited until the connection between all of us had been severed and sent my thought out to Esais. ”Are you sure you can handle this?”
“I’ll be fine, Gabby. Besides you’re going to be doing most of the work.”
“True. I’ll see you tonight, then.”
I headed inside the house. I needed to center myself for the mission. Despite what he said, Esais sounded strained. I couldn’t let him waste energy on me now when he may need it later. My mental issues were small at the moment. I just had to be on guard for any slipping. I would be fine.
Right?
Chapter 33
AT TWELVE-THIRTY in the morning, I walked through the front doors of the asylum with my sword strapped to my back. Thanks to Esais, the guards had turned off the security system and cameras. Then they and the orderlies decided to take a nap. I crept down the dark hall to one of a slumped man in a white uniform and took his keys. My nose wrinkled at the acrid taste of medicine and pine cleaner that clung to the back of my throat.
“I’m in,” I said. “I’m heading to the third floor now.”
“I’ll watch through your eyes,” Esais said.
I felt no change, but I knew he would be able to see what I saw. I opened the door to the inside emergency stairs and stared up. The inside of the stairwell was as silent as a tomb and just as tight. I swallowed hard as sweat beaded on my forehead. I gripped the railing as I headed up. The door to the third floor opened with a creak, and I peeked into the hall. The lights were dim, and besides the buzz of electrical equipment, silence filled the hall.
A map of the floor covered the wall of the nurses’ station that took up the middle of the floor. All roads led here. If I continued down the hall, I would run into a set of doors. Past the doors was a hall set in a U-shape blocked off by another set of doors. Ose’s lab was probably behind the blocked-off section of the floor. The rest appeared to be open.
One of the orderlies lay with his head against the corner, snoring away. I pulled his set of keys off his belt. They jangled as I sifted through them, testing for the right one. The click of the lock echoed through the hall. The doors swung in, and I stepped through. Names were posted on the middle of the doors I passed. D. Martin, L. Brickman, N. Parkins. I stopped at the last door and opened the small window above the name tag on the door. The room was made up as if no one had stayed there.
“Nancy isn’t here,” I said.
“They couldn’t have released her early. It’s only been a few days.”
“Maybe they moved her to the lab. We’ll keep an eye out.”
I stopped at the next door, labeled M. Navotny. The sliding window in the door was bolted closed. I took the clipboard that hung on the wall and scanned the papers. The name read Mark Navotny, age eight. Almost everything else was blacked out except for one line that read: “Patient in sole care of Dr. Navotny. Do not open door.” I put the clipboard back and turned to the doors across the hall. Each of them had a bolted window as well. Interesting, but not what I was here for. I’d come back if I had an opportunity.
“I think we’ve found the son,” I said.
“Most likely,” Esais said.
I shivered as the choir echoed through my head. ”Do you want to rest? I could slip in and out.”
“I’m not going to leave this all to you. What if something goes wrong?”
“Just don’t push yourself too much.”
“I won’t. Don’t think I didn’t notice you’re hiding something from me.”
“We can discuss it later. When this is over and you are rested.”
I pushed any worry to the back of my mind and continued down the hall, passing more rooms with names. How many patients was he experimenting on? Surely someone had to notice this in this little town, besides Charlotte.
The hallway turned right and presented one metal door with no handle and small bolts along the edges. On the wall beside it was a plastic device that had a slit running vertically along the middle. I held up the ring of keys. All were metal and too thick to fit that slot. Trying to break in would be like storming a castle. I’d come all this way to be foiled by a door.
“Well, hell,” I said. ”What now?”
“Hold on, I’ll contact Adrian.” The choir faded.
The sound of squeaking metal, like a rusty hinge, echoed down the hall. I peered around the corner I’d come from, but it remained empty except for the sleeping guard at the end of the hall. I moved to the other end of the hall. That side was empty as well.
“So you’re having trouble with a door.” Adrian’s mental voice sounded amused.
“It’s connected to a key card scanner,” I said, annoyed he could pick up on my defeats so easily.
“Move closer. Esais is showing me what you see.”
I moved back to the machine, taking in every detail with my eye. ”Is that enough?”
“It should be simple to break in,” he said. ”Do you have a screw-driver? We could try to short the electrical current.”
“No. Would this involve wires?”
His exasperation resonated through my mind. ”Never mind. I don’t think you have the time nor do I have the patience to guide you through it this way.”
Heat rushed through my face. ”I could probably figure it out.”
“Tthis is supposed to be quick and quiet, right? Hmm, the nanites could do it.”
“The tiny robots.”
“Yes.”
“So, we can’t do anything tonight. This was a waste.”
“How long will it take to break into the machine?” Esais asked.
“I can have it finished in a few hours,” Adrian said.
“We try again tomorrow,” I said.
I spun around at the sound of slithering. My arms fell to my side, and a dull roaring filled my ears. The creature shuffled down the hall, one shoulder hanging lower than the other one. His right arm extended down into a tentacle instead of a hand. His skin was an inky black. The frame and torso remained a boy, but his face had no eyes, no nose, and no mouth.
“What the hell is that?” Esais exclaimed.
A chill ran up my body, and the hairs rose on the back of my neck. My heart pounded in my chest.
“Something that shouldn’t be,” I said. ”The demon’s true form has mutated the boy.”
“What? How?” The choir faded as he faltered.
“It takes more years than the boy has lived.”
The demon child shuffled forward. It paused, its body going into a shaking convulsion. A whistling wheeze came out. He hunched over, his limbs twisting in odd directions. I took a few steps back as he reached for me.
“He’s in pain,” I said.
“We have to do something,” Esais said. ”We have to save him.”
“I will try to banish the demon, but I don’t know what that will do to the child.”
“Oh, God. Is this what Menrazine does?” The choir hit a crescendo that reverberated through my head.
“Esais, I need you to calm down so I can concentrate.” I rubbed my temples. “El Shaddai, Elohim, Elohi, Tzabaoth, Elim, Asher Eheieh, Yah, Tetragrammaton, Shaddai, which signify God the high and almighty, the God of Israel.”
Nothing happened. My stomach plummeted. Banishment didn’t work. I’d heard about this phenomenon from books, but in all my time I’d never come across one. When a demon spent time in a human host, the body started to take its aspects. The longer they squatted, the more the body became their home until the flesh resembled the demon’s true form. However, demons rarely stayed for so long, and the ones that did stayed out of public sight. They tended to set up cults around themselves in third world countries, the heavy religious kind of cults, not the sophisticated ones like the Hellfire Club or even the D-boyz.
I shifted to my aura sight and choked back the small scream that rose in my chest. Instead of colors, I could see the spirit form of the boy. He reached for me with his left hand, his face a mask of agony. His right shoulder melded with the black form of a faceless demon. It writhed, trying to tear away from the child. It was no use because from the waist down, they were one. I tore my gaze away, allowing my vision to return to normal. This couldn’t be real.
“Is this a delusion? It has to be one, right?” I asked
He didn’t answer immediately. The child moved closer. ”No, it’s really there.”
“Dio è misericordia,” I whispered.
“Gabby, we need to do something.”
“There’s only one thing left to do.”
I took two steps forward and drew my sword. His tentacle hand elongated and attempted to entangle my legs. I sidestepped and moved close.
“He’s just a child. What are you doing?” Esais’s voice pounded in my head.
“I have no choice. The child’s soul is becoming part of the demon. If we don’t stop it, we will never get another chance.”
The arm lashed out at me again. I leaned to the side, letting it pass by me. I wrapped my arm around the child’s shoulders and drew him to me. This close I could see the tiny slit where his nose should be. This was the source of the wheezing. I fought to keep the lump down in my throat.
“Shh,” I said. “It will all be over soon. No more pain.”
“I can’t watch this.” The choir disappeared along with Esais.
The sword slid into the demon child’s chest with little resistance. He sagged, and the wheezing stopped. I lifted him in my arms, biting my lip. I couldn’t leave him alone in the hall. I carried the body back to his room. The door hung open. I lay him on the bed and pulled the cover over him before heading to the first floor.
Esais wouldn’t look at me when I entered his room. His skin had taken an almost gray color, and his cheek-bones protruded from his skin. Bags drooped from his reddened eyes. I swallowed, blinking back the tears.
“I didn’t have any other option,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “You should leave. I can’t hold them asleep much longer.”
I took the long walk back to the house. Emptiness greeted me. Even my bed was cold as I curled into a ball with the blanket pulled over my head. The tears I had fought to keep back trailed over my nose and onto my pillow as sobs escaped my lips. The boy’s tortured eyes stared at me every time I closed my eyes. The two had been so melded together I wasn’t sure if killing the boy had freed him or sent him to oblivion with the demon.
Chapter 34
THE TINY FIGURE writhes in the flames as the black smoke fills the room. Its fumes gag me. My nails splinter as I dig them into the wooden floor, screaming.
“Marco.” I say his name through a half sob.
Dario turns back to Allegra with the look of a dog waiting for praise. She smiles and holds her arms out to him. He goes to her. They kiss. She makes sure it’s slow, so I must witness every moment. She yanks his heart from his chest. Another scream is pulled from my throat. She lets his body drop and holds up his heart, letting the blood run down her arm.
“You tried to stop me, but your husband’s heart is still mine,” she says.
Allegra leans over me. I raise my hands to claw her face with my broken nails, but she bats my hands away. Her grip on my chin is like steel, and I am forced to meet her gaze.
“I will reward you for your ingenuity,” she says. “I will make you mine.”
The purple flames in her eyes fill every part of me. They are all that exist.
“Ah, Gabriella, still in this place I see.” Her voice penetrates the flames.
I blink and find myself back in the living room of my home. The fire burns without my son in it. My husband is absent. Allegra sits in the same chair with the demon child in her lap. His tentacle is wrapped around her shoulders, and his head rests on her breast. She caresses his cheek.
“This one was different, wasn’t it?” she asks. “Did he remind you of your son?”
I say nothing. She rises from the chair, setting the boy down. She walks to the hearth and runs her finger along the mantel. She gazes up at the painting of Dario’s father.
“How many times have we returned here?” she asks.
Over the centuries this dream had occurred time and again. This was the first time I’d been cognizant of it being a dream.
“Even that Romanian boy was not enough. You still come back here.” She turns to face me. “You’re never going to be reunited with your son and husband. I won’t let you.”
“Haven’t you had your fill?” I ask, my throat still aching from the screaming and crying.
“Not nearly. You tried to kill me.”
“You seduced my husband and tried to corrupt his soul.”
She laughs. “Oh, I succeeded. His sins were not absolved at his death.”
I hang my head, letting tears fall down my cheeks. “I failed. You have him, you live. What do you want from me?”
“You’re special.” She smiles. “It’s so wonderful to see my game working. All this anguish you have. Even if your husband was an unfaithful louse, you still cling to his memory. You won’t let another man touch your heart.”
“I loved Dimitri.”
“You let him go so easily.”
The demon child moves to the hearth and steps into the fire. The flames darken, taking a purple color. It spreads along the walls of the house, consuming everything. It surrounds Allegra and me, casting shadows on her face.
“Let’s face the truth,” Allegra says. “You will always remain here with me.”
Chapter 35
I GASPED AWAKE. I pushed my pillow away from my face and sat up. The clock beside the bed read three-thirty a.m. Less than two hours of sleep. I lay back on my pillow with a moan and closed my eyes. The image of my child burning in the fire flashed in my eyes. My throat constricted, and I sat up with an annoyed sigh. The point in between my eyebrows ached, and the world was unfocused, but I was awake.
I slipped on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. In the bathroom, I let the water run as I stared at my reflection. The bird’s nest at the back of my skull caused the rest of my hair to stand out from my head. The shadows under my eyes could hide a person in them. Another sleepless night lay ahead of me. I hadn’t had much rest since I’d arrived in this town. Maybe it was because Ose and I had a past, but something about the demons sparked old memories.
After splashing some water on my face, I attacked the tangled mess on my head with a brush. I glanced in the mirror at the girl behind me. She glared at me, her beautiful form a mangled mess. I tried to save her only to have the hellhound slaughter her with her parents. I spun around and stared into empty air. The mirror held only my reflection. I set the brush down and rubbed my eyes. This lack of sleep had me seeing apparitions.
Classic rock blared from the garage. Adrian must be working hard there. I wandered through the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. My gaze played over the lunch meat, milk, and leftover Chinese food before closing the door. A guitar riff dragged my attention back to the door that led to the garage. My hand paused on the door handle as I looked back on the hallway, cold and empty. The door creaked as I opened it. I couldn’t hear it as much as feel the vibration it made.
Adrian hunched over a workbench with his back to me. Styx’s “Renegade” played from a radio sitting on the corner of the workbench. I moved closer to see what he was working on. On a cloth lay pieces to several different guns. A handle from what looked to be a flintlock sat beside the bullet cylinder of a revolver. He looked up from examining the metal cylinder when I cleared my throat.
“You should be in bed,” he said, turning back to the barrel.
“I couldn't sleep,” I said.
“So you decided to come bother me?”
“I didn’t see a ‘do not disturb’ sign.”
“What do you want?”
“I came to see what you are working on.”
He pointed to the wall where a series of sketches hung. They were circles from my sketch book. I recognized the banishing circle and the demon-binding circle. I rested my hand on my chin as I studied the largest one in the center. The symbols along the outer edge were for the binding circle, but the design was used for the banishing circle. Padre Ricci stepped up beside me and squinted at the symbols.
“This could destroy a demon,” he said.
“Where did you get this symbol?” I asked Adrian.
“I created it from the others. I’m surprised no one has tried it.”
“It’s impossible for humans to do. If the symbol is incorrect, the magic doesn’t work or there are disastrous consequences.”
Ose’s banishment from so many years ago flashed in my mind. He’d said my mistake at the words had changed him, shown him the truth. I’d driven him mad, and now he intended to do the same to me. I shuddered, and Padre Ricci placed a hand on my shoulder. I smiled at him and stiffened as I remembered he wasn’t real.
Adrian frowned over at me. “Someone had to create them in the first place.”
“They were secrets whispered by spirits. Only they…” I trailed off as I stared hard at Adrian with my aura sight.
The ghostly woman leaned over his shoulder, still whispering in his ear. She touched his hand as he picked up a metal tube. Humans couldn’t make a new circle, but spirits could. And emissaries, those touched by spirits, always broke the rules of magic. Spirits were the ones who taught magic to humans. Adrian’s inspiration from this spirit allowed him to accomplish something I’d never seen before, the formation of a new Hermetic Circle.
“So, how does this all work?” I asked.
He held the tube in my direction. “This propels gas into the chamber and burns the symbol onto the bullet as it is fired.”
“So, no tiny robots?”
