“Do you know them personally?” Danny asked.
“I think I might. Marley, this mark on his back, did it cover the top half of him?” Eligos asked her.
“Yes.”
“Did it look similar to this,” he said, showing her his ring.
“Kinda, but the pictures were different,” she said, studying it.
“Think carefully – did it have what looks like a leaf inside the circle, just underneath the spear?”
“Yeah, it did. I couldn’t quite work out what it was before, but now I can see it…yes.”
“Then I know exactly who it is, and the creature that was with him,” Eligos said, standing and walking to the window. “The creature with the tattoo is called Kaligor and his little lapdog is Gurvon. They worked in the Pits for a while. Then Kaligor was brought to the Palace to be commended for running the Pits well. He earned himself the title of Lord and was tattooed. Not long after, he caused problems. I’m not even going to start telling you what he did; we’d be here all week. He was banished and, up until now, we hadn't heard from him or his lapdog. We all assumed Gurvon went to find him.”
“Can we find them?” Lucian asked.
“No, don't bring them here; they’ll kill us,” Beth pleaded.
“No they won’t!” Eligos told them. “They’d have to get past me first.”
“Are you stronger than them?” Marley asked him.
“Yes, stronger than both put together.”
“What are you?” Beth asked.
“A Grand Duke. I work for the Queen, Lilith, who incidentally is Keira’s mother.”
“Wow!” Marley gasped.
“The Queen of Hell is your mother?” Beth said in shock.
“Yes she is; all will be explained, don't worry.”
“Speaking of the Queen, I need to take you to her,” Eligos told me.
“We’ll go now. Guys will you tell these two about us please, and fix them something to eat if you don't mind.”
“No problem,” Lucian and Lily said.
“Let’s go,” I said to Eligos.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and we left.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Update
Instead of arriving outside the Palace, this time we arrived in the long hallway. I think Eligos did that purposely so I didn’t try and run away, so that I had to face Lilith. She was standing at the end of the hall, dressed in smart black trousers and a white corset top. Her hair was tied back, which was unusual; up until now I’d only ever seen her with her hair flowing free. She was staring at me with a blank expression. We walked over to her in silence.
“Eligos, my husband would like to talk to you. He is in the main room,” she said.
“OK. I’ll see you later, Keira,” he said before walking away.
I didn’t say anything to her; I just stood waiting.
“Follow me,” she said, turning and walking down a passageway. I followed behind her, still in silence. She led me into a room I hadn't been in before. The walls were white and there was a small table in the middle with four comfortable-looking red chairs around it. On the walls were paintings of Lilith and other demons; I recognized one of Hecate over a large fireplace.
“Sit down,” she said as she closed the door behind us.
I sat facing the large window. Lilith sat directly in front of me, leaning back into the chair and crossing her legs.
“It’s going to get ugly very fast,” she told me.
“It’s already gotten ugly; in fact it got ugly months ago as far as I’m concerned.”
“It’s about to get worse.”
“How do you know?”
“Thousands of spirits and demons have left Hell; most of them people and creatures who had been banished. They must think by joining this war on the mystery demon’s side, they can get their revenge on us for banishing them,” she said, shaking her head. “Fools!”
“Can’t you stop it?”
“No, we can’t. Demons have free rein, same as angels; it’s all in the rules. Sadly, there isn’t a spell strong enough to create a barrier around the whole of a realm to keep them in and break those rules.”
“I thought spirits couldn’t do any harm; they’re just ghosts.”
“Not if a demon gives them a physical form. You see it’s the demon that kills the living person and casts the spell to give the spirit a fresh body. The only way to get them out again is to either perform an exorcism, or dismember or burn the body so badly that there isn’t much of it left. Then the spirit is forced to leave. If it doesn’t find a new body instantly, with a demon to perform the spell, it becomes harmless and normally just returns to Hell.”
“So what the hell are poltergeists then?”
“Demons, Keira! It’s just magic, the spells they cast, but they get punished for it. They think they can go to Earth or one of the other realms and do as they please. They like to frighten people, fool them. That five minutes of pleasure they get scaring people really isn’t worth the punishment that follows,” she explained.
“Why do some people become demons and others remain as spirits, or just everyday people, down here?” I asked.
“Half of the beings that come to Hell become demons. We need them in the armies, and to keep balance on Earth sometimes…”
“I don't understand this balance thing.”
“Demons influence people to kill, cause wars…Some cause the Earths plates to move, hence you experience earthquakes. You’ve caused quite a lot of them yourself.”
“Why do that though? Why can’t people just live happy lives?”
“If everything went right, life would be boring,” she said.
“No it wouldn’t; it would be nice and peaceful…”
“Yeah, like I said, boring.”
I just glared at her.
“Keira, you can look at me like that all you want. I am who I am.”
“Earth, these other realms, they’re your toys, aren’t they?” I said disgusted.
“To an extent yes, but we don't want the place wiped out like these bastards do,” she told me. “…Anyway, can we get back to the reason I asked you to come here, please?”
“Whatever.”
“We believe more people will disappear, thousands more at the least. I believe the missing person count is now more than forty thousand.”
“No, it’s around sixteen,” I corrected.
“No, it isn’t. Don't forget those countries that aren’t in the media all the time. I know there are some remote villages and tribes that have been taken. Some in Africa, Asia and some in South America, that's as specific as I can be at the moment, until I speak to Cirrius again.”
“Who?” I asked.
“He is a lord of the High Court.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Stop being such an obnoxious little bitch,” she said nastily.
“Pardon?”
“Lose the attitude.”
“Or what? You’ll throw me in the Pits?” I challenged.
“If I have to then, yes.”
“Go on then, do it!”
“Don't think I won’t.”
“No I mean it, do it! You couldn’t possibly upset me anymore than you already have, or hurt me. So do it; the only person you will hurt is Eligos. Who by the way would come for me, and then you would have to kill him. I don't really think you want to have to kill the person you trust the most down here do you?”
“What do you want me to do, Keira? What do you want me to say to you?” she asked with a sad look.
“Absolutely nothing,” I told her. “Now, can I go yet?”
“No, actually you can’t. As I was saying, this is going to get ugly. I have sent demons out looking for other families with power. I know there aren’t that many left, but if they find any surviving ones, they will send them to you; they will make them dream about you. You will need them, Keira, and so will your friends. I believe two girls have already found you.”
/> “Yes, Marley and Beth.”
“Look after them.”
“I don't want this, Lilith; I don't want to have to fight all the time. I don't want to lose any of my friends.”
“I know you don't; I don't want this for you. I didn’t ask for all of this, believe me; this is the last thing any of us wanted.”
“So what now? Do we just have to wait?” I asked impatiently.
“We’re still trying to find out who is behind this; we’re pulling people in for questioning. If we find out who it is, or even a clue, I will contact you.”
“But until then we have to get attacked by these things, fight, risk our lives, not be able to help ourselves, never mind anyone else. That sounds fair. Jesus, if it wasn’t for Eligos we wouldn’t even know what the things were that we’re fighting.”
“I’m doing all I can; we’re all doing everything we can,” she told me sincerely.
“I know.”
We both sat there in silence for a few minutes.
“Keira, please stop hating me. You know why I couldn’t come to you…”
“I don't hate you, well, part of me does, but that’s because of what you did to Elizabeth. I understand the rest.”
“I thought Elizabeth…”
“Is there anything, anything at all I can do to try and track this bastard down?” I interrupted.
“I don't think so, not unless you know a remarkably powerful psychic. We have a few strong ones down here, but none of them have seen anything other than some of the followers. We send demons to try and find them, but they’re on the move constantly, or are well hidden. They don't necessarily stay on Earth all the time. They may jump between realms to avoid being detected.”
“I may know someone who can help,” I told her. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“OK, keep in touch.”
“I will. Do you think Eligos will be free now?”
“Let’s go and find out.”
We both left the room and made our way to the main area. Eligos and Lucifer were nowhere to be seen. Lilith went into the REM stage for a moment.
“They are in a meeting; they may be quite some time” Lilith told me.
“Right.”
“Do you want to…?”
“Do you have a library by any chance,” I interrupted.
“Yes we do. The third floor is full of books,” she told me.
“Can I go up there?”
“This is your home too; you can go wherever you please.”
“That’s where I’ll be if you need me,” I told her.
She nodded sadly and pointed towards the stairs.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Researching the Unknown
I walked up to the third floor, and through one of the large dark-wooden doors in the long hallway. When I walked into the library I couldn’t believe my eyes; I’d never seen so many books. Lilith was right too: it spread along the entire floor; each of the doors in the hallway was a different entrance to another area of the library. There was row upon row of bookcases, most of them twice the height of me, with ladders at each end so people could reach the books they needed. The room was dimly lit. I knew that, if I was going to start reading, I would have to brighten the place up. I didn’t fancy getting a headache through eye strain. I walked further into the room. In the center was a large table, on which there were pads of paper, all blank, and pens. All set up and ready for someone to be able to study. I turned around, looked at the shelves and took a deep breath. I didn’t even know what I was looking for, and now; I didn’t know where to start.
“Start at the beginning,” I said out loud. “Wherever that is.”
I cracked all my fingers and walked to the bookcase next to the first door. I browsed over the spines of the books, some of which I couldn’t understand as they seemed to be written in many different languages. Others were so old that the titles had worn away. I made my way along the larger shelves. Some of the books were thick in dust; obviously nobody had used them for a long time.
“What the hell am I looking for?” I asked myself. “Come on something jump out at me.”
My mind was blank. I didn't know why I was looking up here. There were books on every subject imaginable, from white magic to black, necromancy, the realms, specific demons, torture and atlases. I searched for around twenty minutes before something caught my eye. The book was simply called Lilith; I took it from the shelf and walked over to the table. I developed three orbs of light and let them float just in front of me. I opened the book and started to read. It told me who she was and how she came to be in Hell,
“The third chapter is the one which is closest to the truth,” I heard a voice behind me say. I turned around to see Lilith standing in one of the doorways. “Of course, you could have just asked me where I came from if you wanted to know,” she said.
“I didn’t come here looking for information on you. I just happened to find this and I thought I’d read it,” I told her. “I don't really know what I came here to find.”
“OK,” she smiled as she walked out and closed the door behind her.
I couldn’t help myself; I turned to the third chapter.
The chapter told me how Lilith was the first wife of Adam, before the creation of Eve. She had been created along with him. However, Lilith was not suitable as a companion for Adam; they didn’t agree on much, especially when he attempted to have sex with her. Adam had demanded the missionary position, but Lilith wouldn’t have it. She thought that, because they were created equal, sex should be equal, too. Adam apparently wouldn’t be equal to Lilith and tried to overcome her. But Lilith was more than Adam had thought she was. She walked away from Adam and the Garden of Eden forever. She went to live in a cave near the Red Sea, where she was said to have accepted the demons of the world as lovers and apparently gave birth to a hundred demons per day. She was known as the Mother of Demons. But then it said she was the wife of Asmodeus, I knew that wasn’t true since I had met her husband.
I didn’t read any further. I knew all the other myths and lore about her. How she would kill children and seduce men in their sleep. I didn’t want to read stories; I wanted facts. I would ask her to tell me the truth one day, one day when I didn’t have to worry about what was coming. I put the book back on the shelf and continued to search. I still didn’t know what to look for. I picked what seemed to be an encyclopedia of demons. I knelt down and flicked through the pages. Some of the illustrations of the demons were horrible; I hoped I would never encounter a lot of them.
Then I found something that brought back memories. It was the picture of it that caught my attention. The human form, its skin looking as though it was rotting away, the description of how when it screamed it could basically shatter your eardrums and the speed at which it could move. They were the creatures that had attacked us the night Jake was thrown on to the glass; the night I found out I could heal people. They were called ‘Liche’ demons. They are corpses controlled by someone who is deep into the dark arts. Someone who had mastered necromancy, and who could command the dead to do his or her bidding. I wondered if Argyle had sent them; ever since he had been taken out of the picture, nothing like that had attacked us.
I closed the book. I was starting to get annoyed – thinking back on everything that had happened and knowing there was worse to come. I needed to find something that could help us, something that might be able to protect us.
“Spells!” I said to myself. “Strong ones and psychic power maybe.”
I pulled four books off the shelf and went back to the table. I started flicking through them, reading paragraphs from a couple of the pages. I found a few spells that would come in useful for protection, more for the guys back home than for myself. I wrote them down so I could take them back with me. They could learn them by heart and hopefully feel a little bit safer. I found a drawing of a demon’s trap, the same as the one Crystal had used on me. I traced over it and put it in my pocket, just in case we ever needed t
o use it ourselves. I read that once the demon was inside, they would be powerless. Well, I already knew that!
After writing down a few more spells I read about psychic powers. I instantly thought of Marley: she knew my name, what I looked like, where I lived. What was interesting though, and what most of these people with this power didn’t know, was that they could do these things at will. The book said that, if the person was to concentrate hard, and providing the person opened their mind, they could see into the future. The book warned that it would take a lot of practice and determination. They could also sense when danger was near, if they learned how to use their power properly.
“That’s it!” I said out loud. “Marley will be able to see who is doing this, or at least get a clue.”
I slammed the book shut and put it back on the shelf. The orbs of light disappeared and I ran out of the room. I ran downstairs and into the main room. Lilith was sitting there on her own staring into space, a thoughtful look on her face. I ran over to her and sat beside her.
“I think I could…” I went to say.
“Marley would have to be strong to pull it off,” she interrupted.
“How did you know I was going to say anything about Marley?”
“I have my ways of knowing.”
“Do me a favor and stay out of my head! You may not like some of my thoughts.”
“I didn’t delve into your thoughts; you were talking to yourself, I simply listened!” she retorted.
“Oh, sorry.”
“Try it! It may take a lot of practice, if she is willing to do it. It’s got to be worth a try.”
“Ladies,” I heard Lucifer say.
I turned to see him and Eligos walking towards us.
“Keira has an idea,” Lilith said to Lucifer.
“Do share,” he said, turning to look at me.
“There is a girl at my house at the moment; I only met her today, she has visions, she’s psychic, I think maybe, if she practices and concentrates…she may be able to see who is causing this,” I told him.