“Thanks guys. I needed that.. I feel human again… well, close as.”
Robyn looked at her critically, debating whether or not she would draw attention outside. She decided not, and smiled. “Does that feel better?”
“Actually, it does.”
“Let’s see what we can do about that then.”
Mika stepped forward, head bowed slightly. He did not immediately say anything, but raised his face to meet her gaze and held her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You look… alive.” He turned to regard Robyn in the same breath but did not release Carly from his firm grip. “Full of life. Life is the greatest gift of all,” he whispered, deep in thought. That was not a complete falsehood. The greatest gift had once been death, still was as far as he was concerned, but life now seemed just as precious – if not more so. It was weird how he could think two things at the same time, which so blatantly contradicted each other. It confused him greatly but he just added it to the list of things that fogged his mind.
No-one else noticed the haunted look on his face, or if they did, they did not comment. Mika was glad about that in some forgotten part of his brain because it gave him the peace to think things over. But it also made him incredibly angry for reasons unknown – other than he didn’t want to think at all. However hard he tried to block those thoughts out, they always came back up to get him.
“Don’t waste it.”
Robyn did not know what he meant by that but wasted no time on theories. There were too many theories floating around. Theories and possibilities. But speculation wasn’t good enough any more; likelies would not cut it; guesses were too indecisive to do. She could not know it but Carly was having exactly the same thoughts.
“We don’t have any time to waste,” she said suddenly. “We need to get moving on this thing.”
“I know.” Robyn couldn’t have not known – she was being reminded of it every second, waking or not. “Everything is dying. I want things to live. Funny really.”
Robyn did not elaborate on that, and Carly was not sure if she wanted her to do so. She looked away and picked up yet another printed sheet in the print tray. “The Rashda Observatory.”
“Huh?” Mika grunted.
Carly found it quite unsettling the way that these two could speak perfect, unabbreviated English one minute; then blurt out swear words and harsh guttural noises the next. It grated at her, but only strengthened her belief that she did not want to understand them much more than she already did. “That’s where the professor is. I think he’s probably the one to talk to first.” Since the boss wasn’t exactly available, the professor was the best bet.
“Why him and not the shaman?”
“Because the shaman uses dark, powerful magicks and would probably turn you into cockroaches or whatever the minute you open your mouths.”
“Good point.”
Robyn came to his rescue and opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “He will know what we are from a hundred yards.” Bodies in tune with the natural system knew a disturbed spirit when one presented itself. She didn’t feel disturbed.
“Where is this Observatory?”
Carly did not need the sheet for that, she had gotten her degree there, though she had only ever met the professor once as a student. They had met a few times at FDR, but she failed to see the relevance and did not mention it. “There’s a big university campus up by the hill called the Rashda Institute. It’s a school of the sciences.”
“So, it appears that we are off on a merry jaunt.”
“No joy.” Mika looked at her and longed to reach for her hand and listen to her tell him that everything would be all right. No-one could tell him that; no-one could bring themselves to lie and say those words.
Because they all knew. They knew too much to believe in anything.
And yet, they did not know nearly enough.
“Pain, and tears, and terrible disagreement. But, no joy.”
“Hold up.” Carly held up her hand; her half-baked notion of an ulterior motive coming scarily, but unsurprisingly, true. “We? As in all three of us we?”
“As in us two we.”
Carly straightened up and flicked her hair back, rising to the task. She had questions that disrupted her sleep, and she wanted answers to them. She wasn’t about to back out now, although facing up to this was far from number one on her list of past times. “Shouldn’t I stay here with Mika?”
“Look at him! He’s unpredictable.”
Carly was unsure of whether to be grateful that she cared, or scared that she was being forced to take the only other alternative. Instead, she decided to just be utterly freaked out by the whole situation. “He needs some-one with him while you’re gone.” Carly knew she was putting up a weak fight but it was not actually a fight at all. Sje did not want to do anything else apart from face the jerks that were heading this thing up.
“He could try to attack you again at any time if you stay here.”
Carly bit the inside of her cheek, thoughtfully, but no thoughts whirred in her head. There was nothing left to think about. “How did you know about that? I thought you were asleep.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Robyn smiled and brushed a lock of Carly’s damp hair behind her ear. She cared for this girl, did not want her to get hurt, but had to put her in danger for… reasons. She had never thought it was possible to love a human this much, but it was really nothing compared to the enveloping devotion she felt for Mika. Robyn wrapped her arms around the neck of the younger girl and hugged her. “Oh, honey. I can be unconscious and I’ll always know.”
Carly did not respond. She heard the words, understood exactly what she was saying, but her expression did not change.
“She knows everything,” Mika added. “Everything that matters anyway.”
“No, I don’t. There are too many things we don’t know. But, we will find out.” Robyn glanced fearfully towards the shaded window, bathing the room in golden afternoon sun through it. It was not ideal but it was not a problem either.
“I’m in,” Carly announced suddenly. “I want answers before it’s too late.”
“Good.”
“I don’t want you to go alone,” Mika blurted out. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Either of you.”
“We’ll be careful,” Carly assured him. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“We’d better go.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for sun-down, or whatever? I don’t know the way underground because – believe it or not – I never had the overwhelming urge to go below ground. Somehow, I just never found myself longing for that experience.”
Mika looked quizzically at her, trying to work out whether Carly was just being humorous or putting on a brave face. Both were equally possible and probable, though he did not pass comment.
Robyn did though. Ignoring her dry speech, she answered the question that Carly was clearly asking. “I know the way. I can smell my way.”
For the umpteenth time, Carly was disturbed greatly by the fact that that did not creep her out more. But she was getting used to the feeling and did not think about it.
“Yeah, right. But, is it a good idea to leave him alone?”
Robyn thought about her question for a moment. It probably wasn’t a good idea to leave him on his own but it was potentially more dangerous to leave Carly, or take him. Besides, she needed Carly fit and geared up for this.
She had the feeling that the little human was going to prove very useful.
“You have met him, right?”
Carly nodded.
“Then you will be useful.”
“Just say what you mean for once, Robyn!” exploded Mika. He did not mean to shout but he could not help it. “I didn’t mean to shout. I’m just… I don’t know what I am.”
“I do.” Carly took his hand. “You’re afraid that we’ll be too late, or that we’ll get hurt.”
/> Mika felt something, but fear was not it. He felt something bubble inside him before swelling up into every pore. No emotion; no demon; no human. Just Mika. He tore his hand away from her roughly and flexed it, wondering whether the touch of a human was ever that… electric before. Her touch was unlike the human contact he had had in times past – but he had felt that touch once before. Just once. It was the feel of power. “Please! I’m just worried that unless you two get to work, I’m going to have no more little people to eat.”
Carly was disgusted – but that almost made her glad because it at least meant she was capable of feeling – and addressed Robyn. “You’re not bothered with saving the world, are you? You just want to keep your food fresh.” She had not even processed that last sentence before the words tripped from her tongue, and she made a face.
“What can I say? I like my food to move.” Robyn paused for a second, contemplating the idea, then shook her head. “No, scratch that. I like my food to scream.” Screaming was good, full of the shock and horrpr that made blood all the sweeter. But she only liked it when she was the cause of the wordless vocalisation.
Not the screams they brought on themselves.
“That’s the only reason you’re doing this,” Carly realised.
Mika sat on the computer chairs and began to turn himself in slow, lazy arcs. “Not the only reason but it’s good enough for now.” How could he tell her that his main reason for wanting this was entirely different? Like this. “I want all the nightmares to stop. I can’t stand it any more. Seeing her face every time I close my eyes. Remembering the feel of her skin. What we did to her – it haunts me.” He was so confused.
“Well, you remember then.” Robyn threw her arms up in the air and gave an infuriated growl in the back of her mouth. What was his problem? For hundreds of years he had been at her side and together they had embraced and nurture the innate evil that stirred within them. For long centuries he had grown into one of the champions of his kind. Mika had been one of the best, feared and respected the world over. Now she wasn’t sure who or what he was any more. Robyn did not care. This nervous wreck before her was not the same Mika she had brought up. But, she did not care. “Be haunted if you like. Let this beat you without a fight. But I, for one, am not going to sit back and watch this world come to an end.”
Mika did not want the world to end either – not while he was still on it. But he had his own ghosts to lay to rest. “I’m not giving up, Robyn. You won’t let the world end if you can stop it, and I’m sorry I can’t come with you, but- “
“But what, Mika? They are getting rid of the monsters. We are the monsters. We’re demons.” There was no pride in her voice now; just steely determination.
“Guys,” Carly broke in and waved a hand between the pair. “This isn’t going to get anything done.”
Two pairs of cold, dead eyes bore into her. Carly coughed and tried to look authoritative. “We’ve all got stuff to do, so let’s just get on with it.” No-one moved; Mika and Robyn were stuck in a stand-off, the first argument she had seen the two have.
“I’m sorry I can’t help more. But, you can do this Robyn… I know you can.”
Robyn’s hand automatically fluttered across the tiny space to his. There were no words to be said. That single, fleeting touch said everything. That single, fleeting touch said nothing – nothing that he wanted to know. She turned away and held the door ajar as she spoke her final words. “We can defeat anything. That’s the real power of love.”
Carly stared hard at him for a few seconds. This man, this murderer; the very thing she should hate was turning out to be her saviour. You know things are getting bad when demons start looking like angels. She followed ‘Robyn out of the door.
“You have to go,” he murmured to the door as it swung closed.
Mika was alone now.
For the first time in his entire existence, he was totally alone. There was no-one could rely on to save him now. No-one who would rescue him when he was taken to the feared place inside. No-one was there to hold his hand like a fallen child and make him believe that everything would be okay. No, now he had to save himself. And he had to convince himself that things would work out. He knew what he had to do.
Mika stopped fighting himself and dropped to the floor. Pressing himself into a corner, he threw up a white flag and surrendered his mind to his memories. The cold concrete walls around him melted away, dissolving into a completely different scene. One he had no trouble in piecing together.
SIXTEEN
Robyn put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently as Carly negotiated the rusted, broken ladder leading into the sewer system. The movement made a swishing noise in the few centimetres of water. That sound was the only noise that broke the silent. Carly knew it would scare most people because it told of the monsters hiding around each corner, but she found it comforting to just know that she was not alone down here.
“Hurry up.”
The sound of her voice startled Carly and she lost her grip on the rung of the ladder. Luckily, she was not far from the bottom and did not hurt herself when she fell. “I guess that’s one way to get to the bottom.” Carly’s knees buckled under her weight and she grabbed the ladder to steady herself.
For a few moments the pair traipsed through the tunnels in silence, the only sound being the quiet swish of their feet through puddles of murky water, amplified a hundred times over in the huge, empty tunnels.
“How do you know where we’re going?” Carly wanted to know. She babbled on until Robyn silenced her with a pointed glare. “I mean, we could be going round in circles and we wouldn’t know ‘cos there are no signs down here. I’m not saying that you’ll get us lost or anything but if you do …”
“If I do – and I won’t – I’ll be fine because I’ll just eat you.” Robyn stopped and saw a grate a few paces ahead which was letting in a lot of light through the slats. Carly walked straight through it, forgetting that it would take Robyn a bit of careful negotiation to get through unharmed. Robyn felt wistful for the long-ago days when she could have done the same. She stepped back, took a short run up and dove through the patch, finishing with a perfectly executed roll that brought her to her feet and would have impressed even the most pernickety of judges.
“Cool,” said Carly without thinking. Then the realisation hit her that she had just praised an activity of an evil being. “Oh, God. Please help me.”
“What?” Robyn hoped that she had just misheard the girl praying to a God that could not possibly exist, but knew that with her supernaturally enhanced hearing there was no way she could have heard incorrectly. “Did you hear that?”
Carly glanced behind her at Robyn who had stopped moving and now held her hands up as if pleading for quiet. She too stood still and pricked her ears. Robyn bit back a smile, thinking how amusingly like the movements of an animal human reactions were. Humans were animals – and above ground was the proof of that statement if ever she needed it. Carly was an animal too, but like all who were, or had ever been, human, she was domesticated.
Her animal had been caged.
“I can’t hear anything.” Except for the rhythmic and irritating drip of water from the ceiling, all else was eerily quiet in the tunnel. The quiet scared her, Robyn did not move and had no breath, Carly held her own for fear that the noise she made would blanket any tell-tale sign of lurking evil. Unless, of course, you counted the unadulterated evil standing behind her, who might be ready to strike on the back of the head with some discarded pipe or other. She shook the thought away. Her senses were on full-alert down here in the almost-dark that she was sure she would have sensed any movement so close to her, just as Robyn sensed it many metres away.
Garlox explored the empty side chamber off of a tunnel and felt his way around the damp, brick walls. There were no secret passages or hidden tunnels – but that was not what h
e was hoping for. No, he was looking for something entirely different… and he had already found it. Garlox did not want to stumble upon closed tunnels and get himself lost deeper in this illogical underground system of twists and turns, he wanted… hmm. That was the question? He wanted pain, he wanted confusion, he wanted blood.
He wanted death.
And death was here. It was all around him, inside him, touching him. It was here. In these walls – not the slimy brickwork, but deeply connected to them. Connected to the earth. He could feel it seeping through his creamy coloured skin. To look at the demon, no-one would have imagined that he was death. To most, he looked like an angel. Demonic, and instilling instant fear, but having lived and sought out peace for all time, he was an angel. It did not make sense to him but he thought nothing of that factor. All he knew, and all he wanted to know, was that the end was coming, and he was going to be there to watch it.
“What am I doing here?” he growled in his own language. “This world is strange and unusual. I understand nothing of this place.” Truthfully, he did not want to understand it at all. “I will watch it burn!”
As he continued to feel the wall, the object of that particular concern snuck in. Carly trailed behind her. Garlox did not hear them enter but turned around on their arrival, sensing their presence behind him. He made no noise of greeting, but neither girl would have understood if he had. He stood his ground, the girls stood theirs, neither of the three making any move to meet their opponent.
Carly was the first to break the silence. “Is this what you were talking about.”
Robyn nodded, not taking her eyes from the demon. She could kill it, she was more than strong enough, or she could let it live and force it to live a little longer in a world it clearly had no comprehension of. Killing it would be pointless, she realised, because there were more. The demon was somehow telling her this in its’ eyes. It did not want to suffer this place any longer. It wanted to wreak havoc and cause mass hysteria where-ever it went. Robyn could relate to that. All she wanted was to hunt and kill… and for Mika to be strong again. “This is it,” she confirmed at length. “He will bring about the apocalypse… and he will see us be flamed.”