“Murder? Not us.” He knew it was murder, and a crime that they knew they would never be caught for – because they would either move away at sundown, or just kill the police. “No, this is suicide. You knew how you were going to die from the start, but you still took this on. You had a death wish, Annie, and wishes really do come true.”
“I never wanted this.”
“You all want this. Every single one of you want this to be over; the fighting and the suffering. So you, the only person who has the guts to do it, came hunting. Looking for that last fight, deliberately seeking out the means to an end. And now…” He moved to her side in a movement so quick it was invisible to Annie’s sluggish human eyes, and buried pointed teeth in her neck. She felt them lengthen into fangs as they found an unbroken blood vessel and drew deep on the blood her overworked heart was still managing to pump. Her eyes began to close and her head felt as if it was spinning. He ripped his mouth away and he licked his lips, not knowing that his mouth was still splattered with her blood. “Mmm, blood of the damned! Can’t beat a drop of the good stuff! And now, Annie.” He motioned for Robyn to come over and they both held an arm out for her to bite into. “It’s all over.”
“You’re right, it’s over,” she managed, her words slurred and barely audible. “And I’m done.” Annie stared at the proffered arms and thought how many more lives could be saved if she took their offer of immortality. It could mean so much…
Then she felt the cool metal of the pendant fall cold against her chest and the energy that had thrummed inside her since the day she had received it returned with renewed force. It gave her amounts of power she’d never imagined. It gave her strength beyond the reaches of dreams.
It gave her the strength to die.
Robyn skipped and danced her way along the slimy, wet sewer tunnels as if the water and waste were nothing. They pulled on her, tried to suck her in, but she ignored it and ran through. Mika dawdled a few steps behind, hearing screams and rushing blood that only he could. He thought that this was probably how Robyn had felt at first when she started getting her visions. He wouldn’t go so far as to say that it scared him, but it had unnerved him quite a bit. If only it would all stop…
Mika had never experienced anything like this before; it had made him uncertain of what he was doing. Could he – a demon – ever stop killing, even if it would haunt him forever? Part of him had been so shaken that it wanted to curl up and do nothing like that ever again. A larger part of him, the part of him that had all the control, decided that he would go on killing and that this was merely a small price he must pay. Listening to the futile screams of others it was too late to help? Robyn, however, simply revelled in paying her dues. Making humans scream and cry – it was an orchestra of misery and dread. And then being rewarded for such crimes by being given a sneaky look into a different world… beautiful. It was a little strange how Robyn was given glimpses of future pain, and Mika was privy to hurtful memories.
After some discussion, Carly, Andrew and the Shaman had opted to go above ground to make their way to FDR Industries. Carly was far too tired to wade through sewage any further and led the others to the complex, safe in the knowledge that they would come to no harm if dawn broke before they arrived. And Robyn, as finely attuned as she was, would know if they went off their set course. The punishment that would be sure to follow would be delightful in its brutality. It made her knees quiver just to think about it.
“What music you dancing to, love?” asked Mika. It would be some made up melody, he knew, but he had at times envied her flighty nature. It was almost as if nothing really affected her. “A pretty tune, I hope.”
“Oh, yes, Mika,” she breathed – or as close as. “A church organ is playing a beautiful lilting death march. Dance with me, Mika.”
“Far be it for me to deny a lady.” He took her hand and spun her around happily. He had never been able to say no to her, especially not when she looked so alluring as she did right now. “Robyn? Are we too late?”
She did not directly answer his question but replied in another of her riddle speeches. “The stars are dropping from the sky and the bad sun has scolded them for twinkling. They used to twinkle in my head, Mika, but now they only weep as they fade away. We must catch them before they break on the ground.”
“You used to love the pain and suffering of mortals.”
Yes, Robyn had loved the blissful agony of humans, and even now it held a certain – though waning – appeal. The novelty of it tended tp wear off more quickly when they were not the cause. Her fingers fluttered at her sides, though she did not appear to be aware of it, as she seemed to recall a muscle memory. She moaned and frolicked among the dank surroundings, remembering how few hours it had been since her beloved Mika had left her side, and how he had known to return to her for erasure of the pain. “Yes, we’re too late,” she announced with surprising clarity. Maybe she had known, as she always did, what he was thinking. “Too late to save the ones who’ve gone. But we can stop it for the rest. Don’t worry, Mika, I won’t let you get hurt.”
“I got hurt a long time ago.” There was an almost undetectable hint of bitterness in his voice, and he wasn’t quite sure who it was directed at. “Anything dangerous crosses our paths, I’ll just break its’ neck,” he stated casually. Broken necks had become very much the order of things recently; but clean killings always proved best when a feed was neither needed or wanted. Mika told himself, over and over, that it was in his nature to look out for himself first, and to combat anything that may endanger his own survival. It confused him – he was not that bothered if it killed him. He wanted to save Robyn more than anything.
“I think we’re going to crash and burn, Mika. Like the burning sun, we shall crash into it. Not as much fun as it sounds,” she whined. It wasn’t her fault that she saw such beautiful death scenes. This one would not be beautiful…
Three pairs of feet stomped their way down another street. Two of them dragged a little as they went, but the other seemed unaffected by the long journey. Carly led them down the agreed route to the building, too scared to go off track to find a short cut. Robyn would know if she moved away, and she would be punished for it – but not with death for that would be too easy and merciful. Her injuries were really taking their toll, and lactic acid was building in her tired muscles until they simply ached. She had been pushing the limits of her endurance by forcing herself on when she needed rest. Now, stopping was not an option but, she wanted to carry on. Even to herself it sounded a weird concept but it would feel as if she were failing if she gave up.
Andrew walked behind and to the side of her, trying to think of something to break the tense silence that hung between them all. The shaman – Carly wished he had a human name – walked behind them in the calm of his own thoughts. By the time they had arrived at, and got access to, the Crash Room, the whole thing would be nearly complete. All that was to be done then would be the lighting of candles and special incense to welcome the New World, and to offer thanks. The immense strength of the demons he had just faced had shaken him a touch, and he knew of them by the prophecies and old tomes he read. Mika and Robyn were the most revered of their kind, viciously killing in every town or village they passed. Almost animalistic in their savagery of the human body, both were to be feared as only the purest of all evil dwelled in them. They had told him that this plan had brought about the end of the world but the shaman would not believe them. Even the human girl had said it was true, but he could not trust her either. Ritual, especially one so sacred and powerful, was far more important than the end of one dimension. There were thousands more to explore…
“My legs feel heavy. I don’t know if I can keep going much longer,” the professor complained. He knew better than to show weakness, even in this situation, but it broke the silence.
“Don’t be such a whiner.” Carly marched on, never slowing for him, and tried not to grimace
as tight skin pulled at her. “This is Judgement Day. Really not a time to be moaning like a baby.”
“What’s going to happen to us?”
“Way I figure it is, we get to where we’re going and then the sun kills us.” She turned her head away from the blare of a car horn as it rushed down the road. “The man I love is dead by Mika and Robyn. I let go of everything, my feelings, because I felt so empty. Without him, it’s just nothing. And the sun’ll burn up the Earth until it’s nothing too. Tell the truth, I don’t really give a shit what happens any more – this was always going to happens but magick started this off so it’s wrong and unnatural. Demons are wrong and unnatural too but we fight against them, don’t give in to them.” Carly took a deep breath. She didn’t feel any better for it, and her head was buzzing with warped excitement.
“I summoned demons. They… didn’t belong here.”
At least he was finally admitting to doing something wrong. He was still as stubborn as he ever had been but at least it was something. “Of course they didn’t belong here. When you summon anything, you tear it from its home”
The sky began to lighten ever so slightly and they saw a streetlamp flick out as some kind of sensor was triggered. Carly picked up the pace and started to jog through the streets. There was no time to lose.
The Crash Room hummed as computers stayed running, and thrummed with anticipation of the very special visit it was about to receive. The entire building was utterly empty around it and the hum seemed a deafening volume in contrast to the complete silence around it. It had lain dormant for days, recovering itself from the damage inflicted by those low creatures. The electrics to most of the room had been torn out and the wiring was broken and frayed in a hundred different places.
The allegedly fool-proof security problem had proved no challenge for them as they ripped through each part. Mr Jordan-Smyth had not considered extreme violence as a factor when ordering it. It still lay smashed and hanging off the wall, exactly as it had been found when the missing disks had been discovered. One or two of the more gutsy – or more foolish – security reps had ventured in to take a look, but had quickly backed off as they realised it would be a waste of time. One plucky electrician had been called in to replace the fuses in the main fuse box. Now, the lights flickered on and off, providing only a din illumination. Nothing more would be needed.
The Crash Room had always been controlled by people. Until last week, everything in there had been controlled and regulated by employees. There were no more workers to bow to, no more people to abide by. People – who could never accept the idea that they were in the wrong. People – who couldn’t believe that there were bigger entities than themselves. People – who thought they had the right to play God. The Crash Room was a living, breathing machine. Well, not quite but close enough.
Soon, the walls of the room would be lit by dancing candle flames. The space within them would be filled with the aroma of cleansing incense. And the Crash Room would be seen as a sacred place… the birth room of the New World.
Soon…
Robyn effortlessly pushed aside the manhole cover by the door and scrambled out. She and Mika were both a little grubby after their trek through the sewers though neither of them seemed to mind much as it did not slow their quick movement inside the building.
The other three were leaning against a wall trying to get their breath back, and jumped at the unexpected sight of them. It was not their presence that shocked each of them – Carly briefly wondered how they had managed to make the trip without getting burnt to cinders – but the hard look each of them had. Carly knew the look and had come to associate it with fear and agony. Andrew glanced away, hands on knees. He was panting away after his exhausting journeys through sewers and streets, and used this as an excuse not to look at them. The shaman also looked away, but not to avoid the unsettling expressions, merely to hide the fact that he was wearing that same look.
“Robyn?”
She ignored her lover as she strode deeper into the building to avoid the brightening sky. The place was the same as it had been when they had played their last game here. Metal poles she had swung on, metal gratings she had jumped from, cameras she had watched on monitors, even a person-shaped mark where Mika had collapsed as Johnny shot him. She kind of missed Johnny; the child she could mould and shape. Maybe her teaching days were over… maybe she should just be happy being at the top of her game. She had once taught Mika all the tricks of the trade and she didn’t know how much there was for him to learn any more. Her cold gaze flitted again to the mark Mika had left, the drying specks of blood, and the holes where bullets had gone astray – if this was how severely Mika could be hurt by mortal means then, yes, there was still much she could teach him. There were things she could show him, new things. When you had lived as long as they had anything new was to be treasured, but even the old things held a certain charm.
“Robyn?” This time she turned to look at him. “The sun… it’s nearly up. We should get going.”
“The sun always comes up, Mika.” She pointed at the three mortals waiting behind them. “Ask them. It’s all part of the plan. Making you remember, giving you nightmares – it was all meant to happen, wasn’t it? It was supposed to distract us.” She had expected Mika to figure it out – work out how they fit into it, so Robyn was a little surprised, pleasantly so, that it had come together for her. She turned amber eyes on the shaman but did not move to him. “You made this happen to try and keep us out of the way. You knew that we’d try to stop it, so you forced those images into his head.”
“I made him see what he had done. I’d hoped it would take longer, and that you’d both be out of the picture long enough.” The shaman had not counted on her fleeting communications with the stars, or her willingness to do anything without him. Everything he had read had told him that they rarely, if ever, left each others sides. “But, you’re in this now and I can’t do much about it,” he grumbled. “I only made him know the pain and torture he had inflicted on that girl.”
“Mmm. I like… inflicting,” she murmured, enjoying how the word tasted. “And, no, there is nothing you can do about us being here. Except help us to stop this while we still can.”
Wordlessly, the shaman followed Mika, Robyn, Carly and Andrew, feeling for the supplies in his deep pockets.
TWENTY
Without the security boxes and mechanisms to smash their way through, the Crash Room was much easier to get into. When they had discovered the disks were missing, keeping the room secure had obviously been deemed pointless, though keeping the room running had evidently not. The lights were not nearly as bright as they had been the first time, though Mika feared he might have to pull the electrics again.
“We’re here,” stated Carly flatly. “What do we do now?”
There was silence as the room hummed away. No-one knew what the next move should be… or, if they did, they were not planning to share that information. Andrew leant against one of the desks that lined the walls, looking quite scared and fearing that his future might not progress outside of the room. The things Robyn and Carly had told him about the apocalypse looked like a very real possibility. Maybe they were surviving an apocalypse right now, or maybe they were just living through the run-up to it – he did not know, he had never knowingly experienced one before. As he looked around, he could see that everyone was a bit angry – frustration, perhaps? – and Mika was pacing the room, glaring at the computers as if was their fault no-one knew what to do.
Stomping around the room provided not only an outlet for his frustration, but Mika discovered it to be an adequate distraction from his current predicament. For some inexplicable reason, the reason for being here had grown from simply wanting to keep this sweet little world with all its sweet little meals – blood bags with legs, he used to call them – into a need to prove that he was still one of the baddest, fiercest Old Ones in history, even if he was only
proving it to himself. He also knew that Robyn could sense this about him, and it frightened her to feel his insecurities.
Robyn, for her part, was on the receiving end of some bad vibes. She could hear whisperings all around her, in a language she did not recognise, even though no-one was moving their lips.
Carly had settled herself cross-legged on the smooth white floor, and was wincing as she rubbed her injured shoulder. Her collarbone wasn’t broken, she knew, but she though she may have done some damage to some muscle or other. In fact, she thought her entire body might explode in pain and sheer exhaustion. If there had been any research on disk about how to stop it all, she would have pulled it, but it seemed as though none of them had had the fore-sight to research that circumstance, evidently thinking it would all be peachy and go off without a hitch. If not for the murder, torment and demons-at-large, maybe it had gone off reasonably well. Since being held captive, Carly had come to redefine many words and emotions, but she could not see how her old professor and the shaman had failed to realise that everything that had happened was telling that this thing was not going to plan.
It depended, really, on what plan they were supposed to be working on. The shaman did not have the ability to pick up on other peoples’ thoughts, but he had his own plan. He stood by the corner, half-watching the rest of the activity. Scared, in pain, insecure, confused people. If he felt any inclination to do so, maybe the shaman would pity them. But he had a job to do now and he would do it. He knew the consequences, always had done though he had pretended not to, but all worthwhile things came with a price.
“Shut up!” yelled Robyn, her voice sounding hollow and directionless. “Leave me alone.” She turned away from Andrew and Carly to gaze intently at Mika. He would make everything all right for her – in fact she felt a little better just looking at him. In times past and, hopefully, times future, being together had made them near indestructible. They were a team… and they were not ones to run from a challenge.