***
Dawn was a welcome sight. No one slept through the night and it wasn’t overly warm either. The circle remained in place as effective protection.
Leaving, I spent a moment drawing energy from the circle back into my body. We all headed down the path to the house, which was a total mess. In addition to the table and chairs, there were a lot of kitchen items that had been thrown about. Drawers and cupboards were open and one of the kitchen windows hand been cracked. Andy and Brenden left us with apologies and headed off to get changed before they went to work.
Egan called the school and Kieran, letting them know neither he nor I would be showing up that day. We silently cleaned the house, throwing away the broken chair and several books on demons which seemed to have been burnt. The amount of items that had been broken or destroyed in some way caused me to understand for the first time how powerful a demon could be.
When we finally finished, Mikayla and Samuel left. Michael left soon after. We needed to get some sleep.
Egan didn’t say a word, he just pulled me to him in a massive hug. “Thank you,” he eventually muttered gratefully.
“What for?”
He brushed a hand over my face. “You saved me last night.”
I smiled. “I think I still owe you a couple.”
Egan pulled me back to him and kissed my head. “You don’t owe me anything.”
We slept most of the day away until the phone rang annoyingly. I’d fallen asleep fully clothed almost instantly after we’d finished cleaning, while Egan had managed a brief shower before collapsing beside me.
Egan groaned and got up, walking tiredly to the kitchen to answer. I sat up, wondering whether or not I should follow. He returned quickly, pulling on a shirt and jacket.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Kieran can’t get hold of Ashleigh. He’s terrified. Asked if we could check on her.”
I nodded and got up, pulling on a jacket of my own. Egan grabbed my hand and headed out the door, sliding an arm around my waist as we walked down the footpath toward Ashleigh’s house.
“Does Kieran think there might be more demonic activity?”
“He’s definitely concerned about it.”
“It’s not just her boyfriend?”
“Could be. Or it could be something else. Who knows?”
The rest of the walk was in silence.
Egan knocked on Ashleigh’s door several times before giving up. He tried the handle and it was open. We went in.
“Ashleigh?” Egan called. “Are you in here?” There was no answer. “Split up and look through all the rooms?” Egan asked. I nodded. We went separate ways.
I found nothing in the bedroom. I walked through the room to the slightly ajar door to the bathroom.
“Egan,” I called, peeking inside.
Egan walked up behind me, pushing the door open further and looking in. “Call an ambulance!” he instructed.
I was on autopilot. I walked back to the kitchen and picked up Ashleigh’s phone, dialling Emergency Services without even thinking. I emerged to the entry when I was done. Egan was already standing there.
“Well?” I asked, walking to him.
Again, Egan pulled me closer to him; his arms protectively circled my waist. “She’s dead,” he whispered.
When the medics arrived Egan showed them to the bathroom before he quickly returned to my side. Police arrived soon after, immediately asking who made the phone call.
“I did,” I replied softly.
“And you found the body?” one of the officers asked.
I paled and nodded, trying desperately to force the image of Ashleigh’s body out of my head.
“Why were you here?”
I looked to Egan, who answered, “A friend of ours was concerned about Ashleigh. He was at work, so he asked us to check up on her. We both had the day off.”
“Would you be able to give us contact details for this ‘friend’? We’d like to talk to him.”
“Of course.” Egan wrote Kieran’s name and phone number on a notepad which the police supplied.
“Might be a good idea to add yours while you’re at it. In case we need to contact you.”
Egan nodded and wrote the extra information on the paper.
“Is there any other family that we need to speak to?”
“I don’t know,” Egan replied. “I never knew her that well. You’ll have to ask Kieran.”
The policeman nodded and thanked him. A medic walked back into the room at that point. “Sir,” the medic addressed the policeman who’d been asking the questions. “We found this in the girl’s hands,” he held up a pill bottle. “It’s too soon to tell, but I’d suggest it’s a drug overdose.”
The policemen looked at each other.
The door opened again, and a professional looking woman in a black suit stepped inside. Her strawberry-blonde hair was pinned tightly to the back of her head and her lips were painted a bright red.
Egan’s eyes widened when he saw her. “Lola.”
“That’s Detective Waters to you, Egan,” the woman replied
“You still remember me. Impressive.”
“I never forget names,” Detective Waters turned to the policemen. “What have we got?”
“Apparent drug overdose, I’ve asked for an autopsy on the body.” The policeman handed over the notepad, which the detective read through.
“Tell the medics that I don’t want anything moved in the room. They can take the body after I’ve finished. Who’s that?” Waters pointed to a picture of Ashleigh with a man on the wall.
“Ashleigh had a boyfriend,” Egan offered. “It could be him.”
The detective looked suspiciously at Egan. “I want you to find out who he is and get me his contact details,” she told the police. She turned back to Egan, “Do you know anything about the mental state of the girl?”
Egan shook his head.
“See if you can get hold of her medical records,” the woman said to the police before turning to me, “Who are you?”
“Ailia is my girlfriend,” Egan answered.
I quickly turned to stare at Egan, slightly shocked at what he’d just said. Egan took my hand and squeezed it in reply.
“You and your girlfriend both had the day off?”
Egan nodded.
“Is there a particular reason for that?”
“Ailia was sick this morning. I stayed home to look after her,” Egan said smoothly.
The Detective raised her eyebrows, “I’m sure that Ailia can look after herself.”
“I keep trying to tell him that,” I told her. “He won’t listen.”
The detective looked between the two of us. “You may go home, but I’d advise you not to leave town. This may well be a suicide, but at any time now you could find yourselves the prime suspects in a murder enquiry.”
“Understood,” Egan took my hand and led me from the house.
“What do you think?” I asked when we were out of earshot.
“Suicide,” Egan replied. “Abusive relationship and the discovery of demons. It was never going to end well.”
I stayed silent for the rest of the walk home, thoughts flew through my head. I’d never known Ashleigh, but that didn’t make her death any less terrible. What I knew of her was what made us the same. Her demon and her relationship with her boyfriend – she’d even had a man try to save her. The difference was that Michael succeeded.
Though Ashleigh’s demon was defeated, she couldn’t handle it. The knowledge of the darkness in the world sent her over the edge. Could I have done anything? What if I helped explain the demons to her? What if I spoke to her about her relationship with her boyfriend? What if I advised Kieran to take her away, as Michael did with me? There were so many questions that began with ‘what if’. Any one of them could have saved her. Yet there was nothing I could do now. There was nothing anyone could do.
Egan closed the door once
we entered the house. I buried my head in his chest. His arms wrapped tightly around me. “What is it?” Egan whispered, his breath tickling my ear.
I smiled at the knowledge that Egan knew me well enough to discern how much Ashleigh’s death upset me.
“I could’ve helped her,” I muttered into his shirt.
“Ailia, nothing you could’ve done would have saved her. All of us did what we could. We defeated the demon. We can protect people from the monsters, the evil, but we can never protect anyone from themselves.”
“We couldn’t save her.”
“No. We couldn’t.”
“Egan,” I looked up at him. “What if you can’t save me?”
“I will save you,” Egan looked straight into my eyes. “I don’t care what it takes. I will not stop until we find out who set this thing on you and get rid of it.”
“But what if it gets to me first?”
“I won’t let it.”
“What if I get to me first?” I could barely find volume in my voice. It was nearly impossible to speak.
“You’re strong, Ailia. As strong as any demon hunter I’ve ever met. Stronger, even. You can defeat it.” Egan placed a hand at the top of my head. He ran his fingers down to my neck and pushed my head back to his chest. “We can defeat it.”