When the man had been successfully… obtained, he would be brought back to the lair where Liatruz would tie him up and possibly torture him. The girl would arrive home and find him missing – it wouldn’t take a genius to work out where he was. Just before she entered the house, the warlock would receive a call from his soy to tell him that she was closing in. Of course, she’d come down here after him, hoping to find him safe and, more or less alive.
Then the fun could really start!
Two of his Masses entered the room holding a struggling man between them, one on each arm. They unceremoniously shoved him across the room where he stumbled and fell at Liatruz’s feet.
Chapter 8
For the first time since she’d broken out of her prison, Amber-Louise took the time to stand still and look around her. She was standing in the middle of a usually busy road, but since she had seen very few cars since her escape, it didn’t really matter. They hadn’t just destroyed buildings and lives, but so much more. Suddenly afraid of something travelling in the air, Amber dropped into a crouch and star ahead of her. “I just wanted to come home.”
Alex frowned and pulled his jacket more tightly around him, giving him little more protection from the cool night breeze. “You are home.”
“No. This isn’t home. It can’t be.” The home I remember was sweet and familiar and mostly good. This place isn’t any of those things. “I don’t remember it like this.”
“It wasn’t like this until…” his voice trailed off. He wanted to say ‘until you went away’, but couldn’t bear to see the girl feeling any worse than she did. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“I should have been here to stop it. Simple.”
“Amber, they were too strong for you. None of this is your fault.”
“I know.” She stood up and looked down at her feet, but her face still held that haunted, far-off look. Alex wished there was something he could do to help her, not realising that he was helping just by being there with her. Nothing could bring her back at the moment. Tears filled her eyes once more and she bit them back, never letting a single one fall. “I know.” She had tried every spell she knew to hold them off, but nothing had had the slightest effect. It seemed that nothing was as strong as black magick.
She raised a hand to her head and tried to press her budding headache away. Her eyes closed, she didn’t see the car headlights until they were almost upon her. In that moment, all she could think was I wish dreams didn’t come true. She also thought that maybe her dream was telling her some truth; that she did deserve to die. For leaving them to face Liatruz’s lackeys alone; for being as bad as the puppets he sent out; for not being a Sister. But there was one truth the dream had lied about – she didn’t deserve to die like this. She threw herself out of the way of the oncoming vehicle and fell on the tarmac. “That was close,” she breathed, heaving herself to her feet with the hand Alex offered. She walked back into the middle of the road and stared after the fast disappearing taillights. “Good job there aren’t any speed cameras about.”
When Amber-Louise had made that lengthy trek from her compound to Millford, she’d known that she wouldn’t be returning to the home she had left behind. But she wasn’t prepared for the horrors that awaited her. The place was unrecognisable – as if some dark cloud of imminent doom hung over it – but she was determined to turn this into the place she knew again. It was a fight she would lose, but at least she would know that she had done her best. Anyway, what kind of witch – what kind of person – would she be if she didn’t even try?
Amber took a deep breath and steeped forwards, leaving Alex behind. It was hard work – keeping secrets. Not just from her dad, but from her best friend too who knew her inside out. There had been a few times where she had come so close to breaking down and telling him everything, she’d wanted to tell him so badly. But she wouldn’t – she didn’t want him to feel even a fraction of what she was going through. The memories of what had happened during her imprisonment seemed more painful and more real each time they came flooding back. Being starved of food and abused with stun-guns, fists and feet each time she stepped out of line. Having sanity-sucking white noise pumped into her cell 24/7 just because of what she was. Being told by the guards that she was just a helpless little girl that no-one cared about – and believing them. No-one could ever know about that.
A hundred yards behind, Alex watched her and smiled with no wish to catch up and break into her thoughts. He had no idea what was going through her mind, and was oblivious to her pain. He could tell that the girl was keeping something to herself but he wasn’t about to make her tell him. Like she said, she would talk when she was ready. It hurt to think that Amber-Louise was hurting and there was nothing he could do to help, except be there. The best thing to do was to let her work through this on her own.
He was so glad that she was home, but hated the fact that she had come back to this. He looked around at the surrounding emptiness and began to see what she saw. No wonder she was scared – the neighbourhood bore no resemblance to its’ former state.
Home.
The place where she should always be and feel safe. Being outside all the time, patrolling the streets for the Black Masses, didn’t help much. Alex knew that he didn’t have to be out here, especially as the danger factor was upped by the much sought-after witch, but he wanted to be here. If Amber was facing death, they were going to face it together. Never again would he leave her alone and defenceless.
They had both started to wonder whether home would ever really be home again. Whatever happened when she went to face off against Liatruz – as she inevitably would – they both knew that there was a chance that things wouldn’t get back to normal. There were always effects from things like this – and the longer some-one was under a spell of any kind, the harder it was for them to shake the effects off. Like the flu, Alex always thought. I mean, Amber might beat this sucker but what if people can’t come back from zombiehood? Or, what if she loses and he kills her? Then I’ve lost my family and my best friend… forever. God, all hail the King of Depressing. There was just no way to be sure how things would turn out.
“Midnight.” Alex looked at her curiously. “At midnight, we fight.”
“Amber, I’m so sorry you had to come back to this.”
She turned back to him and walked back. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. You haven’t slept, you haven’t eaten. All pointers to not okay. You won’t talk to me, you’re quiet and withdrawn.”
“Alex. It’s okay. I’m okay. Or will be.” She looked up to him, her eyes full of the strength he admired so much and something else. Defeat. The deepening twilight made the copper tones in her hair shine a little and her green eyes seemed more soulful than ever. Something passed between them, some thing that no-one else could have picked up on. “It’s not important. Not right now.”
As the two youngsters turned into her street, the figure grinned in the llast moments of daylight. It seemed an especially nasty expression in the reaches of the lamplight. They had no idea what the rest of the night would hold and their blissful ignorance showed itself in the way they carried themselves. If he had been able to, he probably would have felt sorry for them. Instead, he felt strangely smug that he knew exactly what was going to happen before she even had a clue. Liatruz had briefed him on how important this was before sending him on this mission. It was more or less a suicide mission, but he felt like a king at being awarded a task so vital. It was dark now and he could feel the moonlight tingling on the top of his head. Much longer and he would seriously start burning – it was worth it to carry out this job and to make Master proud of him.
Liatruz had managed to capture the girl’s father and was currently holding, and possibly torturing, him at his lair right now. His job was to let him know when she and her friend had entered the house and found the man was missing. It wasn’t h
ard to figure out what would happen next: she’d go mental and worry like hell; they’d spend a little while figuring out what had happened and where he was; then she’d come after him. It was all going right to his plan.
The only thing that was wrong is that the girl seemed to be prepared for a fight. Maybe she was ready for a fight on her own terms. But, he could see, his shoulders were slumped as if she had already given up. That wasn’t part of the plan. Her child-like hope was one of the things that had made Liatruz to decide to abuse her power rather than kill her. That and the fact that she had so much power so young.
They were about to enter the front garden so he took out the mobile phone he’d been given for this job. He scrolled down until he found the number and pressed the talk button. “Get ready. She won’t be long now.” He clicked the phone off and sat himself on the pavement under the streetlight and proceeded to watch the event unfold until the burn of the moon became unbearable.
Alex led the way up to the front door and stopped at the steps as he bent down to retie his laces. The two steps to the door were jumped by Amber, and he wondered how she still had that much energy when he could barely muster the strength to drag his feet up the steps. They needed a bit of light-ish conversation in the midst of this depression and attempted it, without conviction.
“Did my venomous poison – I mean potion – work then?”
Alex let his arm dangle loosely at his side to show that it had. “It’s not broken anymore but it still hurts though. I could use it if I had to but I’d have to overdose on painkillers after.”
“Let’s pray it doesn’t come to that then.”
“Are you sure it’s okay if I stay over again? I don’t want to get you in any more trouble.”
“It’s fine. And I think it’s a bit late for staying out of trouble.” She put her hand on the door handle and began to turn. “Besides, I can keep an eye on you here.”
“That makes me feel so good about myself,” he drawled.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I know you can take care of yourself and everything. It’s just I’m stronger than you magick-wise and they know where you live and I’d feel better knowing you were safe and…”
Alex straightened his aching back and grinned. “D’ya wanna hand out of tat hole you’ve just dug yourself into?”
She turned the door handle as far as it would go and pushed against it, knowing that it often jammed. It was definitely locked. “That’s weird. The door’s usually open.”
“Maybe he just locked it for protection,” Alex suggested.
“No. He knows enough to know that that’s pointless.” She knocked on the door and listened through the letter-box for any signs of movement. There was nothing but an eerie silence which filled Amber with a chilling dread. The witch stepped back and balanced at the edge of then porch. “Back up,” she instructed Alex, who was standing a little too close to the window for her liking. A pink glow began to grow between her fingers and she knew she wouldn’t reach her target.
“Hold off. I think we can do this without raising too much suspicion.” He picked up a brick and banged it against the window pane, shattering the glass into a thousand tiny pieces. “There we go. And not an eyebrow raised.”
“Oh yeah. ‘Cos lobbing a brick through my front window is totally normal.”
“Take a look around, kid. You really think anyone’s gonna notice a little vandalism?”
“Good point,” she allowed as they stepped inside. They went from room to room looking for the missing Mr Tully; Alex took the downstairs while Amber searched the upstairs. “Dad! Are you here? Where are you? Stop hiding now, Dad. You’re scaring me.”
“Amber-Lou. I don’t think he’s here.” Alex whipped her up a peanut butter sandwich as he waited for her to come down. She liked peanut butter and jam best, but since she’d been away, all the jars in the refrigerator had passed their use0by dates. “Maybe he just went out to look for you.”
The worried girl screeched to a halt at the door and took a chunk out of the sandwich. “I told him not to go out, and he knows it’s not safe. No, something’s…” Her eyes found a yellow Post-It note stuck on the fridge door and she peeled it off.
“What is it?”
“Maybe nothing. Come on.” Alex followed her into the lounge and sat opposite her. “I’d know if he was hurt or anything – it’s like and parent/kid bond, like you know your parents are okay. But, he’s okay like that. It’s just so weird that he’s gone missing right now.”
“Well, it’s been sorta quiet today. Could –“
“Too quiet,” Amber observed.
“Trap?”
“Quite possibly.” She stared down at the yellow sticker and chewed through her sandwich. It bore a shaky smiley face drawn in red marker pen.
“Why would he draw a smiley face before he left?”
“When I was younger, me and Dad used to leave each other these dumb little notes whenever we went out and we always drew little smileys at the end. It meant ‘don’t worry’.” She smiled at the memory but that was quickly replaced with a serious expression as she remembered the problem at hand. But Dad wouldn’t just up and leave. Unless this is some twisted form of payback.
“Don’t think like that, Amber-Lou. He wouldn’t just leave.”
“How did you – oh, right. And he didn’t leave, he was taken.” She looked at the note again and then at the lino and carpet in the kitchen. “Look. There are faint marks round there which mean that he was at least taken against his will.”
“Well, if it is Liatruz and his cronies –“
“Which it is.”
“What’re we gonna do about it?”
“What am I gonna do about it. I’m gonna fight him and I’m gonna die. I don’t want you there. It’ll be dangerous.”
“I know it will. And that’s why I’m not letting you go alone.”
Chapter 9
To tell the truth, Liatruz thought that the child-witch would be here by now but no matter. It wasn’t as if he was so impatient that he couldn’t wait to have his way with her. Plus, it gave him a bit more time to torture her father and crush his hopes that his daughter would get here in time to save him. But, for the moment, he needed the man alive; he was useful as bait.
He still felt as if he’d lost some of the respect he’d earned over the last few centuries, but was almost glad of being offered such a young, fragile witch. As yet, her spirit had proven hard to crack, but he was in no doubt that she would surrender by the morning. She was the youngest, and therefore most inexperienced, Sister he had ever encountered. It had been her stubborn determination and her refusal to be worn down that had decided him to keep her alive and use her power in the first place. She had a lot of power, and had only scratched the surface of her full potential. What the warlock had turned her into his second in command, she wouldn’t use the magick for her good or to protect people, but for the evil that gave him so much pleasure.
When even a little white magick became infected by darkness, it grew in strength as black magick. So, if her massive amount of white magick was contaminated, she would have limitless supplies of dark magicks – the only downside of which was that she would certainly be a stronger force on the black arts than he.
“She doesn’t care about you, you know,” he grinned at Richard, who sat against the wall. “If she really loved you, she’d be here by now.”
The wall was uncomfortable to lean back on and Richard found that he was shifting his position every few minutes. “She’ll be here. Then you’ll be sorry.”
“So why hasn’t she come to save you yet? Oh, yes, of course, she’s more bothered about saving her own skin before anyone elses.”
“That’s not true and you know it. She just wants to keep herself safe and I want her to think about herself first.”
Liatruz crouched down in front of him and dangled the key to the chains before
him. “See, that’s what I don’t get. She’s supposed to be here to save you and then I get to have my wicked way with her.”
“You won’t touch my little girl. I’ll do everything I can in order to stop you.”
“And that’s not a hell of a lot, is it?”
“You can kill me if you want, but leave my baby alone. She can do things you couldn’t even dream about. She does love me and you just wait – she’ll be here any minute.” They both looked towards the entrance expectantly. They always turn up now in the movies. Come on. Now would be good. “Or possibly not.
“But she’d do anything to save my life. I know she’ll be here soon enough. But I’m not sure you realise just who you’re dealing with.”
“Oh, but I do. I’ve had the last six months to get to know her. I know her strengths, her weaknesses, even what she dreams about at night.” He began to unlock the chains and cuffs, taking as much time as possible. .”And it’s very good stuff. I can’t deny that she surprises me, she has a lot of initiative that girl – you raised her right, but she can’t have that much left. I mean, how can she save you when she doesn’t even know you like she should?”
“Because I’ve done everything I can to keep her priorities straight. She’s a lot more useful to this world than I’ll ever be. So if you’re gonna kill me di it now and do it quick. I don’t want her to see it.” Richard rubbed his hand over the horrible red marks around his neck where the rusty cuff had rubbed his skin off. Liatruz hauled him to his feet and pushed him over to the other side. He realised how tired and stiff his joints had become, and tried to loosen his limbs as he moved. The tight chains were only the beginning of what would be a draining few hours, he realised.