Death Shall Come

  ‘It still doesn’t feel right,’ said Penny. ‘We failed them, Ishmael, and now it feels like we’re abandoning them.’

  ‘We have to concentrate on the living,’ I said. ‘On saving those we can save.’

  ‘We’re not doing very well with that, are we?’ said Penny. ‘We came here to protect people, but the bodies just keep piling up.’

  ‘We can only do what we can,’ I said. ‘At least now we know what we’re up against.’

  ‘Do we?’ said Penny. Her eyes flashed angrily and she stepped away from the desk to confront me. ‘It’s a magical gem, or a piece of alien tech … Something that hid inside a mummy for thousands of years. And now it’s hiding inside people so it can suck the life out of others.’ She stopped, and looked at me for a long moment. As though she wasn’t sure who she was looking at. ‘It knew you, Ishmael. That thing knew who and what you really are …’

  ‘You know I have no memories of what I was before I was me,’ I said steadily. ‘If I ever knew anything about this alien vampire thing, I don’t know now.’

  ‘Why didn’t it eat you?’ said Penny.

  ‘Because it couldn’t,’ I said. ‘Maybe my body is human but my energies aren’t. Perhaps we’re just not compatible.’

  I looked at her hopefully, searching for even a small smile, but there was nothing. I couldn’t reach her. I gestured at the open door.

  ‘We have to go, Penny. It’s still out there, somewhere. We can’t just stand around talking while people are in danger.’

  ‘You’re right,’ said Penny. ‘We’ll talk as we go.’

  I led the way back through the house. Penny strode along beside me, not talking, thinking her own thoughts. We’d spent so long searching for answers, trying to understand what was happening … And now we knew, we were no happier. The shadows all around us were as deep and dark as ever, but they didn’t bother me any more. Because I’d met the monster and it was darker than any shadow could ever be.

  ‘What do you think the ka thief will do now?’ said Penny.

  ‘Ka thief?’ I said. ‘That’s what we’re calling it?’

  ‘Do you have a better name?’

  ‘Not yet, but give me a while …’

  ‘What will the ka thief do, now it knows we know what it is?’ said Penny, determined to stick to the point and not be distracted.

  ‘It will hide inside someone else,’ I said. ‘So it can use their body. It needs a physical form to have a physical effect on others. It didn’t even try to drain me until it had both its hands in place on my head.’

  ‘Why does it need to do that?’ said Penny.

  ‘Beats the hell out of me,’ I said. ‘Maybe it’s like completing a circuit …’

  I did my best to keep my voice light, but the memory of what the alien thing had tried to do made me shudder. Penny put a comforting hand on my arm, just for a moment. We moved on through the corridors in silence.

  ‘At least the security people will be here soon,’ Penny said finally. ‘We only have to hold the ka thief off for a while.’

  ‘No,’ I said immediately. ‘More people arriving means more people for the ka thief to feed on to make it stronger. We have to put a stop to this thing before Security get here. It wants to be the last man standing, the only survivor, free to tell Security whatever story it wants to and then leave the house with them. It wants to get out and turn the whole world into one big feeding ground. Maybe it’ll latch on to another Cleopatra, another person in power, and take charge again. There’s more than one way to drain the life out of humanity, slower and better ways to make them suffer. Whatever this alien thing is, it doesn’t just hate me; it hates everything that isn’t it. Whatever happens, we can’t allow the ka thief to leave this house.’

  ‘You want to kill it?’ said Penny.

  ‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Do you have a problem with that?’

  ‘After everything it’s done? No. But … it could have answers to all the questions of your life. Who you really are, where you came from. If you kill it, you might never learn the truth.’

  ‘I can live with that,’ I said.

  Penny nodded slowly, as though that was the answer she’d been hoping for.

  ‘Did you think I’d be tempted to keep it alive?’ I said. ‘I’m human because I choose to be, and I will protect humanity from everything that threatens it. Even my own temptation.’

  ‘Of course you will,’ said Penny. And she smiled at me for the first time since we discovered the truth about Professor Rose.

  ‘The team’s back together again,’ I said solemnly.

  ‘How do you kill something that doesn’t have a body?’ said Penny. ‘If we kill the body it’s possessing, won’t it just jump to another host?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Maybe if we knock it unconscious and keep it that way until we figure out some way to get the alien out and then kill it …’

  ‘You really think that will work?’

  ‘Beats the hell out of me,’ I said.

  We finally came to the long corridor that led to the drawing room. All the way there I’d been listening carefully for the alarm in my head, but there was nothing. As though it only existed to send a warning, and now I knew what the threat was the alarm had shut itself down. It bothered me that I hadn’t even known it was there. I had to wonder what else from my previous existence I might have hidden away inside me.

  Sometimes I wonder if the old me is caged deep inside, waiting for the bars of the cage to weaken so it can get out. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just the smile on the face of the tiger … And sometimes I think it’s hard enough to be human, without worrying about anything else.

  I suddenly realized the door to the drawing room was standing open. I concentrated, and heard raised angry voices inside the room. I sprinted down the corridor and burst through the open door to find Bernard and Stuart standing toe to toe, shouting into each other’s faces. Bernard was almost apoplectic with rage, and even more confused than normal. He didn’t seem too sure who Stuart was, but that didn’t stop him brandishing a fist in his face while ranting and raving at the top of his voice. Stuart had to shout back just to make himself heard. He was trying to get through to Bernard to calm him down, but Bernard wasn’t listening.

  ‘I want Susan!’ he roared, his face dangerously flushed. ‘I’m not staying here with you, I want my wife! Get out of my way or I’ll knock you down. I’m going to get her and you can’t stop me!’

  Stuart stood his ground. Bernard gave him a good hard shove in the chest, but Stuart didn’t move. Bernard went to go round him, and Stuart grabbed him by the arm. Bernard attacked him, lashing out with both fists. He was almost sobbing with rage and frustration, but his blows had real strength and speed. Stuart did his best to fend Bernard off without hurting him, deflecting most of the punches with raised arms, but some still got through. The sound of Bernard’s fists striking home on Stuart’s face was flat and vicious, but Stuart didn’t flinch or cry out. He just held his ground and did his best to contain the old man’s fury. He was the Colonel, a trained soldier who’d seen action in dangerous places. He could have taken Bernard down in a dozen different ways, but he didn’t. Because he didn’t want to hurt his wife’s grandfather.

  I grabbed Bernard from behind and dragged him away from Stuart. I pinned his arms to his sides in a bear hug so he couldn’t lash out, but he still fought me, shouting incoherently. Fortunately, his strength was no match for mine. Penny arrived just in time to see me dump him back in his usual chair, with enough force to knock the breath out of him. It was a relief not to listen to him shouting any more.

  Penny hurried forward to speak soothingly to Bernard and her female voice got through to him, although Stuart and I couldn’t. He quickly calmed down, already forgetting why he’d been so angry. ‘Susan,’ he kept saying. ‘I want Susan.’ Not like a man missing his wife, but a child who wanted his mother.

  I left Penny talking to him, and took Stuart off to one side. He had a
handkerchief pressed to one nostril, mopping up some blood, and the beginnings of a truly impressive black eye. But neither of them made any impression on his usual calm and unruffled demeanour. He tugged at his jacket here and there to make sure it was hanging properly, because the proper form must always be observed when you’re officer material.

  ‘Thanks for the help,’ he said gruffly. ‘I thought I could handle him, but Bernard in a raging fury is a lot stronger than he has any right to be. His mind may be failing him, but his body hasn’t. The man’s as strong as an ox. And almost as easy to reason with.’ He checked his handkerchief, put it away, straightened his cuffs, and then looked at me thoughtfully. ‘How were you able to handle him so easily?’

  ‘It’s all in the training,’ I said. ‘Why did you open the door? Where are Susan and Chloe?’

  Stuart scowled. ‘Bernard made a fuss about wanting something from his rooms on the top floor. Some favourite cigar case that he’d forgotten to transfer from his jacket pocket when he changed for dinner. He kept saying he was going to go and get it, and wouldn’t listen to any of us when we said it wasn’t safe. In the end Susan said she’d go in his place, because he’d only get lost on the way or forget where he was supposed to come back to. She wouldn’t be talked out of it, either. Apparently Bernard has a tendency to obsess over certain familiar objects until they’re all that can settle him down. I suppose when you can’t depend on your memories any more, things become more important because they bring memories with them.

  ‘Susan had to go because she was the only one who knew where to look for the cigar case. Chloe and I both volunteered to go with her, of course, but Susan said she’d only go with Chloe. I think she wanted the chance to talk with her granddaughter privately.’

  ‘You should have insisted on taking Bernard with you and gone as one group,’ I said. ‘That would have been safest.’

  ‘Would it?’ said Stuart. ‘Twice now I’ve led people through the house and both times I lost someone. First the professor and then Marjorie.’ He looked at me steadily. ‘Did you find her?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘She’s dead. The professor’s dead, too. We can talk about the details later. It’s complicated.’

  ‘Everything in this house is,’ said Stuart.

  Penny came over to join us. ‘Bernard’s quiet now. Almost asleep. All that exertion wore him out. It’s easy to forget how old he is.’

  ‘Susan and Chloe had to go up to the top floor,’ I said. ‘I think it would be best if all four of us go up to join them and escort them back down.’

  Penny was shaking her head before I even finished. ‘Bernard is in no condition to go anywhere. He’s exhausted. You couldn’t get him out of that chair with a crowbar. And anyway, I think you and I should handle this ourselves, Ishmael. Don’t you?’

  She looked at me meaningfully. Stuart picked up on the look, even though he didn’t know what it meant.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he said immediately. ‘What do you know about the situation that I don’t?’

  ‘You’ll have to excuse us, Colonel,’ Penny said firmly. ‘Ishmael and I need to talk.’

  She grabbed me by the arm and steered me over to the other side of the room. Stuart watched us, but said nothing.

  ‘All the way here,’ said Penny, quietly but fiercely, ‘you were worried about the Colonel seeing what you can really do and maybe even figuring out who and what you are. If he’s with us when we find the ka thief and take it down, he’s bound to see something he shouldn’t. Either that or the ka thief might say something about you …’

  ‘It’s not always about me,’ I said. ‘I’m damned if I’ll lose anyone else to that monster. Too many people have died already.’

  ‘We can do this,’ Penny said forcefully. ‘Bernard would only get in the way, and having Stuart around would only complicate things. Stop arguing, Ishmael. You know I’m right.’

  I nodded, reluctantly, and looked over at Stuart, who was studying both of us suspiciously.

  ‘You stay here and guard Bernard,’ I said. ‘We’ll find Chloe and Susan, and bring them back down safely.’

  Stuart nodded. ‘We only have to hang on a little longer. Security should be here soon.’

  ‘Then I’d better get a move on,’ I said.

  I went hurrying back through the house again, so quickly Penny had to struggle to keep up. I was driven by a terrible feeling of urgency. I had to get to Chloe and Susan before something bad happened.

  ‘There’s far too much running through corridors in this case,’ Penny growled, already short of breath.

  ‘Susan and Chloe are probably still on the top floor,’ I said, ‘searching for the cigar case.’

  ‘Three flights of stairs …’ groaned Penny. ‘I swear this case will be the death of me.’

  I didn’t like the sound of that, so I tried for the light touch again.

  ‘I could always pick you up and carry you,’ I said. ‘Or sling you over one shoulder in a fireman’s lift.’

  The look she gave me was full of things best not said aloud.

  By the time we reached the first flight of stairs, Penny was struggling to keep up with me, her stamina used up by the day’s events. I couldn’t slow my pace. The feeling of terrible urgency wouldn’t let me.

  ‘Look, go on without me,’ Penny said breathlessly. ‘I’ll catch up.’

  I nodded, and broke into a run. I left her without glancing back. Because Penny was vulnerable to the ka thief, and I wasn’t.

  I hit the stairs at a dead run, pounded up them two steps at a time, and just kept going. When I reached the top of the third flight I wasn’t even breathing hard, but I could still hear Penny wheezing and gasping down below as she finished the first. I looked at the corridor stretching away before me. Everything seemed quiet enough, but I knew better than to trust appearances in Cardavan House.

  I started forward, heading for Bernard and Susan’s suite of rooms at the far end, and then I heard a scream. I sprinted down the corridor, covering the ground at inhuman speed, and burst into the suite through the open door. And there was Chloe, with her hands clasped tightly on either side of Susan’s head. The ka thief had a new body, a new identity to hide behind.

  I could see the life energies streaming out of Susan and into Chloe: a rainbow of coruscating lights, vivid and glorious, beautiful beyond bearing. Which made what was happening to them even more horrible. Chloe sucked them in with an endless hunger and an unspeakable delight. The transfer shut off abruptly as the last of Susan’s life disappeared into Chloe. She let go of Susan, and the dead body fell limply to the floor. Chloe turned to face me. Her body language had changed completely. She didn’t stand like a woman. It was like looking at something wearing a human coat. Her smile was cold and triumphant. And utterly inhuman.

  ‘It doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll always be too late. Because you are flesh, with flesh’s limitations. Humans are such easy prey. And so tasty! Trapped in the dark in that useless body, I had a long time to think about all the things I would do to people once I was free again. I’m going to have so much fun playing with my toys till they break—’

  ‘I won’t let that happen,’ I said.

  ‘You can’t stop me! I could eat up this whole world and still not be satisfied …’

  ‘Who are you?’ I said. ‘What are you?’

  ‘Don’t you know? Don’t you recognize me, old enemy?’

  Chloe cocked her head on one side to see me more clearly. The same way Rose had done.

  ‘Did something happen to you when your ship crashed? Something bad enough to make you forget two species bound together in a glorious history of blood and horror? So … you have to come to me for the truth. Of what you are and what you’re for … How amusing. Very well! Here is wisdom for those who have the strength to stand it. Your kind and mine have been at war for longer than our recorded histories. Generations of us have died with our teeth buried in each other’s throats.’

  ‘So you can be kil
led,’ I said.

  Chloe glared at me for interrupting. ‘Everything that lives comes to an end. But however long anyone lives, it’s never enough. That’s why my ancestors taught themselves how to take lives from the less deserving; it’s not like they were doing anything useful with their lives, after all.’

  ‘What’s your species called?’ I said. ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Name?’ The thing inside Chloe giggled horribly. ‘What do names matter? That’s such a transitory notion when you can be as many things as you choose. So many questions! Are you playing for time, old enemy, waiting for reinforcements to arrive? Or your little human pet, perhaps? Oh, I can’t wait for her to join us. What would hurt you most, I wonder? Watching me eating her up right in front of you? Or being tortured by the knowledge that I’m living inside her and making her do terrible things, until you’re forced to kill her?’

  A cold hand clutched at my heart, but I didn’t allow anything to show in my face. I couldn’t give Chloe, or the thing inside her, even the smallest advantage.

  ‘What happened?’ I said. ‘What happened between your people and mine to make us hate each other so much?’

  Chloe shrugged. ‘No one remembers. I think once we found out just how much fun war is we just never wanted it to stop. It’s good to have a purpose in life.’

  ‘I don’t know you,’ I said. ‘I don’t remember you, or your war.’

  ‘I do,’ said Chloe.

  ‘Tell me how you came to be here.’

  ‘Why should I?’

  ‘Because you want to,’ I said. ‘You love lecturing me and proving your superiority.’

  ‘How right you are!’ said Chloe. ‘I want you to know everything, just so I can enjoy the look on your face. All those years ago, my ship crashed in what was then Ancient Egypt. Shot down …’

  ‘By my people?’

  ‘Oh, get over yourself!’ said Chloe. ‘You aren’t the only ones with good reason to fear my kind. Anyway, the ship and its crew were destroyed by the impact. All that survived was one very special machine. A container for my intelligence, transferred from the original crystal …’