Cross your heart and hope to die (Emma Frost #4)

  Now he was looking directly at one of them who had kicked the door to his room in. She was standing in front of him with an icepick in her hand, panting, looking at him with suspicion.

  "Erik?" she said.

  Erik smiled. Then he spoke. "Keyboard. No. Cup."

  Erik closed his eyes. This was so not how it was supposed to be. He knew he could do better. Years of training his brain had made it better, had made him better at controlling his speech, but stress and agitation always made his condition worse. This was not the time to panic. He could still surprise all of them.

  "What?" Emma asked.

  Erik shook his head. He tapped on his small computer that they had given him to communicate. The words he wrote were spoken out loudly by a mechanical voice.

  "I'm sorry. I have trouble speaking," it said.

  Emma looked confused. "Are you our host? I thought you were dead?"

  Erik tapped on his keyboard. "Close the door, please."

  Emma did so. Erik waited. Then he wrote. "Yes, I invited you all here. No I'm not dead."

  "Why?"

  "Why am I not dead?"

  "No, why did you invite all of us here?"

  "That I have yet to reveal. I'll do so when everyone is gathered at dinner."

  "I think that might be hard to accomplish given the fact that two of your guests are seriously hurt downstairs and the other two are running around chasing each other. Did you plan this with Soren?" she asked.

  Now it was Erik's turn to look confused. He tapped on the keyboard. "What are you talking about?"

  "Soren has gone mad. He tried to kill Jacob. He stabbed him in the back. He stabbed a needle in the eyes of Line and Preben. Someone killed the clerk, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Soren since he was with the rest of us downstairs when it happened. Were you in on it? Did you kill the clerk?"

  Erik shook his head in bewilderment. He typed on his keyboard. The machine read his words out loud. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Do I look like I am able to kill anyone?"

  Emma tilted her head slightly. "You've got a point. But then who did?"

  Erik wanted to write something but he had no idea what. He was as confused as ever. While the roof above them creaked and another tree fell in the yard outside, he wondered if he had made a big mistake when deciding to gather all of them. Or was the unfortunate chain of events in fact an improvement on his original plan?

  43

  December 2013

  SOREN’S TEETH WERE CHATTERING. It was so cold in the room where he was hiding now and the winds outside were howling eerily. He looked at the small bottle of red wine in his hand and then down at the pile of small bottles he had taken from the mini-bar and emptied in the hope that the alcohol would keep him warm and maybe make him forget for a little while.

  But none of those things had happened yet. He had a buzz going, but that was all. He still remembered everything and, worst of all, he still cared.

  He heard someone moving behind the iron-door and froze. Then there was another sound like someone swiping a key-card and then the door slowly opened. Soren swallowed hard, then lifted the bottle and drank from it like had he been walking through a desert and this was his first bottle of water in days. He gulped it down desperately thinking it was probably going to be the last thing he did, when he heard Jacob's voice fill the air.

  "Sooooreeen?" he called with an almost caring tone to his voice, like was he luring a cat or dog out from his hiding to go to the vet. "Where are you old boy? I'm coming to GET you!"

  Soren drew in a deep breath, then emptied the bottle and threw it in the pile making a loud crash as the bottle broke. Jacob's face was soon in the doorway. He looked disappointed.

  "You're not even trying to hide?" he asked.

  Soren shook his head. He tried to get up, but realized he probably was a little drunker than first anticipated. He looked at Jacob with a blissful smile. Finally, the numbness had entered his body; finally, he didn't care anymore. Jacob could kill him if he wanted to. What did it matter?

  "You do know I'm here to kill you, right?" Jacob asked.

  Soren could tell Jacob was in deep pain when he tried to move his torso. Pearls of sweat sprang from his forehead. His cheeks flared and his eyes were glassy. Soren nodded.

  "I think you might have a fever, Jacob," he said.

  "To HELL with me," Jacob yelled.

  "Suit yourself," Soren said, then looked at the top of the tree that had crashed through the roof and was now lying in the room. He wondered if the tree had felt anything when being deprived of its life here on this forsaken earth. He wondered if he would.

  Jacob approached him. "Do you have ANY idea how much this HURTS?" he yelled as he pointed at the knife in his back.

  "Not exactly, but I have a vague idea."

  "It hurts like HELL!"

  "I know."

  "No you don't. No, you don't know," Jacob snorted pitifully.

  It occurred to Soren that he was a little pathetic and he wondered what it was about him that he had always been so afraid of. Maybe it was simply his anger. Soren never liked it when people were angry. His dad had yelled at him a lot when he was a child and ever since then, he had always tried to please everyone. He just wanted them to be happy. That was why he always did what the other boys told him to in school. It had always left him feeling inferior and all of his life people had always treated him like he was a nobody. He had been trampled on for his whole life. Maybe that was why he enjoyed taking advantage of those girls in the ambulance so much. It gave him some of his manhood back.

  Maybe he was just a pervert.

  Jacob was very close to him now, standing in front of him and the bed where Soren was still sitting. He reached out his hands and grabbed Soren around the neck. Soren didn't try to escape his destiny. He turned his head to look up into Jacob's eyes while he felt his grip tightening and blocking his air. Soren gasped and felt his eyes widen. Jacob was groaning. Soren could see the veins pop out in his forehead and throat. Soren had never noticed before that he had a lot of acne.

  Probably from the use of too many steroids.

  Soren had seen it in patients before. When they collapsed at the gym and he had to take them in. As black spots appeared before his eyes, he wondered if Jacob had also developed Gynecomastia, man-breasts, like many others who had taken anabolic steroids for a long time.

  A dizziness came over him and Soren closed his eyes to let the darkness finally take him. Just when he was about to say goodbye to this world and drift off into the unknown land of the dead, Soren was suddenly struck by a thought that made him open his eyes wide. With the last of his strength, he lifted his hand and poked his fingers into both of Jacob’s eyes as hard as he could, causing him to stumble backwards and let go of Soren's neck.

  Jacob held a hand to his eyes. "My eyes!" he yelled.

  Soren coughed and fell to the floor as well while catching his breath. "I'm sorry," he managed to wheeze between coughs. "But I have to say something."

  Jacob moaned.

  "Come on," Soren said as soon as he had gotten his breath back. "It's not like I poked a needle into your eyes. It was just my fingers."

  "It hurts like crazy," Jacob said.

  "Well I had to do it. I have to tell you something. It's important."

  Jacob shook his head while holding his hands over his eyes. "WHAT?" he yelled.

  "I think you might be suffering from kidney failure," Soren said.

  "What the … What are you talking about?"

  "You threw up earlier and had barely any appetite during lunch. Plus you're complaining about pain in your back."

  "That's because I have a godddamn knife in it!"

  "Okay, fair point, but am I right to assume that the pain isn't only concentrated on the upper part of your body but also in the lower part? Am I also right to assume that you had the pain before I stuck the knife in your back?"

  Jacob went quiet. "Well … yes. It started yesterday as a matter of fact."
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  Soren nodded. His neck was hurting. "I've seen it before. The use of anabolic steroids can cause this. Nine out of ten bodybuilders who use steroids develop a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a type of scarring within the kidneys. It is a common cause of kidney failure for adults. It's very serious, Jacob. You need to go to the hospital as soon as possible."

  "Wh … what the hell are you talking about?" Jacob said and tried to remove his hands from his eyes. He blinked. "I was about to kill you, you little twit. You can talk all you want, but I'm not letting you go."

  "You have high blood pressure," Jacob said. "You really shouldn't get too agitated. The kidney failure will cause you to be dehydrated and your heart might give out. I'd be very careful if I were you."

  "Well, you're not me."

  "Again you make a fair point … but …"

  Jacob stood up and walked quickly towards Soren. Then he kicked him hard in the stomach. He lifted his fist high in the air and let it fall on Soren's face again and again. Soren tasted blood in his mouth and sank to the floor while Jacob continued the beating. Soren closed his eyes.

  You deserve this, he told himself while taking the beating.

  It wasn't until it suddenly stopped that he opened his eyes again. He looked up at Jacob who gasped for air with his eyes wide open, then fell backwards into the branches of the fallen tree with a loud crash.

  44

  December 2013

  "I THINK YOU NEED TO come downstairs with me," I said.

  I was still staring at Erik like I didn't quite believe he was actually there. "We all deserve an explanation."

  Erik bit his lip. He rolled his wheel-chair back and forth on the carpet like he was speculating. He typed on the small computer he had in his lap. It spoke his words out.

  "This is not at all what I had planned."

  "Well maybe it’s about time you let go of your plan. I mean there is no way you can pull it off now anyway, with all that has been going on."

  I paused feeling a little tired of it all. I missed my family, I missed Morten and deeply regretted having taken off to come to this thing. Plus, it was getting late and I was starving, but who had the time to think about food? It was all a mess and I couldn't even call Morten for advice, even though I needed it more than ever. I had no idea how much longer those two downstairs could endure the amount of pain they were exposed to. I didn't know how much more I could endure. There was a dead body in the hallway that I had no idea what to do with.

  "Okay," Erik's machine said. "Let's go downstairs, but I'll need your help to get down the stairs."

  "Sure," I said and went to the double doors. I slammed them wide open. "After you."

  Erik drew in a deep breath, then rolled towards me. "Here goes nothing."

  I walked behind him pushing his chair down the hallway.

  "So what was your plan anyway?" I asked. "To enter the restaurant during our dinner and reveal yourself and tell us all why you had us gathered, was that it?"

  "Pretty much," Erik's machine said.

  I bit my lip thinking I probably didn't need to tell him how ridiculous it all sounded. Like a bad movie or something.

  Erik tapped on the keyboard. "Too lame?"

  I laughed. "A little bit."

  I looked at him sitting in the chair and started wondering what had happened to him. He used to be so handsome and athletic. Now his face was disfigured. "How did you end up in a wheelchair?" I asked.

  He typed on the keyboard. "That was what I hoped this reunion could help me clarify."

  "You mean to tell me someone here put you in that chair?"

  "I believe so."

  "That's terrible, Erik. Who?" I asked.

  "I don't know exactly, but I have some ideas."

  "Maybe it’s all Soren," I mumbled. "He did try to kill Jacob, after all."

  "He also killed Hans Frandsen. Hit him with his car."

  I gasped and stopped pushing the chair. "What? How do you know that?"

  "It doesn't matter."

  "So what happened to you?" I asked and grabbed the handles of the chair again and started pushing. Further down the hall, I spotted the body of the clerk. Someone had covered him with a sheet, but a hand stuck out from underneath it. I shivered in disgust and focused my eyes on something else.

  "I was hit by a car in 2005. I was paralyzed from the waist down and suffered brain damage."

  "So this is all about revenge?" I asked.

  Erik exhaled. He typed again, then deleted it. He wrote something else. "I just want answers."

  I nodded. I could totally understand that. We came closer to the body and it was blocking the hallway, so I had to let go of Erik and move it to the side before I could maneuver the chair past the body. I grabbed the arm and pulled it while feeling like throwing up. Erik stared at it as we passed.

  "The clerk?" the machine asked.

  "Yes. Strangled with a cord or something. We think Soren did it somehow. He has been very drunk all day. Gone completely rogue."

  "I see."

  "I can't believe he’s turned into this maniac. I mean, I know it’s always the quiet ones, but come on. This is crazy if you ask me."

  "You'd be surprised to know what secrets people hide."

  "Yeah, but still …" I was about to say something else when I was suddenly interrupted by a voice yelling from behind us. I turned to look.

  "What the …?"

  I couldn't believe my eyes. Was that? Could it really be Soren? He was carrying someone in his arms. Was that Jacob?

  45

  December 2013

  "HELP ME."

  Soren's arms were hurting under the heavy weight. He stared at Emma who looked like she had seen a troll.

  "Please," he said. "I need help carrying him down the stairs."

  Emma looked confused and a little frightened.

  Soren moaned in distress. "Please," he said again.

  Emma finally decided to step in and ran to him and grabbed Jacob's body from the other side just as Soren was about to drop him. She stared at Soren.

  "Is he …?"

  "Dead? No. I gave him heart massage and mouth to mouth. He is breathing, but not conscious. I need to get him to a warmer place."

  "Okay," Emma said, sounding like she didn't quite believe him. "What happened to him?"

  "Heart failure."

  "Okay. What happened to you? Your face is all beaten up," she said as they carried Jacob down the hallway.

  "Jacob did it," he said. "Who's the guy in the wheelchair?"

  "He'd probably like to tell you himself," Emma said.

  They came closer and Soren saw his face. He gasped with surprise. Erik smiled.

  "I … I thought you were dead," he said. "I saw the obituary and everything."

  Erik grinned. Soren recognized that smirk. Boy how he hated it. He waited for Erik to say something.

  "Umbrella," he finally said, still with that smirk.

  "What?" Soren asked.

  Erik shook his head and clenched his fist. "Pillowcase." Then he blushed. Soren felt suddenly uncomfortable. This was very awkward.

  "Maybe we should just keep moving," Emma said with a moan. "This guy is really heavy."

  "Of course," Soren said.

  "We have to lift him over Erik’s head," she said.

  "Naturally."

  "On three," she said and started counting. "One, two … and lift."

  They both lifted Jacob into the air and carried him over Erik's head. Erik was typing on the small computer in his lap. A strange mechanical voice filled the air as they passed Erik and walked further down the hall.

  "You'd like it if I was dead, wouldn't you?" the voice said behind them.

  Soren turned his head and looked at Erik who was rolling his wheelchair after them with a clever grin.

  "Just ignore him for now," Emma said. "We'll deal with all that later."

  "Okay," he grunted. His arms were hurting badly. They were shaking with the strain and
his body was aching from the beating he had received. But for the first time since they got there, he felt like he could actually accomplish something. He could do something right to make amends for all the wrong he had done. If he saved the life of the man he hated the most, then he thought it might somehow balance out all the bad. He had no idea if it worked like that, but he had to give it a try. He had to do what was right for once in his life.

  Carefully they carried Jacob down the stairs where Line and Preben were still moaning and crying in pain in the lobby. They placed Jacob on the floor on a pile of pillows taken from all the chairs they could find nearby. It made a nice bed.

  Jacob was pale when Soren kneeled next to him and felt his pulse. It was too fast. Jacob's heart was working too hard and that wasn't good. Soren looked at Emma who checked her phone once again to look for a signal when suddenly there was a loud crash outside and all the lights went off in the hotel.

  46

  December 2013

  "JUST WHAT WE NEEDED," I said. "A blackout."

  "A fallen tree must have cut the power lines somehow," Soren said.

  "What the heck is going on here? We need help!" Preben yelled while Line simply whimpered in fear and pain.

  "I think we have a flashlight in the kitchen," The bell-boy Jesper said.