Demon Storm Page 13

  Rupam shot him a look that said, ‘Be quiet!’

  Growl had regained his balance now and turned to glare at Ben. His eyes were narrowed and dark. His face was once more set in a grim, determined expression.

  ‘Don’t ask stupid questions,’ he snarled. ‘We don’t have time for such childishness. There are demons and familiars all around us here, watching and waiting for the moment to strike.’

  The clergyman whirled round, stabbing his finger at the empty air. There was a sound like a gust of wind. Ben felt something pass him at great speed, as if he was standing at the edge of the platform while an express train rushed by. But there was nothing there.

  From inside the house came the sound of shouting. A scream – was it Gemma? Or Maria? A gunshot.

  ‘Come on!’ Growl said, making for the back door of the house.

  His cape billowed out after him as he ran, with Ben and Rupam close behind.

  The door was panelled with small panes of glass. Growl tried the handle, but the door was locked. He gave a grunt of annoyance, rammed his elbow through one of the glass panes and reached inside to unlock the door.

  It led into a kitchen – in darkness except for a single candle standing on a worktop near the oven. Wax had melted and run down the sides of the candle, creating a bizarre, corrugated mass.

  Growl ran through the kitchen and into the dark corridor beyond. Rupam was close behind him, with Ben following. Because he was last, he saw the others trip and stagger, and managed to stop before he too fell over the shapes on the floor of the corridor outside the kitchen.

  The bodies.

  Knight and Madam Sosostram.

  ‘More visitors. We are honoured tonight.’

  Ben recognised the tall, thin man who stepped from the shadows. Growl was pale with anger as he raised his hand to point at Endeavour.

  But then another figure stepped out of a doorway behind him. Daniella Lawton swung the butt of her pistol hard into Growl’s head and he slumped to the floor beside Knight.

  ‘You’ve killed them!’ Rupam yelled, rushing forward.

  ‘Oh, don’t be so stupid,’ Daniella Lawton told him. Then she turned the gun so that it was pointing at Rupam. ‘Though I ought to kill them for what they did to my Grotesque just now.’

  Ben shrank back into the shadows. Had she seen him? His eyes were now beginning to adjust to the faint, flickering light. Further down the corridor he could see more figures. Maria was there, being held tight by two men. Though she was struggling to pull free, she was having no success. He stepped back into the kitchen, keeping to the darkest shadows – out of the light of the sputtering candle.

  ‘I think we shall have to open up a couple of the guest rooms,’ Endeavour said. ‘Put the children in one, the adults in the other.’

  ‘You can’t –’ Maria protested, still straining to pull free of her captors.

  ‘If she gives you any trouble, kill her,’ Endeavour said, without looking at Maria. ‘Is the little girl down in the cellar? We’re almost ready for her.’

  ‘You leave Gemma alone!’ Maria snapped.

  Endeavour ignored her. He turned and kicked at Knight’s inert body with the toe of his shoe. ‘It was kind of you to find her for me. The last part of the puzzle. A child of such power and vision is the very thing I need, and naive Dirk Knight had her all ready for me to collect. How very thoughtful.’

  ‘What about the soldiers?’ Daniella Lawton asked.

  ‘No sign of them yet,’ one of the men holding Maria said.

  ‘Probably on their way,’ Endeavour decided. He turned slightly to look at his stooped shoulder. ‘Can I trust you to keep watch? Will you do better than your little friend, I wonder?’

  Ben could hear the faint sound of high-pitched giggling, as Endeavour raised his shoulder and the weight lifted from it. He stooped down, talking to the empty air in front of him: ‘If they do grace us with their presence, you’ll have to hold them off. Just until midnight. After that we can make other arrangements. Now go.’

  Ben shrank further back. He hoped the Grotesque wasn’t coming his way. At any moment some demon or imp might spot him. He had to do something soon – but what?

  ‘We had better make a start,’ Daniella Lawton was telling Endeavour.

  From his hiding place in the kitchen, Ben watched as one of the two men led Maria and Rupam away. The second hoisted Madam Sosostram on to his shoulder and followed. Ben could hear their footsteps on the stairs above him. Daniella Lawton followed Endeavour through a door. He heard their footsteps echoing on stone, descending into the cellar – where Gemma was being held captive.

  Ben was desperate to run after them and try to help. But he forced himself to stay hidden in the shadows until Endeavour and Miss Lawton’s footsteps had died away. Then he ran to Knight and Growl.

  ‘Wake up,’ he hissed, shaking Knight. ‘Help me. What do I do?’

  But they were both deeply unconscious. And now Ben could hear the footsteps coming back. The doorway that Endeavour and Daniella Lawton had gone through was filled with flickering light, so that Ben could see the stone steps leading down.

  A shadow appeared in the doorway.

  Another figure was at the other end of the corridor.

  Ben was trapped between them.

  He sprinted back towards the kitchen, hoping that no one would see him. Though he thought they must hear his heart racing if not his feet. He knew he didn’t have time to get through the door and hide.

  Daniella Lawton emerged from the cellar doorway. She looked towards the kitchen, where Ben was pressed to the wall by the door. If he moved, she would see him in the corridor, silhouetted against the candlelight. She took a step towards him.

  ‘The kids are locked up safe and sound,’ the man at the other end of the corridor said. ‘And the old lady.’

  Daniella Lawton turned. ‘Good. Get these two out of here. Mortagula will deal with them very soon.’

  At that moment a blast of stale air seemed to rush through the whole house. The candle in the kitchen was snuffed out. The light from the cellar danced and guttered.

  The two men were dragging the bodies of Knight and Growl down the corridor. Their movements strobed in the flickering light, jerky and disjointed like an old movie.

  Daniella Lawton, standing framed in the cellar doorway, gasped, ‘Mortagula!’

  The sound of the wind was growing. Daniella Lawton’s dark hair was blowing round her face as she turned back to the cellar. Light blasted around her from below.

  Ben angled his watch to catch the dazzling light. It was ten minutes to midnight. Ten minutes until Endeavour’s summoning ceremony reached its climax. And Ben was the only person who could stop the arrival of the demon.

  19

  THE WHOLE HOUSE WAS SHAKING. DANIELLA Lawton turned slowly, trance-like, and descended the cellar steps. Ben was desperate to know what was happening down there – what was happening to Gemma.

  ‘Find the others first,’ Sam whispered, startling Ben.

  ‘I was going to,’ he hissed back at her, recovering from the surprise of her sudden arrival.

  ‘I know.’ She grabbed him in a sudden hug. ‘It’ll be all right. You can do it. I know you can.’

  Ben held his sister’s hand tightly as they made their way cautiously along the corridor. The wind from the cellar blew Sam’s hair in her face. It was chill and rank.

  ‘Upstairs,’ Sam said quietly. ‘They’ll have locked Knight and the others in the bedrooms.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I’m guessing. He said “guest rooms”, didn’t he? But I think I’ve been here before. We need to be quick before the men come back down.’

  There was a noise like thunder from deep below the house. A picture juddered on the wall and something fell in the kitchen, smashing on the tiled floor. There was a candle stuck with its own wax to the bottom of the banisters. Another flickered at the top. Between them was darkness. Ben took a deep breath and ran up the stairs, wi
th Sam close behind him.

  When he reached the top, she had gone. But he didn’t waste time looking for her. He knew she’d be back.

  There was a landing at the top of the stairs and a corridor leading off past closed doors. Candles stood at intervals along the corridor, sticking up from the wooden floorboards, flames dancing in the breeze from below.

  ‘What have these people got against electric lighting?’ Ben muttered.

  He could hear the men in one of the rooms and ducked into the shadows of a doorway as they emerged, closing the door behind them. The door was heavy and the way it clanged shut told Ben it was made of metal. One of the men slid two large bolts into place, one at the top and the other at the bottom.

  ‘They won’t get out of there in a hurry,’ he said.

  ‘Even if they wake up,’ the other replied.

  They both laughed as they made their way down the stairs.

  Ben waited until he heard them reach the bottom of the staircase, then ran to the door. The bolts were stiff, but he managed to slide them open. He hesitated, wondering if the men would come back, then opened the door. He had to push hard on it, it was so heavy.

  Inside, he risked turning on the light – to see Knight, Growl and Madam Sosostram lying on the bare wooden floor. No help there. He left the door ajar. If and when they woke, hopefully they’d see the door was open. And hopefully the men wouldn’t come back and discover what he’d done.

  Finding Rupam and Maria was easy. Ben was prepared to look for another metal door, but he didn’t have to. Even above the sounds from the cellar, he could hear them hammering to be let out.

  ‘Thanks, Ben,’ Rupam gasped as he flung open the door.

  Maria glared at him. ‘What kept you?’ She pushed past on to the landing.

  ‘How do we stop them?’ Rupam said. ‘We’ve got about five minutes!’

  ‘We have to get past them first,’ Ben said.

  One of the men was coming back up the stairs.

  ‘Hide?’ Rupam suggested. ‘Back in the room and shut the door?’

  Maria shook her head sadly. ‘Boys,’ she muttered, and strode purposefully along the landing.

  She reached the top of the stairs at the same moment as the man did. He stopped, looking at her in surprise.

  ‘Hi there,’ Maria said brightly, smiling.

  Then, bracing herself on one side with a hand on the banister rail and on the other with her shoulder against the wall, she lifted both feet off the floor and kicked out.

  The blow caught the man full in the chest, knocking him down the stairs. He fell in a tangle of arms and legs, his cries lost in the increasing sound from the cellar. His head crashed against the wall, one foot tangled between banisters and he came to a halt, upside down. Silent and still.

  ‘Don’t just stand there gawping,’ Maria said, her hands on her hips. ‘We have to get Gemma. Come on.’

  ‘Where are Knight and the others?’ Rupam asked.

  ‘Out cold. I left the door open for them.’

  Maria had reached the bottom of the stairs and was waiting impatiently.

  ‘I do think we need some sort of plan,’ Rupam said. ‘We can’t just rush in and stop things.’

  ‘Watch me,’ Maria told him.

  ‘Someone’s coming,’ Ben warned.

  He could see a shadow in the doorway from the cellar. Maybe the other man had heard his friend stumble down the stairs, or perhaps he was coming to check on him …

  ‘Hide and maybe he won’t see us,’ Rupam whispered.

  For once, Maria didn’t argue. They all pressed themselves into the shadowy recess of a doorway. They waited for agonising seconds as the man walked slowly past. Ben gave the others a thumbs-up. But he had forgotten the body of the first man.

  The second man saw it at once, near the bottom of the stairs, and cried out in anger.

  ‘I’ll kill them for this!’ His feet thumped up the stairs.

  Ben felt the blood drain from his face. ‘I’ll stop him,’ he heard himself say. ‘You guys help Gemma.’

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ Maria snapped. ‘What can you do? You’re about half his size. I’ll stop him. You two get Gemma and stop Endeavour. I’ll be right back.’

  She ran after the man, following him rapidly and quietly up the stairs.

  ‘Don’t stand there gawping,’ Rupam said, his hands on his hips in imitation of Maria. ‘Come on. We’ve only got a couple of minutes!’

  They had to struggle to get down the stone steps. It was like fighting their way along a wind tunnel. Ben had his hands in front of his face, trying to keep the stinging gale from his eyes.

  As soon as they reached the bottom of the steps, they could see where the maelstrom of light and sound was coming from. The whole of the far side of the enormous cellar was a whirl of colour, spinning around a dark centre.

  The cellar itself had a high, vaulted ceiling. It seemed to extend right under the house, the drive and gardens. The steps led down one side, bringing Ben and Rupam to the edge of a white circle painted on the dark stone floor. There were candles arranged round the edge of the circle and within the circle of flame was painted a red pentacle.

  At the far end of the cellar, beneath the swirl of colour and sound, stood Endeavour. He was wearing a dark gown now, the hood thrown back. In one hand he held a dagger. His other hand was clamped round Gemma’s neck.

  Rupam and Ben both shouted at the same moment. Ben rushed forward, but Rupam grabbed his arm.

  ‘Don’t cross into the circle.’ He had to yell for Ben to hear him. ‘Not good!’

  There was a shape forming in the swirl of colour and sound. The blackness at its heart seemed to coalesce into something even darker. It grew and grew until it was blotting out the colour.

  Endeavour turned, his face twisted in triumphant jubilation. He pulled Gemma closer, so that she was right in front of him. The wind and the noise slowly died away until there was almost silence.

  ‘The calm before the storm.’ Endeavour’s voice echoed round the vaulted chamber. ‘How kind of you both to join us for the final summoning of Mortagula.’

  ‘We’ll stop you!’ Ben said, with more confidence than he felt.

  Endeavour laughed. ‘Oh, really? Others have tried. Just as they tried to stop Diablo. But I am greater even than he was. He needed the artefacts to focus his power. My will is stronger, my strength greater. I need no such toys and symbols. Mortagula is coming and you will witness my triumph.’

  Ben started forward, determined to stop Endeavour. Even if it meant crossing into the circle. But a figure stepped in front of him. A figure holding a gun. Daniella Lawton.

  ‘One final sacrifice, that’s all it takes,’ Endeavour said. He raised the dagger.

  ‘No!’ Rupam yelled. He started forward, but Daniella Lawton pushed him viciously away.

  ‘Is that what you did to Sam?’ Ben shouted. ‘You murdered her? Sacrificed her? And for what? Nothing!’

  ‘The final stage, to tame the demon,’ Endeavour said. ‘You knew Sam? She was the key that unlocked the gateway. Now I can open the doors of Hell itself with Gemma instead and allow Mortagula to enter our world.’

  ‘You’re mad!’ Rupam shouted.

  ‘I can control the demon, just as I control everything here.’

  The cellar filled again with laughter.

  But the laughter was deeper, louder, shaking the entire chamber. The darkness in the whirlpool of colour and light was a huge mouth filled with jagged teeth. The floor trembled under Ben’s feet.

  Endeavour had the dagger close to Gemma’s throat. Ben could see the terror in her eyes, the pleading as she stared across at him and Rupam. But what could he do?

  ‘Effrego expositus libere!’ Endeavour exclaimed.

  The cellar was once more filled with the sounds of wind and thunder. A finger of lightning stabbed out from the blackness at the heart of the storm. Endeavour was still speaking, but his words were sucked away into the elemental fury of Mortagula’s
arrival.

  Ben and Rupam were having trouble staying on their feet. But so was Daniella Lawton. The storm was blowing round the cellar. Candles flickered and died.

  ‘Mortagula arrives!’ she shouted, triumphant.

  But Ben was not so sure. ‘Something’s gone wrong!’ he yelled.

  On the other side of the circle, Endeavour was backing away. The low rumble of the creature’s laughter again echoed round the chamber.

  ‘He can’t control it,’ Rupam realised. ‘He said he could do it without Diablo’s artefacts – and he can’t!’

  Even as Rupam spoke, Endeavour was forced to his knees by the blast of power from the swirling darkness. Gemma seized her chance and tore free of his grasp. She scrambled away, careful to stay within the circle. Rupam had said to break the circle was dangerous and Gemma obviously knew that too.

  Daniela Lawton looked on in horror and disbelief as the darkness closed in on Endeavour. She let the hand holding the gun dip away.

  Without thinking, Ben kicked as hard as he could at her hand. She gave a cry of pain and rage, and the gun flew across the chamber. The moment it touched the circle of candles, it exploded into fiery fragments.

  ‘We have to get Gemma out of there,’ Rupam said.

  ‘We have to stop the demon,’ Ben yelled back. ‘Once loose, it’ll destroy everything.’

  ‘But how?’

  Endeavour was on his back, staring up at the massive dark claw emerging slowly from the air above him.

  ‘You can do it,’ Sam told Ben. ‘Think! There has to be a way. You have to close the gateway before Mortagula comes through. You have to seal it tight shut!’

  Seal it tight shut. Somewhere at the back of Ben’s mind, the phrase was familiar. He’d heard it before. Rupam would know – he could remember everything. Except it wasn’t something he’d heard when Rupam was there. He tried to replay it in his mind, tried to blot out the distractions:

  Gemma cowering in the corner of the pentacle.

  Endeavour desperately scrabbling away from the clawed arm that swiped down at him from the swirling gateway.

  Daniella Lawton watching, hands to her face in undisguised horror.

  Rupam yelling at Ben, ‘What can we do?’