The 13th Demon (Demon's Grail) Read online

  “Abby went to Karakh with two others,” I continue, hoping that maybe I can make her understand. “An old warrior named Oncephalus, and this insane half-spider named Emilia. According to the legends that have been told since that day, Oncephalus and Emilia died pretty quickly, leaving Abby to face the demons.”

  “Alone?”

  “It wouldn't have made a difference if I'd been there!” I snap.

  “You seem very defensive,” she replies.

  Hearing the sound of Maisie and Michael playing outside, I look over at the window. For a moment, I'm reminded of everything I've gained since I turned back from Karakh and returned to New York. When I turn to Laura, however, I realize there's a hint of disappointment in her eyes, as if she sees me as some kind of coward.

  “Abby faced the demons at Karakh,” I tell her, “and it's said that she put up a great fight, but there was no way she could ever have survived. There was a prophecy that bound her to death, just as another prophecy had bound our mother to death a few years earlier, and our father as well. There are stories about how Abby fought that day, about how she killed demon after demon. It's said that she was the equal of all the great vampires who fought in the spider war. Some even say that she surpassed our father as a warrior. Still, she knew she was going to die, so maybe that helped.”

  “But she defeated the demons?”

  “Apparently. They were never heard from again, and the location of Karakh was lost to the mists of time. I doubt anyone dares go too close to check, but the silence seems to say enough.”

  She pauses. “So how do people know all of this? If no-one escaped Karakh, who told the stories?”

  “These thing simply become known,” I reply.

  “But are you sure she's dead?”

  “I'm sure,” I tell her. “I felt it in my chest, the moment she...” Thinking back to that sensation, I realize there's no way I could have been wrong. Just a few hours after turning back from Karakh, I felt a rush of great loss and I knew deep down that my sister's life had ended. “There's not a day goes by,” I continue, “when I don't wonder what might have happened if I'd ignored Sophie's warning and gone on to fight at Abby's side at Karakh. I ask myself whether maybe, just maybe, I might have made a difference and helped Abby to somehow survive, but I always come back to the same realization. There was absolutely nothing I could have done. She was doomed from birth, maybe even before. Maybe when we were in our mother's womb together, fate was already drawing her to her death at Karakh.”

  I wait for Laura to say something, for her to tell me that she understands. She has to realize that I'm not a coward.

  “Still,” she says finally, staring at the photo, “maybe there was something you could have done. Maybe -”

  “There was nothing,” I reply angrily, snatching the picture of Abby from her. “I shouldn't have kept this around the house.”

  Turning, I head to the oven and light one of the gas hobs.

  “Jonathan?” Laura says, hurrying after me. “What are you -”

  She stops as soon as she reaches me and sees that I'm burning the photo in the gas flame. After just a couple of seconds, the image of Abby has been completely destroyed.

  “You shouldn't have done that,” Laura tells me. “She was your family.”

  “You and the children are my family now.”

  “But Abby -”

  “You don't know what you're talking about,” I reply, switching the flame off and turning to her. “You don't understand that world, Laura. I very deliberately decided, when I came back to New York, that I wanted nothing more to do with it. I told you the basics, I had to, but the rest is just gone. I know they're out there still, the vampires and the other creatures, but I refuse to have anything to do with them. Sometimes I spot a hint of their existence in the city, but I just keep on walking.”

  “How can you do that?” she asks.

  “It's easy. None of it is any of my business.”

  “Really?” She stares at me, almost as if she barely even recognizes me. “She was your sister,” she continues. “I just don't understand how you could have left her to die.”

  “I already explained -”

  “But I still don't get it,” she replies, interrupting me. “Sure, maybe she was doomed to die, whatever that means, but did you really just turn around and calmly walk away?”

  “My mother's ghost appeared to me!” I hiss. “She told me I was doing the right thing! She's appeared several times since, to let me know that I chose the right path!” I reach out to touch her arm, but she pulls away, as if suddenly she finds me disgusting. “Don't judge me,” I tell her. “You're human, Laura. There are parts of my life that can never truly make sense to you.”

  “Sure, but...” She pauses for a moment. “Sure. Whatever. I guess you're right, I guess I can't understand. I'm just human, like you say, I don't know what it's like to be...” Another pause, before she takes a step back. “Well, to be like you. I guess I'll never get it. There'll always be that barrier between us.”

  “It's not a barrier,” I say firmly, “it's just something that's different. So don't judge me for what I did.”

  “I should check the washing,” she mutters, turning and hurrying out of the room.

  “I did the right thing!” I call after her, but a moment later I hear her heading down to the basement. Making my way to the door, I lean through to the hallway. “I did the right thing!” I shout again, before realizing that it's not really her that I'm trying to convince. “I did the right thing,” I mutter, turning and heading back across the kitchen until I can see my kids playing in the garden. “There was nothing I could have done to save Abby,” I whisper. “She died fighting the demons. My mother was right. That's just how Abby's life had to end.”

  Abby Hart

  “What are they doing?” I whisper, as the demons continue to watch us from the far end of the hall. “Why are they just standing like that?”

  “They want us to make the first move,” Oncephalus sneers, taking a step forward. “I'll happily oblige!”

  “Wait!” I hiss, grabbing her shoulder to hold her back. “This feels even more like a trap than before!”

  “Are you scared, little girl?” she replies, turning to me. “Run if you prefer, but I'm going to face them. I'm not a coward.”

  “Neither am I,” I tell her, “but I still don't want to go rushing to my death. I want to actually stand a chance of defeating these creatures. There has to be -”

  Spotting movement at the top of the stairs, I turn just in time to see that another demon has entered the hall.

  “Skellig!” Emilia hisses, taking a step forward.

  “Who?” I ask.

  “He's the one who lied to me,” she continues, her voice filled with pure hatred. “Skellig was the one who fed me all those stories about my father returning from the void. I let him convince me that all my wildest dreams were going to come true, that my father would reclaim Karakh and that I'd rise up to lead my people. I even let him persuade me to execute other spiders just because they dared question our plan.” She pauses for a moment, and I can see the anger in her eyes. “When we fight them,” she adds darkly, “he's mine.”

  “I don't know whether fighting them is the right option at the moment,” I reply, unable to stifle a sense of discomfort as I realize that these creatures seem content to simply stare at us. “I wish Absalom was here. He'd know what to do.”

  “We don't need Absalom,” Oncephalus says firmly, stepping toward the demons. “He could be like you sometimes, Abby. He had a tendency to over-think things, giving the enemy time to get stronger. The way I see it, the best approach is just to strike now and ask questions later. After all, Absalom couldn't do much to save Gothos, could he?”

  “But if -” Before I can finish, I feel something flashing through my mind. I turn, convinced that I'll find someone right behind us, but there's no-one. I open my mouth to ask Emilia if she felt the same thing, but the sensation returns again, al
most as if something has reached inside my thoughts. “This is a trap,” I whisper, turning to see that Oncephalus is still making her way toward the demons. “We have to get out of here,” I stammer. “Whatever they're doing -”

  Suddenly Oncephalus stumbles, dropping to her knees and letting out a gasp of pain.

  “Lousy time to twist your ankle,” Emilia mutters, but I can hear the fear in her voice.

  Oncephalus gets to her feet, but this time she looks a little unsteady.

  “We have to leave!” I tell her, stepping forward. “Oncephalus, we'll fight them later, but right now we have to get out of here!”

  Ignoring me, she limps forward, but something's clearly wrong with her.

  “I remember a story about the demons,” I continue, feeling a shiver pass through my chest as I realize that they're all staring at Oncephalus as she struggles toward them. “I thought it was just a story to scare children, but it was said that they could kill someone just by looking at them and deciding it was their time to die. No weapons, no violence, just a stare, but... That's not possible.”

  Again Oncephalus stumbles, this time dropping onto her hands and knees.

  “We're getting out of here!” I call out to her, hurrying across the hallway so I can help her up. “We don't know what we're up against, these things -”

  Suddenly she lets out a cry of pain, and I watch as she holds her left hand up, only for her fingers to start crumbling, as if they're turning to dust.

  “Oncephalus,” I continue, edging closer, “we have to leave!”

  I wait, but she still has her back to me as she watches her hand slowly falling apart.

  “Oncephalus!”

  “Run!” she stammers, before finally turning to face me. Her face, like her hand, is starting to collapse, crumbling to fine grains that are already falling to the floor. “Run!” she screams, but now her mouth is falling apart. She tries to get to her feet, but her other hand has begun to fall apart now and her sword drops to the floor. When she tries to call out to me again, the rest of her face crumbles away and then her entire body turns to dust. I try to grab her, to pull her back, but my hands run straight through her chest and out the other side, with more sand falling between my fingers.

  Reaching down with a trembling hand, I grab her sword and then take a step back. The demons are still watching us, but they don't seem to be making any move toward us.

  “And then there were two,” Emilia mutters. “If it gets down to one, I really don't fancy my chances.”

  “Me neither,” I reply, “but -”

  Before I can finish, I feel that strange sensation in my head again. I spin around, convinced that there has to be someone else nearby, but still I don't see anyone apart from Emilia.

  “What's with that?” she asks, nudging my arm. “Abby, you keep getting this kinda wild, staring expression and I don't like it.”

  “I feel like something's hiding,” I mutter, turning to look back toward the demons. “A voice or a presence or...” Suddenly feeling a flash of pain in the center of my skull, I let out a brief cry as I stumble back toward the wall. “It's in my head,” I gasp finally. “Something's in my head, I don't know what it is but it's in there and -”

  An eye opens in my mind.

  Dropping to my knees, I let the sword fall to the ground as I clutch the sides of my head. When I close my eyes, I can see a vast eye staring back at me from the darkness, as if something has been waiting all this time and is now reaching into my head. I can hear Emilia asking what's wrong, but I barely have enough strength to push back against the presence that seems to be reaching through my thoughts. Random memories come tumbling out, things I knew I remembered and things I hadn't thought of since the moment they happened; it's as if something bright and hot is slipping between the strands of my mind and forcing my consciousness apart, trying to find something.

  Trying to find me.

  The exact place in my mind where my conscious thoughts come together.

  “Get out!” I shout, hoping that Emilia will hear me and run. “Save yourself!”

  There's a loud humming sound now, something rumbling in the darkness. More memories are crashing through my thoughts: I see blood flooding through the broken windows of a church; I see the Meridian Array fracturing beneath my feet; I see Benjamin holding a metal collar, ready to place it around my neck; I see Shelley on a dark Dedston street; I see Donna screaming for help; I see Mark Douglas calling to me; I see the walls of Tor Cliff starting to collapse; I see Madeleine Le Compte grinning at me; I see my brother in the womb. More memories, tumbling one after the other.

  And then darkness.

  “Abby?” Emilia's voice whispers.

  Opening my eyes, I see that she's staring at me with an expression of true horror. Behind her, the demons are suddenly much closer, having made their way across the room.

  “Run,” I whimper, as the air all around me seems to start shimmering, almost as if there's too much energy for my body to contain. “You have to run!”

  “I've been waiting for you,” a voice whispers in my mind. “Now the thirteenth demon can be drawn into this world.”

  “Run!” I shout.

  Emilia turns, as if she's only just sensed the demons getting closer. Suddenly she looks down toward the ground, however, and when I follow her gaze I see that her right foot is turning to dust. The demons are staring at her, killing her the same way they killed Oncephalus.

  “Run!” I scream, but it's too late.

  The last thing I hear is Emilia crying out in agony as my mind fills with darkness. I think I slump forward and land against the ground, but it's hard to be sure. I can't see anything at all, and when I reach out I feel dust falling into the palm of my hand, as if Emilia is already crumbling. She's screaming now, or at least I think that's what I'm hearing, but my mind is disintegrating and all my senses seem to be switching off. Now there's only darkness and silence, but after a moment I realize that someone or something is here with me in my mind.

  “Hello Abby,” a voice says calmly, as I feel a hand touching my shoulder. “I've been waiting so long for you to come to Karakh and fulfill your destiny with me. Since the day I first became aware of you, I've known that you are the one to help create the thirteenth demon.”

  Jonathan

  Sitting up suddenly, I try to work out what woke me. It's the middle of the night and rain is pouring down outside, battering the window, but there was something else, some other noise that jerked me out of my sleep. Looking over at the other side of the bed, I see that Laura is fast asleep, apparently undisturbed.

  Still, I know there was a noise.

  Climbing out of bed, I slip into some pants and then make my way out of the room. The house is dark and when I get to the next door along, I peer through and see that the kids are sleeping soundly. Whatever woke me, then, must have been something only I could hear. Either that, or I'm wrong and it was just part of my dream. Heading to the kitchen, I rub the back of my neck as I wander toward the refrigerator, and when I pull the door open I'm almost blinded by the light.

  “You're thinking about her,” a voice says behind me.

  Slamming the refrigerator door shut, I turn and see that Sophie is standing nearby in the darkness.

  “What?” I stammer, stunned that she's come back to me yet again.

  “It's okay,” she continues, “I can sense it in your mind. Your wife asked about Abby and you told her, and now she's on your mind. I suppose it's only natural for you to wonder.”

  “It's nothing,” I mutter. “I'm fine.”

  “You did the right thing five years ago,” she tells me. “You couldn't have saved any of them from their fates. Oncephalus and Emilia crumbled to dust, and Abby fought until...” She pauses. “Abby fought bravely. Of course she did, she was her father's daughter and she put up a hell of a fight, more than the demons could ever have expected. Even when her mind was falling apart, she summoned extra strength from the depths of her soul and she forced
them back. Without her sacrifice, the demons would have overrun so many worlds by now.”

  “Did she die in pain?” I ask.

  “You don't need to know the details.”

  “Did you go to her?”

  She frowns.

  “This is the fourth time I've seen you,” I continue, “so you must have gone to her too, right?”

  “It's complicated,” she replies cautiously.

  “You let her die alone?”

  “I was only able to visit one of you,” she tells me. “I had to choose, and I felt that you needed me more.”

  “What about Patrick?”

  “He preferred not to visit either of you,” she continues. “I don't think he wanted to witness what happened. He spends his time in deep contemplation. The after-life hasn't exactly made him any more talkative than before.”

  I pause for a moment, trying to make sense of the madness. “What about Abby?”

  “What about her?” she asks. “I told you, she died at Karakh.”

  “But if you've come back to see me as a ghost,” I reply, “why can't she come too?”

  “It's complicated.”

  “Tell her I want to see her,” I continue. “Tell her I want to...” The word catches in my throat for a moment. “Tell her I want to apologize.”

  “You owe her nothing,” my mother replies.

  “I want to tell her that I'm sorry. I want her to understand why I never showed up at Karakh. I had information from the Great Library, maybe -”

  “It wouldn't have helped. I told you that at the time.”

  “But still -”

  “Abby's fate was exactly as it always had to be,” she says firmly, interrupting me. “I'm sorry, but there's nothing either of us could ever have done to change that. The wheels of destiny turn in the background, Jonathan, and we only know they're there when they crush us. Abby understood what would happen to her when she walked through the gate of Karakh, she knew she'd never walk out again. In her final moments, I'm sure she was relieved that at least you survived. Perhaps that thought gave her some solace.”