The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal Book 1) Read online

Silence.

  “Get a grip, Ramsey,” I whisper finally, still shuddering slightly as I take a series of deep, deliberate breaths. “Sort your head out. You're just lost in the tunnels, that's all.”

  I take a moment longer to get my thoughts together. To calm the hell down.

  And then, looking to the left, I spot what seems to be a very faint patch of light on the ground. It's not strong, and at first I'm not even sure that it's real, but as I continue to stare I start to realize that there really does seem to be just a tiny crack of daylight streaming down into the tunnel system.

  I start stumbling toward the light, barely able to believe my luck, and when I get closer I see that the light is being cast down from a gap in the ceiling. When I finally reach the spot, I look up and feel a flash of relief as I see that there's some kind of rusty old ladder running up the side of a chimney-like opening. And at the top of that chimney, a couple of hundred feet above me, there's a pure, clean circle of blue sky broken only by a set of metal bars.

  “Please get me out of here,” I stammer, reaching up and grabbing the bottom of the ladder with my left hand. The rungs are cold and rusty, and my right hand is still basically useless. At first, I can't even begin to haul myself up, but finally I take a deep breath and try to summon every last ounce of strength, until finally I'm able to hook my right arm over the ladder's bottom rung.

  I dangle for a moment, getting my breath back, and then I repeat the process several times. Pushing through the pain, I finally get high enough to slip my feet onto the bottom rung, at which point I'm able to take a breather before starting to climb properly.

  The chimney is so narrow, my shoulders are brushing on either side as I make my way up, but I don't give a damn. I climb higher and higher, frantically racing to reach the circle of light. As I get closer, I can see that there are definitely several thick metal bars running across the opening, but I figure I can find a way to force my through. Right now, still unable to use my right hand in any meaningful way, I struggle to keep climbing while making sure I don't risk letting my feet slip.

  Finally I reach the top of the ladder and poke my face out through the hole, only to find myself looking out at the forest floor. The metal bars form a slight dome shape over my head, but I'm able to turn and look around, seeing trees and more trees.

  “Hello?” I shout, hoping against hope that somebody might be nearby. “Can anyone hear me?”

  I wait, but all I hear in reply is the rustle of treetops.

  “Hello!” I yell, before reaching up with my left hand and trying to force the bars aside so I can climb out. “I'm trapped in here! Help me! Somebody!”

  The metal bars are firmly in place, and they don't budge an inch even as I struggle to get them out of my way.

  “Help!” I scream, shouting so loud that I can actually feel flashes of pain at the back of my dry throat. “I'm over here! Somebody help me!”

  I can taste blood at the back of my throat, and my voice is sounding increasingly battered and thin, but I keep telling myself that eventually somebody has to hear me. I know the forest is huge, and I know there's a chance that there's nobody around for miles, but eventually some passerby or rambler has to come along and hear my voice. For all I know, somebody's already heard me from far away, and help is coming. I just have to keep yelling and pray that I finally get some luck.

  I'm so due some luck.

  Anyway, by now Leanne should have made it back to town, so there should be people out looking for me. Sure, they'll probably start up at the farm, and by now hopefully they've caught and arrested that asshole with the truck. When they realize I'm not still there, however, they'll spread out and start searching the entire area, and they'll probably even have heat-seaking cameras attached to helicopters. As soon as Leanne tells the cops what happened to us, my father'll swing into action and he won't leave a single stone un-turned in the search. I guess this is the one time when Dad might actually be useful.

  I don't hear any helicopters right now, but they have to be coming.

  “Help!” I scream. “Over here!”

  I try yet again to rattle the metal bars, but they barely move at all. There's no way I can pull them loose, but if a rescue team finds me then maybe they'll have some kind of cutting equipment. I just have to get their attention first.

  I open my mouth to cry out again, but then suddenly I hear a rustling sound from below.

  Looking down, I'm shocked to see that there's a figure at the bottom of the ladder, staring up at me from the darkness of the tunnel.

  Twenty-One

  Liam Cane

  It's bright in town this morning. So bright, in fact, that I feel like all the sunlight is going to come streaming through my eyes and into my brain, and then it's going to flood my head so much that I won't even be able to think. I slip a pair of sunglasses over my eyes, but they don't help very much. They change the light, but they don't reduce its startling intensity. The only thing they do that helps, really, is that they make it so people can't see my eyes.

  If people can see your eyes, they can start to figure whether anything's wrong with you.

  “You look different today, Liam,” Doctor Ericsson told me once, on a sunny day back at Gordonville. “I hear you've been taking your medicine without any fuss. That's a really good sign of progress. You should be very proud of yourself.”

  I look both ways, the way Mom taught me, and then I make my way across the street. Some people are talking nearby, just yammering away outside the pharmacy. I don't get why people do that. They spend so much time talking to each other about inconsequential things, wasting all their precious time. I wish they'd go away and leave the streets empty, so that the rest of us could get on with stuff that's actually important. Then again, maybe that's the point. Maybe they want to make me feel uncomfortable.

  “Good morning,” a two-horned demon says as it slithers past me, grinning with hideous teeth. Its eyes sparkle briefly in the sun. “Nice day, isn't it?”

  I reply in a tongue that it understands, and it seems pleased. As I reach the door to the convenience store, I glance over my shoulder and watch as the demon glides away along the sidewalk. I can't see it properly, because the light all around its body is bright white with flashing, refracting hints of yellow and green and red. It's always really hard to look directly at the demons, but I've learned to see them if I look just slightly to one side. Even then, their eyes still sparkle and glitter.

  “Nice day, isn't it?”

  Those are the words the demon used, but why? What did it mean? I don't know what that particular demon wanted, I mean I don't know what it really wanted, but I think I assuaged its concern for another day. At least it won't come after me, and that's the most important thing. There are so many demons here in Deal, and I know eventually they'll turn on me.

  Just not today.

  Please, not today.

  Still, I can't help tipping my sunglasses down for a moment, so I can see the demon a little better as it disappears around the corner. It's riding a mobility scooter, which seems odd, but I've learned not to question these things too much. Nobody can understand the entirety of the world around them, and only a fool would even try. Better to stick to the things that matter to you, and do them properly. The logic of the demon world is alien to me.

  “You told Doctor Barnaby that you no longer hear voices, or see glitter in the eyes of people around you. Is that right, Liam?”

  “That's right,” I remember telling him. Lying.

  Suddenly the store's door swings open, almost hitting me in the face. Startled, I step back, and another demon comes out carrying a shopping basket. Its eyes are glittering like all the rest.

  “Nice day,” it sneers, grinning the way all these demons grin.

  “Nice day,” I mumble, forcing a smile. Was that convincing? Did I mumble too much? Did the demon even understand what I said?

  Hard to tell, but it heads over to its car regardless, and I watch as it starts loading shoppin
g bags onto the back seat. A moment later, the demon glances at me and smiles again, and I decide to nod politely and wish it a good day, before turning and heading into the store.

  “I think we're going to move ahead with the plan to take you into town for a visit. I think that'd be really good for you, Liam.”

  Hideous music is playing from speakers above the cash register, music with distortions and noise swimming through the crackling hiss. There's a voice in the music, too, wailing about things I don't understand, and I quickly make my way over to one of the displays, hoping to buy myself some time until the incessant warbling comes to an end. I know another song will follow, but if I'm lucky it'll be something a little less horrific. I'll never understand why demons like to fill their world with such terrible, painful sounds.

  “How do you feel about one day leaving Gordonville, Liam? About resuming a life in the community?”

  “Are you okay there?”

  Turning, I realize that the man behind the counter has noticed me. His glittering eyes stare at mine, as if he's studying my reaction. That's one of the biggest problems with these demons. They study you so intently, they watch every crack in how you move, and they exploit any weaknesses they find. They can see everything with those glittery eyes of theirs, and it's taken me a long, long time to figure out how to act calm around them.

  I smile and tell him I'm fine, that I'm just deciding what to buy, and we exchange pleasantries for a moment. I think the conversation goes fairly well, and finally he turns and starts dealing with a customer. Both the server and the customer are demons, but they seem engrossed in their own conversation and I'm able to observe them for a few seconds before I realize that perhaps I'm not being very subtle. Still, it's difficult not to imagine what they'd look like naked and tied down, with their flesh pulled away to expose the glistening muscle and bone beneath.

  “You should get what you came for and leave.”

  “They're disgusting,” I whisper under my breath. “I want to -”

  “You need to get what you came for, and then you need to leave. Now is not the moment to take action.”

  I reach for my gun.

  “Not now, Liam. Later, I promise. But not now. You've been thinking about the past again, haven't you? I told you to stop doing that.”

  “Sorry,” I whisper.

  “Not out loud. Don't talk to me with your mouth. Remember that, Liam.”

  I watch the two demons for a moment later, before realizing that killing them now would only attract the attention of other demons. I'd blow my cover, and then it would be much harder to complete my work. Better to hold my resolve, stay focused, and wait for the day when I can teach them all the error of their ways. That day will come, as surely as the day that I get to see Mom again. Eventually I'll get to walk through this town and kill every last one of these stinking demons.

  “You're still staring. Somebody's liable to notice you soon.”

  Heading around to one of the other parts of the store, I quickly grab a handful of candy before making my way to the counter. I'm sweating a little, but the music is no longer quite so excruciating and I feel a little more composed as I set the candy down. Little things like this, little rituals that I remember from when I was a boy, are pretty easy to fake. People just want a nod and smile, and a few polite words.

  “And how are you doing today?” the man asks as he starts ringing everything up for me.

  I watch as the other demon leaves with her shopping, and then I turn to the man and tell him that I'm fine, and I even remember to ask him whether he's fine in return. He says that he is, and he hopes that might be some rain later. He mentions the dry spell we've been having, and how the forest is suffering. I tell we can only hope for rain, and that we're overdue a break from this heatwave. He agrees that it'd be nice if we got a little shower, and then he mentions something about a football game, which I don't understand at all.

  Someone screams nearby, as if their flesh is being peeled away, but I don't react and neither does the demon. The world can be strange like that. In fact, sometimes I think that ever since I came back to Deal, I'm just surrounded by the weirdest creatures.

  “You're going to leave Gordonville one day, Liam. You're going to be a useful member of society.”

  Twenty-Two

  Ramsey Kopperud

  “Quiet!” a voice hisses from below. “Come down!”

  Startled, I continue to stare down from the top of the ladder, and I see that there's definitely someone standing down in the tunnel, looking up at me. Either that, or I've completely lost my mind and begun to hallucinate.

  “Quick!” she continues, waving at me frantically. “There's not much time! He's looking for you! If you keep shouting like that, he'll be here in minutes! You're lucky he's half blind and all dumb, but even he can find you if you don't stop yelling!”

  I stare at her, but I can't really make out her features from all the way up here. She sounds young, maybe my age or perhaps a little older, and after a moment she waves at me again.

  “He will find you if you stay up there!” she adds. “I'm trying to help you, but we have to hurry! Now get down here before it's too late!”

  “I...”

  For a moment, I'm honestly not sure what to say. This girl's arrival is so sudden, I'm not entirely convinced that she isn't another figment of my imagination. Maybe I really have gone crazy.

  “Who are you?” I stammer finally.

  “I'm the only person who can get you out of this place!” she continues, before turning and looking along one of the tunnels, as if she's heard something. A moment later, she looks up at me again. “If you stay up there, he'll climb up after you, and then there'll be nowhere left for you to run. Every inch he comes closer to you, you'll feel the fear getting stronger. If you're lucky, it'll be the fear that kills you, but if you're not lucky... Listen, I know you want to stay in the light, but that's the worst possible choice right now. You don't even have a marker, you'll be dead in no time. Hurry!”

  “I don't know who you are!”

  “That doesn't matter right now!” She looks along the tunnel again, and then back up at me. “You've got about thirty seconds to make the right decision, or I'm out of here. I'm not risking letting him see me, but I promise you, when he gets here...”

  “I don't -”

  “Just move!” she shouts suddenly, interrupting me, as if she's finally lost patience. “You can't break out through that hole, and you're too far from anywhere for your cries to be heard, so you have to come down! I'll show you a way out, but only if you come right now!”

  I hesitate for a moment, before realizing that maybe she's right. These metal bars are way too strong, and for all I know I might be shouting into a vast, empty area of the forest that stretches for miles and miles in every direction without so much as a living soul nearby. Even though I have no idea whether I can trust the person at the bottom of the ladder, I finally start climbing down. I might have a damaged right hand, but I reckon I can curl a pretty decent hook with my left if I need to defend myself.

  “Hurry!” she hisses. “You were shouting nice and loud! Even he's not that stupid, he'll find you soon!”

  By the time I get back to the foot of the ladder, I can see the girl a little better. She looks dirty and disheveled, wearing clothes that seem like little more than a few layers of torn rags, but I figure I have to at least try trusting her, at least for now. Jumping back down into the tunnel, I land hard on my hands and knees, but I quickly get up and start dusting myself down. My right hand is more painful than ever, but I don't want to show weakness.

  “Are you hurt?” she asks.

  I shake my head.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I'm sure. What's the quickest way out of here?”

  She grabs my arm and pulls me along the tunnel, back into darkness. After just a few paces, I can't see anything up ahead, although I can hear the girl's frantic breaths as she leads me faster and faster. Finally, hearing
a faint scratching sound in the distance, I turn and look back, just in time to see a vague shape clambering up onto the bottom of the ladder and disappearing from view as it rises up through the chimney. For a moment, I feel another flash of fear in my chest, but the sensation passes as I hear the ladder creaking.

  “What the hell was that?” I stammer.

  “Wait!”

  Stopping, I feel the girl grab my left hand in the darkness, and a moment later she presses something sharp against my flesh.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, before pulling my hand away as I feel her cutting my skin. “Is that a knife?”

  “Grow up!” she hisses, grabbing my hand again and making a couple more small cuts. This time, she holds me tight, and I can't pull away. “It'll make it harder for him to find you,” she explains, and then she lets go of my hand. “It's not infallible, but it'll give you an edge until you're out of here. He's caught onto your scent.”

  “I saw something just now,” I tell her. “Something climbed up the ladder.”

  “We need to keep moving!”

  Taking me by the wrist, she starts leading me along the tunnel again, and I can't shake the feeling that she knows exactly which way to go.

  “What is this place?” I ask. “Did you get thrown down here too?”

  “Thrown?”

  “A guy was chasing us,” I continue. “Me and my friend. He was after us, and then I fell, and he sealed the hole and left me to die.”

  “I wouldn't know much about that,” she replies. “I deal with the witch, not the devil, not the people above. I have my job and I stick to it.”

  “There was something down here,” I tell her. “Something was chasing me. Every time it got close, I felt this massive sense of fear that I couldn't push back. It was almost -”

  Suddenly she stops again, so abruptly that I almost slam straight into her.

  “Tell me something,” she continues. “What's your name?”

  “My name?” I pause for a moment. “Ramsey. Why?”