Alice Isn't Well (Death Herself Book 1) (20 page)

“Wait...” Alice paused, feeling a sudden sense of panic as she looked around. Evening shadows were starting to fall across the tarmac, and she suddenly felt exposed, as if she shouldn't really be outside at all. Instinctively, she took a step back.

“You can't run away from this,” Hannah told her. “You even died last time, and it still followed you.”

“What followed me?” she asked cautiously.

“The demon. It folded itself into your soul and it followed you through the reincarnation process like some kind of parasite.”

Alice shook her head.

“It was inside you until recently,” Hannah continued. “It used to be happy hanging in the air above London, enjoying the war, but something's changed. It's more ambitious now and we have to make sure it goes back where it came from. A loose demon is never a good thing. They tend to be very single-minded usually, they pick something and they keep at it, but this one has started to let his mind wander. He's looking for a new hobby and that's when they're really dangerous.”

“Wait,” Alice replied, “hold up a moment. Demons? Reincarnation? None of this is possible.”

“Don't you remember the good old days?” Hannah asked. “Well, they weren't exactly good, but you know what I mean. The miserable, painful days.” She paused. “Do you remember the plane that hit your house and killed your mother? Your previous mother, anyway.”

Alice nodded.

“And do you remember the dead pilot we found and sent on to the next world?”

“I do.”

“And do you remember the monastery? And the flames? And all the things those nuns did to you while they were trying to exorcise the demon the first time?”

Alice paused, before nodding again.

“All those things really happened,” Hannah continued. “They happened to a little girl named Wendy who I tried and failed to save, and that little girl eventually came back as a girl named Alice, who grew up with a demon still curled up inside her. I know what happened to you ten years ago, when the police officer died. That was when the demon first stirred in your current body. Sewing you shut was a crude attempt to keep himself hidden, but no-one ever said demons were particularly smart. The thing is, he's not going to leave you alone.”

“And he's inside me right now?”

“No, he's not inside you right now. He left your body ten years ago, but he'll be back. We have to go and find him, and we have to stop him. Properly, this time. Fortunately, I've had several decades to think about how to do it, and I've got a solution. We just need to go to him.”

“Where is he?”

Hannah paused. “Where do you think?”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I liked it better when it was a monastery,” Hannah muttered a couple of hours later, as they finally reached the old Barton's Cross shopping mall. “Then again, I tend to be something of a traditionalist.”

Night had fallen and the huge, abandoned building was shrouded in darkness. Even the spotlights, which usually kept the perimeter illuminated to deter intruders, had been left off, and as Alice followed Hannah past the main gate, she couldn't help noticing that the porta-cabin's lights were off too.

“Coincidences wrapped in other coincidences,” Hannah continued, looking up at the building. “Or were they? Do you think it was a coincidence, Alice, that after being released from hospital, you ended up being placed here at Barton's Cross, the site where you died in your previous life?”

“Did you arrange it?”

“I might have helped arrange certain aspects of those coincidences,” Hannah replied with a faint smile. “It's one of my special skills. I had to steer you slowly to where I needed you to be so I could sort out this mess. Then again, coincidence is just a word that humans use to describe forces they don't understand.”

“I need to find Donald,” Alice continued, heading over to the porta-cabin. “He knows all about the history of this place, I should have listened to him right from the start.” Pulling the door open, she hurried inside. “Donald, are you -”

Stopping suddenly, she saw that he was sitting at his desk, with his head tilted back and a thick, bloody cut running across his throat. Blood had run down onto his uniform, and more had sprayed across the nearby wall. Unable to stop staring for a moment, Alice stepped closer, her eyes wide with shock as she looked down at his pale, dead face. Finally she turned away, just as Hannah reached the door and saw the scene.

“The demon's definitely here, then,” Hannah said darkly. “Braxatel. That's his name, if you were wondering. Those nuns got it wrong. I'm sure they tried their best, but there's an art to identifying a demon, they very rarely announce themselves. Trust me, knowing a demon's true name is a real help. It's one of their few weaknesses.”

Putting her hands over her face, Alice felt her whole body starting to shake.

“I take it,” Hannah continued, staring at Donald for a moment, “that this guy was a friend of yours?”

“Why would someone do this?” Alice asked, trying to stay calm. “He was completely harmless, he was just... Donald!”

“Demons don't need a reason to kill,” Hannah said, making her way over and looking down at Donald for a moment, before gently closing his dead eyes. “They need a reason
not
to kill. Plus, this one probably wanted to get a little practice in. If it's any consolation, your friend Donald seems to have passed on successfully to the next life. I can look him up later if you like, and tell you how he's doing, but I don't see any scorch marks so I'm pretty sure there were no complications.” She turned and saw that Alice was still looking away. “Braxatel is a fire demon and he's drawn to war,” she explained. “Wherever he goes, conflict and suffering follow. If he's decided to hang around in London for a while, he'll bring misery trailing in his wake. Coincidences, again. He'll arrange lots of little coincidences that'll slowly deliver war right here to this city.”

“It's insane,” Alice replied. “All of this insane, but you talk about it as if it's real.”

“It
is
real.”

“So what are you?” Alice asked, turning to her. “You know all this stuff about demons, you don't seem to age, you talk about things that don't even seem possible, and at the same time you act like a complete idiot sometimes. None of this stuff seems to phase you, you act like it's nothing out of the ordinary!” She paused, with tears in her eyes. “Hannah, what
are
you?”

“I've been around for a while,” Hannah said cautiously.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning... Death is usually pretty stable. People die, they go to where they're supposed to go, but every so often there's a kink in the system, something goes wrong, and so someone has to drop by and put it right.”

Alice stared at her. “And that's you?”

Hannah nodded.

“Which makes you... what, some kind of...” She swallowed hard. “I can't believe I'm even saying this, but are you some kind of angel?”

A smile crossed Hannah's lips. “No, I'm not some kind of angel. I just have a role to play in the way things happen. Sometimes the wheels of the universe need a quick kick to make sure they turn properly, and that's what I am. I'm a kicker.” She looked back down at Donald for a moment, before turning and heading to the door. “An angel? Seriously? In what universe could someone like me be an angel? If you're going to try coming up with ideas, at least try to stay within the realms of plausibility.” She stopped and looked out, staring at the shopping mall nearby. “He's in there. We have to go and find him.”

“Is it safe?” Alice asked.

“No, it's not safe.” She glanced over her shoulder. “He's a demon from the fifth, maybe even sixth circle of Hell. He's mad and he's missing the carnage he usually enjoys, but this time, instead of traveling the world to observe wars where they happen to break out, he's going to bring a big one crashing into the heart of London. I mean, wars pop up everywhere from time to time without demonic intervention, but this guy is going to incite one that's a thousand times worse. Plus, last time we faced him he burned down an entire orphanage, so no, it's not safe. I can't even tell you it's going to be okay, because I said that last time and then you ended up dying. Still, I need you, because through a series of coincidences – there's that word again – this demon is linked to you, and I can use that fact to my advantage.” She paused. “This isn't the time to get scared, Alice. This is the time to be braver than you ever thought possible.”

Alice shook her head.

“Follow me,” Hannah continued, turning and stepping out of the porta-cabin. Keeping her eyes fixed on the dark shopping mall, she headed toward the main door, finally stopping when she was only a few feet away. She paused for a moment, before turning and seeing that Alice was just a few paces behind.

“What choice do I have?” Alice asked, sniffing back tears. “Whether this is really happening or not... I can't hide, can I?”

“No,” Hannah replied, stepping forward and pulling the main door open, finding to her surprise that the padlock had already been broken, “you can't hide.” Slipping into the darkness, she made her way across the dirty floor before finally reaching the huge, dark atrium, lit only by moonlight streaming through a domed ceiling several levels up. Stopping in the middle, she turned and looked around at the vastness of the place, turning a little more until finally she felt slightly dizzy and had to stop.

“So this was built right on top of the old monastery?” Alice asked as she caught up.

“Symbolic, huh?” Hannah asked with a faint smile, before cupping her hands around her mouth and looking up again. “Echo!” she shouted, and sure enough her voice echoed all around. “Echo!”

“Hey!” Alice hissed, nudging her shoulder. “Shouldn't we be quiet? If you shout like that, he's going to know we're here.”

“He already knows,” Hannah replied, taking a few more steps forward and looking at the bare balconies above. “He's most likely watching us from one of the many, many shadows. He's a demon and he's new to all of this, but he's not dumb. He knows to be careful around me.”

“How would he know that?”

“I guess my reputation precedes me. At least among demons, anyway.”

“Why would -”

“Hello!” Hannah shouted, her voice echoing once again. “Why don't we make this easy? Let's talk about things sensibly and see if we can come to some kind of understanding. You can't keep on like this, you know you can't. I won't allow it.”

“You won't allow it?” Alice whispered.

“I won't.”

“But are you sure he's still here? Maybe he's already left again.”

“What's wrong? Scared?”

Alice turned to her. “Well... Yes.”

“I guess that's only natural,” Hannah continued, heading over to one of the broken escalators and starting to make her way up. She looked around, seeing an abandoned birthday store and then an abandoned clothes shop, both with boxes of old merchandise that had been left behind. “The first time you met him, he killed you, which is pretty definitive. The second time, he killed a load of nuns and orphans, which is textbook villainy, it could only have been worse if there'd been a box of puppies in the room at the same time.” Stopping at the top of the escalator, she started jumping up and down, causing the escalator's metal steps to clang loudly and echo throughout the abandoned mall. “Braxatel!” she shouted. “Come on! Why are you hiding away like some kind of goddamn pussy!”

“Do you really think you should say things like that to him?” Alice hissed, hurrying up the escalators after her. “You might make him angry.”

“Damn straight, I'll make him angry,” Hannah muttered, walking to a nearby balcony and leaning over, looking first down at the atrium below and then up at the glass domed ceiling high above. “Are you a de-man or a de-mouse?” she called out, before turning to Alice. “That didn't quite work, did it? I thought it'd be funnier but -”

Before she could finish, they both turned to look at the next set of escalators as they heard a faint banging sound from the next level up. The sound was gone in an instant, but it had sounded like someone bumping into a wall.

“Was that him?” Alice whispered.

“Only one way to find out,” Hannah replied, making her way over to the next escalator and hurrying up, taking two steps at a time until she reached the next level. “Hey, Alice,” she called out, “stay down there for a moment, will you?”

“Why?” Alice asked, panicking a little at the idea of being alone, even for a moment.

“Humor me.”

“But why?” Looking around, she realized she could barely see anything in the darkness, other than the edge of the balconies picked out by patches of moonlight.

“Humor me,” Hannah said again. “And trust me. Have I ever let you down? Apart from the time I got you killed, obviously.”

Stepping over to the balcony, Alice looked out across the vast atrium. Back when she'd started working as a security guard, she'd immediately felt as if something was 'off' with the mall, but now she was staring to wonder whether the things she was experiencing were really happening. Was it possible, she wondered, that she was still strapped into a chair at the hospital, ready for her next round of ECT? Or had the fantasy started earlier? Had she ever actually been released from hospital in the first place, or had her mind deteriorated until she lived only in dreams and shadows? Looking around at the nearby balconies, she realized she had no idea how to tell what was real.

And then she saw him.

Her heart froze for a moment as she realized there was a figure standing in the shadows behind the opposite balcony, watching her. As she squinted, she realized that although she couldn't make out his face beyond a vague shape and two dark eyes, she could tell that his whole body seemed to be blurry, almost as if, like his voice, his body was trapped in an eternal echo. Instantly, she knew it was the same figure she'd encountered ten years ago in her parents' house.

“Hannah!” she shouted, taking a step back while keeping her eyes fixed on the figure, too scared to look away. “I see him!”

She waited.

No reply.

Turning, she looked toward the escalator.

“Hannah!” she called out, before turning back to see that the figure had disappeared from the other balcony. Looking at the darkness all around, she realized he could be anywhere and that unless he crossed a patch of moonlight, she wouldn't be able to see him until he was close.

She took another step back.

“Hannah!” she shouted. “He's here!”

Bumping against the wall, she spun around, half expecting to find the echoey figure right behind her. Turning again, she looked around and saw no-one, but she knew he must be watching her. Finally, she hurried back to the escalator and bounded up until she reached the next level.

“Hannah!” she shouted, looking all around. “Where are you?”

She waited again.

Silence.

Her heart was racing as she made her way to the balcony and leaned over. She frantically looked at the other balconies for some hint of Hannah's presence, or the figure again, before glancing down at the empty atrium and then back over her shoulder, just to make certain that no-one could sneak up on her. Swallowing hard, she took a step forward, before spotting movement in the shadows nearby. She froze, watching as a figure lingered in the darkness.

“Hannah?” she asked, hoping against hope that she wouldn't have to face the figure alone. “If that's you, this isn't funny. You need to -”

Before she could finish, the figure stepped forward, shimmering slightly in the moonlight. With a pale, echoing face and two dark, deep eyes, he stared straight at her.

“What do you want from me?” she whispered, desperate to run but too scared to turn her back even for a second. “What do you want?” she shouted, backing against the edge of the balcony. “Why can't you just -”

Before she could finish, she felt a flash of memory burst into her thoughts: she remembered being back at her parents' house ten years ago, with her mouth and eyes sewn shut, fumbling through the darkness. There had been an echoing voice, too, whispering into her ear: