Angel's Fury (24 page)

He whimpered like a whipped dog and inside me Kurt sneered. Fiercely I pushed him to the back of my mind. Then I remembered Bunny.

I pulled the toy from my jacket and his ears flopped comically. I stroked his nose with my thumb and took a deep breath. ‘Lenny, I’m going to throw something down to you. It might help. Can you catch?’ I swallowed. ‘His name’s Bunny.’

Beside me Pandra snickered, but I ignored her. I took careful aim and half threw, half dropped Bunny into the hole. Dirt puffed as he landed. Lenny hadn’t even tried to catch him.

Feiger hund
.

Cowardly dog.

‘Shut up.’ I closed my eyes for a second to orient myself, then bent over the hole so I could see better. ‘Lenny, that’s Bunny next
to you. Pick him up for me. He’s special. He’ll look after you while I think.’

Slowly the boy’s fist closed round Bunny’s leg and drew him in. He kept his face turned towards me, but brought Bunny up underneath his chin, just as I used to. ‘There you go. Hold on.’

I turned to Pandra. ‘How do I get him out?’

‘Get him out?’ She looked genuinely confused.

‘You weren’t going to just leave him in there . . . were you?’ But even as I said it I knew the answer. I rubbed my hand over my face. ‘This has gone far enough. We have to fix this. The Doctor’s poisoning our minds.’

If anything, Pandra relaxed even more and her casual attitude prompted the voice in my head.

Just leave him there. The
opfer.
Teach him a lesson
.

‘Shut up.’ This time I almost screamed and the torchlight jumped as I punched the air, unable to silence Kurt’s voice.

Pandra’s lips twitched and she leaned forward as if scenting a delicious waft. ‘You are pretty close to where I am, aren’t you? Can you feel him, just there.’ She tapped her forehead just above her right eye. ‘Lenny’s weak. He doesn’t deserve to be called a man.’

‘You’re right, he isn’t a man . . . He’s a boy. A scared little boy.’ I spat the words through gritted teeth but, against my will, my left foot inched towards the wall. Tendons in my neck ached as I fought for control of my own swaying body. ‘You don’t believe this, Pandra,’ I rasped. ‘It’s Stephenson talking.’

Her shoulders jerked. ‘How do you know about Stephenson?’ Then she waved her hand. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ve been trying to tell you . . . there isn’t any difference between us any more – I am Stephenson. I’m going to take over where he left off.’

‘That’s not going to happen,’ I lied. Already I knew how easy it would be to let Kurt’s beliefs just take me over. His revulsion for Lenny was tearing me apart.

Then I remembered something. Kurt was drawn towards Stephenson because of their shared hatreds: a Grand Dragon and a Nazi, natural partners. But he was in my head and I knew there was more to Kurt than that. With a massive effort I forced my body to swing round and, with a silent apology to Lenny, lifted the torch from his face and held it on the bodies of the animals ranged on the upper ledge.

‘There.’ I tossed the word towards the presence that lurked behind my eyes. ‘What do you think of that?’ I forced myself to
look at the remains, which revealed Stephenson’s love of pain. The rabbits had ligature marks on their legs and necks; the remains of the terrier were burnt.

Every
part of me united in revulsion.

Swiftly I placed the torch on the edge of the hole and removed my jacket.

I didn’t stop there. I stripped off my cardigan, my thick shirt and my T-shirt. I kicked off my trainers and unzipped my jeans. Finally I stood shivering in my underwear.

‘What’re you doing?’ Pandra frowned.

‘Making a rope.’ I knelt before the pile and lifted my jeans and shirt. I tied one arm of the shirt to the jeans, fingers fumbling as I worked the material into a large knot. Then I did the same to link each item of clothing.

Pandra held out her hand. ‘Wait.’ Her eyes glittered wildly in the drifts of light that swept into the cave. ‘Don’t do this. It’s an opportunity for you as well.’

My eyebrows shot up. ‘An opportunity for what? Juvie?’

Pandra shook her head. ‘The little crybaby ran away last night with the rest of us, they’ll all testify to that. You can say you thought he was with me, but that you found me alone. Everyone
will think he went off on the moor by himself. This is my secret place. No one will ever find him.’

She’s thought it all through
.

My skin pimpled and not just because of the cold; it wanted to crawl round to the back of my spine.

I cast a glance towards the hole where Lenny waited to hear his fate.

‘Pandra . . .’ I began, but she stopped me with a jerk of her hand that I could barely see.

‘Listen,’ she spoke urgently, her eyes shining now with near-religious fervour. ‘Every time I kill something my dreams get easier. They aren’t gone yet, but that’s because I’m only killing dumb animals. If you join me, your nightmares won’t be so bad. I promise.’

I remained crouching, but made no move towards my make-shift rope.

‘Don’t you want that?’ she wheedled. ‘I know I do. I want to make the nightmares stop and this’ll do it. The Doctor told me.’

I clenched my fists. ‘The Doctor can’t be trusted.’

Pandra shook her head like a dog shaking off water. ‘I thought about it all night and all I know is if she’s found a way to take the
nightmares away I don’t care what she really wants from us . . . or who I have to become.’ She started to slide across the floor like a gorgon on a serpent’s tail. ‘It’s working, Cassie. Don’t you want to lead a normal life? Isn’t that why you’re here?’

A shudder rippled through me and I heard a faint whisper.

I shook my head. ‘Not like this.’

S
uddenly a familiar voice shattered the silence. ‘It seems we’re having a party.’

Pandra’s teeth flashed white. ‘I thought you weren’t coming.’

Pandra told me the Doctor didn’t know where this place was. She lied
.

I felt like a hare in one of Pandra’s traps. Hoping the two of them would be distracted for a moment I groped behind me for the dropped branch.

If the Doctor is Azael, what use is a branch going to be?

Yet as my fingers closed round the club my confidence bloomed. It wasn’t a 98k, but part of me knew what to do with it. I drew my arm towards me as the Doctor stalked into the space, bringing in with her a deeper darkness.

‘Good morning, Cassie.’ She moved to the highest part of the cave and unfolded. Dust shimmered on to her shoulders as her head brushed the ceiling.

I tightened my grip on the stick. ‘We have to get Lenny out of the hole,’ I whispered.

The Doctor’s eyes glimmered. ‘You put the boy in the hole, Pandra?’ Her tone wasn’t censorious, but curious, as if Pandra had performed an interesting trick. ‘Well?’ she snapped.

Pandra cringed. She looked just like a dog; her whole body strained to go towards her master for a pat.

‘How were you going to kill him?’

I blinked. A naive part of me had hoped the Doctor wouldn’t actually let any of us die; after all she thought we were Shemhazai’s sons. Her words drowned that hope and, despite the chill, sweat dampened my bare skin.

Pandra edged towards the Doctor. ‘I thought if I left him down there it would last longer. I figured the longer it lasted the better my nightmares would get.’

The Doctor pressed her fingers together as if she still sat behind her desk. ‘Interesting.’ She nodded in the direction of the torch-lit depths. ‘You came up with this by yourself. You are very close to complete emergence.’

I repeated myself like a damaged doll. ‘W-we have to get him out of the hole.’

The Doctor turned to me. ‘I think not . . . Let’s leave him there and see what happens. We’ll need another subject, however: one to torture. Then we can compare results.’ Her eyes burned into mine and my heart raced. Then she laughed. ‘I wouldn’t do that to you, Cassie, you’re progressing remarkably well.’

Pandra completed her slither to the Doctor’s side. ‘She was a
Nazi
, Doctor.’

The Doctor sucked air through her teeth. ‘She’s accepted it then?’

Pandra nodded.

‘Interesting. Kurt is also very close to the surface.’ She looked at me like a subject on a lab bench. ‘Your break-out means there is a clutch of children who have made significantly less progress wandering around on those dangerous moors. Lenny is already missing; if another disappeared, I’d be blamed for my lax security, but nothing more.’

I gaped and the Doctor turned to Pandra. ‘I’ll take Cassie back to the Manor. She’ll be confined to her room while she undergoes treatment. You can continue here with your experiment and I’ll send the nurses out to bring back one of the others.’ She turned to me. ‘See? The party’s just beginning.’

‘No.’ I lifted the branch like a shield. ‘I won’t go with you . . . We know what you are.’

An expression of benevolent confusion crossed the Doctor’s face. ‘What am I?’

‘W-we found your book.’

The Doctor hesitated and for a second her poise cracked. Her fists clenched. ‘My book?’

‘Yes.’ I took a deep breath. ‘Azael.’

The strange syllables dropped like rocks into the heavy silence. Then the Doctor spread her hands. ‘You think I’m
Azael
? My dear, that book is a work of fiction, nothing more.’ Her laugh shivered in the dank air. ‘You do need my help. Come back to Mount Hermon and we’ll talk.’

‘I won’t go anywhere with you. Your
therapy
is destroying us.’

The Doctor looked disappointed, as if I was behaving like a stubborn child. ‘You took part in that experiment; you know my techniques work.’ She leaned down. ‘Consider how well you’d sleep if you joined Pandra. Wouldn’t you like some rest?’

My head ached terribly. God, I was tempted. The branch vibrated as an irresistible wave of dizzy exhaustion washed over me. In the hole Lenny whimpered and my dislike for him spiked.

Why shouldn’t I use him to save my own sanity?

But then I thought of Seth.

What would he think if I didn’t try to help Lenny? And what about me? If I don’t help Lenny, his death’ll haunt me just like Zillah’s
.

I lifted my head. ‘Pandra . . . she’s trying to turn us into killers.’

The Doctor tutted. ‘You know, Cassie, I don’t
have
to keep you alive. You can join Lenny in the hole.’ She licked her lips then continued. ‘I can get you in your next life.’

My heart skipped as if her words had electrocuted me. The Doctor had as good as admitted she was Azael.

I tightened my fist round the branch. ‘You might not find me again,’ I muttered desperately.

‘Oh, I’d find you. Each lifetime you’re drawn together.’ She leaned towards me. ‘And once I’ve used the dreams to identify you I’ll pit you against your brothers, just as I always have, until only the strongest remain.’ Her smile made me feel as if I was drowning in sewage. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Cassie, you’re almost always one of the last sons standing. One lifetime very soon you’ll be strong enough to do my work.’

Only willpower was keeping me crouching upright. My legs
trembled. ‘But there’re only eight of us. The book said there were two hundred sons.’

‘Then there are only eight of you at this stage. Right now, of course, you have older siblings operating elsewhere.’ She showed her teeth. ‘A number of you died in Iraq. Some of you are too young to come to me yet, others are on their way.’ In the darkness her perfect face was demonic. ‘You would have met them over the course of your life.’ Her smile widened. ‘If you had any left.’

I’ll be starting all over again. She’ll be able to make me into whatever she wants. I won’t recognise her . . . or Seth, or Pandra. Maybe next time he’ll be the one to hurt me. Or I might kill him again
.

No.

My arm moved and I swung my weapon towards her legs. ‘
Also bitte
.’ Take that.

The Doctor screeched as the branch connected with her right shin. I pulled back and blood splashed into the dust. But before I could raise my hand again, Pandra landed on my back.

‘You’re ruining everything,’ she snarled.

I screamed, dropped the weapon and tried to throw her off. We both rolled towards the hole.

‘Cassie?’ The voice penetrated the booming surf of terror in my ears.

It’s Seth
.

Relief snatched my attention and Pandra landed a blow on my injured cheek. My head smacked into the floor and the world swam.

I spat blood and tried to wriggle from beneath the bigger girl, but she trapped my wrist against the ground and twisted. I howled as I felt my bones grind together.

She’s going to break my hand
.

The Doctor rose to her full height and turned towards the cave entrance. ‘Mr Alexander, go back to the Manor. You aren’t welcome here.’

‘I bet.’

Seth ducked into the cave and the Doctor drew a sharp breath. ‘I have patients here, Mr Alexander. This is a therapy session.’

Using one hand Pandra gagged me. At the same time she jammed her elbow on to my arm to keep it pinned. Frantically I shook my head; I had to speak to Seth. Finally, brutally, I bit her palm.

Wailing like a banshee Pandra pulled her skin from my teeth. ‘Lenny’s in the hole,’ I choked.

In the dim light the whites of Seth’s eyes glowed, and he barged past the Doctor. ‘A therapy session?’

Then, with a snarl, Pandra pressed her forearm into my throat and I lost sight of him. Orange stars burst behind my eyes. I couldn’t get Pandra off my bruised chest and I couldn’t breathe past her weight.

Her eyebrow stud glittered like a supernova. Dreamlike I reached up with my free hand and caught the silver ball. Instantly her eyes widened but I ignored her plea and tugged. Her blood sprayed across my face.

Again she shrieked and Seth pulled her off me by her armpits. I rolled to my knees, clutched my throat and groped for the fallen branch.

‘Get Lenny out,’ I gasped. ‘I made a rope.’ I indicated the pile of clothes.