Demon Storm (12 page)

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.

 

T
HE 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, with 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?'

And suddenly Ben knew.

‘That stuff he said, to open the gateway – it's the same as Knight says when he opens the Judgement Box.'

Rupam stared at him like he was mad.

‘Don't you see? The words that Knight uses to seal the box
shut
– they might close the gateway.'

Rupam's mouth dropped open. ‘That's brilliant. So – say the words!'

Now it was Ben's turn to gape. ‘I don't know them – I've only heard him say them a couple of times.'

‘We can close the gateway, but you don't know the words!'

‘No, I don't.' Ben grabbed Rupam's shoulders, staring deep into his friend's eyes. ‘But you do. You must have heard them.'

‘That was years ago,' Rupam protested.

‘It doesn't matter. You heard them once. And you remember everything. Absolutely everything!'

‘Yes,' Rupam said quietly. ‘Yes, I do.' He closed his eyes. ‘I hope I do.'

‘So do I,' Ben murmured.

The darkness had a shape. A second arm was reaching through the gateway into reality. The top of a shaggy horned head – darkness made manifest. Roars of triumph shook the building.

Rupam flung his arms out wide. ‘
Arceo
excludum
coerceo Hades terminus
.'

The change was abrupt and immediate. A mighty wind swept through the chamber. But it was not blowing from the gateway. It was rushing back into it. The force was so strong that Ben grabbed Rupam and together they struggled to stay on their feet.

Daniella Lawton was caught by surprise. Her feet were swept from under her and she was blown across the chamber. She rolled and tumbled, knocking aside candles as she was carried into the circle, struggling to grab hold of something. Her hands scrabbled in vain on the stone floor.

‘The candles are out – the circle's broken,' Rupam was shouting. ‘There's no protection any more. Gemma – you have to get out of there.'

Gemma hurled herself out of the pentacle. Caught in the middle, Endeavour was trying to crawl clear. The darkness was drawing back. The laughter had become roars of pain and anger. A final sudden gust of incredible power lifted Daniella Lawton off the ground – and hurled her into the centre of the darkness.

The whole of the cellar filled with a flare of red light.

Then there was silence.

Stillness.