The Deal (20 page)

‘
You’ve been living in that human
shell for way too long. Yes, he does have power. At this
stage,
he could imprison you, but there is nothing else beyond that
Samuel. That’s about all he can do to you now. I suspect after
today even that will be impossible for him,’ said Gabriel. At long
last he stepped away from the tin and this time he motioned for me
to open it.

There was no way I was going to wait for
another chance. My hands trembled a little, due to the fear of the
still unknown, as I prised the lid off.

Disappointment welled inside me as I looked
inside and saw the tiny key; most likely for a padlock of some
ancient description. I reached out and grabbed it anyway. It wasn’t
in that tin for any old reason, so I assumed that if nothing else
it might lead me to another part of the building.

‘
What do you mean after today?’ I
asked, examining the key and noticing nothing of great importance
about it.

‘
I can’t say too much. I’m not
allowed to divulge the fate of a human, but what I can tell you is
that as long as that Grimoyle upstairs doesn’t get its hands on
you, you will find what you’re looking for. When that
happens
your
power will have returned and there will be
nothing Satan can do to you.’

I slipped the key into the nearest pocket I
could find.

‘
Okay, I’m willing to play along
with this. So, say I do survive the day and find what I’m not even
sure what I’m looking for, what happens next Gabriel. What would be
the next steps for me?’ I wasn’t angry anymore, just frustrated. I
wanted all this nonsense to stop.

I watched the Angel as he took another few
steps away from me, looking thoughtful instead of playful this
time. There was a hint of seriousness burning across his
face.

‘
Well, Pertilius will be obligated
under the rules of the sacred scripture to inform Satan that there
is someone capable of unseating him from the throne,’ said the
Angel, hesitant to go any further.

‘
And then what?’ I
prodded.

‘
Well, in your language, I think
the best way to describe it would be that you will have to go toe
to toe with Satan. It will be a one on one fight between you and
him. If you want to win then you have to take his soul and make it
part of yours once again.’

Now I understood why he was so hesitant to
carry on. The devil in a human body didn’t look too impressive, not
to me anyway, but I was well aware of the power and the centuries
he’s had wielding it. There was no way I could win that fight even
with all the sacred artefacts in the world.

‘
There is absolutely no way I
could win that fight, no matter what you have to say,’ I said,
feeling my anger rise once again.

Gabriel offered me that same smarmy smile he
always seemed to wear when he knew better than us mere humans. I
hated him for acting so pompous but next to Satan and God he was
one of the most powerful beings I knew and I really couldn’t afford
to make any more enemies.

‘
Well,’ he said, ‘one way or
another Samuel that fight is coming. And I for one will be watching
you very closely to see how you do. It would be great to have the
old Beelzebub back, and show his seeds just how a good ruler should
be.’

‘
I guess you will have to wait for
that day then,’ I said, feeling bitter at being in such a
position.

‘
Yeah, and it will be a short
one,’ said the angel as he vanished into thin air and left me
standing there alone.

I suddenly felt very hollow inside. As if I
was just an empty shell walking around on a planet that seems to be
losing its sanity by the day. I guessed it was logical enough given
my current mission to find out the real story of my wife Lisa, that
at some point I was going to have to face Satan.

I doubted that I would be strong
enough to beat him but with the new power being bestowed upon me by
the artefacts I felt like I did at least have a fighting chance. It
was the thought of Lisa, her beautiful smile hanging at the front
of my mind
as
a constant reminder as to why I was there, that
brought me back to reality.

I glanced around the vast, empty
room, half expecting to find another unwanted surprise. After a
second of watching and
waiting,
I decided that the rest of the
folks from the other realms had decided I wasn’t worth any more
attention.

I turned my attention to the door beyond the
nurses’ station. It led to a set of stairs which in turn would lead
me further up on to the upper levels of the building. My stomach
knotted a little as I thought of the Grimoyle, which had come so
close to catching me, wondering around up there, no doubt it would
be pissed off.

I gave the hall one last glance before pulling
open the door and heading up the narrow and winding stairwell. It
was time to find out what the small key in my pocket would
unlock.

I took every step with caution and
could mentally hear myself breathe a sigh of relief as I reached
the final one and stepped out
onto
the
first-floor
landing.

Breathing as shallow as possible,
I glanced up and down the landing looking for any signs of the big
winged demon. I knew he had been there on the floor at some
point
because I could see gouge marks on the walls where the bones
from his wings had been scraping against the walls.

Tracing the figure eight on my wrist once
again, I could feel a strange tingling sensation course through my
body as the magic that was keeping me invisible to the demon
retreated and I was vulnerable once again.

I had figured that if Gabriel was right, and I
was going to have to face Satan in a death match that would
probably be the quickest in history, then I might as well give him
a good enough reason.

The problem
now,
though, was
sneaking around the Grimoyle which I could sense was nearby. I was
certain that it would be able to smell my presence soon enough as I
turned left and headed towards the first set of wards.

All of the upper floors, as I would soon find
out, had been pretty much destroyed by the winged demon. The metal
beds in the wards had been crushed with extreme force. Cabinets had
been smashed against the floors and walls. Anything else that
wasn’t nailed down took the brunt of the large demons’
temper.

It was looking for something, and
until recently, it had been unable to find it. I could understand
its frustration in my own
way
since I too was looking
for something that I couldn’t seem to find.

Turning away from the first ward, I ignored
the second and carried on along the landing until I reached another
set of stairs leading up to the next floor. I listened to the air
around me, trying to pick out any sounds or noises that would give
away the demons position.

I could hear nothing, but I could still feel
its presence. It was lurking somewhere, waiting, hoping to surprise
me most likely. I could only hope that I could find the room I was
looking for and the information I needed before it had a chance to
get me.

There was one more
ward
on that floor before I got to the next set of stairs. I
glanced through the ragged hole which had been punched through one
of the doors.

I grimaced in disgust as I saw a set of legs,
still wearing grey trousers, laying in the middle of the floor
amongst the wrecked furniture. Blood was splattered everywhere and
it looked as if the victim had not suffered a short death at the
hands of the Grimoyle. Who he had been was anyone’s guess now, but
I figured it could have been one of the doctors who thought they
could merge satanic power with insanity.

Neither one of them, it would seem, was
mutually exclusive.

Still keeping my senses open to the Grimoyle,
I turned my attention back to the stairwell and carried on up
towards the next and last of the three floors. When I rounded the
last step I stopped dead in my tracks and held my
breath.

I could see the ribbed spikes of the
Grimoyle’s back as it grunted its way towards the far end of the
hallway. Its wings gouged long track marks into the wall, concrete
dust pouring to the floor.

Beyond the huge
demon,
I could see another ward, which probably didn’t look that
much different to the others I had visited. There was a hidden room
somewhere in the building, on the upper floors and I needed to find
it. I somehow doubted that access to it would be via the wards.
That would be too obvious.

But then again, sometimes hiding something in
plain site was the easiest way to go. The problem for me was
getting past the Grimoyle. I knew if it came to it, I could beat
the creature, but finding one of his winged servants dead in the
asylum would probably raise a lot of alarm bells for the dark lord
and no doubt I would be the first one on his list of
suspects.

Sneaking past it did not look like
much of an
option,
though. So there was a good
chance I was going to have to fight it and get it over
with.

I snuck down the hallway behind the winged
creature, keeping my breathing as shallow as I possibly could,
which made my head pulse hard with my own heartbeat.

There was a crash as the demon slammed its way
through the doors leading to the large ward where the variously
mentally ill would be housed for safe keeping, away from the good
citizens of the city.

The beds and other furniture in
this ward seemed to be in pretty good condition, unlike the
wards
below, and I noticed there was a privacy curtain surrounding
separating two of the beds just a few feet away from me. It was
flimsy but could provide the cover I needed.

As the Grimoyle moved to the
centre of the room, I quickly
tip-toed
over to the curtain
and stood behind it, unsure if my shadow would
still be
visible
through the thin material.

Beads of sweat formed a thick
layer on my forehead as I listened to the Grimoyle grunt with
anger. Without
warning,
a steel bed flew through the
air, as the creature back swiped it with its large hand.

There was a thunderous crash as
the bed crumpled against the wall behind me and I cringed as it
pierced my already throbbing head. Through a small gap in
the
curtain,
I could see the creature turn to face my
direction.

The sweat on my forehead ran down
my cheeks and dripped from the tip of my nose like I had
just
run
a marathon. If it could see my shadow it wasn’t
showing any signs that it could.

The massive creature stood there
for what felt like an eternity, probably paying attention to every
nuance that the room had to offer its senses. Then it started
walking towards me and I could instinctively feel my hands
clench
into
fists as it got closer and closer.

I was ready to take a swing at it when it
suddenly swivelled on its heels and headed back towards the
hallway, crashing through the ward doors once more. I stepped away
from the curtain and watched its back as it disappeared into the
darkness of the far end of the landing.

Allowing myself to breathe once
again, I stepped away from the curtain and took a look at the rest
of the ward. A lot of the beds I saw
were
in really good order,
with pristine white sheets still covering their
mattresses.

There
were
no victims of the
angry demon to be found in the ward. No blood or gore. Just a
simple, totalitarian cleanliness that even
today's
modern
hospitals couldn’t compete with. Still lingering near the privacy
curtain like it could protect me from the winged beast, I glanced
around looking for anything that may seem out of place.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I
should be looking
for
since the room had remained hidden
for so many years. I happened to glance up at the
whitewashed
wall in front of me, unsure what to expect. It
was as if some sort of invisible hands had grabbed my chin and
forced me to look in that direction.

The problem was I couldn’t see anything. There
was no signs or magic symbols that would point the way in a strange
mystical way. There was only a few hairline cracks up near the
ceiling, which I guessed was normal for a building of its
age.

Feeling disappointed, I was about
to turn my attention elsewhere when my eyes adjusted to the
whiteness of the wall and I could start to see something shining
through the paint.
At
first,
I thought it was just my tired mind
trying to find something that wasn’t there, but as I kept on
studying the shape it quickly became apparent what it was I looking
at.