“This mountain is so formed that it is always wearisome when one begins the ascent, but becomes easier the higher one climbs.”
― Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio
The silence of the room was broken by long raspy breaths. Someone was standing by the bed, watching me through the gloomy darkness. The large windows were shaded with thick red curtains, and it’d been an hour since the sun hid itself behind the horizon. The creature in this room most likely had taken Natasha’s body; I felt her human heart still beating wildly in her chest. Her face was hidden by the hood, somehow deformed, twisted at a strange angle. A wave of frigid air blasted me when I shut the door behind me. The creature that possessed this human’s body was desperate to tap into my demonic energy. I wondered how it escaped from the underworld. In theory the Watchers were meant to keep an eye on unofficial entrances to earth, but that didn’t quite work in practice.
Suddenly her appearance shifted, and she turned into a pretty woman with long curly blond hair, a perfect small nose and long bare legs. The ugly hood disappeared, and was replaced by a silky pink dressing gown. The creature that now stood in front of me was an A’rea, a mythological being, a female demon of curses. Centuries ago these creatures were worshipped by Lucifer.
They used to be in charge of dying humans, but things got out of control quickly enough. The A’reas had suddenly possessed too much freedom and began using their powers to feed on the human’s souls, playing with curses, and placing them randomly on innocent beings just because they could. They were doomed years later and sent to the pits when Lucifer discovered their insubordination. The funny thing was that I never believed that A’reas were real, well, not until now, which was ironic when you think most people don’t think I exist either.
“I was waiting for you, hoping that you would take me to the boy,” said the A’rea, using Natasha’s body to communicate with me. I had a slim chance of saving her, but still a chance. The A’rea was feeding on Natasha’s soul, but her life essence was slowly fading. I should have gotten here quicker. Then things would have been different, if only I hadn’t been waylaid by Arthur.
Bits of her flesh were damaged, and I could see the parts of her cells breaking down, in some places revealing bare bones. This creature must have been hiding here for days, using Natasha’s body to walk around London, to spy on humans. The Watchers must have been aware that there was an A’rea on the loose; they couldn’t miss her energy signature. They would already be tracking her down; at least I was hoping that this was the case.
“Where is Prince George? Your human knows his location. Come on, we both know that you have no chance of escaping the pits again, but I can still save her,” I said, calmly, pushing any distractions away and mentally preparing to attack. I’d never fought a creature like an A’rea. They were the stuff of legend and I had no idea what to expect. They were strong and had been in residence of the pits for as long as I remembered.
She picked up a cigarette from the table and lit it, lifting her lips in a creepy deformed smile. Now I could clearly see bits of the skin hanging all over her face. I needed to use an elixir to trap her; my strength would work too, but I didn’t want anything to go wrong. I had a feeling that I might lose this fight without magic.
“My assignment was supposed to be simple. We both wanted the special boy… such a shame that he was gone long before I got here,” the A’rea whispered, and then shifted into her true form. I didn’t have time to reach out for my elixir hidden in my back pocket. Sudden pain exploded in my stomach, shooting through my limbs. I lost my balance, slamming my back to the floor, completely paralysed. I didn’t even feel any weird sensation or shiver that would tell me to react. The creature from the underworld was on me, and for a split second I was convinced that this was the end, especially when I saw her long, deformed claws in front of my face. One struck me, tearing the skin on my cheek and forehead to pieces as if my skin were nothing more than a sheet of a paper. The fresh raw pain tore through me. Once I let out a sharp gasp, my instincts of a fighter kicked in and I grabbed her arms, throwing her across the room. Blood oozed from the wound on my face and blinded me for a second.
She slammed into the wall so hard that the vibration caused some bits of the ceiling to come down. She let go of a howling scream, releasing some of her curses. I bit down on my lips, as my pain escalated. Her deadly curses were sliding inside me quickly, damaging my nervous system, and draining some of my remaining energy. I felt like my head was going to explode, my ears popping with pressure. If I could just reach my elixir, this could be over already.
I collapsed to my knees and saw her coming towards me. Her claw morphed into fists, and the bone in my jaw cracked when she punched me. I landed on my back, and hot pain started at my scalp and scorched down to my toes. Oxygen wasn’t getting into my lungs. The A’rea was standing over me laughing and licking her fingers that were covered with my blood.
The pressure inside my skull was building, and I was struggling to see through the blinding pain. Chances were that I was going to die in this room. Every breath felt like I was inhaling fire, and my own power was lost, gone.
“This human was a fighter. She is still fighting now, but she won’t win,” her demonic voice rang in my ears. “And I have eaten enough mongrels in my lifetime. You won’t take my freedom away from me.”
I screamed, at least I attempted to, but the pain exploded, and tears of anger started dropping down my cheeks. Now I understood how it felt to be prisoner of my own body. The A’rea used her curse to turn my own abilities against me.
She leaned over my face. The skin of the human girl smelled so bad, rotting so quickly, decomposing, it was unbearable. Natasha must have been dead for hours now, but I heard her beating heart; surely this was impossible. I wanted to close my eyes and just wait for it to be over, but then I remembered the elixir. Hearing her wheezing breath I reached out, using my left hand. The powder made from olive tree, cow tail, sand and pure gold spilled onto the floor when I pierced the bag with my nail. The homemade mixture injected some new energy into me, turning my heart in my chest. I absorbed it with my energy, inhaling the strong smell of each ingredient. I roared at the top of my lungs and used my right leg to kick the A’rea, hopefully cracking her skull.
She landed on a chest of drawers, smashing it to pieces. For a moment she wasn’t moving, and I secretly hoped that the fight was over. I shot back to my feet, inhaling the air that burned my chest. The A’rea moved, wiped the blood from her face, but that moment of distraction gave me an advantage. I was on her, pounding my fists into her face, breaking through the charms. It was as if some evil force possessed me. I couldn’t stop even when my knuckles were bleeding.
When she lay motionless on the floor, I poured the rest of the elixir all over her body. Her muffled screams began to fade, and the shadow of the creature that centuries ago was beautiful was drifting away from the body of dead Natasha. A shadow hovered over the room, and I clasped my hands over my ears, trying to block the howling screams. The window had opened itself, the curtains flapped wildly as the wind began sucking the shadow towards the world outside. I reached out and spread more dust, hoping to chain her up to the body for a bit longer, but her shadow was already fading into the darkness. The strong wind knocked me down on my knees, and the A’rea vanished, sucking all the air out of the room. A split second later the door slammed open and Zachary barged inside holding a gun.
“Hands up and stay where you are,” he shouted. There were other humans outside and possibly half of the floor had heard the screams and banging.
“It’s me, Zach, Max,” I snapped, attempting to lift my hands up, but my muscles refused to obey me. The last bits of my strength left me and I collapsed, losing consciousness.
“Max? What the fuck is going on here?”
I must have passed out for only a split second, because a moment later Zach was leaning over my face. Every part of my body burned, the pain spreading everywhere. I had never felt weaker. A fight normally kicked my libido into action from all the excess adrenaline; it gave me strength, but I was drained of all my powers. I lay slumped on the floor, next to the rotten corpse of Natasha. Her face was barely recognisable and the smell was making me nauseous.
Zachary was panicking; he was mumbling to get me help. People were pouring into the room. The sudden stream of human emotions scorched through me, waking me up with their excess energy. Now I began to understand why no one ever fought with A’reas. They were cold-blooded killers.
“She attacked me, she wanted me dead, and I had to defend myself,” I blurted out, closing my eyes for a second. Natasha was dead because of me. If only I had gotten to the room earlier, maybe I could have prevented her from experiencing death in such a barbaric way.
“Someone get the medic here now. This woman is injured!” Zach shouted. His own pulse was frantic. He squatted next to me and pressed something cold to my torn cheek. “God, Max, what the hell happened here? I’ve been trying to get hold of you all morning.”
“Help me get to the bathroom. I should be fine in a sec,” I told him, trying to lift myself up, but he pushed me down. I needed to swallow some charms. The skin on my cheek was in pieces, bits were hanging off and I would probably need stitches. My jaw was aching like hell, and I knew that the real pain would come later.
“Hold your horses, Flower, you’re barely breathing. The paramedics will be here at any second,” he told me, holding me on the floor. I didn’t want to turn my head and look at the corpse that lay a meter away from me. A woman lost her life, because I refused to say no to a man that used to love me. Two Watchers were already in the building, and they were looking for some sort of explanation.
I grabbed Zachary’s hand and squeezed it hard.
“Help me to the bathroom for fuck’s sake and don’t argue,” I snapped, feeling even shittier now as the adrenaline was fading away from my body. I hated the fact that my arse was nearly kicked and now I had to rely on a human.
“Stubborn. Why do you always have to be so stubborn, Maxine?” he muttered when he helped me to get to the bathroom.
Once the doors were locked the world around me started to spin. My demonic soul was defeated and I needed red elixir to gain my strength, to walk again. It was going to take me a few days of recovery, but at least I was still alive. Natasha was dead, and now I couldn’t question her about the prince. My main lead was lost. Someone was working really hard to cover all their tracks. I reached into my leather jacket back pocket and took a small bottle filled with red liquid.
The elixir numbed the pain around my cheek and started to replenish some of my lost energy. I finally took a long deep breath. The torn skin needed to be stitched up and I most probably was going to have a scar. This wasn’t the usual magical injury so I knew that I wouldn’t heal on my own. I looked terrible—there was dry blood and skin in my hair, and my pupils were purple, and no one could miss the intensity of the colour.
I managed to walk, so that was slight progress. Zachary was waiting for me outside the door; the forensics probably from his unit were already examining the body.
“Wow that’s a nasty wound. Let me take care of that for you,” said one of the paramedics that pushed Zach away and dragged me to the bed.
I let him take care of the bits of my skin since I was the only patient, after all. Natasha was lying dead on the floor and the A’rea had escaped. Suddenly the hotel suite was filled with people, mostly cops that were zooming around the crime scene. Once Zach was done with examining the body he stood by Rodney, the paramedic who was patching me up.
“There are some flasks in the other part of the room, someone’s hair and nails,” Zach said, looking at me intensely. “What exactly happened here, Max?”
Hair and nails were used in potions and elixirs. I was too busy trying not to die, so I didn’t have a chance to look at the odd stuff that Zach was talking about.
I felt their presence even before they entered the room. Two Watchers showed some kind of identification to the policeman that was guarding the door and walked right passed him. I had always been wary of them, mainly because they had the authority to drag anyone they wanted to the underworld. These two looked like lawyers; both were slim, dressed in sharp black suits. The humans noticed that the atmosphere had shifted, that those two people inside were somehow important.
The one with blue eyes stopped by the bed, eyeing me with interest.
“Evidence, we need all of it,” he said, looking at me, but directing his request to Zach.
“The table in the other room. Everything is there,” Zach replied, with a hazy look on his face. The humans just stared while the two Watchers scooped everything off the table, but no one dared to say anything. I could, but I didn’t want to risk being dragged down for interrogation. Once they were done, everything went back to normal and everyone continued to do whatever they had to as if no one had ever showed up.
The Watchers always got what they wanted.