Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Sixty-Five: Lightning Rod

Sarafina looked into the gloom. She felt the silence stretching out ahead of her like an abyss. They were in the carpark where they had first entered the motel complex. She could smell the thick scent of stale motor oil and dust, mixed in with the faint odour of petrol that came from the abandoned petrol station away to her right. She could just make out the shape of its roof in the moonlight -- a hulking mass of steel crouched in the shadow of the motel. There was nothing moving in the shadows around them. She felt the darkness pressing in on her. 

After a few seconds of silence, she heard the sound footsteps on the concrete. They had the calm, measured tread of a predator who knows their prey is incapable of running. 

A woman walked slowly out of the shadows under the petrol station. She looked like a living doll, with smooth porcelain skin and white hair that seemed to glow in the darkness. There was something strangely uncanny about her expression, which made it look like she was wearing a mask of flesh. 

Sarafina glanced at Trevellian. He was watching the woman with the expression of a man walking to the gallows. 

The woman with white hair stopped next to the bleeding woman. She was on her knees with her face pressed into the ground, groaning softly. There was a puddle of blood around her that was already starting to soak into the concrete. Suddenly, the woman shuddered and gagged, and with jerky, uncoordinated movements, she looked up at the woman standing next to her. Her mouth hung open as if she didn't have the strength to close it, and a string of bloody drool dangled from the bottom of her chin. The white haired woman ignored her, and looked at Sarafina and the others. Sarafina felt like the temperature of the surrounding air dropped as the woman's gaze passed across them. 

'I've been watching your pathetic, desperate struggle to cling to life for some time now. Your success so far is down to to blind luck rather than any particular skill on your part.' 

'Good evening, Kessler.' said Trevellian. 'It's always so pleasing to run into old friends.' 

Sarafina saw Kessler's hand drop to the two swords at her side. They looked like the type of weapons that needed to be sheathed so they wouldn't cut the air. When she spoke, her voice was steady and calm. 

'Where is she?' 

'I do have a response for that, but I'm afraid it rather contains words that aren't generally used in civilised conversation.' 

'You should already know that my tolerance for your glibness is non-existent.' 

'How unfortunate.' 

Kessler turned her liquid nitrogen gaze on Trevellian. 'There's a reason I didn't follow you when you ran. I knew there was a weakness inside you that would bring you back, and that some day you would come to me. Your arrogance and pride make you predictable, Trevellian. Now they've brought you to this place to die.' 

Sarafina heard a skittering noise in the darkness behind Kessler that sounded like a nest of rats in a shoebox. As she watched, a bizarre, pale creature scuttled out of the abandoned petrol station. 

Sarafina felt Bennet and Forester quickly draw into a close formation around her. It was a defensive grouping that protectors used to cover the widest angle of attack.

Forester's face was a sickly pale colour as he looked at the creature moving in a zig-zag towards them. 'What kind of a freak is that?' 

It looked like it had been a person once, but it moved on all fours like a human spider. It was completely hairless, and its skin had a pallid, unhealthy shine. Long yellow nails curved out of its gnarled fingers and toes, and made scratching noises on the concrete as it scuttled towards them in twitching, erratic bursts. 

Sarafina looked away. Just looking at the creature made her feel sick to her soul. It wasn't just its skin, or its filthy, scratching nails. Growing out of the creature's back, like a plant, was an identical creature -- a nightmarish conjoined twin that mirrored the movements of the creature beneath, scrabbling at the empty air as it moved. Where the two creatures joined, there were tendrils of skin like tree roots tangled together into a fleshy mess that held the two of them into one body. 

Sarafina looked at Trevellian. He was watching the creature with a look of academic curiosity. He rolled forward until he was in line with her. 'Look at the way it moves. It's like it's not always in control of its limbs. It's hard to tell which parts were the original craft, and which parts were modification.' 

'It's horrific,' said Bennet. 

Sarafina looked back and felt a wave of nausea. The creature was looking at her. There were stitches across its eyes where they had been sewn shut, but somehow Sarafina felt that it could see her. Both heads opened their mouths, and Sarafina could see that their teeth had been filed to points. 

Trevellian pretended to tilt his hat to Kessler. 'Interesting. Unity has been busy since we went our separate ways. Was this your initiative, Kessler?' 

'Subject beta and subject gamma are useful tools. They are weapons made of meat. Nothing more.' 

'I always say that everyone should have a pet. They keep you sane.' 

Next to Kessler, the bleeding woman began to rise. She was mumbling to herself as she pushed herself onto one knee, and shaking her head as if she wanted to dislodge a bad thought. 

'I'm not particularly interested in you,' said Kessler. 'I'm going to kill you, but mostly for the sake of completeness. What I want to know is where Regan has gone.' 

'She left already,' said Sarafina. 

The look Kessler gave her could have stripped paint. 'I trained Regan from when she was a child. I know her mind better than she knows herself. She's still here.' 

'One wonders why you need us then,' said Trevellian. 'Given your deep and intricate understanding of Regan's motivations.' 

Sarafina saw Trevellian's hand dip into his coat, and a knife appeared between his fingers. 

'Useless,' said Kessler. 'You don't yet know how tragic your situation really is.' 

Beside her the bleeding woman and the creature began to shuffle forward. Their movements were stilted and jerky, as if they were trying to move each muscle individually, but in their eyes was a dreadful hunger. 

'We've seen what your creatures can do, Kessler,' said Trevellian. 'I think you've severely underestimated our ability to fight off a mutant troglodyte and a porcupine.' 

'It doesn't matter, ' said Kessler. 'I'm aware that, even with your injuries, there's a chance you could inflict damage on me, either directly or through your tactical abilities. That's why I have another subject just for you, Trevellian. I'm going to introduce you to subject alpha.'