Chapter 19

The village was pitch black, the blinding security lights that flooded the pub's car park had played merry hell with my night vision and apparently street-lights were a newfangled idea that hadn't get encroached on the quaint country way of living. Once my eyes had taken a few moments to adjust, the darkness itself wasn't so much a problem, it was the fact that everything suddenly looked quite different than it did by the light of day. I'd only spent time outside in the village itself during the hours of daylight – or dying daylight at the very least – but the complete darkness left me in quite a quandary; nothing looked familiar. I was suddenly not at all sure which way I needed to go to get to Jesse's.

I walked, on instinct, across the road from the pub and took a left onto one of the narrow streets that led away from the main road; that was about all I could remember from my earlier journey, I still wasn't sure how I'd managed to find my way back to the pub without getting lost. The street looked familiar, vaguely. Then again, there wasn't much difference from street to street through the whole village. I shook my head, I was over thinking. My distracted state earlier had probably helped me not get lost, now though it was all I could think about, and the more I thought the more convinced I got that I was going the wrong way.

Some distance from the pub I found myself facing the village green. I recognised it from my very first trip around the village, but where it lay in relation to Jesse's house I had no clue. We hadn't passed it one our earlier trip, of that much I was certain, and it confirmed my suspicions that I really didn't know where I was going.

A old wooden bench sat in the neatly trimmed verge by the side of the road, the hedgerow that bordered the green just behind it. The wooden slats were sun bleached and growing thick with lichen; they groaned in protest under my weight as I took a moment to sit and take stock of my situation, but, thankfully, they held strong. I needed to pause a moment to calm my thoughts and try to find my bearings again.

One sweeping glance down the end of the street, back the way I had come from, and I could still see the bright glow from the pub's security lights gleaming in the distance. If need be, I could retrace my steps from where I was and start over, I could only have taken one wrong turn at the most. Coming to the decision that was exactly what I should do, I stood from the bench, brushed down my trousers that were sure to be dusty with lichen, hitched the bag higher on my shoulder and, with a new calm resolve about myself, made to set off back down the street. But a sudden voice from the shadows stopped me in my tracks and made my heart pound viciously in my chest.

“It's neeeever going to work, y'know!”

I couldn't see him, but I recognised that voice. Even through the strange, sing-song tone with which he hissed at me, it sounded so unnatural in the thick country brogue that spilled from its throat, but I still knew without a doubt that it was Frank.

I shouldn't have engaged him, should have kept right on walking and not taken the bait, but I just couldn't help myself. “What is never going to work, Frank?” I asked with a sigh, mentally kicking myself the very moment that I stopped and turned to face the direction the voice had come from.

Frank stepped out from the shadows beside the bench I'd just been seated on. He must have been hiding right back inside the hedgerow for me not to have noticed him when I first sat down.

“All your little plans, all your scheming. It's not going to work, none of it is. Hasn't done so far now has it? Luck isn't on your side any more, it's the downward spiral for you. Should just accept it.”

I shook my head, “You haven't got a clue about any of this, so why don't you just keep your nose out and leave me alone.”

He laughed, a loud chuckling that sent shivers down my spine at the inhuman sound of it. In the dark, his eyes looked black anyway, their natural grey darkened by the absence of light, but something sinister in their glint and stare told me, in that moment, that they were truly black. The demon was in full control of Frank's body, but one small step away from bursting through the man's skin and showing its true form – thankfully still one step away – and it was toying with me, trying to coax a reaction that would land myself in a lot of danger. I could not let myself believe a word that it spoke.

“Of course I know what I'm talking about. You can't still think this is all just coincidence?”

He was never specific, always talking in riddles, but I knew what he was hinting at, and I'd never once thought it was all just a coincidence. What I didn't know was the reason why. Why was it that we were both in that village? But something told me that the Whisperer wouldn't tell me a thing unless it got something from me first.

“Ahh, see, there it is,” Frank hissed as he scurried towards me.” He reached out and I flinched away from his searching fingers, but he caught my chin in a vice-like grip, some hints of the preternatural strength he held imprisoned within that human body leeching through his fingertips and bruising my jaw. “I can see it is your eyes, you've known all along you just don't understand. Poor, poor, confused little girl, all left in the dark. No one ever tells you a thing. Why don't I enlighten you? Hmmm...would you like that?”

He studied my face hard, hand still holding tight to my chin, and I couldn't do anything to hide the look of hope that brightened in my eyes.

“So she does want to hear what I have to say.” He abruptly released his grip on my chin, and I stumbled away from him. “Now, the question is, what am I going to get in return?” He arched his eyebrows in my direction and stared me down, a grin stretching his mouth wide, and I scowled.

“Nothing. Nothing you can tell me is worth paying what you want in return.”

I knew what he wanted from me. That taste of freedom on the surface was almost close enough for him to touch, he could taste it, but it would be more than my life was worth to release him. In Hell they could wander free in their own, horrific natural form, but on Earth they were confined to their human prisons; their roles just as tightly monitored and regulated as ours were, and I couldn't step over all of that red tape. It wasn't worth it, especially not when he was probably lying to me just to tempt me into releasing him. But I also knew there would always be a nagging voice in the back of my mind, wondering what he might have been able to tell me.

“Well now, that's where you're wrong ain't it, love,” he drawled as I turned to walk away, the thought of retracing my steps and finding the right road to Jesse's the dominant thought in my mind. I was proud of myself that I didn't stop and give Frank back my attention, but I did slow down, just a little. A part of me wanted to hear what else he had to say – perhaps he'd let a little something more slip to sweeten his argument.

“You should know it's worth your life to listen to me, girlie.”

Well that certainly stumped me. Worth my life? Was that a threat, or a hint of some potential danger that I might be in? Threat seemed more plausible, he wouldn't be above trying to bargain with nothing to offer in return, once free and in full demonic form he could easily overpower me and I would have no one to blame but myself for falling for his bluff.

He saw me stumble over my thoughts, watching the way the tempo of my walk changed. I could feel his gaze on me, studying every subtle movement, searching for a moment of weakness on which he could pounce. I knew he could see the doubt that had tripped me, and how my over thinking things could be his perfect way in.

I didn't feel powerful and confident in his presence as I had before, there was little of Frank left in the man that stood behind me, save for the physical outer shell. Frank the body might be walking and talking, but Frank the 'person' was locked away somewhere dark and quiet whilst his demonic passenger now sat in the driver's seat. And it made me nervous knowing exactly what lay hidden beneath that skin.

“So, she considers it. Even for all of the big talking, old Frank here can get her to pause and consider his offer, huh? Maybe you're not so pig-headed after all. There may just be hope yet.”

The words were hollow, they meant nothing and I had to ignore them. That is what I kept telling myself as I picked up my pace on the road back towards the bright security lights of the pub – my beacon of hope in the distance. Short of sticking my fingers in my ears and humming, I did everything I could to ignore anything that came out of that man's mouth.

Seeming to sense my resolve on the matter, Frank broke into a sudden run and scuttled around in front of me, walking backwards with uncanny ease so he could face me.

“Come on, cut old Frankie a break, huh? It'll do you good.”

I shook my head, “You're not really Frank,” I muttered, softly, but still he heard me.

“No, no I'm not. You're right there. Perceptive one, aren't you?” he said, disdain dripping from his tone. “Why don't you tell me who I am, that's all I'll ask of you. Answer that one simple question and I'll answer all of those that keep worrying that little brain of yours.”

A high pitched, ironic laughter passed my lips, “You really think me such a fool?”

“But it's so easy. Why don't you just Whisper it to me.” Frank stopped walking and stooped low, his ear cocked towards me with one hand cupped around it.

I stopped myself before I walked straight into him. I should have gone around, but instead I leaned in and hissed loudly, straight into his ear, “you're a drunken fool who needs to get back to his park bench before some other vagrant snags it for the night. Get away from me, Frank, I have a job I need to do.”

He sneered at me. “No, you really don't.”

A frown creased my brow, but I shrugged it off. He was just talking shit, trying to infect me with that doubt again; it wouldn't make me change my mind.

“Go on, “ he said, bowing out of my way with a grand and sweeping gesture. “Run along to your little 'boyfriend's' house. I'll be waiting when you change your mind. Just remember, when you come running back once you realise how good my offer is, I won't be so quick and eager to be helpful next time.”

I walked on, pleased that he was finally going to let me get on my way without any more interference, when Frank suddenly grabbed my shoulder. He leaned down, so close that I could feel his hot, stale breath on my neck.

“And don't think I'll be forgetting about the knife that you held at my throat either.” He snarled, giving my shoulder a hard squeeze before he headed off into the dark.

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