Chapter 4

My entire body trembled while my fingers blindly reached for the panic button under the edge of the desk. I had wondered why we needed them but now I understood the necessity of such precautions as I kept my widened eyes on the man. His finger rested tauntingly upon the trigger and it hit me with surprising certainty that Mr Satani had known this was going to happen. Why else would someone have a panic button?

Leaning back in the chair, I tried to blink back tears but they started to leak down my cheeks. The man with a crossbow blinked at me as his stance faltered for a moment. Quickly though, he took on a more determined stance. I didn’t care about his conscience or hesitation, only that the finger that was resting around the trigger kept tightening each time a strong emotion appeared upon his face.  I could only hope that they would let me and Danny go.

The man looked as if he was about to speak but my fingers finally found the panic button, the feel of it giving under my fingers finding no solace within my heart as the lights in the building instantly cut out. Remaining rigid and with Danny clutched within my arms, I stared blindly into the impenetrable darkness.

I let out a yelp as I slipped from my chair, Danny still cradled against my chest as my fingers fumbled for the edge of the desk. Once my fingers caught onto the corner, I let out a breath of relief and slid myself into the space where a person’s feet usually sat. My breath was coming out in nervous pants as I heard all of those people moving around but I was glad for the small reprieve of darkness as it cloaked me from their view. I also didn’t miss the fact that the guy had shot the crossbow as soon as I had ducked my head. I didn’t even want to think about the fact that if I had moved a second later I might have had an arrow through my head.

Less than a minute later the emergency lights came on, they bathed the room in a red hellish glow. I shivered in prospect of what was going to happen. I could already hear the masked hit men muttering from the other side of the desk. The shadow of the crazy crossbow man fell across the desk and onto the wall so that I could see he was still there. Tears welled in my eyes as I prayed over and over to whatever god existed that they would just leave us alone. Heart pounding in my chest, each breath passed my lips in erratic pants. Luck obviously wasn’t on my side as Danny started to squirm in my grasp before a loud wail escaped his lips. His empty mouth made me realise his dummy had fallen out at some point. No manner of shushing would quieten him.

The shouts from behind the desk and the ominous pounding of the slow deliberate footsteps got closer and closer as the masked fiends skirted around the edge of the desk and stopped before me. I took in a sharp breath as I coddled my baby close to me using my little finger to pacify him. The large mountain of the man, who had held a crossbow to my head, crouched down and with a smirk visible in the gaps of his balaclava, reached his thick stubby fingers towards me. Pressing back as far as I could, I yelped as his fingers caught my arm and tightened around it painfully. Struggling against his hold, I tried to pull away but when he tugged and dragged me out from the safety of the desk, I realised that there was no way I could resist without hurting Danny.

With a sigh I relented to his grasp, my whole body was trembling as I tried to fight the urge to either collapse to the floor or fight with all my power to get away. But I knew without even trying that I couldn’t get away. Not at the risk that he or another of his gang would harm Danny. They didn’t look like the sort to be forgiving or caring towards a child. They were cold blooded killers. I could see it in my captor’s eyes – the way the colour of his irises was irrelevant because they were glazed over with the intent to kill. They were cold – unfeeling.

Shivering as his gazed bore into me, I turned my gaze away from him while allowing him to roughly drag me into the centre of his group. He tossed me away from him causing me to stumble slightly before I managed to gain my balance. Pure terror had me staring at the men unblinkingly. I could only hope that this wasn’t it –this was not how I was going to die.

Allowing my gaze to move past the man to the people beyond us, I was startled to see them too brandishing either crossbows, an array of crucifixes or a fancy blade. I balked at the sight of these clearly unhinged people brandishing weapons. The crucifixes were the least deadly looking but they were an object of horror in that moment. I stepped away from them with one uncertain step only to back into the guy who had most likely bruised my arm. He pulled me back into his chest and pinned me there creating bruises over bruises whilst his minions took a menacing step forwards. I could feel myself sweating as two people came forwards until they were a less than a foot away – far too close for my liking.

One pulled out a flask that had crosses engraved over every inch of it and they had even gone so far as to hang a crucifix around the lid. I sighed internally, they were obviously religious nuts and if they were already at the brandishing crucifixes and crossbows stage then I doubted that they could be reasoned with. Great just what I need, I thought bitterly before giving a terrified gasp when the burlier of the two masked figures came forwards harshly used his gloved hands to pry my mouth open. I shook my head a few times but still when the man sent a swift punch towards my face that sent my ears ringing and caused the entire left side of my face to throb. Without a doubt I would be black and blue if I got out of this alive.

The other man who had stepped forwards and was now invading my personal space, took a step even closer. For a moment he merely loomed over me while he unscrewed the lid off of the flask in a painstakingly slow manner. Aware of my eyes upon him, his eyes twinkling as he raised the flask up as if in toast.

“Demon, we have come to absolve you of your sins.” His voice was sombre and determined as he used his free hand to grasp my face. He looked into my eyes with a kind of manic grin on his face as he tilted the flask and poured the contents down my throat. I struggled against his grasp to begin with, my mind assuming they were trying to poison me but soon realised that it was just water.

Frowning at the person in front of me, my mind raced over their possible intentions and why they were trying to force feed me water. One word struck me though – demon. These people were overzealous nut jobs and they thought I was a demon, hence all of the crosses. The man who was force feeding me water let out a yell of rage when the liquid had no effect upon me and the only sound coming from me was a strangled gasp as I tried to keep from choking. Pulling the flask from my lips, the man proceeded to splash Danny and myself with the water with a sneer firmly upon his lips. I stared at the man in disbelief; he’s now flicking me with water? What’s that meant to prove?

With eyebrows raised, I suspected that my expression showed exactly how baffled I was but that didn’t stop him from issuing another cry of frustration. His eyes flashed in fury which was made more ominous with the red light bathing him. He looked like the very thing he was accusing me of; he looked like he was possessed. Setting those demonic eyes upon me, his lips twisted up into a grin and he drew his arm back. On instinct, I cowered away making sure I sheltered Danny from his view and let out a shocked gasp as I felt him pour the rest of the holy water over my head.

When that didn’t cause me to react other than to sputter water from my mouth, he let out a bellow of fury. I trembled while trying to calm Danny who had started to cry as the cool water soaked his skin. Sighing, I lifted Danny slightly so his head was resting on my shoulder and I started to bounce up and down on my feet whilst patting his back. I could vaguely hear them conversing with one another about Danny and me but I ignored it, choosing instead to focus upon my son.  My ears perked up however when they mentioned the bastard child. I stilled, horror freezing me to the core at the implications of their words. Danny started to whine again so I continued bouncing on the balls of my feet to try and calm him down.

“We should test the child.” I heard the chest behind me rumble causing my heart to falter in my chest before I shifted Danny so that he was tightly cocooned in the protective embrace of my arms. All attention was drawn away from me however when the sound of a door clicking open rang ominously through the room. All of the masked men fell into silence.

A whooshing sound came from my right. A thick rolling fog leaked through the open doorway and was spreading throughout the room, surrounding myself and the masked men. I  thought the men had forgotten me but proved me wrong when a man threw the empty canister into the fog before turning to me once more and ripping Danny from my arms. I struggled to get my son back nothing mattering more to me than keeping him safe but the man behind me gripped my arms so that I was pinned to him once more.

“They always protect their young.” One of the masked people muttered from somewhere in the red fog. I felt tears stream down my face while wondering what kind of monsters would think a mother protecting her child was something demonic.  My arms were already aching from the vice like grip the man had on my arms but I kept on fighting – even when I noticed people forming out of the fog.

Screaming and shouting. I could feel the cool trails that the tears made as they ran down my flushed cheeks. The masked men grinned at me, obviously relishing separating a mother from her child. I yelled in frustration before a flash of Mari and I laughing as Gracie Lou Freebush kicked butt in Miss Congeniality flashed through my mind. I could only hope it worked in real life. Closing my eyes, I followed through the actions, stomping my heel down as hard as I could onto my captor’s foot before throwing an elbow backwards into his stomach. Finally I threw my fist up to hit him in the face. I smiled remembering the last action in the sequence as he released me completely so I twirled around. Grinning manically at his pained form, I then pulled my leg back and swung it hard and fast into his groin. The man groaned clutching his damaged goods and collapsed onto the floor. Smiling to myself, I spun to face the other man only to falter when I saw the crossbow he held to Danny’s head. My eyes widened and I paused, terror pumping through my veins as if one movement would cause him to shoot Danny.

It was then I noticed the fog crawling along the floor behind the man. I rippled and boiled as it gathered together and then, like some phantom, out of the fog appeared Lucius Satani. I could say I was surprised but all I could do in that moment was thank my lucky stars as he nodded at me and then pushed his hand forwards so that it –. I gasped and my stomach lurched as I tried to comprehend what my eyes were seeing but my mind just didn’t want to believe. I knew I must have been daydreaming because there was no way that it possible. Lucius’ hand was inside of the man’s head. I couldn’t see what Lucius was doing but it obviously worked as the masked man’s eyes became unfocused and he released the weapon. The problem was that as his eyes rolled back into his head, his arms relaxed around Danny and my baby boy fell from his grasp.

Eyes wide I rushed forwards to catch him whilst screaming his name at the top of my lungs but I tripped over something and went crashing to the floor with my arms outstretched in front of me so that my face smashed against the floor. Blood started pouring out of my nose but my heart dropped into my gut as I waited for the thump of Danny’s little body hitting the floor. I dreaded it with my entire being but to my confusion, the damning sound never came.

 Blinking through the pain, I lifted my head up and was startled to see Danny floating on the fog a few feet in front of me as if being held up by invisible arms. Crawling towards him and ignoring the screaming and crashing going on around me, I looked at the baby in awe as he was cooing away in front of me without a care in the world. Scooping him tightly to me, I bawled my eyes out. My sob quickly becoming the only sound being issued in the room as silence fell around us. I had never felt as relieved in my life as I did right in that moment.

I continued to sob until my eyes went dry and I was make hoarse choked sound in the back of my throat. The feeling of someone gently touching my shoulder startled me so I turned my head. Meeting Mr Watson’s friendly gave I gave out another sob, this one happier than the ones before only just as distressed. Vaguely noting that the lights had come on, my attention fell upon the carnage that lay everywhere around me. I threw myself into Watson’s arms and looked at him like a scared child.

“Can I go home now?” It was so quiet that I thought he hadn’t heard but he just stroked my hair like my dad used to when I was younger and gave me a grim smile.

“Of course you can sweetheart.” He murmured before scooping Danny and I up into his arms. I was surprised a man his age could even pick me up but I was too exhausted to care. Laying my head onto his shoulder I stared blankly ahead of me whilst my fingers moved up and down rhythmically stroking Danny’s hair. My movements became almost robotic as I felt myself retreat from the world of pain and hate. The last thought I had before I was deposited in the back of a sleek black car was I hope they don’t expect me to come back to work.