Page 91 of Dead Serious Case 5 Madame Vivienne
Issac almost stumbles back at the sheer ferocity of the woman he murdered looking like the title character of a horror movie as she flings herself against the barrier fiercely, her lips peeled back in a feral snarl.
Harrison’s eyes are wide and his face pale as he sees a whole army of ghosts pound at the circle’s barrier, trying to get to him.
Gritting his teeth, Issac glares in the direction of Viv, who is still clawing at the invisible shield. “I guess we should move things along.” He smiles coldly and gripping the knife tightly he plunges it into Harrison’s side.
“NOOOOOO!” Sam screams and throws himself against the barrier. As he does, a crack appears and runs outwards from the impact site like a spider’s web. Without stopping to think, and desperate to get to Harrison, Danny and I throw ourselves against that area too. Over and over again.
Blood spills down Harrison’s body, soaking through his trousers. More cracks appear; like a network of synapses, they cover the whole dome now. I see Issac look up and growl in anger. Taking the knife that’s covered in Harrison’s blood, he wraps his fingers around the blade and slices through his own palm.
His white robe is now splattered with drops of crimson as Issac drops to his knees and mutters loudly. Although I can’t understand the language, I watch in dread as he presses his bloodied hand palm down to the centre of the demon trap.
Beneath Harrison’s feet.
The intricate designs of the trap burst into flames and the floor shakes. It seems like the whole building is rocking on its foundations. I’ve never experienced an earthquake, but this must be what it feels like. We stumble and try to keep our balance. With a loud, cracking sound, the bloodstained wood floor under Harrison’s feet begins to break open, splintering outwards like something is trying to push its way through.
Sam’s eyes widen and all of us redouble our efforts.
Suddenly, the crack in the part of the barrier Sam has been hurling himself against splits wide open and he falls through. Scrambling to his feet with Danny right behind him, Sam grabs Harrison, holding his weight while Danny reaches up and unhooks his hands.
The floor gives another frightening lurch and the shield around the circle shatters and falls away completely. Sam, cradling Harrison in his arms, runs back towards me with Danny following. We crowd up against the debris of books and shelvesat the edge of the room and Sam carefully sets Harrison down on the floor. I drop to my knees, searching around frantically for something more absorbent than my suit jacket. Seeing one of the tattered throws from the sofa poking out from beneath a pile of books, I yank it out and rip off a good-sized chunk, then fold it into a pressure pad. Wiping away as much of the blood as I can, I try to see the wound.
“Roll him to the side,” I order Sam and Danny. They do, as gently as possible, but he still cries out in pain at the movement.
“I’m sorry, honey.” I wince, checking his back. “Okay, it went straight through.” I pack the material against the wound, then roll him onto his back before tearing off another piece of material. “Sam, press that tightly,” I instruct. “We need to get him to a hospital, but he might be lucky. I think Issac managed to miss skewering anything important. He’s losing a lot of blood though.”
I turn to look and see Dusty and Bruce hovering over us and Viv close by, although she’s back to not making eye contact. “Bruce,” I call. “We need some duct tape or something. Viv must have had some around here somewhere, she bloody had everything else imaginable.”
“I’ll see what I can find,” he says, looking down at Harrison in concern.
I remove my jacket and cover Harrison with it before he goes into shock. Sam cradles him in his arms, and it’s only when he looks up at me with worried eyes that I notice the reddened burn marks that run down the side of his face and cover his hands. He’d pounded against that barrier with enough force to break it, and it had cost him.
Impulsively, I reach up and cup Sam’s face, careful not to touch the burned side. “He’ll be okay, I promise.”
The floor gives an almighty heave beneath us. Danny grabs hold of me, covering me with his body as some of the ceilingplaster rains down on us. I look over and see Sam doing the same for Harrison. There’s another ominous cracking sound, followed by maniacal laughter.
We look over and see Issac still in the circle, kneeling beside the huge chasm that has opened up in the floor.
“You’re too late!” He laughs gleefully. “You’re too late! I’ve waited for decades for this moment and it’s finally here! He comes and the world as you know it will never be the same.”
He leans over the glowing gap in the floor, watching with an unhinged grin. Suddenly, the smile falls from his face and his eyes widen.
“No!” He gasps and falls back on his arse, trying to scramble back from the opening. “NO! NO!”
A long, glowing limb that looks like it’s made of lava shoots out and grasps Issac around the waist. He screams and tries to clutch at the ruined floor to slow his momentum, but it drags him across the splintered wood. Whatever has him in its grip is too strong. It drags him over the edge into the burning chasm and the last thing we hear from Issac Crawshanks is his terrified screaming, which goes on for an uncomfortably long time, getting fainter and fainter.
“That sounds really deep.” Dusty looks at me, her eyes wide with fear. “You need to get out of here, all of you.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to hold it off for as long as I can. Spirit guide in training, remember? I’ve got abilities the other ghosts don’t, plus I’m already dead. I can’t bleed.”
“But you can still get hurt,” I say angrily as I shove to my feet and approach her. “I’m not leaving you here. Dead or not, you’re my family and family sticks together.”
“Tris.” She grabs my face. “This is not a battle you can win. It’s a fucking demon, and you need to run.”
I shake my head. “No! Where would we even run to? There’s nowhere any of us would be safe. We can’t let that thing loose on the world.”
“We already have,” Dusty says.