Page 32 of Demon
“Thanks, Demon,” she said as she walked past me, her head down this time, studying something on her feet.
Then she was gone.
“Nice girl,” I heard Suzy’s voice call from behind me.
And suddenly that disappointment exploded into something much worse. My usual reaction to any emotion I couldn’t control. Anger. Turning, I stalked back to the table where Magnet’s wife sat.
“What the fuck did you say to her?” I heard the growl come from deep in my chest, rage simmering under the little control I had.
“I…what?”
“What did you say to her? Last time I saw her, she was talking to you. And now she looks like she wouldn’t piss on me if I was on fire.”
“Nothing…I … we were just talking. She was nice. I…I liked her… Demon, I’m sorry. I didn’t say anything,” she squeaked, and suddenly I realised I’d moved, stooping over the top of her, oppressive and demanding.
“What the fuck you doing, Demon?” Magnet grabbed my shoulder, attempting to spin me round to face him.
I shrugged his hand free, knocking him off balance. He straightened suddenly, his left fist coming out of nowhere and hitting me square in the mouth with a dull thud. There was a sting of pain, and the sudden gush of heat, blood staining the back of my hand where I’d pressed it against my lips. Fucker.
Lurching forwards, I drove my forehead down onto the bridge of Magnet’s nose, pain rushing through my skull at the same time as he roared. He staggered backwards, dazed, but regaining his balance quickly, jumping at me with balled fists. A woman squealed from behind me, feet pounded the thin carpets, someone’s hands grabbed my arm and I launched an elbow backwards into a soft gut. Magnet’s face gushed blood, running all over the t-shirt he wore under the cut. Clutching the leather lapels of the waistcoat, I lifted him off his feet, slamming him down onto a table. There was a low groan, from Magnet or the table I wasn’t sure, but suddenly his dazed body dropped away from me, the table crumpling underneath him, and they both fell to my feet.
Something hard hit me from behind, shunting me forwards, as I tried not to tangle my feet in the debris of wood and limbs. But I fell forward anyway, heavy bodies piling on top of me, pushing me down. Magnet groaned from beneath all of us.
Chapter Fifteen
Ciara
I drove the few minutes home, my head in a mess of thoughts and feelings and emotions, all jumbled together in one big ball of confusion. Suzy had seemed lovely and something about her had really made me feel relaxed. The first time in ages. In fact, the first time that I can remember. It made my chest swell. She’d talked about the Northern Kings as if they were her family. One big extended family. Something I’d never really had. And then suddenly it had hit me. I don’t know which emotion was the first assailant. Jealousy? Hope? Guilt?
It had consumed me. Overwhelmed me. It was hope that had been the biggest kick in the teeth. Hope that my life may be looking up, hope that I may find friends and family again after so long, that I could put down roots, fall in love. And then he was there, standing in front of me, offering me a little piece of all of that. Dangling it like a carrot. Teasing me with something that might not be. So, I ran.
The house seemed quiet when I pulled up, an irritated hiss from the tyres that I slid across the uneven stone curb. Shit. I didn’t need another fucking flat tyre. The day was still murky, the rain never having let up much at all, and the clouds crowding the sky. There wasn’t the tiniest light coming from any of the windows which faced the street, not even from the old velux windows on the roof. The people in the attic rooms were nearly always home. I barely saw them, but I could hear them stomping around above me at all hours.
Inside was just as quiet. No muffle of noise from the televisions playing in the downstairs rooms, not even the drone of voices. I flicked the light switch on the wall just inside the door. Nothing. And now I looked there was no slither of light under any of the doors on the ground floor.
“Hi, Ciara,” a voice sounded from the shadows.
“Hey, Trevor. We got a power cut?” I asked the old man who I could now make out lurking in his doorway.
“Nah, pet. Jimmy next door tried the fuse box. Everything looks good in there. No gas either. Reckon it’s been cut off.”
“Really? Why?”
“Stu won’t have paid the bill again.”
“He’s done this before?”
“Aye. From time to time. Goes on a bender with the rent money and doesn’t pay things. Don’t think he cares when it just affects us.”
“Fucking great. How soon does it normally take to get sorted?”
“Sometimes a few days. Sometimes a couple of weeks.”
“Couple of weeks?”
Fuck. I could do cold showers for a few days. But a few weeks? I didn’t think my skin could take it.
“Good job it’s nearly summer. See ya, Ciara.”