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As she stepped back from the now lifeless body she wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand and at the same time smeared the blood that was on the back of her hand across her forehead. “What’s done is done.” she says softly to herself, she stares up at the night sky. The stars are shining brightly but the moon is no where to be seen, the wind howls around her as if trying to fight her but she stands still and strong. She lifts her arms to the sky as if to challenge it and then closes her eyes. She can feel the wind fighting her, the blood on her hands begin to run down her arms, the dark blue cotton fabric of her three-quarter length top absorbs the crimson blood and becomes darker. She expected to feel something, anger, relief, or even remorse but instead she feels nothing, she lowers her arms and turns to face her victim. She kneels by the body being careful not to tread in the pool of blood that was seeping out and had formed a halo around his head. “In different circumstances I might have liked you Kyle, I’m sorry.” She smiled to herself and began to giggle, “no I’m not sorry, William was right I am my fathers daughter.” And with that she stands up and walks out into the night.
The shadows watch her leave. A dark figure steps out of the cover of darkness, he is tall with dark hair and has handsome features, and he walks with the kind of grace that suggests that this man is dangerous and really doesn’t give a damn who knows it. “It has begun.” He states. He glances at the body on the floor, “Sorry Kyle.” He whispers at the body and then strides out into the night.
Leo awoke as the sun began to shine through the window; she got up and opened the window before the small poky room was turned into an oven. She glanced over at the crumpled clothes in the corner of her room; they were stained with blood. She sighed to herself; she would have to dispose of them. She walked into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast when she sees a cockroach on the top of the cooker. Leo picked up the spatula that was lying on the cutting board by the sink and hit the cockroach with it until it stopped moving. She hit it a few more times just to make sure that it was dead before she threw the spatula into the sink, she walked out of the kitchen, she suddenly wasn’t hungry any more. She went into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror, she was a slim blonde. Her grey eyes seemed distant and there were bags under them. There was a long scratch going from her forehead just missing her left eye and stopping in the middle of her cheek, “And I thought that it was just girls who scratched when fighting.” She said to herself while examining it. She sighed again and looked at her arms; there were still flecks of blood on them that she had missed when washing them the night before. “Funny but I still don’t feel anything.” She looked at her arms again and threw up noisily in the toilet.
“Kyle’s dead? What the hell happened?” asked Valascient.
“We don’t know Sir, we found him this morning in his garden. Someone had put their fingers through his eyes and smashed his skull repeatedly against the concrete.” The Lieutenant winced at the memory of seeing the bloody eye sockets. Valascient rubbed his forehead; he could feel a migraine coming. “I want to find out what happened, who ever did this will feel our wrath, understand?” The Lieutenant shuffled his feet nervously; this was the first time he’d ever spoken to the leader of the cult. “Yes Sir.”
“I want a list of the top suspects this afternoon. You are dismissed.” The Lieutenant looked like he was about to argue but thought better of it, he saluted and marched smartly out of the room.
When the door clicked shut Valascient looked at the man standing in the corner of the room. The man went and sat in one of the big oak chairs; Valascient sat in the opposite chair so that he could face him. “Well William what do you think? Are the peasants revolting?”
“Yes Sir, they’re absolutely disgusting.” William stated flatly, Valascient glared at him, William coughed hastily and said, “You know they worship the ground you walk on.”
“Yes that’s the whole point I suppose. . .” Valascient sighed before he continued, “someone killed Kyle though and as far as I was aware he had no major enemies. . . at least none who were alive any more.”
“Well I know he had one enemy, Sir” Valascient straightened up in his chair, “Who?” Will leaned forward in his chair and glanced around conspiratorially, “The person who killed him.” Valascient glared at him, “Yes that was quite obvious, even I had worked out that he hadn’t killed himself.” Valascient relaxed back into his chair and seemed deep in thought, “The times are changing Will.” They sat in silence for a minute before William spoke “I have been a part of this cult since I was a boy, I have risen through the ranks to become the second in command and I know that the Dust and Flames will always be.”
“Be what?”
“They just. . . will be. . .”
“ . . . indeed.”
Leo sat at the end of her bed she was shaking. The telephone began to ring and her heart missed a beat. She crept slowly towards the phone and hesitantly held the phone to her ear, “H-hello?”
“Hey Leo it’s William, I’m impressed!”
“. . .”
“What? Don’t you want to talk to me?!” Leo felt anger begin to rise in her, “What the hell do you want?” venom was spat out with each word. The voice at the other end of the line laughed “You’ve caused quite a stir. I just called to ask if I’m going to see anymore of your work anytime soon.”
“I did this for family not for fun.”
“Why stop now when you’re doing so well!”
“I killed Kyle because he killed my father, he betrayed him.”
“He was just following orders.”
“. . .”
“I can tell you who gave him the orders and where to find him.” Leo paused before she replied, “Why do you want to help me?”
“I knew your father, he was a good man.”
“I’m sorry but are we talking about the same man? My father was a murdering b*****d, which part of that made him good?”
“You say that and yet you’ve killed for him.”
“. . . How did you get my number? How do you know these things?”
“I am a part of the cult.”
“Please, give me some credit I worked that out. Me and my father hadn’t spoken to each other for years so how do you know anything about me?”
“I know about the letter he sent you,” Leo glanced down at the crumpled piece of paper half hidden under her bed and picked it up. “he sent me one too, he knew that he was going to be executed.”
“It wasn’t an execution it was murder. He was one of them and they killed him for no reason.”
“It wasn’t for no reason Leo, he had been. . . getting under peoples skin.”
“And what does that mean?”
“I have to go for now Leo but I’ll call again, be careful, they might pickup your trail.” The phone went dead, and Leo replaced the receiver. She flattened out the piece of paper and read it for what must have been the hundredth time.
Hello Leo,
If you are reading this then I am probably dead. I just want to apologise to you, I know that we have never been a proper family and that things have been hard for you especially after your mother died but you have to understand that everything that I did was for your own good. I have been a part of the cult for what feels like forever. I joined the cult when I was just a teenager, I was angry at the world and at life; the cult accepted me and became my family they gave me everything I ever wanted, money and power. It took me years to realise that what I wanted was not what I needed but by then it was too late, the cult gives a lot but takes even more and it is too strong to go against. The Dust and Flames will always be. I was good at what I did for the cult, I could control people and turn them into allies and if they didn’t become allies then I eliminated them. Because of this ‘talent’ I became an important member of the cult.
I met your mother in New York. I instantly fell in love with her. I ran away from the cult, I now realise that they let me go because if they hadn’t wanted me to go then they would have dragged me back or just killed me. The cult doesn’t like people to leave. We married and within a year she fell pregnant with you. It was the happiest day of my life when you were born, I forgot all about the cult and although it may seem impossible to you now I was a devoted husband and father. It wasn’t until you were five that the cult approached me and reminded me that the Dust and Flames will always be. I tried to flee but the cult wanted me back. I had to leave to protect you and your mother. Things got worse when your mother died when you were 16. I hope you understand why you had to live with your mother’s sister, it was too dangerous to let you live with me. The cult has a habit of sucking people in and once you’re in you can’t get out. I didn’t want to expose you to that. Now you’re all grown up and I have missed out on watching you grow. I know that I haven’t been there for you and for this I apologise with all my heart and I wish that things could have been different.
And now to the important reason that I have contacted you, as I said in the first sentence, if you are reading this then time has already run out for me and my plan has failed. I will have been hunted down and killed by the cult’s hitman, Kyle Witacome. I am sending you this letter, as a warning, the cult leader, Valascient, would take a sick, perverse pleasure out of recruiting you and training you to take my place. I would suggest that you leave everything behind and move far away without telling anyone where you are going unless you want to become a part of the cult. I am sorry to uproot your life but this is for your own good.
I will forever watch over you, with all my love, your father, David.
Leo thought about all that had happened in the last two months, the PI she had paid to find the location of Kyle Witacome had worked fast. Within a month she abandoned the few friends that she had without saying goodbye and had moved into a rented apartment near Kyle’s address. The first call she had had off the mysterious William had chilled her soul, he seemed to know all about her. He was the one who told her how to get past the security at Kyle’s house. She hadn’t even thought about what she wanted to do when she moved she’d just moved. It was only when she broke into Karl’s house that she wondered what the hell she was doing. She hadn’t meant to kill him but something inside her had snapped, all the anger and feelings of abandonment from over the years welled up inside her and had taken over. Now she was a murderer, but if it was for family did that make it slightly less bad? She rushed into the bathroom and began to throw up. Her stomach ached but kept on retching as if emptying her stomach would some how cleanse her.
It was a week later, it was mid afternoon and one of those miserable rainy days that make you not want to do anything, not that she had anything to do, she was just waiting for William to call. The doorbell rang and she went to answer it, her heart thumping in her chest. It was a delivery boy; she took the parcel from him and signed for it. She closed the door and opened the package; the thing inside nearly made her heart stop. It was a gun. The telephone began to ring; she answered it, “Hello?”
“Leo did you get my present?” It was William.
“Why have you sent me it?”
“To kill the leader of the cult, Valascient, we talked about it remember?”
“I didn’t say that I was going to do it!”
“Leo you need to know about what your father was trying to achieve. He wanted to bring down the cult.” William told her about how there are many people in the cult who don’t want to be there but nobody leaves because they are afraid of what Valascient will do to them. “Why me though? Why should I be the one to end things? Why can’t you do it?”
“I would do it myself but Valascient knows that I was working with your father. They are looking for me as we speak to try and find out who else was a part of this rebellion.”
“If I kill him won’t someone else just rise to take his place?”
“No the ranks are looking for a reason to leave. If Valascient is killed then most people would run and the Dust and Flames would wither and die.” Leo was silent on the end of the line, William gave her directions to the cult’s headquarters and instructions on how to get past the security, “Think about it for your father OK? If you decide to do it then go in exactly one week’s time at midnight. The building will be practically empty.”
“How do you know this?”
“Let’s just say that part of what I did for the cult was get information, I’m good at it.”
She crept along the dark corridors. She hadn’t expected the HQ to be like this. It looked just like an ordinary office building. A few of the office doors were unlocked and she’d slipped into them to take a look. They were all ordinary, cheap wooden desks with grey filing cabinets by the side of them. William had told her that the higher members of the cult dealt in power and money and left the blood sacrifices for the newbies. She’d still expected a pentagram on the floor painted in crimson paint and dribbly black candles surrounding it, or even just a few satanic symbols dotted around the place. The gun felt heavy, she’d felt slightly cautious about carrying it in her trouser pocket but she wanted it within easy reach. She had no idea of how to work it she only really knew how to pull the trigger, she didn’t even know if the safety catch was on or not.
She walked through the endless corridors, with each step doubt grew in her mind like a cancer. The adrenaline that she had when she first held the gun was draining away. She thought she understood why she was doing this, so that no one else got hurt, to kill the heart of the cult, to release the people of the cult so that no one would have to go through a life like hers. But the more she thought about it the more she wondered what any of this had to do with her, What’s done is done, she thinks to herself, killing Valascient wouldn’t bring her father back it wouldn’t give her a proper family. But didn’t she owe it to her parents to make sure that this didn’t happen to anyone else?
She could see a door at the end of the corridor, light shone out of the gap between the door and the doorframe. She walked up to the door and hesitated, should she knock? She decides against it, she turns the handle and pulls out the gun as she opened the door. Valascient was standing looking out of the window; he turned around as the door creaked open. He gave her a confused look as if to ask her who was she, there was no fear in his eyes even at the sight of the gun which Leo aimed at his head. “I am Leo, you gave orders to murder my father, David, I am here to avenge his death.” His look of confusion deepened and then recollection was reflected in his face, “Ah yes, Leo. . . am I right then to presume that it was you who killed Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“You have been most pestiferous.”
“I am here to kill you and that is all you say?” she walked towards him slowly as she said this until the gun was pressed against his forehead. “You will not kill me.” He stated this as if it were fact.
“No? Want to bet?” Valascient's hand shot up and grabbed hold of Leo’s wrist forcing it up, she squeezed the trigger but it was too late. The bullet hit the ceiling spraying them both with plaster. He pushed his weight into her so that she stumbled backwards smashing into the wall. She was temporarily stunned at the speed with which he moved and he used this to his full advantage. His hand was still holding her wrist; he began to smash her hand against the wall squeezing her wrist so that it felt like it was in a vice. With his other hand he gripped her throat and tried to strangle her. Her free hand went first to her throat to try to remove his hand but then went to try to claw at his eyes. With a small scream of pain she released the gun which made a thud as it hit the floor. He released her wrist and grabbed her head. He twisted it and a sickening crack could be heard. Her arms fell to her side. He let go of her so that she fell to the floor, her glassy eyes still wide open, they had a look of shock in them. He knelt down beside her, “Guess I won the bet.” The door opened again and William stepped in holding a gun similar to the one Leo had. “Hey Valascient.” Valascient stood up,
“What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?! No? OK then I’ll explain.” Valascient took a step towards him, “don’t even try it Valascient, I’ve seen how you fight so don’t take another step.” He stopped moving.
“Pity about the girl but I felt that I owed it to David to let her try to avenge his death.”
“He was a traitor, he was trying to take over.”
“He wasn’t the only one Valascient. It’s time for you to retire.”
“I don’t understand why she was involved.” He said this and nodded at the girl. “David confided in me about his past, how his daughter had no direction and no faith. We were friends. When he died I felt I owed him something. I decided to give his daughter something to fight for. I forged letters off him and got in touch with her. I told her that her father wanted to bring down the cult and free the people. A small white lie.”
“A small white lie?! The truth is so far from that! He wanted to become leader of the cult!”
“She needed something to believe in.”
“Well now what? She’s dead, you’ve failed.”
“No she died for a cause. I probably would have killed her eventually any way.” He said this casually as if she wasn’t important.
“W-what are you going to do?” William smiled at Valascient, a single shot rang out and Valascient fell to the floor. "Goodbye Valascient.”
The leader dies, the cult lives on, the Dust and Flames will always be. . .
The shadows watch her leave. A dark figure steps out of the cover of darkness, he is tall with dark hair and has handsome features, and he walks with the kind of grace that suggests that this man is dangerous and really doesn’t give a damn who knows it. “It has begun.” He states. He glances at the body on the floor, “Sorry Kyle.” He whispers at the body and then strides out into the night.
Leo awoke as the sun began to shine through the window; she got up and opened the window before the small poky room was turned into an oven. She glanced over at the crumpled clothes in the corner of her room; they were stained with blood. She sighed to herself; she would have to dispose of them. She walked into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast when she sees a cockroach on the top of the cooker. Leo picked up the spatula that was lying on the cutting board by the sink and hit the cockroach with it until it stopped moving. She hit it a few more times just to make sure that it was dead before she threw the spatula into the sink, she walked out of the kitchen, she suddenly wasn’t hungry any more. She went into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror, she was a slim blonde. Her grey eyes seemed distant and there were bags under them. There was a long scratch going from her forehead just missing her left eye and stopping in the middle of her cheek, “And I thought that it was just girls who scratched when fighting.” She said to herself while examining it. She sighed again and looked at her arms; there were still flecks of blood on them that she had missed when washing them the night before. “Funny but I still don’t feel anything.” She looked at her arms again and threw up noisily in the toilet.
“Kyle’s dead? What the hell happened?” asked Valascient.
“We don’t know Sir, we found him this morning in his garden. Someone had put their fingers through his eyes and smashed his skull repeatedly against the concrete.” The Lieutenant winced at the memory of seeing the bloody eye sockets. Valascient rubbed his forehead; he could feel a migraine coming. “I want to find out what happened, who ever did this will feel our wrath, understand?” The Lieutenant shuffled his feet nervously; this was the first time he’d ever spoken to the leader of the cult. “Yes Sir.”
“I want a list of the top suspects this afternoon. You are dismissed.” The Lieutenant looked like he was about to argue but thought better of it, he saluted and marched smartly out of the room.
When the door clicked shut Valascient looked at the man standing in the corner of the room. The man went and sat in one of the big oak chairs; Valascient sat in the opposite chair so that he could face him. “Well William what do you think? Are the peasants revolting?”
“Yes Sir, they’re absolutely disgusting.” William stated flatly, Valascient glared at him, William coughed hastily and said, “You know they worship the ground you walk on.”
“Yes that’s the whole point I suppose. . .” Valascient sighed before he continued, “someone killed Kyle though and as far as I was aware he had no major enemies. . . at least none who were alive any more.”
“Well I know he had one enemy, Sir” Valascient straightened up in his chair, “Who?” Will leaned forward in his chair and glanced around conspiratorially, “The person who killed him.” Valascient glared at him, “Yes that was quite obvious, even I had worked out that he hadn’t killed himself.” Valascient relaxed back into his chair and seemed deep in thought, “The times are changing Will.” They sat in silence for a minute before William spoke “I have been a part of this cult since I was a boy, I have risen through the ranks to become the second in command and I know that the Dust and Flames will always be.”
“Be what?”
“They just. . . will be. . .”
“ . . . indeed.”
Leo sat at the end of her bed she was shaking. The telephone began to ring and her heart missed a beat. She crept slowly towards the phone and hesitantly held the phone to her ear, “H-hello?”
“Hey Leo it’s William, I’m impressed!”
“. . .”
“What? Don’t you want to talk to me?!” Leo felt anger begin to rise in her, “What the hell do you want?” venom was spat out with each word. The voice at the other end of the line laughed “You’ve caused quite a stir. I just called to ask if I’m going to see anymore of your work anytime soon.”
“I did this for family not for fun.”
“Why stop now when you’re doing so well!”
“I killed Kyle because he killed my father, he betrayed him.”
“He was just following orders.”
“. . .”
“I can tell you who gave him the orders and where to find him.” Leo paused before she replied, “Why do you want to help me?”
“I knew your father, he was a good man.”
“I’m sorry but are we talking about the same man? My father was a murdering b*****d, which part of that made him good?”
“You say that and yet you’ve killed for him.”
“. . . How did you get my number? How do you know these things?”
“I am a part of the cult.”
“Please, give me some credit I worked that out. Me and my father hadn’t spoken to each other for years so how do you know anything about me?”
“I know about the letter he sent you,” Leo glanced down at the crumpled piece of paper half hidden under her bed and picked it up. “he sent me one too, he knew that he was going to be executed.”
“It wasn’t an execution it was murder. He was one of them and they killed him for no reason.”
“It wasn’t for no reason Leo, he had been. . . getting under peoples skin.”
“And what does that mean?”
“I have to go for now Leo but I’ll call again, be careful, they might pickup your trail.” The phone went dead, and Leo replaced the receiver. She flattened out the piece of paper and read it for what must have been the hundredth time.
Hello Leo,
If you are reading this then I am probably dead. I just want to apologise to you, I know that we have never been a proper family and that things have been hard for you especially after your mother died but you have to understand that everything that I did was for your own good. I have been a part of the cult for what feels like forever. I joined the cult when I was just a teenager, I was angry at the world and at life; the cult accepted me and became my family they gave me everything I ever wanted, money and power. It took me years to realise that what I wanted was not what I needed but by then it was too late, the cult gives a lot but takes even more and it is too strong to go against. The Dust and Flames will always be. I was good at what I did for the cult, I could control people and turn them into allies and if they didn’t become allies then I eliminated them. Because of this ‘talent’ I became an important member of the cult.
I met your mother in New York. I instantly fell in love with her. I ran away from the cult, I now realise that they let me go because if they hadn’t wanted me to go then they would have dragged me back or just killed me. The cult doesn’t like people to leave. We married and within a year she fell pregnant with you. It was the happiest day of my life when you were born, I forgot all about the cult and although it may seem impossible to you now I was a devoted husband and father. It wasn’t until you were five that the cult approached me and reminded me that the Dust and Flames will always be. I tried to flee but the cult wanted me back. I had to leave to protect you and your mother. Things got worse when your mother died when you were 16. I hope you understand why you had to live with your mother’s sister, it was too dangerous to let you live with me. The cult has a habit of sucking people in and once you’re in you can’t get out. I didn’t want to expose you to that. Now you’re all grown up and I have missed out on watching you grow. I know that I haven’t been there for you and for this I apologise with all my heart and I wish that things could have been different.
And now to the important reason that I have contacted you, as I said in the first sentence, if you are reading this then time has already run out for me and my plan has failed. I will have been hunted down and killed by the cult’s hitman, Kyle Witacome. I am sending you this letter, as a warning, the cult leader, Valascient, would take a sick, perverse pleasure out of recruiting you and training you to take my place. I would suggest that you leave everything behind and move far away without telling anyone where you are going unless you want to become a part of the cult. I am sorry to uproot your life but this is for your own good.
I will forever watch over you, with all my love, your father, David.
Leo thought about all that had happened in the last two months, the PI she had paid to find the location of Kyle Witacome had worked fast. Within a month she abandoned the few friends that she had without saying goodbye and had moved into a rented apartment near Kyle’s address. The first call she had had off the mysterious William had chilled her soul, he seemed to know all about her. He was the one who told her how to get past the security at Kyle’s house. She hadn’t even thought about what she wanted to do when she moved she’d just moved. It was only when she broke into Karl’s house that she wondered what the hell she was doing. She hadn’t meant to kill him but something inside her had snapped, all the anger and feelings of abandonment from over the years welled up inside her and had taken over. Now she was a murderer, but if it was for family did that make it slightly less bad? She rushed into the bathroom and began to throw up. Her stomach ached but kept on retching as if emptying her stomach would some how cleanse her.
It was a week later, it was mid afternoon and one of those miserable rainy days that make you not want to do anything, not that she had anything to do, she was just waiting for William to call. The doorbell rang and she went to answer it, her heart thumping in her chest. It was a delivery boy; she took the parcel from him and signed for it. She closed the door and opened the package; the thing inside nearly made her heart stop. It was a gun. The telephone began to ring; she answered it, “Hello?”
“Leo did you get my present?” It was William.
“Why have you sent me it?”
“To kill the leader of the cult, Valascient, we talked about it remember?”
“I didn’t say that I was going to do it!”
“Leo you need to know about what your father was trying to achieve. He wanted to bring down the cult.” William told her about how there are many people in the cult who don’t want to be there but nobody leaves because they are afraid of what Valascient will do to them. “Why me though? Why should I be the one to end things? Why can’t you do it?”
“I would do it myself but Valascient knows that I was working with your father. They are looking for me as we speak to try and find out who else was a part of this rebellion.”
“If I kill him won’t someone else just rise to take his place?”
“No the ranks are looking for a reason to leave. If Valascient is killed then most people would run and the Dust and Flames would wither and die.” Leo was silent on the end of the line, William gave her directions to the cult’s headquarters and instructions on how to get past the security, “Think about it for your father OK? If you decide to do it then go in exactly one week’s time at midnight. The building will be practically empty.”
“How do you know this?”
“Let’s just say that part of what I did for the cult was get information, I’m good at it.”
She crept along the dark corridors. She hadn’t expected the HQ to be like this. It looked just like an ordinary office building. A few of the office doors were unlocked and she’d slipped into them to take a look. They were all ordinary, cheap wooden desks with grey filing cabinets by the side of them. William had told her that the higher members of the cult dealt in power and money and left the blood sacrifices for the newbies. She’d still expected a pentagram on the floor painted in crimson paint and dribbly black candles surrounding it, or even just a few satanic symbols dotted around the place. The gun felt heavy, she’d felt slightly cautious about carrying it in her trouser pocket but she wanted it within easy reach. She had no idea of how to work it she only really knew how to pull the trigger, she didn’t even know if the safety catch was on or not.
She walked through the endless corridors, with each step doubt grew in her mind like a cancer. The adrenaline that she had when she first held the gun was draining away. She thought she understood why she was doing this, so that no one else got hurt, to kill the heart of the cult, to release the people of the cult so that no one would have to go through a life like hers. But the more she thought about it the more she wondered what any of this had to do with her, What’s done is done, she thinks to herself, killing Valascient wouldn’t bring her father back it wouldn’t give her a proper family. But didn’t she owe it to her parents to make sure that this didn’t happen to anyone else?
She could see a door at the end of the corridor, light shone out of the gap between the door and the doorframe. She walked up to the door and hesitated, should she knock? She decides against it, she turns the handle and pulls out the gun as she opened the door. Valascient was standing looking out of the window; he turned around as the door creaked open. He gave her a confused look as if to ask her who was she, there was no fear in his eyes even at the sight of the gun which Leo aimed at his head. “I am Leo, you gave orders to murder my father, David, I am here to avenge his death.” His look of confusion deepened and then recollection was reflected in his face, “Ah yes, Leo. . . am I right then to presume that it was you who killed Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“You have been most pestiferous.”
“I am here to kill you and that is all you say?” she walked towards him slowly as she said this until the gun was pressed against his forehead. “You will not kill me.” He stated this as if it were fact.
“No? Want to bet?” Valascient's hand shot up and grabbed hold of Leo’s wrist forcing it up, she squeezed the trigger but it was too late. The bullet hit the ceiling spraying them both with plaster. He pushed his weight into her so that she stumbled backwards smashing into the wall. She was temporarily stunned at the speed with which he moved and he used this to his full advantage. His hand was still holding her wrist; he began to smash her hand against the wall squeezing her wrist so that it felt like it was in a vice. With his other hand he gripped her throat and tried to strangle her. Her free hand went first to her throat to try to remove his hand but then went to try to claw at his eyes. With a small scream of pain she released the gun which made a thud as it hit the floor. He released her wrist and grabbed her head. He twisted it and a sickening crack could be heard. Her arms fell to her side. He let go of her so that she fell to the floor, her glassy eyes still wide open, they had a look of shock in them. He knelt down beside her, “Guess I won the bet.” The door opened again and William stepped in holding a gun similar to the one Leo had. “Hey Valascient.” Valascient stood up,
“What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?! No? OK then I’ll explain.” Valascient took a step towards him, “don’t even try it Valascient, I’ve seen how you fight so don’t take another step.” He stopped moving.
“Pity about the girl but I felt that I owed it to David to let her try to avenge his death.”
“He was a traitor, he was trying to take over.”
“He wasn’t the only one Valascient. It’s time for you to retire.”
“I don’t understand why she was involved.” He said this and nodded at the girl. “David confided in me about his past, how his daughter had no direction and no faith. We were friends. When he died I felt I owed him something. I decided to give his daughter something to fight for. I forged letters off him and got in touch with her. I told her that her father wanted to bring down the cult and free the people. A small white lie.”
“A small white lie?! The truth is so far from that! He wanted to become leader of the cult!”
“She needed something to believe in.”
“Well now what? She’s dead, you’ve failed.”
“No she died for a cause. I probably would have killed her eventually any way.” He said this casually as if she wasn’t important.
“W-what are you going to do?” William smiled at Valascient, a single shot rang out and Valascient fell to the floor. "Goodbye Valascient.”
The leader dies, the cult lives on, the Dust and Flames will always be. . .
cRaCkHeAd wrote:
> stupid!
i know you are
> stupid!
i know you are
Paradox: wrote:
> Oh and thanks for killing me (kyle) in the story :-P
i knew you wouldn't mind! ;-)
> Oh and thanks for killing me (kyle) in the story :-P
i knew you wouldn't mind! ;-)
Oooh ... mysterious.
Some confusion between past and present tense, but overall a damn fine story - a proper story as well, not just some descriptive shiznit, which is always nice.
The beginning was especially good.
*Thumbs up*
Up where - you decide.
Some confusion between past and present tense, but overall a damn fine story - a proper story as well, not just some descriptive shiznit, which is always nice.
The beginning was especially good.
*Thumbs up*
Up where - you decide.
Another loooong one. I'll read it when I get me strength back. Promise.
Sweet. and by sweet I mean malevolent.
Nice.
Oh and thanks for killing me (kyle) in the story :-P
Nice.
Oh and thanks for killing me (kyle) in the story :-P
Ashman wrote:
> Good, and suitably dark as well. The only thing that annoyed me when
> reading was the fact that you started so many sentences with the word
> "She". Try to mix it up and re-form sentences so each one
> sounds a little bit different.
>
> And don't listen to cRaCkPoT, its far from "stupid!!!!"
i DON'T LIKE HIM either
> Good, and suitably dark as well. The only thing that annoyed me when
> reading was the fact that you started so many sentences with the word
> "She". Try to mix it up and re-form sentences so each one
> sounds a little bit different.
>
> And don't listen to cRaCkPoT, its far from "stupid!!!!"
i DON'T LIKE HIM either
Good, and suitably dark as well. The only thing that annoyed me when reading was the fact that you started so many sentences with the word "She". Try to mix it up and re-form sentences so each one sounds a little bit different.
And don't listen to cRaCkPoT, its far from "stupid!!!!"
And don't listen to cRaCkPoT, its far from "stupid!!!!"
stupid!
As she stepped back from the now lifeless body she wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand and at the same time smeared the blood that was on the back of her hand across her forehead. “What’s done is done.” she says softly to herself, she stares up at the night sky. The stars are shining brightly but the moon is no where to be seen, the wind howls around her as if trying to fight her but she stands still and strong. She lifts her arms to the sky as if to challenge it and then closes her eyes. She can feel the wind fighting her, the blood on her hands begin to run down her arms, the dark blue cotton fabric of her three-quarter length top absorbs the crimson blood and becomes darker. She expected to feel something, anger, relief, or even remorse but instead she feels nothing, she lowers her arms and turns to face her victim. She kneels by the body being careful not to tread in the pool of blood that was seeping out and had formed a halo around his head. “In different circumstances I might have liked you Kyle, I’m sorry.” She smiled to herself and began to giggle, “no I’m not sorry, William was right I am my fathers daughter.” And with that she stands up and walks out into the night.
The shadows watch her leave. A dark figure steps out of the cover of darkness, he is tall with dark hair and has handsome features, and he walks with the kind of grace that suggests that this man is dangerous and really doesn’t give a damn who knows it. “It has begun.” He states. He glances at the body on the floor, “Sorry Kyle.” He whispers at the body and then strides out into the night.
Leo awoke as the sun began to shine through the window; she got up and opened the window before the small poky room was turned into an oven. She glanced over at the crumpled clothes in the corner of her room; they were stained with blood. She sighed to herself; she would have to dispose of them. She walked into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast when she sees a cockroach on the top of the cooker. Leo picked up the spatula that was lying on the cutting board by the sink and hit the cockroach with it until it stopped moving. She hit it a few more times just to make sure that it was dead before she threw the spatula into the sink, she walked out of the kitchen, she suddenly wasn’t hungry any more. She went into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror, she was a slim blonde. Her grey eyes seemed distant and there were bags under them. There was a long scratch going from her forehead just missing her left eye and stopping in the middle of her cheek, “And I thought that it was just girls who scratched when fighting.” She said to herself while examining it. She sighed again and looked at her arms; there were still flecks of blood on them that she had missed when washing them the night before. “Funny but I still don’t feel anything.” She looked at her arms again and threw up noisily in the toilet.
“Kyle’s dead? What the hell happened?” asked Valascient.
“We don’t know Sir, we found him this morning in his garden. Someone had put their fingers through his eyes and smashed his skull repeatedly against the concrete.” The Lieutenant winced at the memory of seeing the bloody eye sockets. Valascient rubbed his forehead; he could feel a migraine coming. “I want to find out what happened, who ever did this will feel our wrath, understand?” The Lieutenant shuffled his feet nervously; this was the first time he’d ever spoken to the leader of the cult. “Yes Sir.”
“I want a list of the top suspects this afternoon. You are dismissed.” The Lieutenant looked like he was about to argue but thought better of it, he saluted and marched smartly out of the room.
When the door clicked shut Valascient looked at the man standing in the corner of the room. The man went and sat in one of the big oak chairs; Valascient sat in the opposite chair so that he could face him. “Well William what do you think? Are the peasants revolting?”
“Yes Sir, they’re absolutely disgusting.” William stated flatly, Valascient glared at him, William coughed hastily and said, “You know they worship the ground you walk on.”
“Yes that’s the whole point I suppose. . .” Valascient sighed before he continued, “someone killed Kyle though and as far as I was aware he had no major enemies. . . at least none who were alive any more.”
“Well I know he had one enemy, Sir” Valascient straightened up in his chair, “Who?” Will leaned forward in his chair and glanced around conspiratorially, “The person who killed him.” Valascient glared at him, “Yes that was quite obvious, even I had worked out that he hadn’t killed himself.” Valascient relaxed back into his chair and seemed deep in thought, “The times are changing Will.” They sat in silence for a minute before William spoke “I have been a part of this cult since I was a boy, I have risen through the ranks to become the second in command and I know that the Dust and Flames will always be.”
“Be what?”
“They just. . . will be. . .”
“ . . . indeed.”
Leo sat at the end of her bed she was shaking. The telephone began to ring and her heart missed a beat. She crept slowly towards the phone and hesitantly held the phone to her ear, “H-hello?”
“Hey Leo it’s William, I’m impressed!”
“. . .”
“What? Don’t you want to talk to me?!” Leo felt anger begin to rise in her, “What the hell do you want?” venom was spat out with each word. The voice at the other end of the line laughed “You’ve caused quite a stir. I just called to ask if I’m going to see anymore of your work anytime soon.”
“I did this for family not for fun.”
“Why stop now when you’re doing so well!”
“I killed Kyle because he killed my father, he betrayed him.”
“He was just following orders.”
“. . .”
“I can tell you who gave him the orders and where to find him.” Leo paused before she replied, “Why do you want to help me?”
“I knew your father, he was a good man.”
“I’m sorry but are we talking about the same man? My father was a murdering b*****d, which part of that made him good?”
“You say that and yet you’ve killed for him.”
“. . . How did you get my number? How do you know these things?”
“I am a part of the cult.”
“Please, give me some credit I worked that out. Me and my father hadn’t spoken to each other for years so how do you know anything about me?”
“I know about the letter he sent you,” Leo glanced down at the crumpled piece of paper half hidden under her bed and picked it up. “he sent me one too, he knew that he was going to be executed.”
“It wasn’t an execution it was murder. He was one of them and they killed him for no reason.”
“It wasn’t for no reason Leo, he had been. . . getting under peoples skin.”
“And what does that mean?”
“I have to go for now Leo but I’ll call again, be careful, they might pickup your trail.” The phone went dead, and Leo replaced the receiver. She flattened out the piece of paper and read it for what must have been the hundredth time.
Hello Leo,
If you are reading this then I am probably dead. I just want to apologise to you, I know that we have never been a proper family and that things have been hard for you especially after your mother died but you have to understand that everything that I did was for your own good. I have been a part of the cult for what feels like forever. I joined the cult when I was just a teenager, I was angry at the world and at life; the cult accepted me and became my family they gave me everything I ever wanted, money and power. It took me years to realise that what I wanted was not what I needed but by then it was too late, the cult gives a lot but takes even more and it is too strong to go against. The Dust and Flames will always be. I was good at what I did for the cult, I could control people and turn them into allies and if they didn’t become allies then I eliminated them. Because of this ‘talent’ I became an important member of the cult.
I met your mother in New York. I instantly fell in love with her. I ran away from the cult, I now realise that they let me go because if they hadn’t wanted me to go then they would have dragged me back or just killed me. The cult doesn’t like people to leave. We married and within a year she fell pregnant with you. It was the happiest day of my life when you were born, I forgot all about the cult and although it may seem impossible to you now I was a devoted husband and father. It wasn’t until you were five that the cult approached me and reminded me that the Dust and Flames will always be. I tried to flee but the cult wanted me back. I had to leave to protect you and your mother. Things got worse when your mother died when you were 16. I hope you understand why you had to live with your mother’s sister, it was too dangerous to let you live with me. The cult has a habit of sucking people in and once you’re in you can’t get out. I didn’t want to expose you to that. Now you’re all grown up and I have missed out on watching you grow. I know that I haven’t been there for you and for this I apologise with all my heart and I wish that things could have been different.
And now to the important reason that I have contacted you, as I said in the first sentence, if you are reading this then time has already run out for me and my plan has failed. I will have been hunted down and killed by the cult’s hitman, Kyle Witacome. I am sending you this letter, as a warning, the cult leader, Valascient, would take a sick, perverse pleasure out of recruiting you and training you to take my place. I would suggest that you leave everything behind and move far away without telling anyone where you are going unless you want to become a part of the cult. I am sorry to uproot your life but this is for your own good.
I will forever watch over you, with all my love, your father, David.
Leo thought about all that had happened in the last two months, the PI she had paid to find the location of Kyle Witacome had worked fast. Within a month she abandoned the few friends that she had without saying goodbye and had moved into a rented apartment near Kyle’s address. The first call she had had off the mysterious William had chilled her soul, he seemed to know all about her. He was the one who told her how to get past the security at Kyle’s house. She hadn’t even thought about what she wanted to do when she moved she’d just moved. It was only when she broke into Karl’s house that she wondered what the hell she was doing. She hadn’t meant to kill him but something inside her had snapped, all the anger and feelings of abandonment from over the years welled up inside her and had taken over. Now she was a murderer, but if it was for family did that make it slightly less bad? She rushed into the bathroom and began to throw up. Her stomach ached but kept on retching as if emptying her stomach would some how cleanse her.
It was a week later, it was mid afternoon and one of those miserable rainy days that make you not want to do anything, not that she had anything to do, she was just waiting for William to call. The doorbell rang and she went to answer it, her heart thumping in her chest. It was a delivery boy; she took the parcel from him and signed for it. She closed the door and opened the package; the thing inside nearly made her heart stop. It was a gun. The telephone began to ring; she answered it, “Hello?”
“Leo did you get my present?” It was William.
“Why have you sent me it?”
“To kill the leader of the cult, Valascient, we talked about it remember?”
“I didn’t say that I was going to do it!”
“Leo you need to know about what your father was trying to achieve. He wanted to bring down the cult.” William told her about how there are many people in the cult who don’t want to be there but nobody leaves because they are afraid of what Valascient will do to them. “Why me though? Why should I be the one to end things? Why can’t you do it?”
“I would do it myself but Valascient knows that I was working with your father. They are looking for me as we speak to try and find out who else was a part of this rebellion.”
“If I kill him won’t someone else just rise to take his place?”
“No the ranks are looking for a reason to leave. If Valascient is killed then most people would run and the Dust and Flames would wither and die.” Leo was silent on the end of the line, William gave her directions to the cult’s headquarters and instructions on how to get past the security, “Think about it for your father OK? If you decide to do it then go in exactly one week’s time at midnight. The building will be practically empty.”
“How do you know this?”
“Let’s just say that part of what I did for the cult was get information, I’m good at it.”
She crept along the dark corridors. She hadn’t expected the HQ to be like this. It looked just like an ordinary office building. A few of the office doors were unlocked and she’d slipped into them to take a look. They were all ordinary, cheap wooden desks with grey filing cabinets by the side of them. William had told her that the higher members of the cult dealt in power and money and left the blood sacrifices for the newbies. She’d still expected a pentagram on the floor painted in crimson paint and dribbly black candles surrounding it, or even just a few satanic symbols dotted around the place. The gun felt heavy, she’d felt slightly cautious about carrying it in her trouser pocket but she wanted it within easy reach. She had no idea of how to work it she only really knew how to pull the trigger, she didn’t even know if the safety catch was on or not.
She walked through the endless corridors, with each step doubt grew in her mind like a cancer. The adrenaline that she had when she first held the gun was draining away. She thought she understood why she was doing this, so that no one else got hurt, to kill the heart of the cult, to release the people of the cult so that no one would have to go through a life like hers. But the more she thought about it the more she wondered what any of this had to do with her, What’s done is done, she thinks to herself, killing Valascient wouldn’t bring her father back it wouldn’t give her a proper family. But didn’t she owe it to her parents to make sure that this didn’t happen to anyone else?
She could see a door at the end of the corridor, light shone out of the gap between the door and the doorframe. She walked up to the door and hesitated, should she knock? She decides against it, she turns the handle and pulls out the gun as she opened the door. Valascient was standing looking out of the window; he turned around as the door creaked open. He gave her a confused look as if to ask her who was she, there was no fear in his eyes even at the sight of the gun which Leo aimed at his head. “I am Leo, you gave orders to murder my father, David, I am here to avenge his death.” His look of confusion deepened and then recollection was reflected in his face, “Ah yes, Leo. . . am I right then to presume that it was you who killed Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“You have been most pestiferous.”
“I am here to kill you and that is all you say?” she walked towards him slowly as she said this until the gun was pressed against his forehead. “You will not kill me.” He stated this as if it were fact.
“No? Want to bet?” Valascient's hand shot up and grabbed hold of Leo’s wrist forcing it up, she squeezed the trigger but it was too late. The bullet hit the ceiling spraying them both with plaster. He pushed his weight into her so that she stumbled backwards smashing into the wall. She was temporarily stunned at the speed with which he moved and he used this to his full advantage. His hand was still holding her wrist; he began to smash her hand against the wall squeezing her wrist so that it felt like it was in a vice. With his other hand he gripped her throat and tried to strangle her. Her free hand went first to her throat to try to remove his hand but then went to try to claw at his eyes. With a small scream of pain she released the gun which made a thud as it hit the floor. He released her wrist and grabbed her head. He twisted it and a sickening crack could be heard. Her arms fell to her side. He let go of her so that she fell to the floor, her glassy eyes still wide open, they had a look of shock in them. He knelt down beside her, “Guess I won the bet.” The door opened again and William stepped in holding a gun similar to the one Leo had. “Hey Valascient.” Valascient stood up,
“What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?! No? OK then I’ll explain.” Valascient took a step towards him, “don’t even try it Valascient, I’ve seen how you fight so don’t take another step.” He stopped moving.
“Pity about the girl but I felt that I owed it to David to let her try to avenge his death.”
“He was a traitor, he was trying to take over.”
“He wasn’t the only one Valascient. It’s time for you to retire.”
“I don’t understand why she was involved.” He said this and nodded at the girl. “David confided in me about his past, how his daughter had no direction and no faith. We were friends. When he died I felt I owed him something. I decided to give his daughter something to fight for. I forged letters off him and got in touch with her. I told her that her father wanted to bring down the cult and free the people. A small white lie.”
“A small white lie?! The truth is so far from that! He wanted to become leader of the cult!”
“She needed something to believe in.”
“Well now what? She’s dead, you’ve failed.”
“No she died for a cause. I probably would have killed her eventually any way.” He said this casually as if she wasn’t important.
“W-what are you going to do?” William smiled at Valascient, a single shot rang out and Valascient fell to the floor. "Goodbye Valascient.”
The leader dies, the cult lives on, the Dust and Flames will always be. . .
The shadows watch her leave. A dark figure steps out of the cover of darkness, he is tall with dark hair and has handsome features, and he walks with the kind of grace that suggests that this man is dangerous and really doesn’t give a damn who knows it. “It has begun.” He states. He glances at the body on the floor, “Sorry Kyle.” He whispers at the body and then strides out into the night.
Leo awoke as the sun began to shine through the window; she got up and opened the window before the small poky room was turned into an oven. She glanced over at the crumpled clothes in the corner of her room; they were stained with blood. She sighed to herself; she would have to dispose of them. She walked into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast when she sees a cockroach on the top of the cooker. Leo picked up the spatula that was lying on the cutting board by the sink and hit the cockroach with it until it stopped moving. She hit it a few more times just to make sure that it was dead before she threw the spatula into the sink, she walked out of the kitchen, she suddenly wasn’t hungry any more. She went into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror, she was a slim blonde. Her grey eyes seemed distant and there were bags under them. There was a long scratch going from her forehead just missing her left eye and stopping in the middle of her cheek, “And I thought that it was just girls who scratched when fighting.” She said to herself while examining it. She sighed again and looked at her arms; there were still flecks of blood on them that she had missed when washing them the night before. “Funny but I still don’t feel anything.” She looked at her arms again and threw up noisily in the toilet.
“Kyle’s dead? What the hell happened?” asked Valascient.
“We don’t know Sir, we found him this morning in his garden. Someone had put their fingers through his eyes and smashed his skull repeatedly against the concrete.” The Lieutenant winced at the memory of seeing the bloody eye sockets. Valascient rubbed his forehead; he could feel a migraine coming. “I want to find out what happened, who ever did this will feel our wrath, understand?” The Lieutenant shuffled his feet nervously; this was the first time he’d ever spoken to the leader of the cult. “Yes Sir.”
“I want a list of the top suspects this afternoon. You are dismissed.” The Lieutenant looked like he was about to argue but thought better of it, he saluted and marched smartly out of the room.
When the door clicked shut Valascient looked at the man standing in the corner of the room. The man went and sat in one of the big oak chairs; Valascient sat in the opposite chair so that he could face him. “Well William what do you think? Are the peasants revolting?”
“Yes Sir, they’re absolutely disgusting.” William stated flatly, Valascient glared at him, William coughed hastily and said, “You know they worship the ground you walk on.”
“Yes that’s the whole point I suppose. . .” Valascient sighed before he continued, “someone killed Kyle though and as far as I was aware he had no major enemies. . . at least none who were alive any more.”
“Well I know he had one enemy, Sir” Valascient straightened up in his chair, “Who?” Will leaned forward in his chair and glanced around conspiratorially, “The person who killed him.” Valascient glared at him, “Yes that was quite obvious, even I had worked out that he hadn’t killed himself.” Valascient relaxed back into his chair and seemed deep in thought, “The times are changing Will.” They sat in silence for a minute before William spoke “I have been a part of this cult since I was a boy, I have risen through the ranks to become the second in command and I know that the Dust and Flames will always be.”
“Be what?”
“They just. . . will be. . .”
“ . . . indeed.”
Leo sat at the end of her bed she was shaking. The telephone began to ring and her heart missed a beat. She crept slowly towards the phone and hesitantly held the phone to her ear, “H-hello?”
“Hey Leo it’s William, I’m impressed!”
“. . .”
“What? Don’t you want to talk to me?!” Leo felt anger begin to rise in her, “What the hell do you want?” venom was spat out with each word. The voice at the other end of the line laughed “You’ve caused quite a stir. I just called to ask if I’m going to see anymore of your work anytime soon.”
“I did this for family not for fun.”
“Why stop now when you’re doing so well!”
“I killed Kyle because he killed my father, he betrayed him.”
“He was just following orders.”
“. . .”
“I can tell you who gave him the orders and where to find him.” Leo paused before she replied, “Why do you want to help me?”
“I knew your father, he was a good man.”
“I’m sorry but are we talking about the same man? My father was a murdering b*****d, which part of that made him good?”
“You say that and yet you’ve killed for him.”
“. . . How did you get my number? How do you know these things?”
“I am a part of the cult.”
“Please, give me some credit I worked that out. Me and my father hadn’t spoken to each other for years so how do you know anything about me?”
“I know about the letter he sent you,” Leo glanced down at the crumpled piece of paper half hidden under her bed and picked it up. “he sent me one too, he knew that he was going to be executed.”
“It wasn’t an execution it was murder. He was one of them and they killed him for no reason.”
“It wasn’t for no reason Leo, he had been. . . getting under peoples skin.”
“And what does that mean?”
“I have to go for now Leo but I’ll call again, be careful, they might pickup your trail.” The phone went dead, and Leo replaced the receiver. She flattened out the piece of paper and read it for what must have been the hundredth time.
Hello Leo,
If you are reading this then I am probably dead. I just want to apologise to you, I know that we have never been a proper family and that things have been hard for you especially after your mother died but you have to understand that everything that I did was for your own good. I have been a part of the cult for what feels like forever. I joined the cult when I was just a teenager, I was angry at the world and at life; the cult accepted me and became my family they gave me everything I ever wanted, money and power. It took me years to realise that what I wanted was not what I needed but by then it was too late, the cult gives a lot but takes even more and it is too strong to go against. The Dust and Flames will always be. I was good at what I did for the cult, I could control people and turn them into allies and if they didn’t become allies then I eliminated them. Because of this ‘talent’ I became an important member of the cult.
I met your mother in New York. I instantly fell in love with her. I ran away from the cult, I now realise that they let me go because if they hadn’t wanted me to go then they would have dragged me back or just killed me. The cult doesn’t like people to leave. We married and within a year she fell pregnant with you. It was the happiest day of my life when you were born, I forgot all about the cult and although it may seem impossible to you now I was a devoted husband and father. It wasn’t until you were five that the cult approached me and reminded me that the Dust and Flames will always be. I tried to flee but the cult wanted me back. I had to leave to protect you and your mother. Things got worse when your mother died when you were 16. I hope you understand why you had to live with your mother’s sister, it was too dangerous to let you live with me. The cult has a habit of sucking people in and once you’re in you can’t get out. I didn’t want to expose you to that. Now you’re all grown up and I have missed out on watching you grow. I know that I haven’t been there for you and for this I apologise with all my heart and I wish that things could have been different.
And now to the important reason that I have contacted you, as I said in the first sentence, if you are reading this then time has already run out for me and my plan has failed. I will have been hunted down and killed by the cult’s hitman, Kyle Witacome. I am sending you this letter, as a warning, the cult leader, Valascient, would take a sick, perverse pleasure out of recruiting you and training you to take my place. I would suggest that you leave everything behind and move far away without telling anyone where you are going unless you want to become a part of the cult. I am sorry to uproot your life but this is for your own good.
I will forever watch over you, with all my love, your father, David.
Leo thought about all that had happened in the last two months, the PI she had paid to find the location of Kyle Witacome had worked fast. Within a month she abandoned the few friends that she had without saying goodbye and had moved into a rented apartment near Kyle’s address. The first call she had had off the mysterious William had chilled her soul, he seemed to know all about her. He was the one who told her how to get past the security at Kyle’s house. She hadn’t even thought about what she wanted to do when she moved she’d just moved. It was only when she broke into Karl’s house that she wondered what the hell she was doing. She hadn’t meant to kill him but something inside her had snapped, all the anger and feelings of abandonment from over the years welled up inside her and had taken over. Now she was a murderer, but if it was for family did that make it slightly less bad? She rushed into the bathroom and began to throw up. Her stomach ached but kept on retching as if emptying her stomach would some how cleanse her.
It was a week later, it was mid afternoon and one of those miserable rainy days that make you not want to do anything, not that she had anything to do, she was just waiting for William to call. The doorbell rang and she went to answer it, her heart thumping in her chest. It was a delivery boy; she took the parcel from him and signed for it. She closed the door and opened the package; the thing inside nearly made her heart stop. It was a gun. The telephone began to ring; she answered it, “Hello?”
“Leo did you get my present?” It was William.
“Why have you sent me it?”
“To kill the leader of the cult, Valascient, we talked about it remember?”
“I didn’t say that I was going to do it!”
“Leo you need to know about what your father was trying to achieve. He wanted to bring down the cult.” William told her about how there are many people in the cult who don’t want to be there but nobody leaves because they are afraid of what Valascient will do to them. “Why me though? Why should I be the one to end things? Why can’t you do it?”
“I would do it myself but Valascient knows that I was working with your father. They are looking for me as we speak to try and find out who else was a part of this rebellion.”
“If I kill him won’t someone else just rise to take his place?”
“No the ranks are looking for a reason to leave. If Valascient is killed then most people would run and the Dust and Flames would wither and die.” Leo was silent on the end of the line, William gave her directions to the cult’s headquarters and instructions on how to get past the security, “Think about it for your father OK? If you decide to do it then go in exactly one week’s time at midnight. The building will be practically empty.”
“How do you know this?”
“Let’s just say that part of what I did for the cult was get information, I’m good at it.”
She crept along the dark corridors. She hadn’t expected the HQ to be like this. It looked just like an ordinary office building. A few of the office doors were unlocked and she’d slipped into them to take a look. They were all ordinary, cheap wooden desks with grey filing cabinets by the side of them. William had told her that the higher members of the cult dealt in power and money and left the blood sacrifices for the newbies. She’d still expected a pentagram on the floor painted in crimson paint and dribbly black candles surrounding it, or even just a few satanic symbols dotted around the place. The gun felt heavy, she’d felt slightly cautious about carrying it in her trouser pocket but she wanted it within easy reach. She had no idea of how to work it she only really knew how to pull the trigger, she didn’t even know if the safety catch was on or not.
She walked through the endless corridors, with each step doubt grew in her mind like a cancer. The adrenaline that she had when she first held the gun was draining away. She thought she understood why she was doing this, so that no one else got hurt, to kill the heart of the cult, to release the people of the cult so that no one would have to go through a life like hers. But the more she thought about it the more she wondered what any of this had to do with her, What’s done is done, she thinks to herself, killing Valascient wouldn’t bring her father back it wouldn’t give her a proper family. But didn’t she owe it to her parents to make sure that this didn’t happen to anyone else?
She could see a door at the end of the corridor, light shone out of the gap between the door and the doorframe. She walked up to the door and hesitated, should she knock? She decides against it, she turns the handle and pulls out the gun as she opened the door. Valascient was standing looking out of the window; he turned around as the door creaked open. He gave her a confused look as if to ask her who was she, there was no fear in his eyes even at the sight of the gun which Leo aimed at his head. “I am Leo, you gave orders to murder my father, David, I am here to avenge his death.” His look of confusion deepened and then recollection was reflected in his face, “Ah yes, Leo. . . am I right then to presume that it was you who killed Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“You have been most pestiferous.”
“I am here to kill you and that is all you say?” she walked towards him slowly as she said this until the gun was pressed against his forehead. “You will not kill me.” He stated this as if it were fact.
“No? Want to bet?” Valascient's hand shot up and grabbed hold of Leo’s wrist forcing it up, she squeezed the trigger but it was too late. The bullet hit the ceiling spraying them both with plaster. He pushed his weight into her so that she stumbled backwards smashing into the wall. She was temporarily stunned at the speed with which he moved and he used this to his full advantage. His hand was still holding her wrist; he began to smash her hand against the wall squeezing her wrist so that it felt like it was in a vice. With his other hand he gripped her throat and tried to strangle her. Her free hand went first to her throat to try to remove his hand but then went to try to claw at his eyes. With a small scream of pain she released the gun which made a thud as it hit the floor. He released her wrist and grabbed her head. He twisted it and a sickening crack could be heard. Her arms fell to her side. He let go of her so that she fell to the floor, her glassy eyes still wide open, they had a look of shock in them. He knelt down beside her, “Guess I won the bet.” The door opened again and William stepped in holding a gun similar to the one Leo had. “Hey Valascient.” Valascient stood up,
“What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?! No? OK then I’ll explain.” Valascient took a step towards him, “don’t even try it Valascient, I’ve seen how you fight so don’t take another step.” He stopped moving.
“Pity about the girl but I felt that I owed it to David to let her try to avenge his death.”
“He was a traitor, he was trying to take over.”
“He wasn’t the only one Valascient. It’s time for you to retire.”
“I don’t understand why she was involved.” He said this and nodded at the girl. “David confided in me about his past, how his daughter had no direction and no faith. We were friends. When he died I felt I owed him something. I decided to give his daughter something to fight for. I forged letters off him and got in touch with her. I told her that her father wanted to bring down the cult and free the people. A small white lie.”
“A small white lie?! The truth is so far from that! He wanted to become leader of the cult!”
“She needed something to believe in.”
“Well now what? She’s dead, you’ve failed.”
“No she died for a cause. I probably would have killed her eventually any way.” He said this casually as if she wasn’t important.
“W-what are you going to do?” William smiled at Valascient, a single shot rang out and Valascient fell to the floor. "Goodbye Valascient.”
The leader dies, the cult lives on, the Dust and Flames will always be. . .