Within

Chapter Ten

“Lindsay,” I stated, not bothering to console the crying girl, “tell me how to get out of here.”

She shook her head furiously. “You’ll leave me here. With them,” she wailed.

“Tell me.”

She sniffled, wiggling her button nose. “I... I...”

“Lindsay,” I repeated strongly, not leaving room for argument in my tone.

Lindsay shook her head again, keeping her eyes squeezed shut.

I exhaled, sensing that the girl had no intention of backing down. But if my prediction was correct, then Lindsay was the demon that had lead me and trapped me here--meaning that she had to know of a way out. So I opted for another approach. “Can you tell me about them?”

Lindsay fiddled with her hair and leaned back on her heels. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to.”

“I’ll forgive you if you do.”

She started spewing out information, “I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t know where we are or how long it’s been. We’re in a different plane of existence, kind of like a growth off of the one we lived in before. Time doesn’t work the same here.

“They brought me here a long time ago. At least, I think they did. It’s hard to tell.” She took in a deep breath before continuing, “They needed a body. So they took me. I didn’t have a family. Or anyone that would notice that I was gone--I was homeless.” Lindsay nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “They can’t stay in the human realm for long, nor can they stay in this one for long. They belong in Hell; their soul isn’t strong enough to fight the pull unless they have a vessel. That vessel is me.”

I felt bad for her. Sort of. I was still mad over the whole killing thing even though it was her-but-not-really-her. “They’re the master then?”

Lindsay nodded quietly.

“Do you know how to get out of here?”

Another nod. “B-but! The last time I tried to help somebody out, they killed her! I don’t want you to die. I keep fighting them; I’m trying my best to keep you alive.”

“They’ll kill me whether or not I stay here. So I think that I want to die trying. Besides, don’t you want to get out of here?”

Lindsay looked up at me, her sloe-eyes full of pain and sadness. “Yeah,” she whispered. “But it’s hard. And it requires a lot of effort and I--”

“You can do it,” I informed her. “I know it.”

Lindsay nodded her head more confidently this time, a smile spreading across her face. “Okay!” I watched her stand up and walk over to the far left wall, acting as if the glass wasn’t there at all.

I followed after her, though, slower. “So what do you have to do?” I questioned, stopping behind her.

“Gosh, it’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Don’t explain then.”

“Well, all right,” Lindsay said, pressing her bony fingers against the wall. “It’s not, like, super complicated. Just takes a lot of concentration for me. Which is kind of hard because I have to fight with the master...”

She kept speaking, but I stopped listening. Lindsay said something in a language that I didn’t understand, and a loud grinding noise sounded after a large boom. “There we go.”

“That was fast,” I remarked, watching the wall slide open and reveal a dark corridor.

Lindsay told me, “It’s harder than it looks.”

“Oh.”

She left and I trailed after, grateful to discover that there was no glass on the ground here. I was able to move a little faster because of it, thankfully. But my feet--and the rest of my body--still hurt.

“So now what?” I questioned after a few minutes of what seemed to be endless walking.

“We keep going,” Lindsay answered.

I nodded my head and folded my arms around my bare chest, thinking that it was noticeably colder out here than it was inside of the cell. I was starting to really wish that I had something to change into. But I didn’t, so I kept on walking without saying anything.

When we got out of here, I’d be able to take a shower, clean my wounds... Hopefully mysteriously heal them like I had done before. See Arthur again. Was he looking for me? Did he even care? Or, when he realized that he couldn’t grab me, did he just give up and leave? Go back home?

It made my heart hurt just thinking of Arthur abandoning me. He said that he had to protect me. Did that still hold true now? After I had been snatched up, after I had yelled at him? I hoped so. I really did.

Lindsay turned and looked at me, wearing an odd expression on her face. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You’re crying.”

I touched a hand to my face, surprised to discover that it was wet. Not with my blood, but with tears. “Oh.” I looked down at my finger, at the tears on it. “That’s weird.”

Was I sad right now? I didn’t really feel it. I just kind of felt numb and determined at the same time. I needed to get out of here. Then I’d feel better. I didn’t want to end up like Lindsay, sharing my body with a demon and dealing with harsh psychological traumas.

Maybe I did have something to be sad about. I didn’t wiping my tears, my hands were too dirty and there was no point to it. I didn't care if Lindsay saw.

After that, for the majority of the walk (Lindsay had a few breakdowns) it was pretty peaceful. Well, peaceful wasn’t the right word to describe it, it was more quiet. The corridor was a straight shot forward, but it was long. My legs were started to hurt--even more than before--due to the length of the corridor.

I refrained from asking Lindsay how far away we were, knowing that she would go off on a tangent if I did. I just assumed that it would take us a while to get there. Which would’ve been fine if I wasn’t freezing and in pain.

My feet clapped against the cold stone ground, the lack of support making my back hurt, too. Everything sucked right now. Lindsay, much to my dismay, startled blabbering about nonsequential things. And she’d laugh about a joke that she’d apparently told then go quiet.

“I think that you would’ve gotten along with Kayla. No. Marley. Or was it Harley? Gosh, it’s getting hard to remember their names!” She laughed as if it was funny that she had forgotten their names.

They’re dead, I wanted to tell her. They at least deserve some respect.

Lindsay suddenly stopped walking, whipping around on her heels and charging at me.

Not again, I thought immediately as I was tackled to the ground. Lindsay started scratching wildly at my face, screaming at me and me screaming back at her.

“You accursed wretch!” Lindsay-not-Lindsay shrieked, grabbing my arms and forcing them away from my face. “How dare you turn our vessel against us? How dare you?”

I ignored her, doing my best to fight against her uncanny strength. “Get... off of me... you... little!” I kicked at her, trying to get her to be knocked off balance. I managed to get one hand free and came for her eyes, deciding them to be the most vulnerable.

She screeched as one of my nails managed to cut across one of her eyes, she leapt back off of me and covered the now bleeding organ. “We will not let you live another day, banshee!”

I scurried to my feet, sitting back into a defensive position and ready to counterattack.

To be completely honest, I was hoping that Lindsay would gain control over her body once more because there was no way that I would be able to fend off this damned creature. Lindsay lunged at me again, but I stepped out of the way in time and started to run.

It was more of an awkward gallop, and it was entirely futile, but that didn’t stop me. I knew that Lindsay would catch up with me the moment she picked herself off of the ground. She was a strong demon and I was a super weak banshee.

But I kept running, pumping my legs as hard as I could so that I could get to the exit faster. I didn’t look behind me, but judging from the sound of footfalls thundering me, Lindsay was having no problems catching up to me.

That’s when the urge hit me. It was like no other that I had ever felt in my entire life. In my hysteria, I let it happen. My mouth dropped open and the screech tore out of my throat and left it feeling raw. My jaw started to hurt from being stretched so far, I could feel it pop a little.

The entire building started to shake afterwards; it was so violent that I was almost convinced that it was going to fall down upon us and crush us.

The scream must’ve really shaken me because I saw Arthur materialize out of thin air and step directly into my path. It made me slow a little; my eyes widening at the illusion.

But then I crashed into his very solid body (he didn’t even budge despite the collision), feeling his equally as real arms wrap around my body protectively.

“Arthur,” I sobbed, gripping his shirt and beginning to cry once again. “Arthur, you came for me.”

“Of course I did.” His hold on me tightened. “Why wouldn’t I?” he sounded pretty confused as he asked the question.

I shrugged, not wanting to speak anymore. I just wanted to feel him and know that it was all going to be okay now. I was safe. Or at least I was pretty confident that I was. I didn’t know how Arthur’s strength measured up against Lindsay’s. But she had struggled with dealing with me... so he was probably stronger?

God, I had no idea. I just hoped for the best.

I heard Lindsay skip to a stop, but kept my face buried in Arthur’s chest.

“Nephilim boy,” she hissed. “You came for the banshee... You truly do care for her, like he said.”

He? I wondered who he was. Coffee Guy?

Arthur didn’t respond to her, instead he said to me, “Are you okay? Well, obviously not but--”

“--I’m fine now.” I breathed in his pleasant scent, tranquility spreading through my body and easing the pain that I felt. I leaned back a little to smile up at him, but Arthur’s eyes hardened when they met with mine.

“You’re not wearing clothes.” He looked up at the demon. “Leech,” he growled, tone chilling and full of rage. Arthur gently removed his arms from me and guided me to stand behind him. “Do you not value your life?”

Lindsay snorted and slid into a strange position that I assumed was for fighting. But I didn’t really know anything. Instead, I took a couple of steps back, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire if--when--they started fighting. “Holy One, you have grown weak,” she spat.

Arthur spread out his arms, even through his jacket I could see the outline of his muscular biceps. I thought that he looked pretty strong, especially from the back where I could see how broad his shoulders really were. I could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “An insult coming from a half-breed mutt who can’t exist without being a parasite like you means nothing to me.”

Her eyes narrowed into slits. “You are needlessly arrogant.”

He shrugged, not caring.

Lindsay shot forward then, clearly done with speaking. She didn’t make it very far though, since Arthur reached out She raced towards Arthur, a fearsome expression on her face. I thought that he might’ve actually been weak just because she looked so confident.

But I was quickly proven wrong.

Arthur’s arm shot out, catching Lindsay’s neck in one second and throwing her against the wall in the next. There was this nasty crunching sound when her skull slammed against the stone, and she fell to the ground and didn’t move again. She was dead, I think.

Dead?

I gasped, about to run forward to check on Lindsay, but Arthur grabbed my arm to stop me.

“Don’t,” he said. “The girl died long ago. What was remaining of her soul was devoured today. The demon did not have long left in this world.”

I stared down at Lindsay; her slanted eyes were wide open and there was a lot of blood on her face, coming from the wound where her soft head had met with much harder stone wall.

She had been annoying, yeah, also weird... and crazy. But her life had been so sad. She had her freedom snatched away from her and was forced to do things that she did not want to for God knows how many years. And now she was dead. Or dead for real, I guess.

We hadn’t known each other for long, but I still felt grief. She was young. Too young. Her life had been taken by a demon and she lost everything because of it. I tugged on my arm again, and Arthur released me, allowing me to go to her side and kneel down.

I rolled her over onto her back, carefully placing her hands on her stomach. Then I brushed the strands of her hair out of the blood on her face, finally, I closed her eyes. “Can you pray for her?” I questioned Arthur. I figured that since he was an angel, he did this sort of thing.

“I don’t pray,” he said tightly.

“Why?”

“Good reasons.” He shook his head and walked over, kneeling by us. He touched her forehead and whispered something in a language I didn’t understand. “That’s the most I can do for her.” He stood and removed his sweatjacket, handing it to me. “Put this on.”

I accepted it, putting it on as I rose to my feet. Arthur put an arm around me, pressing my body against his as if he was afraid that I was going to run off again. My heart started to beat a little faster, but I commanded it to stop. He wasn’t doing this because he liked me, but because he wanted to protect me. Or whatever his reason for being with me was.

The little voice in the back of my head told me it was because he felt guilty.

And more than anything else, knowing that hurt.