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Snuggling under the duvet covers, I return to a state of semi-consciousness, still not able to fully process what is happening around me. Suddenly, I sit up sharply, and it all comes back to me. This is Claremont Hall. This is Alex’s bed I’m lying in. Oh my God…Horrific memories from what happened earlier in the alley hit me like a ton of bricks. Blood, tentacles, severed appendages flit through my mind and I fight the urge to be sick again.
For a long time, I can’t speak, can’t move, all I can do is stare at him, fear robbing me of my faculties. I notice Alex’s appearance has returned to normal. There are no tentacled creatures coming out of his back and his face has resumed some semblance of humanity. But I’m not a fool. What I saw in that alley was real, I’m sure of it. I didn’t imagine it. He really did transform into a demon.
“How are you feeling?” he asks gently. “You were talking a lot in your sleep. It sounded as if you were having lots of bad dreams and you kept calling out for your mother.” He reaches for my hand, but I jolt back violently, crossing my arms as if to block a punch.
“Stay away from me! Don’t come anywhere near me!”
“Now Jessica, you need to calm down. I’ll be taking you home to London in less than an hour, so there’s no point getting hysterical. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal tonight, and you need to stay calm and focus on keeping your strength up for the drive back.” He reaches out again to touch my hand, but once more I recoil in horror.
“Stay away from me, you monster!”
“No, my beauty,” he says. “I think you’ll find the true monsters are those vile creatures who tried to rape you. I won’t call them animals because that would be an insult to animals. Animals are pure and innocent, they don’t inflict insane levels of cruelty on each other the way humans do. At least now thanks to me, that despicable creature you call Jack will be, shall we say, ‘out of action’ for good and never again be a danger to women.” His voice grows suddenly hard. “I don’t mind saying that I took great pleasure in destroying that handsome face of his. Now Jack looks as hideous as his soul and never again will any woman be taken in by him.”
At these words, horrific images from earlier in the night hit me like a slap in the face: bloody testicles on the ground, pieces of flesh torn out of Jack’s cheek. It was horrible, just horrible. With a shudder, I push the bad memories away.
No, I can’t think about that right now, it’s too terrible to comprehend.
“What were you even doing in that alley?” I demand. “I thought I told you to stay away from me?”
Alex’s eyes widen. “Stay away from you? Are you crazy? As if I could ever stay away from you. No, the minute you told me not to drive down and see you, I instantly made up my mind that I would. I drove to your workplace to surprise you but found you had already left, then I drove along the high street to track you down, and it looks like it was a good thing I did, or else things could have turned out very differently. What those filthy bastards tried to do to you makes me sick to my stomach.”
“My God, what are you?” I whisper. “Are you really a demon? Was your mother telling the truth? What the hell was all that crazy shit that happened in the alley with the tentacles?”
There’s a long suspenseful silence. Then, with a resolute sigh, Alex runs his fingers through his hair and says, “It’s complicated, but the short answer is yes. Yes, when I was ten years old, I messed around with a Ouija board and caused a demonic entity known as Erasmus to enter my subconscious and attempt to take control of me.”
“Attempt? What do you mean attempt?”
“My mother thinks Erasmus succeeded in possessing me entirely, but she’s wrong. Yes, I’ll admit in the beginning, when I was a weak and feeble child, the demon took full control, but as the years went by, my human side grew stronger and stronger and, in the end, it was I, Alexander Kingswood, who won the battle. I made Erasmus my bitch, which means he is now a part of who I am without dominating the side of me that is human. It is I who call the shots. I who says what happens and I am able to harness the demon’s powers to do whatever I please. With a snap of my fingers, I can channel the forces of darkness and reap all the benefits of the supernatural without having to forfeit my humanity. And that is what my mother has always failed to understand.”
My bottom lip trembles. I can’t believe what I am hearing. None of this seems real. It’s too shocking, too crazy.
“So did you…did you really kill your father?” I ask breathlessly. “Beatrix said she saw one of your tentacles push him down the stairs.”
“Yes and no,” Alex replies without missing a beat. “I’ll admit I wanted Neville dead. I despised him, especially for the way he treated my mother, and he fucking murdered my kitten Trinity, something I could never forgive him for. But Erasmus had full control of my body at the time of the ‘accident.’ I was just a kid back then and still hadn’t worked out how to use my powers, so when that tentacle shot out and hit Neville, I was barely even aware of it. But…” he adds softly, “A part of me does believe that I may have in some way ‘willed’ Erasmus to do it. The demon knew I hated my dad, so it’s possible he acted on my behalf. So, as I said before, the whole situation is…complicated.”
For a long time, I don’t say anything, the shock of his confession almost too much to bear. Hot tears begin to flow down my cheeks. Once more, Alex tries to take hold of my hand to comfort me, but I coldly brush him off. Jesus, this feels like a never-ending nightmare. My head wants to explode. So, Beatrix was telling the truth after all. Alex is a demon. He isn’t human and after the carnage that took place in that alleyway, I am left in no doubt that this relationship cannot continue.
Without a doubt, those sick bastards deserved their comeuppance, but the gruesomeness of what I witnessed has left an indelible mark on my soul which cannot be erased. Just thinking about what those awful tentacles did to Jack and the others makes me want to throw up all over again. I understand why Alex did it—he only wanted to protect me, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am now terrified for my own safety. How can I love a demon, a hellish creature that is capable of committing such acts of depravity?
Throwing back the duvet cover, I jump out of bed and try to make a run for it, but Alex is too quick and catches me in his arms before I reach the door.
“Let me go!” I shout. “Get your dirty hands off me!”
But my pleas fall on deaf ears. Dragging me kicking and screaming to the bed, Alex throws me on the mattress and pins me down with such force, it feels as if he could snap every bone in my body. I am absolutely terrified.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he whispers, gazing down at me. “How far do you think you’re going to get in the middle of the countryside dressed in a nightie, huh?”
“Let go of me! Please Alex, I just want to leave this place. I can’t take any more of this madness. Please, I just want to be normal again. I-I don’t want any part of this…this insanity.”
“I told you, I’m going to drive you home soon. Why can’t you wait until then?”
“Because I don’t want to be with you anymore, Alex. This relationship ends tonight. What you’ve just told me, I’m sorry, but I’m not strong enough to cope with it, not when I’ve got all this other stuff with my mother to think about. There’s only so much a person can take before their head completely explodes and I just need to get away. Can’t you understand that I just want to be normal? I don’t want to be part of this—”
“So even after all I’ve done for you, you still want to end things with me?” Alex says coldly. “After I saved you from being raped tonight, you still see me as the enemy and not those sick fucks who tried to violate you? My God, Jessica, what will it take to get a little bit of gratitude from you?”
“Of course, I’m grateful!” I fire back. “But can’t you see it from my perspective? This is a lot for me to take and my head just can’t handle it right now. First those bastards try to rape me, then you come along and transform into something from a horror film, and I am forced to witness the most sickening display of violence I have ever seen. I’m sorry, but it’s going to take time for me to get over it. It’s just too much to deal with all at once.” I pause to catch my breath. “Now please can you let go of my wrists? You’re hurting me.”
Instantly, Alex loosens his grip but continues to lie on top of me, weighing me down to the bed with no means of escape. When he speaks again his voice is soft and seductive and my body begins to react to him in ways I wish it didn’t.
