Chapter 22

The darkness was sweet and cloying; seeping in thru my nose and mouth with every breath I took. I coughed as it filled my lungs, leaking out again thru the hole my broken rib had made. I had been fighting this darkness for what seemed to be forever and this time I was losing.

'Why do you struggle? You cannot defeat me.'

"You keep saying that, and I keep beating you."

'Really? What have you won?'

"My life! The lives of my sister and my friends!"

'You count those as victories? You sad, pathetic little boy... '

"Then what is it you do want?"

'Death and destruction. They are your nature, your reason for existing. Death and destruction... Foolish child, when will you accept yourself for what you are? You cannot save... you're meant to kill, it's your gift!'

"Fuck you! I'll decide what I'm meant to do, not some disembodied voice in the dark."

'You want a face to go with the voice? Very well... '

The darkness flexed and contorted, pulling in and pressing out then plunged full inside me, filling every cell of my body. My mind screamed from the intense pressure. I struggled for air, battled to keep my heart beating just one more time and then once more after that.

I lay in nothingness. The darkness was inside me now and there was nothing all around. Everywhere I looked was nowhere. No sounds, no smells, nothing to touch, nothing to see.

I coughed wetly. The pain in my chest was terrible, but reassuring. There was something in this place, if only my own pain. I doubled up as the pain increased, hacking and coughing. The pressure from within tripled and I became nauseous. The muscles in my belly contracted and I began vomiting. I puked up darkness in endless streams, from my mouth and nose, feeling as if I were being turned inside out.

The inky lake at my feet rippled and swelled upwards, growing like a putrid stalagmite. It bulged out, forming vestigial arms that waved aimlessly. A head began to emerge at the top of the towering mass, facial features started to form as the rest of it took on human form.

After an eon of agony, I stopped vomiting and the pain eased in my body. I fought to my feet and stood facing the writhing mass of darkness as it finished its transformation.

Its eyes opened and bored into my own. The trunk had shaped itself into a human chest and the mass below split into legs that spread apart and matched my own stance.

It was like looking into a photographic negative. It was me, but it wasn't... was it?

'Now do you see? Now do you understand? You can never defeat me! And you can never save them from me!'

I reached for the rage that layed buried within me, linking with the dark twin across from me. It wasn't there. The fury, the fire, the blazing power was gone.

The dark apparition across from me grinned like a maniac. I saw hellfire licking at his lips and streaming like tears from his eyes.

'I am a god! There is nothing I cannot do and nothing to stop me doing it!'

"You're no god. I've beaten you before, I can do it again."

'With what? I am all the power you ever had.'

"Not all."

The negative figure smirked and blasted me with the immolating power of my own rage. I felt myself burning, my hair curled up and fell away from the heat, my pale skin turned red then black as it crisped and cracked while blood and other bodily fluids leaked from the fissures.

The pain was very specific, very intense and horrible. But it was only pain. I accepted it and pulled it deep within me, bathed in it, drank it deeply and relished its life affirming astringency.

I had no rage to fight with, no flame of my own that could humble the darkness. Darkness... what does darkness fear? One thing and one thing only. I opened my heart and let out my love.

That relentlessly burning little flame blazed up and filled me with light and warmth, soothing my burns, healing my wounds and cooling my spirit. It grew brighter and larger, filling all the spaces within me left empty by the darkness. I burned brighter than the fires of rage and lit up the nothingness. The light flowed down the link and burrowed into the dark figure. He bellowed and blasted back with more and more pain. I drew it in and put it aside.

'You cannot save them from ME! You cannot save them from US!' my darkness screamed at me as the light burned it to pale gray ash.

"You fuckin' watch me."

I woke up with a blinding light in my eyes and blinding pain in my body.

You have no idea how much I'd begun to despise waking up. I wondered if it were at all possible to never go to sleep again.

I twisted my head away from the bright light and my eyes adjusted slowly. I was in a bed. Okay, fine. Where was the bed? I tried to focus my eyes, but my vision was blurry and I couldn't make out much beyond my feet.

What happened?

'The man in the car.'

Right, the man in the car. He'd tried to hit the girls. Or had he? Maybe he was after all of us? Or maybe he was only after me?

'Wouldn't hurt to know who he worked for.'

Yeah, but a little late for that. I'd fried him, hadn't I?

'He wasn't working alone, was he?'

The woman! The skinny, stringy haired blond! I had to get to her before she got away. I had to find the girls... were they alright? Were they in danger?

'Shit, they're near you... how safe can they be?'

"Don't start with me, asshole." I growled.

I sat up and swung my legs out over the side, putting my feet on the floor. I was hooked up to bags of fluid, wired up to machines that went 'Beep' and 'Boop'. I pulled the hoses and needles out, yanked the wires off then pushed up with my arms and settled my weight onto my legs. My ribs burned with pain every breath I took and my legs and hips ached from the strain of standing. I ignored it all and looked around for an exit.

I blinked rapidly, getting the grit out and moisture back in. My vision improved greatly and I saw a pair of sliding glass doors in front of me. I walked slowly but steadily towards them. They were automatic and opened as my foot hit the floor pad. I stalked thru and into the hall.

The hall dead ended on my right, so I went left, down past the nurse's station, broadcasting determination and menace. The few people I came across scrambled to get out of my way. I grabbed hold of a man before he could get away.

"Where are the elevators?" I croaked.

He pointed in the direction I was going, so I let loose and he ran. I kept going forward. The hall emptied into a wide waiting area, empty except for three men in dark suits. I recognized Mr. Jones, the other's I didn't know.

They stood up and faced me.

"You are supposed to be in the ICU." Mr. Jones said.

"I have something to do that can't wait."

"You'll kill yourself."

"Doesn't matter. There were two of them. She might still be up on the ward. I have to know who ordered this."

Jones nodded. "Alright, I'll go with you. What does she look like?"

"Five foot five, one twenty, skinny, long stringy blond hair. She's very cold and self controlled. More dangerous than the one in the car. But don't kill her. She's gonna talk to me."

Jones dispatched his two men out to the front and rear entrances and told them to call for additional support. I plodded towards the elevators, with Mr. Jones in tow.

"Are my sister and the two girls okay?" I asked him.

"They're fine. We had a hell of time getting them to leave you though. It was like fighting a pack of wolves just to get you into the ambulance. I had them moved to a safe house. As soon as you came out of ICU we were going to move you there as well."

"They weren't hurt?"

"A couple of scraped elbows and some bruises, nothing worse."

I nodded. "Thanks for looking after them."

"Not a problem."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. I strode out, walking faster than I should have, but I wanted to get my hands on the bitch so badly I was more than willing to endure the agony my body was going thru.

Jones stayed at the hallway entrance while I went from room to room, pushing open doors and broadcasting a feeling of impending doom.

"Where are you, bitch?" I hissed.

I went from one side of the hall to the other, slamming open doors and scaring the hell out of the occupants. I stormed past the nurse's station and glared at the personnel behind the counter.

"Stay back and keep out of this."

I saw her coming out of the dayroom. She saw me and stopped moving.

I watched her watching me and I grinned.

"He missed." I said softly.

The girl shifted her stance and turned so that her left side was towards me, her fists cocked, one near her waist and the other at shoulder level.

My grin got bigger. I walked slowly towards her, my weight on the balls of my feet.

Her expression never changed; calm and relaxed, patient and planning. Definitely more dangerous than the man. I linked and hit her with all the pain in my body.

She flinched, but that was all. Tough too. Good, very good... she'd be lots of fun to interview.

I slid in closer and presented her with my right side, the one with the least amount of damage.

She was very fast and moved like lightning. She kicked at my right shin with her left leg, shifted around and planted her right heel in my stomach.

I reached out with my right hand and grabbed her neck while she was hammering my ribs and chest with her fists.

Her eyes bugged out slightly as I squeezed my fingers into her carotid arteries, cutting off the flow of oxygen to her brain.

She punched and hammered at my arm like a lumberjack chopping trees, but I continued to squeeze. She kicked at my balls. I managed to shift my hips in time to take the blow on my thigh, but it hurt like hell. I lifted her off her feet and into the air, hoping to rob her kicks of leverage. Her arms and legs slowed their flailing and hung limply. She eventually passed out. I dropped her to the floor and staggered sideways, leaning heavily against the wall.