Suddenly feeling self-conscious and shy, he reached carefully into his pocket. His hand wrapped around the object he found inside. Luckily, the bandages prevented any contact with it.
He brought it out slowly and showed it to Aimi. Her face lit up with pleasure.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, examining the necklace with the silver cross without touching it.
“Take it,” he said. “Try it on.”
Nervously, she reached out and lifted the delicate necklace from his palm. As much as he could, he helped her put it on.
“Where did you get it?” she asked, looking down and fingering it with obvious delight.
“It was my mother’s,” he said. “I want you to have it.”
Immediately, her face fell. “I can’t accept this,” she said, reaching up, already trying to unclasp it.
He grabbed her hands, gently enfolding them in his. “Yes, you can. I’m giving it to you. Besides,” he said, shrugging, “I can hardly wear it.”
She looked at him for a long moment before finally relenting, then reached over and gave him a hug.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, kissing his cheek.
He felt himself reddening with embarrassment and pleasure. It was the right thing to do, he knew. His mother would have wanted this, and he knew of absolutely no-one else who he would rather wear it.
They sat together for a while in companionable silence. Finally Sam spoke. “When we were at the church, did you … did you notice anything unusual?”
Aimi looked surprised. “Unusual? You mean apart from a teenage boy moving in slow motion while in horrible pain?”
He shrugged. “It’s just that I sensed something.”
“Something? Like what?”
“Like something was watching me. I even thought I saw it. It was saying things in my head.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“I think it was a demon. It was making me promises. Promising that it could make the pain go away.”
Aimi looked genuinely worried now. “A demon?” She looked around nervously.
He nodded. “I think I’ve sensed it before but thought it was all in my head.”
He didn’t want to tell Aimi where he’d felt that presence before, but something about the figure he had glimpsed seemed familiar. He’d realized it was because he’d seen it in his dreams. They’d been getting worse lately, too. Hikari said he’d been thinking of a solution. Meditation was fine, he’d said, but hardly an answer. Sam still needed to sleep at some point and Hikari accepted the suffering the boy went through every time he did.
There was something else, something he hadn’t told Aimi or Hikari. When he thought about it, it seemed that the demonic presence had always been around. Ever since he was a boy. It was only now that he’d seen it at the churchyard that he’d made the connection. A demon was watching him. Even now, it seemed like something was out there. Watching. Listening. Waiting.
He scanned the street. There were a few pedestrians out for an evening stroll but nothing suspicious. Street lights provided a great deal of illumination, but even so, Sam knew there were many shadows where anything could be hiding — even from his eyes.
He tried to dismiss the feeling, trying to banish it to the back of his mind, but it was no use. He just knew it was out there.
From across the street, concealed by shadows that were part natural and part something else entirely, a figure watched. It saw Sam give Aimi the necklace. It observed the way they acted around each other and the obvious feelings that flowed between them.
And then it smiled.
7
PRESENT
“Experience itself, to our own great loss and bane, affords us sad proof that Satan seizes as many opportunities of deceiving and destroying mankind as there are different moods and affections natural to the human character.”
“You wanted to see me, Joshua?” said the man, not looking up from the map he was studying on the makeshift table.
Joshua shuffled his feet, looking sideways at Sam before answering. “Yeah. I’ve got someone here I think you should meet.”
Sam suddenly felt very nervous about meeting this man. Joshua had explained that Adam was the unofficial leader of the Black Ridge survivors and as such, someone he should be very careful around. Joshua, he knew, was familiar with his unusual and sinister heritage and had had years to come to terms with it, but Sam was unsure exactly how much he should reveal to someone he didn’t know or trust.
Adam finally straightened up, running a meaty hand through his greying hair. He looked Sam up and down, carefully studying the newcomer.
“Adam, this is Sam — a friend from my home town in Jacob’s Ladder,” said Joshua.
Adam held his hand out to Sam who took it with only a moment’s hesitation. The grip was extremely firm. Sam instinctively realized that the man was not trying to dominate him; he was just very strong. The palm was covered with hardened skin — clearly Adam’s leadership style was a hands-on one.
“Pleased to meet you, Sam. Another fighter is always welcome here.”
Despite his obvious strength, Adam only came up to Sam’s shoulder. It was easy to overlook the lack of stature though — everything about Adam oozed strength and solidity. Leadership. His torso and limbs were much larger than Sam’s though, corded with muscle visible through the tattered remains of the t-shirt he was wearing. One of his arms was almost as big as Sam’s leg. He had a calm, even featured face that was at odds with the ferocity he had shown the previous night. If Sam had to guess his age, he would have said that Adam was probably in his forties, even though physically, he was in better shape than most men twenty years his junior.
He looked Sam in the eye, frowning momentarily as he took in Sam’s black eyes. Then he seemed to dismiss it as a trick played by the dim light from the flickering hurricane lamp that was the only source of illumination in the small alcove.
Sam sighed inwardly, feeling self-conscious and very uncomfortable. The last thing he needed was for this man to judge him before he knew him. Without a doubt, Adam was not a man to you wanted to get on the wrong side of. Sam remembered him from the previous night. Adam had fought harder than anyone he’d ever seen. What he’d lacked in skill (compared to himself), he had made up for with determination and strength. At one point, a group of Lemure had successfully managed to climb the palisade and hurl themselves at the defenders on the fighting platform. Most of the humans had been out of ammo — including Adam. While many retreated in terror, Adam had not hesitated. Sam could vividly recall Adam roaring wildly as he picked up one of the Lemure with his bare hands and hurled it at a group of its fellows, toppling them all off the platform.
This feat of bravery had been repeated several times over during the course of the battle. His leadership had inspired the others to fight harder. Sam suspected that the reason these humans had survived as long as they had was largely due to Adam. Sam respected him for that, but as for trust … Sam continued to size him up, wanting to like and trust this man. But old habits died hard. There were only a very few people who knew his real nature and they were all from Jacob’s Ladder.
Adam turned to Joshua. “It must be good to see someone from your old town, eh, boy?” he said, fixing the other teenage with a smile. “I wish some of my old buddies were here.”
Joshua forced a smile. “Yeah, it is good.”
“And as for you,” said Adam, turning back to Sam, “I saw you fight last night. You sure have got some fancy moves with those swords of yours. Haven’t seen anyone move like that, well, ever, and I was in the Special Forces.” His background explained why Adam was such a confident and aggressive fighter. “I see you haven’t put them down either. I like that — shows someone who’s prepared for all sorts of eventualities.”