“How is sir?” said Mordred to Doctorvan Devlin.
“Thankfully, now fully regenerated,”said the Doctor.
“Very good. I shall let madam know,”replied Mordred, as he glided imperiously out of the room.
Bill ate the food ravenously,realising the doctor was right about his hunger. As he ate he couldn’t help butwonder what was going on. Who was this odd man watching him from the bottom ofthe bed? He didn’t seem like a real doctor to Bill, but only having a fewmonths of memories to fall back on he wasn’t really sure.
The door swung open and Beryl came in.She was wearing a log white robe tied around the waist with a black cord. Hershort ash blond hair was curled into a severe perm and she wore diamond dropearrings and red lipstick. She gave Bill a smiled that seemed to combineaffection with furious disapproval.
“My poor little solider,” she said.
“Hello mother,” said Bill.
He noticed a man lurking behind Beryl.He wore a long brown mac and had a pale, earnest face with wiry ginger hair,bushy eye brows and large side whiskers.
“Hello young sir. Glad to see you haverecovered from your ordeal,” he said in a Scottish accent.
Bill didn’t like the look of the man.His beady-eyed stare was hard and intense and his lips were pursed. “What doyou want?” he said. “Who are you?”
“This is Inspector Ferret,” saidBeryl. “He’s one of us and is here to, how shall we say? Facilitate.” She saton the bed beside Bill and looked him in the eye. “I’m terribly sorry darlingfor letting you out into the big wide world. I think it best if we keep you atthe Manor in future. We’ll only let you out when we require your services.”
When Bill heard what his mother wassaying and became horrified. He couldn’t go back to those endless days ofsitting in the study with Miss Spital. He’d miss his best friend Arthur, thelads that took him to the Dizzy Duck, the pints of heavy – even if they didmake him throw up. He thought of Ophelia and felt butterflies in his stomach. Andeven though she’d stabbed him in the gut, he’d even miss Lilith.
“But I’m at university now. Fresher’sfair starts next week.”
“You disobeyed a direct order,darling. You never went to see Professor Nox. You would have been safe in hiscare.”
Bill gave Beryl an incredulous look.“But I’d only just got there! When did I have the chance? How did I know thegirls were psychos? Please don’t make me stay here.”
Beryl hesitated for a moment. She knewhe needed experience of the wider world. It was vital that he developed thesocial skills necessary to blend seamlessly into society, to enable him tocarry out his great and holy work. That was why she’d sent him off in the firstplace.
“You need to tell me exactly whathappened and then I’ll consider.”
Bill didn’t know where to start. “Wemet these two girls who seemed really nice. And-”
“What were their names?” interruptedInspector Ferret, pulling out his notebook. When Bill didn’t answer he scowled.“Quickly lad!”
“I’ll handle this,” snapped Beryl. “Goon darling,” she said to Bill in a soothing voice.
“They were called Lilith and Ophelia.I don’t know their second names.”
“Go on.”
Bill told them about being tied to thealtar, the red candles, strange music and Lilith reading from the black book.He explained about the cask, being stabbed in the gut and how everything gotmuddled when he became dizzy and sick.
“And who came out of the cask?” askedDoctor van Devlin, giving Bill a creepy smile.
“I saw a monster! An actual monster!You know mother, like the people I see, but much worse! He had weird pointedears, and his eyes, such horrible yellow eyes! And the skin, it was all whitewith red veins.”
“But the man, you also saw him.”
“How did you know? Yes, he was a manas well. And that’s what’s really odd. I thought I recognised his face. But howcould I? I don’t remember anything past a few months ago-”
“Yes, yes, we know all about that,”said the Doctor. “But who was he?”
“I don’t know. But he seemed to knowme. I think he was called Percy.”
Beryl, the Inspector and the Doctorlooked at each other. They went into a huddle in the corner of the room andbegan whispering in urgent voices. Bill strained his ears and managed to catchsome of it.
“- we can confirm it by checking ifthe cask is still in Conatus Chapel.”
“- using his blood means he’lltransform into an Iamia Daemonium.”
“- he’s going to be an absoluteplague.”
“- will all of Middenmere fall?”
“- we much act swiftly.”
Beryl marched over to the bed, grabbedBill by the shoulders and looked him the eye. “Listen darling, you’ve got thehelp us find those girls. They need to be questioned. We must force them totell us the whereabouts of your monster.”
“Force them?”
“They are in his thrall now and willdo everything they can to protect him, even if it means ending their ownlives.”
“I’m sure they wouldn’t want toprotect a monster.”
“Fool! Of course they do!” snappedBeryl, then took a breath to control herself. “Trust me darling they do. Buthere at Brimstone Manor we have ways of extracting information... from even themost reluctant of sources.”
Bill didn’t want anything to happen tothe girls. “But I’m sure they didn’t mean things to turn out like-”
“Be strong! You are one of us now andmust be ruthless. We believe in using the utmost violence when it comesto fighting evil. It’s a moral absolute. Those girls are evil and will sufferterribly, I promise you that my darling.”
Bill looked at the three faces loomingover him in the dim light – noticed their glaring eyes and pursed lips. Heinstinctively pulled up the bedsheets and shrunk down. He finally understoodhow serious these people were.
Part Two
In whichthose in the service of God fight evil by
