Chapter 6

The shadows were swirling around him and he couldn’t move. Something was approaching as he tried to flee like a mouse when danger is coming its way. After a few seconds – which felt like an eternity – two silvery spots appeared and he had to think for a moment what they were. Eyes. Silver eyes with the flames of Hell burning in them. He thought it must be a joke but no, the big black shadow with the glowing eyes kept on coming nearer and nearer, its cold energies taking his breath away. As he was still standing there motionless he heard the hoarse growling and saw the features of the entity evolve from the black smog. He wanted to laugh hysterically, because now he knew how appropriate his metaphor was about the mouse. This creature was surely coming from Hell in the form of an enormous black cat with flame-like dark fur and a creepy grin-like snarl. It remembered him on that strange cat from that book he had read a while ago from Lewis Carroll with the little human girl lost in a strange world. He couldn’t recall its title now, because fear wiped everything out of his mind when the animal-shaped creature got ready to jump on him and tear him into pieces. The worst thing in this was that he couldn’t move a muscle to prevent this and his green eyes watched hypnotized as the cat jumped into the air with a slow and elegant move, flying nearer and nearer to him with the sharp claws. And then he was falling backwards from the impact.

Martin woke up in cold sweat, panting hard. His mind was heavy from the nightmare he just had and he could still see the sharp teeth, but strangely the ringing growling transformed into some purring-like sound. He had no idea what this dream was about, but it made him uneasy. Too many mysteries have come along his way in the last couple of days and he couldn’t see clearly. He had to put some distance between this case and him. Maybe that will clear up some things and Mr. Fletcher asked him to stay away anyway, so he got up and quickly washed himself. After packing together clothes for a few days he was already on his way to the countryside.

Longfield was the village where his family had a house and where his mother moved back after lung trouble took his father away a few years ago. She lived there with Martin’s older sister and her family and when he walked up to the house and his nieces greeted him with a cheerful hug, he knew he made the right decision to come here. After he listened to his mother and sister nagging him about when he wants to finally settle down on the side of a pretty wife, he took a walk to the hill behind their house. There was an old tree he used to climb up as a kid and he found his beloved spot between the lower thick branches. Sitting there with his pipe he watched the sunset lost in his thoughts. It was very peaceful and innocent after the filthy buzz of the big city. He took a deep breath from the clear air and closed his eyes.

Only his thoughts could not leave him alone. When his mother and sister were talking about him settling down, the uncomfortable thought of that mysterious man in bed ran through his mind for a second, even if he wanted to keep him away from his mind. He was dangerous. He was like a virus that infected his thoughts and slowly spread in him like a disease. He felt uneasy because of this, but blamed it on the murders and that he couldn’t see how Gahan was connected to them. Even so he knew that his mother and sister would have freaked out if he told them that he had a sexual encounter with another man. He’s always been the black sheep in their family with the decisions he usually made, but he didn’t mind. He felt a constant distance between him and his relatives since his childhood, even if he loved them dearly.

Besides this he was thinking about the strange assembly from the other day. If he wanted to listen to his instincts that have been helping to him through the years at the police, he would have said that they were not ordinary people. He felt something strange about them. He’d read about energies and all kinds of supernatural stories. He always found them interesting and entertaining, but until now he thought they were just fairy tales. But what if not everything was fiction? They say that every legend has a root… Is it possible? He shook his head and puffed white smoke into the wind that was getting stronger, brining along dark-grey clouds and the smell of rain. He soon decided that it was time to head home. After dinner he will dig out his old books from which he hid under a loose board behind his bed and refresh his knowledge about the creatures appearing in those tales.

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He barely slept anything and when his heavy eyelids closed near dawn, he had dreams of vampires, fairies, goblins and other creepy creatures. Still while reading his books, searching for “evidences”, he sometimes shook his head and couldn’t believe that he was really considering this option. Gahan as a supernatural being? For real? His rational brain wanted to reject the idea, but he tried to stay open-minded. He liked riddles and he wanted to chipper out this mystery around the dark-haired man. He didn’t know why, he just had to see clearly.

He spent the next couple of days in the town’s library, checking every possible book he could think of and taking notes. Because of the gloomy weather outside and the soft candle light he sometimes found himself in swirling dreams, his mind still trying to figure out what David might be. Once while reading Goethe’s Faust he dreamt about Hell, suffering souls, fires, heat and demons flying over his head, making him dizzy and frightened as their leather-wings touched him. Then he saw a familiar figure evolve from the orange flames in the distance, flying on the very same wings that were freaking him out. As the figure came closer, it took the shape of a male demon and just under him on the rocky soil a big black cat evolved from the burning flames, too, moving in sync with the flying being. Martin’s head was reeling in the dream as he recognized Gahan in the creature’s distorted features and it seemed that he and his cat – because Martin knew in his dream that the cat-spirit belonged to David – tried to attack him. Martin dropped on the hot ground, waiting for the impact, but it never came and as he carefully looked behind him, he saw the male and the cat chasing away those creatures that tried to eat him alive. Then in the moment the dream became blurry and different colors started to swirl in front of Martin’s eyes, the frightening male figure turned around and his glowing eyes found Martin’s gaze.

In that moment the blonde man’s forehead knocked on the open book.

“Ouch…” he rubbed his head looking around and after realizing that he was still in the library he started to remember the dream. “You must be kidding me…” he mumbled and started searching for a book in the pile next to him. When he found it, he quickly opened it and started reading about demonic figures and his eyes widened more and more as his inner voice started whispering to him.

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“I need to talk to your master” he said and marched into the house next to the surprised maid, who tried to stop him in vain.

“You can go, Angela” he heard David’s familiar velvety baritone and he couldn’t do anything against it: his heart leapt when he looked up on the stairs and saw him on top in his simple white shirt and black trousers. The maid nodded and hurried towards the kitchen while Martin pulled himself together and hurried up on the stairs, stopping in front of him slightly flushed. “I knew you’d come back” Dave said.

“We have to talk” he said and eyed him suspiciously.

“Is it about the investigation again? I thought you shouldn’t be here” he said and waved with his hand, indicating to follow him to a room where they could be alone.

“I don’t care about the investigation or Fletcher now. I have some questions about what you are.”

“What I am?” Dave raised a brow and turned to pour some strong scotch for them. Walking calmly back to Martin who was already sitting on a richly decorated sofa he offered a glad to him. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play the fool. I’ve read about your kind and saw you and your cat in my dreams. It’s your cat, isn’t it? The one with black flame-like fur and silver eyes?” he asked and downed the strong drink with one sip, keeping his eye on David.

Gahan slightly frowned stirring his drink in his glass and he just examined the blond man for a long minute. “Yes, the cat is a part of my other nature. You are right. I’m a demon.”

“No… that can’t be!” he jumped up, suddenly remembering all his father’s teachings about how demons bring damnation to humans. “You tainted my soul!” he exclaimed without thinking.

“Calm down, Martin. I suspect you’ve got a strong Christian upbringing. That’s mainly crap. I won’t drag your soul to Hell and torture you. The Church bent a lot of things in the Bible to blind and control humans. Most of them are not true. But you know that leading a flock of blinded sheep is easier, don’t you? And some people need to be led by their nose, because they are not ready for the truth. Are you, Martin?” he added his question quietly, his eyes shining with a strange light as he was sitting on the sofa’s other end, legs crossed, holding his glass in his hand.

“The truth?” he asked unsure.

“Yes, the truth about the human world and yourself.”

“What do you mean about me?”

Dave softly snickered and shook his head a little “I thought you already realized it. You are one of us, Martin.”

“What?!”

“You are a demon, too, Mr. Gore…” he said and stood up, his shadow falling on the shorter man’s slim figure.

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