The swirling smoke coalesced and compacted into the form of a grotesque creature. Red skin, multiple horns erupting from its head, eyes blazing with malevolence; the monster loomed over the front of the car.
Ewan stared in horror. It was one thing to have witnessed an attack from featureless black figures, but the thing before him looked as though it had stepped right out of a nightmare. He briefly wondered if he had been knocked unconscious when the car had jolted to a stop, and if he were indeed dreaming. Sandra's scream assured him of the reality of the situation.
‘Drive,’ his father croaked from the backseat.
With hands that moved with infuriating slowness, Ewan twisted the keys and started the engine, wrenched the gears into reverse and stomped on the accelerator. As the car shot backwards, he pulled on the steering wheel and aligned the car with the road then threw the car into first. The gearbox made a loud grating noise, the clutch vibrated under his foot and the engine stuttered to a halt.
Fifteen feet away, the hideous face of Jods sneered at them as he took a step forward.
Ewan turned the keys, but the engine refused to start. He tried again – nothing.
Jods was rapidly closing the distance between them.
‘Get out and run,’ Lita said, her voice barely more than a whisper. ‘I’ll buy you some time.’
Stan wasted no time in complying, opening his door and dragging Sandra from the car. He pulled Ewan out, then ran round to the passenger side to help his wife.
Lita drifted toward Jods, levitating herself until she was eye to eye with the devil.
‘You can’t have them,’ she said.
Jods stopped his advance and looked at the ghost.
‘Little Lilita Balodis,’ he said, his deep voice pounding in Ewan’s head. ‘You do not dictate what is and what isn’t mine. Your world is my hunting ground and I will take whatever my whim desires.’
Ewan shot a glance at his mother as Stan guided her from the car. Just as she had been unable to see the Vadātājs or hear Lita, she seemed oblivious of the towering demon.
‘You’ve already taken so many,’ Lita said. ‘Please leave them.’
Jods gave a snort of laughter. ‘Your begging pleases me. But, no. They are rightfully mine, as are you.’
His arm shot forward, his massive fingers clutching Lita in the air. His fist began to close. Drained as she was, Lita was only able to release a weak pitiful cry as her spiritual body was crushed. Squeezing tighter, Jods extinguished her ghost from this plane.
Ewan felt all the energy fall from him. He had only known Lita a few hours, but her death – her second death – struck him to the core. Lita had told him that she had suspected Billie had been murdered because she had no ghost. Had she also been snuffed from existence in the same manner, and was this the fate for him and his family?
‘What’s happening?’ he heard his mother ask as Stan tried to lead her and Sandra away.
At least she would survive, Ewan thought. Jods may well take him and his father and sister, but he was only targeting those with the Balodis bloodline. As Beverley had married into the Balodis family, albeit unknowingly, she should be safe from the demon’s vengeance. After all, Granny Liddy, Stan’s mother and Lita’s aunt, had lived to her late eighties.
Finished with Lita, with no trace of her ghost remaining, Jods stepped forward heading for Stan and Beverley.
‘Dad, run!’ Sandra shouted, and Ewan could only watch in mute terror.
Turning in time to see Jods bearing down on him, Stan pushed his wife away, the force sending her to the ground several feet away. The monster’s hand closed around Stan’s outstretched arm. Stan screamed, despite his damaged vocal cords. The sound was terrible, transcending agony and fear, and reached deep into Ewan’s soul. It spoke directly to the primitive part of Ewan’s mind, the fragment inherited from humankind’s oldest ancestors.
With no cognitive decision, Ewan jumped forward and grabbed at Stan, screaming abuse at the demon as he wrestled for his father.
Jods’ grip pinched tighter, eliciting an increased pitch to Stan’s yell, then released is victim, laughing as he and Ewan fell into a heap on the road.
Stan continued to roar. Ewan saw that his forearm had been squashed into a messy pulp of flesh and blood and bone.
Getting to his feet, Ewan turned to Jods and shouted, ‘Stop. Stop this now.’
‘Ewan Holmwood,’ Jods addressed him with the same mocking tone he used on Lita.
‘I know who I am,’ Ewan answered, his voice strong and unwavering. ‘And I know who you are, and that your time is limited.’
‘Hah!’ Jods laughed, spraying Ewan with warm spittle. ‘I am a god. I am eternal.’
‘You were a god,’ Ewan said, ‘but your believers have deserted you.’
When Jods did not reply, Ewan carried on. ‘Once you may have been a great deity with thousands of followers but that time has passed. For whatever reason, you were shunned by the Balodis and have spent the time since seeking revenge.’
‘Džeisons Balodis dared to pass me over for the Christ child,’ Jods said.
‘And we three are all that is left of the Balodis family.’
‘Yes,’ Jods said with a smile. ‘All here together to pay for Džeisons’ sin.’
‘Then what?’ Ewan challenged.
‘The slight will be repaid. Vengeance will be complete.’
‘And no one will know your name.’
Ewan allowed the silence to linger before he spoke again.
‘If you kill us, the last descendants of your people, there will be no one left to worship you, to fear you. What is a god with no congregation?’
A small trace of doubt flickered across the demon’s face.
‘I can offer a solution,’ Ewan said, then added, ‘but first I want Lita and my sister back.’
Jods’ eyes flicked to Sandra, then back to Ewan.
‘Not her,’ Ewan said. ‘Billie. I pieced it together. Aunt Julia never had a man in her life, Mum always tensed at Billie’s name and Dad was awkward around Julia. Billie had Balodis blood in her veins which is why you were able to take her.’
‘She is dead,’ Jods said, ‘and the dead do not return to life no matter what your story books say.’
‘I know. But you have her spirit, as you have taken Lita’s. Release them, let them find peace and I can assure your continued godhood.’
‘How can I trust you?’ Jods asked. ‘You who are the spawn of Džeisons?’
‘You could kill me at any time,’ Ewan said. ‘Just as you could kill us all right now. The fact that you are listening to me proves that the elimination of our bloodline, the last descendants of your believers, would also mean the end of you. It’s not a question of trust; it’s a matter of self-preservation.’
‘And what do you offer?’
Ewan paused and hoped his trepidation did not show. Before today, he had never given thought to a life beyond this one and his lack of preconceptions had made it easy for him to accept Lita. Neither had he subscribed to any religion, believing too many atrocities had been committed in the name of one god or another.
What he was about to suggest could have been considered a sin; but it could also save the eternal existence of his half-sister and her best friend. And if he had that opportunity but refused to seize it, would that not be a greater sin?
‘My proposition to you,’ he said confidently, ‘is that from this day, the day we met, I will be your prophet. I will go into the world and spread your name. I will rebuild your religion and gain you new faithful. My campaign will stretch across the world and with every convert I acquire, we shall raise you up. In time, your place in the order of the gods will equal that of Christ.’
Epilogue: After
Lita sat on the crest of a hill. Her gaze followed the rolling meadows down to the narrow stretch of beach beyond which lay the open ocean. Sunlight graced the sapphire water causing countless diamonds to dance on the surface. Even from this distance she could detect the salty tang of the sea air, though the sound of the waves was lost under the laughter coming from behind her.
She turned her head to watch as her mother and uncle chased young Jemma, Lita’s cousin, around the field. To one side, other members of her family stood chatting or lazed in the warm sunshine.
A young red-haired woman appeared beside her and joined her on the grass.
‘You know,’ Billie said, ‘out of all of paradise, I think this is my favourite place.’
‘It truly is serene,’ Lita agreed.
‘One day, I want to swim out to the island.’
Lita scanned the sea. To the right, a wooden pier stretched out over glistening water. From her vantage point, the horizon was an inch above the end of the jetty. Nothing else broke the surface, no island or other landmass.
‘Do you remember anything from the other place?’ Billie asked. ‘The place after Earth?’
‘Very little,’ Lita answered. ‘I don’t think I was there very long. All I remember is darkness and claustrophobia.’
‘There was a little light when I got there, but it was grey and gloomy. Just enough to see that it was a small area. When you arrived it got darker and smaller.’
Lita turned away from the ocean and looked at her friend, wondering if she was suffering from PTSD. Was it possible to have such a condition in the afterlife?
‘We were in some aspect of hell,’ Lita said softly. ‘But we got out. Ewan got us out.’
Now that she had crossed over, Lita was unable to return to the earthly plane in a physical or spiritual form. But by tuning her mind, she was able to watch over those still there. In the same manner as she had been able to actively access her memory when she was alive, she could now concentrate and witness events occurring on Earth. Like watching a film, she had no influence on what she saw or heard but it was rewarding to see the faces of old friends.
‘What’s the difference between heaven and hell, do you think?’
Lita was unable to stop her laugh. ‘Look around,’ she said. ‘We have constant sunshine, beautiful views, family. A few days ago, I actually saw a lion and a lamb sleeping beside one another.’
‘Yes, I know there are the obvious differences,’ Billie said. ‘I meant, what’s the physical difference?’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘Okay. Think about London. A crowded, dirty, dark city where it’s dull and always raining. And compare that to Australia with the open land and bright winter sun. Two places that are polar opposites yet exist on the same planet.’
Lita nodded.
‘What if all of the afterlife is in one place?’ Billie continued. ‘One finite area, in the same way that London and Australia occupy small parts of a finite Earth.’
‘You think too much.’
‘Probably,’ Billie agreed and turned back to the sea.
After a few moments, Lita asked, ‘What was your point?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Billie said. ‘I think the other place shrank because the people who knew about it – namely you and the other Balodises – were snuffed from existence. With no-one alive to believe in Jods, his… kingdom for want of a better word, dwindled to almost nothing.’
‘And?’
‘If Ewan succeeds in getting people to believe in Jods again, his kingdom will begin to grow.’
‘I understand that,’ Lita said. ‘Ewan did what he had to do to save us and his family back on Earth. So what if Jods’ kingdom grows? When Ewan dies – hopefully of old age a long time from now – he’ll come here, I have no doubt.’
‘And if the afterlife is finite, Billie said, ‘where will Jods’ kingdom grow?’
Lita was unable to answer. Science had never been her strong suit so she was not even sure she understood the question.
‘I wish I’d swam out to the island last week,’ Billie said. ‘It’s gone now.’
Lita followed her friend’s gaze to the sea. The horizon sat a half-inch over the far end of the pier.
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