Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Sixty-Seven: A Lake of Fire

Sarafina felt like she was spinning in freefall. Trevellian was next to her wheezing heavily and clutching his head. He sounded like he was drowning in air. 

She bit down on her bottom lip. The fingers gripping her baton felt numb, as if her strength was draining out of her. She felt like the universe was swirling around a vortex with Kessler at the centre. 

Bennet and Forester drew into a defensive formation around her. Sarafina looked for the spider creature and realised that it had disappeared from view. She swallowed. It felt like there was something stuck in her throat, like a button or a small stone. 

Beside Kessler, the bleeding woman shuddered as the spines inside her pushed through her skin. She let out a low moan, and looked at Sarafina and the others with an expression of empty hunger. The creature torturing Trevellian didn't move. The girl wrapped in bandages simply looked at him as if the two of them were the only things in the world that mattered. 

Kessler started to walk towards them, holding her sword loosely at her side. 'There's a question that's been irritating me for a while now. It's been swirling around ever since I found out that Regan was alive. I'll have my answer when she finds your corpses though.' 

Sarafina licked her lips. Her mouth felt like paper. 

'Relax,' said Bennet. 'You've stopped breathing.' 

Sarafina heard her blood pumping in her ears. It sounded like a hurricane in her skull. Kessler seemed to grow in front of her until she filled every corner of her vision. 

Kessler was almost lethargic as she lifted her sword. 'The weak shouldn't challenge the strong. You're about to get killed and it's your own stupid fault.' 

Sarafina looked up at the stars. She could feel a tingling sensation in her cheeks that seemed to brush the edges of her vision like feathers. The stars were like drops of water frozen in time. A flickering orange orb drifted lazily across her vision like a falling ember. It stood out from the stars like a burning ruby among diamonds. 

Her brow creased. As she stared dumbly at the falling flame, the instinctual part of her brain took over. Her body seemed to move without any input from her. She watched herself from the outside as she grabbed the back of Bennet and Foresters' clothes and dragged them to the side. 

A paint tin full of petrol hit the ground next to Kessler with a sound like a sledgehammer. Globs of fire exploded across the concrete as the tin burst open and the burning rag tied to the handle ignited the liquid inside. 

Sarafina hit the ground with her shoulder and felt Bennet land on her legs. Burning petrol splashed across the ground in front of her, and she rolled backwards to avoid it. 

She heard screaming, and looked back to the expanding pool of fire where they had been standing. The woman covered in spines was burning. The left side of her body was covered in flaming petrol that seared her skin and filled the air with the smell of burning meat. 

The man with the girl in his stomach had caught some of the flames too. It splashed his back and ran down his legs until the back half of his body was covered in fire. He dropped to his knees and pawed at the burning petrol on his back as it peeled back the layers of skin like a knife. 

Forester coughed and pushed himself up onto his elbows. There was a graze on his forehead where it had hit the concrete. His expression was uncomprehending as he looked at the puddles of flame around them. 

'What the hell is going on?' said Bennet. 

Trevellian hadn't been as lucky as the others. With the bandaged girl torturing him from inside his head, he hadn't even attempted to move. The explosion of fire had broken the connection to his tormentor, but a glob of petrol burned on his arm. He struggled with his suit jacket as the burning liquid melted the material like plastic. When the jacket finally slipped off his shoulders, he rammed it over his arm and tried to smother the flames. Sarafina saw his back shudder as he took a deep, painful breath and slumped over in his wheelchair.