A Monster Inside - Book of the Amulet - ITV's Jekyll and Hyde

8 - An Enemy Inside a Friend, A Friend Inside an Enemy

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They were all there. Everyone that had fallen for him. Six of them stood before him. Burton, Adelie, Ginnie, Renata, Max and... Bella. They were all as Hyde vaguely remembered them, but they seemed different. Burton was in his Spring Heeled Jack armour, but there were bullet holes in the shoulders and chest of it. Adelie was wearing her sequined yellow dress with a furred boa wrapped around her arms, but there were two puncture wounds in the back of it. Ginnie was as pale as a ghost, covered in white cobwebs and wearing an orange duffel coat. Renata had one of the strangest appearances out of them all; her form seemed to glitch between her hound form and her human form, before settling, rather reluctantly, on her human form. Max was as prim and proper as usual, sporting a grey, three-piece suit and black tie. He didn't seem at all bothered by the gaping claw wound in his abdomen. Bella looked as beautiful as the day in her scarlet cocktail dress. The red contrasted dramatically with her skin; which hardly any colour touched.

"Remember us?" Max exclaimed, and loosened his tie. Funny. Max always had his in a tight, traditional Windsor all the way up his neck. He wouldn't tolerate anything different.

"You died", Hyde replied bluntly. "You all did".

"But how could I leave my Hydie?" Bella said in a rather scratchy tone. This wasn't right, none of this was right. Bella had never called him 'Hydie' before, and he wouldn't expect her to randomly do it now.

"Before we get started... Max. What does the name Hilary Barnstaple mean to you?" Hyde asked, eyes narrowed into a deducing frown, slightly pleased at finally remembering that name after it rolling around his head for so long. Now he just had to work out what she looked like.

"I don't know. Long lost cousin perhaps", Max chuckled nervously, and immediately changed the subject. "I thought you said you remembered us?" Burton shuffled in his spot. Busted.

"Well, I remember the faces you're wearing, and I think that if we are to collaborate, I should know who you are. Who you really are".

With a disgruntled scoff, Max and the other creature made like a crackling sound. Their borrowed faces suddenly melted to reveal something more... demon-like. It was blood-curdling to see the features of the people that meant so much to Hyde roll down the demons' malformed faces like wax down a candle.

"Better", Hyde exclaimed, feeling rather empowered to have control over these powerful creatures of Hell. These beings that usually answered to Lucifer himself, now being commanded by only him. "Now, state your name and your species".

The first, who wore Ginnie's face as a disguise, hissed wildly. Well, it wasn't her that hissed exactly, as Hyde came to realise when he glimpsed her hair, which was a feral mass of... snakes? "Stheno", she whispered sharply, showing fangs that extended from her top gumline over her lip. She looked nothing like Ginnie at all. Her skin was scaled in places, and her eyes slitted and golden. "Gorgon".

"Gorgon, eh? Why aren't I stone then?" Stheno just chuckled to herself.

"You mistake me for my sister, Medusa. I have control over my powers, so don't peeve me off and I won't turn you into a garden ornament". Hyde raised his eyebrows at this remark, then said no more about it.

"You", he exclaimed, pointing at the creature next to her. She was beautiful; he had to admit that. In fact, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her blonde-brown hair tumbled down her shoulders and Hyde could only ponder whether she was the personification of beauty itself.

"Elinvia", she lulled. "Succubus".

"Of course. The female variant of the Incubus, no less". It only just dawned on Hyde that even just these two creatures could kill him, but what was trust for? "Next".

It took longer than expected for them all to introduce themselves, and in some cases Hyde wondered why they bothered to escape through the portal; they seemed pretty useless. But they were demons. Some powerful enough to tear apart whole cities. There was a Goblin, Succubus, Gorgon, Archdemon, and a Nightmare. And he could only start to imagine what other strength lay behind the portal. There was one that was yet to introduce herself; she had been masquerading as Bella. But Hyde seemed to recognise her in her new form. Her hair was ebony black, sleeked back, and she was wearing an aubergine coloured dress.

"Miss me, darling?" she asked. "Or has the Hyde Sword's power became so great that you don't remember who put your girlfriend six feet under. Where she belongs".

"...Keres?" Hyde stuttered.

"The one and only".

"H-How are you-"

"Alive? With a band of killer demons? Well, firstly, I'm immortal, so doing your little patterns on my shoulders won't do a lot. Secondly, apparently word gets out fast that you know how to take down a Hyde. Yeah, seems that your popularity goes through the roof when you put a sickness curse on someone. They wanted autographs and everything. All over Isabella Charming".

"I-I..." Hyde stuttered, trying to remember everything she was talking about. Sickness curses? Autographs? Isabella Charming?

"Don't worry, dear, you're in shock. I know the feeling; I'd be dumbstruck if I saw me too. I'll take it from here", Keres whispered, eyes alight with simmering anger. "Now", she exclaimed to her fellow demons. "We must bring our brothers and sisters out of their cells. My friends, we will raise Hell. And Hyde here will help us, won't you?"

"I don't know".

"Think about it, Hyde. You will be free from Jekyll forever. And..." Keres started, running her tongue across her fangs thoughtfully. "You will be responsible for bringing freedom to millions of demons, demons that have been locked up, like Jekyll had done to you. Don't you want them to feel that freedom that you feel now away from Jekyll? You will be a hero to them; you will be... their king". Hyde's ears perked up. Never mind commander of six demons, how about an army? The world would be his. No more Tenebrae, or MIO, he would just be unlimited. Pondering it for a second, the morals that his family had engineered into him suddenly went out of his head.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked, with a mischievous half-smile on his face.

"The Pan Instruments. We have one, but we need them all to completely open the portal. Acquire them", she answered, and Hyde nodded. "What shall we do? Bit of spring cleaning. I saw a few mice in the roof; and Stheno looks hungry". Stheno hissed at her, her snakes rattling about in anger.

"Go, out into the world. Get a feel for your soon-to-be home", Hyde lilted.

"I can trust that you will come back?" Keres asked him, and he chuckled.

"I will never trust you Keres, but Hell rising? I wouldn't miss this for the world". With a nod, he rushed out of the door, followed by the six demons, who immediately changed back into their disguises.