The Lies Behind That Smile

Behind That Smile

This wasn't right. Nikki stared at her surroundings in utter shock and disbelief. Where was Josh and how had she come to be laid on the altar in this gloomy, ruined church?

The last thing she remembered was the epic battle at Vidaru where she'd rebelled against the rulers of the demon world, Latébris. She'd been so close to ending the world and so willing to welcome the devastation the three demon Prophets wanted to wreak. Just a simple breath away from striking down the opposing realm of Mortemb, the only thing that stood in the way of human kinds complete annihilation.

But then he'd found her and he'd stopped her with the simplest, most complex words known to mankind.

Nikki heard his voice in her mind, replaying the moment Josh had made her listen, "I love you." In that second everything had come into focus. The questions that had plagued her had melted as his sentiment obliterated her doubt.

And then came the fire. Flames she had created, and the reason she'd been pursued by the demons in the first place, engulfed every being around her. In a burst of scorching heat she had sent them all to their agonising deaths.

Only Josh couldn't die. As a Guardian, he was technically already dead.

She remembered him crawling to her through the massacre, his body seared and burnt but he was still there. He had cradled and kissed her, so where was her Guardian now? Where was the inhuman man sent to protect her?

The glimmer from a dozen candles circling her body offered barely any light and did nothing to stave off the frigid air that froze her to her bones. Her teeth chattered as a blast of an icy breeze swirled around her frame and drifted through her tattered clothes. Rubbing her hands over her gooseflesh covered skin, she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Try as she might she couldn't summon a sound from her dry lips; her voice had vanished along with her Guardian.

Nikki shivered both from the bitter temperature and the deafening, ominous silence that filled the cavernous space and weighed heavily on her.

"This is where you were christened, I thought it appropriate to bring you here to die." A rasping voice hissed through the darkness, terrifying her as she wheeled around to find the source.

Again she tried to cry out but the only sound to escape her parted lips was a breathy gasp.

"Please don't look so frightened, it is only I, Ezekius."

The familiar faithful demon protector the Prophets had assigned her, emerged from the shadows, his pale skin charred and blistered. Nikki expelled the air from her lungs in an audible whoosh as she took him in. He bowed his head and she noticed that his usually straight back was slumped and his shoulders hung low. He looked battered and beaten and a shadow of his former self.

"I'm so sorry, I was hoping you would remain unconscious but I see that isn't to be." His unpleasant voice slithered around the empty church, reverberating off the high ceiling and echoing through the gloom. Nikki couldn't stop herself cringing as he spoke.

Listlessly, a thought drifted through her overactive mind. He was speaking to her. As her head cleared her pulse quickened. Ezekius was speaking aloud, something the Prophets had forbidden.

The relief at recognising her companion vanished, instantly replaced by a growing sense of dread. She had rebelled against him and his kind, there was no telling what her punishment would be. As if oblivious to her realisation, Ezekius continued, "I'm sorry for what is about to happen. If I could do something, anything, to stop it, I would."

Her heart leapt in to her throat and pulsed erratically. What was he talking about? What was going to happen? Sliding down from the alter, her bare feet met with the arctic marble floor. She shuddered at the contact. Where were her shoes?

"Please don't move, it's better if you don't move. Lay down and don't fight it."

Fight what? She screamed silently, tears cascading freely down her face, conveying her fear.

Ezekius shook his head slowly. "It will hurt less if you lie still."

Nikki's blood ran cold as he hissed his words and moved towards her. His ghostly, burnt face glowed menacingly in the flickering candlelight and Nikki backed up until she slammed in to the bare stone plinth.

"It is starting. It is time."

As Ezekius spoke a shard of blistering heat speared Nikki's racing heart. Soundlessly, she fell to her knees.

The heat sliced through her chest, ripping her in two and smothering her in agonising pain. This was not the comforting heat from the fire she had experienced before; this was a burning that singed her very soul.

She heaved, throwing herself down to the marble and writhing in the blistering pain that enveloped her.

"Keep still, it will be quicker if you don't fight it."

But Nikki couldn't keep still as thousands of scorching needles pushed up and out of her skin. She clawed at her body attempting to remove the nonexistent spikes but her skin was too slick to make purchase.

Through the terror and torment, her blood forced its way up and out of her body, dripping slow, fat droplets on to the black, wintry floor. She shrieked noiselessly, her mouth and eyes wide.

"It will be over soon. It will be over soon. Try not to fight it. It will be over soon." Ezekius stepped back in to the darkness, chanting his words in a harsh whisper and leaving Nikki to convulse with the torture she was enduring.

"Be still, Nikki, be still and it will end sooner. Be still and die quicker. Don't fight the pain, surrender to it and soon it will all be over."

Die.

Nikki didn't want to die but she couldn't bear this agony for a second longer. Her eyes watered and her throat closed as she struggled to breathe.

Where was Josh? What was happening?

"Be still and die." Ezekius soothed from his hiding place in the shadows.

Nikki forced her hands down to her sides, gritting her teeth she willed her body to stop shuddering.

"Not long now. Close your eyes, give in to the darkness."

Listening to his horrific voice, Nikki followed the instructions and did as she was told.

In the icy darkness of the menacing church, death welcomed her in to its embrace. On the frozen marble floor, beneath the outstretched, ruined timber beams her body quivered one last time and her life ended.