CHAPTER ONE
The Hertfordshire News
'EVIL DEMON AFTER MY SOUL' CLAIMS FAUSTUS
MODEL AND IT girl Amelia Faustus has claimed an evil entity entered the home of her recently deceased mother, late last night.
The alleged attack took place hours after the death of the star’s mother, Eleanor Faustus. She had been suffering from cancer for two years.
There are no witnesses to corroborate the attack story, but afterwards a source described Amelia as being pale, wide-eyed and short of breath.
Eleanor Faustus lived in the local historic city of St Albans. The house was a favourite on the popular city ghost walk, where visitors often admired the flickering street lamp outside the door, crumbling brickwork and shrouded windows.
Friends of the deceased say she was often heard talking when there was nobody else there, as well as warning people of the dangers of alien invasion. She was an admirer of well-known conspiracy theorist Robson Fall. A spokeswoman for the star said, ‘Amelia is currently in a severe state of shock, after both the death of her mother and this terrifying attack. She requests that people respect her privacy at this traumatic time.’
Beth
BETH SIGHED AND slouched down in her front row seat at the TV studio. If she’d known she was going to be subjected to this drivel, she wouldn’t have come. She’d been here for two hours already, and not one of the stories had been genuine. Her so-called friend and flatmate had a lot to answer for. She was pleased Laura loved her new job, and it had been obvious her friend’s enthusiasm about the chat show was overblown, but this was worse than she’d expected.
She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned. Laura was standing off to the side of the set, waving her clipboard at Beth. She shifted on her mile-high spikes. Her feet must have been so uncomfortable, but Laura had been determined to make an impression today. Her eyes were bright as she scanned the set, drinking in her world. This job was her triumph. Beth couldn’t fault her enthusiasm, she just wished Laura had left her out of today’s charade.
Seated on the dais, Katherine Haversham waited for a moment, eyebrows raised, bright red lips pursed.
‘Thank you for staying with us over the break. I know this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Model and It girl Amelia Faustus is here, live, on Deep and Dark to break her silence over the horrific out-of-body attack that took her from the media spotlight. After weeks of fear and soul-searching, she has decided to step back into the public eye. Amelia, welcome. Tell us what happened.’ Katherine leaned forward. ‘Start from the beginning.’
Her posture mirrored Amelia’s, but their faces couldn’t have been more different. Amelia was trying hard to look demure. Katherine was trying not to laugh.
Amelia couldn’t have looked less traumatised if she’d arrived straight from the spa. She looked around the audience, head tilted so the glossy, black curtain of hair fell as a backdrop to the too-perfect mask of her face. Her high cheekbones had a sheen as though she had been crying, but her eyes were bright and clear. She shifted in her seat, crossing her legs and allowing the white pencil skirt to rise a little farther up her tanned thigh.
‘It’s been a harrowing few weeks, but my decision to speak out, to bring attention to this awful, aggressive force, has given me a new reason to get out of bed each day.’
Most people would never have noticed the tension in Amelia’s eyes. Beth wouldn’t have seen it herself if she hadn’t felt the pressure, a coil of anger that sent a sliver of cold through Beth’s chest before Amelia looped it back in.
Beth sat up, searching her body for the familiar signals that something unseen was present. She allowed her awareness to reach out. There was a buzz around her from the rapt attention of the audience. It lifted her mood, and the dread eased for a moment. She was tempted to let her guard slip, but this vanished as the thread of darkness twined its way from Amelia and out towards each member of the audience. For a moment, Beth felt it. She watched the threads in her mind’s eye as they snaked out towards her. Then, before they reached her, she visualised herself in the middle of a ball of pure white light. The threads fell uselessly at her feet.
Amelia narrowed her eyes as she gazed out at the audience. She scanned the rows of people in the ultra-modern TV studio, taking in the transfixed faces, and then, Beth. For a moment her red lips tightened, but then they stretched into an attempt at a smile.
Amelia shook her head. ‘I’m so sorry, Katherine, darling. I’m so easily distracted these days. It all started the night my mother died. I’m sure you can imagine how devastated I felt. To lose her was to lose a part of myself.’
Katherine nodded, her forehead drawn in sympathy.
‘I slept in my mother’s house that night.’ Amelia’s voice was soft, but the room was so silent it was easy to hear her. Beth couldn’t shake the feeling that Amelia was talking directly to her, as though they were on their own, sipping wine by the fire. She peered around the room. Most people sat forwards, leaning their elbows on their laps. Amelia had them reeled in like fish on big, barbarous hooks. Beth shook her head, strengthening the ball of white light and pushing the woman’s energy back. She would not be part of the catch.
‘Of course, I didn’t really sleep.’ Amelia laughed. ‘How could I? There was someone in my room. And I had not invited him to be there.’
There was a muttering in the audience. People shuffled in their seats.
Amelia waited, her head still tilted, her lips lifting in a barely perceptible smile.
‘I had opened my mind,’ Amelia continued, her voice even quieter now. People drew in to listen, moving forwards, straining to get as close as possible. Even the cameras moved closer. ‘I wanted to see if I could feel my mother, to find out if she was still here with me in any way at all.’
‘And was she?’ Katherine was flushed. She leaned in too, put one hand on Amelia’s arm.
‘If she was, I didn’t feel her. Instead I felt a man in my room. I saw him so clearly with my eyes closed. I knew in my logical mind there was no way a strange man could suddenly appear in my room with no warning, but here’s the terrifying thing. For a moment I wanted him to be there, whoever he was. I wanted to connect with that ghostly intruder more than I have ever wanted anything in my life. I wanted it more than I longed for my own mother, who had only left me that day. It felt as though he was luring me in with promises of peace and love. Can you believe that?’
A woman sitting behind Beth sobbed.
Beth bit back a laugh. She was a pro at empathy, but this was ridiculous. The woman had been offered a gift and she was pretending it was a nightmare.
‘Awful,’ Katherine said, and Beth wondered if she was the only one who noticed the sarcasm.
Amelia nodded, and wiped the corner of her dry, unsmudged eye with a folded silk handkerchief. ‘I’m so pleased you hear me, Katherine, darling. I knew you were the right person to talk to. You’re so understanding, such a good listener. You do so well at letting your guests speak their truths without interruption.’
Beth coughed violently in an attempt to cover the laughter that would have attracted all the wrong kinds of attention. Katherine was notorious for being a tough interviewer and digging up the worst kind of dirt. She was never flustered, emotional or caught off-guard, but for some reason, right now, she looked furious. Her face was flushed. Her arms were crossed tightly, protectively even, over her chest.