Darren Shan - Bec

I stare at him with disbelief. “You betrayed your own kind! You tricked them! You gave me power so that I could close the tunnel!”

“Of course,” he chuckles. “I couldn’t act too obviously—I don’t want hordes of Demonata screaming for my head—but by slyly interfering, providing you with the means of stopping Brude, I was able to secure peace for this world, thus preserving my mortal minions of misery.”

“But…” My head’s awhirl. I can see it all now. “Connla was working for you. That’s why he protected Drust whenever he was threatened.”

“My wolf in the fold,” Lord Loss laughs. “I let him kill some of the others for sport but warned him not to let any harm befall you or the druid. He forgot that at the end and summoned the demons to butcher you all. He almost ruined everything. I’m glad you dealt with him, though I would have preferred to do it myself—I’d have made him suffer much more.”

“Why use him at all?” I cry. “Why set him against the rest of us if we were working towards the same goal?”

“Pain,” Lord Loss says, his smile growing. “I knew he would create discord and unhappiness, delicious misery for me to relish. I was having so much fun.” His smile fades. “Until the druid banished me.”

The demon master clicks his fingers and Vein trots over. Lord Loss tickles the demon’s head with one of his eight twisted hands. “You could have walked away from this,” he whispers. “Your death serves no purpose. You’d have been more interesting to me alive. Misery would have followed you—I could sense it. I’d have been there, trailing you, delighting in the sorrow you both suffered and caused.

“But that can’t be. In my fury I cast a geis. I made a solemn vow. And now, as a creature of my word, I must make good on my promise.”

He drifts away from me. The green light fades slowly. Vein stays where she is. Other demons join her. A score or more. Monstrous creatures, misshapen, one with fire for eyes and the body of a baby, another covered in scales like a fish, another a giant insect with a knife-sized stinger in its tail.

“My familiars,” Lord Loss whispers, disappearing from sight in the lengthening shadows. “They have more fleshly appetites than me.”

“No,” I whimper, cringing against the wall. “Please don’t do this. I’ll do anything you ask. I’ll…”

I stop and catch myself. Remember who I am, my heritage, my people.

“Damn you then,” I growl as the light fades away to the dimmest of glows, even the light in the sockets of the demon with fire instead of eyes.

“Goodbye, Bec,” Lord Loss calls softly.

“Damn you!” I shout again, throwing it after him as a challenge.

The last light flickers out and everything turns black.

Silence for a moment. Then a snicker. A growl. The sound of claws and fingers scuttling forward. I relax against the rock, resigned, not crying or begging. I want to die with dignity, like a true priestess or warrior. The sounds come closer. Hissing. Crackling. The grinding of teeth and fangs.

I lay my head against the wall. Stare up into nothingness. Try to be strong.

Fingers touch my damaged legs. Claws and tendrils explore. Soon I’m being mauled everywhere, pinched, stroked, sliced. Their breath is both hot and cold on my face as they crowd around me. I imagine their savage jaws, twisted faces and sharpened fangs.

I tremble, then grit my teeth hard, determined not to give Lord Loss the satisfaction of crying out. “I won’t scream!” I tell myself. “I won’t! I won’t! I—”

Teeth and fangs bite into my flesh, every part of me at once. Nails dig in deep, burrowing through to my guts. Hands worm inside me and pull bits of my innards out, scraping at my skin from the inside. I’m being torn apart. The pain is unbearable. I lose control. My mouth shoots open. My senses dissolve. My brain goes wild. The last thing I hear, before madness and demons consume me, is the tunnel filling with my anguished, uncontrollable death howls.

Screams in the dark.

ANA — pronounced Ay (rhymes with play) — nah — the mother of all the gods.

BALOR’S EYE — Bal (rhymes with Hal) — or — Balor was a one-eyed giant, one of the Fomorii.

BANSHEES — the souls of dead women who wail loudly when somebody is about to die.

BREHONS — breh-hons — lawmakers, an early type of judge.

BRICRIU — brick-roo — a troublemaker.

CASHEL— cash-el — a stone fort.

CATHAIR — ka-hair — a round fort, surrounded by a stone wall.

COIRM — kworm — an alcoholic drink

CRANNOG — kran-ogue (rhymes with “rogue”) — a fort built on an island in the middle of a lake.

CURRAGH — cur-ah — a small boat, like a canoe.

DOLMENS — dole-mens — tombs made of three upright stones, set in a pyramid-type shape,

capped by a flat stone. Normally, one person would be buried beneath them or their ashes might be left in them.

FOMORII — Fuh-more-ee — an ancient tribe, reputed to be part demons.

GEIS — gesh (rhymes with mesh) — a curse.

HURLING — her-ling — a traditional Irish sport, the fastest team game in the world. It’s played on a rugby-sized pitch, fifteen players per side. Each player has a stick which ends in a curved, flat head. They use it to hit a small, hard leather ball about, and score goals and points by hitting it into their opponent’s goal or over the bar.

LEPRECHAUNS — Lep-reh-cawns — the Little People of Irish legends.

MACHA — Mack-ah — a war goddess.

MORRIGAN — More-ee-gan — a war goddess.

NEIT — Net — a god of war.

NUADA — Noo-dah — a war goddess.

OGHAM STONES — Owe-am stones — stones with lines cut into them — an early form of writing.

PICT — Pick-t — an ancient tribe from Britain.

QUERN — kern — a bowl.

RATH — raff — a round fort, surrounded by a wooden fence.

SEANACHAIDH — shan-ah-key — a storyteller or poet.

SIONAN’S RIVER — Sun-un’s river — River Shannon.

SOUTERRAIN — soo-tur-ane — an underground tunnel, often used to store food and drink or as an escape route.

TIR NA N’OG — Teer na nogue (rhymes with rogue) — a mystical land where people never got sick or grew old.

TUATH — chew-ah — a county.

TELATHA — chew-ah — counties.

WEDGE TOMBS — tombs in which lots of stones are stacked side by side in the shape of a then topped with large flat stones.

AIDEEN — Aid-een.

AEDNAT — Aid-nat.

AMARGEN — Am-are-gen.

BANBA — Bon-bah.

BEC — rhymes with deck.

BRAN — rhymes with man.

BRUDE — Brood.

CERA — Keerah.

CONN — Kon.

CONNLA — Kon-lah.

DARA — Darr-ah.

DRUST — Jrust.

ENA — Ee-nah.

ERC — rhymes with perk.

ERT — rhymes with hurt.

FAND — Fond.

FIACHNA — Feek-nah.

FINTAN — Finn-tan.

GOLL — rhymes with doll.

LORCAN — Lor-can.

MACCADAN — Mac-Cad-an.

MACGRIGOR — Mac-Grig-or.

MACROTH — MacRoff.

NECTAN — Neck-tan.

NINIAN — Nin-ee-an.

ORNA — Or-nah.