Lost

If the dictionary had ever needed a pictorial definition of the word tension then the secret room twenty metres under Whitehall would have provided it.
Frank rested his pounding head on the door frame and watched, waiting for the man and woman facing each other across the table to say a word and break the silence. Claire wore a look of pure hatred that scared Frank more than anything ever had in his life, the man merely wore a smile that lifted the livid scar that ran from the side of his mouth up to the corner of his right eye. Apart from that one feature the man was dark haired and handsome, the boy still unsure of what and who he was.
“How?”
“Does it matter? I am here now and so are you Claire.”
Claire glared, the hatred making her fingers tingle until it was almost unbearable. She desperately called out again in her head for her sisters, her boys…anyone. This was more than capable of being world ending, it so nearly had been before. The threat had been defeated, a price paid and seventy years of wilderness before it had all been righted and yet here he was, smiling at her.
“Tell me Gerard, you were dead. Patollo killed you and Mikey.”
Gerard Way looked at her with loathing now at the mention of his little brother. They had raised a God and tried to use the reapers to release it. That had failed and he had died, Mikey had died…until his Lord had been merciful and allowed him to return to the earthly plains to achieve both vengeance and power.
“My brother is gone but Patollo knew that he could rely on me so he found a way to return me to the surface. You may have denied him freedom but he works through me.”
“Oh wow great, cos that worked so well last time.”
Claire smiled annoyingly, hiding the fear that lurked in the back of her head at the ramifications of having a Norse God interfering again in the affairs of man. Just what he was doing working for the government was also a worry and her mind worked hard to figure out the connection to the prophesy that Lilith had seen.
“As soon as the boys know its you then war will break out. Did you not get the picture? Or did you think I would be easier to cage than my sister?”
“Not at all. You are different.”
Frank swallowed uneasily as a silence fell again. He didn’t know where Gerard had come from, didn’t even know that he had contact before with the reapers until this conversation but now he understood why the government had listened to him. The witch was dangerous like he had said and they would all only survive if they did what Gerard said. He had showed them mental images of war like Frank had never seen and now he knew why.
Claire tapped her fingers on the table, it still felt weird to not be able to just pull his face off and the smug expression said he knew it. She decided to humour him, no doubt Zacky was ripping London apart by now with the others close on his heels. They would find her, she just didn’t want them to walk into a trap.
“Different?”
Gerard nodded and pulled the boy from the door. Claire watched as he gently touched the mass of swelling and bruising until it had faded away and Frank looked at him with something approaching adoration.
“You won our last battle thanks to your bitch sister but my lord saw you differently. You have hidden talents that you don’t even know about.”
“Doesn’t matter, Zacky and Matt will pull you to pieces and Syn will probably do unspeakable things to your corpse before Lilith even gets her hands on you.”
Gerard laughed, reaching across towards Claire who shoved her chair back violently. He smirked and motioned towards the cameras, waiting until three very large secret servicemen appeared in the room. Claire valiantly tried to fight back, throwing both Frank and the chair at the men before they painfully pinned her arms behind her back and forced her to sit. Gerard perched on the table and stroked her face as Claire tried hard not to scream. It seemed like red hot knives piercing her brain and she continued to struggle hard until she heard the one voice that she had been desperate to hear.
Hold on, I’m coming.
Zacky.
Gerard growled and broke the contact.
“It’s too late for that.”
Claire spat at him, earning a hard slap from one of the goons and his fingers back on her forehead. This time she did scream, Frank flinching at the sound as Gerard smiled and then spoke softly to her.
“Your powers are different to Lilith’s. Some are buried because of who you were before the burnings. You had control of fire then, a power that was too dangerous when combined with Lilith’s opposite talent…”
Claire fought to think around the pain, Zacky was coming for her and that meant Matt and Jimmy and all of them were on the way too. All she had to do was hold out. Gerard was still probing her mind, Claire keeping the knowledge of the craft locked away as he searched for something that was buried so much deeper. The blackness was falling in on her, Claire could feel herself fading out and called out one word to Zacky before she gave in to it.
HURRY.
Gerard stood up, satisfied and almost glowing with power.
“Go get the minister.”
Frank fled along with the goons and once he was alone Gerard walked around to where Claire was unconscious in the chair. He gently took her in his arms and rocked for a moment, wondering if the god would let him keep her before talking to Claire slowly and gently.
“Wake up, we have work to do.”
She opened her eyes, the glowing red almost blinding him as Claire rose to her feet. He had released her magic and wondered if Lilith and Dani would feel it now that it was mixed with the most ancient of powers. Gerard relished the idea of turning her on her friends and stood back as she stared at the table. Within seconds it erupted in flames and he giggled as the minister came through the door.
“Good god!”
“Impressive but this is what witches can do. We need a witch to defeat them.”
Short nodded as Claire looked around the room trying to make sense of her surroundings as the god talked in her ear and Gerard listened. It told of betrayals, of how she must work with Gerard to help the mortals survive. Claire nodded, her eyes blazing red as he took her hand. Short looked at them both, unnerved even more by the melting plastic that Frank was attacking with an extinguisher.
“Now what?”
The demon man shrugged.
“They will come here and you will see the danger they pose. I think after that your Prime Minister will allow us to go public.”
The portly politician nodded, the UK would either use or destroy these creatures. Control of them would be better, the empire would be restored with this one woman let alone what these other ones might be like.
“Is she….?”
“Safe? For now, isn’t that right Claire?”
She smiled and linked arms with Gerard and Frank.
“Yes, now I serve only my Lord Patollo.”

Notes