"Come down here Jay. It's time to meet with you. I want to speak."
Out of the corner of her eye, Sasha saw Jay disappear into his office and then suddenly he and Greg were running down the stairs to meet the four men. Sasha turned and ran out of her room and made her way down the corridor as well. Something very strange was at work here and she wanted to be right next to jay as they worked it all out together.
"Jay Miles!" She heard Sutomi call out in a booming voice. The voice sent pin pricks rippling up and down Sasha's spine. There was something familiar and yet coldly deceiving about that voice. It seemed way too large for the small thin man who owned its power and yet it came from him shooting out as if it were a thin svelte arrow.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she could see Jay and Greg just a metre in front of her facing Sutomi who had the three enormous men behind him. This close they looked even more menacing than they had from above. They wore dark chain mail armour, out of which hard metal spikes jutted menacingly as if they just waited to be given the opportunity to pierce the skin. These men were ready for a war. They looked as though they could take on an army all alone.
Sasha looked around Jay to get a clearer shot of the three of them to see that each carried a large ancient looking sword and a thick metal heavy chain with a round ball at the end of it. Sasha's belly knotted. She knew serious trouble when she saw it.
Suddenly something brushed against her back and she jumped, clamping her own hand to her mouth so as not to draw attention to herself at the back of the pack. Turning she saw that it was just Estella who had obviously woken herself enough to follow the rest of them downstairs.
"I'm here" said Jay in a voice that would have sounded terrifying if Sasha wasn't staring at three walking lumps of coal from the core of the earth. "What do you want with me?"
Sutomi Lim hissed as Jay stood defiantly before him. The noise came out of him in white smoke as if he were a terrifying steam engine. Sutomi Lim made for a frightening creature, but it was the transformers behind him that struck terror into Sasha. Just as she thought she'd almost faint from the fear of what could possibly be happening here, she felt a small cold hand snake into her own. She gripped it tight recognising Estella's attempt to claim her and stay a little safer.
"It's time Jay Miles. I am here to steal your designs. I know you are trying to beat me to the next show, so I am here to take your work and to claim it as my own."
"You must be joking!" Jay moved forward, a thick corded vein in his neck throbbing. His skin was red, and he looked like he was going to explode. "You can't take the designs. They're not finished, and you don't have the talent to complete the job."
Sasha watched Sutomi as he walked forward, and stood face to face with Jay. He then moved slowly to Jay's left, circling him, as if he were looking at him for the first time; as if her were a shark warming his prey for the attack.
Jay Miles, you think you are safe? You are not safe. You can't do anything in this silly little warehouse to keep me at bay."
By this time he had circled enough to be face to face with Jay again. "And besides," he said, "I don't actually care if your line fails or not. I want you to suffer, not to change the world."
Sasha noticed Jay's hand starting to shake. She knew she had to get near him, to give him some of her strength or this confrontation really would drive him mad. She stepped forward and immediately the guards lifted their swords and took a step forward toward her. Sasha paused, knowing the warning they were metering out to her. She took a breath and moved fast to be beside Jay, slipping her hand into his.
The guards moved forward, but Sutomi Lim held his and up in a Hitler style salute, and they stopped in their tracks. Jay turned to Sasha and started at her almost as if he didn't know who she was and Sasha thought her stomach would burst for the ache in it for him. But she felt his hands tighten around hers and she realised he did draw strength from her.
"There's nothing you can do to hurt me Sutomi." Jay uttered through clenched teeth. "Even if I lose the line, I still have my life, and that is more important to me." At that moment he squeezed Sasha's hand again, and she held back, steadfastly watching what Lim might do next.
Sutomi Lim moved back a little, watching Sasha.
"You are cursed Jay." he spat. "It was decided a long time ago. All the men before you in your line are cursed, and all the men after you are cursed. It is what it is, and I can't change it."
"Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?" Jay cried out.
"I'm the ghost from many Christmases past Jay Miles, here to see that you and your children will suffer for the sins of your fathers."
"He has no children! You have to let him live longer, he has no children."
Sasha turned to see Estella move forward taking her place on the other side of Jay. Suddenly it all started to fall into place for Sasha. This was the story that Estella had told her. Sutomi Lim was the deamon, and these guards were from the gates of hell themselves. She turned back and saw immediately that Sutomi was staring at her smiling.
"Ahhh... you have figured it out at last. How slow and stupid you are. But now you know. And Jay's mother isn't alone anymore."
"Answer me" Estella stepped forward with a small pentagram on a short stand, and she pointed it at Sutomi Lim, as if it would burn or hurt him in some way. While it didn't look as though it were going to make any real difference, it did cause Lim to take a step back. He moved a little closer to his own guards, while keeping his eye on Estella.
"Keep that thing away from me old woman. It won't hurt me enough to protect you; it will just irritate me all the more. I will answer your questions. He does have a child. The woman is pregnant."
Sasha stared at Lim, trying to comprehend what he was talking about. She saw movement out of her peripheral vision and turned slightly to see Estella and Jay staring at her. She suddenly felt guilty as if somehow this was all her fault.
"She'll bare a male child, and I will be back to torture him as soon as he provides me with an heir to replace him." Sutomi Lim moved closer to Jay, glancing more than once at Estella's pentagram. "And I will torture your child Jay. Every son of Alexander will suffer for my rage at the insult inflicted on me."
Suddenly, Jay fell to the floor. Estella cried out "No" and collapsed over her son, as Greg moved forward.
"I've called the police you stupid asshole. You can confess your insane ratings to them, while they lock you in jail for sabotage and the attacks you're perpetrating on Jay. Get away from him, and get away from us."
To Sasha's surprise, Lim backed off. "The police won't be able to do anything, you fool. Nothing will postpone this. Don't you see it has been moving through the ages? You'll never put an end to it, just as I will never cease in my suffering for Aoide."
Suddenly a light turned on over Sasha's head. Ideas and realisations flooded through her as Lim continued.
"I have taken so much pleasure in torturing you Jay, because you had too much. Your life was so perfect; you defied my attempts to drive you mad. So I had to intervene. Now that I am, I am so happy it is going this way. I prefer to see you suffer through human eyes and watch this. You will suffer more today before I take your life, but I will be back. I will be back in twelve hours to see you throw yourself off the top of this building, a fall you won't survive.
There is no way you can defeat me, I can control your mind as easily as I can swat a fly away from my face.
So think today Jay. Think about your unborn male child. The boy your female carries and think of what I will do to that child later in life. Mediate on that as you prepare yourself for death."
Suddenly sirens filled the room, as the police Greg had called gathered out the front of the building. Instantly the three evil looking guards disappeared in a puff of dark grey smoke. Sasha watched in wonder as Lim sprinted forward and ran up the stairs to the top balconies.
