The Devil Within

Chapter One

Isabel Montesi smiled fondly as her four-year-old daughter scrambled all over the climbing frame, laughing and having fun with the other children at the park. She was seated on a bench a few feet away, keeping an eye on Vicki. Her daughter had a very active imagination, lots of imaginary friends and made-up fantastical stories, some of which were frightening to Vicki herself as well as others, which was why, Isabel assumed, Vittorio didn't want her mixing too much with the other children who lived nearby. Well, tough! Isabel thought firmly. Vicki lived too much in her own head, almost believing in her daydreams, and that wasn't helping her nightmares. Vittorio could protest all he wanted. Vicki needed real friends, not the goblins and bizarre creatures her mind conjured.

Sometimes, some of the 'goblins' in Vicki's nightmares did seem to have form in the shadows outside her window but Isabel always convinced herself that she was being paranoid, letting Vicki's fear influence her own thoughts. Anyway, some of Vicki's pretend games were as silly as any other child's- a giant talking caterpillar coming to see her in the backyard? The sun being angry when it glared down at said caterpillar? Isabel smiled nostalgically, shaking her head as she remembered how certain Vicki had been.

Shrieks of laughter from the climbing frame made her glance back over there. Vicki and two others, boys of about 11 or 12, had climbed to the very top of the structure, poised as if to leap to the ground. Isabel was on her feet in an instant. The older boys might manage it without too much damage, but Vicki was far too small!

They jumped before she could get there. She watched, holding back a scream, as the boys landed with hard thumps, grunts of pain and scraped knees being their only signs of distress. Vicki landed on her feet next to them, as gracefully as a gymnast. She ran over to Isabel, laughing.

"Mama! Did you see what I did? They falled, but I didn't!"

Isabel nodded, forcing a smile and holding her daughter close. She couldn't think of a reply right now- what she'd just seen kept replaying in her mind- tthe boys falling prey to gravity, as everyone should, and Vicki, leaping into the air, staying airborne for longer than should be possible, and landing far too lightly, as if she'd merely stepped down a couple of inches, not seven feet in the air.

"Mama? Is you alright?" Vicki was peering at her anxiously. "You feels sad."

Unsure whether Vicki meant she looked sad, or if she'd meant that as a question, she simply ran her hand over her daughter's soft black curls.

"I'm fine, sweetheart. I just worried when you jumped. That climbing frame's a bit high for you."

Vicki shrugged. "I's fine. I not fall."

Repressing a shiver at the certainty in Vicki's little voice, Isabel stared into her daughter's eyes, for a minute almost thinking she saw something ancient, indescribable... She shook herself. Vicki was barely four years old! And even if she was... different in some way, it hardly mattered. This was her daughter, the most important thing in her life. She pressed a kiss atop the curly head. "I love you, baby."

Vicki snuggled close. "Love you too, Mama."

Isabel maintained the hug until she heard her name being called. Turning, she saw Vittorio walking towards them, face set in disapproval. Clenching her teeth, she picked Vicki up.

Vittorio's eyes narrowed when he reached them. "I thought we agreed that bringing Victoria out here was a bad idea. If she starts passing on her nonsense..."

Vicki hid her face in Isabel's shoulder. Isabel glared at her husband. "First, we didn't agree anything. You said that. I never went along with it. Second, I'll never know why Vicki's little stories bother you so much. All children make things up, and she'll grow out of it eventually."

Vittorio stiffened, looking at Vicki distastefully. "Most children do not make up stories that give them screaming nightmares. Maybe when she stops telling such wild stories and disturbing our well-deserved night's rest just because of her bad dreams, I might consider allowing her more freedom."

"I's sowwy, Papa." Vicki's voice was small as she looked at Vittorio, lip wobbling. He turned away without responding, as if he couldn't bear to look at her, flinching as always when she called him 'Papa'.

Isabel gave Vittorio a scathing look as Vicki's shoulders slumped and she turned to her mother again. She could feel Vicki crying, and so turned to head home. She'd calm Vicki first, assure her- again- that her father didn't hate her, then and only then would she try and reason with Vittorio. "We'll discuss this later, and not in public," she called over her shoulder to him.

Vittorio barely reacted. "Actually, I will have to stay late at the library again. Research. You don't need to wait up." He'd walked away before Isabel could reply.

She glared after him, seething. That damned occult library! She knew of the sacred trust the Vatican placed in Vittorio's family, to guard the infamous Book of Sins, and had never grudged that, but ever since Vicki's birth, Vittorio had acted as if his research into the arcane was the sole purpose of his life. She was well aware that not having had a son disappointed him, but he hardly ever even looked at Vicki, for crying out loud!

Isabel set her jaw. She would wait up for him, and this time they would sort this out once and for all. If he really wanted to focus solely on work, then so be it. She'd just take Vicki and leave him to it. The thought hurt. She'd loved Vittorio once, but he wasn't the man she'd married, Not anymore. And it was far from fair on Vicki to be treated like a pariah by her own father.

She continued walking home, shifting Vicki's weight on her hip so she could support her more easily.

"Mama?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

Vicki rubbed her eyes. "Father sayed he see me later." Her lip jutted out. "I's don't wanna. He scawy."

Isabel shook her head. "Vicki, Papa doesn't mean to scare you. He just... has a lot to deal with. And you might not see him later, but you will see him tomorrow, alright? I promise."

Vicki shook her head hard, tears pooling in her eyes. "Not Papa. Father. The fire shadow thing in my dweams. It sayed its my Father. I don't wanna see it!"

Isabel froze. Fiery shadow thing. That sounded a lot like the apparition she'd frequently dreamed of just before Vicki was born. But how on Earth could Vicki know that? Isabel certainly hadn't told her! A shiver ran down her spine and she hugged Vicki closer. What was going on? Had Vittorio's research into occult matters inadvertantly brought something down on them? It sounded crazy, but the coincidence- her daughter having her exact nightmare- was too much to ignore. She'd have a lot of questions for her husband later. What exactly had he been meddling with?

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Vittorio walked home quickly, as midnight approached. He'd been lost in his books and translations for hours, and had only been disturbed by the custodian wanting to lock up. The scene with Isabel earlier had unsettled him, and only made him more determined than ever to find out exactly what he'd managed to sire in Victoria, and how best to cleanse her of evil.

As he approached his home, he was surprised to see lights on downstairs. He'd planned to slip in quietly, as he'd thought Isabel would be sleeping. Instead, going inside, he found her at the kitchen table, her face grim. On the table before her lay the long-hidden letter from their doctor, the one he'd never shown her or mentioned.

The one that confirmed he was sterile.

Vittorio froze. He wasn't even sure his heart was beating. Isabel stared at him, eyes accusatory. There was a long tense silence.

"Where... did you find that?" Vittorio finally managed, his voice hoarse.

"In your study." Isabel's voice was flat. "Vicki mentioned something to me earlier, a dream that sounded like the nightmares I had before having her, remember?" Her voice was as harsh as a whip-crack, and Vittorio hid a wince.

"I-"

"I thought at first your poking around in the occult might have somehow set something on us. So I went to look in your study, to see if I could find anything out, see if you'd unknowingly put us in danger." Her eyes flashed. "And I find this, from five years ago. There was nothing unknowing about the risk you took, was there?" Her voice was rising.

"Isabel-"

"And don't you dare try and accuse me of infidelity, Vittorio Montesi. I've only ever been with you, yet this letter proves that you can't have fathered my daughter. You've never been able to bond with Vicki properly, almost as if you knew she was nothing to do with you." Isabel stepped closer. "For once, be honest with me. What did you DO?!"

Vittorio's eyes flitted around the room as if looking for an escape from the conversation. "Where is Victoria?"

"In bed asleep. It's almost midnight, where else would she be?" Isabel glowered at him. "And don't try and change the subject. You know something about how Vicki was born when you knew you couldn't have children. Tell me."

"T-the doctors could have been mistaken..."

"If you believed that, you wouldn't be stammering. What did you do, Vittorio?" Isabel's eyes pierced him like daggers.

He hung his head, shoulders slumping in defeat. He knew Isabel would keep demanding answers. Best to get it over with. Exhaling heavily, he began speaking.

"When I received that letter from the doctor five years ago, I was heartbroken. I know how much you wanted a child, and... my family's sacred duty, to guard the accursed Book of Sins, was preying on my mind as well." He stopped there, unsure how to explain the next part in a way that Isabel would understand.

She folded her arms, fighting the urge to shiver at the mention of the black Book she'd only seen once. "And?"

"I was alone in the library, trying desperately to think of a solution. Adoption occurred to me, but it has to be a child of my blood to take custody of that Book once I am gone. Eventually, I took to perusing the Book itself. I found a way of striking a bargain with whatever it was that wrote the cursed thing-"

Isabel's face had gone white. "You didn't."

Vittorio flinched. "I communed with the Demon. It agreed to allow me to father a child. I needed an heir, and you wanted a child so badly. I believed the ends would justify the mea-"

Crack.

Isabel had slapped him round the face with all the strength she could muster. She'd never been so angry.

"I can't believe you dared take that risk! You more than anyone should know what that Book is said to be capable of!" She shook her head, backing away from her husband, feeling nauseous. What had Vittorio done? To her little girl, to her, during the pregnancy? Her eyes flashed. "The dreams I had, the nightmares, before Vicki was born. You never thought that might be connected to your 'bargain'?"

"Of course I did!" Vittorio ran his hands over his face in frustration. "But you know I'd do anything to protect you."

"By leaving me vulnerable to some... evil force you don't even understand? And Vicki..." Isabel pressed her hands to her mouth, remembering her baby's earlier words, when she'd made a distinction between Vittorio, her 'Papa', and the monster in her dreams, that she'd called 'Father'. Could her daughter's innocent words be the truth, that her true father was that... thing? Did Vittorio even know exactly what he'd done?

Vittorio's face hardened. "Whatever fantasies that child deludes herself into believing, I am sure we can reason her out of it."

Fantasies?! Isabel's blood boiled. After everything he'd just told her, he seriously still thought Vicki's nightmares were figments of her imagination? And 'that child' as if she were nothing to do with him at all?!

Which, Isabel reflected grimly, might well be true, but Vittorio had still helped raise her, in his own way. How dare he now act as if he could wash his hands of Vicki, just to expunge his own guilt? She opened her mouth ready to tell the oh-so-highly respected 'Father' Vittorio just what she thought of him when Vicki began screaming upstairs.

Vittorio only rolled his eyes as if exasperated while Isabel rushed to check on her daughter.

She didn't notice Vittorio doubling over in pain. He managed to rasp out her name as what felt like fire tore through his veins. That was the last thing he recalled.

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Up in Vicki's room, Isabel had her arms round her daughter, rocking her as Vicki sobbed hysterically. She stroked her hair back from her forehead.

"It's alright, baby, it was just a dream, you're safe." Obviously Isabel was no longer certain of that, but Vicki was only four, she didn't need to know what her mother had just learned. Not now, not ever, Isabel prayed to whoever might be listening. Please let her never find any of this out.

Vicki whimpered. "Not me," she sobbed. "Papa. Father sayed he gonna take Papa away, and he be here instead."

Isabel's blood ran cold, but she pushed down her instinctive fear. "It was just a dream," she reassured Vicki- and herself.

It didn't stop her pulling Vicki onto her lap and wrapping her arms round her when Vittorio's footsteps sounded on the landing.

Vicki shrank back, hiding her face in her mother's shoulder as Vittorio walked in.

"Go away!" Her little voice was a shriek.

He chuckled in a low tone. "Leave? I think not, my little one."

Isabel nearly screamed. The voice coming from Vittorio's mouth was not his! And as her eyes adjusted to the light streaming from the landing, she saw that her husband's face was corpse-pale, his eyes glowing red in some ungodly way. She stood, willing herself not to shake, and moved to shield Vicki from his view.

"W-who are you?" Her voice shook, but she was surprised she had been able to speak at all. This was like something from a horror movie, and if she'd been alone, she would have been cowering from this thing in her husband's skin. But she had to protect her child, no matter what.

"The child's true father, of course." Vittorio, or whatever it was now, laughed. "Did she not tell you as much earlier?"

Vicki had curled into a ball now, her hands pressed to her ears, shaking her head. Isabel glanced back for a split second and her baby's fear only strengthened her resolve. "Stay away from us!"

It laughed, the sound echoing like rolling thunder as blood began to ooze from Vittorio's eyes, ears and nose. "A mortal presumes to tell me what I will do?" It moved its stolen body forward, towering over Isabel. "I think not. This host will expire soon. I have no further use for it. Now, you may either stand aside and allow me to reclaim what is mine," he stared past Isabel at Vicki, "Or you can join your husband in death and I will take the child regardless. I am being generous, human, offering you a chance to live, because you bore my child into this world. Now choose."

Isabel backed up, so she stood pressed against the foot of Vicki's bed. Her daughter was whimpering in terror by now, though how much of this she was following, Isabel wasn't sure. Some tiny part of Isabel noted how surreal all this felt- this sort of thing was only supposed to happen in fiction, not reality!- but she was able to force herself to meet this thing's eyes.

"I don't know who or what you are, but you are not taking my child from me!" Switching to Italian, she urgently whispered to Vicki to close her eyes, but didn't have time to see if she'd listened. The demon snarled, then began advancing on her. Isabel inhaled deeply, then, forcing herself to ignore that this thing wore her husband's face, she caught one of the legs of Vicki's bedside cabinet, and swung it with all the force she could muster at the creature's head. Vittorio's dead, there's nothing I can do, I have to get my daughter out of here!

The table connected with a sickening crunch. Vittorio's body dropped like a stone. The red glow in its eyes intensified, and it stood again, somewhat lopsidedly, blood now coating its whole face.

"For that, you will suffer, mortal." It didn't sound anything like Vittorio now. It didn't sound like a human being now! Isabel didn't hesitate, striking him/it again immediately. This time Vittorio's head caved like a deflated balloon. Isabel's stomach lurched, but the thing fell again, hissing something in a language she didn't understand.

Black flames sprung up in the doorway and windows, blocking their escape routes. But the creature didn't seem able to stand anymore.

Isabel slammed the table into its torso, just to be on the safe side, then, hands shaking and thoughts wild and disjointed, she snatched up Vicki, who stared wide-eyed at the monster crumpled before her. Isabel pressed Vicki's face to her shoulder, not wanting her to see any more of this, clutching her close as she ran from the room, gritting her teeth and hunching over Vicki as she forced her way through the black fire, which somehow failed to actually hurt. As she tore down the stairs, she heard the demon let out an unearthly howl.

"YOU WILL PAY DEARLY FOR THIS, WOMAN! I WILL HAVE WHAT IS MINE! YOU HAVE MADE AN ENEMY OF CHTHON THIS NIGHT!"

The flames seemed to be spreading through the house, so Isabel just raced outside, holding Vicki as close as she could, choking on thick oily smoke, wanting only to get to safety.

Once out on the street, she quickly checked her daughter- Vicki seemed fine, just scared. Isabel broke into a coughing fit as smoke billowed from the windows of her home, and the neighbours came to investigate. She felt faint. Her next-door neighbour said he'd called the fire department, and asked if anyone else was inside. Still cradling a now-crying Vicki, Isabel gathered her thoughts enough to say, brokenly, that she hadn't been able to save her husband. A tear ran down her face. Her neighbours would think she meant she couldn't save Vittorio from the fire. The horror of that thing's voice, its horrific scarlet eyes in Vittorio's face, made her flinch and shudder, clutching Vicki to make sure she was still there and safe. She stared bleakly at the inferno that was her home, cupping Vicki's head in the back of her hand.

That thing said it would come after us again. We will have to get away from here, far away, as soon as possible. She kissed the top of her daughter's head. We'll start a new life, move on. And none of this will touch us again. Ever. We will be safe.

To be continued...