First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for waiting so long for updates. I know I probably lost a few of my fan base, but things immediately got hectic during the summer, and I found that the best time to write was during college where there weren't outstanding circumstances.
Expect the final chapters (20 will be the finale) to be finished before October 1. That's sort of my apology for taking so long on this one ;)
So, if you're still reading this, thank you and enjoy!
"Desired but could never have." Sarah said bitterly from where she lay on the blood-soaked floor. "One of many things that you were disappointed in life with."
Paul merely laughed at the petty attempt to confuse him and possibly allow her to escape. Yet he did move a little, giving her a direct view to the elevator, and taunting her with how close her goal was.
His ploy almost worked. For just a moment Sarah thought about springing up from the floor and trying to power her way through. Then she realized that doing so would be playing directly into Paul's hands.
Instead she pushed off from her hands and rolled herself behind more of the rubble that lined the walls of the hospital. The move was so much different than what Paul had expected that she was able to regain her footing before he could react.
Sarah stood and ran, putting as much rubble and devastation between herself and Paul as possible. As her legs moved, seemingly of their own accord, she slapped another clip into her pistol and suddenly wheeled around to charge back towards the elevator.
She wheeled directly into the shadows that now made up Paul's domain. From every direction, invisible blows rained down on her body as he used the powers granted to him by Walter.
Still, by some small miracle, she managed to make it to the elevator and push the button. A cry of rage greeted her accomplishment, as Paul stepped out from the blackened surroundings. Shadows still covered his body in an inky blackness, but now his eyes burned with a supernatural black fire that belched a permeating smoke out into the air.
"You just don't understand do you Sarah?" He sneered. "You shouldn't even BE here. You shouldn't BE in Silent Hill. Let the bastard upstairs die...if you save him it will only complicate things."
"Go back to the hell you belong in." Sarah shouted as much in anger as fear just when the elevator doors behind her began to open. Faster than she could ever remember moving, she snatched the shotgun off her back and fired two shots directly into Paul's face. He screamed in pain and rage, and took a few steps back while clutching his ruined face.
This was just how long she needed to back into the elevator and hit the third floor button, a button that emitted a dim light in the dark and rust-covered lift. Only a few seconds passed before the shadows again flowed into Paul and he was healed, but when he looked up both Sarah and the elevator were gone.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Sarah slammed one of her three remaining clips into the pistol and waited for the iron doors to slowly creak open. There was no telling what would be waiting for her when she arrived at the third floor, and she could only prepare for Paul to be shortly behind her. Then there was the imminent danger of the nurses, and whatever could be happening to Richard.
Yet those weren't her greatest fears. If Paul had been trapped in Silent Hill upon his death there was no telling who else could still be waiting to fall under a possession. Walter had evidently taken great steps to stop any chance of destroying Silent Hill, and if he truly had risen to the rank of Master of The Order…it could mean a shift in the balance of power in the city.
Over a hundred years ago such a shift had occurred, when the original members following the teachings of Metatron had been killed in a coup to worship Sammael. Even now the Seal of Metatron was a powerful countering measure in Silent Hill, and would hold many of the lesser demons at bay.
A bell softly chimed, bringing Sarah out of her thoughts and alerting her to the fact that she'd arrived at the third floor. Somewhere amid the maze of rooms was Richard, and time was flowing faster through her fingers than she wished. Already the clock was down past twenty five minutes, and it would take just about that long to fully search the floor. Then, with a creak that covered the back of her neck in gooseflesh, the doors slid open to reveal pitch blackness.
Without wasting any time, she moved quietly from the elevator and padded down the darkened hallway on the balls of her feet. Her flashlight illuminated some of the hall, but left more than enough of it hidden from her view, easily able to hide creatures or other Dark Men.
Instead of following her instincts, all telling her to run away from the building and never return, she made her way to the first door and turned the knob. Despite the darkness and the rot dotting the hall, the door opened easily to reveal an empty bed covered in old bloodstains. Some kind of moss grew on the sheets, but Sarah chose to ignore whatever it could be.
The next few doors all revealed the same scene. Beyond those, several were either locked or barred by wreckage. Only two more opened in the entire left wing of the floor, leaving her with two more sections to explore and fifteen minutes to do it in.
It was as she walked to the center that she became aware of the presence the seemed to be watching every step she took. Not Paul or even one of the nurses, there was no distinct feeling of being threatened…just one of general unease that ran to her very core.
The first five doors in the center section opened, all revealing either the long dead bodies of tortured nurses or blood-soaked clothing piled in large heaps along the ground.
Sarah found just what it was that had been watching her when she re-entered the hall after a disappointing (and disturbing) search of one room. As she walked out of the room, a flicker of silver knocked the pistol out of her hand and a fierce kick to her leg sent her tumbling to the ground.
"You move much slower than anticipated Sari'torunia." Walter Sullivan said from above her, katana back in the sheath at his waist. As she starred in awe, a large black bird flew down and landed on his shoulder, recognizable only by the black fire burning from its eyes.
"You only have ten minutes in which to save Richard." He continued, mocking her from where he stood. "Maybe you weren't as well trained as I'd thought."
"I was good enough to kill everyone you sent after me." She growled from the ground. "Every single member of the Dark Wing you threw at me."
Walter laughed, bringing the bird's head around. "I sent only the weakest after you Sari'torunia, because even now you have your uses. Not the least of which would be saving your dear husband, wouldn't it?"
From where she lay, Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Why would you want Richard saved? He has the power to bring down Silent Hill." She stammered incredulously.
"Must you spend all your time asking questions from the floor?" Walter quipped with a raised eyebrow. "Or is it that you do your best thinking when you're lying on your back?" Ignoring the evil glare she gave him, he threw a piece of paper to her and turned around.
"You'll find his room number there. Tell him I admire his resolve. Few others would have passed as long as he did without calling out to me to save him." Then with a brilliant flash of white light, Walter disappeared from the hallway.
Knowing that her time was running short, Sarah snatched up her pistol and the scrap of paper. Then, without bothering to even look around her, she ran down the hallway in a dead sprint. Vaulting dead nurses and overturned wheelchairs, she reached the door that Walter had specified. Clawing at the doorknob, she found it locked.
From behind the door she heard a weak voice cry out, Richard's voice cry out. Tired of playing the game Walter's way, she kicked the door as hard as she could…and nearly broke her foot at how solid this single door still was. Limping slightly and cursing loudly, she raised her pistol and fired several shots into the handle and surrounding area. With a loud screech the door finally swung open and she entered to find the knives already stopped above Richard, one only an inch from his left eye.
"Sarah!" He gasped weakly from the bloodstained gurney he lay on. "I thought you were dead!"
Nothing else was said as she ran to him and slowly moved him off the bed and onto the ground. "Did you submit to Walter?" She asked as she moved him, hoping that she didn't already hear the answer from her encounter in the hallway.
"No." Richard said adamantly. "I refused to."
With a deliberate motion Sarah put the pistol to her husband's forehead. "Walter was the one who told me where you'd be, and then when I get here you've already been saved from whatever was going to happen to you. Now why the hell should I believe that you didn't turn to his side like you were before?"
Richard gave no answer, only held up his left arm for her to see. Displayed prominently on his ring finger were two sparkling gold bands. "I had another promise to keep." He said in a perfectly serious voice.
"Good enough for me." She said quickly before pulling him up to a sitting position. "Now, how do we get you healed? You're absolutely no good like you are now."
He coughed once, blood rolling out of the corner of his mouth. "We'd need enough of Walter's blood to make the Seal of Metatron, and then I'd need a half-hour to summon some of the lesser deities. One of them should heal me for some of the Master of The Order's blood."
Sarah gave him a withering look of disbelief even before she wiped the trickle from his mouth. "And where would we find Walter Sullivan's blood?"
She followed his gaze as it went to the bag of blood that he'd been getting a transfusion from. In a heavy charcoal marker the letters WS were visible. "He's been toying with us the entire time." Richard said quietly. "And to make matters worse we've played into his hands directly. Walter couldn't take the position he was in until we came back, and he can't take full control of his powers unless we're both dead."
"Then why would he keep you alive?"
"He's linked to me somehow. If I would have died before performing this ritual he'd have been weakened. Once I heal myself our link is broken. It will make Walter lose the demonic powers he had, but will allow him to summon two demons more powerful than anything else he's been able to at this point."
"I should remember this…" Sarah said much more calmly than she expected she would. "But nearly being killed a dozen times over has gotten in the way. You need to explain things a little better."
"Walter will be allowed to summon Asmodean, the lord of darkness, and Belial, the lord of lies. Asmodean will make Walter nearly invincible, and Belial was second in power only to Sammael."
A deep sigh escaped from Sarah. "So you'll die if we do nothing, but that means we won't be able to bring down Silent Hill…but if we save you then Walter becomes a literal demi-god. Where was all this in the marriage vows?"
"They really should be changed to 'and do you Sarah promise to save your husband from beds of knives and demonic entities if he should ever go to a possessed town and become involved in battling a cult.'"
"Stop being sarcastic." Sarah said angrily. "Now help me get that bag of blood and stop your whining."
As Sarah moved around the room, she never noticed the black bird perched outside the window, watching with burning opal eyes. Walter would be ready to summon Asmodean and Belial as soon as the link was severed.