Free Judgement (The Twelve) by Jeff Ashcroft

the used furniture we will buy from the same auctioneers daily sale . “( Anvil always dealt in cash)
     
    “Living accommodation is on the forth and fifth floors.”
     
    Priest was always amazed by the detail Anvil knew of each property they owned, but then again, that was one of his functions, procurement and protection , ” Wh at happens if they find us?”
     
    “ Every floor leading up or down to ours, are heavily booby trapped.”
     
    Priest slapped him on the shoulder, “Good then lets get a move on. We have three hours before dawn.”
     
    The Dark surprised them by not attacking again that night. Came the dawn, Anvil had Hot Cross , Bulls Eye and Speed in street clothes, out in the van buying a ton of used furniture. By five pm that day, as dusk was settling, they had the warehouse ready for occupation. Rage and Priest carried up the heavy stuff, Speed moved most of the light stuff all by himself. Of course Huntress and Patch organised where everything was to go.  S ix pm and the house was deserted, empty and abandoned.
     
    At eight pm, Edge stood in the deserted living room with Shadow, looking around at the empty ash covered floor. Claws scuttled down stairs to enter the room, she hissed out the single word, “Empty.”
     
    Edge stared the ash with his foot, “ It’s as our spy said. ”
     
    Then to Shadow, he commanded, “Burn it down to the ground.”
     
    Turning he walked out the room and away from the house with Claws scuttling along besides him. Shadows flame that beat within his transparent chest grew and expanded. He turned towards the curtains on the front window and the flame spit fire across the room to ignite the material. He casually walked from room to room, setting fire to anything that would burn. Walking back through the flames that were quickly consuming the house, he left via the front door, striding out onto the street.
     
    A passing male dog walker stopped and gawked at the ghost like figure. Shadow had allowed him to see his form and smirked. Floating across the ground he stopped directly in front of the man. The dog, a small white poodle, growled and tried to nip at his leg. Shadow reached down and pretended to pat the dog.
     
    “Good dog.” His voice sounded like a low whisper echoing through the night sky.
     
    “What are you?” The man whimpered .
     
    Shadow smiled, “People used to call me the Candle of Death. Do you know why?” He whispered.
     
    All the petrified man could do was shake his head as he clutched the dog lead tightly.
     
    “Let me show you.”
     
    A moment later Shadow entered the In Between place and hurried to catch up with his master. Leaving behind a screaming burning figure running wildly down the street, his poodle standing at the kerb, untouched but shaking with fright, the end of its lead blackened and burnt.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    C hapter three
     
     
     
    “ T ell us again what you did to Ghost?”
     
    The Twelve sat around a tri - sided electric fire, on various different types and different coloured leather settees, and arm chairs, in the centre of a large warehouse area on the forth floor of what Patch fondly called The Fortress.  The warehouse area was of course far bigger than they needed. A large thirty foot square second hand rug lay on the bare concrete floor in the centre of the two hundred by one hundred and forty multi pillared floor space. The huge industrial electric heater rested on four flag stones, on top of the rug, with a cable running a hundred feet across the floor to a wall socket over by the lift. Various different pieces of furniture scattered around the warehouse gave the place an eclectic look. One big area down at the northern end of the floor , had a false plasterboard wall enclosing a sixty foot by a one hundred foot rectangle area,