Free Heartache High by Jon Jacks

able to say something back.’
    ‘I don’t think
it is; I don’t think it is my mind. It all seems so real. I
don’t think I have any control over it.’
    I say it to Dave
hoping that, somehow, it comes out of my mouth in that Soho
room.
    Nothing comes
out.
    ‘I can help you,
Stephanie.’
    Lamia’s tone is
wheedling, yet somehow also untrustworthy.
    ‘All this is
just adding to your pain, being able to see all this, isn’t it?
Don’t you want to retreat back into your comfort zone? Didn’t you
hide away there in the first place to avoid a painful
reality?’
    She brings both
hands up to her face. When she removes them, her eyes are back in
place.
    They seem more
intense, brighter, than ever.
    ‘You’re so lucky
that we know you’re still there dear. It could have been oh so
painful for you, wouldn’t it, to watch as my gorgeous, ravenous Panthia slowly fed off Iain’s love for
her.’
    She steps away
at last.
    A sense of
relief floods through me, as if I’d been rooted to the spot under
her penetrating gaze.
    ‘Not to worry
though, my dear.’
    Lamia moves
towards Iain, rubbing her hand through his tousled hair almost
affectionately.
    ‘Panthia can
ensnare another target, so it’s not so painful for you to
watch.’
    She bends down,
lifts Iain’s head up by his chin.
    ‘As for your
precious Iain, well, he’s a good-looking man, isn’t he? Plans can
change, and we can use him in other ways.’
    I can no longer
see Lamia.
    Freed from her
mother’s fixating gaze, Panthia has turned around, watching as a
door at the darkened rear of the room opens.
    At first, I
think I’m seeing a plume of shimmering smoke slip into the room, as
if the door opens up onto a busy kitchen.
    But the misty
cloud moves closer towards us, letting the door snap shut behind
it.
    It
writhes.
    It snakes
sinuously through the air.
    It wails
quietly.
    Happily.
    I sense Panthia
smiling in greeting.
    As the wraith
draws closer, I realise there’s a mix of fluctuating forms to it;
part human, part serpentine, part unrecognisable beast.
    It closes in and
hovers over Iain’s sleeping body.
    ‘Oh, Stephanie
dear,’ Lamia says, glancing Panthia’s way once more, ‘I should warn
you that you may not want to watch this.’
     
     
    *

Chapter 24
     
     ‘ Incubi! Succubae! That’s what we’re dealing with here!’ Jassy
exclaims excitedly, urgently grabbing me by my arm.
    ‘No, we’re
dealing with drea–’
    ‘No, no, we’re not !’ Jassy angrily insists, interrupting Dave’s nonchalant
dismissal of her observation.
    She whirls back
on me.
    ‘Steph, you have
to help Iain! This isn’t a dream – this is happening right now !’
     
     
    *
     
     
    ‘Let him go,’
Panthia commands sternly.
    ‘What?’
    Lamia looks up
at Panthia in surprise.
    Even the wraith
halts in its whirling, eddying motion around Iain’s slumped
body.
    ‘I’m sorry
mother; that wasn’t me – obviously,’ Panthia says.
    ‘That’s right – I said it,’ I say, using Panthia’s mouth.
    Lamia’s mouth
briefly hangs open in surprise.
    Then she
laughs.
    ‘Remarkable!
Truly remarkable!’ she exclaims happily, moving closer towards me,
her eyes locked on mine once more.
    A shiver runs
down through my entire body.
    ‘How strange!
I’ve never seen this before!’
    ‘Let him go,’ I
say. ‘You’ve already got me.’
    ‘Hmn, have we
now?’
    She draws back a
little, swiftly running her eyes up and down my body.
    ‘Panthia; I take
it you’re still in control of everything else?’
    ‘Of course!’
Panthia declares. ‘I could regain full control if you wish; stop
her using my mouth like this!’
    ‘My mouth
actually.’
    ‘Yes, yes; your mouth,’ Lamia says. ‘But that’s all you’re controlling,
I think you’ll find.’
    I try to prove
her wrong by slapping her face.
    My arm doesn’t
move.
    ‘Panthia’s a
succubus; she’s taken over your body,’ Jassy hisses. ‘That thing
hovering over Iain is an incubus; the male