My Name Is Lydia (Jack Nightingale short story) Read Online Free PDF Page A

first. Matthew and I had tried everything. We’d spent
thousands of pounds and got nowhere. Marcus was so convincing, so persuasive.
Finally I decided to try.”
    Nightingale was pretty
sure he knew how it had gone, but he asked anyway.
    “You summoned a demon,
and sold your soul. Want to tell me about it?”
    Her eyes widened.
“What? No! Of course not. Sell my soul, that’s
ridiculous.”
    “But you did a deal,
right?”
    She dabbed at her
eyes. “I went to a meeting with Marcus. A ceremony. It was all… very strange.
We all drank from this metal goblet and… ”   She shuddered. “I think I was
drugged.”
    “I’m not sure you
were,” said Nightingale. “Deals have to be done when you are sober and your
mind is clear. It has to be that way. Tell me what happened next.”
    “I can barely
remember,” she said.
    “Try.”
    She shuddered again
and stared at the carpet. “We were in a circle. There were braziers burning. I
could hardly breathe. They were banging drums and blowing trumpets, it was so
noisy. And then Marcus began shouting stuff, Latin I think it was. I wanted to
leave, I wanted to get away, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move.” She blew her
nose. “Then she appeared.”
    “She?”
    “The angel, Marcus
said. The angel who can grant wishes. The angel who
gave me my babies.”
    “Babies? Plural?”
    “I was promised twins.
That was the deal. I swore eternal allegiance to Proserpine and I would get
twins. But she lied.”
    Nightingale stared at
her. “Proserpine?”
    She nodded.   “A young girl, black hair, black eyes,
dressed as a goth .”
    “With a dog? A black
and white dog?”
    Her eyes narrowed.
“How do you know that?”
    “I’ve come across her.
She’s not an angel.”
    “Marcus said she was.
He said she was a force for good.”
    “Yeah, well Marcus was
lying. So Proserpine promised you two babies?”
    “I didn’t think I’d be
able to do it twice. I was running out of time.”
    “And tell me again
what the deal was?”
    Her hand went up to
her ear. “I had to swear on a black book that I would do Proserpine’s bidding,
and that I would agree to carry her mark.”
    “And you didn’t think
that maybe it was a bad idea?”
    “I wanted babies. And
when it was all happening, it was like a dream. Even now, looking back, I’m not
sure that it was real. Except that two months later I found out I was pregnant
and seven months after that Christine was born.” She forced a smile. “I’ve
never told anyone this. Not even Matthew.”
    “And you mustn’t,”
said Nightingale.
    “I’ve made a terrible
mistake, haven’t I?”
    Nightingale looked
pained. There was nothing he could say that was going to make her feel better.
    “Why did Marcus lie to
me?” she asked.
    “He wanted you in
Proserpine’s power.”
    “How do I get out of
that?”
    “By talking to Father
Mahoney. You were lucky – she could have had your soul, then there’d be
no hope for you.”
    She began crying again
and dabbed at her eyes with a new tissue. “And what about Christine?” she said
between sobs. “What can I do?”
    “Proserpine tricked
you. She promised you twins and she gave you twins. It’s just that they’re in
the same body.”
    “Can’t we get Father
Mahoney to do an exorcism? Cast the evil presence out of her body?”
    Nightingale shook his
head. “This isn’t a possession. Lydia isn’t a demon who has invaded your daughter. Lydia IS your daughter. The evil twin, if you like.
And it looks as if she’s going take control. Which is probably what Proserpine
wanted from the start. That’s why the deal was so easy, why she didn’t press
for your soul. She wanted you to give birth. It feels as if you were set up
from the start.”
    “This is a nightmare,”
sobbed Mrs Warren.
    “That’s why you went
to Father Mahoney for help in the first place, isn’t it?” asked Nightingale.
    Mrs Warren nodded. “I
couldn’t tell him why, though.”
    Nightingale took out