Deep waters 14&15

Deep Waters
Sequence 14-15
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Continues..
Derrick woke up with a start and looked round the room wildly. He was confused about where he was. The last thing he remembered was a shadow hovering over him. The Shadow had been so terrifying. That was when he noticed the canular on his hand. He followed the colourless tube connected to his hand to the drip stand.
He was in a white room which he immediately guessed was a hospital room. He looked when he heard the door creak and in walked a white man wearing a priestly collar.
“You are awake,” the man said with a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I have been run over by a truck.”
“That is to be expected after your ordeal,” the priest said as he checked the drip.
It still had some way to go. He then turned to look at the man who was eyeing him curiously.
“My name is Father Paul. Do you remember your name?”
He was tempted to say Trevor but immediately remembered that he was now someone else.
“Derrick.”
The priest nodded then sat down in the only seat in the room. “I brought you to our parish when I found you lifeless.”
Derrick closed his eyes as his mind drifted to the creature that had attacked him. His eyes flew open again.
“Zangi?”
He was scared she might have been killed trying to defend him.
“She is alright. Brave young woman. Her prayers saved you.”
Derrick sighed in relief.
“She never left your side when she too came to. ”
The news surprised Derrick but he didn’t want a stranger to know just what he was feeling.
“Xander?”
“He went to get you a few things at your place. We both feel you are safer here in the Lord’s house.”
Derrick nodded as he looked at the ceiling. So he was at a parish clinic.
“Thank you.”
” Don’t thank me. Thank the Lord. He directed me to you. A minute later and you would have been dead.”
Derrick just nodded as he tried to process what the creature had been.
“The creature was a transformation of a man who is deeply evil and is willing to go to any extent to achieve a means,” the man said quietly.
Derrick turned to look at him once more. The priest had white hair and seemed to be in his late fifties.
“That man is willing to kill for him to have the much needed power he so desires. Greed makes a man lose his morality and to sell his soul just for a few pleasures on this earth.The games you guys are playing have gotten to be useless to him. He wants more. His patience has waned.”
Derrick raised an eyebrow. He knew.
“Xander told me who you are.”
“Does Zangi know?”
The priest shook his head. Derrick sighed. He didn’t want her to know.
“Where is she?”
“She left today saying she had an errand to run.”
Zangi pulled over just outside Mercy’ ‘s place. She had borrowed a car from the parish. She leaned against the steering as she looked at the gate of the house. There was a Raven perched on the wall fence. staring at her It made her screen crawl. It reminded her of the Raven-like creature that wanted her dead.
She slowly got out of the car and locked it. She had deliberately parked outside so that she wouldn’t get blocked just in case she made a run for it. She walked to the gate and strangely found it open. There was no guard in the guard house. She immediately reached for her tote bag. She had stashed in a dagger.
She looked round as she walked towards the mansion. It was beautiful but for some reason everything about her made her skin crawl. There was a certain evil to it. She only saw one car parked in the driveway. She heard screams and that had her running to the house. She tried the door and much to her surprise it was unlocked. She pushed open the door quietly and realised that it took her straight into the kitchen. She slowly made her way inside. The house was deathly silent.
She tiptoed out of the kitchen into what was the hallway. There was still no sign of anyone.
“Mum please stop him!” She heard a cry.
She hurried towards where the cry came from. She stopped just outside a door that was slightly ajar. She peeped and what she saw had her scared.
Two women were tied up and were on the floor while the Minister was hovering over Mercy ‘s lifeless body. Half his face had transformed. One woman was sobbing while the other was busy throwing obscenities at him.
The half human creature stepped away from Mercy ‘s body and laughed. In his hand he wielded a dagger.
“When you dance with the devil you get burnt!” He said walking to the younger woman .
Zangi gasped. Wasn’t she the woman who had come to see Derrick?”
The man ran the sharp edge of his dagger over her face.
“Loose ends need to be dealt with.”
The woman next to her was sobbing while the other looked at him defiantly.
“I told mother from the onset not to trust you. You used us!” She spat.
The minister laughed. “The end justifies the means. Your little games took us nowhere!”
He turned to the woman sobbing.
“I am no longer the man you knew who was content with little. I want it all. The power and recognition!”
“We should have left you to die!” The younger woman roared.
He laughed. “The oracle wouldn’t have left me to such. I have shed enough blood for him.”
Zangi gasped. Her gasp had the man flying towards the door. He flung it open and before she could react he was at her.
Derrick pushed back the covers. Xander had just informed him that Zangi had gone in search of Mercy to warn her about her husband.
“You shouldn’t have let her go!” He hissed.
The priest looked at Xander who was eyeing his boss warily.
“Where are my clothes!” Derrick demanded as his feet touched the ground.
He was in his boxers only.
“She insisted on going to check on Mercy,” Xander tried explaining to him.
Derrick shot him a disapproving look that had Xander shut his mouth.
“My clothes!”
Xander hurriedly handed over the bag he held. Derrick opened the zip and pulled put a pair of jeans and a thirty whish he hurriedly wore.
“You have to hurry. She is in danger!” The priest said as he closed his eyes.
Derrick glared at Xander who had his head bowed. He made for the door.
“He can be killed in his human state. When he transforms you can’t kill him unless by prayer.”
Derrick nodded as he touched the door knob.
“Go well my son. God go before you. Pray as you drive there and I too will be in prayer. God won’t fail us. Zangi will come back to us.”
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Derrick pushed open the door of the Mkandawire mansion. The silence was eerie and he automatically reached for his piece in the holster. It was a .38. He had had it for a while. He looked round the corner before he entered.
No one was in sight. Tip toeing whilst aiming the gun he made his way into the house. Still there was no one in sight. He opened door after door till he reached the study door. The lifeless body on the floor had him sprinting there. It was Mercy.
He put his gun in the holster then felt for her pulse. She was long gone; her body cold. She had her eyes open and they spoke of the fear she must have felt before she died. He felt bad for her. He had hated her for so long but death wasn’t something he had wished for her. He sighed and then slowly reached out and closed her eyelids. Despite all that she had done she needed to be respected in death. That done he slowly stood as he took in the room. He spotted a place on the carpet that looked like it had some blood. He went over and squatted beside it. He touched it; dry blood. He looked round. There was no sign of anything else.
He got out his phone and dialled Xander.
“Mercy is dead.”
“Where is Zangi?”
“There is no sign of her. However I have a bad feeling….”
“He took her,” Xander said quietly. “I will alert the police.”
Derrick cut the line as his eyes fell on Mercy’s corpse. She would never know that he had been around. His phone beeped. A message from Xander.
“The priest says there should be a basement.”
He put his phone away and got his gun. Slowly he made his way out of the room. He had to hurry where ever he had Zangi she probably wouldn’t have time. The distinct sound of chanting had him hurrying. It seemed to be coming from the lower part of the house. He went round the corner carefully before and then he spotted the door that was ajar. He hurried towards it and saw a flight of stairs. He looked down. It was dark. Sighing he slowly took a step. He pointed the gun down as he went down. He finally came to the end of the stairs. There was a long passage before him. On the ways were lanterns.
The chanting was getting louder. He followed it. At the end of the passage he turned at the only corner and what he saw had his heart sink. There were two alters there and on them lay Zangi and another woman. Both seemed lifeless. A hooded figure was hovering over the other body. He aimed his gun.
“Mkandawire step away from the women!” He called out.
The older man turned and smiled. He didn’t seem surprised to see Derrick there. He pushed back the hood of the cloak he wore and their eyes met. The older man’s eyes were as hard as steel. Derrick ‘s gaze momentarily left his face and turned to look at the other woman. He instantly recognised her as Kaluba.
“I have been expecting you,” Mkandawire said with a sneer.
“I am here now, let the women go,” Derrick said.
“I am afraid I can’t do that Trevor.”
Derrick looked at Mkandawire in shock as the older man grinned.
“I have known your secret for a while; your true identity. We have both been toying with people just for us to achieve a means.” He stepped around the alter where Zangi lay and peered down . “You see the god I serve knows everything and right now for all that he has done for me he requires the blood of the two women and the heart. He wants to devour on their bloody hearts.”
Derrick’s eyes quickly went to Kaluba who was whimpering on the altar.
“What do they have to do with it all?”
“Well Zangi is part of this whole thing because of her connection to Mercy. She covered up my dear wife’s lies as for Kaluba or rather Cynthia as we all know her? Her mother is there,” he said coldly as he pointed at a body that Derrick hadn’t seen earlier.
It was lifeless. She lay just beside the alter that held her daughter. There was blood all over. Derrick quickly looked back at Mkandawire.
“My ex- lover ;Mother to my first born son. The son Mercy murdered. I promised to help her make Mercy pay. I went along with the whole thing on condition that they would help me gain what I required to become president. Cynthia agreed to lay your lover so that we could get Mercy chucked out and once she was penniless we would finish her off and blame it on depression but well she beat us to killing you off.”
“How does Zangi fit into this whole thing?” Derrick said as he ingested what the minister was telling him.
He had genuinely loved Kaluba not knowing that he was just a pawn to her.
“She was the key to our bringing Mercy down. The minute we found her well we came up with a plan of getting her to talk but as you can see the girl was loyal to Mercy to the end despite her being thrown under the bus. My dear Cynthia here who is such a good actress; well put any make up on her and she can be anyone played her maid for a while. We used that role to gather information that eventually helped us cause Zangi to seek Mercy out. We first broke into the therapist’s office and stole Zangi’s file that contained details of her nightmares of the years. We used that to terrify her y writing on the wall and as expected she was rattled.
She immediately accused Mercy then travelled to see Mercy. Once they were both in the capital then it was easier to cause the confusion in their so called relationship. However the best part was Mercy falling for the first lady giving me the ammunition I needed to bring the president down but yet again my plans had to be spoiled. I am a man of patience but it was tried and now I am doing things my way.”
Zangi let out silent tears while the woman next to her; whatever her name was cried hysterically. She couldn’t believe that she had welcomed the devil into her home. The woman she had treated with so much kindness had actually been the one to try to cause her harm. Derrick felt sickened. He could see the satisfactory smile on the Minister’s face.
“I think we have chatted enough. All the secrets have been revealed and now….”
Before Derrick could react the Minister raised his hand and flung the dagger. It found its mark right on Derrick ‘s left thigh. He groaned out in pain as Mkandawire laughed evilly. He effortlessly stepped over the dead woman’s body as Derrick slid to the ground;his back against the wall. The pain seared through him but he told himself that he wouldn’t give in to it.
“I was an expert knife thrower in my days,” Mkamdawire said as he towered over Derrick.
He was enjoying the pain evident on Derrick ‘s face. He enjoyed hurting people. His mother had called him a saddist. It didn’t surprise those who knew how ruthless he could be that he had become that way. And very few people were alive from his childhood to see him become worse off.
He cruelly pulled out the knife from Derrick ‘s thigh and as Derrick yelped out in pain Mkandawire laughed harder. Blood gushed out of the wound as Derrick ‘s hand went to the wound as though to protect himself. The pain was immense and his
His breathing became laboured.
He looked round for his gun which he had dropped when the knife struck. As though reading his thoughts Mkandawire kicked the gun away.
“No one will save you;not even your prayers,” Mkandawire said as he squatted so that his face was level with that of Derrick.
“I will be the last face you will ever see,” Mkandawire said as he grabbed the back of Derrick ‘s head and held the dagger against his neck.
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To be continued..