Chapter Eleven
Veyn
Victory has never tasted so bitter.
So false.
Even while I let my lips curl with triumph, there is no joy to be had.
It was never supposed to be her.
It shouldn’t be her.
Yet she stands before me with her flushed skin warm from her shower, eyes focused and sure bearing into mine.
Such beauty, wasted.
There was once a time my temples overflowed with lavish gifts, sweet offerings, more virgins than I could devour in a lifetime. I was worshipped. Revered as a god.
Until my shrines were looted. Torn to the ground. My altars, destroyed in the name of progress. My essence, stolen and reconstructed beneath this tomb. This crumbling monstrosity built on the bones of the unfortunate.
But I accepted the offerings.
I granted them power.
The rules were clear. The bargain was struck.
Feed me.
And for centuries, the Usher family did. They brought me offerings. Pure. Delicious morsels to satiate my hunger.
In return, their empire bloomed. Their lives flourished. All was as it should be.
Until religion came to their doorstep. Fredrick Usher forgot his family’s promise to me. He built his god a chapel. Knelt at the altar of a hand carved cross and begged for absolution.
With his overzealous enthusiasm, his son turned his back entirely. His son after him and the twins. The current Usher wields no knowledge of my existence. Of his family’s promise. Has no understanding of the power beneath his feet. He can’t even hear me. None of them can.
Except her.
Lenora.
Soft, sweet Lenora with her heart as vast as an ocean and a smile capable of warming even my cold tendrils. Lenora with her tender nature and pure heart.
She can hear me.
And she shouldn’t.
She isn’t an Usher.
There isn’t a drop of their blood in her and yet…
She chose me.
Confounded, I watch this delicate creature with her big eyes and sultry lips as I have from the moment she woke me with her grief.
So deep. A raw wound, jagged from where her very heart was torn from her chest. That hollow wail of anguish stirred me from my centuries of slumber.
Had me opening my eyes to this place, a mere shell of what it was.
My temple, buried beneath a labyrinth of decay and darkness.
Betrayal. The unadulterated audacity. With his newfound God, Fredrick Usher had buried me like a sin he wished to clean from his very blood.
But I am his blood.
I am that voice forever tickling at the back of their minds. I am the reason they had the life they were given.
Not this … God he loved so much. This God he thought would absolve the darkness in his veins.
I gave them their wealth.
I gave them power.
I am the very reason it all began to unravel around them.
They thought they could continue to exist without me? Without me is death. It’s the annihilation of their entire line.
One by one.
Until no Ushers stands.
Until every blessing I bestowed upon them turns to poison in their mouths.
I am vindictive.
I am petty.
They were told the rules. They knew their role in their own survival, and they dared to bury me.
Hide me with shame.
Now, they are all dead.
The manor is a husk of its one-time grandeur. Everything I gave has been returned and the Ushers will cease to exist. Their names, mere whispers in hushed conversation.
And when the last Usher has fallen, I will be free of this place. I will take my power back and set into the world as it has become with my brothers. Once we are free, we can begin the progress of growth. We can try again. Perhaps, once we are free, we can be the family I intended.
For now, I watch Lenora pad into the bedroom. Her white gown, a pale beacon in the dull halo of light. Thick tendrils spill in damp coils down her back, a sharp contrast to the sweet, soft pallor of her flesh.
My little pet.
She will free me.
In return, I will unleash the true darkness curdling deep in her delicate soul. I will feed that hungry creature. Gorge it on as much hatred as it can consume. Nothing is as delicious as the taste of someone so pure. So … willing to sell her sanity for vengeance.
I suck in a slow, rattling breath as the urge to devour her now surges over me.
Patience.
She must ask for it. Must beg me to calm that pain. To put her back together.
Such a meal she will make.
I bite my lip with delight as Lenora gathers up her light, leaves the Usher in his bed and pads from the room.
To me.