47
Rayne
Up in Flames
A fter so long, Mom and I were together again. I had once believed that the sight of her body, her bones, would frighten me. But they didn’t. Even in this terrible place, her remains emanated her gentle spirit, her kindness, her love.
For all these years, she’d waited, hidden here, guarded by that creature and enshrined in its gore. But not for much longer. I would put her to rest, destroy the blemished bones holding her spirit captive.
My father’s curse was at its end. I refused to live another winter in fear. I wasn’t going to lose the woman I loved to the monster born out of his hatred.
The book said her bones were the tether. The runic script upon them had to be destroyed. But crushing the bones would attract too much attention and take too long. Burning them—I had a lighter in my pocket, but I had no fuel. Whatever small fire I managed to create wouldn’t be enough.
Surely this lighthouse had once used fuel to feed its light...
Stripping off my jacket, I handed it to Salem and whispered in her ear, “Gather up the bones, tie them together in this. I’m going to find the furnace.”
Nodding, she laid out the jacket and hurriedly collected the bones on top of it. I crawled out of our hiding place and took my first cautious steps up the stairs.
I tested my weight with every step, silently begging the rusty old metal to hold. The structure creaked and groaned ominously. Keeping low, I was able to remain mostly hidden behind the moss and gore draped over the railing. But the angel’s voice echoed around the tower, impossible to escape.
It was looking for Salem, trying to lure her out. It tried Andy’s voice, then Ruth’s. It cycled through the echoes of a dozen victims, their voices stolen and repurposed as bait. The eerie sound of my own voice being mimicked sent a shudder up my back.
This was the end. I wouldn’t let this damned creature live another day.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of crawling, I reached the topmost room beneath the light, the watch room. Among the dusty old barrels and chests, I found a large metal tank with a distinct smell.
Kerosene.
I wouldn’t be able to produce a fire hot enough to reduce the bones to ash. But we could break and blacken them, enough to render the runes upon them unreadable. If the old book was to be believed, that would be enough to sever the angel’s tether to them.
Working quickly, I found an empty metal barrel. I collected dry pieces of wood from around the room, the remnants of old crates and firewood, and dumped them into the barrel before soaking them in kerosene. Then I filled a bucket with the fuel, hoisted it up, and headed for the stairs.
Every step made the metal give an eerie creak. Rust flaked away beneath my feet, and the entire staircase shuddered when I moved. The oil sloshed, dripping through the grate and streaking down the wall.
There was an ear-piercing shriek, and I nearly dropped the bucket.
Peering below, I spotted the creature sniffing along the wall, inspecting the dripping liquid.
Tentatively, I tipped the bucket, allowing a little more of the kerosene to spill out and splatter onto the beast’s head.
It flailed, swiping at its skin as if to flick off the substance.
I could only hope the smell of the oil would hide my own scent.
I seized a broken bone and threw it over the railing.
It bounced off the opposite wall before clattering to the ground, and the beast leapt for it.
It was snarling, its breathing harsh, its movements becoming increasingly erratic as it searched for its prey.
Its distraction gave me time to make it back under the stairs.
Salem was waiting for me there. My mother’s bones were bundled up in my coat, the sleeves tied tight around them to make a makeshift sack.
“Can you walk?” I said, eyeing her injured foot. It was painful just looking at it, and it was clear she was avoiding putting weight on that leg.
Her jaw was clenched in obvious pain. “I will. I have to.”
“I found kerosene up above.” I kept my mouth close to her ear so I could speak as quietly as possible. “If we can break up the bones and get them burning, it should destroy the runes carved into them.”
She eyed the bucket I brought with me. “What’s that for?”
“Distraction.” I pulled my lighter from my pocket. “I’m going to light that motherfucker on fire, while you head up the stairs. Can you do that?”
She nodded firmly, bravely. “Yes. But I might be slow.”
We both took a deep breath. The angel had gone ominously quiet. The crashing waves and howling wind made the tower echo and groan. The light was almost too dim to see Salem’s face as she stood there, clutching my mother’s bones, preparing to face her fate.
I stepped close and kissed her bruised face. “You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met.” She shook her head, but I kissed her again before she could deny it. “No matter what happens, Salem, I’m glad I got to love you.”
Her eyes said what her mouth couldn’t. Her lip trembled for just a moment. Her breath shook, and she said, “Let’s end this. Together.”
She tore a sleeve off her shirt and hurriedly wrapped it around her injured ankle, providing herself with a little more stability. Then she picked up her parcel of bones and we crawled out of the cocoon.
For a moment, I believed we would get lucky. The space was quiet, the beast nowhere to be seen. Salem limped hurriedly for the stairs, but the moment she put her weight onto the first step, the old metal creaked.
From behind a mound of rot and broken bones, the angel emerged. It walked on its hind legs, a grotesque hybrid of human and beast. It faced me, then turned its head toward Salem, and I swore the thing moved its mouth into something like a grin.
“Salem, run! Go!”
I needed to buy her time. As the beast stalked closer, I lifted the bucket of kerosene and threw the strong-smelling fuel. It splashed onto the creature, drenching its sickly pale skin. It seemed momentarily confused, and halted its approach as it sniffed its dripping arms.
Salem was climbing the stairs, the sound of her frantic steps echoing off the metal. I pulled out my lighter, and was about to flick it to life—but my own hands and shirt were drenched in kerosene. If I lit it...
My second of hesitation was a fatal mistake.
The beast lunged, closing the space between us before I could force my limbs to move. It slammed into me, and my lighter went flying, vanishing into the piles of junk.
“Shit!” I covered my head, and screamed as its claws tore deep lacerations in my forearms. It struck my side, tumbling me over onto my back. Agonizing pain richoted through me as its teeth sunk into my shoulder, piercing muscle and tendons.
I ripped my knife from its sheath and swung wildly. The blade met a soft spot and sunk up to its hilt in the creature’s face.
It screamed, rearing back and flailing. I took my chance and ran.
My body hurt in ways I hadn’t thought possible, but adrenaline kept me moving. Every step I took, sprinting up the stairs, felt disturbingly unsteady. I swiftly caught up with Salem, relieving her of the bundle of bones so she could steady herself against the railing.
But the beast was crawling after us, shrieking and wailing. It galloped up the stairs on six limbs, every step rattling the entire structure.
There was a sudden pop, and a distant tinkling sound of metal—to my horror, the staircase leaned away from the wall, its bolts unmoored from the old plaster.
Salem reached frantically for something to hold onto, crawling up the stairs as I lost my balance and fell into the railing, nearly dropping the bones.
“It’s going to collapse!” Salem screamed. I turned just in time to see her leap up several steps as an entire section of wall gave way. The wind and snow rushed in, and the old metal snapped—the section of stairway upon which the angel and I stood swayed, about to plummet to the ground.
I scrambled. I tossed the bundle over to her, and she caught it before it fell. The stairs gave way beneath my feet, and I threw myself with all my strength, one arm outstretched as I leapt.
She caught me. She gripped my arm, and I gripped hers; her other arm was wrapped tightly around the remaining railing beside her. She was panting, eyes wide with panic.
“It’s coming,” she said. “It’s crawling back up!”
Snow rushed in through the gaping wall, peppering me with the cold.
There was a heavy crash as the lower staircase hit the floor, more bricks rattling loose from the wall.
Salem pulled, and I managed to get a hold on the railing and drag myself up.
Panting, arms and shoulders aching, I had no time to rest. One glance down showed me the angel had crawled halfway up the lighthouse wall, its claws digging deep into the filth for its grip.
We reached the workroom at last. I slammed the door closed, barricading it with anything I could get my hands on. Salem unwrapped the bones, seized an old mallet from a nearby shelf, and slammed it down. The bones cracked and splintered—
So did the door. The beast slammed into it, one skinny arm clawing through the gap.
It was going to get in. I had no way of stopping it now.
I grabbed the bones Salem broke and dumped them into the barrel, atop the wood I’d already loaded inside.
“I lost my light,” I said frantically. Salem pulled a damp packet of matches from her pocket, handing them over with a trembling hand as the angel tore away slivers of wood from the door with claws and teeth.
“Get to the observation deck! I’ll be right behind you!” I pointed to the narrow stairs, leading up one final level to the exterior of the lighthouse. Salem limped up them as I stripped off my shirt and used the dry patches to wipe my hands.
I tried desperately to get a match to light. “Come on... please, just work!”
Finally, the match lit. I tossed it into the barrel, relieved to see the kerosene-drenched wood quickly catch.
Before I fled for the stairs, I opened the tap on the kerosene barrel, allowing it to spill across the floor.
I partially filled another bucket and hauled it with me to the observation deck.
“Rayne!” Salem was waiting for me, snow swirling around her.
The sea churned viciously below, massive waves slamming against the peninsula’s rocky cliffs.
As I slammed the door to the workroom shut, the beast was sprinting for it.
It rammed into the other side, repeatedly.
The bolts holding the door in place were wrenched halfway from the wall. “Oh, God, Rayne, you’re hurt!”
“It doesn’t matter.” I sloshed the kerosene over the deck until the bucket was empty. A sudden boom made the lighthouse shudder as the fire in the workroom escaped its containment and spread.
“There’s no way down,” Salem said desperately. “What are we going to do?”
Smoke seeped from the breaking door as the beast destroyed it. Salem clung to me, both of us pressed against the railing. A monstrous death before us, and the cold, merciless ocean below.
Bolts clattered to the floor and long, spidery limbs emerged. There was nowhere else to run.
I took Salem’s face in my hands and kissed her. I blocked her view so she wouldn’t see the creature coming. Her eyes were full of tears, wide and frightened.
“Salem, my beautiful girl.” I smiled, only so she wouldn’t see my heart breaking as I flicked another match and held up its flame. “I love you, until the end of time.”
Then I shoved her, hard, sending her plummeting over the railing toward the ocean below. As she screamed my name, I closed my eyes, and dropped the light.
The last thing I saw before the heat engulfed me was the angel, consumed by flames. I smiled, but this time, it wasn’t sadness.
It was triumph.