Chapter 32
The air in the room was stifling and heavy with the sharp metallic tang of blood and old magic.
Black candles surrounded the altar. The first time she was in this room she hadn’t noticed the state of the candles.
Now, she did. Some were burned down to nubs, while others were coated in a fine layer of dust with spent wicks and dried wax dripping down the side.
The symbols carved into the floor and the altar seemed to pulse with a life of their own.
As though it were alive, breathing, and waiting.
Victoria froze, unable to move as her determination waned. There was a strange oppressive energy in this room, making it feel dark and terrible. Perhaps because of what had happened here before. She stared at the knife in the center, her nerves jangling as she steeled herself for what must be done.
“We should light the candles,” he said. His voice was a roughened whisper.
She lost a quiet breath in the frigid air. A shiver snaked up her spine, and she shuddered.
“Victoria?” His hand on her arm jarred her out of her thoughts.
She shoved the matchbox into his hands. “You do it.”
“Are you…?”
“I’m all right,” she said, trying to reassure him and regain her confidence.
Now that they were here ready to face Lenore, she wasn’t sure she could go through with it.
But she had to. For him. To release him from his eternal torment.
Gabriel’s hand shook as he struck the first match. He started on one end, lighting the shortest candle. When the green flame flickered to life, he snuffed the match and then picked it up. He used it to light the other candles along the altar one by one.
When finished, he returned the candle to its place.
The curved knife in the center gleamed. Beckoning her. She reached for it. The moment she did, a sharp pain shot through her hand. A sharp inhale hissed through her teeth as she drew her hand back, clutching her wrist as though she’d been burned.
“What was that?” he asked.
“I…I don’t know. Now what?” Her voice shook.
“You are of the bloodline. Now you take my place and I can forever rest.”
Lenore’s voice rang out before she fully formed next to the altar. Gabriel moved to stand between her and his former wife.
“No. That will never happen.”
Her glittering ghost gaze flickered to him. A smile—cold and evil—pulled at the corners of her lips.
Her black gown was tattered with sleeves that hit just below the elbow trimmed in lace.
Lace that was tattered and faded. Her hair, wild and loose, was about her face, cascading down in long waves.
And her eyes were dark and dangerous and glittering as she looked at the two of them. Lily was nowhere in sight.
“Well, well. It’s good to see you again Gabriel. How I’ve missed you.”
When she spoke, the words seemed to echo through the chamber. Gabriel stiffened, his body going rigid.
“The last time you were with me…do you remember what you said to me?” she continued.
“Don’t do this, Lenore.” His voice wavered.
“You begged me to stop. You tried to pull me away,” she continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “While my daughter lay here.” She motioned to the altar. When she did, Victoria saw the blood running down her wrist from the center of her palm. “It was too late. I lit the candles. I said the words.”
The candles. Victoria glanced around the room and saw the black candles flickered their garish green light against an unseen force.
“She was dead,” Gabriel said, trying to reason with her. “Nothing you said or did could bring her back. It wasn’t going to work.”
“It would have worked. You got in my way,” she retorted. “You were always in my way. I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
With her heart pounding, Victoria dove for the knife in the middle of the altar. She snatched it up and stumbled back. Lenore howled her displeasure.
“Your time is ending, Lenore,” she said. She pressed the tip to the center of her palm.
“You foolish girl. You can’t end me!”
Lenore’s face contorted from the once beautiful one into something terrifying. She snarled as she flew across the altar. Victoria cried out as the ghost woman’s bloody hands landed on her, pushing her back and back. Gabriel shouted her name. Lenore’s hands clawed her throat.
The force knocked the knife from her hand. It clattered to the ground.
Searing pain surged through Victoria and suddenly she was outside the altar room. The menacing face of Lenore bearing down on her, pushing her out and away from Gabriel.
But something surged within her as she gasped for air. Some bright pulse that seemed to overtake her body. And then Lenore shrieked and flew back into the altar room. Victoria pitched forward, throwing out her hands to break her fall. As Lenore disappeared into the shadows, the door slammed closed.
Sealing Gabriel inside.
Victoria, gasping for air, and lifted her head. Lily was there, standing in front of the door with water dripping around her leaving tiny circles.
“Lily?”
“You have to hurry,” she whispered and then she was gone.
Victoria climbed to her feet, her ankle protesting with every movement, and reached the door, but it was locked. The knob wouldn’t turn. On the other side, she heard Gabriel’s shout that nearly ripped her heart in two.
When the door slammed closed, Gabriel tried to shout her name but Lenore was there.
Moving toward him with that menacing look on her once beautiful face.
He balled his fist and stepped back from the door.
The ominous green light from the candles gave the chamber an eerie glow. One that was otherworldly.
“It’s her I want. Not you,” she said. “But I’ll take you if I have to.”
“I prefer you take me instead,” he said, defiant. If it meant saving Victoria, he would do it. He would do anything for her.
That enraged her. She dove for him. Her spectral hands latched onto him. One diving into his chest, reaching into him and grabbing onto his very soul. Yanking and pulling with all the hate within her. He cried out with the searing pain, trying to move out of her grasp but she held fast.
As his vision dimmed, and he started to fade away letting her win, the door crashed open. It was quickly followed by a muffled grunt of pain. Lenore released him and shrieked her frustration. Gabriel crumbled to his knees, pain lancing through his legs as he gulped in air.
Next to him, Victoria climbed to her feet, her hand wrapping around the hilt of the knife as she rose. Without wasting a moment, she sliced her palm, then squeezed her hand into a tight fist. So tight, her knuckles leeched of color. She held it over the altar, the blood dripping down.
“No!” Lenore shouted as she fluttered back to the other side of the room.
“I banish you, Lenore,” Victoria said her voice low and terrible.
“No!” she shrieked again.
A howling wind arrived, buffeting him back. He leapt to his feet, reaching for Victoria. The walls quaked beneath the force. The door to the altar room buffeted in the wind, banging against the wall with a loud thud.
“I banish you, Lenore,” she said a second time, her voice stronger. Another drop of blood landed on the altar.
“You cannot win,” she hissed. “It should have been you!”
Lenore lunged, her spectral hands locking around Victoria’s shoulders. Gabriel’s cry tore from his throat, but before he could reach her, the air convulsed. Something wild—holy—erupted.
Victoria flared in a blaze of golden-white light. The glow pulsed from her chest, rippling through every line of her body until she was haloed in radiance, her hair catching fire like spun sunlight. The brilliance seared the shadows, forcing Lenore back with a shriek.
Gabriel froze, his heart stuttering. Terror and awe warred within him. Was she burning alive before his eyes, or becoming something untouchable, divine? He wanted to drag her away, shield her with his own body, but the light was not meant for him. It was hers.
Lenore emitted an unholy, guttural sound. She clawed at her face, twisting in agony across the altar.
“You cannot have me, for I am of the bloodline and this is my house. No longer yours. And he is no longer yours to control. Because I love him. And he loves me.”
“Victoria—”
He said her name on a choked sob. His heart burned hot and wild beneath his breast. Where Lenore had tried to take him. Where he had almost allowed her to destroy him.
The wind continued to howl within the room. The walls creaked. The air was so cold, his breath came out in large puffs.
“I banish you, Lenore!” A third drop landed on the altar. “Leave this place and never return.”
And then Lenore screamed, her form splintering like glass.
It shattered, the pieces turning to smoke and disappearing into the air.
In that moment, he felt as though the constricting tether around him released, freeing him from Lenore’s curse.
For the first time in years, a sense of freedom shifted through him.
He sucked in a breath, gasping for air as though he were finally no longer under water and drowning.
Gabriel looked at Victoria. Her hazel eyes were glassy, distant. Her face was drained of color. Blood seeped from the cut on her now-opened hand, dripping on the floor in methodical plops.
The wind calmed.
The black candles snuffed out.
The house quieted.
The frost on the walls melted.
Silence.
And then, Victoria crumpled like a rag doll and collapsed.
He tried to catch her, but he wasn’t fast enough. Her body hit the floor with a muffled thud. The knife landed on the ground next to her. He rushed to her, scooping her into his arms, his heart banging against his ribs.
“Victoria?” He brushed hair off her ashen face. Gods, she was cold. So cold. “Stay with me. Don’t leave me now. You can’t. I won’t allow it.”
“She’ll be all right.”
The little girl’s voice made his head snap up. Lily stood nearby. Small and glowing. No longer wet and dripping. The scent of lilacs drifted on the air around her. She stepped closer, her little hand outstretched to him, then dropped before he reached for her.
“She saved you,” she whispered.
“My little Lily.” His voice was raw, hoarse. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right, Papa. She saved me, too.”
A shining golden light appeared behind her, beckoning. She gave him one last faint smile and then skipped into the light, as though her heart was free and she was alive again. Then she was gone.
And all around him, the manor groaned, sighing in relief. It was over.