Chapter 9 #2
Elyse trudged through an archway on the right without so much as an acknowledgment of Killian’s words. The rest of the group followed warily after her, careful not to catch their toes on any rogue vines.
They found the first body in the kitchen.
Sera nearly tripped over it. She stopped abruptly and gasped, pointing at a spot on the floor where the ivy was thicker, like a welt.
Manny dropped to his knees and began cutting at the vines, and Killian joined in.
A rotting stench flooded the room, and Sera covered her mouth and turned away.
It took several minutes of hacking at the vines before the body was uncovered.
A sadness weighed on Killian’s chest, even as the ghastly scent clouded his senses.
There was nothing they could do for whoever lay on the floor before them—someone’s mother or child or friend.
The corpse was too desiccated to tell, as if the weeds had drained the life from the body, feeding off it like soil. It was a death no one deserved.
“Fascinating,” Elyse breathed out.
Killian shot her an appalled look. She stared down at the corpse, her eyes wide and bright. A different sort of sadness clawed into Killian’s chest, one that deepened the longer he watched Elyse. One tinged with disgust.
“Keep searching,” Killian said quietly.
They found four more bodies: two in the dining room, one in the parlor, and another in a bedroom upstairs. Each was as horrifying as the last.
While horror settled in Killian’s stomach like a stone, Elyse remained unaffected. She studied each death with a subdued intrigue, standing over the bodies without a shred of reverence.
“Does this not bother you?” Killian asked her. They stood in a corridor on the uppermost level after completing their search.
Elyse merely shrugged. “I didn’t know them.”
Killian blinked at her apathy. She was angry at Lazarus, but not for the right reasons. She wanted revenge for the way he had manipulated her for years, but it seemed that she took no issue with his slaughter and destruction—like she was immune to his horrors as long as they didn’t affect her.
Sera shook her head as if she might shake off Elyse’s detachment. “We should give them a proper burial,” she suggested quietly.
Killian nodded. It was too late to save these strangers, but they could at least give them a sense of dignity in their deaths.
Elyse looked around at the vine-covered walls of the corridor. The long hallway stretched from nearly one end of the mansion to the other, both ends swallowed in a dark sea of foliage. It might have been mystical were it not for the death lurking in every shadow.
“Let me burn it,” she said abruptly. She faced the group, eyes bright with excitement.
“Absolutely not—” Manny began, but Elyse didn’t let him finish.
“You’re going to dig five graves?” she asked, indignation rolling off her tongue. “That will take all day, and it won’t be nearly as fun as watching this place burn.”
Her words, thick with a sickening eagerness, made Killian’s stomach churn.
“We can’t burn it down,” Sera breathed, a plea in her tone. “They might have family heirlooms—their loved ones might want something to remember them by.”
“Then their loved ones,” Elyse mocked, “can be the ones to bury them.” She slipped past Sera and headed down the corridor.
Killian glanced at the door they’d come through, thinking of the corpse on the other side.
He detested the idea of leaving their bodies.
No one seemed to be coming to mourn them or pay any respects.
The whole place had been abandoned, as if the townspeople feared they too might end up smothered by sentient vines.
Yet Sera made a point. There might be family members on their way, and it would be cruel to burn any material objects they might cherish.
It would be more cruel, though, to make them witness their family’s ruined bodies.
“Wait,” Killian croaked.
Elyse paused. She’d reached the end of the corridor and was no more than a silvery sheen in the darkness. Killian could imagine the haughty smirk on her face as she awaited his next words.
“I saw another building out back. We can lay them to rest there, and you can burn that.”
He scanned Manny’s and Sera’s faces for affirmation. Sera gave a meek nod, which Manny echoed.
The triumph in Elyse’s voice was saccharine. “Finally, a bit of fun.”
It took over three hours to cut away the bodies and carry them to the building outside.
Killian had ordered that they use no magic.
It had to be done by hand. Elyse had scoffed at that and hadn’t offered any help.
She’d watched, utter boredom on her face, as one by one Killian and Manny retrieved the bodies.
The building outside was a quaint guest house.
The weeds had overtaken it as well, but it wasn’t quite as menacing.
Wide windows let in a soft, soothing light, giving it an almost cozy air.
It seemed like a pleasant enough place to be laid to rest. Sera found flowers in the woods nearby and spread them across the floor of the little house, creating a lovely send-off for the deceased.
Finally, Elyse was allowed to use her magic.
She lit a bit of kindling inside, then joined the rest of the group outside to watch.
There was far too much enjoyment in her eyes as she surveyed her handiwork.
Within minutes, the walls were ablaze, enhanced by her bewitched fire.
The heat of the flames licked at Killian’s face and arms, banishing the chill that had enveloped him since seeing the mansion.
“Et stellae exurere,” Sera whispered as smoke billowed upward, blackening the sky.
From the corner of his eye, Killian watched Elyse. She had been the star of his life, the fire that blazed within him, the light that guided him. Yet, she seemed to have vanished altogether, leaving a darkness in her wake.
Elyse raised her chin, reveling in the fire before her.
Even the stars burn out, but not this one. Killian would find a way to bring Elyse back to him. His Elyse.