Chapter 21 #2
Her jaw slacked. “How did you do that?”
It’s the bond. It’s stronger now.
She blinked twice, shuddering at how he felt in her mind, how his deep voice caressed her darkest thoughts, especially the ones where she imagined slicing open the throats of Charles Eringhorn and the rest of his family.
“Get out of my head.”
Katherine’s eyes darted from him to her. “Enough of this. Charlotte, hold the boundary spell and don’t leave. For all our sakes.”
“I’ll take her to the cellar with Alexander,” Nathaniel stated. “Zachariah, Irene, kill everyone else here, except for Baron and Baroness Ellenwood.”
They didn’t try to leave, like the rest, and she realized they already knew what Nathaniel and Alexander were. The others attempted to sink into the shadows.
Charlotte panted, flexing her fingers, holding steady. “Don’t hurt them.”
“Then what would you have us do?” Nathaniel asked. “Let them go so they can tell everyone what happened here, and that you’re a witch. Your manor will be burned to the ground.”
“Persuade them. Bribe them. Whatever it takes. No one else should die today,” Charlotte told Nathaniel, her chest heaving.
So much murder had already happened. The heavy energy of the souls who lingered slowly suffocated the room.
“You speak of wanting to be mortal, yet you act like a vampire. You rely on it. You cannot just kill every problem.”
“Those problems,” he said, jaw clenching, pointing at the guests, “will come back to haunt us. To haunt you, more specifically.”
Katherine tilted her head, sighing. “I can make them forget what happened tonight. I agree with Charlotte. There has been enough slaughter.”
She watched Katherine walk over to the guests, her voice faint as she spelled each of them, staring into their eyes with her hands on their shoulders.
The power in the room slowly waned. A hazy look washed over their expressions and one by one, they left the room, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, not even looking at the body parts all over the floor.
A dark figure caught Charlotte’s eye from across the room, just beyond the pile of bodies. Her heart palpitated when she spotted Duke, darting through the ballroom and toward them.
“Duke!”
Yowling, he pounced through the air, grabbing the cockroach with his paws.
Getrude’s familiar wrestled underneath his strong legs.
With one crunch, he bit into the insect, tearing the body apart.
Shadows released from its body, swirling into the air before seeping into the ground in a shimmer of black.
The last time he’d done that, she stopped him. With a shake of her head, she said, “I’ll never doubt you again.”
He looked at her with wide yellow eyes as he devoured what was left of the cockroach.
After releasing the power back into the Realm of the Dead, Charlotte could barely keep her eyes open. The entire thing felt wrong. She had siphoned the ghosts just like Gertrude had done to her ancestors and family, although, the spirits tonight had consented.
Katherine and Nathaniel reappeared after dragging Gertrude’s body away, who unfortunately had returned from the dead, while the others disposed of the body parts.
Charlotte turned to face Nathaniel. “Are we going to talk about what happened earlier?”
His eyes darkened. “Not tonight.”
With a thick swallow, she glanced at Alexander who shot her an apologetic look, then at Katherine who was a little gray in her face, the bags under her sunken eyes showing the depletion of her magic. In the corner, Zachariah and Irene stuffed body parts into bags.
“Are you still going to kill me?” she asked pointedly, tired of being shrugged aside, especially considering she had just taken down the most powerful witch of their time.
Still, she was careful with what she revealed about the ritual, knowing the other two vampires would kill her if they knew she could be used to make them mortal again.
Nathaniel stood, running his eyes over the four of them. “Leave us.”
“Are you certain?” Alexander asked hesitantly.
“Yes.”
Alexander took Katherine’s arm, lifting her gently. “Come on, let’s get you a cup of tea.”
Charlotte watched them leave, her heart pounding once they were alone.
“We can talk freely now,” he said wearily.
“Good,” she said shakily, her lips buzzing from the adrenaline. “Are you going to answer me this time?”
“You lied to me,” he said instead.
“I will not apologize for that. I was protecting myself from you. I knew you would lock me away if you discovered I had no intentions of doing the ritual, which, in case you were wondering, I would do in a heartbeat if the cost were anything but my life.”
“Why?”
With a deep breath, she confessed, “Because I care about you.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked, scoffing.
“I am a monster and your caring for me will only get you hurt.”
His lips curled as she looked at the decapitated corpses around him. She saw the moment the hope left his eyes, when his expression hardened into something more formidable.
“Yes, but I wanted you to be my monster,” she stated, feeling ridiculous once the words left her mouth.
“I—do you think I enjoy being in this predicament?” he asked, standing now, stumbling over his words.
He never stumbled.
He continued, her heart racing as he towered over her. “Despite what you may think, I do not relish murdering innocents.”
She snorted, noting that he did not rebuke her, and looked at the surrounding bodies.
“I am not innocent. Tonight I almost killed Charles Eringhorn. Despite everything I said to you earlier, I considered murdering the man with no remorse, just like I did my uncle and cousin, and do you want to know my most sinful thought?”
“Always,” he said in a deep rumble.
“I wish I had. It is my only regret for tonight because I am glad the truth came out. At least now we both know where we stand and there doesn’t have to be any confusion over feelings.”
With a wince, she sucked in a deep breath. He didn’t say a damned word, just stood there, frozen, watching as shaky, angry confessions slipped from her lips.
“So you know,” she added. “I will not go down without a fight and as you saw tonight, I’m no longer some sacrificial lamb you can order around. There is nothing I won’t do to save myself.”
With a lump in her throat, she lifted her dress and walked away, avoiding the puddles of blood.
Her heart broke with each body she saw, their pain melding with her own.
The heaviness of their suffering followed her like a dark cloud, all the way to Katherine’s room.
She could sense them, pressed up against the veil amid a well of confusion and anger.
Tears slipped down her cheeks, a surge of emotions washing through her.
“No more crying,” she said aloud with a sniffle, wiping her nose with the back of her sleeve. After a few seconds, she rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin.
If she had to embrace the darkness to beat it, then that was exactly what she was going to do.