by Amy Cross
“The party is over,” Edgar said darkly, as all around them the guests began to fade away and the candles disappeared, leaving the ballroom in darkness.
“Where is she?” Jennifer shouted again, with tears in her eyes, before turning to find that, just like the rest of the ghosts from the party, Adam had once again faded away.
“I'm sure he'll help once he's dealt with things here,” Benjamin told her, as he hurried after Edgar. “We have to find Madeleine.”
“Check all the rooms down here,” Edgar replied, leading him along one of the dark corridors. “I'll look upstairs. And if you see even a hint of Quill, don't confront him. Leave that bastard to me. This ends tonight.”
As Benjamin went to look in some of the other rooms, Edgar reached the bottom of the stairs and looked up. Spotting the broken window, he hurried to take a look, but before he could do anything else he heard a faint, sobbing howl coming from one of the other rooms. Making his way along the corridor, he pushed open each of the bedroom doors in turn, as his concern grew more frantic with each step.
“Quill?” he shouted. “Come out of the shadows, you coward! Face me!”
Stopping at the door to Madeleine's room, he pushed it open, only to spot a figure on the floor. Stepping inside, he found Nixon groaning as he reached up to feel the bruised and battered side of his head.
“What happened?” Edgar asked.
“Madeleine,” Nixon whispered. “He... He made Madeleine look into the eyes of Ashalla...”
“That's not possible.”
“Well, he managed it somehow!”
“Where is she now?”
“She -”
Hearing a faint whimpering sound from nearby, Edgar turned and looked across the dark room. For a moment, he saw nothing at all untoward, but finally he spotted something in the shadows, trembling in the very farthest corner of the room.
“Madeleine?” he called out, hurrying over to her before stopping suddenly as he saw the true horror of what had happened.
There was blood everywhere.
***
“Madeleine!” Benjamin shouted as he reached the kitchen. Looking through, he saw no-one, but as he turned to leave he heard a faint groaning sound.
“What...” Sitting up, Jacob felt the bruise on his head. “What happened?”
“Have you seen Madeleine?” Benjamin asked.
“I haven't seen anyone,” Jacob replied. “The last thing I remember is hearing someone coming up behind me, and then...” Looking at his hand, he saw blood, and he froze for a moment before turning to Benjamin. “Is everyone okay? Is His Lordship unharmed?”
“I have to find Madeleine,” Benjamin muttered, turning and hurrying back along the corridor, until finally he reached the library and stopped in the doorway. “Estella!”
For a moment, Estella didn't respond at all. She was sitting on one of the sofas, staring down at her hands, but finally she looked over at Benjamin. Tears were running down her cheeks, and she seemed to be trembling with shock.
“Where's Madeleine?” he asked.
“I...” She paused, before shaking her head. “I don't know,” she whimpered, as her bottom lip trembled. “I'm sorry, I don't know, I haven't seen her all night.”
“What the hell happened in here?”
“I don't know,” she continued, before lowering her head and starting to sob. Tears ran down onto her hands and then onto her dress, soaking into the fabric, as she fell into a series of breathless, gasping cries.
“What...” Pausing, filled with dread, Benjamin turned to continue his search before realizing that Estella's sobs were getting louder. Cautiously, he made his way over to her. “Estella, what's wrong?”
She shook her head, as if she couldn't bring herself to speak.
“Estella, talk to me! What's going on here?”
“I can't,” she whimpered, as more tears fell onto her hands. “I just can't! She...”
“Is it Madeleine?” he asked, crouching in front of her. “Estella, has something happened to Madeleine?”
“It's Kate,” Estella replied, sniffing back more tears. “Something awful happened to Kate. It was Quill, he...” She paused, and slowly a hint of calm settled on her features, as if she finally knew what she had to do. “Quill threw Kate through one of the windows. I tried to help her, but I just couldn't get to her in time and she fell. I haven't been out to check on her yet, but from above it was as if... I think she might be rather badly hurt.”
“Where's Quill now?”
“Gone. I think so, anyway. He said he'd return, but for now...”
“Where's Madeleine?” he asked yet again, with a hint of desperation sneaking into his tone. “You must have seen her somewhere! It's not like she'd have just sat in her room and not done anything while all of this was happening!”
Estella opened her mouth to reply, before they both turned as they heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door. A moment later, Edgar stepped through, holding Madeleine's blood-soaked body in his arms and with a look of pure, drained shock on his face.
“Madeleine!” Benjamin shouted, racing over but stopping as soon as he saw the extent of her injuries. For a few seconds, he seemed unable to comprehend the sheer amount of blood that covered her body and face, particularly around her eyes.
“Clear a space on the desk,” Edgar replied, his voice trembling with shock as he stared down at his sister's injuries.
“What -”
“Clear a space!” Edgar shouted, before pushing past him. “I'll do it myself,” he added, holding Madeleine with just one arm and using the other to push the various books and pieces of paper off the desk. Lowering his sister's body, he set her down and then began to take a better look at the cuts and wounds she'd suffered. His hands, covered in her blood, worked quickly to loosen her clothes so that he could determine where she was most badly hurt, and finally he tilted her face toward him and saw the gaping, blood-filled cavities that had once contained her eyes. At this sight, he seemed to freeze for a moment.
“What did he do to her?” Benjamin asked as he approached. “Is she...”
He waited, hoping desperately that Edgar would tell him everything was okay.
“What did he do to her?” he shouted finally.
“She's not dead,” Edgar replied, “but... She saw something that no living creature should ever see. Her mind...” He placed a hand on the side of her face. “Her body can heal, but her mind might never recover from the shock.” He turned to Estella. “Where's Kate?”
“She -” Estella paused, before getting to her feet and approaching him cautiously. “Well, my love, unfortunately there was an... accident. Before he left, Quill pushed Kate from the window at the top of the stairs.”
“Where is she now?”
“I... I think she's still out there. Edgar, I did try to help her, I swear, but I couldn't -”
“Go to her,” he said firmly. “Do what you can. I must take care of my sister.”
“You mustn't blame me for what happened to Kate,” Estella continued, stepping closer and putting a hand on his arm. “Edgar, please, don't be angry at me, not on our special day.”
Ignoring her, he took a handkerchief from his pocket and began to wipe blood from the side of Madeleine's face, but there was far too much.
“Edgar?” Estella added. “My darling, please don't be angry with me. When Kate -”
“Leave us,” he replied. “Go to Kate.”
“Leave us!” he shouted, turning to her with such venom in his voice, and such anger in her eyes, that she instinctively took a step back. His fury was so great, the room itself seemed to momentarily shake at his words. “Go. Find Kate. Do what you can.” He turned to Benjamin. “And you must go and find Jacob. Tell him that Madeleine is hurt, and that we need to heal her wounds. He'll know what to do.”
“But -”
“Go!” Edgar shouted. “If you care about her at all, you'll do what I say!”
“I'll find him,” Be
njamin stammered, but he stayed rooted to the spot for a moment, unable to stop looking at Madeleine. “Will she... I mean, is she going to...”
“I know what to do,” Edgar replied. “For her sake, however, you must find Jacob quickly! She is deteriorating with every second that passes.”
As Benjamin turned and ran from the room, Estella watched Edgar as he got back to work on his sister, wiping away as much of the blood as he could.
“You don't blame me for Kate's injuries, do you?” she asked. “Edgar, my love, if she's hurt, or worse, I think it would be terribly unfair of you to -”
“Do you think I care about your pathetic concerns right now?” he sneered, turning to her. “My sister is on the verge of death and madness, and all you can do is bleat into my ear? I swear, Estella, if you don't leave this room right now and go to help Kate, I will cause you more pain than you can possibly imagine, and then I will leave your body to rot on the western beach.”
“I...” She paused, clearly shocked, before turning and running from the room.
“You will be okay,” Edgar continued, looking down at Madeleine. Reaching out, he took her still, blood-covered hand in his and held it tight. “Your body will heal, and your mind...” He waited for a moment, before pulling her shirt open and placing a hand gently on her belly. “I will save you,” he whispered, feeling the faintest of bumps in her flesh, “but I'm not sure that I can save the other, the one who grows inside your body. Do you understand, Madeleine? I...” With tears in his eyes, he leaned down and listened for a moment for any sign of movement in her belly, but finally he turned back to look at Madeleine's ravaged face. “The madness of Ashalla has entered not only your mind, but also the mind of the child you're carrying. There is no hope for its survival, and even now it drains you, making you worse.”
“Master?” Jacob asked from the doorway. “I sent Benjamin to the cellar, to fetch some medical supplies, but... What has happened to Lady Madeleine?”
“I was supposed to keep her safe,” he whispered. “Everything I did was to keep her from harm, and now look at her.” He placed his bloodied hand on her belly once again. “There can be other children, she and Benjamin can try again, but for now the most important thing is simply to keep her alive. The child she carries now is already lost to the madness of Ashalla, it must be removed from her as quickly as possible so that it cannot hurt her. Perhaps, if we are lucky, it will have absorbed enough of the madness to leave her own soul relatively unscathed.”
“But... Sir...”
“Keep the others away while I work,” Edgar said firmly, pulling Madeleine's shirt all the way open so that he could get to her belly properly. He paused, as if he was contemplating the horror to come. After a moment, he turned to the old man with a hint of sorrow in his eyes. “And Jacob... Bring me a knife.”
ALSO AVAILABLE
Dead Souls Volume One (Parts 1 to 13)
Dead Souls Volume Three (Parts 14 to 26)
Dead Souls Volume Four (Parts 40 to 52)
COMING SOON
Dead Souls Volume Five (Parts 53 to 65)
ALSO BY AMY CROSS
Horror
Ward Z
Asylum
American Coven
The Night Girl
Devil's Briar
The Devil's Photographer
The House We Haunted and Other Stories
Darper Danver series 1
Hugo: The Lockton Downs Haunting (Novella)
Fantasy / Horror
Dark Season series 1, 2 & 3
The Hollow Church (Abby Hart)
Vampire Asylum (Abby Hart)
Lupine Howl series 1, 2, 3 & 4
Grave Girl
Ghosts
The Library
Journey to the Library
The Ghosts of London
The Vampire's Grave
The Werewolf's Curse
Thriller
Ophelia
The Dead City (Ophelia 2)
The Girl Who Never Came Back
The Dead and the Dying: A Joanna Mason Novel
The House of Broken Backs: A Joanna Mason Novel
The Return (Sophie Ash 1)
Other People's Bodies
Dystopia / Science Fiction
The Shades
Finality series 1
Mass Extinction Event series 1, 2 & 3
Erotica
Broken Blue
Broken White
Author's Note
Dead Souls is a paranormal romance / horror serial published in weekly installments. This omnibus edition contains the third batch of thirteen installments.
Table of Contents
Part Twenty-Seven
Part Twenty-Eight
Part Twenty-Nine
Part Thirty
Part Thirty-One
Part Thirty-Two
Part Thirty-Three
Part Thirty-Four
Part Thirty-Five
Part Thirty-Six
Part Thirty-Seven
Part Thirty-Eight
Part Thirty-Nine
