Maura shakes. She clasps her hands over her mouth to keep a gasp from escaping. Without thought, she runs down the hall into Father's office. She slams the door shut and jumps over the desk to the locked cabinet.
She fumbles with the key. It jams in the lock, refuses to twist to the left, and clatters to the ground.
Footsteps march across the hall, paired with a casual conversation. Shadows stretch beneath the door jam and freeze.
Panicked, she doesn’t try to stay quiet anymore. She snatches the white marble statue of a mermaid and brings it down on the glass cabinet. She reaches through, grabs Death's Noose from a velvet box, and turns to the office door. It bursts open with a shock wave of red magic that throws her against the windowpane. Her shoulder catches the jagged edges of the glass, and she holds back a painful moan.
The two men advance into the room, smiling.
She jumps out of the window and crashes through the pool. The water stings her wounds.
Maura kicks to the surface, reaching for the gray sky. When she resurfaces, she gasps and chokes down a scream. Comets of magic pummel the ground. They explode on contact with the Japanese garden her mother tended to every morning. Magic erupts into flames when it ricochets off the patio furniture.
Maura clings to the edge of the pool. The muscles in her arms burn. Her legs ache. Her eyes sting from the chemicals in the water. She drags herself onto solid ground, pants when she stands and runs for the hill. She kicks up dirt and slips on the slick mud. Everything burns, like she stands at the center of flames. Step after step, leap after leap, and breath after breath, the energy drains from her system with each push.
A blow to the back knocks the wind from her lungs. She topples forward, head over heels, and lands face first on the wet ground.
Sheets of rain pound around her, louder than she’d ever heard before, stinging like angered wasps.
A violent wave threw her from the edges of the spell. She struggled to brace herself against the ground, to find leverage to stop. The cliff’s edge nearing pulsed in her head. She dug her heel into the soft dirt, and slowed. The snap of her heel twisted her ankle, and she tumbled forward. She pulled herself free from the disappearing waves.
A hard jerk on her hair brought her to her feet. Adrian swung her into his chest. Volts of painful electricity from his fingertips coursed throughout her skeleton.
“I wanted this to go differently.” He brought her close, mouth against her ear, breath hot on her neck, his hands hidden from sight. She quivered under the electric impulses. “I wanted to take my time.”
A solid force connected with her ribs. She cringed into him, choking on a blood-filled gasp. Another impact struck higher. Her fingers tightened around his arm. The world exploded in blinding flashes of color.
“I wanted to hear your scream.” He tossed her to the side. She wheezed from the impact and rolled onto her back.
Adrian stood over Maura, a dagger dripping blood in one hand, a silver orb in the other. He flung the spell at her feet, his chuckle hidden beneath the blast. The ground exploded in a plume of violet flames.
Maura scurried away as he chucked another orb onto the earth. She scrambled to her feet and created distance between them. She panted. Blood filled her lungs, making it harder to breathe. She placed pressure on the two wounds between her ribs, her fingers warm with thick blood. The Void growled. Its sound rippled beneath her skin.
She whipped around, the garden gone beneath heavy sheets of violet fog. She watched, listened for footfalls, felt for a breath over her shoulder. She conjured a large Shearing spell, its aura yellow and sparkling. She released a series of them in each direction, waiting for a yelp, a scream, a splash of blood. Her spell rebounded from her right and struck her in the side. She collapsed, and the fog lifted.
Adrian sauntered forward, a wide sneer on his face. He looked down at her, head cocked to the side. His sneer fell, leaving him to appear almost disappointed. His eyes dimmed, the corners of his lips turned down. He scratched at his cheek.
“I expected more,” he sighed.
A boot on her back pins her down. She digs her fingers into the dirt, feeling Death's Noose laced in her palm.
“Boss will want you, little girl,” the man growls, digging his heel deeper between her shoulder blades.
Maura throws her arm back to loop the necklace around his ankle. She pulls until the chain snaps in front of her. Ashes coat her back. The gray substance sticks to her wet skin, making her cough when it billowed.
Don’t think about it, she thinks to herself.
She goes on all fours and charges into a run.
When she reaches the top of the hill, she turns to see her house enveloped in flames. The walls crumble into themselves. Magic tears through the structure she’d called home, destroying memories with each surge of power. A vortex eats away at the pool. Her parent's car tumbles with gusts of wind that fuel the fires and guide the rain to flood the basement.
“Maura!” She cringes at her mother’s screams from the front yard. “Run!” Clusters of magic fester in her palms but sizzle when she tries to release it on her captor.
Adrian.
His spell weakened, allowing for her thoughts to resurface. She gazed at the memory as it crumbled to ash. Her mother faded into Adrian, the destruction of her past reforming into the destruction of her future. The spell, along with the past, disappeared into the present.
Adrian’s figure faded behind the blood loss. She struggled to keep the world in view. The edges of her peripheral vision vibrated. He crouched beside her, and she blindingly fought him off, swinging her arms, conjuring weak spells that fizzled out with a slight breeze. He caught her wrists and pinned them to her heaving chest. He leaned in close, his features a painful blur. His fingers laced within Death’s Noose. He played with the chain as if debating or savoring. His smile distorted through defeated tears. His fingers tightened, muscles clenched. He stared into her eyes.
“No!” she screamed.
Maura spliced the necklace with a Shearing charm before he could pull. She kicked at his knees, and rolled out from under him into a stand. Adrian fell, Death’s Noose beside him. Their gazes fell to the idle necklace. His hand crept toward it, his smile growing.
She released a succession of Impact spells at his feet. The force flung him across the garden, along with the necklace. She ran after it.
The world trembled, the air thin. Darkness tainted the corners of her vision. She pushed through, urged her legs to hit the ground harder, faster. Her lungs burned with each step, drowning her in her own blood. The cliff’s edge neared. Her heart pounded. Death’s Noose was her only means of victory. She established a Shield at the edge. The necklace clattered off of the silver barrier. Maura snatched it and braced herself against the barrier. The Shield repelled her and knocked her back a step. After regaining her balance, she placed the necklace around her neck.
She turned to find Adrian with Death's Scythe angled in his grasp. A quick spiral of mixed magic from his fingertips straightened his crooked ankle. With a defiant smile, he marched forward.
Maura braced herself with idle spells on her fingers. She forced herself to remember who she was. She wasn’t the scared little kid anymore who cowered in the face of her family’s hunter. She’d grown. She’d become the hunter, the feared. She shoved the little girl far into her mind as she locked eyes with Adrian.
He swung for her neck, and The Void released a magenta Shield. Within the translucent matter, Circe's face spiraled between spindles of magic. Adrian's blade crumbled to ash the further he cut into the Shield. A flame set fire to the silver handle before exploding. The blast shattered the Shield and sent them soaring in opposite directions.
Maura slammed into a statue that crumbled with the fall. A weak Shield kept the face and hands of a Mystic God from cutting her throat. When the rubble settled, she rose, dusting off.
Adrian emerged, his shirt torn down the sides, exposing charred patches of skin. Fangs graz
ed his bleeding lips while his wild eyes flashed crimson.
Maura inhaled deep. “Help me,” she whispered to her father. She pressed Adrian’s mind for any plans. A block over his thoughts rejected her magic with a powerful recoil that crushed her to her knees. She staggered to a stand. Adrian’s eyes followed her. His stare honed in on Death’s Noose, shimmering around her neck like a prize. He lowered his hands. His lethal spells extinguished with the closing of his fist. Maura shifted her weight with his subtle movements forward. Adrian bared his fangs, a smirk in his growl. She arched forward from the power of her hiss, fangs dripping venom.
In a rush of blinding motions, they collided. Adrian's fingers knotted with Maura’s hair and twisted her onto the ground. Her spine cracked. Adrian straddled her waist, pinned her arms over her head with one hand and reached for the golden necklace. She rolled him off and sent out an explosion of defensive spells. They filled the air with stinging electricity and threw Adrian back.
Maura lolled to the side, exhausted. Choking on an exasperated sigh, she clambered to stand.
Rushing spells, howling from behind, pummeled her back. She hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop, breathless. Blood gushed from wounds at her sides. Each breath sent a sharp stab throughout her chest, followed by a burn from broken ribs. Her hands shook over the deep gashes. She coughed up blood with each gasp. Black blotches from looming unconsciousness invaded the gray sky. Everything became lost in a haze of black. Blood loss and a disorientation spell left her helpless.
I…Maura clung to blades of grass to try to lift herself up. …can’t…Each time she attempted to think of the energy it would take to stand, she thought she’d convulse.…win. Tears filled her eyes.
Another burst of bright red magic enveloped her. She rolled with the motions and stopped when she smashed into a destroyed statue. Spells shot through the graying sky. They collided with nearby structures: a garden arbor, another statue, and columns at each corner of the adjacent garden. Blocks of white marble, weathered stone, and chunks of trees rained down. Her Shield lasted only a fraction of the abuse, leaving her arms to take the rest.
Tittering on the edges of consciousness and unconsciousness, Maura didn't notice the explosions and spells had ceased. She let her arms fall, catching the large gashes and swollen, broken bones behind bruises.
Adrian stalked forward, his figure blurring with clouding vision. Spells sputtered from her broken fingertips and sizzled like water hitting a hot stove. Her eyelids grew heavy and threatened to pull her into darkness. Adrian's grasp on her dress snapped them open, making her dizzy. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Claus on a set of stone steps in the distance, running toward them.
Adrian looped his hand within the knots of Death's Noose. His smile burned a hole through thoughts of how to survive.
“Adrian!” Claus screamed, his voice disappearing in the growing dark of unconsciousness.
Adrian leaned close, avoiding a spell from Claus that ricocheted into the hedges. “Your family has rotted within the Underworld for forty years…” His lips hovered beside Maura’s ear, a whisper lingering on his tongue, his fangs scraping her skin. “…It’s time you joined them.”
“If I die,” she pulled him closer, entrapping his hand within Death’s Noose. “You die with me.”
Adrian Wilhelm’s face flashed red, while Maura’s defiant smile grew as she pulled Death’s Noose.
Chapter Forty-One: Jesse
The bedroom door cracked open. A thin stream of yellow light from the hallway poured in. “I’m sorry Father Brady, but you’re needed.” A slim silhouette stood in the doorway. From the boyish tone and slight quiver of his syllables, Jesse knew it was Abraham.
Jesse swung his legs over the bed. Rubbing his eyes, he caught the red digital numbers on the clock. Just after midnight. “The address?” He cleared his throat and walked to the opposite side of the room where the closet was.
“They wouldn’t say.”
He slipped on black dress pants and tucked in the black collared shirt. “How am I to help this poor soul in the middle of the night with no address?”
“They sent a car.” Abraham pointed a shaky finger toward the rectory entrance down the hall. “It’s out front.”
“Very well then.” Jesse grabbed the silver dagger from a top drawer. Those in hiding wouldn’t leave a name. They’d send a car or show up on the cellar doorstep at midnight. Most of the time they were Vampires, wanted convicts, murderers, and rapists.
Jesse patted Abraham on the shoulder on the way out.
Two men were outside on the curb beside a limousine. “Brady?” the bulkier man said.
“It’s Father Brady.”
He snorted and opened the back door.
Jesse placed a hand on the dagger and slid in.
“Jesse.”
He shook hands with an almost stranger in the opposite seat and relaxed. “It’s been a very long time, Claus.”
“Too long.” Claus smiled, his face becoming solemn.
“At this hour, I take it this isn’t one of our old coffee trips.”
Claus let out a weak chuckle and stared at his hands, stained red with blood.
“Is there something you want to tell me, son?”
Claus opened his mouth and then closed it tight. He looked up with gentle, pleading eyes. It reminded Jesse of the first time he'd seen him; a fifteen-year-old boy, trying to fix the stone fence around the church. He wanted to make things right in the wake of his family’s destruction. He came to the church every weekend where they shared a cup of coffee. Claus had expressed views of how he was different than his brothers, how he almost didn’t belong. Then one day he stopped coming. After several months, Jesse rationalized Claus had fled the ocean side of Abysm and gone into the mountains where there had been talk his father lived.
“Adrian,” Claus started, repeatedly clasping his hands together. “He’s killed someone.”
“He’s murdered many.”
Claus shook his head and swallowed hard. “She is different.”
Jesse remained quiet.
“I need your help.”
He placed a hand over Claus’ folded ones. “Then let us go.”
Claus motioned for the driver to leave. The lights in the car dimmed and then went out when they started moving.
After half an hour, they pulled into a vacant lot beyond black gates. It wasn't until the headlights caught the sky over the hill that they noticed the smoking embers and piles of rubble scattered throughout the land. It looked as if a bomb had exploded in the midst of a tornado.
Claus motioned for Jesse to get out first. Once outside, he snapped his jaw closed to prevent it from unhinging.
Burnt out luxury cars, soot-covered walkways, limbless trees, and bloodstained lawns littered the horizon. Debris replaced where a house should’ve been. A fountain was filled with glass and remaining charred limbs instead of water.
Jesse cast a blessing as they walked. He thought of all the bodies beneath the rubble and the bloodshed that still smelled fresh. He'd watch the news coverage tomorrow, mourn for the lost, and pray for the deliverance of their souls.
Claus led him around the smoldering debris to a large garden on the furthest point on the property.
In the distance, beside the remains of a statue, a man knelt beside a limp body covered in ash. The soft glow of his healing charms danced in the air surrounding them and showered the body like leaves fluttering from a tree.
As they neared, a knot formed in the pit of Jesse’s stomach. Maura. He recognized her crimson hair, the way her aura radiated off of her skin like sunlight. The first time he'd seen her had been forty years ago. She'd sought solace in the help he could provide her. Save me from my demons, she'd pleaded. He'd obliged and nearly drowned when he'd tried to save her from the exorcism that had gone wrong. He ran to her now, as he did then.
Jesse fell to his knees at Maura’s side, a pile of ash beside her. He examined her, saddened. Blood had hardene
d on her chest and streaked down her sides into a coagulated puddle beneath her body. Bruises, some red and others dark purple, spotted her torso. Raised edges of skin surrounded swollen areas where bones protruded. His gaze fell to her face, turned away and hidden beneath a curtain of red curls.
“She's there,” the man said.
Jesse focused his attention on the auburn-haired male across from him. The silver glow of his gray eyes and navy blue scars struck a chord in Jesse’s memory. GateKeeper.
“We need to heal her,” Jesse said.
Claus crouched beside them. “Not here. It isn't safe.”
“We can move her,” Liam said, conjuring another healing charm. “Where?”
“The church,” Jesse said. “I can heal her while you find her.”
“Find her?” Claus asked.
“She's not dead. Only trapped.” Jesse traced the burn mark along her neck from where Death’s Noose had tightened. “Her soul is trapped within her.”
“She killed herself,” Claus murmured.
“But her soul was never a part of her,” Jesse said. “She's trapped elsewhere.”
“The mirror,” Liam said.
Jesse nodded. “You can open the portal and bring her back.”
“She's not the only one trapped there,” Liam said.
Jesse motioned for Liam and Claus to take either of her arms. “Make sure she's the only one who comes back.”
They carried her to the limousine in silence. Liam conjured The Wend and disappeared within the spell, leaving Jesse and Claus alone.
“You are always welcome in the church,” Jesse said.
“Thank you, Father.”
Jesse patted him on the back and slid into the car.
At the church, the driver assisted with carrying Maura into the rectory. Jesse kicked open the bedroom door, placed Maura on the bed, and thanked the driver before locking the door behind him.
The lights flickered on at his silent command. He retrieved a case full of potion vials along with a tall bottle of water and a crystal basin. He filled the bowl with the water, opened several rags, and dumped them into the container, leaving a few dry ones on the side.
Blue Ruin (The Phoenix Series Book 1) Page 25
