by Amy Cross
I hesitated, holding the edge of the hood, before finally moving it back to reveal her face. Despite everything I'd just told her, I felt an instant pressure in my chest, as if my heart was suddenly fuller.
“Chloe,” I said firmly, watching as tears rolled down her cheeks. “You know you have to leave now.”
She shook her head.
“Yes,” I continued, “you do. Parting now doesn't change what we had before. A very wise person once told me that nothing lasts forever. I laughed at her, but now I understand that she was right. You have to get out of here.”
She paused for a moment, before turning to me.
“I looked so young,” she said after a moment, her voice trembling with fear. “When I almost bumped into myself in the corridor just now, I was shocked to see how...” She seemed to be struggling for the right words. “Naive, maybe. Scared. I guess I'd forgotten what it was like back then, when I was only just learning about all these things, but it all came rushing back. I wanted to warn her. Maybe to save her.”
“You can't change what happened,” I reminded her. “You've done everything right so far, and now you only have one final task. You have to leave.”
“But then after...” She paused again. “I've spent so long knowing what's going to happen, I forgot what it's like to face the future without that certainty. After tonight -”
“You'll be fine,” I replied, interrupting her.
“But what if you're...”
Her voice trailed off.
“You'll be fine without me,” I told her.
She shook her head.
“What if I go back to being like that?” she asked. “Naive, and innocent, and helpless, like the younger version of me?”
“You won't,” I continued, leaning closer. “Not after everything we've been through. Don't you remember the first time I met you?”
She paused, before a faint smile crossed her lips. “You were such an asshole.”
“I was, but I changed. A lot of that was down to you. Do you really think that there are any circumstances in the whole world that could undo what happened to me after I met you?”
“No,” she replied, sniffing back tears.
“And it works both ways,” I continued, before realizing that I had to do the one thing I'd sworn not to do once we reached the Zieghoff Mansion. We'd already had our last kiss by then, or so we'd promised one another, but still I leaned toward her. When our lips met, I barely had any strength left, and she was sobbing. Our supposed last kiss had been far more romantic, but this kiss was more raw, more like the first time, and I let it linger for far longer than I should before, finally, I pulled back. In that moment, I knew that I would never kiss her again.
“Now go,” I told her, realizing that time had run out. “Run, Chloe. And leave the rest to me.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Chloe
“Do you recognize her?” a voice whispered, stirring me from darkness. “Look at her face. Tell me her name.”
I wanted to reply, but my body still felt too slow and heavy. Even opening my eyes was too much effort, as if my blood was weighing me down. After a moment, however, I felt someone touch my chin, lifting my face a little.
“Look,” the voice continued. “What's wrong? Are you too ashamed?”
Again I tried to say something, but I couldn't get the words to leave my mouth.
“Look at her!” the voice shouted suddenly, and I felt my head being tipped back. Gasping, I opened my eyes and saw a domed ceiling high above. A moment later, my head was tipped down until I found myself staring at an old, faded photo that showed a dark-haired woman.
“I...” I began to say, although I immediately felt a harsh, dry scratching sensation in the back of my throat.
“Say her name,” the voice sneered. Still holding the photo, Hugo leaned closer, sneering at me. I could see scraps of loose skin hanging from the thick scars that crossed his burned face. “You will say her name one final time before I wipe you from existence. Her name will be the last word that leaves your lips. And then, when you die, the whole world will re-order itself around you, and she will return to me. Why should Matthias get his way? Why should I not change reality to get what I want?”
“I don't know who she is,” I stammered, staring at the photo. My vision was a little blurred, but I could just about make out the girl's face. “She's beautiful,” I continued. “Is she a -”
Before I could finish, Hugo grabbed my throat and held me up. I let out a gasp as I realized that my wrists were hanging from a set of chains.
“You dare lie to me?” he asked, leaning closer until I could smell his foul, putrid breath. “At least Klaus Zieghoff showed some pride in his crimes. The man might have been a monster, but he believed in everything he did. You, on the other hand, still want to see yourself as a saint, despite all the pain you've caused.”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” I replied, pulling on the chains. “I swear, I don't even -”
“Liar!” he screamed again, leaning even closer. There were tears in his eyes now, but after a moment he turned and looked over his shoulder. “Just wait a moment longer, my darling,” he continued, lowering his voice a little. “I need her to say your name first, and then I can end her life.” He turned back to me. “Can't you do it? Can't you bring yourself to say the name of the woman you killed?”
“I never killed anyone,” I stammered, “I swear. I don't know why you -”
“Do you hear that sound?” he asked, interrupting me as he tightened his grip on my neck. “My brother says that when fate is challenged, we can hear it screaming as it prepares to push back. He believes we can't change the events of the prophecy, but I'm going to prove him wrong. The sound you hear is the sound of fate starting to crack, and soon the time-line will be reset.”
Hearing a faint whining, buzzing sound, I looked up and tugged on the chains again.
“Once you're dead,” Hugo continued, “fate will have to re-order itself. Your future self will be gone, and the consequences of your crimes will vanish in the blink of an eye. Judith will be returned to me, and that's all that matters. There might be some other ripples in the world, but I'll simply take Judith away and keep her safe. Humanity can burn, if that's what it takes. As long as I get her back, I can live with the rest of the world's pain. For it is the world itself that has wronged me.”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” I told him. “Please, you have to listen to me. You've got the wrong person. I don't know how, but somehow you and all these other people have dragged me into something that's none of my business.”
“She has to say your name!” he screamed suddenly, turning away from me and stepping back across the room. “She has to beg you for mercy!”
He mumbled something else under his breath, but as he shuffled toward a table by the window, it was clear that he'd lost his mind. He seemed to be imagining somebody else in the room, somebody that only he could see or hear.
After a moment, I watched in horror as he took a dagger and turned back to me.
“No!” I shouted. “Please, don't do this! You're wrong! You've got this all wrong!”
“I'm simply doing what I should have done a long time ago,” he continued. “I remember the very first time I set eyes upon you, Chloe. It's hard to believe now, but I once thought we would be friends. I thought that we might help one another, that one day we'd move past the madness and we'd all be happy. But look at us now. Look what we became.”
He stepped closer, holding the knife up.
“I blame my brother,” he said finally. “More than anyone else, he caused this to happen. And I promise you, Chloe, that I will make him weep as he dies.”
I tried to pull away as he placed the knife against my throat. No matter how hard I pulled on the chains, however, I was powerless to resist as I felt the blade pressing into my flesh.
“Hugo, stop!” a voice shouted suddenly.
Turning, I saw Matthias limping
into the room, clutching his chest as if he was in pain.
“He's too late to save you,” Hugo told me with a grin, tilting his head slightly, “but he's right on time to watch you die!”
I tried to scream, but suddenly Hugo sliced the knife across my throat. I felt the blade tearing through my skin as hot blood burst into the back of my mouth and began spraying against the wall beside me. My scream became a loud, piercing gurgle as I pulled harder and harder against the chains, but hot blood was already running down my neck and onto my chest.
In my ears, the piercing whistle was getting louder than before, filling my head with pain.
“You can't change anything!” I heard Matthias shouting in the distance, as I struggled desperately to get air into my lungs. “How can you be so stupid, Hugo? The cycle of fate can't be broken!”
“I don't care about fate!” Hugo screamed. “With Chloe gone, Judith will be returned to me! That's all that matters! Let the rest of the world burn if it must! I will not be denied!”
“The more you fight against the prophecy,” Matthias continued, “the more you bring it about! There's nothing you can do to stop what happens next!”
I tried again to cry out, but I was already starting to feel weak. A moment later, I felt someone unfastening the chains around my wrists, and finally I slumped down into Matthias's arms. Grabbing my throat, still desperately trying to breathe, I felt the ragged edges of the deep cut that had been carved into my flesh. Blood was flowing over my hands as Matthias lowered me to the ground, but while my throat hurt, the greater pain came from the incessant ringing in my ears.
Nearby, Hugo was laughing hysterically, as if madness had finally shattered his mind.
“You're going to be okay!” Matthias told me, leaning closer. “Chloe, I promise you'll be fine!”
Unable to breathe, I tried to grab a few choking mouthfuls of air, but I felt as if my chest was about to burst. I tried to grab Matthias's shoulder and haul myself up, only to find that my legs were trembling.
“A gift,” Matthias whispered, reaching into his coat and slipping out a small pot filled with green paste, “from a friend. From someone you met before. I borrowed some when she wasn't looking. For emergencies.”
My whole body was shuddering now, as I felt him smearing the paste over my neck.
“You can't turn her, Matthias!” Hugo shouted. “She's dead! Turning her won't work, because if you turn her, then you're the one who changes history! She wasn't a vampire before, so she can't be now!”
“Breathe,” Matthias whispered. “Chloe, please... Just breathe...”
I tried, but my throat was still filled with blood. After a moment, however, I realized that the tightening sensation in my chest was easing slightly. Swallowing the blood, I managed to get a large, hawking breath into my lungs, and I immediately started coughing. It was impossible to believe that Antoinette's paste could have saved me yet again, but all that mattered for the moment was that I could breathe.
Nearby, Hugo was still ranting.
“You have to get out of here, Chloe,” Matthias continued. “Vampires die in flames. Lots of flames. If you're within thirty or forty feet of me, you'll be incinerated.”
“What have you done?” Hugo yelled, shuffling closer. “You can't do this! She has to die, or everything will stay the same! The world can't stay like this! I want Judith back!”
“I have to end this now,” Matthias muttered, leaning down and almost kissing my forehead, before lowering me to the floor. “He's my brother. This is my fault. I can only put it right by ensuring that his madness ends tonight.”
I clutched my throat and rolled onto my side, still trying to get my breath back, but already the paste seemed to have done its work and my flesh was knitting back together. Turning, I saw that Matthias was slowly limping toward Hugo, who in turn was staring at me with an expression of pure horror.
“She can't live!” Hugo sneered, trying to push past Matthias, only to be held back as his brother placed a hand on his chest. “You know what she'll do!”
“She didn't kill Judith,” Matthias told him firmly. “You know that, Hugo, if you really try to ignore the madness. You know who's really responsible for Judith's death.”
“She has to die!” Hugo shouted, lunging at me.
Getting to my feet, I pulled away, just as Matthias grabbed his brother and twisted him around.
“Run!” Matthias yelled at me. “Get clear of the building or -”
Suddenly letting out a cry of pain, he dropped to his knees, while reaching out and keeping hold of Hugo.
“I can't let you live,” Hugo continued, slipping free of Matthias's grip and stepping toward me. “I'd already realized that before I suffered this breakdown, Chloe. It's the one thing I've known ever since Judith died. Killing you means that everything gets reset. It means I get another chance. I don't know what the world will be like once I've changed history, but it has to be better than this!”
Backing away from him, I was about to turn and run when I saw that Matthias's body was starting to smolder, as if he was burning. Within seconds, flames began to ripple across his coat, and when he looked at me I saw that his skin was beginning to char as his eyes reddened.
“Run!” he screamed, his voice sounding contorted and pained. “Chloe -”
Before he could finish, flames burst from his body. I had to cover my eyes as the light flared and filled the room, and I briefly saw Hugo silhouetted against the inferno before he, too, seemed to be absorbed by the fire. Feeling a wall of heat rushing toward me, I turned and hurried toward the door, desperate to get out of the mansion. Reaching the next corridor, I realized the floor was starting to shudder, and when I looked down I realized that the soles of my shoes were starting to burn, as if the entire building was getting too hot.
Turning, I saw that the air in the corridor was shimmering, and that a wall of flame was bursting from the nearest door.
“Get out of here!” I heard Matthias's voice screaming in my thoughts. “Chloe, you have to -”
Before he could finish, his voice flared and became a brief, pure howl of pain, before vanishing from my mind entirely.
As the flames rippled toward me, I turned and ran toward the top of the stairs. I could feel the entire house shaking, as if the fire was shaking the walls apart. I reached the stairs and began to make my way down, but seconds later a vast wall of heat slammed into me from behind, engulfing me completely as I was sent tumbling down to the floor below.
At the last moment, I hit my head on the step at the bottom. All I could do was scream as I felt the flames ripple across my body, and then finally the entire mansion collapsed on top of me and everything went black.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Matthias
She's gone.
The last thing I feel is that Chloe is gone. If I'm right, she'll have gone back to the beginning. She'll emerge in the heart of war, and she'll start to understand her place in the prophecy. The cycle of fate will be confirmed, and there's nothing that anyone can ever do to stop that. Not even my brother.
And then, in the blink of an eye, oblivion swallows me whole and I turn to face Death.
He is laughing.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chloe
When I open my eyes, I find myself staring down at the bright, intricate pattern of an ornamental carpet.
I'm on my hands and knees, tense and poised to run again, but the heat and flames are gone. I wait, not daring to move, but after a moment I hear a faint gasp from nearby, followed by a slow creak from the other direction. Staring down at my hands, I see that they're not burned at all, even though the last thing I remember is being engulfed by flames.
Behind me, there's a brief, faint bumping sound.
All I hear after that is silence, but after a moment I realize that this is a very particular type of silence. It's not the silence of an empty room, of a space where there's nobody else. It's the silence of a room where people are waiting for s
omething to happen.
Slowly, I look up and see that there are candles burning in front of me. When I turn, I find that there are more candles all around, and that I'm in some kind of circle. I can just about make out dark figures beyond the candles, their faces flickering in the gloom as they watch me.
A moment later, I hear someone muttering something in a language I don't quite understand.
Not French.
German.
Slowly sitting up, I open my mouth to ask where I am, but as my eyes adjust to the low light I realize I recognize the room. I'm still in the mansion's main hall, but something seems very different. There's far more furniture around, and when I look up at the nearest wall, I see that the huge painting of Klaus Zieghoff is in much better condition, as if it has been magically restored in the space of a few seconds.
Suddenly I turn as I hear someone clearing his throat in the darkness, followed by the sound of a chair creaking.
My eyes widen as I see a figure stepping closer. As he reaches the candles, I'm able to make out his silhouette, and it's clear that he's wearing some kind of uniform.
Someone nearby says something in German. It sounds like a question.
Someone else seems to reply.
Suddenly the dark figure barks an order, and silence falls.
“I...” Taking a deep breath, I realize that I need to say something. Anything.
“I don't quite know where I am...” I stammer, feeling as if my head is swimming slightly, “but... My name is Chloe Carter. Are you...”
I wait, watching the dark, silhouetted figure.
“What happened?” I ask. “How did I end up here? Where did you all come from?”
Suddenly the figure takes a step forward, and the lights of the flickering candles illuminates his face and chest. The first thing I notice is that he's wearing a military uniform with a Nazi swastika on the lapel.
The second thing I notice is that he looks exactly like the man in the painting. Like Klaus Zieghoff.
“Well,” he says, speaking English with a thick German accent as he slips between the candles and stops in front of me. He pauses for a moment, before breaking into a broad grin. “Ladies and gentlemen, our efforts seem to have paid off. I promised you that our investigations into the occult would pay off, and here is the result. It looks like we've caught ourselves a real live witch.”