He pulled away.
Slap.
Pain blossomed across my cheek, and I cried hot silent tears.
“Violet, look what you made me do.”
I blinked back the tears and bit my lip to keep them from returning. “I’m not Violet.”
“Do not try to fool me. I know who you are. I felt your power’s song the minute you stepped onto my land. I tasted it in the air. You are not a delicacy that can be forgotten. This time I know it is you. Look how many other women had to suffer. It was all so unnecessary. If you had not come back the first time, none of this would have ever happened.”
Oh God. The pictures in the death book. Marisol had said I looked like them, and they looked like me. We all looked like Violet.
“Daniel, listen to me. Listen to my voice. You need to fight him. Push him out. Daniel!”
Daniel stepped back and licked his lips. “He cannot hear you. He was weak. So easy to take over. Call me Stephen. Now, shall we get started?”
I needed to reach Daniel somehow. I was a medium. I had abilities. I could do something, but I had no idea what. I closed my eyes and pictured Daniel’s face. I mentally asked him to talk to me.
“You are not going to reach him with your little mind games. I told you, he is beyond your reach.” Novak turned and walked back to Marisol. He tugged her hair back and let it drape off the end of the table. He reached for the knife that had reminded me of the miniature grim reaper scythe.
My stomach plunged, and I fought hard against the restraints.
He angled himself so he was next to Marisol’s head, facing me, and twirled the blade by its handle. “Do you remember when you used to sing to me when I was little?”
Sing to him when he was little? Did he think I was his mother reincarnated? Was that who Violet was? I couldn’t breathe.
“How about the secrets you told me and made me swear to never tell my parents?” He caressed the curve of the blade.
What should I say? Who was this woman? I couldn’t agree to be this Violet, could I? “Remind me.”
“You told me all your secrets. Used me in your rituals. Made me into a man. You were supposed to take care of me. Be my nanny, not a monster.”
Oh no. Secrets? Rituals? “Please. Please, listen to me. I’m not Violet. We’ve never met before. I would remember that.”
He brought the blade down and nicked Marisol’s arm. She whimpered, and blood flowed from the wound. He swiped a drop with his finger and then licked off the blood. “She tastes right but is wrong. Her eyes, her hair.” He lifted up a strand and let it fall.
“Please let us go. I’m not Violet.”
“Do not play games with me, witch. I know who you are now. What you were trying to do back then. All the games. The animals you sacrificed. The potions. The strands of my hair. The blood. All the blood you took.
“But guess what? I am better than you. Stronger than you. I practiced the dark arts until I was perfect. My magic is better than yours. My spells are better than yours. My demons are better than yours. And now I will prove it, you blood witch.”
I was going to die. We were all going to die.
“I’m not a witch. I’m just a girl. I don’t know any magic. I can’t do spells. Please believe me.” I probably would have collapsed if the chains weren’t keeping me upright.
Novak laughed from deep within Daniel’s belly. “Believe you? I believed you then. I trusted you, but you only cared about power. Not about me. When I sliced your neck open on the thirteenth of February, you should have stayed dead. I promise, I will not make that mistake again. Tonight this ends.”
My bladder twitched. February thirteenth: 2:13. The time the clocks stopped. The day he killed Violet. And he had kept killing innocent women because he thought they were Violet. And he was going to kill me if I didn’t figure out how to stop him.
Daniel picked up the mended blood board and set it on Marisol’s stomach. It moved ever so slightly. I needed her to wake up. I needed her help. I tugged harder on the restraints.
“Daniel, can you hear me? I need you to fight him, to help me.” I twisted and pulled, but only succeeded in making my arms completely numb.
“Sam?” When he stared at me, I swore Daniel looked back, but then his face blurred and Novak regained control. “He cannot help you. You should cast a spell and help yourself. Or have you become too weak over the years, feasting on little boys instead of men?”
“I don’t know any spells. I’m not a witch. Let me go,” I pleaded. My words were useless against this madman.
“Not a witch. You think you are funny, or perhaps you think I am still that naïve little boy. I know you sensed me the moment you came close to my island. My birds told me you were coming, and you killed them. You came to me. You finally came here. To my home. I know you have been waiting to use my sanctuary against me, but this place answers to my words, not yours. Not like my childhood home.” He pointed the blade at me. “You thwarted my shadow demon with your white shadow guardian. She must have really loved you to use her one and only time to help you. That will not happen again. You will be so proud of what I have accomplished, and when you die for good, I will be free of the curse you placed on me when I was ten.”
He raised the blade, then dropped it.
He sliced Marisol’s throat.
29
I screamed and screamed and screamed.
Blood squirted across Marisol’s face and covered Daniel’s hands. He rubbed the blood all over the board.
“I call forth the knights of the darkness. Materialize and do my biding.” He kept talking, and his words shifted into a different language.
The floor rumbled, and a smell similar to dust burning on a lightbulb filled the room. I yanked, twisted, and fought, but remained locked in the chains.
Novak was dead, only a ghost. Marisol said I had power. I should be able to do something, but what good was it if I had no clue how to use the power?
The floors and walls cracked. Dark mists swirled from the openings. Daniel-Novak raised his hands and chanted louder.
A white shadow broke through the dark mist and undulated close to me. Warm tingles spread from my forehead to the back of my neck.
“He can’t hear me. Only you can. You need to stop him. You can do this, Sam. Use your inner strength. Move him on. Remember what I told you about my necklace. It fights demons, and it’s a part of me. With your power, you can release its energy to defeat him, defeat the evil on this rock.” Marisol’s voice filled my head, then the tingling stopped and the white shadow disappeared.
The black mists swirled and became denser and more solid.
“Yes.” Daniel-Novak cried.
Marisol’s spirit was wrong. I couldn’t stop this. I couldn’t even get free.
The mists spread and broke apart, forming into thousands of the black beetles. The bugs scuttled across the floor, up the walls, along the ceiling, and onto my boots. I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing they weren’t real. When I opened them, Daniel-Novak stood in front of me, smiling his serial-killer smile.
The beetles crawled up my legs. I couldn’t take it anymore. Tears streamed down my face. “Daniel, help me. You can’t let him do this.”
“Do you not understand why I have to? Why I must do this? As long as you continue to be a body-jumper, I cannot rest. I cannot be free of your curse. I cannot let you go. The others that tried to stop me, of course they had to be dealt with. I had to lock up the mutt. He would not stop barking. The man with the strange orange hair, he could not swim, so I made him take a dip in the lake. The drunk in the blue shirt, I used him to lure you into my tunnels. In the end, he had a nasty encounter with a few of my ravens. And the one you called Eric, he came so close to me. He did not realize what talents he possessed. I hid him someplace special, never to be found again.”
He killed them? He killed Randall, Brett, and Eric? My heart shattered, and the broken shards stabbed my insides.
Daniel-Novak chanted again. More crac
ks formed and spread along the floor. The table chaining Marisol tilted, and one leg slipped into the widening crevice.
Daniel-Novak rubbed his hands together. “They are coming. Can you hear them? I am so glad you finally sought me out. I knew you could not stay away forever.”
He wiped away the tears rolling down my cheeks. “I know you read my journal. Tell me. Did you enjoy reading my thoughts? My desires? My detailed accounts to rid myself of you?”
The words I wanted to say caught in my throat.
“No response? How about this? I took your book of drawings.”
My sketchbook? He’d taken it?
The beetles moved from my calves to my knees. I didn’t want to die. The tears flowed harder, blurring my vision. Pins-and-needle pain radiated from my arms down my shoulders and into my back.
“You are very talented. I must say I was most surprised at your sketch of the girl. Did she speak to you?”
Amelia? How did he know about her?
“And the boy. You fancy him. Too bad he cannot save you. Nothing can save them. Or you.”
No. I refused to let him hurt anyone else. I had to stop him. I could do this. I needed to use my abilities as a medium. I focused. Cleared my mind and released thoughts of Novak, of books and bugs and everyone dying. I tried to reach a meditative state. I mentally requested a positive energy force make itself known.
Warmth circled my back.
Another crack pulled me from the meditation. The table’s back legs dropped into the widening gap.
Bang.
The sound straightened Daniel’s spine, and he spun around. The door to the dungeon crashed open.
“What are you doing here?” Novak’s voice was lower and harsher.
Barking filled the room. I strained to see around Daniel, but I didn’t have to. Chauncey barreled into his legs and knocked him off balance. The dog had come to save me.
Kyle charged into the dungeon, swinging the battle-axe Eric had wielded in the master bedroom. “Stay away from her.”
He’d come back. The thought barely raced through my head before worry chased it away. Daniel jumped up and chanted words I couldn’t understand. Chauncey lunged, sinking his teeth into Daniel’s leg. Kyle swung the axe. Daniel shifted to the right, cleared the blade, and kicked Chauncey.
“Stop being stupid, boy. You cannot kill me. If you kill this body, I will just move to the next one. How about you? Would you like that?” Novak pounded on Daniel’s chest in a come-and-get-it way.
I prayed for help from positive energy.
Chauncey growled and stalked Daniel, staying out of reach.
“Let us go. We’ll leave you alone.” I thrashed in the chains.
Chauncey left Daniel, circled my legs, and sniffed at the beetles that had reached my thighs. I couldn’t look at them again. If I did, I would panic or pass out or pee my pants.
Calmness wrapped me in a cocoon of warmth. Splashes of white light rained from the ceiling. Chauncey looked at the orbs that swirled around my head.
I’d done it. I’d gotten positive energy to respond. It was here to help me.
“I told you, I am ending this misery.” Daniel picked up the two closest torches and tossed them at Marisol.
One fell into the black-mist-filled gap in the floor, but the other one landed on her stomach. The flame caught her shirt and burned. Chauncey whined and backed behind my legs.
Kyle roared and charged Daniel again. Daniel caught the shaft of the axe in his hands, and they wrestled for control.
Daniel shifted and gripped the axe higher. “You should have listened to the boy and left when he gave you the chance.” He shouted more foreign words and ripped the weapon away from Kyle.
The orbs zoomed to my left and danced above a cabinet. I flung myself as far as the chains allowed and kicked out hard. The beetles dropped from my legs. I pushed through the pain of the metal biting my wrists and kicked again. My foot connected with the bottles on the cabinet. Some broke on impact, while others cascaded to the floor and rolled toward the still widening cracks under Marisol’s table. Flames curled higher around the makeshift altar, threatening to engulf her.
Kyle slipped on one of the bottles and fell backward.
Daniel laughed and stalked toward him, swinging the axe with one hand.
“No. Don’t touch him. Daniel, fight it. Don’t do this,” I pleaded. Chauncey whined behind me.
Kyle picked up a small round bottle and threw it at Daniel’s head.
Daniel caught it and glanced at the glass. In the split second he looked down, Kyle charged. He slammed his shoulder in Daniel’s stomach, football-tackle style. They went down.
The axe clattered to the ground. The bottle flew. It soared several feet before crashing on the edge of Marisol’s death table. It busted open, spilling its contents over Marisol and the floor.
The flames jumped to the liquid and leapt even higher. The fire chased the liquid trail and rushed to the floor, where it ignited the other colored liquids I’d spilled.
Chauncey barked and danced.
The guys struggled to their feet, Novak chanting the entire time.
When the flames reached the beetles, they hissed and popped. The stench of burning bugs smelled like scorched black pepper. The white orbs whizzed into the ceiling and disappeared.
Smoke filled the room as more black mist seeped from the cracks. The scent of Marisol’s burning clothes, hair, and flesh added to the beetle smell. My throat burned, and I coughed, but couldn’t clear my lungs. My head grew heavy, and I couldn’t keep myself balanced.
Daniel shoved Kyle back. Kyle landed an uppercut on Daniel’s chin. Daniel whirled around and scooped up the sickle, the same one he’d used to murder Marisol. He sliced into the skin under Kyle’s nose. Kyle yelled and rushed Daniel again, tackling him. The weapon flew into one of the fissures now zigzagging across the floor. They hit Marisol’s burning table, and Daniel’s hand landed in the flames. He howled and punched Kyle in the stomach with the other one.
Flames crawled closer to my feet. The remaining beetles abandoned my legs and scuttled up the walls. Chauncey’s barks turned to whimpers.
I had to banish Novak somehow. I called for any and all positive energy to help me. “Stephen Novak, I command you to return to the darkness. Leave this place and leave Daniel’s body.”
“You son of a bitch.” Kyle sprang to his feet, wielding the axe.
“I order you to leave this body and this place. Return what you have taken possession of.” I yelled the words three times.
Daniel stumbled and turned to me. Novak spoke with determination. “Never. I am in charge, Violet. Not you. You do not order me. Not anymore.”
Kyle charged Daniel and sank the axe into his shoulder. Blood arced and spattered everything it touched. The blow made Daniel stagger back. His foot caught in an expanding gap, and he fell into the raging fire that had been Marisol.
Kyle dropped the axe and crashed to his knees.
Flames caught Daniel’s blood-and-liquid-soaked shirt. The fire engulfed his body. His screams echoed through the dungeon and ripped a hole in my chest. Jerking like a marionette, his foot slipped. He let out a primal cry and dropped into a huge opening in the floor.
My friend Daniel was gone. Sweet Daniel, my three-year crush. The guy who had starred in my daydreams. The image and the sounds of him burning scorched into my brain. It was my fault. I failed to save him from Novak.
“Holy—” Kyle forced himself up and hurried to my side, jumping the flames spreading across the floor. “Sam, hold on. I’m going to get you down.” Kyle tugged on the restraints. “Is there a key?”
“I don’t know.” The smoke and the stench consumed my senses. I coughed again.
Kyle ran to the rack of tools. “Pliers.” Kyle raced back and snapped the restraints from my wrists.
Without the chains to support me, I sagged, legs trembling. Kyle caught me before I hit the ground. I threw my arms around his neck. “You saved me. You ca
me back.”
“I never left.”
I was close to passing out, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was about to kiss him when the black wooden X burst into flames.
Kyle jerked back and grabbed me around the waist. “We have to get out of here.” He helped me across the dungeon.
“Kyle, wait.” I tugged my sleeve over my right hand. I had to get the necklace. Flames licked across Marisol’s charred body. I bit down hard on my lip and thrust my hand into the flames.
“What are you doing?” Kyle screamed.
Chauncey barked.
The sensation of being swallowed by water-logged clouds surrounded my hand.
I didn’t feel the heat. Didn’t feel any pain. Didn’t catch on fire.
I yanked Marisol’s necklace, breaking the chain, and pulled my hand out. Wiggling my fingers, I was surprised I wasn’t burned. “I’m so sorry, Marisol. You deserved better than this.”
“We have to go now.” Kyle dragged me toward the exit.
At the door, I turned. Chauncey cowered in the corner, surrounded by flames. “Chauncey, come.” I cried.
The dog didn’t move.
“Chauncey. Come now.” I pointed to the spot next to me.
Chauncey whimpered, then darted past us and raced up the stairs.
Kyle wrapped his hand around mine, and we half-ran, half-shuffled up the steps after the dog. We burst into the room filled with the china and dashed into the main entry. I coughed the entire way. My throat felt as if it was ripped into ribbons of raw skin.
“We have to—”
Kyle’s words were drowned out by a loud crack and the groan of metal against metal.
“What’s … what’s that?” I glanced back. There wasn’t anything behind us.
Chauncey looked up and howled.
I followed his gaze. The massive chandelier swung back and forth like someone had given it a shove.
Snap.
One of the cords broke free, and the light fixture dropped a few feet. Hundreds of cobwebbed crystals danced and tinkled.
“I think it’s going to fall,” Kyle screamed.
I gave Chauncey a shove, grabbed Kyle’s arm, and dragged us toward the front door.
The Shattered Seam (Seam Stalkers Book 1) Page 18