Little did Gabriel realize he was about to face an endless night.
•
Gabriel knew something was amiss the moment he pulled his phaeton into the chateau’s driveway. The first hint was a small carriage parked in the shadows.
Was Sybil entertaining one of her beaus? An exasperated curse exploded from his lips. As of late, she’d brought lovers into their house during his absences – something that angered him beyond rational thought. Not because of shame or pride, though he was a prideful man to say the least – but because of Lisette.
At Gabriel’s appearance, the carriage’s tethered mare snorted and pawed at the cobblestones. The lanterns, which dangled from the entryway, had burnt out, sentencing the world to ominous darkness. Dawn was still two hours off, and stars beaded the horizon in artful clusters. Their collective glows helped illuminate the pathway and escort Gabriel’s steps. He leapt down from the box seat, patted the mare’s smooth side, and headed straight for the chateau’s looming door.
Unlocked. With mounting unease, he strode across the marbled threshold and into the foyer. He passed through the drawing room, passed the parlor, passed the kitchens, which were still toasty from the evening’s late supper, passed the soundproof, felt-covered door that led to the servants’ quarters …
With each step, his unease expanded. Palm curved over his dirk’s hilt, he raced up the spiral stairwell at a quickened stride. Overhead, the chandelier was as black as the surrounding night. Sconces flickered against the smooth, plastered walls, casting eerie shadows. Each step creaked beneath the weight of his body, betraying his will to be silent. After what felt like an eternity, he reached the top of the landing. Like vaults into hell, the hallways stretched out before him – expanding into a black abyss. He passed countless rooms before reaching his daughter’s bedchamber.
His eyes ran over the unmade coverlet … the pull toys, which were recklessly strewn about the rug. The chamber was empty and deathly still. Lisette was nowhere to be found. Gabriel’s heart sank into his chest. He took in the ruffled bed sheet and her beloved gilded music box. Then he continued his quest at a spry pace, whispering her name into the shadows. Tracking through the hallways once more, he soon reached the master bedchamber. Gabriel nudged the partially closed door and eased inside.
What he found knocked the air from his lungs. His wife’s half-naked body was sprawled across the mattress, her throat cleanly slit from ear to ear. A ring of blood encircled her throat like a macabre ruby necklace. The hearth burned low as its logs popped and darkened. Gabriel rushed to her side. Tears pierced his eyes and rage boiled within. He clutched her pale hand, brought it to his lips, and whispered a stammered apology against her ice-cold knuckles. As usual, she wore no wedding ring – and Gabriel forgave her. Non, he hadn’t loved her – and she’d rather despised him. Aside from proper bloodlines, they’d had little in common. Sybil had been spoiled, worlds more fickle than himself, and painfully unaffectionate – but she’d been the mother to his little girl and undeserving of such a twisted fate. Mon Dieu. He should have been here. As her husband, it was his duty to protect her.
This is my own fault. This is my doing.
He yearned to reverse time, to undo those hours he’d wasted away with the bottle, to give her a second chance at life and love. And whoever had done this to her – he would suffer greatly. The culprit would pay in blood and tears and fire.
Blood streamed down her neck as he elevated her face from the mattress. Those sightless eyes stared forward, perceiving only darkness. Brushing away a raven lock, he stammered in a wrenched sob, “Sybil … I’m so sorry. It should have been me.”
“Papa! Papa! Oh, Papa, please! I’m frightened!”
“Lisette?” He delicately laid Sybil’s body back onto the mattress and pursued his daughter’s voice. “Where are you?”
“Over here!”
Gabriel glanced over his shoulder, checking the threshold. It was empty beyond the bedchamber – but whoever did this could very well be lurking nearby. “Shh. Not too loud, chérie, not too loud.”
Gabriel found her hiding behind the chaise. Both arms were wrapped around her upright legs, and tears streaked her cheeks. He dropped to his knees and outstretched both arms. She crawled into his embrace and melted against him.
Attempting to soothe her, Gabriel stroked her long raven locks as she spoke between sobs. “Oh, Papa! I heard n-noises … bangs … so … so I came to see Maman … a m-man was leaving-g … so I h-hid and w-waited …” Gabriel scanned the chamber and discovered that many valuables were indeed missing.
Holding her against the security of his chest, he closed both eyes and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Smart, sweet girl. I’m very proud of you. So very proud. That was wise of you. You’re braver than any warrior or knight.” The words seemed to have a calming effect, and her labored breathing gradually slowed. Gabriel massaged the small length of her back and held her soundly. “I love you, my Lisette. I love you with all my heart and soul.” He lifted her chin with two fingertips. “Do you know that?”
She surrendered to a deep sniffle and nodded. Then the tears ran anew and coated her pale cheeks. Her voice emerged between choked intakes of air. “Why would he do that to Maman? It … it’s not fair …”
Gabriel found himself asking the same question. Before he could attempt an explanation, the sound of approaching footsteps ensnared his attention. He jerked his neck in the direction of the sound and urged Lisette behind the chaise again.
“Papa, don’t leave me! Please! I’m scared!” Gabriel pressed an index finger to her lips, silencing the words.
“I shall never, ever leave you. Never again.” His voice was a strained whisper and barely audible above the crackling hearth. “But you must stay here. Stay here and don’t speak another word. Do you understand me?” She was still crying heavily, her entire body wracked in a twisted mass of heart-wrenching sobs. Gabriel grasped her shoulders and stared into her glassy eyes. “You need to try to calm down, ma chérie. Everything shall be all right. I’m here. But we need to work together.”
“Yes, Papa … I-I’ll try.”
“Can you take a nice big breath for me?” She inhaled a long breath and then blew the air out. “Again?” She did as ordered, successfully calming herself.
The footsteps stilled outside the bedchamber. Gabriel signaled his daughter to remain silent. Then he clambered onto his feet just as a man entered the room. Gabriel’s blood drew ice-cold.
He recognized his wife’s murderer.
He was quite young, bearing features that might be described as sheepish at first glance. Etienne came from a decent bloodline, Gabriel recalled, and had gambled away the majority of his inheritance. He played deep, thieved deeper yet, and was a notorious cheat.
Rumor held that his father had been threatening to cut the financial umbilical cord as of late, leaving him destitute and alone. It seemed he’d found an easy fortune in Sybil’s fickle nature. And now he was preying on a vulnerable family. To hell if Gabriel would allow such a thing.
Etienne gave a nervous laugh and eyed Gabriel’s predatory stance. Beneath this light, he looked like a little boy – genuinely taken off guard and out of his element. A knife was clutched in his palm, its blade shimmering with blood. Sybil’s blood. Shielding Lisette’s body from view, Gabriel waited as Etienne eased farther into the room.
“Home so soon?” Etienne asked with unmasked surprise. “I have to say – it’s rather unlike you.”
“I shall kill you for this.” Fury unlike he’d ever known ignited his mind, body, and soul in a fierce blaze. Gabriel’s hands shook from the sheer force of it. He could barely bring himself to speak. Shades of red flashed before his eyes in a seductive tango.
Etienne hovered over Sybil’s slain body, gazing down with mixed emotions on his face. Sweat gathered around his collar, soaking the material through.
“You hear me?” Gabriel repeated, slinking toward the large sleigh bed.
Anot
her nervous laugh – more strained than the one before. Etienne reached down and ran a finger over Sybil’s cheek. Gabriel’s pulse hammered in his ears until he heard nothing else. Insatiable bloodlust coursed through his veins with a blinding intensity. His fury reached a boiling point and set his blood ablaze. “We were both using each other. That’s the truth of it.”
Gabriel clenched and unclenched his fists. He would kill this man with his bare hands. He’d relish feeling the last breath slip from his lungs. Indeed, Napoleon’s entire army couldn’t save Etienne.
Gabriel continued to ease forward, giddy from the mounting anticipation and rage. It seemed as though he’d prepared for this moment his entire life, and in many ways he had. Like many boys born into a noble lineage, he’d attended Paris’s Royal Military Academy at a young age.
Inside he was fuming. Wildfire filled his mind, body, and soul. But his voice never betrayed his outward composure. His tone remained as smooth as silk and colder than ice. “If you think you shall walk away from this, then you are as stupid as you are foolish.”
Etienne turned to him, a grim smile plastered to his thin lips. He glanced away as something flickered in his stare – though Gabriel couldn’t say what. Then he turned back to Sybil with a dejected sigh and closed her eyes with the heel of his palm. “My father says I’m foolish and stupid. Says I’m no good – that I’d waste away my inheritance without a second thought.” He pushed up his left sleeve and exposed his lower arm. Burn marks wrapped his flesh like so many brands. The skin was angry and welted, raised from the rest of his arm like some twisted mountain range. Gabriel felt nothing but seething hatred. It surged through his veins, consuming him from the inside out. “Father would heat the poker in the fireplace until it glowed red. Then he’d tie my hands behind my back with his belt and lower the metal to my skin. Each time I screamed, I’d earn another brand. I would bite my tongue to keep from crying out … I’d bite down till the metallic flavor of blood overflowed my jaws. Even now I can taste it.” His lips twisted into the semblance of a smile. “It became our nightly bonding time. See, I was a very mischievous little boy.” He gazed at the blazing hearth from the corner of his eye. “Sybil fancied the scars. Always insisted on lighting that thing, too …”
Gabriel took several more steps until they stood no more than three meters apart. His dirk’s hilt called out to him, whispering his name, promising vengeance. He grazed the gilded handle, trying to appear inconspicuous. He prayed Lisette was not peering beneath the chaise – that she’d not witness the blood her father was about to shed. Then he glanced downward and gestured to Etienne’s burns. “Your father is right in that. You are a fool. And you shall know true pain after I’m done with you.”
Etienne smoothed down his sleeve and gave another pointed look – this one longer than the last. “Now who’s the fool?”
Everything seemed to happen simultaneously. Lisette’s scream pierced the air. Gabriel spun on his heels, the dirk momentarily forgotten. Behind him was a second man – one he’d never seen before now. His fingers were coiled in Lisette’s hair and a knife was aligned to her throat. Tears streaked his daughter’s cheeks in thick streams, and Gabriel grew dizzy with despair.
There were two men. Etienne had merely been distracting Gabriel.
The newest arrival shared many of Etienne’s features: a reed-thin nose, light green eyes, a swarm of brown curls, and an identical complexion. He knew without being told that this was Etienne’s younger brother.
“Frederick,” Etienne murmured, “took you long enough.”
“Easy now. I only got so many hands. I was busy loadin’ the carriage.” Lisette gave a sharp cry as he tugged on her hair, pulling her flush against him. Tears coating her cheeks, she squirmed and reached above her head in an attempt to loosen the hold. Frederick responded by increasing the pressure of his grasp. Gesturing to Gabriel with a nod, he continued speaking, “Told you we shouldn’t have left the damned pistols behind.”
Etienne’s lips curved. “Odds are two against one. As a fellow gambler, you ought to know they’re undoubtedly in our favor.”
Eyeing his daughter, Gabriel raised both palms in surrender and inched nearer to Frederick. “Take what you like. Kill me. Do what you will. Just let my daughter go. Please.”
“Tut-tut. Not another step.”
Pulse racing, Gabriel obeyed the harsh command. “Let her go, and I won’t breathe a word to the authorities. In the Lord’s name, I give you my word.”
A low, haunting chuckle radiated behind Gabriel. “That’s mighty rich of you,” Etienne snickered. “Unfortunately, it won’t cut it. Sybil told me you’re godless. ‘One of your many deficits,’ she loved to claim.”
“And you – you believe in God?” Gabriel spat between clenched jaws. “Then know this – you’re destined to burn in hell.”
Frederick cut in, “I suppose we can make a bit of a deal. Help my brother and I finish what we’ve started, and the little bitch goes free.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Now, your wife’s finest jewels – where are they hidin’? Your money, too – show me where you stash it.”
Gabriel paced across the room. He felt the burn of Etienne’s and Frederick’s eyes on him at every step. He didn’t trust them at all but would humor them for the moment. Indeed, he’d oblige their requests and strike when the opportunity presented itself. “We keep the safe up here – on the bureau.” Struggling to keep his steps steady and inconspicuous, he wandered over to the towering piece of furniture. He reached above his head – feeling for his loaded flintlock pistol and ammo. He’d stashed the weapon safely out of sight and reach … hiding it where Lisette could never hope to find it.
“Easy now. What you gettin’ up there?” Etienne asked.
“Like I said – this is where my wife and I hide our valuables.”
Etienne threw his brother a pointed look. “Be quick about it, then.”
Gabriel clasped onto the pistol’s handle, inhaled deeply, and counted to three. Then he spun around, aimed at Frederick’s chest, and pulled the trigger. The gunshot punctured the silence in an earsplitting roar. Lisette cried out as Frederick rolled out of harm’s way. The bullet skimmed his shoulder blade, summoning a choked sound from his throat. He vanished from sight, taking refuge behind the room’s immense furniture. Freed from the man’s arms, Lisette cried out and crawled toward Gabriel on all fours.
Not sparing a second, he reloaded the pistol, spun full circle, and aimed straight at Etienne’s chest. The pistol rang out just as Etienne knocked the firearm from his hand, sending it tumbling to the floor. Then Etienne’s dagger whizzed through the air in a deft arch and sliced through Gabriel’s shoulder. Momentarily disoriented from the flash of pain, he stumbled against a bed post. Etienne was on him without hesitation. Gabriel maneuvered out of the dagger’s reach as the weapon was rained down.
“Papa!”
Gabriel rotated toward his daughter’s voice. The brief interruption allowed a window of opportunity for Etienne’s blade. It scraped his bicep and ushered a harsh curse from his lips.
Lisette attempted to rise to her feet. Mind spinning, he shouted to her between strained breaths, “No! No, Lisette. Leave! Leave … leave the room!” Surely the servants would’ve heard the gunshot and they’d be calling for help. In the meantime, Gabriel would distract Etienne and Frederick. The odds weren’t in his favor – and he’d gladly sacrifice his own life to buy Lisette a few seconds of escape. “Hurry, Lisette. I said now!”
Never one to disobey, she stumbled toward the door. The flowing material of her skirts tripped her, sending her crashing onto the floorboards face-first. Seeing this, Gabriel cocked back his good arm and struck Etienne square in the jaw. Blood and broken teeth gushed from his mouth. Etienne rocked on his heels, dazed from the deafening blow.
Gabriel took the moment to race toward Lisette. But Frederick beat him to the chase; he emerged from wherever he’d been hiding, quick as lightning in spite of his seethin
g wound. A metallic flash shone like a beacon. He thrust his dagger in a downward arch, bloodlust etched into his face. Gabriel’s heart came to a standstill as his daughter was stabbed through the back. Buried to the hilt, the blade tore through her slender torso with ease.
In that moment, he and Lisette were connected … one and the same, kindred spirits. As he watched her spirit fade away, he felt a part of himself disappear as well. His body grew cold and numb, resembling nothing more than an empty shell.
Gabriel’s first thought: this has to be a nightmare. Surely evil didn’t run so deep. Come morning, Gabriel would amend his ways. He would be a devoted father and husband for the rest of his days. But as blood began to puddle beneath Lisette’s tiny body, Gabriel knew he wasn’t asleep.
This was reality at its darkest and most perverse. A soul-deep shudder rocked his body. She was dead. Lisette was dead.
He gripped the bed post to support his weight. Shattering tears of disbelief sprang to his eyes, blurring the world around him. The grief was unbearable. He threw his head back and screamed. The sound was twisted, primitive, and almost inhuman in its despair. Then Gabriel’s eyes rose to Etienne – who also appeared overcome with disbelief – and a singular, burning need for vengeance sang through his veins.
Everything happened at once.
Gabriel stormed over to Frederick, who was standing somewhat dazed above Lisette’s bloodied body, and punched him straight in the face. The force of the impact loosened the dagger from his hands and he crumpled to his knees. Gabriel collected it without a moment’s hesitation. Then he latched onto Frederick’s hair, pulled his head off the floor, and slit his throat in one clean slice. Blood spewed from Frederick’s mouth and neck as he garbled, coughed, and finally choked to death. All the while, Etienne loaded Gabriel’s disregarded pistol with shot.
Gabriel paced toward Etienne with steady, measured steps. Etienne fumbled his handiwork – clueless on how to properly load a pistol. His hands shook and sweat dribbled from his brow.
Finding Gabriel Page 20