It had all been a sham that I had swallowed, hook, line, and sinker created by two women who should have loved me.
Katelin just wanted to see my horror, my abject terror, when Moli realized what she had done as a vampire.
I placed Moli’s blanket-wrapped body in the middle of the cabin.
All around me, death reigned. The room stank of blood and death. It was hot in the cabin, and the corpses stunk. They leaked blood and shit everywhere. Flies crawled on everything, making the smell even worse.
This was the cabin where Moli had murdered the woman.
And, her husband.
And, all of their children.
Moli had drunk their blood and painted the walls with their terror.
I reinforced the sleep geas that I had placed on her.
If Moli saw this, she would go mad.
Fighting not to gag, I found a dress to put on. It was too big, but it was better than being naked. Then, I removed the bodies, hiding them in the barn.
There was too much blood to clean it all up.
What was I going to do?
Moli had her soul back, but was that really better? She would remember the death of those children, and possibly a lot of others when she woke up.
It would destroy her.
I didn’t know how to get her through this. Moli had probably been a vampire for a while now. This wasn’t the first time that she had murdered whole families. Usually, a master vampire would have kept her killing in check.
Katelin hadn’t wanted that, nor had Mother. They both wanted me to twist in the wind for different reasons.
Her vampire Master’s bond had been a sham. Katelin had made sure that Moli had run free, killing and slaughtering everyone around her.
The smell of blood was thick in the cabin, and I was so tired.
- 29 -
We spent the day in the cabin.
I kept Moli asleep.
But, that meant, not sleeping myself.
It was a long and terrible day. The flies wouldn’t leave, no matter how much I cleaned, so finally, I just tried to ignore them.
But, the smell pervaded everything. That dark, ripe stink of death made me want to gag and vomit all day long.
And, I knew that the night would be even worse. Once I woke up Moli, she would begin to scream and moan in tormented agony, all over again.
When the sunlight left the world, I picked up Moli and took her away from the cabin, but not before I burned it, and the barn, to the ground.
It would destroy Moli if one of her victims rose from the dead, as a vampire, like her.
I took off, flying for miles before I landed in a new clearing. The moonlight felt reassuring. It was almost like I could feel the Dragon of the Dark Moon watching over us. I prayed that she would help us.
“Guide me on my quest,” I whispered to her, praying that she heard me and approved of what I was about to do.
Lexi only had two days left.
Katelin’s laughter rattled through my head again. She knew that Lexi was scheduled for death. Hell, Mother had probably told her about that swell plan as well. My new life was one big shit show because of Maxwell’s fuck-ups in the past.
Delaying me like this would be a wonderful treat to both of them. Mother would love it if I arrived too late. Killing her grandchild would be a wonderful gift to both of them.
I couldn’t waste much more time if I was going to save Lexi.
But it was Moli. I had to try.
Holding her in my claws, I wrapped my body around Moli, protecting her body while I sent my mind into hers.
--M--
Darkness covered the sky in Moli’s mind.
I was standing in a lake of blood that rose up to my knees. It was warm and fresh. I could smell the coppery taste in my mouth.
I gagged twice before I got a grip on myself. Everything stank so bad that throwing up forever wouldn’t help. I had to purge this infection from her mind.
In front of me, about forty feet away was a small island of bones. It rose up out of the water like an unholy dedication to death.
And, sitting on the top of it was Moli.
I could hear her crying and sobbing uncontrollably.
The hill reminded me of Devonika’s stack of bones in the dark forest where she had awakened as a succubus… except Moli knew every skulls name.
Most of them, she had personally murdered. That was how she thought of her time as a vampire. Murder. Not feeding.
Murder.
Other skulls came from Leshrek’s capital, Casrenth, which together, Maxwell, Darla, and Moli had destroyed it. They had buried the capital under a wave of water, drowning its inhabitants, and the royal family who controlled the country. If they hadn’t done it, Nagon would have fallen to the foreign invaders.
But, Moli still saw it as murder.
I took a step forward, making a splash, and a ripple in the water. Moli sat up in an eyeblink. Like a spider in the center of her web, she felt my presence.
Except, I was still conflicted on who and what I was.
Maxwell’s body.
I was still visualizing myself as him, as male, and not who and what I was becoming.
Fuck.
Moli screamed.
Her roar flowed over me, like the howl of a banshee. The winds increased, as Moli tried to force him… Maxwell, out of her mind.
I took another step forward, and then another, determined to save her. Just trying wasn’t enough. I had to win.
Marcellina needed to win.
The wind tore at me, ripping pieces of my old self away, revealing the woman who now lived beneath his exterior. Each step caused Maxwell’s representation of my inner self to break off. I felt like a statue, buried inside a lump of limestone.
Moli was the hammer and the chisel, cutting away what didn’t belong.
I forced myself forward.
Moli was in agony.
It wasn’t just wind that assaulted me, ripping off pieces of him.
It was memories.
Hurtful, terrible recollections of when her soul had been separated from her body. Moli’s soul was the part of her that cared about others, the part that emphasized with good, and the light. Without her soul, she had been an unthinking, uncaring savage that revealed in death and bloodshed.
She had been like Rose, stripped of her ability to care about other people. Moli had been a newborn vampire, uncontrolled by a Master; set out into the world to feast and kill in a murderous rampage.
By Katelin and Mother.
I didn’t think it was possible to hate my ex-wife… Maxwell’s ex-wife… even more, or his Mother.
I had all of Maxwell’s memories, but it felt like I had read them in a book.
He wasn’t me.
I was the woman who was born when I accept a dragon spirit into my soul. I had been reborn when he ran away.
Coward.
It was a fitting epitome for Maxwell. His go-to reaction when life got too hard was to run away from confrontation, from emotions… from himself.
Moli’s memories of feasting on children poured out of her. She hated herself for what she had done when she wasn’t herself.
Whole families died under her fangs and claws.
She had bathed in blood, and now she didn’t know how to accept responsibility for those deaths. They tormented her. Those memories tore at the good woman living inside her soul. Moli was horrified and repelled at what she had done.
And, worst of all, she remembered how freeing it felt to be a savage. Moral compasses were a heavy burden.
Being free, to do what, and who she wanted, was liberating.
Moli was always in control because she had to be. The monster that she had swallowed when she had made her bargain to gain power wanted to rip and destroy everything that bothered it.
The burden of controlling the spirit, of trying to wield its power for good, had been terrifying.
Would she wake up at night, encircled by her dead childre
n, killed by the monster within her?
“It is gone,” I whispered to the wind, as I took two more steps forward.
“But, the vampire remains,” she howled back. “And it… will never leave…”
I could see the skulls clearly now.
The pile had to be at least fifteen feet high.
And, the blood was rising.
It was three dreadful steps left, to reach the skulls.
There wasn’t much of Maxwell left.
Leaving him behind was a horrific decision. It meant that any new fuck-ups were on my head. I wouldn’t be able to blame him and not take responsibility.
The last family that had died… was my fault. I hadn’t made sure that she wouldn’t feed or do anything without my permission. I had let her run free.
And… that was on me.
The vampire within her wasn’t done killing, and Moli knew it.
I felt her dreaming of the sun. Its cleansing rays would wipe the monster away, protecting the world from its bloodthirsty hunger.
I took another step. Letting Moli walk into the sun wasn’t alright with me. Because of Maxwell’s memories, I remembered… and felt… his love for her. It permeated my skin and soul.
I let the final pieces of Maxwell fall away so that the woman that I had become stood before Moli, covered in the blood that I had spilled when I was Maxwell.
The vampire would have liked him.
Maxwell was bloodthirsty and prone to genocide. He, not I, had burned the city of Icehold to the ground, ripping it apart with explosives. Maxwell had also destroyed Leshrek’s capital, killing innocents in his goal of protecting his wives. I understood that need.
Women are the most magnificent predator when protecting their mate and their children. Nothing will stop them. Not laws, obstacles, or people.
But, that didn’t mean that revenge and genocide were acceptable solutions.
I let Maxwell’s crimes fall away from my soul.
It allowed me to reach up and begin to climb the hill.
I was covered in his spilled blood.
And, the vampire was always hungry.
I felt its unholy need--its bloodlust--and desire to taste its victims… fear.
Moli remembered eating fear.
It was delicious.
Seeing the terror in her victim’s eyes was a headrush of emotions.
The savage in her loved that feeling… of power and control.
She hated that she loved it. That a murderer lived within her breast.
- 30 -
I called out to Moli. “I am coming for you. I will not leave you in this evil place.”
Her terror increased.
If I touched her, I would control Moli forever.
I could make her do terrible things, and she would… revel in the bloodshed. I could make her my weapon so that I could retake the Throne of Nagon. She would rip my Mother apart, and anyone else who stood between me and what was mine by blood.
The vampire would dive deep into the bloodbath and slaughter everyone who stood against her. It could never spill enough blood, and its hunger was unquenchable.
Moli would be in torment forever. She would always desire blood and fear.
I climbed a little higher.
I could almost touch one of her toes.
Moli felt how near I was and panicked. She sent her most hateful memories pouring into my mind.
She showed me her… and Aric.
They were in bed together, and Moli wasn’t in charge. She hated that. He had taken her control away, but not because Aric wanted to cherish her.
Aric used her.
He took what he wanted and didn’t care what made her happy.
But--God love her--she loved him without end or reason. Aric did terrible things to Moli, but, in the morning, he would woo her again.
And, a part of her had loved it.
He took her control away. She just wished that he would cherish her and protect her when he did it. He enjoyed beating his wife, knowing that she would heal completely by morning. Their lovemaking involved belts, manacles, and locks. Every hurtful, degrading, sexual fetish filled his mind and his thoughts.
Aric loved making her cry. It was a rush.
And, the bastard had given her six children.
She showed me each and every time that he got her pregnant. The ropes, the whips… everything.
I shivered, horrified at how many times he had cut her… and how deeply. This wasn’t love, it was sadism.
Moli slammed a vision of my daughter… Maxwell’s daughter, I insisted... at me.
She showed me how it felt to carry her inside her stomach. Every little kick and all the feelings of love. Then, she shared with me, graphically, how it felt when she miscarried. Moli poured her anguish, her guilt, and her hatred of life at me, as she raged against the injustice of it all.
But…
I wasn’t Maxwell.
And… Aric was only the name of his best friend and the man who had betrayed him.
It wasn’t personal to me.
I was Marcellina… Not Maxwell.
My name wrapped around me like a flower opening to the sun for the first time. Before, I had called myself Marcellina, but now… I felt alive for the first time.
My new name meant war-like in the old tongue.
But not savage, unthinkable war.
Instead, it meant a war to defend what was right and just. A fight to protect the innocent from the savages.
It meant honor and justice.
As each thought filled me, I let them pour out over Moli. Showing her that I was strong enough to protect her from herself.
My left hand touched her ankle, and I felt her denial.
Moli still wanted to die.
She was a monster.
Nothing I showed her mattered. The sun was her enemy, and her soul was destined to burn in Hell.
“Please, Larosha,” I begged. “Help her.”
I heard the Angel whisper in my ear. “Helping her… will change everything.”
“I don’t care,” I murmured. “I will pay any price to save Moli.”
She was that important to Maxwell, and… I agreed with him.
“So be it,” the Angel decreed.
My head began to throb, as a vision poured down from Heaven, overwhelming me.
- 31 -
My vision was a world without Moli…
All of us, every living creature on the planet wonders… what would life be like, if I had never lived, or if I had just walked away from my problems?
Maxwell had discovered that his presence made things better. But, the consequences were that he had to take the good… with the bad.
Life is full of evil.
But, without it, the good means nothing.
Moli could be a force for good, in Marcellina’s life.
Or, she could just be missing from it, as if she had never existed.
I saw myself wooed by a man who convinced me that the world needed to be set on fire. Without Moli’s guidance, we killed everyone who threatened us... And, in the end... Everyone was a threat.
But, his greed--and fear--didn’t end there. Our ancestors came from the stars, and back to the stars, we took our fear. Whole worlds burned beneath our boot. The blood at our feet was miles deep and full of secrets.
My headache grew and blossomed, blotting out the sun, but the vision continued...
In a different possibility, I became worse than Mother and Grandmother. Emotions could wound and burn. So, like Rose, I walled them away. Unfettered, I again brought the world to its knees and enjoyed every last fucking minute of it.
Moli moaned, but she fought the prophecies, denying her importance in my life.
Another revelation was revealed.
It showed Lexi, now Alexis, killing me. In this possible future, my daughter was strong and had no moral compasses left in her life. Claire had been her foster mother. The demonic addiction was easy for the young girl to pick up and
carry with her. Green flames roared around her, as Claire’s emerald ring was recovered and used.
My Lady of Bones Page 10