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‘Well, I’m impressed,’ Rhodes chimed in, interrupting the moment with his bright smiles and giddy attitude. ‘But maybe we should table this conversation for after we torture the serial killer, yeah?’

Then Morty produced a key, seemingly out of thin air, and unlocked the door.

Immediately, we were assaulted by the screams and shouts of a rabid Blake, but any satisfaction I felt from it was dimmed by the accompanying whimper of fear. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrified the woman must have been. Not only was she trapped down there with a serial killer, but she was surrounded by ghosts that she didn’t know weren’t there to hurt her.

‘Morty, can you get her out, please?’

He grunted his agreement, shot down the stairs, and a second later, the woman appeared at the bottom. She was trembling so hard her knees were knocking together, and she struggled to find purchase on the railing to help her climb the stairs. Morty, seeing the look in my eyes, rolled his before gently lifting the poor woman into his arms. She screamed, and I didn’t blame her, because some invisible dude was hauling her around, but she soon quieted down when she realised we weren’t going to hurt her. Morty placed her just outside the front door, gave her a gentle but insistent nudge, and then promptly ignored her.

She didn’t immediately run away. Instead, she seemed to find her backbone and straightened her spine, her eyes searching for what she wouldn’t find. She came to the right conclusion, however, because she threw out a shaky thank you, and finally stumbled down the driveway and away from the place that had become her own personal hell.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, enough light streamed through to highlight the glorious sight of Blake shackled to the bed, just like I had been. Just like Bianca, and Chance, and all the others before us. His hands were bound so tightly I could already see the way his hands had turned purple, the circulation cut off enough to cause damage on its own without any interference from us. Perfect.

His lip was split with blood smeared across his cheek, and one look at Morty showed his smug expression. He flexed his fist, and I smirked. Who was I to deny him taking liberties with the piece of shit?

‘Who are you?’ Blake called out, unable to see us but determined to take back the upper hand. He always did need to be in control, and I was enjoying watching him rage at losing it. ‘Show yourself!’

‘Can we?’ I asked Morty, and he nodded.

‘I can. I don’t know about you, but you can try.’

‘How?’ I asked, excitement making me giddy. Finally, after all this time, I could force him to look me in the eyes while he realised that he’d lost.

‘Just focus on your intent. Same as everything else. The shadows will respond, or they won’t. You won’t know until you try.’

I took a deep breath and held Chance’s steady gaze. ‘Okay. Here goes…’

My shadow sprang to action as soon as I projected my thoughts. The next thing I knew, Blake choked on a gasp, his head rearing back in utter shock.

‘Kali?’

I grinned, pleased with myself. I didn’t know how long I could hold it, though, so I decided to make this part quick.

‘Hey, Blake. Thought you got rid of me, huh?’

‘I killed you,’ he stated, confused.

I nodded sagely. ‘You did. And you buried me in the backyard like a dead hamster. How… quaint.’

He flinched as I took a step closer, and I bared my teeth in a vicious grin. ‘This isn’t possible.’

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. It was a deep one from the belly, and it echoed tauntingly around the room. ‘You think you’d know better. Your own brother made a career out of it, after all.’

He snarled. ‘Fuck you, you bitch. I killed you. You can’t do anything to me.’

‘No?’ Another step closer. ‘And how did you get here, then, Blake? Chained yourself in your murder basement, did you?’

He spat, a big glob of saliva hitting me square in the face, then he reared back like he was truly terrified of something. It wasn’t hard to guess what. Both Chance and Morty had made themselves visible, and both of them wore thunderous expressions that promised pain and retribution.

‘No…’

‘Hello, brother,’ Chance spat the word out like it was poison. ‘Oh, how the tables have turned.’

Blake laughed then, the sound completely unhinged. ‘You finally got the girl, did you, Chancie? I bet you think you’ve won, but how can you win anything when you’re dead?’

Chance smiled, slow and deadly, and Blake’s mirth died down to nothing.

‘I think you’ve already figured out the answer to that question, you worthless waste of space.’