Page 80 of Dead Serious Case 5 Madame Vivienne

I nod.

Evangeline sighs sadly. “Don’t get me wrong. Aunt Cordelia was dangerous and powerful, but there was always a part of me that believed she deserved better than the way she was treated. Grandfather had her committed out of pure spite. Even knowing its dreadful reputation, he still sent his daughter to that place. My mother and uncle tried to get her out of that hellhole so many times, but it wasn’t until Grandfather died that they were able to.”

“Christ.” I shake my head. “I can’t imagine what she went through in there.”

“I don’t know all the details, but I heard rumors that she wasn’t the only female patient to become pregnant while under the… supervision of a certain doctor.”

I swallow, feeling a little sick at the implication.

“I’m telling you this so you can understand her state of mind when they finally brought her home. You’d assume she’d be broken or damaged, but…”

“But?”

“They could see how dangerous she’d become,” Evangeline says quietly. “She was done being abused by the men in her life. She wanted power, and she used what she’d learned from Lala Khal to get it.”

“That was the village in India that she stole the book of magic from, wasn’t it?”

“You have a good memory.” She nods in approval. “Yes. As soon as she was free, she retrieved the book from where she’d hidden it and, determined never again to suffer at the hands of another, she raised a demon. I won’t speak its name because it listens, even now. It stirs from its sleep, not quite fully awake but conscious enough to whisper through the bars of its cage.”

“Well that’s… fairly terrifying. No wonder Viv didn’t want to be here.”

“Aunt Cordelia was clever enough to raise the demon but keep it on a tight leash. It answered to her alone. I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies. A demon raised without any restrictions placed on it cannot be contained and cannot be stopped.”

“But she didn’t do that?”

“No, she bound it in servitude to her, set it loose at her bidding. That was a dark period for Whitechapel. There were a lot of murders, starting with the doctor at the asylum.”

“Holy shit,” I gasp. “She actually set a demon loose?”

Evangeline nods. “My mother knew she had to do something. Not many people know how gifted she was. While she didn’t practice witchcraft, she was every bit as powerful as her sister. So the two of them—Uncle Cornelius and Mother—hatched a plan. They lured the demon and Cordelia here, where Mothertrapped it in a devil’s trap beneath the bookshop. She bound it and sealed it, knowing it could only be unlocked by her blood. Uncle Cornelius took the book that Aunt Cordelia had originally stolen from Lala Khal.”

“What did he do with it?” I frown.

She shakes her head. “I don’t know.”

“And what happened to Cordelia?”

“That I don’t know either,” Evangeline continues. “She escaped that night. What happened to her afterwards, I cannot say. But the magic she used to bind the demon to her would also remain true to anyone descended from her bloodline.”

“Hang on.” I frown. “Let me get this straight. Only someone descended from Constance can open the demon trap and only someone descended from Cordelia can control the demon?”

“Yes.”

“Fucking hell, Evangeline.” I close my eyes and sigh. “Your bloody family.” I shake my head.

“I know,” she says miserably. “Why do you think we don’t like to talk about it? For generations, we have been held captive, bound to this dark legacy. Mother knew she was sentencing all of us who came after her to a life of guarding the trap. We couldn’t leave this place and we couldn’t pass the responsibility to another. Why do you think Vivienne was so unhappy?”

“I never really thought about it like that,” I say quietly.

“It was always hard for Vivienne. As a young child, she was such a wild, free spirit. She wanted to travel the world, but she was trapped here like all of us were. Only it cost her her child too.”

“She gave him up.”

“Yes, she did,” Evangeline murmurs. “She wanted to spare him the same prison she couldn’t ever escape. I think if she could’ve, she’d have burned this place to the ground.”

“Why didn’t she?”

“Magic.” Evangeline gives a dainty little snort. “It’s protected by magic.”