Page 34

Kali

M orty was pacing impatiently in front of the house when we arrived.

‘Finally,’ he snipped, then waved offhandedly towards the house. ‘I tied him up so he wouldn’t touch the woman.’

‘Oh, shit. I forgot about her,’ I said sheepishly. ‘We need to let her go before we start. She doesn’t need to see what’s about to happen.’

‘I love this whole bloodthirsty but moral thing you’ve got going on,’ Rhodes said, completely serious. ‘It’s fucking turning me on.’

I laughed.

‘Okay, Loverboy. Save it for after,’ Chance teased, shoving the younger man in jest.

‘Okay, okay. Sheesh.’

Morty turned on his heels and stormed back inside the cabin, and I followed close behind. Chance and Rhodes ribbed each other for another minute before also following, the mood quickly turning far too sombre for jokes.

When I phased through the door, the first thing I noticed was that the bookshelf blocking the door to the basement was still in the way.

So, with a mixture of eagerness and trepidation, I sent out my shadows to see if I could pull it away.

At first, they simply moved through it like anything else, but then they caught on.

I let out a slow breath, concentrating on what I needed to do next.

I had practised a little with Morty, but only small things.

A stick. A rock. A patch of grass. Nothing this large.

‘You’ve got this,’ Chance said, stepping up beside me and sending out his own shadows to assist. Together, we were able to make headway.

It was a slow, arduous process, but I was proud of what we were accomplishing.

Up until Morty flickered into existence in front of us, impatience twisting his features into a scowl, and moved the thing the rest of the way like it weighed little more than a feather.

‘You bastard,’ I snarled. ‘I had it.’

He seemed to realise his mistake, and his entire demeanour softened. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I know you had it. Next time, I won’t interfere.’

His apology blew the hot air right out of my sails, and my anger deflated. ‘It’s fine. Thank you for finishing the job. It was taking a while.’

‘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.’

Blake sniffed and turned his face to the wall.

‘Get on with it, then. Whatever you want to do. Kill me, if you must. I’m not afraid of death.

Clearly, it will only give me the freedom to hunt you down once again.

’ He turned back to face us, a creepy grin splitting his face.

It was like a mockery of everything he had done to make himself appear the perfect man.

The doting husband. The attractive doctor.

All of it boiled down to this one moment where his mask was finally off, and he was ugly.

‘I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. I’m going to make you wish you’d never crossed me. You’ll always be looking over your shoulder, because you’ll never be rid of me.’

Morty snorted. ‘Please. I’m going to enjoy devouring your rotting soul. It might be the most revolting soul I’ll consume, but the power you’ll give me?’ He chuckled. ‘I can’t fucking wait.’

‘Who the fuck are you?’ Blake asked, apparently only now noticing him for the first time.

‘To a pathetic worm like you? Your worst fucking nightmare. You think you’re so big and strong because you played god while you were alive? Well, guess what. When you’re dead, I’m the beast you need to watch out for.

After his speech, I couldn’t hold onto the energy anymore, and it snapped back into place, removing me from Blake’s sight. Chance followed quickly after, and after one last look filled with all the dark promises, Morty released his hold on the living realm, too.

‘Okay, this is kind of fun to watch,’ Rhodes said. ‘I mean, I know I don’t have a real stake in this, but I’m kinda turned on. Can you make him bleed now?’

I shot him an incredulous look, Chance laughed, and Morty ignored him like he wasn’t even in the room.

‘Okay, okay. I’ll shut up and enjoy the show. Continue.’

‘I didn’t realise you were so… dark,’ I commented lamely.

‘There’s a lot you still get to learn about me, baby. I’m full of surprises.’

‘I don’t fucking doubt it,’ Chance muttered, waved for me to get on with whatever it was I wanted to do to the man that had hurt me so irreparably.

I grinned, my fingers twitching with anticipation as I studied the tools hung on the wall. I picked up Blake’s personal favourite, and my grin widened alongside his eyes. He was finally realising what was happening here, that he no longer held any power.

That we’d won, and he’d lost, and now he was about to pay for his sins.

I breathed my first real breath in so long at the first sound of his screams, peace filling me up, smoothing out all the jagged edges his torment had caused.

And with the help of the three men who had come to mean so much to me, who had formed this beautiful, fucked up little family, we slowly cut the cord on Blake Dodd’s life.

His spirit rose above his body like an avenging angel. He didn’t wait to lunge at us, but a deep growl pierced the air, and it didn’t come from any of us.

We all turned to face the open door, and the sight we were greeted with was terrifying in ways I never could have imagined. Three beasts the size of horses stalked down the concrete steps, one after the other, lips pulled back in a feral snarl that revealed row after row of jagged, yellowed teeth.

But that wasn’t what scared me the most.

I stumbled back into Chance, who then fell into Morty, dragging Rhodes with us as we scampered to get away from the searing flames. Because these beasts didn’t have fur. No, they were made directly from the pits of hell, the fire so hot I whimpered in pain despite the distance.

But they weren’t looking at us.

Their hungry, red, glowing eyes were latched firmly onto Blake’s spirit, who was now trembling above his body. He tried to pull away, but he was just as stuck as the rest of us were, his spirit still attached to his bones. He couldn’t run even if he’d tried.

The beasts stalked closer, their heat so strong I feared I would combust just from looking upon them, but it was like we weren’t even there.

Then, as one, they lunged at Blake, teeth tearing into his skin and snapping bone.

We all heard it when they forcefully tore apart the tether that connected him to his body, and then they were dragging him up the stairs, taking turns ripping off chunks of his flesh.

And arm here, and hand there. They shredded him as they ran.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Just when I thought they would disappear, Blake’s agonised screams fading into the distance, they turned around and pinned us with a look that shook me to my fucking core.

There was an intelligence there that told me coming across these beasts again would not be in our favour.

They were letting us go. They had caught their prey, and they had no need for us.

Finally, fucking finally, they released us from the prison of their hellish eyes, and bounded away on long legs tipped in deadly claws.

‘What. The. Fuck?’

Rhodes. Of course, it was Rhodes who would pluck up enough courage to speak first.

With a sob stuck in my throat, I whipped around to throw my arms around his neck, only to freeze, fear stabbing through me in a way it never had before, not even when Blake had tortured me. Not even when he delivered the final killing blow.

‘What?’ Rhodes asked, his eyes wide with panic. ‘What is it? Kali, baby, you’re freaking me out.’

I couldn’t speak. My throat was too constricted with fear for any noise to escape. Instead, I lifted a shaking finger and pointed at his eyes.

His red, glowing eyes.

Morty, ever the eloquent one, broke the silence this time.

‘Well, I guess that answers that question.’