Chapter Twenty-Five

After breaking up into groups, Bella and Edward walked toward the barn. The others remained just outside the main house in case Marcus decided to attack them. The plan to trap the old man's angry spirit centered on Bella's ability to reach out to the victims, but Reya's distraction in the house was imperative.

Jason and half of his team joined Reya in the house, standing by in case she needed assistance. Sometimes there was strength in numbers, and it was clear they were all willing to protect her. Along with the detective and Jasper, Edward believed she was in good hands.

Edward's sporadic empathetic abilities since the accident had always been something he tried to develop with little success. Now armed with the knowledge of his past lives, accessing his abilities seemed easier. He pushed away from the memories though, afraid of the pain he'd find within them. How could there not be any, considering the circumstances in those lives?

He wanted to explore his past with Bella, but at the moment he had to concentrate on a couple of angry spirits. Trying to focus on the practical part of his past lives seemed harder. He needed what he had learned over the last century and beyond. In every life, he had some form of psychic ability, from mind reading to telekinesis, though never more than one or two in one lifetime.

Bella, on the other hand, was able to bring every new ability into her next life, confirming his belief. She wasn't completely human.

"Focus, Edward." Bella's soft voice pulled him from the chaos in his mind. "I know we have a lot to discuss, but right now, I need all of you, here."

"I know, I'm sorry." It wasn't easy to shut it all out, but he would. His life wasn't only his life in danger, Bella's and everyone on the property was at risk, too. "There's so damn much in my mind. The memories of our past lives are starting to blend together."

"I know, please let me help."

He nodded, giving her the access she needed.

Bella cradled his face in her hands, asking him to close his eyes. Her soft voice helped them through a breathing exercise before she eased into his mind. His blood heated, the warmth of her touching him in such a way, made him groan aloud. Her mental fingers skimmed the memories from the surface, efficiently locking them behind a door they created together. Her eyes opened at the same time as his, her pupils glowed. "Better?"

His mind was clearer, but he still had what he needed to help over the next couple of hours without getting lost in the memories. The knowledge to strengthen his abilities and provide help remained. The clarity of his vision was unlike anything he ever experienced. He could count the number of hairs in Bella's lashes, see every goose bump covering her forearm perfectly. Was this how she saw the world? Why were his human senses heightened now?

The answer would have to wait.

"Yes, let's go."

Bella pressed her lips to his, indulging for a mere moment, long enough to enrich his blood and hers. Her small matched his and grabbed a hold of his hands to shake the tension from their limbs.

"Ready?" she asked, and at his nod, she radioed the other group. "Reya, head into the main room."

It had taken over an hour to completely clear a few rooms of the dilapidated house to ensure the safety of everyone while inside of it. Too bad they didn't have the time or the manpower to do the same in the barn. According to Riley and Jasper, however, a crew had taken down all the sharp objects, but there were still a few items inside that could be used against them.

Jasper and Detective Riley were reluctant to agree, but in the end, until Bella or Edward gave the word, no one could join them once they're inside the barn. They had the ability to phase if something came flying toward them, the others did not.

It wasn't long before they learned their plan was going as expected. Reya was working on her end with her mere presence in the house, gaining the attention of Marcus. Hopefully, Reya would keep him focused on her to allow them to bring him down a few notches, and weakening him.

"He's here, over," Riley's voice squawked over the walkie-talkie.

Bella replied, hating the cumbersome way to communicate, or how she wasn't used to working with others. "We'll give Reya a few minutes before we go inside, we need to be sure she has his full attention." She realized she forgot the rules to talking on the radios and hissed, "Over."

Edward decided to take over the device and latched it onto his belt. They had to go radio silent for the next part, hoping it would help keep Marcus clueless of the plan. If he became too aggressive with Reya, the others would radio them for help. There was safety in numbers and three sensitives were better than one.

Years of neglect left the barn condemned, the dreary, worn red paint was chipped away on the rotting wood planks. The scene looming ahead could be something pulled from someone's nightmares and would visit Edward's for the next few weeks. The dark sky appeared to suck the light from their surroundings, adding a sense of foreboding. Instincts disguised as warning bells in Edward's head only added to his fear, but he pushed it back before it had a chance to consume him.

The only source of light was the glow of the artificial variety from the pair of flashlights Edward and Bella carried. The streams of light barely penetrated the blackness surrounding them. They could scarcely see more than a few feet ahead.

The slow, ominous creek of the barn door as it swung open echoed throughout the crumbling building. A gunshot would've been quieter, but the lack of warning or reaction from Marcus indicated Reya had his undivided attention.

Edward shared a look with Bella, each of them adjusting their special cameras mounted on their clothes. He double checked the sawed-off shotgun he carried, the salt-filled cartridges it shot would help them escape if the victims decided to hurt them. It was a distinct possibility for them to lash out, even Vicky, Bella's dead best friend. After being tortured and forced to relive the horror of her death, she could be lost to her horrific memories.

They weren't taking any chances.

Edward insisted on taking the lead, slipping between the doors with Bella on his heels. They opened their minds, but it was immediately apparent they had to shut out the worst of it. The onslaught of terror from the victims was too much to handle, even for them.

"Shit," Bella hissed, swaying along Edward's side, deeply affected. He grabbed a hold of her arm before her knees buckled. Touching her boosted his mental strength, too. They awaited the initial transition together, forcing the voices to become background noise. "We need to hurry."

Edward agreed and led the way to the center of the barn. His flashlight swung right and left, settling on a huge tractor with flat tires, but thankfully the attachments were long gone. He'd seen a few horror movies and tractors were never a good thing in them.

The loft above them had a rotted-away-hole a few feet wide, giving them a view of the rafters and ceiling. Old wood creaked and groaned around them, the wind blowing through the slants and cracks, howling an eerie tune. Thick spider webs held strong against the breeze in every corner, but they had long since been abandoned. It seemed even insects and spiders knew to stay away from the area.

"Bella." Edward felt Bella's hand go slack in his. His flashlight had little impact on the darkness, but he pointed it at her, to find her eyes wide open, but an eerie pale blue film covered them as if she was blind. Cursing, he turned on his headlamp, dropped his flashlight and grabbed her arms. He hissed, but had to ignore the sting from her ice-cold skin. "Bella!"

Worried she was too cold, he held her close, for a moment her body seemed to melt against his own. Then her height started to surpass his own, his gaze eyes dipped down for a moment, long enough to see she was floating. He tried hard not to react in any way to show how freaked out he felt; his fear could be used against him.

Instead, he chose to meet her eyes, but they weren't hers. They were the old woman's, wife to Marcus, daughter to a notoriously evil man who once led a powerful mafia family. The same woman that killed her own father so she could run away with her lover. For decades she had encouraged the dark desires in Marcus and her grandson Caius, to become serial killers.

She was as dangerous as Marcus.

Bella's body was ripped out of Edward's arms, lifting high above him.

"No! Bella! Come back, baby! Wake up! Snap the fuck out of it!" He jumped up to try to capture her foot, latch on to a part of her to keep her grounded.

"You will not take him from me!" Bella screamed, but her voice was no longer her own. She sounded nothing like herself. Her lips were colorless, blending into her pale white skin. It made her hair appear ten times darker.

Why was this happening? She had once told Edward she was immune to possession, but a spirit's influence was always a possibility if she was too open. It was something she warned him about, too. Too open to the spirits and they could take advantage of a person, with everything they had learned in the last twenty-four hours, she was too vulnerable.

"She took my boy, my precious Caius, he would have been a legend if it wasn't for her!" Bella screamed, her mouth wide open in terror.

Her body hung midair as if she was held up by an invisible hand, she swung around like a rag doll, shaking in its grasp. Before she was too far up, Edward managed to grab her foot to keep her anchored to him. His voice was raw as he called out to her, but he was desperate to reach through to Bella before the old woman harmed her.

He searched his surroundings, unable to pinpoint the source of influence. Everywhere he turned there was a victim's spirit, but not the old woman. Each spirit looked the same, washed of color, under some trance, and their features were indistinct. He couldn't tell one from the other. "Where are you, bitch?"

"Edward," Bella whispered, her own eyes blinking into focus, but she gasped and fell under the influence of a spirit again.

A victim only a few feet away fell to her knees, gasping as if she needed to breathe. The grayish color of her skin seemed to warm and color before him, her hair turning to a fiery red – Vicky.

Edward didn't dare leave Bella, fighting to keep his hand wrapped around her ankle. "Help me, Vicky," he murmured, watching as the other victims started to slowly come out of the trance holding them captive. "Help us, please."

Vicky closed her eyes, whispering something he couldn't hear, but the impact of her words seemed profound as the other victims started to join her. It wasn't long before he realized they were singing the song Marcus and Caius had played as they killed their victims, killed them.

They were retaliating, and the old woman's influence on Bella started to weaken. Edward gently pulled on her leg, calling out her name, anything to help bring her back to him and lend her his strength. The moment he had her fully in her arms, she screamed in agony, but her eyes were once again her own.

"Come here, Giana!" Bella's lip curled into a snarl, turning his hold to face forward. "Stay close," she whispered to him. The victims continued to sing, encouraged by Bella as she joined every other verse while they searched for the spirit in question. "I have a message for you from your father."

A dark corner to their right admitted the highest concentration of malevolence, Giana Valentine aka Athena Lexington appeared, looking much younger and nothing like the old woman they'd seen on a few occasions. Her hair instead of a shocking white was black, so dark it was indistinguishable against the blackness closing in on them.

"Giana," the spirit whispered, a cruel smile on her blood red lips. "I haven't heard that name in years. It will not be long before everyone knows it, our names, mine, Caius, and my husband, we will be revered by countless others."

"The family that kills together, dies together." Bella inched closer to the malevolent spirit.

Giana threw her head back, laughing at Bella's words. The sound sending icy fingers of dread across their skin. Her dark hair flew around her, each tendril aware and capable of inflicting pain.

Edward grabbed a hold of Bella's belt along the small of her back, keeping her tethered to him. Just in case.

"Is that what you think, child?" Giana walked toward the right, but Bella was there to stop her with a satisfied smile on her lips. The spirit quirked a slim brow. "What do you think you can do to me?"

"She can send you to hell," Vicky hissed suddenly, in Giana's face for an instant and in next continued the song with the others. The spirits of the victims closed in behind Edward, and for the first time, Giana was afraid.

"Edward," Bella whispered, holding out her hand for his. He squeezed it and knew exactly what needed to happen next, communicated through the connection by Bella.

Together, along with the victims, they walked toward Giana who cowered near the wall. Bella's voice carried over the song, an undercurrent of power behind every word. "Giana, there are others waiting for you. Your precious grandson, your father, and soon Marcus will join you."

Giana screamed, her mouth gaping wide open, and gone was the once youthful appearance. She rapidly aged before them, deep folds, dark spots, and wrinkles took over her smooth, alabaster skin. Her age-spotted hands were tipped with black claw-like nails, razor sharp and deadly. She could hurt someone despite her true form with enough energy.

Once Giana's transformation was complete she lunged, sending everyone, human, and spirit, a few steps back in instinctual fear. Her claw-like fingers dug into Bella's arms, forcing her to scream.

Edward wrapped his arm around Bella's waist, ripping Giana's hands away. Once Bella was safe, he swung around shot the bitch in the face with the rock-salt-filled shells.

Giana screamed, holding her face together, her screech nearly bringing Edward to his knees. It reverberated in his head, made him nauseous. She disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, only to appear in the loft above them.

Edward shot again, helping Bella up and following her into the center of the barn where the other spirits waited.

"Vicky," Bella whispered to her friend, keeping an eye on the malevolent spirit. "Take the others outside, sing, all of you need to sing. It will weaken him, enough for us to send him to hell. Giana is ours to handle."

Vicky shook her head. "I can't leave you now, Bella!"

"Go, Vicky," Edward insisted, offering a smile. "We got this."

Bella looked at her friend, but couldn't smile. "You can't be here for this part."

Edward knew it was dangerous for spirits to be nearby as hell essentially opened up to swallow souls. Vicky and the others seemed to understand, each leaving until they were alone with the old woman. Giana's terror was evident, using all her energy in scare tactics. Her voice seemed to come from every direction, as she frantically searched for a way out of the barn. There was none, Bella had already erected a spell to prevent her from escaping the confines of the building the moment the others were free.

"You ready?" she asked Edward, holding out her hand for his again. He would always be there to take it, in this life and the next.

"I've never done this before." Edward searched his past lives, and he had only witnessed Bella do it. "But I'm ready."

"This is going to hurt a little," she whispered, starting to phase. "Hold on to me."

"Always."

Giana took advantage of their distraction, flying toward them. Edward stepped partially in front of Bella, grabbed Giana by the throat before she could reach her. His hand was as transparent as her spiritual form and just as strong. She screamed in terror, her mouth a gaping black hole.

"Now, Bella!" Edward winced as Giana's hands scratched at his arm, leaving bloody scratches, forcing him to phase it. Bella held out her arms, her palms up, chanting out loud. Each hand started to drip blood, while he held onto to her jacket with his other hand.

The language in which Bella's spoke wasn't familiar to him, but the words sent fear throughout him. The darkness surrounding them grew blacker, almost blinding them. Edward could barely see her, but he heard Bella continue the spell. The ground shook below his feet, the unstable structure of the barn creaked under the strain.

Giana screamed, her black eyes darting to every corner, searching for her salvation. She would find none, her granddaughter hid outside, waiting for the inevitable, no longer under the influence of her evil grandparents. Her husband was mercifully occupied at the moment by their ally Reya.

Edward hissed as the spirit renewed her efforts to break free. "For all the lives you've taken and for the families, you helped break, you are to suffer for eternity in hell."

Giana cackled, laughing in his face, her skin rotting away before his eyes. "I'll take her with me."

Before Edward could react to the threat, Giana used the shotgun strapped to his belt to shoot herself, forcing her to disappear like before.

"Fuck!" He kept his other hand on Bella, refusing to let her go. "I lost her."

"She's too late," Bella whispered. Edward wrapped his arm around her side, pleased she was once again corporeal. "Look."

Near her feet, a hole started to form, the edges of it were a fiery red, burning and moving faster than either of them expected. The scent of brimstone was sour enough to make them gag and choke. Fearful of falling inside, they stepped back. It wasn't long before the gateway grew a few feet wide. Horrific screams and groans seemed to echo within the deep chasm, and all too soon, arms of various stages of rot reached out, longer than humanly possible.

A truly gruesome sight.

Bella stumbled against him, a look of horror on her face.

"What is it?"

"Can't you hear them?" she whispered, turning and reaching for him. "The suffering, the pain, oh God the pain."

Edward held her close as the arms reached their target. Near the barn doors, the gruesome restraints dragged Giana across the sparsely hay covered ground, her claws leaving behind deep ridges in the hard dirt. Screaming and twisting, she tried to escape their grasp, but she didn't have the power to fight hell.

Giana's hand latched onto Bella's ankle as she passed, sending her crashing to the ground. Edward scrambled for her, grabbing a hold of one of her wrists as the rest of her body dangled at hell's edge. Giana continued to laugh, crawling up Bella's body, an eye now missing. "She's mine! I'm riding her to hell, boy!"

"Fuck you," Edward hissed, and then used his connection to Bella. She nodded at his idea, telling him it would work. He yanked a pouch of salt from his belt with his free hand, just as Bella phased. He threw it at her face, hating the pain filled scream as she dissipated in a puff of white smoke.

Giana screamed as she fell, the horrid hands reaching for her as she dropped further into hell.

Edward crawled away as the hole started to close in on itself, taking with it his fear. Only for it to be replaced for a different kind; fear of losing Bella. Her soft groan had him crawling toward her, her body shaking when he reached her.

She looked at him, her glowing iridescent eyes turning to a warm brown. "We need to go help Reya."

"I got you," he said, pulling her up into his arms and carrying her toward the house. The moment they stepped inside, they knew they had to help Reya before Marcus acted on his desperate need to destroy her.

"Put me down," Bella whispered. "Go, hurry."

Jasper and Riley helped keep Bella upright as Edward ran toward the living room where Marcus was ready to strike Reya. Marcus wanted one more kill before he joined his wife in hell.

Edward stepped over the line of salt along the doorway and moved quickly toward Marcus, who loomed over Reya. He ignored the pins and needles he felt at the strange phenomenon and allowed his arm to phase. He grabbed a hold of the asshole before it was too late.

The satisfaction of seeing true fear in the eyes of a killer made Edward smile. They had Marcus trapped, and it was time to send him to hell, too.