CHAPTER 13 In which they face the monster
Morning finally came. They wasted no time and began packing the carriages with weapons. It would take two carriages to carry the lot of them back to the city. Jimmy chose a moment when the rest of the group was busy to pull Lou aside. She could pull away from him and maybe he couldn't stop her, but he wasn't going to make it easy.
"I want you to take this," he said, strapping the gun belt around her waist. His silver pistol hung from the holster. "I trust you," he said very deliberately, looking her in the eye. "And, just in case things don't go as planned…" He brushed the back of his fingers over her cheek before gently taking hold of her chin and kissed her. He only meant to briefly press his lips to hers but she gasped and he instinctively pressed his tongue into her mouth. She tasted as sweet as he remembered and he lost himself for a minute, hands moving down to her waist and pulling her closer, kissing her deeper than he had intended. Louise was shocked but her mouth responded to his and she kissed him back without thinking, slipping her tongue against his, tasting him in turn. When they pulled away from each other they were both flustered and hot. "I trust you," he said again. "Trust yourself. You're stronger than you think."
The carriage ride was tense, to say the least. The group's fear and apprehension were thick clouds that hung around them in the cramped quarters. Louise was confused. Part of her felt mollified to be reunited with Alexander, she couldn't help it. The other part was terrified, less for herself and more for her traveling companions, especially Jimmy. Did he know what he was doing, kissing her like that? They had already spent enough time in close proximity over the past two days. Alex was bound to scent him. It would infuriate him. He must already be so angry, having had intruders in their home, rummaging through his things, taking his most precious possession of all away from him. She was angry too. He had taken so much from her. Would she be able to hold onto that anger in his presence or would she bow to him like she always had? Jimmy's words rang in her mind over and over. Was she really strong enough? He believed she was.
Almost three hours later, they reached the house. The plan was for the group to stay together no matter what. With the strength of numbers, they hoped to overwhelm him. They walked through the house together. Tomasi and Bohannon put the others to work, ripping the thick curtains from the windows, moving furniture to make sure they had clear exits. Tomasi poured a thick ring of coarse salt around the entrance to the basement.
They hoped to smoke him out of his resting place and force him into the light. Tomasi had bundles of herbs and other ingredients tied up in thin cotton rags. The others lined themselves against the wall opposite the cellar door, weapons in hand. Louise stood between Jimmy and Buck. Both men had their six shooters pointed at the closed door. Lou kept her gun in its holster, eyes on the door. He was deep into his slumber and did not sense them up here. She felt his presence only as a dull hum against the back of her head and neck. Whatever happened here today she knew this was no longer going to be her home, her prison, whatever it was. This place had been desecrated and he would want to discard it as soon as possible. Start over somewhere. If this failed, she would truly have no hope in their next life.
Tomasi, their guide and leader, flung open the door to the monster's lair. He lit the cotton bundles that had been doused in rubbing alcohol and flung them down the stairs one after the other. There must have been a dozen of them. They smelled wretched, like the bottle of demon blood, like death. Smoke billowed up from the basement.
Then, she felt it. His pull. "He's awake," she told them. Jimmy dared not risk glancing away from the door though he wanted to read her face, to know what she was feeling. "Oh, God," she whispered as she felt him seep into her again. It was him that pulsed in the veins just beneath her skin. He felt her too.
So they had come for him. Her yokel family. The ones he had emancipated her from. With the help of the maid. They had found someone with knowledge of his kind. Their little makeshift bombs were poisonous to him. He would have to leave his resting place, no doubt they had planted a trap for him to rush into. But he was not just a vampire. He was ancient. And for his kind, time equaled power. This was but a nuisance.
Alex rushed up the stairs. He moved like wind and the salt meant to hold him, or at least slow him down, scattered like dust. He grabbed Louise and flew straight up, through the ceiling, sending dust and debris into the air. It all happened faster than they could react. They shot at empty air. He already had her on the second floor, in his locked study.
"Louise," he growled. Finally, he had her in his hands again. He ran his palms over her, plunged his face into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply. "Grrrrr." He sounded like an animal and in one impossibly swift movement he plopped her on his desk and moved between her legs. He nuzzled her neck and licked and nipped her, eliciting the tiniest trickle of blood that he quickly lapped up. He wanted to take her then and there. She would have gladly let him. Back in his arms, his breath and hands on her, she was already lost. "Grrrrr Rahhhhh!" He screamed, knowing the others were rushing up the stairs at this very moment. They were banging on the door. Soon, they would bust it down. He had to destroy them before he could ruin her.
He was prepared. When they finally managed to bust in the door he flung the lot of them against the walls of his study. He held them hanging in the air, paralyzed.
He sniffed the air before speaking. "Priest," he began. "You are ill prepared. I don't need to have your mind to have control over you. Some of them held guns, others crossbows and stakes. With ease he made them drop all of their weapons to the floor. They grumbled and protested but there was nothing more that they could do. He pulled Louise from the desk and walked towards them, her hand in his. "Did you think that you could come into my home and take what is mine? Did you really think you could end me!?" He laughed and it was terrifying. He pulled Louise into his arms and kissed her deeply, she moaned with pleasure.
Jimmy twitched with rage. This was not happening. Louise still wore her gun belt. She could try to shoot him with the silver but, it was as she said, Grayson was the one in control. He didn't bother taking the gun from her because she was not a threat.
"Lou!" He yelled but his plea was cut short when Grayson flew to him and slapped him so hard his head lolled to the side, he was out. He took another deep breath and growled again. This one, would die slowly.
"You!" He dropped back down to the floor in the center of the room and pulled Cara through the air so that she floated before him. "You conniving cunt. You did this." He slapped her hard but not hard enough to knock her unconscious. "All these deaths will be on you."
Louise watched all of this happening around her in a dulled state. She did not want anyone else to die, but Alex willed it so it would be. She watched as Alex grabbed the young woman by the throat and proceeded to choke her with one hand. Cara. Her head was fuzzy. Cara. Cara. He was killing her.
"Stop!" She threw herself at his feet and clutched at him. "Please don't. Don't kill her." She cried. "You don't have to kill any of them, just make them forget and send them away. Please." No more killing.
"Louise, stop. Get up off your knees." Normally he liked her in that position but she was acting undignified over a servant and these bugs!
"No! I won't, I won't let you do this, Alex. Alex, please!" How exactly she was going to stop him, she had no idea. "Stop hurting her!"
"Louise," he warned, "your resistance is impressive as always but I will not stand for this impertinence." Without lifting a finger he shoved her away from him and she toppled over onto the floor. He resumed his assault on Cara.
"I will never forgive you!" she yelled at him. "If you kill her, kill them," she gestured to the others still hanging from the walls, "I will never forgive you! I will not be yours."
He chuckled. "Dearest, you will never know." Louise was confused until it dawned on her what he meant. "You will not remember any of this. I will erase Jack too. All you will know is me. You cannot choose to not be mine, you are mine! Always!"
Jimmy was conscious again, having been woken by their screams. He was going to kill Cara and Lou was screaming, begging for him to stop.
"Lou, you are not his! For as long as I've known you you have always been your own woman! Lou, please!"
"Shut up!"
Jimmy felt another smack and tasted blood in his mouth. "Fight him, Lou."
Alexander was growing tired of this. He flung Cara across the room, she hit the wall and fell to the floor.
"No!" Louise screamed and tried to scramble to her friend but Alex caught her by the hair and pulled her to a standing position. He pointed her at Jimmy.
"Tell him who you belong to." She struggled in his grip, ignoring the command. She looked up at Jimmy, bruised and beaten.
"I trust you," he said softly. She looked around the room and saw all of them hanging helplessly. Cara lay in a heap and Louise didn't know if she was alive or dead. "I trust you, Lou." He said again.
"Tell him!" Alex demanded, shaking her by the hair. "Who do you belong to, Louise?"
Her heart pounded in her ears. Her mouth was dry but she tried to swallow. "Okay."
He released her and let her compose herself. She looked back up at Jimmy. "I belong to…" She looked at Alex. His blue eyes swam with rage, but they were fixed on Jimmy, waiting to see his defeat. "No one."
His smile faltered. At first he was uncomprehending. She could not deny him. It was impossible. Kill! He would kill this boy now! In the time it took him to have these thoughts, Louise had pulled her gun and cocked it. She aimed it at Alex and shot. "And you belong in hell," she said as if stating a simple fact and shot again. She shot him until the barrel had been emptied into his chest. He stumbled. The silver burned. It was enough to distract him, enough to weaken his grip on the others. All at once they fell to the floor, their bodies theirs once again.
"The windows!" Tomasi yelled. Jimmy, Buck, Jake, and Teaspoon filled Alex with silver while the others ran to the windows and pulled open the heavy curtains. They were blacked out.
"Break them!" Rachel screamed. "Break the windows." She grabbed any heavy objects she could find, throwing them through the windows.
Jimmy nodded at Teaspoon who reloaded his gun and told the others to duck. He turned his gun from Grayson to the blackened glass.
The beast writhed on the floor, the silver burning through him like wildfire. Unable to hold his form, he shifted to the monster he was: red eyes, wolf-like mouth, claws for hands, translucent white skin. Louise could not look away. They were killing him!
Sun finally began to break through the broken windows and he howled in pain. "Alex," she said his name, tried to crawl to him, reaching for him. Tomasi grabbed her from behind and pulled her away. She struggled. He was her Alex, he was all of her, she was his despite what she'd said. How could she let this happen? "Alex!" The sun tore through his flesh, igniting him like kindling. Within moments ash was all that was left of him. "No!" she cried out. She pushed Tomasi aside and fell into the pile of ashes, grasping at it like sand. "He's gone."
She looked around her. Cara was being helped to her feet. The others were looking at her with a mixture of relief and sadness. She was covered in ash, tears streaming down her face. She shot him. How could she have? How was any of this happening? Louise did not know what to make of her reality, of any reality without him. She couldn't fathom it. She couldn't. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.