Siren's Fall [Siren's Mark: Book 2]

Chapter 57

ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕖

We walk along the dirt path towards town, Kami swinging her empty basket back and forth. A crowd murmurs up ahead, but it's not quite clear where the sounds are coming from. As we round the corner past a group of trees, we see dozens of people gathered at the end of the road outside a large home—the Schauberg estate.

Ilen.

Almost in unison, Kami and I take off into a sprint for the estate.

Did Asmodeus finally kill Count Schauberg?

I can't help but smirk a little at the thought. Krisztian Schauberg is a typical pompous, arrogant rich man, but I have no good reason to wish him dead. He could give Ilen a good life, and that's what I want for her.

The crowd continues to swarm around the steps as we approach, but they still manage to give a wide berth to whatever they're looking at. Gasps and shouts fill the crowd. A woman buries her face in her husband's chest, sobbing. That's when it hits me—the thick, unmistakable smell of death.

I turn to Kami, whose eyes are wide and frozen with concern.

I inhale deeply.

Her smell is here—Ilen.

I push past the crowd to find a battered woman's naked body draped on the steps, blood trailing from the house's front door to her body.

No. It can't be her. It can't.

I run up the stairs and drop to my knees beside her body. I delicately turn her head toward me. Her face is swollen and covered in blood, unrecognizable, but her scent—it's her.

This can't be happening.

"No, no, no," I say, cradling Ilen's cold, naked body in my hands.

Tears pour uncontrollably from my eyes as I shake her.

"Ilen, please darling. Wake up!"

My own voice sounds unfamiliar through my sobs.

This doesn't feel real. It can't be that this lifeless, bruised, and bloodied body is the girl I know. No twinkle in her eye. No bashful smile. No contagious laugh. My Ilen is so full of life—or, was.

But I took that from her.

"If this is where we've started, I can't wait to see where we end up," a voice says.

I look around for its source but find no one, just the huddled crowd watching from afar.

"Try again," another voice says.

Where are these voices coming from?

*****

I push past the crowd to find a battered woman's naked body draped on the steps, blood trailing from the house's front door to her body.

No. It can't be her. It can't.

I run up the stairs and drop to my knees beside her body. I delicately turn her head toward me. Her face is bruised and bloodied, but even with her hair caked in blood I can make out the unforgettable shade of bright purple—no.

No. No. God please no.

A blood-curdling scream erupts from my chest and I collapse on top of her, sobbing into her shoulder.

My heart feels like it's been ripped from my chest, snapping my every rib. Every time I breathe my lungs feel like they're on fire.

"Please, no, no, no," I cry, holding her to my chest. "No, this wasn't supposed to happen. Baby, please, no..."