Lexington And Fifth

Chapter 49: Angels and Monsters

Things move fast after that. After her friend and fiancée are critically wounded, she watches as Detective Ridley leaps up, grabbing the gun from Howie and twisting his arm, snapping his wrist. Ella see's Andrew's arm twitch, and knows he's being summoned by Howie.

"Detective, run!" Ella shouts. Ridley turns, sees the monstrous form of Andrew begin to lift it's head, and she takes off running, grabbing the pistol from the ground and running down the darkened halls.

"Kill the detective!" Howie screams as he holds his broken wrist in his hand. Andrew lets out a terrible howl, and begins to chase the detective. Ella snaps out of her shock, and runs at Howie, slashing downward with her knife towards him. He jumps back in time to avoid a death blow, but her knife meets flesh and tears into his disabled arm. He stumbles backwards, and laughs maniacally as he bends over his now bleeding and broken wrist and arm. Then he pulls out a large knife of his own, and in a snarl whirls around on Ella, slashing the air as she stumbles backwards.

In the distance, Ella faintly hears a scream of terror, along with three gunshots, followed by a howl of anger. Meanwhile, Ella plays defense as Howie slashes at her, rage overtaking him as he tries to kill her. She brings up her arm to defend her face, and feels pain erupt in her should as Howie's knife digs into her shoulder. Falling to the ground, she looks up to see the wild eyed, maniacal glare of Howie as he leans down and pulls the knife out of her slowly, causing her to cry out and drop her knife. She looks around, and sees Connor crawling towards her slowly, trying to get to her before it's too late.

"This is it, Ella! This is how you die!" Howie screams, raising the knife above his head, ready to plunge it into her.

"Not today, asshole," Ella mutters, and in one quick motion she pulls out her stun gun, and squeezes the trigger, sending electrodes flying into Howie's chest. He stops in mid-swing with his knife, and then spasms as Ella sends 1200 volts of electricity through his body. The madman drops his knife, and falls to the ground, shaking on the ground as he looses control of his entire body.

"Ella, the altar," Ridley calls out in a scream, and Ella knows she has no time to waste. Before Ridley faces whatever horror Howie unleashed in Andrew, Ella gets up, runs over to the altar, and pushes it down, sending the altar into dozens of shattered pieces. Grabbing one of the un-extinguished candles from the ground, Ella picks up the coin in her hands, and feels a great sense of power rush over her. Then the coin cools in her fingers, and the power leaves.

"What have you done!" Howie screams from behind her, slowly making his way to a standing position and staring in horror at the broken altar.

"Destroying your only hold on your brother, Howie. I think Andrew wants a few words with you," Ella replies boldly, not bothering to turn as Andrew's hulking form blunders into the room, approaching Ella with great care and resting one hand on her shoulder. She hands him the coin, and he slowly puts it in his pocket as he glares at Howie.

"Howie!" Andrew bellows, taking slow, powerful steps towards his battered brother.

"Andrew, stop right there," Howie feebly tries to exert control over his brother.

"No, no longer. I am free, and you will pay for what you have done to me."

"What I did to you? I sought justice, brother. The justice system failed you, and so I took matters into my own hands. You should be thanking me!"

"Thanking you? No brother, I will not thank you. You enslaved me, disturbed my afterlife in order to turn me into this... this monster. I am no monster, Howie. I will no longer kill innocents. There is however, one final kill I must make. You, my evil brother, must die."

Before he knows what's happening, Howie screams in pain and terror as Andrew grabs him by the throat, lifting him above his head and walking over to the common room doors leading out onto the patio deck overlooking the ocean. Ella doesn't make a move to stop Andrew, and along with Detective Ridley, who stumbles into the room with a shattered arm hanging limply at her side, the two watch as Andrew unleashes his fury on Howie. As brother turns against brother, the women watch as their tormentor screams and screams, while Andrew carries him slowly across the patio. Howie pleads with Andrew, but his words fall on deaf ears, and soon, Andrew approaches the railing overlooking the jagged rocks along the water's edge. Andrew lets out one last howl of rage, and then throws Howie over the railing, sending the killer plummeting to his death. There is no bolt of lightning to accompany the Frankenstein-inspired moment, nor is there an epic musical score to mark the moment the creature slays his own creator. No, the killer is left to die silently, and the tortured soul is finally freed.