Lenore's heartbeat was deafening, drowning out the chaos and death swarming around her.
Her gaze swung toward where Kaiser's body lay. He wasn't moving. His head was fixed at an odd angle; a broken one. A tremble worked through her as she continued to stare into his wide, unblinking gaze. There was a tightness in her chest that made breathing hard; shallow, rushed panting breaths whooshing over dry lips.
She was pushing up off the ground, body swaying; legs unsteady. There was movement behind her, Lenore's instincts were screaming for her to react. Without conscious effort, she turned just as a Knight threw a heavy handed punch.
It skimmed the edge of her cheek, taking a layer of skin. She stumbled over her feet, elbow taking the brunt of her fall back into the wall. Numbing pain rushed up into her fingertips, a sharp gasp springing from her mouth.
A familiar crack cut through the air. Distant lightning? No, not lightning-something far more terrifying. It was Camila's blood whip. Lenore watched it wrap around the Knights throat. Then came a harsh choking wheeze, before the whip sprouted thick thorns. They ripped through the knight's flesh as Camila gave a mighty yank, killing him instantly.
Lenore shuffled away from the dead, nearly headless knight, mind emptying itself of thought. This must be shock, her voice whispered. Once more her eyes drifted back to Kaiser's body. A high pitched ringing pierced her ears; the edges of her vision blurring. Only Kaiser was in focus.
He was dead?
Her legs lost their strength, bringing her to her knees. All the air rushed from her lungs in a wheezing exhale. There was burning pain in Lenore's chest. A pricking sensation was building behind her eyes, the temptation to cry and rage hit her hard.
She didn't accept this.
A vicious, inhuman sound caught in her throat. The need to release all the pain and grief and fury she had kept pushing down for weeks overwhelmed her. Kaiser's dead stare was Lenore's undoing. Darkness bled from her like ink across a white canvas; a thousand fluttering wings beating at the air with a graceful violence.
"Kill them," she hissed, venom dripping from her lips. "Kill them all."
The swarm of carnivorous butterflies obeyed the command. Becoming a dark cloud of death and wrath, moving from one fleeing party goer to the next. Lenore watched—enjoyed her destruction. It didn't matter if she died anymore as long as they all did too.
A heavy shadow fell over her, blotting out the world around her; the one that was crumbling down around her. Strong hands were latching onto her shoulder and shaking, threatening whiplash. If they wanted to stop her they should grab hold of her neck. Lenore's hands lifted and grabbed—clawed at the firm body blocking her way.
Then the hands were cradling her face, a tense voice shouting over the panic, calling her name. "Lenore!"
Her eyes focused on face hovering in front of her. Emilio was staring at her with concern. She blinked slowly, becoming aware of the world around her like coming out of a dream.
"Kaiser—"
His heavy sigh blew back the hair that had fallen into her face. "He'll be fine. His core is still intact."
The words were confusing, they didn't add up to what she saw. "But—"
"Trust me, he's alive."
"None of us will be alive for long if we don't do something about that," Patrick said, squatting down beside them, nodding his head toward the second floor landing.
They all turned their attention to the Saint who stood on the landing of the second floor staring out at the chaos. Even at this distance, Lenore felt the aura of fury and power, clenching her teeth as it pulsed in the air. There was nothing human in his gaze—at least Kaiser's feigned humanity at times. No, Lenore was certain the Saint was a vile man. After all he had that grotesque room in his house, allowed someone like the Fourth in the Apostleship, knew about the sacrificing and murder—and gods, knew what else.
Patrick pulled out a fresh clip of bullets he'd hidden inside his jacket. "Did the poison not work?"
"Maybe he didn't drink it," Lenore mumbled, remembering the Fourth.
They watched as the Saint lifted a hand, palm out. A sinking sensation gripped Lenore, invisible chains wrapping around her arms and legs. The others appeared to be under the same pressure; bearing their teeth as they fought to keep themselves upright.
This was Arkaydian's power. It wasn't a simple Blessing. This was something incomparable to what Lenore experienced to this point. Even if the Saint was poisoned—would it make a difference?
The foundation lurched beneath them and the walls shook violently. It was only for an instant. A quick blast of energy. Lenore turned, heart beating hard but steady—unnaturally calm. He had crushed a fiend and all the people around it like one might press their finger to an unwanted bug. There was no concern or warning for the members of the family. Only a quick, crushing death.
"Shit," Patrick hissed at the sight. "He's one scary motherfucker."
Lenore's stomach rolled, saliva gathering in her mouth with a familiar acidic burn. The Saint was going to wipe them all out, fiend and family alike. Her gaze shifted to Kaiser, who remain incapacitated and vulnerable. What did he want them to do? Should they abandon the plan and retreat? Was that even possible now?
Running away wasn't an option for her, this was her revenge; one that she wanted from the beginning. A frown pinched Lenore's face. The one thing she was certain of when it came to Kaiser was he wouldn't want to run away either. The others though—they might have a chance to escape. That was something she could do for her friends and the humans her mother and Kaiser cared for. They deserved proper deaths, at the very least.
"I have an idea. It's a longshot, and completely insane."
"Let's hear it." Camila's voice was sharp, cutting over the panic.
Lenore twisted, meeting the waiting and focused gazes of her friends. All three of them were situated beside her now. It wasn't the right time for sentimentality, but it was impossible to ignore the warmth in her chest at the trusting and expectant faces. It was a bit pathetic that it took this long for her to find the place she belonged—but it was better late than never.
She smiled to herself, dropping her face to keep from crying. "I want you to give me all the Blessings you've gathered."
None of them questioned her, they simply held out their hands; one from Emilio, one from Patric, and two from Camila. Lenore took them and pulled the two from her pocket. A pile of pulsing shards sat in the palm of her hand. The image almost made her laugh as she thought back to the night she'd first seen one.
"Once I swallow these—"
"What?!" Patrick and Camila hissed at the same time.
She closed her eyes and began again, "Once I swallow these, I'll probably pass out like last time, but we don't have time for that. So–" Lenore steeled herself, turning to them with determination. "I want you to stab my heart—it should, hopefully, force the Blessings to bring me back."
They were quiet, she used that to rush out the rest of her plan. "Once I'm back, I'll get Kaiser and we'll be the bait to distract the Saint. While that's happening you guys get your people far away from here."
"Boss will kill us if we—"
"Let's do it," Emilio interrupted Camila.
Camila turned with a sharp hiss and a firm glare. "You know that this is—"
"I'm with Emilio," Patrick said with a nod, reloading his gun.
They all looked to Camila, who held their stares for a moment before turning away with a frustrated click of her tongue. "Whatever."
Lenore didn't wait, afraid they would change their minds—afraid she might change her own. She opened her mouth and tossed the Blessings in. There was only a small moment of regret before she swallowed, one than two. Then they were all gone. It happened faster than the last time. A scream fixed itself in her chest as the sensation that she was going to rip apart chased her into the black.
Down. Down. Down.
A vision—a memory; a moment trapped in darkness and pain. Lenore saw it all at once before she fell back into the conscious world with a harsh jolt. Emilio was leaning over her, fist pressed to her chest and eyes holding hers with wary concern. It didn't take long for her to realize she was still impaled on his strange blood spikes.
"I really hate being stabbed," she muttered.
Emilio retracted the spike like a cat claw. Lenore couldn't hold back the gasping groan that rattled her vocal chords. She pressed a hand to her chest, the warm flow of blood coating her palm and spilling through her fingers. There was only a moment of uncertainty; that perhaps she would die one more time. Thankfully, the flow began to weaken until it stopped entirely. Lenore noted the speed of regeneration must be proportional to the amount of power flowing through her body.
"Let's all just be glad you didn't explode," Camila said as she reached out and pulled Lenore up off the ground.
There was another pulse of power and Lenore watched her friends crumble to the ground, gritting their teeth, struggling against the invisible weight pressing down on them. The Saint was looking in their direction, his gaze connecting with hers.
It was like staring up at a giant, an immovable mountain—a storm of power that was going to crush them all to smithereens. She might be standing but she was frozen; this fear was inhuman. The eyes looking down on her weren't human at all. They were timeless and arrogant. They were not something a human, no matter vile, could obtain.
Only a god could have such eyes. Her heart raced at the realization. Arkaydian was using the Saint as a puppet, at the moment. And Lenore was trapped in a staring contest with a god.
"You must be one of his followers." The voice carried across the room, over the panic. It wasn't a shout. More like he had spoken directly into her ear. A chill trickled down her spine. "Don't worry, I'll deal with you after I've finished with him. Watch and wait for your turn."
The Saint's gaze shifted to Kaiser, then he began to descend the stairs. Behind him the First and Second Apostle's followed, blasting into the chaos with their power.
Lenore gritted her teeth, turning to her friends who were still fighting against the force holding them prisoner. If she didn't do something they would all die. Somehow, she was able to fight against the force—the extra Blessings had given her a bit more strength. But it was taking a lot to keep herself standing, and it was going to take more to get to Kaiser.
Lenore was certain then, that this resolve filling her body was different from all the other times she fought. Before she only fought to live and to kill. This time, she was fighting to protect. There wasn't any time to spare worrying over if she could win or if this was the right choice.
As long as she was breathing then she wouldn't let anyone lay a hand on that which was under her protection. If they did—she would drag them down to hell with her bare hands. At least, that's what the darkness hissed in the silence of Lenore's mind.
She shook her head, frowning. All that mattered was keeping the Saint distracted and enduring any attacks until Kaiser revived. If Lenore held on that long then they might actually stand a chance. In terms of enduring, she was confident that she was capable of surpassing her limits.
With a wave of her hand, the swarm of Butterflies cut across the room toward the Apostles and Saint. Lenore didn't expect them to last long or to do any damage. All she needed was the moment of distraction. Grasping hold of the power rippling through her body was difficult. It continued to break and slip through her fingers, uncontrollable and volatile.
Lenore let out a frustrated curse, ignoring the pain building in her limbs. The power was still threatening to rip her apart but there was no time to worry about that. She made her body light and ran for Kaiser, weaving around and through the destruction and chaos.
The ground shook under her feet, then it exploded directly behind her, sending pieces of stone and tile in her direction. Another blast of energy hit directly in front of her, crushing a fleeing party goer—another member of the family. Blood oozed out from the shattered body, sinking into the new cracks and crevices in the foundation.
She ground her teeth together and pushed forward faster, harder. A horrible cracking sound echoed through the room. Lenore turned to look only a moment before a huge chunk of wall slammed into her body. It rattled her bones and stole the air from her lungs, knocking her flat on her back. The ground was as unforgiving as the wall was. She coughed and blinked back the tears gathering in her eyes. Later, if she survived, she could complain and cry about how much she endured for Kaiser and his stupid god killing plan.
With a heaving groan, Lenore rolled over onto her stomach and began to crawl; one arm over the other, feet pushing her onward. Kaiser was within reach now. Her fingers skimmed the edge of the collar of his jacket as she reached out.
The familiar pressure was pushing down on her body. Only it was worse than the last time. Lenore coughed out the air in her lungs unable to stop the reaction as her ribs threatened to snap inward and pierce them. She heard the groaning and creaking over her bones. A sharp ringing was echoing in her ears, and warmth was dripping down from her nose; definitely blood.
A shout of pure determination began to build in the back of Lenore's throat as she stretched her arm out further. The muscles threatened to tear apart, but that didn't stop her. Nothing was going to stop her, excluding death. She pushed the power into her hand, fingers grasping Kaiser's collar.
'Light as a feather, light as a feather,' she chanted in her mind. Then she yanked on his body, pulled him to her with all the strength she could muster. With the momentum she gathered, Lenore rolled them out of range of the crushing finger of Arkaydian as the ground shattered and cracked.
She was breathing heavily, holding onto Kaiser—well, more like laying atop him. There was no time to be embarrassed, only a quick heartbeat of relief that they weren't crushed to death.
"You use my own power against me?"
Lenore lifted her head, swinging her gaze toward the enemy. The Apostles were as confused as her when the Saint began laughing, head thrown back, mouth wide.
After a moment, he lowered his face, fixing his cruel gaze on her. "How exhilarating! It's been ages since I've had a good fight. Don't disappoint me. Try to hold out a little longer, child. I want to see the look of despair on your face as you realize what true power is."
There wasn't any time for Lenore to wonder about the threat promised by those words. The Saint, still looking down from where he stood on the stairs, lifted his other hand and snapped his fingers. A moment of horror worked its way through Lenore as she watched the two remaining Apostles go rigid, before rising into the air. They didn't fight, not that she thought they could—they were nothing more than puppets on strings.
Then their bodies were contorting this way and that, bones snapping and muscles acting like nothing more than molding putty. All the while, the Saint's eyes remained fixed on Lenore and Kaiser. Time appeared to stretch until finally he seemed to grow bored playing with his food. Lenore's heart was in her throat as she watched the Blessing rip from the Apostle's chests, floating down into the Saint's waiting hand.
The mangled bodies fell to the ground and slapped against the ground with a sickening fleshy thud. If there was anything in Lenore's stomach she would have lost it. This ruthlessness shouldn't surprise her, but it did. She would be insane to not experience overwhelming fear after watching something like that.
Still, even with the fear that threatened to immobilize her, the resolve that pushed her move earlier remained. There was no choice anymore. All that was left to do was fight.
"Do you understand the difference between us, now? This is true strength. How arrogant and impudent of you, a human, to think you can stand against the power of a god!"
Lenore rose up, pulling Kaiser along with her. He hung limp and lifeless in her arms, weightless. But she was still breathing heavily, muscles quivering under the strain of the physical labor they were unused to. She tightened her hold on Kaiser, pressing him more firmly to her body. "I knew from the beginning that you were stronger than me."
"Then why pick a fight that you stand no chance of winning? Only a fool would throw away their life so needlessly."
"It's not about winning."
A cruel smile split the Saint's face. "Oh? What other reason is there to fight? If you win you get to keep your worthless life, but if you lose...only death awaits you. Victory is everything."
Lenore's lips quivered, the image of her mother—of her newfound friends flashing through her mind. "There are people who believe in me....people I want to protect..."
"Protect?" He began to laugh again, his amusement ringing out. "To hear such a weak being say such things—in this world there is only one rule: the strong will prevail and the weak will perish. Tell me, do you think you're strong? Do you really think there is a chance you'll get the better of me?"
"I never thought about it." And that was true. Lenore never considered if she was strong.
"The weak truly are idiots. Then allow me to teach you thoroughly." The Saint's body rose up from the ground, lifting higher and higher into the air. His arms stretched out, wide. "You won't be able to do anything. Everyone here will die."
"Please, have mercy!"
"Spare us!"
"Please, someone!"
"Save us!"
The voices of the remaining family surged around Lenore. They wore expressions of despair and agony. They were praying to their god and their god was not interested in anything but their destruction and death.
"Spare you? Have you ever spared a pig or cow as it begged for its life?" His question only brought their despair to new heights. But Lenore didn't care about them. Her gaze shifted to her friends who were, thankfully, standing on their feet, looking a little worse for wear but alive.
She trusted them to do what she asked, which meant she needed to play her role to the end. Lenore shifted Kaiser in her arms, freeing one for a moment, lifting it in the Saint's direction. The power of the Blessings surged and she gritted her teeth against the force threatening to rip off her arm. A blast of energy shot out, nearly dislocating her shoulder.
The satisfaction she felt was stronger than the pain trying to paralyze her; the Saint's body hurdled into the wall as he took the unexpected blast to his face. Dust and debris plumed out at the impact, raining down on the people still alive inside the room.
There came a great rumbling and the room—the fortress began to shudder and shake around them. Lenore fixed her hold on Kaiser, trying to use her body as a shield as pieces of the roof began to fall down. The great chandelier at the center of the room flickered and swung wildly, until that piece of the roof tore away. Lenore watched it sore up into the night sky, mouth opening in surprise.
Then the walls were exploding inward. She screamed, letting out the power of Blessing in an attempt to save them. The debris slowed and floated around their bodies; a strange shield of plaster, stone, and dust particles. That moment of relief didn't last, because the ground beneath her feet began to crumble and crack.
Arkaydian was going to bury them all inside this house. Lenore tilted her head back and found the roof was completely gone now. Above them the night sky was filled with pieces of the Gillard's main house. And only a moment later did she find The Saint, floating at the center, looking down on them.
"Come, child of Gillard. Let me see how far your will to protect gets you. I want to know if it's stronger than my thirst for victory."
Lenore's stomach dropped as the piece of floor she was standing on broke away and rose up into the air. Then more and more chunks of wall and floor followed, creating a great battlefield of debris. He wanted her to fight with him like this—while trying to keep Kaiser safe. There truly were no happy endings in horror stories, were there?
She clenched her teeth, rage filling her exhausted body. "If you think I'll give up..."
"Give-up? That's not what I want. No, I hope you'll fight. I want to see you scrambling around and trying as hard as you can to beat me. My victory will be your complete and utter defeat." Lenore swallowed the curses, building a lump in her throat. "To see your despair over failing to protect the people who believed in you. The despair of losing everyone because you were too weak in the end to do anything but lose. Yes, that's what I want."
The Saint gave her a vicious smile before a large piece of roofing was falling toward her. Plummeting at a speed she was not prepared to handle. A crack of lightning split the air and the piece of debris split in half, falling away from her and Kaiser at the last moment. Lenore twisted, dropping her eyes to the world below.
Camila stood up on a piece of the broken fortress, whip at the ready. "What are you doing? Get your ass moving!"
That was enough to shake Lenore from the mire of hopelessness. If she wanted the power to stand against Arkaydian then she needed to be willing to put her whole body on the line. She wasn't an Apostle and she wasn't a fiend; she was something else entirely—maybe something greater than them.
She turned her face toward the Saint. "You might want to stop underestimating me, because even if I don't make it out of here alive, I'll fight until I'm dead."
He chuckled, the sound rumbling like thunder. "Bring it!"
Right here, right now—Lenore intended to push past all her limits. There was no alternative but that. She called forth the darkness. It rose up with a scream of hatred, shooting out towards the nearest chunk of debris. It pulled her and Kaiser, slinging them onto unsteady, floating rubble.
She didn't waste a moment standing around, trying to catch her breath. Lenore was running and leaping onto the next piece of rubble. And she continued to rush forward, heart thumping hard in her chest, sweat dripping from her brow. She used the momentum of her body to continue leaping from the small stones, no wider or bigger than her foot; they were stepping stones—a path towards larger, steadier chunks of the fortress.
The Saint watched her progress with amusement, "That's Kaiser's power you're using. How fascinating! Does that mean if I defeat you that I've bested my wayward brother?"
Brother?
Lenore gritted her teeth, using the darkness to fling her and Kaiser onto a large piece of what used to be the stairs. They hit them with too much speed and her knees buckled, shoulder slamming into the rise as she tried to absorb the force of the fall.
The Saint was laughing, a great, wide smile splitting his cruel face as pieces of the floating cloud of debris began to rain down on them. Tiny and sharp; hard and large—it didn't matter, she felt each one and each one hurt more than the last. And still she knew this wasn't him fighting properly. Arkaydian was playing with her, underestimating her.
Frustration and rage, they exploded out of her and so did a blast of his power, stopping the shower of debris in its tracks. The uncontrollable surge of the Blessings coming to aid in her defense. Lenore pushed up to her feet, readjusting her hold on Kaiser—who remained limp and useless in her arms.
The debris that the Saint had flung at her was now under her control. She narrowed her eyes and threw them back at him with another blast of energy. Then she was running and jumping to the next chunk of floor, or roof, or whatever lay before her. Lenore held tight to Kaiser as she leapt from one large chunk of stone to another. Sweat and blood made it hard to see.
"Come on! Wake-up, you bastard!" she hissed at him through her teeth.
Lenore glanced in the Saint's direction, only to see that she must have hit him with her attack earlier. There were cuts all over his face, blood decorating his skin. But it was the piece of rebar that was impaled through his stomach, fixing him to a piece of the fortress he had destroyed. The good humor that he was wearing before was gone. A dark shadow had fallen over his face, blotting out his eyes.
An ominous sensation settled over Lenore. There was only a moment for her to fear Arkaydian's retaliation before the chunk of debris holding her, turned to dust as a blast knocked her off.
It was all coming down now. The game was over.
She screamed in frustration, burrowing her face into Kaiser's neck as she tightened her hold around his waist, trying to shield him with her body as much as possible. There was no way that they were going to survive this. Lenore prayed that the crushing impact wouldn't be too painful, though she suspected that with all she'd done—a painless death might be asking for too much.
"This isn't how I imagined your screaming." The hoarse voice muttered.
She couldn't stop the sobbing laugh that bubbled out of her chest. They were about to die and he decided to crack a joke—but she wasn't mad. There was only relief that she wouldn't be alone at the end. His arms wrapped around her, one pressing into the small of her back, the other cradling the back of her head.
"You did well."
Lenore held back the rush of tears threatening to spill forth. His voice was so gentle and comforting. "So, I was useful then?"
He laughed then, the rumble of it caressing the cage of their bond. She wanted to fall into him, to let go of everything; exhaustion was whispering through her mind, latching onto her burning muscles.
"So much so that you deserve a reward," he said and she heard the smile in his voice. "No strings attached, of course."
With a grunt, Kaiser rolled them over. She lifted her face in surprise and horror, reversing their roles meant he would take the brunt of the impact. The ground of mere feet away, rushing up to greet them. He met her wide eyed gaze, even had the nerve to smile.
"Kaiser!" she shouted his name as inky darkness shot out from his back and swallowed them inches before impact.
They dropped into the void, hitting the ground with a jolting thud and skidding over uneven stone before coming to a stop. Lenore tasted blood in her mouth, having bitten down on her tongue in the collision. Not that the pain mattered much to her at the moment because they were alive.
Kaiser had saved them.
But that moment of sanity and relief lasted all of one breath, because in the next, a voice spoke to them in the darkness, "Ah, Brother. You kept me waiting."