A cool draft swirls around me as the prison door creaks shut. The guard's heavy footsteps dissipate down the hallway. Tears, at last, prickle at my eyes. A choked whimper falls from my lips, and I slump against the wall. A rogue, lonely candle jumps and twirls down the hallway, spitting only slivers of light into my otherwise shadowy cell. Panic stirs in my chest, followed rapidly by scorching anger. Ruben's blank stare burns in my mind. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"Elle?" Ajax's voice cuts through the silence and darkness. His hand reaches around the wall, sticking through the gap in the door.
"Ajax." I take his calloused hand in mine, almost sobbing at the tenderness of my friend's touch; the comfort it brings. "He's a ghost, Ajax."
"It sounds like Edward has messed with his brain in a similar way to how he did with Aston; when he messed with his memories." He gives my hand a weak squeeze.
"Edward is becoming unhinged," I say with a sniffle. "I need to shove that Devil's Ivy down his throat and perhaps, kill the shadowteeth."
"If you kill the shadowteeth, you will need to prepare for his retaliation."
My pulse thrums. "I'll find a place for you and Aston to hide."
He lets out a chuckle. "We aren't going to cower away while you go into battle against the psycho."
"I can't afford to lose anyone else," I say with a quiver in my lips. "He's got Ruben. Fine. But not you two as well. He can't have everything."
"He already has us all, Elle." He lets go of my hand, gesturing to the dungeon around us. "This is our fight, too."
I mush the inside of my cheek between my teeth. "Fine. But I can't promise you'll make it out alive if you're in the thick of it." Even uttering the words makes me want to throw up. "But you know I'll do anything to protect the ones I love."
"We know the risks of battle," Aston pipes up from across the hallway. Candlelight gilds his bruised face.
I nod, furrowing my brow, and a smirk tugs at my lips. "Fine. Let's come up with a plan."
--
My head leans against the cold stone wall. Mildew and fungus spores grow up the cracks and grooves in the stone and the whole place smells of mould and dampness. I close my eyes as the door in the hallway opens. The guard coughs, clearing his throat as he marches down the hall. My heart pounds in anticipation. He lets out a low grumble as he checks on Aston, then Ajax, who both feign sleeping in their cells.
When he turns to my cell, those soulless eyes on me, I resist the urge to flinch. Instead, I let out a groan. "Sir, I'm in pain," I say with a groan.
"That's not my problem, wench," he growls.
"Please. Come here," I say, rolling my head to the other side. "I need to tell you something. It's a secret."
He hesitates, before taking a step closer. Wait. Wait. Now. I launch myself at the door, reaching through the bars, and grab the man's throat. I slam his temple in the iron bars. His groan rattles in my head as I smash his skull against the iron bar again and again, blood and brains spatter my face and clothes and I let out an inhuman noise, shutting off my humanity until it's over. He goes limp in my grasp and the bile and madness threaten to burn me alive. I whimper, letting him go. He slides gracelessly to the floor. My breathing is ragged and shaky. But the key is just an arm's reach away.
After grabbing it, and letting each of us out of the cell, we pull the weapons from the guard's belt. A small knife, handcuffs, and even a box of matches.
"The Devil's Ivy should still be in my room upstairs," I say, tucking the weapons into my tattered boot.
"Someone is bound to see us," Aston says.
"And if they do," I say, pointing to the boot. "We do what usually keeps people quiet. Fear."
"Careful, Elle." Ajax tightens his jaw. "We are not the monster."
"We might have to be," I say with a shrug.
I choose to ignore the frown he shoots Aston. The door releases a puff of dust as I pull it open, tucking the key into the sagging pocket of my worn pants. We scurry up the winding staircase, around and around until we arrive in the servant's quarters. Thankfully, most of them are out for the day, going about their business in other parts of the palace. Except for the lone young lady taking a break in the tearoom. She has not yet detected us. Her back turned to the old soot stove, she grabs the whistling pot and pours the steaming water into a cup, humming a tune under her breath.
I glare at the boys, pressing my finger to my lips. With cat-quiet feet, we move past her. But one of Ajax's footsteps makes the floorboard screech in protest. She whirls around, those too-young eyes filling with terror.
"Aren't you meant to be in prison?" she says. A question for me.
I almost reach for the knife in my boot but cannot bring myself to do it. The way she cowers against the bench, her face draining of colour, her eyes darting to my hands as if she expects me to wield a blade. I cannot be her monster.
I clear my throat and stick out my chin. "No. Edward Mallory released us this morning."
Her brow arches. We are too grubby and hungry looking for her to truly believe us. But she swallows and forces a smile. "Of course, Miss Elle."
I press my lips together. "We won't tell him we bumped into you. Promise."
A tear rolls down her face, but I keep moving, up the stairs, into the main halls. We cling to the walls, poking our heads around corners, waiting for the coast to clear before we dart to the next corridor. Finally, we slip into my old room, undetected by some miracle.
I reach into the pillows, probing around for the Devil's Ivy. My heart sinks. "It's not there." My breathing picks up. "Edward must have it. They must have found it when they were cleaning this room."
"New plan?" Ajax says, pacing to the window, nodding his head at the walls. "Should we try the shadowteeth?"
"And kill it how?" I ask. The thought of harming the innocent creature hurts even though I know it needs to be done. "I think we should continue with the current plan for now. Edward must have the Devil's Ivy close to him. He wouldn't want something like that too far from his possession. I can find it. I'll talk to him."
I march out of the room, not bothering to be discreet this time as I throw the door open. It smacks into the door stopper with a crack. Guards flanked at the end of the hallway, below a gallery of paintings of Ruben and Edward's father, snap to attention.
"Elle! Ajax barks from behind. "What are you doing?"
Chaos erupts around us as the guards lunge at us. Nearby servants shriek. Other Red Movement patrons poke their heads around the corner, salivating with the thrill of drama. I grit my teeth shouting a string of profanities in Edward's name as the guards shove us up the stairs to his quarters.
"He will love to know how you escaped," a guard says in my ear.
I puff my chest. "I bashed his brains out," I say with little emotion in my voice. "And I will not hesitate to do it to you."
I crane my neck over my shoulder and sink my teeth into the man's hand. His gurgling cry slams into the marble walls and floor around him. I spin, grab the knife from my boot and slice it across his cheek, catching his eye. He screams, clutching his face. But I'm already wrenching myself free from the grip of the other guard and bolting down the corridor.
"Elle! Elle!" Ajax shouts.
But I ignore him. My boots slap against the marble floor as I run, the guards pursuing. But they don't need to. I know the way to his quarters. Just as I arrive at the top of the staircase, Edward steps out of the parlour room, and I slam into him.
"Oh, Elle," he says, shaking his head and tutting. "Trust you to be behind all the ruckus I can hear from all the way in my quarters."
I grab him by the collar, seeing nothing but darkness, as I shove him into the room, and pin him against the wall, my arm across his chest. "Where the hell is the Devil's Ivy, Edward?"
His eyes flare with madness and he barks a laugh. "That's what you want? Whatever for?"
"To shove down your throat. No one should have the power of immortality, Edward. It goes against nature. And it's stripping your psyche. No one should be taking the blood."
His lip curl into a sneer. "It's too bad, then, that I tossed the Devil's Ivy leaves into the fire." Light dances in his eyes as he flicks his hand to the crackling, whooshing hearth at the head of the room.
Sure enough, the skeletons of a handful of leaves burn bright and hot, hissing and spitting at me as if to taunt me. Darkness creeps into my consciousness and body again. "You have to give it up, Edward."
"I can't," he growls, red flushing his cheeks.
"Why? Because you're afraid to be alone? Well, that's bullshit. You know it. You don't form connections with people because you manipulate them and make them fear you. Gods forbid you take the time to get to know who they are first."
"I know you, Elle," he says, licking his lips.
"No. You don't. You only know the me who has tried desperately to keep my loved ones from becoming another victim of yours. But all of them have in one way or another anyway."
He blows out a harsh laugh. "What are you going to do, Elle? I thought you cared about me, too?"
"I did." My eyes blur with tears. "Back when I thought you were worth caring for. But now, you're just a pathetic monster who strips people of their autonomy, so you don't feel so alone."
Then I grab the matches from my boot, strike one across the side of the box, and toss it onto the fabric couch, setting the room ablaze.