Page 49 of Cordelia Manor
Most of the group had agreed to spend the night in the hotel, which was just as encouraging, considering what we were up against.
Amelia, the nurse who’d treated Evan after the first attack, came over and hugged him. “I’m so glad you’re doing better, and damn that… well, we’re not supposed to talk about that, butknow we’re all impressed you’ve prospered in spite of it all,” she said.
Al didn’t want us talking about the entity, at least not yet. Instead, she wanted us to fill the place with positivity first, then we’d begin figuring out where to go from there.
Evan smiled and chatted with Amelia about what we’d been doing to fix up the manor. Our coven tried to meet once a month, at least in a social way, and Amelia had asked me about Evan each time. Unfortunately, the estate had kept us all busy, whether chasing spirits or getting the manor’s business back up and running, so Evan hadn’t spent much time in town getting to know everyone.
I shook my head, thinking I’d failed there. I was a natural introvert, and I liked my solitude. Al wasn’t much better, and Christie was ambitious and focused on the restaurant. Between the three of us, we’d done a poor job integrating Evan into the community.
Al had been right when she’d recommended we bring Evan into the coven. Now, as people approached him to introduce themselves, his face lit up with excitement as he spoke to our friends and community. Clearly, we should’ve brought him into the fold much sooner.
Evan didn’t possess any spectacular powers other than his beautiful heart. Not to minimize that, he was a beautiful man inside and out. That kind of gift accented us all and brought its own radiant positivity. Even in the face of ugly people and past pain like murder and suicide, the human spirit could bring light to those places.
We drank, then our musical members began to sing and play music, as was common with us, most of them out of tune. To my delight, Evan joined in, and his angelic voice echoed around the dining room. Happiness and joy filled the air.
It wasn’t until after nine that things began to wind down because a lot of our members had to work tomorrow. Al pulled us all together, encircling the manor like we had the night the problems worsened, and we chanted.
Evan, Christie, and a few other spouses who weren’t active members of our coven sat on the short wall that lined the formal gardens. The chant was about to conclude when lightning streaked across the sky.
We all felt the electrical pulse flow into us, almost like the lightning had struck, although I knew it hadn’t.
When Al fell to the ground next to me, I had to yell for the coven to remain in place. “Don’t break the circle, not yet,” I called.
Christie had already crossed the ground and was kneeling next to Al. I reached out, magically pulling Christie’s energy into the circle in place of Al’s. “Is she okay?” I asked once the circle was restored.
Christie nodded. “She’s knocked out, but I can’t sense any injuries. Finish the spell,” she demanded.
We resumed chanting, and once again, electricity sparked through us. This time, the energy began to concentrate within me.Damn, damn, damn, I thought.What do I do?
I saw him then, the evil entity, standing in the doorway of the manor. He wasn’t in spirit form, although his face was fading in and out. Andy, Evan’s asshole ex, was the vehicle he used. The entity, in the form of a possessed Andy, slowly lifted a gun aimed right at my heart. Just then, Evan broke the circle.
“Evan, no!” I yelled, but he ignored me. He walked through the circle toward the man.
“You’ve wanted to destroy me since this started. You’ve come for me and never even knew me. I’m your fucking descendant, your flesh and blood, just like your son Andre, and youdestroyed him. Now you want to destroy me? Why?!” Evan yelled.
I wanted to go to him, but breaking the circle could bring about damaging consequences, including making the entity stronger and Evan weaker. It was bad enough that Al had been struck even as we were in the circle. It was worse that Evan had broken through it, and that his ex had been inside it while we worked.Fuck, this was bad.
“Evan,” I tried to call to him again, tears running down my cheeks. I was about to lose him and there was nothing I could do! If I chanted, even to try to end the circle, I would end up like Al or worse. Then what help would I be to Evan? I was trapped holding the circle together until the energy subsided enough for me to close it.
“You aren’t my descendant. You are scum, just like the woman that spawned you. My son was a queer, a little girly man, ruining our family name.” The entity spewed his hatred, but Evan stood his ground. “My son killed himself, ended it, just like he should, and I will end you too. I will make sure this abomination… you… never survives.”
Andy lifted the gun and fired. I dropped the circle, determined to get to Evan, but I was frozen in place. Evan had been struck but only grazed. He grabbed his arm where he’d begun to bleed, and I was close enough that I could see his eyes gloss over. He ran a finger through the blood and then held it out, letting it drip to the ground in front of him.
“With my blood, I cleanse this place,”he whispered. Then he did it again, running his hand through the blood and showing it to the entity. “With my blood, I cleanse this place!”
Just then, Inez appeared next to him. She reached over and took his blood-stained hand in hers. “With the blood of our people…” she began, then looked to Evan, who nodded and chanted with her. “With our blood, we cleanse this place.”
Andy, possessed by the evil entity, lifted the gun again and pointed it at Evan.
“With our blood we—”
The chanting stopped as gunfire filled the air. I wailed as I saw Evan fall. Then to my surprise, he came up behind me. “It’s not me,” he whispered into my year. “I-I… it’s not me.”
I cried out, unsure if it was Evan’s ghost I was hearing, but remained frozen in place, unable to move. Then the spirit that was Evan rose, and in his place stood Andre. The evil entity wavered, leaving Andy’s body. Andy immediately fell to the ground, passed out.
“You no longer have any power here, Father,” Andre said. “You’ve used all your energy to destroy us, but you’ve failed. With our blood…” he said, looking at Inez, “…we have cleansed this place.”
The old man looked on stubbornly. “You are trash, a disgrace to the Cordelia name. You killed your mother, then this bitch…”He then turned toward Inez.“I’d have married you. But you loved my queer, useless son more than me.”
