Page 81 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Her black gown was tattered with sleeves that hit just below the elbow trimmed in lace.Lace that was tattered and faded.Her hair, wild and loose, was about her face, cascading down in long waves.And her eyes were dark and dangerous and glittering as she looked at the two of them.Lily was nowhere in sight.
“Well, well.It’s good to see you again Gabriel.How I’ve missed you.”
When she spoke, the words seemed to echo through the chamber.Gabriel stiffened, his body going rigid.
“The last time you were with me…do you remember what you said to me?”she continued.
“Don’t do this, Lenore.”His voice wavered.
“You begged me to stop.You tried to pull me away,” she continued as though he hadn’t spoken.“While my daughter lay here.”She motioned to the altar.When she did, Victoria saw the blood running down her wrist from the center of her palm.“It was too late.I lit the candles.I said the words.”
The candles.Victoria glanced around the room and saw the black candles flickered their garish green light against an unseen force.
“She was dead,” Gabriel said, trying to reason with her.“Nothing you said or did could bring her back.It wasn’t going to work.”
“It would have worked.You got in my way,” she retorted.“You were always in my way.I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
With her heart pounding, Victoria dove for the knife in the middle of the altar.She snatched it up and stumbled back.Lenore howled her displeasure.
“Your time is ending, Lenore,” she said.She pressed the tip to the center of her palm.
“You foolish girl.You can’t end me!”
Lenore’s face contorted from the once beautiful one into something terrifying.She snarled as she flew across the altar.Victoria cried out as the ghost woman’s bloody hands landed on her, pushing her back and back.Gabriel shouted her name.Lenore’s hands clawed her throat.
The force knocked the knife from her hand.It clattered to the ground.
Searing pain surged through Victoria and suddenly she was outside the altar room.The menacing face of Lenore bearing down on her, pushing her out and away from Gabriel.
But something surged within her as she gasped for air.Some bright pulse that seemed to overtake her body.And then Lenore shrieked and flew back into the altar room.Victoria pitched forward, throwing out her hands to break her fall.As Lenore disappeared into the shadows, the door slammed closed.
Sealing Gabriel inside.
Victoria, gasping for air, and lifted her head.Lily was there, standing in front of the door with water dripping around her leaving tiny circles.
“Lily?”
“You have to hurry,” she whispered and then she was gone.
Victoria climbed to her feet, her ankle protesting with every movement, and reached the door, but it was locked.The knob wouldn’t turn.On the other side, she heard Gabriel’s shout that nearly ripped her heart in two.
When the door slammed closed, Gabriel tried to shout her name but Lenore was there.Moving toward him with that menacing look on her once beautiful face.He balled his fist and stepped back from the door.The ominous green light from the candles gave the chamber an eerie glow.One that was otherworldly.
“It’s her I want.Not you,” she said.“But I’ll take you if I have to.”
“I prefer you take me instead,” he said, defiant.If it meant saving Victoria, he would do it.He would do anything for her.
That enraged her.She dove for him.Her spectral hands latched onto him.One diving into his chest, reaching into him and grabbing onto his very soul.Yanking and pulling with all the hate within her.He cried out with the searing pain, trying to move out of her grasp but she held fast.
As his vision dimmed, and he started to fade away letting her win, the door crashed open.It was quickly followed by a muffled grunt of pain.Lenore released him and shrieked her frustration.Gabriel crumbled to his knees, pain lancing through his legs as he gulped in air.
Next to him, Victoria climbed to her feet, her hand wrapping around the hilt of the knife as she rose.Without wasting a moment, she sliced her palm, then squeezed her hand into a tight fist.So tight, her knuckles leeched of color.She held it over the altar, the blood dripping down.
“No!”Lenore shouted as she fluttered back to the other side of the room.
“I banish you, Lenore,” Victoria said her voice low and terrible.
“No!”she shrieked again.
