Page 107 of When Bones Whisper
“No!”
The plea left her mouth when she finally broke through spell suffocating her, but only enough to speak.
With her last seconds, Charlotte whispered the incantation she had memorized the other night from the grimoire, the one which could break the curse keeping her family bound to this world. If she died without it, she could join them in eternal purgatory.
She spluttered out the spell under her breath, feeling its dark hum settle over her, ready to activate upon her sacrifice.
The dagger met her ribs and a fiery sting blossomed deep with each inch of metal sinking deeper into her chest. A wave of warmth spread across her torso, blood pooling over her chest, her limbs turning icy cold.
Alice’s cry and her mother’s scream caressed her mind from somewhere distant.
She turned her head, taking in the view that had been hidden from her periphery until now. Nathaniel’s body was lying still on the ground, at the feet of a second of the monsters belonging to Gertrude.
A tear slid down her cheek and onto the altar as her blood rushed from her too thick and fast to stop, every gurgling plea bubbling from her mouth in foamy bursts.
The veil split around her, and a light erupted as she floated in and out of her body, flickering between the living and dead.
Ancestors appeared around her and beyond them, Alice, and her parents’ faces became visible, screaming for her, but they were helpless to stop it.
The words formed in her mind, and she only hoped her family could hear them.
I love you all so much. Papa, I know now it wasn’t your fault.
Flickers of her life passed in her mind, comforting her as too much blood left her body, soaking the white fabric of her dress with red.
Heartbeats slowed, growing fainter and more erratic. She gave one last look at her family’s longing expressions before they were pulled into the light with the rest of her family, leaving her utterly alone.
A loud meow sounded from the gates, but Charlotte was beyond being saved, even by the vampire who lay unconscious onthe ground, or her loyal familiar that whined for her as her eyes fluttered closed.
After so long of feeling the near touch of death’s embrace, it finally caught up with her.
Charlotte Lovett was dead.
Chapter Thirty-One
The world shifted, the color bleeding into gray tones. While there was freedom in the absence of the intolerable agony that had shredded her body moments before, the feeling was temporary, lost to the melancholy that came from being entirely alone.
Charlotte looked at her body destroyed beyond repair. Reaching out to touch her pale skin, her chest wrenched with a sob. She was dead and there was no going back.
Duke caught her attention as he darted onto the altar, laying himself over her moonlit, blood-drenched remains, nudging his nose under her chin, his paws paddingher still chest.
“Duke!” she ran to him, her fingers ghosting his fur, which stood on end at her touch. “I’m right here. Please, see me.”
Yellow eyes pierced hers through the veil. He meowed loudly and a sigh rattled her body.
“Get out of here, Duke. Before they hurt you!” she begged. “Go. You can’t help me anymore.”
Glossy eyes stayed fixed on hers, a sadness creeping into every part of his face. They’d saved each other countless times, but this time it was too late. No one could help her.
He emitted a high-pitched yowl, hissing when Gertrude pushed him away from Charlotte’s body.
“Run! Please, Duke. Go!”
His tail twitched, ears flattening as he landed on the ground next the crypt. With a final, drawn-out howl, he sped down the path, disappearing into the shadows.
Charlotte watched Gertrude, who stood dead and center in the circle of Avery witches, her eyes closed, a subtle smile playing on her lips as waves of magic pulsed into her body, stolen from her.
A heart-wrenching scream shattered through both realms, the kind that not only reached one’s ears, but their heart too.
