Page 64 of The Assassin and the Libertine
Philippe’s eyes narrowed and he slowly shook his head. “You must think I’m a damned fool.”
Henri hissed a laugh. Dread gathered in my gut.
“It’s not that easy, Daphne, but it doesn’t matter, anyway. I will sacrifice Charlotte, and then when you say those words, youwillmean them, and Iwillbelieve you. There’s no turning back now.” Philippe started to turn to Charlotte and panic propelled me forward.
I flung the holy water at Henri, praying The Order’s teachings were right. It splashed across his face and he shrieked—an unholy, ear-splitting sound. Angry burns erupted on his ill-fitting skin. Étienne seized his moment and snatched at Henri’s foot, wrenching it to the side with a sickening crack. Philippe turned to the noise and I reached for my pistol.Too late.
He whirled back to me, betrayal and rage written across his face. He backhanded me, knocking me off balance, and I lost my grip on the pistol. I tripped over the wooden crates and fell backward next to Father Clarence.
“Finish the exorcism!” I hissed. “We will keep them busy.”
He nodded, his terrified eyes wide, and began shouting passages from his bible. I looked back over the crate. Henri was limping, the wounds on his face smoking, but he had otherwise recovered. He and Étienne were throwing punches and kicks in a blur of motion—his demonic strength against Étienne’s vampire speed. I didn’t have much time to watch, though. Philippe came for me and pulled me up by my hair. Tears stung and pain seared my scalp.
“I’m going to have you, Daphne, one way or another.” He wrapped his hand around my neck and pushed me back against the wall. Holding me by my throat, he fumbled for the buttons of his breeches.
Blind rage ignited in me and I kicked at him, connecting with his shin. He swore but stayed his course, reaching for the hem of my skirts. I beat against his arms, which were surprisingly strong despite his wiry frame.
I heard a roar from the other side of the room and saw Henri stumble. Between Etienne’s assault and Father Clarence’s prayers, the demon was suffering. Étienne saw his opening, and hurled Henri against a wall. Henri grunted with the impact and slid to the ground. Étienne leaped over him and seized his throat, fangs bared.
Philippe, still struggling with my dress, swore in a high-pitched cry of despair. His eyes lifted to mine and I saw the full measure of his emotions.Hate, sadness, regret, shame.Suddenly his head jerked forward with a loud crack. He fell, slumped over. I coughed and wheezed a ragged breath, then looked up into the apoplectic visage of Charlotte. She held a large board wrested from one of the broken crates.
“Oh, Daphne!” Charlotte threw her arms around me and sobbed. “Are you okay?”
Philippe groaned at her feet.
“One moment,chérie,” she said. She raised the board overhead and brought it down on Philippe with another violentwhump.
“That’s for hitting me and ruining the ball!” She kicked him in the stomach. “That’s for murdering all those poor people!” She kicked him in the groin. “And that’s for using me to get to Daphne!”
Eventually, Philippe floated away into unconsciousness. Charlotte continued to kick him, laying out sin after sin. I touched her arm and she collapsed into me, sobbing hysterically. I pulled her back to sit on the crates next to Father Clarence.
“Charlotte, if you have any God left in you, you will help Father Clarence pray,” I said. I retrieved my pistol from the floor and gave it to her. “If he wakes, shoot him in the knee.”
“What about the head?”
“No,ma petite amie. We need him alive to exonerate Étienne to The Order,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s not the head I was talking about.”
I managed a wry smile and made my way over to Étienne, who was covered in a thick, black liquid. Henri sputtered beneath his hands, his voice vacillating between Asmoday's and his former, human voice. There was a loose mass of flesh where his throat should have been.
“You bitch,” the creature chuckled at me. “You weren’t worth the blood I spilled. I’ll be back on Earth before you know it. This world is filled with desperate, greedy men.”
Étienne squeezed the creature’s throat, and a choking, gurgling sound spewed out.
“If you harm so much as one hair on her head, I swear on Lucifer himself that I will follow you into Hell and torment you all over again.” Étienne’s eyes were black as pitch and the threat in his voice frightened even me.
The creature turned its dead, empty eyes on him and laughed louder.
“Witless fool,” it snarled. “She will never love you. Not in the way that you love and long for her. You will pine for her every day, just as Philippe did, except you have an eternity of misery to face without her, vampire.”
A look of gut-wrenching sadness crossed Étienne’s face and I knew the creature’s words had struck true.Was Étienne in love with me?Then his face changed, the sadness replaced with cold anger. He lifted Henri’s head from the ground, then smashed it back down. More black liquid sprayed forth—from the sound of the smack, I suspected Henri’s skull had fractured.
Étienne glanced back at Father Clarence, who had fainted in the corner. Charlotte attempted to rouse him, but it was no use.
“How about we send this vile thing back to Hell?” Étienne said, grabbing the bible and rosary from the prone priest’s hands.
I found the passage Father Clarence had been reading, whispered a silent prayer that this would work, and shouted at the top of my lungs.
