the way he did—as though the world around him consisted of only ants that now and then became interesting to him. That was what the world was to her now. Everything was…small.
She lifted her hand to the sky, gesturing to the red moon. She willed it to be free. She willed the city to be free. She commanded the cloud of miasma around her to be silent.
She held her breath—did she really even need to breathe now?—and watched as the moon slipped away and was replaced with the warm glow of the sun. She flinched and looked away. It had never been that painfully bright before. Right. Yes. That. “Ow.” She laughed.
With the shadow of crimson that slid away, so went the twisted nightmares. Blood still stained the streets. The dead were still that. No tragedy was reversed.
The past could not be changed.
But the future was not yet written. Fate was not sealed.
She looked to Eddie. “Vlad is…dead and gone. Do you seek to kill me instead, hunter?”
“You saved my life.” He sighed. “If I didn’t kill that piece of shit incubus or Bella—”
“What?”
He grunted. “I spared them. She seemed happy, and he loves her, and—” Eddie sighed heavily. “She loves him. I can’t fault them for that. For what they did to Al, sure, but…sounds like he got himself into that mess.”
“Alfonzo.” She cringed and shut her eyes. “I should go deal with him.”
“I’m coming.” She glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. He coughed and cleared his throat. “I mean, I’d like to come with you, with all due respect, ma’am.”
She laughed. She supposed she really was a ma’am now. She nodded and reached out to take his hand. “Come. I think I know the way.”
Eddie hesitated but placed his hand in hers. She just folded into the nothingness and moved between places in the world. It was so easy now that she knew how it was done. Like a curtain being pulled back, it all made sense.
He, however, was of the same opinion that she was the first time she had experienced it. He doubled over and nearly retched as they reappeared in the stone corridor beneath the library. The curse from the city had lifted, but she kept this building under her control for the time being. There was business to attend to.
“I—oh—oh, my.” The Chainmaster. It came out to greet its visitor, and seeing her, dropped to its knees. “I serve you, my Mistress.”
“Free them all. All that can leave this place of their own will, you shall allow. Those who cannot be released are to be quickly and painlessly put out of their suffering. Leave Alfonzo. We are to tend to him. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mistress,” the demon purred. “Am I free as well?”
She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”
Its features creased in pain. “Master Dracula kept me here to punish me. I slighted him a long time ago, and he makes me serve. I miss my children. I wish to return to Hell. Do you wish to keep me imprisoned?”
There was always a context. There was always a reason behind the darkness. She shook her head. “You are free once you do as I ask.”
The demon picked up the edge of her dress and kissed it and quickly left to make good on her command.
“Demons are weird,” Eddie muttered.
“I find myself agreeing with you.” She motioned for him to follow her as she walked down the hallway. She found Alfonzo’s cell quickly and opened the door but paused before she went in. She looked over to Eddie, who had lost much of the color from his face at the odor of the place. Of the stench of suffering and death. “I am sorry for what you are about to see.”
“Walter told me what they…what they did.”
“It’s another thing to witness it.” She pushed open the door and walked inside. She heard Eddie follow her.
There, in the center of the floor, was what remained of Alfonzo Van Helsing. His limbs were stumps. His right arm was longer than the others, extending down to a wrist, but the hand was gone. The charred remains of a hand lay on a tray by his head, chewed on, and bile soaked it.
They had made him eat his own hand.
She cringed and looked away, putting her hand over her mouth. No. She would look this cruelty in the eyes, and she would understand it. This was what she would become if she was not careful. She