Page 143 of An Oath at Midnight

I slid my knife free as Bram gripped the handle, easing the door open.

The chapel itself was quiet, the candlelight dancing over the remaining stained-glass windows that had survived the quake. The pews were jostled from their perfect formation and covered in dust.

“I’ll check back here,” Bram said quietly.

I nodded, then froze when a muffled cry came from the back of the church. We rushed toward it. Jenna was trussed up on the ground. She looked up at us with huge, terrified eyes. I pressed my finger to my lips, telling her to be quiet, and yanked the gag from her mouth.

“Where is she?”

“Basement. She’s got Robert and Isaac,” Jenna said. “I d-don’t understand what’s going on.”

Bram quickly untied her. “Go,” he said.

She shook her head, lips trembling. “Not without Robert.”

I held her terrified gaze. “We’ll do our best to get him out of here alive, but you need to go get help. Get the council and tell them what happened.”

A tear streaked down her cheek, but she nodded.

“Stay low, stick to the shadows,” I said.

She slipped out, and we moved on silent feet down the center aisle and in behind the ornate pulpit. There were heavy, dark wooden doors against the walls on either side of the room. Bram checked the first. “Pastor’s office,” he whispered.

I nodded and gripped the door handle of the opposite door, opening it as quietly as I could. A terrible but familiar smell hit me almost immediately—rot. Death.

Candlelight flickered at the bottom of the stairs, and we started down. My mind kept throwing scenarios at me, of what this could be, of why Maria and Ryan had done this, but the truth was, I had absolutely no idea.

Someone’s voice carried up to us.

Isaac.

We paused on the stairs.

Isaac was trying to reason with Maria, but there was no missing the tremble of fear in his voice. “Tell me Ryan forced you into it,” he was saying. “This isn’t you. It can’t be.”

“You don’t know anything about me, Isaac. And you never really bothered to ask, did you? If you weren’t fucking me, you were using me for my money. Don’t pretend you ever cared about me, when we all know the only person you care about is yourself. You’re all the same, every one of you.”

Bram took the next step, and switched forms, shadowing out so he could check around the corner. He rematerialized again a moment later and waved me forward. Maria had Robert and Isaac on the far side of the basement, where numerous old bookcases filled with junk created several walled-off sections.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Robert said. “We love you.”

“No, Rob, you love yourself, and you and your friends are fucking monsters.” Maria screamed the last, then laughed, the switch unnerving, the sound deranged. “Well, it’s my turn to be the monster, and it’s your turn to feel pain. I want you to feel the kind of loss that breaks you, mind and soul, the kind of pain that drives you to do anything to make it stop.”

I eased closer. What the hell was she talking about? How had they hurt her?

“What are you going to do?” Isaac asked.

“I’ve already done it. I just need a couple things from you, and I’ll have everything I want.” The sound of another door opening echoed through the room.

“Oh goddess,” Isaac rasped. “What the fuck have you done, Maria?”

“Come meet your new friends, my dears,” she said, I assumed to whoever had just revealed themselves.

And going by Robert’s scream of pure terror, Maria wasn’t the only monster in the room.

There was a scrape and a groan, then shuffling sounds. I stepped closer to the shelves in front of me and peered through. Maria stood in front of Robert. Isaac was beside him, and they were both tied up. Isaac had a pretty bad gash on his head, and blood dripped down the side of his face steadily.

“We still need an arm, Rob, and I thought you’d be the perfect candidate.”