Page 12 of Last Note
There is no sign of Vi and Harmony, no people ready to cheer or applaud. An empty, vast space full of silence greets me. And then, a soft, slow clap bounces off the walls. The jackhammering of my heart makes me feel dizzy, and I grip my head with one hand, dropping the bow to the floor.
“Excellent, Melody.” Seraphina claps louder, a wicked smile twisting her once pretty face in a terrifying grimace. “I knew you had it in you.”
“Where is everyone?” Still searching the empty church, I take a few steps back. “Vi! Harmony!”
Seraphina chuckles, the sound like nails on a chalkboard grating on my nerves. “Keep calling. They might answer.”
“Where are my friends?” Snapping out of whatever is happening to my head, I glare at her. “What did you do to them?”
“Don’t concern yourself with them.” Cutting the air with her hand, she stalks towards me. “You, my dear, have bigger problems.”
“Where are my friends?” Pushing the words through clenched teeth, I grip my violin tighter. It’ll break my heart to damage my instrument, but I will break it across her head if she comes within reach.
“They are around, with problems of their own.” Grinning like the cat that ate the canary, she comes closer. “You have no idea what you are, do you?”
“What are you talking about you, psycho?” Dread is like a lead in my belly.
“You’ll learn with time. But now that I have you, you will not escape from me.” Seraphina lunges at me.
She is much faster than I expected. One second, she is a few yards away from the podium, the next she is in front of me, her long nails digging in the skin of my neck where she grips my throat. I struggle to free myself, but she presses a spot that renders me useless with my hands hanging limply to my sides.
The violin drops on the floor.
“Per me ego potestas penes universum mentis. Tuae aciem perstringere donum, ut serviant mihi,” Seraphina chants in Latin, and I have no idea how I understand the gibberish that she spoke.“By the power vested in me, I bind your gift to serve me.”
“What are you doing?”
Horrified, I watch when a bright, glowing cord, like a live electric wire, snakes out from her chest and attaches to mine. I can feel it when it sinks its claws deep inside my soul, and the pain is so excruciating stars are dancing in front of my eyes. Seraphina gets so close to my face. I can feel her breath over my skin. The last thing I remember before everything goes black is her pupils turning vertical and her eyes glowing bright orange. An explosion shatters everything, and I sink into the darkness.
10
Étienne
Stalking through the woods brings out the predator in all three of us. The cat darts left and right, jumping over thick roots and scurrying up trees. Almost as if it knows we are following and its playing catch up, giving us time to get sight of it before disappearing through the forest again.
“I’m going to rip its head off when I get my hands on it,” Lucien grumbles from somewhere behind me when the trees thin out, and we can see lights from the city ahead of us.
My lips twitch at my brother’s agitation, but I keep quiet. No need to rile him up more than he already is. Moël moves like a wraith, silent and deadly. I follow behind him, catching glimpses of his shoulder or back just enough to know I’m on the right track. Lucien has the rear, my middle brother always there to protect from the unseen threat trying to stab you in the back.
My mind goes back to the nightmare, half paying attention that we are now moving through the city, climbing walls of buildings and jumping from roof to roof, and half seeing the tearful face of the girl, hearing her sultry voice calling to everything in me,“Please…”
“Who are you?” The question is ripped from my chest, the words too low for anyone to hear.
She cannot possibly be human. The thought is like a sucker punch to my gut that almost doubles me over and I stumble, Lucien shooting his arm out just in time to stop me from plowing off the building and hitting the pavement twenty stories below us.
“You good?” The worry in his carefully spoken words, even and without infliction, snap me out of the trance.
“I detest fucking magic!” Snarling, I rub a hand over my face.
“You and me both.” Lucien doesn’t let me pounder long on his comment. “Let’s get moving before we lose the damn thing.”
We follow Moël, but I can’t stop the niggling feeling that as soon as we find out what the fucking creature is hiding, our lives will never be the same. It’s an alarm bell ringing loud and clear through my head, warning me to turn back and take my brothers with me. The more I think about it, the stronger the urge becomes to run and never look back. My body coils up like a spring expecting an attack, and I snap my fangs an inch from Lucien’s neck when he grabs my shoulder firmly, yanking me to a crouch.
“Whoa, there, brother.” Jerking back, he squares off with me, both crouched down like feral beasts. “It’s me, Lucien.” Taking a deep breath, my nostrils flaring, I nod jerkily to let him know I’m in control.
I’m not.
Not an ounce of control is left in me. My brothers don’t need to know that, however, so with great effort, I turn my back to Lucien and scan the area. While I was fighting my own sanity, we have reached the outskirts on the other side of town. The house and buildings are left behind, only a few broken homes, plywood boarding the windows and front doors hanging askew on ripped hinges, meet my eyes. Graffiti is sprayed over the once-white walls, and yellowed grass is unmistakable to my keen eyes. No human or otherwise has been here in a long time. The scent in the air is old and faded, making the cat’s smell distinguishable like a sore thumb.
