Ordained (27 page)

The graves read Constance Malloy, Calley Thallen, Brit Ryems and Valerie Whitney. The Priest finished the sermon. One by one, each dropped a handful of dirt onto each casket and then dispersed.

Abby was the only one to linger over Valerie’s grave. Noel stepped up and put his arm around her, pulling her tight. Thankful, she wrapped herself around his waist.

Valerie’s advisor didn’t seem too upset over the loss of his charge. He didn’t shed one tear during the service, even during the part devoted to her.

“Abigail, did you happen to pick up Valerie’s amulet? It was a gift, a lucky charm if you will, that I gave her for protection. I’d – I’d like to have it back.”

Still looking down on Valerie’s grave, Abby replied rudely, “I’m sorry for your loss, Roger. You must be truly heartbroken.”

Roger cleared his throat. “Um, yes I am. But please, the amulet?”

She sighed and roughly exposed the amulet hidden under her shirt. “You mean this one?”

“Yes!” he cried ecstatically, his eyes bright. “May I have it?” He reached out for it.

“No,” she answered bluntly, tucking the jewel away again.

He recoiled into himself. “I’m sorry?”

“No, I’m sorry. Let me speak more clearly.”

Oh, dear
, Noel thought. The tone of her voice had attracted the attention of a few advisors and hunters that had yet to leave the small cemetery.

“The only way you’re getting your grubby little hands on this amulet is by prying it off my dead body.” Abby walked off, leaving Roger appalled and shaken as he retreated in the opposite direction.

“Shouldn’t you go after her?” Emily asked. He hadn’t even realized she was there.

“No. Not yet.”

He had feared Valerie’s passing might mimic that of a dear friend she had lost so long ago. A much darker time, Noel recalled all too well the steps that led to Abby’s internal destruction. She was mere weeks from confrontation. He couldn’t lose her now.

Was this the beginning of the end? Should her internal balance be disrupted, be pushed toward the darker side, would she be able to pull herself back? He knew he wouldn’t be able to aid her this time. Her evil side was as clever as her good side. She would never fall for his tactics twice. She barely tolerated his presence the last time, and knew she had it in her to dispose of him completely the next time she came out.

Not to mention, her evil side would be far more likely to join Morphus than to fight him.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Dressed in a comfortable tank top and cotton bottoms, Abby crawled up in bed with a bottle of red wine. Normally she didn’t drink. She knew she shouldn’t. But the queasiness coming from within needed to be dulled. She never did well with loss and learned not to make friends over the years. One by one, they all died on her. Whether early in the relationship or later, it was never easy. But lately they had all been strangers. Losing Valerie caused a sharp sensation to pulsate throughout her body, particularly in her chest. She just wanted the pain to go away.

Within an hour, Noel slipped into the room, leaned against her and held her tight. She welcomed the release.

“I think she was lying to me.”

“Valerie?”

“About the vision. The one she said she was mentally blocked on. It never happened. Why would she see something that was never gonna happen? What was she hiding from me?”

He dug in deeper, his voice muffled, “Doesn’t really matter anymore. We can’t change the past.”

Abby pulled herself away. “The hell it doesn’t matter! What are we doing here? We can’t save these people or anyone else for that matter. Whether they die now or sometime later, the fact is, they’re all gonna die. We can’t protect everyone every day.” She took another long swig.

Noel pried the bottle from her hands with a look of disappointment, whether from her words or her drinking, she didn’t know.
Hell, probably both
.

“You shouldn’t be drinking this. You know it makes you angry.”

She rolled out of bed and stumbled for the door. Sarcastically, she complained, “And we know the Order wouldn’t want that!”

“No,
I
don’t want that!” he yelled back.

Abby slammed the kitchen door behind her. She stumbled her way to the liquor cabinet in the pantry. She rummaged through it, tossing every bottle in the way until she found what she was looking for. The floor was littered with broken glass and a headache-inducing stench.

From the kitchen, a male voice yelled at her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

She stepped out of the pantry with a bottle of whiskey dangling from her hand. Lincoln immediately regretted yelling before knowing his opposition. Abby stared coldly as she slowly stepped towards him. As expected, he bolted from the room. With the wave of her hand, the wind rushed the kitchen door shut again. The burn within growled and her eyes fluttered a shade of darkest black.

That was odd
. Never had that happened when she used her mother’s powers before.

Abby sat down at the old wooden table and swigged a quarter of the bottle down. As the alcohol rushed to her head, she slumped further down the chair and burrowed her head deep into the table. Her thoughts were rushing; she felt dizzy.

Valerie said she saw Abby’s lifeless body on the ground.
Could it be Morphus has learned my true identity and knows how to kill me?
Her vampirism had been her ace in the hole. Very few knew the secret of how to kill her – not even Emily. She too, thought a stake through the heart would kill her. Though the method was sufficient for the mutated vampire, it wasn’t for the pure. The only way to kill a vampire like herself was to introduce the lipid phosphatidylserine into the bloodstream. The lipid would attach to the cell and mark it to be eaten by the phagocytes. It would take an immediate and continuous blood supply to live through it, depending on the number of lipids introduced. So long as the vampire could supply fresh cells during the massacre, it may live through it. However, it’s doubtful the vampire would start the process quick enough to keep up. Had Valerie truly seen Abby dead on the floor with a stake through the heart, it must have been laced with the lipid.

The amulet around her neck suddenly warmed her skin. Abby raised her head with curiosity when her eyes began to glow.

The bright sensation blinded her, blurred everything. She saw nothing but a warm, yellowish glow. The center of her vision tightened into focus.
A hand reached out and pulled on
Great Expectations
in the bookcase. The door opened.
Her vision blurred bright again. Five seconds passed before it tightened once more
. A four by ten portrait of man standing in a field, leaning on a long sword, centuries old
. The brightness went in and out again. Her head was aching, her eyes straining.
The viewer rushed a male from behind. Before he could turn around, the viewer struck him down with a wooden pole
.

Abby’s eyes and amulet returned to normal. Her eyes couldn’t focus because the bright glow left spots in her vision. She cupped her hands and suffocated them with darkness, waiting for the dancing spots to fade.

The black and white visions were like multiple snapshots being flipped together quickly to show slow-motion movement. She wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or her inability to receive the messages clearly.

She opened her eyes once the spots finally dissipated. Her vision was slightly blurred but sharpened with each passing second. She looked to the bottle of whiskey and an unsettling feeling of regret filled her. The two minute vision had ruined the haze the alcohol had given her. She abandoned the bottle and left the kitchen, her path set on the basement.

She reached out and pulled on
Great Expectations
. The basement and stairs were the uttermost black. She’d never noticed a light switch before. And then it hit her – the room had no electricity. Knowing Valerie had to have something to light, she bent down and felt for anything loose on the floor. She found it by the hinged corner of the swing bookcase: an old-fashioned oil lantern.

She felt her pockets for a lighter but knew she wouldn’t find one. It would take ten minutes to go back to the bedroom, longer if Noel was still there. She sighed deeply and turned to her right hand. Within seconds, it became fire-red and she lit the lantern. Surprisingly, the burn didn’t react to it. Maybe Noel was on to something after all. Perhaps the entity did only feed when she used her powers for negative purposes.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, she scanned the portraits that covered the four walls. None matched the one from her vision. She stood in the center of the basement and circled again. There was only one dark corner she couldn’t completely see. It was past the bottom of the stairs and past the door to her old room. Only four feet of space was between the bedroom door and the wall. She had always assumed it was a normal corner, unoccupied due to darkness and lack of space.

As she approached, the lantern lit up the missing portrait from her vision, and it was large enough to cover something up. Abby investigated, felt all around the wooden frame. Her fingers found a latch on the right side of the wood. With a
click
the portrait squeaked and swung open, revealing a dark and hidden closet.

She leaned the lantern in and quickly noticed a body wrapped in plastic on the floor. It had been wrapped well, considering the amount of decomposition she could see contained through the many layers. A sour smell formed a halo around the body but it was minimal. Rotten though it was, Abby still recognized the familiar face within the plastic. One that matched an exact replica currently present in the manor.

She closed her eyes, overcome with a very sudden, very obvious revelation.
How could I have been so blind?

Valerie hadn’t lied to her about her problematic vision after all. She was certain Valerie had searched for Abby in the rain that night, just as she had done in her vision. Her subconscious, her gift, had been trying to warn her all along, trying desperately over and over again to get her to see. She’d been so fixated on what she was trying to tell Abby that it never occurred to her that the vision was actually about her. Valerie’s vision showed her what it always did – a hunter on the verge of death.

What Valerie was planning to tell her that night, Abby was certain she just learned from this hidden closet. According to the decomposed body before her, Morphus had infiltrated their organization months ago, long before Abby or any of the other hunters had returned to the school. Unfortunately for Valerie, she didn’t tell Abby that rainy night. She told the one person whom she was warning against.

Abby stormed her way up the stairs and through the complex maze of hallways. Her head was clear now, focused.

She stammered when Noel appeared down the hall from her. He was surprised to see her standing erect. Dryly, he said, “Wow. What got you up and going? Thought for sure you’d be at the bottom of another bottle by now.”

Oh, God
… She wasn’t planning on this. Her body was overcome with a sudden achiness, a longing she may never again be able to feel. She stormed towards him, wrapped herself around him and kissed him passionately. At first he was tense, stunned by her aggressive nature. But soon his arms went eagerly around her waist without question. She placed her hands around his neck and twisted his hair in her fingers.

She was in trouble. His kiss was pulling her into a deep trance-like state. She was succumbing to the temptation, to the fear that this was their last moment together. She didn’t want to give it up, to willingly cut their time together short by three weeks.

The hungry sensation rising within hindered her and screamed at her to not end this precious moment. But another part lurked about the mental haze. It was rational and put Abby back on track for the task at hand. Her chest released a disapproving moan as the needle in the ring on her finger was activated. Her hand stiffened and tried to prevent her from piercing the backside of his neck.

His withdrawal from her lips was immediate, but it wasn’t from the potion. He knew what she had done. His embrace weakened and he stepped away from her grasp. There was never one point in her life that deserved the look he was giving her now, not even after the horrible things she did when she was evil. It was a look of betrayal. Something never present in their relationship, not once. Sharp pains stabbed her chest as he felt the back of his neck; the tiniest drop of blood appeared on his fingertip.