BENEATH THE CHAPEL
529 Words
The earth split apart.
A deafening roar shook the library, sending shelves crashing to the floor.
Books burst open, their pages swirling through the air like frightened birds.
Alexa covered her ears.
"What... is that?"
No one answered.
Even Damien looked terrified.
---
The black smoke poured from the crack in the ground, twisting into the shape of long, skeletal fingers.
They clawed at the wooden floor.
Then...
Everything became still.
Too still.
The silence lasted only a heartbeat.
A deep voice echoed from beneath the earth.
"I have waited..."
The walls trembled.
"...one hundred years."
The voice wasn't human.
It sounded ancient.
Hungry.
Alive.
---
Edward staggered backward.
"No..."
His voice shook.
"It can't escape."
The smoke began forming a massive silhouette.
Two glowing golden eyes slowly opened inside the darkness.
They fixed themselves on Alexa.
The creature laughed.
"So..."
"...you're the last blood of Eleanor."
Alexa's heart stopped.
"What?"
She turned to Edward.
"What does it mean?"
Edward lowered his head.
"I wanted to tell you."
"But the curse wouldn't let me."
---
Vivienne struggled against the ghostly hands dragging her toward the crack.
"You promised me power!" she screamed into the darkness.
"I gave you everything!"
The creature laughed again.
"I keep my promises."
The smoke wrapped around Vivienne's body.
"You wanted eternal life."
Its voice grew colder.
"I never said you'd remain human."
Vivienne's scream echoed through the library as the darkness swallowed her whole.
Then...
Silence.
---
Edward looked at Alexa with sorrow in his eyes.
"Eleanor survived the attack."
Alexa frowned.
"What?"
"For one night."
The words hit her like ice.
"She wasn't killed immediately."
Edward closed his eyes.
"She was carrying our child."
Alexa's breath caught.
"Our child survived."
Damien slowly turned toward her.
"Alexa..."
Edward nodded.
"That child became the first Ashford."
The room spun around her.
"No..."
"It isn't possible."
"Your grandmother knew."
"Your mother knew."
"And now..."
Edward looked directly into her eyes.
"...you know."
Alexa felt as though the ground had disappeared beneath her feet.
She wasn't just connected to Black Hollow.
She belonged to it.
---
A loud church bell rang in the distance.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Damien's face drained of color.
"The chapel."
Edward nodded urgently.
"It's opening."
"What is?"
"The door."
Before Alexa could ask another question...
The library windows exploded inward.
A violent wind swept through the room.
The pages of Father Benedict's diary flew open by themselves.
Across the final page, new words appeared in fresh, crimson ink.
THE GATE OPENS AT MIDNIGHT.
ONLY THE BRIDE'S BLOOD CAN SEAL IT.
The ink continued writing on its own.
OR SET IT FREE.
The final word had barely formed when the diary burst into blue flames.
Outside...
The wedding bells rang louder than ever.
And from somewhere deep within Black Hollow...
A hundred ghostly voices began singing the same haunting wedding hymn.
Alexa looked toward the forest.
Far beyond the trees...
The abandoned chapel was no longer abandoned.
Every window glowed with golden candlelight.
And a line of ghostly wedding guests slowly walked toward its open doors.
At the end of the aisle...
A bride waited.
Not for Edward.
Not for Damien.
For Alexa.
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