Layla
I don’t look behind me as I run out of Dalton’s studio. Whatever was in the room with us–I don’t want to see it. The feeling of it watching me—watching us–still drifts over my skin as I grab the banister and slide down the stairs, nearly falling all the way down in my haste to get to Aunt Penny’s room.
I can’t hear myself think over the blaring music. The song plays over, and over, and over, the screeching of the ancient record sending shockwaves through the house.
But I know one thing is true. Dalton isn’t lying. I believe everything he told me. It’s unbelievable, but so is everything that’s happened to me since I arrived at this place, and Dalton has been the only real, tangible thing keeping me grounded.
There has to be a way out of this for both of us.
I yank Penny’s door open and fly into the room.
“It’s too late,” she says, and I feel my body go numb in shock.
Penny is standing near an open window dressed in a white nightgown, her rail-thin figure silhouetted by the shadow of the moon peeking through the storm clouds. She looks over her shoulder at me, a somber smile touching her lips. “Poor thing. I tried to stop this from happening. Years ago, I thought depriving myself of a husband and children would bring an end to this madness. Amos is a tricky bastard. I tried to find a way to banish him, you know. That’s how all of this started–the medications, the sedation…. He knew I was looking for a way to banish him back to the same ether our family pulled him from all those centuries ago. My great-great-grandmother wanted more. More money, more luck, more power. That’s how he came here. She called to him, summoned him, using dark magic, I’m sure”
I shake the shock from my mind and shout, “What can we do?”
She turns halfway to face me, holding a lit candle in her hands. I can’t even think about how she got her hands on matches at the moment. “There’s nothing to do. As long as this cursed house stands, he has a place to conduct his evil deeds. He’s so strong now. I should have known he’d find a way to stop me. He was nothing more than a whisper when I was young, but now?”
A crash sounds overhead. My heart nearly stops. “Dalton?”
“Poor boy,” she says, clicking her tongue. “He loves you dearly, you know.”
“How do you know about him?”
“I am still in here, girl, usually locked away in my mind. But I knew all that happens in this house. Dalton checks on me every night, you know. He sits here sometimes and talks to me. Talks to me about you, and how hard he’s trying to get you out. I didn’t have the strength to tell him it was too late. But now… I underestimated you. You’re like me. You saw past Amos and his tricks. You tethered yourself to something real, something rare.”
“What’s that?”
“Love,” she says wistfully, smiling to herself.
My heart is in my throat as she starts turning to the window. “We have to leave, Aunt Penny.”
She sighs, shaking her head. “No. I’m going to stay.”
“You can’t. It’s not safe.”
The music suddenly stops. Bailey’s voice cuts through the air in concern. “Layla?”
“Oh, no,” I practically screech. Why is she here? I look between Aunt Penny and the door, my heart twisting.
Aunt Penny just looks at me with a sad smile on her face and nods.
“Stay here,” I command, then race out of the room and into the hallway. Bailey is running up the stairs, panting, her eyes wide with shock.
“What the hell is going on? I turned off that music--”
“Get out, now! Go back to your car!”
“I forgot my phone charger in your room.” Another crash sounds overhead. “What the fuck is happening?”
I grab her shoulders, shaking her, but then I smell smoke. “Nooo!” I groan, my voice pitched as I whirl back toward Aunt Penny’s room. I try shoving Bailey back down the stairs, but she pushes past me.
We sprint into Penny’s room just in time to witness the curtains erupting in flames, the heat fanning over the wallpaper, causing it to wither and catch fire as if she’s used some accelerant. But then, this is an old house, and the walls are like kindling.
Penny stands with her back to it all, her eyes locked on mine.
“Ms. Penny!” Bailey shouts, lunging for her.
“Get her out!” I scream. “We have to get her out!”
We take Penny by the arms and drag her out of her room. She fights us the whole way, kicking and screaming, but she’s weak from age and years spent in bed.
“Let it burn! Let it burn to the ground! Let it burn!” she screams. “Leave me here to burn with it!”
Smoke chokes out the air in the hallway as we rush down the stairs. “It’s the only way!”
But at the front door, I shove Penny into Bailey’s arms. “Take her to the Wilsons’ house. Call the fire department.”
Bailey nods, her eyes wide as I turn back to the staircase. “What the hell are you doing, Layla?”
“I have to go back for him.”
“For who?” she pleads, tears springing to life along her lashes.
“He’s gone, girl,” Penny says, her voice low and full of warning. “The man you love is no longer there. He took over. He’ll try to fool you–”
“What are you both talking about, Layla?”
“He gave you this chance. Don’t waste it!”
“I have to save him. I can’t let him die!”
The fire has breached the entire second level. It roars with each inch of the house it consumes. Bailey edges toward the door, still hoping I’m coming with her.
“Layla, no!”
I sprint away, down the hallway to the kitchen.
She’ll get Penny out of the house. I know she will. I have to believe Bailey will save Aunt Penny and my choices right now won’t be in vain.
Because I’m not leaving this fucking place without Dalton.
I pull a knife from the drawer near the sink, catching my reflection in the polished steel… and his reflection, staring right back at me from over my shoulder.
I turn to face him. “Let’s go, Dalton.”
He shrugs, completely casual despite the fact the house is burning down around us. “What’s the rush?”
I look into his cold, lifeless eyes. They’re still that beautiful, jade green I love, but somehow changed. He steps closer to me, close enough to touch. I reach out and push a finger into his chest.
He feels real.
I yank my hand back right as he goes to grab my wrist.
“Don’t be like that,” he says smoothly.
“We need to leave.”
“And then what, Layla?” He laughs, and it’s a menacing sound I’ve never heard from him before. I know it’s not him. Maybe it’s his body, maybe not, but that thing–Amos–took over just like Dalton said he would. Still, it’s difficult to keep my wits about me as he steps closer, and I keep stepping back until my hips brush the counter. I sidestep toward the backdoor.
God, the heat is overwhelming. Smoke begins to flood the room. My eyes burn, but I force them open.
“You tell me,” I croak. The room is nearly airless now. I need to get out. I need to get Dalton out somehow.
“Did you really think I wanted anything from you? You were just a body to fuck, Layla. I never loved you.”
“Dalton, we’re going to die in here!”
“Good. Your death wouldn’t be that much of a loss, would it? You’ve always been such a disappointment, haven’t you? You’ve never truly been happy. You spent years going from one place to another, looking for connections, running from your family and its history…. But look at you now. You came crawling back here, to where it all started, didn’t you?”
“Dalton!” I shout. “We need to leave. I’m not leaving without you!”
His eyes suddenly clear, a shred of the real Dalton gleaming there for a fraction of a second, and I know I have to save him—his body. He pitches forward, his hand to his chest. The moment passes as quickly as it came, and then Amos is back.
“Come here, Layla.”
“No.” I stand my ground, digging in my heels. “We’re leaving.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Wanna fucking bet?”
His lips curl over his top teeth in a wholly demonic smile, and then I’m running as fast as I can. He lunges for me, but I duck out of the way. His clumsy body slams into the kitchen table. It’s so strange, the way he moves now. Like this demon isn’t sure how to handle possessing a human body in full, his energy trying to take up every piece of Dalton and bend it to his will. Or, I hope, it’s Dalton fighting back as he chases me down the hallway toward the front foyer.
The stairwell is totally engulfed in flames. I race toward the front door, wanting to lead him out of the house and into the driveway, out of harm's way.
But he grabs my hair and yanks me down, slamming my body into the ground. The knife slides across the floor, just out of reach.
“Stupid little pet,” he drawls, straddling me. I reach for the knife, screaming with the effort as my fingers graze the sharp edge of the blade. “I do love how you struggle.”
The ceiling in the living room beside us begins to cave in, sending embers and active flames crashing to the floor, igniting the furniture. The grand piano groans as fire licks up its sides.
“D-Dalton!” I scream, my fingers dancing over the knife. Just a little bit more–a little further–and my fingers will be on it.
His hand wraps around my throat and squeezes hard enough to make my vision go blurry. There’s no air. I can’t force oxygen into my lungs. The fire is creeping closer, mere yards away.
“D-D-Dalton!” I wheeze, just as my fingertips find grip on the blade and arch, pulling it just a fraction of an inch toward where I’m lying, where I’m dying.
“We could have ruled together,” he whispers. “You could have been my queen.”
“Fuck you,” I whimper, my lungs screaming for air.
I’m going to die. I can feel it. I can feel death already snaking through my veins. I use the last of my strength to grip the blade, and then I swing, closing my eyes and whispering, “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Dalton sacrificed himself to allow me a way out.
He should have known I wouldn’t have gone without him.
The knife hits something soft, then hard, flesh giving way to bone.
An unearthly scream pierces the air as my vision goes completely black and raw, scorching heat fans over my body. The scream continues for what feels like eternity, and maybe it is eternity. I’ve never experienced death. I’ve seen it countless times, but I was always an onlooker, the witness.
I hear what sounds like a train ripping through the house as the fire consumes the first floor, taking me and Dalton with it.