Page 207 of Love at First Fright

It struck me.

The force lifted me off my feet. My body flew backwards, airborne for a split second before gravity claimed me. I hit the floor hard, sliding across stone until my back slammed against the wall.

Pain detonated through my spine. My ribs. My skull bouncing off the unforgiving surface.

“Charlie!”

Bat appeared above me. His hands reached for my face but passed through—translucent again, flickering.

I tried to speak. My lungs wouldn’t work. Just a wheeze escaping my lips.

Bat’s face twisted in anguish. “No, no, no—Charlie, please—”

The shadow lashed out again.

Bat’s form shredded.

Like paper caught in wind. His body tore apart, scattering in wisps of pale smoke. His scream cut off mid-sound.

“BAT!”

My voice returned in a ragged shout.

The wisps swirled through the basement. Formless. Scattered. Lost.

Then Margery moved.

She swept between the dispersed fragments of Bat’s essence, her hands weaving patterns in the air. The blood-symbols pulsed brighter, drawing together, forming a new shape.

A cage.

The glowing bindings contracted around what remained of Cornelius’s form—now barely a wisp of shadow himself, weakened and diminished.

Margery’s eyes blazed. Her voice resonated through the stone, through my bones, through the very fabric of the basement itself.

“THY REIGN ENDS. THY POWER BREAKS. THY SOUL SCATTERS TO THE WINDS.”

She closed her fists.

The blood-cage imploded.

Cornelius Grimthorne screamed one final time—a sound of absolute fury and terror and defeat—before the darkness collapsed in on itself.

The shadows vanished.

The blood-symbols flared brilliant crimson, then faded.

Silence crashed over the basement.

Father Ashworth’s body lay still in its pool of blood. Harrison and Brad sprawled where they’d fallen. Evelyn huddled against the wall, face buried in her hands.

The wisps of Bat’s scattered essence hung in the air. Motionless.

I dragged myself upright, every muscle screaming. My hand found the wall. Used it to leverage myself to my feet.

“Bat?” I choked out. “Bat, please—”

The wisps began to drift together.