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“After today, I won’t have to. Your dogs will die trying to get even, but they’ll make the compound see how much they need me. I’m going to change the world.”
“So you have gone mad.” He lashed out at me so hard that I could have sworn my heart stopped for an instant. “Just as your ancestors warned. My ancestors, too.”
I was buying time, trying to figure out how to protect myself and guide the spirits, too. If I spoke, did they hear me? Did they see me? Would they know I was helping them?
He picked up a chair and flung it at me in a fit of rage. “You don’t get to claim my people as your own.”
I dodged the chair, my heart beating too fast with adrenaline. “Why not, Uncle?”
His face contorted. He came at me, and I let him. When he gripped my throat, I held on to his arm and braced myself.
“Harbingers who murder never know peace,” I hissed. It didn’t sound like my voice or my thoughts, but I believed every word.
He faltered, tried to break away, but I held on tighter. I felt the spirits gather closer as though drawn to me. He used death against me, but when I shielded against death, a barrier went up between me and the spirits, too. I was going to have to take the pain and withstand it long enough to free the spirits. I couldn’t let my biological father suffer for another moment tied to his murderer. Eli had tortured my birth parents for far too long.
The spirits swarmed me as though realising I was their path to freedom. It was almost too much to bear. I was a bridge between life and death. All they had to do was cross it. All I had to do was hold on long enough.
I visualised a bridge and all of the spirits walking across it. Many carried bundles that reminded me of Diane. There were so many spirits, more than I realised, babies, children, as well as adults. What had he done? At one end of the bridge, the wolf stood guard, protecting the spirits’ retreat. The wolf was strong. Between us, we could save them all. And then we could deal with Eli.
Eli’s face grew pale. I knew he couldn’t see what was happening, but could he feel his strength drain away?
“You killed my father,” I spat, my voice breaking. “You killed so many others. But they never left you. Do you feel them? The souls of the dead? Do they whisper to you, Eli? Do you sleep well with the weight of them hanging around your neck?”
‘’What are you talking about?” He kept struggling, but I refused to let go. The closer the spirits came to me, the harder it was for Eli and me to separate. I didn’t think I could let go even if I wanted to.
“What’s happening?” he cried out in a panicked voice as cool air whirled around us rapidly, pushing us closer together.
“Haven’t you ever wondered why you’re stronger than the others? Did you know why? Is that why you kept murdering? Gathering spirits to you? You must have known. You had to figure it out.”
He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, but when he opened them again, his face was thunderous. “You’re worth more to me dead than alive,” he murmured, and his hand tightened around my throat. But that wasn’t what hurt. That wasn’t making the blood drip from my nose. Death gathered around us, suffocating me, and still, the spirits came, continuing to cross the bridge. I let the wolf protect us while I concentrated on the spirits, beckoning them closer, sending them across the bridge. I sought out the sensation, felt it multiply and compound on itself.
The spirits must have felt the call of the other side, too, because they moved eagerly, desperate for freedom. I felt each spirit pass through my body and slip away. With each one, I grew weaker, but so did Eli.
“Stop it,” he whimpered.
One spirit remained. I felt it completely, felt its pain and regret, its love and loss. Was he the one? It didn’t matter anymore, only that they were all freed.
“Go,” I whispered. “It’s time for this to end.”
The spirit lingered for a moment before passing through my body. And then death was gone, the bridge was gone, the wolf fell to her knees, and all that was left was me.
And Eli.
He lashed out, striking me in the chest with his closed fist. Aching, struggling to breathe, I fell to my knees as he attacked me with his now weakened power. I wasn’t strong enough to hold a shield, was too cold and tired to fight back at all.
Eli gripped my hair and pulled my head back, forcing me to look up at him.
“You’ll pay for everything you’ve stolen from me,” he hissed. “I’ll die if it means destroying you, too.”
He gathered death around me, using the last of his strength, and focused it directly at me. It hurt, but the wolf refused to give up. We were both weak, but her strength of will helped her hold on long enough for me to hear footsteps from the other side of the room.
Tammie burst into the room through the other door. “Margo?You.” Her voice changed from concern to anger as soon as she noticed Eli standing in front of me. “Get the hell away from her.”
“Run,” I managed to cry out. “Get help.”
She hesitated, and Eli sent death out to seek her. It wasn’t strong, but it was enough to hurt her, too. Her hands flew to her throat, her eyes wide with shock and anger. Another one hurt because of me. Because of Eli. No more.
“Stop!” The wolf raged inside as I used my last bit of strength to send out a barrier between Tammie and Eli. It broke almost immediately, but he turned his attention back to me.
