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"I still think killing my uncle might have had something to do with it. I mean, you did help me cut out his heart," Callie muttered.
Wait...the heart Callie had put in the circle this time hadn't been a pig's heart? She'd killed someone for it?
"Callie..." Tacey began.
"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. He had it coming, and it was an accident that was totally his fault. I would have liked to kill him, and I could say that I helped, but if he hadn't suddenly gotten all slippery, maybe he wouldn't have died." Grant shrugged. "It was no great loss."
Callie held up her hands. "I wasn't even there. My uncle went fishing on the rocks, and his corpse washed up a day later. Rogue waves wash people off the rocks there all the time. There are warning signs everywhere, but they still do it. It could have been an accident."
Nobody believed it, though.
Not even Sean, who chuckled. "You're definitely Carline's descendant. In front of everyone, she'd deny ever meeting a man she'd killed, but afterwards...she'd sometimes feel a little regret. I'd remind her that they'd set off her wards, by coming onto the property with the intention to harm her, and they deserved their fate. Eventually, she forgot about them. All except you four. Maybe because you were family."
To Octavia's surprise, Sean was looking at the men, and not any of the girls. "What do you mean they were family?" she asked.
"William Steel and Carline were descended from the baron's oldest son from his first marriage, the one who inherited everything. The rest of us were from younger sons, from his second marriage. We all bore the same name, yet they were nobility, and the rest of us were commoners, so far beneath them William once threatened to kill me for daring to even look at his sister," Stan said. "I never thought she'd be the one to kill me instead."
Sean looked sad. "She regretted it, right up until the end. Wanted me to keep looking for your bodies, even if William had taken that secret to his own grave, years before. She asked me to hold your things in trust, too. At first, it was a blessing, going down to Murray River alone, seeing to the farm and the cottage and resetting the wards, before returning to Bell Cottage to take care of the rest of our family. Now, it's more of a chore, flying over the new development out there, where your lands are the only farms left."
All four gargoyles leaned forward as one. "We still have our land grants?" Harlow blurted out.
"I've held them in trust since Carline first found out about them. William wanted them, you see, and she wouldn't let him have them. They were yours, and I was to return them to you if you ever rose again. You were her first foundation sacrifices, so she never was sure if she'd done the spell properly, but she said it was just in case. I can have my lawyer draw up the transfer documents – at my cost, of course – to have your lands handed back to you. I should warn you, there are some land developers down that way that would sell their souls for your property. The last offer was upward of twenty million dollars...and that was just for one block, mind. They weren't mine to sell, so I could not take any of the offers, but they're yours to do what you wish with. Even if you wish to return to farming them – the choice is yours."
"What about the cottage? Is it still there?" Harlow asked.
Sean nodded. "Just as you left it. The wards there are strongest, as they're for more than just protection. There's a powerful spell to keep people away from the cottage, fuelled by demon blood, of course. I usually slept a night there after renewing them to recover. But no one else has been inside since you left, I promise you."
"Built before the Round House in Fremantle was completed. Does that make my cottage the oldest building still standing in Western Australia?" Harlow asked.
Octavia's heart stopped. "What?" she breathed.
Harlow grinned. "I can't show you the tent we lived in at Hooghly Town, but I can show you the stone cottage we built later that year, down by the Murray River. You might want to bring your camera, as I think this might help with your virtual world."
"When can we go?" Octavia asked. "Now?"
Sean cleared his throat. "Don't hesitate on my account. That place has been waiting a long time for human habitation. I'll be in contact as needed, while we put the paperwork through. Of course, if you ladies have taken up with these men, I won't be renewing your lease when the term ends. Carline was adamant that this house was to provide a home to girls who needed a place to stay, where they might be free from the menfolk who wanted to control their lives. Seems to me, you're all mistresses of your own destiny now, and as these boys are all millionaires, or they will be once the paperwork's sorted, you'll be well provided for, one way or another. Come next year, Bell House will be home to new girls who need a fresh start."
"Wait!" Stan said, holding up his hand. "Before you go...I need to know one thing. Is Carline in hell for what she did?"
Sean turned dark eyes on the gargoyle, like he was reading his soul. For all that he looked human, he was very much a demon in that moment. "You're the one who wanted to steal her, aren't you?"
Stan nodded. "It's a fine Scottish tradition, going back centuries..."
"Oh, there are all sorts of traditions that go back millennia, far more stupid than that one. I could tell you stories..." Sean began, then turned serious again. "Are you fool enough to believe a woman deserves eternal damnation for defending herself against a stranger who tries to kidnap her? She didn't even know your name before she'd killed you, lad. I would have done it for her, and happily. Carline deserves happiness, though she feared hell as much as any normal god-fearing woman. It was killing you boys that made her think she might go there, and why she showed me how to perform a foundation sacrifice. She'd rather be a gargoyle like you than a demon like me, and I've always been obedient to her wishes. I'm her demon, after all."
Octavia's mouth dropped open. "You mean Carline's still alive?"
Sean winked. "Smart girl, this one. I suspect you get that from me, or maybe my father."
Demons had fathers?
He must have read the question in his eyes, for Sean just shrugged and said, "Lucifer. Not that he was ever around much. Probably doesn't even remember me. No matter, though, I have my life here, and now I no longer have a cottage to keep, I'll have time to find some new tenants for when you move out. Weren't you going, girl?"
Octavia had a hundred more questions, but she was too flustered to decide which one to ask next, so she allowed Harlow to pull her out of the room, to where her car waited.
"Your camera gear is still in the back. We can drive down most of the way, and I'll fly you in from the river," Harlow said.
The oldest building in Western Australia. A cottage built by Harlow and his family, before anything else she'd ever seen. Left exactly as it had been built, in 1834...
