Chapter Thirty-Four

The Monster Within

Selina burst into the bar, not caring about what others might think, not caring about bumping and stepping on everyone on her way - the only thought on her mind was to prevent tragedy and save Jack’s life.

She saw their table amongst all the drunken bodies and ran there, finding strength she didn’t know she possessed to fight against the crowd. She saw him lifting the glass to his lips and her heart ached and beat faster with fear. When she finally reached their table, she stared at the three people sitting, unable to speak, trying to control her fast breathing.

The only person looking more surprised and taken by her sudden appearance than Jack had to be Ethel. They both stared at her wide eyed, while Nicholas simply spared her a look of interest.

Jack had frozen with his drink lifted in mid-air, the glass dangerously close to his lips.

Selina was quick to summon all her ability to lie convincingly.

“I can’t believe it,” she said, pointing her finger to him. “You’re already with another woman?!”

Jack looked at her and then at Ethel, realization hitting him. “Oh, no, Bea-“

“You’re unbelievable!” she yelled, slapping the glass out of his hand. As it quickly found the ground, breaking into many pieces and spilling the beer all over the floor, Jack eyed her with a deeply confused expression, as if he couldn’t recognize her. Meanwhile, Ethel expressed nothing but quiet anger.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked, his eyes widened. To her amazement, no one at the bar seemed to have noticed the peculiar scene happening and the few who did were quick to shrug it off. Selina suspected that maybe it wasn’t that peculiar for the place. “This doesn’t look like you, Beatrice.”

“Well… looks like I’m not the only one who thought I knew the person I was with, huh?” she replied, much less confident. “I believed in you,” she continued, now completely genuine. Selina didn’t take her eyes from the man who had broken her heart. “I thought I saw so much more in you… Now I know I was wrong.” That said, and with her mission accomplished, Selina was quick to leave, glaring at Ethel for a moment and dreading to spend another second in his painful company.

“Beatrice!” she heard him call and she heard him getting up from his chair rather abruptly. She knew he was following her and that only fueled her intention of fleeing as fast as possible.

“Beatrice!” She felt his breath on her ear and his hand grabbing her arm. His touch burned, but she had no choice but to stop and face him. “Please, let me talk to you,” he begged. “That woman… I don’t even know her!”

She furiously freed herself from his poisonous grasp and replied, “That only makes it worse!”

“No!” He grabbed her again and insisted, “I mean, I don’t want anything to do with her, I-“

“I know,” she whispered, looking him in the eyes. “And yet, we both know it doesn’t change anything.”

“Can we please, just… just talk?” He let go of her, slowly.

“I believe we have already said everything there is to say to each other.”

“Bea, I don’t want to lose you.”

Selina smiled with bitterness. “You already have. You left me.” Her smile vanished. “I don’t want to see you again.” The look of sudden pain in his face was an exact copy of hers.

But she meant it.

***

She paced around the living room, not sure of how to feel. She waited for Ethel’s return with a mix of dread and impatience.

When she heard the front door closing with more strength than necessary, followed quickly by hurried footsteps, she knew her sister had arrived and she knew she was furious.

Ethel stood at the entrance of the living room, eyes blazing. After a few seconds of stillness and silence, she finally moved, walking in Selina’s direction.

“What have you done?” she asked, obviously angry.

Her attitude only served to light up Selina’s own anger, though. The more she thought about it, the more heated and mad at Ethel she would become. “What have I done? What were you doing?”

“I was trying to make things right,” Ethel replied, as if it was obvious.

“Make things right?” Selina repeated, barely believing her own ears. “How is killing the man I most care about making things right?”

“I was doing it for you! That wretched man, that swine, he hurt you!”

“You can’t go around killing everybody just because they hurt us,” Selina replied, exasperated, desperate.

“Yes. Yes, I can,” Ethel replied with chilling coldness.

“Can you even hear yourself?” Selina asked, getting more and more petrified. “Can’t you see the kind of creature you’ve become?”

Ethel chuckled, spreading her arms as if to illustrate a very clear point. “I have always been like this-“

“Oh, nonsense!” Selina yelled, getting angrier by the second. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so infuriated before. “Stop trying to convince yourself of that! You say that because it is the greatest excuse you could come up with!”

Ethel appeared to be reasonably shocked at her sister’s behavior. Never before had she seen Selina like that, never before had she talked to her with so much fury. Still, stronger than her surprise, was the obvious anger she returned. “How dare you?” she said, through gritted teeth.

“No, how dare you? How dare you turn into… this?” Selina gestured at her. “This… this is not my sister!”

Ethel scorned. “You know nothing.”

“I know enough.”

“No!” Ethel yelled back. “No, you don’t! You’ve always had it easy! You’ve always been sheltered! There was always someone there for you, always someone protecting you! Always! Be it mother, me, Victor or that fake mother of yours!”

“I never asked you to,” Selina’s voice trembled, but the fire in her eyes didn’t diminish. “Stop ‘protecting’ me if this is what you make of it. Leave me alone!”

Ethel chuckled. “You know nothing of being alone.”

“Yes, I do! I do, because that’s how I am now.”

“How dare you?” Ethel walked slowly, looking at her with venom. “How can you say that? How can you say that when you have me standing right in front of you?”

“But I am! I’m all alone. My family is gone!”

“Pray to God that Victor never ears you say something like this.” It was difficult to understand what tainted Ethel’s voice the most: pain or anger. “Your family is me and Victor. And we are right here!”

“No, you’re not.” Selina shook her head, she felt tears threatening to fall. “I wish you were but… you’re not. You’re just some… dark replacement. I know this isn’t you. My older sister is not here anymore… my brother is not here anymore. And I miss them… I miss you!” she couldn’t help her voice from cracking. “I miss my real brother and sister. I need them, not you! Not what you’ve become… Not these… these monsters that have replaced them. These are not my siblings! This is not my family!”

To her great surprise, Ethel laughed. It was an evil, maniacal laughter. It broke Selina’s heart to hear it.

“Monsters?” Ethel repeated, before laughing again. When the laughter died, she was back to being cold. “Who are you trying to fool? Me? Yourself?” She smiled. “You share our blood. You share our decadence. You kill. You let yourself be manipulated because you want to. That is your excuse. Do you think I don’t know? Do you think I don’t see you? Who you really are?” Ethel walked closer to Selina and she spoke with her head held high. “We are the same, the three of us. It’s in our blood. It was in our mother’s blood and in her mother’s blood. You have the monster. You are the same kind of monster. It’s about time you accept it!”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Selina whispered, though her voice was raised with every new word. “Do you think I don’t fight it every single day of my life? But I fight! That’s the difference. I fight it every day and I beat it! I beat the monster! That makes me a better person!”

The two sisters stared at each other for a heavy, unbearable moment. Finally, Ethel turned away and slowly walked towards the door.

“I never knew that’s how you saw me, sister,” Ethel whispered, though she knew Selina had heard her.

As Ethel walked towards the door, Selina, stung by the last words Ethel spoke, wanted nothing more than to run to her and embrace her, beg her for forgiveness, tell her she loved her. But something stopped her, something prevented her from moving. When she heard the front door closing again, she knew it was already too late.

Something had been broken that could never be fixed.

Selina’s breathing fastened and, in desperation, her hands flew to her hair. She whispered, “What have I done?” She lost strength in her legs and let herself fall to the ground. “What have I done? Oh, Ethel, I’m so sorry.” She couldn’t contain it anymore. She let her tears fall, crying with more despair than ever.

She just wanted for Ethel to return. She wanted to make it alright.

She wanted her sister back.

***

Patrick closed the door to Samuel Black’s house and faced the dark night St. Agnes had to offer. He still felt stunned, he still couldn’t believe it.

What he had heard inside… what he had found out – it went beyond his wildest theories, beyond his darkest dreams.

He still couldn’t believe it. No one would. If he hadn’t heard it from Black himself, he would never believe it.

Lewis had no idea… None of them had. They had no idea who they were messing with.

Patrick knew the journalist wasn’t expecting him earlier than the morning, but he would see him tonight, nonetheless. This was far too important, far too delicate information to let resting. Lewis needed to know the truth now. Everyone did.

He walked across the cold and silent streets, uncomfortable to be alone. There was no movement anywhere, the only sound breaking the silence was that of his own shoes hitting the stone roads.

He felt nervous, anxious, and it wasn’t just because of the dark news he had just received. He hurried his steps, walking as fast as he could, trying to control his will to run.

Patrick stopped walking and, when he did, he heard the sound of distant footsteps doing the same, a few seconds later. The little hairs in the back of his head and in his arms raised, his heart beat a thousand times faster, threatening to break free of his body. He walked again for a few moments, stopping abruptly minutes later. Again, he heard the footsteps stopping only a second or two in delay.

Realization and horror hit him - he was being followed.

All he could hear was Chief Hazenberg’s words inside his head.          

Be very, very careful son, for we may be hunting a dangerous, extremely powerful and, apparently, very unmerciful individual with way too much to lose.

Patrick never thought he would be so right.

With this in mind, knowing what he already knew and knowing he was being followed, Patrick ran.

He had no choice. The information he held was too precious, too important. And the person following him probably knew that.

He could hear the footsteps running behind him too. Whoever was chasing him, had decided to stop hiding and actively pursue him.

Patrick ran, feeling like he carried his heart on his hands. The hurried footsteps were getting louder, his chaser was catching up to him, was getting closer.

The young detective did his best to lose the his predator. He ran into St. Agnes’s old streets, he jumped over fences, crossed backyards and hid amongst the labyrinth-like narrow streets of old St. Agnes. He stopped, to catch his breath, and was relieved to notice that only silence followed him. There was no sound of footsteps behind him.

He allowed himself some time to breathe and to rest, his nerves calming, the adrenaline going down. But when he looked at the ground, his eyes widened, his heart raced again and he was almost paralyzed in utter fear.

There was a second shadow in the ground, behind him.

Patrick turned around, terrified, looking at the face of his persecutor.

“No… No!” he pleaded.

He didn’t even have time to scream.