Oxford Shadows (30 page)

OUTSIDE, THE RAIN pounded against their bodies, prickling their skin. The pain in her ankle throbbed but she ignored it. Instead, she trained her mind to repeat the words she’d have to say to save Camilla, if she was still alive: the words of the prayer Mamie had written in her little book of magic.

Rupert’s sprint came to an abrupt halt when he flinched and expelled a breath as if in pain. His grip on Madison increased and she struggled to breathe under the new pressure.

She followed the line of his gaze and cried out,
“No!”

The jetty jutted into the broken and dark waters of the lake. At its edge stood Camilla’s frail silhouette. She was still alive but she looked like a ghost, wearing a white shirt too large for her that stopped well above her knees. Her body faced the lake but her face was turned toward the bank, toward Hugo.

Hugo, who held the gun Rupert had been looking for.

Madison looked at Hugo and then Camilla again. Camilla’s arms were crossed over her chest. She wasn’t protecting herself from a potential bullet; she was protecting a small bundle wrapped in a sheet similar to the one Madison and Rupert had found in the boathouse.

“She has the baby,” Madison screamed.

Her voice pulled Hugo’s attention in their direction. Madison had expected to see the devil sketched on his face, but in the light of the boathouse she saw only fear and shock. His mouth hung open and the hand holding the revolver shook.

Hugo was a victim of Liliana’s vengeance. Just like Camilla.

“Drop me back on my feet and help me get closer,” Madison told Rupert.

He obeyed her order without turning his face away from the jetty. With her arm encircling his waist, she limped toward the lake. Hugo didn’t react as Rupert and Madison narrowed the distance between them. Madison forced herself not to check on Camilla. She couldn’t lose her purpose. Sentences she’d heard in fake TV hostage situations sprang to her mind: “It’s not too late to back off.” “I understand how you feel.” “Let’s talk.”

Establish a connection.

“Stop fucking up, Father,” Rupert shouted.

That wasn’t really the best move.
Madison pinched the damp skin of Rupert’s forearm. “He’s not in charge. Liliana is.”

“My dad is
always
in charge. He can make that nightmare stop.”

She released her grip on Rupert’s waist to cup his face. “Not this time.”

Rupert threw her hands away as if her fingers had burnt his flesh.

“The prayer … that’s the only way to save them.” Madison begged him to choose her side.

“I-I can’t let you do that,” Rupert stammered. “My mother can’t end up like Peter.” He turned away from Madison and marched toward his father, his hands in the air to show he meant no threat.

“Please, please, Hugo. Have pity on us.” The plea came from Camilla, whose whole body now faced the shore. Her body rocked from side to side, her arms still wrapped around the baby.

Madison rushed after Rupert, each step sending a jolt of pain through her leg. The rain eased, and then stopped. The sudden silence around them would have spooked Madison if she weren’t already totally wired.

“Father, drop the gun,” said Rupert. “You don’t want to hurt them. They’re your family now. It’s the only chance you have left.”

Hugo shouted and crumpled to his knees. A human form emerged from his slumped body. The form was flimsy and kept appearing and disappearing as if its life force was being turned on and off. Finally the vision stabilized and anchored itself.

Laura.

She wore an elegant evening dress draped over her lean silhouette. Her blond hair cascaded over her shoulders and in the darkness of the night she looked almost the same age as Rupert. With one hesitant step, she headed toward her son.

A smile slowly broke across Rupert’s face. He extended his hand toward the ghost. Only for him, it wasn’t a ghost. “Mum.”

“My baby …” Laura managed to put tears in her words. “I’ve been watching you for so long without being able to talk to you, to hold you.”

“Are you real?”

Rupert’s question prompted Madison to join his side despite the pain each step caused. “She isn’t, Rupert. She isn’t the person you remember.”
Maybe she never was.

“I haven’t changed, baby,” Laura said. “Do you remember what you said on that fateful night? The night of the accident?”

“Rupert, don’t listen.” Madison threw herself against his chest, staring up at him.

Without looking down at her, Rupert pushed her back to the side, his eyes glued on his mother.

“You said you wanted to kill him for what he was doing to me,” Laura continued.

Laura wasn’t lying. Those were the exact words Rupert had pronounced in the car. Madison had heard them in her vision. But Rupert hadn’t meant them. He wasn’t a murderer. But why was he still silent?

Laura’s attention was entirely riveted on Rupert. She didn’t even give a sidelong glance to Madison.

One micro-step at a time, Madison distanced herself from the two of them and stopped paying attention to the words of comfort Laura was using to persuade her son of the unthinkable. She only had to manage the five yards that separated her from Hugo. He hadn’t moved one iota. He was still on the ground, eyes cast downward, the gun held loosely in his hand. Careful to avoid any jerky movements, Madison closed the gap with Rupert’s father. She kneeled down to grab the weapon.

“Don’t move or I’ll kill you, too.”

The threat sliced through Madison. She spun around to face Laura, her bad ankle sending a jolt of pain through her body.

“That’s what you are now. A killer. In the name of love?” Madison failed to keep the venom out of her voice.

“Stop talking, or I’ll—”

A cry covered Laura’s last word: a baby wailing.

The knowledge that the little being was still fighting for its life kicked Madison in the gut. Fury flashed through her, engulfing her heart. Her fingers tingled and heat built up in her curled palm. “I can’t let you hurt the baby.”

Madison extended her arm, her mind focused on the ball of fire spinning around and begging to be released. With a swift movement, she threw the ball toward Laura, but the spirit vanished before the bullet reached its target. It hit a tree trunk instead.

Madison turned around, scanning the space that surrounded her. “Where’s she gone?”

Her question was answered when Laura appeared again, this time on the jetty midway between Camilla and Madison.

“Go away,” Madison screamed.

Laura ignored her plea. With a simple nod of her head, she threw a bolt of force at Madison that hit her in the chest, sending her flying three meters backward through the air. The shock of her crash-landing stole Madison’s breath. The coppery taste of blood spread in her mouth. She had bitten her tongue and the inside of her cheek badly. Touching the corner of her mouth with the tip of her finger, she felt blood running down.

“Are you hurt?” Rupert was by her side, gently helping her sit up.

Madison struggled to recover her senses and spatial awareness. Somewhere in the background, she heard sobbing. Not the baby this time, but Camilla.

“I’m fine.”
Just a bundle of aches and pains.

“You shouldn’t have tried to hurt her, Mother.” Rupert pressed Madison’s upper body tightly against his chest.

“She doesn’t count, my love.”

Rupert flinched, but he kept his voice steady. “Mother, please stop this. You can still change your mind. Let Father’s family live.”

“Never.” Laura stopped paying attention to them. She stepped toward Camilla, whose sobbing mixed with her pleading words. Words that Laura ignored.

44

WITH ONE PULL, Rupert dragged Madison back to her feet. “Say the prayer now.” His arm encircled her waist, supporting her as they walked closer to the jetty. “Come on, Maddie, now.”

Camilla had taken one step backward as Laura approached. One more and she would fall into the waters. So would the newborn baby.

“Try and reach Camilla,” Madison told Rupert. She wanted to give his mother one last chance. “Maybe your mother will accept it if it comes from you.”

He took hold of Madison’s shoulders and squeezed reality back into her. “She’ll never give up on making my father pay. I can’t let more people be hurt. I can’t let her hurt you.”

“Try one last time,” she pleaded.

He nodded and turned back to face Laura. “You always pushed me to be a better person, to be kind to people. You would never have hurt anyone on purpose.” Rupert made his tone soothing. He waved his hands gently to plead his case.

“Kindness doesn’t give me anything.” Laura’s words were sharp and final. “Every time, he betrays me and falls in love with another. I won’t let him find happiness this time around either.” With a cruel smirk on her face that spoiled her ethereal beauty, Laura’s attention shifted from Rupert to a point behind him. She extended her hand, almost waving. At what? At whom?

Madison swiveled to follow her gaze but arms violently clasped her, blocking any further move. Her back crashed against a powerful chest—Hugo’s. The cold touch of the gun barrel pricked at her skin.

“I have to kill her,” Hugo shouted.

Rupert spun around and panic flashed through his eyes. “Father, you’re not yourself. It’s still time to break free.”

The muscles in Madison’s legs tightened and she gulped down breaths to stay quiet. Inside, her adrenalin spiked. Words bubbled in her mouth but she was scared to talk and tip Hugo over the edge.

“I don’t have a choice, not anymore,” Hugo cried out. “I tried, I really—”

“You still have a choice.” Rupert cut him off. “You can kill me instead.”

In a
whoosh
Laura appeared by Hugo’s side. “Don’t listen, Hugo,” she cried out. “Kill her, like I ordered you.”

You bitch!
Madison wasn’t going to go down like that, her brain scattered into the air. She crouched, dragging Hugo’s weight with her, then pushed back and threw her elbow deep into his gut. A groan of pain burst from him, and she used his sudden weakness to escape from his grasp.

Rupert pushed her aside and with one hand circled his father’s wrist, shaking it so the gun flew away. His free fist sliced through the air and hit Hugo’s jaw. His father lost his balance and crashed to the ground.

“Maddie, do it now,” Rupert pleaded.

The murky fog that had clouded Madison’s brain until then cleared and she called upon her inner strength and memories. Her eyes zeroed in on Hugo, and she cleared her throat.

Hail God of Abraham!

Hail God of Isaac!

Hail God of Jacob!

Direct your power to Hugo.

As if the words had burnt her skin, Laura flinched and swiveled toward Rupert and Madison. At least Laura’s attention wasn’t on Camilla anymore.

“Stop her, Rupert. Please stop her,” Laura begged.

“Sorry, Mother.” Tears filled Rupert’s eyes, but his will didn’t falter. He repeated, “Go on, Madison, please go on.”

And she did:

I command you, Laura Vance!

Come out, Laura Vance!

Stay away from Hugo!

Rupert repeated every word of the prayer, his voice devoid of any emotion. His hold on Madison was relentless and she leaned against his strength to perform the ritual.

The essence of Laura became flimsy. It faded away, only to spark up again. Her mouth opened and closed without any sound being heard. She extended her arms toward Rupert. Madison gave him a sideways glance. His profile was set in stone and his only reaction to his mother’s plea was to say the prayer even louder:

Quickly! Now! Come out!

I bind you with unbreakable chains of adamantine!

I cast you into the abyss of hell!

Laura’s shape blurred, flashed again and then finally vanished. With her disappearance, all the energy inside Madison vanished too. Her legs abandoned her and she collapsed to the ground.

“Sorry, sorry …” Rupert knelt by her side. “Are you all right?” His eyes drilled into hers in search of any sign that she was hurt.

Madison’s trembling hands rested on her thighs. With all the strength left in her, she focused on catching her breath. Finally, she managed to articulate, “I’m fine. Check on the baby first.”

She turned her head toward where Hugo was lying a couple of minutes earlier. He was slowly climbing back to his feet. He was alive. The emptiness inside her overwhelmed the relief. She had won. Finally. Camilla and the baby would be safe. The fact that Madison had condemned Laura to an eternity in hell shouldn’t matter. The fact that Laura was Rupert’s beloved mother shouldn’t matter either.

But it did.

She covered her face with her hands and hid the tears running down her cheeks.

45