🌘 Chapter 16 – Shadows of Blood
The rain fell relentlessly, a soft silver curtain draping the city in a cold, damp embrace. Streetlights flickered, their halos refracted through the mist, painting ghostly patterns on the slick pavement. Éloïse drove slowly, fingers clenched tight around the steering wheel, each heartbeat echoing like a drum in the otherwise empty night. The address Enzo Torne had given her haunted her thoughts, a puzzle she could not yet solve.
The GPS guided her through a deserted neighborhood, half-abandoned houses lining streets littered with fallen leaves and broken branches. The smell of damp earth and mold filled the car, clinging to her clothes. Each turn seemed calculated, yet her nerves screamed that danger lurked behind every shadow.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated. A message flashed:
> "Find Annie. She's waiting. She knows the truth about the Torne family… especially Marie and Ben."
Éloïse's heart skipped a beat. Those names—Marie and Ben Torne, parents of Ezekiel and Klein—were ghosts she had only glimpsed in whispers, fragments of a story that refused to fade. Her hands shook slightly, but she tightened her grip and pressed onward.
She parked in front of a building overtaken by ivy, the walls cracked, paint peeling. A faint, warm glow escaped through the partially open shutters. Éloïse paused, inhaling deeply, feeling the tension coil in her chest like a living thing. She knocked.
The door swung open almost immediately. A woman in her forties, elegant, with sharp gray eyes and a calm, piercing presence, regarded her silently.
"Come in, Éloïse. I've been expecting you."
"You are… Annie?" Éloïse asked cautiously.
"Annie Torne. Ben's sister, Ezekiel and Klein's aunt."
A shiver ran down Éloïse's spine. She stepped inside, the scent of old wood and dust mingling with a faint trace of perfume. Annie gestured to a chair by the fireplace.
"Sit," she said softly. "Time has been patient with us, but some truths cannot wait."
Éloïse hesitated, then sank into the chair. The old clock on the wall ticked slowly, each click punctuating the silence, each second stretching into eternity.
"Tell me about Marie and Ben," Éloïse whispered.
Annie's gaze drifted to the window, eyes reflecting the storm outside.
"Marie… she was more than a mother. She was a force, a choice, and a consequence. Ben loved her, but she belonged to something beyond him… beyond understanding. Even Ezekiel could never truly comprehend her."
"And Ezekiel?" Éloïse asked, voice barely audible. "What does he really want?"
"The truth," Annie replied simply. Her fingers tightened around a cup of tea. "But beware… some truths burn everything they touch."
Éloïse leaned forward, absorbing each word, realizing that the shadows of the past were not done haunting the present.
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🩸 At Montclair Manor
The calm was deceptive. Bill prepared to leave, unaware of the storm that was approaching. Ken, still in Ayato's body, watched Ariel. He had changed—silently, imperceptibly, yet undeniably. There was a shadow in Ariel's eyes, a calculating distance that unsettled Ken.
Yuri approached, voice low:
"Are you sure now is the right time?"
"It's the only moment. He's vulnerable," Ken replied, each word measured.
They moved toward Hana's room. Ariel's hand rested lightly on his gun, his face unreadable. Ken's pulse hammered in his ears. Every step they took seemed louder than the last, every creak of the floorboard a warning.
Ariel entered the room without knocking. Hana, startled, sat upright.
"Ariel? What are you doing?"
He grabbed her wrist, pulling her close. "Forgive me, Hana… I need you," he murmured.
Ken and Yuri appeared at the doorway. Ariel's grip on Hana was firm, gun pressed to her temple.
"Step back!" he shouted. "One move and she dies!"
"Ariel!" Ken yelled. "You don't want this!"
"Do you think you know me?" Ariel roared, eyes glistening. "You want me to lose control just so you have an excuse to shoot!"
Yuri aimed his weapon. "Let her go. Now."
Ariel's voice broke. "Try it, and she dies here and now!"
Hana's sobs pierced the silence. Ken felt a wave of rage so intense it burned through his veins.
"Ariel, listen! If you do this, there will be no turning back."
"There hasn't been a return for a long time…" Ariel whispered, tears threatening to fall.
Their eyes locked. Time seemed to freeze. Then… a gunshot shattered the moment.
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⚡ The House of the Revenant
Miles away, Bill Montclair reached the location on the photo. The gate creaked ominously in the wind, the smell of damp soil and blood thick in the air.
As he entered, the horror struck him: his men lay scattered, lifeless, eyes wide with shock, throats cruelly cut.
"No… not again…" he muttered, horror gripping him like ice.
Each step upstairs echoed, boards groaning under his weight. The flickering light seemed almost to mock him. At the top, a room. The door creaked open.
A figure sat on the bed, shrouded in shadows, coat dark against the dim light. Slowly, he turned his head. A calm, almost serene smile spread across his face.
"Long time no see, Bill."
Bill paled, words caught in his throat. "You… it's impossible… how did you…"
Thunder rumbled outside, drowning all answers. The storm intensified, pounding the windows, as though the sky itself had conspired to announce the beginning of a war that would consume them all.
Rain streaked the glass, wind howled through cracks in the walls, and the echoes of death lingered. Bill's heart raced; every shadow seemed alive, every sound a threat. He understood that this night would change everything.