Chapter 166

~~Jack~~

“Mary?”

No answer.

“Mary, you there?”

No answer.

His mom sighed and shook her head as she pulled out a chair and sat down at their old kitchen table.

“I talked with her last night. She ... She’s pretty angry. Not at anyone, except maybe herself. She thinks she’s not Mary.”

No one thought she was Mary anymore. Everyone at the ball heard what she said, and considering her body had gone from perfectly fine, to dead, in five minutes flat, it was pretty obvious there was something wrong with whatever his mom and Triss had done. Or, if not wrong with the process, wrong with the target. And as much as it hurt to think about, it was probably the latter. She wasn’t Mary. She was an afterimage, an echo, some ephemera remnant, and the body had rejected it.

“You know what I’m thinking,” Jack said as he pulled out a chair and sat beside his mom.

“I know.”

“And I know what you’re thinking. That it doesn’t matter that she’s not Mary.”

His mom nodded, eyes hardened and pointed down at the table. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I think it does.”

“You’re wrong.”

Jack opened his mouth, but closed it after a few silent seconds. There was no arguing with his mom when she was like this. Logic, out the window. Evidence, out the window. As much as he loved his mom, her absolute refusal to use her brain and break things down into cold hard math, ever, was infuriating. Antoinette did cold logic with everything, even the things Jack wouldn’t. The Prince and his mother were polar opposites.

“Alright, we’ll do this your way. What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mom, you have to know your next step. You can’t just blindly drift through your second life reacting and never planning. You’re going to catch a sunrise like that. You have to figure out what you’re going to do.”

“I am going to make sure Mary ... Mary’s ghost, is given everything she needs to be happy.”

“She’ll never be happy, Mom. She’s a ghost, and an angry one.” No need to recount what happened yesterday. If his mom hadn’t been there to stop Mary’s ghost, she would have done some real damage to the people in the ball. Even a vampire would struggle to survive getting cut to bits in a tornado of broken glass, which he was pretty sure Ghost Mary could do.

“It’s better than being alone,” she said, “haunting an old house with no one in it, until she turns into some sort of ... local legend that turns out to be real, and hurts people.”

Jack raised a brow. That was a specific example. Probably some horror movie his mom saw at some point, with teenagers breaking into a haunted house at night on a dare, only for some of them to die. She never could handle horror movies. Horror anything.

“You said she talked to you yesterday?” he asked. After the incident, he knew his mom went to visit her. He also heard Jacob went with her, which made him nervous as all hell.

“She did. She was ... crying. She...” His mom took a slow breath and looked behind her, at the stairs up to the bedrooms. “You heard her, at the end. She was happy she got to ... to see us again.”

Lowering his head, Jack reached out across the table, and set a hand on his mom’s. She turned it enough to hold it, and the two of them looked down.

“Mom, I ... I don’t want you to tear yourself up over this. Mary’s gone, and her ghost ... Maybe she’s just like Mary, whole enough to even be considered Mary. She certainly seemed like her when she was in a body, and ... Fuck me, I should have told Sándor to check her dreams, or Fiona.”

“She got three days with us again. I spent every moment of those three days with her, and we had fun, and we talked and cried and laughed and...” Her voice caught in her throat, and she squeezed Jack’s hand as she shuddered for a moment. “I’m not going to lose her again.”

She was already lost if Triss’s ritual didn’t work. His mom knew it, too.

“I guess we’re back at square one again. It’s easy to keep this house locked down, so Mary’s ... Mary can stay as long as she wants.”

“Yeah...”

“But, what’re you going to do? Are you going to try again?”

She shook her head. “We had to do some ... bad stuff, to make that body, and to do the ritual. And we’re pretty sure we did it right. Doing it again will lead to the same result, and I ... I can’t do all that, just to spend three days with her again, and see ... see that again.”

Jack squeezed her hand back. “No one would expect you to, Mom, especially Mary.”

“Then I guess we go back to the way things were. I’ll talk to Mary again later, maybe tomorrow night. Me and her, we can ... figure something out.”

It was like watching a desperate rat try and figure its way out of a maze. No matter what path his mom took, she wouldn’t be able to get free. The shit reality that Mary was dead and gone was closing in around her, and watching her struggle against it made Jack want to puke like he was still kine. Everything sucked.

“Sounds like a plan.” Nodding, he got up, and pulled on her hand. She resisted for a bit, but he was determined, and eventually she got up. He didn’t let go of her hand until they were out of the house.

In the driveway, Beatrice and Jennifer waited. They must have shown up while Jack was inside with his mom. Beatrice in her usual white tank top and jeans, Jen in a casual suit, and both of them looking like they’d just put their dog down.

“Sam,” Triss said, taking a small step forward. “We ... We were ... We didn’t know if...”

His mom ran the fifteen feet between her and Triss and Jen, and hugged them both, squeezing them both in her arms.

“Why didn’t you come visit last night, after what happened!?”

Jen blinked at the woman between her and Triss, and then at Jack, who of course could only shrug. If they thought his mom would blame them for what happened, they didn’t know her very well. But, they probably thought she’d be too upset to be reasonable at the time, which was actually a good bet.

“We just thought you’d want space,” Triss said, and she hugged his mom snug and tight, before Jen did the same thing. “She in there?”

“She is, but she’s hiding. She’s thankful though.”

“Not angry?”

“Not at you or anyone. Just ... mad at herself.” Samantha sighed as she relaxed her hug, and let both ladies go. “But she’s thankful, super thankful, for what she got to have.”

“She react to Jacob well?” Triss asked.

“She still remembers everything that happened when ... when in the body. She reacted to him just fine.” Jack’s mom smiled and nodded, and took another step back. “I’m going to see my sire, and ... I don’t know, talk about stuff I guess. You two, you um—”

Triss put up a hand. “Everything’s on pause until we figure out what to do. But...”

“But it’s not looking good,” Jennifer said. “And, you already know that.”

“I do.” Nodding, Sam gave each girl another quick hug, before she pulled out her phone. Probably texting for a ride. “We should talk, later, in the future. What’re you gonna do, Jack?”

“Not sure yet. I got some time.”

Triss stepped up to him and managed a quick look in his eyes before she looked down and away slightly. Shame? Guilt?

“Let’s hang for a bit, then.”

“Yeah, we can do that.”

“So Jacob really had nothing to do with it,” Jack said.

Triss shook her head as she sipped her blood. Back at his mansion and in one of the smaller dining rooms, they had some privacy, and a nice table to sit at. Plus, he had blood in the fridge, so he got the bottle before they sat down. Jen insisted he get his ‘pets’ to pour their drinks, but he wasn’t that lazy. Jen also insisted getting ordered around would turn them on. He insisted that did not apply to orders a rude customer might give a waitress.

“Not really,” Triss said. “I mean, yeah, he’s a witch and he’s helped me become a witch. He’s taught me a lot. I’ve done some pretty intense shit, thanks to him. But resurrection? He’s pretty much told me to give it up, multiple times. And I’m pretty sure he knew it’d fail, even with Sam’s situation.”

Jack sneered, but Jen reached across the table corner and gave him a firm shoulder slap.

“Jacob has treated your mother well, and is one of the few joys in her life, Jack,” his fellow Ventrue said. “You may not like him, but he is very sweet, kind, loving, and tender with her.”

“Tender?”

“Indeed. After he and Othello have fucked her into a near coma, he often spends time hugging and cuddling her, and asks if she’s okay. It’s very sweet.”

Jack slowly pushed his glass aside, and let his head fall against the table, hard enough his forehead made the whole damn thing shake.

Triss laughed halfheartedly as she sipped her drink again. “Jen, that was mean.”

“Well, he was being mean.”

“No kid likes their stepdad. That shit takes time, you know?”

“Oh god kill me now,” he said into the table.

“Alright, I think we’re avoiding the serious shit,” Triss said. “I know the Invictus, and the Prince, track murders in Dolareido. I bet you know we’ve scooped up some assholes from Devil’s Corner, and killed them.”

Slowly he sat up, groaning as he rubbed his temples, trying to scrub away the image Jen put there. No such luck.

“You’re not the only vamps who do that. More than anyone else lately, sure, but ... but I know the Invictus, and the Ordo Dracul, occasionally kidnap kine, and either kill them, or lock them up for experiments or blood. People the world is better off without.” Though he said that with a little hesitation. It wasn’t a healthy habit to go around playing God.

“Your mom was ... involved in some of it,” Triss said. “I’m not happy about it, but she insisted. She’s seen ... and done, some pretty dark shit.”

“Fuck...”

“And you know we have Elen.”

“Yeah.” Which was pretty fucking terrifying.

“Well, she’s been helping us.”

“Not sure how you’re forcing her.”

“Black Blood. We got Elen at the center of a ritual room. Basically gives him the clear to, uh, half possess her. I don’t think he can full possess her, or anyone with a pulse. But close enough.”

He shivered. Okay, yeah, Black Blood being involved so directly was pretty fucking scary. Forcing Elen to work for them? Scarier.

“And Mom was okay with this?”

“Nope. But she was desperate. Very desperate.” Triss sighed as she looked down and sipped her drink again. “Seeing her daughter’s ghost all the time was getting to her.”

“Of course it fucking was.” Jack rubbed his temples harder. “I told her. I fucking told her she had to let Mary go.” Before the women could say anything, Jack put his hands down. “I said I wasn’t judging, and I meant it. I’d have done the same thing. I’m just ... fuck me, it’s just such a shitty situation.” The fact he had to dodge around saying he was basically plotting to undermine Jacob and Black Blood made it a hundred times worse. He couldn’t tell them. He wanted to, christ he wanted to, but he couldn’t.

“But after last night,” Triss said, “I think ... I think she’s going to let her go. You see the look on her face?”

Jack shook his head. “I think she’s going to give up on the idea of getting Mary back, but now she’s going to adopt her ghost like a homeless cat she found on the street who reminds her of her dead cat.”

“That a bad thing?”

“Considering what we know about ghosts? Yeah. It might take a year, or two, or a hundred, but Mary’s ghost is going to snap and start breaking the Masquerade eventually.”

“Proving ghosts exist doesn’t prove vampires exist,” she said.

“Pretty damn close.”

“He’s right,” Jen said. “As much as it’d be nice to let Samantha take care of Mary’s ghost, it’ll not only be a problem in the future, it’ll keep Samantha from ever truly recovering from Mary’s death.”

Triss winced, and downed the rest of her drink. “Yeah, you’re right. Fuck me, I know you’re right. And you heard Athalia, Jen. Accepting what happened has really helped her.”

Jack raised a brow as he looked between the two ladies. “You talked to Athalia?”

Jen nodded. “We did.”

“And ... it went well?”

“It did. Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

Triss cut in. “She’s never going to forgive us, or me especially. But at the same time, she doesn’t want to hate me, and she doesn’t want me to hate her. She ... She’s moving on. Painful as all fuck for her, but she’s moving on.”

“I’m sure Daniel played a part in that,” Jen said. “She’s a volcano, but he’s a sturdy mountain. They go well together.”

“Opposites attract,” Jack said, “and have a habit of destroying each other.”

Triss laughed as she poured another glass. “Dude, you are too fucking young to say smart shit like that. Be dumb like the rest of us.”

“Sorry. Having a 500-year-old girlfriend rubs off on ya. But honestly, yeah, I can see Daniel being good for Athalia. And maybe Athalia’s ... spicy attitude, will spice Daniel’s life up a bit.”

“Ha, maybe,” Triss said. “My point is, if Athalia can move on, Sam can, too. Just ... we need to be careful about it. Sam already knows what we’re all thinking, and she’s thinking it too. So convincing her will problematic. And maybe unnecessary, if she eventually accepts it on her own.”

“My mom isn’t exactly good at confronting her own biases and changing her mind about stuff.”

“Then let’s give her time before we poke at her and see if we can get her to let Mary’s ghost go. Agreed?”

Jack let out a heavy sigh before taking a long drink of his glass. “Agreed. I’ll give her space.”

“Good.” Triss leaned back, and set her eyes on her drink on the table. “Fuck me, why can’t things just go smooth? First this shit with Mary, now with Sándor.”

“Something happened to Sándor?”

Triss and Jen traded a few looks, before Triss got back to drinking.

Jen took over. “Sándor’s powerful. Very powerful.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. Only thing the Ripper’s taken on who could manage it.”

“And, well ... his hunger is powerful, too. I don’t want to get into details, it’s very personal. But—”

The door knocked.

“Come in,” Jen said, as if she owned the place. Jack rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but smile.

Veronica poked her head in. “The hunter Harcourt is at the door, master. Should I bring him in?”

That was strange. Jack looked to the other vampires, but they shrugged.

“Yes, bring him in.”

Veronica smiled, bowed slightly, and left.

“Veronica,” Triss said, once the thrall was gone, “is a very pretty young lady.”

“You’ve seen her before.”

“Yeap. Still. She legal?”

“She’s as old as I was when I was sired.”

“But you were five years old when you were embraced. I remember.”

Jack frowned at Triss, which of course only made her laugh.

“Veronica, Rachel, and Leilani were all old enough to drink when I bound them.” He didn’t like the word bound, but every time he used it around his thralls, they seemed to like it very much. In fact, Antoinette encouraged use of the word. Jen probably would, too.

“Uh huh. Well, she’s got the tits you like.”

Jennifer grinned as she nodded, and shook her chest from side to side a bit, just enough to make sure she created a little jiggle. “Indeed. I should know.”

Jack glared at the two of them, and an extra glare for Jen. “Don’t even start.”

“Imagine it.” Chuckling with the haughty air Ventrue did love, Jen leaned in and winked at Triss. “Those three lovely young ladies, struggling for a turn on Mister Terry, while Antoinette rests his head on her lap and strokes his hair, and Elaine hogs him all to herself.”

That, was entirely too accurate an image, and he almost asked her how she knew about the video. Unfortunately, he knew his expression changed enough to say it all anyway, and both girls erupted into laughter.

He smiled. Honestly, if teasing him let them laugh again, he was okay with that.

“Careful, Jack.” Triss said. “Sex like that will warp your mind, you know. Inflate the ego.”

“He’s Ventrue,” Jen said. “What fun would there be in his sex life, if he was not trying to inflate his ego at every moment.”

Jack threw up his hands. “Tell that to Antoinette. She’s the one—” A quiet knock on the door ended the conversation, thank god. “Come in.”

Rachel came in, then Brace Harcourt, followed by Veronica and Leilani peeking in through the door. Harcourt nodded, waved, in a predictably goofy way, and sat down without waiting to be asked. Any other Invictus would have been offended. At this point, Jack could only chuckle. It never even dawned on the man that it might be offensive to do that.

“That will be all,” Jack said, nodding to his thralls. “Thank you.”

The thralls all returned his nod with a deeper nod and bigger smiles, and left. Which of course gave everyone the opportunity to admire the way they walked when they left, because they made damn sure to sway their hips when they did.

Triss licked one of her crocodile teeth as she looked at Jack. “Dude—”

“No,” he said, and she grinned as she shut up. “Now, Harcourt, how can I help you?”

“Uh, hoping to be the one helping out, actually. Wanted to talk about your sister.”

“Mary’s ghost? We were just talking about her and my mother, and what to do. Or, basically, not do.”

“Not do?”

Jack nodded. “We were going to leave them alone for now.”

“Oh. Well, I mean, I can tell you later then.” And with the most honest ‘woops guess we’ll talk later’ expression on his face, Harcourt got up and headed for the door.

Jack gently slapped the man’s wrist as he walked by. “Sit down you moron. Tell us what’s on your mind.”

“Sure sure.” Harcourt shrugged and sat back down. “I was talking to some hunters out in the world. Told a few of them Dolareido is a pretty calm situation, the few vampires here are damn committed to not killing people, shit like that.”

“The Prince will be happy about that ... assuming a hunter doesn’t think you’ve become someone’s thrall and are just trying to dissuade hunters from coming here.”

“Ha, maybe. Could happen. But I think I convinced them. Anyway, I also called up an old gal I know who specializes in ghosts.”

Triss leaned in, and she did not look happy. “You told them about Mary?”

“No. I just wanted to know what Francene was up to, how she was doing, was she in the state, yada yada. She’s close enough we could get her here if we wanted. And she could help.”

“Help how?” Jennifer asked.

“With ... doing that thing we want ghosts to do? Move on, and stuff? Francene hunts ghosts, and has ways to, uh, kill them, however that works. But I heard she also has ways to help them pass on if she can get them to cooperate. Supposedly.”

The three vampires looked at each other, and all leaned back in their chairs. They hadn’t considered that possibility, at least, not for a while. Getting Mary to ‘pass on’ on her own had been an option, but if she wouldn’t, then making her pass on was also an option, but a shitty one. And they didn’t know how to do that. If a hunter could come along and force the situation, that could be the way to do it.

“No idea how it works?” Jack asked.

“No. Never been my bag. You have to do rituals and place candles and stuff. I can barely speak English, let alone read Latin.” He reached out for the bottle on the table, swished it once, blinked at it, gulped, put it back, and leaned back in his chair. “Francene owes me. I can get her here, and she can deal with Mary.”

“Deal with,” Jack said, with a specific, heavy tone.

“Yeah. I know, it sucks. But you want options, right? I mean, I know the werewolves might be able to do something, since they can hurt spirits and stuff, but that—”

“Probably involves biting and tearing.”

“Yeah. And, I mean, you witches,” he gestured to Triss and Jen, “probably have something, somewhere, that could help. But—”

“Not lying around,” Triss said. “I mean yeah, if I go digging, I’m sure Jacob can find something. But it’s not something he’s ever dealt with, or is an expert on. I bet other Crone witches are, but not here in Dolareido. So, like, gimme a year or ten to learn about it, and sure, I could maybe manage something.”

Jack sighed and shook his head. “I ... would prefer deal with this situation sooner rather than later.”

Jennifer stabbed a finger down at the table. “Don’t you dare do anything without telling your mother, Jack.”

“I won’t, I won’t. Just ... need to figure out how to tell her. She won’t like this.”

Triss raised a hand. “Then maybe we don’t do it? Maybe we just ... don’t ... do anything?”

They all sank in their chairs. Not doing anything was definitely an option, just a really painful one.

“I ... wonder,” Jack said. “Antoinette’s been dealing with ghost stuff, or spirit stuff anyway, for a long time. You think she knows how to do the stuff Harcourt’s talking about?”

“Maybe,” Triss said. “I’m sure she knows something. But ... maybe not the sort of shit Harcourt’s talking about. She’s probably got rituals to trap Mary’s ghost, lock her in a jar, bind her to an object, all sorts of crazy shit. But just ... help her move on? She’d probably have said something if she knew, right?”

“Probably.” And maybe not. Antoinette could be damn ruthless when it came to her role in the Ordo Dracul. Whatever allowed her to further her knowledge about spirits, ghosts, and whatever else lurked in that weird world, she’d pursue. And he knew what it was like to have an obsession. It was like going through life wearing horse blinders, and it got very easy to get so focused on whatever was in front of you, you forgot anything else existed. Even other people.

~~Antoinette~~

“I am sorry, my childe, but there is little that can be done for Mary, not with the knowledge I possess, not in the manner you seek.”

Samantha sighed as she sat at the table across from her, deep in the tower in Antoinette’s primary experiments room.

“I know. You’d have brought it up months ago if you could have.” The poor child. She groaned as she leaned forward, and buried her face in her hands. “And ... I suppose you know about what I did.”

“Stealing Elen’s book and knife? Of course, my childe.”

She groaned louder. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

Because it was in Antoinette’s interest to let her childe get closer to the witches, and to Jacob.

“Because it was a valuable lesson to a dragon.”

“Lesson?”

“Us in the Ordo Dracul can teach our students with many methods. A simple one is to let our students pursue a mystery to its end, and to document the path well. To understand the implications of each step upon the path. To understand the tree of causality, and how each event ripples out to create new events.” Antoinette reached out, set a hand upon her childe’s, and gently pulled it down from her face to rest it upon the table. “I am sorry. Truly. But I thought it best to let you chase this mystery, though I felt only pain waited for you in the end.”

Samantha nodded as she stared down at the table. “I ... I’d say that was harsh, too harsh, but all you did was let me do what I wanted to do. I’m not a little girl who needs to be protected by their mom.”

“Indeed. Though, believe me, young Daeva, I wish such lessons could be learned in a less painful way. And I also admit, I was quite surprised to see Mary alive and well. A small part of me was even convinced you had succeeded. Jacob, as well. But...”

“But it was a fool’s hope.”

“Most hopes are, young childe, but do not dismiss them so easily. Such hopes can often lead to great change. Regardless, you are now left with the same situation you were in months ago.”

“I know. Mary ... Mary’s ghost, she’s even more unstable now. I talked to her after what happened, and it ... it was obvious. She can talk to me, but anyone else, she’ll probably attack. She’s ... happy, about getting those three nights, but she’s also more...”

“Anyone would become erratic after going through such an experience, Samantha. I can only imagine how traumatizing it must have been for Mary’s ephemera mind, where every emotion and memory affects her body in very palpable ways.”

Samantha nodded as she leaned back, and looked behind her at the summoning circle where Antoinette performed her experiments. “I don’t know what to do. She says she’s not Mary. And ... And I...”

“Even if she is not Mary’s soul, she is still an entity, with some form of strange awareness. And she has the memories of your daughter, does she not?”

“She does.”

“Then, I cannot fault you, for feeling for her as if she were your daughter, Samantha. And I cannot fault you for wishing to continue taking care of her. The house will remain off limits to kine and others, but...”

“But it can’t stay like that forever.” She looked to Antoinette, with a hardened gaze unbecoming her. “I ... I can’t do anything, not yet. But give me some time, and I’ll get there.”

Antoinette kept her face neutral, but seeing her sweet childe struggle with something no one should ever have to deal with, was almost overwhelmingly painful. As with Jack, being with Samantha unearthed a sense of empathy she thought long lost. And that was dangerous.

“Samantha, you and Beatrice may keep Elen’s knife and book until you are satisfied, but I do ask that you return them once you are done. As for Elen, I suppose Jacob considers her his property.”

“I don’t know. I think so, but I think he just got her so he could use her to teach Beatrice stuff. He ... He seems invested in her, you know? Like, I can tell when we talk, that he’s proud of her. Maybe even has high hopes for her. But...”

“But?”

“But, Jacob, sometimes he ... he talks like ... like something’s about to change. Like, he’s excited for how much Beatrice has learned, and how quickly. He’s super proud of her. But then his expression changes, he talks about the future, and then he goes quiet. I wonder if he’s thinking about leaving, but he’s hesitating because of me.”

Naturally, her childe would find the most guilt-inducing conclusion.

“Has he suggested when this may happen, my childe? As old a friend as Jacob is, he does not tell me as much as I wish he did.”

“No idea. It’s hard with him. Vampires as old as him, they...”

Antoinette smiled. “They do not think in the short term.”

“Exactly.” Slowly, Samantha looked down, and twiddled her fingers on the table. “God, I feel horrible for thinking this. But I don’t want him to leave me. He’s the first man I’ve known in a long time that can make me laugh, and makes me feel safe while also making me try new things, and ... and...”

“And who satisfies you sexually.”

Samantha squirmed a bit, but nodded. “Yes.”

“Sexuality is a vital aspect of romantic connection, Samantha. Perhaps less so to vampires, but nonetheless, do not feel shame for it.” Before her childe could respond, Antoinette gently squeezed her hand. “I do not know what Jacob will do, but you are the first person I have seem him bond with so deeply since Minerva. I trust he will not casually cast you aside.”

That managed to pull a smile from her. “You think so?”

“Truly. Though, I am curious about this concern of yours, that you think he may be leaving.”

“Well, lately, he talks about changing things, the sort of way someone might if they were going to move away, you know? He wants to make...” After struggling to find the words, she shrugged. “It’s more in how he talks about things, but yes, I do think something’s been on his mind a lot lately.”

Oh sweet childe, if only she knew.

“Black Blood, I summon thee.”

She looked down at yet another sacrifice, and sighed as all that met her words, was silence.

“It resists yet again,” her sheriff said.

“It does.”

“Then we have no choice.”

Antoinette nodded. “If Samantha’s inklings are correct, then I suppose we do not.”

“You trust your childe’s intuition that much?”

Antoinette offered her old friend a gentle smile. “Do you trust your childe’s?”

“Natasha has over fifty years of training.”

“Indeed, but we both know there is more to her success than simple training. Part of her skill is because of the blood, your blood, and I have faith in mine. I have high hopes for my childe, Daniel, and I would be a fool to dismiss her intuition. We begin tonight.”

Black Blood was a crafty entity. It had to be. Despite its immense power, something prevented it from directly intervening with Antoinette or the others when in the physical realm. According to Natasha, it also seemed blocked from directly interfering with the Uratha in the spirit realm. Whatever rules it was bound by, those rules seemed unbreakable.

Except, it did not seem to be bound by all the rules spirits were bound by. Many of them, but not all of them. Jack thought it was not a spirit at all, and Antoinette had been inclined to believe him. Quite inclined.

She reached down, and stabbed her fingers into the man’s corpse. A stereotypical criminal, a business man, fat, unseemly, who had used his position and money to financially ruin innocent people. When his crimes crossed into darker territory, Antoinette decided to remove the ridiculous kine from the world. Not the most powerful sacrifice, but it should have worked.