Chapter 2
At the end of the basement corridor stood an oak door.
I didn't knock.
One kick and the entire panel ripped free from the frame. The iron hinges shot off and embedded themselves in the stone wall opposite.
The stench of blood hit me full in the face.
Catherine was pinned to a cross with four silver nails.
The nails had been driven through her palms and ankles, sealing runes carved into every head. Her lower body was submerged in a trough of holy water that was still bubbling violently.
The skin on her calves was peeling away in sheets, turning to ash and drifting into the air.
"Catherine," I called.
Her eyelids flickered but didn't open.
Across the room, Arthur Stone lounged on a leather couch, legs crossed, counting money.
Thick bundles of cash were stacked on the coffee table. He counted with care, licking his thumb and peeling off one bill at a time.
The screaming from the cross was barely six feet from him.
He didn't even look up, "Babe, the ash is drifting over here."
Helen Voss was curled against Arthur's shoulder, holding a glass of champagne and wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"Think monster dust is toxic? Will it wash out? This coat cost sixteen thousand pounds. Bought with her paycheck, by the way," she said cheerfully, as casually as discussing the weather.
My eyes locked on the brooch pinned to her expensive collar, and a fury I couldn't contain surged up from deep inside.
The cane left my hand.
I didn't aim for a person.
It struck the valve at the bottom of the trough. The high-pressure pipe exploded, flooding the basement with steam and white fog.
Helen screamed and dropped her glass.
Arthur scrambled to his feet, bills scattering everywhere, and dove behind the couch, trampling cash as he went. "How...Princess Liz Elizabeth? How did you..."
The steam cleared.
I picked up the cane and walked to the couch.
Arthur looked up at me, eyes full of terror. He still tried to force an ingratiating smile.
I swung the cane backhand.
It cracked across his left cheek. Two front teeth flew out in a spray of blood and clattered on the floor.
My heel drove into his chest, all my weight behind it.
His ribs snapped.
"Ms. Elizabeth, you're so strong. This isn't normal." Helen pressed herself into the corner, her voice shaking.
I ignored her.
I turned toward the cross.
The silver nails were scalding hot. When I pulled the first one out bare-handed, a wisp of smoke curled from my fingertips.
I pulled out the second nail, then the third, and then the fourth.
Catherine slid from the cross, and I caught her.
She weighed almost nothing. The severe burns were still spreading. Her lips were charred black, and her eye sockets were sunken deep.
"Liz..." Her fingers hooked weakly into my collar.
"Human love... what an expensive scam." Her hand dropped.
I held her tighter.
Her heartbeat was so faint it was almost undetectable. Her body temperature was plummeting, and the ashen decay was still creeping upward from her calves.
Ten more minutes, and the other half of me would have been gone.
"Royal Guard," I shouted toward the door. "Stretcher. Blood bags. Now!"