Chapter 65

They all headed to Mara’s cabin, the cabin looked smaller in the dark.

The door slowly opened before they even knocked, as if Mara had been waiting.

She stood inside, an oil lantern in one of her hands, her eyes milky but sharp as ever.

She took one long look at Clara, her neck still bruised with finger marks, her face were blood and tear streaked, her eyes hollow, she slowly shook her head.
“You went back on the deal, girl.” She hissed.

“I smell it on you.” She said.

Clara fell to her knees in the snow outside the door.

“That’s not Liam.” She cried.

“I know you warned me, but something else came back in his body.” She cried.

“Please, Mara, fix it.” She cried.

“Tell me how to banish it.” She begged.

Mara stepped aside with a sigh.

“Come in out of the cold.” She said.

“But the price doesn't change. It never does.” She added.

Inside, the air was warmer, it smelt of baked bread.

The silver bowl from the original ritual sat on the ancient table, it was now dark with Clara’s dried blood.

Mara shook her head as she put the lantern down with a clunk, the flame dancing, leaving shadows across shelves of jars and bones.

“Speak,” she rasped, as she sat in her chair.

“All of it.”

Clara’s voice broke as she told everything, the chant, the resurrection, the tearful hug, Liam’s confused questions, the sudden shift to black eyes and strangling, the gunshot, Then the bodies, found in town, the failed shots, the healing.

Gabe and Eric stood behind her in silence.

Mara listened without interruption, her fingers on her laps, her expression not changing.

When Clara finished, she broke into tears,
the old woman sighed, and shook her head.

“I warned you, I warned you child.” She said.

“Black magic doesn’t give you exactly what you lost.” She said and shook her head again.

“You called for a soul, but the vessel, Liam’s body, was empty, cold too long.” She continued.

“Something else heard the call and slipped into Liam’s body.” She said.

“That isn’t Liam’s body any more.” She continued.

He’s more of an empty host to a foreign thing, and worse, it’s tied to you, girl.

“Your blood opens the door, your life keeps it open, feeds its power.” She said

Clara’s hands shook uncontrollably in her lap.

“How do we stop it? Please, there has to be a way.” She said.

Mara’s eyes were empty as she looked at her.

“You finish the bargain you started.” She said.

“A soul for a soul.” She said.

“You die willingly, the hollow dies with you.” She continued.

“The tie severs clean. No more hunger.” She added.

Silence filled the room.

Gabe stepped forward immediately.

“No. Absolutely not.” He said.

“There has to be another way, we burn the body, exorcise it, something.” He said.

“There isn’t,” Mara said.

“I told you upfront, no refunds, no loopholes.” She said.

“If you want Liam’s body free of hunger, purged clean? Then she pays the full price.” She said.

“That’s the law of the spell she cast.” She said.

Eric clenched his fist.
“What if we chain it, we cage it in silver and iron. We find a way to starve it out.” He said.

Mara laughed then, a dry, bitter laugher.

“Silver doesn’t hold it.” She said.

“You saw that.” She hissed.

“Wolfsbane? It feeds on the poison, grows fat.” She said.

“Can you cage a hurricane, boys, and call it contained?" she asked, chuckling.

“It’ll eat the town soul by soul, then the county, then spread like plague.” She said.

“Every life it takes makes it stronger, faster, hungrier.” She explained.

Clara was crying again, silent tears.

“I can’t. I just got him back, even if it was wrong, for a moment he was there, ” she said.

“You didn’t get him back,” Mara said, gentler now, almost pitying.

“You got a mirror reflecting your desperation. And it’s starving for more than it is now.” She explained.

Gabe took a step forward.

“Give us something, anything. A binding spell. A seal. A temporary hold.” He said.

Mara shook her head firmly.
“Only one seal works here.” She said.

“Her blood spilt finally once she stops breathing or her heartbeats stop, then that thing also stops.” She said.

Eric slammed his fist into the table, the impact making the silver bowl jump and clatter.

“Then we find another witch.” He hissed.

“Another ritual, we’ll drive all night if we have to.” He said.

Mara’s eyes grew softer.

“There ain’t another within a thousand miles who would touch this.” She hissed.

“Not for this darkness, and even if you find, it would be too late, it’s growing fast boys.” She said.

Clara stood slowly, her legs shaking.

“How long do we have?” She asked.

“Till dawn, or maybe less,” Mara said.

“It’s glutted now, bold.” She said.

“It’ll continue until nothing’s left.” She added.

Gabe grabbed Clara’s arm, spinning her to face him. “We’re not doing this.” He said sternly.

“You hear me? We fight. We always fight.” He said angrily.

Eric’s eyes moved to Mara.

“Is there anything we could use to contain him once we get him?” He asked.

Mara nodded.

“I have a pair of handcuffs.” She said.

“The handcuffs.” He said.

Mara nodded once, reaching into a drawer and producing them.

They were heavy, with red designs.

“Bound with a drop of your blood, Clara.” She said.

“They’ll hold the body, not the hunger forever, but the flesh.” She said.

“They will hold it long enough to drag it back to the grave. Long enough for her to choose her path.” She continued.

Clara stared at the cuffs, then the floor.

Her heart ached.

Gabe’s voice broke completely.

“Clara, look at me.” He whispered.

“We’ll find another way.” He said reassuring her.

“We always do.” He continued.

She slowly looked up, meeting his eyes, and shook her head slowly.

But deep down, a part of her feared nothing could be done about it again.

A few hours later

“He’s in pain.” Clara whispered, her voice shaky.

A few hours had passed since they left Mara’s residence, and Gabe with the help of Eric and a few other guards had managed to catch and use the handcuffs on Liam.

They had placed him in the booth of the car where he kept on squealing in pain.

“He’s in pain.” She said again.

“That’s not pain.” He said.

“That’s hunger.”

Eric didn’t look back.

“We’re ten minutes away.” He said.

“I’ve had a few people prepare the grave.” He said.

“We end this at dawn.” He said.

Clara’s voice cracked. “You promised me another way.”

“There isn’t one,” Gabe said, softer now.

“We tried. Silver, wolfsbane, iron, nothing holds that thing in place.” He said.

“ It’s feeding on the town. Four more bodies since the motel. A family. Kids, Clara. We’re out of time.” He said almost losing his temper.

She pressed her forehead to the cold window.

Snow had started, fat flakes drifting through the headlights, melting on the glass.

“I know.”

They finally got to the cemetery which looked different under fresh snow, almost peaceful.

The open grave was wide open like a mouth.

Liam’s pine box sat beside it.

A small altar had been built in the center, with layered logs of woods that had been soaked in gasoline.

The pack had come in force, twenty wolves in human form.

No one spoke.

They parted as the truck rolled in.

Gabe turned the engine off.

It was silent, except for the wind and Liam’s muffled snarls from the booth.

Eric opened the booth.

Liam jumped, the chains snapping and pulling him back.

Two pack members grabbed the silver links, dragging him out.

He snarled, gnashing his teeth inches from their throats.

But nothing he did moved them.

Clara climbed out on shaky legs.

The snow soaked her boots instantly.

She walked to Liam, and stopped a few feet away.

His black eyes were fixed on hers.

“Clara,” it rasped, in a demonic voice that didn’t do anything like Liam.

“Let me in. We’ll be together. Forever.” It said.

She reached out, touched his cheek.

It was ice cold.

“I’m sorry, love. This ends now.” She whispered.

Gabe stepped forward, his shotgun raised.

“Clara, ”

She turned.

“Give me the knife.”

Eric hesitated, then pulled the bone handle ritual blade from his belt.

The one Mara had used.

He put it into her palm.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” She replied.

They had Liam chained to a stake on the altar.

He roared, chains smoking where they touched his skins

The pack formed a circle, torches lowered.

Clara stood before him, the knife in one hand, the other pressed to his chest, over the heart.

Snowflakes dropped over her hand.

“I loved you,” she whispered.

“Every version of you.” She whispered.

“The boy who fixed my truck with duct tape.” She whispered.

“The wolf who ran with me under full moons.”

“The man who promised forever.” Her tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I’m keeping that promise.” She whispered.

Liam’s snarls stopped and for a split second, the gold in his eyes overpowered the black.

“Clara, no, ”

She drove the knife in.

The blade slid between her ribs, straight to the heart.

Blood sprayed out.

The hollow screamed, an horrific sound that rang through
the trees, and shattered windows in town miles away.

Clara felt it, the binding snapping.

Her soul was torn free in one brutal pull.

She gasped, her body falling forward.

Liam’s body convulsed, the black veins retreating, his gold eyes filled with pain.

“Clara!” Gabe jumped, catching her as she fell.

She smiled, blood on her lips.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“For everything.”

Her heart slowed down.

Everything slowly got darker, she looked as Liam’s body collapsed beside her.

The man she loved.

The man she loved with every fiber in her.

If she couldn’t be with him in this life.

Then she would rather be with him in death than live without him.

She smiled with satisfaction, a tear rolling down her cheek as she closed her eyes.

It was finally over.

He was waiting for her at the pearly gates.

She was finally going to be with Liam for eternity.