The Monster Within by Marguerite Labbe

Author:Marguerite Labbe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 19th century, Paris, French countryside, chevalier, tinker, fey, magic, monsters, ancestral spirits, orphanage, horror, thriller
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2024-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

CONSTANTIN TRIED TO concentrate on pulling together the fine details of his latest construct, but his fingers fumbled with fatigue. The château felt empty without Gabrielle, though he could sense the illusion he maintained to lure Nightingale in. Even the Belangers had left for the safety of the village.

After they’d returned from the station, Parisee, Bardin, and Constantin spent hours perfecting the illusion, working on the traps, and shielding the iron ward. Then Parisee and his sister opted to catch some sleep while they could, since someone would always have to remain awake after they trapped Nightingale. Constantin chose the first watch because he wasn’t certain he could maintain the illusion if he slept.

He set aside the project as useless and knuckled his eyes. He’d get some tea and check the time. There was no sense in waking anyone else up. Constantin wouldn’t be able to sleep, no matter how exhausted he was. Not until Nightingale showed its face.

He made his way to the kitchen and grabbed the kettle. As he turned to fill it with water, a sense of unease trickled down his back. His fingers tightened on the handle as the hairs on the back of his neck stirred. Nightingale. He’d know the sense of it anywhere.

Constantin turned toward the kitchen window, his throat tight. Though his mind screamed at him to run, his limbs felt clumsy and weighed down. Nightingale stared at him. Its eyes black holes of cruel intent, its face white as death.

Constantin yelled and jumped back, dropping the kettle as the sense of Nightingale’s fury struck him full force. It had never been so livid. Not the day it had booted Constantin out of the orphanage, not the day it had confronted him over Gabrielle’s disappearance. It was coming for Constantin’s blood and Gabrielle’s soul. And it wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way.

“Little Constantin,” Nightingale hissed. “Recognize this?”

Something thudded against the leaded panes of the window, and it took Constantin a moment to recognize the bloodless twisted features. Hadrien Belanger. Constantin stumbled against the wall, his stomach twisting with horror and regret.

Hadrien’s mouth moved as he mewled in pain. Mon Dieu. He was still alive. Constantin took one step toward him even as Nightingale lifted him, as if Hadrien weighed no more than a doll.

Constantin and Hadrien screamed in the same breath.

“Non!”

“Run!”

Hadrien’s cry broke off in a scream of agony that abruptly ended as the magicman tore off his head.

With another shout of terror and revulsion, Constantin leaped for the bellpull to alarm the others and dashed out of the kitchen as the door shuddered under the impact of Nightingale’s fists. As he scrambled for the dubious safety of the château’s inner chambers, one thought kept hammering at him the way the magicman hammered at the doors.

It would take the monster no time to batter it down.

Wrenching open the hidden doorway, Constantin forced himself to take the stairs slowly. He couldn’t get caught in one of the traps. It had been reset this time with a chemical agent of Parisee’s devising.

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