My fingers dug into the dirt when I opened my eyes. The wood of the closet ceiling wasn't dark at all, but a shade of gray; a sky masked by storm clouds.

I groaned as I shifted up onto my elbows and looked around me. Water slapped against my shoe and dampened my breeches up to my knees. My waistcoat drifted off into the waves that beat the water's edge. I watched it in awe.

My memories, these dreams—this was where John died.

"He's awake, Madame." A man's voice made my head turn sharply left. There were rocks along the edge, sunken deep into the Earth and sand. Six men stood around like shadows, circling the woman who sat on top of the largest stone. Her red dress blew in the wind; dark hair covered her face.

Abigail.

"I see he is."

I stood quickly as she moved off her rock and met me, her face to my chin. She took in my smell as I observed her. I felt sick to my stomach, because I'd remembered what she'd done.

My mother was slaughtered and killed at her hand. All she'd asked me to do was turn Abby's eyes away from those of the Devil and up towards the Heavens, where we truly belonged. To rid her mind of this foolishness and wasteful desires; we were mere mortals, cursed by the sins of our lives. Killing hundreds of innocent people did nothing but dig our hole deeper into the inferno of Hell.

My mother had already lost my brother to Abby's lies. And I... it was I who spilled most of the blood. I'd only wished to do right by her.

"What is the meaning of this?" I heard my voice but could not feel my lips move. I felt detached from it all. Looking down at my fingers, I wondered if they were really mine.

"You've betrayed me, John, isn't that obvious?"

I looked down at the woman and met her dark gaze with one of my own. "You? It is I that is betrayed! Where is Henry?"

I turned in a circle, looking for my younger brother, but Henry was gone. He'd been the one to ask me to meet him down by the shoreline, and the second I met him, he—he hit me.

I touched the tender spot on the back of my head. My fingers were wet with blood.

"I asked you to help me with your mother. Instead, you run and tell Henry. My poor boy didn't need to know the truth, but luckily enough for me, he was more of a man than you are."

"You did this?" I stepped forward so hard my foot pressed deep into dirt. "You told him to do this?"

A laugh left Abigail as the men I once called Brothers' stood at her side. Their eyes glowed bright, in various shades, as they watched me. Three of the men held chains wrapped tightly around their knuckles.

"Actually, John, I did nothing of the sort. You see, this was all Henry's idea, and I couldn't have agreed more." She circled me, tracing her hand along my chest as I watched the men. My eyes burned with the same heat they gave me. "I spent my days favoring the wrong son because you're older, wiser—or, so I assumed—and yet, I lost so many years with the boy who loved me most. You see, John, I've learned you simply can't keep a secret. Who will you tell next? My dearest brother? I warned you already he couldn't know, and I fear if you live, he'll know too soon."

If I lived.

Those words alone sparked the rage that exploded from my arms as the men came at me from all angles. I ducked back as Abigail turned away back onto the rocks. Raising my hands, I blocked the blows from three of the men, but chains still whipped against my back. I wouldn't yell or show my pain—no. I'd fight until I couldn't.

I caught the neck of one man and barreled him into the ground. The glow of my eyes illuminated his face as his neck snapped in two and bone broke free from his skin. The white of his eyes assured me of death, but I reminded myself, he was still alive. The heel of my shoe slammed down into his abdomen as my arms wrapped around his neck. His fellow men tugged back at my shoulders and neck; little did they know they aided my goal. As they pulled me, I pulled him. His skull slipped free from his spine and his head rolled to one side.

"Murderer!" one of the men screeched.

I caught his face next, right on the temple with the back of my hand. Like lightning, the rest of the men and I darted around the dirt and waters, swiping at each other with mad hands. I felt blood spill from wounds that broke my chest; chains slapped against my legs, even as I disarmed one man and strangled him with his.

I honestly believed I'd win the fight. Rarely had I lost one, and it'd been over a hundred years since any man hit me. Yet, as I landed on my hands and took a blow to the back, my hope dwindled away like the snuffed fires that created me.

My legs may have been weakened and scarred, but I'd taken down four of the six men. My breeches were stained with their blood. I dug my fingers in the dirt again as I heard the remaining two men prepare another strike. Behind them, Abigail sat on top of her rock like the fake queen she claimed to be.

"I loved Catherine. Always a bright smile. Equivalent to our sun. She took care of Victor in the ways he needed, saved his soul by marriage. It was her loving heart that saved you, and that blessed womb that gave me Henry. Yet, she could not see the truth."

Blood dripped between my eyes as I rolled onto my back, catching the foot of a man before he kicked me. We stared at each other with the same glowing eyes before I pushed him onto the dirt. The second man picked up the chain.

"No one survives death, John. You, Catherine, Victor, Henry—all of us laid on our deathbeds. We saw the light." Abigail waved her hands in front of her eyes. "We witnessed death and were turned around by his hand. Guided back to Earth to save our Heaven from sinners. Granted eternal life to do it. Can't you see it? You used to."

I licked the blood from my lips as I stared off at the waves. They came closer as the tide grew higher; within the hour, we'd be under water. That's what Abigail hoped for, at least for me. I'd been the one to teach her to wash away the bodies. Let them sail with the wind. No one would find them; no proof of their deaths.

"I loved you above all others, John, ever since you were a young boy. It hurts me to do this, but his Lord commands it. Sinners must die. Better now, before you can bring anyone else into this world, because I'd only have to kill them, too."

Kill me? Kill my family?

But Abby, you are my family.

Pain seared across my face as the chain came down on my head. I attempted to grab it, but the man I'd thrown pushed himself up from the waters and lunged at me. His forearm met my chest. Air erupted from my lungs as I hit the ground. The world spun, but I grabbed both men and took them on a ride with me.

We rolled into the water, screaming and sputtering as it filled my lungs. I fought to defend myself, covering my chest from each of their blows, but in water it was difficult. Gashes broke out on my arms and hands. The water stained was red with my blood—so much blood.

For the first time in hundreds of years, my heart slowed instead of raced, and my mind went numb. I couldn't see the swing of the man's arm before it came down, but I felt it. He pushed me under water, driving the back of my skull into a jagged rock that stuck out from the wet sands. Excruciating pain was real; having fought death and survived, I'd always believed it'd never reach me again, but my body hadn't forgotten the sensation.

The world went white, and I could not scream. Yet, I still heard her voice.

"Victor will learn to forget you, and I pray that He forgives you when you close your eyes."

I didn't close my eyes, I opened them. Abigail pulled my head out of the water and cupped it with her hands. My body shook at her tenderness, but I felt no kindness. The look she gave me, eyes black as night, was filled with the evil from her soul.

"Tell Catherine hello for me, won't you? I do miss her."

Abigail pushed me back under water, slamming my head down onto that same rock. I felt its tip rip through my skin and into my skull. I felt my back break, each slender disc of my spine coming undone. My fingers wouldn't move, and I'd lost all connection to my legs. I was done—a soul, wafting endlessly in a body riddled with pain and no control.

Before the world drifted away with the waves that took me, I heard her voice just once more. She cried, "Forgive me, John."

Lying Bitch.

"Forgive me."

Never.

I swallowed a mouthful of water and squeezed my eyes.

I'll kill you.