Hemlock Veils (42 page)

Still, he shook his head. “Now it’s you who’s being blind.”

“Not blind. Just refusing to look at it the way you do.” Her hand found his, hot and moist. “But none of that matters anyway.”

He gave a single nod, staring at their hands. “What’s done is done.”

“What’s done may be done, but there has to be a way out of every curse she inflicts. And it has to be something doable.”

Though his head remained bowed, he lifted his eyes. “Just because something is physically possible doesn’t make it doable.”

Her swallow was rough, her heart afraid of where this would go. “The Cursed and the Curse Breaker: can you…?”

“I can never have a Curse Breaker.”

Just as she thought. An antidote only he could provide. “Tell me what it is you have to do.”

He raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth lifting in a subtle, cynical curve. “Give into my instincts.” At the puzzled look she gave him, he exhaled through his nose, his temples flexing. “We all hear stories that teach a man to love: a man cursed as a monster, the only escape being the love of another—someone who can love him despite what he is. Ones like Absolon and Elvire.
If
they really existed. But…that wasn’t enough for her.” He paused, staring at nothing. “My curse requires a woman, yes. But instead of her
love
it requires her…death.” He met her eyes. “A beauty
for
the beast, a sacrifice.”

“You…have to kill someone in order to be free?”

He nodded. “What starts with a death ends with a death.”

“The women you took…Nicole. Your instinct…?”

His eyes shifted away from hers. “I never would have done it, Elizabeth. There were times I was…” He sighed, straightening. “I’ve been tempted before. In fact, it happens often. And the urge is difficult to tame. Sometimes, the only thing that helps is taking it out on an animal.” His eyes fell in shame, and she recalled the night he’d pinned her to a tree. The blood in his fangs. The deer carcasses Eustace had mentioned. The bear he’d nearly torn in half before her eyes. “But I never would have killed the women,” he added. “I could never allow myself to accept that nature. I could never allow myself to give into it.”

His eyes wore a shield, much like the one he used to wear. “So that’s it. You know everything. Now do you see why I’m the monster I am?”

“No,” she argued, desperate for him to believe it. “If you were, you would have done it a long time ago. You would have given in to that instinct.”

“There are different kinds of monsters. I’m just not the killing kind.”

“Is that what she told you?”

He recoiled. “I
did
take them, the women. I did think about it.”

“But you didn’t
do
it,” she said, not missing a beat. “
That’s
what’s important. Henry, you’ve been placed in the most unfair position, and
thinking
those thoughts isn’t just normal for a beast, but for any human being. Even following through with those thoughts would be normal for some.”

Keeping his hand in hers, he looked down. “Whatever it says or doesn’t say about me, it doesn’t matter. Because I’ll always be cursed. That’s her intention.”

“I know,” Elizabeth murmured, reading the pages before her. They explained how
Aglaé
gains more power the longer she keeps her cursed ones cursed, and loses it for a time if the curse is broken. “Because if you broke your curse,” Elizabeth went on, “she would have to leave this area—and
you
—alone forever.”

“She knew I would never do what’s necessary to break it, and so…she’s won.”

“I refuse to believe that.”

He smiled crookedly. “You think I should kill someone, is that what you’re saying?”

“No, but…everything has a loophole.”

He looked to the side, shaking off her response as though it was ridiculous. Perhaps it was. “I just don’t understand,” he said instead. “
Why
is she back? The night she cursed me, she said she would come back if I ever came close to breaking my curse. She would stop me. But I’ve never been further from it. If ever I was going to break the curse, it would never be through you.”

A thought struck her and she looked to the book, hurrying to find the place she sought. She flipped to the next page, her eyes scanning frantically over the words. They got in the way of her search, all these typeset, irrelevant hurdles. Finally, she found it: the part mentioning the lengths
Aglaé
would go to, to keep her cursed ones cursed. Her eyes shot to Henry. “I don’t know why she thinks you’re close to breaking it, but Henry, I don’t think I’m her target.”

He furrowed his brow then took the book from her, reading. While he did, she said, “It says if she ends the life of one of her cursed, it takes some of her power. But not as much as breaking the curse would. Sometimes they do that: kill their cursed when they sense the curse is close to being broken.”

His eyes lifted to hers, unreadable.

“She wants to kill
you
. If she could get away with it, she wouldn’t have to worry about you breaking your curse.” She lifted a hand to her hanging mouth. Her exhalation hurt, but she shot to her feet anyway, looking around the room. She began scooting the coffee table aside. “If I make room, you can stay here at night—”

“Elizabeth,” he said, stopping her. He grabbed her arms and she looked at him, reluctantly since her eyes were afire with tears. Damn tears. Her heart beat wildly with fear, with desperation to keep him from
Aglaé
. “Nothing will happen to me.” He forced a smile. “I won’t fit in here, so I’m not even going to try. Believe it or not, I can be pretty fierce. I can take care of myself out there. You just have to trust me. Think about it: it’s best this way, having you stay inside at night. If I’m out there alone, as far away from you as possible, maybe she won’t feel the need to stay.”

She stared at him in disbelief, knowing he knew as well as she did how wrong that assumption was. He was grappling for something that didn’t exist: a solution. Yet all she could do was nod. And all she wanted was to be free of this knowledge, to be back in the place they were that morning, with carefree love in their veins—the place where making love was a powerful enough force to conquer any demon.

***

The setting sun left the sky pink and as Elizabeth and Henry held each other on her back porch, she wished she could freeze time. They’d spent only an hour at a darkened, empty Jean’s—just enough time to eat dessert while sunk on the floor, hiding behind the counter, and then leave, back here to say goodbye. The goodbye felt heavy and somber, as though the next morning didn’t await them, and she held to him more tightly.

That was when the tremor moved through his body. She removed her head from him at the same time he exhaled sharply, and in a matter of a second, his skin had become hot and moist. She felt it through his clothing, burning. His exhalations were short and shallow and through his mouth, and she could tell he tried to hide the pain. “It’s time,” he said, breathless.

She pulled his face close, her brow creased. Maybe if she wished it hard enough, she could take the pain from him by pure will.

“I’m all right,” he assured, and began unbuttoning his shirt. After she helped him, he ripped it off. He buckled over slightly, groaning even more slightly, but he visibly shook. He kissed her, and it was passionate, almost aggressive. She held to his face, not bothering to wipe the tears from hers.

When he released her and turned, she called him back. “Stay until you’re transformed?”

His chest heaved as he watched her with hesitant eyes.

Taking his face again, she pulled it close. “Please,” she whispered.

He barely nodded, his body jolting again, and this time he grunted, closing his eyes tightly. He walked down the steps and removed his pants, letting them fall to the ground, and in the unusual light that could neither be called sunlight nor moonlight, he stood with his backside toward her, his naked silhouette beautiful and strangely fitting for this place.

He groaned again, buckling over, and began trembling so violently that even though she was safe on the porch, she took a step backward. He became a giant form of pure energy, heat radiating from his skin.

Then it happened, before she could even feel the distress of how intensely it must hurt him: beginning at the back of his neck, a tremor rolled down his spine, bringing with it the appearance of flesh torn in half, and where that tremor rolled, it left the exterior of the beast in its place. As though that form was hidden inside Henry’s skin, the monster ripped through it in its escape, leaving none of Henry behind. At the same time the rolling change moved throughout him, he at least tripled in size, the massive towering form of the beast now standing in place of the man he used to be—and the whole thing happened within a second, too quickly for her to analyze how it was even physically possible. The man, who was large in stature by human definition, now seemed small.

Henry, now the creature meant to scare mortals away, huffed into the air, giving his form a furious shake, then turned to her. She ran down the steps, taking hold of his muzzle when he lowered it.

Don’t cry.

He straightened then, both of them sensing it.
Aglaé
or
Diableron
—or whichever form she was in—was somewhere near. Henry had no time to force Elizabeth inside, however, because instantly came the murmur of voices and the sound of footsteps on the street. Lots of footsteps. Henry spotted what she heard, for his eyes were directed behind her, his ears perked and listening.

She turned toward the many lights: the whole town, coming to her house. Coming to find her. Twisting back to Henry, she pushed him. “Get out of here,” she demanded in a whisper.

Hesitation.

“I’ll find out what’s going on. You have to leave.”

He looked down on her.
I won’t be far. Go inside when they leave.
And with the twitch of his tail he was gone, the trees rustling in his wake.

“Elizabeth?”

She turned at Taggart’s voice, but it sounded angrier than usual, even riled and distressed. He approached with nearly every Hemlock resident she knew at his rear. They appeared as an angry mob, but in place of torches, they held flashlights and lanterns, and in place of pitchforks were Taggart, Holman, and Eustace’s guns.

Guns
.
This
was
an angry mob.

“What is it, Sheriff? What’s wrong?” Regina was here, too, along with Brian, Nicole, Old Ray, Doc Ortiz, and even Bill Thurman. Who
wasn’t
here?

“What’s wrong is Sheppy’s been murdered, Beth.”

Air left Elizabeth’s chest with a gust, and in the instant time stood still, her mouth fell open.

“Brutally ripped to shreds. Regina found him on the edge of the forest by the diner an hour ago.” His Adam’s apple bounced. “Not much of him left. And we all know there’s only one thing that coulda done it.” Elizabeth’s eyes shot to Regina and while Regina’s jaw was compressed and her chin high, moisture pooled in her eyes. She put her hand on her hip, and Elizabeth got the sense it was an announcement that she was no longer on her side. Eustace cocked his shotgun, his Betsy, and his stance was just as defiant. Everyone had that look on them, even Nicole who stood next to an angry, drunk-looking Brian.

“Sheriff,” Elizabeth began, raising her hands. Tears pooled in her own eyes and she found it hard to conjure words as she imagined Sheppy with his red backpack and green Chucks. She prayed he hadn’t felt too much pain. Or fear. Had the only truly innocent soul in Hemlock Veils been tortured before
Aglaé
took his life? She thought of Regina and how it must have felt to find him—wondered how
much
of him was left—and her heart swelled an agonizing throb. “I’m…I’m
so
sorry about Sheppy. But…let’s not jump to any conclu—”

“Enough!” Taggart shouted. His eyes were wet, too. He took a few short, shallow breaths. “Enough,” he said more softly. “It’s been decided. None of us are resting until we bring the monster to the ground. Now, I’m only going to give you one chance, Beth. Are you with us or against us?”

Elizabeth stood tall. “One chance? Or what? Are you going to lock me up if I’m against you, Sheriff?”

He gave Brian a single nod and Brian took Elizabeth by the arms. Before she could fight him off or even wonder what was happening, Taggart pulled out the two silver bracelets she once thought she would wear at Mr. Vanderzee’s demand. He glared down at her as he handcuffed her, intentionally making them tight, and his eyes said he blamed her for everything. Rightfully so.

“No,” he finally answered. “We’re going to use you as bait.”

Chapter 26

“You’re not thinking clearly,” Elizabeth said. She struggled in Taggart and Brian’s arms as they both towed her along, since Brian couldn’t manage her on his own. They went deeper into the forest, and her churning gut left her worrying some of their lives might end like Sheppy’s had. “Please,” she begged. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with out here. You need to be inside, where it’s safe.”

“And what is it exactly that we’re dealing with?” Taggart asked, breath labored. “We know now, Beth. We know about your bond with it.”

Elizabeth paused in her struggle long enough to glance at Regina, who looked down. She couldn’t blame her for telling them. No one wanted another death, and really, other than Elizabeth, no one had any reason
not
to suspect the beast. “What do you plan to do, Sheriff?” she asked. “Torture me until he comes to my rescue?”

With an abrupt halt, Taggart yanked her roughly in his direction. She could almost feel the edges of his mustache brush against her nose. “I gave you a chance, Beth. You think I
want
to do this?” In mad desperation, his eyes flitted back and forth to each of hers. No, this was the last thing he wanted.