The plan was to meet at the cave at noon. Paul went early. He felt victorious. While he was waiting he flipped through the catalog book from the cabin. He learned about a ring that forced everyone to tell the wearer the truth. There was something called the apple of discord which just caused chaos. Paul had no idea why anyone would make that. He continued reading on until others showed up.
Noah was the first to arrive and to be honest he looked rough. “How was your night?” Paul asked.
“I drank too much, but I got it.” he grunted.
“How did you get blood from a demon?” Paul asked.
Noah laughed as he held up a bottle of blood. “I beat him in poker,”
The others started filing in early as well. Mr. Everald and Thalia arrived with Zane. They even brought doughnuts. The twins came right after, then Quinn.
“Where's Delilah, Melissa, and Aiden?” Paul asked.
They got delayed. I have them checking out a few things.” Mr. Everald explained.
Morale was high. They only needed three more blood samples, and they could finish what they started. In the back of Paul's mind he was a little nervous. What if they were dead and the family line died out. What if they moved across the country? What if the group just couldn't find them?
There was a discussion going on about what to do. It was interrupted by a loud song coming from Paul's phone. He forgot to put it on vibrate. Fortunately it was Eddie so he picked up. Paul felt all the eyes that were staring at him as Eddie explained what he found. He hung up and looked at Quinn.
“Come on already, what did you learn?” Noah said.
“The werewolf blood we need is Quinn's.” Paul explained.
What?! No way. That can't be true.” Quinn said while everyone looked at him.
“You said at the funeral your dad's adopted. That he didn't know his history. Plus, why would someone pay to have you turned into a werewolf.” Zane explained
“What are the odds? It's so lucky.” Tyler asked while smiling at Paul.
“I don't have a superpower,” he responded.
“Superpower.” Tyler said back.
Mr. Everald had to ask. “Superpower?”
“Oh yes my theory is things just magically fall into place when Paul is around.” explained Tyler.
“Maybe Paul's related to leprechauns.” Noah joked.
Thalia stepped toward the wall and started thinking out loud. “How does Ethel plan on getting Quinn's blood?”
“I'm pretty sure I would have noticed getting blood-jacked?” Quinn responded.
“The coach didn't.” Noah quipped.
Thalia continued. “We gotta assume she has it. I mean that's why she paid a guy to turn you. I'm gonna assume she got you three as well.
“What is she waiting for?” Beatriz added.
“Yes, exactly. Maybe she is having trouble tracking the others.” Thalia said.
A voice came booming from the tunnels. “Do you know how hard it is to get demon blood?”
Before he could look at the entrance there was a deafening ringing that barreled through the cave. His head felt like it was about to explode. He rushed to cover his ears with his hands, but it didn't help. The rest of his body went numb, and he fell to his knees.
The ringing stopped. He slowly lifted his body back onto his feet. When he was able to focus he saw Ethel standing in front of them holding Beatriz at knife point.
“You all have been very helpful. Now, If you follow me to the tomb we can begin show and tell.” she said as she put the knife away.
Zane ran up and grabbed her by the throat while slamming her on the wall. Paul flinched at the loud sound it made. Tyler yelled in pain.
“Easy tiger, me and Mr. Tyler closest to the door Benoit are linked. While you all were cowering on the floor I crammed a potion in his mouth. Anything you do to me you do to him. If I die he dies.” Ethel explained.
She pushed Zane off and started walking. Paul was beginning to panic. The group reluctantly followed. As they were walking through tunnels Noah wouldn't shut up.
“You know you don't look like an Ethel. Ethel is an old lady's name.” he said.
Zane shushed him, but he just kept going “So what's the plan here Ethel? Get what's in the tomb and take over the world?” Noah continued.
He was shushed again this time by Mr. Everald. Noah still kept going. “Well if you did this to get my attention I'm sorry to break it to you, you are not my type.”
Ethel turned around and stabbed him in the stomach. “Let this be a learning opportunity. If you annoy me I'm gonna get stabby.”
The rest of the walk was silent. When they got to the tomb she grabbed Beatriz and walked in front of everyone. Ethel took out her knife again. “Just in case you think I'm bluffing if you try to tie me up or knock me unconscious, I'll stab her.”
Mr. Everald started to reason with her, “Okay everyone take a breath. No one else needs to get hurt or worse.”
Ethel laughed. “Oh you really are an Everald wanting to keep the peace. But you're right. I only want what's in the tomb. I had no intention of turning this into a huge thing.”
“How much of this did you plan?” Paul asked.
“Aww Paul. I'm sorry I stabbed you. I was hoping it’d deter you. I didn't know how deep you were into all this. But great question. Unfortunately I don't have time. We have work to do.”
“This is usually the part in the movies where the villain brags about her plan.” Tyler said.
“Actually I know I'm kind of curious.” Noah added.
“Okay cliff notes. From the beginning. Broke a centuries old curse to make sure Beatriz was born, because your family thought they were clever and used old blood they had stored from your last living female relative. Had to lure an Everald back to town by killing his best friend from college.”
Beatriz interjected. “Delilah's dad, you killed her dad?”
Ethel responded. “That's old news sweetie. Had to turn Quinn here because your father didn't survive the transformation. Thankfully you did. Oh, also made sure he got adopted here that took a lot of paperwork. And that's what I did with your group. There was so much more for the others, but you don't need to know that.”
Thalia started to pull something out of her back pocket slowly, but it was all in vain. “Vinea vincula” Ethel shouted while looking at Thalia. Plants came out of the ground, wrapping Thalia's hands and feet.
Paul couldn't believe his eyes. He knew magic was real but had never seen anything to this extent.
“I timed it perfectly. I expected to get in and out. What I didn't expect to find here was you two." Ethel said while pointing at Zane and Noah.
"Why us two?" Zane questioned.
"Look at me. Do I look familiar?" she asked.
The pair shook their heads. Noah quipped "Listen lady there are a bunch of women I don't remember."
Ethel raised her hand while saying something in Latin and Noah dropped to his knees. He tried to get up again but couldn't. She walked up to Zane and softly said. "Come on Zane, you were always my first dance at the ball just to shut my father up."
"Ethel…..as in Elizabeth's best friend," he said.
“The gardener.” Noah exclaimed in disbelief.
Paul was just standing there while this conversation happened. Ethel wasn't paying attention to him. He didn't know what to do. It was such a helpless feeling. He wanted to do something to stop her.
Ethel grabbed a bowl and put a few vials of blood in it. She took a knife to Beatriz's hand to add her blood to the bowl. Then did the same to Quinn and Mr. Everald. She walked up to Tyler to do the same, only this time a cut on her hand appeared as well. It confirmed she was definitely telling the truth.
Paul decided if he kept her attention on him one of the Carlyle brothers would take the chance to incapacitated her. “Wait Ethel!”
“Yes Paul?”
“Why? Why are you doing this? What is the end game here?" he asked.
She looked at him for a minute in silence. Paul felt every second that passed. He continued talking, “What selfish reason do you have to cause all this havoc? Money, power, greed. Why destroy a bunch of lives?”
She began walking towards Paul. Noah quickly elbowed her in the head. She fell to the ground as Tyler did the same and cried out in pain. Noah dove on top of her and punched her in the face. She grabbed the pendant around her neck and the ringing started again. Paul fell to the ground.
Tyler was on the ground with a bloody nose. Ethel got up and grabbed something from her bag and blew a powder into Noah's face. His body started growing black vines under his pale skin, and he convulsed, collapsing to the ground.
“To answer your question Paul, I'm doing it for love. I wasn't just Elizabeth's friend.” She walked over and stood face to face with Zane.“We were in love. We were gonna start a life together until Zane decided to kill her. Because that's what you did, Zane, you killed her.”
“I didn't mean-”
“Shut up!” Ethel yelled as she slapped him. She walked over to Noah and went into his pockets to grab the blood bottle. She walked up to Paul and instructed him to hand the blood vial over. Paul made a quick decision and smashed the bottle to the ground.
“Throwing it on the ground doesn't make it not blood. It just makes it blood and dirt.” Ethel said to him.
Beatriz was on the floor holding Tyler who was still struggling from the blows to the head. “What does that have to do with anything”
“Because what's in that tomb will give me the power to open a doorway to the other side and go get her back.” Ethel replied. She picked up the bowl that was by the tomb and added the last of the blood bottles and a handful of bloody dirt. She dipped her hands into the bowl and wiped it on the carved lettering around the door.
Mr. Everald rushed behind her to try to subdue her. There was a back and forth struggle, but Ethel headbutted the teacher. The shock of his face getting smashed caused him to stumble a bit. Ethel took her knife and stabbed him. As Ethel pulled the blade out, Paul took this opportunity to run into her at full speed. He pushed her onto the ground away from the door. While on the ground Ethel kicked his legs and Paul hit the ground.
Ethel got up and said a final phrase in Latin while standing in front of the door. “Antrum apertum et revelare” she exclaimed.
The cave started to shake and rumble. Paul guessed it was working. Thalia started to try to reason with her as the tunnels started to crumble. “I know about death, you can't just open a door and grab one soul like that. If that was possible I would have done that for Rhea. You open it for everyone and everything on the other. The person you love died as a vampire. She is not in the normal afterlife, she's in the otherworld ”
The stone wall was slowly crumbling as the cave began to shake. The rocks falling were getting to be dangerous, so Paul went over to Beatriz and the two dragged Tyler to the corner where no rocks were falling. Mr. Everald pulled Quinn to the side out of the way on any rocks as well.
Mr. Everald then went up to Thalia to cut her free. Zane dragged his paralyzed brother into the corner with Quinn and Tyler.
“What's the plan?” Paul asked Thalia.
Before any words could be said the chaos stopped. The tomb door opened. Paul couldn't help but be curious.
“We can't let her open the door to the otherside. If a supernatural were to come back from the otherside they say they would come back differently…more blood hungry. A lot of innocent people will die.” Thalia explained.
“How do we break her connection to Tyler? Once we do that we can just kill her.” Beatriz said.
“I can't do it. Tyler is too beat up, but maybe you can. We can try. I need a piece of her hair and Tyler's hair and fire. I need you fellas to go to stall her. Remember to subdue her without killing her. If she dies Tyler does too.” Thalia instructed as she flipped through a book from her bag.
“Be careful, remember Tyler feels everything. Just subdue her.” Beatriz reminded them.
The guys went into the tomb. Paul was surprised to see a number of different things in there. Ethel was there holding a red crystal ball and looking through a book.
Zane dove into Ethel. Rolling around on the floor he ripped a chunk of hair and threw it away towards Quinn. He picked it up and ran it to Thalia. As he ran, a piece of rock fell and smashed into his head causing him to collapse.
Mr. Everald picked the ball up and tried to run away. But the ringing started again. Paul was failing to the ground when he noticed it was the necklace. It was a glass circle with a plant inside it. She held it the last time the ringing started. Paul heard a familiar crunching sound. It was the sound of a neck breaking. Ethel snapped Zane's neck.
“I'd kill you now, Zane but I wanna savor it. You're gonna feel the pain I felt. But your friends, I can dispose of them now.” Ethel said to the vampire's unconscious body.
She walked up Paul, and he froze for a second “Sorry Paul this will make the third time i-”
“Lux incipere” Paul blurted while lifting his hand up. There was a flash that caused Ethel to flinch. Paul grabbed her necklace and smashed it. At least she couldn't make the ringing come back. He ran out of the tomb while she chased him.
“Hey Ethel.” Mr. Everald called out. Holding the crystal ball. “I can smash this now. Or you can stop.”
Ethel froze, everyone was outside of the tomb now. Paul could see in the corner of his eye Beatriz and Thalia trying to cast a spell but failing. Beatriz's eyes filled with tears as Tyler was bloody on the ground. Paul was concerned about the injuries Tyler was enduring.
“Okay, maybe I have been a little greedy. We can bury the hatchet. We can work together. Please just think about it.” Ethel pleaded. Her face was bruised. Blood was seeping out of a couple head wounds.
“What is it? What does it do?“ Paul asked.
“It's an anima orb that collects souls, this one collects supernatural souls. Their consciousness passes on but their soul, their life force, is trapped in here.” she explained.
“Why does she need souls?” Tyler asked in a soft voice.
“Souls mean power. Magic is draining. The reason she can't just magically deal with us is because she doesn't have the power. It's why she is not trying anything. She's a green witch with no juice.” Thalia answered.
Ethel responded. “She's right. But it's also why you can't undo my spell. I had to connect us to get access to Benoit power. I was hoping to use Beatriz but she was disappointing. Unfortunately I used up everything by opening that door. But with these souls I can….I need to get Elizabeth back. You and I..we can bring back Rhea and Quinn's dad, even Delilah's aunt.”
“That's not how life works. Even if you opened that door briefly, hundreds can run through and slaughter this town and then the next one.” Thalia responded.
Ethel paused and looked down. Paul was hoping she’d listen to reason. Her hand shot out and a knife went flying at Mr. Everald. At the moment of impact, Paul stopped breathing. He wanted to run over to check on him but Ethel was standing in between them. The orb rolled to her feet and she picked it up.
“Nevermind, I think I'll just do my own thing. Ethel raised the orb in front of her, the wind started rustling and it glowed a bright red. It was hard to see anything with all the sand blowing around. Ethel was chanting in latin. Her voice was deep and distorted.
Paul was pretty sure they lost and a bunch of people were about to be killed. A scream filled the air. That was not expected. Paul absolutely hoped it was too much power and she was going to explode.
Everything stopped and Paul saw blood coming from Ethel’s chest and she dropped to the ground. It went quiet. Paul walked over to her and just stared. He knelt down and picked up the orb.
“What did you do?” Paul heard these words come from across the room and his head shot up. Beatriz ran towards Tyler. Tyler was not moving. She cradled his head in her lap. “No. No, don't. You can't fucking go…Its not fair. Tyler look at me…You don't get to leave me all alone.”
It happened so fast, Paul needed a moment to comprehend what really went on. He eventually put two and two together. Tyler crawled over and took the blade from Mr. Everald's chest. He then sacrificed himself by stabbing himself in the heart to save everyone.
Paul felt absolutely useless. There was a terrible guilt coming over him as well. If only he had been faster or stronger or had some superpower instead of being just some guy. Thalia went over to try and comfort Beatriz. It took an hour for her just to leave Tyler's side.
Thalia walked Beatriz out of the tunnels but before she did she told Paul to wait for Zane, Noah and Quinn to wake.