“Youvisited once to my house, when you were three and he was one. But youfell, and hit your head on a rock by the pond in my garden you usedto love watching the fish in. While you were unconscious, I sensed achange, and they found you. But blood is thicker than water. Blood isthickest.” She untied the Xenite from her wrist, and threw it inour direction, smiling with large, happy eyes as she did so.Immediately they came, sweeping slowly from the shadows. “Youneed to chant, and sacrifice the touched with glittering Xenitestick. The chant will flow with the blood, you need blood. Blood tieskeep you together, they rip you apart. COMEFOR ME NOW, BEASTS</I>!”She began laughing hysterically and then I saw them. They floatedforwards towards the little girl, and Gwen began to cry. We backedout the door as they grabbed her, a limb each. Esther smiledserenely, and said, “I’m so proud, my grandson. Get Seb, Richard,because you two must leave.” They began pulling her, fighting overwhich part of her they wanted most. I could see her face twisted withagony already as she was beyond saving now.We’dleft it too long and she was too connected to them. We turned to runout the room that was thickening with the stench of death. I heard atearing noise and glanced back to see Esther in pieces. They lookedalmost gleeful with what they had achieved. My throat gagged at thesight of so much blood and pointless torture. We gratefully ended upback into the corridor. They hadn’t followed us. Gwen was breathingheavily, so I silently began stroking her hair.“Gwen,come on. We’re getting out of this alive, I just know it. Esth- mygrandmother</I>said we will.”
“No.You heard what she said, you and Seb</I>are getting out of this alive. You two</I>she said. I know what we have to do, and why she brought me here.”Her eyes were filled with tears but I could see she was resolute inwhatever it was she’d decided. I knew I wasn’t going to like it.“We haven’t got a lot of time before they’re done with her andthey come back for us. Blood ties keep you together, that’s whatshe said. You and Seb are family but that’s not enough. Yourparents died and he would be dead right now if it weren’t for yourblood inside of him. When was that?”“BeforeI asked you to marry me, he said it would bring me luck. We did itfor old time’s sake, like when we were little kids.” I shook myhead, not understanding. Gwen seemed the picture of calm, ready todie.Shereplied with the business-like voice she used at work, “That’sfine then because your blood will still be in each other. That’swhat’s tying him to this life. Without that, I think his soul wouldbe gone forever. Blood ties keep you together when they</I>rip you apart and take you with them. I think, and this is just aguess, that your grandmother’s curse of being a kind of portal forthese things has been passed down to the first male born in thefamily after her; you.” “I don’t care about all of this, Ijust want us to get out of here alive!” I cried, getting hystericalnow.“Youwill, but the doors can only open once a sacrifice has been made,with a glittering Xenite stick. When Seb was trying to contact usearlier, he wasn’t asking us a question. He was telling us what todo, can</I>dlestick.The candlestick we were staring at earlier was so clean and untouchedby the house because it has Xenite stones in it. It’s all makingsense now. You told me that was what we should focus on to keep themaway, and I noticed it has the same white stones as your pendulum.The sacrifice needs to be made with that.”
I staredat her disbelievingly. “You want me to sacrifice</I>you, by killing you with some “magical” candlestick?” Icouldn’t believe it had come to this. Incredulous, I saidstubbornly, “No. Absolutely ridiculous, I’ll be the sacrifice,you can get Seb and that’s that. No compromise.”“Youcan’t do that. You haven’t been touched by one of them, you’restill pure. A sacrifice of a pure human wouldn’t work, it has to beme. I’m tainted, I was spat on and touched by them and it needs tobe me. You’d go straight up to Heaven, no use to anyone.” Shesmiled weakly up at me, starting to become the vulnerable andemotional Gwen I knew.“Wherewill you go then? What are you trying to say?” My chest heaved withmy heavy breathing.“Ihave to be the one to do it, Rick.” She stroked my hand.“NO!Gwen, I can’t lose you! I can’t live if you aren’t beside me, Ijust can’t! I can’t sacrifice you just to save myself, it’s notfair and I would never do that! I love you, Gwen. I love you so much,and I want us to have a future together, marriage, kids... I’m notlosing that just so I don’t see some stupid shadows, there’s noone like you in the entire world.” I broke down, tears streamingdown my face. Too much had happened for me to take in, now it wasGwen’s turn to comfort me. “Please,Rick, don’t! You’ll attract them back to us, we need to actquickly. I’ll get the candlestick, you wait here.” I grabbed herarm before she left.
“Gwen,there is no discussion. I am not letting you die for me.”“Thenlet me die for Seb. I’d rather die than live without you, but it’smore than that. Esther told me, when we were entering the house, thatit isn’t just your life at stake here. You’re a portal to theirworld, like she was. She saw them in her dreams, and using thatlittle girl while she was most defenceless brought them to reality.You got her curse, and you keep them alive by seeing them. If youhappened to die, your “portal” would be completely open for themto be unleashed upon the world. Everyone would be damned to eternaltorture and they would slaughter people until there were no humansleft. It would be the end of humanity as we know it. Please, if I’mnot doing it for you, let me do it for every man, woman and childthat don’t deserve to have their future stolen away. For Seb. If hedies, a part of you dies too, and they will seep through youeventually.” Welocked eyes, and very painfully I nodded slightly, a consent that Iwould kill the most perfect thing I had ever known. She hurrieddownstairs as I cried, wailing and cursing myself. She came back withthe candlestick that was too clean wrapped in her jumper. She wasmaking an effort to not even touch it, and it made me wonder if shewas scared of being in contact with the weapon that would ultimatelyend her life. I took it from her and felt minute vibrations, as if wewere connecting somehow. “What do I do?” I whispered. “Kissme.” She demanded. Our lips touched and our tears mingled until Iwas sure we had become one person. Then she broke away and with acracked voice told me, “Press the candlestick to where they touchedmy arm, I have a feeling that will work.” She began to breathedeeply, more calm than she had been all night.“Before,when I didn’t know what it was about you that kept them away?” Iwhispered, wiping tears away furiously, “It’s just you.Everything about you. No one will ever replace you, I promise.”
Shelaughed and cried at the same time, a choking gurgle sound. “I’llwatch over you, I’ll guide you. I love you so much, Rick. Just staywith me until I go.”“I’llnever let you be alone. Never.” I couldn’t talk now, I onlylocked eyes with her once more and said without words everything Ihad ever wanted to say to her, and I knew she understood. I touchedthe candlestick to the black, charred skin where she had been touchedand watched as an angry red vapour exploded out of it, taking herdown shrieking the entire way. I knew she’d died properly, nottaken by them, and as her peaceful green eyes closed for the lasttime, and her doll-like mouth slid upwards into her final smile, Itook some peace from it. TheGoodbyeKissingher cheek for the last time, I tore my eyes away from the face I hadwoken up to for so long that every curvature of her face had becomeetched in my mind. I went back to the room Seb was in, sensing theyhad finished with Esther and were going to be coming back for mesoon. I knew that whatever happened I would be with Esther, dead oralive, and so I walked feeling protected by a bubble of Gwen’sessence.The poolof blood had grown so it was almost touching the walls with itssticky mass. His face was grey now, almost like theirs, and for thefirst time I wasn’t sure if any of us would get out of the housealive. My promise of the four of us leaving together was now adistant memory, and knowing they couldn’t harm me for the momentdistracted as they were by our grandmother, I marched over to Sebwith my candlestick.
WithEsther’s words spilling out my mouth, I made a small gash in myindex finger with a sharp piece of rubble and did the same to him. AsI pressed our fingers together I let the chant roll off my tongue,speaking words I didn’t know the significance to but felt so fullof meaning that I knew they were right. I felt his blood push throughinto my veins and mine flow into his, and for a few minutes nothinghappened. I began to wonder if I was doing it right, but Seb’s eyesbegan to flicker and my heart leapt. His eyes flashed a bright greenbefore turning a deep brown like our own, and I knew Gwen was withus.“Glad to have you back!” I laughed, filled with a smallbubble of elation which grew with every small movement he made,dragging himself back into the land of the living. I wasn’t theonly human left in the house now, and I felt comforted.“Goodto be back, I think...” He gazed at his dull, oppressivesurroundings before hugging me hard. We slapped each other on theback before deciding to make a move. Tension began to spill out of melike sand as he asked, “Where’s Gwennie?”Shakingmy head with gritted teeth, he understood now wasn’t the time. Iknew even if we hurried as much as we could they would be onto us ina few seconds anyway, so I drank in the details of his face andsmiled again. I felt crushed with sadness to the very core of mybeing with every thought of Gwen I didn’t manage to block out, butif I couldn’t control my emotions and concentrate on how lucky Iwas to have a second chance with my brother, the only family I hadleft now, they would find and kill us both.“Let’sgo.” I patted him softly on the shoulder, trying to ignore themassive patch of blood on his shirt and explained about not lookingat them when they came, and not getting too emotional, they seemed tofeed off bad emotion and grow stronger. If you completely broke down,they could get you and take you somewhere that pain would replace anymemories of humanity you ever had. “But, who are they</I>?”Seb asked as we marched out of the room he had just died in.