Chapter 10 - The Consecration of Stone
The iron door to the basement stood wide open, a gaping dark mouth leading down into the subterranean abyss.
The stagnant, freezing air of the earth below rushed up the stairwell, carrying with it the faint, echoing sound of a child crying, and a woman’s harsh, hysterical voice screaming over the roar of the storm outside.
Daniel descended the wooden stairs with silent, predatory grace, his boots barely making a sound on the steps. He kept his flashlight turned off, relying entirely on his memory of the floor layout and the faint, erratic flashes of light reflecting off the far stone wall.
Victoria had turned on a battery-powered lantern and set it on top of a wooden crate in the rear corner of the basement.
As Daniel reached the bottom step, the scene before him unfolded in terrifying detail.
Victoria stood in the alcove behind the wine racks, right in front of the open cavity in the stone wall where Daniel had extracted the iron-bound mahogany box. Her face was bruised, her hair wild, her white silk blouse covered in dirt and blood from her broken wrist, which hung at an unnatural angle. In her good right hand, she held a heavy, rusted mason’s hammer she had grabbed from the basement workbench.
In front of her, cornered against the cold stone foundation, were Toby and Clara.
Toby was standing directly in front of his infant sister, his small arms spread wide, his bruised face set in an expression of pure, stubborn defiance. Clara was huddled behind him, sobbing quietly into her fleece pajamas, holding onto the hem of his blue t-shirt.
"Where is it?!" Victoria screamed, her voice cracking into a manic, desperate screech as she swung the heavy hammer wildly through the air. "Where did your father put the box, you little bastard?! Tell me!"
"I don't know!" Toby yelled back, refusing to step aside, refusing to let her reach Clara. "He took it away! You're never going to get it!"
"It belongs to me!" Victoria roared, her eyes wide, completely consumed by the madness of her family’s century-old obsession. "Your great-grandfather stole everything from us! My family lived in shame, in poverty, while you spoiled little monsters lived in luxury built on my great-grandfather’s blood! I am going to tear this wall down stone by stone, and I am going to bury you both in it!"
She raised the mason’s hammer high above her head, taking a step toward Toby.
"Victoria!" Daniel’s voice boomed through the subterranean chamber like a thunderclap.
Victoria froze. She spun around, her feverish eyes locking onto Daniel as he stepped out of the shadows into the lantern's glow, his semi-automatic pistol raised, aiming steadily at her chest.
"Put the hammer down," Daniel said, his voice terrifyingly quiet, entirely devoid of mercy.
Victoria stared at the barrel of the gun, then looked at Daniel’s face. Instead of terror, a sickening, broken laugh burst from her throat.
"You won't shoot me, Daniel," she wheezed, her chest heaving. "You're a lawyer. A respected man. You're bound by the law. You shoot an unarmed woman in front of your children, and you become a monster just like your ancestors."
"You killed Sarah," Daniel said, taking a slow, deliberate step forward, narrowing the distance between them. "You broke into my home with armed mercenaries. You struck my son. You threatened my daughter. You are not a woman, Victoria. You are an infection."
Victoria’s grin faded. She looked down at Toby, then back at Daniel, her eyes narrowing with sudden, lethal intent.
"If I can't have the Mercer legacy," she hissed, "then no one will."
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With a sudden, violent motion, she didn't swing the hammer at Toby—she swung it hard against the central support pillar of the ancient wine rack, while simultaneously grabbing a small, glass jar of vintage kerosene sitting on the shelf and smashing it against the lantern on the crate.
Instantly, a wall of bright, roaring orange fire erupted between Daniel and the children.
