Upon reaching Lisa’s building, Ruby had barely tapped on the brakes before Bennett had erupted from the car, and Ruby’s eyes misted, watching Bennett fly up the stairs. In a fog of guilt so cumbersome that she could barely breathe, Ruby continued on, searching for a parking space in a world that had suddenly slowed to a crawl. A block away, she found a spot, and shutting off the engine, Ruby took a ragged breath before she climbed out. Hundreds of years before, Ruby had walked miles and miles and miles across Europe, yet this one city block felt like the longest walk she’d ever taken. As she neared the front step, all the lights suddenly came back on, and Ruby had to force herself to keep going.

A few neighbors stood in the entry, grousing about the hour spent without electricity, and as Ruby weaved her way toward the stairs, one by one, their voices disappeared. Her thoughts had become white noise, culpability drowning out the drone and anguish swallowing up the thrum until there was nothing left to hear other than her heartbeat. It was steady and strong, confirming Ruby was very much alive, yet she didn’t feel alive. She didn’t feel viable. She felt dead. Ruby felt dead and empty.

She climbed the last flight, mindlessly hugging the wall to make room for the four solemn-faced men on their way out. If she had raised her eyes, dared to acknowledge their existence, Ruby would have had her answer before she reached the landing. Instead, it wasn’t until she stood at the top and looked down the hallway to the open door at the end when Ruby’s eyes overflowed. There were no voices, no sounds of a joyous reunion or condemnations for forgetting to unmute a phone. There was only cold, sinister silence.

Ruby pulled in a deep breath, and reaching Lisa’s apartment, she took an even deeper breath and walked inside. She’d only managed a few steps when a tsunami of sadness washed over her.

The apartment was in shambles. Lamps, once on end tables, were shattered on the floor, and the furniture was upended and shoved toward the walls. Streaks, splatters, and puddles of blood were everywhere, and in the center of the room, staged as if on display, was Lisa. Wearing the remnants of what were once lavender flannel pajamas, they had sliced her open from her chest to her groin, and standing proudly in the yawning slash between Lisa’s breasts was a sword bearing the Durant crest.

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Ruby said under her breath. “Oh…Jesus Christ.”

For a long moment, Ruby was transfixed. Bennett was kneeling by Lisa’s side, mindlessly brushing away the strands of blonde stuck in the blood covering Lisa’s face.