Losing Hope | {BOOK 4}

30| Charlie's Dead

"Frankensteins aren't real," I said. "They're made up."

"Yeah, of course," Styne nodded. "And we never had a family acquaintance named Mary Shelley who spent a few nights in castle Frankenstein and stumbled upon our secrets, and forced us to change our name and go underground."

"So, why didn't Shelley go public?"

"She wrote a book. Doesn't get more public than that."

"Mm," I smirked, chuckling a little.

"But no one believed it to be true, just like no one's gonna believe you."

"Well, as long as my husband, brother, and I believe, that's enough."

"Yeah, well... as mighty as I'm sure your little family is, mine is a juggernaut. We're not ordinary men. We're Spartans."

"But you aren't immortal."

"What we are is expendable. I go down, there's an army of replacements behind me."

"And where does this army call home, hm? Who's big daddy Frankenstein?"

"Were you here when I mentioned that we're underground? There are secrets."

I rolled my eyes at that.

"Well, I'm swell at uncovering secrets."

"You give me the Book, and it's conceivable that we could have a conversation."

"The Book?"

"Mm," Styne nodded.

"Dude, we don't have the Book," I replied. "The Book was burned."

"The Book was protected by a spell," he informed me. "It's eternal. It cannot be destroyed."

My gaze hardened as I spun on my heel, heading out to the hall to track down Dean. When I did, his back was facing me and his phone was to his ear.

"Look, Sam, I got to get back. You and Cass handle this. I'll be there as soon as I can."

He turned around, eyes widening as he saw me, hanging up the phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Uh... something came up."

"What?"

"It's handled," he dismissed me. "Uh, what's going on in there? Get any more out of him?"

"Yeah, an earful... truly. Let me ask you something."

Before I could continue, there was a slamming noise down the hallway. When we got to the dungeon, there was a trail of blood leading out of it, and when we headed in, Styne's arm was hanging from the chain.

"Oh, my God. He ripped it off."

⁘

"Hey. Any sign of him?" Dean asked when I came back into the Bunker.

"Lot of signs... just no him. I followed the blood trail... which, by the way, was like the Mississippi... till it ran dry."

"Meaning what? He bled out?"

"Meaning the trail stopped. Vanished. Nada. He sure must have thought he was gonna win that one, 'cause, phew, he was gabby."

"Well, I've been going through everything we have on the Frankensteins, and it's just like Eldon said. I mean, a thousand years of nasty. They made a ton mopping up the black plague. They started the 100 years war."

"You know, I thought, 'man, there's a lot of them Stynes.'  You know, it's like, uh, Alpha-male central," I paced behind Dean's chair. "And then I thought... and this is key... I thought, 'this is bad, but it would really blow if these guys had the Book. At least they don't have the damn Book.'"

"Yeah," Dean swallowed.

I stopped pacing, putting my hands on the back of his chair and leaning into his ear.

"Yeah. At least the damn Book burned. Right, Dean? But then, Eldon Frankenstein... he hits me with this little fun fact. He says that the Book can't be destroyed. Says that it can't be sliced, diced, shredded, burned, drowned. Cannot be destroyed. Ain't that crazy? Because... I know I saw something burn."

At that moment, Dean's phone started buzzing on the table.

"Dean, you answer that, so help me..."

Swallowing again, Dean picked up the phone, answering it.

"Hey," he said.

I straightened up, jaw set as I glared at him.

"Who's gone?"

⁘

Dean sat with his head in his hands while I paced in front of him, pissed as hell.

"I don't freakin' believe it! You got Charlie involved with this again, and now she's missing?!"

Dean's phone buzzed again, this time with Charlie's number.

"Charlie where are you?" he asked, listening for a moment while I seethed. "If you have the Book, give it to them. Then give them your notes, Charlie! Give them the code... whatever they want!"

I grabbed the phone away from Dean, pressing it to my ear.

"Charlie, I don't know what the hell is going on, but you need to listen to me. Give whoever that is whatever they want. You understand? Charlie?!"

"I can't do that, Ellie," she replied.

After hanging up, Dean and I rushed to the Impala, speeding to where Charlie was, while he continued to fill me in on how he, Sam, Cass, and Charlie had been working to crack the code on the Book.

"So, you had the Book the whole time?!"

"Ellie..."

"...Lied right to my face."

"I thought it was our only chance to get you free of the Mark, so I grabbed it."

"I made it real clear how I felt. You ever consider that?"

"Ellie, listen..."

"And then you pulled Cass into it. And Charlie."

"Charlie loves you, Ellie. We all love you."

We finally pulled up outside the Blackbird, rushing into Charlie's room. It was dark, and the bathroom door was open. As we rushed over, we found Charlie dead in the bathtub.

"Oh, God," Dean breathed.

"Charlie?" I asked.

⁘

Dean and I made a pyre, giving Charlie a hunter's funeral. We stood side by side, watching her body burn, until Dean finally broke the silence.

"Charlie. We're gonna miss you. You were the best. And I'm so sorry-"

"Shut up," I cut him off. "You got her killed, you don't get to apologize."

"We were trying to help you," he told me.

"I didn't need help. I told you to leave it alone."

"What was I supposed to do, just– watch you die?"

"The Mark isn't going to kill me," I said, voice emotionless.

"Maybe not, but – when it's done with you, you won't be you anymore," Dean insisted. "Ellie, you're my wife. So of course, I was gonna fight for you because that's what we do. And listen, I had a shot-"

"Yeah, you had a shot. Charlie's dead. Nice shot."

"You think I'm- You think I'm ever- gonna forgive myself for that?"

"You wanna know what I think? I think it should be you up there, not her. This thing, with Sam and Cass and the Book, ends now. Shut it down before somebody else gets hurt. You understand me?"

"And what about you?" he asked me after a long pause.

"Oh, I'm gonna find whoever did this. And I'm gonna rip apart everything and everyone that they ever loved. And then I'm gonna tear out their heart."

"Is that you talking or the Mark?"

"Does it matter?" I finally looked over at him, before turning on my heel and walking away.