Hemlock Veils

Logic told her it was too incredible of a concept to believe, but then wasn’t an enchantress or a witch incredible, too? Wasn’t a man who transformed into a beast every night? That was when she saw the asterisk leading her to the bottom of the page: See also section 3. Section three, the one about the beautiful, man-hating enchantress: the Aglaé.

She flipped to it with a strange sense of urgency, wondering how they could be related, and read the footnotes at the end of the section, ones she’d always skipped over before:

Though the origin of Diablerons is not confirmed, it is believed that they are linked to Aglaé. Some folklore hints that they are one in the same, since Diablerons tend to haunt those who Aglaé have cursed. In an early version, a cursed man claimed that he witnessed the demon transform before his very eyes into the same beauty who had cursed him. Whether the Diableron was transforming into the witch or the witch into the Diableron, it was never clear; for both are known to take on the image of whatever will be most damaging to their victims. It is assumed they live as both, using each form to its advantage in order to keep their cursed cursed. One theory is that Aglaé takes the form of Diableron when she senses a battle may ensue with her prey. Diablerons excrete a toxin from the tip of their tails that when injected into the bloodstream, overtakes the mind. For those who live through the injuries sustained, the poison has been known to drug the blood for nearly a day, leaving its prey unconscious before its eventual death.

Whether or not they are one in the same, one fact remains certain: Aglaé and Diableron’s behaviors are paralleled. It is proven that for those who cross paths with either, dark futures await. (For more details on the poison of Diablerons, see page 693.)

Elizabeth didn't bother to study the illustration again when she finished, since the chill at the base of her spine told her she would probably see the demon in person someday.

***

Elizabeth ran on fumes as she filled Regina’s order, vanilla swirling into her latte with a smooth, circular—almost hypnotizing—pattern. She hadn’t been able to sleep after the beast left, every emotion she’d ever felt blooming to the surface like the coffee grounds in her French press. Her morning walk with Henry had been particularly silent.

“What’s bothering you, honey?” Regina’s voice almost made Elizabeth cringe, since every sound from the normal world hit her too harshly. Her head hurt.

She smiled anyway. “Nothing, Regina, I’m fine.”

“Mmm hmm.” One brow lifted, the other low.

“I’m tired.” If Eustace was here, he would have snorted, but he hadn’t shown up. Maybe someday he would view her as a normal human being again.

“You need some tension released?” Brian teased, eyeing her from over the rim of his mug. The past few weeks she’d hardly noticed him at all, since he did well at staying out of her business, and even her shop. But now, with him acting as though three weeks’ time could erase his drunken attack from existence, a hint of those vengeful and loathing thoughts snuck back inside her.

“I may have some tension to release, Mr. Dane.” It came from Henry, the first thing he’d said all morning, and as he said it, he read his paper casually. He wore his reading glasses, which told Elizabeth he genuinely read it this time. He looked up from the paper, staring at Brian over his glasses, and that was all it took for Brian’s eyes to fall to his coffee.

“Anyone seen Eustace this morning?” Old Ray asked, his white brows pulling together and causing a handful of wrinkles to appear on his tan forehead.

“He wouldn’t come out when I stopped by this morning,” Taggart said, folding his arms on the table. “He seemed spooked about something.”

“Eustace doesn’t spook easy,” Regina said.

“That’s the problem.”

An old woman darted through the door, a gleam of sweat on her brow. Elizabeth had never seen her, but for some reason knew who she was. Perhaps it was the embroidered cat on her sweatshirt, or the way she seemed to cower from being in a public place, but whatever it was, this woman with cropped gray hair and a spine the shape of a candy cane was definitely Gina Gray—the same who’d reported her cats missing a few weeks before. She neared the counter, and tears hung in her eyes, filling the many creases of her crow’s-feet. “Someone help,” she croaked, frantic.

Taggart stood. “What is it, Gina?”

“My—my cats.”

“Your cats? They went missing last month.”

Hunched over, she broke into more tears. Regina rubbed her shoulder while glaring at Taggart. “It was the monster,” Gina sobbed.

“You’ll have to calm down and explain, Gina.”

“They’re all ski

Gasps went up from everywhere and Henry straightened in the corner. Elizabeth had, too. “Ski

“I—I went out to my back porch this morning to look for them, like I always do…because sometimes they come back. And…” She wept again, and there was something utterly heartbreaking about an elderly woman, on her last leg, sobbing in such a childlike way.

Taggart licked his lips, and one hand rested at his lanky side. His forehead glistened. “Gina—”

“They were just hanging there! All three of them, hanging upside-down by their tails. They were shredded, Sheriff! Bellies hanging out! And their fur…it was gone.” Elizabeth’s stomach rose, and by the way Regina brought a hand to her mouth, she would bet everyone’s had. “My babies,” she cried, over and over again.

“All right, Gina,” Taggart said softly, trying to keep his cool. But his voice trembled on the last note. “It’s all right. I’m not sure—”

With an abrupt sniff, Gina raised her head and met Elizabeth’s eyes, startling her. She trembled, but the physical power of her glare forced Elizabeth back. “You,” she accused in a low breath. “It was ever since you came into town.”

Everyone looked to Elizabeth. “M—Ms. Gray, I…don’t—”

“You, with your reckless behavior and blasphemous words.” Elizabeth had never met this woman, but she shouldn’t have been surprised, since word traveled fast in small towns. Gina looked at Taggart. “It’s her, and the monster.”

“Now, Gina,” Taggart said. “I don’t doubt this was the work of the monster, but Beth ain’t got nothing to do with that thing.”

“She defends it.” She gave no time for responses as she went on, “Sheriff, you kill it. It’s time we take care of that thing, once and for all. You hunt it down for what it did to my babies.”

Taggart sighed.

“How long before it starts doing this to us?” Her eyes traveled around the room, meeting everyone else’s. At the center of brown irises, surrounded by glazed, bloodshot whites, her pupils penetrated as though each of her eyes were independent intelligences, had their own souls. No one could speak. “Think about it. We haven’t had any problems until now. Something’s angered it, and how long before it starts taking out its evil anger on one of us?” Her eyes fell back on Taggart’s. “Something has to be done, Sheriff.”

It seemed everyone was absorbing this possibility, arriving at the same realization Gina had. Though the look in Taggart’s eyes said he’d already realized it. Elizabeth felt it rising in her stomach, then in her chest. Before she knew it, the words spewed out. “No.” Every head turned. “It wasn’t him.”

Gina gasped, as though she’d just seen for the first time that Elizabeth was the devil himself. “See. It’s her, it’s her love of this…thing.”

Elizabeth ground her teeth, tossing her hand towel on the counter as she took another step. “He is not a thing. He has a soul like the rest of us—maybe even more than some of us.”

Gina’s eyes became rounder than any Elizabeth had seen, even wider than Brian’s on that awful morning.