"Alright…" a voice whispered from within the stake.
"More… we want more."
Ethan shook his head sharply, trying to drive the sensation away. The smoke vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but the feeling lingered, disturbingly pleasant.
Flash returned to him.
"One down," he said quietly.
"We keep moving. Stay behind me."
They moved through the garden. The trees here were old and massive, their branches hanging low.
The rose bushes, now turned into wet, thorny thickets, clawed at their pants. Mud squelched underfoot.
Each step made a soft, sucking sound. Ethan followed, trying not to think about the voices.
And then the voice truly spoke.
It wasn't like before, not a chorus of hundreds. This time it was a single female voice, slightly hoarse, with a strange, almost maternal tenderness.
"He's close…" the voice whispered directly into the center of his mind.
"Very close…"
Ethan stopped abruptly.
A violent shiver ran through his body. His knees buckled, the black stake trembling in his hands.
Goosebumps raced down his spine, and the black lines on his arm flared so brightly he could see them even through his soaked sleeve.
"Ethan?" Flash turned immediately.
Ethan stood frozen, staring at nothing. His eyes were wide open, his breathing fast and shallow.
The trembling worsened, now his whole body shook: shoulders, arms, even his jaw.
"He… he's talking…" Ethan whispered.
"The voice inside it said Laurent is close…"
Flash quickly scanned the area, then grabbed Ethan by the elbow and pulled him toward an old wooden gazebo deep in the garden.
They slipped under its roof. It was dry there, the rain streamed down the carved railings, but at least it no longer hit their faces.
Flash pressed Ethan's back against a wooden column and looked him in the eyes.
"Try not to listen," he said quietly but firmly.
Ethan looked at him, still trembling.
"No…" he finally exhaled.
"It's too late to turn back, Flash. We're already inside, and if we leave, Anna will know we were here by tomorrow."
"Laurent will figure it out and he'll kill all of us in minutes…"
He tightened his grip on the stake.
"I've gone too far already. If I turn back now… I'll never avenge Maria. And I'm not giving up."
"I want to know the truth about Maria. And I… I can't wait any longer, even if I'm scared."
"They're screaming in my head. Even if… I feel like I could break at any second."
He looked straight into Flash's eyes. Everything was in that gaze.
"We're going into that house…"
Flash stared at him for a long moment. Rain hammered against the roof. Somewhere in the distance, a muffled voice could be heard, another guard, or someone on patrol.
Flash let out a heavy breath.
"Alright," he said at last.
"Then stay close. And if you feel like you're losing yourself, tell me immediately."
"We'll have to deal with it or I'll just knock you out."
"Fair enough," Ethan muttered. The trembling gradually subsided.
They stepped out from under the gazebo roof and continued through the rain-soaked garden.
Flash moved ahead, crouched low, pulling out a pistol fitted with a suppressor. Ethan followed two steps behind.
The second guard appeared suddenly.
He stepped out from behind a tall hedge just five meters away, a tall, broad-shouldered man in a black hooded jacket. A flashlight in one hand, a radio in the other.
The beam swept across the wet ground and suddenly landed right on Ethan's face.
"Hey! Who's there?!" the guard barked, raising the radio to his lips.
There was no time to think.
Flash lunged forward, his movement lightning-fast, almost inhuman. He slammed into the guard, knocking him to the ground.
The radio flew into the bushes. The flashlight fell and rolled, casting a yellow glow over the wet grass.
The guard was strong, he managed to draw a knife and slash Flash's arm. Blood sprayed onto the soaked ground.
Flash hissed in pain but didn't back off. He struck the guard's wrist with the pistol grip, forcing him to drop the knife, then jammed the suppressor into his side and pulled the trigger.
The shot sounded muffled, like a clap into a pillow. The guard jerked, his eyes widening in shock. He opened his mouth to scream, to warn the others.
"A…" he managed, but it came out weak, almost pitiful. Flash instantly clamped a hand over his mouth, silencing him.
The guard convulsed, his legs scraping against the gravel. A thin stream of blood ran from his mouth, mixing with the rain.
"Quiet… quiet, you bastard…" Flash hissed through clenched teeth.
The guard twitched for a few more seconds, then went still. Flash slowly lowered the body to the ground, listening.
Ethan's heart pounded so loudly he could hear it himself.
"He didn't get the chance…" Ethan breathed.
"He almost exposed us…" Flash wiped the blood from his arm on the dead man's jacket and stood up.
"Doesn't matter. We need to move faster. They might notice the silence or the lack of response."
"Let's go."
They rushed forward, almost running.
The voices inside Ethan whispered again:
"More… more blood… you can give us more souls…"
He clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to listen.
They rounded a large rose bed, jumped over a low fence, and finally reached the back door of the mansion,a massive wooden door reinforced with iron.
The door was solid. A dim lantern burned above it, illuminating the wet steps.
Flash crouched by the lock, pulling out a small lockpick and a set of thin tools from his pocket.