The door slammed closed with a loud thud as Silas entered the foyer of his house. He could see the light from the fireplace reflected on the wall, flames dancing in the darkened entryway. As he made his way towards the sitting room, he could hear his mother muttering to herself. Still awake? He thought. When he entered the room, she was sitting with her back to the doorway, facing the fireplace. Her back was stiff and her a bit frayed, as if she had been pulling at it. 

“It’s nearly morning, Silas.” Charlotte spoke without turning to face him. 

“Yeah, I had to wait until after to get something to eat.” He said this as if it were something she should have known already. 

Silas rounded the settee and picked up one of the glasses that were on the tea table, along with a half empty decanter of dark red liquid. 

“Clearly. You have stains all over your collar.” Charlotte rose and looked at him as he poured himself a drink. Distaste flooded her face as she watched him. “You need to be more careful. Any later and you could have–”

“–Burnt up into smoke, yeah, I know.” he took a sip from his glass, the liquid staining his teeth a shade of crimson. “The sun won't be up for a few more hours, It’s barely four.” I would rather be out there than in here with you anyway. 

“A few more hours and your sister and I would have starved. I had to go out myself and fetch something! This is your responsibility!” She was standing now, barely glancing at the table as she poured herself a glass. 

“Marie is old enough to hunt for herself. I don’t see why I have to be the one to do it for her,” he replied as he rolled his eyes,” You’d think nearly two hundred years would be enough time for her to learn how.” 

“You know she can’t. She is too delicate for such carnal things. She would only hurt herself and die hungry.” Charlotte sat herself next to Silas again, gently cradling his hand in one of hers. “She needs you to care for her.”

Silas pressed his lips into a line, “I know, mother. I’m sorry. I’ll try to be back earlier next time.” 

Charlotte nodded her head and leaned her back against the cushions. She crossed her legs and took another sip from her glass. Silas did the same and asked, “So where is she? I didn’t hear her when i came in.” 

Charlotte waved his thoughts away, “Oh, she’s off… somewhere doing something. Cards, I think, in her room.” She said cards like they held a personal offense to her. 

Silas sat next to his mother for time, watching the flames in silence, sipping slowly from his glass. He thought about how Lenore had reacted when he arrived by the alleyway earlier that evening. What was she looking for down there? Could she sense that I’m something unusual? Dark? I’ll have to ask Marieannette.

Silas set his glass on the table and rose from his seat, smoothing the fabric of his pants as he stood. “Well, I guess I should go check on her. Marieannette, you said she was in her room?” 

Charlotte glanced at him from her position on the settee, half empty glass still in her hand. She nodded as she took another sip. Silas turned and left the room, leaving his mother to sit alone in front of the fireplace. 

“Marieannette?” Silas asked, knocking on her closed door. He could hear her shuffling her cards and sighing before answering, “Enter, Silas.” Her voice a soft whisper through the wooden frame. 

“Mother said you were in here. Are you alright?” He asked as entered and took a seat on the end of her bed. 

Laid out on the comforter was a silk handkerchief embroidered with an intricate design. On top of that were a pattern of cards overlapping each other in various ways, forming crosses as she drew them from the deck. Each card had its own images, all telling a story it seemed. Silas never understood what the cards meant, but if Marieannette understood, then he would encourage her to keep drawing them. 

“Mother hunted today.” she said, never taking her eyes off of the cards as drew them. She placed it on the scarf and Silas took note that it depicted the Devil. 

“Yes, she told me. I would have been home sooner, but I was out. With that girl. It took longer than I expected.” he told her. 

Marieannette hummed as she pulled another card from the deck. “Are they saying anything? The cards?” Silas asked as he reached to pick one from the deck.

Marieannette swatted his hand away before he could touch them. “They are always saying things,” she said softly, “the question should be Are they saying anything important?” She held a blank stare as she looked up at silas, her blonde hair curling around her face. 

“Well, she is definitely troubled like you said. I'm afraid she won't open up enough for me to bring her here.” he said, looking away from her. Sometimes the sight of Marieannte scares him. It’s not that she's horrifying to look at, it’s that she looks so deeply into whoever is in front of her that it feels as though she is reading into your soul, or lack thereof. Her stares are that of an angel, yet also the Devil himself at the same time. 

“She will. In time.” MArieannette said simply, looking away from Silas and back to the cards in her hands. 

“You say as if you know.” He countered. Silas stood and walked over to her desk, taking in all the odd things she had placed there; a few candles, a bundle of herbs, a few stray bones. Tacked on the wall above was a pencil drawing that was as old as they were. It depicted Silas and Marieannette sitting together in a field. The graphite had worn down over time, the only way Silas knew it was supposed to be them was that he was there when it was drawn. 

“I do. I have seen it.” Marieannette said this so matter-of-fact, like she read it in a book, saw it in a mirror. Knowing her, she probably did see it in the mirror, Silas thought. 

“Do not mock me, Silas. I know you and mother do not wholly believe the things I say, but trust that they are true. I would never lead you astray from the divine path that's been carved for you.” He turned to see her eyes and they looked as if they were pleading for him to understand. 

“Marie, I do believe you. If i didn’t, i wouldn’t have gone out with her tonight.” He said coming again to the foot of her bed. “I just don’t understand why it is her, or why we need her. If you could jus–” 

“She will free us. That is all you need to know,Silas. If I tell you more… I cannot tell you more.” She said, her plain face casting back to the deck in her hands. 

“Will you at least tell me what the cards mean then?” Silas asked, pointing to the layered cards placed on the bed. 

Marieanntte looked at him again, her round eyes shining bright in the dim light of her room. She held a card depicting a skeleton on a white horse. A flag raised in the background as if triumph, the text at the bottom of the card read DEATH  in plain letters. 

“A change. An ending. Soon.” Was all she said before placing it over the DEVIL card she had previously pulled.