XLIV

Everything seemed to snap back into reality as that familiar voice echoed in the darkness of the morning. But it was a bit too late. The people had gathered around Benjamin’s house, with stakes of fire and weapons ready to end the Gracies and their remaining family.

Rosalie had made it to her grandfather’s house, but she was too late. A group of men that she remembered from the market had recognized her and held her captive before they began throwing torches at the house along with glass bottles of gasoline.

Rosalie knew that the twins were in the house, she could smell their scents, but she could also smell the scent of rotting flesh, which caused her head to turn in the direction of her grandfather’s barn, where she saw the freshly covered graves.

Tears gathered in her eyes as her knees became weak causing the men to hold her up. Her heart shattered knowing that her grandparents were in those graves, they were gone, and she wasn’t even there to see them be put to rest.

Her momen