The demon's words kept swirling around in my head. It killed my family because of me. It wanted me to become a death dealer so I could help release it. It was all a sick and wicked plan to get itself released, unbound. I couldn't believe it; everything I had been through, the horror, the nightmare, the rituals, had all of it really just been part of the creature's plan?

I looked across the room. Bodies lay everywhere like discarded rag dolls. The dead and injured littered the ground around me; moaning and screaming filled the air.

I caused all this destruction.

In a moment of insanity, I'd rushed in, hell bent only on revenge, and as a result, I set all of this in motion. How many people died because of me? And my family...I was the reason they were dead. Macaven might have killed them, but it was because of me that he went after them in the first place.

Luke. I suddenly, desperately wanted him by my side. He would know what to do. He would help me make everything alright again. It was my fault the creature was loose, but we could go after the demon. We would find some kind of spell in one of the old books that would force that thing back to hell. If someone had found a way to kill and force demons back into oblivion in the past, then there was a way. We just had to find it.

Maybe by doing so, I could find some kind of redemption for the things I'd done.

A fire was blazing on the other side of the room, the candelabras had been knocked over in the fight. Black smoke swirled into the air and up toward the ceiling. I had to find Luke and Freddy, we needed to get out of here before the whole hotel went up in flames.

I moved through the room looking for Luke among the carnage, my heart in my throat. Then I saw him by the altar.

A part of the gray stone had fallen and crushed him.

"Luke!" I cried out his name and rushed toward him.

Darla was with him. She cradled his head in her lap. I could see blood streaming out from beneath the stone that trapped him. I reached out and screamed his name again. "Luke!"

I was almost to his side when hands grabbed me.

It was Freddy—he wrapped his arms around my waist. "You can't touch him."

"I can heal him. Let me go." I struggled to get free.

Freddy's arms tightened around me. "You can't heal him, he's dead."

"No, no. He's okay, let me go, Freddy, I can heal him!"

Darla was gently stroking Luke's forehead, tears streaming down her face.

Freddy said in a harsh voice, "I won't let you turn him into a zombie."

I stopped struggling, stunned by his words.

"He told me what you can do. There's no saving him, Colina. He's been crushed to death. The stone weighs a ton. Luke's dead—" Freddy's words ended in a choked sob.

I shook my head back and forth. "He...he can't be dead. He's not dead."

Freddy pulled me closer. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Listen to me. You can't help him."

My head was spinning. Luke's dead. Those two words screamed inside my head. I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it. I can heal him. I started struggling against his grip again. "I can save him! Let me go! Luke!"

Black smoke was now billowing in clouds on the other side of the room. People were rushing out in all directions.

Freddy started dragging me out of the room.

I screamed, kicked, scratched, and bit at Freddy, but he didn't let me go.

When we were finally outside, he threw me to the ground. I started to get up.

Darla appeared at Freddy's side. Her eyes were full of tears. "You did this. You killed my brother," she hissed.

I shook my head. "No, no..."

Darla wiped away her tears and yelled at me. "You wouldn't listen! You wouldn't wait. He tried to protect you. He went in there because of you, and now he's dead!"

Luke's not dead. I don't believe it. I can't believe it. I stood there in a daze as flames were glowing in the windows.

The hotel was engulfed in fire.

People in black robes rushed from the exits. But there were others, too, running across the grounds, others dressed in regular clothes.

"Those people in the basement. We need to get them out!" I yelled at Freddy.

Darla watched the people racing across the yard and said, "I set them loose. I went down to the room when Freddy and Luke came after you. All the hostages are free."

I had gone back into the hotel with the intention of saving the innocent people Macaven held hostage, but I hadn't given them a second thought once I set my sights on him. I had been so bent on my revenge, so focused on seeing Macaven die, that I hadn't cared at all what happened to anyone else. I had killed a man in cold blood, and then watched as the zombie I created killed a dozen more.

I was responsible for it all. For my family's death. For Luke's death.

It was all my fault.

I slumped toward the ground, my chest burning. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening, it had to be a horrible nightmare that I would wake from at any moment.

Freddy grabbed my arm and tugged me up, pulling me into the forest. I was pulled and shoved through the woods. I didn't resist. Instead, I moved as if in a trance. When we finally made it to the car, Freddy pushed me inside.

Luke can't be dead. This is not happening. I'm dreaming, and I'll wake up. Any moment now...