The Scent of Sage and Vengeance

by Lacuna Reid

  That’s when Theo storms in and yells at us.

  “Mira must stay in her apartment,” Theo says. “Bringing her out here puts her at risk.”

  “Her apartment is no safer than this room,” Helio says, gesturing around. “In fact, her own room is probably the least safe because that’s where whoever is after her is bound to target her.”

  “Very well,” Theo says. “Mira, you may go to my rooms until we know you are safe.”

  Theo’s voice is so low that it’s almost a command and half of me wants to obey, the other half doesn’t fucking like being told what to do.

  “Stop treating me like a child,” I say to Theo.

  He lowers his gaze, “I’m sorry Mira.” He shakes himself. “I… I was just worried. I went to find you and you weren’t in your room. I panicked. Can you at least let me know where you are? Just send me a message, and I will message you when we know it’s safe.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’ve sent the retreat guests home and we’re doing what we can to secure the perimeter of El Cielo. I’ve hired some private security to ensure you are safe.”

  Now it’s my turn to feel bad. Here, Theo is running around after me and I’m galivanting around the pool and telling him not to treat me like a child… which is probably a childish thing to say.

  “Maybe I should be the one to say sorry, Theo,” I reply. “I’ll go back to my apartment now.”

  Helio is already out of the pool. “How can I help?” he asks Theo.

  Theo looks pleased to be able to put Helio to some use other than kissing me in a pool. I get out and dry off, and then the guys both walk me back to my room.

  “We will be in and out,” Theo says. “I’ll have security come in and check your apartment, and then you can stay if they consider it safe.”

  I nod.

  I hardly get a moment’s peace for the rest of the day as the guys are in and out, busy organizing things to keep me safe. The security guys come in and check my apartment, but seem to feel satisfied that it’s safe.

  I try to make the most of this strange time by reading a paranormal romance novel about vampires, but it’s hard to focus with all the interruptions. Elias brings me a delicious venison stew late in the afternoon, along with a crisp cos lettuce salad. The stew is perfect comfort food, with creamy mashed potatoes and crunchy toasted ciabatta for dipping into the gravy.

  After I eat, I feel sleepy. I decide to take a nap and Elias joins me, stripping down to his boxer shorts, climbing into bed, and wrapping his arms around me, making me feel safe and loved for the second time today.

  It’s lovely just lying here with him, inhaling his musky aromatic scent, content that he is not trying to get anything from me, that he is just satisfied to be here with me. It’s not long before I drift off to sleep.

  The rain is so heavy…

  I run through the forest… then I see her. Tiala. She’s standing in front of me, holding out her arms.

  “He’s after me…” she says. “Help me…”

  I turn to see a tall shadowy figure.

  My heart races as I squint through the rain and fog trying to make out his face.

  “Stop him!” Tiala cries.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Mira

  My heart is racing, but another sound breaks through. There’s a phone ringing. It wakes me. I roll over to find Elias up and already on the phone, speaking quickly in Spanish, pacing the room.

  “What…?” I start to ask, but Elias puts his finger over his mouth to silence me.

  It seems like an eternity of Elias pacing, talking; the Spanish words that I do not understand washing over me. I make another note to myself that I must learn the languages these guys speak.

  Finally, he finishes the phone call and begins pulling on his pants.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Don’t be alarmed, latria mu.”

  “Saying that makes me feel alarmed,” I point out.

  “It’s nothing.” He kisses my head.

  “Then why are you rushing all of a sudden?”

  “I won’t be long,” Elias says. “There has been a disturbance at the perimeter; two men. I will go and see what I can do to help.”

  “Okay…” I say, my heart racing again. “Do they think it’s connected to Tiala?”

  Elias nods.

  “They are calling her name.”

  I gulp. “Who are they?”

  “We don’t know yet. They are in the forest. Security caught a glimpse of them, but they need backup to catch them.”

  “How long will you be?” I ask, knowing that it’s a silly question, but feeling anxious about being alone.

  “I’ll try to be back as quickly as possible. I have my phone with me, so text me if you need me to come back sooner.”

  I nod, and Elias kisses me softly on the mouth before leaving, locking the door behind him.

  It feels like a long time passes after that. I try to read my book, but at first, it’s hard to concentrate. I take a hot shower to relax and then after that I find I can lose myself more in the story. The sexy vampire is just about to kiss the heroine when my phone rings. It’s Elias.

  “It’s okay, Mira,” he says. “We caught them. You’ll be safe now… see you soon.”

  I hang up the phone and breathe out a massive sigh of relief. I have no idea who it was, but at least they’ve been caught.

  My phone dings.

  I check the message. It’s from Theo. My heart races.

  Mira, we have apprehended the people responsible. Come down to celebrate. I’m in the left block, ground floor, and I have champagne.

  It’s such a Theo gesture; I bet the champagne costs more than my yearly salary, but at least I can relax now.

  I throw on one of the black silk dresses that Theo bought me, along with a dark green angora shawl. I check my hair, which is a bit of a mess, and apply some dark red lippy. Then I follow Theo’s instructions and head down to the left block of El Cielo.

  I don’t bother wearing shoes, because I’m not even leaving the buildings. I regret that decision when I realize the ground is so rough in the left block. The lights are on, but I can tell that this part of the old factory hasn’t been fully renovated yet.

  “Theo?” I call.

  “Down here!” comes a muffled reply.

  “Theo, is that you?”

  I follow the direction of the voice into darkness.

  My instinct flares in fear… What if this is some kind of trick? Don’t be paranoid, Mira, I tell myself. Theo sent the message himself.

  That’s when I see them – the candles – there’s a whole row of lit candles, shimmering along the side of the concrete hallway. I follow them down and out into a room filled with hundreds of little lights.

  This must be Theo being romantic, for the celebration he promised. Perhaps he doesn’t realize how much I just want to be wrapped up in bed after the day I had… which was actually mostly spent in bed, actually… Maybe I am ready for something more adventurous.

  The thought of Theo with his silk ties flicks through my mind and my mouth waters in anticipation. I hope the other guys are here too.

  “Theo?” I say, entering the room.

  I feel hands on my shoulders, and then something soft and dark slips over my eyes.

  “Theo?”

  My heart is racing. This is too much. I need to be able to see. I raise my hands to remove the blindfold but bigger, stronger hands wrap around my wrists, forcing them down, behind my back. I feel the ties wrapping around them as panic bombards my chest, and blood rushes to my head.

  “This isn’t funny, Theo,” I say. “Stop.”

  “You should have listened.”

  The voice that speaks is definitely not Theo, and suddenly I realize what a fool I’ve been.

  “Who’s that?” I ask.

  “You thought you were in for some kind of filthy erotic surprise? You dirty little slut.”

  I recognize the voice, de
spite it being lower and raspier than I’m used to hearing it.

  “Victor?”

  He laughs a high, sneering cackle, and I know I’m right; this is Victor. He lured me here and that means he’s the one with something to hide. Victor is supposed to be away right now… that was just a lie to cover him, so he wouldn’t be a suspect…

  “It was you!” I say. “You killed Tiala.”

  “Tiala never listened either,” Victor says, and emotion floods his voice. “This is what happens to little girls who don’t do what they’re told.”

  Victor was the one who killed her. He’s been at El Cielo for over fifteen years… since the very beginning.

  “But why?” I ask. “I don’t understand why you’d do something like this.”

  My mind races with different images of Tiala from my dreams. Running through the forest, running through the rain, following Theo, begging him… Tiala as the woman at the stables in the French life... Tiala loved Theo… even in the past life when he was stable boy. Then it hits me. The man who was her jealous husband in that French life… that man is Victor, now.

  “You loved her,” I say.

  “What are you talking about?!” Victor says, but the emotion in his voice betrays him.

  “You loved her even though she was just a girl. You were obsessed with her, but she was obsessed with Theo.”

  “How can you know this?”

  “Because she was your wife,” I say, into the darkness.

  “What the hell are you talking about? It would serve you best to stop spouting such nonsense.”

  Victor might have no idea about past lives, but I need to keep him talking, because if he’s talking, he’s not murdering me, and I could do without being murdered tonight… and this is the only thing I can think to talk about.

  “Victor – don’t you understand? The reason you loved her – that you were so obsessed with her was because she was once your wife. I had a past life regression – Gino took me to see a woman called Martina…”

  I’m babbling now, but it seems to be working; at least for now, I’m still alive.

  “I told you to stop with this nonsense!” Victor says, but I can tell his interest is piqued.

  “You never knew, did you?” I say. “You never understood why it was that you were so infatuated with her – she was just a girl, but you couldn’t stop thinking about her.”

  “She was foolish,” Victor says.

  “We were all in that life, together, Victor – maybe we all have some shared karma or something…”

  “Again with the nonsense.”

  “No, I’m serious. You had a connection with Tiala – that’s what I’m telling you – I know this because I saw you, only I didn’t realize it was you at the time… and I saw her and… and… you were married.”

  “Enough!” Victor cries, his fingernails dig into my wrists painfully.

  “No,” I say. “No… please…”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Mira

  I can’t see anything because of the blindfold. I can only feel Victor’s nails tearing into the supple skin on my wrists.

  In the darkness and pain, all the terrors of my childhood, of my worst nightmares… all of it rushes back… how my father would lock me in the closet to stop me from bothering him and I would freak out alone in the dark… terrified that I would run out of air… that I would die in there. Now, here in the darkness, hopelessness takes over as I come face to face with the very real possibility of my death. Victor killed Tiala. What’s to stop him from killing me, too? I could lose everything… I could lose the guys all over again.

  In my despair and terror, I close my eyes… since I can’t see anything through the blindfold, anyway. I see patterns swirl in my mind… golden light…

  Micah…

  I get the sense that he’s watching over me… my guardian angel. He’s with me when I need him most… offering me the message that all hope is not lost… telling me I have to do something. I have to stand up for myself. I have to fight.

  When I was locked up in my childhood, the only way out was to be quiet, but I’ve had enough of being quiet.

  I feel Victor’s hand’s wrapping around my neck and I scream.

  I scream as loud as I can – as though my life depends on it, because at this point, it does. Victor’s hands cover my mouth instead and I bite into his fingers. He swears and slaps me across the side of the face. I try to struggle away, but his hands find my neck again.

  A cold draft enters the room and Victor freezes for a moment.

  “She’s here,” I say.

  “No!” Victor is the one yelling now. “It’s not true. Ghosts aren’t real. None of this new age nonsense is…”

  The cold draft picks up, sending the hairs pricking on my neck. I can’t see anything but I hear the sound of the door blowing open, and then there is a sense of empty space behind me. The door must have been blown open with a force so hard and fast that it knocked Victor off balance. I hear the sound of his weight hitting the floor.

  The ghost girl’s voice screams in my head “RUN!”

  I don’t need to be told twice. I run in the direction of the door where I can now see more light leaching through my blindfold. I run and run, hands still tied behind my back, screaming the whole time.

  I can hear voices ahead. It’s the guys; they are coming to find me… but what if they’re too late? I can’t see anything; I can’t tell if Victor is right behind me…

  I keep running until I run right into something hard.

  “Mira…” They are here… calling my name, all four of them. They are the only people I want to see right now, and when my blindfold is removed, I bask in the sight of them: my guys.

  “Thank God you’re here,” I say. “It’s Victor.”

  “Victor?” Elias says.

  “No!” says Theo.

  “It was him,” I say. “He killed Tiala. He tied me up and tried to strangle me. He’s back there.”

  The guys all run in the direction I’m pointing except Theo, who stays with me, wraps his arms around me, holds me. I’m so relieved to be safe, and also happy not to be alone right now. I melt into him. Theo’s protective presence is like a balm for my soul.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Elias

  I follow Gino and Helio through the dark hallway. There’s a room full of lit candles that sends shivers down my spine. The hundreds of tiny flames remind me of church but this looks more like a satanic ritual.

  The room looks empty as we arrive, but Gino spies Victor climbing out through the window. We go after him. Helio tries to grab him to stop him from getting out, but it’s too late. Instead, Helio turns to Gino and boosts him up toward the window, then climbs after him, leaving me alone in the candle-filled room.

  It’s not hard to climb up to the window ledge, and I know why Helio wanted Gino to go through first. Gino is fast. Helio might be jogging all over El Cielo most of the time, but Gino is the sprinter among us. They probably don’t need my help, as usual, but I’m going to do what I can anyway. I get myself up and through the window as fast as possible, if only to get out of the creepy room.

  I land on the soft damp ground outside. The night air is rich and humid from the recent rainfall. Gino is nowhere in sight. I see Helio running into the forest and I follow him. I can be faster than him when I try – but only for short bursts.

  The forest is dark and I’m grateful for the illumination of the full moon, and also for Helio who knows these tracks like the back of his hand, even in darkness.

  The path opens up to a clearing and we catch sight of him.

  Victor.

  This is the man who attacked Mira, and he must pay. He sees us and starts running.

  Gino appears at the other end of the clearing. He must have sprinted around to head Victor off, but Victor does not slow when he sees his path is blocked. He just leans his head back and laughs maniacally as he continues to run.

  That’s when I notice that
Victor is holding a knife. He raises it into the air and screams – a piercing screech as he lunges towards Gino.

  No!

  It’s like the floodgates open inside of me, and in that moment, I come face to face with everything I was protecting myself from. My love for Gino surfaces, and I can’t push it down anymore. I want him to be safe. I want him to be near… I need him.

  I run towards them, but Helio is ahead of me. He tackles Victor away from Gino, who writhes on the ground in pain.

  Victor still has the knife. I pry it from his hand while Helio pins him to the ground, and then I run to Gino.

  “Are you… are you okay?” I take his hand. There is dirt everywhere, but no blood.

  I breathe a sigh of relief.

  Thank God… Gino is safe.

  Moments pass before I realize I’m still holding his hand, just as I’m still looking into his eyes. Gino looks back at me, with a surprised expression. Something has shifted between us. Sure, we were close… we were intimate with Mira, but that was both of us loving her, and I know as much as we do both feel for Mira, Gino has also always had feelings for me… maybe I’ve had them too, but I’ve never been able to come to terms with them until this moment.

  “Are you two lovebirds quite finished over there?” Helio asks, still pinning Victor to the ground.

  I laugh and help Gino to his feet, then the three of us wrestle Victor all the way back along the path to the main building while he yells obscenities at us.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Mira

  We hear the shouting and begin to run in the direction it’s coming from… it’s the room where I just came from – a place I never thought I’d want to go again.

  There’s a lot to take in. Helio has Victor on the floor in a headlock; Victor is moaning; Theo is yelling; Gino is calling the police.