Covet

by Smeltzer, Micalea

  Ethan went in first followed by Jee, Winston, Adelaide, then me, with Theo coming in last.

  The room we’d entered seemed to be some sort of storage cellar. There were rows of black plastic shelves lined with food items and other household things like shampoos and conditioners. I guessed even the Iniquitous had to wash their hair.

  “What are they? Extreme couponers or hoarders here?” Jee asked in a disgusted tone. “Both are scary.”

  “Scarier than being Iniquitous?” I raised a brow.

  He shrugged. “Well, there’s that too.”

  “Can you two be quiet?” Theo hissed, glaring at us.

  Jee rolled his eyes and I mimed zipping my lips.

  Theo crooked a finger, silently ordering us to follow him. We stepped into a hallway lined with doors on either side and sconces on the wall.

  “This is trippy,” Jee said. “Why are there so many hallways?”

  It was then I noticed there seemed to be branches in every direction with more doors and even more hallways.

  “How will we find our way out?” I whispered to Theo.

  “I’ll know the way.”

  We walked straight down the hallway we were on before turning right down another.

  Theo seemed to know where he was taking us but I didn’t know how. Jee was right, this was trippy; it was set up like a maze and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was done on purpose in case someone tried to escape.

  Theo stopped suddenly and held up his hand for us to do the same.

  He seemed to be thinking.

  A piercing scream echoed from up ahead.

  “Dani!” I screamed back, taking off.

  “Mara, no!” Theo shouted behind me as I ran.

  I didn’t stop, though.

  She screamed again and I knew I was getting closer.

  The others’ feet pounded after me, begging me to stop, but I didn’t listen. He was torturing Dani, maybe even killing her in this very moment. We didn’t have a second to spare.

  Another scream and I turned to my right. There was only one door here and I ran forward, pushing it open.

  It slammed closed behind me and I turned to look over my shoulder, watching as it glimmered like someone had tossed glitter at it. But I knew it wasn’t glitter.

  Force field maybe? Some spell of some sort, I was certain.

  The door banged behind me as I’m sure Theo and the others tried to get in but couldn’t.

  I turned back around and found Dani slumped in a chair. Just like in my vision her back was to me. I wasn’t sure if she was still breathing or not so I stepped forward to check. I barely made it two steps before I felt like a hand was crushing my windpipe.

  “You move when I say you can move.” The voice came from the corner of the room and I turned my head a miniscule amount, it was all I could muster, and found Thaddeus in the corner crouched down. He looked tired, haggard. His eyes boasted dark circles but the manic look still remained. His hair was tousled, not like he’d been running his fingers through it but as if it had been electrified. There was something off about him, I mean there’d always been, but this was more. This was … This was a man losing his mind and he didn’t even know it.

  “My daughter, we finally meet in person.” His voice crackled like flames.

  He stood and walked toward me. He didn’t look as healthy as he did in my visions and I wondered if he had intended me to see everything and purposely masked himself. His skin was a pale white, almost gray, if I didn’t know better I might think he was a vampire. At the very least it was obvious he hadn’t seen the sun in a long time but being Iniquitous he’d most likely be sleeping during the day anyway since his powers were strongest at night. He certainly wasn’t sleeping now, though, and he looked as if he hadn’t slept in weeks.

  “I thought for sure you’d come to me when I spoke of a brother you had. Surely poor orphaned Mara would be so curious about a sibling she’d never heard of that she’d have to come to have her questions answered. But maybe you saw through my lie.”

  “Lie?” I choked out and he lessened the pressure on my neck. It was still there, spreading to my entire body so I felt as if I was trapped prisoner.

  He grinned. “So you believed me then?” He laughed gleefully. “You have no brother, Mara. No mother, and the man you thought was your father? Well, I killed him too. The only family you have left, the only blood you share, is with me.” As he spoke his face grew nearer and nearer to the side of mine. If I could’ve shivered I would have when he touched the inside of my arm. His skin felt like ice and thin like paper.

  “Well, as you see, I knew I had to do more to get you here. Something big. And that’s where this beautiful young lady came into play. Punished for the sole reason of knowing my daughter.”

  “Don’t call me that,” I spat.

  He clucked his tongue and grabbed my face in one hand squeezing until I flinched.

  “You. Are. My. Daughter. My blood runs through these veins and I need it.”

  “Why do you need it?”

  “Look at me, I am growing weak. My power, while strong, drains my life force. But you … you are young, and as my daughter you can sustain me.”

  I tried to shake out of his grasp but couldn’t. If I could’ve cried I would have. I felt dirty where he touched me, like what he was could corrode my skin and poison me.

  “Is she alive?” I asked, unable to look at Dani’s slumped form.

  “For now,” he answered cryptically, “but if you don’t cooperate that could change.”

  He released me and stepped back. The spell he’d cast over me lifted and feeling began to return to my limbs. I rubbed my hands together trying to shake away the tingling of the nerves.

  There was more banging on the door behind us. “Your friends are quite determined. I admire their spunk. It’s too bad they’ll have to die.”

  “Don’t you dare touch them,” I bit out. “I’ll do whatever you ask if you let them go.”

  He shrugged. “You’ll do whatever I ask regardless. Mara, you’re not the one bargaining here. I’m in charge. There is so outcome here where you win and I lose. It doesn’t work like that.”

  He moved to a seat in the corner. A large leather armchair that was so at odds to the rickety chair Dani was strapped to.

  “Sit,” he ordered.

  Before I could ask where, he swished his hand, sparks tingling at the tips, and a chair similar to his appeared out of nowhere.

  I sat before he could order me again or force me to do it. I figured maybe if I cooperated he’d be less prickly.

  “So why all the lies?” I asked, leaning forward in the chair. “Why not tell me what you needed?”

  “Would you have come?”

  I swallowed and stayed silent. We both already knew what the answer was.

  I cleared my throat awkwardly. I couldn’t believe I was having a conversation with Thaddeus, my father—I nearly gagged at the words—while my friends wondered what had happened to me and Dani lay hurt. But I needed to keep him talking. If he was talking then he wasn’t hurting anyone. “Are you dying?”

  He waved his hand dismissively. “What a silly question. We are all dying, Mara. Every second of every day we all grow closer to our demise. For some of us that time comes sooner than others, but what we all have in common is we never know when. That’s what scares us, the unknown of it all. We don’t know when it’ll happen or what’ll come after.”

  “Are you afraid to die?”

  “I am not, because I won’t die. Not once I get your blood. But you …” He sat back in the chair, crossed his legs, and laced his fingers together. “I hope the afterlife treats you well, my dear.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be better than how you’ve treated me,” I said with more spark than I felt. His words had shaken me but I couldn’t let him know. He ate off of fear, thrived on it, and I would not contribute to something that made him so gleeful.

  He chuckled like my words amused him. Everything see
med to.

  “You’re not dead yet, are you, my child? I’d say I’ve treated you much better than many of my other … guests. And you’re not even my guest, you came here uninvited.”

  “You wanted me to come here,” I reminded him.

  He grinned. “The logistics do not matter here. You still broke into my home.”

  “And your people raided the manor. You killed innocent people.”

  “I can not be held responsible for what my followers do. As long as they follow my orders they’re free to enjoy themselves.” He grinned maliciously. “If they don’t follow my orders then they know better than to return. The consequences are dire.” His smiled faded and his brows knit together. “After they let you escape from the manor there were many of my most valued … companions I had to unfortunately dispose of.”

  “I would apologize but I’m not sorry.”

  He smiled and it was actually a genuinely amused smile.

  “No, I suppose you aren’t.” He stared at me for a moment and then whispered, “You look exactly like her.”

  “Why’d you kill her?” I asked. “If you loved her, why’d you do it?”

  It’s a question that’d been haunting me. I cannot imagine killing the one I loved. The thought of bringing harm to Theo made me feel sick to my stomach.

  He looked away, his eyes growing foggy, and I knew he was lost in a time long ago.

  Slowly, his gaze drifted back to me. “It’s what I was chosen to do.”

  Whatever I’d been expecting him to say, it wasn’t that.

  I sat, shocked, trying to process his words.

  It’s what I was chosen to do.

  Just as much as I knew I’d been chosen to kill him, to eradicate the Iniquitous, his had been to kill my mom.

  But why?

  She’d been good and kind and … I might not have known her but I knew she had to be extraordinary.

  “Why?” I voiced.

  “Why does anything happen, Mara?” he asked. “Why does the sun rise and the wolf howl? Sometimes, the dots connect and while we don’t like the picture the outcome is unavoidable.”

  “But you had to kill her? How could you possibly be chosen to do that? It seems like a weak ass pitiful excuse to me—”

  I choked as air was cut off at my throat. He hadn’t moved but it felt as if fingers were digging into my throat. I could even feel the indentation of his fingertips.

  “Do you think I wanted this? Any of this? We don’t choose our destinies, Mara; our destinies choose us.”

  The pressure let up. “I refuse to believe that,” I told him vehemently, but it came out as a gasping whisper.

  “Then you’re nothing but a naïve child,” he crowed.

  I rubbed my throat, tears piercing my eyes but I refused to let them fall.

  “It’s time you grew up, Mara,” he snapped. “This is the real world you’re in now. People die for reasons we don’t understand and sometimes we’re the ones that have to kill them.”

  I knew I should have kept my mouth shut but, of course, I didn’t. “It sounds to me like you’re trying to make excuses to make yourself feel better.”

  Power slammed into me and I flew out of the chair and across the room. My whole body hit the cinderblock wall and pain radiated through my body. My skull cracked against it and I fell to the floor in a heap as everything faded to nothing.

  ***

  When I came to it was dark and I couldn’t be sure if it was only hours that had passed or more than a day. Upon looking around I surmised that Thaddeus was gone. My body ached with stiffness not just from hitting the wall, but the way I’d been scrunched on the floor.

  I picked my body up off the floor slowly. Nothing seemed to be broken but the back of my head throbbed as if it had its own heartbeat.

  I let out a groan and crept over to where Dani was slouched in the chair. I pressed my fingers to her neck searching for a pulse. I held my own breath and began to grow panicky when I couldn’t find it.

  Keep your cool, Mara.

  Then I found it. It was faint, barely a flutter, but it was there and it meant she was alive.

  Exhausted, I sat down beside her, resting my head against her leg. She wasn’t conscious but I felt by being close to her she’d sense my presence and know she was safe and I was going to get her out of there.

  I wondered where Theo and the others had gone, if Thaddeus had rounded them up or they’d gotten out and were coming back for me. I knew I couldn’t rely on them, though. As much as I loved and trusted them I knew I had to depend on myself.

  I needed to rest. My body had been through a rampage. It felt as if I’d been squashed by a rhinoceros. I closed my eyes, not planning to fall asleep, but somehow I did.

  ***

  This time when I woke it was still dark out, a sliver of moonlight shining into the barren room, and Thaddeus was back. He sat in his chair. His hands crossed in front of his face watching me.

  I jolted away from Dani as if I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t have.

  He continued to stare at me, not saying a word. I felt icky being looked at by him, as if his evil was a tangible thing that could reach me across the room. I guessed it was, if he wanted it to. I swallowed thickly, trying not to show fear but it was impossible. I was afraid of him. I would be stupid not to be. But just because I was afraid didn’t mean I couldn’t or wouldn’t fight back.

  “You know, I didn’t know about you for the longest time,” he mused quietly, almost reverently. “Your mother, for whatever reason, kept you a secret from me. I suppose maybe she was already scared of me at that point and wanted to hide you away. I would’ve never harmed you, though. Not my child, my daughter, my heir. I would’ve kept you safe, protected.”

  “But you killed her?” I interrupted.

  “Because I had to,” he growled. “You, young one, have not learned how tied to our destinies we are. How they become you and eat away at you until you fulfill them. I turned to the Iniquitous, seeking power that would prevent my destiny from coming true, little did I know I’d taken the first step in fulfilling it. We have no choice,” he reiterated.

  I began to shake all over from cold and realized his anger was making the room absolutely frigid.

  “You think choices you make are yours but they’re not. Nothing is ours. Fate fucks us all.”

  I held onto the leg of Dani’s chair. I could feel bile rising in the back of my throat. The last thing I wanted, or needed, was to get sick and throw up all over the floor.

  He got up from the chair and squatted down in front of me.

  “I tried to kill myself, once I realized I was going to have to kill her.” I noticed he’d never said her name, maybe it was too painful for him. Maybe he really did regret everything. “Look.” He ripped his shirt open, revealing a nasty looking scar, like someone had taken a sword and drove it into his body and down, ripping it open to spill out his insides. “I did this to myself. No one should’ve survived this. I thought I didn’t until I woke up, my chest having knitted itself back together and leaving behind a raging red scar. We don’t die until it’s our time, Mara. They tell you it’s because you’re special.” He leaned in close so close I held my breath as his lips touched my ear. “But it’s because we’re cursed.”

  I shivered as he backed away, his words reverberating through my skull.

  We’re cursed.

  Was he right? I didn’t want to believe him, I wanted to think only lies ever spewed from his lips, but the haunted look in his eyes was all too real.

  “Where are my friends?” I asked him, trying to change the subject before I went down the rabbit hole with it.

  He shrugged, settling into his chair once more. “I do not know. They are not here. It seems you are not as important to them as they are to you.” He smiled evilly then, pleased at having something like this to hold against me.

  I didn’t let his words bother me. I trusted my friends. They wouldn’t leave me unless they either had to
or were getting help.

  He stood then. “I’ll be back later. My guard will bring you food and water. Try not to bite him.”

  In a puff of smoke he was gone.

  I rolled my eyes. “Dramatic much?”

  But it was a neat trick.

  While I was alone I tended to Dani, ripping up my clothes and wrapping her wounds as best I could. She groaned but never regained consciousness. I spoke to her, telling her she’d be okay and I was going to get her out of here. I didn’t know if she could hear me, but it made me feel better to think she could. It broke my heart to see her suffering like this all because of knowing me.

  Maybe Thaddeus was right. We were cursed. And we cursed everyone around us just by knowing us.

  As promised, food was brought to me. The man who brought it made sure to kick me in the ribs before he left. I didn’t retaliate as much as I wanted to, because I knew my punishment would be much worse than some bruised ribs.

  The meal was surprisingly delicious, not the scraps I’d expected, and I ate it quickly. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have since it could’ve been laced with something, but I was too hungry to think straight.

  I finished eating and shoved the plate away. He’d given me water too and I sipped some before tipping some down Dani’s throat. Her tongue came to life lapping slowly at the drops of water.

  “Oh, Dani. I’m so sorry.” I smoothed her hair away from her forehead and a tear leaked from my eye onto her forehead. “This is all my fault.”

  I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to forgive myself for the pain I’d brought everyone who knew me. I was a plague, bringing death wherever I went.

  I gave her a little more water before sitting back down on the floor beside her.

  Was what Thaddeus said true? Had he had no choice but to kill my mom? I always thought it was because she ran away with me and he wanted to retaliate, but what if that wasn’t it at all? What if all of this had been set in motion long ago by something beyond any of our control?