by Renee Joiner
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daniel said, gritting his teeth to keep his temper in check.
“Don’t play coy. By now, I’m sure you’re smart enough to realize that we have a special little connection with your friend right next to you. We know what you’re up to. It’s best to stop concealing the truth from us. Oh, and tell her... the answer is yes.”
Tasia gasped, and Daniel looked at her in panic. “What does he mean?” he asked.
“They— I was wondering if they were able to read my mind,” she said, feeling more alert than she had ever done.
“I guess we know where we stand. So, let me set out new terms for you, Agent. Your car is currently parked on the main road that runs the length of this area. You are going to leave that and the ransom money, right where it is, and make your way up the road and down to the drop-off point. While you’re walking, you’ll receive a ready-made list of instructions that you’ll disseminate to the swarm of agents you have in the area. Change anything, and I’ll know. As for your friend, you will bring her along, with hands tied behind her back.”
“That is not part of the deal.”
“The deal is whatever I make it! You have 20 minutes. I’d hurry if I were you... your sister isn’t doing too well.” The line went dead.
Daniel lost it. He was about to throw his phone when Tasia pulled down on his arm to stop him from doing something he’d regret.
She spoke to him softly. “You’re angry. Trust me. I’m angry, too. They violated my mind in more ways than I’d thought. Right now, we don’t have time. We need to start walking right now!” She unhooked a pair of handcuffs he had dangling on his belt. “Here, tie me down.”
“Tasia, I....”
“You need to snap out of it. He may have played you in ways that you could never know how to counter, but you’re stronger than this. You need to be for your sister.”
He listened, turning her around to gently cuff her hands behind her back. “I’m too scared to ask any questions... they’ve been in our head all along.”
“Ask away. They know they have the upper hand.”
“Why do they want me to incapacitate you?”
“I don’t know.” It was as much of the truth as she could divulge within the parameters of safety. She had the notion that they had less of an idea of what she was capable of than she had of their power in return. “A mind reader. I’ve heard of witches born with a unique ability who managed to use it with mastery even without magical tutelage. I never thought I’d come across one. Especially not one able to retain a connection.”
“How do we fight that?” he asked desperately.
“We don’t. We don’t have the time. We have to accept the lesser of two evils now.” She knew she was lying the minute the words left her. There was great power in knowing what your enemy was capable of. She intended to use it. She started flooding her psyche with a confusing array of disjointed and unconnected images—all of them flashed of the past 100 years. Every memory she placed in the mental carousel was one unrelated to her own life, and instead of the collected memories of those she had taken death energies from. In its chaos and inconsistency, she hoped that it would throw Estrella off. It was the only way they’d be able to make the tables turn. The greatest risk, while also their most significant advantage, was not letting Daniel know.
“We’re flying right into the spider’s web. My leverage is gone. My backup is about to be unraveled. We’re going in there with our senses robbed. Tasia, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know if we’ll get out of this, okay. Just promise me... we’ll try to. Don’t put yourself in more danger than you’re already in.”
She gave him a solemn smile as an answer. At this point, anything goes, she told herself, allowing the thought in between efforts to cordon off her mind. She couldn’t promise him what he’d ask for. His hand may have been spent, but there were yet some things that a rusalka was capable of. As they started walking, she focused on erecting mental barriers. She prepared herself to do something that fed into the more notorious reputation of her kind.
It was almost identical to what she had seen in her vision.
The willow stood at the lakeside in its eerie silence just as the light of day was starting to steadily fade. Its leaves could obscure almost anyone—or anything—standing underneath. Daniel and herself were utterly alone as they made their way to the tree. She was bound, he was unarmed, and no backup would come from the repositioned field agents. They had been given a lure to direct their attention elsewhere. The kidnapper’s instructions didn’t take them out of the area, as even he knew that that could come across as suspicious. Instead, he merely made them avert their watchful gaze.
They walked until they were in the shade of the tree. In the shadows, behind the bole, a figure stood waiting.
“Not a step closer.”
It was Estrella. Tasia wondered if Daniel noticed the hesitancy that she, herself, sensed in the woman’s voice. It had sounded almost shaky as she forced the demand. There was a stark contrast between the ominous caller and Estrella. The latter seemed almost sure of himself. Estrella didn’t. Tasia could not help but start to question who was actually in charge.
“We’ve done everything you said. My agents aren’t looking. I’m unarmed. The car and ransom have been left where you’ve wanted. Now, give me my sister!” he growled.
Without breaking eye contact, Estrella gestured to her side. A pale figure came hobbling around the corner. Sarah and flashes of the premonition returned to Tasia as she looked at Daniel’s sister, realizing that she was at death’s door. Sheen of sweat covered her ashen features, matting her usually lustrous brown hair to her skin. The fever and apparent pain made her legs buckle, and she fell with heavy breath to the floor, looking forlornly at her two rescuers.
“Oh my God, Sarah! Come over here, please. You’re safe. You can make it.”
“I don’t think so.”
Daniel was left stupefied. “What the hell do you mean?” he growled. “Give me—”
The barrel of the gun cut any words short that he may have uttered. She pointed it at both of them, holding it steady for someone whose confidence Tasia was starting to doubt. “I want you to get on your knees. And you,” she shouted, directing her voice at Tasia, “you stay far away. Back up even more and lay yourself on the floor. I don’t know what the hell you did to block off my psychic prods, but you’ve just cost yourself everything!”
Daniel looked over at Tasia, confused, and pleading. But she was devoid of emotion as she stared Estrella down. “Don’t like it when someone is playing mind games on you for a change?” Tasia challenged.
“I never wanted to play any games!” Estrella screamed. “You just needed to pay the ransom! Instead, you went digging up a past that was never yours to look through. Max was sick. My brother was more deranged than I’d imagined. I needed to take over. I needed to take control.”
“So you made your brother suffer?” Tasia countered.
“He brought his suffering upon himself the moment he summoned that thing into his life! The brother was anything but the victim that you saw lying in his cage. What you witnessed was a consequence of playing with forces he didn’t understand. Mother detained us from exploring our potential. She punished him for it. When he was finally free, he didn’t know how to use the powers that came with that freedom.”
“I don’t understand. What the hell do you mean?” Daniel pleaded, desperate to help his sister.
“She means her brother was a witch, like she was.” Tasia offered, finally figuring it out. “But you didn’t have those limits, did you? With your psychic gifts, you had an edge on your brother to explore in secret and never be found out. That... and you were your mother’s favorite.”
“Shut up, you bitch!” Estrella screamed, the gun unsteady in her trembling hand as emotion crept in.
“Is that why you became a therapist? To console yourself that you were actually using your gifts in a way that
wouldn’t turn you into your mother?” Tasia continued relentlessly.
“You don’t know anything about me! I would never be my mother. I used what I had to help people overcome their trauma. I used it to help my brother’s scarred mind. I thought I was fixing him, healing him. But he was too far gone for even me to save. I never asked for this. I never asked for this burden and all it would cost us. Gifts, you call them? They were nothing but a curse that tore my family apart. It made my mother dread that we’d become evil, like our father. My brother looked just like him. She took it all out on him. In her sheer effort to prevent his malice, she gave birth to it unwittingly. Then, he killed her. The day he came back.”
“You don’t have to be like any of them, Estrella,” Tasia tried to reason with her.
“Don’t presume to read me. You may have blocked me from your mind, but you’ll never understand what I went through. What I stand to lose. I merely wanted my brother gone. Once I saw him derail, I knew he could not be saved. I sided with him when he killed our mother—I brought myself to understand. But he had slipped beyond help. He needed to be stopped. I needed to get rid of that house then. I needed to settle its debts and remove it from my life. All you had to do was pay the ransom.”
“Sarah did nothing!” Daniel spat. “You didn’t need to hurt her!”
“She did this to herself! She would have been unharmed! Now, she’ll die with the rest of you. You’ve seen too much, know too much. I cannot let any of you leave here. All of this is so close to being over. I won’t let anything compromise this from all coming to an end!” Estrella sounded more deranged than she intended to. There was hardly any semblance of the proud woman who had carried herself with self-control and dignity in her office. She held all the cards without knowing how to use it. Tasia couldn’t read minds, but she had long since learned to gauge people’s motives and desires. Whoever Estrella Pearce was, she was not a killer, despite presenting herself as one. At that moment of desperation, she was vulnerable, and it was all Tasia needed to know as she stood up.
“What are you doing? Get the fuck back down on the floor! Or I’ll shoot.”
“If it was your intention to shoot, you would have already done it.”
“Tasia, don’t!” Daniel shouted. Even Sarah responded, looking up to regard Tasia as she stepped closer.
“She’s not going to do it, Daniel. She doesn’t have it in her.” Tasia continued to move closer, sauntering. She locked eyes with Estrella, who was becoming more uncertain with every step Tasia took. She just needed to get a little bit closer... She could end all of it.
“You think I’m playing around? I said stay down!””
“I don’t think you’re playing around and neither am I,” Tasia said soothingly. “I just want to help Sarah. She can still walk out of this alive. I can save her.”
Estrella’s eyes went wide, and she pointed the gun at Daniel. “You! Don’t even think about it! Her mind may be clouded, but your thoughts are crystal. I read your mind the instant she said that. You want her to be healed because then you’d take a chance to fight. Stay down!”
Everything changed in an instant when a dog barked in the distance. Estrella looked around, anxious that the sound meant she had attracted attention to herself. Tasia lunged.
Her hands, loose from the cuffs, made a grab for Estrella’s wrist to loosen her grip on the gun. Daniel never locked the cuffs in place. The force of impact took both women down, and for the briefest moment, Tasia had her pinned beneath her. Something changed then. Estrella’s eyes, doe-like and fearful, suddenly filled with scarlet. Her entire expression curled into a look of malice, and with a force that exceeded her natural strength, she threw Tasia off.
Tasia backed up as Estrella came to her feet, cocking the gun to load it before she pointed. The shot fired but missed. From the side, Daniel had launched himself from where he lay and was caught in a struggle with Estrella to wrestle the gun from her. Tasia got hopeful for a moment, feeling sure that Estrella wouldn’t overcome the physical advantage that Daniel had over her. When the struggle continued, Tasia was stricken with doubt, realizing to her shock that Daniel was the one who was battling to match strengths with the shorter figure. She still held on to the gun. Managing to twist their limbs in such a way that the gun was pointed to his shoulder. Another shot went off, and Daniel fell backward in pain.
“No!” Tasia shouted. To her horror, Estrella repositioned herself and pointed the gun directly at him. Still, his leg shot out to land a kick in the abdomen, which sent her sprawling backward. Growling in pain, she regained her footing and hunched over, flashing a baleful look at him. She recovered far too soon from having her wind knocked out and edged closer to aim for his chest. The gun went off, and Tasia feared the worst.
Looking over, she saw that the shot never hit him. His shirt was covered in blood from his shoulder wound, but he was unharmed beyond that. Her head spun back to Estrella, whose eyes were wide as she held onto her neck. It was then that Tasia saw the blood rushing from beneath her fingers before it came from her mouth. Her knees buckled, and the gun slipped from her hand. The malice in her eyes had vanished, and all Estrella’s fear came rushing back as she held onto her last breath. Her hand fell away from her neck, and there Tasia saw a long object protruding from the wound. She fell forward.
Behind her stood Sarah.
Sixteen
Witch Hunt
It took Tasia a minute to process what had happened and seconds to realize what needed to be done.
She was hovering over Estrella, turning her over to look into her eyes. Tasia expected a multitude of different emotions to broil beneath the surface as she looked on her face: anger, hatred, contempt—but not pity. Yet, despite her better judgment, it’s precisely what she felt when she saw the last traces of life draining from the woman’s eyes. Perhaps she didn’t deserve this, but neither did the people who suffered. Tasia began her work.
The death energies swirled around Estrella’s body as her spirit left her flesh. It was potent. Tasia drew them forth, making them converge, coalesce, and siphon into her hands. She expected to see a ghostly figure nearby. Almost wishing to see Estrella’s spirit depart this world to catch a glimpse of her final emotions, she would take into the hereafter. But no spirit showed, and Tasia wondered what could have happened to make her soul disappear. She felt the flow of energy stop and immediately went over to Sarah.
Daniel was already next to her, seemingly oblivious to the excruciating pain he must be feeling. From exhaustion, his sister was barely holding on, but she was still conscious.
“Sarah, what happened? Who did this to you?”
“I did,” her voice rasped. “It was an accident. We were at a nearby ranch. I was close to the stables, and I... I stepped on a rusty nail.”
“Tetanus,” Tasia offered. “And it’s been a couple of days since the incident, judging from her symptoms. It makes sense now. The painful sensation in my vision. It was blood poisoning. I felt it vicariously through the premonition. It would explain the smell as well. It was manure. I was having visions of Sarah when she was taken through the ranch.”
“Can you help her?” Daniel asked desperately.
“If you’ll allow me to get to her,” she replied gently, smiling.
Daniel frowned but realized how protective he was standing over her, allowing Sarah to lie down and backing away.
“W—what did you do to her,” Sarah asked hesitantly. “You took something or drew it out....”
“Never mind that just yet. We’re running out of time.” Through a laying of hands, the life-giving energies flowed from Tasia into Sarah. Slowly, her pallor started changing as color flushed back to her cheeks. Her fever dropped, and her breathing slowed. Vitality filled her eyes, which opened wide. She started sitting upright, marveling at the tendrils of magical essence dancing over her body in hues of wholesome green. The light faded and disappeared, and Sarah looked at them both fully revitalized, although still visibly appear
ing as if she’d been through an ordeal.
“You’re okay,” Daniel noted, taking his sister in an embrace.
“Yeah, I am.” Tasia wasn’t sure what had left her more shell shocked—the fact that she had killed a person or that she had been saved.
“Daniel,” Tasia started, “you’re also hurt.”
“I’ll be f—” he winced, groaning as the adrenaline faded and the pain returned.
“You will be fine, but I just need you to hold still.” Tasia tore his shirt gently at the shoulder, exposing the entry wound of the bullet. Hovering her hand over the spot, more of the healing green energy spiraled forth to envelop it. Before their eyes, the flesh started to knit, and it was as if the bullet—deeply entrenched in his shoulder—was pushed outward until the small object fell onto his lap. His shirt was still drenched with blood, but the wound had completely healed. She was grateful for the residual energies she had left from the late foreman. “You’re lucky it hit the bone. Otherwise, the damage could have been more severe.”
He looked at her, long and intensely, and in that look was conveyed all the thanks he couldn’t put into words.
“I’m...sorry. God, I—I killed her. I can’t believe I killed her,” Sarah began to despair.
“Instinct drove you,” Daniel offered gently. “It was survival. I don’t know what came over her, but she was really about to kill us.” He turned to Tasia then, a question resting on his features. “What made you think she was bluffing?”
“Because she was. She would have said anything to make it all end. She never wanted any of this. It was evident in her heart. I cannot read minds like she can, but I can understand emotions and why people feel them. For a moment, I thought I had the edge, that I could jump and overwhelm her—end it myself. But then, she was possessed by something.”
“You were planning on killing her?” Daniel asked, stunned.
“Yes. It took everything I had to block my mind from her, but by the time we arrived at the willow tree, I was fully attuned to some deep-seated powers that I held at the ready. What you’ve seen me do—taking the leftover life forces from the deceased to save those destined to survive—has a darker side. I wanted to get close enough to Estrella to draw the life force from her while she was breathing. In that way, siphoning not only the energies meant to heal but also stealing her very soul. It would have killed her, although slowly and excruciatingly. She wouldn’t have seen it coming. With the energies I stole, I could heal Sarah. I could resurrect either of you if my death premonitions came to pass. But... it would have left me changed. Doing something so vampiric awakens something dark and sinister inside of us, my aunt once told me. That is how some of my kind have turned into evil spirits, luring unwitting victims to their death, because they had become addicted to the act of draining life. Ironically, it is often fabled to happen near bodies of water. I was ready to risk it. I was ready to face my demon if I needed to... for you. I just... didn’t expect we’d be facing one.”
