Hell's Hilltop

by J. A. Dennam

  “I don’t know,” Mac whispered hoarsely, rubbing a thumb across Elsa’s shoulder. “It differs with everyone.”

  Rena felt Ty’s presence behind her before he spoke. “You say she can hear us?”

  Mac’s expression tightened as he regarded the man who’d asked. “I’m not sure.”

  But it would be better to think it, just in case. Something told Rena that Mac had done a lot of talking behind the closed door. She fought the emotion that threatened to sever the delicate thread of sanity holding her together. Just what should her last words to her sister be? The woman had changed so much. There was so much to say, yet not a thing came to mind except….

  “I’m so sorry I let you down,” she murmured brokenly before her middle drew up into a tiny ball, uncontrollable sobs wracking her body. The cold hand in her own remained limp, not even a twitch to indicate her little sister had heard.

  It was too late. Whether Elsa’s heart still managed to beat or not, Rena’s words went unheeded once again, just like their last tumultuous reunion two short days ago:

  “I said I want to see Elsa!” Rena yelled toward whatever hidden microphones littered the luxurious suite she now occupied at IGP headquarters. “I gave you the sample, Mother, you need to hold up your end of the deal!”

  “Mommy can’t hear you,” whispered a voice so close, warm breath grazed her ear.

  With a yelp, Rena spun around only to find that no one else was in the room. That old dread began to seep under her skin. This place was full of ghosts… and they’d already come back to haunt her.

  Something tapped Rena’s shoulder. She spun around again. An impish smile greeted her just before a fist buried deep in her gut. Doubled over, Rena’s insides radiated pain while she struggled to breathe.

  “Hey!” That was Ty’s voice. “Leave her alone!”

  “Oooh, is this your boyfriend, Sis?”

  Holy shit, that was Elsa’s voice!

  “What did you do? Pluck him from the guard tower on your way out of prison?”

  Rena managed to sit back on her knees with an arm clutching her middle, but it would be a while before she could speak.

  Ty must have moved toward them because Elsa said, “Stay back, Ace. You may know how to fill out a T-shirt, but I can hand you your ass any day.”

  “Yeah,” Ty growled in response, “I can tell you’re a master of the cheap shot.”

  His flippant rejoinder wrung a laugh from the little ghost in black. Rena blew hair out of her eyes, watched as the small hooded figure circled around him. “Elsa?” she croaked with horror.

  Ty’s look of fury melted away.

  The hood slowly came back to reveal a short crop of chestnut hair and a pair of familiar frosty eyes, heavily lined Goth style. “No, no, no, you don’t get to talk.” Elsa was beside her in a flash. “You’ll listen to me for a change. I am not your sister anymore. You don’t get to call me Elsa. You lost that right when you ended my life.”

  “Ended… what?”

  Another blow to the midsection stole all ability to breathe let alone speak. Rena rolled on the floor, coughing the oxygen back into her lungs while Ty charged. His arms closed around nothing, but he was soon crouched on the floor beside Rena, clutching his groin.

  “Now do we understand each other?” Elsa purred, pacing like a caged animal. “A nod will suffice.”

  They both nodded.

  “Good. Because I’m going to make this short and sweet so I can get back to my training session.” She crouched down, locked eyes with Rena’s. “Elsa died a long time ago, slowly, day by day as pills were shoved down her throat. Waiting for her sister to come through for her and stop it. But, guess what? Her sister never came.”

  Rena opened her mouth to speak. Elsa threw up a warning finger. Ty nudged her to be quiet.

  “You know who did come?” Elsa continued with malice. “Our father. Right on time to identify your so-called remains after you drowned.

  “That’s right. Sophie finally smoked him out of hiding when you went schizoid. He and Mom are dead, Rena. Because of you. And now I take those pills on my own. No one has to force them on me anymore, because I’ve embraced what they helped me become. Crystal—IGP’s only female ghost. I’m strong. Quick. Immune to pain and completely done with you.”

  The shock of her words didn't even have time to sit before Elsa disappeared—vanished in the way of the ghosts. Rena’s eyes wildly searched the room while the words slowly sank in.

  Ty sat up, studied her closely, waiting for the first signs of reaction. But the only thing she could do was breathe.

  “Are you alright?” Ty said quietly beside her.

  The obvious answer scared her to death. How long did she have before the realizations began to level her, layer by delicate layer? Her father and stepmother were dead. She’d felt in it her bones for a while now and it was something she’d prepared herself for. But, Elsa… she was one of them now. When Sophie couldn’t get results from Rena, she succeeded in converting her sister into one of those dark, unconscionable freaks who’d terrorized her for months.

  It was the worst form of punishment. “I can’t leave her here,” Rena whispered through her growing fog of horror. “She’s like this because of me.” Her eyes caught hold of Ty’s and locked. “My parents died because of me.”

  “All you have is her word,” Ty responded, moving hair from her face. “It may not be true.”

  “It’s true.” All the animosity she felt for this man paled against the violent backwash of loathing now aimed at herself. “I’ve known it for a while. I’ve felt my father with me when my thoughts are clearest. I’m done, Ty. I can’t lose anyone else.”

  “What can I do?”

  Her gaze searched his for a breathless moment. She rose up on her knees, leaned toward him. He leaned back in response, no doubt anticipating another one of her venomous strikes. In a split second of weakness, she wanted to try him. Find out what he was made of. Releasing her inhibitions for one precious moment, she closed her mouth over his. The kiss was hot, heavy, unlike anything she'd ever tasted. A sample of forbidden fruit from the serpent who kissed her back.

  “I need you right now,” she whispered against his lips. When he hesitated, she stood, held out her hand. “Please.”

  A strong look of doubt crossed his handsome features before he took it and got to his feet. Lacing her fingers with his, Rena led him to the bathroom, reached past the shower curtain and turned the knob. Water hissed loudly. She pulled him down for another kiss. Inches from her mouth, he resisted, searching her eyes for signs of a trap.

  His heady, outdoor scent reminded her she hadn’t been with a man in a very long time, but her elevated breathing wasn’t caused by lust. Ty was nothing more than a pompous, superficial playboy. Her lids grew heavy with malice. “The very thought of your hands on me turns my stomach,” she whispered savagely.

  His brow flattened out. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  “I couldn’t stand you the moment I laid eyes on you,” she continued with heat. “I never trusted you. But if you’re really on Derek’s side, there is a way to prove it.”

  Ty pushed her away, irritation weighing his low-spoken words. “I don’t need to prove anything to you, Rena.”

  “Then prove it to Derek. He isn’t thinking with his head right now. He’ll never make it out of here alive, and if he does they’ll eliminate everyone he loves until they flush him out.”

  The mirror began to fog behind him as Ty paced. “I don’t agree,” he argued. “Derek’s smarter than that. You need to focus on your sister.”

  How dare he tell her what to do! “I plan to,” she bit back angrily, “but she’ll take more time. Derek needs our help now!”

  When Ty opened his mouth to argue, she grabbed him by the shirtfront with both hands. “I can’t lose him, too, do you understand me?”

  “Yeah, she might go crazy on us,” Crystal said from the doorway.

  They parted quickly, having been
caught in the act of conspiracy.

  “A word to the wise, Ty,” Crystal continued. “When a woman talks you into a shower to discuss another man, that just makes her a dick tease.”

  Rena squared her shoulders. “No, it means I didn’t want our conversation overheard.”

  A wicked smile played on the smaller woman’s lips. “I hear everything now.”

  “Then you’d hear how important you are to her,” Ty intervened, stepping between them.

  Crystal laughed, ran a finger across his chest as she circled around him. “Let me guess. You’re one of those guys who gets his jollies off being used.”

  Ty grabbed her wrist so they could argue face to face. “You can cut the bullshit, Elsa.”

  Frosted eyes narrowed dangerously beneath the heavy makeup. “It’s Crystal now.”

  “Whatever. If you’re as cold-hearted as you claim to be, you wouldn’t have stuck around to witness her reaction.”

  The petite hand he held was suddenly gone from his grip. A black whirl swept his feet and Ty went crashing to the tiled floor. As he groaned on his back, the little ghost straddled him, ran both hands up and over the wide plains of this muscular chest. “Maybe I just wanted to get a load of you in the shower,” she purred.

  “Stop it!” Rena yelled, having had enough. “Please, Elsa….”

  The other woman shot to her feet, snarled, “It’s Crystal!”

  But, Rena was angry now, having found her fight. She met her sister nose to nose. “No! You will never be Crystal to me!” She lowered her tone a notch when the other woman’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I love you and I’m sorry I failed you. I don’t know what happened to me, but I’m back now. I swear to you, I’m back.”

  In the span of a breath, a kaleidoscope of emotions passed over Crystal’s small, angular face before it settled into a sneer. “Too late.”

  “Is it?” Rena hissed, jerking her head toward the man rising from the floor. “Ty’s right. You wouldn’t be here if it were too late.”

  “Rena?”

  A hand on her shoulder brought Rena back to the present. She lifted her head, looked around. Four men watched her closely.

  Too closely.

  “I want some answers,” she whispered. Letting go of Crystal’s hand, she rose to her feet, fists clenched at her sides. “And then I want to wipe IGP and Lesico off the map for good.”

  CHAPTER 7

  It’s tetrodotoxin poisoning.” Derek handed Rena a small baggie as they sat together on the couch. “Sophie had a batch of our drugs laced with it in case she needed to dispose of her lab rats in a hurry. She called it her Plan B.”

  Through reddened eyes, Rena looked at the three large powder-white pills inside the plastic. “How did you get these?”

  “Mac took them from the body of the ghost who forced Crystal to swallow one. Just in case we run into others.”

  “So… what does it do? Is she hurting?”

  “It causes paralysis, even of the involuntary muscles, so she will stop breathing at some point. We also know it causes loss of sensation, so she isn’t feeling pain. Her heart rate will pick up before it stops altogether.”

  “My God.” Rena bunched the bag in her shaking fist. “She needs to be in a hospital.”

  “She didn’t want to die in a hospital.”

  The finality of that statement hit Rena with another wave of grief. “I tried to get that bullet back,” she choked, fighting to collect herself, “but I didn’t try hard enough. Elsa paid the price.” With red-rimmed eyes, she looked up at Austin. “I can’t tell you how many times I wondered… if I’d just asked you about the bullet, would it have worked out differently?”

  Elbows on knees, Austin considered her question from his place at the dining room table. “Who knows? Derek and I were pretty much looking for an excuse to kill each other back then. I’m guessing that’s why you waited.”

  Yes, that was part of it. At that time in her life, she was the picture of poise. Believed in her ability to handle her problems with minimal fallout. But it was time to admit, her reasons for waiting had been purely selfish. Austin was her world. She viewed her life with him as a reward for overcoming the obstacles of her illness. Fear of losing him was what drove her to hide her problems as long as possible… until…. “I thought I could wait. And then Sophie took Elsa.”

  “Was that when you snapped?” Austin asked.

  She shook her head. “I was scared, but… I was still healthy.”

  “Yet you still kept your condition a secret from me.”

  Spoken with such accusation. Rena’s look implored him to understand. “Because I was embarrassed. I thought it would scare you off, especially because of my obsessive behavior with you when we were kids.”

  “Rena told us she’d been attacked by one of the ghosts her mother sent,” Ty reminded from his place at end of the couch. “That’s why she snapped.”

  So, Ty had been paying attention the other day when she relayed those chosen bits of her past. Rena’s full focus shifted toward him, someone who seemed to understand her story better than anyone else. “That’s when things start getting blurry,” she admitted solemnly. “I planned to confront Derek at the river that night. But it was only to question the source, not attack him. I was nervous the whole day. Jumpy. I’d run through every worse case scenario in my head. All of them I could finally live with if it meant ending what had grown into a nightmare.

  “That afternoon, I remember going down to the basement to get a load of laundry out of the dryer. When I pulled the string for the light, it didn’t come on.”

  A scream tore through her as something was wrapped around her throat from behind. She was yanked backwards against a hard, unyielding body.

  “You must enjoy our company,” a harsh voice rasped, “knowing we’d come for you if you continued to fail.”

  The band loosened and she was thrown against the old pool table, her face pressed against the dusty felt surface as she took in precious air.

  “We’ve been too lenient with you, Miss Hellberg. I’m here to make sure there is no problem with communication from this point forward.”

  “You can’t hurt me,” she gasped. “My mother won’t allow it.”

  “Your mother doesn’t have to know.”

  Before she could process his answer, her shorts were forced down to her knees.

  “Everything is so sketchy,” Rena said with a far off look. “It’s like I’ve lived a third of my life since then, all in bits and pieces. Mostly as a back seat driver wondering where the hell I was going. What the hell I was doing.”

  “Do you think Sophie was responsible for your condition?” Austin asked, watching her intently now.

  She barked out a derisive laugh. “Absolutely. Someone poisoned that gene pool a long time ago.” And Rena knew that look well. Her ex was trying to gauge the truth of her words.

  Ty jumped in. “I don’t think he’s talking about genetics, Rena, or even the schizophrenia. It’s so easy for you to blame your condition. Too easy. Like someone counted on it to get away with drugging you.”

  Rena gaped at him in astonishment. Never did she dream of hearing that theory from another person’s lips. “Listen to yourself.”

  “What?”

  “If someone like me said that, it would be the condition talking. Back to the loony bin I go.”

  Austin nodded, studied his hands. “She’s right.”

  “But,” Ty pressed on, “in this case, I think it’s true. I told you this earlier.”

  The conversation was veering down a dangerous path. A spark of unwarranted anger made her snap. “I don’t need you championing my cause, Ty.” Not when she was ultimately responsible for what happened to her sister.

  “He could be right,” Derek said, his eyes growing dark. “Sophie was capable of anything.”

  And Derek would know since he’d been the woman’s obsession for months. But Rena was still doubtful. “Sophie wasn’t drugging me at that time. I needed to
stay focused in order to find something extremely important to her.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t Sophie.”

  That one from Ty hung out there for a moment. He stuffed his hands under his biceps and shrugged. “Maybe someone else had a different agenda.”

  Rena shot to her feet. “Excuse me, gentlemen,” she said as she yanked on Ty’s arm, forcing him to his feet. They ate up the short distance to the bathroom where she shut the door and rounded on him with fury.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  His head reared back with attitude. “Making sense?”

  “You’re enabling. I don’t need you to make excuses for me, especially if I’m a danger to those around me.”

  “You don’t know you are.”

  “I don’t know I’m not!”

  He leaned in, propped himself against the basin. “Excuse me if I won’t conform to the idea you’re completely nuts. Then again, maybe you are since you refuse to consider the possibility you aren’t.”

  “What?” she sputtered in confusion.

  Ty swore, ran a hand through his hair and put as much distance between them as he could manage in the cramped space. “You aren’t being responsible, Rena,” he said finally. “You’re settling. And it sucks.”

  Her brows drew down. “Why do you care?”

  His eyes widened as he threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know!”

  The offhand admission he did care seemed to pain him somewhat. It completely startled Rena, who wasn’t expecting such a response. She turned toward the mirror and stared intently at her reflection. “My little sister is dying in the next room, Ty. She’s my last casualty. I am done with this.”

  “Don’t use Crystal as an excuse,” he fired back beside her. “If you want to go back to prison and drown out another two-thirds of your life, call it what it is. Cowardly.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’re feeling sorry for yourself. It’s bullshit—”