Black Opal

by Sandra Cox

  It was midafternoon when she finished. If Victoria wasn’t already on her way, this would hurry her along. She leaned back in the chair and sipped her coffee then made a face. It was cold and tasted bad. She closed her eyes for a moment.

  When she opened them the room was dark. She jumped out of her chair, her heart pounding. How could she have fallen asleep?

  She ran for the door then stood there poised. She touched the derringer in her pocket for reassurance. I’m damn lucky I didn’t put a hole in my leg. She looked up and down the hall. Everything was unnaturally quiet but that could be because the women were sleeping.

  Backing up, she took the elevator up to the bedroom. Sabina listened a moment before she opened the door. When she didn’t hear anything, she pushed the button, the derringer in her hand. She looked around. Except for Maureen’s even breathing, the room was quiet.

  So far so good but she couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong, terribly wrong. Dread raked skeletal fingers up her spine and seemed to lock around her throat. Her breath lodged in her chest and for one moment Sabina feared she’d hyperventilate. She’s here. I can feel it. It’s like she’s thrown a black shroud over me and is trying to suffocate me.

  She shook herself. I’ve never had to deal with evil before. Except for a few notable exceptions, my village has always been peaceful and placid to the point of dullness. Get a grip. Don’t be so damn spineless. She pressed her hands against her belly and took a deep breath. I can do this. Maybe she’s not even here. But every instinct Sabina had told her it was so. Victoria was here. In this house.

  She cracked the door and put her eye to the slit. Bella’s door stood open. Pale yellow light streamed out of it and rested on the floor.

  Sabina pushed the door open wider and looked around. She eased out into the hall, her back against the wall, her hand wrapped around the small derringer. Goose bumps roughened her skin as voices drifted toward her, too indistinct to make out.

  She crept forward, one agonizing step at a time. Sabina stopped just to the left of the pool of light slanting through the doorway.

  Bella sat on the edge of the bed, her jean-clad legs resting on the floor, her body twisted toward the door. Victoria bent over her, her voice and body language threatening. “Where is the amulet, bitch?” A sharp crack followed as Victoria slapped her. Bella’s head jerked backward from the blow.

  Icy fury replaced Sabina’s nervous sickness. She touched the amulet and stepped into the pool of light.

  As if sensing her presence, Bella turned her head. She saw Sabina and looked away. “Well, sugars, is it a turn-on watching your boss beat on another woman?” she asked conversationally letting Sabina know there was more than one person in the room.

  Victoria shot her arm out and pointed with her finger. A V appeared on Bella’s cheek along with the scent of burned flesh.

  Sabina lunged forward. Bella shook her head violently, warning Sabina back. “And what guarantee do I have, I’ll walk out of here alive?”

  “None. But you’ll die a less painful death.”

  Sabina bit her lip so hard, she drew blood. Catching Bella’s eye, she pointed downward and slunk back into the shadows. Bella would understand. Creativity and beauty still glowed on her skin.

  She raced for Maureen’s room on silent feet. Slipping inside, she shook Maureen hard and whispered in her ear, “Victoria is here.”

  Maureen came instantly awake.

  Sabina ran into the closet, grabbed the machine gun and handed it to Maureen then pointed to the elevator. They climbed in and it whisked them soundlessly downstairs.

  “Where’s Bella?” Maureen asked tersely.

  “Victoria has her.”

  “Then let’s go after her.”

  “There’s at least one other person in there. Bella will bring her to us,” Sabina said feeling the skin stretch taut across her features.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Maureen said, her expression grim as she strode out the elevator.

  “So do I.”

  “I can’t use this thing. I’d probably kill everyone in sight.” Maureen held the machine gun out toward Sabina.

  “I had in mind using it for show,” Sabina admitted. “There’s a gun holstered under the desk and one in the drawer. Why don’t you sit at the desk and greet them when they walk in?”

  Maureen gingerly set the machine gun on the desk and settled into the chair. “Where will you be?”

  “Hiding in the shadows. I intend to make a miraculous return from the grave.”

  The dark drapes were partially open and the rising moon penetrated the white sheers at the window throwing shadows across the room.

  Sabina stepped behind the heavy burgundy drapes. When the time was right she would move from behind the drapes to the center of the sheers. Hopefully, throwing her voice would give a ghostlike effect, especially if the moon cooperated and shone behind her. “Did you find the guns?” Sabina whispered.

  “Yes.”

  A moment later the door slammed back against the wall.

  “I thought as much.” Victoria’s crazy laughter filled the room. “Put the machine gun down, Maureen. Don’t try anything stupid, or else I’ll turn your friend here into a fricasseed cow. That might be fun.” She gave an insane giggle. “Binnie and silent Sam,” she giggled again, “have their guns pointed at your head.”

  “I can take you out in seconds,” Maureen said coolly.

  “You mean you can take out me and your friend. Then again we could always do the OK Corral thing and see which is faster, a machine gun or the amulet. Of course, your bitch-friend stays here in front of me while it’s going on.”

  “You win. I’m taking my hand off the machine gun.”

  “Sam, pick it up. And take that armband she’s wearing and bring it to me,” Victoria commanded.

  From the very edge of the curtain, Sabina could see a large, muscled man pick up the machine gun. He lumbered toward Maureen.

  “Now where in the study is your amulet, bitch?” Victoria asked Bella.

  Bella grunted as if she’d been poked hard.

  Clutching the gun in her right hand, Sabina inched toward the center of the sheers. At Victoria’s side stood a thin, stoop-shouldered young man, his eyes wary, his expression cowed.

  The light from the moon showed the V burnt on Bella’s cheek. Sabina felt her temper soar.

  “Victoria Price, I’ve come to take you with me to Hell.” She projected her voice. It echoed like a specter’s through the room. With the moon at her back, she shifted and her shadow did a ghostly dance across the floor. Even Bella and Maureen seemed startled for a second.

  The large man jumped, dropping the machine gun.

  Everyone froze, waiting to see if bullets would start spraying then gave a collective sigh of relief when nothing happened.

  Victoria screamed, “You’re dead. But I’ll kill you again if I have to.” Badly rattled, Victoria raised her arm.

  Sabina took aim and fired.

  Victoria’s arm jerked as she dropped to her knees. A lightning bolt flashed across the room and pierced the wall knocking pieces of charred wood paneling to the floor.

  Bella whirled, ripped the amulet off Victoria, then kicked her in the chin, sending Victoria sprawling. She planted her foot firmly on Victoria’s throat.

  Maureen flew like a quarterback over the desk and onto Victoria’s lackey, taking him down.

  Sabina whirled and trained her gun on the large man who’d dropped the machine gun. He went racing for the door. She shrugged and let him go.

  She stepped through the sheers. “I’ve got him covered, Maureen.” She held the gun with both hands pointing at the man on the floor. “There’s some rope and a knife in the bottom desk drawer. Get it and tie him and Victoria up.”

  Maureen hurried to comply.

  “Where did I shoot her?”

  “You shot her in the thigh. Though as scrawny as it is, it more resembles a buzzard’s leg,” Bella answer
ed.

  “Glub, glub, glub.” Victoria made choking sounds.

  “What’s that, sugar, I couldn’t hear you?” Bella stepped harder on her throat. “Like to play with fire do you?”

  “Glub, glub.”

  “I apologize if I seem a bit harsh there, Ms. Price, but my face burns like hell.”

  Maureen took the rope and slashed four pieces off it with the knife. She bound the man who’d been smart enough not to move then turned to Victoria.

  Bella turned her over with her foot.

  Maureen yanked Victoria’s arms behind her and tied them then tied her feet together as blood dripped on the floor from the wound in Victoria’s leg.

  As soon as Maureen finished, she put her hand on Bella’s face and hissed in pain.

  The burn must be going directly into her palm then into the amulet. Poor, brave Maureen.

  Sabina leaned over Victoria. “Where’s Adam?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Victoria hissed in a hoarse voice.

  Sabina took the power amulet from Bella and clapped it on her arm above the beauty-creativity amulet. “I’d advise you not to play with me,” she said softly, knowing her eyes mirrored deadly intent.

  Victoria spat at her.

  Sabina grabbed Victoria’s collar and yanked her up to her knees then slapped her across the face, the crack echoing through the room. “Be glad I didn’t do to you what you did to Bella.”

  A gasp of pain from Maureen distracted her.

  Sabina jerked. She looked around. Maureen’s hand still lay on Bella’s cheek.

  “Let me go, sugar, I’m feeling better already,” Bella said pulling away.

  Sabina glanced down and caught the man with Victoria watching Maureen’s every move. Concentrating her thoughts into her amulet, she bent down and dragged him effortlessly to the closet, tossed him in and shut the door. She turned to Victoria. “No need to hide anything from you now is there?”

  “I want my money back, bitch. It’s you. I know it’s you that maxed out my accounts. But do you think it matters? I have so much money from the banks we robbed that what you got is no more than pocket change. But I don’t like being crossed. You’ll pay!” she screamed her eyes wild. “You’ll pay!”

  Sabina forced herself to remain immobile and not step back from the evil insanity oozing from the woman on the floor, whose eyes were wild, satanic.

  Sabina touched her amulet and walked toward the woman. “Where’s Adam?”

  “Do you really think I’ll tell you,” she sneered, her pupils black and large in her white face.

  “Maybe not but you will tell me.” Johnny Morelly walked into the room, his stride determined, his face as hard as chiseled rock. His two bodyguards stood behind him.

  “Ladies, I would ask you to leave now,” he said not taking his eyes off Victoria.

  Sabina’s eyes flitted to Maureen and Bella. They looked at each other uneasily.

  “Ladies, it’s not a request.”

  “Mr. Morelly…” Sabina began.

  “Do you want to see my nephew again?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Sabina looked at Bella. Bella tossed her head in Maureen’s direction, her message clear. As long as he doesn’t kill her Maureen can heal her.

  “You won’t kill her will you?” Sabina asked.

  “The moment she tells me what I want to know, she’s free to go.”

  “I’d cooperate, sugar,” Bella advised and headed for the door.

  “You can’t leave me here,” Victoria shrieked.

  Without a backward glance, the women walked through the door.

  Sabina handed Bella the creativity amulet then flipped on lights and headed for the living room, Maureen and Bella following her. She turned to Bella and looked at her face. Her cheek had a pinkish cast to it but, thanks to Maureen, had miraculously healed.

  Maureen walked up to Bella and put her palm against Bella’s pink cheek. She grimaced but held on as the last of the tenderness shot up her arm from Bella’s cheek. She dropped her hand, panting.

  Bella picked up her hand, turned it over and kissed her palm. “Thank you, sugar,” she said quietly.

  Before Maureen could reply a high thin scream came from the study.

  “Oh gods, I can’t stand this.” Maureen started toward the study.

  Sabina grabbed her arm. Her stomach in knots, tension running up and down her spine, hating the sound of Victoria’s pain, she said, “Hold on.”

  “I can’t,” Maureen whispered her voice hoarse, her face dead white. “It goes against who I am. What I stand for.”

  A scream came again. Maureen tried to pluck off Sabina’s fingers, which were wrapped around her forearm.

  Bella took Maureen into her arms. “Hold onto me, shug. There’s just no other way. We don’t know where Adam is and we don’t want him to die. I know he didn’t go willingly. He’s in love with our lovely Sabina. It shines out of his eyes every time he looks at her. He’s saved her too many times to walk away willingly with that depraved female.”

  Maureen stood trembling, her arms wrapped around her friend.

  Johnny strolled out of the study. He snapped his fingers at his men. “Let’s go.”

  Sabina ran to him and touched his arm. “Mr. Morelly, where is he? Take me please.”

  Maureen pulled away. “I’m going too.”

  “Count me in,” Bella said.

  “Six of us is more of a squeeze than I care for in a car.”

  “Where is he?” Sabina asked again her voice high and anxious.

  “She took him back to Charlotte. There’s an old deserted building about a mile outside of town.”

  “Give us an address and we’ll meet you there,” Bella said.

  “That little fancy car of yours is a two-seater.”

  “We’ll manage.”

  “2020 Lee. It’s about two miles off Harris Boulevard, an old abandoned building set back from the road.”

  “We’ll meet you there.”

  His expression impatient, Johnny nodded then strode out the door. A moment later they heard the revving of the motor.

  Maureen hurried toward the study. Sabina and Bella looked at each other. Bella shrugged. They followed her in.

  Victoria sat in the chair, ropes wrapped around her chest, waist and left arm, her right arm hanging at an awkward angle.

  “I’d say she was lucky,” Bella observed.

  “Lucky, lucky,” Victoria shrieked. “I’ll kill you for this.”

  “Maureen, do what you need to do and let’s get out of here,” Sabina ordered, her stomach turning, fighting pity and distaste. The woman was pure evil. She was also as crazy as the proverbial loon as her American sisters would say.

  Maureen went to touch her and Victoria shrieked, “Don’t touch me.”

  Aversion flitted across Maureen’s face but she bent and grasp Victoria’s broken arm. Maureen’s breath came in pants and her face contorted with pain.

  Sabina and Bella watched Maureen closely. After a minute had gone by, Bella said, “That’s enough, shug. She can heal the rest of the way on her own.”

  Maureen let go, beads of sweat pooling on her forehead.

  Sabina picked up the rope, curled up like a white snake, that Johnny had left on the floor. She wrapped it around Victoria a few more times then knotted it. “Let’s go.” She straightened and headed for the door.

  “I’ve had him. Over and over and over again,” Victoria screamed, saliva running out of the corner of her mouth. “He’ll never go back to a mealymouthed weakling like you.”

  It had been a very stressful evening and Sabina’d had about all she could take of Victoria Price. Her arm shot out.

  The next thing that came out of Victoria’s mouth was the squawking of a chicken.

  Bella tapped her finger with her fingernail. “Hmm, I wonder if that’s considered an abuse of power.” She shrugged her shoulders and grinned. “This time we’ll make an exception.”

  They w
alked to the door, the squawking increasing in volume.

  Sabina’s shoulders shook and Maureen giggled outright.

  They grabbed their purses and headed for the car. As they walked through the kitchen door into the garage Sabina heaved a sigh. “I really, really hate to do this.” She shot out her arm in the direction of the study.

  “I take it, Ms. Price can now spit out her vitriolic acid in English again,” Bella commented.

  “Yes but we won’t be listening to it,” Sabina said opening the car door. “Will this car accommodate all three of us?”

  Bella shook her head, her expression sad. “Go ahead and expand the seat but remember when we get back, I want my two-seater back to its normal size.”

  Concentrating Sabina stretched out her arm and the car’s right side expanded about ten inches. She motioned Maureen into the car then scooted in beside her.

  “Cozy,” Maureen said faintly then leaned back against the white leather seats and closed her eyes. Moments later she was asleep.

  Bella got in, pushed the remote and the garage door slid open. She turned on the motor, hit the lights and threw the car in reverse. “Hang on, shug. We want to get there before Johnny does.”

  Sabina gave a terse nod then realized Bella’s eyes were on the rearview mirror. “Let’s do this thing.”

  Sabina threw her arm in front of Maureen to keep her from flying forward as Bella switched from reverse to drive and hit the gas.

  “Maybe you’d better use your power to stretch out the seat belt,” Bella advised not taking her eyes off the narrow twisting road.

  “Good idea.” Sabina wound it around both herself and Maureen lengthening the belt with her power.

  Maureen’s head flopped over on Sabina’s shoulder. Sabina brushed the silky auburn locks out of her face and blew at an errant strand that tickled her nose. She watched the winding road for a moment then burst out, “Bella, even if Victoria is the seed of Satan, I shouldn’t have let Johnny Morelly break her arm.”

  “Could you have prevented it?”

  “You know I could have.”

  “And if you’d stopped Johnny and it cost Adam his life?” Bella asked in her calm voice.

  Sabina looked at her friend for a moment then turned her eyes back to the road they were flying down. “I would have let him kill her if it meant saving Adam and that is morally wrong.”