by Tara Brown
She looks like she might fight me on the suggestion but then puts her hand in mine. We run from the old cottage. I activate the tracking spell, seeing red handprints in the field. “Good, they ran this way.”
“Who?” She sounds scared, it’s weird since she’s immortal.
“My sister and them. See the handprints?”
She shakes her head as we pick up the pace. We track them across a field and through a farm on the far side of the field before we are back into the forest. The sun is coming, making me pray that wherever they are, it has got some shelter of some sort. Otherwise, we are breaking into a farmhouse.
“The sun’s coming.” Gwen sounds scared.
I nod. “We need to hurry.”
I press my feet into the ground harder, running faster. Gwen is an amazing runner too. When the handprints stop, I pause. “Em!”
The dirt lifts next us, revealing a hatch in the ground. Em smiles up from it. “You made it!” Her eyes drift to Gwen. “And you brought one of them.”
Gwen puts her hands up, defensively. “I swear, I’ve never had any part in that. I ate the first witch and then I knew. When I smelled out my first evil person, I knew the witch had been good and we had killed an innocent. I explained the pull of the evil people to my mother. She tried to talk to my father and brothers, but none of them would hear of how wrong it all was.”
“Even Whit?” Angie asks, looking a little stunned.
Gwen’s eyes drop in shame. I grab her hand and pull her into the shelter. Em drops the lid on us, leaving us in the dark.
My insides are burning up but at least it ain’t my skin. The sun’s heat starts in on the lid immediately. We must have made it in the hole by minutes.
Angie whispers. “Did you free the witches?”
“Yeah.” I don't tell them how. That's a story for the 2000s, not the 1950s.
“Well, that's good.”
“Yeah.” I sigh, making myself yawn.
We close our eyes and let sleep take us.
When I wake up I can feel the heat of the sun still on the lid, but it is starting to go down. I feel that too.
We crouch in there, waiting for it to go completely, all waking up one at a time.
Tessa gives me a shove. “Lorelei, you gone and brought that nice man with you?”
I shake my head, realizing she can’t see me so well. I can hardly see. “No, ma’am.” I don't go breaking her heart and tell her he ain’t a nice man. He’s a cad and a murderer.
It makes me think though. I lean into Gwen, “How did the Roses never know what y’all was up to?”
“The barrier spell. It protected them.”
“How did no one notice the witches going missing?”
She’s silent for a moment. “Whit and Rydal would go to places and pretend to be the same guy, date a girl and abduct her. Or just find a coven and steal one or two, compelling them away from their families. They would compel the witch to make a gateway back to the castle. You step in wherever they cast the spell and step out back home. No travel time.”
I would gag but I have nothing to throw up. I’m starving and my heart is broken.
She leans into me. “I’m so sorry, Lorelei. If it makes any difference, I think you’re the first one they liked with any kind of honesty.”
“It doesn't.”
I wish Ramón were here. I hate being in the ground and I hate the idea Whit is chasing me again.
When I feel the sun dip behind the hills I push the roof hard. We leap from the hole and Em drags Aunt Tessa on her back. Her strength has come in. They must have eaten along the way. God, please let them have eaten something evil and not whatever or whoever they found.
We run like the wind, taking turns carrying Tessa who believes this is a game, and in order to survive this game, she has to remain still and quiet and hold on for dear life.
When we get to a village it’s completely dark. I creep ahead and test the door of a small car. When it opens I slide inside and check the usual places for keys. A set drops from the visor, making me smile. Dummies everywhere.
I wave my hand and the four of them come slinking to the car, jumping in. We drive to the next village, repeating the same thing. Steal a car—drive, steal a car—drive, and steal a car—drive. When the sun is rising we stop and creep along an alley, listening in windows for houses with no heartbeats.
“Here’s one!” Gwen waves her arm. We all jump in the back window, pushing Tessa through before the last of us gets in.
When we’re inside we sit with our backs against the walls, staring at each other.
When Em looks at me, her eyes fill with something bad. “You did live in another version of this life.”
Gwen gives me a look. I roll my eyes. “The Roses, one of them sent me back to change the time.”
“Oh, you met one of those? Wow. They’re very rare.” She nods along casually.
Angie starts to laugh bitterly. “I didn't believe until I saw all this. But now I do. I really was seventy and married to Martin and you saved me.”
I nod.
She shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, Lorelei. I’m sorry I never believed you.”
“It would have been quite the load for me to swallow too. I lived it and I hardly believe it.” I glance at Tessa who looks confused and tired. “Go find food in the fridge, Aunty. There’s bound to be something to eat. Have some water too.”
She gets up and toddles into the kitchen, no longer nattering or talking much at all. “We need to get her in a home. We can’t let this be her life. She needs a house,” Em says as Tessa leaves us there. “We’ll take her back to the States. It’s the best plan. She’ll be fine back home. Plenty of folks will help her out.”
Angie sighs and stretches. “We need to go home and hide away from that nutty family.” Gwen’s cheeks flush with embarrassment making Angie wince. “Sorry.”
But Gwen shakes her head. “I know what they have become. I wish you might have known them before.”
My heart wishes it too. I glance at her. “Did Rydal come to Baton Rouge to help Whit with me?”
She doesn't look at me when she mumbles, “Will it help you sleep better during the day if I tell you he did?”
“No. I just want the truth.”
“Yes. He was there in the beginning, probably the first month. Then he came home, said Whit had grown very attached to you, and they had fought. He said he had made a deal with your mother that would guarantee you would be coming to Scotland with Whit anyway. He had ensured that. Just like Ma asked him to.”
I nod. I had always wondered who the other vampires were and how Whit was so different at times.
The whole thing makes me want to retch. I get up and stagger into a room to pass out on a bed that smells like the people who live here.
When we wake, we dress and sneak around the village, each finding someone to snack on. I don't kill the man I eat from, nor does Gwen. But Angie and Em eat like they’ve never had food before. Both men die but they deserved a death far worse than the one they got. We clean ourselves up and make our way to the English border. When we get to the coastline we find a shipping town, as per Gwen’s directions.
She seems freer and less worried but she starts looking over her shoulder the moment we cross the first street in the town—then she is on edge. “They will have come here first, because you’re Yanks. We need to hide out, sneak onto a freighter, and then compel the captain to believe we are his secret guests.”
When we get to the boat docks, a face I never expected to see again is standing there in all her glory. She shines in the headlights, looking beautiful, but I know her to be quite cold and detached. She grins with her evil eyes and nods at the shadow next to her that looks like a large vehicle.
Gwen gives me a look.
Angie leans forward. “Who is that?”
“That is Lucifer. Everyone else calls her Lorri.” Gwen swallows hard.
I offer a subtle wave, wondering if we are somehow in trou
ble.
Chapter Four
We sit huddled in the dark of the cargo van Lorri nodded at. She climbs in last, smiling at us with a gleam in her eyes. She closes the door, giving me a look. “I hear we’re old friends.”
I nod. “We have someone in common.”
Her eyes narrow. “Momma Holt?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then I have to admit, this is going to get exciting.” She puts her hand in. “Everyone touch my hand.”
I lay mine on her warm skin, a little frightened for what’s about to happen. I vaguely recall the vomiting last time. Angie and Em follow my lead and touch her hand.
“Do we know this young lady?” Tessa leans into me, whispering loudly and looking worried.
“Yes, Aunty. She’s a friend of mine from Baton Rouge.” I smile at her, placing her hand in the circle of ours.
“Oh, that's nice. I’d like to go back there now.”
Lorri leans in, looking into her eyes. “You will love this, you will not get sick or be scared.” She turns and looks at Gwen. “You can choose me or them, but if you choose them, you get out now and take your chances with the Roses.”
Gwen’s hand trembles a little when she puts it in, touching Lorri and closing her eyes.
The van spins and then everything moves like it’s going to peel my skin off and then we’re in the swamp outside Grandmamma Holt’s. I bend forward, losing the bit of water I had in my stomach onto the scrubby ground.
Squeezing my eyes together, I try to focus as my ears ring. All four of us are sick and dizzy, only Aunty Tessa is smiling and waving at Grandmamma Holt in her doorway.
Lorri walks over, stomping almost, in her blood-red boots. They’re the same ones she was wearing in the future. She nods at me. “Found them right where you said they’d be. They have company. We brought one of them with us.”
Grandmamma’s spooky eyes trail my way. “You free da witches, cheri?”
I nod.
“Dis good. You free dem and break da spell. Dem Roses can finally see what I been saying all dis time.” She nods too.
Lorri folds her arms across her chest. “Look, we can’t just go killing everyone you don't like. She must have broken the protection spells on the old castle because it’s lit up like a beacon. Dorian sensed the sins right away.”
Grandmamma Holt’s eyes sparkle. “You take them with you. Train them and make them yours. She got da touch.”
My stomach tenses and my eyes drift from her to my sister, Angie, and Gwen.
Lorri looks like she’s processing. “The European Roses could use the help.” She looks back at us. “I’ve started with worse specimens than this.” She nods. “Deal.”
She turns, grabbing each of us by the hand, all of us but Tessa. I scream as we do the whirly thing and when we land wherever the hell we are, I heave for several minutes.
Lorri doesn't seem to care about our seasickened state. She stomps through the hallway of the office building we are in, snapping her fingers at us.
Gwen gives me a desperate stare. “They’re going to turn us into them?”
I shake my head. “I don't know.” We hug ourselves, stumbling after her stomping boots through the hallway until we get to an elevator and all climb in.
She turns and grins. “You excited to get some revenge, Lorelei?”
“The thought never really crossed my mind. I was mostly just worried about running.”
She shrugs. “Daniel, my instructor here, can teach you how to get it. Show Whit what you’re made of.”
The words linger there in the elevator, even after we land at the right floor and she steps off. Gwen’s face is still pinched and pained but her eyes are lit. She steps off, following Lorri into the wide open space. There are others—I don't think they’re like us, but they’re not human. The wide space is a lounge of sorts with TVs, couches, and tables with chairs. It’s like a common room in a massive dorm. Everyone seems to be relaxing until we cross the room, following Lorri. Then they stare. All forty of them. Every eye in the room is watching us.
Lorri enters a door, holding it for us.
We follow her, scampering almost to keep up and not be the last person in the room. She walks us to another hallway but it’s lined with wooden doors. She opens one and nods at Angie and Em. “You two seem pretty attached at the hip. You can share this room.”
She walks to the next door and opens it. “And you two in here. Get some rest. I’ll have some food brought for you. Daniel is going to want to meet you tomorrow. He’s a vampire too. You’ll get on like a house on fire.”
I look at my sister and my friends and ask softly, “Why are we here?”
Her dark eyes glisten with humor. “To become Roses. You see, we now know Gwen here has been part of a bad lineage for a long time. She’s eligible for death like her siblings. So she can choose Roses or she can choose to be put to sleep. Angie and Emily are young and too new to be left to their own devices. We don't approve of vampires just being made at random. They will violate the laws if they don't get an outlet. Trust me, I’ve seen this a few times. And lastly, they didn't want to be made, you forced them.” She winks at me. “Also punishable by death. So you girls can choose—stay and become members of the good side, or take your chances out there where one of us will kill you.”
One of the girls next to me gulps, another shudders, while I almost cry. “What about Tessa?”
“She’ll live with Momma Holt. She’ll be safe. Momma Holt is quite fond of her and the swamp is safe. She’s probably sleeping already.” She turns and waves backward. “Like you should be.” She is walking and then she’s gone.
I’m tired and defeated and still mourning my tricked and wounded heart, which I haven’t even had a free second to do since we went on the lamb.
I don't turn and talk to any of them. What can I say? I’ve doomed you to a life of horror and violence? No. I lower my head in shame and walk to my new room. I slump on my new bed and let the sadness take me. Howling sobs rip from my chest as I let it all loose.
Whit’s betrayals, constant betrayals.
Sex with Rydal.
My momma and all her terrible deeds and hurtful words.
My daddy’s death.
Aunt Tessa living in the swamps with two ghosts.
The horrible things Whit and his brothers did to the witches.
My loss of freedom and life and possibilities.
I cry so hard my eyes won’t open to see who it is curling up on the bed with me, spooning me. I feel two bodies and realize its Em and Angie.
The three of us cry and sleep, wrapped in each other. Holding each other. Dreaming of better days and finer lives than this.
I wake to a sound. It’s crying or whimpering maybe. I open an eye, looking around in the dark. I can hardly see and Angie and Em make it hard to move. The bed on the far side of the room is where the noise is coming from. I wince, knowing she must be devastated and terrified. “You okay, Gwen?”
She sniffles and sucks her breath. “No.”
“I’m sorry Lorri found us.”
“I’m not.” She sniffles again. “I’m grateful to be free of them. I just don't want to have to kill them. I know they deserve it. I know they need to be punished for the wrongs they’ve done, but they’re my family.”
They aren’t my family and I feel the same way. “I don't want them to die either. As much as Rydal and Whit played my heart for a fool and destroyed my entire life, I can’t make myself wish for their death. At least I don't think I can.”
“I’m pure sorry, Lorelei. I’m sorry for everything they did.”
I sigh, thinking about it all. One question stands out. “Did Whit ever tell your daddy that I was able to give them witch’s blood?”
“No. He never told any of us. Inger smelled it on you the first time he met you. Whit tried to convince them there was no way; the magic had died when you became a halfling.”
I wince. “Then I froze Rydal and proved his words to be
lies.”
“Yeah, ya did. That was the end of the line for you. Da said he wanted you tied to a bed and bled regularly. I think Whit was going to convince you to run. He was trying to keep everyone calm and lie about it all until he had a plan. He had to be smart about it.”
I don't even know what to say. There isn’t much that can be said. Whit might have tried to save me, but he started everything out by screwing me over.
“Gwen, everything will be okay. The people out there in that lounge area—they seemed relaxed and happy. It can’t be all bad.”
Her sigh fills the dark. “I know it but I’m scared. For the first time in hundreds of years, I’m away from them.”
“At least we have each other.” I close my eyes again, feeling sad for us all.
I don't realize I’ve fallen back to sleep until I’m woken by the sound of talking. I wake with a scowl and a groan. “What time is it?”
“Time to get up. Some guy just came to the door and said we had to wake up.” Angie yawns and stretches, leaning against me.
I open my eyes to see Em smiling. She laughs at whatever they were talking about as I was waking up. She pulls her hair back into a ponytail and leans forward, poking me. “Get up, sleepy head.”
Why is she so happy?
“I feel like I’ve been rode hard and hung up to dry.” Angie gets up off the bed, tilting her neck side to side. ”I could really go for a shower and a change of clothes.”
Gwen sits up on her bed, giving me a haunted stare.
At least she and I are on the same page.
There’s a knock, and before we can answer the door, it opens and a man’s face pokes in. He’s handsome but older with glasses and a Poindexter look to him. He ain’t my type of fun, that's for sure.
“Morning, ladies. I’m Daniel. Come and join us for some breakfast?” He opens the door all the way and holds a long arm out for us.
Angie and Em walk out first, looking excited. Gwen gives me a dirty look. “What’s with them?”
I shake my head, getting up and walking with her to the door. The man beams at me. “Very pleased to meet you, Lorelei. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
That doesn't sit well with me. I have a bad feeling in my stomach. But I’m also from good enough breeding that I paste a smile across my lips and nod. “Nice to meet you too, sir.”
