The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black: Book Three)

by Baum, Spencer

  And then a woman came running through the front door, charging at Tarin, screaming a battle cry as she wielded a giant sword. Jill could hardly believe it, but she was pretty certain she recognized this woman. The woman was Helena Fischer, the Network agent who had played Nicky’s mother until Code Orange was called.

  Helena raised her sword above her head, leaped through the air, and swung the sword as she came down. The sword swiped all the way across Tarin’s body, chopping off his head as Helena landed on the ground.

  And then, in a moment that made Jill certain she was in the middle of a massive hallucination—Tarin’s head rolled to the stairs, coming to a stop against the bottom step, face up.

  It was no longer Tarin’s head at all. Somewhere along the way, as the head rolled across the floor, it transformed itself, leaving Tarin behind, and turning into the head of another vampire, one who had come to visit Jill some two months before.

  “It’s okay, Jill,” said one of the men downstairs. He laid down his gun and pulled off his mask.

  “Phillip,” she whispered.

  The others removed their masks as well. Patrick Hall, Eve Belmont, Alvin Green…

  And one woman who didn’t wear a mask at all. Helena Fischer.

  “What are you guys doing here?” said Jill. “What’s happening?”

  Phillip was the first to approach.

  “No, stay back,” Jill said. “Something’s not right here.”

  “Look at the vampire, Jill,” Phillip said as he stepped towards the severed head at the bottom of the stairs. “Do you know her?”

  Jill glanced at the head, then looked away. It was too disturbing to look at. Too strange.

  “It looks like… Bernadette, but--”

  “It is Bernadette,” Phillip said. “It’s always been Bernadette.”

  “But Tarin--”

  “There is no Tarin. You’ve been compromised, Jill.”

  Compromised?

  “No,” Jill said. “That’s impossible. I’m immune, just like Nicky. I’m immune because…”

  Because I choose to do what’s right? Jill couldn’t even say the words. They sounded like such a lie to her now.

  Gingerly, Phillip stepped over the head and onto the bottom step. “Come down and talk to me,” he said softly, extending his hand.

  He was speaking to her like she had lost her mind.

  “I don’t believe any of this,” she said. “I’m just tired. I’ve been working myself too hard and I’m starting to crack. It happened at the cemetery.”

  “What happened at the cemetery?” Phillip said, taking another step.

  Jill shuddered as she remembered that horrifying night. Tarin going off into the bushes, a man screaming, two silhouettes in the darkness.

  “You’re talking about Meadlowlark Memorial, aren’t you Jill?” said Phillip. “The night you found the first clue. Bernadette was with you then.”

  “No she wasn’t. I was with Tarin.”

  She looked down at the head on the floor. The head that, until recently, she thought belonged to Tarin.

  “We were with you that night,” said Phillip. “Helena and I were parked a block away, watching through binoculars. We watched as Bernadette killed a man in the bushes.”

  Phillip took another step up the stairs. “She was with you when you went to the Monument as well,” he said. “How do you think you got in there in the middle of the night, Jill? The park ranger just opened the door for you both. Would he have done that if you weren’t with a vampire?”

  A vampire? This was impossible.

  “Tarin wasn’t a vampire,” Jill said. “He worked for the Network. He was my only contact. The rest of you abandoned me. None of my emails went through. None of my texts.”

  Phillip was only a few steps away from her. He stopped and squatted down. He was treating her like she was crazy.

  Maybe she was.

  “We got all your emails,” Phillip said. “Every message you sent. We didn’t respond because you were telling her everything. We didn’t want her to know about us.”

  Her. The head on the floor. Bernadette. Phillip was telling her that all this time, Tarin had been Bernadette.

  “It’s impossible,” Jill said. “Tarin knew things. He knew about the Network, about the mission. He knew about me.”

  “Bernadette knew things because you told her,” said Phillip. “You told all of us, too. The night after Helena and I left town, Bernadette came to your house. Do you remember that night?”

  “Of course I do,” said Jill. “It’s burned into my brain. I remember being frightened that this was the end. I remember watching her brainwash Zack into forgetting about me. I remember when she tried to talk to me—see, and this is where you’re wrong. Bernadette tried to get in my mind and she failed. I was too strong for her.”

  Phillip pulled a phone out from his pocket. “You hit triple zero on your phone that night,” he said. “You broadcast the entire exchange between you and Bernadette for the Network to hear. It was good thinking, Jill. Had you not done that, we wouldn’t have known what happened to you. And we’d probably all be dead.”

  Phillip pressed a button on his screen. A voice began playing out of the speakers on his phone. It sent a shiver down Jill’s spine.

  Jill, let’s make this easy. Tell me why I’m here.

  It was Bernadette. Hearing the voice, Jill felt the fear all over again. She saw Bernadette staring her in the face. She remembered trying all the tricks she knew to hold onto her own mind.

  Now she heard her own voice responding.

  I have no idea why you’re here, Ms. Paiz. I swear I’ve done nothing wrong.

  Jill felt vulnerable and exposed as she listened to that recording. She felt like the severed head of Bernadette Paiz was saying the words.

  She sensed the presence of the other Network agents, standing patiently on the ground floor, listening.

  There is something I’d really like to know about Nicky Bloom and you’re choosing to leave it out, came Berandette’s voice. Jill remembered this part. This was when her mind tried to answer Bernadette’s questions, but her mouth stayed shut. Tell it to me, Jill.

  She’s in the Network, Jill said to her. I am too.

  “No! It can’t be. I didn’t say that!”

  Phillip held up his hand, gently encouraging her to listen.

  I hacked the admissions database to put her here, Jill went on. We want to win the Coronation contest. We built a mansion so when Sergio comes to change Nicky into a vampire we can kill him.

  This wasn’t happening. How did that voice get on the recording?

  Jill remembered those words, remembered them clearly, in fact. They had been in her mind. When Bernadette was talking to her, she heard a voice yammering away in her brain. That voice was saying these exact words. But Jill had contained it!

  “I contained it,” she whispered.

  Everything went wrong, the recording continued. Melissa Mayhew found us out. She came to the mansion. She killed everyone there. I saw the footage from the security cameras.

  And on it went. Every word that Jill had heard in her mind that evening was captured on this recording, spoken in her own voice.

  Bernadette came back on, saying, This is all very interesting. Tell me more, please.

  Phillip paused the recording. “You broadcast that conversation to the entire Network,” he said. “It was how we knew you had been programmed.”

  “But I wasn’t programmed,” Jill said. “Even if what you played for me is true, I wasn’t programmed. I just gave away some secrets.”

  Phillip came all the way up to the landing now. He took Jill by the hand.

  “Let’s go to your bedroom,” he said. “You’ll want to be sitting down when you hear the rest of this.”

  Chapter 47

  You are mine, Jill Wentworth. From this moment on, you are mine. Do you understand?

  Bernadette’s voice was low and intense in the recording. It was painful to hear.


  Painful because it was real. Even though she had no conscious memory of the conversation she was hearing, somehow, Jill knew it had happened. It was like strange, vivid déjà vu. Listening to it, Jill felt like she was reliving a painful memory from her past.

  I understand, said the Jill in the recording.

  That Jill was already lost. Her voice was in a monotone. Her mind was putty in Bernadette’s hands.

  From this moment on, you will listen to the commands I tell you. Should another vampire try to program you or see in your mind, you will resist them. You will hide what I have told you so deep that it cannot be found. Do you understand?

  I understand.

  This includes Renata’s group hypnosis during the Rose Ransom. When her performance begins, you will recognize it for what it is, and you will repel her attempts to control your mind. Do you understand?

  I understand.

  Jill felt like she was going to be sick. All this time, she thought she was strong enough to resist Bernadette, to resist the Rose Ransom performance. Now she was learning it was all a lie.

  I’m glad to have a spy on my side, and from what you’ve told me, it sounds like you are very good with computers. Am I correct?

  You are correct.

  Are you so good that you could hack into the computer of an immortal?

  If you give me enough time, there is no computer I can’t crack open.

  She had been a pawn in some scheme. Bernadette had been using her, just as Walter had used her mother.

  Renata is up to something, Bernadette said. She has betrayed the clan, but I don’t know why. I suspect she is working with one of our enemies. If you hacked into her computer, do you think you could find out what she’s doing?

  These days, you’re more likely to find the truth about someone if you hack into their phone, said Jill.

  Her voice was so dull and lifeless in the recording. She couldn’t believe this happened to her. Not only did she do a vampire’s work, but she helped the vampire figure out the right work to do.

  The phone? said Bernadette. You can hack into a phone?

  It is just a miniature computer, said Jill.

  Yes, then we could hear her conversations.

  And read her text messages. And her email, said Jill.

  It’s perfect, said Bernadette. But how would I access the phone once you’ve hacked into it?

  A powerful laptop is what you need, said Jill. I can sync the phone and laptop together so that everything that happens on the phone shows up on the laptop.

  I would be able to see and hear what’s happening?

  You would know everything.

  And there would be no way for Renata to know I was spying on her?

  I can do the hack in a way that it’s impossible for Renata to find out.

  Lovely, Jill Wentwoth. Just lovely. It sounds like you and I will be working together for a little while. Are you excited?

  I am.

  Here is how it will go. From this moment on, when you look at me, you do not see a vampire. You see a human, a human you trust.

  I see a human I trust.

  The human you see looks nothing like me.

  I see a human who looks nothing like you at all, said Jill.

  And now the fun part, said Bernadette. You get to make me up in your mind. Imagine a human you would trust with your life. That’s who I am. Imagine a face, a body, a disposition, and a name you can believe in.

  Jill was shaking violently as she listened. The recording was almost too much to bear.

  It all made sense now. Everything that was strange about Tarin, his charisma, his charm, his ability to do almost anything…

  In her mind, Jill had made Bernadette into a sort of superhuman who could do no wrong.

  I’m sure we will have need to meet several times over the next few months, said Bernadette. When we do, it’s up to you to make our relationship work. If ever I say anything that rubs you wrong, if ever you start to doubt me, you are to make up a story in your mind that makes you trust me again.

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” Jill said. “Did this really happen?”

  “It’s okay,” said Phillip, rubbing her back with his hand. “It’s over now.”

  She remembered that first meeting with Tarin, when she didn’t want to do the hack. At that meeting, Tarin told her one of the most personal, intimate details about her life. He recounted for her, word for word, her passionate Internet diatribes as the Marsh Hawk.

  He had regained her trust by telling her he admired her work.

  God, she was so shallow! A vampire tells her to create a person she can trust, and she makes a handsome young man with big muscles, a glowing smile, and a long-held admiration for her work!

  We’ll get Renata’s phone at the Ransom ceremony, Bernadette said. You’ll need to create a story about me that puts both of us in Renata’s mansion at the same time. Ooo…I know…maybe I can be a spy, just like you.

  You are a spy, just like me.

  And maybe I’m on a mission in Renata’s mansion. Can you make yourself believe that?

  I can.

  Have fun with it, Jill. Make me into someone you’re glad to see. When all of this is over, I’ll probably have to kill you. It’s much more pleasant to be killed by somebody you like. Do you understand?

  I understand.

  I want you to go back to your normal life now. I want you to forget we had this conversation. Come up with a story to reconcile it all in your mind. Your boyfriend is gone, you don’t want to run away anymore, you want to stick around and be a student at Thorndike, at least until you and I are finished.

  I will make up a story.

  Jill leaned into Phillip, too weak to even sit up and listen. The story Jill had made up to reconcile everything in her mind was that Bernadette failed to hypnotize her. She had been so proud of herself. So certain that her little mantra about choosing to do what’s right had made her immune to the vampires.

  What was worse was that she had handed over her own mother to a vampire. Now Jill doubted that Carolyn really had been deprogrammed. Clearly, Bernadette had added at least one new layer of hypnosis in Carolyn’s mind—after all, when Carolyn looked at Bernadette she saw Tarin, just like Jill! Was Carolyn seeing the same Tarin that Jill saw, or was she creating her own version?

  Was Carolyn really a work addict who had to fly to Seattle when she had nothing to do, or had Bernadette programmed her to work her tail off day and night?

  I think we’re done here, Jill. I’ll come back to speak with you when I’m ready. This is going to be so much fun!

  Phillip pressed a button on his screen to end the recording. As soon as he did, Jill began to cry.

  “It’s alright,” Phillip whispered, his arm tight around her shoulders. “It’s over. Bernadette is dead. You’re one of us again.”

  Chapter 48

  That night, Patrick dumped Bernadette’s body and head in the Potomac. The next morning, Phillip, Helena, and Alvin undid as much of the damage to Jill’s house as they could. While they worked downstairs, cleaning the floors, hanging new drywall, and repainting the walls, Jill spent the day in her mother’s study, talking to Gordon Krause.

  “Well, a lot certainly has happened since you and your mother came to visit me in Landover,” Gordon said.

  “It was so strange, Gordon. You know, I convinced myself that my hypnosis session with you made me strong enough to resist a vampire.”

  “In the end, you may find that it did.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have found, over the years, that the stronger a person’s sense of self, the easier it is to perform the deprogramming.”

  “I don’t know about my sense of self,” said Jill. “I feel like I don’t know who I am at all right now.”

  “That will change,” said Gordon. “Shall we begin?”

  Gordon took her into a state of relaxation, just as he had done in his house. When Jill was deep in hypnosis, he
began reciting the commands Bernadette put in her mind, commands he had transcribed directly from the recording on Phillip’s phone. It was a tiring experience, rather like pulling weeds. With every command they found, Gordon taught her to recognize it as foreign and remove it from her mind. As they went command by command, the landscape of Jill’s memory began to change. She could feel her mind growing, memories from deep in her subconscious coming to the surface.

  It was liberating to have her mind opened up like this. She felt like she was stepping out of a long, vivid dream, and was more than ready to go back to reality.

  “When I snap my fingers, you will open your eyes and come back to the present, feeling awake and alert.”

  Gordon snapped his fingers. Jill opened her eyes on a brand new world.

  “It was all fiction,” she said. “Every memory with Tarin.”

  “You are not the first to describe it that way,” said Gordon. “Please, sit still and take a moment to acclimate to your new reality. Search your mind. Separate fact from fantasy.”

  All the scenes from her memory with Tarin, scenes that had once seemed real, were more distant now. She recognized that they weren’t reality. They were like scenes she had put there herself, like she had read them in a book.

  And in place of those fictional scenes was a new reality, one where Jill was in constant contact with Bernadette.

  “I had her phone number,” Jill said. “I called her every night to tell her about things that were happening at school, to talk about the Rose Ransom clues, to update her on the hack. That’s how she always knew to come at the right moment.”

  “At the right moment?”

  “Yes! It was like, whenenver I needed Tarin, that’s when he showed up. But Bernadette only came to my house when….”