What did he do to you?
She went silent, and for a moment I thought she wouldn’t answer, but she broke her silence with a heavy sigh. Did you know that I’m afraid of the enclosed spaces?
Like closets or basements or elevators?
Yeah. Like that. Whenever he finished teaching me some new trick or part of my power, he would always test me on it to make sure I could do it without him. His tests always made me nervous and I did poorly a lot of the time. Well, whenever I would fail his tests, he would drag me by the arm, kicking and screaming, to this closet he had in the hallway near his study. He would open the door, shove me inside, and slam the door closed, locking it from the outside. There was no light inside so it was pitch black, and I would start to panic and I couldn’t breathe and it would feel like the walls were slowly closing in on me.
How long did he leave you in there?
For hours, she said flatly. I would pound on the doors and beg for him to let me out. I’d tell him I was sorry, that I would do better next time if he would just let me out. Whenever he would start to walk away, that panic would kick in even more, and I’d start to scratch and claw at the door until my fingernails bled and chipped away.
I was speechless. That Andrew could ever bring himself to do that to someone he was supposed to love and protect was nauseating. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Tabitha—no more than a little girl at the time—to go through something like that. She would have had nobody to turn to if her grandmother had already been dead. She would have been all alone with those horrors, and it would have no doubt shaped Tabitha into the girl she was when we first met.
I’m so sorry for what happened to you, I said finally. I can’t even begin to imagine what hell that would have been. Even my worst foster home wasn’t that bad. Knowing this makes me so thankful for the home Alan and Susan gave me. I wish you could have had something like that. Something normal to hang on to, to make things okay.
Be careful about what you tell me, Ronnie, Tabitha said, her voice sounding dead and flat. There’s no telling what I could do with that information.
Alan and Susan are long gone. They’re safe out of harm’s way, and they’ll stay that way until I get control of my body back. Then, I’m going to go home and tell them how thankful I am that they saved me, which is something I’ve never done before. I wish I had though. I wish they knew.
All I could do was hope I got the chance to tell them before it was too late…
*****
More than an hour and a half passed after our talk, and Tabitha and I sat alone in silence as the minutes ticked by. She refused to talk to me anymore, and I was left alone with my thoughts, which were thankfully not as dark as they had been earlier. Just remembering the callous way I had thought about controlling Kevin earlier had my stomach clenching again.
That wasn’t me. That wasn’t who I was. I had been fighting that darkness for so long, doing whatever was necessary to keep that evil in check. But I had opened myself up to it earlier when I tried to smash through the barrier Tabitha placed around my own mind. I had let all of that potential evil take root, and now I had to make sure I deprived it of everything it needed to grow.
I would not let myself become everything that I had been fighting.
The door opened—saving me from my troubled thoughts—and the Mayor stepped in. He had a bright smile on his face, and he looked much more relaxed than he had earlier. Behind him was his sorcerer bodyguard, who I couldn’t help but notice looked much less at ease than his boss. He glanced from Tabitha to the Mayor and back again, and I figured he was probably looking for some sign that Tabitha wasn’t going to sell him out to save herself. He still didn’t know that I wasn’t the one making the calls, and I had no way to warn him.
“Are we feeling more compliant?” The Mayor asked as the door closed securely behind them.
“Yes,” Tabitha said softly. “I did a lot of thinking while you were gone.”
“That’s good,” he said happily. “See, I don’t want to hurt you, Veronica. I just want to ask you some things, and if you give me the answers I want to hear, you’ll be free to leave when we’re done.”
“See, that’s the problem. I’m not Ronnie.”
The sorcerer froze in his tracks and his eyes widened as he took Tabitha in one more time. The Mayor didn’t seem to understand what she was saying though, because his forehead crinkled and his lips turned down in a frown. He may have been a part of the supernatural world, but he didn’t belong to it, and he couldn’t possibly know every little thing about us.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“I’m her sister, Tabitha. I’m just stopping by while I take care of some things.”
The Mayor stared at her for a second, as if he was trying to decide whether or not he believed her. It seemed like he was leaning more towards no.
“If you’re her sister, then where is Veronica?”
“She’s here. Locked away in her own mind so she can’t interfere with my plans. She’s aware of what’s going on though, and she can hear everything we’re saying. She actually gave me some good advice before you came back. She told me to just go along with whatever you wanted, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
The Mayor glanced back at the sorcerer, who was still in shock. “Is it possible?”
“Yes,” he answered slowly. “Veronica is a necromancer, and it makes sense that any sister of hers would be as well. If she died, she would be able to possess any body she wanted to. It wouldn’t be too hard for any powerful necromancer to do.”
“Why did you choose your sister?” the Mayor asked.
“I chose her because she was the one who killed me. And I had unfinished plans that involved her and some of those damn friends of hers. Using her body was just the easiest way to get what I wanted. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be working as well as I hoped.”
“Were you the necromancer that caused a panic in my town?”
“Yes,” Tabitha said. “But I was just trying to get Ronnie’s attention, and that was the easiest way for me to make sure I wasn’t ignored.”
“You caused rioting in my streets. Fighting broke out between friends and neighbors, people began looting the shops downtown, and people were terrified that the end of the world was upon us. There were six suicides. Six. All because of what you did.” The Mayor’s voice had risen with each word until he was nearly shouting, but now it lowered to a venomous drawl. “And you’re telling me that you only did it for the attention?”
“Well, despite what you probably think, not every supernatural person knows where their compound is, so it was the only guaranteed way to get noticed. And it worked. I was on every single TV screen across the world. People were glued to the screen, waiting to see what would happen next, and I was single-handedly responsible for exposing our world and the evil within it. Now everybody knows what we’re capable of, and they’ll always wonder if today will be the day we take over.”
“That will never happen,” the Mayor said, but he didn’t sound too sure.
“There are enough of us to beat any army the world could scrape together. Trust me. We have far more power, we live much longer, and we’re much harder to kill. Just look at me. I died, yet here I am, ready to finish my plans as if nothing happened. It wouldn’t be too hard for us to take over and seize control of the world.”
“Not nearly enough of you share that view,” the sorcerer said. “Most of us don’t want what you’re offering, and you’ll never convince them to join your cause. We liked being in the shadows because we could live without fear and judgment, and you’ve taken that from us. Don’t think for one second that you have many friends in the supernatural community.”
“I may not, but you do, don’t you?” Tabitha asked slyly, narrowing her eyes at him.
Tabitha! Think about his daughter.
She ignored me while the Mayor and his sorcerer exchanged glances.
I don’t have a fath
er, she said. Why should she get one?
Don’t be a vindictive little bitch. Don’t inflict the pain we’ve experienced on an innocent little girl.
You think I’m a bitch? Well, I’ll show you just how much of a bitch I can be!
I thought she would expose the sorcerer, but instead, she began gathering power from deep within herself. I had used power just like it during my rooftop fight with Andrew, and I had no doubts about what power like this could do. And I was absolutely helpless to stop her or even warn the sorcerer and the Mayor. All I could do was sit back and watch as the power gathered at her fingertips, starting out the size of a bouncy ball and ending the size of a blow-up beach ball.
It all happened so fast that I would have missed it if I had blinked. One second we were confined to the chair, at the mercy of the Mayor, and the next second the shed exploded in a blinding burst of muddy brown light. Long splinters of wood the size of knives flew in all directions, becoming dangerous missiles that impaled the two guards standing watch outside the shed. We would have been impaled as well if Tabitha hadn’t summoned a shield around us at the last possible second, causing the wood to disintegrate on contact.
The shed was in ruins; a single wall remained standing behind us. The rest of it lay scattered in pieces around the yard, while the two bodyguards that had been standing outside the door were moaning in the mud, slowly choking on their own blood. Gray wisps of smoke rose from the wood in swirling clouds, and it reminded me of what a battlefield might look like after a devastating fight, or a small atomic bomb.
A bright shield of light caught my attention, and when it came down, it revealed an unscathed sorcerer and Mayor. The sorcerer watched Tabitha with hesitation, never taking his eyes off of her, but the Mayor surveyed the damage around him with wide eyes that betrayed his fear. He may have never truly been intimidated by me, but Tabitha had shown him what our real power looked like where I hadn’t, and he did not like what he saw.
He was afraid of what someone like us might do, but beneath all of that fresh fear, I could see a hint of the man I knew. He was trying to calculate the best possible way for him to use Tabitha’s power to his advantage. Even in the face of fear, he was still trying to find a way to get ahead. He was a fool if he honestly thought he could get Tabitha to do anything that would benefit someone other than herself.
I almost hoped he was stupid enough to try and use her. Then she could destroy him and I wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. Best case scenario, they could take each other out, and I wouldn’t have to worry about either of them. Of course, the only way for him to take her out would be to take me out, too. Then Tabitha would just find a new host and I’d still be dead, which wouldn’t really solve anything.
Well, you just killed two people, but the Mayor is still alive. So congratulations on being a murderer, I guess.
I’m not done yet, she promised.
The two dead bodyguards that had finally stopped breathing began to twitch. Their fingers clawed the ground, and their necks snapped to the side, focusing their empty eyes on the Mayor. Slowly they got to their feet, swaying on stiff, unsteady legs. The pair made a fearsome sight; blood spread across their clothing and torn flesh hung from their faces where the explosion had ripped it away, leaving the bone beneath visible.
As they began to shuffle forward, the Mayor finally caught sight of them, and he let out a choked scream. He backed away as far as the remaining wall would let him go, as if a few extra feet of distance would save him. His remaining bodyguard took a defensive position in front of him, ready to fight not for the Mayor, but for his captive daughter. I wondered if he would die here if it meant the Mayor never found out about his betrayal.
The sorcerer grabbed the Mayor’s shoulder and shoved him toward the house. “Run! Don’t look back. I’ve got this.” Before he was even done speaking, the Mayor was already running. He didn’t need to be told to save his own ass more than once. He rounded the side of the house as fast as his fat legs would carry him, and as he disappeared from view, we could still hear his labored breathing, huffing and puffing long after he was gone.
As the sorcerer eyed the approaching zombies, his hands began to glow with a bright light. “Call them off,” he said. “I’ll untie you, and you can carry on with your plans. They’re of no concern to me.”
Tabitha smiled, and the zombies stopped in their tracks, mere feet from a trembling sorcerer. “You’ve never been up close and personal with a zombie before, have you? Don’t worry; they make everyone upset at first. Ronnie still has nightmares about them.”
The sorcerer grabbed a knife from his back pocket and unfolded it. “I don’t blame her. They’re frightening. Don’t they ever scare you?” he asked as he cut the first tie around her wrist.
“Nope. I got over my fears a long time ago. My dad raised me to be strong.”
“I believe you.” He cut the remaining tie and quickly stepped back, away from the frozen zombies. Tabitha began to massage her wrists, which were red and chafed. “You should get out of here while you still can. The fire department is on its way, and when word of a fire at the Mayor’s house gets out, the news cameras will be here as well. You shouldn’t be here when that happens.”
“I thought you and Ronnie were allies. Why aren’t you stopping me?” Tabitha asked. “Did you realize she’s a whiny brat?”
“All I care about is my daughter. As long as you don’t put her in danger, I don’t give a shit what happens between you and Ronnie. I’m sure she understands that. Now get out of here, before I make you leave.”
Tabitha flicked her wrist and the zombies dropped to the ground, nothing more than corpses once again. I watched the sorcerer take off after his master, and I wished he would turn back around and help free me. But I thought about what he said, and I realized he was doing what was right for himself, and I couldn’t ask any more. He said I would understand.
And I did.
Chapter Thirteen
Ezra was waiting for us just inside the Compound door. He was tapping his foot impatiently and his arms were crossed over his chest. When Tabitha tried to slide around him, he stepped in her path, blocking her way. “You’ll never guess who wants to see you,” Ezra said tightly. “They’re furious with you, Ronnie. What the hell happened?”
“It was nothing I couldn’t handle. Now get out of my way so I can get this over with.” As Tabitha went to step around him, Ezra grabbed her wrist and yanked her back, refusing to let her just leave. “Let go of me,” Tabitha said each word slowly and deliberately, refusing to look away from Ezra.
“What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting weird lately.”
Tabitha looked down, just like she knew I would. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she mumbled.
He narrowed his eyes, really studying her face, looking for any sign of his friend. “You think I’m the only one that’s noticed? I’m not. Finn and I have talked about it. Lisa saw it, too. I know she did. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“There’s nothing going on. Now leave me alone. My day has sucked enough without this. Let me go.”
“Ronnie, I’m your friend, and I want you to talk to me. Just let me help you. That’s all I want, that’s what Tanya would want me to do. Please, don’t shove your friends away. Whatever you’re going through, you don’t have to do it alone.”
Tabitha wrenched her arm from Ezra’s grasp. “You can’t help me with this. None of you can. You know why? Because you can’t possibly understand what I’m going through. You don’t understand what I’ve had to do, and what it’s done to me. Now leave me alone.”
Ezra frowned, but Tabitha turned on her heel and fled before he could argue further. She left him standing in the open doorway, and I was left wondering how I would begin to repair the damage she had done to my friendships. Would a simple explanation be sufficient enough to mend it all, or would I have to do more to prove I was still their loyal friend? Tabitha was causing me and my friends
so many problems, and I just hoped none of them would blame me for letting it happen.
Do you have any idea how much trouble we’re in? I asked her. The Council is going to be furious with us.
We’ll be fine. That Council likes you far too much to let anything bad happen to you. You always seem to manage to talk your way out of trouble.
That Council does not like me, I said, surprised she could possibly think so. Kevin wants to have me killed, or to possibly do it himself. And Lisa is pretty ambivalent towards me. Only Marcel actually seems to like me, but he’s just one man, and if it came down to a vote, I’d be a goner for sure.
Huh. I just figured you were their pet or something.
No, I’m not. They’ll probably get rid of me the second my usefulness is at an end. So please don’t do anything stupid to get me in trouble. If they kill me, you’ll have to find another suitable host, and good luck finding someone close enough to the Council and my friends for you to complete your plans, whatever the rest of those plans may be.
Don’t worry. I won’t do anything too stupid.
Tabitha—
She shoved open the double doors leading to the Council’s meeting room, and three pairs of furious eyes stared down at me, cold and calculating. Even Marcel looked angry with me, which was something I had never really seen before. Even throughout my worst moments in this room, he had always been kind and understanding, never jumping to conclusions or judgment. He had treated me as an equal, maybe even as a friend.
But one look at him, and I knew I would not be getting that treatment today.
Surprisingly, Lisa was the first to start. She clasped her hands in front of her and leaned forward, looking down at me from her place behind their table. “You have quite a bit of explaining to do, Veronica. News stations around the country are running wild with theories of a possible supernatural attack on the Mayor. He’s made his anti-supernatural stance well known since the very day Tabitha saw fit to expose us, and many belief that what happened today was a direct retaliation for those beliefs.”
Dark Heritage Trilogy Page 52
