Birthright

by A. P. Jensen

Chapter Six

  Jordan was in the peach colored room. Chocolate brown couches were overturned, stuffing strewn everywhere. The soothing sound of running water clashed with the violent destruction of the room. Jordan’s broken body lay on the floor and her face was unrecognizable. William stood over her, a splatter of red marring his perfect white shirt. His fists bore the evidence of her beating and he leaned over her, waiting for her to return to consciousness. Slowly, she opened one swollen eye.

  “Are you ready to yield?” he asked in a crooning tone.

  She made no reply. Every inch of her body screamed in agony. She lay very still and stared up at William’s face. His blonde hair was sleeked back, not a hair out of place. His eyes weren’t full of evil as they should have been. They were calm, almost tranquil, but Jordan saw the fleeting moments of madness that came and went. William leaned down and set his warm cheek to her icy one and nuzzled. A cut on her cheek reopened and blood sealed their skin together. Jordan shuddered and let out a whimper. William made a sound of reassurance and drew away to look down at her with a paternal expression of concern. His cheek dripped with her blood.

  “I can give you everything you’ve ever wanted. All you have to do is trust me. Yield to me and I can take all of your pain away.”

  Jordan swallowed the blood in her mouth. “Go to hell.”

  William’s eyes narrowed. He rose and looked down at her body, which was bent at an odd angle.

  “So be it,” he said and raised his shiny shoe.

  Jordan sat up and for a moment, she had no idea where she was or why she was sleeping in a bathtub. The shirt she wore was soaked with sweat. The familiar pain was back full force, raking her senses unbearably. She fell out of the tub and stumbled into the bedroom, staring around with desperate eyes for the jeans she’d worn. She yanked out the prescription bottle with clumsy hands, slick with perspiration. She nearly sobbed with panic as she finally got the cap off and tossed it. She held out a hand and shook the contents out. Only one white pill appeared on her palm. Not enough.

  She downed the pill and left the bedroom. She stumbled down the narrow staircase to the kitchen. She reached up towards the wooden cabinets, which normally contained canned goods, dishes and medication for the common headache or cold. Instead, she found the shelves empty of even one stray coffee cup.

  “Jordan.”

  She whirled and saw Mr. Parker standing at the foot of the stairs. Jordan panted for breath as if she’d run a marathon. One hand clasped her chest. Her eyes glowed silver in the faint moonlight.

  “I need pills. Anything. Now,” she hissed and moved towards the island for support when her legs began to shake.

  He made no move to assist her. Desperation scalded her throat and when she spoke, her voice was deep as if she were possessed by a demon.

  “You don’t understand. You don’t know what I can do.” Her eyes pleaded and demanded he give her the one thing that could keep the monster within her leashed.

  “I know exactly what you can do.”

  “No! You don’t know!” she shrieked, voice breaking as fire burned her chest.

  She hunched over the island in agony. The cold marble of the island went hot beneath her touch. She threw herself backwards and turned towards the double doors that led out to the backyard. As she reached for the door handle, the glass panes shattered. Hands gripped her shoulders and it felt as if someone were twisting a knife between her shoulder blades. She whirled with her fist balled, but Mr. Parker already released her. He shook his hand, which was red as if he dipped it in a pot of boiling water.

  “What the-”

  Heath appeared in the hallway that led from the kitchen to the formal living room at the front of the house. He stared at Jordan who shook uncontrollably, standing barefoot on shards of glass.

  “It’s time,” Mr. Parker said.

  “You’re doing it now?” Heath asked.

  “Yes. Now.”

  Mr. Parker held up a hand and started purposefully towards Jordan. Terrified and sensing danger, she tried to back away, but found she couldn’t. She tried with all her might to move as Mr. Parker advanced with a forbidding expression on his face. Her head began to swim as the pain escalated.

  Kelly appeared between Mr. Parker and Jordan. She was dressed in a bright pink nightgown with old-fashioned curlers in her hair. She held out a placating hand towards her husband who stopped, glaring at her.

  “Get out of my way.”

  “Do you know what you’re doing? Maybe we should call Mary Ann or Gideon,” Kelly said.

  “There isn’t time,” he said impatiently and stepped so close, their faces were only a foot apart. “This needs to be done.”

  For a long moment, the couple stared at one another. In the hallway, Heath waited for instructions. Kelly hung her head and moved to the side, giving Mr. Parker access to Jordan whose eyes began to roll back in her head from the overwhelming pain.

  “Leave us,” Mr. Parker said.

  Kelly and Heath backed out of the room as the chandelier above the dining table began to glow and shiver, glass tinkling ominously. The doors shuddered and splintered. A drip of sweat trickled down Mr. Parker’s temple as the room began to heat. Jordan’s hands curled into claws. When he heard the wooden floorboards crackle beneath his feet, he moved forward and placed his hand over Jordan’s heart.

  Pain crashed through both of them, but he didn’t pull away this time. Jordan’s head snapped up. She stared into Mr. Parker’s face, the dark blue of her eyes gone, replaced by a merciless black that promised death. Mr. Parker stared into William Stan’s eyes and closed his eyes as Jordan’s first scream of torment split the night air.

  Her throat ached. She lay flat on her back, staring up at a dome made of glass. In the middle of the dome was an Olympic sized pool surrounded by wooden benches. Sunlight poured through the glass, warming the tiles beneath her. She squinted and let out a low moan. Every inch of her ached.

  She turned and saw Mr. Parker sitting on a bench. Neither moved for almost a minute. Jordan was the first to break the staring contest. She tried to push herself into a sitting position and sagged back to the floor as her arms gave out. When her eyes widened in alarm, Mr. Parker got up. Jordan let out a strangled sound and tried to scoot away when he reached out. He clasped her shoulders with his hands and she braced herself for the pain his touch would evoke, but there was none. He set her against a bench and settled beside her.

  Memories began to surface, although most of them were blurred and unfocused. She lifted a hand to her chest and pressed at the sharp pain there. Her heart beat slowly, sluggishly as if she were recovering from… something. She glanced at his hands and for the first time, saw the laurel leaf tattoo circling his left wrist.

  “What did you do to me?” Jordan whispered.

  “Saved your life.”

  “Feels like you almost killed me.”

  “Almost,” he agreed.

  “What’d you do?”

  “Have you ever heard of a soul tie?” he asked in that still distant tone.

  “No,” Jordan said curtly, trying to remember what occurred after he ordered everyone out of the kitchen. She remembered his approach, the pain and nothing else.

  Mr. Parker turned his head to look at her. “William created a soul tie with you. I broke it. Do you know what that means?”

  She shook her head.

  “William believed that by taking a piece of you, by leeching onto your soul, you could keep him sane.”

  Jordan shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “You know I’m telling the truth,” he said and his voice was cold. “You know he did something to you, that you’re missing something.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jordan said through clenched teeth.

  Anger burned in his eyes. “Don’t you?”

  Mr. Parker rose and walked to the Olympic sized pool and spread his arms wide. The water in the pool began to s
olidify. Ice appeared at the edges of the water and rapidly progressed to the middle. When the pool was as solid as an ice pond, Mr. Parker stepped onto it and faced her.

  Jordan’s head swam. She clasped her knees to her chest and tucked her face between her legs. When she heard no sound, she looked up and found Mr. Parker sitting across from her, back against the wall of the dome so they faced each other.

  “Your time’s up. I need answers,” he said.

  Jordan tensed, waiting for him to pressure her. It was how William- she blocked that thought. Mr. Parker wasn’t William. He hadn’t hurt her… yet. She searched within herself for that place she would go to when reality was too much, when she needed calm she didn’t feel. She cloaked herself in ice and took a deep breath. She wished she had pills to slow the frantic beat of her heart.

  “What do you want to know?” she asked.

  “Who introduced you to William?”

  Jordan’s face tightened. “Catherine.”

  “Who is she and how does she come into this?”

  “She took me from the asylum. She collects the kids and brings them to Haven. She’s the right hand man for the Master of Haven.”

  “Have you ever met the Master?”

  Jordan couldn’t hide her fear. “Yes.”

  “Are there a lot of kids in Haven?”

  “I would say at least fifty, but they keep us locked up so it’s hard to tell. I was doped up most of the time. They keep us on a pill that makes you forget everything.”

  Mr. Parker’s eyes narrowed. “They gave you pills?”

  Jordan held up her thumb and pointer finger to demonstrate how tiny the pill was. “It was blue. One every morning.”

  He stared at her for a long moment before he stood. He reached into the pocket of his sweats and opened his palm. On his hand, smaller than a dime, was the blue pill Jordan knew so well. Without thought, she reached out to take the pill from him. Before she could get her hands on it, he pocketed the pill, clearly troubled.

  “Why do you have it? You could’ve given it to me last night! That pill is the only thing that makes the pain go away.”

  Mr. Parker stared at her until she fell silent. For some reason, shame bloomed within her. Just seeing the pill made her body itch as if she had a rash. She tried not to stare at his pocket.

  “Were you taking drugs before Haven?” Mr. Parker asked.

  “No.”

  “Then why did you start?”

  Jordan met his eyes. “In the beginning, I didn’t have a choice. In the end, I didn’t care either way.”

  “That pill suppresses power.”

  “Power?”

  “You know what I’m talking about.”

  Jordan opened her mouth and then closed it. The time for denial was long gone. “That’s what you call what we can do?”

  “Power, magic, gifts, intuition, luck, energy, insight… It’s all the same.”

  “Does everyone have it?” she asked, looking away from his dissecting gaze.

  “No. People that possess magic inherit it during puberty. Some people go their whole lives never knowing it’s there. Those like you, like me, we have more than the average person... Our power won’t let us deny it.”

  “You make it sound like,” Jordan waved her hands, “like a person or something.”

  “Our power has a mind of its own. You know that already.” He raised his brows. “Did you mean to blast the back doors to splinters? You melted most of my chandelier. Did you or did your power do that?”

  Jordan paled. “I didn’t mean to. When the pain-”

  He waved off her apology. “I’m just pointing out that you don’t control your power. Untrained and uneducated, your power controls you.”

  “The pain I feel,” she began and paused. “My power, why does it hurt? The only way to make the pain go away is to take pills- lots of them. Is there another way?”

  “You need to use your power. That’s the only way the pain will stop.”

  She looked stricken.

  “Your power will regenerate throughout the day. You need to use it because your body can’t contain it. Letting it build up causes pain.”

  Jordan pressed a hand to her buzzing temples and rubbed slowly. Use her power when all she’d done with it was destroy?

  “I need to know about William.”

  Jordan’s shoulders hunched defensively before she could stop herself. She straightened and met his gaze. “What do you want to know?”

  “How long have you known William?”

  “Two months.” It was the worst two months of her life and she would do anything to erase the memories from her mind.

  “What did he tell you?”

  Jordan swallowed and tried to push away the memories that wanted to choke her. “William said I was special. He said if I obeyed, he would give me what I wanted.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Freedom.”

  “What did he tell you to do?”

  “Relax,” Jordan said.

  “Relax, honey, this won’t hurt,” William crooned.

  “But, what am I supposed to do?” Jordan asked.

  “Think happy thoughts.”

  Jordan shot him a scornful glance. “Happy thoughts?”

  “You’re lying in a hammock on a beach. There’s a cool breeze coming in from the ocean. You’re watching the sun set. The sky is pink and yellow and you’re on the verge of sleep…”

  “Jordan?”

  She stared at Mr. Parker blankly. She could hear William’s voice as clear as if he sat beside her. She shook her head to banish the memories of how he manipulated her.

  “What did he do to you?”

  “He would paint these pictures in my mind to put me into a trance.” Jordan shivered and ran her hands feverishly up and down her arms. “When I relaxed, I could feel his power moving in me, rifling through me-” she stopped and shook her head. “I know that sounds stupid.”

  “It doesn’t. He linked your minds together so you could Ground him. Men like William have so much power, it takes a toll on their sanity. The only way to save themselves is to find a woman that can handle their power.”

  “Why’d he pick me?”

  Mr. Parker’s jaw clenched. “Either he sensed how powerful you are or he knew you were mine.”

  “What does that have to do with- Oh.” Her eyes widened.

  He rose and paced. “Catherine took you out of the psych hospital and faked your death so they could take you to Haven. They put you on the pill to tamp down your power until they could use you.”

  “Why would William think I could handle his power?” Jordan asked slowly.

  His jaw flexed. “Sorcerers have an instinct where powerful women are concerned. Being my daughter makes you a good candidate to handle his power.”

  Jordan opened her mouth to ask who knew she was his daughter, but decided not to when she saw his face.

  “Are there many men like William? Men with too much power?” Just the thought of more men like William made her skin creep.

  Mr. Parker’s jaw clenched. “No. There’s less than twenty on the whole planet.”

  “That’s comforting,” Jordan muttered and then asked, “Even if he knew I was your daughter, so what? There must be someone other than me.”

  “Women that can handle that much power are called Grounders. They’re… guarded in my world. Rare.”

  Jordan absorbed this slowly. “But, I didn’t save him.”

  “What?”

  “Once I realized what he was doing, I fought back…” Jordan’s voice faded.

  He sat up straighter. “Tell me.”

  There was no sympathy in his gaze and somehow, that allowed her to explain. “He punished me for fighting him. Pain brought my guards down. I didn’t know- didn’t believe I could-” she shook her head. “I could feel the essence of him in me. His energy is warped, like sandpaper against my heart. It felt as if he was trying to take me over. It- I
can’t do it again.” Her back ached because she sat so stiff.

  “How did you end up in Walmart that day?” Mr. Parker asked.

  Her hands fidgeted in her lap. “I ran away from Haven. I couldn’t drive anymore because of the pain. I ran into Walmart to get some pills and he found me.”

  “And that’s when he tied your souls together with power,” Mr. Parker said thoughtfully. “You didn’t save his sanity, but you handled his power. Not many women could.”

  Something in his voice made her ask, “Did you know him?”

  Mr. Parker didn’t answer for several seconds. “Yes. He is- was a very important man.”

  Her mouth went dry. “Important?”

  “He was what you would call a President. His death and the circumstances surrounding it have thrown our government into chaos. He was well liked by everyone. People want an answer, which means they want you. Penn managed to keep your name a secret, but the footage from the cameras in the store were released to the media today. Penn is doing all he can to make sure no one knows your identity.”

  Fear flooded through her. “If they do find out who I am will they take me-?”

  “No.”

  “But-”

  “No one can touch you. The fact that you’re dead helps.”

  “But what if-”

  “You’re safe here. Right now, we concentrate on teaching you how to control your power, how to harness it. ”

  “We? A-all of you are-”

  For the first time, a smile drifted across his lips. “You have no idea.”

  “Why is Mr. Penn helping?” Jordan asked, rubbing her aching chest.

  “It’s his job and he’s an old friend of the family.”

  Jordan hesitated. “The soul tie… he kept it on me even in death?”

  He gave a curt nod. “I severed the physical bonds he had on you. When the soul tie is new, it keeps other males with power from making physical contact with you.”

  “That’s why you had to wear gloves,” Jordan said slowly and glanced down at his bare hands.

  “Breaking your tie depleted me. I wear gloves a lot so there are no accidents.” He noted her labored breathing. “It’ll take time for you to recover.”

  Jordan pressed a hand to her chest where her heart beat sluggishly. Mr. Parker watched her with fathomless black eyes.

  “Once you break a soul tie with someone, your soul is never complete again.”

  When she said nothing else, Mr. Parker rose and started towards the tunnel that led back to the house. She tried to turn her body and groaned at the pain that action caused.

  “Where are you going?” she called out, voice echoing in the dome.

  He paused and looked back. “Nevada.”

  She didn’t ask why. “Take me with you.”

  “It’s not safe.”

  Jordan didn’t want to see Haven ever again, but the thought of Mr. Parker leaving made her feel strangely bereft. His undeniable confidence that he could keep her safe made her feel… shielded. After all she revealed, how could he just leave?

  As if he could read her mind he said, “I’ll be back.”

  “But, how do you know where to find it? It’s in the middle of the desert!”

  He cocked his head. “I have my ways of finding places, people too. They’ll take care of you while I’m gone.”

  He disappeared down the tunnel, leaving Jordan alone. So many emotions swirled through her. Panic was uppermost. On quivering arms, she tried to lever herself up, but her body was so weak. She tried to call after Mr. Parker, but her voice was choked with tears.

  “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.

  She remembered her mother, Star, pushing her away, embarrassed by her daughter clinging to her leg. “She’ll grow out of it,” Star said and turned on Jordan. “Don’t embarrass me!” She turned back to her new boyfriend, trying to convince him that three-year-old Jordan wouldn’t interfere in their relationship.

  Jordan shook her head, trying to forget how many people walked away from her. Her first impression of William, that he was the most dangerous man she’d ever met was accurate. In the beginning, he’d been so charming, so caring. She ignored her instincts and trusted him until she woke from trances feeling violated. She fought back then and William showed his true colors.

  Jordan leaned heavily against the bench. Her body was so exhausted, she slipped sideways to lie on the cool tile. Emotions too foreign to interpret swirled through her chest. She tensed. Emotion always roused the beast within her, but for the first time since the Master took away the pills, she felt nothing. No pain, no fire eating up her insides. She was so tired.

  She looked out of the glass dome to Mr. Parker’s office and beyond that, another bridge crossing the stream. How much land did he own? As far as she could see were green pastures and it was heaven to her. The grass and flowers bowed in a gentle breeze. Jordan closed her eyes and couldn’t stop the tear that spilled onto the tiles.