The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black: Book Three) (13 page)

In another box, Jill found
papers and notebooks from Walter’s elementary school days. It appeared young
Walter was fond of doodling, having created an array of cartoon characters who
engaged in filthy exploits on the margins of his math homework. Tossing that
box aside, Jill found a wicker basket stuffed with old porn. DVD’s with naked
women on the covers, a horrid looking magazine called
Back Door
, even some
old VHS tapes. Jill felt like she might puke. How could she possibly be related
to this man?

She threw the wicker basket
across the room and porn spilled all over the floor.

Whatever
, she thought.
Let
him find it. Let him see that I was down here. He won’t care that I looked
through his porn, but he’ll be furious once he realizes I got onto the server.

A bell chimed on the computer,
letting her know the software was loaded. Tonight when she got back to Zack’s,
she would have full access to anything and everything her father had ever
stored on these computers. If the command that enslaved Walter’s wife was
archived somewhere in this system, Jill would find it.

She removed the thumb drive,
stepped around and over the trash, and headed to the stairs. Along the way, she
stomped on every porn DVD that was in her path. She was about to stomp on a DVD
case at the foot of the stairs, but something about the cover caught her eye.
It was different than the rest. Instead of brightly colored pictures of naked
women, this one had a blurry photo of a bride and groom underneath script
lettering. She leaned in closer to get a look at the title.

Holy Matrimony of Mr. and
Mrs. Walter Wentworth
.

“Oh my God it’s their wedding,”
she muttered.

Her father kept a DVD of his own
wedding stored in a basket of porn in the basement. What a truly sick and
heinous man.

Her first thought was to smash
this DVD like the rest. But then she thought about her father roaming this
basement by himself some day, his wife and daughter gone, the truth about
Jill’s activities these past four years coming to light, and she decided to
leave the DVD exactly where it was.

Maybe he’ll pick it up and
think about what he did. If there’s even a shred of decency in him, he’ll weep
when he watches this.

She was at the top of the
stairs, turning off the light and stepping into the hallway, when the doorbell
rang.

From another room she heard
Walter clap once and say, “It’s time, my boy, it’s time!”

“Time for what?” Zack said.

“Oh, you’re in for a treat
tonight!” Walter said. “Of course, you might not remember the treat when it’s
done, but it’s a real treat nonetheless!”

What did he mean Zack might
not remember?

Jill ran down the hall. “Dad,
what’s going on? Who’s at the door?”

She was too late. Walter, who
moments before could barely muster the energy to stand up straight while he
walked, was now prancing through the house, and was already at the front door
by the time Jill reached the foyer.

Jill watched as he opened the
door. Her father’s girthy shape blocked her view at first, but then he stepped
aside, allowing a slim woman with long, curly hair to step into the house.

“Good evening, everyone,” the
woman said.

Jill recognized her face
immediately.

The woman who had just stepped
into the house was Bernadette Paiz, an immortal from the Samarin clan.

“Welcome, Ms. Paiz,” said
Walter. “Welcome to my home.”

The old superstition that a
vampire loses her powers unless you invite her inside was rubbish, of course,
but still it was tradition in Washington that you made a great show of it when
you invited a vampire into your house. As Walter stepped aside to make way for
Bernadette, he bowed his head low and extended his arm, like a servant showing
the way for his master.

Bernadette stepped into the
foyer. She was gorgeous. Her dark brown hair fell over her shoulders and deep
down her back, its thick curls bouncing as she moved. She wore a black shirt
and black pants, both of them skin tight, showing off extraordinary muscles
underneath. Her face was perfectly shaped. Her makeup, perfectly done.

She had a naughty look to her
that was enticing to Jill somehow. Even as Jill felt weak with fear, she also
felt drawn to the vampire. Bernadette hadn’t said a word to her yet and already
Jill wanted to run up to her and tell her everything.

Their seduction starts long
before most people recognize it.

Jill heard Gia’s voice from a
training session three years back.

To truly take hold of your
mind, a vampire must get your attention first. They have ways of doing that.
Their mere presence can take over a room. They have an energy about them and
most people will drop their inhibitions when a vampire is close. They are masters
of controlling how they are seen. If they want to remain hidden, you won’t
notice them. If they want to talk to you, you’ll notice nothing else. When you
speak with a vampire, you must force your full attention on something other
than the vampire’s face.

“And there is Jill,” Bernadette
said. Quickly, Jill found something to look at. A silver cross that hung high
on Bernadette’s neck. There was a single ruby in the center of the cross. Jill aimed
her eyes at that ruby and made herself think about it. She spelled out the word
in her mind.
R-U-B-Y
. She thought about where rubies came from,
imagining a raw stone pulled from some mine in the earth. She imagined a
gemologist chipping away at the stone with a grinding machine. She demanded
that her mind think of a ruby even though it desperately wanted to think about
Bernadette.

“I’m so pleased to find you all
at home,” Bernadette said.

Her voice was light. It bounced
through the air like a song. Jill felt a tickle in her chest just listening to
it.

Focus on the necklace
,
she told herself.
Think about that ruby.

“Of course, of course,” said
Walter. “When I heard you were coming, well, as you can imagine, I took the
first plane back to town.”

“You knew she was coming, Dad?”

Bernadette smiled. “Is my
arrival a surprise to you, Jill?”

No, it isn’t a surprise at
all
, she thought.
I was careless and stupid and should have known this
would happen.

Aware that even those thoughts
were betraying her, Jill closed her eyes and tried to get control of herself.

There was protocol for
situations like this. If a Network agent knew she was about to lose her mind to
a vampire, she had a few choices. 1) Send out an SOS. 2) Kill herself.

Unlike Gia, Jill had no cyanide
capsule hidden away in her cheek for this moment. There was no getting out of
this with a quick and painless death. Her only choice was an SOS.

Her phone was in her pocket. She
had to find a way to get to it without drawing Bernadette’s attention.

“Yes, I suppose it is a
surprise,” Jill said. She turned across the room, sharing a look with Zack.
With her eyes, she told him not to do anything. He got the message.

If they tried to run, Bernadette
would catch them. If they tried to fight, Bernadette would kill them.

But if they cooperated, if Jill
kept her wits about her, perhaps Bernadette would send Zack on his way before
the ugly part began.

Perhaps Jill could still save
Zack’s life, if not her own.

“Who are you looking at, Jill?”
Bernadette said.

She stepped further inside and
caught sight of Zack.

“Hello there,” she said. “Who
are you?”

Zack stood perfectly still. His
shoulders were oddly relaxed. He didn’t look frightened at all.

“My name is Zack.”

While Bernadette was distracted
with Zack, Jill reached into her pocket and quickly dialed three zeroes on her
phone. Triple-zero was a routine that turned Jill’s cell into a wide direction
microphone that recorded everything it heard and broadcasted an emergency line
to the Network.

If anyone out there was
listening, they would know Jill was in trouble, and they would hear whatever
happened next.

“Are you on the staff at the
Wentworth home?” Bernadette asked Zack.

Say yes
, Jill thought.
Please
say yes and get the hell out of here.

“Heavens no!” said Walter. “This
young lad is Jill’s boyfriend. He came over tonight to meet me. Fine young man,
despite the silly paint all over his arms. He has just been sampling my best
bottles of gin and he showed excellent taste.”

“Is that so?” said Bernadette,
approaching Zack with a smooth, cat-like gait. She grabbed one of his wrists
and lifted his arm to look at it. “I had a tattoo once myself. Can you believe
that?”

“Yes ma’am, I believe it,” said
Zack.

Zack’s voice was cool, his face
stoic. Jill hoped he didn’t try anything stupid.

“Yes, I did, right above my
ankle,” said Bernadette. “A big heart.”

Her voice was sultry and
inviting. Jill felt herself growing angry. This bitch was putting the moves on
her boyfriend. If she had a weapon in her hands, Jill might have attacked then
and there.

Hell, who needs a weapon
she thought, and was already on her heels, about to make a move, when she got
control of herself.

This is what they do.
Bernadette is toying with me. She’s the cat, I’m the mouse, and she’s having
fun with me before she bites my head off.

“Can you guess what happened to
my tattoo?” Bernadette said.

“No,” said Zack.

“I’ll show you.”

Bernadette lifted her leg up in
the air, slowly, placing her heel on Zack’s shoulder. Zack stood still, giving
Bernadette no reaction at all.

“Have a look,” Bernadette said.
She grabbed her pantleg and pulled it up so her ankle was fully exposed. Zack
turned his head and glanced at the ankle.

“There’s nothing there,” he
said.

“That’s right,” said Bernadette.
“The tattoo’s gone.”

She pulled her leg back to the
ground and inched closer to Zack. “The minute I became immortal my body
recognized the tattoo as an imperfection and rejected it. I grew new skin
almost immediately. That’s what happens you know. Every scar, every cut, every
bruise, every blemish—my body fixes them, leaving me absolutely perfect. I am
perfect, don’t you think?”

Fuming, Jill forced herself to
take a deep breath.
She’s doing this for my benefit
.
She’s putting me
in my place, letting me know that even my boyfriend is hers if she wants him.

“I asked you a question, Zack.
Do you agree that I’m perfect?”

“I agree that your tattoo is
gone.”

Laughing, Bernadette turned to
Jill. “He’s cute,” she said. “So saucy. I like that.”

With so much speed Jill could
barely make out the movement, Bernadette put herself right in Zack’s face,
grabbing his cheeks and holding his eyes right up to hers.

“I’m perfect Zack, don’t you
agree?”

A brief pause, then Zack spoke
in a monotone voice, “I agree.”

“Stop it,” Jill said.

“Excuse me?” said Bernadette.

Bernadette’s tone reminded Jill
of a playground bully she dealt with in second grade.

“I asked you to stop it.”

“Jill, control yourself,” Walter
muttered.

“No, this is good,” Bernadette
said. “Your daughter has been defiant towards me since I arrived. I sensed her
displeasure at my presence the minute I stepped in the door. Let’s see how far
she’s willing to take it.”

Bernadette turned back to Zack,
catching his eyes with her gaze.

“What do you think I should tell
him, Jill? At this moment, I am in complete control of his mind. Shall I tell
him he’s in love with me? Maybe I should tell him that you repulse him. Would
you like that Jill? What if I told Zack that the very thought of you made him
want to throw up?”

Don’t take the bait
, Jill
told herself.
It will only make things worse.

“Maybe I should have Zack get in
a car and go away,” said Bernadette. “What do you think, Zack? Would you like
it if I told you to hop in your car and drive to Alaska?”

“Whatever you want,” Zack said.

“Maybe Alaska is too nice,”
Bernadette said. “Maybe I should send him somewhere more remote. Deepest
Africa. The Amazon. Antarctica. Do any of those sound interesting, Jill?”

She said nothing.

“Or maybe sending him away isn’t
the answer. Maybe it would sting more if Zack was carrying on just fine without
you.”

Yes
, Jill thought.
That
would sting the most. That would…

That would mean he was safe.

If Bernadette hypnotized Zack to
forget all about Jill, the vampires would have no reason to find and kill him
later.

“No, please don’t do that,” Jill
whimpered.

“A-ha! Now we get a reaction. Do
you hear that, Zack? Your girlfriend says nothing when I talk about sending you
off on some adventure to a remote part of the world where you’d probably die,
but as soon as I talk about making you forget her she freaks. I think she likes
you.”

“I do like him,” Jill cried out.
A tear streamed down her cheek. She was allowing herself to cry for
Bernadette’s benefit, but the tear was quite real.

“Oh, how sweet this all is,”
said Bernadette. “If you like him so much Jill, won’t it just be so sad when he
forgets you?”

“Yes, it will be very sad,” Jill
whispered.

Bernadette pushed her forehead
against Zack’s.

“Listen to me, Zack. I’m going
to make you forget everything you ever knew about Jill Wentworth. All the good
times, all the bad times, all the fun times—when I am done with you, you won’t
remember a thing of them. If you see a picture of her, you won’t know who she
is. If you see her on the street, she will be a stranger to you. If you find a
letter she wrote to you, you will throw it away because it will be nothing but
nonsense to your mind. Do you understand?”