The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black: Book Three) (52 page)

“When you start counting the
time in centuries,” Daciana continued, “You find it hard to keep the memories
sorted. It’s a part of immortality no one warns you about. When you get as old
as Falkon and me, you start to lose track of your many lifetimes’ worth of
memories. Space in your brain is at such a premium that only the most notable
and interesting ideas are allowed to reside there.”

“Now I understand,” Sergio said,
“With so little memory in your mind, you couldn’t help but make the mistake,
could you Falkon?”

“You two are cute,” Falkon said.
“Speaking to me about my mistakes when I am your elder! Acting like you can
turn back the clock and regain the power I have already stolen from you!”

“1-1-0-7-0-8,” Sergio said. “The
date of your creation. Four times I watched Nicky punch in that code at the laboratory.
It was quite amusing, actually. You spent so much money securing all your
precious research, but you used the same six-digit code to open every door.”

“He had no other choice,” said
Daciana. “I know how it is. There isn’t room in your mind to hang onto all the
codes and passwords the modern world demands of us.”

“But he couldn’t even be
bothered to use a separate code on your cage?” Sergio said. “I mean, come on
Falkon. As soon as I found Daciana down here, I knew exactly which numbers to
enter to open the door.”

“Enough talk!” Falkon yelled.
“If we are to do this, let us do it now!”

It took only a minute. One on
one, Falkon could have killed either of these vampires. But together, they were
too much for him. The last image Falkon saw before he died was the smile on
Daciana’s face as she bit into his throat.

For the second time, Jill dialed
triple zero on her cell phone to broadcast an emergency message to the entire
Network.

This time, she wasn’t ignored.

Alvin was the first to arrive,
showing up at the front door right away. Eve was only a few minutes behind him.

Within the hour, dozens of
agents and supporters of the Network were in Renata’s mansion asking what they
could do to help. Phillip instructed everyone that their first task was to get
the servants out of here so they could be deprogrammed and set free. Renata’s
servants, who roamed the halls like lost children after their master was
killed, went without any fuss.  More than fifty innocent people, some born on
the Farm, some stolen off the streets, were driven away in vans, cars, and
pickup trucks. It had to be one of the largest rescues in the history of the
Network.

Gordon’s going to be very
busy
, Jill thought.

Nicky left in a car with
Frankie. Phillip and Helena took Ryan to the safe house in Arlington. Alvin
took Patrick’s body to a coroner in Bethesda. By sunup, Jill was the only one
from the core group who was still at the mansion. Jill and fifty people she
didn’t know, all of whom were looking to her to find out what they should do
next.

“Find every set of keys in the
house,” she said. “There are enough limos, cars, and vans on this property that
we can haul everything out of that mansion that the Network would ever want.”

They found all the keys, and
drove Renata’s entire fleet of automobiles to the back door.

“Take out all the computers and
load them up,” she said. “Intel, more than anything else, is what we need from
this place.”

Eager to do as she asked,
everyone went searching for computer equipment, and filled an entire van with
it.

“Files and paperwork,” she said.
“There’s a lot of history in this mansion. This is a rare opportunity for the
Network to learn everything the vampires have been keeping from us.”

They filled a van and two limos
with papers dating all the way back to the 1940’s.

She had them take all the
priceless artwork down from the gallery. They found a vault full of video and
audio footage, and took it all. There was an excitement in the air, a feeling
that they were doing something of huge historical significance.

I want to take the war to
them. I want the predators to become the prey.

Jill had written those words on
an anonymous Internet message board when she was thirteen. Now, she stood in
front of Renata’s mansion with a crowd of Network supporters eager to do as she
asked because she had made those words come true. She had taken the war to the
vampires, and today, even if only for a short time, the predators had become
the prey.

Jill was an angry teen with
Mommy issues when she wrote her Internet diatribes. But today, as she looked
upon the spoils of her first victory in that war, she knew she wasn’t in this
because of some adolescent desire to rebel. Not anymore. She was in the Network
because she chose to do what was right.

They found a tub of kerosene in
Renata’s garage and three cans of gasoline in her shed. The last order Jill
gave the group was to burn the entire mansion to the ground.

*****

Twelve hours later, Jill sat
alone at the back of the Red Rocket Club in Alexandria, sipping on water while
she watched Zack’s band play for an enthusiastic crowd.

He looked happy up there,
banging on the drums, smiling at his friends in the band, interacting with the
audience. There was no doubt in her mind that his life was better now that she
was out of it.

She stayed for the entire
concert, singing along and cheering with the crowd after every number. When it
was over, she walked out to the dirt parking lot, where she found her car had
been boxed in.

She leaned against the back
bumper and pulled out her phone, thinking she’d kill time on the Internet until
the lot cleared enough for her to leave.

“It’s no good. This bar doesn’t empty
out until two-thirty most nights.”

Her heart jumped.
No, this
isn’t happening
, she thought.
This isn’t why I came here
.

She looked up. He was standing
just a few feet away, backlit by the glare of the lone light in the parking
light.

God, he was beautiful.

“Do I know you?” Zack said. “I
feel like we’ve met somewhere before.”

Jill waited a second before
answering. There were, after all, so many truthful answers to this question.

But she opted for the lie. “No,”
she said. “I don’t think we’ve ever met.”

“See, now that you’ve said
something, I swear I know you. Your voice…has anyone ever told you that you
have a really nice voice?”

You have
, she thought.

He stepped closer and held out
his hand. “My name’s Zack,” he said. “What’s yours?”

She thought about running away.
Or punching him in the face. Or screaming for him to get away from her.
Anything to stop this from happening. To prevent him from falling into the
ravine that was her life for a second time.

But she couldn’t. She was
looking at his eyes now, and she realized that, in his way, Zack was as
powerful as any vampire. When you looked in a vampire’s eyes, as Jill had now
done more than once, you saw eternity. It was an incredibly seductive thing to see,
and you wanted to go to it. You wanted to let them take you inside so you might
know what it’s like to live without end.

In Zack’s eyes, she saw something
equally powerful, but different. In that electric blue of his eyes, a color
that seemed to shine even in the dim light of the parking light, Jill didn’t
see eternity. She saw happiness.

And she couldn’t help herself.
She held out her hand.

“My name is Jill,” she said.
“Jill Wentworth.”

***

END OF BOOK 3 – KEEP READING TO
LEARN ABOUT GIRLS WEARING BLACK BOOK 4

Thank you for reading! If you’ve
reached this screen, you’ve been with me for three books! I am honored you’re
here.

I need to acknowledge Chris
Stenger, who did the cover for this book as he has for all of them. I also need
to thank my wife, Julie, who has become much more than a reader and editor on
this series. Her comments throughout the process have guided the entire story.

When I started Girls Wearing
Black, I imagined six or seven novels. Now I think it can be done in four or
five. As the next book comes together, I’ll let you know on the web site if
we’re coming to an end or not.

Writers thrive on honest
reviews, especially indies like me. If you have made it this far in the series,
you probably have some good feedback to help other readers. Please, take a
moment to leave a review on your favorite books site.

And I love getting your emails!
[email protected]

Visit me on
www.spencerbaum.net
for updates. Thanks
again!

Spencer Baum

July 10, 2013