Mother of Darkwaters: Book one of the Vessel series (32 page)

   Jennifer looks away from her brother's side of the house. She turns to her left and walks the long distance to the T in her hallway. The girl makes a left and stops at the first door on the right. She reaches up and gently touches the door's center.

   “Love you,” Jennifer whispers through the door. She looks down at the keypad, but cannot bear to push in the combination. She sighs and turns to face the T-intersection again. Jennifer walks away from the scene of her brother's suicide.

   The girl passes four doors on the right and left sides of the hallway after crossing over the T-intersection. She stops at the fifth one on the left, pushes in the security code, turns the gold L-shape handle, and enters her party room.

  
Click. Beep-beep.

   The door locks. The alarm resets. Jennifer Hammond stands alone in the dimly lit room. Alone in this house of lies. The girl looks at the stereo sitting cater-corner in the far right corner of the room.

   “Danny's favs,” Jennifer speaks.

   “Loading Danny's favs,” the stereo answers back.

   Godsmack's 
I Stand Alone
begins its grungy rhythmic drive. Jennifer walks over to the blue couch placed against the left wall. She places her purse on the glass coffee table and sits in the couch's center. The girl places her backpack by her left foot, unzips it, and pulls out her pharmacy bag. She sits it on the table in front of her and retrieves the box of needles.

   Jennifer opens the box and pulls a ten-pack of needles out. She places the box back into her backpack before opening the ten-pack. Jennifer pulls out a needle and checks the cap's seal like she seen done in the video. Satisfied of the seal's integrity, she lays the needle upon the table. The girl reaches into her purse and returns with a brown vile. She sits it on the table and reaches inside of her pharmacy bag. Her left hand returns with a bag of cotton. She opens the bag and pulls out a cotton ball – tearing a small piece from it. The cheerleader sits it next to her vile of cocaine.

   She gets up and walks over to her party fridge across the room. Opening the door, Jennifer grabs a bottle of water before returning to her place on the couch. Content that she is ready, the girl runs through the steps to ready the needle. When she finishes, the varsity cheerleader removes her tennis shoes. Her hands sweat with anticipation.

    She anxiously pulls her pink low-cut ankle socks off and places her right foot on the table. Examining the veins between her toes, Jennifer settles on the biggest one she can find. She slips the needle in, pulls on the plunger, and maneuvers the needle until she sees blood fill in the empty air pocket. Jennifer smiles as she empties the needle's contents into her body.

   The girl pulls out the needle and reaches over to the water bottle to clean her needle, but the rush comes on quicker than she is used to. She elects to placing the needle on the coffee table. She grins as the music from the stereo begins sounding like a band of robots and synthesizers are mocking the song that plays.

   “Pfft,” Jennifer shakes her head slightly nervous, “This is freakin' intense.”

   The girl leans back against the couch and closes her eyes. It isn't long before the perfect blend of euphoria and happiness balances itself out. Jennifer Hammond smiles for thirty long minutes.

   As the high lessens its intensity over her, she opens her eyes and glances down to her backpack. The cocaine inside has introduced itself on a more intimate level. An intimacy unlike any other. She had no idea how much she had been cheating herself from cocaine’s true potential. But now she knows. And there's no way she's going back.

   This will be her and Danny's secret. Something the two of them can share between the divides of life and death. In life – a needle. In death – music.

   “Hello, earthly-one,” the man greets with his cute boyish grin.

   Caroline sits in a leather-bound chair. Upon her lap rests a tablet for writing. In her right hand, she holds the pen she used the last time she wrote for the gorgeous hard body man standing before her.

   “Why are we here? What happened to the castle?”, the teen questions.

   She watches as the being turns and glances out of the lone window in the room. He stares down below and sees the peasant wearing the brown tunic with a hood. He grins at the stranger before answering the questions.

   “We must work today,” the large being turns and faces Caroline, “I don't like the idea of contaminating our home with this boring work stuff.”

  
Our home?

   Caroline uses her left hand to move her brown hair over her shoulder. She blushes.

   “Yes, earthly-one,” the being seduces, “
Our
house.”

   The girl doesn’t consider the fact that he just read her mind.

   “Um - why me?”, Caroline quietly speaks, “I mean you could have anyone you want. I'm a nobody.”

   The man walks over and kneels down to eye-level of the sitting girl. He reaches out to take her left hand, but she instinctively pulls back.

   “Sorry,” Caroline nervously explains, “Every time you touch me I wake up with burns or scratches. It hurts.”

   “Oh, earthly-one,” the man's deep voice soothes, “That's what happens when love and desire meet one another within their purest form. Most humans never know this kind of perfection.”

   “I suppose it makes sense,” Caroline answers, “Kinda.”  She nervously slips her left hand into the waiting man's large hands. He rubs it adoringly. Caroline's body rushes with excitement as his eyes fill with lust.

   “Not yet, earthly-one,” the man releases her. He stands upright, “We need to work.”

   “Um - okay,” Caroline reluctantly accepts the terms, “Ready when you are.”

   “You are impressive, earthly-one,” the being brags. He notices the girl's questioning eyes.

   “No,” he smiles, “Don't write that.”

   Caroline nods and returns his affection with a smile of her own.

   “Hee-hee,” a child voice laughs upstairs. Victoria drops her glass of bourbon and ice on the hardwood floor.

   “Dammit!”, the woman lashes out verbally. She reaches down from the dining room table and picks the glass off the floor. To her amazement it didn't shatter. She pauses to listen, but hears no further sounds.

   Victoria gets up and grabs a dish towel to clean up the wasted liquor. She squats down and wipes the mess up. With the excess ice on the towel, she makes her way over to the kitchen sink and drops everything inside the stainless-steel tub.

   “Hee-hee,” a child laughs behind her. The doctor gasps as she spins around to meet her house's intruder. No one is there.

   “Ca-Caroline?”, the frightened woman checks her daughter's distance in the house by her semi-quiet tone, “Is-is that you, honey?”

   Whenever her daughter refuses to respond, the doctor gingerly walks back to her dining room table. As she nears its space, little footsteps run away towards the front door. Victoria freezes while looking down the empty hall. As the seconds turn into minutes, the skeptical woman shakes her head and chuckles.

   “Drink some more sauce, Victoria,” she blames the alcohol. The woman walks back to her kitchen. She stops by the dishwasher and unloads the dinner dishes her and Caroline used earlier. The doctor smiles. Caroline actually requested to eat Victoria's favorite country dish of peas, buttered bread, mac and cheese, and fried pork chops.

   It was a wonderful experience to eat one of her favorite dishes with her daughter. She has to give it to Caroline. When she decides to do something, she does it all the way. Even if it's as simple as eating pork. Caroline ate the chops as though they were the best meat on the planet. She laughed and talked. And was a genuine delight at the dinner table.

   Victoria finishes putting away the dishes, double checks the house's security, and heads upstairs to wind down with her long awaited bath.

   “Human pride is only the tip of the iceberg to their own destruction,” Caroline writes the man's words. His large hands are behind his back while he walks around the small damp room. On occasion, he will stop and stare out of the window. Sometimes he looks angry, but most of the time he just smiles. Regardless of what he could be looking at, Caroline knows it isn't hindering his speech. Her hand is starting to cramp from all of the writing.

   “Humans have this uncanny ability to rationalize the irrational and vice-versa. They will perceive an event occurring in our realm, but are quick to rationalize it away as something in their realm. This self-trick of theirs is one of our greatest weapons against them.”

   “What humans do not understand is that when my kind becomes active in what we refer to as a hot-zone, our actions will be seen in their realm.”

   The man pauses and laughs. Caroline's skin crawls from the unnatural tone. But she refuses to show any fear to the man of her dreams. Nobody's perfect. She knows that. And besides, it's just a laugh.

   “Even those so-called paranormal investigators deny what is in front of them. They ask their ignorant questions. We answer to see the looks upon their faces as we reveal ourselves. Then they stutter and stammer around like babbling idiots. No game plan at all. Just ignorant questions and foolish ideas about who we are and what we are. The best one of them all is when they tell us how we should be acting in their presence. Now
that's
hilarious.”

   The being stops and turns away from the window. Caroline looks up as she finishes with his last statement. He smiles his boyish grin.

   “Caroline, my love. Can I ask you a question?”, the man stares kindly.

  
My love? Oh gawd. He does like me like that.

   “Of course,” she attempts to sound professional in hopes of hiding her nervous excitement.

   “Come to me,” the handsome man waves his right hand to signify his permission, “Leave that boring stuff on the chair.”

   Caroline places the paper and pen where directed as she stands. She walks the short distance over by the window. Her heart thumps quickly while her green eyes remain fixated on the man before.

   “Do you love me as much as I love you?”, the being throws out her desire in front of her. He takes her smaller hands within his strong long fingers.

   “Y-yes,” Caroline answers. Her breath seems non-existent.

   “Caroline, my love,” the man pauses to clear his throat.

   His soft seducing tone fills her body, “Would you have me in your house?”

   “It's your house, too,” Caroline references their enormous castle.

   He smiles his boyish grin and slowly puts his right hand over her heart.

   “Would you have me in your house,” he corrects lovingly.

   Caroline smiles with understanding. He is asking if she will love him completely.

   “Yes,” she says happily.

   “I want to hear the words with your beautiful voice. The sound you make when you speak fills me with warmth I have never thought possible,” the man coaches.

   “Of course, I will have you in my house,” Caroline ignorantly commands.

   The being glances out of the window and grins. He grabs Caroline's shoulders violently. She tries pushing away, but the larger man is too strong. Caroline screams in agony as the man shoves his face into her chest – tearing away flesh. Tears stream down her cheeks with the crushing pressure against her.

   Caroline screams out again as her chest cavity gives way. The man's left hand releases her shoulder and joins with his head into her open cavity. The teen's blood pours down her belly onto the damp floor below.

   “Hee-hee,” Victoria jerks awake and sits up in her bathtub. The child's voice sounds as if it's in the room with her. She yanks her left arm away from the tub's edge. Three red scratches are on her forearm.

   “Oh gawd! Make it stop!”, Caroline screams throughout the silent house. Victoria jumps out of the tub, swings the bathroom door open, and runs down the hallway to her daughter's room. She quickly turns the knob and enters.

   Caroline sits in her bed. She is soaked with sweat.

   “What's going on?!”, Victoria questions frantically.

   “Nightmare,” Caroline explains breathlessly.

   “You sounded like you were dying.”

   “I thought I was,” the girl holds her sheet against her chest.

   Victoria stares blankly.

   “Mom?”, Caroline slows her breathing.

   “Yes?”

   “You're nude,” Caroline states the obvious, “And it's kind of grossing me out.”

   “Right,” Victoria backs out into the hallway and shields herself with the door, “Sorry, I was in the tub. You sure you're alright?”

   “Fine,” Caroline answers, “Just a dream.”

   “If you need anything, let me know,” Victoria instructs. After Caroline nods, Victoria closes the door. She heads back to the bathroom, shuts the door behind her, and places her shaky right hand over her open mouth.

   “You're so beautiful,” Mandie observes with envy.

   “Says the woman with the perfect body,” Tamara counters as her right hand receives the blue bath towel offered by the short girl. She pats her face dry and then wraps the towel around herself.

   Tamara steps out onto the bathroom floor. Mandie grunts while fastening her custom blue-metallic bra in place. Her genuine discomfort inspires a grin from the taller girl.

   “It looks like my car,” Tamara scrutinizes the bra's coloring.

   Mandie pulls up her matching panties, slips her expensive blue dress over her body, and winks.

   “Lasagna sound alright?”, Mandie asks while turning and walking out of the small bathroom.

   “Sounds great. I'm starved,” Tamara answers before closing the bathroom door. She turns and stares at her reflection in the mirror.

  
What are you doing? You're not a lesbo, idiot.