Mother of Darkwaters: Book one of the Vessel series (76 page)

   “Are those nerves or excitement, child?”

   Julianna looks up at the woman. She staggers in a breath and exhales.

   “Both.”

   Lilith nods. The aggressive intent behind her pleasurable smile sends chill bumps down Julianna’s spine. A second later, Julianna feels a twitch within her thighs. Her eyes depict the sight of a deer caught within a hunter’s flashlight.

   “You better go home, child,” Lilith says while turning her back to the young woman, “I might not be able to refrain the next time the call of the anguisette plays within my ears. And you might consider moving into your own house. I am not so sure Martha will be able to handle her grandbaby enjoying herself in such a fashion. You are different than most. You will demand more than what others will feel acceptable.”

   “Are you sure about this?”

   Lilith stares off into the distance, “What does your heart tell you, child?” The older woman grins as she hears the quite word of
dammit
dance its way to her ears. It is followed by a bright flash of light as lightning cracks its way to the sand behind her. Lilith closes her eyes and steps across the earth-line.     

   “Good journey, little anguisette. Good journey.”

   “Just because you are eighteen, doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Martha complains with teary eyes, “Time moves too quickly.”

   Julianna’s green eyes drip their water as her grandmother’s hands squeeze tighter. She sniffles, “Stop it, grams. You’re making me cry. I can’t go through with it if you keep this up.”

   Julianna glances over at Frank walking towards the back of the mover’s truck, “And you need to let them do that.”

   Frank pats his granddaughter on the right shoulder as he passes by, “Don’t let these wrinkles fool you.”

   Julianna rolls her eyes and settles them back on her grams. Martha’s blue eyes are releasing the water that feeds the trails down her cheeks.

   “I have to go to California for a while. I’ll be leaving in a couple of months,” Julianna informs.

   “Why so far?”

   “Stones – it is time.”

   Martha lets her granddaughter’s hands go and wipes the water from her eyes. Julianna does the same. The woman with red hair glances at her husband as he descends the ramp with a box in his hand.

   “Listen old man. You’d better be right about this. If anything happens to my Julia, you’ll pay for the rest of your natural life.”

   Julianna grins, “Grams, I’m going to be fine. I have the best watching out for me.”

   Frank pretends he didn’t hear his wife as he passes by with the box. He ascends the stairs leading up to the large patio of Julianna’s mansion estate.

   “You are a very intelligent woman, Julia,” Martha says while wrapping her arms around her granddaughter, “But we all need help sometimes. You call me if
anything
happens.”

   Julianna nods while hugging her grams tightly. When Martha releases her grip, Julianna kisses her grandmother on the right cheek.

   Martha searches Julianna’s eyes, “You sure you want to leave the Collection with me?”

   Julianna smiles, “It will give me an excuse to come over when things seem too crazy.”

   “You can come over before then.”

   Julianna nods, “I will.”

   The eighteen-year-old steps in and embraces Martha with another hug, “I love you.”

   Martha squeezes tightly, “I love you, Julia.”

   After the two women part from their joined hug, Martha glances around for her husband. When she spots Frank coming from the front entranceway, she motions for him with her right hand.

   “Come on, old man,” Martha directs, “No one’s impressed with you.”

   Frank smiles as he approaches his granddaughter. He gives her a brief hug.

   “You have all of the contact info if anything changes,” Frank reminds, “And we’re always a call away.”

   Julianna nods.

   “I better get your grams home before she ties you up and drags you back to the house.”

   Julianna smiles.

   The young woman watches as her grandparents get into the car and drive down the large driveway. She waves bye not knowing if they are watching or not. She turns around and looks at the enormous house. Suddenly, the excitement of moving seems a lot more scary. But she doesn’t have time to get cold feet. She only has a couple of months to make sure everything’s in order.

Chapter 17

   Revelations

   “Hey!”, a nurse yells from behind a desk, ‘You people need to leave right now. Visitation hours are over.”

   The well-rounded woman observes one of the men in the group point at her. Two of the men – wearing matching black suits – head in her direction. She notices another person pass by with a black hoodie covering their head. The only person recognizable is Dr. Reynolds. She is walking behind a second group of men.

   “Homeland Security,” the nurse hears as a badge is placed in front of her face. The large man lowers the badge and removes his sunglasses. His voice is deep and full of authority.

   “You have a patient here of interest,” the man informs, “We will be taking her to a more secure facility.”

   The nurse is ushered aside by a second man who immediately takes control of her computer. The confused nurse watches the monitor as the man enters a pass code and gains full access to the system.

   “Ma’am,” the first man speaks again, “I’m going to need you to step over here while we try to work.”

   The woman glances over at the elevator. The security guard gives her a nod to alleviate any doubt. She watches the guard step aside to allow the first group of men to enter the elevator – the hooded figure and Dr. Reynolds is among them. The elevator door closes.

   “Ma’am, I won’t ask you a second time.”

   The nurse looks at the Homeland Security officer and quickly leaves her station. He escorts her away from the desk and pulls out a pen and small pad of paper from his inside coat jacket.

   “Have there been any threats against the hospital, you, or any other employees that you are aware of?”

   “Uh - no,” the nurse puzzles over the question, “Are we safe in here?”

   The man smiles comfortingly, “Yes, ma’am. But we like to be thorough. You don’t mind do you?”

   “Oh, of course not,” the nurse answers, “I’ll help in any way I can.”

   “Thank you, ma’am.”

  
Ding.

   The elevator door opens. Julianna, Victoria, and the men in black suits exit. They walk the hallway’s length to an open security door. Julianna notices a security guard who is nervously sitting in the corner of the control center. With him, a large man wearing a business suit nods respectfully as she passes by.

   “Victoria! Victoria!”, a short balding man yells in front of Julianna’s right side. He is being pinned against the wall by two other men wearing business suits.

   “It’s Dr. Evans,” Julianna hears Victoria explain, “Caroline’s doctor. He’s a good man.”

   Julianna approaches the man and stops, “If you promise to go home and play nice, you are free to go.”

   The balding man looks to Julianna’s left, “Victoria, what is going on here?”

   “Don’t look at her,” Julianna interrupts, “Last chance.”

   “It will be okay Jason, go home,” Victoria quietly speaks.

   “What will it be doctor?”, Julianna sounds as though her patience is wearing too thin.

   “Of course,” Dr. Evans agrees to the terms.

   Julianna looks at the man holding Dr. Evan’s right arm, “Escort Dr. Evans to his vehicle and make sure he gets home safely.”

   The man answers with a single nod. Julianna turns and continues walking down the hallway. She approaches the third door on the left. There are two more men standing to each side of the open entrance. When she stops, she turns and faces Victoria.

   “If you come in, you will not be leaving until it’s over. Understood?”

   “I’m coming.”

   Julianna turns and fixates her eyes upon the man standing to the left side of the door’s entry, “No one is to come in or out without my explicit say so. You will lock it whenever we enter.”

   “Yes, ma’am.”

   Julianna enters the room with Victoria close behind. She glances over to the left side of the room. Caroline is tied to the bed with restraints. The door closes and is locked behind them.

   “How long is she sedated for?”

   “A couple more hours at the most,” Victoria answers.

   Julianna drops her hoodie to her shoulders and walks over to examine Caroline. The cheerleader is panting with shallow breaths – odd behavior for someone under sedation. Her face is a mess. The scratches look to be the work of fingernails. On her forehead, Julianna reads the word:
Mine
.

   “We’ll see about that,” Julianna quietly rebuttals the claim. She begins unstrapping Caroline.

   “I don’t think you understand…”

   Julianna glares at Victoria, “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

   Victoria takes a step back. She shakes her head.

   Julianna works to unstrap Caroline – taking care not to make physical contact. When she finishes, she walks to the room’s far right corner and sits. She looks at Victoria.

   “You might want to stand over there.”

   Victoria looks at the door. She walks over and stands in front of it. Julianna leans her head back against the wall and closes her eyes. She takes a long deep breath and slowly exhales.

   “Are you with her now?”, a smoky voice greets.

   Julianna scrambles to her feet from the white sandy beach, “Yeah. I need to hurry. I’m not sure how long it took for me to fall asleep.”

   Lilith points towards the earth-line, “Think about the room and her. But do not think about your body. If you do, you will be back in it.”

   Julianna looks at Lilith, “You’re not supposed to tell someone not to think about something or they will.”

   Lilith nods, “Touché.”

   Julianna rolls her eyes and looks back at the earth-line. She steps across, closes her eyes, and feels a rush fill her body. When she reopens her eyes, she can see a living female lying upon a hospital bed. It is Caroline.

   Julianna walks around the bed. A black swirling mass moves within Caroline’s skin. Julianna watches intently. The mass swims around like a beautiful tattoo which is drawn in a tribal-like fashion. Its tail erases the evidence as it moves from one point to the next.

Seeing the tattoos length, Julianna sighs in frustration.

   “There are a lot of you,” Julianna complains quietly, “That’s just great.”

   Julianna patiently anticipates the tattoo’s movement. She places her left index finger on Caroline’s skin. Julianna steps back whenever the tattoo makes contact with her. The resulting sensation burns intensely. Sucking on her finger, Julianna takes another step back.

   Black energy pulses outward in all directions from Julianna’s interruption. It’s as if a small bomb has been detonated. The outer edge of the blast singes Julianna’s pale skin. She looks at her reddened arms.

   “Dammit,” Julianna curses, “If this was my real body, I’d be seriously pissed off right now.”

   Caroline’s eyes open.

  
Crap.

   Julianna envisions the earth-line by Lilith’s beach. A rush fills her body. She runs across the earth-line and drops to her knees. She is choking.

   A smoky voice calls out, “Body, child. Body right now.”

   Julianna kicks her legs. They are suspended in the air. Caroline is holding her by the throat with one hand. The brown-haired cheerleader is grinning with her head cocked slightly to the right.

   Julianna stops grabbing the hand at her throat. She forms a double-fist with her two hands and swings downward. Caroline’s grip is broken. Julianna crashes to the floor. Gasping for air, she is unable to stop the barefoot kick to her face. Her head bounces off of the wall.

   Placing herself into a fetal position, Julianna helplessly accepts the punches and kicks Caroline dishes out within her violent frenzy. It is an undesirable technique learned from her Network martial-arts trainer, but its purpose is to allow her an opportunity to regain her breath while attempting to minimize the chances of any other breath stealing blows. Caroline’s unusual strength, however, is proving the technique’s flaw.

   Julianna lunges out and wraps her arms around Caroline’s legs. She yanks with the only breath she has gained. Caroline falls and slams her head against the ceramic tile flooring. The cheerleader stops fighting.

   “Oh come on,” Julianna panics while rushing over to Caroline’s chest. She places her left hand on the cheerleader’s hospital gown. There’s no movement of breath.

   “Dammit,” Julianna curses while glancing towards the door. Victoria looks either dead or unconscious. Julianna isn’t sure which. She hears a sudden gasp for air and turns to look at Caroline.

   Julianna jerks her hand away and stands as Caroline is unnaturally lifted to her feet like a puppet by its puppeteer. Caroline cocks her head to the right.

   “Hellooo,” a deep male voice calls out from Caroline’s chapped lips, “Julieee-awww-nahhhh.”

   Julianna retreats to the wall until her back touches its padded surface. Caroline throws her head back. A child’s voice mocks, “No-no-no. Hee-hee.”

   Julianna shakes her head to shake off the hibbie-jibbies. She rolls her shoulders while taking in a deep breath.

   “Are you the one in charge?”

   “Yesss,” Caroline answers with the child’s voice. She snaps her head forward and looks at Julianna with ill-intentions. She quickly closes the distance between them.

   “Ooomph!”, Caroline lets out a grunt as Julianna introduces her left hand to the cheerleader’s gut.

   Julianna grabs Caroline’s shoulders and rushes forward. The cheerleader quick steps backwards across the floor until Julianna forces her back against the wall. Caroline growls.