Her only worry was Buck. He was old now, but still protective—he’d saved her several times when Charles had gotten a little too frisky. Not that he actually would have done that to me, Elise told herself uneasily. That would be going too far, even for Charles. He knows he couldn’t get away with it—doesn’t he?
Unbidden, his words to her from the night before came back with frightening clarity. “That mutt won’t always be around. We’ll have our moment together—don’t worry about that, princess.” Was he really that desperate to have her—to get into her pants? For years he’d pretended what he was trying to do was some kind of a game—laughing and kidding as though it was an inside joke between the two of them. Of course, Elise didn’t find it a bit funny, and lately—ever since he’d caught her touching herself when she thought the door was locked—Charles didn’t seem to find it very funny either. It was almost as though he could see her slipping away, getting closer and closer to college and out of his reach forever. But would that really make him desperate enough to force the situation? Surely not…
Uneasily, she pushed the unpleasant and frightening idea away and turned her thoughts back to Buck. Her mother had promised to look after him when Elise went to college, but Elise was afraid she wouldn’t keep her word very well. Her mother tended to be always busy with frivolous things—shopping and parties and playing Bridge with a circle of other ladies whose husbands were so rich they could do pretty much whatever they pleased.
What if her mother forgot to feed her beloved pet? Or what if she let Charles ship him off to the pound? It was obvious he didn’t like Buck—he saw him as a hated roadblock—something in his way to getting what he wanted.
But he wouldn’t really hurt Buck, would he? Elise asked herself uneasily. He wouldn’t be that cruel. He knows Buck is the only link I have left to my real dad.
“Here you go, honey,” she remembered her father saying as he put the wriggling bundle of fur into her lap. “His name is Buck—do you like him?”
“Oh, Daddy—he’s perfect!” She’d lifted the puppy up to get a better look at him and gasped. “His eyes!”
“Yeah, he’s part Husky, and sometimes they have that mutation. One blue eye and one yellow. I kinda like it.”
“I do too.” She had hugged the wiggling puppy to her, laughing as his wet little tongue caressed her cheek. “They’re beautiful.”
Her father laughed. “I thought you’d like them. You just keep this little guy close, Elise. He’s going to grow up to be a big, strong, loyal dog—he’ll protect you, even when I’m not here.”
Tears filled Elise’s eyes at the memory of those words. Her father had been a Marine. The fuzzy puppy, which had grown into the huge, protective Buck, was an early gift for her eighth birthday because her dad was being deployed and wasn’t going to be there for her party.
As it turned out he never made any of her birthdays again. Two days after her party, they had gotten the news that he had been killed in the line of duty. Elise’s mother had grown cold and silent—had withdrawn emotionally just at the time Elise had needed her the most. And then there was no one but Buck. She still remembered crying out her pain into his soft, shaggy fur as he whined and licked her face, sensing her heartbreak and comforting her in the only way he knew how.
I can’t leave him here, she thought with renewed determination. I can’t trust Mom to take care of him or Charles not to take him to the pound. I’ll find a way to take him to UF with me. I have to…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the huge Tudor-style mansion rising before her. After Charles had swept her mother off her feet, he had promised her any kind of house she wanted, and this is what she had chosen. Elise supposed it was beautiful but the house held bad associations for her now. Too many dark corners where she’d been caught by her stepfather’s greedy hands, too many shadowy rooms where he’d whispered his dirty thoughts, making her feel filthy, unclean. Immediately the invisible weight around her neck grew heavier and she swore to herself that once she left this place for college she would never, ever return.
“Hi, princess!”
Her stepfather’s voice made her head jerk up and she saw he was just pulling up to the house, the mammoth tires of his ridiculously oversized SUV crunching on the gravel of the circular driveway in front.
Elise’s heart sank. God, she’d been hoping to have the house to herself for a little while before she had to start fending off her stepfather’s advances. Now she would spend a miserable afternoon putting him off and avoiding him until her mother came home from whatever charitable organization or Bridge club meeting she was currently at. Buck would stay by her side and protect her, of course, but it was difficult to do homework with Charles staring at her and making dirty remarks.
I should just go to Jennie’s house, she thought, thinking of her best friend. She lived two miles in the opposite direction, but at this point, Elise didn’t care. It would be worth the long walk not to be alone with Charles.
Many times she’d thought of telling Jennie or one of her other friends exactly what was going on, but somehow she just couldn’t. It seemed so awful, somehow—a dirty secret that would taint her with its filth if she let it out. Besides, Jennie was sweet, but her biggest worry was who was going to ask her to Prom. She had no idea what it was like to live under the constant threat of being molested as Elise did.
The same fear of being different, being thought unclean, kept her from trying to tell a teacher or her guidance counselor at school. And how did she know they would even believe her? After all, she’d tried to tell her mother what was going on, and her mom had told Elise she was imagining things. If her own mother wouldn’t believe her, why would another, unrelated adult sympathize?
No, better to keep it buried and just try to get through the last few months until graduation, Elise told herself. But in the mean time, she’d be damned if she put up with more of Charles’s crap than she had to. I’m going to Jennie’s, she decided, lifting her chin. And I’m not coming home until I have to. In fact, I might just spend the whole weekend. Jennie can loan me some clothes—she won’t mind. Buck has plenty of food and water in his bowl and I can call Mom later and have her check on him just in case.
She was just about to turn and head back the way she’d come when a familiar, joyous bark caught her ear.
“Buck?” She frowned, turning to see what was going on. How had her dog gotten out into the front yard? Normally he stayed in her room or used the doggie door to get into the fenced-in back yard. Elise was very careful to keep him out of the front yard and driveway to avoid accidents. Yet, here he was, running straight for her, his mismatched eyes shining with excitement as he bounded across the trim green lawn and made for the circular driveway.
The driveway—oh, no! Elise thought. Buck was heading straight for her, but in order to get there, he had to run directly in front of Charles’s idling SUV. “Charles,” she shouted, pointing at her dog. “Watch out for Buck!”
“Oh, I’m watching all right, princess.” With an evil grin, her stepfather gunned the SUV’s engine.
Elise saw what was about to happen a moment too late to do anything about it. “Buck,” she screamed. “Go back—stop! Stay!”
The big dog paused for a moment. His head cocked to one side, he stopped right in the path of the SUV. And then, as Elise watched in horror, her stepfather gunned the engine again and the four-wheeled behemoth lurched forward.
“Buck!” she shrieked and then the SUV’s massive front tires rolled over the big, furry body with a sickening crunch Elise could hear from where she was standing. “No!” she screamed. “Buck, no!”
She thought she heard a faint whining from under the car and then the SUV reversed and Charles backed over her dog again, as though making sure he had finished the job. When the SUV rolled backward, she saw a limp bundle of fur and a puddle of blood slowly soaking into the gravel.
The paralysis, which had frozen Elise in place, broke, and she ran forward, screa
ming her dog’s name. She fell to her knees and gathered him up, holding him close and sobbing. Buck felt boneless in her arms, his heavy head sagging over her forearm as she held him, heedless of the blood soaking into her clothes and the sharp gravel cutting her knees.
“No! No, no, no,” she cried over and over, burying her face in Buck’s shaggy ruff as she had so many times before. “No, please…please, Buck, don’t be dead. Don’t leave me all alone!”
To her disbelief, there was a soft whimper and when she looked up, she saw a spark of life in his mismatched eyes. Her heart leapt with hope. Was he going to be okay? Would he somehow survive this? Maybe if she could get him to the vet right away…
But even as she watched, the spark in his eyes died away. His long pink tongue lapped out to caress her cheek once more…and then he was gone.
“No! No!” Elise curled herself around the big shaggy body and sobbed. Buck was the last thing she had left of her father, the last bit of comfort, loyalty and love she had in her life. Grief gripped her in an iron fist, and so extreme was her anguish that she didn’t even notice her stepfather approaching until he was standing right in front of her.
“What a shame.” He shook his head and made a tsking sound. “But you saw how it was—he ran right in front of me. I couldn’t miss him.”
“You…” Elise’s grief turned suddenly to rage and she looked up at the hateful, handsome face bending over hers. “You bastard. You did it on purpose—I saw you.”
“Now, princess, is that any way to talk? You’re just traumatized right now—anyone would be after losing their, uh, pet.” He nudged Buck’s limp form with the toe of one Italian leather loafer distastefully. “In fact, after witnessing such an awful tragedy, there’s no telling what your addled little brain might make up. You might imagine anything—anything at all.”
Elise felt suddenly cold all over. “What…what do you mean?”
“I mean it’s time you came with me.” Reaching down, Charles hooked one hard hand under her arm and pulled her up, forcing her to leave Buck’s lifeless body behind.
Elise began to panic. “What are you doing? Take your hands off me.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Slowly but surely Charles began dragging her toward the house.
“Let me go!” Elise tried to fight him but she still felt weak with grief. She kept expecting Buck to come to her rescue and then remembering all over again that he couldn’t, that he was dead… “Let me go,” she insisted again. “Where’s Mom?”
“I sent her and several of her friends for a spa weekend.” Charles grinned at her, his eyes flashing in a predatory way that made Elise’s skin crawl. “She won’t be back until Sunday night, so we have the whole house to ourselves. Isn’t that nice?”
“No, it’s horrible.” They were reaching the door now and somehow Elise knew if her stepfather got her inside the house, there would be no coming out, no turning back until it was too late. Panic flooded her again and she pulled backward with all her strength, finally managing to break his hold. Turning, she stumbled across the front lawn, running blindly, trying to get away…
She didn’t even make it off the lawn before Charles tackled her, knocking the wind from her lungs and flattening her against the short, springy grass. She could feel him across her back, heavy as a mattress, the hard, hot lump of his cock grinding against her inner thighs.
“Remember how I told you we were going to have our moment?” he asked, panting in her ear. His breath was hot and smelled like stale cigarettes and scotch, making her gag. “Well that moment is now, princess. And believe me, I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.” He kicked her legs apart and ripped up her skirt.
“No!” Elise writhed against him, knowing it was too late. No one could hear her, no one could see past the thick hedge. She was trapped…trapped and there was no escape, but still she couldn’t help struggling, pleading… “Don’t do this, Charles. Please, don't! Please, I—”
“STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!”
The strangely familiar voice seemed to echo in her head. Elise looked around, blinking as the scene melted around her like a chalk drawing melting in the rain. Everything—her stepfather, Buck’s lifeless body, the huge Tudor-style house—all suddenly disappeared.
Where am I? she thought, feeling disorientated. What’s happening? Where…who…?
“Stop it, I said.”
She blinked and a large, familiar form came into focus. Merrick—it’s Merrick. But what is he doing here? Where are Buck and Charles and…?
“You can’t make her go through any more of this. I won’t fucking let you,” Merrick was growling at some strange looking people who sat across from them at a table. They all seemed to have animalistic faces. “This pain is too much for her to bear, even for a branch of your fucking sacred skrillix.”
The skrillix, Elise suddenly remembered. The pain vine. I pricked my finger with its thorn. That’s what happened…why I remembered…remembered everything.
That was why the pain of Buck’s death was still so fresh, why the horror of what her stepfather had done to her still choked her like a bone in her throat. Merrick had stopped the scene before it’s conclusion but it was too late—the vault’s door had been blown off its hinges and the evil, ugly, rotted things that had been held inside it were set loose, free to torment her forever.
“It is enough. The pain the girl-child has given will more than pay,” one of the Elders said. But Elise barely heard him. Inside her head that horrible afternoon with her stepfather echoed over and over, trapping her in a neverending loop of pain and shame and misery.
Suddenly Merrick was standing in front of her, his hands on her shoulders and concern in his eyes—those mismatched eyes so much like Buck’s. “Elise? Baby?” he asked softly. “Are you okay?”
“No.” Elise closed her eyes tightly. Pressing her palms to her temples, she pushed as hard as she could, squeezing her skull between her hands, as though if she pressed hard enough she could get rid of the awful memories. The rotting ghouls that flooded her mind with horror and filth. What he did to me, how he touched me, the way he did it over and over and over…
“Elise, please,” Merrick whispered. “Please, talk to me.”
“I can’t. I won’t. Leave me alone…leave me alone.” Elise pressed her skull harder, digging her fingers into her scalp, trying to drive out the pain. Inside her head she heard her stepfather whispering, telling her what he was going to do next, how much he was going to enjoy it, enjoy hurting her again…
It was too much. Too horrible. And this time Elise knew she’d never be able to forget again—the vault was broken beyond repair. She would live the rest of her life with this horror, this agony, this pain and shame and despair.
I’d rather die, she thought, and then it was as though her brain overloaded. Somewhere inside, a fuse blew and everything went into fast-forward—Charles and Buck and the awful weekend ran and smeared together in a loop that wouldn’t stop. Elise opened her mouth in a silent scream…and then knew no more.
Chapter Thirty-two
“There is a healing hut a level down from here. Can you carry her in the dark?” Mother-Healer asked, when Merrick emerged from the Elder’s hut carrying Elise’s limp form.
He nodded shortly. “Lead the way.”
“Come, then.”
Merrick followed the old woman, holding Elise carefully in one arm and negotiating the climbing vines with the other. It was full dark now, and he was glad of his Kindred night vision. One wrong move would send them both plunging from the top of the grandfather tree to the jungle floor below.
But it wasn’t the dangerous nighttime journey he was worried about—it was Elise. Gods, what she’d been through in the past hour, reliving her horrible past…it was enough to make him feel sick to his stomach. Her fear and pain and anguish had all transmitted clearly through their bond—Merrick had even been able to catch some of her thoughts as the awful scene unfolded. It had been hard to take, but he knew it was a
thousand times worse for Elise, who had lived it.
Merrick cursed himself for not stopping it sooner, for not offering himself in her stead. But she had pricked her finger before he could stop her, and the poison of the pain vine worked so quickly…
Over and over again he heard her screams, saw the hungry, predatory gleam in her stepfather’s eyes as he pushed Elise down and took her. Rage rose in Merrick's throat like a hot and bitter bile. Goddess, he prayed as he stepped off the tree trunk and his feet found a solid branch to stand on. I don’t know if you care to hear me—if you care about me at all. But grant me this one request—let me kill the male who wronged Elise. Even though I could not save her, let me avenge her pain once and for all…
“Lay her down here.” Mother-Healer’s voice interrupted his prayer and he realized they were inside another leafy hut and she was indicating a low bed platform. He settled Elise gently on the bed and was disturbed to see that her eyes were open but she was completely unresponsive.
“What’s wrong with her?” he demanded, snapping his fingers in front of Elise’s face. “Why doesn’t she respond?”
“She is trapped in the past.” The old woman’s voice was grim. “Sometimes, when the memories are too strong, the pain vine will not release its victim.”
“What?” Merrick roared. “You mean she’s still reliving it? Over and fucking over again?”
“She will not be for long. Let me administer the cure.” Quickly she unwrapped something from her blue robes and Merrick saw that it was the skrillix branch Elise had taken—the one the Elders had insisted she buy with her pain. He hated the sight of it now, but he knew they still needed it—which was why he was concerned when the old woman pulled off one of the crimson berries. “Only one,” she said, seeing Merrick’s worried look. “That which harms can also heal.”
Gently, she pried open Elise’s mouth and squeezed the berry until its blood-red juice ran between her lips. At first there was no reaction. Then, to Merrick’s immense relief, Elise coughed and blinked her eyes. She looked up at him. “Merrick?”
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