by Nancy Glynn
She remembered waking herself up after her soul thumped back into her sleeping body from wherever it went, with a fast beating heart and sweat pooling beneath her and through her pajamas. Home from college for the summer, she was in her own bed in her own room, with parents down the hall who loved and cherished her very breath. Everything was fine and in its place. All was well, or so she convinced herself.
Those dreams seemed to go away as if they hit their climax on her birthday, but replacing them instead of more of a sexual nature. That was the summer she turned to sex, making whatever boyfriend she had a very happy man. She couldn’t get enough, and some nicknamed her Lana Wanna.
The dreams got worse, making her scream out, causing her father to rush in to see what was wrong. He had once caught her making love to her boyfriend, straddled on top and buck wild. The door had flung open and she turned to find her father frozen in place, staring at her bare back before he finally found the words, warning the guy to leave or he’d be thrown out the window.
This startled her because her father always seemed so in control and calm, but something different shocked his senses that night and he lost it. She never allowed that to happen again, but he had a hard time looking his daughter in the eye after that. A secret kept from her mother that she wished she had shared now.
She still had dreams after that, but not as bad and sometimes none at all. But she’d never forget the look on her father’s face. Whenever she tried to hug him, he had tightened, giving her a brisk hug and walking away. It hurt her that she had made him feel that way. Before that, he would hug her tightly and tickle her, always playful and fun. Now, a darker, more solemn man took his place. She had done that to him.
Even her mother asked what happened with him, not knowing what to say because she honestly didn’t know. Dad saw me screwing Jordan and now thinks I’m a whore is what she’d like to say, but instead would shrug and go on with life.
It’s been a few years now since she’d been with anyone, hiding her sexuality deep in a hole where judgment lived. She dated and had hot make-out sessions with guys, but it never went any farther. She’d kiss them goodbye on the cheek, leaving them panting for more, and go up to her apartment alone.
Now these crazy dreams were back, and she attributed them to the house. For the past couple of nights, she’d said the prayer her grandfather had given Eric. It helped a lot, keeping any wrestling thoughts of fighting Eric at bay. Even Eric seemed to be back to his old self, happily dating Diana.
As she went down for breakfast, she could hear Eric laughing at something Lucy was saying, bringing a smile to her face. This house needed that kind of happiness.
“Morning, Miss Lana. Eggs?” Lucy asked, stirring the yolk in a bowl.
“Yes, please.” She sat at the dining table next to Eric.
“So, today’s the day, huh?”
She nodded, looking down at her phone.
“I’ll be there, but I’ll bring Diana another day. She might not be ready. Her parents make her go to a church in Chicago.” He drank his coffee, reading his tablet.
“How is Diana?” She glanced up from her phone with a crooked smile.
“She’s great. I really like her. After church, I’ll go back to her house and watch a movie.”
“Right, a movie. Gotcha.”
“Don’t assume anything,” he said, a smile twitching at his lips.
“I wouldn’t dare. Staying there all night?” She noticed he’d been out late the past few nights, but always came home.
“I don’t know. We’ll see. Don’t wait up.”
“I’m happy for you, Eric.” She reached a hand over to cover his, bringing a smile to his face.
“Thanks. I’ll have to get back home to New York sometime, though. My client’s investments are probably suffering since I haven’t checked. My new partner Conor is managing them right now, but he e-mails with a lot of questions, making me very nervous.”
“I have a feeling your business is just fine. And my feelings are usually right,” she said, smugly.
“Right, with your intuition, you probably are right. Makes me feel a little better, but I’ll still have to get back. Diana said she’d love to take a trip to New York, so might bring her with next week.”
“Wow, things are getting serious. I’m glad. I really like her for you. My mom would be pleased.”
A sad smile crossed his lips, nodding to her words. “She might even be behind it for all I know, knowing Daisy.”
“True.”
She finished her breakfast that Lucy brought her and then started for the foyer.
“What’s your hurry?” he asked.
“Shopping! I need to look nice for tonight, don’t I?” She smiled and grabbed her purse and keys.
***
After finding the perfect outfit, a slim red dress cut to fit her body snugly but professional looking, she prepared to get ready. It was already five o’clock, and she needed to eat and take a bath. She hung her dress on the back of the bathroom door along with her nylons and red pumps on the floor. She’d leave her hair down in wavy layers with the sides pulled away in diamond barrettes.
She pushed the intercom on the wall and asked Lucinda for a fast banana-strawberry smoothie. Lucy argued that she needed something of more substance, but Lana claimed there was no time, not wanting to walk into a place pretty much new in town and be tardy.
James carried her drink up to her as she just finished with her bath. “Thank you, James.”
“You’re welcome, madam. Be…careful tonight.” He stood in his neat butler’s uniform and bowed to her before walking away.
“Why do you think I need to be careful?” she asked, but he was already gone, disappearing into nothing.
She understood why her grandfather would want that of her, but James? The man never said anything other than the usual greetings and salutations. Shrugging it off, she drank her sweet smoothie and continued to get dressed.
Pleased with what she saw in the mirror after applying her makeup and donning her jewelry and finally shoes, she sprayed on a little perfume, starting from the ankles up, a gift from her father before he died, not to her mother’s liking. She had thought it wasn’t fit for a father to give such a sexy gift to his daughter. Her mother almost appeared jealous, but then she’d brush it off when she’d give her a tight hug and butterfly kisses like she did when she was a little girl, right on her cheeks, forehead, and eyes.
She could feel them now, soft lashes fluttering against her skin. Maybe a gift from her mom, feeling her presence this important day. Did she also miss her own mother when she had stayed here for such a short time? Something told her she did. Mothers and daughters were bonded in the most profound ways, even in death.
Something pulled her to the picture window, and she saw it…her wolf. He stared at her with a sorrowful expression in his glowing yellow eyes. Their souls somehow connected in that moment. She touched the glass with her fingers and then stood back, watching him leap off into the trees and another part of the estate.
The lights flickered as if she were on an intermission break and the show was ready to start. She glanced around the room and sighed, grabbing her purse and leaving for the mass.
***
Her jeep waited for her by the curb, James next to it with the door open. “Madam,” he said, gesturing for her to get in.
She smiled and pecked his cheek, surprising him, before sliding in. He backed away and wafted up into the house, the lights simultaneously turning off. Her shoulders shook from the chills, and she drew her pink, lacy shawl up over them before shifting into drive.
On the way there, she fiddled with the radio and found a rock station she liked. Rock music always calmed her nerves. Just then, a song came on that almost made her laugh. Hells Bells by AC/DC blasted. She listened to the first run of it, singing and banging her steering wheel. Her college friends used to listen to them all the time. When it ended, it began again. She tried to turn to another song, but it pla
yed on every station.
“What the…” Frustrated, she shut it off, but it turned back on. The eerie bell tolling part of the song grew louder and louder, sawing through her core. She pulled over to the side of the road and held her head in her hands, attempting to block out the bells.
Screaming in frustration, she said, “Fine, wanna play with me?” She stared at the stereo system until it exploded, wires hanging out of the smoking hole, and all was quiet. With satisfaction, she started up the jeep again and drove to the church in peace.
King Road led her down the path to the forest and into the back through a patch of gravel and dirt. The full moon shone and an owl hooted in the distance. The church stood tall and black on a slight hill, the windows glowing with a red shadowy light.
Expensive as well as used, beat-up cars lined the parking lot, a mixture of working class status. She parked in a spot right in front of the walk that would lead to the black double steel doors. As she stepped out, a howling echoed through the trees that tore at her heart. What was it about that sound? So mournful and full of death. These were necrotic grounds, not sacred like Jack would like to believe.
She hated being the last one to walk inside this unfamiliar place, but held her head high and shoulders back. Her strut demonstrated a strength with each step, unlike her mother who told her about her first walk in this church, clutching her father’s arm with uncertainty.
The doors slowly opened as she approached them, the clicks of her heels on the concrete walk being the only sound. Walking into an abyss and then the red glow of the shadows casted on the walls and ceiling, illuminating hooded figures in the black pews.
As the congregation turned toward her, they bowed, each one as she passed, lowering her pale head as she did. The inverted cross hung in its place as it did in so many of her dreams, the cross her mother had nightmares about until the day she died.
Lana stared at it with a smugness, not afraid, not feeling anything. The clicks of her heels against the wooden floor reverberated through the place of worship, silence with respect emanating from these people.
She slid to the front pew where a pretty hooded woman with large blue eyes gestured for her, bowing, and returning to her own seat. Letting her shawl fall behind her onto the wooden seat painted in black, she gazed at the front, the looming black cross heavy and swinging. A podium was in the center underneath the cross.
The wavering lit torches stood guard, their flames alive with a burning anger as if an invisible gust of wind blew at them. She focused on one, and blew like she was blowing at a dandelion. The torch ignited and roared, slowly dying down to a normal flame. An organ played from somewhere deep in the walls.
A slow clap echoed from the back, growing louder, and then she saw the source.
“That was brilliant, just brilliant. Everyone stand and welcome Lana Stone,” Jack Red commanded as he walked out to the podium.
With that, the whole congregation stood and cheered. “Hail Lana,” they said, over and over. They pulled their hoods down, clapping and stomping their feet.
Jack held his hand out for her to join him at what would be the apse in a church. Dressed in a black Armani suit and royal blue shirt, his startling blue eyes flashing her in the dark, he carried a persona of a true leader of a dark army, his stark white teeth against his youthful, tanned skin, and lips curled into a playful grin. Choosing a face and body for the purpose of gaining trust, Jack displayed what a master he was at this human game. She knew what had to be underneath that handsome exterior, but it was hard to see past it. Jack was a sexy man, and she would have to figure out a way to abolish that fake image from her mind.
She stood and walked again to what would be the nave, lowering her eyes to bowed heads, wondering how her father had abhorred this act of honor. Stepping up onto the platform of the altar and taking Jack’s extended hand, she allowed him to guide her to the lectern with the black inverted cross.
A few men sat in three pulpit chairs against the back wall, wearing black vestments instead of white, with embroidered inverted crosses, their faces hidden beneath the black hoods. Lana shivered at what lived inside the protective cloth. Were there black holes for eyes and slashed mouths? It was hard to tell. They seemed to look directly at the floor, as if they were statues. Their shuffling feet told her they were real.
Jack stepped back and allowed her to address the townspeople without his help. Instead, he leaned against a pulpit off to the side, watching her with interest. Black candles decorated the church, casting an unnerving ambiance. Looking out into the faceless crowd of widened smiles, she felt a little at ease. She cleared her throat and spoke. “I’m Lana Stone, as you now all know, and I’m here to take over where my father and grandfather, Christian and William Stone, had left off twenty-six years ago.”
Cheers and claps, more stomping feet, and wolf whistles vibrated throughout the nave. “Hail Lana!” was chanted until she put her hand up, giving a small smile.
“Thank you for allowing me to join you tonight. I noticed more jobs are needed here in Golden Hills for those of you without one. I want to expand this town and grow it into an economic dream for old and new residents, allowing everyone to prosper.”
More cheers and claps.
“I noticed only one school for all grades, and we need to change that. There’s so much land for development of commercial use, and I plan to use it!”
“Hail Lana!”
“I’m a former high school teacher and believe in the best education for our children. I know of some teachers who would love to move here and teach, if you’ll have them.” She really did speak to a few interested coworkers before leaving, remembering them with fondness.
“If that’s what you wish, Lana, then we do, too!” someone yelled.
She laughed and nodded. “Yes, thank you. This town could be better than it’s ever been since my grandfather first founded it! William Stone would want this. I have other ideas that I’m still working on, but these are just the few that are definitely in the works. I want to thank Jack Red for inviting me here with such a warm welcome.” It felt like poison spitting these words out, but she needed to gain their trust and could see she already was.
As she continued to speak, her eye caught a man in the back, leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed as if annoyed from her words of promise. His build was strong and husky, almost too powerful for the slim pew, his shoulders wide, then narrowing down to his waist. His jawline was tense as if in pain or angry or both. His brown hair was slicked back into what looked like a short ponytail at the base of his neck. It irritated her that this man so rudely and obviously ignored her.
“Sir, are you all right?” she called out, causing everyone to turn to the back.
An older woman elbowed him in the side, and he looked up, startled by the watchful stares, and cleared his throat. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your speech. Please, go on.”
His sapphire blue eyes impaled right through her, immobilizing her tongue to speak.
“I don’t usually come every Saturday, but I did tonight as a favor,” he added with a curt tone.
When she finally gained feeling, she croaked, “For your wife?”
“No, my mother. She wanted to see you, but this isn’t really my thing.” He leaned forward now, looking directly in her eyes, making her feel nervous for the first time tonight.
The room sucked in their breath, hushed tones dying down to her hand help up.
She sighed. “You may leave. I don’t want anyone here who’s not here of their own accord. Please go.”
“He’s a good boy, Miss Lana,” the older woman next to him said, as if pleading to not strike him dead, as if she would do such a thing.
His eyes bulged with embarrassment as he caught Lana’s look. “I’ll stay. It’s fine,” he said through tight lips. He sat against the pew and stared into Lana’s eyes.
“Thank you. I’ll make it quick.” And she did, speaking of a few other plans she had in
mind and then glanced at Jack to end it.
Jack sauntered over to the lectern and stared at the man in the back. “How are you, Hunter? Tired from all the projects we have lined up?” He looked as if he were assessing a component.
“I am, but I can handle it,” he said.
“Well, then you should be giving your full attention to this lovely woman here to get more people on your job sites. It’s rude.”
The congregation gasped and murmured to each other until Jack put his hands up.
Lana’s eyes widened as she watched the two men go at it.
“I’m sorry, Jack, I never meant to be rude. My apologies, Ms. Stone,” he said, nodding to her.
“No need for apologies. And you may call me Lana. I want everyone to call me by my given name. I’m no more special than you, and I want to call you all friend.” She smiled into those faces that she knew were either on her side or weren’t, but she’d be all their friend. She glanced at Hunter and gave a nod to which he returned. She wished in that moment she could read minds like her mother did. She’d love to know what he was thinking, or would she?
Jack put his hand on hers and squeezed it, looking down into her eyes. He turned her to face him and bent his head, possessively kissing her lips softly, a kiss that lingered before she bit his top lip, making him wince, his eyes filled with mirth. An act only known between them. It was obvious he was trying to claim her in front of this Hunter.
The men behind them went to stand, but Jack put his hand out, making them sit back down, his eyes still on Lana. He wiped his bloody injury and tasted the blood on his fingers. His mouth curved into a lascivious grin. He then faced the gleeful audience in hushed bated breath after witnessing this act, especially glaring at Hunter, a sneer forming on his lips.
The fire in the torches behind them flared high and hot, almost burning her back, the heat so close. She caught Hunter’s amusement in his face, knowing how uncomfortable she was with that kiss. Glad to give some entertainment value for him.