Dark Heritage Trilogy

by Hoffman, Samantha

  He’s gone, she thought flatly. It’s not like he’s here to hear me say it.

  “I understand where you’re coming from, Ronnie, but you have to remember that she’s evil. There’s no other way to describe her. She’s psychotic, and she’s evil. If you gave her the chance, she’d kill you in a heartbeat. Hell, she’d probably kill anyone that got in the way of her revenge,” Finn said.

  “She’s not a little girl,” Holly added. “She never was. She just wanted you to think she was so you’d go easy on her. You can’t let her fool you.”

  “I won’t. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find Tabitha’s spirit before she hurts anyone else.” Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Tabitha turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Finn and Holly standing in the middle of the hall.

  I would have given anything to just be able to scream their name and have them notice me, but while I was locked away in the back of my own mind, I had to accept the fact that nobody was going to be able to stop Tabitha. It was up to me to break free from this prison, but I wasn’t sure how to do it. Tabitha was more powerful than she had ever been, and I couldn’t even put a crack in this invisible prison.

  All I could do was sit and watch while Tabitha carried out her plans.

  Chapter Seven

  Tabitha slammed my bedroom door closed behind her and flopped down on my bed. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that something was wrong. I wasn’t sure what it was or if I even wanted to know, but I had to ask in case there was even the slightest chance I could talk her out of doing something terrible.

  Tabitha…what’s wrong?

  I don’t know where to go from here. Everything is so confusing. I need help.

  Let me help you.

  She snorted, but it sounded to me like she was more sad than angry. I wasn’t sure, but it sounded to me like she was crying. I need help from someone who actually has my best interests at heart. I need my daddy.

  Tabitha, Andrew is gone, but I’m not. Talk to me.

  She sniffed. No, I need someone better than you. If I can’t talk to my dad, I’ll to talk to the next best person. She sat up excitedly. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of her sooner.”

  Who? Your mom?

  No, my grandma. My dad’s mom. She was a necromancer just like us, and she promised to hang around as long as she could, for me.

  …so she’s my grandma, too?

  Tabitha jerked to a stop, and I could tell that I had startled her. I—I guess she is. I didn’t think of that. You know, she always wanted more grandchildren, but I was all she got. My dad was an only child, and he didn’t know about you.

  How do you think your grandma will react when she finds out you’ve commandeered your own sister’s body? Do you think she’ll be proud? Or do you think she’ll be disappointed that her little girl is going down such a dark path?

  For the first time since Tabitha had taken over my body, I could feel her hesitation. She was doubting her self right now, and I realized that she actually cared what her grandma thought about her. If I could keep poking and prodding at her conscience, I might be able to break free and warn everyone about what Tabitha had been doing.

  She’d be happy that I’m avenging my father.

  You might be right, Tabitha, but I’m not so sure. I think she’d want to know that her granddaughter’s spirit is safe and being taken care of. If you get banished, it will probably be a very long time before your grandmother sees you again. You know that, right?

  What do you mean?

  I mean, that she could potentially hang around here for as long as she wanted. She’s a necromancer, too. She has that kind of power. The only reason my mother is gone is because she used so much of her power to save me on that roof. If she hadn’t, she probably could have stayed with me forever. If you get banished, your grandmother will be here forever, with me and not you. Think about that.

  Tabitha laughed. You’re the one that killed her only son, and her only real granddaughter! If I got banished, she would never want anything to do with you. She’d haunt you for the rest of your miserable life, just to make you pay for everything you’ve done to our family.

  Is that a little tremor I hear in your voice? Sounds to me like you’re not too sure.

  “Shut up,” she grumbled. She slid off the end of the bed and sat down in the center of my room. I could feel her beckon to her power. It grew out of seemingly nowhere, rising to meet her like a tidal wave. It expanded until she was filled with power from head to toe, and for the first time since Tabitha had died, I realized just how powerful she had become. Her power dwarfed mine at the moment, and I knew that if it came down to a battle of power, she would most likely win. I didn’t stand a chance, and I thought I knew why.

  This prison suppresses my powers, doesn’t it?

  Yes, it does. Now stop talking. I need to focus.

  Tabitha took slow, deep breaths as she tried to calm her racing heart. I wondered if she had ever tried to contact her father after his death. I could only imagine the pain and utter loneliness when she realized that he was gone forever and couldn’t be reached ever again. I knew that feeling. Unfortunately, that knowledge just reminded me once again that Tabitha was nothing more than a child who had been alone in life, and now in death, as well.

  Tabitha’s power flowed from her, filling my room in a dark gray glow. The room began to pulsate in time with the beat of her heart, and I was instantly reminded of the last time I had spoken to my mother’s spirit. Pressure was starting to build up, and I knew that soon the nausea would hit, and then the room would begin to shake. I could tell that Tabitha wasn’t feeling any of that though. She was too busy concentrating on finding her grandmother’s spirit to notice what was going on around her.

  Just as the pulsing got worse, the far corner of my room lit up with a brilliant white light. It vanished as soon as it appeared, and in its place was a woman that looked young enough to be my mother. That wasn’t surprising, since supernatural beings didn’t ever age past adulthood. I had no idea how old this woman really was, but I knew she was probably at least fifty, even though she looked to be in her late twenties. Her eyes alone told the truth about her age, and in those soft brown depths, I could see that she was not only intelligent, but she was not like Tabitha and Andrew.

  Hopefully she could talk some sense into Tabitha before things got even worse.

  “Grandma!” Tabitha shrieked. She ran across the room and threw herself at the woman’s spirit. It always amazed me that we didn’t go through them and hit the wall, but that was just one of the things about the ghost of a necromancer that was different from normal ghosts. “You’re really here!”

  The woman pulled away, looking startled. “Who are you?”

  “Grandma, it’s me, Tabitha. I’m just borrowing someone else’s body right now.”

  Stealing is more like it, I thought darkly.

  “Is that true, Tabitha? Are you stealing this girl’s body?”

  Tabitha pulled away in shock. “You can hear her, too? How?”

  “I may be a ghost, but I’m still a necromancer. And right now, this poor girl is little more than a spirit trapped in her own mind while you wrongfully inhabit a body that is not yours. Yes, I can hear her. She sounds very angry.”

  “She shouldn’t be,” Tabitha said murderously. “She’s the one who killed dad, and she killed me, too.”

  The woman’s eyes narrowed, and I could tell she was glaring at me now, and not her granddaughter. “Is that true? Did you kill my son and granddaughter?”

  I had no choice. Andrew was trying to take over the world, and it was my job to stop him. When Tabitha took up his plans, I tried to talk her out of it. I told her I didn’t want to get rid of the only family I had left.

  “Family?” The woman frowned. “Tabitha, who is this girl?”

  “Does it matter?” Tabitha asked uneasily.

  My name is Ronnie. I’m Andrew’s daughter.

  The woman’s eyes
widened. “Andrew only had one child.”

  My mother was Vivian. I don’t know if you knew her or not. She and Andrew dated for awhile, but his power and ambitions scared her, and when she found out she was pregnant, she took off. She never told him I even existed. He only found out shortly before his death.

  “You mean before you killed him!” Tabitha snapped.

  Yes, Tabitha, I killed him. And I would do it again if I had to. Don’t ever forget that.

  Tabitha’s hands clenched at her sides. “You deserve to have your life destroyed, Ronnie. And I can’t wait to do it.”

  “Tabitha!” the woman snapped. “What have you gotten yourself into during my absence?”

  She tried to murder one of my friends earlier tonight, and she has plans to kill the others in the near future. She’s still set on getting her revenge, even though I’ve told her I’ll have no choice but to banish her spirit for good.

  “Tabitha,” the woman said, frowning sadly. “What have I told you about revenge?” When Tabitha didn’t say anything, the woman sighed. “Revenge will only lead you to more pain and heartache. You should have mourned in private, and then gotten on with your life. I would have helped you through it if you had only summoned me. Why did you choose this path?”

  “It’s what daddy would have wanted!”

  “Yes, it is. But your father is not the kind of man you want to live your life by. You’re in over your head, Darling. I’m afraid this won’t end well. It looks like it didn’t end well the first time.”

  It didn’t, I thought. I had to kill my own little sister, only months after killing my father. And now I’m going to have to banish her forever. I’m not sure how much more pain and heartache I can take before I shatter.

  “If you’re anything like Vivian, you’re in no danger of shattering, Sweetheart.”

  “Do not call her Sweetheart!” Tabitha exploded, taking an angry step forward. “She murdered your entire family!”

  “She is my family,” the woman said gently. “She’s your family, too. How can you do this to someone? I thought I had raised you to be better than that?”

  “Daddy raised me,” Tabitha muttered stubbornly.

  “Nonsense. Your father was never around unless he wanted to teach you something that would warp your mind. I was the one who raised you, and I thought I had done a much better job. It looks like I was wrong.”

  Tabitha’s eyes welled up with tears, and she wiped at them with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry, Grandma. I didn’t mean to disappoint you.”

  The woman sighed. “You haven’t disappointed me, Tabitha. I’m just very saddened by the way your life has turned out. I wish there was some way I could help you find the light. I want you to get your life back on track.”

  “It’s a little late for that don’t you think?” Tabitha asked snidely. I could tell she was sneering at her grandma, even though just seconds ago, she had been crying at the thought of having disappointed her. Her mood was definitely out of control, and there was no telling what Tabitha was going to say or do next. I just hoped my friends weren’t going to be the next target of her anger and aggression.

  “Tabitha, it’s never too late to change. All you have to do is let this girl—your sister—have her body back. And we’ll work from there. Just relinquish control, and come away with me. You’ll find peace, Tabitha. I promise. Doesn’t eternal peace sound much better than revenge? Wouldn’t you like to spend your remaining time with me instead of trying to make someone who isn’t even here anymore proud of you? Andrew is gone, and you have to accept that,” she said sadly.

  “No!” Tabitha screamed, backing away from her grandmother. “I can’t!”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know how,” Tabitha said. Her voice broke on that final word, and for the first time, I realized that Tabitha wasn’t just angry beyond belief. She was scared. She clearly knew and understood what she was doing, but from the sound of things, it didn’t sound like she knew why she was doing any of this. She knew that Andrew was gone for good, but she couldn’t stop trying to make him proud.

  “Tabitha, I’ll show you how,” her grandmother said patiently, as if she were talking to a small child. Which, in a way, she kind of was. “I’ll show you how to leave all of this pain and anger and confusion behind. You’ll be happy again, Darling. Don’t you want that?”

  Tabitha slammed her hand down on the nearby dresser. “No, I want everything to go back to the way it was! I want my daddy back! I want you back! I want to make people pay for the pain they’ve caused me! Don’t you understand that? I want people to be as miserable as I am, and I won’t stop until I get what I want.” Tabitha narrowed her eyes at her grandmother. “If you won’t help me, then stay out of my way. Don’t interfere with my plans, Grandma. I’d hate to have to banish you.”

  “Is your revenge really that important to you?” she asked. When I looked at her face, I could see the sadness behind them. Seeing her granddaughter—her Darling—like this was causing her pain on a deep, emotional level.

  “Yeah, it is. Nothing is more important to me than my revenge. That’s the way daddy would have wanted it, and that’s the way it has to be.”

  Tabitha’s grandmother—my grandmother—sighed heavily, almost like she had expected nothing else from her granddaughter than this disgusting behavior. “Tabitha, you’re going to regret this decision. Before the end, you’ll wish you had listened to me tonight. I can guarantee that. I’m sorry, but I have nothing more to say to you.”

  “But—”

  “Ronnie, I want to apologize for Tabitha’s behavior. Or perhaps I should be apologizing for the way I raised my son. I was never firm with him about our gifts. He was always experimenting, trying to broaden his powers. I should have reined him in a little. Perhaps if I had, you would not be in this predicament now. All I can do is pray that my granddaughter comes to her senses.”

  I wish I had gotten a chance to know you…

  “Me, too. When this all works out, perhaps I will come visit you and we can start there.”

  Any advice for getting out of this mess?

  “Your power has been diminished because of her prison, so your chances of forcibly taking your body back are slim. I’m afraid the only way to get your body back is to have an exorcism performed over you. You’d need an experienced necromancer to fight Tabitha on the outside, while you fought from the inside. I hope there’s someone here that can help you.”

  “How dare you?” Tabitha shrieked. “Don’t help her!”

  “I’ll help whoever I wish.”

  “Get out!”

  “Good luck, Ronnie.”

  Tabitha’s grandmother slowly faded from view until it was just us alone in my room once more. I was incredibly glad that Tabitha’s grandmother was not only sane, but helpful as well. I now knew that fighting was most likely useless, and an exorcism was the way to go. Unfortunately, I was most likely going to be on the receiving end of Tabitha’s fury now that her grandmother had helped me and not her.

  For a full minute after our grandmother disappeared, Tabitha just stood in place. Her hands were clenched into fists at her side, and she was breathing so harshly I could hear the tension and anger. She was struggling to control herself before she said anything, but I didn’t have time to wait. I needed to know what she was planning now that she’d spoken to our grandmother.

  Tabitha?

  Don’t speak to me.

  What, are you gonna make me stop?

  She sighed. “You know, I could just take off with your body and never look back. You would be locked away in your own mind for all of eternity, watching while I make new plans and get my revenge that way. Nobody would ever know it was even me. They would just think you couldn’t hack it, or that you had turned evil, too.”

  The thought of being trapped in the back of my own mind was terrifying. Nobody would ever think I turned evil.

  You sure about that? Maybe you snapped after a fight with Finn. Or maybe
your mind just cracked after all of those nightmares that leave you gasping for air in the middle of the night. Maybe you felt guilty about murdering me, and you decided to make it up to me by carrying out my plans.

  Do you watch me while I sleep?

  She hesitated for a second. Yeah, I do. You say my name a lot in your sleep. And you cry, too. What do you dream about?

  Watching you die, mostly. Not by my hand, though. By Council orders. Sometimes it’s a beheading, others a hanging. Once it was even a drowning, with your arms tied behind your back. You always look so scared, and I scream your name and push through the crowd, trying to get to you in time, but I always reach you just as you’ve stopped breathing. Then I usually sit there and hold your dead body until I wake up.

  That’s awful, Tabitha admitted.

  Uh-huh. Over and over again, every single night. You think it was easy for me to kill you, that I was just doing my duty or something. Tabitha, that night will haunt me for the rest of my life, however long or short that life is. There will never be a day where I don’t think about you, about what I’ve done. It’s a scar, Tabitha. A scar on my heart.

  She sighed again. I’m sorry, Ronnie. Deep down, I know you didn’t want to kill me. I just…I can’t help thinking that you should have found a different way to do things. You should have just let me go.

  So you could do what? Kill my friends and family? I know you were watching Jessica—that’s why you picked her preschool, right? What were your plans for my foster family?

  I thought you hated them.

  No, I don’t. They took care of me when nobody else would. Susan might not have been the nicest about it, but she still took in an abandoned little girl and let me into her home. And I never gave her the credit she deserved for that.

  What’s to stop me from going over there right now and killing your foster parents?

  You and I both know what it’s like to lose our parents. Would you really inflict that kind of pain on a little girl? Would you let her grow up to be like us? Full of pain and loneliness?

  Tabitha’s shoulders slumped, and I knew that Alan, Susan, and Jessica were safe for now. Hopefully she would forget about whatever plans she had for them, at least until I was able to fight for them. I needed to get out of this prison soon though, or I’d be powerless to stop her if she decided to go after them. And if she was in my body while she did it, there would be no reason for them not to trust me. I was just glad they were somewhere safe right now, where Tabitha couldn’t get to them.