Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate

by Wray Ardan

  Jaden grabbed her mom’s phone from her pack. With just the punch of a button, Briz vaporized from her thoughts as she listened to the message.

  “JADEN! Where are you? You’re supposed to be home resting. Call me when you get this. You’d better have a good excuse for not answering! Ava will be there at six o’clock. Be ready to work tonight. In fact, since you’re feeling so good, clean up the house, and do the laundry. That should keep you home for a while. And don’t forget, call in the order for pizza before Ava arrives.”

  Jaden called her mom back and groveled. “I’m here, Mom. I was out by the garage using the Wi-Fi. I forgot to take the phone with me.”

  Her mom was going to be way more satisfied with that answer than knowing Jaden had been running around town—and hooking up with a guy. The truth would probably make her mom as happy as thinking she was on drugs. Hanging up, Jaden promised herself that if she lived through this ordeal, she’d never lie to her mom again. Normally she didn’t have any reason to. But there wasn’t anything normal about her life right now. It was filled with fantasies of Briz—and abhorrent hellhounds.

  “Hellhounds!” Closing her eyes, she not only saw the Mal Rous faces but also smelled their disgusting breath. Just thinking about interacting with the demons made her feel sick. “What kind of grandparent leaves defective DNA experiments for his grandchildren to find? What will they do to me for not showing up today? Or yesterday? There’s no way they’ll threaten some heinous act against my life, right? Not after I’ve spent the last four days piecing together clues about their slimy Professor. I mean, come on, death by Mal Rous… .” It seemed ridiculous to be troubled by something so completely surreal.

  Jaden could either pacify her mom or the Mal Rous. Conscious of how emotionally detached she was becoming over her own possible demise, Jaden conceded to her mother’s demands and took the cleaning supplies from the cupboard. What would one more day matter?

  Promptly at six Ava roared into the driveway honking the horn. By then Jaden was emotionally back in the La-La-Land of Briz and wanted to stay there for as long as possible. She couldn’t stop smiling as she climbed into the car.

  Her sister glowered. “Cut the crap, Jaden.” Ava’s eyes narrowed to the size of peas. “I know you don’t need to wear that crud anymore.”

  Covered in pink goo, Jaden grinned, determined to keep her thoughts on Briz. She wasn’t going to let them stray into the world of Mal Rous or older sisters unless she absolutely had to.

  CHAPTER 17

  What was taking her daughters so long? With no one there to fill up the emptiness, Brooke found it hard to concentrate on painting Elvina’s bedroom walls. She could hear every little noise—floorboards creaking, pipes groaning, door hinges squeaking. It was as if the house were grieving its past while anticipating its renewal.

  She walked over to the window. Looking beyond the beauty of the vast yard, she watched as the sun’s rays pierced through the dark clouds. In the distance it looked as if someone had taken a brush and swept rose and violet shades of dust along the horizon. She wondered if her husband Dru had ever gotten to see his family’s estate. After all, it was really his inheritance.

  Brooke leaned against the windowsill watching a screeching crow soar over the canopy of oak trees above the driveway—then her mouth opened wide in a silent scream as a sharp object plunged into her leg. Brooke went rigid and her head drooped. Everything became a blur as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. A creature yanked its fangs from her calf, sending a stream of blood flowing onto the hardwood floor. The room closed in around her. Her heartbeat thudded, skipping every other beat. Losing her balance, she fell back. Her head hit the window. She slid down to the floor, leaving red streaks smeared across the cracked glass. Then everything went dark.

  CHAPTER 18

  The last person Jaden and Ava expected to see at Guyon Manor was Briz. He stood there in the drive, wearing a wide smile, thumbs hooked in his belt loops, a sparkle in his eyes.

  “What’s he doing here?” Ava asked, agitated.

  “Maybe he’s going to ask you out on a date.” Jaden laughed, unable to hold it in. Ava’s head spun toward her so fast that Jaden was surprised it didn’t pop off.

  The car barreled up next to Briz and came to an abrupt stop. Ava opened her door and stomped over to him like a steamroller intent on flattening him. Before she could speak, Briz greeted her with a lighthearted hello, throwing her off guard. Ava’s face passed through a quick series of expressions, from annoyed to confused to her favorite, the seductress. She looped her arm through Briz’s, claiming him as her own.

  Jaden walked toward them carrying their dinner.

  “You’re beautiful in pink,” Briz said, checking her out from head to toe.

  With a ripple of laughter and a huge grin, Jaden said, “Yeah.” She was enjoying seeing Ava so befuddled. But she knew how ghoulish she must look with her goopy skin accented by the colors of the sunset. “So, what are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I came to help.”

  Briz’s voice was deep and soft. Jaden wanted to jump into his arms. He stepped away from Ava, letting her arm fall to her side.

  “Jade,” Briz clarified, looking at Ava. “I came to help Jade.”

  Ava’s eyes were searing into the two of them. Jaden felt even more triumphant. Ava snatched the pizza boxes from her sister and strutted into the house.

  Briz turned to Jaden. “I have to go talk to your sister and set her straight.”

  “I think you just did.”

  Briz moved closer. Seemingly unfazed by her pink mask, his gaze paused on her mouth. He slowly traced his finger across her lower lip as if she was the most alluring female he’d ever seen. When he took his hand away, she had to stop her head from bobbing forward. Drawing in a breath of air, she let it fly back out trying to clear her head.

  She followed Briz into the house. Then she stopped in the front hall.

  In spite of the poison ivy cream, the hairs on her arms rose. Something was terribly wrong. She knew it.

  Briz had disappeared into the kitchen. Jaden tried to call to him, but nothing came out. Straining to hear sounds of her mom working, all of Violet’s warnings about the Mal Rous rattled through her, to the core of her being—how vengeful they were, how they enjoyed brutalizing humans.

  All Jaden could hear were the fans clanking and her sister’s muffled words rising above Briz’s voice, Ava’s lies pushing against the kitchen door, drifting out of the room.

  “Mom,” Jaden forced out a whisper. “Mom,” she said more loudly.

  Her body was numb. She couldn’t feel her legs as she raced from room to room calling her mother.

  There was no answer.

  When she reached the door of Elvina’s bedroom, Jaden saw Brooke’s body on the floor. Blood, like an elaborate fan of glistening rubies, had soaked through strands of her hair. More of it leaked from two large punctures in her leg. Jaden’s gaze followed a line of blood up the wall to the broken windowpane.

  “NOOO,” she screamed. Then she screamed it again. Stumbling forward, she fell to her knees next to her mother. “Mom.” She touched her mother’s shoulder. “Why didn’t I do my part?” she yelled. “The Mal Rous wanted me to play their sick game of cat and mouse, and I didn’t do it.”

  She heard Briz and Ava sprinting down the hall. She saw them enter the room. Jaden watched blankly as her sister cringed at the metallic smell of their mother’s blood.

  Briz hurried over to Jaden. Kneeling down he squeezed her shoulders, half shaking her, half consoling her.

  She looked into his eyes. “What the hell is wrong with me? I could have stopped them.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “Jade, this isn’t your fault.”

  But Jaden knew the truth. She struggled to gather up the frayed threads of her consciousness.

  Ava squatted down and felt her mom’s wrist for a pulse.

  In a meek voice Jaden implored, “Help me get Mom up.”

>   “No.” Ava clutched Jaden’s arm. “No, we shouldn’t move her. I’ll call 911.”

  “Jade's right,” said Briz. “It’ll take too long for an ambulance to get all the way out here.”

  Briz picked up a paint rag lying next to Brooke’s body and held it against the gash on the back of her head. “We have to take her to the hospital.”

  The three of them carried Brooke down the stairs and out to her car. Ava, who never cried, couldn’t stop crying. Jaden remained dry-eyed as she slid into the back seat and laid her mother’s bloody head in her lap.

  Why didn’t I go to the shack today? Or yesterday? Why didn’t they come after me instead?

  With brittle movements Ava put the key into the ignition.

  “I’ll drive,” Briz said, standing next to the driver’s door. Ava climbed into the passenger seat without arguing.

  While the car sped down the road, Jaden agonized over the last time she’d spoken to her mother. Leaning down, she whispered, “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m sorry for releasing the Mal Rous. I’m sorry for making you so mad at me. I’m sorry for everything. I love you, Mama. Don’t leave me.”

  Cradling her mother’s body in her arms, Jaden did her best to stop it from rocking as the car bounced over the pitted road. At the far end of the field the cluster of trees stood above the cane, like prophets of doom murmuring that this was all Jaden’s fault. Up to now Jaden had unwittingly accepted Ava’s words—that she didn’t have a backbone. That she’d never amount to anything. She had already lost her dad, and now her mother was slipping away.

  Jaden saw the head of the trail.

  “Stop the car!” She raised her voice. “Stop the car now!”

  Briz looked at her in the rear-view mirror. Ava unhooked her seatbelt and turned around, her expression lined with panic. The car slowed to a stop.

  In one continuous motion Jaden lowered her mother’s head onto the seat, opened the rear door, and jumped out. The interior car light lit up Jaden’s body, exposing fine wisps of heat radiating from her like smoldering anger.

  “Take Mom to the hospital. Tell them that she was bit and that she hit her head on a window.”

  “What? What are you doing?” Ava asked, wiping away her tears.

  “Ava, listen to me.” Jaden focused on her sister. “Tell the doctors you don’t know what bit Mom, but make certain they check for plant and insect poisons. Do you understand? Plant and insect poisons. Don’t forget. Go! Hurry!”

  Jaden shut the door.

  “Jade.” Briz leaned out the window. “Get back in the car. We have to hurry.”

  “I have to go see someone.” Her eyes were riveted on the path.

  “See someone? No one even lives out here. Get back—” Trapped by his seatbelt, Briz made a futile attempt to grab her.

  “Just go!”

  Before they could respond, Jaden ran across the road. She glanced back and saw Briz and Ava’s expressions of disbelief as she vanished into the thick foliage.

  * * *

  Ava grasped Briz’s shoulder as he opened his door. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going after her.”

  “No,” Ava exclaimed as Briz hurried from the car. “You can’t do this to me.”

  “Ava, get behind the wheel. You have to take your mom to the hospital. I’m not leaving Jade here all alone.”

  “What’s going on?” Ava reluctantly slid over the console into the drivers seat. “Why’s everyone leaving me?”

  Seconds later, Briz disappeared into the night.

  Ava wiped her face, smearing tears and mascara across her cheeks. She glanced at her mother on the back seat, put the car in gear, and sped off down the deserted road.

  CHAPTER 19

  Damp foliage pawed at Jaden like slimy hands trying to stop her from moving along the path. She shoved her way through the growth, refusing to let it drag her to the ground. She was determined to right her wrong. With each step she felt the plants edge around her like wolves intimidating their prey. A thorn covered vine scraped over her foot and she kicked it out of the way. Her self-loathing spurred her on.

  Head down, following the track underfoot, she didn’t notice that the evening stars were blanketed by menacing clouds—not until the downpour soaked her clothes and washed the ointment off her skin. A flickering light shone through the leaves in the distance, like a shimmering swarm of fireflies beckoning her forward. She paused, thinking she heard Briz calling her name. But rain, trilling insects, and croaking frogs drowned out any trace of his voice.

  When the shack came into view, the rotting walls were stippled with light. Mal Rous! The words tasted rancid, simmering in her mouth. The rain subsided. Jaden heard a discordant tribal beat drumming through the air. She tried to lighten her step as the stairs groaned under her weight. Her hand hovered over the doorknob then dropped away. Lowering onto her knees, she crawled across the veranda to look in the open window.

  Remnants of burning candles lit up the Mal Rous, stretching their grotesque shadows across the mold-covered walls. Esere and Ivan were grinning as they pounded on makeshift drums. Tig was gyrating and kicking at the walls. All of them looked in better shape then they had on the day she’d freed them. Datura was frantically twirling the elongated tentacles on her head; they made a haunting whistling sound as they whirled through the air.

  No wonder she can’t smell me.

  Anders shouted over the racket, “Datura, it’s too bad ya wasn’t there. That woman never seen me till it were too late. I did just what ya told me, rubbed some ‘a yer sap on her gums when I was done.” Jumping around, he laughed. “I did more damage than ya wanted. That there snivelin’ girl will take us serious now.”

  Courage flamed white-hot in Jaden’s veins. This was war, and she was willing to battle her enemies. Marching to the rotting front door, she flung it open with such force that it broke free from its rusty hinges, crashed to the floor, and crumbled apart.

  The Mal Rous froze, staring at her like statues that Edgar Allan Poe would have sculpted.

  “You psycho demons went after my mom. And now you’re celebrating!” Jaden yelled. “If you were pissed at me—if you wanted to bite someone—come after me, not my family.”

  She stormed over to Anders, who stood with his mouth hanging open. “You! I found my mom unconscious with a gash in her head. Two holes in her leg.” Towering over him, Jaden swung her leg back, thrusting it forward with more strength and hate than she knew she was capable of. She struck him in his dragon-shaped skull, and his head snapped back as he dropped to the floor.

  “And you!” Jaden rushed to Datura, stopping inches away. “You scuzzbag!” Jaden leaned over her. “You told him to do it.”

  “Enough!” Datura’s tentacles coiled, then sprang toward Jaden, warning her back. “Ya wasn’t here yesterday. Or today. What was ya plannin’ behind our backs, ya spiteful little girl?”

  “You didn’t tell me I had to report to you every day. My job was to find your deranged Professor. My time wasn’t up. I’ve been trying to track that lunatic down, and this is how you repay me—by siccing one of your puppets on my mom?”

  “Don’t ya ever talk badly ‘bout my Professor.”

  Moisture covered Jaden's face. She wasn’t sure if it was rain, tears of anger and fear, or sweat from the stifling heat that was threatening to suffocate her.

  “Ya disgustin’ human. Ya don’t control me.” Datura’s tentacles twitched. “I do what I want, and the others follow my orders.”

  Before Jaden could respond, Ivan stepped between them, snarling—not at Jaden but at Datura. “Datura, ya ain’t in charge ‘a us.”

  Jaden was stunned. Was Ivan on her side? Was he going to defend her, stand up to Datura?

  “Ya don’t order us around.” Ivan continued, “We do things ‘cause we want to.”

  Jaden’s confidence grew as Ivan confronted his leader.

  Datura’s tentacles were crimping and twisting uncontrollably as she tried to stop them from las
hing against Ivan’s thorny head. “Ivan, get outta my face. Now. This ain’t ‘bout ya.” Pointing up at Jaden, Datura shook her crooked finger. “She didn’t bring us no food. She helped Violet get away. She has no right to interfere with how we all treat each other. She had to be showed who’s in charge.”

  Jaden hid her relief at hearing that Violet had escaped. She pointed a rigid finger right back at Datura. “I did come by with food. I left you creeps a jar of peanut butter. You weren’t here. You were busy over at the mansion attacking one of our workers.”

  “Peanut butter, pah!” Datura elbowed Ivan out of the way. “Ya dumb girl. I bet ya never even bothered goin’ to the cave to see if our Professor was there.”

  “What cave, you rank troll? You never told me about a goddamned cave.”

  Ivan cocked his head, swiveling it one-eighty degrees. He scowled at Jaden and she knew she’d lost his support. Never really had it.

  “Datura’s right. Ya is a very dumb girl,” Ivan slobbered, sending poison-ivy juice across Jaden’s bare legs.

  The new welts burned and throbbed, but the surge of pain only impelled Jaden to hold her ground. When did I get to be so brave? Were all the years of fighting with Ava paying off?

  “What ‘bout the Bellibone?” Datura sneered, fully exposing her fangs.

  “I haven’t been here for two days.” Jaden’s voice rose louder than Datura’s. “You just said so yourself. So exactly when did I set her free?”

  Ivan swept his hand toward Jaden, indicating to Datura that the silly kid was all hers. That simple gesture was all it took.

  Jaden knew the consequences could be deadly. But what other choice did she have? Before Datura could spring into action, Jaden snatched up a leg from the busted rocking chair and swung it relentlessly, sending Datura flying across the room and slamming into the wall. Blood spurted from Datura’s mouth like soda from a shaken can.

  Datura charged at Jaden, digging her claws deep into her leg. Flaying it open. She bit in.