Evangelina Green (15 page)

Lina and her mother, although close, were
never affectionate with each other. It was rather clinical now that
Netta thought about it. It was as though Susan had done her duty by
giving birth and after that it was up to Lina to survive. Not much
hugging or holding hands and Netta recalled she never heard Susan
ever say anything positive to Lina. She gave her instructions, told
her bluntly when she made mistakes and looking back, Netta
realized, she made Lina doubt herself.

With Susan gone, Lina grew back into a
beautiful woman, but was never completely sure of herself. She took
care of everybody else. She didn’t think she deserved to be taken
care of by someone special. Things seemed much clearer all of a
sudden. Netta decided to have a long talk with Lina or maybe with
Keaton if he really wanted to get to know Lina.

Feeling rather satisfied
with herself for unraveling a mystery on her own, Netta smiled and
went into the kitchen to her favorite chair to rest until dinner.
Unaware she was being watched. She was being watched
over
and protected by
someone or something.

CHAPTER TEN

The bed was cold and
hard.
Damn, I could use another blanket!
And a pillow would be nice.
Where the hell
am I?
Tashi tried to pull the blankets up
and half way through the movement, her hands stopped. What was
preventing her movement? What the hell? She opened her tired, dry
eyes to a very dim room.
Not
her bedroom at the mansion. Iron bars? Torches?
And what the hell was wrong with her arms? She twisted around to
see she was chained to a wall.
A rock
wall?
What the fuck?

"Helloooo? Anybody there?” She wasn’t very
loud. She was almost afraid someone might come...then what? She
heard a rustling sound then a groan, chains clinking, and a moan.
She tried to scoot up into a sitting position and the rock floor
scraped her buttocks.

"I’m
naked
? Oh crap, this is just fucking
lovely, and getting better by the moment.”

“
I never realized your
lovely mouth with its many temptations and delightful uses, would
allow those sorts of words to spew forth.”

Tashi shrieked and crab walked backwards to
the wall, trying desperately to cover herself and wild-eyed scanned
the room for the source of that voice.

"Victor? You’re here too? Where are we? What
the hell is goin’ on?" Her voice quivered and she hated that she
was showing a weakness.

"Yes, my love, we are together. And although
having you naked is a constant on my agenda, this is not how I
would have seen it happen.”

Lordy, even in a dark,
damp, cold dungeon, he could make it sound...lovely.
Tashi shivered, but not from the cold this time.
"Are you okay? I can't see you. Are you naked?" She felt a little
panic, but a little lust took the lead in her mind. She sat up
straighter and turned to see if she could locate him. Slowly her
eyes adjusted to the dim light and she saw him against another
wall, not more than five or six feet away from her.

"My eyesight does not need the firelight to
see your lovely outline, my love. Yes, I am indeed without clothing
and also very much aware of your lack of coverings. Normally I
could create something for us both to cover with, but these chains
have me bound with magic and are made of silver. Not only painful
for us night creatures, but is also prevents us from using our own
magic.”

He was trying to move closer but with each
inch the chains pulled on his wrists then small sizzles sounded and
tufts of smoke showed around the cuffs. He hissed in pain, but
continued to move closer.

"Please don’t move! You’ll hurt yourself and
I don’t want you to do that for me! Stay where you are and save
your energy! We will need all your strength and talent to escape."
Tashi was tearing up and sniffling, no doubt due to the damp air.
Of course she wouldn’t be upset and crying, not Tashi the tough and
strong one!

"Do not fear my love. We will survive this.
You are a very strong woman. Remain calm and quiet.”

Clanging metal sounded close by. Footsteps
came nearer to their little part of hell, until she could see one
of those torches coming around a corner and moving toward their
cell. She couldn’t see a face and the head was hooded, but
reflected in the torch light she could see a smile, an evil smile,
drooling, a little lopsided, red-lipped and aimed at her. The very
large knife in the other hand didn’t help make Tashi feel any
better. Not one little bit.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Evening was approaching
and still no information on Tashi and Victor. A feeling of doom
settled over the house and everyone walked as if in a trance. A
vampire and their sister had been kidnapped by a witch. Good lord!
What could anyone do? Where do you begin?
Victor’s letter!
Lina suddenly
remembered and pulled the folded paper from her jeans pocket and
read it again. Were there hints in there she didn’t recognize and
what was this
“trust your colors”
garbage?
Crap
. Keaton was hanging around and
at times mumbling to himself like he was making some sort of
plan?

"What are you thinking, Keaton? Any ideas or
possibly a plan that won’t get us killed?" Lina was hopeful.

Keaton kept turning details over and over in
his mind. The letter from Victor was the most puzzling. It was as
if he knew he wouldn’t make it back from the confrontation with
Martiss. Why would he involve the sisters in a scheme doomed to
fail?

"Lina? Do you or your sisters have any
special talents? You know, like any ESP or psychic energies?”

Lina and Netta immediately turned to each
other with guilty looks on their face. They didn’t usually share
their gifts with outsiders after their early years of being
persecuted for being different. They both knew they had something
special about them, but had never thought it would be
important.

"I won’t lie, Keaton. We all have some sort
of talent.”

Lina and Netta filled him in. Both of them
had noticed an increase of strength of their individual talents
since they returned home to the mansion. Lina had always heard
animal thoughts and could see what they saw, but she’d never called
them to her for protection like she had in the garden. She’d never
even considered it. Keaton didn’t seem surprised. Netta, although
ill and weak, could command water to run uphill or form into any
shape she could think of. Since returning to the mansion, she
noticed she could freeze it, meaning, she could command ice. A
convenient weapon if needed.

"And of course there’s Lina’s ability to see
ghosts.” Netta threw in. Lina gasped, embarrassed and angry with
Netta for telling anyone.

"Don’t know why you’d be embarrassed by
that, Angel. It’s actually common in my family to see spirits and
some of the elders claim they are reincarnations of these spirits
or ghosts. I grew up believing in them."

He shrugged as if it was
no big deal.
Whew!
Lina let out the breath she’d been holding and smiled her
sweetest smile at him. Seldom did anyone believe her and usually
only made fun of her. Nobody believed but Keaton. Her sweet Keaton.
She was falling hard but she decided she wouldn’t worry about the
tomorrows and what might happen. He treated her with tenderness,
never acted like she was too big, too tall or homely. She felt
beautiful, sexy, wanted, and maybe even needed. Just fine with
her!
Go for it!
Life’s too short!
She smiled even
through her embarrassment.

He was just so...wolf-ee. Damnit. She said
that out loud. She knew it the minute his head snapped up and Netta
started giggling.

"Wolfee?? Just what
does
that
mean???” Netta’s giggling was infectious and it spread to
Lina and then even to Keaton as they all laughed heartily. It
helped relax the mood. They believed Tashi would be found and found
alive...they had to believe.

“
Tatianna has been quiet
about her talents or gifts since she’s been here. She can start
little fires with her mind. Not sure what it’s called but she’s
pretty good. She can toss some small fireballs with a bit of
concentration and they might actually hurt someone. Not that she
would! I was thinking about your saying my ice could be a weapon?
So could Tashi’s fire stuff. And, since she’s been here at the
mansion, she’s gotten more powerful. She must have received the
extra power from the mansion! We all have!” Netta was
giddy.

Lina and Keaton both looked at her
frowning.

"What do you mean
from the mansion
?” Lina
knew the answer before she asked but it just hadn’t occurred to her
until just that moment. The mansion had helped them, in a way. Just
by being here it had increased their powers.
How in the world?

"Don’t you feel the magic,
Lina? It’s kinda like a very quiet buzzing or static electricity.
You can almost hear it but you can for sure
feel
it, can’t you?” Netta was
smiling like she'd discovered a secret.

Keaton spoke up. "I have
to admit to a feeling like static electricity or acute
anticipation, but that
could
be my nearness to you, Lina.”

Grinning, he winked at her as she blushed
furiously. Things at the mansion had taken on a different tone
lately. That she could admit. It was as if they were being watched.
It felt electric, like Keaton said and yes, part of that was him
being nearby. Netta had felt it too but neither of them had noticed
it, or knew what it might be, at least not until the last day or
so. Maybe they were more aware now, more wary, since Tashi had been
taken.

Speaking of which, she needed to talk with
Keaton about the old newspaper and if he would help her. She wasn’t
sure what they would find but she had to try, for Tashi and for her
own peace of mind. Tomorrow night she would go with or without
him.

CHAPTER TWELVE

They climbed into the
basement window at the back. Apparently someone else had broken it
in the past and the newspaper never got around to repairing it. Why
bother if it was just going to be torn down in less than a week?
And just as apparent was the dust in the window and all over the
room. She figured nobody came down this way very often. So they
weren’t the first
B & E.
Keaton carefully knocked the remaining broken
glass shards in the frame, trying to keep quiet without slicing an
artery open, then slid easily thru the small hole. He turned and
waited for Lina’s hand to help lift her through the dangerous
opening.

Half way through the window she lost her
footing and almost looked graceful—almost—as she plopped down into
one of the half-filled boxes of printing paper, on her head. She
was upside down, half in and half out for what felt like an
eternity, scissoring and kicking her legs in an attempt to right
herself. All she did was embarrass herself more and make a cloud of
dust fill the room. What an idiot she was! Perfect way to impress a
guy. She could hear him snickering as he leaned into the box for
her legs to help her out. She accidentally kicked him in the
face.

"Owww! Watch it!” Keaton groused, holding
his left eye and backing away. She shushed him.

"Be quiet! Someone will hear us and anyway,
I didn’t do it on purpose!” Her own whisper was bordering on
shrill.

“
We have to get in and out
without being caught, remember?” She stomped away, snaking her way
thru the many items in the storage room.
“The records room is on the third
floor and we can’t just take the elevator.”
Lina whispered as she peered through the door
into the hallway and found no obstacles. She was on edge and
cranky, seriously doubting herself and now thinking that this was
not a good idea.
Suck it up, Lina! This is
important.

“
Let’s
go...hurry!”

She needn’t have bothered. He was only
inches behind her as usual. The stairwell was much cleaner than the
storeroom had been. The guard apparently didn’t use the elevator
while making his rounds.

They made it to the third
floor without incident, found the file room and the tons of files
from hundreds of years ago. They spent an hour just in the 1800's
drawer. Finally they found what they were searching for. They
finally found a file named: “
The Mansion
1848—1858."
Then there was another
marked
"Tales of The Mansion
1860—1938"
and one more file
marked:
"Colored Lights Seen at Night by
Townsfolk”.

It was a huge amount of information so they
split it into each of their backpacks and were closing the door to
the hallway when they heard someone coming. They flattened
themselves against the wall in the deepest shadows they could find,
which happened to be a small entry alcove to some sort of office,
when a security guard strolled by speaking animatedly on his cell
phone.

"But honey, I told you I
had to work late that night and
no
! I would never cheat on you,
sweet cheeks, I love you, baby!" All the while rolling his eyes and
grimacing as the girlfriend ranted on.

“
I’ve never even seen that
woman before. I don’t know how she knew our number, or why she
would call us. Must’ve been the guys from Charlie’s, playin’ a
joke! Why would I do something like that if I was cheatin' on you
honey? No c’mon baby...you know there’s only you."