Black 21: (Golden Hills Legacy of Black 21 Book 1) (21 page)

She gave a
subtle nod.

“When I think
of what our child will be able to accomplish with your gifts and me as his
father, it brings me immense gratification. It makes me desire you even more
than I’ve ever desired any woman,” he said in that husky voice. His eyes turned
yellow, his pupils enlarging.

“Yes, my love.
Come to me,” she said, pushing Daisy way down to a place she couldn’t see or
feel.

Christian ran
down the stairs to the banging on the front door after he buzzed him through
the gate. “Eric, what the hell?”

“He has her,
Chris. Jack has Daisy,” he panted, bent over to catch his breath. He stepped
inside and closed the door.

“What’re you
talking about?”

Eric told him
everything up to when he had lost her in the forest. “When this storm came
through, I couldn’t see anything. I clung to a tree until it ended. I heard her
call out to me but couldn’t find her,” he said, running his hand through his
hair.

“Wait, you
brought her back here?” Christian narrowed his eyes and felt heat singe his
skin.

“She wanted to
help Bessie find Leon. I’m not sure if she did or not, but I do know she was
gone when the winds calmed down. I want to die. I really messed up this time
and now he has her, doing God knows what to her,” he sank his face in his hands
and sobbed, his chest heaving to his pain.

Christian
wanted to scream at Eric, but knew it was useless. He was already torturing himself
over this. Pain heavily inflicted the man’s eyes. He patted his back instead.
“We’ll find her. I know you would never want this. Calm down and let’s think
this through.”

William walked
out of his office with concern in his eyes. “What’s wrong, son?”

“Daisy’s gone,
Dad." He repeated Eric’s story to him as his father listened intently.

“So you think
Jack is behind this?”

“He has to be,”
Christian said.

Eric patted his
pockets, looking for something. “I found this in the leaves,” he said, pulling
out her cross.

William turned
away from the offensive sparkle.

“So he has
complete power over her now,” Christian said in a resigned voice.

Eric nodded,
placing it back in his pocket. “Do you think he would bring her back to his
house? Would he be that obvious?”

William spoke
up. “I know Jack still plans on having Daisy at Black Twenty-One. What he plans
to do with her I’m not quite sure, so if he does have her, she’ll be there with
him on his arm for the whole town to see.”

“So, you’re
saying to sit it out until September Fifth?” Christian asked, astonished.

“You have no
choice, son. Have faith in her. I wish I would have in my Lana.”

“Chris, it’s
only a week. If I know Daisy, she’s handling Jack just fine. Her love for you
is stronger than anything he can do to her, believe me,” Eric said, wiping his
glasses and putting them back on.

“Fine. But if
anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself,” Christian said.

Charlotte
strolled in from the kitchen and walked to Christian, tugging her arm through
his. “What’s all this talk? Please don’t tell me it’s about Daisy. I’m sick of
hearing about her, Christian,” she pouted.

“I’ll see you
later, Chris. Take care, Mr. Stone,” Eric said, glancing at Charlotte and
shaking his head in disgust.

“Okay. Later,
Eric,” Christian responded. He closed the door behind Eric and turned to
Charlotte. “You don’t get to tell me whom I can talk about, understand?”

William
chuckled, walking back to his office.

“Well, I’m the
one you’re marrying so you better get over her or I’ll–”

“You’ll what?
Cast another spell on her? Draw more messages on her mirror? That’s right, she
told me all about it. Go to your room, Charlotte. I’m done here,” he dismissed
her.

She spun around
and stomped up the stairs to her room.

***

Daisy lay in
the dark, trying not to remember their last session. She almost felt like two
people.

It was as if he
were trying to see how far he could go with her body, how far the damage he
could do to her that she couldn’t heal.

But she always
did. There was nothing he could do to change the depth of her soul.

She washed up
and changed, again, and lay back down. He seemed to forget about her wrists
being tied up, so she never had to try to sneak out. She seemed to have gained
his trust by playing his game.

Her eyes
adjusted to the darkness, but she knew there were sconces on the wall that held
torches. Concentrating as hard as she could, she inhaled air into her lungs and
then exhaled, lighting the torches for her to see.

The whole room
was ablaze in firelight, casting shadows on the brick walls. She loved doing
little things like that, always had fun when she was a teenager. She never
understood why or how back then, but she did now.

Someone clapped
slowly at first and then faster.

“Who’s there?”
she asked.

“My, my, my but
you are the gifted one, aren’t you?" Charlotte’s dark eyes glowed through
the shadows. She stepped closer and her face contorted into some monstrous
creature. “I really abhor you, Daisy Lock,” her demonic voice dripped in pure
hatred.

Daisy took a
deep breath and calmed herself, steadying her heartbeat, showing no fear. “I
was never really that fond of you, either, Charlotte.”

Charlotte
hissed. “How’d you like fucking Jack? Isn’t he glorious? And that tongue of
his! He used to love to fuck me until you came back into his life. His dream
girl,” she cackled. “He taught me everything I know. The pleasure I give to
Christian is indescribable, as he puts it. You’d never measure up, sweet little
Daisy.”

“Charlotte...go
to hell,” she smirked.

She lunged at
Daisy, but Daisy sat up and raised her hand in a choke-like clutch, raising it
up to the ceiling without ever touching Charlotte.

The force of
her strength lifted Charlotte off the ground and held her in mid-air, her black
eyes bulging, clawing at her neck to breathe. Her feet dangled and kicked until
Daisy decided to loosen her invisible grip to allow air back in her lungs, and
slowly place her back down, but Charlotte fought so much that she fell to the
ground in a heap.

Daisy cried out
and jumped off the bed to see if she was still alive. She placed her finger to
the carotid artery and didn’t feel a pulse. The lifeless body lay there at
Daisy’s feet. She killed Charlotte. How was she going to live with that? In all
her life she never imagined killing anyone.

A female voice
vocalized in her head. “It was self-defense, darling. Forgive yourself.”

She wiped her
tears away and felt Jack’s presence in the room with her.

Jack sighed.
“You’ve killed poor Charlotte. I guess you did Christian a favor, but she was
good in bed. I had taught her well. Guard!” he snapped his fingers and the same
guard came and swooped her up over his shoulder.

She sniffled
and narrowed her eyes. “Someone just died, and you talk about your carnal
history with them?” her voice in hysterics.

“She’s not
really dead, you see. Her soul is trapped in another part of my home. That’s
where dirty souls like that go. I can hear her screaming now,” he said, cupping
his ear. “It’s a lovely sound. The sound of horror and despair,” he grinned,
proud of himself. “I’ll sleep well tonight listening to that.”

Daisy slid back
into bed and pulled the blankets up, praying she didn’t hear her scream during
the night. She caught that hunger in his eyes again. “Please, Jack. Can I just
go to sleep? You don’t really want me to make love when I’m feeling like this,
do you?” she pleaded.

He exhaled
deeply. “Very well. I’ll let you rest. You will have to show me how you do that
with your hand, though. That was brilliant,” he teased, clapping.

“You saw that?”

“Yes, and it
was fascinating. You would think you were my daughter. You were truly in your
element, Daisy. Until tomorrow, my love,” and he was gone.

***

Whenever Daisy
closed her eyes, she saw Charlotte pacing in a small dark room with other dark
shadows, pulling her hair out and mumbling incoherently.

Charlotte would
turn to the ceiling and clasp her hands together as if in prayer. “Daisy,
please help me! You put me here! I need to be free!”

In Daisy’s
mind, she spoke to Charlotte. “You need to come clean. You need to love
yourself enough to turn to the Light.”

“I can’t do
that. I’m not sure I’ll be welcomed there,” she answered in a frightened voice.

“You’ll always
be welcomed.”

She shook her
dark head and continued to pace.

“Charlotte, it’s
the only way. Otherwise, you’ll be held in his prison for eternity. When you’re
brave enough, go to the Light,” Daisy ordered. She felt she owed her that much.

She also
wondered how many others dwelled in that dark place. Didn’t Jack say that’s
where the dirty souls go? Did he have a whole netherworld for them? Of course
he did.

Daisy opened
her eyes to release the image. Charlotte’s hell would not meld into her own.
She needed to build strength for the ball.

After drifting
off to sleep, she found herself as a young girl back in her bed, but with her
adult mind. She sat up and looked around her old pink room. She could hear her
father’s and Gloria’s strained voices in the other room. Looking down at her
young body in her white nightgown, with her budding breasts, her eyes widened.

It was dark
except for a night light on her wall near her canopied bed. Her purring cat,
Lily, lay at her feet curled up in her usual ball. She missed her cat that had
mysteriously disappeared a couple of years later.

Lying back down
against her plush pillows, feeling her wet hair in a braid to the right side of
her head, she stared at the ceiling. She remembered now she had just knelt at
her bedside praying and then had slid back into bed. She was counting to some
unknown number for some unknown reason...thirty-five, thirty-six,
thirty-seven...all the way to fifty she got.

Slowly, very
slowly, her blankets began to inch down her body, her heart beating harder,
faster, squeezing her eyes shut before peeking. Her body trembled as the
blankets got to her feet, pushing the cat off the bed. Lily growled, with her
white hair standing on its ends, hissing at something Daisy’s little eyes
couldn’t see.

“No,” she said
in a small voice, shaking her head. “Go away,” she pleaded.

The somewhat
ajar door closed quietly. Jack appeared, his crystal blue eyes shining in the
darkened room. “I just want to lay with you, Daisy, like we always do." He
climbed on top of her little body, pinning her to her bed. His hand gently
covered her mouth to cover her scream, as his other one ran down her young
body, breathing heavily.

“Please...I
don’t like it. Please go!”

“I just want to
kiss you. No more, I promise.”

Tears slid down
her face, his lips kissing each one falling. He nuzzled his face with her braid
and over his wet lips. “I’ve done this since you were a baby. How could you
deny me, my dear girl?”

She turned her
head to the side to avoid his mouth, but he always pulled her back and kissed
her, long and hard.

“You’ll be mine
one day, Daisy. You will be my queen and rule my empire. And finally you will
give birth to my son. I wish I could do more with you now, but I want your
virginity intact on September Fifth, Twenty-Fifteen,” he panted against her
lips. “Promise no sex until then,” he ordered.

Her eyes popped
open, sitting up in her current prison. She realized Jack sat watching her on
her bed, waiting for her to awaken. She also now understood why Jack seemed so
familiar to her at the hayride when she first met him.

She’s always
known him.

“Those were the
good ‘ol days,” he smiled. “It’s a shame Dane had to change my plans and take
you before I ever could.”

“Why have me
remember now?”

“I wanted to
show you how you’ve always known me. I was your first love, not Christian,” he
sneered.

She shook her
head. “All you were was a dirty old man touching a little girl
inappropriately.”

He laughed at
that. “You enjoyed it as you got older. I sniffed out your first menstrual
cycle. It was delicious,” he grinned. “You’d finally succumbed when I came to
you one night and allowed me to please you in ways that would keep that hymen
intact. By the next morning, all memory would be erased until right before
midnight,” his laugh echoed off the walls.

“My God,” she
whispered.

“No, God wasn’t
there for any of that. You’ve always belonged to me, my sweet. No matter who
your father is, who your grandmother is, you are mine.”

“What about my
mother?”

“My dear Rose.
I enjoyed her as well. Richard would turn a blind eye so I could go to bed with
her. He loved making partner in his firm, thanks to me. He had all the money a
man could want.

“But then she
started sneaking off to the church to cleanse her soul, and then meeting with
that priest. I put wicked thoughts in their heads, but love had to get involved,
something I detest. I just wanted them to have sex and make a daughter for me.

“I wanted you
born out of lust, but instead they made you with pure love and you turned into
something I didn’t exactly want. Damn them and their love for each other!"
His eyes turned yellow.

She nodded with
a knowing smile. “That’s right, they loved each other and still do even with my
mother gone. That lives in me, Jack. That’s the part you can’t control in me
and you hate that!”

He shook his
long finger at her. “You were still born of an affair with a man of the cloth!
In your so-called God’s eyes, that’s a sin!”

“I don’t
believe in sin, at least not the man-made control you out of fear kind. God is
a loving being that loves and forgives all, something you’ll never understand.”

A low guttural
growl formed in his throat, and she knew this time would take longer to heal.