Lisa Jackson - Wicked Game

Then with continued digging a story had emerged, one that was recorded by a Deception Bay pseudo-historian who’d written down an undocumented account of The Colony’s founders. It had found its way into the hands of a Dr. Parnell Loman, who’d fallen to his death from his cliffside home into the Pacific some fifteen years earlier. This was the same Dr. Loman who’d signed both Jessie’s and Becca’s birth certificates and facilitated their adoptions.

The account talked about the area’s early inhabitants, and there was mention of women arriving from the east-witches-and how they’d mingled with the local Indians and created their own colony. A shaman “wed” one of the women, and the children from that union were unusually perceptive in “odd and repellant” ways. For reasons unknown, those children, the ones that survived, were mostly female. The few males born died early.

How Justice fit in was a bit murky. The written account ended with the birth of Mary Durant and Catherine Rutledge, sisters whose mother, Grace Fitzhugh, had married first Richard Durant, then John Rutledge, having a daughter by each. Dr. Loman had added several paragraphs that indicated Madeline Abernathy Turnbull was part of the family as well, some distant relative of Mary and Catherine, who both still lived at Siren Song as of Dr. Loman’s writings.

But one thing was clear: Justice believed in his mission totally. He had to rid the world of the cursed offspring of colony members. Did that make Becca Mary’s daughter? Justice seemed to think so. Or was it all a fabrication of his depraved mind? His accusations of incest could not be corroborated, but he clearly felt he’d been scorned by the colony women, and in the twisted soup of his beliefs, which combined witchcraft, native lore, and a fear of the wrath of God, he was determined to send as many members as he could back to the depths of hell from where they’d come. They were children of lust, incest, and the devil’s design. They must be killed.

Becca shivered despite the beating sun. She was thirsty. If they didn’t come soon, if she failed to make contact again, she might have to abandon this quest for now. Releasing her fingers from the bars, she gazed up at the heavens to a pale blue sky and white, burning sun.

A flicker of movement brought her attention back to the colony grounds. To her surprise, a middle-aged woman in a long gray dress was walking toward her. Finally!

Becca straightened. The woman’s hair was steel gray and wrapped into a bun at her nape. Her dress was from another era.

She came directly to the gate and Becca took a step back. They stared at each other.

“I will not open the gates,” she said.

“I could probably sneak in. I’ve seen the truck that goes into town for deliveries,” Becca informed her.

“What do you want?”

“My name is Rebecca. I was adopted into the Ryan family. Dr. Loman signed the certificate. My deceased sister was Jezebel. She was also adopted out. I believe we’re both related and that’s why Justice killed Jessie and came after me.”

Her gaze dropped to Becca’s burgeoning stomach. She said with a spurt of emotion, “You’re having a girl.”

“Yes.” Becca was momentarily thrown, but she was determined to glean as much information as possible. “Are you Catherine? Or Mary?”

“Catherine. Mary’s dead.”

“Oh. Was Mary my mother?” Becca held her breath.

Catherine’s gaze scoured the hillsides surrounding the compound, as if searching for an answer. Long moments passed, and then she said, “We didn’t want you to know. We sent you away to protect you because Justice was already attacking us. We were forced to build the wall, but he found Jezebel, didn’t he? She came here looking for answers and we gladly gave them to her. We welcomed her and in welcoming her, sealed her death. We want you to stay away.”

“I’ve seen a woman…” Becca gestured past Catherine to the lodge. “Someone closer to my age.”

“The less you know, the safer you are.”

“Justice is in custody. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“Are you so sure?”

Becca stared into Catherine’s pale blue eyes-eyes the color of the sky-and felt a deep frisson of fear slide down her back.

“Go back to your husband.”

“We’re not married yet,” Becca said.

“You will be. You will live on his farm and raise horses and children. But be vigilant, my dear. Be vigilant.”

“How do you know my future?”

“I see things,” she said. “Like Jezebel.”

And then she turned and walked away.

The van bobbed along. A jerky ride. Justice sat on one of the bench seats and examined the other passengers with a cool eye. They were criminals. Animals. He was God’s messenger.

The shackles at his wrists glowed like silvery rings. Fools. They could not contain him forever. His mission wasn’t over. He’d found Jessie years ago and his abilities had led him to Rebecca, twice. Catherine, the filthy witch, kept a close watch on the whores within Siren Song’s walls. He could only get to them when she made a mistake.

But he was God’s messenger and God wants retribution. The colony whores are gifted with dark and dangerous abilities, and God wants them stopped! He caught a whiff of Jessie twenty years ago, when she showed up at Siren Song. How they welcomed her home, with her incubus inside her. He found her then and ended her life. Now Rebecca knows about them. She won’t be able to stay away.

She is doomed. Like her sister.

Twisting his wrists, he thought how easily he could choke a man with these chains. Sure, they were strung through a loop at his waist, but there was enough room. The faintest of smiles touched his lips. The guards were stupid and lazy. They did their job by rote. They had no brains.

These shackles were a momentary delay. Soon, he would be free again. Free to find Rebecca. Didn’t he find her once before, long ago, when she was pregnant? Didn’t he take care of that unborn scourge? He was infuriated that she lived after that accident. Lived! And he lost track of her for sixteen long years.

But now she’s pregnant again.

When they’re pregnant, they’re easy to smell.

That is his gift.

He is the tracker. He will eventually find them all. One by one. When he escapes-and he will-he’ll run them to ground and send their evil souls back into the fires of hell.

It is his mission.