Melissa MacNeal - Beyond Redemption

"Cerise!" I hollered, hoarse from my passionate outcries. "Cerise, are you there?!"

I held my breath to listen for the footfalls of the French maid, but heard only my own pulse.

"Justin? Jeremy?" I called. "PLEASE help me!"

The house was silent as a tomb. Indeed, I felt like I'd been locked into one, for now I didn't even sense the presence of the undead. It was as though the mansion itself had died when Billy left: everyone had wanted him, and now they'd either left to follow him…or bury him. Perfidia had left me in this position to get her last humiliating licks in while she and her decadent, spellbound staff claimed what had been rightfully mine.

I tossed restlessly on the floor-for how long? When I awoke, I glanced toward that tarot spread still floating a few inches from the wall, trying to puzzle out its meaning. But then, what did ANYTHING mean now? What did it matter which of those cardboard queens represented Pandora or Pink or even Lucy Legg? The final outcome, where the cloaked figure on the Five of Cups card mourned a great loss while the man in the Ten of Swords picture bled to death, had spelled out my fate to perfection.

I drifted back into fitful dreams…in my mind, I was reliving that confrontation with Perfidia, replaying her pointed, wicked words…reseeing the fangs that sank into Billy's neck. Without conscience or soul or remorse, she was. Hungry for power, living out her envious greed at my expense.

Was I an heir to such qualities? More to the point…was I part vampire? If Miss Pink had converted Perfidia at the time of my conception, nursing her with blood to sustain us both, did this mean I, too, was cursed? As the hours passed, this thought plagued me the most, until I was wallowing in my own damnation-and in the waste I could no longer hold, as well.

A pinpoint of light appeared, in the shadows that clung like bats just beneath the ceiling. I was probably hallucinating-the next step toward insanity. And yet, as I squinted at that shimmer of brightness, it felt familiar to me. The house was so quiet my ears were ringing. The glimmer materialized into Pandora, resplendent in a gown of black satin that whispered with each step she took. Her midnight hair flowed over her bare shoulders as she smiled down at me.

I couldn't speak. I merely watched her, fearing another of Perfidia's evil tricks.

"That's ridiculous, Andrea. You know who I am. Now get up and tend to yourself, dear."

Oh, how I wanted to believe that melodious voice-wanted to believe I could obey! I despised being caught in this cage of humiliation, naked, with my legs splayed and my hands in an incriminating place! But my leaden muscles ached with the effort of just focusing on her.

"All right then, lie there in your own filth," Pandora said, obviously disappointed. "But tell me what Perfidia did. What she said. I can't undo her mischief if you don't help me, Andrea."

I blinked. If this truly was Pandora, the most ancient and powerful vampire at the orphanage, why did she need me to fill her in?

I choked on the dryness in my throat. My tongue tasted like I'd licked the floor. "She put me in this damn cage," I rasped, "and then she sucked Billy's blood."

Pandora's eyes didn't widen in sympathy, the way I expected them to. But then, maybe I was only hallucinating. Maybe she wasn't really there.

"And?"

"And she told me she was…my mother. And that Judge Legg fathered me," I went on with a hitch in my voice. "And she showed Billy the Alex Moore clothes in my armoire, to disgust him into leaving."

Pandora crossed her arms beneath her ample breasts. "Only away a day," she sighed, "and it's all gone to hell in a hand basket. Perfidia loves her parlor tricks. And she never fails to live up to her name, does she?"

I blinked again, forcing reason to return. If the root word "perfidy" referred to a lack of loyalty…

"Her magic is black-powerful-partly because you believe it is, Andrea," this more compassionate vampire continued. "While I'm sure you think yourself imprisoned by those bars, you must realize that if they move when you do, they aren't attached to the floor. So neither are you."

Talk about a thunderbolt. I struggled to stand, but got no farther than sitting up. Tears sprang to my eyes. "I-I don't understand-"

"You've been staring at that tarot spread, trying to puzzle out who did what, and to whom," she continued, gliding toward the cards. "But you know what, Andrea? These are made of paper. The only power they possess is the belief we invest in them. If you don't BELIEVE, their message is meaningless."

My jaw dropped. "But you constantly consult the cards! You taught me how to-"

"The tarot is only a tool, dear. Each card tells of a lesson, or situations that occur in every life. The cards have no magic-"

"Then how did Perfidia make them stay in that formation? An inch from the wall?" I blurted. My mind ached as badly as my body, for Pandora was teaching this lesson at my expense. Refuting beliefs I'd held almost as sacred as the myths I'd invented about the parents I'd never met.

"While it's true we vampires possess powers, there's a limit to what we can accomplish. Much depends upon how…suggestible our mark is." She smiled sadly, understanding my befuddlement. "You're an attorney, Andrea. Trained to reason your way out of difficult situations. Do you really believe cards can hang in the air this way?"

"Well, no! At least not until Perfidia-"

"Then tell the cards-out loud-that they are only paper. Tell them Perfidia no longer has any power over them. Or you."

I swallowed hard. Was Pandora asking me to traffic in the same satanic magic her partner had invoked? These damned iron bars…they HAD shifted with me, come to think of it.

I didn't know what to believe. If Pandora was telling me to divest those tarot cards of their power, was she hinting that Perfidia's other tricks were invalid, too?

"You! You're only paper! Only pretty, printed cards!" I stated as boldly as I dared. For all I knew, Perfidia was lurking invisibly, just waiting for such a challenge to drive a dangerous wedge between Pandora and herself. "Stop hanging there!"

I felt a mental push…probably assistance from Pandora. The cards shimmied, but they remained afloat.

Had I lived in the dark-in so many ways, out here beyond Redemption-that the light of hope couldn't redeem me? I breathed deeply, to fill the little room with my frustration. "Stop it right now! Perfidia put you there, but I don't believe in her power anymore!"

Slowly, the cards dropped out of formation to hit the floor. The last three hovering were the Queen of Wands-supposedly me-and the Queen of Cups, which represented Pandora, while that Knight of Wands looked over at us.

"Get lost!" I cried. "You have no power over me!"

The cards dropped, separated from the rest of the scattered spread. The dreamy-eyed Queen of Cups landed slightly above Billy and me, as though to gently counsel us-but another mental nudge made me set aside my imaginings.

"Stand up, Andrea."

I grunted with the effort, but still those iron bars held me.

Pandora scowled down at me. "We've agreed your cage isn't attached to the floor. And do you really think those bars entered this room dancing to their own music?"

"Seeing is believing!" I blurted. I tried straightening my legs, but the bars didn't budge.

"Maybe believing is seeing. Never forget who got you into this predicament, my dear."

Believing is seeing? A point to ponder-but I had no patience for philosophical thoughts right now. Yes, Perfidia was the source of this trickery! She had made me believe- Ah, there was the rub: I'd allowed her wicked ways to overpower rational thought, because she'd driven Billy Tripplehorn away. When I declared to those iron bars that they were unable to hold me now-looking to Pandora for encouragement-the cage fell away. The bars slinked back to the nether regions of the house, like dogs with tails tucked between their legs.