“I’ll happily take the blame for this as long as you keep moving just as you are. Make me fall apart for you, Barrett.”
“I’ll do better than that…”
She raises her arms above her head and a moment of vulnerability passes between us. She sucks a breath in and I watch her fingers snap together.
A noise startles me and I sit up in the bath blinking hard against the water that clings to my lashes. I look around the room dazed and wondering when I’d fallen asleep. Climbing out of the freezing water, I wrap myself up with a towel and shake my head.
That dream. It felt so real. I could smell her scent, her skin slick and pliable beneath my fingers. I dress in the dark. The faintest wafting from Marigold’s floral perfume clings to the sheets as I settle into my bed. I must be going mad. Conjuring her scent and dreaming of fucking her senseless. My shivering body settles beneath the covers, and I will myself to push her from my thoughts.
MARIGOLD
Ishouldn’t have done that. I shouldnothave done that! My feet are wearing a path in my new room as I attempt to chase the ache seated deep within my core. I can still feel him moving inside of me, though I snapped the moment away. Maybe that wasn’t fair of me, but I’d seen how he was looking at me as if I could solve all his problems. Like I was an angel. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I had to put an end to it to protect myself and him.
I don’t deserve the attentions of someone like Barrett Blackford, no matter how much my body enjoyed it. And curse the devil, did I enjoy it. I chide myself for not letting either of us finish, but I couldn’t help the fear that crept up into my throat. The moment he entered me, it no longer felt like a wayward tryst. Unadvisable, sure. But fun and fleeting. No, this felt like somethingmore.I don’t have time or means for anything more. My father’s men are always on the hunt for me. Searching for the clues I left behind from house to house. Always closing in. Seeking revenge for their beloved boss.
And the curse. If I don’t break this curse, I’ll be forced to move on from this house. I can’t let myself get attached.
A shiver skates over my skin and I feel as if the walls are closing in around me. I’m not alone. I spin around catching a shadow floating along the floor, though nothing in the vicinity would produce such an obscurity. The temperature around me plummets and I can feel whatever or whoever it is focusing their ill intent straight at me. My ruby around my neck pulses a faint glow and I run straight for the closet where I’ve tucked my minimal belongings away.
My hands shake as I take out my carpet bag. I’ve not had a moment to unpack since I’d arrived and there is only one thing that could rid this place of such a presence.
I dig through my array of belongings that fit within the expansive case with practiced hands. You could sleep inside of my bag if you had to, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The material can be scratchy, and the threads let in too much of a draft. I’d only done it once and had the most fitful sleep of my life. The evil surrounding me intensifies, making my heartbeat faster, and my pendant shine brighter. I don’t have much time.
After what feels like entirely too much time, I finally find what I’m looking for. The moment the ebony mirror’s frame brushes against my fingers I know it instantly. Feeling the familiar zing settling into my bones. Yanking it out, I set it on a lone hook in my room, watching as my likeness mimics my movements. My pendant digs into the fleshy part of my palm.
Gazing upon my reflection, I say the words that will make my twin appear. “Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary.”
My features shimmer becoming distorted as I watch her come into the frame. She is so much like me, but slightly different. Only a trained eye could spot it. It’s always been that way between us. Our father was the one that could tell us apart without hesitation. Always favoring his little Marybeth.
“Sister.” Her voice slices across my flushed skin. “I see you’ve been busy.” She glances through her prison, fingers pressed lightly against the glass, breath fogging it up in a perfect circle. “Why have you summoned me?”
“There is a presence here. A ghost, I think. I need you to snuff it out.”
“And what makes you think I’ll help you this time.” She stares down at her chipped nails as if she has a choice in the matter. Always needing to make things difficult.
I roll my eyes feeling the presence circling like a lion stalking its prey. “Come now, Marybeth. We don’t have time for your childish games. If I die, then you’re stuck in there forever.” Our mother had thought naming both her girls with ‘Mary’ in the beginning would be adorable. In truth, it was an annoyance always thinking you were being called, when the person meant the other. I learned long ago that they rarely ever meant to call for me.
“Like you’ll ever let me out of here.”
“Help me, and I’ll consider moving up your release date. What was it again? Fifty-two years? One year for how many times you slept with my fiancé?”
“That again.” She rolls her eyes like she’s annoyed with me.
I won’t let her indifference creep under my skin. She’s already taken so much from me. Now, it’s time for her to pay for what she’d done, and I wasn’t done punishing her yet. She’d gotten an easier sentence than the one I gave my former fiancé. Picturing Alfred holding onto Charles’s bloody eyeball always fills me with joy, but we don’t have time for reminiscing.
“It’s your choice, Marybeth.”
“Charles didn’t love you anyways.” I suck in a breath and feel the telltale pressure of fingertips sliding along my throat. A sharp pecking noise comes from one of the windows and its then that I know that I’m in danger. My birds wouldn’t be trying to break into the house if they didn’t have a reason.
“Not a ghost. A poltergeist.” I curse before the being starts to squeeze, constricting my windpipe and managing to lift me off the floor.
My fingers snap uselessly as my sister watches me with a smirk while I pull at my neck trying to get an ounce of air into my desperate lungs. Black spots begin to form at the edges of my vision, my feet kicking furiously against the air. Alfred’s loud screeches from outside pierce my ears. The fluttering and pounding intensifies as the birds try and peck their way in.
“Devil confound it. Fine.” Marybeth presses her fingers into the glass and her eyes begin to glow. Though twins, our magic manifests differently. Mine brings life and creation. Hers brings death and decay. The poltergeist releases me with a blood curdling shriek the moment Marybeth’s magic penetrates the glass. She’s only able to shoot out short bursts at a time, never allowed a blast strong enough to let her escape, but that little bit of magic is enough to make a difference.
I drop in a heap of twisted limbs onto the floor feeling the sharp sting of gravity’s embrace. Gulping air into my lungs, I glare up at my sister who shrugs in response. “You’re welcome.” I’m glad there’s a barrier separating us at this moment, because I want nothing more than to reach in and strangle her myself. If killing her didn’t come with such steep consequences, I’d have finished her off long ago. I learned the hard way when I became cursed for killing our father. Surely, I had to be closer to breaking it.
Pulling myself up to standing, I glare at my own flesh and blood. She doesn’t hide her sneer.
