Hearths of Fire (43 page)

“If this is the way our missions are run, we have a hell of a lot more block training to conduct.” Neal looked over his shoulder at where Starr met his gaze head-on, the confidence within her rankling his already exposed nerves. She lifted up her phone and spoke into the receiver, acknowledging the federal agent by name. Neal held his breath and waited for the news. When Starr reiterated the fact that only Robert Ashe had been acquired from the main house, Neal felt the caress of fear over what that meant for Charlotte. He thought of Daegan’s source of information and he knew that she would likely be able to obtain the information they needed on such short notice. His hand tightened on his Sig Sauer P220 to prevent himself from doubting they would get to Charlotte in time. Patricia Ashe had to be desperate right about now and there was no telling what the unstable woman would do in this situation. “Where’s Daegan? He’s the only chance we got at getting to Charlotte before the Ashes do something that’ll land my ass in jail. If they touch her there’s nothing in this world that will prevent me from getting retribution.”

‡

“S
ally, I don’t
understand,” Charlotte whispered, trying to keep the fear at bay. It wasn’t working and she was now practically falling over her own feet as she was pushed through the woods by the male that hadn’t taken his unsettling eyes off of her. She hadn’t had one spare second to try and escape, although after having been on the receiving end of Sally’s stun gun…Charlotte didn’t want to take the chance of it happening again. “Why are you helping the Ashes?”

“The Ashes will lead us into the new world.” The eerie repeated sentence that Sally kept saying was starting to burn a hole in Charlotte’s stomach. How was it that someone could be so vulnerable that they would allow such insane thoughts to become their reality? “We are the vessel in which that is to be done.”

Sally didn’t even sound like the outgoing waitress that served meals at the diner that they all knew. Charlotte spotted something up ahead and almost tripped over a tree root as she struggled to make it out. Was this it? Was this where they’d kill her? She hadn’t been able to make sense out of any of this. It was Mandy they wanted, not her. Was this in payback for them not being able to get their hands on her sister? Neal should have gotten Becky off of the compound by now and the Ashes should be in custody. What had happened for things to go so wrong?

It had taken most of the five to ten minute drive out to the Ashes to Dirt property for Charlotte to get back most all of her motor senses after having been the brunt of Sally’s prolonged stun gun attack. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened for Sally to stop in front of the entrance to the compound, but she’d somehow been alerted that Ashes to Dirt had been infiltrated. Sally had as much indicated that to the man who currently had a tight hold on Charlotte’s arm.

“Sally, what you’ve done is against the law.” Charlotte would have said and done anything to prevent them from getting any closer to what looked like a fire out in the middle of the woods. Who would be there? Who was waiting for them? The Ashes should have been arrested by now and Neal should already be on his way to pick her up from the bookstore. Maybe he was already there and Pam had told him that she hadn’t returned. He’d know she was in trouble. “If you let me go I swear I won’t tell anyone it was you.”

“We need you with us.”

Charlotte felt terror lick at her skin as if the flames from the fire ahead were already searing her flesh. Her neck was sore from where the stun gun electrodes had burned her, but that still didn’t prevent her from frantically looking around to see who was in the opening that the man had just pulled her through. She refused to whimper at the sight of Patricia and Garreth Ashe standing there in nothing but white cloaks. Their eyes looked as black as the night that surrounded them.

“Sally, please don’t do this. We’ve known each other our entire lives.”

Charlotte could hear the desperation in her own voice, but she was beyond the point of caring. Patricia was holding some type of ornate dagger that was currently pointed to the ground. The handle had what looked like ivory or bone inlaid in the silver scrollwork, but Charlotte didn’t want a closer look to confirm that. She watched in horror as Sally kept walking past her and the man, only to kneel in front of Patricia.

“I have done as you asked and I knew to come here when Lionel wasn’t waiting for us at the entrance.” Sally bowed her head and softly laid her palms against her upper legs. “Have I pleased you, ma’am?”

“Very much, darling.” Patricia’s voice lacked any emotion whatsoever and Charlotte would have backed up as the expressionless void in her dark eyes zeroed in on her. “Charlotte, welcome.”

“Welcome?” Anger churned in Charlotte’s stomach at the casual greeting, as if she’d been an invited houseguest. It chased away some of the fear and before she could stop herself the words came tumbling out. “Your deranged followers just kidnapped me. You people are insane! What? Are you going to kill me? Neal and the sheriff know you’ve taken me by now, Patricia. They’ve already rescued Becky and Mandy isn’t even in town for you to get your claws into her. And you, Garreth! You claim that you
love
Mandy? You make me sick, you fucking wacko!”

Charlotte felt so sick to her stomach that she almost fell to her knees from the nausea. Instead she stood there with her entire body shaking from the numerous emotions running through her as if she was a conductor for the voltages. Garreth stood side by side with his mother, showing no reaction to her words.

“Charlotte, do you know how long we have waited for Mandy?” Patricia nodded toward the man who still had his large hand wrapped around Charlotte’s arm. He somewhat pushed and pulled her at the same time until she was standing right behind Sally, who was still kneeling with her head bent. Charlotte couldn’t take the man’s touch anymore and yanked her arm from his grasp, almost falling to the ground. She finally caught her bearings and faced down the mother and son who’d been the bane of her existence for months now. “It’s taken me and Robert years to find our son’s proper soul mate. She needed to be giving, honest, and faithful to the messiah that we were chosen to raise. That required seeking out the blood of the girl who would carry our son’s legacy. Her birth had to coincide with that of the man she would follow behind. The time of their births happened for a reason and on their eighteenth birthday, their blood is to be combined for Garreth’s power to rise. The fact that she is a healer only bears weight to the fact that Mandy
is
the one. Can you not see what has been in front of you this whole time?”

“What I see are two lunatics that will not get away with this.” Charlotte frantically thought through her options and came up short. She’d been so dazed after Sally had utilized the stun gun on her that Charlotte wasn’t sure which direction they’d taken. This wooded area didn’t give her any indication of which side of town they were on, but they had to be close. They’d only driven for a little while after Sally had pulled away from the Ashes to Dirt compound. If there was any chance of Neal figuring out that Charlotte had been taken and actually locating her, she needed to do what she could to delay whatever Patricia and Garreth had planned. “As for your attempt at combining Garreth and Mandy’s blood, it’s over then. She’s nowhere near Hearth and there is nothing that you could do to make me tell you where she is.”

“I first want to applaud you for raising Mandy to be the kind but somewhat naïve young girl that she is.” Patricia tilted her head in a way that made Charlotte uneasy. What was going through this older woman’s mind? It was apparent that she and Garreth felt there was a way around the fact that Mandy wouldn’t be a part of whatever All Hallows’ Eve ritual they’d planned. “But you seem to be missing the point. Yes, it would have been more beneficial to have Mandy here to celebrate their joining…but we only need her blood.”

“You won’t get her—” Charlotte broke off, finally realizing why she was here. She was Mandy’s closest living relative. If they couldn’t have Mandy, they’d use the best next thing. She flicked her gaze between mother and son as if she would find some rational flicker behind their soulless eyes. Charlotte’s heart started pounding in her chest and she wondered how much blood they actually needed. The thought had her give a maniacal laugh at the ludicrousness of it all. “It won’t work. It’s not Halloween and I’m not my sister. You can’t make this shit up as you go along, Patricia. There isn’t some book where you can find the answers you seek. Garreth isn’t a fucking messiah and all you succeeded in doing was guaranteeing your and your son’s imprisonment for the rest of your wretched lives.”

Charlotte would have included Robert in that statement but she wasn’t sure where he was. Had he been rounded up with the others when Neal and the team rescued Becky?
Had
they extracted Becky? Charlotte finally caught a glimpse of doubt that crossed Garreth’s face upon her words. He was the weak link. He was the one Charlotte needed to be speaking to—not Patricia.

“Garreth, Mandy didn’t love you because of who your parents say you are. She didn’t even know about it. You say you love her, yet you would have taken her life as if it meant nothing.” Charlotte kept talking, doing anything to prevent them from continuing with whatever ceremony they’d devised. “This is wrong, Garreth. It’s—”

“Enough,” Patricia snapped, finally showing her impatience. Sally suddenly stood and took Charlotte by surprise. She stumbled backward, well aware that the man was still there to prevent her from running. “Garreth will transcend this mortal existence to lead us into the new world and—”

It was as if the last piece of the puzzle fit into the diagram. Patricia kept talking, but her voice faded as it all became clear to Charlotte. Garreth thought that he would marry Mandy and lead Ashes to Dirt the way his parents had. But that wasn’t what Patricia and Robert had planned. They thought that by sacrificing Garreth and Mandy together that it would somehow release their souls to do whatever it was Robert and Patricia believed…Charlotte couldn’t conceive of trying to figure out what their addled minds believed. It was clear they thought he was the messiah but anything other than that just made Charlotte sick to her stomach.

“Patricia, today won’t work. Today isn’t All Hallows’ Eve.”

“The combining of your blood with Garreth’s isn’t what needs to take place on that night.” Patricia looked over at Garreth in a way that made Charlotte’s skin crawl. The night seemed to have gotten quiet as if it too wanted to hear what the older woman had to say. There were no birds singing, no crickets rubbing their legs together, and certainly no wind to ruffle the falling leaves. It was as if everything had come to a standstill. “It will be our sacrifice on All Hallows’ Eve that completes the circle.”

“Garreth, she’s going to kill us,” Charlotte cried out as the man came up behind her and forced her toward the fire. She continued to struggle, not willing to give in and have her life end as if it hadn’t meant anything. She thought about her sister, Neal…her life. She wasn’t ready die. She wanted to love and be loved. She wanted a family with Neal by her side as she experienced everything life had to offer. The warmth of the fire became hotter the closer she was pushed and the crackles of the long logs inside sounded like gunshots resounding through her ears along with a reverberation that she didn’t recognize. The flames were taller than she was and would consume her as if she were nothing more than air. She clawed, kicked, and screamed…doing anything and everything to prolong what Patricia Ashe had planned for years. It was only when Patricia walked slowly toward her with the knife did terror settle deep within Charlotte’s soul. “No!”

‡

N
eal rested his
forehead against the butt of his Sig as he closed his eyes. He wasn’t a churchgoing man and the things he’d seen during his years in the service had sometimes made him question if there was a higher power at all. Fortunately those same events had caused him to witness miracles that man alone could not have done without divine guidance. The one thing he was absolutely sure about was that the Ashes had somehow lost their way in this world and were willing to take the lives of innocent people—one of them being the woman he loved.