Born of Darkness. Rita Vetere
sister had been before Charlie died. “It will be the same for you, I imagine. Someone will come along and make you feel complete, and you won’t feel the need to swim so hard against the current anymore.”
Jasmine suddenly moved toward her and hugged her, hard. It was a rare moment, one of the few times she felt truly connected to her wayward niece.
“G’night Aunt Dora.”
“More like ‘good morning’. Get some sleep now.”
Dora watched Jasmine as she took the stairs, and asked herself once again whether she had done a good enough job of raising her. Had she loved her enough? So much about Jasmine remained an enigma to Dora. Even as a young child, she’d seemed so different from other children. Nothing Dora had ever been able to put her finger on, but there was just something about the girl that set her apart from others, an aloneness that often translated into aloofness.
As Jasmine grew older, the two of them had found themselves at cross purposes more often than not. She remembered the way her niece had displayed no embarrassment in asking about contraceptives when she’d turned sixteen, and all the sleepless nights Dora had endured—especially after the humiliating incident of the sidewalk graffiti. More recently, Dora’s disapproval centered on Jasmine’s lifestyle, the constant late nights and drinking. And tonight, the way she had hugged her, like she was desperate for love. Didn’t she know how much she was loved?
Dora remained staring after her niece disappeared up the stairs. The feeling that Jasmine was headed for disaster had been strong lately, although she couldn’t say why exactly. Perhaps it was just that Jasmine so closely resembled Lilli now, causing Dora to connect her sister’s terrible fate with the child. Dora had always been vigilant with Jasmine, never having gotten over her guilt at having left Lilli alone on the night of her death, yet her efforts were more often than not in vain. She’s not Lilli. Nothing will happen to her. Then, reminding herself that she had always done her very best for the girl, she followed her niece upstairs to try to get a couple of hours sleep.
Chapter 6
Tom Janzen sat in his air conditioned office on the fifth floor of the medical center, staring absently out the window at the pedestrians on the street below. A moment later, he swiveled back to face his desk, and looked again at the file folder containing information about the patient he’d just finished with, Melody Wynn. Mrs. Wynn’s husband had been transferred to Tampa from Atlanta. In the last trimester of her pregnancy, she had asked for a referral to a good obstetrician in the area and had been given his name. Wasting no time, she’d booked her appointment with him immediately upon arriving in the city, and he’d just finished his examination of her.
His hand trembled as he closed the folder. Seeing Mrs. Wynn had shaken him up badly. Something about the woman—her hair, the lilt in her voice when she greeted him, something—had made him feel like he’d seen a ghost. An old wound had been re-opened, causing almost-forgotten pain to return with a vengeance. All because she reminded him of another woman, one whom he had loved deeply. One who had chosen someone else over him.
He thought he had dispelled the aching memory of Lilli long ago, but as the past came rushing back at him like a train wreck, he realized some feelings could never be erased, only buried. He remembered the sad look on her beautiful face the day she told him she was in love with someone else…
“I’m so sorry, Tom. I never meant to hurt you. I didn’t mean for this to happen, but it has. I love Charlie. He’s asked me to marry him…and I’ve said yes.”
He wants to tell her that this man who had taken her from him will never love her as much he does. He wants to yell, or punch a hole through the wall to dispel some of the anger that has sprung up in him. In the end, he does neither. Because he loves her. He knows he loves her because he wants only for her to be happy.
“If this is what you want, if you’re sure he makes you happy, marry him.”
After she leaves, he takes the engagement ring he had planned to give her from his bedroom dresser and looks at it long and hard before putting it away, knowing exactly what he has lost.
Having lost her to another man had been bad enough. But in a cruel twist of fate, three years later, she had returned to him, seeking his help. For all his trying, he’d not been able to stop what had happened to her. She died. And a part of him had died with her.
He sat with his elbows propped on the desk in front of him, his head resting in his hands, remembering how tormented Lilli had been the last time he’d seen her, the morning she’d arrived on his doorstep seeking help...
One look at her wraith-like figure when he opens the door tells him something terrible has happened to her. Her heartbreaking beauty is still apparent, only slightly diminished by the gaunt look of her face and her too-pale skin. Yet, it’s her eyes he notices the most. The eyes that once sparked emerald fire stare at him, flat and emotionless.
Haunted eyes.
The shock must have registered on his face because, in a quiet voice, she says, “I know what I look like.” Lowering her head as she stands on his doorstep, she asks if she can come inside.
“Lilli,” he stutters. “Of course. Come in.”
When she’s settled in the comfortable chair in his living room and sipping on the glass of water he brings to her, she says, “I know I have no right to be here, Tom, but… I need help. I’m so scared.” Her voice cracks on the last word and the glass of water shakes in her trembling hand.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
Her face becomes calmer when she hears his words. Then she turns those haunted eyes on him and says, “Do you believe in evil spirits, Tom?”
He practically jumped out of his skin when Adele buzzed him to say his three o’clock appointment, Ms. Amodeo, was settled in room four.
Still wrapped up in the memory of his last encounter with Lilli, a premonitory feeling rushed through him. Too much time had gone by since his last excursion downtown, and he resolved to go soon, tonight, if possible. Shaking off the dark shadow of apprehension that had fallen over him, he walked out of his office to see about Patty Amodeo, who was due to deliver next week.
Chapter 7
Jasmine leaned in close to the gold-framed mirror over the dressing table and applied Baby Love lip gloss to her full, well-delineated lips. Then she stepped back to assess the overall effect. Not bad. Silky folds of crimson fabric fell to the top of her slender thighs and the halter-style top of the dress criss-crossed her bosom, revealing the swell of her small, perfect breasts. The soft fabric bounced against her legs as she turned around to admire the cut, which left her lightly-tanned back exposed right down to the waist. Jasmine’s hair, freshly washed, fell in shiny golden waves over her smooth shoulders and halfway down her back, partially obscuring the tiny tattoo of a winged demon on her right shoulder. Aunt Dora had been appalled by the tattoo when she’d gotten it last year. Jasmine really didn’t know why she’d selected the image of the winged devil, except she’d felt drawn to it. She chose to wear no jewelry, save for the silver infinity ring Aunt Dora had given her for her sixteenth birthday, and which had belonged to Jasmine’s mother. Aunt Dora had the twin of that ring; her mother and aunt had purchased them during a trip to New York back in the early seventies.
Twenty-one! She could barely believe it. Carla and some of her friends from the Blue Flame had arranged something special at Raven’s, the trendiest new club in the city. A tiny frown crossed her brow when she realized T.K. would probably show up tonight as well, but she banished the thought immediately. She’d deal with it. Nothing was going to spoil her special night.
Jasmine glanced at the clock on her nightstand. Ten-thirty. She wasn’t due at Raven’s until eleven, but she called for a taxi and then went downstairs, intending to spend