Alexander Death(30)

“Is that cocaine?” Jenny asked. She'd never done cocaine, but she knew that if you were sniffing a powder, it was probably coke or crystal meth. She'd seen cocaine once, when Ashleigh framed Jenny for using drugs at Seth's family Christmas party. Seth's parents happened to love Ashleigh and hate Jenny, so they hadn't believed the truth.

“It's our stock in trade,” Alexander said. He watched one of Ernesto's men and another of the young women sniff white powder from the mirror. “The great provider of all things.”

“What's it like?” she asked.

“As high-grade as anything on the market. Took a little jiggering to get it to grow this far north, but we had a top botanist on the case. We're going to make a fortune on this crop, cutting out the middleman.” He laughed. “Well, we're the middleman. We're cutting out the supplier. Jenny, I can't wait to take you up and show what we have going. Things are going to pick up big with you around, though.” He took her hand, and Jenny felt that dangerous electricity between them, crackling almost palpably between his palm and hers.

“But what about the law? Won't we go to jail?”

“The law is what men make of it,” Alexander said. “The key is to buy the men who make the laws. Or the men who enforce them. Ideally, both. You'd be amazed how little money it takes.”

“You're crazy.” Jenny shook her head. There was a lot of danger lurking right under the surface here. Over on the couches, Ernesto's men had shed their suit coats, revealing large firearms holstered under their armpits. Most of the men she'd seen were armed. Part of her felt afraid to be among such people...but part of her was excited, too.

“I have to get out of here,” Jenny told Alexander. “I'm going back outside.”

“Wait,” Alexander said, but Jenny didn't. She hurried down the hall and the steps, out past the patio full of eating and drinking and dancing and drums, past the candlelit region of the yard and into the darkness beyond. She was moving in the general direction of the barn and the dark, partially collapsed building.

She stopped when she heard snarls ahead, like wild animals ready to attack. It came from the direction of the partially collapsed building. With a thought, she summoned up the pox as strongly as she could. Blisters tore open from her fingertips to her shoulder blades. If some fierce creature meant to jump on her, she was ready.

Jenny moved closer to the sound. She couldn't see anything inside the old building. Its window and door holes showed only complete darkness, from which the snarls were rolling out.

The snarls from the building grew louder. Jenny raised her arms, ready to fight back.

Someone grabbed her shoulder, and Jenny grabbed the person's arm and pumped it full of Jenny pox. It was a purely defensive response—this was a human, not a beast, and she wouldn't have done it if she'd had time to think.

“Watch out,” Alexander said. “You could kill a man that way.”

“I thought something was attacking me.”

“Are you sure I'm not?” he asked. The strange throaty snarls and growls sounded again from the abandoned building, louder and angrier this time.

“What's in there?” Jenny asked.

“Just some unspeakable, inhuman horrors words cannot describe. Did you have dessert?”

“I'm serious.”

“I am, too. Flan with cacao sauce? You don't want to miss that.”

“I'm not hungry.” Jenny looked down the dark, sloping stretch of yard toward the moonlit sea. “I feel like running. Want to race me to the cliff?”

“Half the cliff's crumbled away. It's not safe.”

“That's what makes it fun.” Jenny let go of his arm and raced toward the cliff.

“Look out!” He chased after her. “You can't see where the wall's broken.”

Jenny headed directly for the largest gap in the wall, where there was nothing but stars beyond, but she pretended not to notice at all. She was going to make him catch her. She put on speed.

“Jenny!” he called after her, running faster. “You have to slow down!”

“You're just slow!” she yelled back over her shoulder. Jenny ran frequently in the woods on her dad's land. It was a great way to beat back stress and anxiety, to feel like you were putting the world behind you.

She lowered her head and pressed forward. The toothy, broken gap in the wall yawned in front of her. The ground there was broken and craggy. A misstep could send her tumbling down the cliff to the beach.

She heard his footsteps behind her, but realized she didn't really care whether he caught her or not. If she went over the cliff, so what? She would die and reincarnate again, bringing all her evil back with her. Even death wasn't an escape.