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The Taken

by Kaereni 


Act 1 - Mass 

Jill sat in the church, her mind a million miles away as the priest lead the congregation through the mass. Christmas eve and instead of being with friends and family she was sitting in the sparsely populated church listening to the evening mass. “I am so pitiful.” she thought to herself as she sat on the hard bench. “Not only am I alone tonight, but, I spend my time in a church listening to some moron asking us to give more to the coffers.” "Heck, its not even the midnight Mass. " She said and then as people turned to look at her she realized that she had said it out loud. Blushing and ducking her head Jill mumbles a soft sorry and sits there wishing she had somewhere, someone to be with tonight. 

She thought about her moving to the big city several years ago after her parents passed on. She had had grand plans back then, a new start, fresh beginnings and most of all a chance to make friends and perhaps that special loved one. Alas, this was not to be. The city overwhelmed her. The hustle and bustle, everyone always in a rush had caused the already shy Jill to retreat into herself. 

From the corner of her eye she catches a flash of red. Looking she sees a woman, dressed in a red flowing silk dress glides down the isle and then move into her row before sitting down a little way from Jill. As the mass drones on she keeps glancing at the woman taking in her beauty. Her raven hair, hands that only Michael Angelo could have sculptured, perfect nails the same “fuck me red” as the dress. Jill’s eyes travel over the woman’s body, arms and legs. She thinks, “That could only come from countless hours in the gym.” Her glances reach the woman’s face, a face that belongs on an angel. Somewhere a part of her alarm bells are going off. “It's twenty below outside, snowing like there is no tomorrow and yet the woman wearing a short sleeved dress, and where is her coat? She looks as if she had stepped off a runway from a fashion show for god’s sake. Not walked in off the busy streets on Christmas eve in the dirty city.” 

The eyes, though, are the most striking feature of the woman. “Eyes you could get lost in.” Jill thinks to herself finally understand the line. She becomes aware of the woman looking at her, calmly looking at her, appraising her as Jill checks her out. Again she blushes ducking her head and grabs a bible so she can pretend to be doing something else. 

She sits there staring down at the words not reading when a smell comes wafting across her. The air smells of promise and forgotten pleasures. “The woman’s perfume,” Jill thinks inhaling deeply, taking in the scent and basking in the feeling of euphoria it brings. The smell of the woman’s perfume fades like the night before the dawning sun. Sneaking a glance at the woman Jill finds her gone. She is alone once more in her row. She looks down again in her minds seeing herself, makeup free, plain mousy brown hair hidden under a knit cap, heavy pea jacket. Looking all the world like the ugly duckling compared to the swan that was beside her for a short time. Jill looks at her hands, “Even my hands and nails are plain and ugly.” She holds the bible closed tightly, her eyes closed as the wave of self pity sweeps over her. Shaking it off she opens the bible and reads the first passage her eyes focus on. 

Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. 

Jill had always believed that she could open up the good book and find guidance in her life. She stopped and pondered the words, looking at the page, through it and to a place that only thinkers see. She did not understand how it gave guidance. But Jill didn’t seem to understand most of the passages she had read till after what ever “god” was trying to tell her had passed and she had failed somehow. She had the funny feeling she was being watched and looked up find the mass was ending. Confused for a moment she hurriedly closed and replaced the bible and got up to leave. Stopping at the door she thanks the priest for an inspiring mass before braving the icy blast and snow. 

Standing on the steps Jill sees a flash of red off to off to one side through the milling people. She looks closer and sees the woman in red looking at her calmly a faint smile on her lips. Nodding towards the woman she turns to leave. Instead of walking home she finds her body turn back to the woman and walking over to stand on the step below her. Looking up into the vision of beauty, Jill feels her mind slow as she looks into the eyes, those lovely green eyes. 

Without thinking, or really understanding what is happening Jill tilts her head, pulls her scarf down and bares her neck. With a smile the woman moves up wraps her arms around her like a long lost lover and lowers her lips to her neck. Jill feels a stinging and then sharpened pains in her neck. Her breath labored, Jill comes up from the fog clouding her mind. She feels the pain growing with each beat of her heart till it feels as if a red hot wire is coursing through her veins. Opening her mouth to scream, she can only give a silent gasp instead. Jill feels her heart slow and finally give out one last hard beat and stop. Darkness closes in as she feels herself fall to the snow covered steps. 



Act II – Wakening 

“Cold... so cold...” Jill thinks her mind fuzzy and slow... With dawning realization she comes awake, "Dead," she says taking a deep breath and sitting up. "Wait… What?" she says confused looking around a semi darkened room. She feels the cold metal bed on her backside and a sheet covering her. Looking around, "a hospital. I must have passed out and they brought me here, good ole father Timothy.” She says getting off the bed. She looks closer at her surroundings as her mind comes more aware. "A morgue? I’m in a morgue?" She looks down at the tag on her toe. "Oh my god" she says her voice rising in timbre and volume till the last word is a shriek. 

Jill bends down rips the tag off her toe and wrapping the sheet around her like a badly made toga makes her way out into the hall. Looking left and right, she sees a disserted corridor. Turning to the left, Jill walks down the hall looking for her clothes and the doctor that put her in the morgue. As she walks, the tiles cold on her bare feet, she replays the encounter with the woman. Had to be a dream she thinks not believing in vampires and the like. 

Silly girl she says shaking her head. "ouch" she says her head feels like her brain is rattling around louse inside. Reaching a hand up she feels a goose egg sized lump on her scull. "Ah… That was it. I slipped and fell and they only thought I was dead or something." She reaches an intersection and nurse’s station but no one is there. "Home" that’s what I need. She thinks and seeing a fire exit sign further along she heads for it and up the stairs and out side. The snow still falling and if anything she is colder then she had been before. Looking around she sees that she is at Mercy Hospital and it is only a few of blocks from her apartment. Many a night she would be awakened by the sirens of ambulances making their deliveries. 

Trudging through the snow she only sees an handful of cabs trolling past like some great yellow sharks in the night. "This has to be the worst Christmas ever" she moans as she walks ignored by the cabs no matter how she tries to signal them. The cold is so intense that she passes beyond shivering to the point where she feels comfortable. Reaching her apartment building she walks up and then reaches her door. 

"Key... Oh shit" she says and then turning trudges to the super's apartment to lean on his buzzer. After 5 minutes of buzzing Jill gives up and goes back to her door and tries to bust her way in. Over and over she throws herself against the door only to bounce off. She slowly slides to a heap against the door sobbing in frustration and despair. Sitting there, leaning against the door, Jill realizes she has really got to pee and no matter how much you want to wallow, when you have to go you have to go. 

She reaches up to the doorknob and to her shock it turns under her hand. "Doh" She says opening the door and entering into her apartment. Hurrying to the bathroom she sits and tends to business. “Just go to bed. Everything better in the morning,” she thinks as she washes her hands. "Forget shower or cleaning up, a warm bed is the thing for me" She says as she walks to the bedroom and crawls under the covers. Hiding her head under the blankets she gives into the sobs that have been filling her. 

Jill’s dreams are filled with the woman from the mass. The woman’s green eyes pulling Jill in and then feeling her kiss of death. Again and again Jill's mind replays it each time waking in a panic and slowly calming down before drifting off once more only to repeat the cycle. Dream, panic, wake breathless over and over, the night lasts a thousand years. 



Act III - Puzzles 

Morning comes and Jill still feeling chilled staggers into the bathroom for a hot shower. Cleaning up she feels her head and feels that the lump has gone down. She goes to the mirror and examines her neck, “nothing there.” Feeling refreshed she dresses, turns on the coffee, and then goes to see what Santa brought her. 

Under the pitiful 3 foot tree she sees the gift she had bought herself. Sitting on the couch she pulls the box to herself. Unwrapping it she finds the puzzle she had bought. "For me? How did you know?" she asks the air as if she were talking to the sender of the gift. She sets it down and then notices a small present that was hidden behind her box. A small box the size you would put a ring in wrapped with red foil. Picking it up confused she sees the tag saying, “Jill” in golden ink. She unwraps the gift and sees that it in fact a ring box compete with velvet covering. Opening it she picks the object out and looks at it. “A key?” 

Jill holds up the key looking at it confused and then it comes back to her in a flash. The woman bending over her saying, "When you get home a gift, and puzzle. I know how you love puzzles." 

Jill holds the key tightly as if willing the answer to its puzzle to come to her, but it does no good. She looks at the key but it looks no different then any other door key she had seen other then its redish tint. She takes it, the card and box and sets them on top of the television. Jill holds the card a moment more and says looking off in the distance, "thank you" softly. In her mind she can see the woman look up and towards her and saying a silky voice, "you are welcome Jill" 

She shakes the fantasy from her minds eye and goes back to her puzzle. The day that had started so depressing now seems bright and exciting. The woman had nailed it on the head. Jill loved puzzles. Not just puzzle boxes but all types of brain teasers. She picks up her coffee and puzzle box and goes to the dining table to open it and pour the pieces out of the table. Inside Jull sees a piece of paper folded. She picks up the paper and eyes widening reads it, "Jill, I am sure you will love this puzzle better." in gold writing. 

She drops the paper as if burned and picks up the box to examine it once more. No, no other openings other then the ones she made. She picks up the note and reads it again, her mind almost in a panic. Getting up she hurries over to the front door and sees it is still locked from the night before. Jill grabs the key, other box and stuff and takes it with her back to the table. She goes and gets a pad of paper and then writes down, "How did she get in? How did she switch the puzzle without it showing? How did she add the note to the sealed box? What does the key open? Who is she?" She examines the two notes again and conforms that the writing is the same. She mulls over the questions a while and not finding answers turns to the puzzle. 

As she sorts the pieces Jill realizes that it is defiantly not the one that she bought. "The answer's here. I know it" she says as she starts putting the outer edges together. Throughout the day Jill sits hunched over the puzzle. Her coffee goes cold; she does not get up or eat as she works on the puzzle. Several times during the day the phone rings but other then to look dumbly at the phone Jill pays no mind to it. It is nothing more then a distraction. 

It is late night when Jill finishes the puzzle. Never before had she sat so long unmoving or did a puzzle in a single sitting. She had always in the past lingered over it through several days. When at last finished Jill sits up feeling the crick in her back and looks at the picture as a whole. Pushing her chair back away from the table as if pushing away from a rattlesnake she moans and says "no" in a wailing tone. "Oh no... It can’t be..." she reaches out to touch the puzzle stroking it like a child, reaching for comfort from a memory. She looks at the key picks it up and the memories come flooding back to her from her past. 



Act IV - Past 

The bathroom, the tub, the blood, the woman, like still images flashed on the screen that is her mind’s eye. Jill’s mind flashed to the start of the nightmare and ran through it like an old horror flick on the late, late show on Saturday night. 

Jill had been eight at the time, a family vacation, a week long camping trip to the mountains. Packing the station wagon, leaving home to go on what dad called the grand adventure. Jill smiles at the memory hearing her dad’s voice. The sing alongs, and games of I-spy with mom and dad as they left home far behind. Sitting at the kitchen table, she remembers the drive. Winding up through the foothills, the other cars left far behind, seeing Bambie and her mom on the side of the road, all drove home the feeling of being in a different world. 

The strangeness of how her parents became quiet and sat there looking forward, not listening to her as the NPR radio faded out. Turning up a side road, the station wagon leaving a dust trail swirling behind them as she leans forward shaking her mothers shoulder, “mom? Are we there yet? I got to go bathroom.” But her mother makes no reply; it’s as if she were not even in the car. Jill sits back and plays with her doll frowning. As the car slows she looks up excitedly to see the campground but instead finds they are pulling past an iron fence with spikes, around the manicured lawn, to come to rest before a huge house. 

Like any other child Jill did not wait for her parents to exit the car. She jumped out and looked around, the sunset caught her eyes, and how the sky turned all reds and pinks. The twinkling of the early stars which had been hiding in the city is now showing to their full glory. She turns to point them out her mom but stops looking at both her parents still in their seats in confusion. “Why are you sitting there?” She calls back to the car. 

Her parents open their doors and get out of the car. Moving like robots they march up to the front door without a backwards glance to Jill. She follows them tears welling up in her eyes, “Mom? Dad? Did I do something wrong?” she asks them as she follows the non responsive couple. Without stopping they open the front door and enter the house leaving the front door open behind them. 

Confused and hurt she trails along behind like a homeless puppy looking for a handout. “But where is the campground? I thought we were going camping” Jill says catching up and tugging on her mothers arm. Her mother pretends she is not even there not responding to Jill’s words or tugging. 

“What have we here” a woman’s voice, pleasant and refined but with something else that makes Jill uneasy says from the far side of the foyer. “Close the door dear.” The woman’s voice says as Jill looks towards the voice. 

“Yes mam” Jill says, and turns to close the front door. She had always been taught to respect her elders. As she starts walking back she gets a funny feeling in her head. Its like when she would wade and minnows would come nibble at her legs but this time it feels as if they are in her head. She walks back to stand between her parents, her hand reaching up to grasp her mothers unresponsive hand. 

“How delightful” The woman says walking forward. “Such a strong little mind you have, but not strong enough… I think we will have a wonderful time together Jill.” Jill looks at the woman and then feels herself falling, her world spinning, and blacking out. The last thing she sees is the woman’s eyes boring into hers. 

Jill wakes and finds herself lying in a bed with a canopy. The bedroom looks like something that a fairytale princess would have. It was larger then her living room back home. She feels the urge still there of having to go to the bathroom and gets up. She looks and sees she is dressed in a cotton nightgown. She had never owned a nightgown like this one before. “Mommy got it for me.” She says and then not finding an attached bathroom goes down the hall opening doors and peaking in. 

Opening a door she sees a tile floor instead of the wooden ones elsewhere. Seeing the light is on and the sounds of splashing water Jill calls out, “excuse me.” 

“Yes Jill?” The woman’s voice replies from inside the room 

“I have to go.” Jill says doing the potty dance at the door. 

“Come in dear where I can see you.” 

Jill enters the bathroom and the sight that greets her eyes causes her bladder to cut loose. She sees her parents hanging over the tub head down, like a pair of deer, their fingers trailing into the reddish water. Blood is still flowing from their slit necks, down their arms tainting the water. The woman, leaning back in the bath tub a champagne flute filled with the reddish water at her lips. 

The woman watches Jill’s expression and smells the sharp tang of her urine and laughs as she sips the blood water mix. She holds out her hand to Jill, pulling her forward, “your turn.” She stands and gets out the tub the red water absorbing into her skin instead of running off. She removes Jill’s nightgown and helps her in to the tub. Kneeling next to it she washes the shocked young girl in her own parents’ blood. Once finished the woman dries Jill, and leads her back to the bedroom tucking her in. Jill lays there her mind numb in deep shock barely aware as the sun rises starting a new day. 



Act V - The Accident 

Jill wakes to the sounds of a crash and screams of tortured metal. In an eye blink something comes flying towards her only to stop inches away from her head. She sits up[ looking at it blinking sleep from her eyes. A log? Her mind fuzzily asks. She looks around seeing the car, several large logs pushing in through the windshield. Her parents no where to be found. "Mommy? Dad?" she calls smelling the first hint of smoke. Screaming the panic filling her, Jill tries the door and then when it does not budge pounding on the window. 

With a whoosh she sees flames spring up around the car, a voice, a mans, calling out "anyone in there?" Jill screams louder crying and pounding at the door and window. 

She sees a face an screams in terror. But calms down when she sees a man's face instead of the woman. He draws back and a moment later the window shatters. Hands reaching in and pulling her out. 

Jill stands there watching as her car, her parents burn. The man tries to lead her away and turn her head but she breaks away watching it. It is not till the police arrive and lead her away putting her into the back of a squad car that Jill stops watching. 

An ambulance comes and they take her away, as they wheel her off she can hear the truck driver saying something about not seeing them till they rear ended him. Once at the hospital Jill is lead to the examining room and she is checked for injuries. They keep asking her name but Jill, in shock says nothing. One of the nurses holds up Jill’s clothing looking at the tag for a clue to her name. 

"Her name could be Jill doctor.” The nurse holds up Jill’s clothing to show the Doctor the tag. “See, it says so on her nightgown." Jill head snaps around to stare at the gown. It wasn’t a dream, her eight year old mind screams and breaks. 

Jill comes out of the flashback with a deep breath. Her fist in her mouth her knuckles chewed. "Oh god... they didn’t die in an accident" she says looking out at the wall. All the years of being kicked from foster home to foster home till her 18th birthday when she could get away and go to college flash back to Jill. Now at her Christmas break, on her third year at school she had believed, had convinced herself that it was a terrible accident that killed her parents. 

Jill gets up and rushes to the bedroom closet she pulls out a small box from the shelf and going to the bed sits down. Opening it she pulls out a old ragged child’s nightgown. On the tag faded she can just make out the gold lettering. She reaches into the box and pulls out a hand full of letters she had received over the years. 

Opening first then the next she looks at the faint writing. "Oh god no" she moans and runs to the TV to get the cards and paper. She hurries back and compares the writing. Could it be? Aunty Carolyn? All these years she had been receiving letters and little gifts from a friend of her parents. Jill had come to call Aunty Carolyn even though she was no relation. While she had never met the woman they had written back and forth like pen pals and she became like a big sister to Jill. Once Jill had gone to college she had never heard from the woman again. She had always figured it was because the woman did not need to keep an eye out for Jill once she was grown. 

But now, Jill knew she had to find her. She looked at the return address but found only "Summerville, NY" on it. "It’s a start" Jill says to herself. 



Act VI - Journey 

Pulling together some clothes Jill packs them into her suitcase, her mind already on the road trip ahead. Glancing at the clock she notes that it says 6:52 am, "No wonder I am so tired. I stayed up all night." Deciding to nap for a few hours before searching she crawls in to the bed clutching the nightgown like a child would her blanket. 

Though Jill is exhausted sleep eludes her. She lays there for hours her mind spinning the memories over and over like a broken record. Every so often Jill glances at the clock, 7, 8, and 9. The hours click by slowly. When sleep does finally come, her dreams are filled with visions of blood. Not only blood but of her sitting at a garden table, the woman across from her, both of sipping glasses of blood under a full moon. 

With a sharp breath Jill awakens, sitting up and looking around wildly. The dream had been so real; she could almost taste the blood. She catches sight of the nightlight giving its comforting glow to the darkness like a lighthouse would to a lost ship at sea and calms down. Looking at the clock she sees that it reads 11. “Good only a few hours nap like I planned,” she says. Getting up she goes over and opens the curtains, the city looks so peaceful in the moon light. 

A knot of fear rises up in her middle and Jill can feel the beginnings of a panic attack coming. Running to the bathroom she clutches the vanity staring into the mirror breathing hard. “It’s ok, it’s ok” she says looking at herself over and over. Jill had always been afraid of the dark. She had never understood why night time would create fear in her, until now. “Morning, I’ll go in the morning.” 

Jill hears a voice in her head say, “Now.” With a feeling of confusion she moves like a robot, her body acting on its own accord as she picks up the gown, the box of notes, and the spare set of keys off her dresser. Going into the kitchen she retrieves the reddened key from the table and puts it into her pocket. Turning to the stove Jill upends the letters on top. Adding the wrapping paper and puzzle to the pile she turns the stove on before walking out the front door, closing and locking it behind her. 

Standing in the hall she tries to turn back a soft “please no,” coming from her lips. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she walks towards the night, the gown clutched in one hand and her keys in the other. The closer she gets to her bronco the need to hurry fills her, driving her forward. Jill breaks into a run at the front door reaching the drivers side door in moments. “I’ll be safe in the car” she thinks to herself as she opens the driver’s side door. 

Something large and furry streaks past her and into the bronco knocking Jill off her feet. What the heck?" Jill exclaims getting back up. Looking into car she sees a large dog sitting in the passenger seat looking out the windshield. It turns and looks at her panting, its breath coming out like a wheezing fog machine. 

Her fear momentarily forgotten Jill says, "shoo... shoo” while making motions with her hands. "I don’t need some damn stray moving into my car." The dog just looks at her and she can hear the thumping of it's tail against the other door. "Ah come on," she pleads, but to no avail, the dog is not moving. "I don’t need this today. Not today." She looks up at the heavens and asks, "Why me?" 

"Guess you’re just lucky" 

She stares at the dog a moment and then in a worried tone, "Did you just talk?" The dog just looks at her its tongue handing out, tail wagging. "I must be losing my mind" she looks around and then back at the dog, "Are you sure you didn’t talk?" Again the dog just looks at her its tail wagging. “Fine... Hope you like road trips" she says giving up, the need to hurry overriding the need to get rid of the dog. 

Jill gets in and looks at the dog, a somewhat ratty but beautiful German Shepard. She had always wanted a puppy but first the foster homes would not let her and college life did not lend its self to puppies. "Ok you can come. But if you poop on the seat you will be out the door even if I have to push you out. “I wonder what your name is?” she asks as she starts the bronco. Turning the lights on, she pulls out and begins the drive north out and away from the safety of the city. "I can’t believe I am going somewhere I don’t know, without a map, with a strange key, and stray.” 

As she drives Jill finds herself taking turns without knowing why. They just feel right. The dog beside her just sits there looking out the windshield panting. Further and further away from the city they drive in the night. Leaving the interstate Jill heads up back roads the dim memory of winding roads from her childhood leading her. She turns the wrong way once and then after about a mile the dog becomes agitated and Jill feeling something is wrong. Turning around she gets back on track and the feeling of wrongness fades. 

After a while Jill stops at a lonely snow covered road or track leading up into the woods. Looking up it she looks at the dog and back at the snow covered trail leading up into the darkness, "Here it is... this is the place, I think." She turns up the road driving slowly. Creeping along at snails pace she sees the iron fence, its spikes just as she remembered. The house sitting dark is just as in the puzzle at the end of the drive. 

Turning off the engine Jill sits there a moment before getting out. She looks around and up at the sky. The stars are even more beautiful then they were all those years ago. It feels as if time had slowed, not a sound other then the quiet ticking of the bronco as it cools off. She leans in and grabs the gown clutching it as the emotion and memories of that fateful night flood into her again. 

The dog jumps out and runs over to the front door and looks back at her. "Woof" It's bark shatters the dead air and the magic that has caught up Jill in the beautiful horror of the scene and memories. Shaking her head clear of the cobwebs, Jill trudges up the steps and tries the door. Locked... 

Digging into her pocket she pulls out the redish key and slips it in unlocking the door. Opening it she steps in saying, "Hello?" the warmth of the house feeling like a hot oven compared to the crisp icy air outside. She steps into the house proper and again calls out, "Hello? Anyone home?" 

The house looks lived in; dust free, to one side a vase of roses sits. Biting her lip Jill looks at the dog, "Stay and look around or not?" She nods, "Stay. I need to know the truth." She closes the front door and with the dog following she starts to look around the house. 

Jill sees a glow from ahead and to one side, she moves forward like a moth attracted to a light. A room, fireplace with a roaring fire crackling in it greets her eyes. To one side Jill can see the back of someone sitting facing the fire. The dog moves forward to the figure and nuzzles the person’s leg. The figure stands and turning Jill can see the woman from the church. 



Act VII – Ties that bind 

Jill looks at the woman standing before her, her white silk dress picking up the yellows and oranges from the fire shimmering. She stands there at the entrance taking in the room, the antiques, the wingback chairs facing the fire, an end table with a decanter with a cut crystal wine glass sitting beside it almost as if the woman were expecting company. She looks up at the painting over the fireplace, the woman or rather her grandmother looks back at her in a Victorian dress in the English countryside. Looking back at the woman Jill says “Aunt Carolyn?” Her voice suddenly gone from her and the question comes out as a whisper. 

The woman smiles and nods, “I knew you would solve that little puzzle.” She motions to the other chair, “Come sit child. We have much to catch up on.” 

Jill finds herself moving and sitting down, the keepsake from the last time she was in the house still clutched in her hand. Though she has a million questions flying through her mind she does not speak. It feels as though she is a child who has disrupted a class and sent to the principle’s office. Unable to meet the woman’s gaze Jill looks into the fire trying to find strength from the dancing flames. 

A wine glass filled with a dark wine is thrust into Jill’s vision. “Drink child… you must be thirsty” She turns and looks up at Aunt Carolyn and takes the glass. Opening her mouth to say I’m not thirsty, she instead takes a sip. The taste is like nothing she had ever tasted before. Like golden honey it slides down her throat. Jill takes a bigger sip and then again, over and over drinking it like she were dieing of thirst. 

All too soon she finishes the glass and looks at the woman, the vision of Oliver asking for more porage comes to her mind and she says, “Please sir, may I have some more?” as she holds out the glass. 

Carolyn smiles getting the reference, “More? You want more?” she says in a mock thundering voice. “Of course you may child” she says in a softer kinder voice as a hand reaches out to stroke Jill’s cheek softly. Going to the decanter she fills the glass and says, “Ginger you know what to do” looking at the dog sitting by her chair. To Jill’s amazement the dog bobs its head and leaves the room, a few moments later she hears a door opens and close. Handing the filled glass to Jill the woman moves and sits down. As Jill raises the glass to her lips she admonishes, “Sip, don’t gulp it down child.” 

Jill blushes and instead of taking the gulp she had wanted she sips instead. She looks at the woman who has been both devil and an angel to her. She knows deep down she should be mad, furious at this woman who took her happy childhood away from her. But, somehow the spark of anger is not there. Looking down at the gown Jill says quietly, “Why?” She looks up and at the woman her eyes making contact for a moment before sliding away and into the fire, “Why Aunt Carolyn?” She looks into the fire, sipping the wine, dreading reopening that wound, but needing closure. 

“Then?” the woman asks, and seeing Jill’s small nod continues in a calm matter of fact voice, “Because I needed their blood.” 

“Blood?” Jill asks making eye contact once more. The answer was nothing like she imagined it. She had thought it was for money or something like that. 

“Just like you now” The woman answers. “You don’t think that was just red wine did you?” The sound of her laughter bringing back childhood memories of Christmas and twinkling bells with her parents. 

“Blood?” Jill says once more and looks down at the empty glass in her hand, the last little bit of wine blood mix congealing at the bottom. The happy memories flee as her mind rebels at the thought, willing her stomach to discharge the blood. But her stomach has other plans and shows them by growling loudly. She sets the glass down and wipes her hands on her pants as if to clean them. “But why not me?” She asks after she gets her composure back. “Why didn’t you take me? End it there. Why?” She looks up at Carolyn the tears running red down her cheeks. 

“Don’t you remember? Think back.” Carolyn replies. “Remember coming in, our words, your sweet little mind closed to me.” She sips her wine and looks into the fire a moment. “What a surprise you were.” Looking towards the entrance she says, “Mi Ling, please fill Jill’s glass for her.” 

Jill looks towards the entrance and sees a small beautiful oriental woman wearing a white silk kimono. With a nod the woman says, “Yes Mistress Carolyn” and taking the decanter moves over to Jill. Though she does not want anymore Jill was raised to be polite and raises her glass to be filled. The woman finishing says, “May you always drink deep” and turns to go. On the back or her kimono is a stylized picture of a tiger embroidered. 

“I remember. I also remember the bath” Jill gulps, “the blood bath you gave me.” She looks into the fire again to keep from looking at her and sips the wine. “But why didn’t you finish it?” She looks back at Carolyn, “Why am I still here?” 

“Don’t you remember?” Carolyn asks. She smiles softly, “Let’s see if you will solve this puzzle too. Think back to the next night.” 

ill looks in confusion, “next night?” Her eyes get large as the memories come flooding back to her.
