Immortal Sins

How had Rourke endured three centuries of such a wretched existence? It was worse than death. Of course, he had eventually gained the power to move about in his painted world. But he possessed supernatural powers and abilities that she didn't have, would never have. No matter how much time passed, she would be forever trapped as she was now, unable to speak, unable to move.

Help me! Somebody please, please, help me!

She screamed the words in her mind even though there was no one to hear her.

Help me!

Somebody, anybody, please.

Help me....

Chapter 31

Ana Luisa took a deep breath as they approached the red brick house located on the corner of Willow and Wade streets. From the outside, the house looked dark and empty. Going closer, she peered through a break in the curtains covering the front window, felt a rush of anger when she saw the man sitting on a tall, three-legged stool in the far corner of the room. He wore a long gray robe over a white shirt and black trousers. His hair, once as brown as the earth of their homeland, had gone completely gray since last she had seen him. For the first time, she wondered just how old her father was. She had asked him about it once, soon after her mother died, but he had refused to tell her, saying only that she needn't worry about losing him, too, because he would be around to care for her for many years to come. Wizards, he had assured her, enjoyed a very long life span.

It no longer mattered to her now. Whatever love she had once held for the man who had fathered her had died centuries ago, suffocated behind the glass wall of her painted prison.

Ramon touched her arm. "Are you ready, chica?"

She nodded.

"We will be nearby if you need us," Jason assured her.

She nodded again. Jason had suggested that surprise might be the only thing in their favor. Vilnius would be expecting Rourke, or possibly the police, should Jason have been foolish enough to involve them. He would not be expecting his daughter.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped into the house.

It was obvious from the astonished expression on her father's face that Jason had been right. She was the last person her father had expected to see.

"Luisa!" He slipped off the stool, one gnarled hand pressed over his heart as all the color drained from his face. "Luisa, is it really you?"

"Surprised to see me, father dear?" she asked in a voice laced with acid.

"I thought...." He took a step backward, knocking the three-legged stool to the floor. "I thought you were dead."

"Did you? Three hundred years, father," she said. "Three hundred years and you never once came to see how I was."

"But I knew," he sputtered, his face growing even more pale. "Of course I knew."

"Liar!"

"Luisa..."

She advanced on him like an avenging angel. His fear was a palpable thing now, vibrant and alive. It darkened his aura and quickened her hunger. She felt the prick of her fangs against her tongue as his heart began to beat faster.

Ana Luisa stabbed a finger toward the picture on the wall behind him. "What mischief is this?" she demanded, her voice little more than a hiss. "What did she do to you to deserve such a terrible fate?"

"Nothing." Vilnius shook his head. "She's merely a pawn, if you will, a bit of bait to catch..." His eyes narrowed as his voice trailed off. He regarded her for a moment before asking, "How can you be here? I felt you die."

Ana Luisa smiled, but there was no warmth in her eyes and none in her voice. "Did you?"

"I knew the vampire freed you. I felt your body fill with breath, and then, after a time, there was nothing, and I knew you were dead."

"I am dead," she replied, and let him see her fangs.

He stared at her in horror. "Rourke! This time I will kill him!"

"It was not Jason, father, and you are not going to kill anyone ever again."

He stared at her a moment, and then, drawing himself up to his full, impressive height, he lifted his arms overhead and began to summon his power.

When Ana realized what he was doing, she quickly called upon her own power, power made stronger because she had fed well earlier that night, not only on the blood of a mortal in his prime, but on Jason, as well. Her own magic, combined with Jason's ancient blood, flowed through every fiber of her being. She was strong, invincible, and for the first time in her life, she was unafraid of the man who was her father.

"Who is the woman in the painting?" Ana Luisa asked, though she already knew the answer.

"No one of importance."

"Call her forth. After what you put me through, I cannot bear to see her held there."

"You could call her yourself," Vilnius remarked, "if you but knew her name." His initial surprise and fear had receded, replaced by a growing sense of indignation that his only child dared to treat him with such disrespect. "Perhaps you would like to join her?"

The thought of again being trapped behind a wall of glass filled Ana Luisa with a terrible rage. Eyes red, hands curled into claws, she lunged at her father. Nothing but the sight of his blood on her hands could atone for the centuries she had been imprisoned.

But she had underestimated the man who was her father. The instant she touched him, she was flung backward.

A moment later, he was standing over her. "Ungrateful slut," he said with a sneer. "No better than the whore who brought you into the world."

Ana Luisa stared up at him, his words flailing her like a lash.

"No pretty painting for you this time," he said as he pulled his wand from inside one voluminous sleeve. "No hope of release." He leaned toward her. "You remember the statue in the arbor, the one you always thought looked so much like your mother?" His eyes were mere slits now, his face florid with rage. "I think it is time you joined her there." His laughter was cruel. "I'm sure she will welcome the company."

Ana Luisa shook her head. "No, it can't be." Her voice was little more than a shocked whisper. Ava Vilnius had disappeared on the night of her daughter's sixth birthday. Ana had been told that her mother had come down with some contagious disease and been taken away during the night lest she infect others of the household. Now, thinking back to that terrible time, Ana realized that the statue of the beautiful woman in the arbor had appeared the very next day. "No," she said again. "Not even you could be so heartless."

"You think not? There is no escape for her, and this time, there will be none for you."