Sugar Hearts

Many thanks to DarkMystic. FlamesEmbrace, Rin-Chan, Girl in a Tree, and Lunacy for their lovely reviews. I really don\'t deserve such wonderful readers. And Lunacy, I don\'t think anyone could sound like an idiot while telling me that they liked my writing. Now, if they were telling me that they DIDN\'T like it, that would be different. *Wink*

Okay, this is when I should probably mention something about my stories. They start in the light, descend into the darkness, and then eventually return to the light. These next few chapters are the darkness. But if you stick with me, there will be light again. I promise. (In other words, things are not as bed for Pepper as they seem. Not quite)

Sugar Hearts

Part Eleven

Pepper sat on the bed in a clean, but somewhat stark room. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if she hadn’t been tied up. Annoyed by her own helplessness, Pepper twisted her wrists, pulling against the rope which held them bound behind her back. But the rope held tight. And, in any case, her struggles were only driven by restlessness rather than any real hope of escape. Even if she did manage to work her hands free, she doubted she could get past her guard.

“Hey,” Pepper called, once more trying to engage the woman in conversation. “What are you doing?”

The woman – the same one who had been Pepper’s guide when she first arrived at Kale’s house – glanced up from the paper she was drawing on. Even beyond the impenetrable shield of her dark glasses, she wore her face like mask, like a winter landscape which had forgotten all hope of life. So Pepper was amazed when she displayed the paper, revealing a pencil sketch of Marzi. He lay asleep on the stained-glass bed, a sheet partially tangled around his naked body, and his features relaxed in an expression of gentle innocence. The portrait had been drawn with obvious affection, as if each line represented the shadow of an unrealized caress.

“It’s beautiful,” Pepper admitted.

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Turning the sketch away from Pepper, the woman gazed down at it. For a moment, she slid one gloved finger across the paper, before hastily placing it back on the desk behind her. And it occurred to Pepper that even beneath the deepest winter, the seeds of life lay sleeping.

“You like Marzi, don’t you?”

“I have tried my best to avoid feeling anything at all for him.” The woman shook her head. “Your brother loves well. But not, I fear, wisely.”

Pepper opened her mouth to agree, but at that moment, the door swung open, and Kale stepped into the room. In one hand, he carried a long, silver knife. “Good afternoon, Miss Penicandey.”

“You again,” Pepper snarled. Seeing the knife sent an involuntary shiver down her spine, as she remembered Kale’s two previous visits. Remembered how effortlessly the silver blade had sliced into her arm. But she’d be damned if she’d let Kale see her fear, so she buried it beneath her anger. “What do you want this time? Come to borrow another cup of blood?”

The corner of Kale’s mouth twitched into a smile, like the flick of a serpent’s tail. “I do enjoy your little attempts at humor. But don’t concern yourself. This time, I haven’t come to bleed you.”

Pepper failed to find that assurance particularly comforting. “Listen, my boyfriend is a cop, and when he finds out that you’re holding me against my will, he’s not going to be too happy about it!”

“Your boyfriend?” Something about the way Kale said ‘boyfriend’ made Pepper want to kick him in the balls. “More humor, Miss Penicandey?”

“I mean it! When James—“

“Ah. The infamous James Kelley.” Kale’s face assumed an expression of mock pity. “I’m afraid that I have some bad news about your boyfriend. He seems to be quite busy with some renter from Philmarriott.”

“A what?”

“A renter. A prostitute. Usually of the young, male variety.”

Pepper blinked. She felt like someone had kicked the ground out from under her feet. But then she remembered who she was talking to. “You’re such a liar! James will rescue me.” Bowing her head, Pepper remembered when she’d almost fainted, and James had caught her in his strong arms. She remembered the fierceness in his eyes when he’d thought she was in danger. “He will. I know he will.”

“Your faith is quite touching. Misplaced, but touching nevertheless.” Stepping closer, Kale ran his finger across her cheek, and Pepper twisted her head, attempting to bite him. But Kale pulled his hand back, and her teeth snapped shut on empty air.

“Your brother also possesses a great deal of faith. However, he had the good sense to put his trust in something more than a weak human.”

Pepper sneered. “Marzi has no idea what he put his trust in. He thinks you need him like a man needs another man. But you only need him like a hunter needs their dog, like a jockey needs their horse. As long as he’s strong, and quick, and clever, you’ll take good care of him. But the moment he stumbles...well, we both know what happens to race horses when they break a leg.”

“That’s the way the world is.” Kale shrugged. “When someone succeeds, we want them. When they fail, we turn our backs.”

“No. You may want someone when they succeed. But when they fail, that’s when you love them.” Pepper thought of Marzi, and her voice cracked, despite her best efforts. “I love my brother. I love him because he’s too fixated on his own limitations to realize that our parents were proud of him, magic or no magic. I love him because he’s so blind that he can’t see all the ways I still need him – need him to make me laugh, to make me live. I love him because he’s such a fucking idiot that he thinks he has to go running to someone like you, and subject himself to whatever horrors you dream up, just to earn something he already has.”

Kale tossed his knife upward, and the blade spun like a silver pinwheel. Pepper could see its bright shape reflected in Kale’s eyes. Then, with effortless grace, Kale plucked the knife back out of the air. “So you love him? So what? What good has that ever done him? I, on the other hand, am about to give him a magnificent gift. Something that should have been his right from the start.”

And suddenly, Pepper understood. The blood that Kale had taken from her the last two nights. The thing that he would take from her tonight. “The ritual of transference. You’re going to give Marzi my magic.”

“Clever girl,” Kale congratulated.

“But he can’t – he wouldn’t do it if he knew.”

“I admit that I’ve omitted a few details. He doesn’t know the ritual’s intended purpose. He doesn’t know whose blood he’s had the pleasure of drinking. Tonight, he won’t know whose heart he’s eating a slice of. However, despite all that, the rite will still work.”

“Kale.” The fear was back, but Pepper no longer cared. This was not fear for herself. This was for Marzi. “The rite of transference was designed to allow old mages to transfer their power to one of their apprentices before they died. They passed their gift on to someone who had spent years studying how to use it. Marzi doesn’t have the slightest idea. He won’t be able to control it.”

“You underestimate your brother. He’s a quick learner. Your blood is his blood; your magic should have been his magic. His instincts will tell him how to handle it.”

“And if they don’t,” Pepper whispered, “he’ll die.”

“I think that’s highly unlikely. Marzi is already a valuable ally. Once his birthright has been returned to him, we can destroy my competition, and rule this city together.”

Pepper struggled against her bonds with fresh urgency. Her own escape no longer mattered to her. She just needed to get loose long enough to stop Kale, to keep him from hurting Marzi. “For the love of god, Kale! Marzi trusts you. Don’t betray him like this.”

“For the love of god?” Kale touched the tip of the knife to his lips, and shadows dripped down the silver blade like premonitions of blood. “I assure you, Miss Penicandey, that I do not love god. Nor do I love your brother. And I have never lied to either of them about it.”

Furious, Pepper pulled at the rope until it scraped the skin from her wrists. But it did no good. She was beat. She could only glare at Kale, her heart burning with hatred. “You consider yourself to be a demon. But demons are only following their nature. You had a choice. You’re something far worse than any demon – you’re an evil, evil man.”

“And you’re something far more sickening than an angel. You’re a good woman.” Kale shifted the knife, holding it poised over Pepper’s chest. “Goodbye, Miss Penicandey. It really has been a pleasure. I’ll try to make sure they dump your body somewhere nice.”

Unable to watch the blade fall, Pepper squeezed her eyes shut. And, for a moment, her thoughts slipped back to one of her earliest childhood memories. It had snowed all night, and parking lot behind Sugar Hearts was an unbroken vista of white. Holding her small hand tightly in his, Marzi had helped her wade out into the middle of it, before instructing her to lie down. Then he’d told her to wave her arms and legs. Pepper could still remember her amazement when he lifted her back to her feet, and she’d looked down at the angelic impression her body had left behind, too young to understand that its wings were only the shapes her arms had made in the snow.

That was magic. That was Marzi’s magic – his love, and his passion, and his craving to experience every miracle life had to offer. In so many ways, it was more powerful than any spell Pepper had ever been able to cast. If only he could see that. If only, some day, he could accept it.

Oh, my poor, foolish brother. I forgive you. If there really is a god, I know he’ll forgive you. I just hope you can forgive yourself.

Then, Kale’s knife came down.