They were once again in the garden, but…it had changed, and not just because it was now well into autumn. She shivered as the wind whistled through the bare trees, grateful for her heavy yellow velvet gown and matching fur-trimmed cape. The gold harvest moon that illuminated the rows and rows of withered rose bushes was the same one that made Maple and Eagle’s ride almost glow, but it now seemed…sickly. Almost menacing.
She could vaguely see the little woman playing “Roses of Yesterday” in the organ, but it sounded haunting, and desperately sad. The little man was with her, putting his slender arm around her. He twitched in his brown rabbit fur coat. She was clearly spooked, her blue eyes fearful under the warm lavender bonnet and wool cape.
“Hilary?” Maple gulped as she and Betty hurried down the path. “What’s goin’ on here? This place looks like death warmed over, an’ it’s freezin’ out!” She shivered in her green coat, a heavy green and gold brocade gown glittering duly underneath. Her red hair was flattened by a fine wool cloche hat.
“The garden is dying.” Betty clutched her arms, even though they were clad in soft pink and beige velvet, her deep brown curls covered by a pink velvet bonnet. “Everything is dying, and I don’t think it’s just fall. Someone’s killing it.”
“The men.” Hilary looked around for any sign of Jeff. “They should be here by now, but they’re not. Where are they? Jeff?” She called for him, but the wind whistling through the red and gold trees drowned out her words. “Jeffrey? Where are you?”
“Prince Charmin’?” Maple’s yell was a lot louder than Hilary’s. “Prince Charmin’! You ok? What’s goin’ on here? This is gettin’ really spooky, an’ I don’t like it!”
“Oh please, gentlemen!” Betty gulped, searching the shadows for any sign of the man in the white tuxedo. “I know Jeff’s the only man who can talk, but can’t you rustle or shake some of the remaining flowers or something, so we can hear you?”
“Hilary!”
She’d never been so happy to see his voice in her life. “Jeff!” She was so relieved, she flung herself rather awkwardly into his arms, her legs flying. “Jeffrey, I am so glad to see you!”
He wasn’t smiling now. He wore that same black tuxedo, which had to be chilly on that cold October night. “Hilary, we have very little time. Her monsters already have my friends.”
Maple’s jaw dropped. “They have the other guys? Those ugly monsters? They have my Prince Charmin’?”
“Are they all right?” Betty barely breathed. “The last time I saw the man in the white tux, they beat him so badly, he could barely move. It was horrible.”
“Hilary, we don’t have much time. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to come here again.” He took her firmly in his long, slender white hands. “Hilary, we’re here. We’re right here, but we can’t tell you. We’re forbidden. We can’t show our intelligence, or even speak freely about it. She took that from all of us. Especially them.”
“She? Pavla?” Hilary ran her fingers gently across his high cheekbones. “Jeff, this is a lot more than just hypnotizing a couple of producers into giving her my roles. Most of those horny idiots are probably asking for it anyway, but this…this is kidnapping and cold-blooded torture. And who are ‘them’? Your friends? Where are they?”
He hugged Hilary as hard as he could, even as he looked at all three of them. “Ladies, you have to protect our work. Get it to the authorities. She’s with groups that are being watched by national security. That’s why she’s holding us in darkness.” His voice dropped softly. “That’s why she’s holding him. He held the key, but she sealed it away. She sealed us in the darkness, sealed our minds, our voices, so we couldn’t fight her, couldn’t tell anyone what we knew.”
“Oooh!” Maple’s squeals could barely be heard over the wind and rustling dry leaves as she swung her fists. “That…that bitch! Let me at ‘er! I’m gonna pummel her within an inch of her life for hurtin’ you guys!”
“I don’t like this.” Betty got closer to Maple as the wind drowned out the sorrowful “Roses of Yesterday.” “This is what happened the first few times when she and those monsters of hers showed up. I think they’re here.”
“I don’t care!” Hilary clutched Jeff close. “She can’t have you, Pumpkin! I don’t care what she does to me. If you can’t fight, I’ll do it for both of us! I’ll do a lot worse than scratch her eyes out!”
“Hilary, please!” Jeff’s begging could barely be heard over the wind. “We’re here! We’re so close to you, but you can’t see it! Just keep looking! Don’t stop looking. We need you. Hilary, I need you! I l…”
The wind finally drowned out his final words. “Well, hello there, husband.” Pavla emerged from the black shadows, almost matching them in her black velvet cape with the screened blood red rose print. Her black boots were trimmed with thick fur. Long, dark red fingernails glistened in the sickly yellow light of the harvest moon. “You’re still in another woman’s arms. We have that marriage contract. Legally, you belong to me, heart and soul.” The leaves blew across everything, even swallowing the terrified woman in lavender at the organ and the little man in rabbit fur.
“I don’t care about legally!” Hilary shoved her so hard, she fell over on her rear. “Get your own man! Got bored with all those producers you’re stringing along?”
Maple glared at her, her fists out. “Where are the other guys? What did ya do to them?”
“Please,” Betty added fearfully. “I’m so worried about the one in the white tux! Why did your…whatever they are…hurt him so badly?”
“He was giving away the truth.” Her elegant little smirk chilled Hilary to the bone. “May I remind you, husband, that my…boys…have your friends in custody? I’m very close to owning them. Soon, you all belong to me…and you,” she added as hot, heavy snarls mingled with the wild wind and blowing leaves, “will be one of them.”
“No!” Jeff clutched Hilary, even as the dry leaves whipped across his cheek. “Never! I’ll never be yours! I’m not a monster! I’m not one of them!”
“You want to see your dear friends.” She chuckled, low and throaty. “Boys, bring them here. They’re very nearly mine, trussed up like the pretty pets they are…and at the end of the year, they will be.”
Hilary’s voice caught in her throat as the slimy monsters dragged two familiar figures from the ebony shadows of the apple orchard. They still wore their familiar tuxes, but the one in white had what looked like thick strips of brown leather wrapped around his head, his wrists bound in chains. His amber eyes glittered angrily as he thrashed wildly in his bonds. His friend in the black tux had the tight leather collar Maple mentioned back in July on his neck. His breaths were shallow, but his whiskey eyes flamed with pure fury. He too was bound with chains, his arms yanked awkwardly behind him.
“Oh no!” Betty wailed, her eyes wide with horrror. “What have you done? I’ve read about those! The collar and muzzle are for dangerous animals, not people! Pavla, they’re people! They’re human beings!”
She nearly fell over laughing. “Those two? That’s what you think they are?”
Maple kicked one of the monsters, then ran to the ones holding the taller man. “Damn it! I ain’t gonna let them do this to ya! You ain’t nobody’s pet!” She leaped on the monster’s back as Betty attacked one of the ones holding the man in the white tux, screaming and kicking at him as hard as she possibly could.
“You…you contemptible hussy!” Hilary launched herself at Pavla, her own fist raised. “Let them go! Let them all go! Jeff’s not a toy for your amusement! He’s mine!”
“You didn’t seem to be all that interested in him.” Pavla ducked away, smirking. “Didn’t you two get married in Mexico, by the local meat inspector?”
Jeff made a face as the wind whipped leaves across his perfect sharp cheekbone. “Twice,” he muttered.
“Jeff,” his ex-wife muttered back, “she doesn’t need to know that.”
“I fail to find any of this amusing.” She yanked Hilary’s arms behind her back as the dry leaves skittered and swirled around them, creating a maelstrom of musty dark gold and rust.The monsters dragged Jeff away from her, wrapping chains around his arms as well. “He’s not yours anymore,” she hissed into Hilary’s ear. “He’s mine. He will be my slave, part of my collection, and his friends will be my precious pets.”
Hilary kicked at her as one of the monsters slung Betty over its shoulder. It took three to get Maple’s arms behind her back and on the ground. “That information will never get out. No one will ever know. I’m staying right here, and I’ll have the life I deserve. The one that a rich brat like you doesn't.” Pavla’s whispers were louder than any screams, or even the crackling of the dry leaves that swallowed her. “He’ll be mine, Miss Booth…and you’ll be nothing.” Those were the last words she heard before Pavla cut off her air, and she passed out.
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