The yellow hills of Malibu shimmer gold in the heat of the sunset as Dani Truehart’s limousine winds along the ribbon of gray asphalt that is Pacific Coast Highway.
After almost a year away touring the globe, the legendary pop singer is minutes from her manager, Jenner Redman’s secluded beach compound where she has lived since she left home to record her first album.
Dani’s memory of leaving for her tour is clouded. She departures mere days after spending weeks languishing in the hospital from a mysterious illness. Dani was unconscious when Jenner revealed to her mother, Jodi, that true source of her illness was not rare disease as her confounded medical team were convinced, but rather the cursed necklace Jodi had recently purchased from a local antique shop.
Eagerly ignoring the shop keepers warning of damnation to whomever wore the necklace, Jodi had been more focused on the promise of great wealth promised to whomever should don the hexed necklace. Jenner revealed he was the old man who had sold Jodi the necklace and that the only way to save Dani was a steady stream of blood tributes to appease the souls of the mythical Sirens trapped within the necklace. Desperate to save her daughter, Jodi allowed Dani to be feed human blood which started a nightmarish cycle in which the singer is currently trapped.
Dani idly toys with the strangely warm emerald that softly pulses around her neck.
“I’m hungry,” she whines. “Can’t we just grab something to eat before we get home?”
Jodi blanches, wishing for the days when feeding her daughter was as simple as running through McDonald’s drive-thru. She rummages through her travel bag and pulls out an ornate silver flask. “This is all I have.” She unscrews the cap and holds it out
Dani glances at the proffered decanter before batting it away, soaking her mother with stale blood, the coppery scent filling the limo. Jodi gasps and scrabbles for a button on the arm rest of her car door, which raises the partition between the chauffer and passengers.
“That’s been sitting in your ratty bag since Paris. It’s practically rotten. I haven’t had any fresh food since last night.” Dani folds her arms and slumps back petulantly.
Jodi takes a deep breath, forcing patience into her voice. “I know, sugar, but we’re almost at the compound. I’m sure Jenner has made arrangements.”
The air in the limousine vibrates with intensity as Dani’s anger radiates from her slender frame. Her thirst for blood has been increasing at a rapid rate. At first she only needed to feed once every few days. But as more time passed since she donned the necklace, her appetite increased exponentially.
Dani licks her lips as she stares at the divider obscuring the driver from view.
“That’s not good enough. I’m hungry now.” A smile curls on her lips as she presses the button and lowers the partition. “Driver, I’m feeling car sick. Can you pull over?”
Jodi’s heart clenches as the driver looks back and sees Dani hunched over, hair covering her face. He looks alarmed, probably worried about having a passenger vomit in his pristine automobile, even if she’s a world-famous one. In his haste to pull off the road, he unwittingly stop on an isolated stretch of highway.
Jodi tries to catch her daughter’s eyes, but Dani remains motionless, her face turned away “Dani, no.” Jodi whispers.
The driver turns around, holding out a small bottle of water. “Miss, I-
His sentence goes unfinished as Dani launches herself through the small opening at the man’s throat. She tears the skin with one ravenous bite and drinks deeply, the gulping animal and loud. Jodi opens her door and vomits in the dust.
The stomach-churning sound of Dani’s feeding finally slows as her thirst is slaked.
Jodi concentrates breathing through her mouth, dreading the metallic tang of blood
filling the confined space of the limousine. With shaking hands she grabs her phone and she pecks out a text. She drops her phone into her bag and wipes the tears streaming from her eyes. “Jenner’s on his way.”
Dani climbs off the driver, pulling the pocket square from his coat. Turning it inside out, she finds a clean spot amidst the blood and wipes her mouth. She settles herself in the backseat, her eyelids growing heavy.
“Sorry about the mess. But it should be easy to ditch this ride in the hills somewhere.”
Jodi nods silently as her daughter closes her eyes. “I’ll take care of it, honey. Don’t you worry.” Her words are lost on Dani as she drifts off to sleep.
Jenner arrives moment’s later and lifts Dani into his car. Jodi shuttles their bags from the trunk into his idling car.
He joins Jodi as she stands in front of the driver’s door, staring at the cooling corpse of the driver.
“Just drive up one of the smaller canyons and send it off the road, just like you did in the Alps. With all this dry brush it should catch fire on the way down.”
She nods once, but remains stationary. Jenner sighs and then climbs behind the wheel. He shoves the chauffeur over to the passenger side of the front seat. He gets out and rubs his hands on a handkerchief.
“Do I have to worry about you, Jodi? You’ve always been willing to do what needs to be done. But lately, taking care of Dani seems to be weighing on you. You’re not going to become a problem, are you?”
Jodi’s mind is screaming; disgust, anger, regret and guilt swirl around in unintelligible flashes of thought as she stares at yet another human felled by her daughter’s unnatural hunger. She takes a step toward the car.
“I’ll do anything for Dani, you know that.” She whispers quietly, though the words ring false to her ears. She can feel Jenner’s eyes boring into the back of her skull, as if trying to read her mind.
“I hope so. Because if I can’t rely on you to handle the day to day cleaning, then there’s really no point to keeping you around is there? I’d hate to have to ask Don or Geena to step up because you can’t handle your daughter’s business.”
Panic seizes Jodi at the thought of her husband or eldest daughter having to dispose of bodies or lure unsuspecting victims to their doom as she has done many times these past months in hopes of keeping Dani alive. “No! I’ll take care of it.” She straightens her shoulders and slides behind the wheel. “Just like I always do.”
“Good.” Jenner slams the door. “Drop me a pin and I’ll pick you up when you’re finished.”
Jodi starts the limousine.
She meets Jenner’s icy stare and nods once before she pulls away.
***
The massive wooden gate slowly rolls closed behind them as Jenner’s black Navigator maneuvers the twisting driveway of his Malibu compound. Dani’s eyes trace the road as it comes into view in the glare of the headlights. She woke up a few minutes ago in the back seat, an uneasy feeling weighing on her. Just like an In-n-Out Double-Double combo, feeding to appease the Sirens always sounds good whenever she’s starving, but she always regrets her choice afterward as soon as she’s finished.
She closes her eyes and the whites of the terrified chauffeur eyes haunt her mind, exactly as they appeared right before she ripped out his throat. Her stomach is heavy, not only with the over a gallon of blood she drained from the man, but with the shame of having ended another innocent person’s life to sustain her own life.
And the souls of the Sirens.
Dani leans forward from the back seat.“How are we going to keep me fed now that we’re back in L.A.? Touring was a great cover. But now that I’m in one spot, how can I keep this going without getting caught?”
Jenner is unfazed as he parks the car in the circular driveway. “I had some work done on the beach steps when I flew back last week. I know you’ll be using them more now that we’re back. A couple of the men had an unfortunate accident, but lucky for you I was around. Now you’ve got a fresh supply of blood in the freezer in case you need it.
His answer leaves her unsatisfied and she shoves herself back into the seat. “Can’t I just use dogs or cows or something?”
Jenner opens his door, the dome light casting long shadows on his face. The ugly shimmer of the cursed mariner flickers in and out on the shadows his countenance. His true face only slips through the facade he wears only when he’s agitated.
“As I explained before only humans will do. The Sirens need to drink from another soul to survive. It’s a small cost for everything they have given you. If you’re not up to the task…”
A shiver passes over Dani as she imagines the slow, drawn out process of dying of thirst. Jenner’s made it clear that if she refuses to drink blood for the Sirens she will slowly waste away. She’s damned no matter what she does.
“I’m not saying that. I was just wondering…it’s so much death.”
Jenner shrugs, “Gotta crack a couple of eggs to make an omelette. Besides, you are being handsomely compensated. Remember, there are a million girls who would kill to have what you have.” He chuckles, to himself. “Pun, intended.”
He shuts the door, leaving her in the dark. He retrieves their bags from the trunk and shoulders them into the mansion.
***
On a desolate canyon road, idling on the dirt shoulder, Jodi contemplates the battered leather wallet in her hand. A photo of a young Latina girl in pigtails and a blue princess dress, two dimples on either side of her frosting covered mouth stare back at her. The girl is held aloft by the chauffer, as he adoringly looks at her giggling face rather than at the camera. Mario. That’s the name on his driver’s license. Mario Cuesto, age thrity-one.
Coming to her senses, Jodi quickly wipes the wallet down with a Clorox wipe and proceeds to scrub the entire car. Her purse is a portable crime scene clean-up kit that would make any forensic cleaner proud – rubber gloves, plastic bags, bleach wipes and disinfectants. She attempts to tug Mario back behind the wheel, but he’s too heavy and she only manages to move his shoulders before he flops sideways again. Her arms are rubbery with fear and she stands to try again with a little leverage.
Jodi’s mind is buzzing with a thought unwilling to be caught swirling madly in her head. The idea that she faces an indefinite amount of clean-up situations similar to Mario here at home is suffocating. Maybe it is better to let Jenner replace of her, with someone younger and less troubled by the morals of the situation.
Jodi knows she deserves to go to hell for knowingly giving her daughter that cursed necklace in hopes that she could cash in on her fame. She might as well get there sooner rather than later. At this point, life above ground isn’t much better than it is below, she imagines.
She finds the thought intriguing…laying down the burden of disposing of the bodies of her daughter’s victims, freeing herself from the constant fear of being discovered. It will feel good to burn in hell, where she can repent for all the horrible things she’s done in her desperate pursuit for wealth. Jodi knows that when Jenner kills her, he will spare her no pain. But she can no longer condone what her daughter is doing. Jodi cannot assist in these serial murders any more.
Her decision made Jodi takes a breath, the cool night air filling her lungs. It’s her first easy breath since she witnessed her daughter kill her first victim – that poor doctor who tried to save her life in the hospital.
Almost a year ago.
It’s time.
Jodi takes a shuddery breath and pulls out a hairbrush from her purse. She holds it up to her eyes and smiles. Dark and light hairs catch the moonlight, intertwined in the bristles. Hers and Dani’s.
Intertwined together in their guilt.
She tosses the brush into the backseat. She turns on the hazards and slams the car door shut, making sure to press her full hand to the window before she turns and walks a good distance away from the car.
Pulling a book of matches from her purse, Jodi strikes one alight. She holds it up to the book and it sizzles to life, momentarily blinding her. She tosses the match book down into the ravine where it lands on a dead chaparral bush which erupts into flames. As she walks down the darkened road, she can hear the crackle of the brush catching fire and eating its way down the canyon, away from the limousine.
With any luck, she prays, the fire will take me.
***
Waking up the next morning, Dani glances around her room, a mess of suitcases and boxes scattered haphazardly around the room. The sound of the waves crashing draws her out of bed. At the window she contemplates the swirling sea, a longing to dive into its salty depths tugging at her soul. The necklace pulses in time with the waves and she knows she’ll eventually find herself on the beach, shivering in the cold ,beating waves, in order to appease the Sirens’ craving to be in the ocean once more.
She turns away from the panoramic view and her eyes fall on the large silver frame on her nightstand. Dani feels a different type of longing as she remembers Sean’s strong arms wrapped around her, the fresh scent of his skin as he leaned in for the photo, pressing his cheek against hers.
Dani hasn’t seem Sean since she left for tour, though they have talked almost every day on WhatsApp. She’s been able to compartmentalize the changes her life has taken since she put on the necklace while being on tour. She’s mentally blocked out the bloodthirst that has overtaken her life and it’s only now, with Sean just a few miles away what the grave changes in her life mean now that she is close to seeing Sean in person. Will she be able to resist the urge to drink his blood when they are in the same room? Will he see the difference in her and turn away in disgust?
Her phone pings. She turns away from the picture.
“Welcome home! When can I see you?”
Her thumbs hover over the keyboard, but before she can answer her door bursts open.
“Have you heard from that useless mother of yours?” Jenner slams down a glass with dark red liquid on her nightstand, spraying drops on the wood.
Dani pockets her phone. “No, why?”
“She’s really cocked things up. She didn’t dispose of the car like she said she would. She left it on the side of a canyon road . But that’s not all…coincidentally a fire started nearby.” He stares at her menacingly, the ancient mariner flaring to the surface of his face. “What are the odds?”
Dani’s hand flies to her forehead. Could her mother really have done that? Surely she knows Jenner would kill her if she did…
She shakes her head, grasping for something to say. “Mom wouldn’t have done that. She knows how important-“
Jenner snorts, “Your mother seemed to be coming down with a case of conscience last night. Apparently she’s losing her appetite for cleaning up your messes.”
Dani blanches, shocked that her mother is feeling the same sense of futile doom that she’s been feeling ever since she feasted on that chauffeur last night.
“Drink up. “We’re heading into the studio next week to record a new batch of songs for your next album. You need to start practicing this morning.”
Dani sags onto her bed. “But we just got back from tour. I thought we could take a few weeks off. Rest up for a bit.”
Jenner’s caustic laugh is shatters the air. “Does princess want to take a little break?,” he sneers. “It doesn’t matter what you want.” He points a finger at her throat, “They need to feed and it costs a lot of money to keep them in fresh blood. If we’re not earning, you’re not eating which makes them very angry. This is your life now. Try to act a little grateful.”
He slams out of her room. Dani grimaces as she looks at the glass full of dark, viscous liquid. Her stomach growls at the scent of iron wafting from the glass. She slowly raises the glass to her lips, curious if she can resist the urge to drink. But her mouth waters in anticipation of the blood sliding down her throat and she downs the entire glass in seconds, greedily licking the it clean. She closes her eyes in shame. The grim realization settles over her that she is utterly powerless to fight against her ravenous thirst for blood.
The doorbell rings out and Dani jumps, wondering if her mother would be stupid enough to show her face at the compound after the failing to get rid of the body properly. She races downstairs and sees Jenner open the front door wide.
“Long time no see, Sean! What a nice surprise. I know Dani’s been waiting to see you.”
Dani’s heart lurches with fear as Sean steps inside. She’s petrified she might try to kill him if she gets too close.
“I hope it’s OK I stopped by. I texted Dani, but I couldn’t wait to see her so I just came over.” He sees Dani and runs up the stairs to greet her, catching her up in the arms she’s missed so much. She tenses and Sean feels it. He concern floods his face.
“You OK?”
She looks into his green eyes and her heart melts. No hunger, or frenzied need to drink his blood over takes her. She relaxes into his chest, realizing the glass of blood she just drank is holding off her appetite.
“I am now that you’re here.” She kisses him deeply and they’re lost in each other for a few moments until Jenner clears his throat.
“See you in the studio in an hour, Dani. Don’t make too much of a mess.” His knowing wink makes Dani’s temper flare nd she wants to rip his face off at his intimation that she’d feed on her own boyfriend just to serve the Sirens!
As if!
Sean waves as Jenner leaves, “See ya, Jenner. I won’t keep her too long.” He turns back to his girlfriend and gives her a squeeze. “Now how about us going upstairs for a proper hello.”
Dani’s whole body flashes hot at the thought of spending the next hour in her room making up for the year she’s been separated from Sean. But as she nuzzles his clean-shaven jawline, she’s suddenly aware of the pulsing artery just a few inches from where her nose rests. The pumping of his blood hums with the vibration of the emerald necklace and she’s suddenly both incredible aroused and hungry!
She shoves him away, panting. “I’m sorry Sean, I think I’m going to be sick.”
She rushes up to her bedroom and races into the bathroom. She locks herself inside. Her panting growing urgent as Sean calls to her through the locked door. “Dani are you OK? Should I call Jenner.”
“No!” she yelps. Dani’s blood pumps faster as she restlessly paces the floor. She brushes the doorknob with her fingers on every pass, fighting the temptation to feed on Sean’s coursing blood. “I’ll be OK. I ate some bad plane food, I guess. I think I’m gonna be awhile. You’d better go.”
“Are you sure?” Sean calls uncertainly from the other side of the door. “I could stay, maybe rub your back if you’re feeling sick?”
“NO! You’ve got to leave now, Sean. I don’t want you seeing me like this, please. Just go.” Dani’s voice cracks as tears stream down her face She wants to kiss Sean just as much as she wants to drain his blood and she doesn’t know how much longer she can fight either urge. “I’ll call you later, OK”
“OK.” Sean sounds uncertain. Dani listens for the sound of his steps walking away. “Seriously Sean, I need you to go now. Please.”
“Alright.” She finally hears him walking away and sinks to the ground, trembling.
I can’t go on like this.
Dani knows now she can never be alone with Sean again. And being home again, remembering the time before she had to kill to survive, she realizes that she really doesn’t want to kill people any more.
But another thought disturbs makes her heart race. She knows if Jenner finds out Dani has lost her taste for killing, he’ll only get rid of her and find someone else to wear the necklace.
It was never about Dani. It’s always been about finding someone greedy enough for fame and wealth they’d do anything to get it.
I need to break the cycle.
Dani starts to formulate a plan.
This needs to end with me.
***
News of the dead chauffeur spreads like a virus across the media. Paparazzi set up camp outside of the compound as Dani rehearses to record her new album. The police want to question Dani and Jodi since records from the limousine company indicate the driver was picking them up from the airport and taking them to the compound. The police are searching for Jodi. Jenner, meanwhile is holding off the police from questioning as long as he can.
“Her mother is missing, her guardian is still in a coma. This girl is traumatized! Like I’ve told you before. Their limousine broke down. I came and picked them both up on PCH. I have no idea how the driver died or why the limo was parked on Carbon Canyon. There are a million psychopaths in this town. Why not harass them rather than my poor client.
Jenner listens. “Well, call her father then. But I’m not returning any more calls. You’re harassing this poor girl. We are done cooperating!”
Dani flinches as Jenner throws his phone across the room, cracking a framed platinum record of her first album. It’s been two days since she’s drank any blood. Her nerves are frayed and she’s weak. She’s determined to break the cycle and knows she has days, maybe even hours, before she becomes too weak to speak. She’s grateful Jenner’s been so wrapped up in Jodi’s disappearance and fending off the police that he hasn’t noticed the change in her. She’s been pouring out the glasses full of blood he’s been leaving her. Washing the contents down the drain when he leaves the room. It’s taken every fiber of her being not to drink them.
“You’re sure your mother hasn’t reached out? I need to talk to her.”
“No, she hasn’t. I swear I’d tell you.”
His eyes linger on her a moment too long. “You don’t look too good. Are you ok?”
Dani’s eyes slide toward her phone, a millionth text from Sean comes through. She leaves it unread like all the rest. “Just stress I guess. I really don’t want to talk to the cops. I don’t know if I can lie well enough to keep them in the dark…”
She lets her sentence hand unfinished. Jenner marches over to the refrigerator and pulls out an opaque pitcher. He pours her a chilled tumbler full of blood and places it before her. “Drink that, it will make you feel better.”
Dani stares at the glass as starts to pace the floor “We’ve got to get out of here. Things are getting too hot.” He snaps his fingers. “Start packing your things. We’re leaving tonight.”
“What?” Dani is flummoxed. She’s only been concentrating from not drinking blood these past two days. She hasn’t even come up with a plan to break the cycle yet. She toys with the necklace, which is pulsing feverishly because of the glass sitting in front of her. “Can’t we just stay a few more days?”
“No! You just said you can’t handle a police interrogation. We’ll get out of the country and you can do a phone interview. That way I can coach you through you answers.
Jenner pauses and notices the untouched tumbler of blood before you. “Anything wrong?”
Dani shakes her head and forces a smile. “No, why?”
“You’re not drinking. You never wait to feed.” He leans forward, “In fact, I think it’s been days since I’ve seen you drink a drop of blood. You’re not trying to starve the Sirens are you? Are you in cahoots with your mom?”
Dani scoffs, her laugher weak. “Of course not.” She shakes her head, and clears her throat. “No way.”
“Then drink.” He folds his arms and stares at her.
Dani holds his gaze for a second before shrugging. She raises the tumbler to her lips, her mouth filling in anticipation of the sustenance she’s denied the Sirens the past two days. Her hand shakes as she tips the glass forward and pours the contents down her throat. She waves the empty glass at him as her stomach growls and burbles.
Jenner snorts and turns. “We leave tonight. Go pack.”
Dani rushes over to the sink and gags, the small scrap of humanity she still possesses sickened at the blood she’s just consumed. The necklace sways heavily on its chain. She stares as the sunlight glimmers through the translucent gem, the darker green shadows of the Sirens moving across it’s facets.
Dani rushes down to the bluffs desperate to be away from Jenner for a few moments so she can gather her thoughts. Her phone rings and she pulls it from her pocket. It’s Sean.
She sighs and answers, “Hey.”
“Hey, I’ve been worried about you. Are you feeling better? And that limo driver! What if you’d been with him when he was attached.”
Dani’s heart lurches with guilt.
He continues, “If anything had happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
The rush of eating after days of denying herself makes Dani giddy. She has trouble figuring out where to start. “It’s my fault.”
“It is absolutely not your fault. Anyone could have booked that limo…”
“The reason he’s dead is me.”
Sean chuckles uneasily. “Come on, Dani that’s ridiculous.”
Dani devices to tel Sean everything, exhausted by the burden of all her lies. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but my mom gave me a cursed necklace and if I don’t kill people and drink their blood I’ll die. Jenner’s a part of it too. It was why I was so sick in the hospital before tour. I’ve bene killing people all over Europe and I killed that guy too.”
The pause Sean takes tells Dani everything she needs to know about whether he believes her or not. Her heart sinks.
“Dani, stop. This is just survivors guilt. It’s totally natural when you’ve experienced to something so traumatic. I‘m coming over.”
“Don’t!” she screams. “I won’t be here. I’m breaking the cycle. I just wanted you to know how ashamed I am. I wish I’d never put on that necklace. I wish I never wanted to be famous.”
She hangs up her phone and tosses it into the sea. Dani tries to pray to God and ask for forgiveness for all she’s done. But in her heart she hears only the high-pitched Sirens’ song emanating from the necklace, drowning out her prayers.
She reaches for a heavy rock and pulls the necklace off. It jumps in her hand, as if it knows what is about to happen. She places it on a large boulder, raises the rock with two hands and brings it down with all her might onto the emerald necklace.
“DANI!” Her name reverberates across the wind as Jenner tears down from the house. “STOP!”
She ignores him and continues to pound the necklace. At first it refuses to break, but after a few tries, it shatters into several pieces, unleashing an ear piercing scream.
Dani’s whole body seizes and she drops the rock. Her convulsions keep time with the screams. She continues to writhe on the ground, grunting as her body is whipped by the Sirens fury. Eventually she lies still as death descends.
Jenner arrives too late to save her. He toes her elbow with his shoe. He murmurs quietly to himself.
“I thought this one would last longer. That mother of hers seemed a sure thing. Ah, well.” He rolls Dani’s body over the cliff.
He pauses and watches it land in the swirling eddy below.
Jenner sighs as he gathers the broken shards of emerald in his hand. “At least Jodi dead, too. The police just called to say they found her body burned in the canyon.” He looks at his hand and smiles as the pieces of emerald and twisted gold chain vibrate and slowly ooze together. In seconds the necklace is once again intact.
“I’ve already got the advertisement written. But I’m planning on using someone younger in this next time. Teenagers are too head strong.” He places the necklace into his shirt pocket and gives it a gentle pat. As he walks back to the mansion, he pulls out his cell phone. He reviews an email and hits send:
To: customerservice@thehollywoodreporter.com
From: jredmanenterprisesinc@gmail.com
RE: Ad Copy
To Whom It May Concern,
Below is the copy for that advertisement I’d like to run for one month. It would be ideal if you can start running the ad tomorrow:
Want To Be A Star?
Jenner Redman Enterprises, management for legendary musical acts such as REVOLUTION! and Dani Truehart, is looking for the next pop sensation! Do you love to sing and dance? Do you want to travel and dream of a life in the spotlight? Auditions are being held this week to find the world’s next pop singing icon.
To schedule an audition reply to:
thenextbigthing@gmail.com
Serious enquiries only.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!