Compulsion (Poison In My Veins #1)

Prologue

Julia Tutwiler Prison For Women

Wetumpka, Alabama

Eight months ago…

“Prison is boring. I haven’t been given the opportunity to kill anyone in ages.” Magnolia Calhoun let out a long and despondent sigh as she sat at the small table, her hands folded in front of her, not a single line appearing on her face.

Lily shifted in her seat. The uneven legs of the chair made it rock forward, then back.

“That’s not a funny joke, Mother.” She cast a quick glance toward the guard who stood to the right, watching every movement.

Hearing every single word. And, no doubt, intending to report every single word back to the warden.

“Who’s joking?” Magnolia responded.

Lily lifted one eyebrow.

Her mother’s gaze darted to the guard. “Oh, right. I’m joking. Me.” One hand lifted as she waved toward the guard. “Hi, handsome.”

Her mother always took every opportunity to flirt with a handsome man. So what if he was thirty years her junior? Magnolia didn’t care about numbers.

She also didn’t care very much about life or death.

No one’s life mattered to her.

And she truly had gone a long time without killing anyone. Considering that Magnolia was in jail for murdering twelve men, she had to be struggling. Killing to Magnolia was like getting a rush from the very best drug in the world. The hit gave off a high that was euphoric.

She killed at least twelve men. But I know there were more. The cops and the Feds and the DA just couldn’t prove it.

“You look pale, Lily,” Magnolia suddenly scolded.

Sounding like a typical mother. Though there would never, ever be anything typical about her.

“Are you getting enough Vitamin D? Spending enough time outdoors? Eating enough protein? Drinking enough water?” She smiled.

“I hear all of that is very important. I need more of those vital things.” A deliberate glance toward the guard.

“Make sure the warden understands that, will you, Jesse? Tell him I need more outside time. I’m sure Lawrence will accommodate me. We have such a warm relationship.”

Lily sincerely hoped that her mother was not fucking the warden.

Magnolia winked at her.

Crap, she probably is fucking him.

“I received another marriage proposal.” Magnolia’s hands folded in front of her again.

Magnolia had never been one for nervous movements.

She was completely contained. Every small twitch carefully orchestrated.

“You know, it’s not just women who fall for the bad guys.

Not just women who think that something broken can be fixed. Such a cliché to think it’s only us.”

Now this was interesting. Her mother had never, ever referred to herself as broken before. “Since when do you need to be fixed?”

Her mother’s warm, slow smile stretched over her face, lighting her dark eyes. Making her look warm and approachable. Beautiful. Charming.

Magnolia had been charming men since she was sixteen years old.

She’d also been killing them for that long.

“Since never, of course,” Magnolia demurred. “But it is so fun when people try.” Musical laughter. Everything about Magnolia was entrancing. Always had been. Her laughter drew people to her. Her smiles made them want to smile back.

She was a human Venus Flytrap, ready to draw you in. Then slowly kill you.

And she wants me to be just like her.

“I actually receive a marriage proposal every few days. One individual is particularly persistent. A doctor from Louisiana.” A slow nod.

“Perhaps I will take him up on his offer. I have been so very bored in here… My letters from the outside world are my main form of entertainment. I get so many letters. Did I mention them?”

She was sure her mother received dozens of letters each week. “Does the doctor from Louisiana understand that all of your past lovers wound up murdered, by you?”

“Of course.” A wink. “That’s part of his attraction to me. Some people love getting close to danger. It excites them. The thrill of evil can be intoxicating.”

Goosebumps rose on Lily’s skin. “I thought you weren’t evil. I thought you said those men all deserved what happened to them.” That had been Magnolia’s claim at sentencing time. When she’d tried to get life instead of a lethal injection.

For all the good the explanations had done her. In the end, she’d been given the death penalty.

A verdict still on appeal. A very, very long appeal process. Her mother would not be dying anytime soon.

“Are we talking about me?” Magnolia leaned forward. “Or are we talking about you?” Her full lips pressed together. “A mother does like to keep tabs on her daughter’s life. It’s only natural.”

There was nothing natural about their relationship.

Magnolia’s features tightened, just the faintest bit. “Have you put your ridiculous research aside?”

“Thank you, Mother,” Lily responded. “It’s always lovely to have one’s life’s work called ridiculous.”

“The children of serial killers.” Magnolia’s nostrils flared. “You do not need to find them. You do not need to get close to those monsters—” But she broke off because…

I am one of those monsters. Lily deliberately widened her eyes as she waited for her mother to continue. Only Magnolia did not speak again, so Lily prompted, “You were saying something about monsters?”

“You aren’t like them.” A sniff.

“You don’t know them.” Neither did Lily. Neither did anyone. That was the problem. And the potential. She wanted to dive deeper into their lives. To see what made them tick. Wasn’t that the big puzzle in the behavioral and psychological world? Nature or nurture? Which would be stronger?

Or, in the case of children born to serial killers…

Nature or nurture…did you know what your parents were? Did they try to make you like them? Or try to turn you into something completely different?

“You’re seeking out the dangerous ones,” her mother chided. “That will be problematic for you.”

She hadn’t talked to her mother about who she was seeking. She rarely talked to her mother about her life. Certainly not her work. But, as always, Magnolia knew her well.

“You don’t want to talk to the ones with picket fences and happy babies. You’re looking for the ones with evil coiled inside of them. For the ones who hear the call. For the ones who like the blood. You’re trying to figure out what pushed them over the edge—or that will push them.”

The guard shifted a bit closer.

Lily made certain her expression didn’t alter. But she could feel sweat sliding down her back, right between her shoulder blades. The small visiting room at the Alabama maximum security prison was very, very warm.

Then again, the whole prison was a hellhole, so it should be hot. Overcrowded, inhumane—there had been so many lawsuits against the place in the past that the Feds had needed to come in and start setting their own management standards.

But instead of being angry when she found out that she would be living her remaining days at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, Magnolia had seemed…pleased.

Like that wasn’t problematic.

Mother, what are you planning?

And, nearly right from the start, Magnolia had made it a point to befriend the warden. Lawrence.

Now her mother made a tut-tut-tut with a few loud clicks of her tongue. “I know you, sweet child.”

She was far from being a child. Or from being sweet. Magnolia had made certain of that fact.

“You want to talk to the killers—the ones who are walking in the footsteps of their parents. You want to find the evil. Root it out.” Her mother’s head tilted to the side.

“Is it because you are so tempted to walk in my footsteps? Darling, does the dark call to you?” And she reached out her hand, as if she’d touch Lily.

Lily whipped back in her wobbly chair. “I’m trying to stop the monsters.

Not become one.” This talk was over. She rose to her feet.

“Goodbye, Mother.” She turned away, aware that her breathing was too hard.

Once again, she’d let her mother get beneath her skin.

She should have known better. Even though Lily had a fistful of degrees now, Magnolia was still the pro at manipulation. Some people were just born gifted.

Others were cursed.

“You’ll come back?” Magnolia inquired, voice warm as sunshine.

Lily glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t I always?”

“Yes. Because you’re such a good, dutiful daughter.”

“So good that you tried to kill me? Isn’t that what the stories say?” Sometimes, Lily swore she could still feel the tube being shoved into her mouth and down her throat. It had scraped and burned because there had been no time for numbing.

Her mother’s expression almost cracked. Almost. What could have been actual emotion flashed in her eyes. “That was a mistake.”

Lily released a soft sigh. “Right.” A nod. “Until next time.” Her head angled for the door. She took a step forward.

“Lily!” Real alarm. Real emotion.

Once more, Lily glanced back. She was surprised to see that her mother was on her feet. Magnolia’s hands had slapped down against the tabletop.

“They are not going to be like you,” her mother warned. “You will not find someone who can put the pieces of you together and who will make you understand what you feel inside.”

She shook her head. “That’s not what I am looking for.” I want to stop evil before innocent people are hurt.

“They will hurt you. They will use you. They will destroy any goodness that you have in you.”

It was Lily’s turn to laugh. “Mother, I thought you were the one who always told me…I have no goodness inside.” With that, she left her mother.

She walked out of the visiting room. Down the long, narrow corridor.

Past the guards. Past the bars. Past the other inmates who yelled and heckled and she just kept going.

One foot in front of the other.

The way she’d always done.

Lily kept going. She had a job to do, after all. Research that waited.

She would meet the adult children of serial killers. She would talk to them. She would understand them. And, if she found those who were slipping too far into the darkness…

Well, she would have to stop them.

One way or another.

After all, I am my mother’s daughter.