Song for the Dead: An Ada Palomino Novel

by Karina Halle

  He also did the same to my mother, by the way. But just over a year ago, I discovered I had the ability to open and close portals to the Veil, to Hell, and either throw things in or drag them out.

  I was able to rescue my mother. She’s still dead, unfortunately, but she’s at peace, with my grandmother Pippa, and no longer suffering. Well…actually there’s more to that, but I’ll have to touch on that later.

  Maximus on the other hand, I didn’t think that rescuing him was in the cards. No one even brought it up until Perry mentioned that they’d found Maximus in this haunted house here in Seattle. Somehow he’d gotten to the thinnest part of the Veil, and Jacob (who is like my guardian and trainer now that Jay is gone) said it was possible for someone to pull him through. Perry thought she could do it, but she couldn’t. Then she mentioned me to Jacob, and he was adamant I wouldn’t be able to.

  But I knew I could.

  So when Perry asked, I jumped at the opportunity to help.

  Okay, so maybe I don’t know for sure if I can help him, but I’m going to try my best.

  Whew. I think that’s most of it.

  Right now, I’m standing on the sidewalk outside the haunted house, with Perry (and Dex, who is both unconscious in the passenger seat of their Highlander and also inside Perry at the same time), and a Lexus has just parked in front of us.

  A blonde woman wearing a long camel trench coat gets out, her hair flowing behind her. Holy hell, she’s stylish and super pretty for a witch.

  And yes. This is Perry’s psychologist, who also happens to be a witch. She’s the one who gave Perry the idea to invite Dex to possess her while they dealt with the whole Max situation, because there’s another witch in that haunted house that wants to possess Perry.

  My god, it’s a wonder I’m not drunk right now. Sometimes I really do have to take a moment and realize how fucking crazy my life is, not to mention the life of my sister.

  But I digress.

  The doctor approaches me, her hand out. “I’m Dr. Leivo,” she says to me. “But you can call me Lana.”

  I grin at her, shaking her hand. She’s got a tight grip, but then again so do I these days. “I’m Ada. But you can call me Demon Slayer.”

  She gives me an appreciative smile, which is a relief since not everyone gets me or my humor, then she goes into mom mode, looking me up and down. “You’re certainly dressed for the part. You’re not cold?”

  I shake my head. I don’t even feel the rain falling on me right now. All I feel is this building sense of power and urgency, like somewhere in the pit of my soul—a place that’s been squashed and neglected these days—there’s something rising. Flames. A fire. An energy source that I’ve only felt on rare occasions.

  Usually with Jay.

  I push the thoughts of him out of my head and raise my fist in the air. “I’m fucking pumped. Let’s do this thing!”

  I swear I see Perry exchange a look with herself, which tells me all I need to know.

  The three of us (well, four, if you count Dex inside Perry, which I don’t really since the two of them are so entwined with each other anyway) head down the narrow path toward the house.

  I know just the idea of a haunted house seems a bit corny, but I have to say, this place is not only definitely haunted (I was here on Halloween and I saw ghosts and I never even went inside), but it looks haunted too. All old and shit, with no electricity, and the weirdest energy emanating from the inside. Like it has a soul.

  And right now, that energy is off the charts.

  This is going to be fucking intense.

  We go up the steps and stop outside the front door. I turn to Lana and Perry. “So, what’s the plan again?”

  Because honestly, if she told me already, I’ve forgotten. I was probably distracted by the whole Dex is going to possess me thingy.

  “We go straight to Max,” Perry says to me. One of her eyes is blue, the other is brown (that’s Dex), so it’s completely unnerving to look at her. “In the basement. That’s where he should be. Granted, it’s been weeks since we talked, so I really fucking hope he’s still there.”

  Oh, great. So we might end up wandering the halls of the haunted mansion here, and I know these ghosts won’t be as friendly as the ones at Disneyland.

  “And I’ve already started working on blocking spells,” Lana says. I try not to smile. Until, like, a few days ago, I didn’t believe in witches. I thought they were the same as vampires. Technically there are some people who think they can cast spells with burning sage and shit, just as some people like to drink blood. But here’s a witch, in the flesh, telling me she’s going to start using her spells. Maybe it’s in bad form, but part of me still won’t believe it until I see it.

  I look at Perry, waiting for her cue.

  “Let’s go,” she says. She sounds scared. I don’t blame her. I’d be scared too if I didn’t have an assload of pride with me, as well as all this excess energy that seems to be connecting with the energy of the house.

  She opens the door to the house and steps inside.

  Lana and I follow.

  It’s black in here, dark as sin, and completely malevolent. Lana walks off to the middle of the room and stops, eyes closed and chanting something as she faces the staircase, while Perry/Dex start pointing their flashlight everywhere, looking for things to jump out at them.

  But me, well, I already feel where things are.

  I know where we have to go.

  It’s instinct, like a magnet, like something is pulling all the cells in my body in one direction.

  I start walking toward the hallway.

  Look down it.

  Oh my god.

  “What the hell is that!?” I exclaim.

  Down at the end of the hall, where a large room recedes into total fathomless darkness, a man is crawling out of it. At least, I think it’s a man. He’s got the torso, but he’s missing his lower half, and as he pulls himself along, he leaves a trail of blood behind.

  The energy in my gut ignites, suddenly fueling my limbs like I’ve got white lightning running through my veins, pulling me to him.

  This is no man. This is a demon.

  And it’s my job to put him back where he belongs.

  I know this like I know my own name.

  I start walking toward the demon, feeling the power rush through me, the greatest high you’ll ever feel. I’m unstoppable now.

  “Ada, stop!” Perry screams from behind me, and I know she’s going to try and pull me back or interfere, but this game doesn’t involve her. This is what I was trained to do. This is what I can do.

  I raise my arm to tell her to stay where she is with Lana and I keep going, my eyes glued to this disgusting beast.

  I start pacing back and forth across the hallway, feeling spry and ready, trying to figure out the best way to do this. This should be easy. I need to open up the portal and throw him in. It’s just that I want to do it in an impressive way, you know? Really give them both a show, and also show this fucking haunted mansion who’s in charge here.

  The demon torso raises its head and looks at me with white eyes, blood running down its chin as if it was the one who tore its legs off. Its teeth are extra pointy.

  I smile at it and make a beckoning motion with my hand.

  “Come and get me.”

  I add fucker in my head and, oh lordy, does that piss him off.

  Suddenly he’s moving fast, crazy fast, but I stand my ground. Somewhere in the background Perry is screaming my name, but I pay her no attention. This will be over before she knows it. I don’t even know how I know it, I just do. That instinct again.

  What Jay taught you to do.

  I close my eyes, refusing to feel sad, and crouch down as the demon approaches. His hands turn into claws before my eyes, ripping up the floor as he charges. I wait until the last minute and then…

  I spring up, finding that energy pushing me off the ground like it’s manipulating the air around me, like gravity doesn’t ex
ist, and then I’m going sideways through the air, my boots aimed at the wall.

  I make contact, the power rushing through me again and then I’m launching myself in the air toward the demon, twisting around so that I land on top of it, straddling the beast.

  “Ha, you little bitch!” I yelp, reaching down and grabbing him by the throat. With strength I didn’t know I could possess, I lift him up until his torso is off the ground, blood pouring out of him. He’s trying to bite me, writhing in place, trying to turn around, but I dig my nails in harder and then concentrate on the hard part.

  I imagine the space in front of us opening like a portal, imagine the grey world underneath, then the world under that. Then the energy flows out of my fingers and the portal starts appearing. It’s immediately draining me, like if I had an internal battery it would be going down fast, but I push through, hoping to make this quick.

  With the portal open just wide enough, flames licking the edges—which means I’ve reached Hell—I get ready to throw the demon. From the fiery pit, the cries and screams from the underworld flow outward, but I block them from affecting or distracting me. You get used to it.

  Then I pretend I’m LeBron for a moment and that the portal to Hell is the basket, and I chuck the demon in the air like he weighs nothing at all.

  He goes flying through and I immediately slam my palms together, sealing the portal, then turn them counterclockwise until it locks, disappearing from sight. I learned that the hard way once. In a panic I thought I locked the portal by doing it clockwise, and a demon popped up and almost dragged me to Hell. Thank god Jay was there.

  But he’s not here now and I don’t know if he ever will be again, and I have to say, I just did pretty damn well for myself on my first solo demon slaying event.

  I walk back to Perry and give her a triumphant smile. “I told you.”

  She’s more than impressed. Her mouth is hanging open in awe.

  But I know that demon was just an obstacle. I’m really here for Maximus.

  Lana warns us that my little show was too loud and that whatever else is in the house, the other witch, is awake, so Perry snaps out of it and leads us down a flight of stairs to the basement.

  It’s creepy down here, but the moment we stop outside the door, I can feel Maximus on the other side. There’s some kind of antenna inside me that comes to attention whenever I’m around a Jacob of some sort.

  Perry knocks on the door, yelling for him, but he’s not opening it. She’s worried that he’s sleeping or he’s gone, but I know that’s not the case. He’s in a trance of sorts, but he’s alright.

  There’s a part of my heart that flares with hope. To think I might see my old friend again. I mean, Max and I were never close, we had a brother-sister relationship if anything, and I loved to annoy the shit out of the big burly redheaded dude, but when he was in NYC with us helping to look for Dex, he really came through. He made the ultimate sacrifice for my sister, and that won’t be forgotten by me.

  Perry looks at me. “Do you think you can kick down this door?”

  I raise my brows. “Doubtful.” I know that energy, that power I feel can give me crazy strength and abilities, but I feel like it has to be activated by the undead and demons. Maybe not. “But I’ll try anything once.”

  I position myself back in a lunging stance, concentrating on the door, trying to draw up my energy. “Here goes nothing.”

  But when I leap for the door with my boot out, the door opens.

  I see Maximus’s surprised face for a second before my boot connects with his crotch.

  SHIT!

  He drops to his knees, and I lose my balance when I land and have to hang onto the doorframe. I’m staring down at his red hair, so overjoyed that he’s here and alive but also totally mortified that I just kicked him in his ginger balls.

  While Perry and/or Dex is laughing their ass off, I immediately drop to my knees and put my hands on his shoulders. Fuck, he’s not changed at all. His shoulders are huge, hard, and that reminds me how solid he is. Not a ghost.

  “I’m so sorry!” I cry out. “But it’s really nice to see you, Big Red.”

  He tries to look up at me, wincing through the pain. “The fuck?” Then he looks at Lana. “Who are you?”

  “Lana Leivo. It’s nice to meet you. But we need to get inside because the spells are officially broken.”

  That does it.

  While they step inside, I lean down and try to help Max up to his feet. He weighs a fucking ton, but eventually he gets up and we go inside the room, closing the door.

  “Really sorry about that,” I apologize to Max again. He’s looking around, totally out of it.

  Then it’s like he notices me for the first time.

  Still a bit unsteady on his feet, he steps back and gives me the once over.

  I mean he really looks me up and down.

  Well, I guess I can’t blame the guy. When he last saw me I was a gawky fifteen-going-on-sixteen-year-old, and now I’m nineteen. I’ve filled out a little. And I’m wearing the Lululemon equivalent of what Halle Berry had to wear in Catwoman.

  “Ada?” Max asks.

  I can’t help but smile. I didn’t think Max would be the one to give me a much-needed ego boost, but here we are. “In the flesh.”

  “Shit,” he says, still blinking, still stunned, still…lingering. “Wow. This is the first time I’ve realized how much time has passed. You’ve changed. You’re like a whole woman now.”

  Oh my god. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. Even though I’m pretty good at accepting compliments, this makes my cheeks burn.

  Luckily, he’s quickly distracted by the fact that Dex is possessing Perry at the moment and the conversation swings that way.

  It’s for the best. I don’t need any distractions right now, and even though it felt good as hell to have another man give me the eyes, especially when he’s never looked at me like that before, I have a job to do, and it’s to save his ass.

  Although, now that we’re all in here, I’m trying to think of how to do this. I mean, even though Max is dead, he’s also here, in the flesh. He’s real. He feels pain. Desire, maybe. All that stuff. Which means that Perry was right when she said that entering the house is like entering the Veil.

  I just don’t know how exactly I’m going to get him out if we’re already here…

  “This is so fucking weird,” Max says to himself, either about Dex possessing Perry or just this whole situation.

  “You think you’d be used to weird by now,” I tell him. “You’re dead.”

  He gives me a loaded look. “Thanks for the reminder, Blondie.” Ohhh, I hate the Blondie nickname. This better not be the start of something. “Now, you going to get me out of here or what?”

  “Wow,” I say slowly, hand on my hip. The nerve of this ungrateful flannel-coated lumberjack. “You’re awfully impatient for someone who just went to Hell. Better be nice to me, or I’ll send you back there.”

  He gives me a wry grin. “I reckon I’d like to see you try.”

  “You guys,” Lana breaks through our conversation, staring at the ceiling in fear. “She’s on the floor above us.”

  No time to waste.

  I peer at Maximus, trying to see if there’s some kind of veil around him that you can’t really see. “You’re so close, you’re pretty much here already. I wonder why Perry and Dex weren’t able to do this.”

  “Maybe this is your destiny,” he says, his voice lowering as his eyes lock with mine.

  I give him a tight smile. “I doubt you’re my destiny.” Don’t get any ideas, hotshot. I already had a man who took that role.

  Then I frown, trying to place all that excess emotion that thoughts of Jay just stirred up, and try to manipulate it in the air.

  It works.

  A line appears in front of Maximus, burning like the edges of paper. It continues to burn until it forms a flickering doorway. This must be it.

  “Come on through,” I tell him. “Step
over the line.”

  Maximus stares at the line of fire in front of him. Lifts his leg to step over.

  Perry screams. “Hurry! It’s behind you!”

  I was so focused on Max that I didn’t even think to look at what else could be in the Veil with him.

  And what is, is the scariest fucking thing I have ever seen.

  It almost defies description—it’s a big black beast with tiny white eyes and claws and the soul of damnation, and it’s running right for us.

  Max jumps through and I frantically try to close the portal, but it’s too late. The burning lines are snuffed out, but the beast leaps through the air and lands in the room with us, on the ceiling, it’s leathery inky tail wavering like a giant cat about to strike.

  It doesn’t even look at me. It wants Perry.

  Max knows it too.

  He goes straight over to her, standing in front of her for protection, willing to sacrifice himself all over again.

  Are you ready? Lana says, but when I look at her, I realize she’s speaking inside my head. Shit, she can do that, too? One of us, one of us! I want to chant.

  I think so, I tell her. Lana doesn’t even have to tell me what she has planned, I can feel it. The demon is way too dangerous and advanced for me to handle on my own (I mean, I did conquer the infamous Legion, but I had Jacob and Jay’s help with that). But Lana can manipulate the beast, making it easier.

  I just have to work fast.

  But things happen faster.

  The demon drops from the ceiling, passes through Maximus as if he’s transparent, and lands on Perry. She struggles with it as it fights her to the ground, and I leap into action.

  I grab the beast’s tail, holding tight, then look at Lana who is channeling energy my way with her hands. Somehow, together, we’re able to lift the beast off Perry until I’m able to swing the fucking thing around like I’ve got a demonic cat by the tail.

  Now! Lana yells in my head, and while she takes the brunt of the weight off my hands, I’m able to quickly open the portal back up.

  I throw the monster and it goes flying inside, just as a woman I don’t recognize pops up. Black hair, white eyes, trying to escape.