Not Dead Yet

by Jenn Burke

  “Meredith Montague’s mansion. It has a music room.”

  “Meredith—the woman you saw get murdered?”

  I nodded. “And Hudson was going to interview her ex-wife, the last anyone heard from him.”

  Evan lifted his hands to clutch at his hair. “Oh shit.”

  That about summed it up. Was it possible that Julia, Meredith’s ex, was behind everything? But...how? Why? She’d been genuinely grief-stricken in the interview I’d witnessed. No one was that good of an actor. Was it possible that another member of the Timuritan group, one we didn’t know about yet, had taken over Meredith’s house? Set up Frank in it?

  I tried to put all the clues together in some semblance of logical order, but my brain was done with logic, thank you very much. All that mattered was getting Hudson and Lexi back. The who and the why we could figure out later.

  But now we had a clue. A direction to go in. Frank might be staying at Meredith’s, and if he was, there might be a connection to Julia. I hoped all these mights would lead to the people I loved.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out. I almost stopped breathing when I saw the caller ID. “Lexi? Are you okay? Where are you?” When there was nothing but dead air on the line, I all but shouted, “Lexi!”

  A chuckle reverberated in my ear. The voice was low, dark—not Julia’s. There went that theory. “Good to know I didn’t aim wrong by picking up the little witch.”

  My breath caught. “Who—who is this?”

  Except I knew. I recognized that voice. The dark figure, the one who’d held me through the planes, the one who taunted me and who still made the occasional foray into my dreams. The one who’d terrified me beyond all reason. I didn’t know the creature’s name, but oh yeah, I remembered it.

  “A birdy reported that he’d seen you venture into a well-known vampire bar, little ghost. Did you make it out in one piece?”

  “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” I growled.

  “Impressive. I knew you were more than a pretty face and an extraordinary power.”

  Evan laid a hand on my arm, and I risked a glance at him. His expression held horror and concern, and he gave my arm a squeeze of reassurance.

  “Where are Hudson and Lexi?”

  “Safe. For the moment.”

  “I swear to god, if you hurt them—”

  “Oh, it’s too late for that. They are hurt. Nothing serious, but painful? Yes.” The creature chuckled. “I would apologize, but listening to their screams was very satisfying.”

  “You son of a—”

  “Ah ah, little ghost. You have something I want, and I have something—two somethings—you want. Let’s talk about a deal, shall we?”

  “You want the crown for Hudson and Lexi? Done. When and where?”

  There was a pause, followed by more laughter, louder this time. “I love it when the person I’m dealing with is sufficiently motivated.” It rattled off an address—an address I recognized. “One hour.” The line disconnected.

  “Was that a ransom call?” Evan asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

  “Damn straight. C’mon.”

  One hour and this all would be over one way or another.

  * * *

  I didn’t convince Evan to stay at Hudson’s so much as I took off without him.

  I couldn’t bring him with me. The gash from the bottle had stopped bleeding by the time we stepped into Hudson’s kitchen, but it was still there, still angry, and there was still blood congealed in Evan’s eyebrow and all the way down the side of his face. It was a stark, violent reminder that even though Evan was a vampire, he was also a young man barely into adulthood—an adulthood that had yet to treat him right. If he came with me, he might be hurt even worse. He might die for real.

  I couldn’t do it.

  While he retreated into the basement bedroom to clean up, I grabbed the crown and ran.

  Not too long after, I pulled up near the address I’d been given—the address of Tawfiq Ahmed’s apartment building.

  The last time I’d been here, I ghosted past the guards and up the stairs. This time, the reception area was empty, or at least, I thought it was until I got close to the front desk and saw the guards on the ground behind it. I didn’t have to touch them to know they were dead—the absolute stillness gave it away. Along with the bite marks in their necks.

  Looks like Frank—maybe his whole band—had enjoyed a snack. God.

  Most of Tawfiq’s building housed businesses instead of apartments. I supposed Tawfiq didn’t want neighbors. The elevator to the penthouse sat open in the bank of elevators beyond the security desk—an invitation if I ever saw one.

  I stepped inside. It dinged, the doors closed, and off I went to meet the asshole who’d stolen my people.

  It was an express elevator, but the trip still gave me time to think. Was Tawfiq one of the Timuritans? My gut said no, not with the way he’d spoken on the phone after the cops left. I suspected that the creature had tried to get something from Tawfiq, something he didn’t want to share—and the fact that I’d been led here was an indication that either Tawfiq had given in, or...well, the bodies in the foyer were a pretty good illustration of the or.

  The elevator stopped and dinged again before opening its doors. I stepped into Tawfiq’s penthouse, which had more lights on than the last time I’d visited. It felt empty, but I didn’t think it was because Tawfiq was sleeping peacefully in his bedroom. I touched the piece of the crown, tucked into the inner pocket of my jacket, and ventured forward, slowly, carefully, looking for some clue—any clue—of where to go.

  Suddenly a figure materialized out of the shadows—Frank Girard, asshole vampire.

  “Is this the obligatory pat down?” I hoped my snark hid my nerves. “It’s not necessary. I’m not armed.”

  Frank grunted. “You got the crown?”

  “That’s between me and your boss.”

  Edging closer, he smiled and showed off an impressive set of fangs. “Watch your tone, you little shit.”

  “Or what? You gonna try to beat me up again?”

  He lunged for me, but I sidestepped into the otherplane. I rematerialized a few feet away, out of reach. Frank growled, but apparently old dogs could learn new tricks since he didn’t make a move for me again. His glare made it clear I was not his favorite person.

  Yeah, well, the feeling was mutual.

  “This way.” He walked deeper into the interior of the apartment and opened a door the same color as the wall to reveal a set of stairs. “Up you go.”

  At Frank’s none-too-gentle nudge, I started my ascent. The stairs were steep and narrow—utilitarian and nothing more. At the top, I stepped past a beaded curtain—I shit you not—and froze as power zinged through me. A few more steps, and my surroundings became more clear—and horrifying. It wasn’t a tiled secret room like Shawn and Marcello had. It was an entire freaking sacrificial floor.

  If bigger equaled more power, no wonder the creature had wanted to use this space.

  It was much like the Timuritans’ secret rooms, except more ornate, with multiple overlapping and concentric pentagrams etched into the floor in contrasting tile. I didn’t even want to think about the rituals that could be conducted here. The vampires who’d helped Frank the other night were lounging in the seating area intended for an audience to witness the rituals. Growls and slurps emanated from the group and I realized they were feeding. On Tawfiq. Fuck. I gagged and looked away, and then spotted Lexi and Hudson on the opposite side of the tiled circle.

  They were leaning against each other, as though neither of them had the strength to sit upright on their own. My stomach lurched at the visible evidence of what I’d been told over the phone—they’d been hurt. Both of them.

  I darted forward, but Frank grabbed my arm and held me back. “Let go,” I demanded, trying
to jerk my arm from his grasp. I thought about shifting into the otherplane to escape him, but a new player walking into view changed my mind.

  “Ah, little ghost, so good to see you again.” Julia Boucher, Meredith’s ex-wife, emerged from a side room and walked sedately over to Hudson and Lexi. She cast a much different image than she had during the interview I’d witnessed. This time she looked put together, as though she were about to step into a boardroom like the executive she used to be. Her light brown hair was styled meticulously, falling in frizz-less waves to her shoulders, and her fifties-style periwinkle blue skirt suit would have been incredible—if it weren’t splattered with blood.

  “I was betting on it being Marcello, honestly,” I said, trying hard not to think too much about that blood. Whose was it? Were Lexi or Hudson hurt worse than I first thought?

  At the sound of my voice, Hudson’s eyes opened. “Shit. No. Wes—”

  Julia placed a finger over Hudson’s lips. “The adults are speaking right now.”

  Adults. Oh, that was rich. Hudson was more of an adult than I ever would be.

  “You brought me what I asked for?”

  I reached into my jacket, but Frank grabbed my wrist before I could pull out the fragment. “Back off, asshole,” I growled.

  “Frankford.” Julia tilted her head.

  Frank—Frankford—let go and took a step back. I removed the crown from my jacket’s inner pocket. “Here. It’s yours. I’ll take Hudson and Lexi and we’ll be out of your hair.”

  I barely noted the twitch of Julia’s eyebrow before Frank snatched the fragment out of my hand. I sucked in a breath and tried to retrieve it, but Frank was too fast for me. He handed it over to Julia.

  Okay—no panicking. This was the exchange, right? We still had a shot to get out of here, all of us.

  She held up the piece of the artifact and looked at it reverently. “Finally.” She sighed. She moved to the altar, where there were some other fragments, and said a word I couldn’t make out. I kind of expected a big flash or fireworks or something, but the pieces of the Crown of Osiris simply merged back together without any fanfare.

  It wouldn’t have been impressive, except the magic vibrating through the room now was ten times stronger than the fragment alone had been. Power unlike anything I’d ever felt before, dangerous levels of it.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Julia whispered.

  “Looks old to me.” I shrugged, trying for nonchalance. “You got what you wanted, so...”

  “Not quite everything I wanted.” Julia turned away from the crown and eyed me like a hawk might eye a mouse. She walked toward me, her steps deliberate, her generous hips swaying with the movement. “I had planned Meredith’s murder for some time, you know.”

  “Like you planned for me to be there?”

  “Oh no. No, no, no, your presence was a happy coincidence. I was unaware of your existence until Frank reported seeing a...wrinkle after he killed Meredith. Then I suspected I felt something when the good detective visited me the first time, but I couldn’t be sure. After that, it was simply a matter of doing some investigating of my own and finding out about the enigmatic and aptly named Ghost—the thief no one knew anything about, except for the fact he existed and was insanely talented at getting into places he had no business being able to get into.”

  “You were the one who emailed me.”

  She smiled, an expression that brightened her entire visage. I could see why Meredith had fallen for her. “Good guess, but no. That was Marcello. He was overly enthusiastic.”

  “Was?”

  “Was,” she confirmed with a small moue. “The closer we got to our goals, the sloppier he became. First the emails that caused you to close up shop, then encouraging Frankford to kill that investigator in the messiest way imaginable, and then the attempt to use you for his own gain rather than mine.” She clicked her tongue. “I couldn’t abide it any longer.”

  Shit. Well, at least she didn’t know Iskander was still alive. “But why? Why all this? The killing, kidnapping Hudson and Lexi...why?”

  She traced a finger along my cheek and I jerked my head away from her touch. Her eyes spit fire for an instant, but it was immediately doused by a congenial smile. “Meredith, Cyril, Shawn and Marcello? They had all served their purpose. They acquired the pieces of the crown. They each thought it would give them the power to take over their asinine little group. Of course, they were all wrong.”

  “You manipulated them.”

  “Of course I did,” Julia said proudly.

  “For an old piece of junk?”

  The fire was back in her eyes and this time, it wasn’t chased away by a smile. “You know it’s not junk, Wesley. You can feel it, can’t you? Its magic sings to yours.”

  Well, that wasn’t creepy at all. I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Bullshit,” she said with a chuckle. “Do you know why I worked so hard to connect with you?”

  “Honestly, I haven’t a fucking clue,” I admitted.

  “I didn’t think so. For a creature with so much potential, you squander it.” She tapped a red-nailed finger on my nose. “Using you to steal the pieces would have been convenient, but I needed you for more than that. I need you for your magic.”

  Oh shit. I looked past Julia to Hudson and Lexi. Hudson’s eyes were closed, his expression one of defeat, and Lexi had tears in hers. Not good.

  “The truth of the crown has been so obscured—both deliberately and simply through the passage of time,” Julia said. “What do you know of Osiris?”

  “Uh...” I blinked. “He was an Egyptian god?”

  “Yes, the father of Horus. Osiris is known as the god of the underworld, but he’s so much more than that. He’s the god of regeneration, rejuvenation—transformation.” She arched a brow at me. “Resurrection too.”

  “Please tell me you’re not trying to bring someone back to life.”

  “No.” Julia’s voice deepened, and her eyes turned black—no whites, no nothing. “We’re trying to keep me in this plane, little ghost. I want to remain here as much as you do.”

  A chill raced through me. This was the presence I’d seen in the otherplane—powerful, dark, horrible. I recognized its form even if I couldn’t see it in the same way on the living plane. “What are you?”

  Julia’s chuckle reverberated oddly as she turned to Lexi. “Alexia? You know, don’t you?”

  “Demon,” Lexi said with a shaky voice. “She’s possessed by a demon.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Eight months ago, Julia Boucher ceased to exist.

  Not-Julia was only too happy to share her origin story, and I listened in horror as she explained in a light, happy voice how the essence of the real Julia—whatever that was, her soul, her memories, her personality—was wiped away by a creature Meredith, Shawn, Cyril and Marcello summoned from the depths of the planes beyond the otherplane. They needed a vessel for the creature, and decided Julia was expendable, particularly since she’d betrayed Meredith by going through with the divorce. Payback. They lured her to Meredith’s house with the promise of reconciliation, drugged her, and conducted the ritual.

  Essentially they’d raped her of her soul, and it made me want to throw up.

  “The echoes of her rage were exquisite,” Not-Julia said, her expression turning a little dreamy at the thought. “The first thing I’d truly felt, and it was remarkable.”

  “Fucking great,” I muttered through gritted teeth.

  She gave me a squint-eyed look, before drawing a fingernail along my arm. My skin crawled under my jacket and shirt. “Of course a few things became clear very quickly,” she said. “One—Meredith and company were not as smart as they liked to think they were. It was easy enough to befriend each of them, telling them what they wanted to hear, and to ingratiate myse
lf. Two—I was not the only one who wanted to see the balance of power shift.” Not-Julia cast Frank the vampire a look full of a weird sort of affection, and wonder of wonders, he actually smiled back. It was creepy as fuck. “Frankford had been entrapped in a binding spell Meredith cast—her own pet vampire servant. It was easy enough to give him a boost of power to get past the part of the spell that prevented him from hurting her.”

  “The spell you helped her cast, right?” Lexi said.

  Not-Julia shrugged. “Manipulating their spells was a simple way to earn their trust. Frankford understands.”

  I’m glad someone did, because I sure didn’t.

  “That was why they summoned me in the first place. Their greed drove them to extreme measures to ensure their self-benefitting magic would work—ironic that it also led to their downfall, no?” She grinned. “Anyone would agree they got what they deserved.”

  Given the story she’d related, yeah. Though agreeing with a demon would probably ensure me a prime place in hell. Good thing I didn’t believe in God or Satan.

  “The third thing I realized,” Julia continued, “was that this body would not last forever. I could feel the decay start almost immediately. It’s a slow process but unstoppable.”

  Regeneration, rejuvenation—transformation. “You’re going to use the crown to stop it.”

  “Very good, little ghost.” Julia’s smile was nearly blinding in its brilliance. “With one minor correction—you are going to use the crown to stop it.”

  “I—What?”

  “A magical being must be the focus of the ritual, and that would be you. I was originally going to use one of my vampires,” she said. “The problem is that their magic is not pure in any way, and I worried that would muddle the spell. I can’t use it, not if I’m to be the object of the spell. So Frank sensing you at Meredith’s was fate. Serendipity.”

  “Because I’m a being of magic?”

  She laughed. “And filled with some of the purest magic I’ve sensed in my time on this earth. You will serve my purpose just fine, little ghost.”