Digging Up the Dead

by Willie E. Dalton

  There was one major difference, though: the zombies weren’t mindlessly wandering anymore. They were yelling and fighting and shoving at the vampires to leave, telling them that they were disgraceful, that humans could take over their territory anytime they wanted to.

  Andreas and I looked at each other. “Oh fuck” seemed to be the mutual feeling.

  One of the biggest vampires I had ever seen stepped forward towards one of the zombies. “Even if I can’t feed on your blood, I can still tear you apart, and the rest of the humans you brought with you.” The vampire’s voice was deep and pissed off.

  I squeezed Andreas’s arm. “They don’t realize they’re zombies!”

  Andreas and I made our way towards the crowd of vampires. “Stay behind me—I don’t want them to see you’re human just yet.”

  I did what he asked.

  “Martin, a word please.” In a swift yet calm movement Andreas rushed toward the large vampire, who was now holding one of the zombies by its throat.

  Martin stared down at Andreas from his impressive height. “Are you going to help us fight?”

  Andreas stiffened his shoulders and tried to deepen his voice so that more of the vampires could hear him. “There’s something you all should know.” He waved his hand at the crowd. “These aren’t regular humans, these are zombies. If you follow them, they go all the way back to the fields where they are digging themselves up and coming here.”

  The vampires looked at each other and the the zombies. Confusion filled the faces of vampires and zombies alike. Apparently the zombies didn’t know they were zombies either.

  Andreas saw the look too, and turned to ask one of them, “Are you a zombie?”

  The woman with mousy brown hair and wide eyes just stared at him blankly and never answered.

  Martin released the zombie in his grip and turned to Andreas. “Why are they here? Where are they coming from?”

  I stepped out of the shadows from behind Andreas. “Rasputin. Rasputin is making them to scare all of you into making him your king.”

  “What?” Was gasped from several directions.

  “Rasputin has only tried to warn us of a human takeover. Why would he raise zombies to attack us?” Martin asked, clearly not understanding the scenario I had just described.

  “He wants to scare you, to make you think the humans want the quarter. He wants you to believe he can protect you, so all of you will put him in charge. He was a powerful sorcerer in life, haven’t you heard the stories? Raising a field of zombies is no challenge for him,” Andreas tried to explain.

  Another skinny vampire with dreadlocks stepped out of the crowd, “Nah, Rasputin wouldn’t turn on us to get respect. You’re a human, and a reaper—how do we know you didn’t send them?” He pointed at me.

  I felt my stomach flip. I was curious how he knew I was a reaper. I held my hands up and stepped back. “I have no magical abilities.”

  “Well we won’t turn on one of our own until we know the whole story,” the dreadlocked vampire replied, still eyeing me with an uncertain gaze.

  Andreas spoke up again, “Do you really think if we approach him about this that he’ll be honest? Of course he’s going to lie!”

  “Still, Rasputin has tried to do a lot for us, to keep us safe. And if he’s as powerful you say, why shouldn’t we make him king?” Martin asked, looking at us and at the crowd of vampires around him.

  I was horrified: rulers with too much power were the very types of rulers we should fear.

  Martin’s voice rang out as he talked to his newfound followers. “I say we go talk to Rasputin—settle this right now.”

  The large vampire seemed to have become the unofficial leader of the vamps vs. zombies gang. I was bothered by this as much as everything else. I truly believed the vampires would have been more logical and elegant in their decision making, choosing a leader on merit instead of size and brute force. Andreas seemed pretty horrified at the situation as well. Maybe I had made friends with the only civilized vampires in the Quarter. Ick.

  Andreas and I followed the vampires through the Quarter towards Rasputin’s. I hoped that Boude and Grace were safe, and also found myself hoping that they hadn’t killed Rasputin yet. That could be bad, but it also wasn’t very likely.

  Unnervingly, the zombies trailed behind us, a little more calmly and quietly than before. Telling them that they were zombies and watching the vampires fight among themselves had obviously confused them.

  I felt sorry for the zombies, and still hoped we could find a way to get their souls back. I didn’t like feeling them behind me, though; I couldn’t get past the image of one grabbing me and trying to eat me.

  Andreas looked pale and sunken, not at all like his beautiful golden self. “Are you OK?” I asked him as we walked.

  “I need to feed,” he whispered.

  “Oh. How long will you be OK without blood? Why haven’t you eaten?”

  “Stress makes the need for blood more frequent. I only ate yesterday. I need it within an hour or I’ll be too weak to function.” He ran his ashen hand through his hair in a normal gesture, and came away with a few golden strands between in fingers.

  “Oh no, I had no clue you could deteriorate so fast.” I chewed the corner of my mouth trying to think through what I was about to offer. “Can you drink from me? I mean would it help, being dead blood and all—would it give you enough energy to get you through?”

  Andreas’s smile was so full of gratitude that I couldn’t regret my offer. “It would get me through, if you are truly offering.”

  “Of course I am. I need you at your best.”

  Andreas took my hand in his, and we sidestepped our way out of the crowd into one of the little dark alleyways the Quarter is so full of.

  “Where do you want to bite me?” I asked and tried not to gulp.

  Andreas grinned, “Well if I had my way, I’d say inner thigh.” “I’m not getting naked in an alleyway; I have a boyfriend; you like guys.” I said the last part with raised eyebrow.

  “I occasionally enjoy what a woman has to offer, but we are short on time,” he said.

  I held my wrist out to him, but he shook his head. “That’ll hurt like hell.”

  “Doesn’t it anyway?” I asked.

  Andreas stepped closer to me and pulled my body in against his. He gently brushed the hair away from my neck and leaned in.

  I felt his cool breath, and then a sharp, deep pain that made my body tense. Then I was filled with warmth so heavy and sweet I sank against him as he drank. It felt so good I was actually sad when he stopped and helped me stand on my feet again.

  “Hel, Hel…” He snapped his fingers in front of my face, and I blinked at him until my vision cleared.

  “Wow. That was… something.” I looked at Andreas, who was looking much brighter and healthier.

  He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek; I could still smell my blood on his breath. “Thank you, more than you know.”

  “Thank you,” I smiled, and touched the wounds on my neck. These wouldn’t bring up the traumatizing memory of Rasputin trying to rip my throat out; I would touch these wounds and smile. I got to help a friend, and it felt pretty damn good.

  I was still a little fuzzy as we tried to catch up to the group. I wasn’t sure how much time it had taken for Andreas to drink from me, but we were only two blocks behind. I guess that made me fast food.

  Only a few more blocks until we would arrive at Rasputin’s. My stomach was heavy, filled with nerves about the coming showdown. I wondered if Thaddeus was ever going to show up again. I knew better than to count on a rescue plan.

  Andreas’s footsteps were longer and more confident now. I was glad he was feeling better, but now I was the one feeling… well, drained. But, if we were going up against more vampires or zombies, I supposed it was better for my vampire friend to be at the top of his game.

  I could see Rasputin’s house in the distance.

  “Do you think he knows we’re c
oming?” I asked Andreas.

  As we walked forward, I could see Rasputin standing out in front of his house. Guess that answered that one. He wore a long black robe and his arms were crossed; his face was unreadable, as usual.

  “Rasputin,” Martin called as he approached, and I noticed the slight bow of his head.

  “Martin, what is all of this about?” Rasputin asked, and made it a point to look down at the bigger man from where he stood on the steps.

  Martin kept his hands at his sides and tried not to look Rasputin in the eyes. He was afraid of him, it was clear. Men, especially vampires as big as Martin, weren’t used to being afraid of people. I don’t think he even realized it was fear. He read that strange emotion he got from Rasputin as power, and respect. It made me sad for him, and a little more scared for us.

  “A bunch of people came into the Quarter, yelling about how they were going to take over and kick us out,” Martin began, telling the last hours events.

  I saw a twinkle in Rasputin’s black eyes as he saw his own twisted plan falling into place.

  Martin continued, “We were ready to tear them apart and show them the strength we have in our numbers. Then these two stopped us.” Martin pointed at Andreas and me as the vampires cleared out of the way for us to be seen.

  Rasputin scoffed when he saw us, as if we were of no real importance. The look in his eyes though clearly showed he thought we were threats. “Why did you let a human and a vampire who chooses to spend his time with humans stop you from protecting what is rightfully ours?”

  “Well, they said the people weren’t humans. They said that they were zombies.”

  Rasputin shifted his stance as he took in Martin’s words. He was thinking about what to say. “Why would there be zombies in the underworld? Who would have the power or motive for such an action?”

  I was sick of tiptoeing around the obvious, so I stepped forward. It was all going to have to come out anyway. “You would have the power and the motive,” I said plainly.

  Rasputin looked at me and gave a half smile, “You aren’t wrong about the power part, but what’s my motive?”

  “You’ve been trying to scare the vampires into making you their ruler, telling them that the humans are coming to takeover the quarter, when that simply isn’t true.” I was loud and direct and proud of myself, even while my legs were shaking.

  Rasputin laughed, and I gave him credit for sounding sincere. “Delusional girl,” he spat. “What if you were the one that raised the zombies? Maybe reapers have privy to some sort of magic I’m unaware of, and you have your own motives.”

  I didn’t bother dignifying his accusations with a response.

  “Are we certain they’re even really zombies?” another vampire asked.

  “Good question!” Rasputin replied. “Send one forward to me.”

  “I watched them dig themselves up, for crying out loud,” I yelled to whoever wanted to listen. Andreas put his hand on my shoulder to try to calm me down. I still hadn’t seen Boude or Grace anywhere.

  Martin took one of the zombies by the shoulder and dragged him forward, leaving him standing in front of Rasputin. The zombie said nothing and showed no emotion. How we were still debating if this person was human was beyond me.

  Rasputin looked the man over, poking at one of his shoulders and lifting his hand from his side to examine it. He ended his scrutiny by staring into the zombie’s eyes. The zombie didn’t even blink.

  Rasputin turned back to everyone and ran his fingers through his beard. I hated watching him do that; for some reason I was repulsed by the movement. My mind flashed to Soren running his fingers through his own beard, and I found myself missing him, wishing he was here for me to kiss and lean against for stability.

  “I have concluded that these people are in fact zombies,” Rasputin announced.

  Whispers rolled through the crowd, and everyone seemed shocked. I was so pissed I could barely think straight. Vampires seemed more and more stupid to me by the second.

  “What do we do? Who made them? How do we get rid of them?” Those were all questions that echoed throughout the crowd.

  “I’m afraid there is no real way to know who made them,” said Rasputin. “I can only imagine a human sorcerer has raised them to come and threaten us. As for what to do with them, I say lock them away until I can think of something.” He turned to walk into his house, then stopped. “Oh,” he said, pointing at Andreas and me, “lock them away too.”

  Before I could even look at Andreas and tell him to run, we were in the grips of too many vampires to fight them.

  The crowd was roaring as we were being dragged off to somewhere I couldn’t even begin to guess. I heard Andreas yelling, asking how could they do this to one of their own, but his pleas made no difference.

  Even though my eyes weren’t covered, I couldn’t see for the hands and bodies that surged around me. I couldn’t see or hear Andreas, and I prayed that wherever we were being taken, we would end up together.

  The darkness of the Quarter was more than I liked at the best of times, and right now the towering blackness and tight alleys felt as though they were closing in on me. I couldn’t see my feet when I looked down, so I was suddenly and harshly jarred as we started descending a stairway. I fought hard to keep my balance. If I fell, I was afraid I would be trampled rather than lifted up.

  I couldn’t imagine where would be in the Quarter that was underground. After shuffling along with my hundred closest friends for another ten minutes or so, we finally stopped.

  Darkness. I couldn’t see a single thing—no shadows, no trace of sparkle or glint of silver to even give my eyes a reprieve. Just thick, heavy, smothering darkness.

  “Sit!” A deep voice commanded. And although I couldn’t see, I felt the movement of the beings around me sitting in the places their feet had just been standing.

  I started to follow suit, but a hand gripped my shoulder to the point of pain. I inhaled sharply at the rough touch.

  “Not you,” another voice said. “Just the zombies.”

  The vampire pushed me to walk a little farther through the blackness, and although I was afraid of tripping, the path seemed to be clear and flat.

  I heard the clanking of metal. Keys, I thought, maybe the screech of old door hinges?

  Then I was forcefully shoved forward, and shivered as I heard the metal door fall shut and lock. I was in a prison cell. “Cell” was probably too nice a word for it: I was in a cage.

  My heart beat a little too hard against my chest, threatening to steal my breath and voice. “Please, sir, can I have a little bit of light. Anything?” I hated myself for being weak enough to ask for a light, but I was scared.

  I heard him laugh as his footfalls started to move away. Another voice, that I hadn’t known was with us, said something, produced a blue flame from a source I couldn’t see, and carried it towards my cage. Even that small amount of light made my eyes focus like lasers, and burn with its brightness.

  The blue flame reflected in the eyes of the vampire carrying it. I recognized his face: Jeremy, the boy from the shop—Andreas’s new lover. Jeremy saw the disappointment in my eyes, but he simply walked over to the wall and lit a torch that hung against the cold stone.

  The torch burned bright and blue, casting an icy glow throughout the dungeon.

  Jeremy didn’t look at me again as he walked away with the remaining vampires.

  I sat on the stone floor and tried to let my eyes take in the room. The light of the torch, though bright, didn’t extend very far; it seemed to only show the expanse of my solitude.

  I sighed and pulled my knees close to my body, dropping my head.

  “Are you crying?” a voice asked. I thought I knew the voice, but didn’t trust my senses after all I had been through in the last few hours.

  “No,” I mumbled against my legs. “I’m too exhausted to cry.”

  “Good. I didn’t want to deal with that right now. Crying wouldn’t help us, and I’m
too far away to try to comfort you,” Andreas said, his voice dry and lifeless.

  “Are you OK? I can’t see you,” I said, turning my head left and right to get a sense of where he could be.

  “I’m in the cell across the room. Jeremy put me in here.”

  “I’m sorry about him,” I sympathized.

  “Oh, just wait until the next time he’s in my bed; he’ll be sorry,” Andreas snapped.

  Do I want to know? Probably not… and even if I did, now isn’t the time to ask, I rhuminated to myself. “Any chance he’ll be back later to break us out?” I asked instead.

  I heard a snorting scoff come from Andreas’s side of the room.

  “OK, that’s a ‘no,’ then. Where are we anyway?”

  “Underneath the Quarter courthouse. None of it has been in service in hundreds of years. It was thought we needed a place for trials and to hold prisoners, in case one or more vampires became unruly. We have always been pretty peaceful together in the Quarter, so it was eventually abandoned.”

  I had never given much thought about what would happen to someone who simply refused to abide by the laws of the underworld. It would be an interesting topic to research when I wasn’t being held prisoner.

  “Do you know of any way out of here?” I asked.

  “Only if someone lets us out, I’m afraid.” Andreas sounded as tired as me.

  “Maybe Boude and Grace will find us.”

  “We can hope,” he agreed.

  Being here, in this cold bleakness, I missed the fields—those damn brown and gray fields of dead bodies that I sometimes hated. I missed digging, sweating, feeling like I was accomplishing something, helping someone.

  I missed Soren and his big strong arms around me that felt like they could protect me from anything. Leave it to me to tell him I could take care of myself. And underneath it all, I still missed Raphael. At that realization, anger filled me. I was so tired of coping with all of these emotions. I wanted to hit something, or someone—maybe Rasputin—with a sledgehammer.

  Hours passed so very slowly in the dungeon, and I wondered how long the torch would stay lit. How long before someone would come in to check on us? Or if they ever would. Maybe someone would come in to check on the zombies and remember us too, but we were pretty far back in the caverns.