Digging Up the Dead

by Willie E. Dalton

  “Yes,” I spoke up. “What will happen to the zombies, and to all of the souls that were sent to the wrong places?”

  She smiled sweetly at me. “What a very thoughtful heart you have. I wish I could just wave my staff and set everything right again. But I’m afraid it won’t be so easy. If Rasputin made deals with the other gods in other lands, we will have to bargain to get those souls back. That will take some time, and I’ll need to know specifically who I am asking for, and where those souls are. Can you help me get that information?”

  I nodded; having had made arrangements with Margaret previously, I was hoping a lot of that would already be done. “I can get that. What about the zombies?” I looked out at all of them.

  She sighed, “I will have to find what Rasputin did with their souls. If he had destroyed them they would have died along with him. It’s possible he could have sent them to someone, but most gods won’t accept a soul without a vessel. So my guess is that he hid them somewhere.”

  I looked to Boude and Grace. “I don’t know anything for certain, but we could help look,” Boude said.

  “We were in that house longer than most. Maybe we can find his hiding spot. What does a soul look like?” Grace asked.

  Persephone grinned, “You’ll know when you find them.”

  Exhaustion overtook all of us. Persephone had promised she would be in touch with us through Thaddeus, and they took the zombies with them as they left.

  I wanted nothing more than to get in a cozy bed somewhere and rest. Andreas offered to share his bed with me. Normally I would have laughed at that offer, but he meant it in the kindest way possible. And if I hadn’t known that Soren must be desperate with worry, I might have taken him up on it.

  “Let us walk you to the edge of the Quarter,” Grace insisted. Things in the Quarter were calm now and Rasputin was no longer a threat to anyone, but I was tired and shaken from everything we had endured.

  I nodded and we walked together quietly. I wrapped my arm through Andreas’s and leaned my head on his shoulder as we walked. Nothing like near death experiences and being held prisoner to make you feel close to someone.

  I saw him glance longingly as we walked by the street where he lived. “Go home,” I told him. “You’ve been through as much as me. Go rest. I’m fine.” I let go of his arm and he kissed me on the cheek.

  Boude and Grace continued walking with me. There were things we could have been talking about—things that needed to be sorted out and decided—but now wasn’t the time.

  Finally we stood just inside the Quarter, where you could see the line where things faded from black stone to gray concrete.

  “See you all soon,” I waved, and headed for home—for my fields.

  I was walking as fast as I could manage, which wasn’t very fast at all compared to my usual speed. I knew that I probably looked like something a cat had played with, so I was trying not to draw too much attention to myself.

  I passed by shop after shop, and considered stopping for a cup of coffee to give myself enough energy to get home. Plus, Soren and Billy would want all the details. I was too tired to open my mouth and talk as it was. I tried to ignore all of the inquisitive looks as I went in to get a double latte. Most of them knew me in here—I was a regular.

  The girl behind the counter asked, “Helena, right?”

  “Yep,” I yawned.

  “Um, a big blonde guy with a beard was in here a little while ago looking for you. He seemed really freaked out,” she popped the lid on my cup and handed it to me.

  “Shit,” I mumbled, then took my cup and said, “OK, thanks. Did you happen to see where he went?”

  She pointed down the street, back towards the Quarter, of course. Why the fuck aren’t cell phones a thing in the afterlife? I grumbled internally.

  I left the coffee shop and started searching up and down the streets. I hadn’t seen Soren anywhere around when we made our way through the Quarter, so maybe he had taken a detour somewhere.

  I was just about to turn down another side street to look when I saw him come out of one of the shops. His face was filled with worry and desperation. God, I hated knowing the reason for that look was because of me.

  “Soren!” I called and took off running towards him, coffee sloshing in my hand through the little drinking-hole in my lid.

  “Helena!” he yelled when he saw me, and pulled me into his arms, wrapping them around me so tightly I struggled to breathe.

  He eased up and I turned around to put down my cup so I could put both of my hands on his shoulders and look into his steel gray eyes. He blinked, and a tear ran down his cheek, disappearing into the blonde of his beard.

  The minute I saw him crying, my own tears started streaming down my face. I buried my face against his chest and sobbed. He held me and didn’t ask anything of me.

  I heard him sniff a time or two as he tried to get a handle on his own emotions. After a time, he petted my hair and said, “OK, OK, enough.”

  I pulled back and looked at the big wet spot my tears had left on his shirt. I wiped my eyes and looked at him. “I am so sorry I worried you—I tried to get back to you as fast as I could.”

  He took my arm in his. “Tell me about it on our way home.”

  So I did.

  Once we were back to the fields, Soren was caught up on my adventures, and I was relieved to see there were no more zombies trying to free themselves from the ground.

  “Are things back to normal?” I asked and pointed out to the fields.

  “We can hope so. Billy has been with Margaret for hours now. I guess we’ll know whenever we get back to digging,” he said.

  “Have you talked to the other reapers and told them what’s been going on?”

  “Yeah, a few of them were so put off by the zombies that they are asking to be reassigned. We’re going to be busy,” he sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Ugh,” I groaned. Reapers were already few and far between. “I’d like to say let’s get to work, but I’m too tired… and I need to be close to you.” I whispered that last part against his neck.

  I still felt the exhaustion, but the caffeine was keeping me going—that and the excitement of being close to Soren after being terrified pretty much all day long.

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “You want sex?”

  I felt my cheeks flush. “Well yeah. I mean I don’t think I can go for a marathon session or anything, but I can’t think of anything I want more right now than being naked up against you.”

  Soren grinned and I felt my knees weaken. He scooped me up into his arms and carried me the short distance through the field to my house.

  He put me down on my bed and started undressing me. “I probably need a shower,” I sighed.

  Soren pulled off my dirty jeans and kissed my thighs and stomach. “You smell like sweat, and earth—fear, and life,” he said, and bit my inner thigh hard enough that I screamed out.

  He raised up on his knees and peeled off his own shirt. He was just out of reach but my hands kept trying to find a way to touch him.

  “Tell me, Helena: what do you want from me right now? Do you want the pain, to remind you that you are alive—to surrender into that sweetness and scream away all the tension? Or do you want me to hold you and be gentle—to revel in just the touching of our bodies and my arms around you? What do you need?”

  Seeing him look down at me asking me what I wanted from him was intimidating as hell. We had been through a lot together, and done a lot together in our short time… and yet, he still made me nervous. Being this direct with him made me nervous. He was waiting for my answer.

  “I uhh… I need to scream,” I said timidly.

  The wicked look I loved so much appeared in his eyes, and I felt my stomach grip with the good kind of fear.

  He cupped his hand to his ear. “What was that? You were so quiet, I didn’t hear you.”

  I knew damn well he had heard me. But I swallowed down my nerves and looked him square
in the eyes. “Don’t be gentle.”

  He made sure that I screamed out my fear, and any anger that I was carrying with me. I knew I would have bruises later from where his teeth and fingers had bit into my flesh , but I didn’t care in the slightest. My body was full and my mind was eased as I lay wrapped in his arms with his warm body at my back. He was still pressed, hard against me.

  I was drifting off to sleep when I felt him whispering in my ear and kissing along my neck and shoulder. “More, for me,” he said.

  I was trying to ask what he meant when I felt him slide inside me again while we were resting on our sides. I gasped and squeezed his hand that was already in mine. It wasn’t like him to want more once I was this worn out—but hey, I was not complaining.

  Sex at this stage of sleepiness had a surrealness to it: it was intense and sensual, almost dreamlike. He pulled my hips in closer as his speed and breathing increased. I realized what was happening, and it pulled me out of my sleepy stupor. I put my arm behind me to touch any part of him I could reach as he groaned, feeling his hot breath against my neck.

  “Yes, Soren. Come for me,” I cried out at the feeling of him spilling himself inside me. Just the feeling of him letting himself go was enough to bring me to my own unexpected orgasm. He gripped me tightly as we both felt our bodies spasming out of rhythm with one another.

  He pulled away to cool off and catch his breath, and I rolled over and looked at him. I didn’t say anything. I just watched him. His fair skin was stippled with sweat and cheeks were flushed.

  He wasn’t dark and mysterious like my Raphael, but he was my big strong Viking.

  Soren looked over to see me watching him, and inclined his head for me to come closer and lay my head on his chest. He stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head. He said my name and I looked up at him.

  “I love you,” he said.

  I had been waiting for this, all of it. I didn’t hesitate to say it right back to him: “I love you too.”

  He hugged me once more, and then I heard the softest of snores coming from his sleeping body. He had never allowed himself to orgasm with me; he had never slept beside me; he had never told another woman besides his wife that he loved them. The weight of all of that wasn’t lost on me, and I did love Soren. I focused on that love, on the warm gooey feeling of melting into his body and kiss, of being in love. I also tried to tell myself that the pinching feeling I had in my heart was nothing, just fear left over from a life where men leave, or where I had to leave them.

  We made love again when we woke up the next morning. Soren liked sex as much as I did, even before. Now that he was really willing to surrender himself to being with me, I could tell he was going to be insatiable.

  After we showered and dressed, we headed out into the field. It felt strange to be out there digging, but as far as I knew, that’s what needed to be done right now. Later I planned to go see Andreas and ask if Boude and Grace had been back to Rasputin’s to search for those souls. That was the only worry I was still carrying: knowing so many souls were lost and confused. Once that was made right, then I could relax.

  Billy joined Soren and me as we worked. He came over and gave me a hug. It turned out that he already knew nearly all of the events that had transpired. Apparently a lot of vampires were talking about seeing the Queen (that almost none of us knew we had), and I was a big part of that story. I filled him in on Andreas and I being tossed in the dungeon. He was speechless, just standing there shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Oh,” I added, “do you think Margaret would mind if I stopped in to see her later? I need to see how close she is to having those files sorted. Persephone said she would try to help get everyone back to where they’re supposed to be.”

  He nodded, “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. She’s been trying real hard to get all of that finished for you. Now, if things are working the way they’re supposed to again, it’ll be easier for her to get caught up.”

  We had our first bodies dug up now, so it was time to see if things were working the way they were supposed to again. Soren and I looked at each other and clicked our flashlights on.

  The body of the woman in front of me blinked and disappeared. I looked at Soren to see what happened to his body. He shined the light in the man’s face and the man sat straight up.

  The three of us smiled at each other as Soren helped the man to his feet.

  Billy said, “Hel, why don’t you take him to get assigned, since you wanted to go into the city anyway. I’ll just takeover digging for you.”

  I dusted myself off and said, “OK, I’ll see you guys later.” I tapped the newly dead guy on the shoulder and asked him to follow me.

  Soren pulled me in close and kissed me. “I know I don’t have to worry about Rasputin any longer, but be careful today and come home to me soon.”

  I smiled and nodded. Then I gestured for the new guy to follow me, and we were on our way.

  There was still no waiting in the assignment line today. I peeked inside to make sure someone was at the desk, just in case everything was still a little crazy. The lady I recognized as the one that assigned me waved us in.

  The man took a seat; he hadn’t said or asked much on our walk here. That was the case most of the time: people were in shock.

  I asked the woman doing the assigning how things were here at the Assignment Hall today, and she just said they were all adjusting, since several of the workers had left.

  I nodded in solidarity, and waved my goodbye, heading out into the halls, so I could find Margaret and do some snooping to see if all of the black eyed vampires were still working here.

  I poked my head in a couple of offices that ended up being empty; I guess those were the employees that had quit. Then I wandered on down to where I knew Margaret would be busy filing and sorting.

  She was standing in the poorly lit basement room in front of a giant wall of files. There was a stack of papers beside her almost waist high. It looked like she was trying figure out where they all went.

  “Hey there,” I called before entering, so as not to frighten her.

  She turned around quickly, still taken a bit by surprise. “Oh, hey, Helena!” She smiled at me.

  “I just wanted to see how things were going here. I suppose you heard about all the drama yesterday.” I walked into the room and sat on the edge of the empty desk, since the only chair was behind it, and I didn’t qualify to sit there.

  “Oh, yes,” she said with wide eyes. “I can’t believe the Queen showed up! Everyone is talking about it.”

  “Did you know we had a Queen? Because not many of us did.”

  She nodded sheepishly. “Yes, whenever we start work here we learn about the hidden hierarchy. She’s a gem though, she tries to stay out of the spotlight and let us work things out ourselves.”

  “She does seem like a really cool person.” I agreed. I watched Margaret place a few files in selected spots along the wall, then she picked up new ones and started to examine them. “Are all of the vampires still working here?”

  “I honestly couldn’t say,” she said. “None of them showed up for work.”

  “How is filing going? Have you been able to seperate most of the ones that were altered?”

  Margaret sighed, “I think so. I have a lot of them, but I’m afraid I missed some. It’s just a lot of work for one person.”

  I could see the frustration in her eyes. It really was too much to ask of one person; there were hundreds, if not thousands of files that needed to be sorted.

  She went on, “Billy has helped me some, but he has his own job, and I know you’ve been busy with the nitty gritty of all of this. I’ll get it done.”

  I liked Margaret, and I could see why Billy liked her: she had a sweet spirit.

  “How about I gather up my friends, say four or five of us, and we come help you go through all the files you aren’t sure about. Surely with more of us we can make quick work of it,” I offered.

  A look of utter r
elief appeared on her face. “Really?” she asked.

  “Really,” I confirmed. “I’ll go talk to them about it now.”

  “That would be amazing,” she beamed.

  “We’ll even pick up some dinner and drinks before we come. We can make it a party,” I laughed. “Do you have any preferences?”

  “Tacos and tequila?” she asked timidly.

  I smiled and said, “Sure!” But inwardly, I was more than a little surprised. She seemed so meek and timid, but honestly, weren’t they usually the wildest ones?

  I said goodbye to Margaret and headed to the boutique to talk to Andreas.

  Neither Andreas nor Grace was working. Barbie twirled her hair and chewed her gum as she told me, “They were both tired, or something, and couldn’t come in today.”

  I was slightly curious about Barbie’s backstory, but assumed it couldn’t possibly be as entertaining as the one I had created in my mind, so I never asked.

  Dammit, time to head back into the Quarter.

  As I walked into the darkness of the Quarter, I noticed that the vampires were out, and seemed almost cheerful. They were chatting more loudly than usual and bouncing in and out of stores. The looks of disgust and disdain that I was usually met with had been replaced with polite nods and acknowledgements. That was cool… I guessed.

  I knocked on Andreas’s door, since his was the first one I came to. I heard him moving about, but it was taking him forever to get to the door. “Are you alright?” I called through the door.

  “Yes, yes, I’ll be right there!” He opened the door abruptly, and he was naked, grinning from ear to ear. His golden locks were tousled and his eyes were sparkling.

  My mouth hung open at seeing all of him, just standing there so casually in the doorway.

  “Helena! Come in, come in,” he ushered.

  I still didn’t have words, but I followed him inside. I had expected him to be in bed, exhausted or traumatized, or maybe even out with Boude and Grace, searching for the lost souls. But nude and possibly drunk, I hadn’t been prepared for.