The black-haired woman from the morning suddenly stood behind the pale woman. She swung a sword at the pale ghost woman’s back. As the blade slashed through her form, the pale woman disintegrated into a puff of black smoke.
The blast of pain shocking his chest dissipated, leaving only a remnant of hurt in Christian. He gasped and rubbed his chest.
The black-haired woman grasped Christian’s arm. Her gaze darted all around as if looking for something. She tugged on his arm, trying to pull him down the street. “Come on,” she urged.
Christian shook his head. “I’m not leaving my daughter.”
She pushed her face close to Christian’s. “She’s not after your daughter.”
She heard him! He glanced down at his arm where her gloved fingers were wrapped and swiftly realized she was actually grasping his arm!
The pale ghost woman suddenly materialized out of nowhere to stand before him. He instinctively recoiled, raising his arm to fend her off.
His black-haired protector kicked the ghost woman right in her stomach, the unearthly power of her strike launching the pale ghost girl clear back across the street.
“Go!” the black-haired woman hollered.
Christian didn’t hesitate this time. He hobbled down the street, his muscles stiff and slow to respond.
The damned ghost woman materialized before him again, her dark-ringed eyes glaring at him. He skidded to a halt. As her hand penetrated his chest, the jolt shot through him again, searing through his body, draining him, sucking the energy from him. He dropped to his knees.
The black-haired woman swung her blade, cleaving the ghost woman into nothing but a black fume. She seized Christian’s arm, pulling him to his feet. “Move!”
Christian stumbled forward, his chest aching.
The black-haired woman ran in front of him, grabbing the front of his shirt to pull him along down the street.
The pale girl appeared again before them, but this time the black-haired woman didn’t even slow when she swung the sword, cutting the ghost woman into a wisp of nothing.
With each step, the pain in Christian’s chest faded. He pushed the agony aside to keep pace with the black-haired woman. They rounded a corner and stopped near the brick wall of a building. When the white ghost woman didn’t appear, Christian demanded, “What the hell is going on?”
“See that car down there in the alley?”
Christian looked, but couldn’t see a car in the darkness. “No.”
She shook her head in exasperation. “Just run. The doors will open, get in.” She stepped forward.
“What? Wait!”
She was gone. Just as quickly as she had appeared to rescue him, she vanished.
Christian stood for a moment, stunned. What the hell? He glanced around, half expecting the pale ghost girl to appear before him again. He looked around the corner, down the empty street, for the black-haired woman, but she was gone. He debated for a moment. He had to return to Aurora. He couldn’t leave her alone with Diana. Would that ghost girl hurt Aurora? He couldn’t very well risk that, either. He rubbed his chest, leaning against the wall. Weariness and fatigue settled about him like a comfortable coat. He felt as if he had just competed in a ten-mile race. That damned ghost girl had done something to him, had pulled something out of him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop her if she attacked again. She had come after him, but there was no way to be certain she wouldn’t hurt Aurora.
He jogged down the dark alley. He would stay with the black-haired woman until he could learn more about what the hell was going on. When he came to the car, he stopped cold. It was not just any car, but a silver Audi R8 Spyder. In the midst of all this chaos, the incredulous thought entered his head. A hot woman with a Spyder?
The doors opened automatically for him.
Christian stood for a moment, staring at the car. Did he get in? He didn’t know this woman. She could be some psycho ghost killer after him. Except for the fact she could have tried to cleave him in two with that sword of hers numerous times, and hadn’t. She had saved him. But Aurora was still alone with Diana.
“Still trying to decide?”
Christian whirled to see her coming out of the darkness. She strode toward him calmly, collected. The leather hugged every one of her curves like a second skin. His gaze swept her from her high-heeled black boots to her dark hair as she walked toward him. He swallowed. “Where’s that creepy ghost girl?”
“Gone,” the black-haired woman responded, moving to the other side of the car. She slid in behind the wheel. “Get in.”
Christian looked down the alley, half expecting the pale ghost woman to appear before him. He knew he shouldn’t get in, but he wanted answers. “I can’t leave my daughter.”
She turned her head to study him. Long hair hung in thick black waves over her shoulder. “I already told you that Changed is not after her.”
“Changed?”
“I’ll explain later. We need to go.”
He straightened away from the car. “I have to make sure my daughter is okay.”
The woman sighed and slid out of the car. She pressed a button and the doors closed.
“Where are you going?” Christian demanded.
“With you.”
Christian didn’t move for a moment. His gaze traveled over her.
“I can’t very well leave you alone when that Changed is going to come back, can I?”
“You said you took care of her.”
“No. I said she was gone. And she is. For the moment. She’ll be back.”
He looked down at the ground. Was he putting Aurora in danger if he stayed with her? “Will that monster hurt my daughter?”
“For now, no. She’s not strong enough.”
He looked up at her. Her hip was cocked to the side, her hand resting on it. “If I go with you, can I take my daughter with?”
Slowly, an amused smile transformed her face. “As appealing as that might be, you can’t.”
For a moment, Christian could only stare. Damn, she was gorgeous. And here he stood, talking to her. When he was alive, a woman like her wouldn’t have given him the time of day. Still, his mind returned to his daughter and he shook his head. “I have to check on her… I’ll go with you after that.”
~~~
Samantha stood in the corner of the room, amidst all the girl’s toys. Teddy bears, a doll house, unicorns. She liked the corners because she could see the entire room. The little girl was beautiful. Blonde curls hung in ringlets around her head. She looked like her father. The same shaped eyes, the same olive coloring.
Christian stood two feet in front of her, watching the child.
Aurora came out of the bathroom and climbed up onto the bed. She yawned, stretching her small arms out into the air.
“Get dressed,” Christian half whispered, half begged.
Of course the child couldn’t hear him, but something inside Samantha responded to the longing in his voice. She remembered how it felt to be unable to communicate with a loved one. Part of her knew it was best to distance herself from the living and their emotions, and part of her responded to his misery. She walked over to the white dresser. When the child was busy picking out which stuffed animal she would sleep with, Samantha took the tiny nightgown from the top of the dresser and laid it out on the bed. Just a reminder for the little girl.
Christian stared at her in awe. “How did you…?”
Aurora crossed the room and stopped when she saw the nightgown. She placed the stuffed unicorn she had picked to sleep with on the bed and removed her clothes, dropping her jeans and then her shirt on the floor. She pulled the nightgown over her head and climbed into the bed.
Christian stared down at the pile of clothing. “How can I pick them up?”
“Concentrate,” Samantha advised. “You have to really believe you can do it.”
Christian bent down and stared at the clothing. He reached for the clothing, but his hand moved right through the jeans.
<
br /> “It takes practice.”
“Diana will beat her if they’re not in the hamper.”
His words sent a chill down Samantha’s spine. She moved over to him, staring at his back. She didn’t doubt for a moment he would keep attempting to pick those clothes up all night. And he might eventually do it, but he also might not. She didn’t feel like waiting to find out. Samantha scooped the clothes up and deposited them into the wicker laundry basket by the door.
When she turned back, Christian was staring down at Aurora. The look on his face was one of longing. A feeling Samantha had been used to for a long time. It was oddly disconcerting to see it so apparent on someone else’s face. She thought she had moved past being affected by that. “We should go now.”
“I’ll have to be back before she wakes.”
“Why?”
Christian stared at the child. He reached out to her and then he pulled his hand back.
“You can’t do anything for her any longer.”
“I can be here.”
Samantha sighed. “You’re less than a shadow to her now.” It was useless to argue with freshies. “Let’s go.”
Christian nodded and followed her out of the house. “I don’t know your name.”
“Samantha.”
“Are you… dead?”
She nodded.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Your new home.”
“I have a home, I don’t need a new one,” Christian said.
“You mean that home where you can’t touch anything?” Samantha shook her head. “That was your human home.”
“My home is anywhere my daughter is.”
How many times had Samantha heard that? How many times had a freshie told her that? How many times had she said it? “Your life is about to change. You’ll have to forget all the rules you learned when you were human. This is your new life.” Samantha led him down the alley to her Spyder. The doors opened as she approached and she slid in.
Christian looked in from the other side. “Nice car.” He squeezed his large body into the passenger’s seat. It was a snug fit.
Samantha started the car. She revved it once and then shifted into gear. It purred until she hit the pedal and the car zoomed forward, peeling out of the alley without even stopping for traffic.
Christian grabbed onto the dashboard, swearing. “Watch out!” They headed directly toward an oncoming white van. Christian’s eyes widened and he flinched.
There was no impact. They zoomed right through the white van and the silver SUV behind it. “Crap.” He swung around to look out the back window. The two vehicles drove away down the street.
Samantha chuckled softly. “Freshie.”
Christian grit his teeth. “Can you please not do that?”
Samantha recognized the nervous tone in his voice. Many of the freshies experienced disorientation and nausea when moving through things. It all stemmed from not being able to do it when they were alive. The new boundaries took some getting used to. She grimaced and swerved around a black Toyota into oncoming traffic and then jerked back into her lane. “That will pass.”
“Slow down!” Christian hollered.
She took an impatient breath and purposely slowed the Spyder to a pace with the rest of the traffic.
Christian sighed. He leaned back into the seat and put his hand to his forehead. “What do you mean that will pass?”
“The feeling you’re getting when you move through things. That is an obvious sign of a freshie.”
“Freshie?”
“Freshly dead.” She spared him a swift glance. “That’s the only question you have?”
He scoffed. “Hardly.”
She beat him to the next question. “How much can you do?”
“Do?” he echoed.
“You’ve been dead now for a couple of days. What have you learned?”
“How’d you know that?”
Samantha shifted the gears again. “I know a lot of things.”
“You’ve been watching me. I saw you standing across the street from my house. Why?”
“Freshies are attractive to the Changed. Either I found you first, or they did.”
“Yeah. You’ve mentioned Changed before. I’m assuming it’s the ghost girl.”
Samantha nodded, grinning. “They’ve been called worse than ghost girl.”
Christian rubbed his chest.
“Hurt like hell, didn’t it?”
Christian nodded. “I’m supposed to be… dead, right? How can I still feel pain like that?”
“Many things still linger from your human form. Pain, unfortunately, is one of them. You’re lucky she didn’t get the whole charge or it would have knocked you flat for days.”
“Can they kill you?” Christian asked. “I mean, permanently?”
The humor left Samantha. “If they drain you completely, yes.”
Christian’s hand moved to the dashboard again for leverage. “Drain you? Of what? Blood?”
“Energy.” Samantha sighed. “There’s a lot you need to know before any of this will make sense. I’ll take you to Daniel. He has much more patience explaining than I do.”
“This car doesn’t make any sense. Aren’t we like ghosts or something? How can we be in a car?” He pounded on the seat, making obvious reference to the physical nature of the chair.
“It’s made of ethereal energy and fused with a touch of iron. That’s what gives it physical form. It’s still separate from the human world, but solid to us.”
“How many miles to the gallon?”
Samantha laughed. “Nice. Like I said, there is a lot for you to learn.”
Christian scowled and glanced at her. A strand of his blond hair fell forward over his dark eyes. “How many dead people are walking around like… us?”
“When you take into account everyone who’s died, not many.”
“And how many of these Changed things are there?”
“Too many.”
~~~
Samantha had many places to park her Spyder to shield her car from the Changed. Not because she thought they would steal it, but because out in the open it was like a beacon for the Changed. Part of her energy was trapped in the car. Her car. Her energy. She would never forget the time one of the Changed lay in waiting for her in the back seat. That was a terrifying moment she never wanted to revisit.
That had been a long time ago. Now, if she was going to be in one place for a while, she had to hide her car behind iron or deep in the earth, which was where they were going now -- deep underground into the Complex’s garage. She put the Spyder in neutral in the middle of the street, just in front of her favorite used bookstore, Granny’s Reads.
Christian glanced at the bookstore. “Your friend Daniel is in here?”
“Close your eyes,” she advised.
He looked at her. “Why?”
Samantha slowly stretched out her right hand toward the dashboard, all the while watching his face.
Christian muttered a curse beneath his breath and looked all around, twisting this way and that to look out the windows, while bracing his hands on the dashboard. “Is that ghost woman back?”
“Christian,” Samantha said softly. When he looked at her with wide, expectant brown eyes, she continued, “Daniel is below ground. It’s part of how we stay hidden from the Changed.”
“Below ground?” Christian echoed, his brow furrowed in a scowl. Then his eyes lit with understanding. “We’re going down?”
She smiled. “Express ride.” She touched the dashboard. Because she was taking the Spyder with her and Christian was inside the car touching its seats, she didn’t need to touch him, too.
Christian gasped as the sudden rush of sensation engulfed him. His fingers curved, holding tightly onto the dashboard.
Samantha had done this so often the feeling of freefalling was nothing to her.
It was over in a second. No jerking stop, just an end to the falling sensation.
; Christian looked around as though he expected something else to happen.
Samantha opened the door and climbed out. She removed her sword and leaned over the back seat to place it on the floor. There was no need to bring it into the Crypt. She turned her eyes to Christian to find him staring at her with an opened mouth gaze. It was the first time she had a chance to really look at him. His blonde hair was cut in a shaggy, longer fashion, his brown eyes large and boyish. His jaw was square and manly. He was not bad looking at all. She mentally shook her head. She had no intention of becoming involved with a freshie. She grinned that sideways cocky grin that came so naturally to her. “You can get out now. Trip’s over.”
He bridled, nodded and opened the door. “Where are we?”
“The Crypt,” Samantha replied, walking forward.
“The Crypt?”
Samantha chuckled. It was the name she and Ben had given the Complex because it was so far underground. Daniel had found it long ago and converted it into their headquarters. They weren’t sure what it had been, but the speculation was that it was an entirely forgotten bomb shelter built beneath Chicago by some reclusive millionaire. “It’s the Complex. Our base.”
“Your base? You mean you and all the other ghost people?” He glanced all around the large garage, up at the ceiling, at the spacious room.
“Some of the other ghost people.” Ghost people. She’d have to remember that for later. It didn’t sound so ominous when you included the word people.
“What do you do down here?” Christian asked, following her across the large garage toward the only door.
“Rest, regenerate, strategize, practice.” She shrugged and cast a glance over her shoulder at him. “Play chess.”
“I don’t know how to play chess.”
“You have plenty of time to learn.” She opened the door. A long set of rickety stairs led the way down deeper into the shelter. She knew it would be faster to faze them into the Crypt, but Samantha wanted Christian to know the dangers Daniel had built into this place to make it Changed proof. “If you ever have to find your way into the Crypt alone, just be cautious.” She began down the stairs. “There are three sections to be wary of. The first is these stairs.” She paused two thirds of the way down and pointed to one of the broken stairs. “This one here is a trap for the Changed. If they step on it…” She looked up, pointing. “A wall of iron will come down and disintegrate them. It will also set off an alarm in the Crypt to alert us there is someone on the way down.”
Resurrection - Episode 1 (Lost Souls) Page 2
