Rose of Jericho (Lilith Adams Series Book 2)

by Jenny Allen

  Chapter 25

  A woman with bitter chocolate skin speckled with dark freckles along her cheeks eased into the alley with a spine-tingling, other worldly grace. It almost seemed like she was floating into the alley on her cryptic tribal chant, her long, black skirts swishing and her dreadlocks swaying rhythmically. Her tangled mass of necklaces tinkled like death bells, decorated with charms, rough pewter pendants, and bits of bone that looked human in origin. The woman made Lilith want to crawl out of her skin even without the mob of corpses huddling around her.

  Of course, Lilith immediately recognized her as the voodoo woman Chance spotted in the alley behind Walton’s apartment. She had seemed so odd, so out of place, in the big city, but here, now, it felt like Lilith and Nicci had been transported to her world. Even the ally seemed to darken with every word from her full lips. It was just a trick of the mind and clouds passing in front of the afternoon sun, but that didn’t make it any less creepy. Especially with her zombies crowding in around her, flanking each side like a moving wall of death and decay.

  Resting in her open palms like a precious jewel was a very odd little plant. What had Chance called it? The Rose of Jericho? It certainly didn’t like any rose she’d ever seen. To Lilith, it looked like a miniature tumbleweed, brown and shriveled except for the peeks of vibrant green at the base, but the way she cradled it close to her... That explained the trace in the apartments.

  She’d been there before them, looking for the book. Of course, this woman just had to look at the driver’s licenses she’d stolen from their mutilated bodies to get the addresses. Not to mention, she’d had at least a day’s head start. Even with that they’d just barely missed her at Walton’s place. The real question was how had she found Haverty’s address? Haverty was extremely paranoid. He’d never work with people that would just have his name and address lying around and she definitely didn’t have Haverty’s driver’s license.

  Finally, the woman came to a stop, closing her full lips and standing tall. This woman had all the power and she damn well knew it. Lilith and Nicci were just rats in an unsolvable maze. Then Lilith noticed something that truly struck her. As soon as the woman stopped singing, the zombies slumped in place with completely blank faces. They were empty husks, androids in the off position. How the hell did she animate them?

  Lilith’s eyes widened with surprise as a thought occurred to her. Was it actually possible that this woman controlled the corpses like Peisinoe controlled men? Was she serenading the dead to life? But how? Controlling a mind, altering its perception of reality was one thing. But reanimating dead tissue and controlling something that was mindless? It was insane! There was no logical, scientific answer for how the woman could accomplish this and Lilith wasn’t willing to accept voodoo magic as an explanation.

  Tension hung thick in the air as the woman stood there silently, her dark eyes studying Lilith. When her eyes swung to Nicci, the woman’s head tilted slightly to one side without a trace of recognition and for a millisecond, her lips pursed. Lilith was definitely a target, but not Nicci. However, the pursed lips told Lilith that the woman didn’t care. Nicci was here, therefore she was now a target.

  To hell with that. She refused to be responsible for another partner’s death. She couldn’t relive Alvarez’s death, not when she could do something about it. Lilith pressed her back against the wall and shouted to Nicci. “Climb up, get yourself over the wall. Now!” Lilith slid down the wall enough to bend her knees, giving Nicci a starting point. They couldn’t both make it out, but at least she could give Nicci a fighting chance, no matter how painful it was going to be.

  Immediately, she ran over, her heart-shaped face fixed in a business-like climber’s scowl. Nicci planted her foot on Lilith’s knee before lifting herself up. Her fingertips found grooves in the wall large enough to use as she stepped up onto Lilith’s good shoulder. The woman was just watching them, as motionless as her zombie horde, except for the slight lift of amusement to her lips. When Nicci’s foot hit Lilith’s injured shoulder, screams filled the air. Lilith fought just to keep her position and not collapse in a useless heap on the ground.

  “Dere es no point en runnin’.” The woman’s voice was so low and her accent so thick that it took Lilith’s brain a few seconds to decipher her words. The accent sounded familiar, like Carribeaen mixed with French, but she couldn’t quite place the country. “You com wit mae.” Her tone was low and rumbling like a storm on the horizon, but there was also a firmness to it that left no room for questions. She wasn’t asking, she was commanding.

  Lilith tore her eyes away and looked up as Nicci’s foot left her shoulder. She had her hands on the top of the wall. Her shoes caught on the brick and she hauled herself up. As soon as she was on top, Nicci turned and held out her hand. “Come on. You have to try. Give me your hand.”

  Lilith didn’t have a boost and she seriously doubted that one of the zombies would volunteer to spot her. Hell, even if both of her arms were in good, working condition, there was no way she’d make it to the top and Nicci’s tiny hundred-pound frame definitely wouldn’t be able to take her weight. No, the climbing the wall wasn’t an option. “Go! Find Cohen and get help!”

  Lilith pushed off the wall, and ran over to the dumpster, grabbing a length of wood from a broken pallet. If she was gonna go down, she was gonna go down swinging. A howling laugh swirled through the air, raising goose bumps across Lilith’s flesh. The sound was so dark and eerie that Lilith actually found herself shivering.

  “You canno fite wit mae.” The woman’s voice cackled in deep, growling tones as her intense eyes glinted with humor. When Lilith didn’t drop the wood plank, the woman’s shoulders shrugged before her creepy chanting began. The words seemed to dance in the air, surrounding Lilith in a tornado of soul-eating dread.

  Lilith’s eyes snapped to the dozen zombies behind her. Life seemed to breathe into their still, dead forms as soon as she started chanting. Their chests rose, their heads lifted, their sightless eyes swiveled to Lilith, almost in unison. Suddenly, her heart was beating against her ribs like they were prison bars. Pops and cracks of degrading joints crept through the air as the corpses began to move, some at a quick walk, some in a lumbering limp.

  Lilith backed up slowly, her eyes scanning each and every corpse for weaknesses. There was one corpse unable to move behind the others. The left leg was crumpled uselessly beneath him and his entire midsection hung in tendrils of tattered flesh and intestines. What was left of his skin was leathery and decayed. He definitely looked like the oldest of the lot. Slowly, the woman strolled towards the pathetic corpse, her full, dark lips frowning at his broken body.

  The voodoo woman shifted her plant to one hand, and lifted a sliced palm to drip several drops of blood into the mouth of the unresponsive zombie. Immediately, his leg seemed to straighten enough to support his weight, and he began to lumber awkwardly forward. Even his leathery skin seemed a touch more supple, more lifelike. Lilith didn’t have time to think about the implications, the rest of the hoard was closing in.

  A rock flew, striking one of the zombies in the head, knocking it sideways just enough to stumble. Lilith followed the trail of the rock to see Nicci still crouched on top of the wall, trying to help in any way that didn’t require jumping back down into the alley. Lilith couldn’t blame her. This wasn’t her fight.

  “Nicci. Just go, please. Get help.” Reluctantly, she nodded, her long ponytail flipping over her shoulder and then she dropped down out of sight. It was just Lilith, the Voodoo witch and her zombies now. Lilith put her back to the wall, eliminating one side from danger but there were still way too many for her to fight on even ground. Then her eye caught on the big, rusting dumpster.

  Lilith tossed her improvised weapon on top of the dumpster and grabbed the ledge with both hands. Her left arm screamed with sharp, bone deep pain but her survival instinct refused to let her give in to it. With her jaw clenched in fierce determination and adrenaline, she ignored the tortuous p
ain and scrambled up the side of the metal beast.

  As soon as she was perched on top, her left arm hung loose at her side, refusing to cooperate. Her good hand tightened around the wooden slat, splinters biting into her palm, as the deadly corpses surrounded the rusting hulk. Fists banged against the hollow metal and exposed bone scratched down the sides, the sharp, screeching sounds ripping down Lilith’s spine until she couldn’t hear anything else. Even the sound of her blood pounding in her ears was drowned out in the noise.

  Despair and panic burned in her belly. Sooner or later the corpses would find a way up, get their viciously strong hands on her and then it would all be over. Lilith choked on the bile rising in her throat and tightened her grip on the wood again.

  Splinters broke the skin, tearing at her palm and burning her fears away into a moment of clarity. She couldn’t let go of life passively. She had to throw the passion of everything she had left to live for in this fight, no matter the outcome. How many times in the past hour had she thought ‘This is it. I’m gonna die.’? Well she was still alive. Now she just had to stay that way.

  Shriveled hands clasped the top of the dumpster, the skin breaking apart to reveal worn bone. Lilith released a war cry that boomed off the walls as she slammed the wooden plank onto them. Pieces of bone went flying as the wrists crumpled under the force. There was no accompanying screech of pain, just a thud as the body hit the ground. There was something terrifyingly wrong about an enemy that can’t feel anything at all and it chilled her to the marrow.

  Lilith peeked over the side to see one of the zombies that’d killed the cabbie lying on the ground, his useless hands scraping at the pavement as he tried to get back up. One hand flopped back against his forearm, all the bones in his hand and wrist shattered. The feet of his comrades trampled over him as they reached and strained, trying to grab her. One hand swiped through her auburn curls, thankfully unable to grasp it, but Lilith shoved back from the edge as a second hand reached for her.

  Then the metal beast lurched sideways onto two wheels with a violent jerk. Lilith dropped the wooden plank and desperately grabbed for the side, her fingers curling under the lid. She watched as her only weapon slid off the dumpster and clattered to the ground. Shit. They were gonna push the dumpster onto its side.

  The rusting metal heap crashed back to the ground hard. Lilith’s chin slammed against the top, rattling her teeth while her arm screamed in protest. The pain was so sharp that her vision went black for a second as wave after wave of nausea hit her. She barely had time to catch a breath before the dumpster lurched back up onto two wheels, tipping farther this time.

  Lilith screamed and kicked as hands grabbed for her legs. She caught one in the chin, sending him flying back, teeth clinking on the pavement like chicklets. The dumpster slammed back to the ground with a thunderous bang that left her ears ringing. This time the broken bone flared with such agonizing pain that Lilith blacked out completely.

  When her eyes fluttered open again seconds later she had to swallow down the acrid bile in her throat. She tightened her grip on the edge of the dumpster, ignoring the burning muscle fatigue.

  She needed a plan. The next shove would definitely tip the beast over. Then she’d be exposed. She didn’t have a prayer of climbing over the edge as it moved. Even if she didn’t have a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, she wasn’t a rock climber. If only real life was like the movies. A little blood, a latex body suit and she’d be able to leap over the dumpster, climb right up the wall and escape unscathed.

  Being a real vampire was far less glamorous. She had all the negatives with only one cool bonus, semi-immortality. Of course, that plus didn’t count for crap if you got yourself merc’ed by a zombie hoard.

  The dumpster lurched up again, its metallic groan crawling down her nerves as it slowly tipped further and further. Her fingers burned and her dislocated shoulder pulled screams of excruciating pain from her lips as she clung to the edge for dear life. Hands hooked in her clothing, another wrapped around her ankle. She struggled and kicked as the dumpster kept tipping to the side. Finally, the rusted beast slammed onto its side with a deafening boom and the corpse hands fell away with the jarring jolt. She used the momentum to roll to the ground.

  Without a second’s hesitation, she shoved herself up. Her left arm gave way under the weight, but she still managed to get to her feet and then she just ran. She sprinted past the few grasping hands on that side and propelled her body toward the street, toward freedom, toward life. She could hear the fervent chanting of the woman behind rising to a fevered pitch. She could hear the pounding feet behind her, but she blocked it all out, focusing on the end of the alley. It became her whole world, her only chance.

  She wrung every ounce of energy left in her muscles and poured them into that one spot. Her heart started to trip and pound the closer she got. If she could just make it to that one spot she’d be safe.

  Adrenaline flooded her body with a sudden burst of euphoria as her pounding feet hit the sidewalk on the main road. The traffic on the street ahead was still in gridlock so she couldn’t hop into a cab. The attempt hadn’t ended too well for the last cab driver and she wasn’t going to make another one face the same fate.

  She could see down to the next main street though and that traffic was moving at a decent pace. She veered through the street of stopped cars, never looking over her shoulder. She kept herself focused, using every bit of that adrenaline to propel herself forward. She cut down the alley, picking her way through piles of trash and finally emerged on the busy street. Her hand flew up as she neared the corner, hoping to hail a cab quickly. She came to a screeching halt at the edge of the street and paced back and forth, panting for breath, every single muscle screaming in pain. Cabs flew by, one after the other, and the panic started to rise.

  Lilith glanced back down the alley and saw the mass of zombies swarming around the parked cars. The voodoo woman calmly cradled her plant and strolled along behind them without a care in the world. She obviously didn’t care about staying out of public view and who could really blame her. It was the night before Halloween, the one time of year she could direct a small army of corpses through Manhattan without even raising an eyebrow.

  “You getting’ in, Lady?”

  Lilith spun around to see a cab sitting right in front of her, the driver’s side window rolled down. The driver stared at her like she was mentally handicapped, his middle-aged face a mask of impatience with anger brewing just under the surface. She grabbed the handle, yanked the door open and slid into the backseat as fast as she could.

  “Where to?”

  Lilith slammed the door shut and watched as the horde thundered down the alleyway. Her heart fluttered nervously in her chest as the first one stumbled out onto the sidewalk. “Just drive!”

  “This ain’t some movie and I’m not a damn mind reader, princess. Where to?”

  Lilith’s frustrated mind tripped over the dozen addresses floating in her brain as she stared at the four corpses now pounding down the sidewalk. The others were right behind them with their puppet master calmly bringing up the rear. She just needed to get out of here, it didn’t matter where right now.

  She blurted the first address that popped into her head just before hands slammed against the window. Lilith scrambled quickly across the seats, trembling and shaking. Her heart was beating like a caged rabbit, threatening to beat right out of her chest.

  “Damn kids!” The cabbie started to reach under his seat and all Lilith could think of was the last cab driver that had tried that. It definitely hadn’t ended well for him.

  “Just drive!! Now! Twenty extra if you put this damn car in gear and get us the hell out of here.” More hands slammed against the car, rocking it to the side. Lilith’s fingers dug into the cheap microfiber seat as her stomach churned. They had to get out of here now!

  The car launched forward, slamming her back into the seats. The high-pitched squeal of fingernails and bone scrapping against the
car filled the air and then…silence. She clawed her way up to the rear window and saw the group of corpses standing there, watching. She didn’t take her eyes off them until they turned a corner a few blocks down. Finally, the adrenaline started to seep away, her laundry list of injuries throbbing and aching as her heart finally started to slow down. She’d done it. Escaped the impossible…again. Her guardian angel was on some serious steroids with a side of Hulk-esque gamma radiation.

  Lilith leaned back against the seat, closing her eyes against the migraine that was roaring back to life, the stabbing pains in her arm, the bullet wound in her shoulder and the deep gouges down her arm that stung like fire under the makeshift shirt bandage. What she wouldn’t give to have Cohen’s healing ability back again.

  Chapter 26

  Lilith stared out of the cab window at the unassuming colonial style house with a frozen grimace on her face. The brown patches in the once lush, green lawn heralded the change of seasons. The slate blue paint was pristine against the brilliant white shutters and sparkling clean windows. It looked like any other house on the block, but it was who lived inside that terrified Lilith. When the cab driver demanded an address, she’d just blurted out the first one that came to mind. Now that she was here, on the edge of Brooklyn, fear kept her from opening the cab door.

  “Don’t forget that twenty ya owe me. I don’t know who those people were, but if the cops come asking questions, I’ll have no choice but to tell them exactly what I saw.” He flashed a questioning look in the rearview mirror and Lilith realized that the “upright” cab driver was fishing for a bigger tip. A few extra dollars to keep his mouth shut. Of course, the fact that he didn’t freak the hell out meant that he hadn’t seen anything significant. Besides, what cop would believe that a bunch of rotting corpses attacked his cab?

  “I am the police, so I don’t think that will be an issue.” Technically, she worked with the police. She’d never gone through the Police Academy, never worked the streets. She had a badge and her gun permits, but she was not an officer, just a technical investigator. Of course, the cabbie didn’t need to know that.