Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife)

by Robles, Joyce

  "What did you do," she accused as soon as he came to a stop, she yanked herself away from him fully aware that he let her. "You can’t just........." but the sentence didn’t finish because behind her she heard it before she felt it, but the rocking beneath her feet only made the deafening roar of the explosion that more real. She knew that it wasn’t as big as it sounded because she wasn’t blown off her feet and no debris came their way despite the fact that they were not that far away. But she could feel the heat, she whirled around to face the building fully expecting to see the neighborhood on fire but true to the vampires word only the mortuary was burning. "I want their names," Jennifer demanded whirling back on the vampire.

  "Whose names," but she could tell that he knew exactly who she was referring to.

  "All of ‘your’ vampires," Jennifer answered through gritted teeth.

  "I imagine they’re all in your glorious database Miss Ryan I see no reason that you should feel the need to have them added with such little provocation." He seemed to be serious and Jennifer could not believe what she was hearing, what the hell had been wrong with her that she had trusted this monster with her life.

  "Little provocation," Jennifer poked a finger into his chest, again fully aware that he was putting up with more from her than most vampires would have bothered. "You just blew up a building, that could have hurt innocent people!" She was yelling, she wasn’t sure why she was yelling but then again she felt light headed too, she didn’t get light headed, she didn’t faint, she would not faint.

  "I suppose if an innocent bystander did just so happen to be in the area despite the fact that my people did a sweep they should simply have counted their blessings that they got such a quick end. I imagine it would be far more pleasant then getting eaten alive." Jennifer drew her hand back away from him and ran it frustratedly through her hair instead, quite a bit of it had come loose from her ponytail. She pushed what had come free behind her ears and tried to calm herself down instead of attempting to initiate a fist fight with a vampire.

  "Fine," was all she could come up with to say at the end of the day, he wasn’t wrong, his disposal had been quick and dirty, but the most effective way that there was. "What do we do now," Jennifer asked only because she had no plan of her own at this point. Remembering that the beast in front of her was hardly her only source of information or back up she pulled her phone out of her pocket but was only confronted by an empty screen, again. "Great," she turned her attention back to the vampire who seemed to be looking through her rather than at her, "what, stop looking at me like that and just spill it already."

  At least when she addressed him he seemed to focus, "the plan Jennifer is that me and mine will continue to canvas the city for what’s left of Dimitri. Since he is operating on very little intelligence, clearly checking any and all places that he was known to go underground is the next step. We have no idea how far along he is in becoming completely mindless but it is better than waiting for him to make another appearance." Jennifer nodded but knew already from how he started explaining his great plan that he was not including her in it.

  "I’m coming with you," she demanded though there wasn’t anything she could do to convince or use to force him to comply.

  "No my little mortal ally, you I fear are well past your ability to function properly. You have gone without sleep for too long and your body has sustained damage enough for one night. You would slow us down and if by some miracle you were present when we found him I fear you would only react as you have with these others." Like a coward, was what he was saying, he thought that she reacted like a coward.

  "Look here you, vampire," she settled on when no other insult came to mind, "I don’t need you to tell me what to do anyway." Jennifer pointed out, she wasn’t even sure why she’d bothered to ask, "I can go canvas for undead freak-shows all on my own, wouldn’t want to slow you down and all." Had that sounded childish, "it’s almost daylight anyway," she pointed out to cover any petulance she might have displayed, "looks like I’ve got more time then you do," and the petulance was back. She should probably be relieved that the vampire she was dealing with seemed to be stock full of patience because she was pretty sure if she’d been in his super-human shoes and he was being this annoying she would have snapped his neck already.

  "Jennifer," he soothed, "think this through, you need rest and as it has become very clear you are in dire need of answers." He gave her an apologetic smile, "if you were one of mine I’d order you to rest so you could be fully prepared for the battle to come, but as you are not I can only ask you. Rest, speak to your cousin, then find me."

  Jennifer held her breath as he stepped in closing distance between them that she should not allow him to close. "What if I don’t want to find you," she asked pretty certain that even if she did want to find him she would do everything in her power to ignore any such compulsion.

  He made a curious noise before reaching up and pulling her hair free of her ponytail, she let him, she shouldn’t have let him. "I think it’s likely I will come in search of you," Jennifer was pretty sure her heart fluttered in her chest, it shouldn’t have done that, she tried to convince herself it had reacted in fear. "You are one who keeps your word, yes," he asked with his fingers now curled through her freed hair. Jennifer just nodded completely unsure where he could be thinking of going with this line of questioning. "Good, I would like you to promise me that you will rest first, go home, clean yourself up, and sleep. If you promise me this I will consider it a favor and will repay it in kind by giving you each and every name of my loyal allies. As I currently count you among them I see no harm that can come of it," he finished but didn’t let go of her hair. "Do you promise?"

  Jennifer nodded first fully aware that vampires would never consider a deal sealed until the words were spoken so she finally choked out, "yes, I promise." She told herself she was agreeing because he was giving her information she not only wanted but at some point would definitely need, not because he was touching her and she liked it.

  "Good," without giving warning his hand dropped out of her hair, and whatever non-power he’d had over her seemed to ebb. She wanted to accuse him of using his vampire hoodoo on her but she knew that he hadn’t. She’d experienced it often enough to know what that really felt like, and whatever was going on between the two of them was not that. "You should head home, Dominik will stay behind to ascertain that we’ve taken care of all here."

  "But it’ll be daylight soon," not that she held any concern for a vampire or anything.

  "You’re concern is touching," sarcasm that was a first, "where are you parked?" Jennifer gave her current surroundings a once over, she was exhausted and had a blocks walk to make.

  "Back in the parking lot across the way," she supposed that her parking across the street was a blessing now as perhaps the car had survived unscathed by debris. "I guess I’d better....Hey!" Very lamely she tried to protest as he snatched her out of what little space that had been between them and zapped them back the blocks distance with his freak-speed. "I didn’t ask you to do that," Jennifer tried not to shriek at him but vampire speed was damned disorienting when you weren’t a vampire.

  "You are welcome," was Ethan’s only response, "since the danger has passed perhaps you might consider putting your pistol away while you drive."

  Jennifer puffed out an irritated breath looking down to find the Beretta still in her hand but unused, so unlike her. Relenting without a word she tucked it back into her waistband, "I can’t believe I agreed to any of this." That was the truth of the matter, she could not believe that she was going to do anything a vampire suggested or asked of her. But the truth was, she was injured, she was exhausted and she’d been damn near useless tonight.

  "Believe me Jennifer you won’t regret it," he promised even though she was pretty certain she already did. But she didn’t voice any concerns, it would have been a waste of breath, he clearly thought he was awesome and that she was or should be thrilled that he’d bother to m
ake her an ally. In fact she’d done it in word only, she hadn’t expected to need his help, and had no intention of asking for it, she hadn’t even been certain that she would contact him the way she’d promised. She was however certain that at least for now she was going home to take a shower, and get sleep. She would start her day early, talk to her cousin because if he really had some answers she would have them and then get her ass back to work. Without waiting for the vampire to say or do anything else she climbed into the drivers side of the car put the key in the ignition and paused to pull out her phone. Hesitantly she pulled up her cousins number and sent him a brief text. ‘Need some information, I’ll call you in the morning.’

  She hadn’t yet closed the car door and realized when she tried that the vampire had his hand on it. "What no goodbye Miss Ryan?" Instead of answering him she did her best to simply glare at him, "as you wish, at any rate I wish you good night and I’ll be seeing you soon enough." She tried to convince herself that it had just been a frisson of fear that had shivered up her spine and not anticipation.

  "Whatever," she finally grumbled and still fully aware that it only happened because he allowed it she yanked the car door closed, turned the ignition and drove away.

  Chapter 15

  Jennifer pulled into her driveway at five o’clock in the morning, it was still dark out but the sun would be coming up soon enough. Figuring that if she took a very quick shower she could maybe push to sleep for four hours. She realized that she would need most of the day still but if she didn’t push for sleep she was likely to get none until this was over. Besides, she was pretty sure the vampire would know somehow if she didn’t, and she really did want those names.

  As soon as she pulled into the drive and made her way to the door she pulled her own keys from her pocket and unlocked the door. Within the second that the door opened Khan was there to greet her like he almost always was. "Hey buddy," she rasped, wishing like hell she could just pass out in bed, but a shower was a must after everything she’d been exposed to today. She gave the giant dog, she suspected a strange mix of German-Shepard and Doberman a pat on the head before locking the door and dead-bolting it behind her

  . She could have been entirely wrong about his mix, she had made a guess going on what she thought he looked like, but his size defied either breed, his head came to her hips when he was standing straight up, maybe there was some pony in his blood. He made his usual growl in greeting and then went about following her through the house. First she collected a trash bag from the kitchen, and then she dragged herself to the bathroom. She had no idea if she had gotten anything on herself tonight that could prove contagious so she was taking no chances. As soon as she was in the bathroom she stripped down until she was wearing nothing and tossed everything but the Beretta into the trash bag, even her coat. She regretted the loss of it as it was comfortable, but in the end its loss was better than any zombie potential it might possess now. So she tossed it all in the bag and sealed it up tight before jumping in the shower, she made quick work of getting clean as at least she’d known that she hadn’t gotten any of those things blood on her skin. When she was done she still added the loofa she’d used to the trash bag just to be safe. All the while Khan sat patiently in the room like any over protective dog would. The canine seemed to believe it was his purpose in life whenever they were together. Otherwise he was as free a spirit as ever, he had been a stray when she’d found him and no attempt that she’d made to contain him had been successful. So in the end he’d ended up with a doggie door that let him go outside, and he had no trouble jumping the fence. She had no idea what he did when she wasn’t around which was a good majority of the time, but she did know that no matter what time of day she came home he was always there to greet her. She gave him another pat on the head after she wrapped a towel around herself.

  She was in no mood to waste time she didn’t have so she simply took her bag of discarded cloths and tossed them in the basement, closing the door behind her until she had time to deal with them. Then she headed to her room, pony sized Khan trailing behind, and managed to pull on undergarments before slipping under her sheets. She felt Khan climb unto the opposite end of the bed as the bed dipped but was too tired to look. She had gone longer then two days without sleep before but she couldn’t remember a time that it had left her feeling this physically and emotionally exhausted. As soon as she closed her eyes she immediately drifted off to sleep, Ethan’s words from their encounter earlier at the club ringing through her head, "you really don’t remember seeing this before do you?"

  The little girl sat on the couch watching her father walk around the house as she always did, he was her hero, it was the same for her sisters. He had come home injured again from work, there were no lies in their family, so she always knew that he’d escaped the monsters yet again. She had hugged him when he’d come in the door because she always did right before he left and when he returned. Today was her sister Josephine’s thirteenth birthday and consequently her second oldest sister’s birthday was only a month behind, Julia would be eleven. Her own birthday was months away in October something that didn’t bother her except in the fact that her older sisters were closely knit in a way that she was not included at five years of age.

  As it was Jo’s birthday she tried to reign in her usual need to try and hold her father’s attention indefinitely. It was her only goal in life to grow up to be exactly like him so she spent every minute she could trying to listen and learn from him, she was determined not to be afraid of the monsters like her older sisters, she wanted the monsters to be afraid of her. Her mother was saying something to her father that she couldn’t quite make out and when he said nothing in return she put her focus back on the coloring book and crayon she had in hand. But then there was a bang and her mother was screaming, when she looked back her father was on the floor convulsing. Before she could think she had dropped the coloring book on the floor and was running over to help get her daddy up. She pushed past her two sisters who were screaming and backing away to try to help, was almost there when her father fell still. "Daddy?"

  Like something in her voice registered her father’s form twitched where it lay otherwise completely still, her attention was riveted to his still form willing him to get up, he was a hero, hero’s couldn’t die. She barely noticed her mother crouched over his figure to busy praying for him to get up, to keep fighting, because that was what he had always told her hero’s did. She felt the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, spilling down her cheeks, "DADDY!" As if his still form had heard her his eyes flashed open, and for a second, at five years old, she thought God must have heard her prayers, that God had saved her Dad. But then her mother noticed his eyes were open, relief flooded her features and she put her hand to her husbands’s cheek.

  "Baxter, look at me, what happened, are you okay?" For a moment nothing happened, her father did nothing and the room had fallen silent as if waiting for him to take a breath, he never did. He never said a word, never gave any warning, her father simply lunged straight up off the floor where he’d fallen and clamped his teeth around his wife’s throat. For a moment she stood stock still, uncomprehending as to what had just happened, paralyzed by the sight of her father’s teeth sinking into her mother’s neck. Unable to move as he thrashed his head from side to side dislodging flesh, splattering blood, her mother’s screams disintegrating into gurgling. Her mother’s throat gave away so quickly, but just like that the room was a frenzy again, people screaming, all the grown-ups near by trying to wrestle her parents apart. All the while she stood still, unable to move, to run to or away from what was happening in front of her, terror holding her still as her father for all intents and purposes tried to eat her mother.

  She was finally pushed off her feet when an adult that was trying to pull her father off her mother got thrown back and stumbled into her. Through glassy eyes she watched through the gaps in standing legs as her father was thrust back to the floor, as others tried to staunch flowi
ng blood coming in red waves from her mothers shredded throat. She saw her sisters huddled together on the opposite side of the room and wished that she was there with them. She heard someone cry, "Jesus he bit me!" As if it were the key to chaos her father ripped free of his confines, but instead of escaping he simply locked his jaws on any and all flesh within reach. And still she couldn’t move from her seat, she wanted to scream, to run, but she simply sat and watched.

  "Jenny," it took her name a moment to register, it took a hard shake before her eyes tore away from the monster that used to be her father, her hero. "Jennifer, get up," the face she met looking down at her was her Uncle, in his arms he held his son. Nothing he said registered past the screaming, it grew louder by the second, she glanced down at the carpet quickly turning red and couldn’t make the words her Uncle said make sense. When her eyes wandered back to her mother she finally did scream, screamed and couldn’t stop at the sight of her mother, bloody throated, tearing open Josephine’s stomach, pulling out pieces of red with her fingers and stuffing them in her mouth.

  She didn’t stop screaming until her Uncle forced her to her feet and dragged her to the stairs where he dropped his son on his feet beside her. "RUN!" he yelled at them, Jennifer did nothing, for a moment her Cousin stood still too. "Douglas, you take your cousin’s hand and RUN!" Her Uncle turned away from them, had something in his hand which he promptly used to hit someone with. "RUN!" He yelled again and if by some miracle it seemed to break through to her Cousin, he took hold of her hand and dragged them both up the stairs. She heard her Uncle’s footsteps following, the sounds of his pursuit only interrupted when he paused long enough to beat something back. She never looked back to see who he was hitting, didn’t think she’d stop screaming if it was her Father or Mother. Her cousin dragged her into the master bedroom, her parents bedroom, they made it halfway into the room before her Uncle came charging in behind them. He tried to slam the door and failed, limbs flung out to stop him, heedless to injury as he slammed them ruthlessly in attempts to get the door closed. Doug ran up and tried to help, she stood still, watching familiar faces snap bloodied jaws and try to force their way in. Tears wouldn’t stop spilling, she hiccupped as sobs racked her shoulders, she didn’t move from the spot her Cousin had left her until her Uncle slammed the door. "The chair Doug, get me the chair," he bumped into her as he rushed across the room and dragged the chair back to his father. She watched him jam the chair beneath the handle and wedge it tight. "It won’t last long," he looked down to his son and back to her. "Doug, take Jennifer and get in the closet, hide in there and don’t make a sound, do you hear me, not a sound."