Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife)

by Robles, Joyce

  "It’s not your fault," Jennifer looked up as Marcia took a seat next to her on the abandoned carousel. Tom had forced them back away from that door, probably afraid that Jennifer would charge off to save body parts, or maybe he thought she’d lose her shit and explode all magical in front of his people. In any case she hadn’t cared, she’d let him drag her away because what more could she do, even if Malcolm hadn’t been killed he would have been bitten before she could get to him. One way or another Malcolm was already dead, not that it justified the way he’d died, he’d deserved better. "Jennifer it wasn’t your fault," Marcia repeated when Jennifer went about ignoring her. "The two of us should have known better, I should have talked him out of it," if she was looking for Jennifer to tell her it wasn’t her fault in return she was barking up the wrong tree. "But when he said that we could prove to you that we were still a team I thought he was right, but those things, I wasn’t ready for those things." The underlying meaning there being she’d probably thought she would be dealing with something rational, what she’d gotten was a bonafide zombie.

  "You’d been expecting what, more vampires," Jennifer asked likely just this side of spiteful.

  "Dimitri is a vampire," Marcia tried to argue.

  "He was a vampire," she grudgingly admitted, "now he’s something else."

  "I know," Marcia insisted, "I knew the minute we saw those things in the dark that it was so much worse."

  "You’re completely blind aren’t you," Jennifer jumped to her feet, "you think because vampires are beautiful and charming and on occasion lucid that you’re not dealing with a monster? Are you so simple that a pretty outer package has you fooled, these things, these revenants are just vampires stripped down to their basics. Killing and feeding off of innocent people is all they do," Jennifer kicked the side of the carousel breaking out pieces of a grime covered mirror. She was trying to ignore the tear streaked Marcia as well as the attention of Tom’s people patrolling the floors. "Don’t tell me this isn’t my fault," she warned when the medium looked like she was going to say something. "This is on me," she stuck her finger in her co-workers face before ordering, "get cleared by Tom’s people and get back to the church where it’s safe." More tears were imminent but Jennifer was in no place herself to be a shoulder, Doug would serve as a better consoler. "Please just go," she wanted her safe, away from here, "please." When Marcia nodded and took off in the direction of Tom’s horrific decontamination team Jennifer deflated and stumbled back to sit on the carousel’s platform.

  Once upon a time this place had held good memories for her, she had so few good memories anymore from her childhood. This was just another one that felt like it had been erased, she would likely never think of this building again without reliving Malcolm’s death. The look on his face when those hands had taken hold of him, she would always see that look and know that it should have been her.

  "Should I have been insulted by your little speech back there," Jennifer nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked over her shoulder to find Ethan looming over her.

  "Jesus Christ," she swore but made no move to pull a weapon, "what are you doing here?"

  "Your government friend invited me, here I’d thought that was because of you." He gave one of his charmingly crooked smiles, "then again given your speech to your friend I think rather not."

  Jennifer shrugged, "just because you come off as a descent human being doesn’t mean I don’t still think vampires are monsters. Ada started this," just saying that reality put things in perspective, there was vengeance to be paid on that account.

  "She did," Jennifer watched him as he cautiously, and at human-speed, made to sit down next to her. It should have put her ill at ease, but she’d been aware that his proximity should have done that from the beginning but it didn’t. "Going after her won’t be easy," which wasn’t information he had to share with her, she’d been nearly killed without a fight with that monster. And even if that had never occurred she’d barely survived a gun fight with Nickolei who had been a vampire less than half Ada’s age or strength.

  "I’m not a fool, if I thought I could handle her on my own I would have done it already." She was going to get up and stomp off but one look at his face had her planted in her seat, "what is wrong with you? You told me that you’d been Nickolei’s creator, which essentially made you his vampire-papa. I killed him," she reminded in case he’d forgotten, they should not be on the same side. This revenant thing was a one time deal, or it should be but she was getting a vibe from him that indicated he didn’t think so.

  "You put him out of his misery," Ethan told her.

  "He didn’t seem miserable to me," he’d seemed down right plucky so far as she could remember. "You should be pissed, isn’t he one of yours," Jennifer taunted, aware that he was probably as protective of his team as she was of her own.

  "He wouldn’t have liked me and mine, even if he had Ada would not have let him go." She got the impression there was a huge story here she didn’t care to hear. This time she did stand up with the intent to leave but before she could take off the vampire actually had the nerve to take hold of her hand.

  "What are you doing," she gave a pathetic attempt to dislodge the appendage but she knew that she was putting little effort into the movement because his grip was not at all forceful.

  "I am sorry for the loss of your people, it is not an easy burden but you know as well as I that there is always a price to be paid when war is waged and that price is always paid in blood in this Afterlife." Jennifer shook her head at him, "and it is a price me and mine will gladly pay when it’s Ada’s turn." Jennifer huffed but sat down next to him again, she was still trying to figure out how they were going to deal with the revenant situation, she couldn’t wrap her head around the Ada situation just yet.

  "To be clear, when Ada’s turn comes," she paused looking down at his hand around hers, "I’m going to kill her."

  "I wouldn’t have it any other way," he didn’t look like he was lying, but then he was an exceptional liar.

  She looked at him full on to tell him, "if you’re lying, if say this did happen and you were playing me for your masters sake, I’ll kill you to."

  "And so you should, but I assure you I am not playing you," Jennifer exhaled almost relieved just to hear it, even if it was just another lie. Without thinking about it she gave into momentary exhaustion and leaned her head on his shoulder. More time then she’d realized had passed if the vampire was here, but she was glad it had passed without her notice, she was glad to see him.

  "Jennifer!" Tom snapped from across the room, he’d either come from somewhere or had been watching her for some time, he clearly didn’t like what he’d seen. Tiredly she leaned away from the vampire and sat up straight to face him. She half expected some kind of reprimand which gratefully never came, "we’re moving out." He didn’t address Ethan just marched off in another direction probably to get his people ready.

  "Here we go again," Jennifer got to her feet, and the vampire followed before she could blink.

  "Lead the way," he offered her his arm all old school gentlemen and she rolled her eyes deciding to ignore him, content that he would follow when she marched off in front of him.

  ✦✦✦✦

  She hadn’t realized until Tom led them back down to the basement that Ethan’s people had been trailing them the whole time, all six. She probably should have known, there were a multitude of reasons that she should have been able to notice them. She chalked her obtuseness up to the fact that she’d been trying to ignore Ethan on her way to the basement, and then once she’d reached it hadn’t been able to take her eyes from the pool of blood that was seeping it’s way into the concrete. There were a multitude of reactions that all seemed to want to hit her at once and she could react on none of them. Part of her wanted to shoot Tom for stopping her before she could try to pull her friend inside, part of her wanted to break into tears and never stop, that same part was probably the one that wanted to lock down. She c
ould simply curl into a little ball and never get up again, there would be no failing anyone ever again if there was no one to fail. It was probably the most tempting thought in the bunch, but that blood was all that was left of someone that she’d cared for deeply and he deserved more then that. He would have wanted this to be stopped, he wouldn’t have wanted it to happen to anyone else. That was why she had no time for tears or mourning or anything else, there was only room for vengeance.

  Tom included only three of his own people in this little meeting, one she didn’t recognize, he had very general, forgettable features even, brown eyes, the only memorable thing about him was that he had a short cut mohawk. The second was a female she’d seen once or twice, Jennifer tended to remember her specifically because of her amazon height as opposed to her run way model features. The third she’d met on multiple occasions, his hair had once been a chestnut brown but had silvered almost all the way through giving it a dusty look, but even more definable was his ludicrous handle-bar mustache. Perry was probably around the same age Manson had been, and one of the best like Manson too. He usually greeted her by reminding her that she’d lost a bet with him and that she still owed him five bucks, today he simply offered her a nod. She grimly returned the greeting, aware that these two men wouldn’t be the only personnel that Tom would bring with him but still found it disconcerting that he didn’t simply include them all especially given that put more vampires in the room then humans at the moment.

  "We’ll start with a simple question," Tom started as soon as everyone was in the room, "we need to know how many vampires we can expect to be down there."

  Jennifer looked beside her aware that Tom was talking to Ethan, not even at gun point, that was something she wouldn’t have expected. She folded her arms over her chest putting the door she and Marcia had been pulled through to her back while waiting for his answer. "As far as we know only three of ours have disappeared, I can not say if vampires from other covens in the area have missing numbers."

  "Three is a lot," Jennifer supplied.

  "For a human perhaps," Ethan chided addressing her albite not at all seriously, "no need for alarm that is why I’m assuming we are here." Ethan indicated his small group of vampires, if he was right and there were only three revenants from vampire origins that would give them two to one odds. Those were considerably better odds than the ones Tom and her were looking to face.

  "I was not alarmed," she grumbled even though it probably would have looked better for her to simply keep her mouth shut and stoically stare the vampire down. "So what’s the plan, are we letting them in here, we could bottleneck them at the door, or are we going back into the tunnels down there and clearing them out."

  "My people are already closing access in the sewers within a thirty mile radius," Tom stopped to stare directly at her, "if we’re lucky they haven’t dispersed further."

  "Okay, then what," but she suspected she already knew.

  "Once those perimeters are blocked off and secured we’ll have teams of four, two with flamethrowers and the two reserves going in armed with our standard issued M16's and for back up use only with these." Tom put down grenades that Jennifer had never seen in person, a frisson of both excitement and alarm went down her spine at the sight of it.

  "Holy crap Tom," she reached over and tested the weight of the item in the palm of her hand, "is this what I think it is?"

  "Thermobaric grenades, it is for back up only as the blast is likely to kill everything in the sewers, they’ve been ordered to use them only if they’re overtaken."

  "Is that you’re only backup," she asked only because she could tell by the look on his face, or lack thereof that if things got out of their control it wasn’t outside possibility that he’d drop a nuke on them.

  "No," he didn’t elaborate, but she was expecting that, she just hoped he was going to stick to thermoberics rather then resorting to an A-bomb.

  "Okay, so what are we doing while your guys are pushing," he probably would have gotten around to saying but she was in a pushy mood and didn’t enjoy the idea of sitting still much longer then she already had.

  "We keep this building locked down and let them in, take them out and push back, if things go the way they should we meet the others half way down the pipes." Jennifer nodded and glanced to her left to the vampire that she knew had been standing patiently by, quiet as the grave.

  "How are we going to try and anticipate the vampire-revenants, I don’t know if you’ve seen them up close just yet but it isn’t exactly like they go down easy." She hadn’t bothered to try and shoot her vampire in the head when she’d seen him but she wouldn’t want to bet money that these super revenants went down that easy. If a bullet to the head wouldn’t put a vampire down she wasn’t going to keep her fingers crossed that it would work on them just because they were dead-er then they used to be.

  "Your vampire has volunteered to take point, that way if we encounter those specific revenants we’re as prepared as we could be for them." Jennifer nodded but didn’t like that Tom likely wouldn’t allow her anywhere near the front where she wanted to be.

  "Good plan," but even she felt as if she was pouting waiting for the imminent news of where she was going to end up, likely safely tucked in the middle somewhere.

  "The Hunter is on me, it is a non-negotiable condition, you can understand that we have no reason to trust your men at our backs." Jennifer probably shouldn’t have immediately broken into a smile the way she did at the prospect of not getting stuck under Tom’s over protective wing somewhere at the middle of his parade. Considering how deeply Tom was scowling she probably should have stowed the smile all around.

  "It’s fine Tom, I don’t mind babysitting," she would actually be more then thrilled to take up watching the vampires back since she didn’t find it likely she was going to have to put much effort into doing so. Dimitri was hers, she didn’t care how durable of a revenant he was she would be the one to put him down if it killed her.

  "Fine," Tom agreed too easily for Jennifer’s comfort, "there’s no time to debate placement." He looked to his people and nodded, without question they dispersed to, Jennifer assumed, get the rest of their people ready to go. "You’ll have a five man team going in at your backs," He informed the vampires, "Jennifer will be among them but she will not be in charge of them." She didn’t have to ask to know that Tom would probably be the one who was.

  "Those are agreeable conditions," Ethan looked to her, "we’re quite satisfied." The rest of his people didn’t say a word, not even Jim which Jennifer found unnatural.

  "I couldn’t give a fuck," Tom very uncharacteristically made his way over to her and grabbed hold of her arm, "I know what you’re up to." If she thought for even a second there was even a small sliver of hope that Tom wouldn’t be riding her ass the whole time it vanished.

  "Tom," but before she could say a thing he was on his way off to gather the troops he was bringing along.

  "Someone’s got a crush," Jim finally piped up behind her.

  "Shut up, it’s not like that," she looked over her shoulder at the vampires there, "besides I thought Lia was the match maker?" She addressed Jim but her attention stayed on Ethan who smiled at her comment, "thank you." She figured she should probably get that out of the way in case, not so impossibly, she died.

  "You are welcome Jennifer," in an attempt to hide any blushing that his attention on her might induce she turned her thoughts back to Malcolm and everyone else she’d lost to this. It wouldn’t be much longer before this would be over, the sooner the better, because there would be no retribution for her people until Ada was dead. That was an exercise in vengeance that should have been dealt out long ago, a fact of which Jennifer had not been aware. But she remembered everything now, her purpose was clear, when the time came Ada would pay with her life for taking nearly everything Jennifer had ever cared for.

  Chapter 29

  Jennifer had already pulled the Remington from her shoulder, loaded it during the wait,
and now had nothing currently to distract her in the interim. Considering she was probably standing next to what very little was left of not only one of her team mates but a boyfriend she’d just broken up with she didn’t like the lack thereof. When it became clear that Tom’s people were going to spend a little more time going over who was going which way she sidled her way back toward Ethan in a currently crowded room. "Hey again," she greeted once she was back within proximity though she hardly had to wait, he probably would have heard her from across the room.

  "Miss Ryan," he didn’t seem nervous to be in a room full of people that in general wanted him dead, but his greeting was far more tense then when there hadn’t been quite so many people.

  "Worried," Jennifer asked giving him a nudge with her elbow in hopes that he’d stop physically acting like such a vampire. "You don’t have to worry I won’t let them shoot you," given her general proximity and Tom’s solemn vow to her father to protect her she thought it was likely Tom would prevent it before she could take a bullet.

  "How are your ribs," Ethan non to subtly changed the subject, not an ounce of tension having left his shoulders.

  "All things considered," Jennifer gave a tentative twist to her torso, it hurt like hell, "I’m not dead." It was the best that she could give him in answer, but she had yet to have the injury cause any real hindrance. "Don’t tell me that’s the reason you wanted me close by," but of course it was, she gave an indignant huff at the reality of her situation, she was going to find herself safely sandwiched between Ethan and Tom. "Ethan," she didn’t think that she could find the given situation any more annoying then she currently did.

  "If you intend to take on a vampire, particularly one as dead as Dimitri you are going to need someone with you." Very matter of fact and as much as she wanted to tell both Tom and him that they aught to be looking after themselves she knew that neither would listen.