by Janet Jones
The thing that used to be Mrs. Emerson let out a long, growling howl. “I expected better than this from you, Tallie. No sense in making this harder than it has to be."
Talisen threw down her spent shotgun, grabbed Shelby's hand, and leaned over the banister to eye the drop to the floor.
No way could they make it. No way to get past Mrs. Emerson. Up was the only way they could go now. The wrong direction.
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Chapter Fourteen
They topped the landing ahead of a gunshot. The banister exploded into fragments around them. Talisen dropped, pulling Shelby beneath her till the debris quit falling, then leaped to her feet and drove Shelby on.
The stairs shook with Mrs. Emerson's dragging steps. Her injury proved enough of an obstacle to give them time to get up a few more steps.
On the second floor Talisen darted into her room, grabbed her cell phone off the dresser and ran on, half-carrying, half-dragging Shelby as she dialed 911. When she heard it ring, she gasped in relief.
But it was Dylan again. “I'm sorry. Your number cannot be completed as dialed. Oh, well. It wouldn't do you any good anyway. Humans are no match for my new friend Mrs. Emerson. I've prepared her for anything. Nice try."
Click. The dial tone was gone. Her phone was dead.
Talisen flung it down. Lungs heaving, she toted Shelby up to the third floor, dodging Mrs. Emerson's bullets.
At the top of the house, she collapsed against the wall across from the linen closet in the hall. Nowhere left to go but the studio. And from there? The roof? Not with a catatonic four-year-old.
Panting and clutching Shelby close, she lost her battle against panic. Mrs. Emerson was just on the landing below them, calling to her in a wheedling, choked voice.
Talisen's gaze lit on the linen closet door. Linen closet. Laundry. Laundry room.
Laundry chute! Yes! Sean said it went from the top of the house to the cellar. Where else would she find it but a linen closet? It had to be there.
Mrs. Emerson was close enough for Talisen to smell her gore-splattered clothing. Talisen carried Shelby across the hall, eased the closet door open, slipped inside and closed the door as quietly as she could.
It was pitch dark after the bright house. She crawled around its perimeter, feeling for the door to the chute. Please, be here. Please, oh please, oh please....
She found it at the back of the closet. With a shuddering sigh of relief, she curled her fingers around the handle and pulled. Stuck fast. She jerked as hard as she could. Not a budge. Shelby made a whimpering noise in the dark. Was she coming out of it? Maybe that meant Mrs. Emerson was weakening.
"It's all right, baby,” Talisen said over her shoulder, almost clawing at the handle. “Follow the sound of my voice."
Somewhere down the hall, looming closer, the revenant called to Talisen again. For as long as she lived, she'd never forget the sound of her name on that monster's lips.
Shelby's cool little fingers clutched her arm. The child's voice wobbled. “Where's Sean?"
"Just stay close, baby. We're going to be all right."
Mrs. Emerson couldn't be more than ten feet away from the closet now. Her words were slurred, her voice guttural.
Shelby shrank closer to her. “Who's out there?"
Talisen was too panic-stricken to answer. She heaved at the door of the chute with sweaty hands. The sound of the doorknob turning made Shelby scream, and in that instant, the chute gave way.
The closet door flew open. Mrs. Emerson half-crouched in the doorway, silhouetted against the light behind her. She lifted the gun and fired. Nothing happened.
Out of bullets.
Talisen grabbed Shelby, ignoring her cry, and tumbled into the darkness. She felt Mrs. Emerson's grimy hand close over her heel. Dangling in the dark, she and Shelby screamed, while she kicked the revenant's bloody face. Just when she thought her ankle would break, she wiggled out of her sneaker.
They slid into the dark through a net of cobwebs. She managed to right herself and brace her back and feet against the sides of the chute to slow their descent. Shelby's sobs echoed downward into shadow; the revenant's snarls rained down from above. Talisen let herself drop a little, skidding downward, picking up splinters where the wood had rotted away.
Suddenly the creature was quiet. Not good. She was probably reloading.
"Where's Sean?” Shelby sobbed. “Why doesn't everybody wake up? Is everybody gone?"
Talisen clenched her mouth shut and let herself drop onto the floor below, trying to cushion the fall for Shelby as best she could. She sat Shelby down in front of her to shelter her from Mrs. Emerson and bent to try the door of the chute.
It raised a half-inch. Not as stuck as the other one? She pulled and yanked, nearly at the end of her strength. The door rose a little more, and then with one big pull, slid up. She reached through and felt cold metal. The back of the arcade console.
Leaning back, she braced herself against the back of the chute for leverage, planted her feet against the console and pushed. It didn't move. It was too heavy.
A bullet whined past her shoulder, and she and Shelby screamed again. Another bullet struck the wall, inches above them. The chute must have an angle to it, just enough to put them out of a direct line of fire.
Talisen drew her legs up and kicked as hard as she could, wincing when they hit the metal arcade console. It moved a little. “Shelby, the minute I've got this thing moved enough for you to squeeze through, you get out."
Shelby nodded, her sobs like hiccups.
Several more shots rang out, and then the echo of the click, click of Emerson's gun, once more empty. A foul scream filled the chute.
Talisen kept kicking. There was a six-inch opening now. She could feel the fresh air from the den. The light from the overhead cut through the darkness of the chute. She could see Shelby huddled beside her with her hands over her ears. Just a few more inches, and Shelby could get through.
The chute vibrated and creaked. There came a scuffling noise high above them. Mrs. Emerson had climbed in and was making a laborious descent.
Talisen showered the console with kicks, tears blurring her eyes till she couldn't see, expecting the revenant to crash down on top of them any second.
The arcade console moved again. “Out, Shelby."
The child slipped through like a monkey, and Talisen took up her kicking again. She could feel the jar of every blow all the way to her teeth, but the hissing voice above her drove her on. A wet drop of blood hit her shoulder, then another. She could hear Shelby wailing for Ellory to wake up.
How long before Ellory could revive enough to help them?
The console gave way, and she squeezed through, bruising herself from shoulders to hips. Her first thought was to push it back in place, but it was too late for that.
She had a better idea. Jerking away the panel on the back of the console, she exposed a nest of red, blue, and black wires. She could hear Mrs. Emerson clearly now. She had less than a six-foot drop.
She burst into the storage closet and grabbed the other shotgun, cocked it, and emptied both barrels into the exposed wires. It sparked and crackled, sending up smoke and a momentary flame. Holding her breath, she waited.
The creature landed flat-footed on the other side of the opening and thrust her bloodied hand through. It groped for whatever it could find—and found the live wires.
Talisen turned her head away and tried to block out the sound of its screams, the smell of its burning flesh. The lights short-circuited, leaving them in darkness except for the sparks dancing over the revenant's charred hand.
When Talisen couldn't hear it convulsing inside the chute anymore, she let go of the shotgun. Numb from head to foot, she staggered down the hall to find Shelby crouched and squalling in front of Ellory's door. She knelt and gathered the little girl in her arms and rocked her, trying to soothe her.
"He wouldn't wake up,” Shelby cried. “I called and called. Why coul
dn't he hear me?"
Talisen's response died in her throat. She heard the arcade console move. It ripped through the carpet as it did. A low, breathy wheeze sounded from the living room, followed by scuffling on the floor—coming closer.
Shelby began to scream again. Talisen wrapped her arms around her so she wouldn't see. Where could they go now? Through the security door? Start all over again?
Her breath lurched in her chest. The revenant rounded the corner on its hands and knees, but as it started toward them, it stood. None too steady on its feet, it kept coming, hissing and growling between garbled words she couldn't understand anymore.
Talisen's gorge rose at the sight of it. How could anything so close to death still be moving? She held Shelby more tightly, would hold her till she couldn't hold her anymore.
Ellory's door quivered behind her.
She held her breath. The quiver grew to a vibration, and the vibration to a rattle. One by one, up and down the hall, the door of each bedroom began to shake against its hinges.
A rush of heat seeped through the door behind them and wrapped around her, around Shelby, dimming the sound and sight of everything, as though they were caught in a bubble. A ball of flame flickered where the revenant was, and when Shelby went limp in her arms, Talisen opened her mouth to scream.
No, no, it's me, Talisen. I've got you. You're safe. I've put Shelby in a trance. And see? The revenant is no more. Look for yourself.
She peered through the translucent red shield. On the floor where Mrs. Emerson had been lay a smoldering pile of something she didn't want to look at for very long. It withered away even as she watched. Talisen let her head fall back against the door and cried. In her mind she reached out to Ellory, weak with relief, sick with sorrow.
We lost Sean.
Not quite. He's still with us, thanks to Jenny. She's holding him here.
Talisen lifted her head. I'll call 911.
Ellory's voice was laced with pain. No. Humans can do nothing for him now. If he were to be revived in his current state, he'd be a vegetable.
She hid her face in her hands and wept. Sean wouldn't want to live like that. He saved my life. Can't you do something?
We're going to try. The decision will be his.
Decision? She hadn't the strength to follow his train of thought. The warmth sapped the last of her energy. That was Ellory's doing. She glided up from the floor, as light as a feather, with Shelby still curled up in her arms.
His voice soothed her. I want you to sleep.
Sleep! What was he thinking?
Ellory's last words reached her from a long way off. We're safe for now. Dylan will have to gather his strength before he strikes again. You have to rest, and so must I. I'll need all my strength when I wake. For Sean.
For Sean? Why?
She felt the softness of a couch bed beneath her, and Shelby cuddled closer without waking. Then the balmy warmth claimed her.
* * * *
Meical gritted his teeth against the burning as he emerged from beneath the forest floor into the twilight-blue-black of the new night. The shadows embraced him, cooling the fever and waking his hunger. First, his errand. Then he would feed.
Rising into the air, he glided over the woods to the crater that had been Sartori's. He hovered for a moment, feeling for the one he was looking for. Nothing. Well, that was what came of imagining he could appeal to a madman.
His nerves quivered. Dealing with fiends could cost him much more than he hoped to gain, but he saw no other way.
He dropped down on the periphery of the ruin and crouched, unleashing his preternatural senses to catch the smallest disturbance in the fabric of night.
There came a soft laugh a few feet behind him. Meical pirouetted ten feet into the air, poised for combat, and stared.
The Alchemist leaned against a pine, smirking at him like a Cheshire cat. “You needn't feel embarrassed that I caught you unawares, young one—not that you couldn't do with a little training.” He shook his ebony curls out of his eyes. “Come down here, and we will discuss your proposition. I've been in your mind for most of your waking this evening. By the way, get yourself a mantra, child, and you'll find the rigors of reviving less taxing. Cursing and blustering your way through it will get old. I know."
Meical relaxed a bit and descended slowly until he stood before the Alchemist. It irked him for a vampire who looked scarcely twenty-five to call him a child, but he responded in a tone of respect. “Interested in my offer?"
"The fact that you are this close to me and still in one piece should tell you that much.” The Alchemist's eyes glinted. “But is it worth it?"
Ice-cold fear warred with hot conviction inside of Meical. He'd weighed the consequences a thousand times. His heart told him Ellory wouldn't understand. His head told him it was the only way. He nodded. “I am sure."
"Come along, then."
The Alchemist turned and strode toward the woods behind them. Meical joined him in the darkness.
* * * *
Talisen woke feeling weak all over. Familiar voices came in whispers from somewhere nearby, but the only one she wanted to hear was Ellory's. When he spoke, she relaxed and almost drifted back to sleep.
"You'll have to hold him for awhile longer, Jenny. I don't want to wake Talisen until Meical arrives. Can you manage?"
"If we all keep talking to him,” Jenny replied, “he'll calm down. He's really scared. And mad, too. He's ready to go after Dylan."
"That's our Sean."
Their affectionate laughter lured Talisen out of her sleep. She sat up slowly. Where was she? Ellory's bed. It sounded like he and the fledglings were down the hall in the cellar den.
She rose on shaky legs and went out into the softly lit hall. Her gaze lit on the scorch marks on the carpet in the hallway and the black-brown stains on the wall. That was all that was left of Mrs. Emerson. Her friend. She'd never harmed a soul. Talisen's throat ached with a suppressed sob.
Dylan would pay for this.
She continued down the hall but halted at Georgina's bedroom door. Candlelight cast a glow over Shelby's inert form in the pink canopy bed. Meinrad sat beside her with his long legs curled up and locked in his arms. He was looking down at Shelby as though she were an angel. To Talisen, they both looked like innocents.
She went in and put an arm around him. “Are you okay?"
"Just thinking about Freya. I was so busy resenting her expectations that I didn't realize how much she really cared for me. She needed me, Talisen. I sensed it, but I ... I behaved like a spoiled child. She deserved better. And now it's too late to show her I can be what she needs me to be."
He sighed and indicated Shelby with a nod of his head. “How does someone so small survive in a world like this?"
Talisen kissed his forehead. “By relying on protectors like you."
He looked up at her, his crystalline blue eyes like sapphires in the darkness. “And you. You saved her."
"And Sean saved me.” She blinked back tears. “Is he...."
"Don't worry. Jenny has a good hold on him.” Meinrad unwound his long limbs and rose without making a sound. “Ellory wants to see you before we begin."
"Begin what?"
He gave her a soft grin. “Come and see."
She wasn't sure she wanted to. Tucking the covers more closely around Shelby, she followed Meinrad out and pulled the door shut. She felt as though she were floating in a dream.
Until she walked into the den.
They'd lit all the candles in the room, stripped off Sean's shirt, and laid him in the floor on a pile of blankets. One look at him, and Talisen knew he was beyond human help. Utterly gone.
Jenny sat with his head in her lap, her face a mask of serene resolve. The rest of them sat in a circle around Sean with their hands on his legs, arms, or shoulders. Ellory leaned over Sean with his hand pressed over the boy's heart, inches away from the hole left by the bullet.
There was no blood. Sean didn't look like h
e had any left.
Talisen put a hand over her mouth and sounded a single whimper of protest and outrage and hatred against Dylan.
Ellory looked around and rose to embrace her, wrapping her in the haven she craved. “It's not as bad as it looks."
He led her closer to Sean and knelt there with her, holding her hand. She stared at the boy's white face and pushed his bangs out of his eyes. His skin was like cold vinyl.
Her throat closed up and turned her voice to a whisper. “Did you get the bullet out?"
"Already taken care of,” Ellory replied.
"What are you waiting for?"
"You."
She met his gaze. “Why?"
He put his arm around her and pulled her close, as though to steady her for something difficult. “Sean knows I can bring him back by turning him, but he needs to know someone will be with Shelby during the day. He'll be with her in the evenings, of course, and I'll plant the necessary memories in her mind to make it seem that it has always been that way. But you're the only one he'll trust to look after her. He needs your reassurance that it's all right."
As though she could go elsewhere. Who else would look after Shelby? She was the only logical choice.
But that wasn't what Sean was asking for. Her agreement to take care of Shelby would be meaningless if it was just a default decision. What Sean wanted from her was a commitment to him and his little sister that would be uniquely theirs.
She put a hand on Jenny's, where it rested on Sean's right temple. “Shelby and I will do fine together. Tell him."
She felt the whispered accolades of the fledglings along their family thought-path and knew she was making the right decision. Beside her, Ellory's relief radiated through her. That was all the confirmation she needed.
Jenny closed her eyes. A moment later, a smile broke across her face. She opened her eyes again. “Sean says, ‘Thanks. Now get the show on the road. I'm not hanging out here much longer.’”
A glimmering of sparks and a wave of raw energy announced Meical's arrival. “Damn. The boy looks bad."
Ellory growled at him. “About time you got here."
Meical ignored him and knelt beside Jenny. Placing his hands on Sean's head, he closed his eyes, and a smile softened the look of concentration he wore. “Got him. All right, Jenny, take five."
