Oblivion

by Karolyn Cairns

  Chapter Eight

  The Deadheads were holed up in an abandoned building on the outskirts of Oblivion. Loud, boisterous laughter and cries of pain were heard from outside. The darkness was a welcome cover to the five men who stood heavily-armed outside.

  “Jace, don’t go all Rambo on me when we get in there,” Merrick warned under his breath as he sent the younger man a warning look. “You can’t kill what’s already dead so make every shot count. We get in and out.”

  “The demons are getting close,” Raymond said impatiently. “They smell the blood and hear the noise. We need to hurry.”

  Jace thought he would feel fear, but knowing he couldn’t be killed took the edge off. The curiosity about the demons passed when he heard the low shrieks in the distance. McNeal looked grim for once, his usually glib tongue stilled in the gloom. Murdoch was agitated and looked uneasy as he looked up and down the deserted road. The low growls in the distance made the hair on the back of Jace’s neck stick up with dread.

  “Ok, on three guys, let God or that other mother sort’em out,” Merrick whispered and he cocked his shotgun.

  Raymond mouthed the count and suddenly they were bursting through the doors. There were five Deadheads inside, all dressed in black leather and highly intoxicated. Music blared inside. The largest of them had a white-blond Mohawk. He turned with a hiss on his pale, corpse-like features.

  Jace wasn’t prepared to see them up close. He flinched at the sight of them, seeing the misery of their existence. They were the walking dead. No wonder they lived to extract pain. Pain excited them and made them feel alive. They had a table full of knives and other tools of torture.

  Their skin was a pale, grayish blue in color with sightless eyes. They appeared brainless but they moved very fast, scattering as they came inside. The four Newbies were tied to the wall, all moaning and bleeding. Taken unaware; the Deadheads all scurried for cover.

  Jace took position near the doors doing what Merrick instructed him, calmly and efficiently dropping four out of the five Deadheads while Raymond and Murdoch cut down their captives. It was three men and a woman. McNeal grabbed the woman and carried her out. The three men were escorted out by Raymond and Murdoch.

  Jace watched in fascination as the Deadheads got up soon after being shot. He downed each one again with a clean shot to the head. Merrick helped. Between the two of them; they kept the five down until all four Newbies were safe inside the van.

  “Go on Jace!” Merrick called out, his eyes on the rousing Deadheads. “I’ll cover you until you get to the van. Go!”

  “I’m not leaving you here,” Jace shouted as he downed the leader again before he could get up.

  “That’s an order, kid! Get to the van! Those demons will be here any minute.”

  Jace was frustrated the bullets only stunned the Deadheads for a few seconds before they were up again and a threat. Two had gotten their hands on weapons and were returning fire. He took a bullet to the chest and was hardly affected. Merrick took his share of bullets too. Jace heard him grunt with pain and saw he was down.

  The shrieks outside were getting closer when Murdoch and McNeal ran back inside.

  “There’s a whole lot of em’ guys!” Murdoch shouted. “Let’s go!”

  McNeal helped cover them as Jace dragged Merrick with him to the doors, shooting and reshooting the five leather-clad corpse-like creatures. When they cleared the doors, Jace dragged Merrick with him to the van waiting outside. McNeal and Murdoch fired on the Deadheads as Jace jumped in the back. McNeal and Murdoch sent several automatic rounds into the five pursuing Deadheads before they ran and jumped into the back of the van.

  The van sped away, running over creatures Jace saw in his worst nightmares. They were like rabid dogs as they jumped snarling and growling on the hood, looking very human except for their solid black eye sockets.

  Jace was wide-eyed as he saw one demon punch through the windshield and grab Murdoch by the throat in the passenger seat. He was gasping and struggling in the demons hold, even as big as he was. Jace could see why you wouldn’t want to be caught by one. It wasn’t likely you would get away.

  Raymond calmly stuck a gun through the hole in the windshield and shot the demon, sending him rolling off the hood of the van. All within watched as Raymond drove, mowing down more demons while Merrick and Murdoch shot from the open rear doors of the van behind them.

  Each man was assigned one of the new arrivals. Merrick wasn’t at all pleased to get the only woman. She was young, early twenties, crying and wanted to call her husband. They were all quiet as they listened to her lament over not being able to pick up her son at his daycare.

  Merrick rolled his eyes and looked at Jace, winking at him. “You wanna take this one, Jace? I think you can handle her.”

  Jace glared at Merrick, but something in the woman’s plaintive sobs reminded him of how it was for him that first day. She was dressed in a waitress uniform, probably on her way to or from work when she was killed.

  The blood on her uniform was hers from whatever happened to her in the world. Jace could see the woman was traumatized. She huddled in a ball, too hysterical to be reasoned with.

  He reached down and wiped her reddish-brown hair from her face. She had healed. Blood streaked a face that was quite pretty. Her name badge on her dress front said Daphne. He knew what he was about to tell her was not going to be accepted.

  “Daphne,” he leaned down and whispered. “You’re safe now. No one will hurt you. Welcome to Oblivion.”

  “I need to call my husband and tell him to pick up the baby,” she said tearfully as she looked up at him with a worried look in her gaze.

  Merrick smiled broadly and looked out into the inky darkness as Jace explained to all four where they were. Drea’s assailant from twenty years ago was an old man now. He was the quietest of them all and didn’t argue what was told to him. The other two were a young insurance salesman who got jumped on the wrong side of town and a homeless guy.

  “I don’t understand,” Daphne said again and looked like she would continue to cry.

  “We’re dead, little lady,” Jose informed her tightly. The old man looked away from her devastated expression. “I guess we just wait for judgment now.”

  “There is no judgment here,” Jace explained as he met Drea’s rapist and killer’s eyes with a cold look. “That’s not why you’re here. But while you’re here; these are the things you have to deal with, your friends back there and those things that attacked the van.”

  “It ain’t Hell?” Jose asked in surprise.

  Jace thought it unfair too. Jose deserved to burn for what he and his friends had done to Drea twenty years before. He hurt a lot of people before and after that certainly.

  “No it’s not Hell,” Jace confirmed and glared at the relieved-looking man. “That comes later.”

  “Why?” he asked, looking nervous.

  “When you’re murdered this is where you go for a while,” Jace replied tightly, hating the way the man seemed to appear more confidant now. He realized before the other ones he was getting a reprieve.

  Daphne looked sick. “I closed the diner and was walking to my car. I don’t remember anything after that. Why can’t I remember?”

  “Your mind is protecting itself from seeing what happened to you,” Jace answered and saw she was devastated to know she wouldn’t be picking her baby up at daycare now. “You’ll have enough come back to you to piece it together.”

  The insurance agent remained quiet, appearing dazed during the exchange. Jose Medeiros looked pleased and it aggravated Jace. Figures the guiltiest of them all saw the benefits of being in Oblivion.

  “Tell them the job description, Jace,” Merrick added.

  Jace looked at all four and smiled. “While you’re here, you’ll be expected to rescue those like you who come into Oblivion.”

  “And face those things back there? No way,” Will the insurance agent said in near-hysteria. “I’m not going
anywhere near them.”

  “Pull over Raymond!” Merrick called and smiled at the agent as the van came to a stop. “You wanna get out? That’s your choice. In exchange for protection, you look out for those like you. It’s a two-way street, buddy. You don’t want to do it; you’re on your own, but you won’t last long. Most don’t. I saw it before. If the demons don’t get you; the Deadheads do. You’re choice.”

  The agent looked like he was going to be sick. “Fine, just get me out of here.”

  McNeal looked at him in disgust. “You ever fire a gun, boy?”

  “No, I never fired a gun!” he said angrily and looked at McNeal in horror. “We have to shoot things?”

  McNeal rolled his eyes and looked back to the road. “Great, I get the wimp.”

  Murdoch and the others chuckled. Raymond eyed the man in amusement.

  “You go with McNeal and the woman goes with Merrick. Murdoch takes the old guy and raggedy man is with me. Drea needs a break.”

  “My name is Goose,” the homeless man said indignantly.

  “Why do they call you Goose?” Raymond asked.

  “I eat them,” Goose said proudly as he adjusted his grimy shirt. “Good eating and all I could get in the park. They’re hard to catch though.”

  “Well Goose that speed of yours might pay off for you now,” Raymond informed him, “from what you saw back there; I don’t have to tell you what to avoid. Deadheads might be stupid but they’re fast.”

  Daphne was crying again and Jace felt sorry for her. He knew what she was going through. He’d been a parent to Sara and Dougie. Waking up here and worrying about the kids drove him out of his mind those first few days. She would need time to absorb the fact her husband was now responsible for their six-month old son.

  He eyed Raymond with a new respect because Merrick was the most understanding of them all. She would need that. The leader might act like he was hard as nails, but he obviously placed each newcomer appropriately and with some sense of where they fit.

  “It’s going to be ok,” he heard himself tell Daphne, trying to console her and convince himself of it. His heart ached to know he would never hold Lindsay again or be there to see his younger siblings grow up. What could you tell a woman who wouldn’t see her baby again? He doubted there was much he could say to make Daphne feel better about her situation.

  “My son just started cutting teeth,” she said tearfully and sat against the side of the van with a sorrowful look. “I can’t think of not going home tonight.”

  “I took care of my brother. I know what you mean,” Jace replied. “They probably went into foster homes when I died. It bothers me too. Just know that the living will take care of the living. Down here, you have to take care of yourself.”

  “Those things back there,” Daphne said with a shudder. “What’s their problem? They’re dead too right? What is their beef with us?”

  “Deadheads took the easy way out,” Raymond answered her. “They’re suicides who are stuck here forever. That makes them hate us because eventually we move on and they can’t. The demons just want your soul. They get in good with their master if they manage to get enough of them.”

  “Master? You mean the devil?”

  Raymond shrugged. “Haven’t met the guy. We only know the demons prey on us as much as the Deadheads. They get a hold of you; it’s all over.”

  “Move on?” she asked and looked hopeful. “Eventually we all go to Heaven?”

  “Some of you,” Raymond said and eyed Jose Medeiros in amusement. “Some of you go somewhere else.”

  “How do you know where you’re going?” Daphne persisted, her pretty face looking worried.

  “You know,” Raymond said with a contemptuous look at Jose. “It depends on how you lived your life. Trust me, lady; you don’t need to worry about it.”

  Jose looked less confident now and stared out the back window of the van now, aware he was going to the other place.

  “How long will we be here?” she asked.

  “We don’t know,” Raymond said honestly and shook his head. “It’s different for everyone. You weren’t meant to die this soon. That’s why you’re here. You live in Oblivion until your time comes and then move on to wherever you go.”

  “Can we change where we’re going?” Jose asked as he looked at Raymond closely, a worried look in his brown eyes.

  Raymond looked slightly smug. “That’s the biggest question, pal. We don’t know. That’s why we do what we do. Every good deed might help. It can’t hurt.”

  Jose looked shaken and stared back out the window. Daphne sat quietly too. Goose was acting like a tourist and avidly looking out the window. Will was pouting, obviously unhappy with what he heard.

  Jace liked Daphne best among the newcomers and was glad they were taking her with them. The van dropped them at the warehouse and Merrick opened the garage door. Daphne followed Jace and looked wide-eyed as she looked around. Jace smiled at her doe-in-the-headlights expression.

  “Merrick will brief you on everything else you need to know, Daphne,” he told her. “You would be smart to listen to every word he says. You don’t know how long you’ll be here. There’s a lot to learn.”

  Daphne frowned then. “If those demons get us, we’re just nothing then, right? No soul means we just disappear?”

  Jace looked tense. “You go to the other place for eternity. You don’t want to get caught by them.”

  Daphne appeared to accept things after that. Jace showed her to the guest room and to the shower. He found a set of fatigues small enough for her and a pair of boots. He left her alone and joined Merrick on the fire escape. He was smoking and looking angry.

  “Don’t ever do that again, Jace. When I tell you to go; you go. That could have been bad back there.”

  Jace glared at him. “I’m not going to leave you or the others behind, Merrick.”

  Merrick looked furious. “You don’t get it, kid. That’s why there’s so few of us. We saved four Newbies tonight. That stunt you pulled playing hero could have cost us.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  Merrick blew smoke and shrugged. “I think you do but you don’t want to see it. We got nothing’ to lose, Jace. We both know where I’m going. If I can save four here, four there, it might matter. You gotta chance. Don’t do that again. You just leave me next time.”

  “I can’t do that!” Jace exploded and shook his head. “You’re asking me to leave you to them?”

  “If it saves four more; I don’t mind.”

  Jace could see Merrick was disturbed by his actions. “You expected to be sacrificed, didn’t you?”

  “Sometimes it’s necessary, you’ll see. Ya get tired, Jace. I been doing this for forty years. We both know that’s a long life. I died at twenty-three. Ya get me now? I just want out of here, no matter where that is.”

  “What’s Raymond’s story? He’s been here since 1864.”

  “1865 more like it,” Merrick said and sighed tiredly. “He says he disobeyed his commanding officer who wanted him to burn down a plantation house filled with women and children who barricaded it from the Yankees.”

  “You think he burned it down, don’t you?” Jace asked knowingly and whistled. “Guess he goes to the other place eventually.”

  “Jace, he’s paying for every life he took,” Merrick said tensely. “You don’t get no break down here. Those are some serious years he’s looking at combined. I heard over one hundred people died in that plantation house, mostly slaves. You figure how many years they had left times one hundred and that’s why Raymond is still here. He won’t admit it, but he done it. He torched the place and got shot on the battlefield a month later.”

  “That guy who killed Drea could be here a while too,” Jace mused.

  “Yeah, well best thing could happen if she passed on soon.”

  “How does it happen?”

  Merrick smiled and looked delighted. “The light comes for ya, kid. It’s about the most beautiful thi
ng I ever saw. It comes and leads you away. The demons can’t even touch you then, and they try. They bounce off like bugs hittin’ a zapper.”

  “Are they angels?”

  “I believe they are,” Merrick said and smiled fondly. “All I know is that light fills you with such joy you don’t doubt there’s a God, kid. It’s hard to explain. You have to see it for yourself. I figure Drea will be the first of us to go.”

  Jace smiled at the tough black man’s expression. “The light could come for you too, Merrick. You might be surprised.”

  Merrick’s smile faded and a bleak look entered his gaze. “I know where I’m going, kid. Some things are unforgivable. No amount of Newbies saved is goin’ to save me.”

  “You don’t know that,” Jace pointed out. “You heard Raymond. This could be a way to redeem yourself.”

  “Yeah well Raymond, he in the same boat as me, maybe worse,” Merrick said with a cackle. “We just see which of us get greeted by the light or the dark.”

  “The dark?” Jace asked. “What does it look like?”

  “It’s a black fog and it comes for you, surrounds you, and drags you away,” Merrick said and looked slightly uneasy. “Like I said, ain’t no comin’ back from my sins.”

  Jace felt bad for Merrick, but he still had no intention of letting the man relinquish his soul to the demons. If he was there, Merrick wouldn’t get away with it on his watch. He left Merrick and returned to the living room. Daphne was back, her long red hair wet from the shower, and a subdued expression on her pretty face.

  “What do I do now, Jace?” she asked in a small voice that made him want to hug her.

  He could see she suffered to know she couldn’t get to her child.

  “Daphne, use your time here to learn and to train. I’m new here too, but what I do know is you don’t want to fall prey to the Deadheads or these demons you saw. Help the group and you have a place here.”

  “I’m a waitress, Jace,” she scoffed and raised an eyebrow. “How am I going to help?”

  “You’d be surprised,” Jace said. “I didn’t have much use for guns and such back home and I’m a crack shot. Just use your head mostly. Listen to Merrick and do what they tell you to do.”

  “Do you miss home?”

  “So much it hurts,” Jace responded with a sad smile. “I had a girl I loved. I was asking her to marry me before all this happened. I have a brother and sister that counted on me. I know how you feel. Me being dead means those two are on their own. I know there isn’t anything anyone can say to make you feel better, but know you aren’t alone.”

  “Are we ghosts? Can we go back?”

  “Merrick said that isn’t allowed. You go out of here and a demon follows you, they could get to your family,” he warned and felt bad, because he was willing to take such a risk.

  “I just want to peek in and make sure they’re okay.”

  “It’s too dangerous. A demon follows and your son is at risk.”

  “Tell me you haven’t been tempted to see how their all doin’?”

  “I won’t lie. It tears me up. I wouldn’t risk their safety though, just to satisfy my own curiosity.”

  “How is it done?”

  Jace tensed. He was aware of the ripple separating them from the world. He already planned to leave here. He could walk through the doorway there. In order to get back, it had to remain open with no one there to close it for him.

  That was the danger in allowing demons entry. What Merrick didn’t know was that he planned on never returning and closing that door behind him. He kept that to himself. Daphne needed to settle in, not learn how to raise hell in the lives of those she loved.

  “Later we can talk about all that,” Jace said. “For now, I’ll tell you what I know about this place.”

  He spent the next hour telling her what was expected. She would live here with him and Merrick. She was already aware her human needs were gone and seemed delighted to not sleep. The things that distressed him seemed to please her. People were all so different.

  Daphne was twenty-two in human age. She and the guy she married weren’t getting along. They got pregnant too soon. The baby was a lot of responsibility and the guy wasn’t down for it. Now that she calmed down, she realized her husband probably gave their son to her parents. This seemed to please her. When Jace asked about her marriage, she looked amused.

  “Aaron didn’t want to get married; I did,” she said and shrugged. “He cheated whenever he thought I wasn’t looking. We weren’t happy at all. We talked about divorce. Me dying just frees him up and my mom gets Jacob.”

  “You handle it better than I did when I got here,” Jace noted in approval.

  Daphne was really pretty and he couldn’t help but notice it. He felt like he betrayed Lindsay by continually noticing how perfect her lips were and how incredible her eyes looked in contrast with her red hair.

  “I figure some serial killer passing through got me. I mean, nothing happens in the town I live in. We have three street lights, Jace.”

  “Yeah, sounds like Little Bend,” he agreed with a laugh. “Blink and you miss it.”

  Daphne frowned. “I don’t want to see what happened to me. I’m scared.”

  “No, you gotta try and see it,” Jace told her. “Merrick said that’s an important part in getting out of here down the road. Bits and pieces come back every day. You need to know who killed you and why. That’s part of the reason you’re here.”

  “What if it was just some freak?” she asked with a laugh. “They don’t need a reason to kill somebody.”

  “What if it was your husband?” Jace couldn’t help but ask and saw her tense. Her face looked stricken.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “No, that’s a fair statement. Aaron certainly didn’t love me anymore,” she said and seemed to contemplate it. “Now that you mention it; Aaron recently got life insurance on both of us. He said it would take care of Jacob if anything happened to us. I just signed something about a month ago.”

  “Well, if he did it; he’s busted,” Jace consoled her. “They always go after the husband first and look to see if they have recent life insurance. I watched crime stories on TV all the time. If he did it; he’s going to prison, trust me.”

  “Aaron is too much of a wimp to do it himself,” she said with a laugh. “We didn’t have any money so he couldn’t have hired someone.”

  “What about a girlfriend? You said he cheated. He could have wanted you out of the way to be with someone else. Whoever killed you could have been a female too.”

  “Who killed you?” she asked curiously.

  Jace tensed, not wanting to think about Cam. “He was my best friend. There were some issues between us. I thought we were tight. I definitely didn’t see it coming.”

  “Is he going to get caught?” Daphne prodded when he stopped speaking, content to think her husband would pay for it if it was true.

  “I don’t know,” Jace said and looked miserable. “I see bits of that day and see him stabbing me. I wish I knew why he did it. Out of everything; that’s what I ask myself. What was worth killing me over?”

  “Some best friend,” she said and Jace laughed. Merrick said the same thing.

  “Yeah, he screwed me over, for sure. Cam was pretty good at hiding his feelings. What he did to me took hatred.”

  Daphne looked sad. “Jace, don’t excuse your killer. Whatever you did in life couldn’t deserve being murdered like that.”

  Jace thought about Marnie and tensed. He never got to see her that day to give her the money for an abortion in Helena. Cam refused to help her, claiming the kid wasn’t his. Dooley blew her off when Sheriff Wilson announced he was retiring and his job was up for grabs.

  Jace wasn’t about to let her go through it on her own. He was saving the money in his account to fly down and register for classes with Lindsay. When he determined he wasn’t going, he used the six hundred dollars to buy Lindsay a ring and help Marni
e.

  Jace regretted his actions back in December. Lindsay started wanting to have sex. He was embarrassed he didn’t have any experience. Cam laughed at him when he discovered he was still a virgin. After taking care of Sara and Dougie, he didn’t have time to chase girls. Lindsay was a virgin too. He never thought about sex like other guys did.

  Cam was determined he lose his virginity, saying he didn’t want to look like an idiot to Lindsay. Jace told him to leave it alone. His best friend reasoned he needed to know what he was doing when he and Lindsay finally slept together. He reluctantly agreed. The next thing he knew, Cam drove him to Marnie’s trailer after school let out for Christmas break.

  Thinking about how Marnie took him to her bedroom and showed him another world while Cam waited in his truck in her driveway bothered him. The casualness of it made him uncomfortable. Cam said he didn’t care. What were buddies for? He laughed and said his sleeping with Marnie didn’t bother him. Marnie got around and most of his friends had already been with her, he claimed.

  Marnie and he were friends since they were old enough to talk. Her dad ran with his. Even so, something so intimate was awkward. She eased him into it with sensitivity and Jace could hardly deny he enjoyed that afternoon in her bed.

  She was patient and instructed him without a bit of judgment because he was seventeen and a virgin. If anything, she seemed to respect him more for it. After, he got dressed and felt bad about using Marnie. He shouldn’t have worried about her feelings. He was assured it was the least she could do. Still, the gentleman he always tried to be rebelled at treating her so shabbily.

  Jace didn’t see Marnie in school much a month later in January, or in early February. A few weeks later Cam announced the two cooled things off. She came to him the night before he died in mid-March to tell him she was pregnant. She cried her eyes out, saying it wasn’t fair to him.

  Obviously she had no clue who the father was. She’d been with him, Cam, and Officer Dooley that month, all unprotected. She told him how Cam shunned her right after he found out, saying she wasn’t pinning it on him, calling her a whore.

  Jace would have paid for the abortion whether there was a chance it was his or not. That was just him. He knew Marnie would get kicked out of the house if her parents found out. Jack and Dee Slade wouldn’t take in any grand babies. Marnie was warned to not get knocked up or else. It was the right thing to do and he had failed in that too.

  The thought of what his death meant to Marnie made him aware he was her only hope. She told him how Cam refused to get the money for the abortion from his parents. For months he put her off until she had one week to make a decision or it would be too late and she couldn’t have one legally. Marnie’s condition would spread like wild fire. His name was bound to come up. Lindsay would find out he cheated on her. That thought devastated him.

  That was what burned him the most. Cam was with her since the previous summer and took no responsibility for her condition. He totaled his truck that summer and wanted the Mustang from his father. He thought his parents would back out if they knew Marnie was pregnant.

  Jace lost all respect for his friend overnight. He recalled the conversation he had with Cam that night at The Point. Cam told him he was the biggest sucker for paying for it, saying for all they knew she was sleeping with other guys too. Jace decided at that moment Cam was not who he thought all those years they’d been friends.

  The next day when Cam caught up with him outside the jewelry shop he avoided him, saying he needed to pick up Dougie. Cam begged him to be dropped at Marnie’s. Cam said he had to talk to her about the abortion. He said he was taking her into Helena on Monday and cutting school so Jace wouldn’t have to.

  Jace refused at first, thinking Dougie would be upset to find him gone if he got done early. Cam said she needed the money that day. That decision to give into Cam cost him his life. Out of all his regrets, that was the worst. The one time he acted out of character it cost him big time.

  Cam obviously harbored a hatred of him that went beyond mere competitiveness in school, sports, and the thing with Marnie. Whatever it was troubled him. Cam was still back in the world maintaining the illusion of a grieving friend.

  He thought of his former friend’s attraction to Lindsay and stiffened. Merrick didn’t understand why he had to go back. Lindsay needed to be warned away from Cam. If it was the last thing he did, he would make sure Cam got caught for killing him.

  “You’re a million miles away, Jace,” Daphne said with a smile. “I’m sorry if I brought up bad memories for you.”

  Jace shook off his melancholy and grinned. “It just happened three weeks ago, not really memories yet.”

  Daphne looked sad. “You’re a Newbie too. I’m sorry. You just seem so knowledgeable about everything here.”

  “There’s nothing to do but learn while you’re here, Daphne. Trust me, after three weeks you will be on the welcome wagon for the others.”

  “There’s more Deadheads here than us,” Daphne surmised with a sad look. “Isn’t that something? I don’t think I could ever take my own life, as bad as things could have gotten. I would have thought about my son.”

  Jace nodded and agreed. “I was surprised too about how many of them there are, but they stay here, so it stands to reason they’re more in number than us. Eventually you’ll move on, all of us will. They stay here and more join them every day.”

  Merrick came in then and smiled at them both. “I got some things to do tonight so I’m gonna leave you two here. Jace, you take Daphne out back and teach her to shoot. Be on the lookout for the demons. They ain’t happy they lost out on gettin’ these folks.”

  “Where are you going?” Jace asked.

  “Raymond is demanding a meeting with all of us except for the Newbies.”

  “A pep talk?”

  “Something like that.”

  Jace was dismayed by his growing attraction to Daphne. She filled out the black fatigues pretty good, showing off her lush full figure. He was disgusted with his panic to know he was to be left alone with her. Merrick must have seen something in his face.

  “I won’t be long, kid. You just get Daphne settled.”

  Jace looked relieved and Merrick winked in understanding. Jace was thinking about how to keep from staring at her rear end in the fatigues. Daphne was hot. Her husband was an idiot. The redhead made him feel all hot and uncomfortable inside. He wanted to kiss her and it shocked him. Barely dead three weeks, and he was already thinking about cheating on Lindsay with a dead woman.