Love In Death

by Elizabeth Stokes

  Thwack!

  Right below the knee in the calf muscle. The Sieve screamed again.

  Allison unloaded her pockets, stabbing eighteen pencils into the Sieve’s soft flesh. They would not penetrate deep enough to puncture the heart – not that she didn’t try with a couple good shots between the ribs – but it was enough to send him on the run.

  Eventually, the Sieve managed to crawl away long enough to get upright. Allison, armed with her two final pencils in each hand, charge with a shriek. The Sieve turned around and lifted himself into the air. He flew haphazardly away, slamming into a lamp post and the side of the warehouse before turning the corner and disappearing into the night.

  Allison stopped running and then bent over, panting heavily. Rather than dropping the pencils, she slipped them back into her coat pocket. The surge of adrenaline and the sudden, explosive movement had warmed her a little bit, and her entire body seemed to be on fire with pins and needles.

  Allison looked back at the warehouse, its wall torn open and newborns scattered off into the city. Then, she turned back to the river’s edge, where the pile of ashes that was once Xander lay, surrounded by the charred remains of a half dozen newborns.

  Allison fought back the tears. There would be time to cry later. She needed to get to safety first.

  She pulled out her phone and fumbled with the buttons. Soon, she managed to open a text window and chose Georgia Bennett. She texted: “911 come find me. urgent”

  She then started walking towards downtown, in the direction opposite of where the Sieve and the newborns fled. A moment later, her phone vibrated. She looked at it to see a text from Georgia: “b there in 5”

  Allison sighed and continued walking.

  † † †

  Georgia picked up Allison on the street less than five minutes later. As she climbed in her friend’s car, Allison was thankful that about a year ago she had given Georgia access to her cloud. This allowed her to track her cell phone via GPS (though Allison was sure Georgia could find a way to do the same even if she didn’t have access to her cloud account). Allison had done this not long after Xander had died, knowing that she was starting to poke around in darker and more dangerous areas than she would normally go. This finally paid off, as Georgia was able to find her location, even when she was on the streets alone.

  And like a true friend who did your dirty work, Georgia asked no questions. She simply let her into the car, blasted the heater, and took her back to her home for a safe evening.

  Georgia barely even spoke to her, and Allison was okay with that. She didn’t feel like talking at all. She knew that if she started talking, she’d start talking about what happened to Xander. And if that happened, she knew she would start crying and never stop.

  George took Allison to her home in Mayfield Heights. She had a house guest, she warned Allison. Of course, Allison knew it was a man the moment she walked in the door. There was a pair of men’s shoes by the front door and a large coat on the coat rack. The guest kept his distance and was hidden safely in the basement for the time being (though Allison figured they were more than just friends).

  But Allison didn’t care about this guest. She needed to rest, and she needed to get her emotions in check. She had to come up with a plan to destroy the Sieve once and for all because obviously and inexplicably he wasn’t killed at their last encounter.

  Even though Allison had only been awake for a few short hours, a lifetime of events had happened to her, and she was emotionally drained. After changing into a spare set of dry clothes from Georgia, Allison crawled into bed in the guest room and fell into a deep sleep.

  CHAPTER 27

  Allison woke only an hour later to hear a scraping at her window. Not even convinced she was really awake, she rose out of her bed and pulled the curtain.

  Georgia’s guest room was on the second floor of the house, but still there was a man outside the window.

  The Sieve.

  Allison was still too exhausted to even know how to react. She recoiled when she saw him, and he held up his hands as if to offer a truce.

  “Don’t worry,” the Sieve said. “I’m not coming in there.”

  “Invite only?” Allison said sarcastically, trying to remember all of her vampire stories from when she was a kid.

  “Sure,” The Sieve shrugged. “Something like that,” he said with a grin. However, his grin did not work nearly as well as it used to, considering the dark, angry sores covering his face. The pencils Allison had stabbed him with had been removed, but the wounds were still fresh. And they appeared infected, if that was something that happened to vampires.

  The Sieve touched his most prominent scar on his cheek. “That was impressive, Detective Pratt,” he said to her. “These are going to leave some permanent marks. I wasn’t expecting that.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Believe me, I was just as surprised as you were by all this.” He paused, then his expression changed from smugly congenial to deadly serious. “I want to meet. To share something with you.”

  “Why would I trust you?” Allison asked with a sneer. “And what could you possibly offer me?”

  “Answers,” the Sieve replied.

  Allison simply stared at him.

  The Sieve shrugged again, and the look of smug congeniality returned. “Let’s just say that you have spunk, Detective Pratt. I like that. I could use your help.”

  “I have nothing to offer you,” Allison said. “Unless it’s a stake through the heart.”

  He grinned. “Well, there’s that. As you know, I’m building something here. It’s going to be pretty big. Something you people might call a game changer. Trust me, you’d rather be on the ground floor with me than to be one of the flock.”

  “I’m done talking to you.”

  “Last chance, Detective Pratt. I’m offering you a truce, and a way to survive.”

  “Get out of here before I set this entire place on fire just to burn you alive.”

  The Sieve shrugged for a third time. He floated backwards away from the window. and shook his finger playfully at Allison. “See what I mean? You’ve got spunk. I’m going to miss that.”

  “Seigneur,” Allison said. The Sieve stopped moving backwards and raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, mademoiselle?”

  “The next time I see you, I will destroy you.”

  He grinned at her. “Bonne chance,” he said. Then he winked and disappeared into the night.

  CHAPTER 28

  Allison woke up feeling exhausted and confused. She did not know how long she had slept, but the bright slices of the sun’s rays cutting through the gaps in the curtains told her it was late. She reached to her bedside table and grabbed her phone. One look at the screen told her it was well into the afternoon.

  It took a few moments for her to get her bearings. She had awakened from a deep, troubled sleep, and the dawn of the new day brought her very little comfort. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and her coherent thoughts returned, she remembered what had happened the night before.

  There was a hole in her heart. It was cold and dark, and with the memory of the events of last night exploding back to life in her mind, she could not help but be overcome with grief. Tears flowed from her eyes, and she buried her face into her pillow.

  Allison had not cried last night. She had been in shock. Now, with the sober light of the morning washing over her, the realization of Xander being gone was devastating.

  This was worse than when he had been killed the first time. Then, he had been a mere mortal. That loss was human and normal, albeit crushing and awful. But after he had returned to her embrace months later, the world had changed. There was a permanency to this loss. Xander was gone, just after she had gotten used to their new fantastic life together. Their time as human lovers was brief, but the death of a partner that was a cop was a reality they knew they had always faced. Now, Xander was dead again. Burned to ash. And Allison’s heart ached for him.

&
nbsp; Similar to how she had slept for hours without sensing the passage of time, Allison was initially unsure of how long she spent in tears. Alone in her bed, safe in Georgia’s home, Allison gave into her grief as the emptiness she felt poured forth from her eyes, her spasms of sobs the only thing keeping her alive.

  Eventually, her body was exhausted from grief. She rolled to her side and lay prone in the light of the day creeping through the curtains.

  As the sunlight touched her flesh, she felt a soft tingle. It was likely Xander’s blood till present in her body that caused this. The echo of the vampire essence under her skin made her feel more alive, reacting to the sunlight.

  Allison looked down at her arms crossed by the thin beams of light from outside. It was all she had left of Xander now. But for how long, she wondered.

  Allison lifted her hand and let her fingers dance in the sunbeams. As each finger caught the light, she felt the tingle of the vampire blood inside them.

  She had no idea how long it would take her body to metabolize the vampire blood, or even how this process worked. She had heard Xander mention the fact that vampire blood stayed in a person’s system for a couple days, but she didn’t even know how her body would process it or exactly how long it would take. Would she essentially digest it like food? Would it move through her kidneys as blood wastes do? Or would her liver end up breaking it down, treating it as a toxin?

  Regardless of how her body removed Xander’s blood from her system, Allison knew she had to keep herself safe from harm until then. If she died with it in her system, she could come back as a vampire, and that would mean she would become immortal without Xander at her side.

  And that would be the real nightmare.

  Allison took a deep breath and let it out slowly, still feeling the urge to sob. She hardened her heart and resisted that urge because to give into it would result in her falling into another uncontrollable breakdown.

  There wasn’t time for that. She’d had her cry. It would have to be enough. At least until she settled things with the Sieve.

  † † †

  Allison walked down the stairs slowly, hoping she wouldn’t disturb anyone. She had taken a shower and dressed in the clothes Georgia had laid out for her. Georgia was a few inches shorter than Allison and not as slender, but the slightly ill-fitting jeans and tee shirt would have to do.

  As Allison descended the stairs, she could hear two people talking. One of the voices, she recognized as Georgia’s. The other was a man’s voice, one she did not recognize.

  She stepped into the kitchen and immediately smelled bacon and coffee. Georgia saw her enter and smiled.

  “There you are, sleepyhead,” Georgia said as Allison came into the room. Georgia offered her a hug, and Allison leaned into her and let out a long sigh as they held each other. Allison still had not told her about Xander, but Georgia was not stupid. She knew last night had been devastating. It didn’t take the greatest private detective on the north coast to know something had happened to Xander. Otherwise, Allison would have been with him.

  “Shhhh...” Georgia said softly in her ear. “Take your time. I’m here when you need me.”

  Allison nodded and closed her eyes tightly, feeling hot tears squeeze out, then fighting them back. She hugged her friend and nuzzled her face into her neck.

  “Thank you...” Allison said softly.

  Georgia held Allison for as long as she wanted. Eventually Allison got her emotions under control and released her. As they pulled away from each other, Georgia smiled slightly.

  “Let’s get you some coffee,” she said, and Allison nodded.

  As Georgia turned to grab a mug and fill it with coffee, she gestured to the man sitting at the kitchen table. “This is Max,” she said. “He’s been staying here for a couple days.”

  Allison nodded to Max, who smiled. He was an intense-looking man with a dark beard and wild black hair. There was a kindness in his crystal-blue eyes but a sense of danger in there as well.

  “Ma’am,” he said, awkwardly polite.

  Allison laughed and took the mug of black coffee from Georgia. “I haven’t been called ma’am since I was on speed trap duty my first year on the force,” she said. “‘Allison’ will do just fine.”

  Max nodded while Georgia was already filling a plate.

  “I know you probably don’t feel like eating, but you need to keep up your strength,” she said to Allison. “You were in rough shape when I picked you up last night, and while the thirteen hours of sleep you got was a good start, you need to refuel as much as you need to recharge.”

  “Yes, mom,” Allison said, taking the plate of bacon, pancakes, and scrambled eggs, then sitting down at the table.

  Georgia sat next to her and got right to the point. “What do you need from me today?” she asked.

  Allison sipped her coffee and started to eat a slice of bacon. She took a deep breath and said, “There is a lot of explaining coming your way, but I don’t have time to go through all of it now. Suffice it to say that you probably won’t even believe some of it... well, most of it... which is why I’m not going to explain it yet. I just need you to trust me. I’m going to ask you for some things, and they’re going to sound like I’m insane. But believe me, they are essential.”

  “Done,” Georgia said without hesitation.

  “I promise, Georgia. I promise when this is over, I will tell you everything.”

  “I know you will,” Georgia said, looking at Max. “We’ve been going through some crazy things as well. I know how it can be.”

  “It can’t be any more bizarre than what I’m facing right now,” Allison said.

  “You’d be surprised,” Max added.

  “So,” Georgia said, directing the conversation back to the present, “What do you need?”

  “I have a list. Not all of it is strictly legal,” Allison said.

  “I expected as much,” George replied.

  “I could get a lot of these things at the station, but there would be too many questions.”

  “Understood.”

  “But first, I’m going to need you to take me to get my car.”

  CHAPTER 29

  It’s not that Allison and Georgia didn’t talk much on the ride to Allison’s apartment to get her car. They talked quite a bit, actually. However, it was their equivalent of talking about the weather. They avoided the caustic topic of what happened last night and anything remotely concerning Xander. Instead, Allison got a little more information on Max and how he came to know Georgia.

  She had been helping Max do some research on his family tree. He had suffered a head injury recently, which resulted in some memory loss. Allison knew that Georgia was not helping him just out of the goodness of her heart. Max was a beautiful specimen of a man, and Georgia was not very subtle about their physical relationship, either.

  Even though Allison was still actively mourning Xander, the discussion of someone else’s love life – which in its normalcy was different enough from her relationship with the undead – took her mind off things enough to distract her.

  Soon Georgia dropped Allison off in her parking lot, and as Allison got out of the car, Georgia said, “Give me until nightfall, and I will have all the things on your list.”

  “Thanks, Georgia,” Allison said. “I can’t thank you enough.”

  “We stick together,” Georgia said. Then, she winked, and Allison closed the passenger door.

  Then, Georgia drove away, leaving Allison alone in her parking lot. She looked out to the horizon and saw the sun starting to sink lower in the sky. Allison figured she had only a couple hours until it disappeared behind the Cleveland skyline. By that time, she’d best be back at Georgia’s house. Not knowing where the Sieve was hiding, Allison knew she would be exposed. Georgia’s home would be her safe haven.

  But first, Allison had to take care of a few things.

  She walked over to her car, and in the light of the day, she realized what a mess it was. The trunk wa
s dented and bowed in slightly, a result of the attack in the garage the other night by the newborn. Still, a dented trunk wouldn’t raise the suspicions that the massive splatter of black blood on the side of the car would. Sure, it wasn’t a bright crimson that you’d get from a human’s blood, but the splatter effect it left on the door looked like more than just a damaged paint job.

  Relieved that this hadn’t drawn any attention, Allison pulled out her keys and got inside.

  † † †

  It took Allison just a few minutes to drive from her apartment to the Flats, where she found the warehouse with no problem. Even though it appeared as run down as ever, it was clear someone – or some thing – had cleaned up the majority of the mess. The door that had been burst open by the army of newborns had been sealed up with plywood, and it appeared that the skylight at the top of the building which the newborns shattered when they attacked Xander had been covered as well.

  But the most vivid damage Allison saw was the location along the river where the Sieve had killed Xander. The ground was noticeably discolored – a dark charcoal black from where the fire had burned the surface. There were also splatters of black blood, which likely resulted from the many wounds the Sieve sustained when she attacked him.

  However, all remnants of any creature were long gone. No severed arms from the newborns killed by Xander. No dead bodies. No pile of ashes.

  He had been swept away, as if he never existed.

  Allison had to fight back her tears, taking a moment to compose herself before she moved towards the warehouse.

  She did not worry that anyone would be lingering behind. Allison was sure that the Sieve had his army of newborns clean up the mess from last night before the sun came up that morning. They had retreated, as this stronghold was hopelessly compromised. She wondered if he would ever come back. Probably not.

  Allison confidently walked up to the front door of the warehouse. A new padlock secured the door. Without hesitation, Allison lifted up a crowbar and wedged it under the lock. With a sudden jolt of her shoulder, Allison popped the padlock off the latch as the screws holding it to the jamb ripped clean out of the wood. The padlock clattered to the ground, still locked.