When The Grave Calls (The Veil Diaries Book 9)

by B. L. Brunnemer

  The possessed bounced off the dome of shimmering light. They began to circle it like sharks as another group of them joined from the house.

  “Uma? How long can you last?” I asked, breathless.

  “Minutes,” she whispered back as sweat began to drip down her face from the strain.

  Jadis stepped out from the crowd, her eyes glowing black, a sick smirk crossing her face. “You can’t keep this up, Uma. You’re already tired.”

  “Screw you,” Uma snapped between her teeth. “You’re a disgrace to witches.”

  My gazed swept the area around me as realization dawned. We were trapped. “Shit, shit, shit.”

  “Any ideas?” Uma asked under her breath.

  I looked at the others as we racked our brains. We were surrounded by the black-eyed possessed. Uma was already wearing out. We were fucked.

  My hand brushed a hard lump in my pocket. I slipped my hand inside and pulled out my stone. An idea sparked. It wasn’t a good one. We’d all die. But it would also stop Jadis and the possessed from spreading.

  Could I do it. Kill us all? My hand shook around the stone as it grew warm against my skin. Did I have a choice? There was only one way this could play out. My throat grew tight. I couldn’t make the decision on my own. I met Zeke’s gaze.

  “I’m going to blow my stone,” I whispered, only loud enough for them to hear.

  They turned to me.

  “It’ll take all of us out.” My eyes burned as I held it out between all of us. “And them.”

  Uma’s face grew strained and pale.

  Miles was silent.

  The twins turned to each other.

  Zeke and Asher moved closer to me.

  We were going to die. We all knew it, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. It only mattered if we took out the enemy too.

  It was several heartbeats before Uma gave me a silent nod of approval.

  Miles nodded and put his hand on mine. My sweet genius. How I loved the way he was. Silent, supportive. Wonderful. Loving. Nausea rolled through me.

  “Do it, Red.” Isaac’s voice brought my gaze to his. The surety there. The confidence in himself, in us. It was beautiful to see before the end. His hand moved on top of Miles’.

  My heart filled with love as I turned to Ethan.

  Ethan nodded. “You go, we go.” Ethan. My romantic at heart. I wished I had more time with him, with all of them. My creative genius. The only one who could understand what music and art meant to me. Ethan’s hand covered his brother’s.

  “Together,” Asher said, drawing my attention. Fuck. Asher. Words couldn’t even capture how I felt about him. His sweetness, his love, everything he was.

  Tears slipped out and rolled down my face as his hand covered Ethan’s. My chest grew tight, hard to breathe.

  I looked up and met Zeke’s eyes. Shadows warred inside them as his hand joined ours. “As always.” My tortured teddy bear. The courage it took for him to admit that he couldn’t protect us now, that he couldn’t sacrifice for us now. Love poured from me in tears.

  I wouldn’t be able to do what was needed if I kept thinking about it. I pulled energy from around us. From me, from them, and sent it to the stone. It grew to a scorching heat in my hand. I met each of their eyes again.

  “We’ll see you on the other side,” Miles promised.

  Ethan, Asher, and Zeke moved to protect the rest of us. Someone jerked me against them.

  A blast hit us, and there was nothing.

  Chapter 14

  I jerked awake, smoke and shattered glass everywhere. A heavy weight was shoved off of me. Numb, I looked up to find Mila, my grandmother, squatting beside me.

  “You did good, girl.” Mila smiled as her arms moved to my shoulders. I didn’t understand until she helped me sit up. The conservatory was gone. Only a warped steel shell remained, and the house … The house was engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed from the ruins, turning the sky dark.

  But none of that mattered when I saw the bodies. Everywhere. Bodies lay thrown back from us in the rubble. Only the crackle of flames filled the silence.

  I struggled to my feet and desperately began searching for the guys.

  “Slow down,” Mila said.

  “Where are they?” I demanded as I spotted Zeke beside me. His ice-blue eyes were open, his shirt wet and stuck to his body. A large shard of glass protruded from his shoulder. He didn’t move. I grabbed his hand. “No, no, no, no!” I quickly checked his pulse. Please … No. Nothing. There was nothing.

  Mila reached down and closed his eyes. “He protected you from the shrapnel.”

  I closed my eyes. Of course he did. Tears burned a path down my face as I began to look for the others. A flash of blond hair had me crawling through the debris to Asher’s side. His shoulder was covered in blood as I rolled him onto his back. His eyes were closed, his skin already cooling, his chest still.

  “No!” I screamed as my heart shattered again. No, no, no. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t end this way! It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I searched the wreckage for the others.

  Miles! His beautiful hunter-green eyes were open, shirt soaked in blood. His right arm was under a large chuck of cement, blood pooling around it. I whimpered and wrapped my arms around myself. This couldn’t be happening. Please …

  An aching pit grew inside me as I spotted the twins. Ethan was wrapped around Isaac, trying to shield him from the blast. Both were covered in blood. Both of their chests were still. They were gone. Uma. Where was Uma? I searched the wreckage but saw nothing. Gone. Juan just lost another parent. “No!” I screamed on a sob. My voice cracked, unable to hold the sound.

  Mila wrapped her arms around me and held me to her shoulder as I sobbed. Completely broken, I fell apart in her arms. They were gone. Dead. I’d killed them. Someone help me, I’d killed the men I loved. Every heartbeat was agonizing as the realization clawed deep into my soul. Gone.

  “Red. Breathe.”

  I opened my eyes and jerked away from Mila. Isaac’s spirit was there, kneeling beside me, his hand out as if he had tried to touch me only to realize he couldn’t. The others fanned out behind him. All of them, shimmering as if made of light.

  Unable to say anything, I shook my head repeatedly and tried to get enough breath to speak.

  “It’s okay, Beautiful.” Ethan smiled a sad smile. “It’s going to be okay.”

  I met his eyes. My world was shattered around me. My heart in pieces. They were gone. There was nothing left for me, not without them. My voice trembled and croaked. “It’s not okay, it never will be okay again. Not without you.”

  “Lexie, breathe. Please,” Zeke rasped.

  Shiny drops moved down all of their faces as I looked up at them, still gasping. Still trying to just exist. Trying to get through the next moment.

  “You have to let us go,” Asher said as he knelt down. “Please. You’re alive, and we’re okay with it.”

  I shook my head as the answer hit me. “I-I can bring you back.”

  Miles shook his head as he stepped closer. “Don’t do that to us. Don’t make us zombies.”

  I wiped my face and put my hand on the chest of Asher’s body. “The Veil energy.” Desperate, I went down deep to that place where it connected to me and pulled. Energy of creation, Jadis had said. I could save them. The energy slipped from my grasp. Desperate, almost out of my mind, I mentally scrambled for it again.

  “No, Lexie. That’ll close the Veil again.” Mila grabbed my hand and pulled it back from Asher, turning me to her.

  I jerked back and broke her hold. “I don’t care.”

  “You can’t do that,” Mila said.

  I shook my head and reached out. I connected to the Veil again. Gold light glowed under my hand. Heal. Please.

  “You’d doom the world to save the people you love?” Mila demanded harshly.

  I turned on her. “Yes! Fuck a world that doesn’t have them in it!”

  Her eyes narrowed on mine.
“How does that make you any different than the person who started this?”

  I flinched at her words, trying to hide from the truth of them. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t save them. I wasn’t like that person. I crumbled against her. “I can’t do this.”

  “Where’d Ethan go?” Isaac asked behind me.

  That broke me all over again. I sobbed into her shoulder. He’d moved on, left me. Left us. Why?

  Thunder clapped above. The ground shook. A wave of energy ripped through the ruins, shaking me to the bone. I didn’t care. Let it take me out. They were gone. That’s all that mattered.

  “Beautiful,” a voice called.

  I shook my head. He was gone, he’d never call me that again. The scent of spicy cologne reached me. I lifted my head only high enough to see him. Ethan. Whole, covered in blood, but healed. Was he real? Could he really be here? Or was I just losing my mind? Wait … he was a phoenix. I reached out a shaking hand. My fingers touched wet cotton. Awe crashed over me as I launched myself into his arms. I clung to him as I sobbed into his chest. “I love you. I love you.” I barely managed between sobs. “Please don’t go away again.”

  He held me tighter than he ever had before as tears poured down his face. “I’m alive, I’m here. I love you. It’ll be okay.”

  “You guys can do this.” Zeke knelt beside us. “You’re both strong. And you have each other.”

  I pulled back from Ethan and looked up at one of the pieces of my heart. “Don’t lie to me. Not now.”

  Zeke closed his eyes as more silver tears fell down his cheeks. Those icy-blue eyes met mine. “You can. You have to. For us.”

  I shook my head as Ethan held me close.

  “You have to live for us,” Isaac said, his voice a barely-there rasp.

  “Hermano …” Ethan gasped.

  Isaac shook his head. “It’s okay, brother. It’s going to be okay.”

  “I’ll never see you again.” Ethan croaked as his grip on me tightened.

  “That’s the way it’s gotta be.” Isaac’s voice shook. “See the world. Make your band a success. Love Lexie. Do everything we won’t be able to.”

  Unable to take it, I buried my face in Ethan’s neck as we cried.

  “Father,” Mila said.

  “It’s over?” a man’s voice asked.

  I struggled to breathe with the loss coursing through me.

  “Yes,” Mila answered.

  “Good,” the man said.

  “Can you save them?” Mila asked.

  That brought me back enough to lift my head and turn to them. His square face was dour and tan. Death didn’t look like a skeleton. He looked like a normal human being who worked outside a lot. Dark hair, dark eyes. His jaw reminded me of someone. Dad. He looked vaguely like my father. Not much, only enough to show relation. But that didn’t matter right now. “You can save them?”

  Death’s dark gaze met mine as he arched an eyebrow at my question. “Do I have the power to restore them? Yes, of course I do. Will I, however? No.”

  I broke apart again in Ethan’s arms. We clung to one another, that flame inside of me winking out. I grew cold.

  “Father, please.” Mila got to her feet. “She saved the world, surely that’s worth a boon.”

  “Mila, I can’t just grant boons whenever I feel like it,” he countered. “You know it doesn’t work that way.”

  “She’s the last, Papa,” she pleaded, her brows drew together, tears pooling in her own eyes.

  “Even if I wanted to, I can’t, Mila. I’m sorry.” His lips pressed into a thin line as a weariness seemed to appear around his eyes.

  I pulled back from Ethan and turned to them as a memory surged through my mind. “I’ll become a Reaper.”

  Ethan’s grip on me tightened as Death and Mila turned to me.

  “Pardon?” Death asked.

  I took a deep breath and wiped my face. “Bring them back and I’ll become a Reaper when I die.”

  “Lexie …” Ethan breathed.

  Death thought it over as my pulse pounded in my ears. Stone crumbled around me. Smoke drifted in thick wafts.

  “You could become a Reaper and still see them,” he countered, “without me having to deal with the balance of life and death.”

  “I need them alive. All of them. Uma, Zeke, Miles, Asher, Isaac. I can’t …” My voice cracked and choked off as even more tears fell. “Please?”

  “Papa.” Mila drew his attention. “You owe me.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed. “Fine.” A dagger appeared in his hand. Death dragged the tip across the meat of his palm. I half expected nothing to happen, but black blood pooled and flowed down his wrist. He held out the blade towards me, handle first. “A blood oath and you get your friends back.”

  I didn’t hesitate. Snatching the blade and slicing my hand was done in almost one motion. I held my hand out to the man. Death’s cold hand wrapped around mine, mixing our blood together. “A Reaper. Do you agree?”

  “I do,” I whispered.

  Death squeezed my hand once then let go of me. In the blink of an eye the guys’ souls disappeared. Zeke wheezed. Miles groaned. Ethan and I rushed to check on everyone. They were alive!

  “Hermano,” Ethan rasped as he scrambled across the debris to his twin.

  “Fucking hell,” Isaac grunted as Ethan reached him. “I’m not leaving you.”

  Asher groaned as he came to.

  Zeke’s breathing was rough as blood began to pour from around the glass in his shoulder.

  Miles was pale and still unconscious, but there was now a rise and fall to his chest.

  Asher moved to Miles’ side and picked the cement up off his hand.

  I moved to Zeke and tried to stop the bleeding without touching the glass.

  The only thing that mattered was that they were alive and breathing. Sirens sounded in the distance, growing closer by the second.

  The fire department, ambulances, and police arrived. With a blast that loud and destructive, I was honestly amazed they weren’t there sooner. Quickly, everyone was loaded into ambulances. While Death had brought them back, he didn’t heal them completely. Zeke and Miles were by far the worst off. Ethan and I drove to the hospital in Zeke’s now busted-up Jeep.

  We arrived and I was struck with déjà vu as the nurses and doctors rushed from section to section, taking care of our friends. Our family.

  Numbness had settled in as we waited. We watched as they put Zeke on a ventilator. Sent Miles for emergency surgery. Isaac and Asher both needing stitches over their backs but otherwise they were fine. Uma joined us to wait. Apparently, she had strengthened her barrier enough to be thrown from the blast without being killed.

  Eventually even Hades joined us, in dog form. Burnt and bloody, Uma had volunteered to take him to a 24-hour vet office to get patched up.

  It was in that state of limbo that my phone beeped.

  I pulled it out and looked at the cracked screen. It was a text.

  Jake: Come to the abandoned hospital or Jake dies.

  I sighed. Yeah. Perfect timing, asshole. The loves of my life are in the emergency room and you expect me to come running. I wanted nothing more than to stay here with Ethan, waiting for news about the guys. But I couldn’t. I had to go. I gritted my teeth as I texted back.

  Lexie: I’ll be there.

  “Ethan.” I tucked my phone back into my pocket. “I have to deal with my ex.”

  Ethan turned to me, his mouth a tight line. “Right now? No fucking way. Let Evie find the piece of shit and deal with him.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t, he’s got Jake.”

  Ethan’s body practically vibrated with the swirl of emotions he had to be feeling. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  “I need to do this on my own.” I met his gaze. “I need you to be here to protect the guys. Just in case, somehow, Jadis made it through.”

  “Lexie.” He scowled.

  “Please?”

  He clearly struggled with that f
or several heartbeats before he nodded.

  I kissed Ethan quickly before leaving the hospital.

  A strange calm filled me as I hit Evelyn’s contact info before reaching Zeke’s Jeep.

  “Are you all right?” Evelyn answered the phone, almost breathless.

  “Yeah,” I said in a dead pan voice. “But Dylan has my friend Jake and he wants to meet. This ends now.”

  “I can’t interfere with him yet,” she warned. “Not until you have him admit it. Call for Zahur when you do. We’re taking care of the police at the house right now.”

  “I will.” I jerked open the door and climbed inside. “Just get to the old abandoned hospital off the highway north of town. I’ll take care of the rest.” I hung up the phone.

  As I drove, purpose thrummed in my veins. Dylan had Jake. I had lost the guys—sold my afterlife for them—and this fucker was the last loose end. The entire reason for all of this.

  By the time I pulled up to the building, I was ready. To face him. To take him out if need be. It was time to be done with this chapter of my life.

  I parked the car. Took Zeke’s flashlight and headed into the decaying building.

  I made my way down the rickety staircase, past the vines that covered the damp, moldy walls. A soft glow showed around the half-closed door at the end of the stairs. My fingers tingled, my chest tightening as I pushed open the door. I went still. It wasn’t Dylan.

  Chapter 15

  “What the fuck?” I muttered as I stepped into the room.

  My jaw dropped. Eric leaned against the altar across the dirt floor, draped in a dark cloak.

  He grinned. “Oh good, you made it.”

  Stunned, I shook my head. “You?”

  “Yeah, me.” That grin stretched across his face as he tossed the phone onto the altar.

  “Where’s Jake?” I demanded.

  “I’m right here.” Jake’s voice spun me around. He was standing in a blind corner near the door.

  Heart hammering, I leaned forward to go to him but stopped short. He wasn’t tied to a chair. He wasn’t restrained. I backed away from him. He wasn’t … It clicked. He wasn’t a hostage. “You?”