Deathless (11 page)

Rave studied the statue for a moment, then turned back to Leesa. “No wonder you’re upset. Has anything like this ever happened to you before?”

“
No, never.” She thought about telling Rave about her recent trouble sleeping, but didn’t want to cloud the real issue, which was her dream seeming to show up on the news.

“
Any idea what it means?” Rave asked.

“
I’m not sure. Maybe it was just a weird coincidence or something. But I was wondering if you knew anything about zombies. Do they exist? Are they as real, like vampires and volkaanes?”

Rave pursed his lips, thinking. “I really do not know,” he said after a moment. “My people have stories of the dead coming back to life and feasting on human flesh, but I have never seen it or talked to anyone who has. I’ve never really paid much attention to it.”

Leesa wasn’t sure whether she was relieved by Rave’s answer or not. “So you think that’s all they are then, just stories?”

“
I don’t know. Most of our lore is based on things my people have encountered in the past. It would not surprise me if zombies, or something like them, existed sometime in the past. But if they had been anywhere around here in the last hundred years, I think I would know about it.”

Leesa thought about it for a few moments, digesting what Rave had said.

“
I guess you’re right. Your people would know.” She stood up and walked over to the statue. Placing her hand on one of the soldier’s cold stone thighs, she stared up at his hat. That one detail troubled her more than anything, because such hats were not something she’d expect to see. So why had she conjured up something so unusual in her dream? And why was one of the bodies in the cemetery wearing a similar one?

Out of range of Rave’s warmth, the cold slowly seeped into her, especially into her exposed hands. She tucked them into her pockets and stared at the statue for another moment. If she expected the soldier to give her any answers, she was sorely disappointed. But heck, would a talking statue be any stranger than dead bodies coming back to life? She wondered idly whether zombies could talk. Turning away from the statue, she limped back to the bench and sat beside Rave. The cold immediately vanished.

“
I can’t get past that stupid hat,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“
Why does the hat bother you so much?” Rave grinned, trying to lighten her mood. “You don’t think it is part of some kind of official zombie uniform, do you?”

Leesa smiled and punched him playfully on the arm. “No, of course not. I think they probably just wear whatever they were buried in—if they exist at all, that is. I just think it’s strange I’d imagine a hat like that in the first place, and then find one in the video, too. It’s not like I see kids walking around campus wearing those things.”

“
What about the Halloween party? There were lots of pirates wearing hats like that.”

Leesa’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! I’d forgotten.” She had gone to the party dressed as a pirate herself, but with a red bandana around her head instead of a hat. She felt extra warm inside all of a sudden, and it had nothing to do with Rave’s magical heat. The Halloween party had been the first time she and Rave had slow danced together, and she still remembered how awesome it felt.

“
Maybe that’s where the hat came from,” she said. She paused, her brow knitted in thought. “That might explain the hat in my dream, but it’s still a little weird there would be one in the video, too.”

Rave shrugged. “We may never be able to explain that. I’m sorry I have not been more help.”

Leesa wrapped her arms around Rave’s arm. “You’ve helped, for sure. The pirate costume thing, for one. And you’ve pretty much reassured me there aren’t any zombies around right now, even if they may have been here in the past.”

“
But that does not mean they couldn’t come back,” Rave said. “Just to be safe, I’ll go over to Higganum later and see if I can detect any magical energy.”

“
Can you do that?” Leesa asked excitedly. “Detect that kind of energy?”

“
I’m not sure. I can sense when vampires are nearby—maybe I’ll feel something similar if there are zombies around.”

“
That would be awesome.”

“
It’s a long shot. If there was any kind of magic associated with the bodies from the cemetery, it may have dissipated by now. But I will see what I can find.”

“
Thanks. Have I mentioned that I love you?”

Rave smiled. “Not nearly enough.”

Leesa kissed his cheek. “Well, I do. But I’d better be getting back to the dorm.” She hated to say that, because she didn’t know when she would see him next. “Finals are next week—I need to do some studying.”

Rave stood up. “I’ll walk you back, then.”

Leesa snuggled against him as they headed back toward her dorm. She had no way of knowing Rave had come to class tonight because there was something he wanted to talk to her about, but after he’d seen how bothered she was about her dream, he had decided it could wait. He didn’t want to add to her stress, especially with her finals around the corner.

Edwina watched from the blackness between two buildings almost a hundred yards from where Leesa sat with her volkaane friend. The guy was more than just a friend—that was obvious from the way they interacted. They held hands, they snuggled close, and they exchanged brief kisses. There had been no long, passionate kisses, of course—such a kiss would burn the girl to ashes in seconds. Edwina shivered momentarily at the thought of the volkaane’s fire burning her own life breath from her. She wondered what kind of relationship the human girl and the volkaane expected to have, when his very kiss would kill her. Her lips curved into a sinister smile as she recalled some of her own relationships with humans over the years. She was pretty sure most of them would have preferred her to have killed them right away.

She wished she could have gotten closer, to hear what Leesa and the volkaane were saying, but she was taking no chances he might sense her presence, especially if he was as powerful as Stefan claimed.

She was fortunate Stefan had warned her about him. She had guessed Leesa would be taking that silly Vampire Science class—her brother Bradley had loved it—and Edwina’s first thought had been to go inside the classroom and watch Leesa from somewhere in the room. Had she done that, the volkaane would have sensed her for sure.

Instead, she had found a spot suitably far from the door and settled in to wait. Her patience was rewarded when the two of them left the building together and made their way to the center of the courtyard. She was surprised to see the girl walked with a noticeable limp and wondered if she had injured herself.

When they finally got up and began walking away, Edwina followed silently behind, taking care to maintain her distance. She watched the volkaane give the girl a lingering kiss on the forehead in front of one of the dormitories. He remained outside the door for several moments after she went inside, his eyes roaming the darkness. Edwina was glad she had remained so far back.

A smile curved her lips as she disappeared into the darkness. She now knew where Leesa lived.

13. SEEING THINGS

N
ear midnight on Friday night, Leesa sat at her desk, pouring over her biology book. Avril Lavigne’s “Goodbye Lullaby” CD was playing softly in the background for the third or fourth time. Leesa had been too consumed with her studying to bother changing it, but this time the raucous sounds of “What the Hell” pulled her attention away from the book. The parts about needing time to play and needing to be a bit crazy sure sounded like a good idea to her right now.

There were a million things she would rather be doing than studying tonight, but finals started on Monday, so it was time to buckle down. She would rather be doing something with Rave, of course, or hanging out with Cali, Stacie and Caitlin playing Guitar Hero, or even bowling on Caitlin’s Wii. Or watching a movie, or reading a good book, or…. Her mouth stretched open into a big yawn. Sleeping wouldn’t be a bad choice, either.

A week had passed since her graveyard dream, and she was still having trouble getting a full night’s sleep. She had not experienced any other weird dreams that she could remember, but she woke up a couple of times almost every night and wasn’t always able to fall right back to sleep. She had hoped her talk with Rave yesterday might help, but last night had been as restless as the others. Oh, well, she thought, sleep wasn’t going to be much of a priority for the next week anyhow.

At least she had drawn a pretty good exam schedule. Biology would be her second toughest test, and she’d be getting it out of the way first thing Monday morning. The rest of her exams were spread out one per day, which was nice. Cali had two finals on Tuesday and Caitlin had two on Wednesday, but Leesa had gotten lucky and avoided any doubles. The other nice thing about her schedule was physics would be her final final, on Thursday. She giggled at the phrase, “final final.” It wasn’t really all that funny—she was definitely getting punch drunk. But it was great to have her toughest test last. She could pull an all-nighter for it if need be and then crash after the exam, knowing her studying was over.

That was a week away, though, so she turned her attention back to biology. She planned on doing another hour or so of work tonight, then to spend most of Saturday on physics, with some reviewing of English and psychology, and then return to biology on Sunday.

She yawned again. If she was this tired already, she thought, when her studying had barely begun, what was she going to be like next week? She would be a basket case for sure. She reached for the open can of Red Bull—a college kid’s best friend during exams—that sat on the corner of her desk. Another boost of energy was definitely in order. Her hand was a couple of inches from the can when her tired eyes popped open and a gasp escaped her throat. Had she just seen what she thought she had seen? She couldn’t have.

She stared at the Red Bull, now grasped firmly in her right hand. She could swear the can had just slid the final few inches across the desk into her hand. But that was impossible, right? She must be even more tired than she thought. Her mind was playing tricks on her. It had to be. She had probably just zoned out for an instant, and didn’t see her hand cover those last couple inches. Yeah, that was the ticket. She had just zoned out.

What other explanation could there be? Even Rave couldn’t move quickly enough to be invisible, and he wouldn’t play that kind of trick on her even if he could. Maybe it was the work of a ghost, she thought, though she didn’t really believe in ghosts. Of course, she hadn’t believed in vampires either, until a few months ago. And now she was entertaining the idea that the dead could climb out of their graves, so why not ghosts, too? What the heck—the more the merrier. Ghosts, goblins, witches…lions and tigers and bears, oh my! She shook her head at her silliness as the famous refrain from the “Wizard of Oz” echoed in her head. Even if ghosts did exist, why would one push a can of Red Bull into her hand? She doubted any ghost would be interested enough in her studying to help her out by moving the energy drink for her.

Maybe it had been an earthquake that moved it, or a sudden shift of the earth’s axis or magnetic field. She found herself looking around the room to see if anything else had moved, and then chastised herself for her foolishness. No, her mind was simply playing tricks on her. She was overly tired, and that was it.

She gulped down an extra couple swallows of Red Bull and got back to work.

14. DOMINIC’S FRUSTRATION

D
ominic was frustrated. He sat hunched forward on a diamond-shaped cement block in front of the Pacific Beach branch of the San Diego Library. There were plenty of people around, some browsing though used books at an outdoor book sale, others who were obviously homeless and taking advantage of the public facilities offered by the library. One guy in a brightly colored tie dye T-shirt was banging on a pair of bongo drums with surprisingly good rhythm. His tangled black dreadlocks bounced on his shoulders as he bobbed his head to the driving beat.

Dominic had been in San Diego for two weeks now, but with precious little to show for it. The city was beautiful, but he had scarcely noticed the palm trees, blue skies and all the brightly colored flowers that had no business blooming in December. Likewise, he paid little attention to the pleasantly warm days and the nights that could barely be described as cool. Back in his home country it would be cold and dreary right now, and the only colors would be dismal shades of brown and gray.