Authors: Multiple
“Fair enough.” Zrayus nodded. “I’ll pass
the message on.”
“So, tell me how to inactivate this
stupid collar.”
He pointed to my neck. “Press on the blue
stone, it’s not set very tightly and it’ll pop out with enough force. The stone
completes the magic circuit, without it the collar won’t work.”
“That’s it?” I raised my eyebrows, not
quite believe it was so easy.
“You can’t take it off without a mage,
but the stone will come out. I made sure before I put it on you.”
“All right and then I have to figure out
how to deal with Kristoff. Any suggestions?”
“Do it quick.” He made a sharp chopping
motion with his hand. “Athena will be ready to make her move soon. Take the
first chance you get and don’t hold back.”
“There’s no special karate chop or
something?” Fairy Kung-Fu would’ve come in real handy right about then.
“No. I’ve found wine bottles work the
best in a pinch. Something heavy and hard right in the temple works very well.”
He mimed hitting someone in the head.
I opened my mouth to tell him, I hadn’t
seen any wine bottles, when something jerked at my legs, yanking me down to my
knees. My body was reaching for me, pulling me back. I looked at Zryaus who
gave me an encouraging nod, “Go. You know what you need to do.”
Sure I knew what needed to be done, the
question was did I have the strength or the courage to do it? I didn’t have a
chance to share my doubts with Zrayus though, as my body insistently dragged me
through the fog and back to where someone was shaking me rather harshly by the
shoulder.
Chapter
Eighteen
“I’m up, I’m up,” I said, annoyed. I sat
up and switched on the bedside lamp wanting to see who was in my room. The
light revealed the face of the man I had met in the kitchen my first day at
Kristoff’s and there was something...off about his touch. A pit of dread opened
in my stomach.
He put a finger to his lips. “Shh, I
don’t want them to hear us.”
“Who are you?” I peered up at him,
groggy. I was still processing my conversation with Zrayus and it was hard to
keep up.
“You don’t recognize me?” He gave a coy
smile.
I shook my head. “Never seen you before
in my life.”
“Not how I look, who I am.” He thrust a
hand at me. “Read me. Look at me with your second sight.”
I laid a hand on his, noticing he was
cold and his flesh hard. He didn’t smell, but I already knew he was another
zombie. I’d felt it when he touched me while I slept. Shifting my focus until
the world was blurry, I looked at him with my second sight. A familiar blue
aura swirled with white came into focus, only now it had a pale gray tinge to
it. Even with the overlay of death, I recognized it as someone who couldn't
possibly be standing in front of me. “Mark?”
“Yep.” He grinned, pleased with himself.
I snatched my hand back. “But it’s not
you,” I said pointing to his body.
“No.”
“How?” Mark was in a body that could pass
for a living person. Somehow he’d promoted himself from ghost to the lifelike
living dead. Holy shit.
He raised an eyebrow. “You really have to
ask?”
“You mean... Kristoff...” My throat went
dry and I couldn’t say anything more.
Mark nodded. “Yep, he gave my soul a body
so I could live again. I wanted to use my body, but it wasn’t fresh enough.”
I shuddered. I would never think of the
word fresh in the same way again. “You’re a zombie.”
“Technically, yes, but most zombies don’t
have a soul. I do.” He extended his arms and turned in a circle. “See? I don’t
rot and I never will because I have a soul. I’m alive again.”
The word alive would also never be the
same for me again. “But aren’t you in his control now?”
“Sort of. It’s not like the others who
have to do everything he says.” His chest puffed with pride. “He can’t really
control me, not unless he focuses a lot of energy into it. I’m my own man. It's
part of the deal we made.”
“Oh,” was all I could manage. Never mind
whoever had used his body before had probably been his own man too until he’d
been chosen as a vessel for Mark’s spirit. I shook my head and forced myself to
move past my shock and think. “Wait, what deal?”
“I help give you to him, he gives you to
me. Now we can be together.” He leaned in to kiss me.
I moved so fast, even I was surprised to
see how far across the room I went to avoid Mark’s advance. We stared at each
other for a moment. Hurt reflected in Mark’s new green eyes and I was sure mine
reflected wide-eyed horror. As torn as I had been about Mark’s death, I
would’ve never wanted to make him a zombie and trap his soul in dead flesh just
to keep him with me. Death had marked a permanent change in our relationship,
one that couldn’t be overcome with magic.
It appeared that hadn’t occurred to him.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?” He scowled
when I didn’t respond right away. “I thought you wanted this. We can be
together, like nothing ever happened.”
I shook my head. “You can’t erase the
past.” Or the present. Had Mark spied on me for Kristoff? Shown him where Vera
lived? Suggested using her to get to me? When exactly had he made his deal,
before or after I met Jacob? I was afraid to ask, not sure I wanted to know.
He came to me and took my hand in his
cold, dead one. “I’d like to try.”
I pulled away, trying to hide the disgust
I felt at his touch. Mark put a hand on the wall, preventing me from ducking
away. “I’m not a ghost any more, I’m here in the flesh. You said that’s how you
wanted me. I came back from the dead for you. You can’t reject me now.”
I just blinked at him, appalled and
speechless.
He leaned in closer to me, nuzzling my
neck. “I’d almost forgotten how you smelled.” His other hand crept around my
waist.
And for just a moment, because of the way
his deep voice vibrated on my skin, I wanted him. Wanted to yield to him, let
him peel off my clothes and throw me on the bed and pretend none of the bad
things had ever happened, that we were as we had always been. But the faint
scent of death on his skin reminded me it was an illusion.
Mark was nothing more than a body
snatcher. There was no going back for us. I pushed him away and moved back to
stand by my bed. “Mark, this is a lot to absorb,” I said diplomatically. “And
we have bigger problems than the status of our relationship.”
“What do you mean?”
“The renegades and the dragons are
planning to invade and take over.”
“So? I have you. That’s all I care
about.” He came toward me again, but I put a hand up to stop him.
“Well, it’ll be awfully hard to have a
relationship with me while I’m a renegade slave.” I pointed to the collar
around my neck.
Mark looked at me, eyes narrowed. “You’re
not a renegade slave, you’re mine.”
I winced at the possessive tone in his
voice, but didn’t argue. Truth be told, I’d rather deal with a lovesick zombie
than the renegades. “That won’t happen so long as I wear their collar. We’ve
got to stop them, then we can…,” I paused and licked my lips, “talk about us.”
He considered it for a second and then
gave an abrupt nod. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
“I need to take Kristoff out of the
picture. He’s raising a zombie army to assist the renegades with their
revolution.”
Mark nodded. “I’ve seen them, although I
didn’t know what their purpose was.”
“Where are they?”
“There are probably a couple hundred in
the basement and several hundred more scattered throughout the city.”
My eyes went wide. “Wow. And are they
like you?” When he raised an eyebrow, I clarified, “Non rotting with souls.”
Mark raised one shoulder in a half shrug.
“They’re not rotting but I don’t think they have souls like I do.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand. I
thought zombies decomposed.” Granted, there hadn’t been one in over a hundred
years. It’s possible the magic improved or the accounts that survived weren’t
accurate. It also wasn’t an area I’d ever researched heavily.
“Kristoff is powerful,” Mark said simply.
I sighed. “Well, I’ve got to stop him,
take away that power or else it’ll be a bloodbath.”
“There’s one problem.” Mark held up one
finger.
“What?”
“Stop Kristoff and I go back to being a
ghost. It’s his power that lets me be like this.”
I had a hard time hiding the relief I
felt at the news and ducked my head so he couldn’t see my face. “Oh. We’ll work
something out.”
“Hey, I know." His eyes gleamed with
excitement. “You can learn how to do it. He’s going to teach you, he told me so
himself. Once he does, I won’t need him anymore.
You
can be the one to
keep me alive.”
“Okay," I said slowly. What had happened
to Mark? He’d never been pro-murder. Was his new body too tight on his soul?
Why was me murdering innocent people the answer to our problems?
Mark picked up on my lack of enthusiasm
and frowned. “Listen, Sofia. I’ll help you only if you promise me two things.”
“What?”
“That you’ll let me kiss you and you’ll
put me in a body once we’ve gotten rid of Kristoff.”
I thought it over. “Okay, deal.” Mark
didn’t need to know that I had no intention of honoring my promise. By the time
he realized I had lied, it would be too late and he’d be little more than
ether. Ether that I would force into the afterlife if it was the last thing I
did.
“You mean it?”
“Yes.” I did my best to look sincere in
order to sell the lie. It sucked having to mislead him, but Mark had gone down
a path I would not walk.
He smiled, bright and big at me until I almost
felt bad for lying. “Come here.”
“Why?”
“I’m collecting on the kiss you owe me.”
I gulped. I hadn’t realized he meant now.
He beckoned. “Come here, Sofia.” There
was an undertone of steel in his voice that spoke of controlled anger, an anger
I didn’t want to see unleashed. This wasn’t the same Mark I had known and
loved. I took a step forward, then another until I stood in front of him. When
Mark had been alive, we’d been roughly the same height and we’d been able to
see eye to eye. Now, I only came up to the new Mark’s chest. Nervous, I kept my
eyes level, staring at his newly inherited pecs, which looked tight enough to
bounce quarters on, afraid to meet Mark’s eyes.
Gently, he took my chin in his hand and
raised it until our eyes met. “Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not,” I said even though it was a
bald lie. His eyes glittered at me like emeralds. I didn’t know how to read his
expression. I could always read Mark’s stormy sea eyes, but not the hard green
stones now looking at me. Death had changed him beyond the fact his spirit was
now trapped in another body.
“I love you, Sofia and I’m never going to
let you go.” He lowered his head and pressed his cold, rubbery lips against
mine, completely missing the disgust that filled my eyes.
* * *
Mark left after we kissed, saying he
didn’t want to be caught by Julia. Still speechless from our kiss, I merely
nodded and waved as he walked out the door. For once, I was thankful for my
captivity, it meant Mark couldn’t have his way with me.
Besides, I did not have time to tango
with a stalker beyond the grave. I needed to deactivate the collar and I had a
necromancer to kill. Plus the crystals Kristoff had given me needed to be
charged and I intended to start the task sooner rather than later to be sure
they were ready. I wasn't so sure about my necromancer fighting skills and I
didn’t want Vera to lose another finger or worse.
Not wasting any time, I set about trying
to pop out the stone in my collar. There was no way to know if Fred had told me
the truth about how to deactivate it. For all I knew, I was about to commit
suicide, but I had to take the risk. Even if the dragons and renegades weren’t
poised to strike in the next few days, my life and Vera’s were certainly in
danger. I had to do something.
To start, I tried to pry the stone out
with my fingers, but it was pretty tightly wedged into the collar. I increased
the force until my thumb throbbed under the pressure with no luck. Realizing it
was going to take more than my fingers, I went to the kitchen in search of a
bread knife to pry into the small crack between the metal and the stone. With a
few false starts, I managed to pop the stone out. It clattered and skipped
across the floor to disappear under my bed. I left it there, figuring that was
probably the best place to hide it for now.
I hoped Kristoff wouldn’t realize it was
gone. If he was like most men, he probably never knew there had been a stone in
the center in the first place. Although a woman would notice. I frowned and
thought of Julie. She might realize the stone was gone, but would she
understand what it meant? It was a risk I had to take.
The collar deactivated (or at least I
hoped it was), I worked on charging the crystals, It wouldn’t be good if
Kristoff became suspicious and figured out things had changed. Now that I knew
how to do it, charging them didn’t take long, but it did leave me hungry and
tired. I took the time to grab a quick sandwich, but skipped a nap. Instead, I
began a methodical search of the building. I wanted to locate Vera if I could
as well as the zombie army, and identify any exits. In a very short time I was
going to make a run for it. I had to be ready.
Staying close to the walls, I slunk down
hallway after hallway, all empty. The nice thing about the collar, no one felt
the need for guards, which meant no one challenged my movement through the
building. Not once did my collar spark to life. It seemed Zrayus had told the
truth.
I scanned my floor quickly. I knew the
layout well and knew I wouldn't find Vera, but I double-checked making sure I
hadn't missed any entrances or exits. I had the time now to be thorough, time
I might not have later and luck favored the prepared. I hoped.
Confirming the only entrance or exit for
my floor was through Kristoff's office, I started on the rest of the building.
There was one flight of stairs that connected all the floors and I had the
choice of going up or down. Based on what Mark had said, I decided to go down
first and headed for the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs, I went
through yet another door and found a long corridor lined with doors. With a
soft touch, I slowly opened one of the doors, and looked inside. The smell of
something sour hit me first. A cross between mold and rotting fruit coated my
nostrils and the inside of my mouth until I gagged.