Night Huntress 07 - This Side of the Grave (28 page)

I was startled. Dave pursed his lips in thought. Mencheres’s expression was its usual hooded mask, but Vlad eyed Fabian with open challenge.

“If ghosts can do all that, why do you waste your time haunting old homes and cemeteries, or scaring humans with random strange noises and useless cold spots? You’re squandering your worth.”

“Vlad, enough,” I said shortly.
Whatever his thoughts on ghosts’ peculiar habits, Fabian was still my friend.
I wouldn’t just stand there while his whole race was being put down.

Fabian didn’t flinch under
Vlad’s
harsh analysis. “You have no idea what it’s like, existing between worlds,” he said, floating closer instead of backing away. “We are neither the living nor the undead. It takes years to cope with the fact that even though over ninety-nine percent of everyone who dies crosses over to the next place,
you
are left behind. Years to accept that everything you worked for in your life is gone, and the shell of memory is all that remains. Years to recover from hopelessly trying to communicate with loved ones, only to fail time and again because no one except the crazed, psychics, the undead, or other ghosts can see you. Years to accept—even if you don’t understand why—that vampires and ghouls will treat you worse than they do vermin, even though they are no more human than you are.”

Fabian advanced again, until his finger disappeared into
Vlad’s
chest. “I’d dare the strongest of your race or any other to say that they’ve conquered the same hardships my people have overcome. So think again before you question a ghost’s worth, or judge those younger ones who are still in the process of becoming tougher than anyone tied to flesh will ever be!”

Stunned silence filled the air once Fabian was finished. I wanted to break out into apologies and applause all at the same time, but I was still recovering from my shock at how my mild-mannered, Casper-
esque
friend had just unloaded a truck full of I-dare-
yous
onto one of the scariest vampires in existence. Damned if I would ever underestimate a ghost’s chutzpah again, or question their fortitude. Being noncorporeal clearly didn’t equate to lacking a pair of balls.

I wasn’t the only one taken aback. Dave’s mouth hung open, and Mencheres gave Fabian
a
once-over that showed he was considering him in a whole new light. As for Vlad, his expression had changed from bored disdain to speculative interest as he stared at the finger still jabbed half through his chest.

“If there are more ghosts like you who can channel the same impressive anger into something tangible, then you’re right. Ghosts would be a valuable asset to have in a fight,” Vlad said, inclining his head.

Fabian acknowledged the gesture with a nod of his own, pulling his finger and then the rest of himself back to float by me. I didn’t give him a high five—that didn’t work very well with ghosts—but I did flash him a discreet thumbs-up.
So much for me needing to defend him or his species.
I couldn’t have done half as good a job as Fabian had.

“All right.
If things go even more south with
Apollyon
, good to know we can potentially add ghosts to our list of allies, if Fabian can act as ambassador between his people and ours,” I said, bringing things back to the original subject. “Dave, where was this fun little rally held, anyway?”

He grimaced. “You’re really not going to like this part. From the bits of conversation I overheard,
Apollyon
is the owner of a few large chains of funeral homes and cemeteries, using humans as figureheads for investors and board members. The rally was behind a funeral home that bordered a cemetery. Lots of room there, and they had guards around the area to keep anyone away who wasn’t on the guest list.”

Damn
Apollyon
. The short, balding shit was clever. No one would think twice about a large group gathered at a graveyard. They’d just assume someone rich or from a big family was being buried. Most people didn’t visit cemeteries for cheery reasons, so it wasn’t the place where striking up impromptu conversations was the norm. Not to mention it would take a
really
ballsy person to go up to a group gathered around a gravesite with the opening line of “So what are we talking about, anyway?”

Vlad let out a bark of laughter. “He’s found a way to make money from eating, not to mention have a network of secure locations for meetings.”

“Make money from…
oh
,” I said as the rest of what
Apollyon
was doing became clear. “He’s not burying all the bodies brought to him, but
eating
some instead?”

“Not just some,” Dave supplied grimly.
“Lots.
If you’re a member of
Apollyon’s
line, either by blood or membership through his extremist group, then your food’s supplied to you for free. If not,
Apollyon
has an underground supermarket for ghouls who would rather buy their own food than go out hunting and gathering for it.”

I couldn’t throw up anymore, but I thought I might dry heave. Most of the times, ghouls ate raw meat of the animal variety, like uncooked steak or pork roast. But at least a couple times of year, they needed to add some
Homo sapiens
to their diet in order to maintain their strength. Don supplied Dave’s extra dietary requirements from bodies donated to science or left unclaimed at hospitals. It didn’t take much. One corpse on ice parceled out in small amounts could last a ghoul a year or two, easy.

But taking money from grieving families to bury their loved ones, then turning around and selling those loved ones like so much deli meat while burying an empty casket instead? That was just… wrong.

“
Apollyon
makes those pension-stealing Wall Street crooks look like amateurs,” I said, shaking my head.

“That’s damn straight,” Dave muttered.

“It does give us a new way to attempt to track him,” Mencheres noted, logical as always. “I’ll have some ghouls in our line start investigating places rumored to sell human meat. Perhaps we can find one connected to
Apollyon
. In the interim, Dave, tell me where this funeral home is. I want to go there.”

“Why?” I asked. “I’ll have Tate start watching it from satellite and tapping into their phone lines and Internet to see if we can luck out and snag
Apollyon
that way, but all of us showing up there is too risky.”

Mencheres gave me a faint smile. “I agree. That’s why I’ll be going alone.”

“Haven’t you had enough of risking your life to play lone hero lately?” Vlad asked, making an exasperated noise.

“One vampire stands a far better chance of avoiding notice than three,” Mencheres pointed out. “I agree that everything Cat outlined should be done, but that’s not enough. If I’m close, I can listen to the thoughts of any humans they might employ, as well as scent the area to see if
Apollyon’s
been there—and before you tell me you can do all these things, of the three of us, I am better equipped to escape should my presence be detected.”

I’d love to argue with him, but he was right, and the tight line of
Vlad’s
mouth said that he knew it, too.

“When are you intending to do this?” I asked, glancing out the window. It would be dark in a couple hours, and we were supposed to be
cruising
the bar and club scene as usual, hoping
Apollyon
or one of his close aides was in a partying mood.

“Now,” Mencheres said, nodding at Dave. “Direct me.”

Dave gave him the location of the funeral home/cemetery, and Mencheres walked away without another word, heading up the stairs to weapon up, I guessed.

“You’ll call us when you’re done, right?”

“Yes,” his voice floated down.

Dave glanced at his watch. “I gotta get back. Don’t want them swinging by my apartment early and wondering why I’m not there.”

I gave him a final hug, resisting the urge to tell him to be careful. He was a smart, tough soldier and he already knew that.

“I’ll see you guys soon” was what I said to Dave and Fabian, hoping I sounded confident and not like it was a prayer. Fabian might be able to slip away unscathed to warn us if Dave’s spying was discovered, but even at our fastest, we might not be able to rescue Dave in time, and he knew it.

“Say hi to Tate and the rest of the guys,” Dave said.

“Will do.”

I kept my smile until they left, and then it dropped from my face like a fallen bridge. Vlad turned away, saying something about checking in with his people.

He wasn’t the only one who had to make a phone call. I sighed, then picked up my cell to call Tate and give them the location of the latest place to put under surveillance—and hope he had no awful news to relay about my mother or uncle.

I stared out the window, lost in my
thoughts, barely noticing the blur of buildings that we drove past. Most of Memphis had recovered from the terrible flooding last year, but here and there, you could still see signs of the water’s ravages. The people had bounced back, though, reopening businesses and rebuilding homes. Ghosts might have proved to be a surprisingly tough bunch, as Fabian pointed out, but my species—or former species, I guess—was pretty resilient, too.

I frowned when Vlad turned the corner and went down a long street that didn’t look like it was anywhere close to the bar we were supposed to go to.

“You’re not lost, are you?”

He glanced at me, one side of his mouth ticked up in a sly smile. “Field trip,” he said, taking the next right.

I took one look at the wrought-iron arch at the end of the road and shook my head.

“A cemetery?
We agreed that Mencheres was doing recon on
Apollyon
, not us!”

“We’re not here looking for
Apollyon
or any other ghouls,” Vlad replied evenly. He parked at the farthest spot from the entrance before turning to fully face me. “We’re here because you’re going to try that new trick you picked up from Marie.”

For several seconds, I was speechless, torn between wondering if I should lie and say I didn’t know what he was talking about, or demand to know who told him. I couldn’t imagine that Bones would have said anything to
Tepesh
. They certainly weren’t close.

“What do you
think
you know about that?” I settled on at last, giving him a hard look. No way would I start babbling out a confession, even if he was drilling me with the
ol
’ Dracula knowing stare.

“I know you didn’t start wearing garlic and weed just to make a bold fashion statement, and that your sudden popularity with ghosts didn’t start until after you saw Marie,” Vlad said, his mouth twisting. “Hadn’t quite worked it all out until this morning, when I heard you mention being able to stand the ‘freaky ghost juju’ from Marie during that unutterably sappy conversation you had with Bones. Then I realized what was going on. Very impressive, being able to absorb powers from ghouls, too.”

“Are you crazy?” I hissed, looking around. “What if this cemetery is crawling with you-know-who’s people and they overheard you?”

He snorted. “It’s not. I’d feel it if there were ghouls here. I’m a lot older than you, so my range is stronger. The only dead things around for a mile in any direction are you, me, and everyone buried under the dirt.”

That mollified me, but I still remembered the warning Bones had relayed from Marie about what would happen if we told anyone that I’d drunk her blood. “It’s not just the dead or undead we need to worry about overhearing,” I said, jerking my head toward the window.

“If you see a ghost, just order it not to say anything,” Vlad replied inexorably. “Don’t think that’s escaped my attention, either, Reaper.”

Aw, fuck. Well, what did I expect? Despite the garlic and ganja armor, some of them still made their way to me and I’d had to send them off with a firm instruction not to come back. With staying under the same roof as Vlad for the past week, he had to have overheard, even if I’d tried to make my orders really soft.

“This can’t become common knowledge,” I said finally.

Vlad let out a single laugh.
“To use a phrase from your generation,
no shit
.”

“I think that expression’s older than my generation,” I muttered, but let that drop. Vlad knew and that’s all there was to it. At least he wasn’t the gossiping type, so I still had a decent chance at this not getting around. But what he wanted me to do was out of the question.

“You don’t understand what you’re asking for. It’s not as simple as holding a séance. It’s too dangerous.”

Those coppery green eyes bored into mine. “I know very well what Marie can summon, and if you can now also call forth such creatures, that would give vampires a critical edge if we are unable to kill
Apollyon
and prevent war from breaking out.”

“Calling them forth isn’t what scares me,” I said, a shiver of remembrance running through me. “Controlling them once they’re here, or sending them back,
that’s
the problem.”

“This is far too important for you to refuse simply out of fear,” Vlad retorted.

“You just don’t get it.” I swiped a hand toward the cemetery for emphasis. “Those things—Remnants, Marie called them—are like ghostly land mines, and you’re asking me to stomp on them to see if I can direct the blast radius! It’s not fear for me that I’m saying no. They didn’t hurt me last time and probably wouldn’t again. It’s fear for you if I do it and fail.”