Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (39 page)

"You should have gone with my immaculate aim as your excuse," she told him, "at least that way
I might have been too distracted by the compliment to notice there’s something you’re not telling me."
At this she did stop her forward progress to look back at him, he didn’t seem at all impressed by her
powers of deduction.

"What would you like me to say," he tilted his head and she took note of how dark this place
was, everything was cast in shades of grey, including him, his iridescent eyes reflecting back at her were
a reminder of what he was and how cryptic vampires could be. She was sure that he wasn’t going to
give her any answers anyway so there was no point in replying because what she wanted him to say was
the truth. It should be the easiest thing in the world to do, telling lies in her experience was so much
harder, but just his question alone let her know that if she asked him for the truth that wasn’t what she
would get. And lies were exhausting, so instead of having him waste creativity coming up with any she
thought it best that he keep his focus on looking for revenants.

"Nothing, apparently," she said the last more to herself then him, even though she was perfectly
aware that one way or another he’d hear her. "Onward," she broke in again before he could say
anything, she spun on her heal and started moving forward. She didn’t think she’d ever been inside a
shopping mall when it was closed for business let alone closed forever. There wasn’t much of this place
that she remembered, not really, but the slouched closed gates in front of the doors and skeletal remains
of shopping racks covered in dust and spider-webs did not make for comforting surroundings. The air in
the building was stale, but at least it didn’t smell immediately like someone had rolled over and died,
although she supposed at least if it smelled that offal they’d know there were revenants inside. It wasn’t
until they hit the one thing that did spark a chord of memory in her that she could see the place as it once
had been and not just as it was. In front of her stood a two story carousel, it was not an item she would
have thought would have been left behind, but then again she supposed she couldn’t see how they’d get
it out the door either.

She remembered her father used to bring her and her sisters here before it was condemned,
when it was bright and shiny, full of life. Everything was just dust and bones here now, if Dimitri really
had spent time here it couldn’t have been in the shopping areas, perhaps back where employees or
security worked. For a moment she just stood and stared at the double tiered carousel, remembering
how she’d always pick the black horse on the second level, because she’d liked that horse and because
she could look down and watch the world spin beneath her. Her mother had always stayed at the
bottom with her sisters because Jo liked the white horse down there and Jules had loved the zebra. She
remembered that her parents would always sit in one of the still chariots and watch smiling. Jennifer
knew something was missing from that memory but ignored it, there wasn’t the time to focus on it not
really. Tears sprang to her eyes as the remnants of what was left of that childhood memory came into
focus, most of the animals were gone, leaving nothing but empty poles, and the ones that had been left
behind were coated with dirt and broken like hollow shells. She could remember that it was all bright
reds, blues, purples and gold, light shined off of mirrors that lined the walls and made the ride seem
bigger then it really was. There were no lights on it now, if there was any bright paint left it was buried
under layers of dust, and the mirrors, if not taken down were shattered, there was even some faded
graffiti lining the floors. "Something the matter," Ethan asked behind her and she realized she must have
been staring at the carousel from a distance for some time now.

Jennifer couldn’t muster an answer, so she sniffed back her tears instead, she did not like the
way this case kept dragging up old memories. She took a tentative step forward, instead of going
around what used to be a fountain she stepped over the lip and made her way through it. She did not
really want to get any closer to the behemoth memory that was waiting for her but given her only other
option was to leave she ignored her instincts and moved toward it anyway. "I don’t hear anything," she
finally decided to add when the image in front of her getting closer began to make her nervous. "If there
was anything here shouldn’t your people have found something by now?"

"It is more likely that the zombies," she glanced back at him and he immediately noticed it, "do
you prefer revenant?" Jennifer nodded, the term revenant for her made it feel less like they were about
to experience the end of the world, zombies started the apocalypse and from what she’d heard usually
won. "Even a vampire that was turned into a revenant would retain it’s photosensitivity, so it seems
likely we will find him and any that have followed him to the lower levels, even the sewers beneath that"

Jennifer nodded, "so this is just for shit’s and giggles," not the best way to spend ones time.

"This is to ascertain that none of the revenants of human origin linger up here to ambush us."
Jennifer hadn’t been paying an ounce of attention as to how they’d gotten into the building, someone
must have cut some kind of lock because there was no way this place had been left unlocked, she hadn’t
even been paying enough attention to see if they’d closed the doors behind them. Usually these were all
things she would have thought of immediately, clearly her trip into, what Jim called the Afterlife had
scrambled her thought processes.

Ignoring his superior tone she decided to ask, "is anyone watching the door we came in?"

"I would hear it if anyone were to enter," there was that superior thing again, not that he’d said it
in the same tone as he had previously.

"Of course you would," she was not likely to adjust to working with super-non-humans any time
soon. She supposed given there wasn’t likely to be a scenario that would result in her having to work
with them ever again she shouldn’t worry over much about that. Jennifer made to step her way out of
yet another fountain structure that she’d decided to cross through when she heard something hit the floor
up ahead of them. "I take it you heard that," she chided, he gave her an irritated look which she
couldn’t help smiling about. He was clearly having trouble trusting her now because of her actions back
at his club, she’d thought having him try to rip her head off was the worst possible consequence there
could be, clearly she’d been wrong.

He materialized in front of her when she made to take a step, "you wait here," it was clearly an
order. He didn’t even wait for her to put forward an argument before he disappeared completely.

"Bastard," she said a little too loudly, well he had another lesson coming because she was pretty
sure she’d already shown him she wasn’t good at following orders she didn’t agree with. He might have
been faster then her but that didn’t mean he was better at killing monsters then she was. So of course in
spite of the fact that his master plan now involved her standing still, she made her way forward as
cautiously as possible while still moving quickly and quietly. She made it to the carousel and paused, it
seemed like an impossible coincidence that this was still here, if it hadn’t been she would never have
remembered this place. Being only feet away from it didn’t make the feeling of foreboding churning in
her stomach any less potent. This entire thing just seemed to keep circling back to her somehow, why
she had no idea but she was pretty certain eventually she was going to find out and she didn’t think she
was going to like the answer.

Jennifer figured the structure looked steady enough still, she could make her way unto it and
from the second level get a look around. The first step she took onto the thing made the entire floor
beneath her creak, not stealthy in the least, once she had both feet firmly planted it seemed to adjust to
her weight, but she didn’t imagine for a second she would make it up to the second level of the thing
without anyone or anything in the building knowing exactly where she was first. As long as she was
already on the platform she figured it would get her across faster to simply walk straight across. She
honestly couldn’t say why she’d thought climbing atop the thing at all was a good idea, she made a few
steps without making much sound when she froze in her tracks. In front of her sat the immobile chariot,
the picture of her smiling parents seemed burned into her memory sitting there. Laughing and smiling,
watching their daughters giggle and laugh, seated on their favorite animals, Jennifer looked further down,
but Jo’s white stallion was gone, Julia’s zebra was broken down, the head was gone, the only indication
that it was her zebra were nearly faded stripes down the legs. The things they’d loved were as gone as
they were, destroyed in everything but memory.

Like the thought that she was the only person who remembered them, before what was in front
of her triggered the missing piece to her memory, the last part of that puzzle found its place. She had not
been left alone on the second level with her black horse, Tom, a much younger Tom had been there with
them watching over her. She remembered a fifteen or sixteen year old boy, leaning against the railing at
the top watching to make sure she didn’t fall. A blond haired, blue eyed boy who’d always had a half
smile on his lips, even though his eyes were haunted. There was nothing of that smile now, and she
knew exactly why that was. He was young when he’d joined her fathers team, and clearly her father
had always thought of him as more then just a team member, why else would he have come with them
on family outings. And she’d known without a shadow of a doubt that Tom must be the one who’d
saved her and her cousin from that closet, who’d been forced to kill her father. That knowledge didn’t
change the fact that she was pissed at him, in fact it meant that her and the Cyborg had more words to
exchange then she’d originally thought.

She was still standing there looking at the broken remains of her sisters zebra when the carousel
creaked behind her. She turned, trying to aim the Remington as she did so, but she saw the figure
descending the stairs, knew it wasn’t Ethan’s, from both dress and the fact that it was aiming a gun at her
and realized that she would not turn in time. She heard the shot before she felt it, something slammed
into her and she knew instantly that it wasn’t a bullet, not only because there wasn’t the familiar feeling of
metal searing through flesh at high velocity but because she was not knocked off her feet. She shouted
in alarm when she realized that it was Ethan that had jumped in front of her last minute. There was no
second shot when she cried out, mercifully, she so did not want to owe the vampire for more then one
bullet, she already owed him too much. "Oh my God are you okay," she was pretty certain from the
way his body had jerked against her he’d taken the shot to the back.

"Jennifer," the voice that shouted for her was not the vampires but she recognized it immediately.

"Tom," she shouted back though why she was surprised she had no real idea, he seemed to
know everything. "Hold your fire," she thought to add incase he decided he wanted to try and kill her
shield. "Are you okay," she focused her attention back on the vampire, his expression was grim, still,
but it didn’t look like he was going to die anytime soon.

"I thought I asked you to stay put," he complained, but didn’t pull the you owe me one card.

"Sorry," she grimaced still getting used to apologizing to vampires instead of shooting them,
"guess I have a thing for carousels." Not that it was any excuse to get him shot, but it was better then
admitting she’d been completely distracted by yet more memories tying more of her twisted family
history together. "Where’d you get hit," she made to feel around but it clearly hadn’t gone all the way
through or she probably would have taken the shot as well. He could have said something like where or
that she shouldn’t worry, instead he just stood there smiling down at her while she felt around. When
she looked up and found him doing just that she was tempted to punch him in the arm, or bullet hole.

"Jennifer," Tom called again and she knew if she was going to keep her shield from taking any
more bullets she was going to have to abandon her post behind him. She would have chided the
vampire for letting her feel him up for injuries he didn’t have but instead she slung the Remington behind
her back, put her hands up so as not to get shot, and stepped out around Ethan.

"I’m here," she answered as she stepped around the vampires larger frame, "I’m fine," she
added in case he thought he’d shot her.

"Is that a vampire," Jennifer barely managed not to roll her eyes at how quickly his concern for
her had faded.

"Yes, and considering he just saved my life I’d appreciate it if you didn’t shoot him again," she
glanced over her shoulder at Ethan who still had his sword in hand. That sent a message she could live
without, and since Tom still had his gun aimed she could assume message received. "Would you two
please just put your weapons away," but she shouldn’t have wasted her breath, neither party did as she
asked.

"Make your way to me," Tom ordered her, at this Jennifer did roll her eyes, "Jennifer I mean it."

"Why," she had a good idea why he wanted her away from the big bad vampire but it was a
truly preposterous one. She glanced back at Ethan who was still smiling like he was on an inside joke
and she was pretty sure why he was. Tom thought that the vampire had snuck up on her, that she’d
come here alone looking for trouble, not with the vampires, although she supposed she understood why
he thought that would never happen.