Touch of Death (31 page)

“How dumb do you think I am?”

He grunted. “I need you to believe me. It’s the only way I can help you. They will hurt you, Jodi. They think you’re against them.”

“I am against them!”

“And they’ll kill you because of it.”

My mind raced. Kill people who are against them. That’s why they’d diluted my dad’s blood. He was against them. I knew it. And when trying to inhibit his power didn’t work… “They killed my dad.” Tears streamed down my cheeks for the father I’d never known. The teenage boy who had come to see me after I was born, who had asked Medusa to protect me.

“Jodi,” Alex pleaded, “I wasn’t lying. I did care about you. I still do. Please, let me prove it.”

“I’m afraid it’s a little too late for that,” Abby said, coming out from behind the mausoleum. She’d crept up on us. I shouldn’t have been surprised. She trailed after Alex all the time. Of course she’d follow him out here.

“Jodi, run!” Alex turned and swung at Abby, knocking her out with one punch. I gawked at Abby’s body on the ground. “Go!” Alex pushed me, forcing me to run before the others caught up with us.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, weaving through headstones.

“Because I’m trying to help you.” He pulled me off to the side of the cemetery, behind some sort of shed. “We don’t have long, so here’s the plan. I’ll distract them and you keep running. Follow the dirt road until you reach the street. Then head right. Keep going and flag down—”

“Hold on.” I wasn’t going anywhere without some answers. “Did you really try to get me to trust you? Was that why you acted like you liked me?”

He kept glancing out at the graveyard and then back at me.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me the truth. You owe me that much.”

“At first, yes. Victoria told me to get close to you. But after I got to know you… that was real. When I kissed you, it was real.”

My heart told me he meant it. The feelings between us were real.

“Please, I don’t know how long I can hold them off. You need to get a head start.”

“What will happen to you?”

He stared into my eyes, and I saw his fear. Before I could say a word, he leaned forward and kissed me. “I’m sorry. About everything. Well, not everything.” He kissed me again, pulling away quickly as the sound of footsteps got closer. “Go. And whatever you do, don’t turn back.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all. This seemed too much like a goodbye. “Alex—”

“Please, Jodi.” He kissed me one last time and ran out from behind the shed. I hesitated for a second, just long enough to see him charge at the group. He was taking them all on at once. It was suicide. I didn’t want to run away, but what else could I do? Alex was Victoria and Troy’s son. No matter how angry they got at him for trying to protect me, they wouldn’t let the group clobber him too badly.

I took off, running for the gate at the end of the cemetery. I heard grunting and punching behind me. Victoria and Abby were screaming at me. Telling me to stop. I heard Victoria tell her army of living dead Ophi not to let me get away, but they were in no shape to catch up to me. And if I did get caught, I’d be able to fight them off. Knowing that made me ease up. I couldn’t resist looking back. I had to check on Alex. See that he was okay.

I slowed to a jog and turned to see Troy holding Alex by the front of his shirt. Alex’s gaze fell on me, and he yelled my name. But I barely heard it. My senses seemed to fail as I saw Troy lift Alex’s own pocketknife in the air and bring it down on Alex’s chest.

“No!” I stopped running and fell to my knees at the same time Alex’s body slumped to the ground. He was still facing me, and I watched the life drain out of his eyes.

Chapter 29

Everything went numb. Like I was watching a dream. No, a nightmare. Alex’s vacant expression was burned into my mind. Even through the curtain of tears welling up in my eyes, I could see him clearly. I was aware of the living dead Ophi coming toward me. Of Abby approaching me and standing before me while the zombies pulled me to my feet. But I stayed focused on Alex, my eyes not leaving his.

“That didn’t have to happen, Jodi. If you were half as powerful as the prophecy claimed you’d be, you never would’ve used Alex as your shield.” She pulled her hand back and smacked me across the face. “Look at me! Forget him. He was stupid.”

I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of obeying her. I didn’t care if they killed me. I wasn’t going down as a slave to her. As the Ophi holding me pushed me toward the rest of the group, I realized that Victoria had the power to kill me and make me a zombie. I could end up a slave to them.

I wasn’t going to let that happen. Not to me and definitely not to Alex. I continued to stare at Alex, pretending I was in shock, but inside I was commanding my blood to mix. It bubbled in my veins. Victoria had my locket, but I had Medusa’s blood in my veins. I didn’t need the locket. What I did need was to get close to Alex’s body before Victoria got any ideas of raising him herself.

“Bring her here,” Victoria said.

I allowed the Ophi to walk me over to Victoria, who was standing by Alex’s head. She hadn’t so much as glanced at his body. Poor Alex. Killed by his father, and not given a second thought by his mother. But he had me. I’d never raised an Ophi without Medusa before, but I trusted that my blood knew what to do. Alex had said my powers were connected to my emotions. My heart was breaking for Alex. I hoped that emotion would be enough fuel to restore Alex before his soul left his body.

“Well, Jodi, you keep costing me things, don’t you?” Victoria asked. “First a servant, and now Alex.” She nudged him with her foot. Anger bubbled up inside me, mixing with the pain of losing Alex. The two emotions swirled like my blood. It was ready. I was ready. I had to keep Victoria from discovering what I was doing. But how?

I needed to cut myself, spill my blood to bring Alex back, but I didn’t have a knife or anything sharp. Calvin and his zombie buddies were holding my scraped hands where I couldn’t get to them either. My only hope was to make Victoria angry enough to attack me. It was risky, but I couldn’t think of any other way. “How’s the locket working out for you?” I asked, still keeping my focus on Alex. “Does it make you feel powerful? Or pathetic? I mean, it must be a constant reminder that I’m stronger than you. That you’re not quite good enough to be the Chosen One.”

Victoria narrowed her eyes at me and swung at my face. Her nails scratched my cheek, and I felt the warm trickle of blood. The hit wasn’t that bad, but I allowed myself to go down. Right next to Alex. Thankfully, Calvin and the others had let go of me when Victoria lashed out. I pulled myself to a sitting position, leaning over Alex, but there wasn’t enough blood for the cut to drip. Time for plan B. I reached up and touched my face, faking shock at being cut. I wiped the cut, smearing the blood across my fingers, and immediately pressed my bloody fingers to Alex’s lips.

Victoria looked down at her son and laughed. “Nice try, Jodi, but I have your magic locket. Without it, you can’t raise an Ophi.” She bent down toward Alex. “But I can. Let me show you what I can do.”

I saw Alex’s eyelids flutter. “I don’t think that will be necessary.” Alex thrust his fist up, connecting with Victoria’s nose. She stumbled backward, and I reached for Alex’s hand, yanking him to his feet. We backed away from the group.

Victoria wiped the blood from her nose. “How did you do that? I have your locket.”

“Funny thing about the locket. I only needed it to tap into my powers. Really it was more a confidence thing. But Medusa—you know her, right? My ancestor—well, she told me I didn’t need the locket because her blood is in my veins. That means just like her, I can mix my blood at will. No locket required.” I looked at Alex. “You okay? You feel normal?”

“Good as new.” He smiled at me.

Victoria turned to her zombie crew. “Don’t just stand there! Get them.”

Alex and I took off running. We went straight for the mausoleum, and Alex yanked on the doors. “What are you doing? We’ll be trapped.”

“We have to get in there.” He yanked the door open, and without knowing what we were doing, I went in. It was a huge leap of faith, but Alex knew his family better than I did. “Jodi, I know how you feel about creating zombies, but this is life or death. You have to raise the bodies in these drawers.”

I looked at the drawers lining the back wall of the mausoleum. I didn’t like the idea, but I knew I could release the souls after they helped us. “Okay, but I don’t think I can raise all of them before the others get in here.” Alex was struggling to hold the door shut as the Ophi banged on it. Calvin smashed the window with a headstone. Glass shattered, and I jumped back to avoid it. I grabbed a shard and held it up to my hand.

“No,” Alex said. “Jodi, there’s something my parents didn’t tell you about the prophecy.” He grunted as he fought to hold the door handle still. “You don’t need your blood to raise humans. Only Ophi. It’s easier with your blood, but it’s not necessary.”

“I’ve never raised anything without using my blood. I’m not sure I’m strong enough.”

Alex was really struggling, so I ran to the door and pushed my weight against it. Decayed arms reached through the window, grabbing for us.

“You need a power boost,” Alex said.

“Yeah, well, the only way I know how to do that is by connecting with Medusa, and the statue is in the mansion.”

Alex eased up on the door and looked at me. “The locket isn’t. I’ll slip out there and get it from Victoria. When I get it to you, drink the blood inside the bloodstone.”

“You want me to drink blood? You know your family made my dad drink blood. They diluted his power with human blood, and I’m convinced Victoria did the same thing to me. That’s why I was out cold the night she stole my locket. I was weak from the human blood.”

“I’m not my family. Besides, the blood is Medusa’s. It’s the ultimate power source.”

He was right, but how would he fight off all the Ophi to get the locket? Before I could ask, he said, “Close this behind me,” and slipped through the door. I struggled to push it shut again. Luckily, they were probably so thrown off-guard that Alex was coming out that they forgot to push their way in.

There was a huge struggle outside, and I knew Alex didn’t stand a chance. I grabbed the arm that was still swinging at me through the window. I let my blood bubble while I commanded him, “Help Alex. Attack Victoria, and help Alex get the locket from her. Go!” I released his arm, and he pulled it back through the window. I peered out. The man was going straight for Victoria, but the others were still attacking Alex. It wasn’t enough. Abby had Alex in a headlock from behind. I opened the door and lunged at her, yanking her head back by her hair. I turned to the living dead Ophi coming toward me and commanded him to help Alex. The corpse fought off the others, helping Alex get free. I held tight to Abby, who kicked and swatted at me.

Alex lunged for Victoria, but Troy grabbed him instead. “I killed you once, and I’ll do it again, son.”

All eyes fell on them. No one moved.

“He’s your son?” Leticia asked. “And you killed him?”

“Yes,” I blurted out. “He and Victoria are ruthless. They only care about themselves.” I shoved Abby right into Victoria. They fell in a heap. “Leticia, you don’t have to follow them. Think about it. If they killed their own son, what would stop them from killing you?”

Leticia looked at her parents, standing next to Troy. She burst into tears and ran for the mansion. “Go after her and bring her back,” Troy instructed her parents.

Alex’s knee connected with Troy’s stomach. Troy doubled over, and Alex ran to me. We clutched each other’s arms.

Troy stood up, holding his stomach with his hand. “That was really stupid, Alex. This time I’m going to tear you apart so your little girlfriend can’t put you back together.”

“No!” We were outnumbered. I couldn’t find a way out. Leticia’s parents were dragging her, screaming, back to the group. Victoria and Abby were back on their feet. They closed in on us. The Ophi I had been controlling stood there motionless, waiting for orders.

Victoria burst out laughing, obviously amused at my pathetic outburst. “You’re as stubborn as your father was. He disapproved of our ways, too, you know. He thought he was so much better than the rest of us.”

“I bet you tried to trick him like you did to me,” I said. “Pretended that he was special when really you were jealous of his power. Is that why you fed him human blood? To even the playing field?”

This time Troy joined her in laughter.

“Very good, Jodi,” Victoria said. “Yes, it was my idea to give him human blood. You see, Troy and I were twenty-five when your father came here. I had just given birth.” She turned to Alex. “If only I had known what a disappointment you’d turn out to be.” She shook her head and waved the thought away. “No matter. I wasn’t going to be led by a stupid boy who had been reckless enough to get a human pregnant. It was disgusting. A disgrace to the Ophi race, even if he did father the Chosen One. He needed to be taken care of.”

“So, you killed him.” Without commanding it to, my blood started boiling.