by A. J. Locke
I bent my head and took a few deep breaths. My arms, which were braced on either side of the sink, were shaking, both from my emotional stress and the fact that the Rot was back to eating away at me. When I coughed, there was blood on my hands. Oh how I did not miss this. I raised my head and stared at myself again. I didn’t look like me; my own face was like a stranger’s. I felt like there was such a crushing weight bearing down on me I didn’t know if I would ever be OK again.
“Time for positive thoughts.” I stood up straight and squared my shoulders, even as a spasm rippled through my body and almost had me reaching for the sink again. “Today it will be all over. Renton will be stopped, everything will be OK, and I will be fine.” That was the mantra I would keep telling myself until I saw this through. I turned away from the mirror, took a hot shower, then changed into jeans, a flannel shirt that I had stolen from Micah, and combat boots. That seemed like a good outfit to wear to stop a madman. Plus the shirt still kinda smelled like Micah and I liked that it would make me feel like he was close to me even when the shit hit the fan.
When I walked out of the bedroom, the smell of pancakes hit my nose and my stomach growled. Food, yes, food would definitely help with this weak feeling. Micah was fixing us plates while Luna pranced around his legs trying to use her overwhelming cuteness to procure some food from him. But the pancakes were chocolate chip so Luna was denied and nipped Micah on the ankle before she walked past me to lie on her doggy bed.
“Good morning to you too, Luna.” I scratched behind her ear before I sat down to eat. Micah also set down a mug of hot chocolate. I could not have loved him more in that moment. Forget food being the way to a man’s heart. It was the way to Selene’s heart.
Micah held one of my hands while we ate, and though we didn’t speak much, this felt like a perfect moment and all I wanted was to stretch it out into eternity. A home cooked meal on a quiet morning with someone you loved who loved you back just as much. I wished that was all our day could be about. That after breakfast we would snuggle on the couch and watch bad movies all day. How sad was it that something as simple as that was such a far away possibility for us?
After we finished washing up, Micah and I sat on the sofa to once again go over the plan for stopping Renton.
“Micah, are you OK with all of this? I mean, it’s your uncle we’re talking about.”
Micah’s face grew solemn. “He put himself in a position where the only option is to use force against him. He’s done terrible, terrible things and doesn’t even realize it because he isn’t in his right mind. Still, his mental state is not an excuse for his actions.”
“What if the only way to stop him is to kill him?”
“I would come to terms with it,” he said. “But that’s not an option because he has your reanimation power. If it dies with him, so do you.”
“I know.”
“Which is why it’s a good thing we have another plan. You’ll take your power back, then Renton will be powerless and you will be in control of the beastie again. And we know how to continue taking care of the Rot.”
“Right. I just wanted to know where you’d stand if Renton had to die. But other than him, I wanted to ask how you were regarding your mother.”
Micah’s entire body went rigid for a second but he forced himself to relax.
“I don’t think I’m in a place where I can fully process what he did yet,” Micah said. “Keeping their souls for so long…bringing them back like that…”
“There was a moment where your mom recognized you.” My voice was very soft. Micah’s grip on my hand was tight. His solemn expression broke and tears brimmed in his eyes.
“Micah…” I moved closer and tried to put my arms around him but he wouldn’t let me. He took a deep breath and composed himself.
“I won’t lie and act like I’m unaffected,” he said. “But I can’t give in to my feelings about it right now. My mother…whoever that is, she isn’t real. She shouldn’t exist. My mother died many years ago and that’s that.”
“OK,” I said. He was unable to mask the pain on his face and it made my own tears over Ilyse’s death start to fall again.
Death was the worst part of life. And if you had a shitty life to begin with, it sucked even more.
* * *
Micah and I were preparing to rendezvous with Tielle at the office so we could wait for Renton to surface together when my phone rang. Tielle.
“He’s at the Brooklyn Bridge,” she said in a rushed voice before I could even say hello. “With the ghost monster.”
“Shit.” I hadn’t seen it on the news yet so that meant he had just arrived and the news crews hadn’t made it to the scene yet. But it would hit Tielle’s radar faster than anyone else’s.
“We’re on our way,” I said.
“I’ll meet you there, hurry up. You’re sure you can stop him?”
“A hundred percent.” I hung up, grabbed my rune gun, and tucked it into the waist holster I had dug out from the bottom of my closet.
“Brooklyn Bridge. It’s time,” I said to Micah, who was grabbing the car keys. We ran outside but I stopped and turned back.
“Where are you going?” Micah called.
“Forgot something, one sec.” I ran back in and found Luna, who had immediately used our absence to start sniffing around the kitchen in case some unexpected treat was there. I scooped her up, hugged her, and planted a kiss on top of her head.
“I love you, you little fur ball. Thank you for loving me all these years even though I didn’t deserve it.” I put her down before I started to tear up and ran outside to meet Micah. Soon we were heading to the Brooklyn Bridge and a showdown with a madman and his beastie.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The bridge was gridlocked since people were trying to get out of the city. That was probably why Renton chose to reap ghosts here. People were running around screaming by the time Micah and I arrived on foot, having parked the car some distance away. The beastie was around the center of the bridge doing its rampaging thing. There were dozens and dozens of police officers on the scene trying to help people get out of the way, but it was pure chaos. Micah and I might as well be climbing Mount Everest without any gear for all the progress we were making trying to get through the crowd. I had no idea where Tielle was but she wasn’t my focus right now. She didn’t have the ability to stop this, only I did.
“The cars,” I called to Micah. We had gotten a bit separated among the throng of scared shitless people but he was still within earshot. “Let’s use the cars.”
Micah nodded, and we managed to climb up onto a car each then jump to another one. The tightly packed cars were good for something at least. Now we could stay out of the crowd and get to the beastie before it collapsed the entire bridge.
My heart was beating fast, and despite the chilly fall day I was sweating. Renton will be stopped, and I will be fine, I kept saying to myself. But first we had to find Renton. We were close to the beastie now, who was making quick work of tossing cars off the bridge. I could only pray those cars were empty. There were bodies on the ground, along with mangled cars, blood, and debris. This was a very, very bad place to be right now.
“Selene, down!” I ducked and barely missed a car sailing over my head. The crash was deafening, and ducking had caused me to slip off the car I was standing on. I did not land gracefully and the wind was knocked out of me for a moment. Not what I needed, especially since the ache in my body from the Rot was already a handicap. I used the car to help me get up and looked for Micah. My eyes landed on him just as he dove out of the way of being slammed by the beastie. I ran over to him as he got to his feet.
“You OK?” He asked before I could.
“Still breathing,” I said. “Found Renton?”
“Behind it.” I looked up and saw Renton standing on top of a car behind the ghost monster. He had spotted us but did not seem too concerned about our presence. There were about half a dozen ghosts floating around him.
“Shit,” I said. “How do we get near him with that beastie playing hard defense?”
“Think you can distract it while I try to sneak behind it?”
We were crouched behind a car that was lying on its side.
“Yes. That shouldn’t be hard, it likes targets.”
“OK, but be careful. I will grab Renton, then run over and use the rune.”
“Got it.”
Micah started to move away but I pulled him back and gave him a kiss.
“Totally inappropriate right now I know, but we’re both about to face the fire so I thought I should do that.” I had my forehead pressed against his.
“We will get through this.” He planted a quick kiss on my lips then shifted away while I went in the other direction. I climbed on top of a car and it wasn’t long before the beastie spotted me. I pulled my rune gun out and fired at it, and it reared up and bellowed as crackling electricity sparked around it. It did not like being tickled. I dove out of the way as it rushed me, so now it was no longer in between us and Renton. From the corner of my eye I saw Micah stealthily move off to the side, using cars as cover, trying to get close to Renton. I turned back to the beastie. It flung another car at me and even though I avoided it, I became partially pinned. Pain exploded in my left leg, and I started to scramble to get out from under the mangled car door that had me trapped. Meanwhile, the beastie came closer.
Several kicks with my right leg made it possible for me to get free, but now I had a real handicap. My skin was torn and bloody, and the pain was incomprehensible. Still, I pulled myself up and tried to walk, but I barely made it two steps before I collapsed. Fuck. This was not how things were supposed to go. I had to get to Renton, had to stop this.
Suddenly someone was pulling me up. For a moment I thought the beastie had gotten me, but it was Tielle. She looked worse for wear, had a wound on her head that was dripping blood, and was breathing hard. She put her arm around me and helped me move forward. Up ahead I could see Micah and Renton in a brawl. Renton must have lost his concentration with commanding the beastie because it stopped moving. We had to use this window to get close to Renton.
“Let’s move!” Tielle said. I nodded, and we edged closer to Renton.
My heart lurched when I saw Renton kick Micah off the car they’d been fighting on. I waited for Micah to get up but he didn’t, which meant he must have hit his head and was unconscious. God I hoped that’s what it meant. It also meant that Renton could focus on the beastie again, and even though we were close, in the blink of an eye the beastie was bearing down on us again with those sharp, spindly arms thirsting to do damage.
Tielle looked at me, and it was a look I had never seen on her face before.
“Whatever you do, make sure you end this,” she said. “You were a hero before, be a hero again.”
Before I could say anything, she pushed me hard, and I fell to the side just before the beastie speared her through. I screamed as I watched the beastie rear up with Tielle’s body dangling from its arm before flinging her aside. Rage exploded in me. I was tired of seeing people die. Tielle was no friend, but in the end she had come to my aid and had sacrificed herself for the belief that I could stop this. I could not let her death, or the death of Ilyse or any of the other people who’d died amid this nightmare be for nothing.
I stood up. My leg ached but I didn’t care. I had tunnel vision and it was locked on Renton. He was only a few feet away, and to my relief I saw Micah getting to his feet behind him. He was bleeding, but locked eyes with me, nodded, then shifted his gaze back to Renton, who did not see that Micah had risen. Renton looked at me and smiled, and must have given a command to the beastie because it stopped moving again.
“You cannot stop me,” Renton said. “I will keep my family. After we are done here we will leave this place. No one can stop me. You will die today because you thought that this was a story where you needed to play the hero. You see death and you think you must stop it.” He took a step toward me and Micah inched closer to him. “But there is no death, not any more. There is only life, there will always be life. Micah will understand when he is in his mother’s arms again.”
Micah’s expression wavered briefly at the mention of his mother, then he sprung forward and grabbed Renton in a sleeper hold. He dropped the binding rune as he struggled against Micah’s hold. There was already a victorious look on Micah’s face.
“Selene, do it now!” I had taken the rune out and held it tightly in my fist. I walked toward Micah. His arms strained with the effort it took to restrain Renton, who kept trashing and screaming rubbish that I chose to tune out. I stopped when I was less than a foot away and opened my palm to let him see the rune I was holding.
“No!” Renton screeched. “You can’t take it back, I need it, I need my family! They need me! Don’t let her do this Micah; I brought your mother back for you! Without me, without the ghosts, they will perish!”
“They already did, a long time ago,” I said softly. “And now it’s time for you to perish too.” I upturned my hand and let the rune fall to the ground, then pulled out my gun, took a small step forward, and held it beneath Renton’s chin.
Realization dawned on Micah. His eyes widened, terror overcame his expression, and his mouth opened to scream my name. He tried to make a move to stop me but I kept my eyes on his, gave him one last smile…
And pulled the trigger.
EPILOGUE
Micah,
It may be a while before you find this letter, so I hope enough time has passed that you understand why I did what I did.
Today is the showdown with Renton. Right now I can hear you in the kitchen, making breakfast while Luna begs you to share, and I feel my heart breaking. I want mornings like this with you forever. I want us to build our relationship into something we could never see ending. I want to be the mother to your son, Gideon, one day, although we may have to talk about that name.
But I can’t.
Because as long as I’m alive, I am a danger to everyone. My power will be misused and people will be harmed. And you can argue that that’s a stupid reason and there are ways to keep me safe, and while you may be right, that’s not the only reason.
The Rot. You’ve made your peace with the treatment needed to save me, but I have not, and I never can. It cannot be my life at the cost of someone else’s. I can’t continue to live knowing that it’s only because someone else’s power is inside me, and when it’s gone, so are they. I know I agreed when you asked if I would continue the treatments and I’m sorry I lied. I wanted our last night in each other’s arms to be a beautiful moment, so I told you what you needed to hear.
This was the only choice there ever was to make, and please know that I did not make it lightly. The thought of leaving you, of hurting you, of not being alive anymore, makes me not want to do it, makes me want to give in to the treatment. But I have to be stronger than that. I am more scared than I could put into words at the thought of doing this, but in order for everything to truly be all right, I have to do this.
Please take care of Ethan as much as you can. Let him know that I don’t hate him because I’m sure he thinks I do. Help him understand why I did this. Once you do. He won’t be bound to me anymore and I hope they won’t use a necromancer circle to send him away. His life was stolen from him, and he doesn’t deserve true death yet. And take care of Luna. Don’t let her forget me.
You’ll never get over me, because let’s face it I’m just that amazing, but I do want you to be happy. I hate that it will have to be without me, but please promise me that you will try to find happiness in your life.
Thank you for seeing beyond the messy girl I was and loving me more than I ever thought anyone could. There was a time when I would have said I didn’t deserve it, but you taught me that I do. I love you just the same, maybe more. I know you’d argue with me about that.
Maybe my ghost will rise; I probably have a ton of unfinished business, right? If not, I’ll
see you one day, on the other side.
Good-bye, my Micah.
Selene
END
Selene’s story is continued in Book 3 of The Reanimation Files, The Ravaging In Between. Available now!
About the Author
A.J. Locke is originally from Trinidad & Tobago but has resided in New York City for over ten years. She knew early on that she wanted to be a writer, penned her first novel at fourteen, and hasn’t stopped since. Creating is her passion, and other than writing she enjoys drawing, painting, graphic design, and any other creative whim that may take her.
Discover more about A. J. Locke here
Blog: http://iqurae.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @maqueripe
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/AJ-Locke/522250584507699
Also by A. J. Locke
Affairs of the Dead
The Reanimation Files Book One
A.J. Locke
Help ghosts, stop a thief, and try not to die…
Necromancer Selene Vanream helps ghosts settle their affairs so they can move on. But when breaking the rules gets her in trouble, she’s bumped down to tracking ghosts trying to avoid the afterlife. Ghosts like Ethan Lance, who claims he was kicked out of his body when someone else jumped in. Which might be plausible—if such a thing were possible. And if Micah, Selene’s partner, didn’t pull her into an investigation of brutal murders that lead directly back to Ethan.