Coda (Alexa O'Brien Huntress Book 13)

by Trina M. Lee

  “I last tracked her over here. A few blocks from the body she left behind. Then I lost her and called you.” Smudge parked on a sleepy street with no activity.

  Jez had to be staying at Kale’s house. It was just a few blocks from here. Which meant I had to go over there and check.

  But it had only been twenty-four hours. I wasn’t ready to walk into his house and be surrounded by the memories. We’d made some damn good love in that house. It was also where I’d first felt the dark seed planted inside Jez.

  So here I was again.

  Smudge and I left the SUV and walked the quiet neighborhood. Senses on fire, I scanned the night for any sign of Jez. I couldn’t pinpoint her exact location as I could with vampires. If Falon was right, she didn’t want to be found. The ability to hide her energy signature meant I couldn’t sense her power from a distance. So Jez was out there somewhere like a shadow in the night. Evading us even though she needed us.

  We made our way toward Kale’s house. Nothing fancy but more than adequate, the bungalow sat in the middle of a family-friendly street. Nobody would have ever guessed that a vampire had dwelled there.

  As we drew closer my skin began to prickle. The tiny fine hairs on my arms and neck stood on end. I paused to scan the night. Beside me Smudge did the same.

  “Do you feel that?” I asked, my voice cutting through the eerie quiet.

  She nodded her spiky head of raven-black hair. “It’s one of them.”

  A few doors down from Kale’s house we found it. Or rather, her, a woman shambling aimlessly along the sidewalk. She moved about like she was confused. Randomly she’d stop and turn in another direction before shambling along a few more feet. The woman wore a coat and boots. A shovel lay forgotten another yard over. Jez must’ve come across her while she shovelled snow.

  Curious, I approached the woman, tense as I expected her to be little more than the husk Smudge had described. I was surprised to find her appearance relatively normal. Though a ghastly gray pallor dulled her skin and eyes. She was most definitely dead. No heartbeat.

  “This one doesn’t look mummified.” I stated the obvious. “What’s up with that?”

  Smudge sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and studied the walking corpse. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Necromancy like this is rare. Sure a lot of black magic types practice it, but Jez is a natural.”

  “Seems like, with each one she reanimates, they come back more human-like. But I’m thinking there’s nothing human left. What do we do with it?” I waved a hand in front of the woman’s face. Her unfocused eyes stared beyond us at nothing.

  “As far as I know, the necromancer has to tell the reanimated corpse to rest. To just be dead.” Watching the woman shuffle, her hands groping at nothing, Smudge shook her head sadly. “I think we need Jez to lay her to rest.”

  “Try calling her,” I suggested. “She might be more willing to answer if it’s you.”

  As Smudge reached out to Jez, I ventured on ahead. To Kale’s house. I didn’t expect her to be there anymore, but her scent lingered outside the front door.

  Standing in Kale’s front entry, the residual energy he’d left behind fell over me, enveloping me in all that he was. Sweet. Gentle. But fragmented, as he’d been. I soaked it in, unable to stop the tears that welled up.

  “She’s not here,” I said, turning quickly to leave when Smudge came up the walk. Closing the door, I swiped a finger over each eye.

  Smudge noted the blood tears I wiped away but thankfully said nothing about it. “No luck. She’s still not answering.”

  My gaze drifted over the street, admiring the winter scene it painted. The snow always seemed whiter and brighter at night than it ever did during the day.

  Jez had been here but she was long gone. Walking the streets in a city this size wouldn’t get us anywhere.

  A sudden trill of bells had Smudge grabbing for her phone. With a glance at the screen she pressed it to her ear. “Hey, K, what have you got for me?” She listened for a minute before saying, “Thanks, you’re a peach.” She hung up and turned to me. “I’ve got a couple leads on Jez, and one on Wyatt, your hunter.”

  Wyatt. Right. That guy. In the chaos of the last twenty-four hours he’d slipped off my radar.

  “Wyatt can wait,” I decided. “Jez is priority number one.”

  “Agreed.” Smudge nodded. “I say we each take a lead and split up. I’ll take you back to Wicked for your car.”

  Kale’s car really. Which reminded me that mine was still out at Shya’s. I suspected Jez had gone back for her Jeep seeing as she seemed to be getting around relatively fast. Although, creatures of the night could do that on foot just as well.

  Smudge gave me an address as she dropped me off at The Wicked Kiss. “My source says Jez was spotted at a convenience store in this neighborhood about an hour ago. I don’t think that’s too far from here. I’ll check out the other one and let you know what I find.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll call you.” I hesitated. “Be careful. I’m not sure how dangerous she might be.” Then I closed the SUV’s door.

  I watched her taillights disappear down the street and hoped like hell we found Jez before she did something else she couldn’t take back. Something much worse.

  Because that was how the darkness worked. It got inside you, and it made you want things nobody should ever want. And to get your hands on those things, you’d do just about anything or, in my case, anyone.

  Picturing Jez walking around out there, sucking the life out of anyone unfortunate enough to venture too close, it unnerved me. My own power worked in a similar fashion. I drained victims of their life force via their sexual energy. But it was a process that left the victim in a state of bliss. Feasting on their lust never killed them; my hunger for blood did.

  Shaz’s Jeep Cherokee sat right where he’d left it. As long as he was still here, the place was in good hands. I suspected Arys had left after I did. I didn’t feel him. Just as well.

  I passed the Cherokee on my way to Kale’s Camaro and noticed the driver door was ajar. Odd. Coming to a halt, I surveyed the parking lot. Empty. Pulling the door open, I inspected the interior. Nothing appeared amiss. The Jeep hadn’t been tampered with.

  I doubted Shaz had left his wallet or anything else of value that might tempt a thief. He was too sensible for that.

  Then it hit me. The vase holding Kale’s ashes was gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Jez had led us in a circle. If my hunch was correct, she was on her way back to his house. With his ashes.

  I didn’t want to consider what she might be planning. A stone of dread in my gut nauseated me.

  She wouldn’t. Would she?

  As I waited for the Camaro’s engine to warm up, I got Gabriel on the phone. He’d know as much as any angel or demon about this shit. When he didn’t answer the first time, I called back repeatedly until he did.

  “Can a necromancer reanimate from ashes?” I barked, unable to contain myself.

  He took a moment to process my request, and I almost hurled the phone in frustration. His voice was thick with sleep. Or sex. “Depends how powerful they are. It’s not entirely impossible.”

  That did not reassure me. I fiddled with the heat settings and set my phone on the console so I could drive. “How about a nephilim necromancer?”

  “Yeah, I’d say they probably could. But only if they know what they’re doing. And no matter how good any necromancer is, the soul never comes back. It’s some dark shit that brings back a dead body, but no power can bring back a soul. Whatever comes back, it’s different and it’s wrong. And occasionally, it’s something really fucking bad.” Gabriel dropped every word like a rusty blade on my frayed nerves.

  Son of a fucking bitch. She was going to try it. Jez was going to try to bring Kale back.

  “So what’s the point of necromancy then? To build some sick zombie army or something?” I threw the car in gear and eased out onto the street.

  I didn’t
bother checking out the address Smudge had given me. Jez wouldn’t still be there. My gut told me that she’d go back to Kale’s house.

  “Bingo. That’s exactly why. Usually. Although a skilled necromancer can reanimate to get information. Like a murderer’s identity. The corpse will retain memories in the brain for a short time after death. Eventually the power reanimating them fades, their link to the necromancer is severed, and the body returns to the earth.” Gabriel paused before carefully saying, “It’s Jez, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it is. I’m afraid she’s going to try to bring Kale back. I have to stop her.”

  Because it wouldn’t be Kale. It would be a hollow version of him with no soul that would eventually fade away anyway. Jez was hurting. I knew that. And hurt could compel people to seek relief in incredibly dark places. But this was too much. Too far.

  After thanking Gabriel, I ended the call and continued the drive to Kale’s house in silence. Apprehension kept my hands tight on the wheel. Unease forced my spine ramrod straight. I drove knowing this could go many ways and not feeling good about any of them.

  Her beat-up old Jeep was in the driveway this time. She’d known Smudge and I would look for her. I suspected she’d purposely been seen by Smudge’s sources to throw us off.

  I parked behind the Jeep and got out, wary and ready. The gate to the backyard hung open. It had been closed earlier. With silent steps I approached. Peeking into the yard, I saw Jez seated in a rickety patio swing that squealed with each sweep back and forth. Beside her sat the vase of dust and ash.

  She stared at it. Hard.

  Relief crushed me. She hadn’t done anything yet. I stepped into the yard and softly said, “Jez?”

  Her head snapped up, and her solid black gaze landed on me. I managed not to react to the sight of her with demon eyes. Even when she rolled them at me.

  “I figured you’d find me here,” she said. “I hoped I’d have a little more time to figure this out first.”

  Her golden hair was gathered into a messy ponytail that fell over one shoulder. What little makeup she wore was smeared and faded. Her black eyes were rimmed in red from crying and lack of sleep.

  “I know you’re hurting, Jezzy.” I took slow steps toward her. “I am too. But whatever you plan to do with that vase, you know it’s not the right way to handle this.”

  Jez held a hand up. “I wouldn’t come any closer. I don’t know if I can drain a vampire.”

  “Only one way to find out.” I tapped my power, ready to shield hard against her if necessary. I already lived in fear of the one person I should never be afraid of. I wouldn’t do it with anyone else I loved.

  As I reached the middle of the yard a strange, heavy vibe fell over me. Like metaphysical molasses, a thick energy latched onto me like a parasite. It tried to worm its way in, and naturally I fought against it.

  Then it stopped. The energy eased off, relinquishing its hold. It had decided that what it wanted, human life force, could not be found in me.

  “I guess we have our answer.” Trying to lighten the mood, I smiled. “Doesn’t work on vampires. That’s good, right? It won’t ruin sexy times with Smudge.”

  “Yeah, great.” Mustering a smile that didn’t reach her tired eyes, she stared at her hands, fiddling with a ring on one finger. “I know you think I’m crazy, but I want to try it, Alexa. I have to.”

  Panic clawed at the back of my throat. I kept coming toward her, slowly, as if trying not to frighten away an anxious cat. Which was exactly what I was doing.

  “You really don’t. Kale wouldn’t want that. You don’t really want that.” As I drew closer she stiffened so I stopped, keeping my distance. I just needed that vase.

  “We could have him back,” she insisted, reaching to drag the vase into her lap. “He could be here with us.” Refusing to look at me, she gripped the vase with desperate fingers. So badly she needed to believe this would work.

  I needed her to let him go. Which meant I had to let him go. Somehow.

  “It wouldn’t be him, Jez. You saw the people you reanimated. There’s no soul there. It’s just… nothing.” I swallowed hard, a sob lodged in my throat. “You don’t want to do that to him.”

  Confusion furrowed her brow and she shook her head. “But each one has been coming back more human. Every time I drained someone it made me stronger. If I were strong enough, I think I could do it.”

  Her certainty frightened me. Jez should never have been talking about bringing Kale back from the dead. But she was. And she was stone-cold serious about it.

  “It might look like him, but he wouldn’t be in there. Not the real him. I understand the temptation, but you have to let him go. This is not the way.” My pleas seemed to have no effect. My panic grew.

  A vicious scowl pulled her pretty face into a mask of evil. “We already did things your way, Alexa. That’s why Kale is dead. Now we’re doing it my way.”

  “Jez, you know Kale wanted that. He didn’t want to be here anymore.” Hearing myself say that caused the wound inside me to bleed again. “Bringing him back would disrespect that.”

  “He didn’t want to be here because you made him miserable.” Her black eyes flashed with malevolence. Her fingers tightened on the vase until I expected it to shatter in her lap. “His tie to you should be broken now. If I bring him back—”

  Ignoring her nasty remark, I cut her off. “I know that’s not you talking, Jez. I’ve got my own dark side, remember?”

  “How could I forget?” she sneered, flashing long leopard fangs. “Seems to be your calling card these days.”

  I didn’t bother to remind her that death might not have severed my link to Kale. It hadn’t when I’d been dead, but I’d also been in transition. Of course I hoped like hell he was finally free of me. He deserved that much.

  “Then learn from my mistakes and don’t let this thing run rampant over you. Because it will. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can control this. Even use it for something good.” I bounced from foot to foot, keeping myself planted in place but itching to dive for that vase.

  “Good? How good can it be to drain people of their life force just by being in their vicinity?” Her voice rose, anger causing her to lose her grip on the vase. I gasped as she fumbled it, almost fainting before she stopped it from hitting the ground.

  “Gabriel said it can be used to get info from murder victims. You have a choice in how you use this. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing.” My voice cracked, and I paused, gathering myself. “There are people who care about you. We can help you, Jez.”

  Her cheek twitched as she tried to rein in her emotion. “The person who cared most about me is in this vase.”

  I shook my head, blonde locks bouncing. “Kale’s not in that vase, Jez. Not really. It’s just ashes. And he’s not the only person who loves you.”

  She peered into the vase with a cat’s curiosity. Slowly she dipped a finger in. I tensed, watching her study her dusty fingertip. “It’s just so screwed up how fast it happened. I wanted to scream at you to stop. Then it was over. And now this is all that’s left of him.”

  Kale, Jez, and I had formed a tight friendship over the years. We were a team. But they’d bonded in a special way. Jez had loved him in a way I’d never seen her love anyone else. Like he was family.

  I’d known this would challenge both of us. But I hadn’t dreamed it would pit us against one another.

  “We are what’s left of Kale. You and me. We can get each other through this. We have to.” It dawned on me that I’d always been in her position, the one ready to snap, needing to be talked down. It gave me a newfound respect for the role Shaz so willingly played for Arys and me.

  Unconvinced, she dragged her gaze to mine. “Or we could bring him back together. Help me figure out how to get this right.” Sorrow swam in the depths of her eerie gaze. It had lived there for some time after Zoey died. And then it had faded. Now it was back with a vengeance.

  “I can’t do that.” A shiver
racked me. It had nothing to do with winter’s chill, and everything to do with the malice that transformed her face. “You can’t ask me to enable you to use this in a way that harms you or anyone else. We’re supposed to keep each other clean, remember?”

  The bitterness in her laughter scorched my senses. That kind of darkness felt so wrong in someone as pure as Jez. “Clean? Alexa, you turned your biggest addiction into a regular lover. You hate-fuck a fallen angel for the high. What’s clean about that?”

  Hard to argue a valid point. “Fair enough. So I haven’t stayed clean, but you have. So why change that now?”

  Jez’s sudden outburst took the situation from tense to explosive. “Because he left me here without him. It didn’t matter that I needed him. He wanted to escape you so bad he was willing to give up everything. Even me.” This tirade came from a place of personal pain. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Words cut deep when wielded with truth and precision.

  Wounded, I accepted the blow. She wasn’t wrong. “Jez, I’m hurting too.”

  “Good.” She flinched a little, like she couldn’t believe she was being this nasty but couldn’t hide her true feelings. Holding the vase up, Jez came up off the swing unexpectedly fast. “I’m doing it. I have to try.”

  I braced myself for the worst. “I can’t let you.”

  Holding the vase like it was her last possession in the world, she inclined her head in invitation. “You’ll have to stop me then.”

  So it was going to be like that. Fan-fucking-tastic.

  The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my friend. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t. I couldn’t stand aside and let something so horrific happen. We’d both regret it forever.

  “Jez, don’t do this.” My final attempt at reasoning with her landed on deaf ears. She’d already slipped into the dark mindset. I saw it in her expression, and I knew it well.

  “Just leave, Alexa. You don’t have to be part of it.” Jez’s final attempt at reasoning with me. Also landing on deaf ears.

  We’d reached that point where further discussion would only take us in circles. I’d have to just wrestle the damn vase away. No warning, I rushed her head on like a football player making a tackle.