“Back out? Like walk backwards?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. You’re the expert.”
Velvet looked up and to the right, pointing as she mumbled something to herself. A second later she took hold of my arm and pulled gently to guide me.
“The tomb should be this way, near the back.”
With a nod I followed along, letting her lead the way down the narrow paths. We hadn’t been picking our way through for more than a minute or so when the pain in my head made a sudden leap in intensity. I stumbled but managed to catch myself as a hard stab of agony drove deep into the base of my skull.
“Are you all right?” Velvet asked, concern in her voice.
“Something’s wrong,” I told her, reaching up to rub the back of my head.
“We’re almost there. Are you going to be able to handle this?”
I nodded carefully, the pain still clawing at my grey matter. “I have to.”
We started forward again, rounding the corner of a large family tomb. Velvet was in the lead, and she suddenly halted then looked back at me.
“Someone’s here,” she whispered.
I stepped forward then looked up and past Velvet. Standing thirty or so yards down the narrow row was a petite woman with fiery red hair cascading down the center of her back. She had her forehead pressed against the stone face of the tomb in front of her.
I stopped dead in my tracks and stared.
As if the woman could sense she was being watched, she pushed back from the tomb and slowly turned toward us.
There was the distance to consider, not to mention that there were oblique shadows falling across her from the closely spaced stone mausoleums. But, the resemblance was as beyond uncanny as it had been in the vision.
I had spoken to Felicity less than two hours ago, and I knew for a fact that she was still resting comfortably in Saint Louis, Missouri, under Helen Storm’s care. But, if I hadn’t known that, I would have sworn she was standing here now, staring directly at me.
A faint look of recognition flickered across the woman’s face, but was quickly obscured by the creased lines of abject fear.
“Is that…?” Velvet asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Annalise,” I replied, my own coming out as a dry croak.
I’m not sure how many heartbeats it took before the two of us were no longer frozen in place, but Annalise was the first to thaw. She turned and bolted down the alley, taking off like a sprinter from a starting line.
She had a healthy head start, but I was already in motion and closing the gap.
CHAPTER 13:
“Call the police!” I yelled over my shoulder to Velvet as I darted forward.
Annalise had everything on her side at the moment. Not only did she have a lead of several yards, but she had youth as well. She was also in better shape, which was obvious just by looking at her. Rounding out the advantages, it was a sure bet she was more familiar with this maze of tombs than I could ever hope to be, which was something that could play against me at any moment. All she had to do was duck between a stand of the structures or turn down an alley, and I could be lost.
However, I had something I was hoping would trump everything she had stacked in her hand. Determination.
I didn’t take time to look back and see if Velvet was doing as I asked. She knew the whole story about why I was here, and I had filled her in on Annalise when we had met for lunch earlier. She was well aware of how serious this was for all concerned, so I had to hope she was on top of it.
To my surprise, my quarry didn’t run very far, and she was now slowing suddenly as she veered left toward the outer wall of the cemetery. I was still too distant to understand why, but I pushed myself harder, intent on seizing the opportunity that had been presented. Another ten steps and her reasoning became clear. I could see an opening in the wall leading out to a side street. I hadn’t realized there were multiple entrances to the cemetery, but as I suspected, she knew her way around.
Or, so I thought.
Her own footsteps came to an abrupt halt as she literally slammed her body into the iron gate blocking the side entrance. I heard a creak combined with the heavy metallic rattle of a chain. As I continued running, I saw her push hard against the unyielding barrier then heard her shriek at the top of her lungs.
She threw her petite body against the gates yet again, making them bow outward. Wedging her shoulder into the newly formed gap, she tried to force her way through the small opening. The delay this caused gave me the break I needed, and I pumped my legs even harder, quickly covering the remaining fifteen or so yards.
I didn’t put on my own brakes until the last minute. Instead, I grabbed at the first thing I could reach which was the gate itself. I wrapped my hand around one of the upright bars and used my momentum to yank it back, narrowing the already slim gap with her still in it. The frame pivoted inward with a rusted groan, pinning her in place less than halfway through. She let out a pained yelp as the bars compressed across her forearm and wrist, driving in against her chest and shoulder.
Catching her breath, she glared at me then spit in my face before screaming, “Bastard! Va te faire, vous fils d’une chienne! ”
I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand then glared back. Her voice was the same as I’d heard in the vision, however, there was no sweetness in her drawl this go around.
Now that I was so close to her in the flesh, I was even more taken aback by how much she resembled Felicity. There were definite differences, but they were far from glaring. I had assumed the vision had been filling in blanks using my conscious memory as a pattern, but I apparently hadn’t given the ethereal enough credit for its accuracy.
Unfortunately, that preciseness was about to become my downfall. Her appearance was literally so disconcerting that I not only hesitated, but also unconsciously eased up on the gate, which in effect allowed her freedom of movement. That was a mistake that cost me dearly.
I knew I was probably already too close to her, but as usual I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to even consider her response to being cornered. The moment the pressure against her forearm backed off, she jerked it free and twisted toward me. In a flash her hand was up to my face, and her nails were latched on, digging into my flesh with extreme prejudice. I let out my own yelp of pain as I could feel my skin starting to tear. I reached up to grab her wrist but was a half second behind. She ripped the sharp claws downward, taking a good hunk of the skin from my right cheek with them.
I staggered back, still clinging to the gate. I used my weight to yank on it but was again too far behind the curve. Unable to thread herself through the small opening, she pulled back out of the gap and twisted away before she could become trapped yet again.
Swinging forward, I grabbed at her as she continued turning in preparation to run. I managed to catch her upper arm but was unable to actually get a grasp on anything but the sleeve of her jacket, which slipped immediately from my fingers. Still, I managed to knock her off balance enough that it caused her to stumble against the corner of the opening in the wall.
Leaping, I half tackled her from behind, wrapping my arms around her torso. She screeched and struggled as I locked my forearms across her chest and fought to pin her arms.
“RAPE! HELP! RAPE! NINE-ONE-ONE! RAPE!” she screamed.
“Give it up, Annalise!” I shouted over her shrieking. “The cops are already looking for you. They know what you’ve done! It’s over!”
My comment only served to renew her vigor as she fought against me. Bending her knees, she pulled her lower half up at the waist and placed her feet against the wall in front of her. Kicking away from it hard, she caused me to stumble backward and careen into the opposite wall, still holding her in a tight clench. She continued to squirm, and I was thrown completely off balance. We both crashed onto the concrete, although given that she was on top of me along with the manner in which the air burst from my lungs, I am fairly certain I cushioned the majority of her fall.
Still, I refused to let go as she struggled to break free.
However, the jarring impact had allowed her to slip farther down in my grasp, and while I was trying to deal with the burning pain in my cheek and the fresh ache running up and down my back, a brand new attack made itself known. Her elbow slammed hard against my ribcage as she fought to inflict as much damage as she could in her bid for escape. The sharp pain hit a second time as she drove it in again, kicking and screaming all the while. When she tried to bring the appendage in for a third strike, I twisted against her, which caused it to glance along my side instead of landing a direct hit. Unfortunately, although the move saved me from another blow to the ribs, it allowed her to wriggle down even more.
In an instant, crushing agony tore into the top of my left wrist, and I let out a scream. A muffled shriek came from her throat as she bit deeply into my arm. Once again I could feel my flesh tearing as her teeth sunk through skin and tendon. My hand jerked with a spasm, and my arms loosened out of reflex. She instantly scrambled upward, and through my watering eyes, I caught a glimpse of her mouth smeared red with my blood. I rolled and pulled myself to my feet as well, but she was already sprinting away.
I flashed a quick glance back to my right looking for help but didn’t see anyone. I had no idea where Velvet had gone, but apparently I was on my own. I started after Annalise, following her up one of the wider “alleys” toward the center of the graveyard. Once again, she was well in the lead.
Darting to the right, she disappeared, and I pressed myself even harder to catch up. Focusing on the point where she ducked from sight, I brought myself in closer to the row of tombs and veered in the same direction. Coming up on the opening, I thrust my hand outward and used it to buffer myself against the structures as I took the turn at a dead run. My wounded appendage thudded against the wall, and I felt a fresh twinge of pain shoot up my arm. I fought to ignore it, but I could feel myself wince as I let out a yelp.
I was starting to pant hard as I fought for breath, but I pushed forward, covering the short distance and hooking around the opposite end of the row of tombs. The area opened up; however, there were two wide alleys, one to the left and one to the right. Acting purely on instinct, I veered to the left and continued running. As I shot past a large crypt, I caught a glimpse of her in another passage to my right, running in the general direction of the front gate.
Skidding on the walkway, I changed my direction and took after her. We zigzagged between tombs, her managing to stay a few paces out of my reach, but with me gaining on her each step.
As we crossed a main alley, she continued straight on and slipped into a narrow gap between two crypts. I started to follow but could tell immediately that I would never be able to fit my frame through the opening, so I whipped to the left and shot around the end of the row. I could already hear her frantic footsteps ahead, so I didn’t even bother making the second 90? turn to go toward where she had cut through. Instead, I kept going forward. She was still ahead of me, but her shortcut hadn’t given her the edge she needed. In fact, it had worked just the opposite, and I was now barely within reach. Lunging, I launched myself through the short space between us and tackled her as she shot out in front of me.
Once again we both went down hard on the concrete, but it was obvious from the way she kept moving that her leather jacket was affording her more protection than my thinner cloth garment was giving me. Still, she screeched as we rolled, and I did the same. I’m not certain if it was from pain or anger on her part, though I suspected it was both.
She rolled over in a flash and kicked at me as she scrambled back against a tomb bearing a brass plate and more than a few X’s scribed on its surface. I wasn’t certain, but I thought I saw the name Marie Laveau inscribed on the plaque before Annalise’s body obscured it from my view. A plate full of coins scattered everywhere when she knocked it from its pedestal. It was soon joined by candles and vases full of flowers that she upset as she continued scrabbling away from me.
I came up to a kneeling position and lunged toward her again, but she twisted out of my way. When she rolled back toward me, her hand was wrapped around the heavy glass container of a seven-day candle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it arcing toward me, so I threw my arm up and twisted, catching the brunt of it against my shoulder. I heard a wounded animal screaming then realized that it was me.
She scurried backwards, kicking me as she moved, then climbed to her feet and started running again. I dragged myself up and started after her, stumbling against the tombs as new and altogether unpleasant agonies joined the old. Slipping along a walkway, I shot out onto the main alley that ran parallel to the front wall. Looking to the left, I saw that she was already hooking to the right and out the front gate.
I ignored ceremony and rushed headlong behind her at a renewed sprint. The souls of the departed were just going to have to cut me some slack this time.
CHAPTER 14:
I exited the gates and shot across Basin Street in front of the cemetery without even bothering to check traffic. Fortunately, there was none to speak of. Annalise had widened the gap between us due to that last scuffle, and no matter how hard I was pushing myself, I no longer seemed to be able to gain on her. In fact it was all I could do to keep from falling farther behind. My only saving grace was the fact that she wasn’t moving as fast as she had been before either, and it even looked like she might be faltering because I could see that she was holding on to her side as she ran.
I knew exactly how she felt. I wasn’t sure if there was a single point on my body that wasn’t ravaged by pain at the moment, and I knew it was slowing me down. I was also well aware that the pains weren’t just from the damage she had inflicted. My legs were getting heavier, and my lungs were burning as I gasped for breath. A sharp pain was piercing my ribcage with each labored gulp of air, and I was even starting to feel lightheaded. The extreme exertion was taking its toll on my already exhausted system.
I kept my eyes focused on Annalise as I covered the half block to North Rampart. She was already out into the middle of the street dodging traffic as I ran off the curb. The sound of a blaring horn pierced my ears then mixed with the squeal of tires against pavement. I jerked my head in the direction of the noise and saw the oncoming vehicles. It felt as though my heart seized in my chest, and I was frozen with fear. I don’t know how, but I still managed to jump forward. A compact car skidded at an angle, and I felt a whoosh of air at my back. I elected not to look because I didn’t want to see how close I had just come to being road kill.
Another horn blared, and yet another. Rubber squealed on asphalt, and a truck slid to a halt in front of me, stopping only inches away and to my left. I jerked to the side and started to go around it when a loud crash met my ears. I caught a flash of the truck lurching forward out of the corner of my eye and jumped back instead. I felt myself thump against the first car that had barely missed me and watched as the truck was pushed several feet by the vehicle that had just rear-ended it, finally halting exactly where I would have been had I continued around it. I slid sideways between the truck in front of me and the compact car at my back then shot forward hooking around the end of the pileup I had just caused. I should have been scared out of my wits, but at this point I actually found myself feeling like a confused squirrel on his way across any given street.
Ahead of me, Annalise was dealing with her own self-inflicted obstacle course. I watched as she ran directly into the side of a station wagon that had only a split second before screeched to a halt in front of her. She bounced against the front quarter panel, stumbled, then regained her footing and continued on. As she swivel-hipped around the front end of the vehicle, she glanced back at me for a split second then tore off across the asphalt.
I launched myself into the mess once again, running a serpentine course between vehicles that had ended up stopped at oblique angles. Traffic was coming to a halt quickly; however, there were still a few cars in motion, and we both had to dodge them as wel
l. Horns were still honking, some at us, some at other cars as confusion ran rampant through the mid-afternoon drivers. Some of those who had been directly involved in the accidents were out on the street screaming at us as we darted past them.
If I hadn’t been smack in the middle of this insanity myself, I’m sure I would have been looking around for the movie cameras. It was simply that surreal.
The various obstructions had caused our pace to slow somewhat, but it didn’t allow either of us to actually catch our breath. I had managed to close in by maybe a pair of steps at the most, so Annalise was still well ahead of me when she hit the curb on the opposite side of North Rampart. Our trajectories had been thrown off with all the zigzagging, and she now veered to the left. Anticipating her move, I barreled across trying to angle myself so that I could continue down the cross street where I assumed she was heading.
Though it still appeared to me that she was holding her side, she seemed to have gained a second wind. She sprinted across the mouth of Saint Louis Street, but instead of turning down it as I expected her to do, she continued along the sidewalk parallel to North Rampart. Because of my angle and momentum, I overshot the sidewalk and had to double back a few paces, instantly losing any gain I had picked up. Making the quick turn and whipping back around the corner of the building, I leaped across the curb and fell in behind her, still several paces to the rear.
My heart was racing so fast it felt like a single drawn-out thump inside my chest. I was wheezing air in and out of my tortured lungs as fast as I possibly could, but the oxygen apparently still wasn’t making it to my brain because the lightheadedness I had felt a moment before was now becoming dizziness.
Over the sound of the blood rushing in my ears, I thought I heard music trilling nearby. Some portion of my tipsy brain still managed to recognize the tune and forwarded a message to the appropriate quadrant telling me that it was my cell phone. I ignored this new bit of information and kept running. I couldn’t tell what Annalise was going to do next because she was merely following a straight line at the fastest pace she could muster. I tried to stay focused on her and anticipate her moves, but she had fooled me once already, so I wasn’t sure how confident I was in making another guess. The problem was that I think she was well aware of her edge because at the last minute she feinted left then veered suddenly right onto Toulouse.
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