The Adventures of Gravedigger, Volume 2

by Barry Reese

  After staggering into a restroom, Pandora cleaned herself up as best as she could. She had to get out of the city as quickly as possible, before Gravedigger tracked her down. The woman would not quit. Of that, Pandora was certain.

  Finally confident that she was presentable enough to pass inspection and be allowed to board the plane, Pandora quickly assessed her wounds. They needed better treatment than she could at the moment but neither of them was critical enough to prevent her from traveling.

  Now she needed to decide where to go. The whole world was open to her. Her first thought was to simply escape and avoid Gravedigger. After learning more about this world, she could come up with a new plan to undo her own sins and, if necessary, deal with Gravedigger.

  “Sovereign City.”

  The voice made her pause. She was staring in the restroom mirror with sink water on her cheeks. They clung there in tiny droplets, shining in the electric lights. Wiping her face with her sleeve, she turned and looked around the room. She was alone.

  “Is someone there?” she asked, moving to push open the stall doors.

  “Yes.”

  Pandora froze, swallowing hard. The voice… It was in her head. Just as disturbing was the fact that it sounded so familiar though she was simultaneously sure that she had never heard it before. How could it be both, she wondered.

  “Look in the mirror.”

  Pandora glanced back and what she saw was simply amazing, even to someone who had lived for as long as she had. Standing beside her reflection was someone who could not possibly have been there. Indeed, a quick peek to her side revealed no one at all. But in the mirror she was still there. Locke. The woman whose body now belonged to Pandora was right there, dressed as she had been on the night when she’d “died.”

  “This can’t be,” Pandora said.

  “But it is. I’ve been locked in your head… in my head… ever since you took it over. That weird device that Potter made gave me the opening to come back out. Nobody else can see me and I don’t seem to be able to manipulate my limbs but you can hear me, right?”

  “And see you. In the mirror, at least.”

  The mirror image of Locke held up her hands. “I’m not looking to fight you. For one thing, I wouldn’t win. For another, I think we can help one another.”

  Pandora looked up as a woman entered the bathroom. She was dressed in a stewardess uniform and held a traveling back in one white-gloved hand.

  The stewardess paused at the sight of Pandora and then scuttled back out the door when Pandora drew the sword she still wore at her side. “Get out or die,” the immortal hissed and from the look on the woman’s face, the threat was received as intended.

  “That was not smart.”

  Pandora glared at Locke’s reflection. “What do you mean?”

  “She’s going to flag down a security officer. You should have knocked her out and gone through her bag. She was about your size and you could have gotten yourself some new clothing. And your sword… people are going to ask questions if you try to wear that onto the plane.”

  Pandora said nothing but she knew that Locke was right. Mistakes at this point could prove to be very costly. “You said I could help you?”

  “Yes. I want Gravedigger to pay. She killed Quick Dan. He was… a friend.”

  “I know what he was. I can sense it.”

  “Then you know I want some revenge. That bitch ruined a good thing for me.”

  Pandora moved closer to the mirror. “Now it’s you that isn’t thinking straight. Going back to Sovereign only puts me – both of us – at risk. We need to go somewhere else and build up our strength. We can take out Gravedigger at any point.”

  “No, we can’t. She has friends. Powerful ones! If we wait too long, she’ll be the one getting stronger, not the other way around.” Locke seemed to reach out, as if she could somehow touch Pandora through the mirror. “I can teach you about this world. You’ll be the fist we use when we ram it down her throat. We’ll be a team.”

  Pandora put her own fingertips against the glass. “You’ll eventually try to take over this body again.”

  Locke smiled. “Probably. But until then…?”

  “We work together.”

  “Good. Now, let’s go get you some clothes.”

  Chapter XI: Mending Hearts and Bodies

  Hendry Hall had rarely looked so inviting, at least so far as Li Yuchun was concerned. She was bone tired despite having had a decent night’s sleep in Washington, D.C. The recent stress of the Pandora affair was nothing compared to the emotional turmoil that she’d been experiencing.

  The young beauty followed her friends from the garage and into the house. They were all unhappy that Pandora had escaped once more but the knowledge that they’d helped prevent a takeover of the country was heartwarming, to say the least. Professor Potter was now in the custody of the FBI though Li wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. She didn’t fancy anyone having the kind of technology that Potter could create but from the pitiful way he’d acted, claiming to have turned over a new leaf, maybe he wouldn’t be willing to rebuild the ETD.

  Li watched as the team began to splinter up into their customary cliques: Charity and Mitchell wandered into the study, no doubt to work on the next plan of action; Mortimer drifted upstairs, alone; and Cedric went to the phone, calling to his office to pick up any messages that had been left in his absence.

  Li sighed and leaned against the wall. She waited until Cedric was off the phone and then asked, “So, are you still upset with me?”

  Without turning to look at her, he replied, “Nothing to be upset about. We’re just friends who had a misunderstanding, that’s all.”

  “Mortimer and I talked about you on the plane….”

  “Are you sleeping with him, too?”

  Li felt a flush rise to her cheeks. “Excuse me?”

  Cedric fixed her with a cold stare. “That’s what you do with your friends, right? You have sex with them?”

  “Actually, I was going to tell you that Mortimer made me reconsider a few things. Of course, that was before you started acting like a jackass.”

  Cedric’s shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m being a jerk.”

  “It’s okay. I know I hurt your feelings.”

  Cedric froze as Li came and embraced him. She felt so good against him that his arms closed around her as if they had a mind of their own.

  “Can I talk for a minute without you interrupting me?” she asked, her voice sounding very small and frail.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve never had much. I was only a little girl when I figured out that I could use my body to get what I needed. Sometimes, I even enjoyed it but I learned early on how cold and awful the world is. You can either run and hide from it or you can lift up your chin and jump right into the flames. That’s what I do, every day. I always thought that love was just an excuse for people to do stupid things. It didn’t really exist, you know? I’d never seen it. Charity and I were friends and we cared for one another but that’s different. That’s the kind of love that girls have for other girls. It’s… it’s not the same.”

  Cedric started to speak but he held his tongue when he realized that Li was crying. He rubbed her back and let her go on.

  “You make me feel… like a girl in one of those stories I sometimes read. You’re handsome, you’re sweet and you treat me like a princess.” She pulled away and averted her gaze. “I’m not worth it, Cedric. I’ve slept with men for money and other favors. I’ve stolen things. And I’ve lied so often I’m not even sure what the truth is. I like being with you and I want to keep doing the things we’ve been doing… but I could never be your wife or even a real girlfriend. I’m all broken inside. You deserve better.”

  “Li, I love you. I know all about your past and I don’t care.”

  “I know you don’t,” she laughed sadly. “That’s the worst part of it. You’d let me ruin your reputation and make you t
he joke of all your friends.”

  “If they’re really my friends, they won’t care.”

  Li looked up at him and her eyes shone wetly, breaking his heart. “I do love you, Cedric.”

  “Then let’s be together.”

  “I don’t know how to be serious,” she warned. “I get through life by smiling and laughing at all the dark things that surround us. If you want me to change, I’m not sure that can ever happen.”

  “I don’t want you to change. I just want you to be with me.” Cedric gestured around them both. “Besides, do you really think I’m going to be spending most of my time with my old crowd from now on? When I’m in the office, everything seems so… gray. The only time I feel truly alive now is when I’m with all of you.”

  Li’s face lit up and she bit her bottom lip, as if she were a naughty little girl. “I’m the same way! When we’re staring death in the face, I feel the most alive! It’s crazy, isn’t it?”

  “It’s insane,” Cedric admitted. “But I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

  “So, what are we going to do?”

  Cedric paused and when he spoke, he leaned forward so that his forehead rested against hers. “I love you and you love me. That’s all I ever wanted. Everything else isn’t important.”

  A smirk played across her lips. “I think I may have infected you with my madness.”

  “Oh, you have. I’ve got it bad.”

  They kissed and the whole world felt like it had been made just for the two of them.

  CHARITY SAT DOWN in Josef’s chair and threw her legs up onto the desk. Dressed in jodhpurs, leather boots and a white blouse, she looked ready to take off across the desert on the back of a camel. The frown on her face kept Mitchell from sharing any such ideas, however.

  The big man drew up a chair and sat down in it, studying the woman whom he had grown to love. He knew how badly she wanted to catch Pandora because he’d seen it before: the intensity of the hunt was nearly overwhelming for her. Josef had sometimes gotten that same gleam in his eye but it had been rare for the Jew. For the most part, Josef had radiated calm, even when under the worst stress.

  Charity, however, was like a cat on the prowl. She would not be deterred from her prey for more than a few hours and then tension would eat her up from the inside.

  “You’re giving me that look,” she murmured.

  “What look is that?”

  “The one you get right before you tell me to relax and that everything is going to be okay.”

  “Relax. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  “See? I told you.”

  Mitchell smiled. “Luv, you know me too well.”

  “If I make it through these three years and get my new lease on life, I plan to get to know you a lot better. I want to get out of Sovereign and leave all this behind. We’ll travel the world, eat expensive food and just have a grand old time.”

  “That sounds good.”

  “You don’t believe me, do you?”

  “I know that Josef never could put it all behind him. He wanted to, I think, but evil had a way of finding him even after his tenure was up. Truth be told, I don’t think he minded all that much. Once you’ve gotten used to this kind of life, it’s hard to go back to an old way of doing it. I’ve known soldiers who were the same way. You can’t go from living with danger around every corner and then suddenly kick back on a beach somewhere with no cares in the world.”

  Charity regarded him for a moment before saying, “I’m sure you’re right. But I’m going to try, anyway.”

  “What about the others? We packing them up and taking them with us?”

  “Definitely Li. I feel responsible for her. Besides, she’d be good to have around. She could teach me how to be carefree.”

  “Then that means Cedric is coming, too. They’re an item, after all.”

  “Are they? I thought they were fighting or something.”

  “They’ll make up.”

  Charity gave a shrug. “Then I guess we should invite along Mortimer, too.”

  Mitchell leaned forward. “So.”

  “So?”

  “What do we do now?”

  Charity swung her legs back to the floor and stood up. She wore an expression that was close to smugness. “I’ve been thinking about that.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

  “I had the chance to question Potter before we turned him over to the authorities. He said that Craig had this idea that he could use items that used to belong to Pandora to trace her movements. It was basically a form of ritualized magic and I happen to know of someplace that has some of her old belongings.”

  “The Museum?”

  “That’s right! I got a weird feeling when I was looking at the weapons display they had up and now that I’ve met Pandora, I’m sure I know why. She and I have some sort of weird connection.”

  “Because she’s your… What did you call it? Other?”

  “I think so. Or maybe she’s my Other because we have a connection. I don’t really know how it all works. Regardless, I think that I can do that ritual so I called Kelly before we left the airport. She’s going to drop off a couple of the weapons I felt the strongest connection to.”

  “How does the ritual work?”

  Charity walked over to one of the bookshelves, scanning several of the tomes that had once belonged to Josef. She grabbed hold of Tobin’s Spirit Guide and held it up. “I’m pretty sure this will tell me. It’s mostly an encyclopedia of various entities that can be summoned but it has a nice collection of spells, too.”

  “Just be careful. It’s been my experience that magic can come back to bite you on the arse.” Mitchell moved across the room to her, playfully slapping her bottom. “And I’d hate for anybody else’s teeth marks to ruin that pretty rump.”

  Charity laughed and leaned back against him. “You’re so crude.”

  “Do you like it, luv?”

  “Yes. But you know what I’d like even more?”

  “What’s that?”

  Charity tossed the book down upon a table and turned to face him. She stroked his cheek. “If you locked the door to the study….”

  “I can do that.”

  “Good. And then hurry back over here.”

  MORTIMER CLOSED THE door to his room and smiled. His romantic senses were tingling and somehow he knew that he was the only person in the house not currently engaged in some form of lovemaking. The thought that he had somehow emerged as the bachelor of the grounds was amusing, given how many ladies he’d romanced in his younger days.

  He wandered over to the window and peered out into the perpetual gloom that seemed to hang over Hendry Hall. He liked this Gothic monstrosity, as it reminded him of the past, when there were more of these sorts of homes. The architecture of today simply failed to grab his spirit in the same way.

  The loneliness that he felt once again made him feel out of place, not just here but in this world. When his time as Gravedigger had concluded, he’d thought that he’d live out the rest of his life as a normal man. Instead, his aging had slowed to a crawl, at least physically. Inside, he was an old man, he realized.

  “Why am I here?” he asked aloud. “What made me think I had anything to offer?”

  Though there was no audible response, Mortimer jumped as something struck his window and flattened against it: a copy of The Sovereign Gazette. He unlatched the window, opening it so he could pull the newspaper inside. It was damp from the rain that had fallen earlier and the newsprint immediately stained his fingers.

  Even so, he spread it out on the nightstand next to his bed, feeling an unmistakable pull to do so. He had seen enough supernatural events in his lifetime to know that there were few coincidences in the world. Demons, angels and The Voice (whatever that truly was) all moved human beings like chess pieces on the board of life. A man could resist such things but it was far easier to simply go with the flow and allow the river of life to carry you where it would. From th
ere, of course, you could make your stand and refuse to do whatever was being dictated to you.

  The page was an interior one, part of the society column. It was a section of the paper that Mortimer normally skipped because on the few occasions that he had looked, it had seemed like a rather tawdry excuse for gossip.

  Mortimer’s eyes scanned over the text pieces, trying to seek out whatever he was meant to see:

  Socialite and adventurer Samantha Grace was spotted around town with her good friend Morgan Watts. Rumors about a potential romance appear to be nothing more than wishful thinking so all those suitors for Miss Grace’s hand should continue their efforts!

  The mysterious Doc Daye will be hosting a charity ball this Saturday, with proceeds going to the Sovereign City Orphan’s Fund. Invitations have been hand delivered!

  Mayor Rainsford Byles may have recently announced that he won’t be seeking another term next year but for now, he’s still our leader… so why is he spending so many weekends at his out-of-town vacation home? Insiders are wondering if he isn’t spending his nights on the couch, if you understand what we mean…

  Mortimer paused. He had missed the announcement that Byles was going to be leaving office. Politicians had never been among his favorite people but he knew how important it was to have someone honest in a place like this. Sovereign had been damned from the beginning, with evil seeped into the soil like fertilizer. Having first arrived in the city not long after its founding, Mortimer knew that better than almost anyone. The city needed more than just a paper-pusher, it needed a crusader; someone who would be willing to go to the line against graft and corruption, both natural and supernatural.

  He suddenly realized where his thoughts were going. Was he seriously entertaining the notion of running for public office? He was a virtual unknown in this community, with no prior experience. And yet, he would have the backing of Cedric, whose pockets were rather deep. He might also be able to call upon the support of people like the Emersons and, by extension, Kelly’s boyfriend Lazarus Gray. Those weren’t guaranteed, of course, but he bet that he could schmooze them properly.