When the Grave Calls

by B. L. Brunnemer

  Chapter 15

  “What the fuck?” I muttered as I stepped into the room.

  My jaw dropped. Eric leaned against the altar across the dirt floor, draped in a dark cloak.

  He grinned. “Oh good, you made it.”

  Stunned, I shook my head. “You?”

  “Yeah, me.” That grin stretched across his face as he tossed the phone onto the altar.

  “Where’s Jake?” I demanded.

  “I’m right here.” Jake’s voice spun me around. He was standing in a blind corner near the door.

  Heart hammering, I leaned forward to go to him but stopped short. He wasn’t tied to a chair. He wasn’t restrained. I backed away from him. He wasn’t … It clicked. He wasn’t a hostage. “You?”

  Jake’s eyes shadowed. “I’m sorry, Lexie.”

  I gritted my teeth as I moved back again so I could keep them both in my sight. “Who closed the Veil?”

  Eric raised his hand. “That would be me.”

  I shook my head. “How? Why?”

  “You had it right,” Eric said as he picked up a lighter and lit a stick of incense on the altar. “We were trying to save Dylan’s dad.”

  I shook my head, still stunned. “Dylan … isn’t a part of this?”

  “No,” Jake said, his voice quiet. “I just got him to grow the flowers we needed for his project.”

  My mind was racing as the pieces fell more and more into place. Unable to speak, I just stood, rooted in place.

  “I didn’t like it either,”—he swallowed hard— “but his dad is dying, and that man practically raised me. We can’t lose him.”

  “You have no idea what you’ve done.” I turned my gaze to Eric as he began lighting candles in a circle on the floor. “And how did you do all this? Where did you learn magic?”

  “My mother was a witch,” Eric explained as he turned his back to me and lit another candle. “After she bailed on me, she left enough of her books to put me on the path to finding the right materials.”

  “Why?” I bit out between my teeth.

  “Because Dylan, Jake and I were all buddies as kids.” Eric straightened and turned back to me. “And why not?”

  Rage coursed through me. “Do you have any fucking idea what you did? How many souls you’ve destroyed? How many people have died because of the Veil closing?”

  Eric eyed me for a moment. “I’m sorry, did you really think that I ever gave a shit about any of that?”

  “You fucking selfish prick,” I bellowed. “You fucked with things you can’t even comprehend.” I turned to Jake. “Did you tell him? That he almost ended the world?”

  Jake nodded as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

  My body shook with unspent anger. “What the hell is wrong with you two?”

  “I didn’t know what he was doing, Lexie,” Jake said. “I didn’t know how bad it was.”

  “And once you did?” I snapped.

  Jake just stood there in silence.

  “Did you set me and Riley up?”

  Jake looked down at the dirt. That was answer enough.

  “You fucking destroyed her life.” I shook my head. “She’s a vampire now, Jake. As a vampire, her soul will die when she dies.”

  “I know, and I’ll regret it the rest of my life.” Jake lifted his head, his eyes pleading, but my heart was already hardening to the very sight of him.

  “To be fair, they weren’t supposed to take her.” Eric moved back to the altar as the scent of sandalwood slowly filled the basement. “That was all Jadis.”

  “How the hell did you hook up with Jadis?” I asked, stalling. Two against one weren’t odds that I had counted on, though Jake might not put up a fight if it came down to it.

  “I was working on a way to deal with you when she found me.” Eric put herbs into a pestle and began to crush them. “And I really have you to thank for that. She’s a great source of information.” He turned back to me, still crushing herbs. “Well, she was.”

  “So, she is dead.” I couldn’t help but be relieved.

  “She didn’t come back from Huntington’s house.” He set the pestle down and picked up a knife.

  I backed up a step towards the door.

  “Lexie, we only need some of your blood,” Jake said as he moved to block my retreat. “Eric says with it he can create a potion that will save Dylan’s dad once and for all. Then this can all be over. No more soul traps, no one else gets hurt.”

  Eric tested the edge of the blade. “Well, I may have understated what we’d need.” His eyes met mine with a sick glee. “We’re going to need your soul.”

  I scoffed. “Let me guess, you’re behind all the deaths in town, too. All the missing?”

  Eric smirked. “You’re not as dumb as you seem.”

  “Y-y-you killed those people?” Jake turned to him in horror, an arm wrapped around his stomach. “That’s not what we talked about!”

  “Shut it, Jake,” Eric spat before turning back to me. “Your soul is different. You have a link to the Veil, and if Dylan’s dad drinks that, well, it’d have to work.”

  “Which will drain the Veil again, shut it, and end the world.”

  He pointed the blade at me with a smirk. “Not if we don’t stop souls from crossing again. That energy will keep flowing right into Dylan’s dad.”

  Jake shook his head. “You can’t kill Lexie.”

  “Then your father figure dies,” Eric countered.

  I raised my hand. “Uh, I’m not going to just stand here and let you kill me.”

  The evil grin that flitted across Eric’s lips sent a chill down my spine. “Look around you.”

  I looked at the walls, searched the dirt covered floor, and found nothing.

  “Oh, sorry, let me help.” Eric waved his hand. A soft breeze moved through the basement, stirring the dirt around me. I closed my eyes until it settled back down. A circle was painted in the dirt. I had stepped right into it. Heart pounding, I reached out and hit an invisible wall. Fear clenched my heart in a vise.

  Eric moved across from the white line. “You see, this circle cuts you off from magical energy and keeps you in place. You’re stuck.”

  I dropped my foot back into a better stance. “You really don’t know me very well.”

  Eric chuckled as he began transferring the lit candles from the dummy circle to the one surrounding me. “You know kickboxing. That’s no secret.” He straightened and met my gaze. “That’s another thing this circle does. It’ll drain you until you die, then hold your soul here for me.”

  Adrenaline surged through me as I took in the runes surrounding me. Shit, shit, shit.

  “Lexie, I didn’t know,” Jake said as tears filled his eyes.

  “Go to hell, Jake,” I bit out between my teeth.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Jake hurried out the door and up the stairs.

  Coward. I turned to watch as Eric continued to move the candles. My chest grew tighter as weariness washed over me. It grew with every candle he added. Fuck! Think, Lexie. I could use Veil energy, but that could close the Veil again. What was here in the circle? Earth, air. A weight seemed to fall over my shoulders, bringing me to my knees. My eyelids grew heavy as the life drained from me like the tide. I fell to the dirt and watched him go back to the distiller in the corner.

  Earth and air. What did I know? Breathing grew difficult as I racked my brain.

  It had been at the end of a lesson when Uma explained it. “You can’t cut anyone off from the earth and the air. They don’t answer to human whims.”

  I closed my eyes and fell into that silent space inside me. I shifted my hands out to my sides, palm up, feeling the air tickle my skin. The air grew chilly as the energy was pulled from it. It became easier to breathe. I opened my eyes. Goosebumps rose while energy rushed through me, strengthening me. My breath came out in a fog against the dirt.

  I buried my hands in the moist, rich soil and dropped my barriers the rest of the way. All that energy
filled the earth beneath me. “Intermissium.”

  The basement shook. Dirt dropped from the ceiling as Eric steadied the alchemy table. Long, thin cracks formed in the earth around us, one right through the paint line, breaking the circle.

  That pressing weight lifted off me as the world stopped shaking. Eric turned and met my gaze as I pushed myself to my feet. “Nice try, motherfucker.” Still in that quiet place inside me, I brought a ball of ice to life in my hand. “Now, let’s play.”

  He sparked a fire in his hand. His arm pulled back, his face a snarl. I ran to the right as Eric brought his arm forward, throwing the ball towards me. Dropping to my knee, I slid across the dirt under the streak of fire and popped back up to my feet, still on the run. I side-armed the ice orb at him. Eric dove to the left, rolled in the dirt and came back up. Grabbing the blade off the altar, I changed directions back towards him.

  He threw another shot of fire towards my face, but it was useless. I’d brought my arm up, conjuring a shield of gold light just in time to knock it away. He pulled his own blade out from behind his back and came towards me. I feinted right, ducked Eric’s swipe and drove the blade deep into his side, just under his ribs. It slid in sickeningly easy. Hot liquid spurted over my fingers as his eyes went wide. Bile rose in my throat as I realized what I had done. He dropped his blade and grabbed my arm as he began gasping. I helped him down to the ground. I had stabbed him. Oh fuck. My shaking hand let go of the blade as blood continued to soak his shirt. “Zahur.” I swallowed the bile back as horror filled me. “Zahur!”

  A strange pop sounded as Eric began to wheeze.

  Evelyn was beside us in an instant. “Who is this?”

  “He closed the Veil. I didn’t mean to …” I looked up at her, my hands trembling. “Save him.”

  Her cognac eyes met mine. “He closed the Veil, you’re sure of it?”

  I nodded. “He admitted it.”

  Evelyn turned from me to Eric.

  “Take me to jail,” he wheezed. “Don’t let me die.”

  Evelyn’s gaze narrowed. “There’s no jail for you.” In one smooth motion she jerked the blade from his ribs and slashed it across his throat. Blood poured from the gaping wound with a sick gurgling sound. His breathing stopped. The light in his eyes went out, his body stilled.

  Horror shook me as I looked up at Evelyn. “Why?”

  Evelyn scowled at me. “This isn’t a game, Lexie. People have died because of him. Souls have been destroyed.”

  I knew that, but still.

  Evelyn’s face softened. “As long as he was alive, he’d be a threat to the Veil.”

  I turned from her and was sick.

  Hands held my hair back as another rubbed my back gently. “That’s it. Let it out.” The deep voice was gentle.

  “Who was the boy outside pacing near the cars?” Evelyn demanded when I finally stopped retching.

  I wiped my mouth with the back of my trembling hand. “His accomplice. He-he-he didn’t know what Eric was doing. He just wanted to save someone.”

  “I’ll go get him now,” the man said.

  “No, I’ll deal with him.” Evelyn got to her feet. “You send her back to the hospital.”

  When I finally lifted my head, I met dark eyes. Dark skin, chiseled jaw. Something about it was familiar. “Zahur?”

  He gave me an understanding smile. “Yeah. Are you alright?”

  I shook my head. Evelyn just slit Eric’s throat in front of me. No, I wasn’t alright.

  His eyes narrowed as he lifted my chin and examined me. “You look like you’re in a bit of shock.”

  “I can’t imagine why.”

  “I don’t want you driving in this condition.” He got to his feet and pulled me to mine. “You were at the hospital, yes?”

  I nodded, still a little shaky.

  He lifted his fingers, poised as if to snap. “Close your eyes.”

  I didn’t even bother asking, I simply obeyed the request.

  He snapped.

  I waited three heartbeats before I said, “Was something supposed to happen?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Peeking beneath my lashes, I was stunned to find myself standing outside the emergency room under an awning, rain pounding the pavement beside me. I took several shaky breaths before I stepped out into the storm. I scrubbed my hands in the rain, washing the blood from them, though a part of me was sure it would never come off. Raw and completely emotionally spent I shuffled my way back to the waiting room. Ethan was sitting in the row closest to the entry.

  Cold to the bone, I sat down beside him in silence.

  He didn’t take his gaze off the emergency room door as his hand moved to take mine. “Is it over?”

  I squeezed his fingers tightly. “It’s over.”

  Epilogue

  I had only seen Jake once after that day in the basement. Zahur had popped me through the ether again to stand outside the bars of his cell. Jake’s eyes were red-rimmed, his hair everywhere, his face pale. It was clear he was torturing himself. Instead of feeling pity or sympathy I could only look at him, numb.

  He lifted his head and met my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Lexie.”

  I scoffed. “You were going to let him kill me, Jake.”

  He buried his face in his hands. “I was going to go back in, I swear.”

  “You spied on us for him,” I stated. “You knew where our families were. At least what direction they were going.”

  Looking a little green, he nodded. “I thought it was just information Eric needed.”

  I clenched my fist, the urge to pound his face in shaking me to my core. “He passed that information on to Jadis. You almost got them killed.”

  He dropped his hands, sniffed, and met my gaze. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not enough to say it, but I can’t do anything else.”

  “I trusted you,” I bit out. “And you almost got me killed. Almost got all of us killed.”

  “I swear I didn’t know that Eric was planning that.” He got to his feet and moved to the bars. “He said blood.”

  “And you didn’t ask questions?”

  He hung his head. “No, no I didn’t.”

  “You knew. Deep down, you knew what Eric was capable of,” I surmised.

  He nodded. “He’d always been a little weird when we were kids. I thought his talk of magic was bullshit.”

  “Until you needed something.”

  He met my gaze. “Yeah.”

  “Were you ever my friend?” I asked, desperate to know. The question had been turning inside me for days, keeping me up at night.

  His eyes grew wide. “Yes, Lexie. I love you. You’re one of my best friends.”

  I scoffed. “That you left to die.”

  “Can you say you’d have done differently? To save the guys?” he hollered.

  Without ever flinching or taking my eyes off him, I said, “I did. Didn’t anyone tell you? When I took out Jadis, I killed the guys too.”

  His mouth hung open as he took a few staggered steps back. “What?”

  “I killed the men I love. To save the world,” I bit out between my teeth. “And I had the same choice you did. Doom the world or save the people I love.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill billions to save a few.”

  His eyes narrowed on mine with a mad light in them. “Then maybe you truly aren’t able to love deeply.”

  “No, I do. I love completely, hopelessly, I’m just not selfish enough to do what you did,” I said. “I heard about your sentence. Living on probation in the gargoyle village for the rest of your life sounds about right for what you did. At least, the parts you say you knew about.”

  “I never meant for any of it,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have left. I should have gone back in for you.”

  I looked at him. Really looked at him. The light that was Jake seemed to be gone. His shoulders sagged. Grief lined his face. It wasn’t anger that filled me. He’d never amount to anything he could have been, a
nd it was due to his own determination to circumvent the laws of nature. Things died. That was the one constant in this world. There’s no getting around it. No running from it. You could either understand and live your life, or you could hide. I chose to live.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Goodbye, Jake.”

  * * *

  We spent the rest of the week in the hospital going between Miles’ and Zeke’s rooms. After eight hours of intensive surgery, Miles should be able to keep the functionality of his hand. He’ll have some numbness in two of his fingers, but he said it’s better than no hand at all.

  It didn’t take long before Zeke was taken off the ventilator. In his attempt to cover me, he had taken several panes of glass to his back. One of them nicked his lung. By the time he woke up he only had an oxygen mask on, and we were by his side. He simply squeezed my hand and went back to sleep. We filled him in later. I got the lecture of a lifetime, and I couldn’t help but smile through the entire thing.

  There was an investigation, of course. The house was decimated. It was determined that a gas leak had caused the explosion. I’m pretty sure that Evelyn and the gargoyles intervened to clean up the mess.

  Jadis hadn’t been seen since. One night, Ethan snuck into the morgue and checked the bodies recovered from the house. There, clear as day, was Jadis. Dead, listed as Jane Doe.

  After the first night at the hospital, Hades disappeared. I did finally get a voicemail from him explaining that with Jadis gone his job was done, but he’d be back to check on me once in a while. I still had mixed feelings about him, but I knew he’d do good wherever he went next.

  Eventually, everyone moved back to their houses, except Miles. Since Sylvie had moved closer to work, Miles moved in with Zeke, taking Sylvie’s old bedroom. The two of them squabbled almost daily. Asher and Jessica were able to go home as well. Repairs and renovations hadn’t taken as long as they had expected.

  I moved back to Rory’s, though to be honest, I frequently showed up to one of the guys’ houses in the middle of the night and climbed into bed with them. Not always, only when the nightmares of Eric got too much. When the blood seemed too real on my hands.