Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife)

by Robles, Joyce

  ‘You need to go. Now!’

  "FREEZE!"

  Jennifer looked down in time to see a uniformed officer pointing his pistol up at her like she was the bad guy. "Just my luck," she didn’t bother to pay him any mind she just backed away from the ledge so that he couldn’t see her. She gave a quick once over of her surroundings, but there didn’t seem to be anyway down. Now that was nerve raking, she couldn’t stop herself from chewing nervously on her lower lip. No way down, no way out, very inconvenient all around if you asked her. Why the hell did a building have a roof if there was no way to get on it in the first place.

  ‘Ready to jump again?’

  "You’re crazy, I’d never make it back over there. I’d be better off to just let the cops take me in."

  ‘I doubt it.’

  "I didn’t ask now did I," Jennifer stubbornly looked around again, nothing. She couldn’t make that jump again, she’d almost burst into tears when she’d almost fallen the first time. If there was a second time she was pretty positive that there wouldn’t be any whimpering, only falling. She took a deep breath and worked her way to the end of the building where a cop wasn’t aiming a gun at her and looked down. The window just below her was open, a few feet or less and who knew, maybe she’d make it.

  ‘Maybe you wouldn’t.’

  "You can go fuck yourself for all I care, this is better than trying that jump again."

  ‘Dually noted, my most sincere apologies.’

  "Yeah right," it took her a second to decide but she finally re-holstered the Beretta and slipped off the ledge and down to the windowsill. She wasn’t very good at breaking and entering, at least not in the sense that she was actually sneaking in. She could kick down doors and raid peoples homes, no problem, this was different, harder. You couldn’t make any noise, at least try not to, or you’d get caught. She moved quickly because she knew that her right arm wouldn’t hold her up for much longer than a few seconds. It had been naive of her not to have it checked before she’d gone looking for this bastard again.

  With a firm grip on the windowsill she slid into the window with ease. She was glad to know that even injured she still managed to hold onto some of her stamina. She didn’t draw the Beretta, just rushed for the nearest exit and ran from the building. No cops caught her, so for now she’d walk away without the hassle. That was the good news, the bad news was that the monster was still out there, she’d failed.

  Chapter 6

  At the moment her only goal was to get as far from the buildings where the killings and her and Manson’s shoot out had taken place. The police were a concern, she certainly didn’t want to be detained by them, not because it would cause her any harm it wouldn’t be the first time she’d been taken to a police station in handcuffs, it was simply repeatedly a waste of her time. She had friends in high places that never failed to bail her out, which she was grateful for of course, she just wished that they weren’t so tight lipped so she wouldn’t get arrested in the first place. She was heavily armed at the moment and had ordered Malcolm to go directly to the hospital so her ride was long gone, which left her with little choice but to stay in the shadows and hope that she could travel the distance it would require to get outside of the police canvas that was probably already happening.

  It seemed ridiculous, the idea that she should have to skulk around in the dark like she was one of the monsters when she was just trying to stop them. But that was the way of it, and until the world at large understood the threat that was around them every day that was the way it would have to be. There were days when she couldn’t decide what was better or worse, some days it seemed like it would make more sense if the world knew what was going on, that it would be safer for everyone, then she was in the thick of it and the regular people were around her falling apart into hysterics in the middle of a fight and the way the world was couldn’t have made more sense. For as many people who could handle the monsters there were just as many who couldn’t. Then there were worse case scenarios, with as many morons in the world that were into praising monsters she wouldn’t be surprised at all if they were suddenly the next political movement, human rights, blah-blah. In fact she was certain that more than half the human population at this point would lean that way, they wouldn’t see them for what they were, they’d only see brooding vampires, not the vermin that they were.

  Jennifer spotted red and blue lights and ducked deeper into the shadows before the patrol car came zooming around the corner. Her intent was to wait a few minutes before moving on but she didn’t have to wait even a second, the patrol car was followed by five more, effectively keeping her pinned in her dark corner. "Damn-it." She would have wanted to get further from where she currently was before calling for a ride, she didn’t want anyone thrown under a microscope, people tended not to like what they found when they looked into the people she associated with. She waited a few more minutes but instead of calming down another pack of patrol cars went zooming past. It looked like she was going to have to cave in and call someone sooner rather than the later the way she would have preferred. Taking another moment to make sure she was tucked into a dark corner Jennifer pulled her cell out and dialed one of the few people she knew who wasn’t either neck deep in this shit already or hospitalized.

  She knew that it wouldn’t take long, her cousin always picked up on the first ring if he wasn’t in the middle of something. "Doug?" It was second nature these days to make sure she was talking to the right person.

  "It’s me, you’re in trouble?" As if he even had to ask.

  "I need a ride," she was glad that her cousin understood that keeping it brief not only saved lives but did wonders in keeping ones conversation secure.

  "I know, Malcolm called me," he offered in explanation, "I’m on my way over already, where are you?" Jennifer hated bringing her cousin anywhere near any of this, she preferred him as far from this part of her life as possible, unfortunately, unless she wanted to face the government issued cyborg, her options were limited. The danger at least, or at least of the supernatural kind was over for now, that was a small comfort to her as she read off the building number to her cousin. "See you in a bit Cuz."

  "Thanks Doug," with that as a farewell Jennifer disconnected and hoped that she’d gotten far enough away from the mess that she’d failed to prevent. Malcolm must have called her cousin as soon as she’d told him to rush Manson to the emergency room because she couldn’t have been waiting for him to arrive more than a few minutes. At first he pulled onto the side of the road and motioned for her to jump into the passenger side but with as much hardware as she had strapped on there wasn’t much of a chance that no one would notice. So she shook her head and motioned for him to entire the alley, he seemed to understand because without more prompting he backed his car into the alley and popped the trunk. She in turn didn’t pause in unstrapping the holsters from her body and throwing them each in turn into the trunk, the last to go was the Remington. As soon as she’d deprived herself of everything but the pistol at her ankle and the knife in her boot she climbed into the passenger seat.

  "Where to?" Another thing she loved about her cousin, he understood there was a time for words and a time for action.

  "The hospital," it had to be her first stop, making sure Manson was alive and was going to stay that way was priority one.

  "How about after that," he asked as he pulled out into traffic and away from the massacre that she knew if she was going to live with she would have to put behind her and try to forget.

  "After that we have a chat with some nice vampires," she didn’t think that she could have sounded any more or less sarcastic in that moment.

  "Is that a good idea?" Jennifer turned and gave her cousins worried profile a once over, some people she might comfort, some people she might have to lie to, he was not one of those people.

  "It’s never a good idea," she couldn’t have been more or less honest. She didn’t think that she had ever gone to visit with the monsters face to face for
information and walked away unscathed. Her cousin didn’t say anything further on the matter, he didn’t have to, they had both been well schooled in terms of monsters since they were very young. As soon as she was sure that his attention was on the road she lifted her shirt up over her ribs to see if she could get a good look at the damage she’d taken hitting that ledge back on the roof. She clenched her teeth when she got a good look at her ribs, she didn’t need light to see that they were already turning a nice dark shade of black and blue.

  "Jesus Jenny," as soon as he said it she dropped her shirt and let her face drop back into stoicism.

  "It’s nothing," now she was lying, she was damaged, had no business going about her work, she was aware of that. That fact could not have been made more clear to her than with the fact that Manson was down. She hadn’t been a hundred percent and that damned monster had not been your average vampire, she didn’t even know what the hell was going on there. And that was why she knew that she couldn’t afford not to take the chance to get as much information as she could. It wasn’t the first time that she’d had to go to the monsters for it, she wished that it wasn’t the case.

  "But I thought that you killed........." he stopped apparently unsure how to say or ask what was on his mind.

  "I did kill him, but another one always takes its place, I can play nice when I need to." A lie she knew but she did the best that she could given whatever the circumstances were.

  "Would you think about not going if I asked you not to?" Jennifer waited for him to give her a brief meeting of eyes before she smiled and shook her head.

  "There’s no one else Doug, Clive and Manson are down, I’m out of options." She was well out of options she was beginning to wonder with this vampire if she’d ever had any options at all. The rest of the ride to the hospital was a quiet one, she was grateful that what she planned next wouldn’t need further justification, at least not with her cousin. She wasn’t sure that she had the energy for it at the moment, especially knowing how much of an argument Malcolm was going to put up about it. When they finally pulled up to the hospital Doug made to pull up to the front doors, "no wait, park," she turned in her seat to look at him. "I want you to stay with Manson and his family, and I’ll need your car." She was tempted to sigh in relief when he just nodded and did as she asked.

  "You should at least get your ribs looked at," she nodded but made no commitment to do any such thing. She didn’t have the time to waste looking out for herself, she needed to get this conversing with the enemy thing done tonight, she could deal with herself tomorrow. When her cousin parked in the lot and climbed out of the car she got out to meet him by the trunk. "Keys," she put her hand out and without hesitating he dropped them into her upraised palm.

  "I thought you were going inside," Doug gave her an accusatory look but didn’t try to take the keys back.

  Jennifer couldn’t help it, she smiled, "I am, I just wanted to have them handy for a speedy escape. Malcolm is going to be a pain in the ass about all this, unfortunately the nights almost over and I don’t want to get caught arguing with him and wasting both of our time." Her cousin nodded and moved toward the building but stopped when she didn’t immediately move to follow.

  "Coming?" again with the accusation.

  "Yea, just going to grab something from the trunk," she turned to pop the trunk but he interrupted her.

  "It can’t wait until after?"

  "Rather not, go on inside I’ll be right behind you." She nodded and popped the trunk, it wouldn’t take her but a minute to get what she needed, she’d be a few steps behind him. She hated to be unarmed, she really did, but she knew that it wouldn’t be smart to walk into a hospital with a gun even if she did have a permit to carry a concealed weapon so she forced herself to take the gun out from the ankle holster and to remove the Bowie-knife as well, just because as knives went it was rather large, the only thing she let herself keep was the k-bar. When she was down to just the one knife she grimaced at how naked it made her feel to be mostly disarmed right after a fight, but slammed the trunk closed and forced herself to deal with the vulnerability that doing so invoked.

  Once that was finished she forced herself to rush to the building, she didn’t want to, in fact she was more than a little tempted to simply jump in Doug’s car and go take care of what needed to be done. But in the end she knew that it would be unwise to take off without at least telling the others what she was going to be doing. With her luck she would do just that and that would be the time that she would disappear for good. It wouldn’t be a surprise if she showed up where she was going and they decided that killing her would be easier than giving her information, especially considering the way things had gone down the last time she’d met with this particular group face to face. It didn’t take her long to find her co-workers, the minute she walked into emergency they were there waiting, perhaps for her arrival as much as for news on Manson.

  "Oh thank God," Malcolm immediately rushed over and wrapped his arms around her, although why he bothered she had no idea, it was an awkward experience at best. "Are you alright?"

  "I’ve been worse," was the best that she could come up with, it wasn’t a lie, she had nearly died once, she was certainly in better shape than then.

  "Did you get him?" Malcolm lowered his voice when he asked this question, though again why he bothered she had no idea, nobody would know what he was talking about.

  "No," she answered without a single hint in her voice that it worried her she’d failed twice in two nights. But she didn’t dare look him in the eye while she tried to pull the lie off, the fact that she had allowed for Manson to get hurt couldn’t have made her feel less secure than she did now.

  "What do you mean no, we must have heard at least a dozen shots fired, you had to have hit him at least once." Malcolm argued from beside her, this was going to be harder than she thought if he wanted to start arguing about the semantics of a fire fight which wasn’t even the real issue at the moment.

  "I shot him with the Remington, clean hits, I emptied thirty 9mm rounds into him. He took my Bowie knife in the chest. Before that Manson unloaded a full clip of his oozy on this guy, he wouldn’t go down, my worst nightmare." She looked over at Malcolm and could tell already that he didn’t believe what she was saying. It didn’t matter, she’d been there, she’d seen it with her own eyes. She didn’t want to hear Malcolm’s doubts about any of it right this second, she just wanted to get what she needed to finish this. "I don’t think that there’s much choice here," she forced herself to look at her ex eye to eye, "we don’t have enough information about this vampire or what’s going on. It’s time to go to the monsters......."

  "No absolutely not, what are you talking about anyway there’s no one left to even go to." Malcolm pointed this out as if he were talking to some infirm of mind lunatic, "they will kill you."

  "I have to get this figured out before tomorrow night Malcolm, I don’t have time to argue with you." She could tell already that Malcolm knew that she would not relent on the matter, she wished that would be enough to allow him to let her go without further delay.

  "Jesus Jenny, just wait for the rest of us to back you up," he pleaded, she just wished that with all the time that they’d been together he would have realized that when it came to something important no amount of pleading could convince her to simply let it go.

  "We’re running out of time Malcolm, if I don’t talk to somebody who knows what’s going on then it will be on my conscience when someone else gets killed. With as many innocent people as I’ve got piled on me already I’d just as soon avoid anymore." Malcolm stared at her for a minute as if trying to decide if there was anything else he could try to use as a bargaining chip.

  "I can’t believe you’d go back in there without backup after what happened." He tried to remind her that where she was going she was hardly welcome, she never had been. Usually with Jennifer, when she wasn’t wanted she had a bad tendency of showing up at the wrong time.


  "I’ve got back up Malcolm, I’ve always got back up," but even saying it out load didn’t make it seem convincing. Guns weren’t going to be enough, heck, real back up probably wouldn’t be enough to save her if her visit went sour. It would be ridiculous of her not to assume that it would go badly, things had even before she’d managed to get rid of management. She couldn’t imagine that they’d been at all pleased with that outcome, she’d be lucky if they didn’t try to kill her on sight.

  "You’re going to get yourself killed," he finally just blurted the truth of the matter out.

  "It’s something I have to risk," she wasn’t sure where else to turn at this point, they’d used up their resources, and this was the last resort.

  "Haven’t we lost enough," she would have thought that he said it to try and push her buttons and guilt her into staying, but one look at him and she knew that he was genuinely grieving the potential loss of their team altogether.

  "I’m sorry," she didn’t know what else to say, she knew only that she couldn’t stay the way he wanted her to.

  "No your not," the way he said it let her know that he was angry, but then he was always angry with her it seemed.

  Jennifer shook her head, there wasn’t anything left to say really, he couldn’t change her mind and she couldn’t appease him in the matter. So instead she simply nodded neither confirming nor denying his accusation, she didn’t have time to stay around for more. "Doug is going to stay with them the night, I’m taking his car, can you stay with him?"