Digging Up the Dead (The Gravedigger Series Book 2)

by Willie E. Dalton

  Soren smiled at me when he saw my eyes light up. Then he pointed at his watch and warned me, “You have two hours. We need to get some work done today; there are people waiting to be reaped.”

  I made a pouty face but nodded. In my desire to avoid work and the memory of digging up Raphael, I had forgotten other people were depending on me doing my job.

  I browsed as much as I could and came away with three books: a romance, a horror, and a thriller. All were by authors that I wasn’t familiar with, but the stories sounded intriguing.

  My mood took a decidedly downward turn as we made our way back to the fields. I was happy with my little finds, and happy to be on Soren’s arm, but I dreaded digging, and I had never felt that way before. For the first time ever I was wondering what else there was that I might be happy doing.

  Billy greeted us as we made our way back into the field, and I smiled at him. He was just one of those types of people who wanted everyone around him to be happy, and his presence alone was usually enough to lift my mood.

  “Feeling better, Hel?” Billy asked, with his gap toothed grin I had come to find so endearing.

  “I’m getting there,” I grinned back.

  “Y’all going to dig?” he asked.

  He was used to working with Soren the majority of the time, and in my distress I had sort of been holding Soren hostage.

  “Yeah, we’re going to work,” Soren told Billy.

  “Great, I can’t get them up fast enough.” He was visibly relieved.

  “I’m going to put my things in the house and change clothes. I’ll be right back,” I waved, and headed towards my little box of a home.

  I was happy to see my nightstand had already been delivered and was sitting just outside my door. After I let myself in and put down my bags, I retrieved the nightstand and set up my lamp and books, then tossed the new pillows on the bed. My new set up looked so cozy I just wanted to crawl in bed and read, but I knew it was time to get back to work.

  With a sigh I turned away from the comfy things, and put on my work clothes and boots. I headed outside and saw Soren coming out of his own house in his work clothes.

  “Ready?” he asked as I walked with him to the tool shed.

  “Not really, but I know I have to get back into it,” I said.

  Soren leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. I gave him a weak smile and picked up my shovel and flashlight.

  Soren started digging alongside Billy, and I found a spot beside Soren. I took a deep breath and pushed my shovel down into the soft earth. There was no resistance, and as I cleared away scoop after scoop of dirt, I relaxed a little. Once I had the person mostly unearthed, the anxiety was back. I still had to clear their face and wake them up. I bit my lip hard, hoping a little pain would somehow make me braver, or make me work a little faster.

  Of course I didn’t know this person; I couldn’t even begin to imagine the odds it had taken for me to be the one to dig up Raphael. I would probably never reap another soul of someone that I had known in life.

  The person in front of me was a little old man, white haired and dressed in a suit he had probably hated in life. I knelt over him and flicked on the flashlight. He blinked once and disappeared. I sighed, stood up, and filled in the hole.

  That wasn’t too bad.

  Most of the time the souls were claimed and people moved straight onto their next life, wherever that might be. It was the younger people who died early, or without religion, who came here and had to work off their time before they could move on.

  It had been a while since I had looked at the watch they gave me the day I got assigned. I had so many hours to work off that I didn’t see any point in counting them down. I’d get there when I got there. I figured I was probably approaching the five-hundred hour mark, though, which meant I’d have to check in at the assignment hall. A part of me was curious if I could request a new job, but that would mean being away from Soren and Billy. Plus, reaping worked off the most time per hour. I wasn’t willing to give all of that up, especially Soren.

  I watched Soren digging—so big and serious. I smiled, remembering how long it took us to get where we are now. He hadn’t been too keen on having an emotional woman reaping in his fields. It was true he had seen me at my worst times. Death had been harder on me than life had ever been. And it was Soren’s strong constitution and soft touch that had gotten me through most of it.

  He wiped the sweat from his brow and ran his hand down his blonde beard. Then he looked over and caught me watching him. He smiled and winked a silvery gray eye at me, and gave me a nod that I knew meant he was proud of me for trying to get back to work.

  On the other side of Soren, Billy was humming one of his usual little folk tunes and digging away at the ground.

  Hours passed, and the sky stayed the same. Soren and Billy were talking about calling it a day after they finished filling in the holes they were working on. I was wanting to do the same, but I wanted to finish the row I was in, since I only had two left.

  I told Soren to go on and shower and get something to eat with Billy. I wanted him to have some guy time with his friend.

  “OK, if you’re sure.” He gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “I’ll come over later tonight,” he said.

  “Sounds good,” I told him, and secretly looked forward to a couple of hours of alone time to do some reading.

  I continued working by myself, and the anxiety I had felt earlier had faded. It was just me, the shovel, and the soft fall of the dirt hitting the ground. It was almost zen-like.

  “Hel!” My name came at me in a yell.

  I turned to see Grace running towards me through the field. Her face looked pained, and her eye was too wide. By the time she made it to me I could see she was shaking.

  I took her hand in mine. “Grace, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s Boude. He’s missing,” she sobbed.

  “What do you mean?” I asked her.

  “He… went, with Rasputin, and…” she choked back another sob, “and he never came back!”

  Dammit. I did not want to hear Rasputin’s name involved in this. “Did Rasputin come back?”

  She nodded, sniffling. “He says Boude came back with him and he doesn’t know where he went, but I think he’s lying.”

  I figured that was a good chance.

  “OK, let me fill in this hole, and we’ll go to the house and talk about this. Try to calm down so we can reason this out.” I gave her a side hug, and she nodded and sat down on the ground near me.

  I filled in the hole as fast as I could, worried for my friend and the man she loved—even though I didn’t entirely trust him.

  I was not a vampire and had no idea what could have happened to Boude. I also did not want to be dragged into this, but I wasn’t seeing too many other options.

  Grace followed me to the tool shed while I put my things away, and then into the house. She sat down at the little dining table, and her face was the saddest I had ever seen. Her eye patch was in place, but she had cried off all of the makeup she normally wore to cover her scars, and the wounds looked fresh and angry. They always would.

  “Have you told Andreas?” I asked her. He was Boude’s closest vampire friend; if anyone knew anything it should be him.

  “Yeah, he said not to worry, that sometimes Boude does this. But he doesn’t since he’s been with me; he always tells me where he’s going!” she exclaimed.

  “Do you know where he and Rasputin went together?”

  “No, Rasputin would only say he had errands that Boude was running with him.”

  “How long exactly has it been since you’ve seen him?” I asked.

  “More than a day. I know that doesn’t sound like long, but he wouldn’t just disappear without letting me know what’s going on. And we were supposed to go hunting.” I hated seeing my friend so distraught.

  “Grace, I don’t know what to do to help. I don’t know the vampire community outside of you guys. I have no doubt that Rasputin had s
omething to do with it, if something happened to Boude, but I just don’t know where to start,” I sighed, and put my hand on hers. “Has anything else strange been going on in the Quarter? Something that could be tied into this?” It was reaching, but maybe.

  “Rasputin keeps having meetings in the Quarter with some of the vampire business owners. I don’t know what he’s trying to start, but maybe it’s something.”

  I tried to think. Talking to Rasputin seemed like the most logical idea. I doubted he would willingly volunteer anything helpful, but just maybe he would let a clue slip. If not, we could always go to some of the businesses in the Vampire Quarter and see if anyone would say anything.

  “We need to talk to Rasputin and the other vampires to see if we can find out anything. They probably won’t be too happy to chat with me, since I’m not one of you, so if you can come with me, maybe it’ll go more smoothly. Would Andreas tag along?” Two vampires were better than one, I hoped.

  “He might,” Grace nodded.

  My body ached, and I stretched and yawned. “Can we go after I get some sleep? I’m afraid I won’t be any good to you right now.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. I’m not sure a few hours would make any difference, and I can go ahead and talk to Andreas.” Grace mindlessly tucked her black hair behind her ear, exposing the scars that she usually hid.

  “Are you safe? Can you stay with Andreas until this is sorted out?” I asked her.

  “I think so. I’m sure Andreas will let me stay with him; I’m supposed to go into work now anyway. Just come find me when you’re ready.” Grace hugged me and seemed a little calmer when she left.

  I looked at my bed, with it’s white fuzzy duvet and colorful pillows beckoning to me to come read. But now that I knew Boude was missing and Grace was upset, I just couldn’t clear my mind enough to relax and lose myself in a book. Dammit. I wanted this to be a simple misunderstanding. Boude would come through the door, kiss Grace, and apologize for getting held up wherever the hell he had been, and all could be forgiven. Deep down though, I knew it wouldn’t be that simple.

  I had showered, and was curled up in bed trying to will myself to fall asleep just to turn off my brain. I kept glancing out the window at the murky gray sky—never really daytime, never really dark. And even on those very rare occasions when the sun did shine here, it wasn’t a happy time for me. Curtains: curtains were the next thing I needed get when I went out.

  My door opened quietly and I watched Soren peek around the corner to see if I was asleep. Watching a man as large as Soren trying to do anything sneakily was amusing.

  “I’m awake,” I called.

  His posture softened and he walked over to the bed and sat down beside me. “How was the rest of your work?”

  I gave a long heavy sigh and just looked at him. I felt like I never had anything good to tell him.

  “That fun huh? What happened?” he asked.

  I sat up and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his head down to kiss me—a long, deep kind of kiss that stops words and leads to more fun things.

  Soren broke the kiss and stroked my face. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  I relayed the story of Boude’s disappearance and the worry it was causing Grace. I told him about my suspicion of Rasputin’s involvement.

  He looked worried. “What is Grace going to do?”

  “After I get some sleep, I’m going to try to go into the Quarter with her and ask some questions.”

  “Helena, I don’t like this. You’re not a vampire, you shouldn’t be involved.”

  I shrugged. “Grace is my best friend. I can’t do nothing.”

  “Let me come with you,” Soren offered.

  I smiled at him. “Thank you, but I don’t think adding more humans to the search party in the Quarter would actually help us. I’ll be safe with Grace and Andreas.”

  “I still don’t like it,” he grumbled.

  “I don’t either,” I agreed.

  I yawned and patted the bed for him to lie down, which he did. I shook my head at him. “You have on too many clothes.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll get more comfortable, but you need sleep if you are going into the Quarter later. You’ll need to be sharp.”

  I grumbled, but relented. Once he was mostly naked, he crawled under the sheets with me and I wrapped myself around him like he was a muscled, heated, body pillow. Sex would have been great, but this was good too. Once I knew I was safe with Soren, warm and protected, I drifted off to sleep. I wasn’t prepared for the dreams, though.

  Blackness. Black streets and buildings glinting like obsidian in the little reflections of light that came from places I couldn’t see. Shops with black windows that the shopkeepers could see out of, but no one could see into. Narrow streets with stairways that seemed to go nowhere.

  It was a dark, disconcerting place, not meant for humans to enjoy. The architecture was lovely, with towering peaks and spires drawing the eyes up. But for every lovely detail, there was another razor straight edge or pointy spike, reminding you: you weren’t welcome here.

  In my dream, I roamed the streets of the Vampire’s Quarter alone. I called out to Grace with no answer. I searched for Boude and Andreas down little alleyways, where even my echo warned me to leave.

  I went into shops to ask if anyone had seen my friends, but the businesses had been abandoned, the same as the streets. Trinkets of silver and gold lined the shelves, along with jars that contained slick and slimy pink things that I didn’t want to look at too closely. No vampires, though.

  I decided to return to the fields and get Soren and Billy to come help me search, but as I made my way to the exit of the Quarter I found myself face-to-face with Rasputin.

  His beady black eyes watched me closely, and he twisted his fingers in the strands of his long beard. As fear filled me with the realization that I was trapped, he smiled, knowing he had won.

  I woke up gasping for air and kicking the covers off of myself. I had heard how bad the nightmares could be here, but this was the first one I had experienced.

  I jumped when I felt a hand on my back.

  “It was just a dream.” Soren’s deep voice brought me back to my room, and my right mind.

  Having just come out of the dream, my mind was still focused on the image of Rasputin smiling at me, and it made me shiver.

  Soren kept rubbing my back until I took a deep breath and leaned back against him.

  “What did you dream, love?” Soren asked me.

  I noticed the “love,” and wanted to be excited for the pet name, but I was still too shaken. “Rasputin had gotten rid of all of the vampires and had me trapped in the Quarter.” After the words left my mouth I questioned my choice to tell Soren, but I didn’t want to hold it inside either.

  Soren held me tighter, and I nuzzled my face into his neck.

  “You know I’m going to be even more worried about your leaving now.” He tilted his face down towards mine.

  “I’m sorry. How about I give you a certain amount of time, and if I’m not back by then, you come look for me?” I knew it would make me feel better as well.

  “I suppose that would be a little better,” he said, and kissed me on the head.

  I sighed again and forced myself to sit up. “I guess I better get up and get this over with.” All I wanted to do was get a little deeper under the covers and do dirty things with Soren, but that would take up a lot of time, and then I’d be tired again. “Once this is over and I can relax, I need some serious fun time with you,” I told him.

  His gray eyes lit up, and he grinned and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around my body from behind. He kissed the back of my neck. “Yes, I think we could both use some attention,” he growled, and pulled my hair just a tad.

  I groaned with desire and extreme frustration, and forced myself out of his arms, nearly falling onto the floor. “I’m going to try to hurry,” I said, grabbing a pair of jeans and a black blouse. I figured black was a pretty accepted c
olor in the vampire’s quarter. Reapers also tend to command a little respect on their own, so I made sure to wear my work boots.

  Soren got up and started to get dressed.

  “You can stay here if you want. I don’t mind,” I told him as I bent down to tie the laces on my boots.

  “I don’t want to be here without you. I’m going to dig to keep busy until you get back,” he said as he slipped on his shirt.

  I nodded. “Four hours or you come look for me?”

  We both looked down at our watches.

  “Four hours,” he said.

  I stopped into the boutique, hoping that’s where’d I’d find Grace working, instead of having to go into the Quarter alone. Luckily she was behind the counter, folding up a few pieces of clothing and putting them in a bag for a lady, who was waiting patiently.

  Her eyes lit up when she saw me. “Hel! Are you ready?”

  I forced a smile at her. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

  Grace handed the customer her bag, and then held up a finger to me, as to say, “just a minute,” while she ran into the back of the store.

  When she returned, the other employee, Barbie, was behind her. Barbie was tall, blonde, and little bit ditzy, but overall quite likeable. And she was one of the only employees of the boutique who wasn’t a vampire.

  Following Grace, we waved to Barbie as we headed out the door.

  “Is Andreas joining us?” I asked.

  “Yes, even he is starting to worry about Boude. I told him we’d stop by his place and get him.”

  I noticed Grace had cleaned herself up since I had last seen her. Her hair was smoother, and fixed to cover the scarring that her freshly applied makeup didn’t hide. Her eye patch was a plain black one that matched her pants and boots; her shirt was bright red, and fit her well in all the right areas.

  Even though Grace was a vampire and my best friend, I still didn’t want to her to know how uncomfortable I was in the Quarter. I just felt so creeped out and out of place. I was older than her, dammit; I shouldn’t let it spook me.