Cheating Death (Wraith's Rebellion Book 2)

by Aya DeAniege

  To put it mildly: it was disgusting.

  The taste was about the same as the smell, but the texture of it? Cold and slimy, clinging to the inside of my mouth like grease. It coated my tongue and seemed to just spread no matter what I did.

  I ran my tongue through my mouth, spitting out as much as I could. Once I was certain no more would come out, I sat back on my heels and grimaced at Sasha.

  “I can’t even brush my teeth, can I?”

  “If you don’t swallow, you can. Whatever the case, until you are fully weaned, just don’t swallow.”

  She walked around the puddle of black sludge and offered me her hand. Helping me to my feet, Sasha patted my arm gently.

  “First time is always the worst. Let me grab the tool, and we’ll get going.”

  I whined but didn’t protest. Everything in me hurt.

  I had had a friend growing up who had seizures. She had once tried to describe the feeling after one, and near as I could tell, I felt the same way right then.

  Minus the seizure itself, of course.

  My joints ached, there was an overall weariness and exhaustion to everything. I didn’t even want to breathe. That was optional, so I just wanted to up and stop.

  Sasha returned to me and wrapped an arm around my waist, steering me back towards the path.

  “Learning,” she said. “That’s your power. Whether it’s learning the truth or vampire powers. Maybe new skills, we’ll have to play with that. You, my dear, can compel other vampires to tell you the truth. Isn’t that fabulous?”

  “How did you guess that?” I asked.

  “A hunch,” she said. “Which was why I was late. I’ve never seen anyone get Lu to talk like that.”

  “What about the bodies?” I asked.

  “The Council will deal with them or humans will find them,” Sasha said. “I’m going to take you back to Council Chambers and deliver you to Quin. Then I’m going to burn my identity to the ground. For the moment, you are to tell the Council I’m dead. Don’t play back the night for them. They can just wait. That’ll give me the time to erase everything.”

  “Am I a messenger?” I asked.

  “Just this one time,” she said. “And don’t tell them what your power is. If they’re so curious as to get a copy of what happened tonight, so be it. But I doubt they will. Respecting secrets is too engrained in all of them.”

  “Okay,” I said numbly as we approached the car. “We were that close?”

  “No, you were in a cloud for a while. Helen? You had Death ride you for almost fifteen minutes. You’re going to be tired. You may not see any more power use for the rest of this week. Just relax. Your recorder here will pick up everything for you later.”

  “I want my Maker,” I said as tears sprung to my eyes.

  “Of course, that’s where we’re headed, remember?”

  “We were?” I asked pathetically.

  “Yes, I just need you to get in the car.”

  “And you’ll take me to him?”

  “I will, I promise.”

  I showered—with the mask on—until the water ran clear. Then I put on my dirty clothing and walked out the front door as if I were a visitor. I didn’t remove my mask until I was safely back in my car.

  The shower was really for me. In the dark of the night, my jacket wouldn’t show the blood, but I slipped it off and looked down. Blood on the shirt. Grumbling to myself, I leaned down and patted under the driver’s side, searching for the package that should have been there.

  Carrying spare clothing was a must for any vampire who had a pulse.

  My fingers fell on the package finally and I pulled it out. Sighing, I lowered my head, then lifted it and looked around.

  “All right, this, I swear, is not my usual clothing.”

  A Hawaiian shirt. Someone had swapped out my extra dress shirt, and I had a pretty good idea who. I’d call and give him trouble, except he was dead. And… the shirt may have been his way of trying to make me laugh.

  I changed in the front seat of the car, which can be difficult but was more than possible. The bloodied shirt was stuffed under the front seat, then I sat back and looked around me again.

  I rubbed my face wearily and picked up the phone. There was a garbled text message from a number I didn’t recognize, but it was to Sasha’s phone so I assumed it was from the burner. It was recent and looked like had been written by a drunk person.

  I think they were successful.

  For a brief moment, I allowed myself a thought of hope. Then I snuffed out the flame and started the car.

  The drive to Council Chambers was relatively short. Margaret had lived some distance away, but had chosen the location based on the speed of transportation.

  I parked my car on the side of the street and took in a long, slow breath.

  Either my Maker was dead, Sasha was dead, Helen was dead, or some combination thereof. It would have been a bloody, hard fought battle, unlike my time with Margaret.

  Though, that had been bloody, just the fun kind of bloody.

  Pocketing my keys, I steeled myself to face the worst and climbed out of my car. I didn’t bother locking the door, feeling annoyed with the world in general and hoping someone would do something stupid.

  I waited at the light and frowned at the two people loitering outside the Council Chambers.

  Mind you, it was a building this time around. A building on a rather busy street, so pedestrians were not out of place. Their presence irritated me nonetheless. When someone walked past me, shouldering me out of his way in his rush to get across the street, I growled out loud and stalked after the man.

  There was a stupid mortal.

  On the other side of the street, I did the smart thing. I let my anger, and the man, go. Instead, I headed towards the loitering women, who were between me and the door.

  I walked past them before I realized my mistake.

  Sasha was a brunette; her eyes were shifting colour and her skin had taken on an olive complexion. Far too dark for a vampire of her age. She seemed to be spilling out of the tight top she was wearing, and I couldn’t help but stare in appreciation.

  But only for a moment.

  When someone you have known for fifteen hundred years suddenly grows boobs overnight, literally, I think you have a right to gawk a little.

  I made eye contact with Sasha, then turned to Helen. She blinked back at me with her big eyes. Her hair had escaped the braid sometime around her turning. Her first meeting with Lu, then our romp in the park, hadn’t done her hair any favours. Sasha must have pointed that fact out because Helen had pulled it back in a new braid. There was, however, several bits of dried grass still caught in her hair.

  She had recently fed but was weary and wary.

  “If you’d like, tomorrow we can discuss ridding you of Wraith,” Sasha said quietly.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “No, Wraith is a part of him. You can’t just get rid of him,” Helen protested weakly before she sighed and looked at me. “Death wasn’t Lu, he never was. He was the magic of the tool. To use it to kill a vampire, you have to take him into yourself.”

  “You’ve used the tool to carry disease, but never to kill,” Sasha murmured.

  “He never trusted me with that. And I never told him that I was killing vampires,” I said.

  Sasha nodded once. “You were supposed to use the tool to kill him. It would have bound Death to you. Wraith would have been destroyed in the process.”

  “That was his plan?” I asked. “That’s what he wanted from tonight?”

  “Lu could no longer host Death, he was too weak,” Sasha said. She bent and picked up a locked box, holding it up for a moment. “I’m going to return this to its makers.”

  “What about Bau?” I asked. “She’d be coming.”

  Sasha shrugged. “I’m going in search of Bau after I pass this on. It’s time to end this war.”

  “What war?” I asked.

  Helen chuckled
, seeming like herself for only a moment as she pushed off the wall.

  “Boy, do I have about ten hours of stuff for you to listen to,” she said.

  “You two need to meet with the Council and tell them what happened. Helen, here, has agreed to carry a message for me. As far as they are concerned, I’ve bequeathed my stock to you.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “We have not released stock in centuries. The terror they would feel, at hearing such a thing. Oh, and my name, Quin?”

  “I’ll wipe all the records,” I said.

  “Androgen has already begun the work. A friend of mine will be contacting you tomorrow. Don’t bite her.”

  “I won’t,” I said. “As long as she’s nice to me.”

  “That depends on you,” Sasha muttered. “I’m headed out. This is now your thing. Wear the mask for your duties on the Council. Tell no one.”

  “Easiest way to deal with this, I understand.”

  Sasha made a sound at the back of her throat and turned on her heel, leaving Helen and me standing on the sidewalk outside of Council chambers.

  “You want to get the mask?” Helen asked.

  “No,” I said. “Predawn will start soon. We need to get you inside. What happened?”

  “With all due respect, I’m only explaining this once.”

  That was fair enough. It was probably quite a story to tell, and there wouldn’t be enough time to tell the Council and me separately.

  I slipped my arm around her and led her into the building. We were greeted by Troy, who wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  His change was still very fresh. Likely, he had just awakened after being turned. There was a fog in his eyes, and when he did glance up, he was looking at Helen’s neck and swallowing in hunger.

  “How old were you?” I asked him.

  “Twenty-four, sir,” he said to his feet.

  “And why are you here?”

  “Balor took a call and commanded I come with him,” Troy said.

  I made a sound at the back of my throat. It was the same sound that Sasha had made before she left. A confirmation sort of sound.

  Sasha had commanded Balor attend so that I could do what I pleased now, before immortality took full hold over Troy. Their being there was a peace offering.

  “You feel dead all over?” Helen asked.

  “It’s getting difficult to move,” Troy said. “Like I’m cold all over, or been playing in the snow without my snowsuit.”

  Helen nodded and gave me a little tug.

  They need each other, they can’t ask one of us those things.

  I batted ineffectually at Wraith’s voice. What followed was basically a slapping fight inside my head that ended with me dizzy.

  Helen dropping like a dead weight onto the couch saved me from looking unstable. I dropped with her and slipped my arm away from her. She gave me quite a pathetic look as I pulled away entirely and left the couch.

  I held my hand out to Balor. He and the rest of the Council were seated where they had been before. I held out my hand because I knew he always carried a small blade on him.

  He handed it over, and I returned to Helen, allowing her to feed from my wrist.

  “I’ll allow him to live, but I expect reparations for the eating of my stock without permission,” I said sternly, to give Helen the time she needed.

  “We are waiting for Margaret,” Amma said.

  “Margaret is not coming,” I said, then gasped as Helen sunk her teeth into my healing flesh.

  Say what you will about mortal morals, the woman was a natural predator. She may have hidden that part of herself, she may have hunted something besides living flesh, but she had been a predator.

  She would do well as a vampire.

  Troy, I wasn’t so certain about.

  “Why not?” Bob asked.

  “I killed her,” I said in the most resoundingly bored tone that I could manage. “Margaret stole the tool. It was she who attacked Flavius, then Death who went to clean up the mess. She lured Helen out tonight, nearly getting her killed in the process.”

  “She was on the Council,” Amma protested. “We are protected.”

  “Stupid humans get eaten, the same will now be true of vampires,” I said. “If my issue with you is petty in nature—Balor—and you don’t make reparations, I will wait until your term is served out.

  “However, aiding Lu and Death in the stealing of the tool, in their plot to begin another cull, and in the exposure of many mortals to a bug that Margaret helped them create to beat any drugs the current health system has, is far too much to ignore.”

  “What of her stock?”

  “They still live,” I said. “I saw none of them. But I do need to be clear with all of you: if you tell anyone who the Younger Council is, I will eat you on the spot. I will eat your stock, I will kill everyone in your family, and everyone related to the person you told. Do I make myself clear?”

  “You mean to hold us hostage?” Bob asked.

  “Goodness no, I mean to keep my secrets a secret. If you don’t want others to know about your power, Bob, don’t tell people about mine.”

  “What are we to say then?” Amma asked.

  “Wraith was given the blessing of the Great Maker, Margaret had her Maker killed, that was part of the plot,” I said.

  Helen pulled away, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. She didn’t need to, there was not a drop spilt.

  “Sasha is dead,” Helen said. “Her stock is given over to Quin because releasing in this day and age could cause havoc.”

  “Your numbers would then be almost doubled,” Bob said. “Will you be able to handle that, and the change over?”

  “Of course,” I said. “Sasha had left instructions. Tomorrow I am to contact a friend of hers and together we will swing the stock over. They will not be going to Helen. She will have stock in another fashion.”

  “Can you talk about that later?” Helen asked.

  She was working her mouth and touching her face.

  “Having made several, I can tell you that is normal,” Balor said to Helen. “Try to relax.”

  “Right, well, the Great Maker sent me with a message for the Council. She is disappointed in you and your rule. New blood is required.”

  “She can’t just command us about,” Amma said.

  “You’d probably be pissed that she’s white,” Helen growled back. “Though, she won’t look like that tomorrow, so who knows what she’ll end up looking like?”

  Troy snuck into the room and stood behind Balor. I watched as Balor reached back and took Troy by the hand, pulling him around the couch and into his lap. Balor smiled sweetly and caressed Troy’s cheek.

  “Tuck yourself against me, Love. I’ll watch over you as you sleep.”

  I almost gagged but kept the sound back as Troy did as Balor commanded. Rubbing at my chest, I glanced at Helen and saw a longing there.

  Face it, you are not a lovey, romantic sort of vampire.

  I wrapped an arm around Helen. If she wanted that sort of thing, I’d try.

  Then eat anyone who said otherwise.

  “The Great Maker is surely weakened after so long, as many older vampires are,” Bob said in an odd, pointed sort of tone as if he had rehearsed the line.

  “No, she’s not. She killed Lu.”

  “Barely, I’m sure,” Amma said.

  “It wasn’t even a fight,” Helen said. “Look... how did that happen?” She paused and sighed out. “Right. She used me as bait, Lu and Death separated, Death possessed somebody and I drew him off. He almost had me, knew I was a vampire by then, and she commanded him to stop from out of earshot. He just. He stopped fighting me like he just turned into a dummy or something. And I ate him.

  “Which was a bad idea because Death needs a connection to transfer into a vampire. He tried to get into my mind and almost won too.”

  “Death needs a connection?” Balor asked.

  “Yes, it’s part of the magic.”

/>   “What magic?” Amma asked. “Witch magic?”

  “Yes, the tool was made by witches to help the Great Maker when her children tried to kill her. Because she wasn’t strong enough to do it herself, and you idiots killed her remaining sister. I told you that.”

  “No, you didn’t,” I said quietly, rubbing her arm. “Confusion is normal though. It’s okay.”

  “Death is the magic that made the tool work, the tool and the user need to go together because Death like...uses their life force or something to use the tool. He could move out of Bau because she was a witch, so she could pass the magic on, but to get out of Lu he had to separate like he finally did, or another vampire had to kill him with the tool.

  “Wraith was never supposed to exist. Lu raised Quintillus to have a place for Death, maybe even a split personality, but when Lucrecia and Sasha found him, all that bad went into that place where Death was supposed to be, and it created Wraith. A personality which could be violent and vicious and numb to what was done to him, what you mother fuckers did to him, so that Quintillus, the boy, could remain.”

  A cold washed over me. Helen looked up at me as if feeling that cold herself.

  “By making a Progeny, Quin has made himself a blood bag,” she said as she turned back to the Council. “The more he feeds from me, the more he’ll heal. Lu got weaker because Quin stopped coming around. Given enough time and enough of me, Wraith and Quintillus will rejoin, becoming just Quin in all his disastrous glory.”

  “So, he’ll be normal,” Amma said.

  “As normal as a vampire who was turned with two powers can be. Or as normal as a vampire whose family line can be traced back to the only witch ever turned. Or as normal as a survivor of childhood abuse can be. Or as normal as someone can be after being betrayed by people of authority, you people.”

  “And Lu?” Bob asked. “You dealt with Death, what about Lu?”

  “I went back to him and questioned him. When I ran out of questions, I just said so out loud. There was no fight. She had killed him before he knew what hit him. Appeared out of nowhere, silent as could be.

  “The Great Maker is not weakened. She is as strong as ever, if not more so. You cannot win against her because she no longer fears culling you all and starting over again. She now has Lu’s power and thinks she can use it within a month, as she mastered the power of everyone else she has ever eaten.”