Alexander Death (The Paranormals, Book 3)

by JL Bryan

  “And you believed him?”

  “It made sense, looking back on all the past lives. You were allied with her more often than not. I was allied with him. Our factions have made war on each other forever. He knows that you and I getting together means I won't be his, and so his power stays limited. And Ashleigh hated me for drawing you away from her over the last few lifetimes—she hated me from the beginning of this life, even if she didn't know why.”

  “It's weird that our lives are shaped by so many things we don't even remember,” Seth said.

  “But they're not,” Jenny said. “That's what I really learned. More important than remembering all the ancient stuff was understanding that this new thing, between you and me, is what really matters. I love you, Seth. I hope you still love me.”

  “Does this mean I should take my pants all the way off?”

  She laughed and shook her head.

  “We're going to need a plan,” Jenny said. “How to deal with Alexander when he comes back for me. And how to deal with Homeland Security.”

  “I can help a little there. That CDC doctor, the one who came to your house? She's on our side now. She sort of figured us out.”

  “I don't think we can trust somebody like that.”

  “I healed her daughter from cancer.”

  Jenny nodded. “Okay. So let's figure something out.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  The Hale rescue helicopter refueled in Cancun, so Jenny and Seth ate lunch in an open-air restaurant on the beach while one of the Hale guys kept an eye on them from the bar. They had swordfish, shrimp and oysters, along with rice and beans and Mexican wine. Jenny watched Seth's burn wounds disappear as he ate. Then he took her hand and looked quietly into her eyes while her gunshot wounds healed, underneath the bandaging the Hale men had applied.

  Seth had to explain to the Hale men that none of the extraction team had survived, which made the mood in the helicopter quiet and somber. The helicopter pilot, in turn, explained that Seth's father had tracked the stolen money through Seth's account to Hale Security Group, so they would be landing in Florida instead of South Carolina.

  Jenny and Seth stayed quiet for most of the ride, since the things they were eager to discuss couldn't be said in front of strangers. Jenny lay her head on Seth's shoulder as they flew north along the Florida coastline, while the sun set over the land to their left.

  They dropped low just outside St. Augustine, landing on a helipad inside the gated community where Seth's parents lived. Seth's parents were already waiting for them. Seth's dad seemed to have a lot more gray hair than Jenny remembered.

  “This is going to be fun,” Seth said, as the pilot opened the door for them. “If they kill me, say hi to Rocky for me.” He stepped out of the helicopter and offered Jenny his hand. She took it, though she didn't really need it. It was nice to touch him again.

  Seth shook hands with the two Hale men that had picked them up, then he and Jenny ducked low as they walked under the whirling blades towards Seth's parents. It was growing dark, and a few streetlamps flickered to life.

  “Jonathan Seth Barrett,” his mother said. She looked him over. “Where have you been?”

  “I had to rescue Jenny,” Seth said. He looked at his dad, but the man was just glowering at him, flexing his jaw.

  “Get in the car,” Seth's dad said. He turned away and walked over to the parking slots by the helipad, where his black Lexus SUV was waiting.

  Seth's mother was scowling at Jenny, a look of pure hate in her eyes. Seth grabbed Jenny's hand and led her toward the car.

  “Everything will be fine,” Seth told Jenny.

  “Everything certainly will not,” Seth's mom said. “I just have no words for what you've done. All that money you took.”

  “I needed it,” Seth said.

  “Haven't we taught you anything about values?” his mother asked, as she opened the passenger-side door. “About morals?”

  “Not really,” Seth said.

  Jenny didn't know what to say—it was clear she wasn't welcome here, and she felt like anything she said would only make it worse. So she kept quiet in the back seat and gripped Seth's hand tight as they drove through the community. The homes here looked huge to her, but they were mostly concealed behind stone walls and groves of trees.

  They parked in front of a three-story house with little spires and gables, white stonework and blue trim, and lots of windows. Jenny followed them inside. The interior had huge cathedral ceilings, glass walls looking out on the ocean, lots of bright colors , blond wood, comfy overstuffed furniture, and a few indoor trees. It seemed like Seth's parents had taken pains to make this house as different as it could be from the Fallen Oak house. Jenny didn't blame them—even at its best, Barrett House was about as cozy as a Transylvanian mortuary.

  They entered a spacious, atrium-like living room with broad skylights, which now showed a few stars instead of the sun.

  “Seth, my office,” Seth's dad said, approaching an open-air staircase to the second floor.

  “No,” Seth replied.

  His dad stopped and looked back at him. “Let's go.”

  “This involves everyone,” Seth said. He walked to the wet bar at the corner of the living room. “And it requires drinks.” Seth opened a bottle of Woodford Reserve and splashed it into two glasses. He reached for a bottle of Grey Goose. “Vodka for Mom...”

  “What the hell do you think you're doing?” Seth's dad asked. His face was glowing red, reminding Jenny of the pan of hot coals. Jenny glanced at Seth's mom, who looked angry, too. For a moment, the four of them stood scattered around the living room, saying nothing.

  “Jenny, you want a Grey Goose?” Seth asked.

  “Um...If everyone else is...” Jenny looked at Seth's mom, but the woman was ignoring her and staring at Seth. Jenny shrugged, but Seth had already poured her a drink and placed the four glasses on a tray.

  His parents stared as he carried them to the center of the room, where a huge loveseat faced a matching sofa. He placed the tray on the coffee table, between two vases of fresh-cut flowers. Then he sat down on the loveseat and sipped his drink.

  He looked around the room. “What's everybody waiting for?”

  Jenny walked over and sat down beside Seth, but she didn't touch the vodka waiting on the table for her. She would be the last one to drink, if she did. Mrs. Barrett already hated her enough.

  Gradually, Seth's parents made their way to the sofa and sat down, sharing worried, puzzled looks with each other.

  Seth raised a glass. “To Florida. It might be a cheesy place, but it beats the hell out of Chiapas.”

  Nobody joined his toast, but Seth drank as if they had. He set down his glass.

  “Okay,” he said. “Mom. Dad. Here's the thing. Jenny and I have, like, powers.”

  His parents gave him blank looks.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” his dad finally asked.

  “Of course, you're not going to believe me,” Seth said. “So, um...Jenny, can you go over to the kitchen and grab, say, a butcher knife? And a towel? Not one of the monogrammed ones, though. Mom just uses those to decorate.”

  “Okay...” Jenny walked past a pair of columns and into the brick kitchen, where the tall windows were open to the ocean breeze. She found the block of knives and a dish towel featuring a grinning cartoon duck wearing sunglasses. She had a pretty good idea of what Seth had in mind, and this looked like a towel Mrs. Barrett might not mind losing to bloodstains.

  Jenny returned to the living room and set the butcher knife and towel on the coffee table in front of Seth.

  “What is this about?” Seth's dad asked.

  “I'll have to show you so you'll believe me.” Seth reached out his left hand toward them, turning it back and forth. “This is my real hand. What you're about to see is completely real. There's nothing up my sleeve, obviously, since I'm wearing this cheap tourist T-shirt from Cancun.”

  Seth folded the towel and lay
his left hand on it. With his right hand, he raised the butcher knife, point down.

  “Seth, what are you doing?” his mom asked.

  “Just watch.” Seth took a deep breath, then plunged the butcher knife through the center of his hand.

  “Seth!” his mom screamed, reaching for him.

  “It'll be okay.” Seth winced as he ripped the butcher knife forward and out between his knuckles, cutting most of his hand in half. Blood soaked the sunglasses-wearing duck.

  “Oh, my God!” Seth's mom screamed, reaching toward him, but Seth pulled away.

  “Have you lost your mind?” his dad asked.

  “No, it's fine. Look.” Seth held up his hand and spread his fingers wide, looking at his parents through the wide, bloody “V” in the middle of his hand. He furrowed his brow and concentrated. His parents watched with wide eyes as strings of sinew and muscle bridged the wound and pulled the two halves of his hand together.

  Seth wiped the blood from his hand with the towel, then showed them the front and back of his hand again, making it clear there wasn't even a scratch.

  “What was that?” Seth's mom grabbed his hand and inspected it more closely.

  “Didn't you ever wonder why I never got sick? Why I never got hurt, even when I fell twenty feet from that tree in the front yard?”

  “We thought we were just lucky,” Seth's mom said. “What else were we supposed to think?” She looked at Seth's father, who was just staring at Seth with a cold, distant look in his eyes. “Jonathan?”

  Seth's father didn't say a thing.

  “I can heal other people, too,” Seth said. “Jenny's father was crushed by a tractor last year, and I healed him. There were witnesses. That's when the town started all the talk about witchcraft.”

  “Witchcraft? I don't remember any talk about that,” his mom said.

  “That's because you two were here,” Seth said. “You would have heard if you were around, and especially if you were still going to Fallen Oak Baptist. The Goodlings really stirred everybody up about it. Ashleigh Goodling had a power, too. Her touch made people feel love. And she used it to be a very effective evil bitch.”

  “Don't say that!” Seth's mom said. “Ashleigh's such a nice girl.”

  “No, she's not,” Seth said. “She just had everyone under her spell. That's how she raised a mob to kill me and Jenny.”

  “What? When did this happen?” his mom asked.

  “Easter. Ashleigh got me through the chest with a shotgun. Then they tried to hang Jenny from that old oak tree in front of the courthouse.”

  Jenny looked at Seth, not sure if she wanted things to go this far.

  “Easter...” his dad said.

  “And Jenny's my other half,” Seth said. “Her touch doesn't heal, but...” Seth looked at her.

  Jenny looked from Seth to his parents, who were staring at her. Fuck it, she thought. She took off a glove and raised her hand, then she made pulsing blisters and a dark rash appear on her hand. She quickly drew it back in, leaving no sign of disease.

  “Ugh,” Seth's mother said, and Jenny felt a little hurt, and a little angry at Seth for revealing her secret.

  “Jenny and I belong together,” Seth said. “And we could be together for the rest of my life, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not going to live without her again.”

  Jenny felt unexpectedly touched, and lowered her head to hide her eyes behind her hair, until she could swallow back the tears that threatened to form. It felt good to be back with Seth, even with all the vulnerable emotions he stirred in her. She liked feeling human with him more than she'd enjoyed feeling like a goddess with Alexander.

  Seth's parents stared at them in shock.

  “So, that takes care of that.” Seth downed more of his whiskey. “We have two pretty urgent problems. One, the United States government—I mean CDC, Homeland Security, all the way up to the White House—they wanted to capture Jenny and me, and make us their lab rats for the rest of our lives. They might lie and tell you they're only after Jenny, but they want us both. I think the only reason they haven't come for me yet is because they were waiting for me to find Jenny. So, we have to deal with that.

  “And on top of that,” Seth continued, “There are others like us, and they're not the nicest people out there. One of them is...has Great-grandfather's ability, Dad. He can raise the dead and make them into zombies.”

  “You told him about that?” Seth's mom snapped at his dad. “I thought we agreed to keep all that away from Seth.”

  “We did agree. And it clearly didn't help,” Seth's dad said.

  “It turns out Jenny's power enhances the zombies,” Seth said. “It's like a fuel. Or an upgrade. Or both.”

  Jenny nodded when Seth's dad looked at her.

  “He's not going to leave Jenny alone,” Seth said. “He wants her power, and he'll be back for her. Probably with a big pack of rabid zombies. We need to get ready for that.”

  His parents stared at him in silence for a long time. Jenny felt increasingly nervous. She glanced at her vodka on the table, but she still didn't want to make a bad impression.

  “Well, this is a beautiful house, Mrs. Barrett,” Jenny said, by way of breaking the tension.

  Seth's mom just blinked at her. Jenny sank a little in her chair.

  “We can do this with your help or without it, but our chance of surviving and escaping will be a lot better if you help us,” Seth told his parents. “We need you.”

  His parents looked at each other.

  ***

  Later, Jenny and Seth sat on the dock under the stars, looking out at the dark waters of the Atlantic. Jenny leaned back on him, loving the feeling of his warm hands, which he'd slipped underneath her shirt to rest on her belly.

  “Did you really mean what you said?” Jenny asked.

  “Which part?”

  “About wanting to spend the rest of your life with me?”

  “I definitely meant that. It was terrible being without you. I felt like a big part of myself was gone.” He pulled her closer against him. “I missed everything about you, Jenny. Do you remember how much fun we used to have, before everything went crazy?”

  Jenny smiled and lay her hand on his. “I remember. It seems like a million years ago, our first date. Halloween.”

  “Remember how you puked on me after our first kiss?”

  “You just have that effect on people.”

  “I miss the sound of you breathing beside me when you sleep,” Seth said. “I would just look at your face and think how lucky I was to find somebody so funny, and smart, and kind, and beautiful...”

  “Oh, come on.”

  “I mean it. It would kill me if anything happened to you.” His fingers flexed on her stomach. “You should have let me kill Alexander when we had the chance. Then you'd be safe.”

  “You weren't in any condition for that. And we had to get out of there fast.”

  “I could have done it.” Seth was quiet for a minute. “Are you sure you didn't want him left alive because of your feelings for him?”

  “Seth!” Jenny elbowed him. “That's not it.” Jenny wondered, though. She had a felt an intense, magnetic attraction to Alexander. And his understanding of their kind made her feel secure. Maybe she hadn't been ready to see him die.

  “Why didn't you let me do it?” he whispered.

  “I don't know, Seth. I just got out of his bed a couple hours before that. Killing him on the same day seemed a little...black widowish.”

  “You were sleeping with him?”

  “What are you so outraged about? You slept with that girl who looked like Ashleigh.”

  “I told you, Ashleigh was behind that. She was possessing Darcy Metcalf.”

  “And you're so lucky I believe you about that,” Jenny said. “She did a good job acting lonely and pathetic, though. And then she knew I would see you with that girl and think that you were still secretly in love in Ashleigh.”

  “And that's why you ran off with Zombie
Xander.”

  “It helped me decide. But you know, I had to escape from the riot Tommy set up. And from Homeland Security. The National Guard. He saved my life from that mob, you know. I decided I'd rather let them kill me than repeat that terrible Easter again.”

  “Then I'm glad he saved you. I wish I'd been there to do it. I'm feel like I'm never there to help the people I love.” A sad look crossed his face, and Jenny knew he was thinking about his brother Carter.

  “It's not your fault. And you didn't have a gang of zombies to help out,” Jenny said.

  “I wouldn't need one, if I saw you in danger.”

  “Aw.”

  “So, about sleeping with this other guy...”

  “I thought you'd cheated on me. And he was my companion for a thousand lives. See, I'm more like a normal girl now, Seth. I have a psycho stalker ex-boyfriend.”

  “But did you love him?” Seth asked.

  “I...” Jenny looked him in the eyes. “No, Seth. I didn't love him.”

  “Tell me how you hated being with him.”

  Jenny couldn't help but think of her long nights with Alexander, how he'd known exactly what to do with his fingers, his tongue... “He did have a thousand lifetimes of experience,” Jenny said.

  “Big deal. I just need more practice.”

  Jenny turned her head to face him. “Then we'd better practice,” she said.

  He kissed her, long and slow.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Ashleigh was working late in her corner office at the Los Angeles campaign headquarters when he came to see her.

  “Ashleigh,” his voice said.

  She looked up, startled. He'd entered without a sound. The young man was tall, muscular, with shaggy brown hair, handsome except for the tiny burn scars that dotted his face and neck. He was dressed Rodeo casual, T-shirt and jeans and sneakers that must have cost a thousand dollars. He took off his Fendi sunglasses as he regarded her. His dark eyes seemed to laugh at Ashleigh.

  “Ashleigh Goodling?” he asked.