Up From the Grave: A Night Huntress Novel

by Jeaniene Frost

  “Leave the body.”

  Mencheres’s voice startled me. It seemed to surprise the council members, too. Gandalf look-alike pursed his lips in disapproval.

  “We didn’t agree to that.”

  “You will.” Quiet steel edged Mencheres’s words. “And you will leave the sword. As the child’s mother, she is entitled to both.”

  The other council members glanced back and forth between themselves, clearly undecided.

  Veritas stepped forward, grasping Thonos’s hand before he could put his weapon back in its sheath.

  “You ordered the child’s death out of necessity,” she said crisply. “Denying this request would be cruelty. Do not begrudge her so little when we’ve taken everything else.”

  Thonos didn’t stop her when she took his blade and laid it at my feet. As she rose, for a second, her piercing gaze met mine.

  What I saw made me gasp. Without saying a word, she managed to convey both admiration and a clear warning. Unless she knew more than the others did, why would she do that?

  She can’t know! my mind raged. Could she?

  Then Veritas turned around. “The child and the sword will remain, but I will have some of the demon’s bones.”

  It wasn’t a question. I sucked in a breath out of sheer terror. What if she wanted it to plunge into Katie’s—Denise’s?—eyes?

  Mencheres went over to the demon’s body, snapping off one of Trove’s arms as though it were nothing more than a dry twig.

  “Sufficient?” he asked, holding it out.

  Veritas took it, eyeing it critically. “It will do.”

  Then, to my vast, relief, she walked past Katie’s crumpled form without a single glance to join the other Law Guardians.

  None of them looked at me. That was fine. I never wanted to see any of them again.

  “We are finished,” the white-haired leader stated. “Your cooperation will be remembered, Mencheres.”

  “As will his betrayal,” Bones immediately replied, speaking the first words he’d uttered out loud since Thonos had grabbed Katie.

  Then he stared at Mencheres.

  “I swore by my blood to co-rule our lines. For my people’s sake, I won’t rescind that, but my wife and I are leaving, and you won’t see us for a very long time.”

  Mencheres bowed his head. “I understand, and once again, I am truly sorry.”

  “Too bloody right you are,” Ian said in disgust.

  He went over to Trove, stripping the demon’s jacket off his bony remains. Then Ian took it and wrapped Katie’s body in it, head and all. From how small she was, it covered her entirely.

  Marie, the Law Guardians, and the council members left without saying anything else. For several moments, the clatter of their footsteps echoed on the ruined floor of the book depository; and then there was silence. The oppressive power they’d given off dissipated as well, until nothing remained except the energy that radiated from Mencheres.

  With a tangible snap, the cocoon I’d been encased in disappeared. So did Bones’s and Tate’s. Both of us rushed to the hump of clothes in front of Ian, but Tate went straight to Mencheres and punched him so hard, I heard the bones in his hand shatter.

  “I’ll kill you for this,” he swore in a strangled voice.

  The pulse of power I felt was probably Mencheres putting him back in an invisible restraint, but I didn’t move away from the small humps in front of me. My hand stretched out, and then I stopped. I was afraid to pull back the cloth and afraid not to. Would I find everything I’d hoped for, or realize that everything I’d feared had come true?

  Mencheres knelt next to us. When he stared at the lumps beneath the coat, resignation flickered across his darkly handsome features.

  “Charles will kill me once he hears of this.”

  “Only after he’s finished frying my arse,” Bones replied in an equally grim tone.

  “Charles?” Ian sounded irate as well as confused. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

  “Plenty,” Bones replied, carefully scooping up the coat and clasping the bundle to his chest. “I’ll explain later. Grab Tate and try to keep up. Mencheres?”

  “I’ve got you,” his co-ruler replied, flashing me one of his rare smiles. “All of you.”

  I didn’t get a chance to respond. Or to ask if the bundle that Bones cradled was Denise, then where was Katie? Mencheres grabbed the bloody sword and the rest of Trove’s skeleton, then all of us were catapulted into the air. Before we reached the roof, a hole blasted open, allowing us to pass through without impact. Then the empty windows on the first floor changed, the metal frames splaying outward like bare limbs reaching up to the sky.

  We rushed through them and into the night, leaving nothing behind in the ruined building except blood and the smell of sulfur.

  Thirty-seven

  Mencheres whisked us back to Chicago, but not to the large estate he shared with Kira. Once we reached the outskirts of the metropolitan area, we dropped down at the back of a two-story church.

  It was well after midnight, so no lights were on inside. All the noise from the surrounding buildings made it impossible to discern if it was empty, though. It might be late, but parts of Chicago were still very much awake, and we were right outside the busiest district of the city.

  Bones shifted the bundle he held and followed Mencheres to the side door. With how fast Mencheres had propelled us here, I hadn’t been able to confirm who was in the coat because the wind had snatched away my words. Now, the question fired out of me like a bullet from a gun.

  “That’s Denise, isn’t it?”

  The side door opened, and Mencheres went inside. Bones glanced back at me, hesitating.

  “Yes.”

  Relief turned my knees to jelly. Joy kept me upright, and anxiety caused my stomach to lurch. I could still see two distinct pieces beneath the coat Bones held.

  “That’s Denise?” Tate said incredulously.

  Ian let out a low whistle. “You’re right; Charles will kill you, and that’s only if she comes back from this. If she doesn’t, he’ll keep you alive so he can torture you for decades.”

  Fear for my best friend caused my voice to tremble, not concern over Ian’s prediction.

  “Can she come back from this? Sure, other demons said only bone of the brethren could kill them, but decapitation kills a hundred percent of the rest of the population.”

  “Reckon we’re about to find out,” Bones muttered.

  Then he disappeared inside through the same door Mencheres had. I followed them, too worried about Denise to comment about the irony of choosing a church to see if someone branded with demonic essence could resurrect herself.

  The back section had a small kitchen, three offices, and a restroom. Mencheres and Bones passed by all of them, entering the main sanctuary by a side door. The scent of candles, incense, and wood polish perfumed the air. Stained glass bordered the upper perimeter of the sanctuary, transforming the ordinary light from the street into beams of mauve, blue, amber, and emerald. The colors illuminated the empty pews, the choir area, and the cross that hung front and center above the altar.

  Katie stood below it, flanked by Gorgon, Kira, and a human man who looked vaguely familiar. I didn’t spare any of them a second glance because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my daughter. She was alive. Whole. Unhurt. As I stared, I was seized with the desire to hug her while spinning in deliriously happy circles—and the urge to drop to my knees while sobbing out my thanks to God.

  Both actions would alarm her. She’d already made huge strides by standing there instead of running or trying to stab anyone, and seeing me break down in hysterics would hardly be reassuring.

  Instead, I smiled as I approached with slow, measured steps.

  “Hi, Katie. I see you’ve met my friends.”

  Those colored hues danced over her face as she took a step toward me, her head cocked to the side.

  “I stayed with them like you ordered,” she said in
her high, musical voice.

  Like I ordered? Before I could ask what she meant, Tate shouldered past me, stopping when he saw Katie. From his thunderstruck expression, he hadn’t believed what we told him about Denise until that moment.

  “Katie,” he breathed in the same reverent whisper most people used when they were in church. Then he sank to his knees, his broad shoulders starting to tremble with sobs.

  Her eyes widened, and she glanced behind her. Yep, alarmed, just as I’d figured. I nudged Tate, whispering, “Get it together, you’re freaking her out,” while keeping the smile on my face.

  Bones provided ample distraction when he set the bulky coat on the nearest pew. As he peeled back the blood-sodden fabric, I wasn’t the only one who gasped at what was underneath.

  An exact replica of Katie’s head rested against the tiny, slender body. Small, pale arms folded over it, almost making it look like the headless doppelganger was hugging it to her chest.

  As disturbing as the sight was, I was more upset that there wasn’t a hint of regeneration in the exposed tissues. Denise wasn’t healing from the horrific injury.

  Bones had the same concern.

  “Nathanial,” he said tightly, “why hasn’t she grown a new head yet?”

  Nathanial. Now I remembered; the gangly redhead was Denise’s much-older relative. He’d once been branded by demonic essence, too, which is why he hadn’t aged in the century since then.

  “How long’s it been since this happened?” Nathanial asked, sounding more quizzical than concerned.

  “Nearly two hours,” Bones said.

  Logically, I knew he was right, but it felt like only minutes since we’d left the book depository. Emotions acted as their own sort of time machine, slowing it down or cranking it into fast-forward, depending on the circumstances.

  “Why does that look like me?” Katie asked in a very calm tone.

  I stifled my groan. I’d been so anxious about Denise that I hadn’t thought to shield her gaze. One day on the job and I was already a terrible mother, letting my child stare at a decapitated body.

  “Um, I think we should go in the other room,” I began.

  “She’s a shapeshifter,” Bones interrupted, answering the question instead of bothering about what Katie saw. Maybe it was because he was still drunk off demon blood.

  When Katie continued to stare, Bones elaborated.

  “Shapeshifters can transform into anything they see or imagine. Since people were after you, this one chose your form. That allowed Gorgon to take you away without their knowing that you’d left.”

  “Why did this one help me?” she wondered.

  I answered that, my voice resonant with emotion.

  “Because she’s my friend, and she knew I didn’t want you to die.”

  For the briefest moment, Katie’s facial mask cracked in a way I’d never seen before. Her mouth slowly curved into a tentative smile.

  “Your deception was brilliant,” she said in her too-formal vernacular.

  Terrible Mother Moment Number Two: I couldn’t bring myself to tell Katie that I hadn’t known about Denise’s switcheroo until the last few seconds before Thonos’s sword swung. Not only would I be admitting that I’d been unable to fulfill my promise to keep her safe only minutes after making it, but Katie had smiled at me. I’d lie my ass off to get another one of those.

  “Thank you,” I said, fighting another urge to hug her.

  All too quickly, her smile faded. “But now that it’s dead, you should take it away before it starts to smell.”

  I winced, both at the cold reasoning and the fear that she might be right. Dear God, please let Denise come back from this! What she’d done went beyond friendship—and beyond bravery. I couldn’t stand that she might be gone forever from her selfless act. Even the thought made me want to weep over her remains until there was nothing left in me.

  “Not ‘it,’ ” I said huskily. “She, Katie. She.”

  We had a steep uphill battle to deprogram all of Madigan’s conscienceless training. Katie was seven, and her body count might be in the dozens, but somewhere inside that prematurely aged militant shell was a little girl. I just had to peel away the layers to find her.

  “And Denise isn’t dead,” I added with a swift, mental prayer that I was right. “She’s coming back from this.”

  Katie expressed her doubt with a slow, solemn blink.

  “She is coming back, kiddo,” Nathanial agreed, his confident tone a balm to my fears. “I had the same thing happen to me once, and here I am, all in one piece. She’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

  Ian cast a sardonic glance at the cross above us.

  “Better hope someone’s listening, mate, or once Charles arrives, we’re all fu—”

  “Fully aware,” I interrupted, glaring at him. “Fully aware of how awful her loss would be.”

  Ian snorted. “My language is the least of your concerns, Reaper.”

  True, but . . . “Everyone has to start somewhere, Ian.”

  “Quiet. I sense something.”

  Mencheres’s voice cut through the church, drawing all eyes to him. At his grave expression, I tensed. Had one of the council members or Law Guardians followed us here?

  Then a crackling noise snapped my gaze back to the pew, and I sucked in a horrified breath. Not-Katie’s decapitated head shrank, the skin and tissue evaporating with the same speed Trove’s had when I stabbed him a second time in the eye. That crown of dirty auburn hair changed too, curling up into nothingness as though being burned by invisible flames. Within seconds, only a bare skull was left. A cry escaped me when, with a pop, it imploded into itself, dissipating until all that remained was a small pile of dust.

  “No,” I whispered. Oh, Denise, no!

  Something rippled over the headless remains, grayish in color and so fast it reminded me of Remnants during a killing frenzy. Then it changed, becoming palest pink instead of ashen, exploding over that small, lifeless form like wave after wave of pounding surf. Instead of shrinking, not-Katie’s body swelled, increasing until clothes that had sagged from excess material now stretched and tightened.

  I don’t remember moving toward her, but somehow I was standing over the pew, looking down in disbelief as mahogany-colored satin seemed to spill from the gaping hole in her neck. A pale globe followed, expanding like a balloon under a freely running faucet. Another blur of motion, and features became distinguishable amidst the canvas of new skin. Right as the top button popped off her bloodstained shirt from her body filling out to its normal, curvy proportions, dark eyelashes fluttered open, revealing hazel eyes blinking up at me.

  “Cat,” Denise rasped. “Did . . . it work?”

  I sank to my knees, a happy sob bursting out of me. It was the only response I was capable of.

  Epilogue

  The large craft bobbed up and down in the choppy waves of the Atlantic, held in place by the anchor we’d dropped an hour ago. REAPER used to be emblazoned in red across the hull, but now it said RESPITE in letters of seafoam green.

  I liked the new name better. It signified the changing direction in my life. The Red Reaper was, for all intents and purposes, no more. At least for a good, long while. Vampire and ghoul society believed Bones and I had disappeared because I was overwrought with grief, and he was royally pissed at his co-ruler. Only a handful of people knew that neither scenario was correct.

  Most of those people were gathered on the rocky Nova Scotia shoreline about a quarter mile from where our boat was anchored. We hadn’t had a chance to say a proper goodbye before, especially with some of them being halfway around the world while events were going down in Detroit and Chicago. It worked out that it had been a couple weeks since then. Now, Spade no longer tried to beat Mencheres and Bones on sight.

  He did still glare at them, though, and his arm looked to be permanently welded to Denise’s side. He didn’t even let her go when she hugged me after Bones and I climbed out of our dinghy.

  “For the th
ousandth time, I’m fine,” Denise chided him, squeezing his hand. Then she gave me a lopsided smile. “Though I never want to do that again. It wasn’t really painful, but do you know I could still see for a few seconds before I passed out? If I’d have had a stomach attached, I would’ve puked for sure.”

  I’d always be grateful—and amazed—by what she’d done. That she could joke about it now showed how deep her bravery ran.

  As for Katie, we were teaching her normal speech instead of her militia-styled jargon, among the many other ways we tried to decondition Madigan’s training. It would take a while, and I was fine with that. She laughed for the first time yesterday when my mother had swatted Tate, then Bones with a freshly caught grouper after the two men had been squabbling over the best way to prepare it. The five of us in the same vessel had made my mom mutter “We’re going to need a bigger boat” more than once, but she was as happy as I’d ever seen her.

  If I’d never thought to be a mother, she’d really never thought to be a grandmother, and she seemed to make it her mission to make up for the parenting mistakes she’d made with me by lavishing love on Katie.

  “She’s my second chance,” she’d said, looking at me with remorse in her blue eyes.

  I understood the silent apology, and I accepted it. Everyone deserved a second chance sometimes.

  That’s why a ghost now hovered over the Respite, staying on the ship with Katie, Tate, and Justina while Bones and I said our goodbyes. Don had no one he needed to say goodbye to. As a ghost, he could flit from place to place with ease, especially since Marie’s essence acted as a sort of GPS in my veins. Plus, he wasn’t staying on the boat while we traveled. Bones hadn’t forgiven him and perhaps never would, but at my insistence, Don was allowed to visit Katie for a couple hours every few days. Once we picked a more permanent place to call home, he could hang his ectoplasm nearby if he wanted to. Family was family, and if some members didn’t get along? Well, we wanted to give Katie as normal an upbringing as possible. It didn’t get more normal than that.