That did it. I zipped over to a window and opened it. While I didn’t need to breathe, I did so anyway, drawing in the night air. I’m sure my actions confused Francis, who remained behind me, silent and waiting. The things I had to endure and accept in this life were insurmountable.
After a few moments of pulling myself together, I shut the window again and faced him. “This is crazy, Francis. What you’re proposing is selfish. Everyone dies. It’s a fact of life, and I have to accept that Georgia will go. I don’t want to lose her, and I would have fought my enemies harder if I knew the threat would turn in her direction. It’s too late now.”
“Very well.”
“Besides…” Somehow, I couldn’t let it go. “If she ends up like me, denying her need…she could ignore my orders and feed on a living human. I can’t let that happen.”
I sensed his offense. All vampires appeared to have been formed with superiority issues. No other being was on their level. While I say this, I’m not insinuating that I’m different. One must pretend to be humble, even in one’s own mind. It’s a sad world.
“You’re assuming they are like us.”
“What you’re describing is almost exactly like us.”
He shook his head. “Ghouls are simple-minded when it comes to food. They must eat, yes. They prefer living humans. However, their hunger responds exactly the same to a living human and a dead one. In addition, they cannot ever disobey their master’s order.”
“Does that mean if for some odd reason there were no dead humans…”
“The ghoul would starve.”
“How horrible.”
“Humans die every day. It’s the one constant.”
He was right, of course, but the prospect of the entire plan seemed too bizarre to consider. I wish I could say I told him no, I refused to do it or even think about it. Instead, I remained silent on the matter and let the subject drop.
“That’s all I came to share with you,” he said and took a step back as if he intended to fade from view.
“Attention. Humans from the Meris Corporation have sent representatives to deal with the ghouls. Silvano would prefer if everyone steered clear of them.”
I waited for more from the voice in my head, but there was nothing. From the way Francis went still the moment the person began to speak, I assumed he heard the broadcast as well as every other member of Silvano’s coven. For some reason, I had the feeling while everyone heard it, the message was aimed at me. What surprised me was that I was still on the line so to speak. Here I had thought my “what’s the use of your coven” quip was as good as a resignation.
I left the apartment, and Francis disappeared to wherever he was going. Just as the announcement claimed, I scented the newly arrived humans in New Orleans. Not that I had such a keen a sense of smell that I knew when people came and went. The distinction was that one of the group members was Inna, and they weren’t far from where I happened to be.
I decided to pay the reps a little visit and slowed to a visible pace at the border of Jackson Square. Inna stood with three other young people, all late teens early twenties from the look of them, except one man who appeared a bit older and more experienced.
“Inna,” I called as I casually approached. All eyes swiveled in my direction, and Inna grinned.
“Rue, what’s up?”
I shrugged. “Nothing much. You’re looking well. I suppose the corporation isn’t treating you badly.”
She snorted.
“How did you all get past the lockdown?”
Inna winked. “Meris has its ways.”
“Meaning you won’t tell me?”
“Meaning Arianna has connections us lower orders don’t know anything about. Anyway, forget them. I heard you were causing trouble.”
“Never.”
When Inna said this, the others gazed from her to me and back again. I didn’t doubt they had heard the news about how I had broken into their school. Maybe they didn’t know who this Rue character was, and they were just now realizing I was one and the same, the crazy vampire they had heard about.
“Arianna has it in for you,” Inna warned. “I’d watch my back.”
“Why don’t we do lunch when you get the chance? That is if you can squeeze me in between cleaning up New Orleans.”
She burst out laughing. “You’re funny. Okay, I’ll see if I can find some time.”
Then she gave me a look that only Inna could give. She raised her eyebrows and smirked in the most disrespectful way possible.
“We’ll straighten up the mess in your city you couldn’t handle on your own. Then we’ll be on our way.”
I affected a shiver. “Icier than I could ever be, Inna.”
“They teach you a lot at Meris.”
“Uh-huh. I seem to remember you went in with the same attitude as now.”
We teased each other back and forth until the older man in her party cleared his throat. “Inna, we can’t spend all our time with vampires,” he reminded her. “We have our orders.”
“We can’t spend any time with them,” a younger girl said. “Who would want to anyway?”
She widened her eyes at me as she spoke as if she hoped I would be offended and try to attack her. Something told me this young girl had learned she was very strong and skilled in combat, and she wanted to test how far she had come. She would need to make the first trial a ghoul because I refused to take the bait.
I opened my mouth to inform the little scamp of my intentions when a whiff of Georgia’s scent caught my attention. I spun in the direction I thought it came from. Behind me, the humans in Inna’s group spoke. I was half aware of the man leading the conversation.
“There’s a report of a ghoul attack south of here,” he said. “We need to move now.”
The others agreed, but Georgia’s scent had come to me from the opposite direction. I took a step that way, and Inna called to me.
“Where are you going, Rue? There’s an attack. I know you’ve been killing them.”
I looked back at her for a moment. Confusion and anger mixed in her expression. She jumped to the conclusion I was running away, leaving them to fight alone.
I faced her. “This is your first mission out? I’m sure you’ve trained hard for it, and you’ll do great. There’s something I have to take care of.”
“What could be more important than saving humans?”
“Spoken like a true soldier of Meris.”
The others glared at me.
“Good luck, Inna,” I said. “I’ll come when I can.”
I didn’t give her a chance to answer but zipped away as fast as I could move. I was sure the members of her party told her she couldn’t depend on a vampire or any nonhuman. None of that mattered to me. What was important was getting to Georgia before she disappeared again.
Georgia’s scent led me to the restaurant where she worked before she went into the hospital. The place appeared abandoned, but then the time had gone past normal operating hours. A faint light shone beneath the front door, and when I tried the knob, I found it unlocked. I walked inside and caught the clank of pots knocking together and Georgia humming from the direction of the kitchen.
“Rue,” she exclaimed when I pushed the door open to the back. “Come in. You can help me cook.”
I squinted at her. Moisture gathered on her upper lip and at her temples, but it wasn’t from the heat of the stove. Her eyes were glassy, and straw yellow hair was plastered to her head. I knew without touching her she was feverish.
“Sweetheart, why did you leave the hospital? You’re not feeling well, right?” I approached her as one would a wounded animal, nonthreatening. “Come on. Let’s get you back.”
“No! I have to cook.”
I stopped moving. Georgia swung a pan about, using it for emphasis as she spoke.
“One last meal before I die.”
“You’re not—”
“Don’t say it, Rue! You know it’s not true. I’m going to di—” Sh
e choked, and tears ran down her face. My heart broke. She sniffed and scrubbed the back of a hand over her face. “One last meal to make. The trouble is I don’t know how to cook. I just followed orders.”
Her choice of words reminded me of what Francis suggested, but I dismissed the thought. Standing beside her, I wrapped an arm about her shoulders and stroked her arm. Just as I thought, her body burned hot, probably far hotter than a human could stand and not go into convulsions or remain conscious. This was no doubt why the humans felt this fever was beyond anything they had seen. The ghoul infection kept Georgia moving and thinking.
I gazed around the kitchen. Georgia had made a royal mess. Pots and pans littered the counter, broken eggs on the floor and on the stove, shells half-baked into an odd greenish-brown substance. Okay when I said she was still thinking, let’s say she was still moving and leave it there.
Personally, I couldn’t care less if the owners of the restaurant found out about this little incident, because Georgia wouldn’t be around to be affected. So, I rolled up my sleeves to help. “I know a few recipes that would never pass restaurant level inspection but are still delicious. Let’s make my mama’s chicken fried steak, Georgia. I’ll tell you what to do, and it’ll be scrumptious.”
A smile broke out on her face, and she jumped up and down, clapping her hands. “Yay, let’s do it. The boss will beg us for the recipe, but we won’t tell him. Let him taste and weep.”
I snorted. “Sure, why not?”
While I made space on the cluttered counter and cleaned up most of the mess on the stove, I sent Georgia off to the lauder. I wasn’t sure if she was coherent enough to find what I needed, but she soon returned with the right item. We set to work. I pounded the steaks into about a quarter inch thickness, and Georgia measured two cups of flour in a shallow bowl. In the middle of my task, I paused to watch her. Her hands moved with precision despite illness. I supposed she had been doing at least this much for a very long time, given she was often responsible for making sauces.
We worked together for almost a half hour preparing the dish for the skillet. I explained what I was looking for as the steaks browned and the approximate time for each side. Georgia danced from one foot to the other. She hadn’t calmed down in the least, so I pulled another recipe from my mental storehouse of being Libby Grace. This was one was for pecan peach cobbler. Georgia began to shake too much to handle any of the prep, so I did it while she oohed and aahed.
Soon the scents of the food filled the air, and I lamented that I couldn’t eat any of it when it was done. While I prepared the complimentary dishes to the steak, Georgia sat down on a stool. She was getting worse. I sometimes had to hold her up until she regained some strength. Her eyelids grew heavy, and her hands hung at her sides. Yet, I saw the determination in her glittering gaze. She refused to pass until the meal and dessert were done.
At last, I pulled the cobbler from the oven and set it to cool. With Georgia lying across a line of chairs I had hauled into the kitchen, I selected a generous portion of the steak for her and placed it on a plate. Holding the fork before her lips, I wondered if she would be able to eat. She had shut her eyes and wasn’t moving, but the slow thud of her heart reached my ears.
“If you can’t taste it, Georgia, that’s okay.”
Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared blankly at me. “Don’t cry, Rue.”
I touched my cheek. My fingers came away red, and I scrubbed my face with my forearm. “Sorry about that. So gross.”
She managed to catch my arm when I began to move away. “Let me taste it.”
I aimed the bite of food at her mouth, and she took a good five minutes to open wide enough. Somehow we got it tucked in, and she chewed with the most amazing look of bliss on her face.
“It’s delicious, Rue. Just like I knew it would be. See? We’re sis…”
“Sisters,” I finished. “We do work well together, Georgia.”
She didn’t respond, and then her heart beat its last. All at once, I recalled what it was like to feel fully the way I did when I was human. The heartache increased tenfold, and I sat crouched on the floor, stroking her hair. At any moment, Georgia’s spirit would rise, and I would get to say my last good-byes before she headed to the other side.
Ten minutes passed and then twenty. I squinted at her. “Georgia?”
No movement. Had I missed it coming out? Maybe she was one of the rare ones whose spirit would rise later. I had seen it happen before, the spirit not make its appearance right away. Yet, I couldn’t accept that hers might be stuck. What if it was jammed into a dead and unmoving body for all eternity? I didn’t want to assume. Carl’s spirit had made its appearance before it was sucked back in. I thought I would have those precious moments and keep Georgia from rising.
Panic washed over me. I gathered her into my arms and rushed outside to the street with her. Swinging left and right, I considered what to do. Nothing occurred to me. I ran with her down several other blocks, imagining if it weren’t so late and with so few people on the street to witness, I might look like a maniac.
I couldn’t take Georgia to the hospital. There were no signs of life. They would whisk her straight to the morgue, and that wouldn’t resolve the problem. As a last resort, I cried out, “Francis!”
He appeared in an instant. Either he was nearby because he followed me around, or the vampire could teleport. I wasn’t in the mood to question him regarding it. His curious gaze moved from the prone Georgia to my face, and I knew he saw the stains from my crying earlier. Maybe I was still crying, my heart ached so much. I was no longer used to this level of pain, and I didn’t like it.
“I don’t know what to do. Her spirit hasn’t come out. Please, Francis. Tell me what to do to free her.”
“She doesn’t want to die.”
“She’s dead already,” I shouted at him. He didn’t react at all. “Her heart’s stopped beating, and she’s been like this at least half an hour. I’m begging you, Francis. Help us.”
He laid a hand on her chest and then retracted it quickly. “Her spirit is there. It doesn’t want to leave. She’s a ghoul, but she hasn’t awakened.”
“What does that mean?”
“Sometimes they are resigned to their fate, but they need help to rise.”
I thought about what he was saying. “If I make sure she can’t rise in this body, her spirit will be released?”
“No.”
I was afraid he was going to say that.
“As I said, she’s a full ghoul now but not risen. Her spirit can no longer separate from her body. It will be destroyed with the body.”
“Oh.”
I shut my eyes and sank to the ground. Georgia was a ghoul, even though I hadn’t seen her open her eyes and talk to me again. She was like all the others that had risen and walked to eat humans. I had to kill her or she would remain suspended.
“She can rise.”
I looked up at him. “What?”
“She can rise if you put her in the ground.”
“New Orleans ground? You’re kidding. No one is put in the ground.”
“A ghoul can rise from the ground if they don’t rise right away after losing their human life. It must be ground, not a crypt.”
I muttered to myself that I should kill her here and now. I should get it over with, say good-bye, and tell her I love her. My hands refused to move to hurt her, even if she couldn’t feel it.
I sniffed. “How long, Francis?”
“Twenty-four hours at most.”
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
I rolled my eyes. “All right. Tell me what to do.”
Chapter Fifteen
We sought for a place to bury Georgia. Oddly enough the cities of the dead were not ideal. Remaining out of sight of anyone else was also a challenge. Sure, Francis could cloak himself, and he did. I can’t tell you how many of the creatures of the night we passed who gave me both curious and accusing looks. They completely missed t
he vampire leading the way!
As we moved, I wondered about how Francis knew all he had shared. Had Silvano told him what I needed to do and asked him to act as if the idea came from Francis? No, I knew Silvano well enough to know he wouldn’t want anyone taking credit for his ingenuity. Silvano had said no, and he meant it. The question became whether Francis would get into trouble for going against Silvano’s wishes. Perhaps the lead vampire already knew what we were up to, and it was just a matter of time before we were both called to the carpet. I wasn’t worried about my own welfare but for Francis’s. Still, I questioned his motives, if only to myself.
We sped past small green squares, spots where humans enjoyed the day on a bench while on lunch break. I experienced an instant of amusement thinking about burying Georgia in one of the mini-parks then thought better of it. I had no guarantee she would rise at night, and you can imagine the rest that would happen. No, the humans had to be protected.
Francis and I reached the ninth ward and slowed. There were some houses that were empty, but they had nearby neighbors. I peered up at the sky. We were running out of time. In an hour or so, both Francis and I would need to take our rest.
“This,” Francis said, stopping at one of the abandoned houses.
I looked over into the yard. We had moved up the back alley. The small area behind the house was scarcely longer than six feet, but at least it had plenty of dirt with a few patches of grass left. Make that weeds.
“She’ll rise?” I said again, needing to be reassured.
“I don’t know, Rue. She can rise. That doesn’t mean she will.”
“I guess we don’t have much of a choice.”
Francis and I worked fast. We found a length of plank leaning against the house and a shovel. Francis showed a good amount of chivalry by giving me the shovel and using the plank himself. At blurring speed we had a shallow grave dug, and I lowered Georgia into it. Everything seemed wrong—placing my friend in the ground, coaxing her mentally to wake as a ghoul, and not having a ceremony over her. I couldn’t do that in case you’re wondering.
When we were done, I straightened and stretched my arms above my head. The move was habit. My muscles didn’t ache. I met Francis’s solemn gaze. “Thank you so much for your help, Francis, and your advice. I know you can’t guarantee she’ll come through this, but just the effort…thanks.”
Night Fever (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 3) Page 11