Death Be Rising (The Terra Vane Series Book 7)

by Katie Epstein

  “He knows what he’s doing.” I refused to tug on that thread. “And I trust him.”

  “I trust him, too. But there is only one reason I would do so with such questions bugging me senseless.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because of you. I’ve been around a long time. And there is no feigning Dan’s affection for you. He looks upon you like a daughter. And he’s protective of you. He wouldn’t throw you in the deep end like this if he had another choice. There is something bigger going on here. And I’m worried it’s going to come along and bite us in the ass. You especially.”

  “We’re already aware there’s corruption happening in the Consilium,” I reminded him.

  “There’s a difference between knowing something and understanding it. And once all this is over, we’ll prioritize understanding it. The more prisoners we take down, the more intense the pressure cooker comes from whoever orchestrated the escape. They evidently had a reason. Something that will create a big pay-off for risking such a thing.”

  “The Consilium have only put seven people on this,” I said on a sigh, agreeing with him. “And that was because Cole put the IET together before the Senates could blink. We know this is an issue. We’re aware it’s because they’re expecting us to fail. Or someone is.”

  “And every time we take down a prisoner, the more dangerous it becomes. We’re pushing someone into a corner, and that’s going to have consequences. But you’re the one at the face of it. In their eyes, you’re a weak human; a psychic. Not even a shifter. You have a nifty track record on your arrest sheet. But that’s about it.”

  “If that’s the case though, we’re talking corruption of the whole Consilium. Every Senate. That wouldn’t make any sense.”

  “Or it could just be one person. A few people. And they’re manipulating the sway of things in their favor. It’s easy to convince them if something goes to shit on this side, they can pull the emergency cord. Worst-case scenario they’ll pull it on the portal and let Earthside defend for themselves.”

  I thought on it. “So if we don’t defeat the zombies and the humans throws missiles, Dreven will get his way. He has an army in his back pocket, and Portiside cuts off its right arm to save itself?”

  “Sounds extreme. They still rely on a lot of imports from Earthside. But they wouldn’t be the only government to turn their back on a larger issue for the smaller picture.”

  “I’m getting sick of all this speculation,” I replied. “And you’re right. Once our feet touch the ground, we’ll take a proactive stance on all the pieces pointing to the Consilium. But first we’ve got to show a bunch of human soldiers how to fight the magically powered undead.”

  “Just another day for the IET.”

  “You can say that again,” I scoffed. My brain hurt. Worry gnawed at me. And the anxiety rose. But gnawing my lip and fretting would help no one. “Come on. Let’s go do the demo and throw my reputation even further down the pan. I doubt anyone will ever take me seriously after this.”

  He took my arm and fed it through his. “Has anyone ever?”

  “I’d say you’re an asshole, but I can’t deny the truth. Let’s go add to the pile.”

  15

  Grady and Zax helped set up for the demo, arranging the space to do so close to the CDC tent. Simone wanted the so-called Infected nearby to detain again if needed.

  I found Zax aligning a different range of blades for us to use. Some daggers, swords, knives, machetes. Some had come from Portiside. Others Bernard had paid for out of his own pocket to stockpile while we were over here. I thought it overkill, but our resident vampire had shown us more than once that living a long time had its advantages. You learn to plan for all eventualities.

  “Hey,” I greeted Zax. “We ready to go?”

  “Grady is rallying the troops.” He nudged his head toward the edge of the clearing where a few soldiers had gathered. “How do you want to handle this?”

  “Let’s push the zombies to get a reaction. If we get one, we can capture it for training. If we don’t, let’s show our audience what happens when we cut off their limbs. They need to stop thinking of them as the Infected. That makes them believe they have a life or soul to save. They don’t.”

  He nodded. “If the zombies react, maybe we should let the troops see us fight them with both knives and guns? It shows off our skills and capabilities—without showing fur or growing fang. And it will show them what impact the weapons have on such an enemy.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I replied. “We get some growing respect and break down preconceived beliefs on how to fight in one.” I looked over to see Libby, Bernard and Kaleb make their way toward us. Libby had her arm fed through Kaleb’s, stroking his shoulder. But it appeared she wasn’t doing it to get a rise out of me for once. She was helping him, keeping on track, while hiding it from the surrounding soldiers.

  Kaleb’s eyes caught mine, and I knew then he saw the worry—the anger that he wouldn’t let me fix this. He snatched his eyes away, and looked to the floor, coming to a standstill at the border the first row of soldiers had formed.

  “How about we go get our demo zombies?” Zax encouraged, and I reluctantly followed him into the tent.

  When we returned, the crowd had already gathered.

  Hanley and Simone stayed close by, near to the front. The General had also appointed four soldiers, two either side of the demonstration area, poised with weapons to contain the problem should we not be able to handle it. It stung, their lack of faith in us. But I also understood how much Hanley was putting on the line without shouting up the chain of command until he got heard.

  The zombies hadn’t moved when we collected them. I grabbed Judith, the lighter of the three, and let Zax and Grady, who’d joined us, collect Lamar and Paul. Our subjects didn’t move an inch during transportation, remaining as still as statues when we positioned them in front of our audience.

  I drew the short straw of addressing the crowd. No one else wanted to look like an idiot while talking about parasites using dead bodies as puppets. And they felt that I, as the leader of the IET, was the perfect candidate to get her pride trampled on.

  Wonderful.

  Looking at the waiting crowd, I noticed some smirks, others whispering, the rest looking concerned. I lifted a blade. A machete for reach and weight. And I poised it downward while I thought of what to say.

  The floodlights shone down around us. The generators continued to make their noise. I raised my voice above it.

  “Thanks for coming everyone!” I shouted. Like they had a choice. But I felt the need to be polite. “We are here to show you what we’re up against when we venture into the mall to assess and take down the threat.” I pointed to the three bodies behind me. “We will be up against hundreds of what you believe to be the Infected. Maybe even thousands when we get inside. So we need to prepare. And we do that by telling you these people aren’t infected in the way you may expect. They are already dead and gone in every sense of the word.”

  Some muttering hit my ears, confused faces stared back at me.

  “If you believe in souls, they’ve already gone. If you believe in energy, it’s already gone. Whatever these people were in life, only their shells remain behind. And they are being controlled by a form of a foreign parasite.” I heard someone gasp. Others started whispering between themselves. “It’s not contagious, it can’t jump host. Once the shell is taken out, it will die. But it won’t be easy. Using the examples before me, you’ll get a taste of what you face behind the shield.” I poked at Lamar’s chest with the blade, waved my hand in front of his eyes.

  Nothing.

  Okay. Maybe waking the mage’s army would take more than petty annoyances. “Once antagonized,” I told them, “we believe the parasite will engage, protecting the target we are seeking from the inside.” I prodded Judith. Nothing. She just stood there, her mouth slightly agape, her eyes focused on the air before her.

  Not helping things here, Judi
th!

  “When you attack them, it will do nothing if they can still use limbs to get to you.” I chopped off Judith’s hand. It fell to the floor with a thud in one swipe.

  Judith didn’t rage, she didn’t move. She made me look like a sadistic bitch who’d chopped off the hand of a middle-aged woman. All while she stood there looking elegant in her pretty dress and pearls.

  Ah, crap.

  “Keep going,” Kaleb encouraged from behind me. I turned around to see him finding it hilarious. Oh. So my humiliation made him feel better. The bastard. But he wasn’t the only one. The others chuckled away in the background.

  A pop and crackle sound made me assess the ground at my feet. More gasps came from the crowd. The limb I’d chopped off from Judith exploded into ash as the magic evaporated. Okay, then. That helped to smash the preconceived notions of the soldiers at least.

  I took advantage of the surprised faces. “If they continue to keep coming at you, then aim for the head. It won’t stop them from coming, but it will make them blind to their surroundings.”

  “Erm, Terra,” said Kaleb.

  “If you don’t have a blade, shoot them in the face.”

  “Terra,” Bernard bit out this time.

  “If they grab you, they will be strong enough to—”

  “Terra!”

  “What?” I snapped, turning around to see Judith flying toward me, swooping in fury. She was a zombie of the quick kind. Not vampire fast. Not even Kaleb fast. But as fast as her human body would allow.

  A guttural scream left her lips. One ending on the sound a squeaky toy makes when it’s lost its squeaker. She fled at me, her eyes shining with emerald light.

  Rumbles from the crowd blended with her screams and growls. She attacked, her fingers clawed on her remaining hand. I hit out, ducked, and fought her longer than I should have, but they needed to see her movements, her speed, her capability. And, as Zax had suggested, our skills. We were to lead the army in, and the last thing we needed was to have them underestimate us.

  Judith caught hold of my neck, squeezing tight. I kicked hard, but the impact did nothing. She hissed in my face and opened her mouth wide to show half-missing rotten teeth. Her breath made me gag as I scrambled to get free.

  Raising my weapon, I brought the blade onto Judith’s arm, slicing through old flesh and bone. She stumbled when I chopped her arm free from her body, then roared, coming for me again. I kicked her hard. She landed at Paul’s feet, and the big guy’s eyes snatched open.

  His head turned in my direction, and he bellowed, coming for me. I hit and kicked his attack, but he lifted me into a bear-hug, throwing me into Lamar.

  The others intervened then, fighting them with the different weapons, holding back to maintain the perception of a human. Kaleb found his fire in the fight, kicking and punching where needed, but it wasn’t enough. To others he might look impressive, but to me he was sluggish and slow.

  Lamar got the drop on him and he tumbled to the ground. I rushed over, bullets sounding into the night as Grady showed the little impact of guns.

  Judith, with bullets in her chest, still kept coming.

  “Your guns will arm you!” Grady shouted at the unsettled soldiers. “They can guide you in. The bullets will knock them back, but they won’t kill them. So you take advantage of the brief impact and use your blade!” His arm swung around and his sword decapitated Judith. Her head rolled along the floor. But her body continued to attack.

  That stunned the soldiers.

  Horror, violence, blood, they may be used to. But bodies attacking with no head? Not so much.

  “Kaleb…” I put a hand on his back without thinking. He shrugged me off and got to his feet.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered. He walked away from me, grabbing a sword and slicing Judith at the torso to help Libby.

  Havoc ensued around us. The zombies screeched. Limbs puffed into dust. Judith’s bottom half kept moving, using her legs to navigate.

  Zax chopped them off.

  They took out Lamar after he threw Bernard into the crowd. I gasped at such a feat. To the humans it would be no big deal when we were all getting our asses kicked. But when you saw a super strong vampire get knocked back, then you panicked somewhat.

  Libby chopped off Lamar’s head, his headless body running around, his screams no longer. Kaleb swept his blade through his legs, the magic crackling once more, bursting his decapitated limbs into dust.

  More bullets tore into Paul’s chest, our remaining zombie. He staggered back, but kept coming. Bernard used his strength to knock him down to the ground. Libby and Grady piled on top of him.

  Zax rushed off and pulled some heavy chain from my one of trunks that held our weapons. I recognized it to be shifter-holding kind. Paul would have a hard time getting out of those.

  Kaleb helped them, using his body weight to keep Paul’s legs still. Zax wrapped the chain around each ankle. Paul screeched into the night, trying to get free to no avail. And Bernard helped Zax tie the other end to the large generator next to the CDC tent.

  When Zax gave the thumbs up, Grady and Libby backed off. Paul got to his feet, tugging against the chain. The generator shook, but held ground. However, I doubted it would do so for long.

  “General Hanley,” I shouted across to him. “If you want your soldiers to fight this subject, then I suggest you get them to do so now!”

  He nodded, calling groups forward.

  Bernard and Grady positioned themselves at either side.

  “Test his strength!” Zax shouted, the soldiers now invested and intrigued to get in on the fight. “We’ll train you on the rest!”

  I watched, and waited, glad to see the demonstration a success. No longer did the soldiers wear shocked expressions. Now they understood. I only hoped they remained so understanding when we faced the zombies in the hundreds, and the twisted things Dreven Asorin had planned for us. And after experiencing how the zombies fought, we needed every bit of help we could get.

  16

  “Swing your gun!” I ordered the soldier I sparred with.

  He was reluctant to let it go, so I grabbed the end of his weapon and pointed it to my chest. “Bang, bang. Guess what?” I swiped his legs from beneath him, crouched down, and squeezed my hand around his neck. “You’re dead.” I helped the soldier to his feet. “Know your weapons and the impact they’ll have on the enemy. Use the gun as your flashlight, something to fire off a warning shot, to keep a zombie back, but do not rely on it. Use the strap, swing it around your back, and on instinct, grab the blade and hack. Do you get me?” He nodded fast. “Good. Again.”

  Half way through the training, Mayra returned to work on the shield. Zax joined her while Libby focused on the fighting. She’d appeared torn, wanting to go with Mayra herself. But she’d be better training the troops and knew it.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” one soldier said to Libby, stepping up in front of her to take his turn. “How about you and your sweet ass come dance with my lance?”

  Some laughter erupted from those standing with him. Libby said nothing, and got into her fighting position. The soldier smirked, enjoying the pats on his back from his buddies. He got ready to take her on. “Come on, sweetheart,” he waved her forward, “let me see those babies bounce.”

  Rage filled Libby’s dark eyes. Roaring, she leaped at him, and thrust her fist into his face. When he staggered, it took a second to realize she wasn’t playing with him. The soldier, on a growl, fled at her, but our lust demon didn’t hesitate to take him down. When he came back harder, she hit back harder.

  “Don’t like it, sweetheart,” she hissed, punching him while he was down. I rushed over and pulled her off him.

  “Libby!” I tugged her back. Bernard helped me subdue her. “Back off!”

  “Why?” she yelled. “Do you want to screw him, too?”

  “Calm your ass down,” I snapped, needing to get through to her. She stopped struggling, but she glared at the soldier on the floor. />
  “Call me ‘sweetheart’ again, you piece of shit,” she seethed. “I dare you!”

  “Libby,” I growled. “Fall back!”

  “Fall back?” She turned on me, laughing humorlessly. “What? Do you think you’re a soldier now?”

  “Bernard,” I told him. “Get her out here.”

  She screeched, venom spitting from her mouth as she called me a few inventive names. He led her away.

  The injured soldier got to his feet. “That bitch has got a problem.” He spat blood onto the ground.

  “Call her a bitch again and we’ll both a problem,” I snapped, storming off to where they kept crates of bottled water.

  I caught Kaleb’s eye who watched the drama. When he noticed me out of harm’s way, he averted and went back to the training he oversaw.

  General Hanley chose then to come over. “What’s going on with your agent?”

  “She’s doesn’t enjoy being seen as tits and ass when she trains,” I replied, not apologizing for her behavior.

  “I teach my soldiers not to let the words of others affect them,” he said, studying me.

  “Is that right?” I took a sip of water. “You teach them not to be a prick with their mouth in the first place?”

  I wasn’t in the mood to placate him. I was tired. We’d trained for what felt like hours without a break. We’d worked the soldiers hard, giving them a crash course on how best to fight the undead. Kaleb was near breaking point. Mayra was pushing herself close to the edge. And now Libby was losing her shit.

  We also had to prepare the soldiers to go into a fight where we weren’t able to use our supernatural capabilities. Not that I had much more than my fighting skills. But the others did, and I understood the annoyance building in them having to hold it back.

  “Your fighting skills are impressive,” he told me. “Your team are well trained. But I’m still trying to determine why you are here without the backup. Surely other government agencies want in on something of this scale?”

  I put the cap on the bottle, placed it on the ground. “You know what they say, General. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”