Afterlife (28 page)

“I’ve killed plenty of vampires,” Lucas said. “I see now
that they were people, too. Do you trust me
?
”

“Of course. Always.” My mind raced. When had I begun to fear
Mrs. Bethany? Was it nothing more than a juvenile dislike of a strict teacher?
I couldn’t believe that, but I couldn’t give any better reason than this: “Call
it instinct, Lucas. I don’t trust her.”

“We can’t write her off on instinct alone. Not when she’s
offering me
— ”

“What is she offering you? Besides vague promises?”

“A place to live,” he said. “The right to figure things out.
And maybe an end to this hunger.”

Lucas looked across the grounds, where a group of students
were lounging. Humans. I could tell. Even now, while we were in the heart of a
passionate discussion, he could smell their blood and long for his first kill.

“Oh, Lucas.” I dared to add a bit more substance to myself.
enough
to touch his hand. He closed his eyes tightly as I
did. “Do you think that could be real
?
”

He stepped back from the railing, newly energized. His jaw
was set as he looked at me — knowing, somehow, as he always did, how to look
into my gaze. “I’m about to find out.”

“Lucas, wait!” But I was too late. He jogged from the
gazebo, two steps at a time, heading straight for the carriage house.

Lucas was walking right into Mrs. Bethany’s lair — and I
knew at that moment, if she made him the right promise, I could be in danger of
losing him forever.

I FOLLOWED LUCAS TO MRS. BETHANY’S CARRIAGE house. Although
I could have called out to him again, to try and stop him from doing this, I didn’t.

We need to know, I told myself. If she really can help him,
then I should Jet her do it.

Was I resisting only because I was jealous that Mrs. Bethany
could
give !him
something that precious — something I
couldn’t? How petty. How small. No wonder Lucas felt he could trust her, if I
was so weak by comparison.

I would listen, and watch. Maybe I would hear that Lucas
could be free from the blood hunger. If so, then I promised myself I’d never
say another bad word about Mrs. Bethany again.

As Lucas knocked on the door, I cautiously took my now — familiar
place at her windowsill, relieved to sense no traps nearby — then was startled.
Someone already sat in front of her desk: Samuel, no doubt being taken to task
for the fighting earlier. Probably Lucas wouldn’t get a chance to have a
serious conversation with Mrs. Bethany about anything. I couldn’t decide
whetJ1er I was happy about that or not.

But when Mrs. Bethany opened the door and saw Lucas, she
said, “What excellent timing, Mr. Ross. Please, step inside.” Lucas didn’t look
any happier to see Samuel than Samuel did to see Lucas. “Is this about our
altercation earlier?”

“Not exactly.” Mrs. Bethany gestured toward a chair in the
corner of the room. “I was just having a conversation with Mr. Younger about
his many disciplinary difficulties this year. There is another matter — one I
had planned to bring up with you later, Mr. Ross — but upon consideration, this
seems as good a time as any.”

Mr. Younger, aka Samuel, drew himself up, obviously
offended. “Since when does that Black Cross scum have anything to do with
running this place
?
”

“I alone am the authority here.” Mrs. Bethany walked toward
her desk, long dusty — violet skirt swirling around her. As she laid one hand
upon her 180 desk, I noticed again the framed silhouette she’d always kept
nearby. Christopher: She still looked at his face every day. Kept him close.
That made me wistful, and for a few moments I felt that I might have judged her
wrong from the beginning. She continued, “As the authority at this school, I
notice that you have been reprimanded by multiple instructors for offenses
ranging from talking in class to bullying.”

Samuel had always looked like an average thick — headed jerk
to me, but his expression hardened, and for the first time I could see the
ancient monster within the boy. “This isn ‘ t actually a school, or did you
forget? I don’t need to study algebra. I need to figure out how to pass for
human. Everything else here is a waste of my time.”

“Harassing the human students seems, to you, a better use of
your time
?
” Mrs. Bethany arched one elegant eyebrow.

“Why are they even here?” Samuel shot back. “If you didn’t
bring them in to serve as our dessert tray, I don’t see the point.”

She smiled, just a little, her eyes darting briefly toward
Lucas, who looked as confused as I felt. “You don’t see many things, Mr.
Younger.”

“I’vehad enough of this.” Samuel rose as if to go, but Mrs.
Bethany’s withering glare pinned him in place.

She steepled her hands upon her desk and spoke slowly and
carefully. “I asked human students to this school because they were necessary
to fulfill a
.. .
pet
project
of mine. An interest of Mr. Ross’s as well.” Mrs. Bethany looked directly at
Lucas as she said, “The elimination of the bloodlust of our kind.”

Samuel snorted. “So leave me out of it. I don’t want to be
free from bloodlust. I like bloodlust. Best thing about being what we are.”

“You enjoy being a vampire too much, I think,” she said.
“You’ve forgotten the alternative.”

“So what ifl have? As far as I remember, being human kind of
sucked. I was weak, I had to eat vegetables, plus don’t forget having to go to
the bathroom, what, like, multiple times every day? What a waste of time.”

Mrs. Bethany cocked her head, taking his measure as she took
something from one of the drawers of her desk — a small metal container. A
trap. And yet I felt no pull toward it. “We shall see.”

“What?” Samuel said. But she wasn’t paying any more
attention to him. To Lucas, she said
, ;;
Do you know
what this is?”

“A trap,” Lucas replied. His gaze was fixed on the box. “For
a wraith.”

I realized that ice flaked the metal container, meaning that
a ghost was already trapped inside. That was why it had no power over me; the
trap was full.

“Very good, Mr. Ross.” She rose to a standing position.
“Now, observe.”

Mrs. RP.th
;my
whispP.rP.ci
somP.thing in T . tin ts shP. opP.nP.ci thP.
hox
.
ThP. wrtith within r
.
tmP.
out
— ts hol t of light thtt strur.k StmuP.I squarP.ly in the
chest. He collapsed onto the floor, twitching violently; the wraith seemed to
be circling him, stuck to him, a writhing vapor going over each limb, covering
his face, trying to get away but unable to move.

“What the hell?” Lucas rose to his feet, obviously trying to
figure out how to help Samuel, if that was possible. But Mrs. Bethany shook her
head no.

 Fascinated, I stared as Mrs. Bethany withdrew a long
knife with a black blade — obsidian, I realized. Despite the barrier of the
house’s walls, the obsidian seemed to push me back.

Then she stabbed downward — through the wraith, into Samuel.
Silvery blood mingled with red, and both of them screamed.

The wraith suddenly sank within Samuel, clearly being
absorbed by him. Samuel twitched one moment more, then sucked in a deep breath.
Then another. He pushed himself up on his elbows, staring at the oozing wound
in his arm. The blood was pulsing out Pulsing — He has a pulse, I realized. A
heartbeat.

Samuel stared up at Mrs. Bethany.
mute
with shock. His eyes were wild and vacant. She straightened.
throwing
back her shoulders and smiling so brilliantly that she looked younger for a
moment. Beautiful. Terrible. Lucas took a halting step backward, then sat
heavily in the chair, like his only 182 alternative would’ve been to fall down.

“It works,” she whispered.

“I’m
— ”
Samuel kept patting
himself down, like that would make sense of it. “Oh, God, I’m human.” Mrs.
Bethany began to laugh. “You’re alive.”

My mind seemed to blank out, like where I should ‘ve had
thoughts, there was only white light and static. What I’d just seen was
impossible — and yet, I’d seen it.

“Make it stop. Make it stop.” Samuel clawed at his uniform
sweater, like he was trying to rip through his own chest to tear out the
beating heart. Lucas had to open and close his mouth a couple of times before
he could say, “What — what did you do
?
”

“The wraith and the vampire represent two halves of death,
Mr. Ross.” Her voice was again crisp and professional, but the hot light in her
eyes hadn’t faded. She stepped closer to Samuel, who was by this point writhing
on the floor, his living body apparently excruciating to him. “And yet, we also
represent two halves of life. The flesh.
and
the
spirit. Unite them once more.
and
the result is …
resurrection.”

“I never heard of anything like that,” Lucas said. “Black
Cross never told us this.”

“And yet they are among the very few who have ever known it.
It was among Black Cross documents I stole that I discovered this.” Mrs.
Bethany leaned over Samuel. His distress did nothing to diminish her delight.
“Why didn’t they share the knowledge? You would think anything that resulted in
fewer vampires — but no. Black Cross didn’t merely want safety for humans. They
also wanted vengeance. And what vengeance could they have had in giving
vampires renewed life?”

“Make it stop,” Samuel repeated. His voice was reedy now,
which made it almost unrecognizable. It was like coming back to life had driven
him crazy.

Lucas took a step toward Samuel, but he didn’t know how to
help any more than I did. He said, “This can’t be real.”

“Feel his pulse
!
” Mrs. Bethany
grabbed Samuel’s wrist; he whimpered but didn’t resist her. Then she let go,
visibly steadying herself. “Forgive 183 me. I have known the theory for nearly
four years, but this is my first successful test.”

Then Lucas lifted his head, awareness dawning. “Bianca,” he
said, and for a moment I thought he was talking to me. But he continued,
“Bianca was created when her parents made a deal with a wraith
— ”

“Another way for the combination of wraith and vampire to
create life,” Mrs. Bethany said. “Though there, the result is the creation of a
third, independent being. Here, we take the energy of a wraith and unite it
with the body of a vampire. Ideally, the wraith’s consciousness is erased,
leaving the energy to resurrect the vampire as the person he or she once was.”

The wraith’s consciousness was erased? When you were a
wraith, all you were was consciousness. Mrs. Bethany wasn’tjust trapping the
ghosts.

She intended to kill them, a sacrifice so that vampires
could live again.

And Lucas hadn’t yet walked away.

He’s in shock, I told myself, and I knew it was true; I was
in shock myself. But I also knew how profoundly Lucas hated being a vampire. If
he had a chance to live again — to be fully human — what might he do to make it
happen?

Lucas had focused again on Samuel, who had begun thumping
his head against the floor. It should
‘ ve
looked
funny, but the disjointed, jerky way he moved was too unsettling for that.
“What’s wrong with him?”

Mrs. Bethany sighed. “As I feared, using an unstable spirit
results in an unstable human. This one I had thought was a superior specimen,
far more cogent than most of the wraiths we’ve managed to ensnare thus far — and
yet, obviously, not steady enough.”

“Please,” Samuel whispered. He’d started to cry, and I
realized that in his fists were strands of his own hair; he ‘d pulled it from
his own scalp. I saw that the wraith’s insanity had become a part of him now,
as much as his blood or his bone. Mrs. Bethany had restored him to life, but
she had also wrecked him.

“You just
— ”
Lucas glanced at her.
“Did this as an experiment.”

“I didn’t intend to go first myself,” Mrs. Bethany said,
“and Mr. Younger had serious behavioral problems. I have better uses for my
time than hosting detention.”

Lucas frowned in a way I recognized as a sign of growing
anger. As much as he’d suffered from Samuel, he obviously never would have
wished this on him. “Seems like you could’ve warned the guy.”

“I thought there was a reasonable chance he’d be restored to
life and health,” Mrs. Bethany said. She opened the front door, and Samuel
stumbled to his feet and ran for it. His steps were unsteady, and he didn’t go
toward the school; instead, he streaked toward the woods. Somehow I knew we
would never see him again. Mrs. Bethany came right to my window.
so
close I shrank myself within the branches of the nearest
shrub.
and
watched him go. “Who can say? In
a
decade or so, he may gain some stability.”

“Shouldn’t we go after the guy?” Lucas demanded. “And if
that’s the best you can manage, you shouldn’t have tried it on him in the first
place.”

“Angry, Mr. Ross
?
” Mrs. Bethany
looked more amused than anything else. “Why so
?
Though
I have no reason to doubt your good intentions, I cannot imagine your outrage
is solely on Mr. Younger’s behalf.”

“You just — destroyed him! To test your theory!”

The angrier he got.
the
warmer Mrs.
Bethany’s smile became. “You’re upset because it didn’t work, not in a manner
you ‘d wish to experience.

Because you think I don’t have the answer I promised you.”

“That is not
— ”

“Isn’t it?” She put her hands on his shoulders. They were
face — to — face now, so close. “We can rise from the dead. I have proved it.
We can trap the wraiths. I have proved that, too. Now it is only a matter of
finding suitable wraiths — those who are especially strong.
especially
stable. Connected to the world in a meaningful fashion. If we can only find
such wraiths, and trap them, you and I will live again.”