Afterlife (3 page)

I turned away from them, focusing entirely on Lucas. Kate
stood only a couple of feet away from him. Although she radiated disapproval, I
could tell that it was only me she loathed; for her son, she had an uncertain
smile. “Lucas, think about this,” she said. “We’re not only your cell. We’re
your family. Because family’s not just about blood — it’s about what you share,
what you believe.”

Lucas winced when she said blood, but Kate didn’t seem to
notice. She was too angry at me, and too worried about him.

“Bianca can’t have told you what she was at first,” Kate
said. “She lied to you.”

Although Lucas and I had gotten past the fact that we’d kept
so many secrets from each other at the start, the memory of our old mistakes
stung. Kate continued, “Are you going to forget your duty, forget everything
else you learned, and throw away your whole life chasing after some girl who
lied to you? I think you’re smarter than that.”

He had thrown his life away, literally dying in an attempt
to avenge me. The reminder of what he’d lost to be by my side scalded me with
shame. Lucas didn’t notice — he shook with the need to restrain himself. His
need for blood had become so overpowering that I could tell he might break.

“I need to talk to you.” Lucas’s voice sounded ragged with
strain. “Please, Mom, can the two of us just
.. .
talk
for a while? I have a lot to tell you. A lot of stuff I
need to make sense of.”

Concern made Kate stop trying to convert him and start
listening. “Lucas, are you okay? You look pale, and you’ve obviously been in a
fight
— ”

“I’m
— ”
His throat choked off the
word fine.

“We have to talk. That’s it. I need you to come through for
me on this.” His eyes met hers. “I really need you to do that.”

Kate’s expression softened. The mother had won out over the
fighter. “Okay.”

She took another step toward him and held out her arms.
Lucas paused only a moment before embracing her tightly. I saw him grimace as
he took in the scent of her blood — but he didn’t break.

He’s done it, I thought with delight. Lucas can control the
blood hunger.

Then Kate’s arms tensed, and her eyes went wide. I realized
that, for the first time, she saw that the blood staining his T — shirt was his
own — and she saw the wound at his neck. The wound obviously caused by a
vampire’s bite.

If I had noticed how cold Lucas felt to the touch, then his
mother could, too.

Kate jerked away from him, leaving Lucas to stumble back in
confusion. Her hand went to her stake. “What did Bianca do to you?”

Lucas took a step toward her, eyes pleading. “It wasn’t
Bianca. Mom, just listen.”

“Ask the others to leave,” I said. Maybe Kate had a chance
to accept her son as whatever he had become, but I didn’t want to take my
chances on the rest of the Black Cross hunters. “Let Lucas explain.”

“You’ve been killed.” Kate’s voice was almost a sob. “You’re
a vampire.”

There was a ripple of gasps and whispered curses from the
other hunters. Dana hid her face against Raquel’s arm for a moment. I glanced
behind us at Balthazar, who remained behind the wheel with the car’s motor
idling.

Lucas kept his eyes locked with his mother. “Yes. I am. It’s
not like they told us, Mom; I’m different but I’m still me. At least, I think I’m
still me. This
is …
weird and scary, and I need to
find out if there’s any way for me to be the person I was before. Please help
me do that.”

Kate straightened. She never looked away from him, her gaze
as cool and hard as iron. “You’re the shell of what my son used to be. I loved
him more than a monster like you can ever know —”

“Mom, no,” Lucas whispered.

She acted like she hadn’t heard. “And you can taunt me with
his voice and his face only as long as I let you.” Though her voice trembled,
Kate pulled out her stake, her grip sure. “All I can do for Lucas now is give
him a decent burial. And that means ending you.”

“Lucas
!
” I grabbed his arm to pull
him toward the car, but he twisted away from me, as if unable to believe that
his mother could do this to him.

Then she swung at him so fast that he stumbled as he dodged
the blow.

Most of the other hunters began running toward us. Ranulf
burst from Vic’s doorway, ax in hand, courageously jumping into the fray
despite the likelihood that he’d be staked and beheaded. None of that scared me
as much as what was happening to Lucas.

Wham! Kate’s fist hit his jaw, and his expression went
blank.

Wham! Lucas blocked one of her blows, and he narrowed his
eyes, baring his teeth in rage.

Wham! This time he hit her. His fangs extended. I knew then
that the threat had pushed him over the edge. The blood madness gripped Lucas
now. He was ftghting to kill.

I pulled at the clasp of my coral bracelet, the one Lucas
had given me for my birthday — and my tether to corporeal existence. When it
fell onto Vic’s lawn, I felt myself become lighter, insubstantial.

One of the hunters came at me, swinging a stake. I simply
turned to vapor, so that his hand passed right through me — a weird sensation,
sort of like a stomach cramp. The hunter screamed, which would have been
hilarious any other time.

Zooming upward above the fray, I tried to take in the scene.
Ranulf single — handedly held off the three hunters closest to Vic’s house. Vic
had run out onto the lawn, not to fight but apparently to yell at Raquel, which
at least was keeping her out of the battle. Dana, too — she had remained by
Raquel’s side, maybe to defend her, maybe because she couldn’t attack her best
friend even if he’d become a vampire. Lucas and his mother stood in the heart
of it, locked in combat. He answered every punch she landed and clawed at her
every chance he got, while throwing off the two hunters trying to come to her
aid. If he got the upper hand, I knew he would kill Kate. And if he did that,
if he drank his own mother’s blood, there was no way Lucas would ever be able
to forgive himself.

At first it looked like Balthazar was just going to sit in
the car and watch, which infuriated me. Then the motor revved, and with the
screech of burning rubber, Balthazar drove the car straight onto Vic’s lawn,
making the hunters scatter. He didn’t hit anybody, but not for lack of trying.

I wanted to protect the people I could. Quickly I pulled
myself together into a physical form on the ground, right by Raquel, Dana, and
Vic. Though I remained half transparent, they were able to see me.

“What the hell?” Dana yelled, throwing her arms around Raquel
like I was going to hurt her. “Get out of here,” I said. “Dana, take Raquel and
try to get the others to follow you. Please!”

“Do it.” Vic folded his arms. “You don’t know what kind of
badass ghost mojo she’s capable of. Trust me, I’ve seen her in action. You don’t
want to be around.”

“Ghost?” Raquel whispered. Her face went pale. “Bianca — You’re
dead?”

“We’re leaving.” Dana dragged Raquel toward one of the
trucks. Raquel’s eyes met mine for one tortured moment before she turned to
follow.

“Um, Bianca?” Vic tried to tap my shoulder, but his hand
went through. “Whoa. Okay, some of that badass ghost mojo wouldn’t be a bad
idea right now.”

A couple of hunters ran toward us, but Balthazar tackled
them, taking them both down with his outstretched arms. Ranulf held his own,
but I wasn’t sure how much longer he could go. And two hunters already lay
dazed on the ground near Lucas, who continued battling his mother in blind
rage.

I did have ghostly powers that were useful in combat, but I’d
only ever tried them on vampires. Would that kill a human? I wasn’t ready to do
that, even if the humans in question seemed very ready to kill me. “We don’t
need powers,” Isaid quickly. “We need the police.”

“Police?”

“Vic, call 911
!
Tell them there’s a
— like, a home invasion or an attempted robbery in progress, something!” Black
Cross tried to steer clear of the law, because they wanted to stay off their
radar. “When they hear the sirens, they’ll go.”

Vic took off for the house and his cell phone. I ran toward
Lucas, not sure what I was going to do but desperate to keep him from either
being killed or killing his mother.

Lucas’s wild — eyed gaze told me he was beyond reasoning
with. So I cried, “Kate, don’t
!
You don’t want to do
this!”

“Let me give my son some peace!” She never stopped circling
her son; one of her eyes was already blackening from his fist. Lucas would
never have done that to her, never, if anything of his spirit was in control.

I slipped between them — not like she could do anything to
me, what with me being dead and everything. “You can’t kill him. You know you
don’t want to.”

Her gaze went right through me, focusing only on the cloudy
figure of her son behind my transparent form. “I can and I will.”

My desperation peaked. I looked at Kate, pleading with every
part of my soul for her to stop and try to see that her son was still with her —
to see him through my eyes — until it felt almost like my desperation had
become a blade that could cut through her — Then this bizarre tidal pull seized
me, dragging me toward Kate in the blink of an eye. Before I could ask myself
what was happening, I felt myself being drawn into her, absorbed by her.
Everything went dark for an instant, and then when I could see again, I knew I
was looking through Kate’s eyes. I could feel her body all around me, like a
suit of armor, but one with warmth, breath, and a heartbeat.

Kate’s hand dropped the stake as her feet stumbled backward.
The only thing I could think was, I’m possessing someone. I’ve possessed Kate.

How did I do that?

The sheer power of my desperation had acted almost like a
battering ram, opening a portal into her very self. Could all wraiths do this?
I had no idea. All that mattered was my ability to stop this fight.

Lucas charged at me, and I dodged him, but clumsily, because
controlling Kate’s body was weird and unfamiliar, sort of like my first driving
lesson. I shouted, “Everyone, let’s go!” Talking in Kate’s voice sounded odd,
but I kept giving orders. “We’re getting out of here now!”

Then I felt an even stranger sensation — Kate’s spirit,
struggling against me, trying to push me out. Could she do it? I decided to let
her, if it was possible.

Instantly, I felt myself scattered and invisible, floating
upward in a dreamlike haze. My reverie was broken when I heard Kate say, voice
shaking with fear, “We have to leave.”

The hunters ran for their trucks and vans, responding either
to her first order or her last. Lucas sprang after her, but Balthazar shoved
him aside and took him down, keeping him back.

As their taillights vanished down the road, Vic jogged out
of his house, both hands in his sandy hair, like he was trying to hold his head
together. “What, I just called the cops for nothing?”

“First be glad that Black Cross is gone,” Ranulf pointed
out, brushing himself off and calm as ever.

“Well, the police are coming. So maybe get the car out of
the yard.” Vic looked at the deep tire tracks in the grass and groaned. “There
are not even words for how grounded I’m going to be. They’re gonna have to
invent words for it. New words.”

I coalesced amid the guys. “Ranulf’s right, though. This
could have been a lot worse.”

Lucas turned toward Vic. His eyes remained flat and blind,
his fangs still extended. With horror I realized that Lucas hadn’t yet drunk
blood and the killing rage from the fight held him in its grasp.

He lunged at Vic. Ranulf managed to knock Vic out of the
way, but Lucas tore at him with his whole strength, willing to shred Ranulf if
that got him closer to the human, to the source of fresh blood.

Vic’s jaw dropped. “Oh, my God,” he said, standing in place
out of shock instead of running for his life. “This isn’t happening.”

“Vic, run!” Balthazar said, pulling Lucas off Ranulf. Vic
took a couple of shuffiing steps, then finally accepted what was going on and
ran like crazy toward his front door. Lucas elbowed Balthazar sharply, but
Balthazar was able, with difficulty, to maintain his grip. He said to Ranulf, “Get
him into the wine cellar. Keep him there until we can get him some blood. After
I move the car, I’ll come help you.”

“Lucas
?
” I pleaded. “Lucas, can you
hear me
?
”

It was like I didn’t exist. Lucas only wanted blood, and he
didn’t care if he had to kill Vic to do it.

Ranulf dragged Lucas backward, struggling with him the whole
way. All I could do was open the wine cellar door for them. In the distance,
sirens blared, coming closer.

“Let me go!” Lucas raged, clawing Ranulf viciously in the
side. Ranulf grimaced but held on. “Let me go!”

“You have to calm down,” I said. “Please, Lucas, get ahold
of yourself.”

“He cannot hear you.” Ranulf managed to say as he wrestled
Lucas toward a corner. “I remember the madness.”

Lucas roared, a terrifyingly animal sound. Every muscle of
his body was flexed in his desperate need to escape, to kill and drink blood.
Ranulf could hold him off, because of his great age and power, but after that
battle, Ranulf’s strength had to be taxed to the limit. Seeing Lucas like this,
reduced to an insane shell of himself, here in the little makeshift apartment
where we had loved each other so much, nearly destroyed me.

The sirens got louder. Lucas roared again and smashed Ranulf
backward against the wall with such force that the wine bottles rattled and
Ranulf lost his grip. He leaped toward the door, and I started after him — but
Balthazar came through.

Thank God, I thought. Balthazar can stop him, I know he can
!