Melabeth Forgive Me, For I Am Sin! (2 page)

David grabbed his hoodie and threw it over his shoulder. Then he looked over at me and gestured
for me to walk with him. As we headed out of his room and toward the elevator door, David started talking. “I made some phone calls this morning when you were sleeping. I got hold of my stepdad’s friend Alex McDonald. Alex is not just an old friend, he’s also a human detective. He is famous for working with the supernatural. My stepdad and Alex would help each other solve crimes in the supernatural world. They worked together for years on many cases.”

“I know this detective; he called me
after the incident at the mall,” I recalled.

David laughe
d as the elevator doors closed and we made our ascent. David continued, “Incident? Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“That’s what I’m calling it,” I smirked.

David started to explain. “Well, no matter what you call it, yes that is the same detective. He helped cover that the incident up with the help of my stepdad. They believed it was in our best interest to keep The Order from getting involved. To make a long story shorter, he’s still helping us out. Leaving the other tapes behind was a good idea, because he’s already put together a lot of the pieces of the puzzle. He has issues with The Order, and in his words, he’s had
enough
.”

As we got out of the elevator and headed into the casino, it was too crowded to talk, so we just walked hand in hand. I couldn’t help but think it was a good thing that we still had people in our
corner. I liked Alex, I liked him when I first talked to him. He was a man with morals which made me wonder if he really would be on our side when he realized what kind of revenge me and David would be after.

We walked through
Caesars Palace, it was a beautiful casino. We walked through the mall and when you looked up, you saw the sky. Not the real sky, but a blue sky with moving clouds. The roof looked like this day or night. It made complete sense when Charlotte had explained that a vampire had missed the day and designed this area. This was my favorite casino that I had been in, with its old Roman statues and stone walls. It made you think you were in Rome from long ago. We headed through the gambling area and toward the doors to outside.

Once we got outside, the air felt
warm and dry; David wasn’t going to need his hoodie. As soon as we were on the main street, I could talk again. “How can Alex help us?”

“He’s a detec
tive for the supernatural world. How could he not help us?” David changed his tone and then went on to say, “He knows everyone, and will be our best bet on finding leads on the biker gang. He will know how and where we can attack The Order. We need this kind of direction to take on The Order. In fact, he has already given me information about two important groups.”

“What groups
?” I asked.

“One is the local Necromancers,
” When David spoke, he did this with a strange sense of reverence. It was like he found his people. He went on, “That is the reason I didn’t have time to invite you to Lizzie’s burial. I don’t think the other Necromancers would have welcomed you.”

“And why not
? Why would you have them bury Lizzie?” I was trying not to be pissed. I knew David had been through a lot in the last few days, but I didn’t know who these people were. I didn’t like being left out on such a important occasion.

Carrie jumped into the conversation,
“I asked, but he wouldn’t answer my questions, then again no one does.”

I
just about jumped out of my pants as I let out a little yelp.

Carrie went on,
“Good God honey, calm yourself. That’s right I’m still here, third wheel, did ya forget that? You know I have to tag along, I ain't got no choice, you know that right? Y’all know I don’t mind giving space but if you're going to drag me all over town…”

“Ok…ok,” I interrupted. “Enough all ready and before you start in on the long haul of questions, let David finish telling us the story.”

Carrie gave me a bright smile, “That’s all I was sayin', that I asked those questions, and I would like to know the answers too. It happened during the day so I didn’t get to meet these Necromancers. So, who are they?”

David was looking at some lights on the side of
a casino, then he looked at us and went on speaking as if our conversation had never happened. “Do you know anything about dead spots?”

I answered David, “Just what Charlotte and Ezra have told me. They told me that there was a place where the curtain between
life and death is the thinnest. It means there is little or no manna for a magic user to draw their magic from.”

David gave my hand a littl
e squeeze and then interjected. “And to think how little time we have had in this world, a world within the back drop of reality; so much for us to learn.”

Carrie added, “You can say that again; I wasn’t much for learnin’ when I was alive. And now that I’m dead… and still don’t like learnin’.”

I looked over at Carrie, “Don’t worry dear, in life and death, you still don’t know shit.”

David chuckled
while Carrie stuck her tongue out at me.

“We’re almost there,” David announced.

“Where?”  Carrie and I asked in stereo.

We were walking past the
Excalibur. It was a casino that looked like a castle surrounded by giant hotels. Beyond Excalibur, there was nothing but empty desert. David stopped and stared at the empty land. Then I saw something I had never seen before. It looked as if the sky was ripped and through the rip, was light. There were spirits all around just walking. They looked lost or they were seeing something different than what I was seeing. They didn’t seem to know we were there.

Carrie’s eyes were wide, “T
here’s a lot of ghosts over there. We’re not getting any closer, are we? I don’t think that would be a good idea. What ya'll think?”

David looked over at Carrie and shook his head. "Over there is where we buried Lizzie.”

"A field of ghosts next to a vampire city. Who wouldn’t want to be buried there?" I teased David.

David laughed, "You two are impossible!
I can't take you anywhere."

"And yet you do,
" I replied as me and Carrie giggled. I added, "So, what’s so special about this field, I mean besides the ghosts?"

"Two things:
First, this is the center of the dead spot. The second thing is, this is where the Necromancers are going to build their temple." David said this with a strange look in his eyes that I can only describe as pride.

"Ok fill in the blanks already!
" I said with impatience.

"I reckon that I still d
on’t understand what's going on," Carrie added with a huff of frustration.

David stopped walking as we moved to the edge of the sidewalk. He then started to tell me what I had missed out on while I was sleeping. "See when I talked to Alex, he told me where the local Necromancers meet. I couldn’t wait to meet some people… you know, like me. I went there this morning before you got up. I talked to the lead Necromancer, and I told him what had happened. He explained to me that it was really important to get my sister into the earth; he offered to let me bury her in their sacred
ground. This is where their temple is going to be built. That’s why I did it during the day, when the ghosts are away and so are the vampires. That’s when the Necromancers lay their dead to rest in the ground."

"I understand what you’re sayin’; this is goin’ to be a pyrami
d for the Necromancers," Carrie stated like it all made sense.

David and I looked at Carrie, then in stereo said, "What?"

Carrie looked confused while she said, "You know, a pyramid. My grandma told me all about Necromancers. She was a witch I reckon; that’s why she had the necklace. She told me not to wear it, but I did, and now I’m trapped as a ghost. When she was alive, she told me all kinds of stories. Back then I used to think they were just stories, but now I reckon she knew. What are you ‘all lookin’ at? I mean y’all staring at me like I have crawdad’s cumin' out of my ears.”

I snickered,
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so surprised at the fact you knew something.”

Carrie’s face had a hurt look on it, “I’m not a dumb ass… do you think I’m a dumb ass?”

David said matter-of-fact, “No, just ignorant.”

I quickly added, “But, ignorance can be corrected by the introduction of knowledge.
Unlike asshole here,” I pointed my thumb at David, “you can’t fix rude. How did you know they’re building a pyramid? And what does that have to do with Necromancers?”

David added with a nicer tone, “I don’t know about the pyra
mids, but I would like to.” I must have been giving him a look, so he added… “What… you're rude to her all the time and now I’m the bad guy?”

I turned and faced him, “I tease her; I don’t hurt her feelings.”

Carrie jumped between us. “Excuse the hell out of me; I have a story that needs some tellin’. And you both hurt my feelings, on a regular basis, I might add. As my grandma used to say, shut it, so I can talk.”

“Go ahead, all ears girl,” I urged.

David let out a huff, and then said, “Listening.”

Carrie smiled,
she loved when she had the floor, “Ok so here’s what my Grammy told me. She said that Necromancers were known to go to the dark places of the world. Ya'll call them dead places, but my granny called them dark places.”

I interrupted, “Just tell the story.”

Carrie waved her hand at me, “I am! Where was I? Oh yeah, the dark spots, that’s where the entrance to the land of the dead is the thinnest. No one knows why, but my grandma said it was probably where the dead traveled through when it was time to go to heaven or hell I guess. Now the Necromancers, unlike any other magic users draw their power from the dead. So, it's on these spots that they build their temples. All over the world dead places exist and that’s where the Necromancers build their temples. I also know this because I'm a ghost and when I look over to the spot on where they’re going to build, well I see… I’m not sure if I can explain it, but it scares me. And there are lots ghosts over there.”

“I guess that explains why
there are so many vampires here,” I said.

David looked thoughtful for a second then disagreed, “No. I don’t
believe that’s why vampires are here. Manna or magic comes from life and vampires get their power from stealing life. I think they come here because their enemies can't fight them here; also it works well for the Necromancers. You know, my enemies are my friends.”

Me, David and Carrie headed back to
wards the casinos. We went into several different casinos laughing, drinking and we even did a little bit of gambling. They were really strict about ages here, but as soon as they saw me and realized what I was, the security would give me a head tilt. They also would take two fingers to their foreheads and then give me a small salute, letting me know they recognized me and everything was good. It didn’t take me long to figure out all the security needed was to see my large eyes and they left me alone. When I noticed them heading over, all I had to do was make eye contact.

I didn’t have to wear contacts to change my eyes here i
n Vegas. People were too drunk band let’s face it, people see what they want to see and believe what they will. You can see aliens and Bigfoot all day long, but good luck making someone believe that you’re not crazy.

We got back to our rooms right before the morning light. I went into David’s room with my bags in hand. Of course I had done a little bit of shopping,
but not too much. I had picked up a bottle of wine that David didn’t waste any time opening. Me and Carrie made ourselves at home on the bed. The room wasn’t very big. It had a bathroom and a king-size bed. In front of the bed there was a dresser with a TV on it. In the corner of the room there was a table with two seats; there were also two night stands with lamps on them, and I am sure there would be a bible in one of the drawers.

Carrie was looking at some of
my purchases. I had picked up some cheap jewelry and a couple of blouses. I also bought a deck of cards. Carrie looked over at me, “It’s been fun hangin’ with y’all, but the sun is about to rise. See ‘ya tomorrow night,” and she disappeared.

Me and David were alone at last. He came over and sat next to me handing me a glass of wine. Then he held his glass up saying, “Cheers, to the future success of our endeavors against the assholes who have done us wrong.”

“Here, here!” We clinked our glasses together. I took a sip and added, “Good, I will have to get this kind again.”

W
hile swirling his wine around in his glass, “Yeah, it’s good, but I like my wine dry. This is a little sweet for me.”

I fi
nished my glass of wine and set it down on the nightstand. I turned and faced David. We were now staring into each other’s eyes. David with an unsure voice asked, “What do you want to do now?”

I didn’t answer him,
well I did answer him, just not with words. I moved forward and started kissing him. His lips were like fire and I could almost taste his blood right below the surface. My teeth and nails had extended, as my tongue explored his mouth.