Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (37 page)

"You sure are dense sometimes, not kill ya, turn ya," he paused to look back at her like she was
the kid with the dunce-cap seated in the corner. "A fresh turned vampire is at the mercy of it’s maker,
compelled to do anything they’re told even if it’s against their will."

"You’re bull-shitting me," Jennifer found all of this information not just hard to absorb but nearly
absurd. "So you’re telling me that you’re completely under the control of Lydia?"

"No, first off, she ain’t like that, and second I shoulda been more specific, Master vamper’s are
usually the only ones that make another vampire. Occasionally, if there’s a particularly weak vampire
that a Master made they’ll have them turn a person because it’s no never mind, that Masters blood is
what’s in their veins, controlling one is controlling the other." He stopped in front of a room that was
closer to the exit of the building and waited for her to stop behind him.

"And Ethan," she asked as he grabbed for the door handle, "doesn’t he have Ada’s blood
running in his veins?"

"Master vamper’s are born different, they gain power quick, he was apparently a real freak-show a power as a toddler with fangs." As if he already trusted her at his back he pushed the door in
and entered, he cleared one side and Jennifer reliably cleared the opposite.

"Great," was all Jennifer could come up to say in answer yet again to this information.

"You handle stress well," Jim offered with a particularly charming smile.

"I told Ethan I work best when I’m a mess," she turned back to the door, this was the first room
they’d entered, the rest they’d simply passed. "What are we doing?"

"Waitin for the all clear," Jim shrugged, walked past her and closed the door. "With any luck
the others can take care a the problem and Ada’s none the wiser about yur bein here."

"That’s the plan," Jennifer huffed but took a seat because unless she wanted to shoot her current
companion she couldn’t get away from him.

"Prefer to meet the lady guns blazin’, last I heard that didn’t turn out so well for ya," Jennifer
rolled her eyes and slung the Remington back over her shoulder.

"You know what, I really don’t want to hear it from a hunter who is officially dead and now
spends his time with an eighteen year old mooning over him." To her surprise the ex-vampire hunter,
current vampire, turned that same human shade of pink. "I can’t deal with this right now," she had more
important things to do then examine the twisted love life of an ex-hunter and the vampire teenager that
had turned him. "I just want to kill Dimitri," she said to the ceiling, hoping there wasn’t a long wait ahead
because she didn’t think she had an ounce of patience left at the moment. She’d raced into revenant hell
this morning, lost two of her most valued friends, saved a child and just as quickly lost a person who had
watched her back and that same kid in the same second. Now she was being told there was no safe
place from monsters, that monsters weren’t necessarily monsters, and that there were more monsters in
the world then she wanted to know about. She just wanted to kill Dimitri, avoid the zombie or revenant
apocalypse, and take time to digest the rest later. Instead it was all being forced down her throat at
once and instead of killing something, like she really, really wanted to do, she was being told werewolves
were just lost puppies with no control so she couldn’t shoot them, she couldn’t shoot the vampires
because currently one group was trying to keep her from becoming one and she couldn’t shoot the other
because likely she’d just get dead. At the moment she really wished Ethan would just let her take her
chances with Ada and the Remington.

Maybe she’d die, maybe she wouldn’t, at this point she could only see her own death as a
potential plus because at least she’d miss that impending apocalypse scenario. Then again if she faced
the Master vampire and it was true that you could be turned against your will then her options just
sucked all around. "Do ya think she’s got a thing for me?" Jim asked interrupting her train of thought
before she could get too far into her own head.

Jennifer looked to him and rolled her eyes, "are you kidding me," but from the look on his face
she could tell that he so wasn’t. They were in a potential life ending crisis, for her at least, and he was
fretting over whether or not the vampire that had turned him wanted to be his girlfriend. "Fine," Jennifer
shook her head, "yes she definitely has a thing for you, you’d have to be blind not to notice." This job
so didn’t pay well enough for her to be forced to dispense love advice to dead people. "Now can we
talk about something useful while we wait?" He was too busy smiling to himself to answer so she went
about interrogating him anyway. "You said these werewolf things are still born, what does that mean or
how does that work?"

"Babies that are dead when they’re born, I don’t know the mechanics of it, but hell I don’t know
the mechanics of how I was turned into one a them." Jennifer gave her attention to the floor while he
seemed to have an internal debate with himself about his new found reality.

"You really didn’t consent," she asked unable to look at him.

"I swear, Lydia’s a sweat girl an all, but before this I would a told her to burn in sunlight."

Jennifer nodded and figured now was the time to ask, "can you walk into a church?"

He shook his head before looking up at her with a somewhat melancholy smile, "been too
scared to try."

"Sorry," there she went again, apologizing, she should be delighted that he couldn’t come into a
church, even if it was only because he was afraid to. "I can’t be a vampire," she said looking back to
him grimly, "I’d rather be dead."

"Okay, but it ain’t gonna happen," his implied ‘no need to worry’ was not comforting.

"We don’t have the time to waste sitting here, too many people are already dead," she got out of
her seat, "you coming?"

"I don’t think that Ethan’s gonna like that," but he got up out of his seat too.

"Is he your Master?" Jennifer asked him with just a little too much spite.

"He ain’t like that," Jim told her, "but he won’t like things throwing a wrench in his plans."

"He’ll get used to it," she’d tested Ethan on several occasions, but not in any ways that would
mess with his game plan, she supposed this would tell her whether or not Ethan had vampire tantrums
that were anything as frightening as his vampire mothers.

Chapter 24

Ethan cut down the last werewolf that stood between him and his target with a swift swipe of his
sword. It went down at his feet but despite the fact that he’d removed half of it’s skullcap it tried to pry
itself to it’s feet. He put a booted foot down on it’s chest and forced it back to the ground, the
resounding sound of it’s ribs cracking as it went back down, the last sound it made before falling still.
The figure that waited past the werewolf bodies on the pavement was petite, as small as the hunters, but
that was where the similarity ended. The hunter had a subtle musculature that this vampire did not, the
vampire in front of him almost looked like she was constructed from bones and wires. Of course despite
the slender frame she had a beautiful heart shaped face, cupids bow lips, and grey eyes that slanted up in
a way reminiscent of a cat. Fine curls that looked like they were spun from gold wound there way down
her back, looking at her one might think they were looking at an angel.

He had witnessed men fall at her feet and beg her attentions, deceived by her angelic beauty, it
probably didn’t hurt that she usually trounced about in nothing but paint from the naval up. Tonight she
was covered in a shimmering shade of gold, the small patch of cloth that covered her below the
bellybutton was a rose petal pink. "Sophie," he greeted and she danced forward on her toes to wrap
her arms around his torso.

"You are ever so mean, hurting my puppies like that," she gave his ribs a squeeze before smiling
up at him, revealing dimples in her cheeks as well as an almost childish looking gap between her two
front teeth.

"They’ll live," Ethan gritted out before stepping back and putting the preferred amount of space
back between them. She pouted and he seethed the sword before he did something irrational like slice
through her neck with it. "Where’s Ada," he asked skipping the small talk she was evidently going to try
and stall with.

"What makes you think she’s here, maybe it’s just little ol’ me," she did a twirl that made her
nothing but a blur of sparkling gold and pink. When she stopped to face him again his hand shot out and
grabbed her around the throat. "Now, now pretty boy," she purred, "no need to get violent, we’re all
on the same team."

"I don’t think so," Ethan applied a non-to-gentle amount of pressure to her slender throat, but
she didn’t budge, not that he expected her to. "Where," he growled without emphasizing who, he hated
that Ada would do this now, when he least needed it.

"She’s looking for your pretty friend, it’s been a while you know since she’s born one of us.
The pretty little Hunter may have been not but a nuisance if you hadn’t made it clear how, interesting,
you find her." She tried to lean her painted body into his but she was immobile thanks to the hold he had
her in. She laughed when he used that hold on her to push her further back, "I know you’ve been away
but I would have thought you’d be smart enough to recall that she’ll take anything from you that she
thinks you’ll love more then her."

It was a warning of something he didn’t need to be reminded, he’d experienced just that on
more occasions then he was willing to count before he’d finally gotten out of his Maker’s clutches. It
wasn’t something he was going to repeat, there was admittedly something more between him and the
hunter then he would have expected, but he wouldn’t allow that to get in the way of why he’d come
here. He had come because he was convinced that this Hunter and however they were tied together
was going to be what got him free of Ada for good. "No one is going to touch her," that probably
hadn’t been the best choice of words.

"And who said that is a decision for you to make," he knew the voice without looking up, and
though everything in him rebelled against it he forced himself onto one knee in front of her. His people
who had come into the parking lot with him followed suite.

"Forgive my presumption Master," he said cordially enough but they were words forced out of
him because anything else would only escalate the situation.

"Such pleasant words today, one must wonder why that is," without being given permission he
looked up to her. She was wearing her usual attire, flowing transparent material that cascaded around
her ankles and clung to her torso. The dresses color was a red that made it look like blood clung to her,
fitting since he’d witnessed her bathing in blood on more then one occasion. Her dark hair hung loose
around her shoulders and her displeasure was apparent as he hair flowed around her like there was a
wind that touched only her, it was a blatant show of her power. Even her emerald eyes were glowing,
and he hadn’t even vocalized any of his usual mutinous thoughts.

"There is a purpose in my recruiting her," he informed vaguely.

"Ah yes, a purpose," she purred approaching him slowly like she was expecting him to try and
cut her down with his weapon. "And when were you going to tell me what that purpose was, when it
was over?" Her purr turned to a veritable growl that sent her faithful follower Sophie taking some
cautious steps away from her Master, Ethan held his ground.

"I considered variables," he informed the irrational centuries old female in front of him, "and it
seemed unlikely that you would allow me to take action. The Hunter made for a solid addition because
she is capable of activity during the day, this is a situation we can not leave unattended."

His answer of course didn’t change her mood, not that he’d really expected it to, he wasn’t sure
he’d ever seen her rational when things weren’t exactly as she pleased. And Ethan had been born into
this Afterlife with a mission to do exactly the opposite of any order she’d given as soon as he’d been
capable of it. "You dare......" she seethed for a moment, baring her fangs at him like a rabid dog, he
shouldn’t push her further since she’d shown up past most rational thought.

"Things are already out of your control, I only thought to protect the coven from it," the ‘it’ of
course referring to the mess she’d made. His answer was not what she wanted to hear, clearly as she
raised her hand to strike him. He would of course take the blow, but last minute her emerald eyes
focused on a point behind him and her arm dropped, and in a show of yet another erratic mood swing
she smiled.

"Hunter," she greeted and Ethan’s head instantly swivelled to an angle that would allow him to
see Jennifer approaching with her shotgun raised. He fought an instant need to get to his feet and put
himself between her and his Maker. "How nice to see you still alive, I had heard rumors but thought
they were rather preposterous and chose to ignore them."

"Well you know what they say about that whole assuming thing," Jennifer offered grimly but Ada
seemed willing to ignore the insult, a spider trying to wheel pray in with a pleasant smile. "I know why
you’re here, sort of, and I have to say you’re lack of gratitude should offend me." For whatever reason
she chose to say those words he’d no idea but Ada’s expression closed off before she focused those
emerald eyes accusingly on him. "Here I am doing you a favor and you came to kill me or worse,"
Jennifer shrugged.