Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (6 page)

            
Jennifer nodded, for some reason Malcolm’s words brought back Ethan’s strange farewell
back at the gas station, "be safe out there in the dark." Jennifer wasn’t sure why in that moment she
had thought of the man or the words, so swiped the memory aside. She aimed for smiling reassuringly
but could never tell if her expression looked like it should, she was not a master of schooling her
features like some people were. Without thinking she answered in a way she knew would make her
cousin Doug proud, "live long and prosper." Before he had a chance to say something, that she could
tell just by the look on his face would be full of reprimands on how she wasn’t taking this seriously, she
slammed the door closed and trotted to a waiting Manson.

            
She dreaded the parting words that she knew were coming as soon as she heard the sound of
the power windows on the passenger side rolling down. "Keep the radio switched on Jennifer!"
Malcolm called, and it took a level of self control she didn’t want to really expend not to flip him off as
he pulled away from the curb.

            
Manson didn’t say anything, though she knew for a fact that he didn’t like the idea of the radio
potentially giving away their position any more than she did. Without complaint that would only waste
time she hooked the radio on her side and tried to forget that it was there, but couldn’t. She had a fear
that like in every horror movie she’d ever seen the radio would suddenly screech static and it would get
herself and anyone else with her killed. She took a deep breath and tried to erase the thought of radios
and hordes of vampires descending. But it was still in the back of her head no matter what and she
couldn’t force it out, so instead of feeling like a life line like the radio was meant to be it felt like a
weight against her side, unforgettable in its potential to do more harm than good.

            
She took a glance over at Manson but he seemed less worried about the radio then frustrated
with it. So she gave her attention instead to the darkness behind the building that they needed to go
into. There was a small part of her that still wished she could bring light with her into the dark, she had
grown used to the dark, it didn’t change the fact that she missed the light. But you couldn’t take light
with you because it was just another friendly way of letting your enemy know exactly where you were.
Not to mention it wasn’t likely to help you see anything you needed to until it was in your face anyway.
So it was just best to keep your eyes peeled, her night vision was probably better than most peoples
just because she spent so much time out in the dark without a light. Manson’s was the same, it wasn’t
something that anybody was born with it was just something that you had to work on. Manson didn’t
move so she figured that he wanted her to take lead, she usually did. Something about the whole night
just didn’t feel right, Manson always covered her rear without question. She was aware that they were
a few men less than they had been the night before, that certainly added to the feeling, but she knew
without a doubt that there was more to it than that, everything felt off.

            
She took a second to shake out her shoulders, trying to clear her head. Her thoughts were all
over the place and that was the last thing she needed right now. She needed her head clear, she
suspected that her feeling of unease was because she was afraid. It wouldn’t be the first time that she’d
gone into the dark to face monsters with terror coursing through her but most of the time the emotion
left her on edge, ready to shoot at any shadow that jumped. She preferred to hold to anger when she
went into a place without light. She had plenty of anger, now especially with Clive in the hospital and
Quincy dead. She knew what this guy was capable of, she’d seen him rip Quincy to pieces. But with
as angry as that knowledge made her there was still fear beneath the surface, she failed to see how
there wouldn’t be, not after she’d failed so completely in her first encounter with this vampire. She was
afraid that she would get Manson killed too, more scared of that than angry for what had already
happened because of her failings.

            
‘Clear your head, you don’t have to fear for your friend he can handle himself. If he
couldn’t he’d already be dead. It would have happened a long time ago.’

            
Jennifer’s heart stopped for a moment, that sure as hell hadn’t been her conscience. It had
been a very soft very comforting in it’s southern cadence, male voice in her head. Despite the fact that
she should have been scared shitless her shoulders relaxed.

            
‘Take a breath and go do what needs to be done.’

            
For a moment Jennifer stood stock still debating the merits of screaming at the top of her lungs
and falling into a fit of madness. That was what this was wasn’t it? She was hearing voices, not her
own, not her thoughts, but then she remembered the world she lived in and pushed the thought aside.
Someone else was in her head, she knew well enough without a doubt it could be done, had
experienced a case of it that had nearly led to her death. This wasn’t any different, only it seemed this
voice was trying to do the opposite. Besides she didn’t think that screaming like a girl was going to get
her many brownie points with Manson, not when they were on a hunt. There was a voice in her head,
she would deal with it when this was done and over, until then she would ignore it. Feeling more than
insecure at the moment instead of pulling the Beretta from her hip she shrugged the Remington from
over her shoulder. The movement caused a spike of pain to surge through her shoulder and down her
arm. Her fingers went numb but she clenched her teeth and forced her fingers to grip the Remington
rather than let it slip from her fingers. Without pause she brought a round into the chamber, but just the
simple motion caused another spike of pain and she realized with only some panic that her injury must
have been much worse than she’d let herself realize. The weight of the Remington was almost
unbearable for a second and she knew that the Beretta wouldn’t prove much better. As if on cue her
panic was interrupted by that soft commanding voice that wasn’t her own.

  
           
‘The arm is fine, remember to breath, think clearly, you still have full mobility of the arm
and you can feel. That’s good, don’t ignore the pain, embrace it, let it drive you. Next time it
won’t be a shock to your system if you don’t try to forget it. It will help you focus if you just
embrace it and let it be a reminder of what you’re doing here. Seven people are dead, more than
that, do what needs to be done.’

            
The calm in the voice helped her clear her vision, which had almost become a haze in her panic,
when she could see clearly again she forced herself to acknowledge the pain so she could put it to some
use. She let the pain feed her anger and the soft voice help to keep her calm. The fact that there was a
voice in her head was insanity but perhaps what made it so insane was the fact that it didn’t bother her
the way it should. The fact that it seemed to be the voice of reason instead of raving at her was part of
what kept her calm. At a moderate pace she started forward, slow enough to scan everything as she
passed. Right now she would have killed to have her M16, it’s loss feeling even more the lost limb than
before.

            
‘Focus.’

            
Who ever the hell the voice belonged to was right, again, she needed to keep away from
thinking on what she did and didn’t have and just focus on what it was she was doing now. She
scorned herself for having to be reminded by God knows who or what the voice belonged to.

            
‘Who says I’m not God’

            
Jennifer shook her head, she was tempted to tell the voice whoever he was to go fuck himself.
She could handle herself just fine without his intervention divine or not. Ignoring anything else she
focused on scanning the back alley of the buildings, if you could call it a back alley. Sure it was dark,
but this was at the worst a middle class neighborhood. People didn’t usually say back alley unless they
were in the ghettos somewhere. She didn’t try to explain why, she didn’t have the slightest clue, it
looked like an alley to her. She kept the Remington ready and aimed where ever her eyes scanned.
Despite the dark her eyes caught most of the detail, every color was murky, faded almost to a grey or
black with hints of what color they would have been in light. She was aware that even though she could
see most of her surroundings her eyes were an impairment compared to what her enemy was capable
of. In this line of work she had learned the hard way that if she had any hope of surviving she had to
learn to rely on more than just her eyes, every sense she possessed had to be open. Utilizing her senses
and poring all of her perception out into the dark had kept her alive on more than one occasion.
Manson had taught her a good majority of what she knew that kept her alive when facing monsters.
But knowing how to keep an open mind, how to let her senses wander had been something her father
had taught her and her sisters. It had been one of the things that she’d always remembered and put into
use more than once, she was aware that it wasn’t much of an advantage but she would always take
whatever she could get.

            
She knew as soon as she reached out with her senses that he would be here, this was a similar
location to where they’d found their bad guy the last time, a few buildings away from where he’d killed
his victims. Just sort of standing there, gloating to himself, probably patting himself on the back and
congratulating himself on a job well done. That he’d escaped, and more over that he’d do it again, and
again, where ever and when ever he pleased until he was stopped, infuriated Jennifer. That he was so
sure that nothing could stop him and proven it true the night before filled her with more rage than she
knew what to do with. Someone had to put an end to him and she was very confident that she and
Manson were just the people to do the job. She felt that this is where if anywhere that the bastard
would be, and this would be where it would stop. One life lost was one too many, but seven was
unforgivable, most vampires were smart enough monsters not to draw this much attention. This one
had clearly lost his mind and decided that a full blown killing spree was too much fun to pass, which in
its own way made him so much worse than the regular killers they dealt with. In general the sort that
they put down on a regular basis tried not to kill so publicly. The real nutcase’s were the ones that
killed like this, in mass number, they weren’t as prominent as the regular bastard’s who were satisfied
with one kill a night but she’d run across enough of his caliber to realize madness took them all in the
end.

            
  She stopped and Manson came to a silent halt behind her, keeping a sharp eye on their flank.
Not that far up ahead the same figure from the night before stood, his head bowed slightly to one side
as if it rested there on his shoulder. She remembered the first time she’d seen their killer last night, he
wasn’t what people would have suspected. She had thought when she was younger that a monster like
him would look the part, she wasn’t exactly sure what everybody else in the world would have
expected to find in someone who killed so easily. But she was used to them being beautiful creatures
and he did not disappoint, dark sandy blonde hair that fell past his shoulders, pale blue eyes. His face
was every young girls fantasy, which likely made them his easiest prey.

            
 The problem with these handsome bravadoes was that they expected people to love them, and
it would be a ridiculous assumption if it wasn’t so frequently true. People were stupidly disarmed by
beauty and that was part of what made vampires so damn dangerous, they just didn’t turn ugly people.
But his kind didn’t seem as gorgeous after you’d seen them pull a young rooky limb from limb. She
swallowed hard, he should have noticed the two of them by now, was it possible that their fight the
night before made him arrogant enough to imagine she wasn’t a threat. She didn’t find that likely,
though he’d killed some of them, he’d taken a good hit or two himself. Still he didn’t move, she
couldn’t decide which would be more of an advantage in this particular scenario. Let him know that
they were here because ten to one he already knew, or try to sneak up on him and play whatever
stupid game he was concocting. Given sneaking up on him was an impossibility Jennifer knew that
shooting him in the back was the only option left to her. She was going to try and alert Manson to the
predicament in front when the guy in her head spoke up.

            
‘Turn the radio off.’

            
Before she got a step forward the radio clipped to her side squawked to life. Malcolm’s voice
came over the line hushed for the all the good it did. Their killers head snapped over in her and
Manson’s direction. There was enough light to see that the sandy blonde locks on his head were wet
and caked red with blood. His face was hidden in the shadows so that she couldn’t see him clearly.
"Holy shit," something was very wrong with him, she didn’t know what but it wasn’t good. She could
not explain it but there was something debilitating and familiar about this creature, something she
couldn’t place, something that kept her frozen in fear. When she didn’t immediately shoot him he took
a lurching step forward, it looked like he was still hurt from last night. His movements were taken one
slow jerk of a joint at a time. "Stop!" she shouted, something had changed since last night, then he’d
been all speed and grace, now it was like watching a puppet move on strings. Everything in her was
screaming at her to take action, not to let that thing get anywhere near her but fear kept her in its grip
and she couldn’t seem to move. She didn’t think she could ever remember being this afraid in her
entire life, and stupidly it was probably going to be the stupid emotion paralyzing her that killed her.