Rose of Jericho (Lilith Adams Series Book 2) (33 page)

She could see down to the next main street though and that traffic was moving at a decent pace. She veered through the street of stopped cars, never looking over her shoulder. She kept herself focused, using every bit of that adrenaline to propel herself forward. She cut down the alley, picking her way through piles of trash and finally emerged on the busy street. Her hand flew up as she neared the corner, hoping to hail a cab quickly. She came to a screeching halt at the edge of the street and paced back and forth, panting for breath, every single muscle screaming in pain. Cabs flew by, one after the other, and the panic started to rise.

Lilith glanced back down the alley and saw the mass of zombies swarming around the parked cars. The voodoo woman calmly cradled her plant and strolled along behind them without a care in the world. She obviously didn’t care about staying out of public view and who could really blame her. It was the night before Halloween, the one time of year she could direct a small army of corpses through Manhattan without even raising an eyebrow.

“You getting’ in, Lady?”

Lilith spun around to see a cab sitting right in front of her, the driver’s side window rolled down. The driver stared at her like she was mentally handicapped, his middle-aged face a mask of impatience with anger brewing just under the surface. She grabbed the handle, yanked the door open and slid into the backseat as fast as she could.

“Where to?”

Lilith slammed the door shut and watched as the horde thundered down the alleyway. Her heart fluttered nervously in her chest as the first one stumbled out onto the sidewalk. “Just drive!”

“This ain’t some movie and I’m not a damn mind reader, princess. Where to?”

Lilith’s frustrated mind tripped over the dozen addresses floating in her brain as she stared at the four corpses now pounding down the sidewalk. The others were right behind them with their puppet master calmly bringing up the rear. She just needed to get out of here, it didn’t matter where right now.

She blurted the first address that popped into her head just before hands slammed against the window. Lilith scrambled quickly across the seats, trembling and shaking. Her heart was beating like a caged rabbit, threatening to beat right out of her chest.

“Damn kids!” The cabbie started to reach under his seat and all Lilith could think of was the last cab driver that had tried that. It definitely hadn’t ended well for him.

“Just drive!! Now! Twenty extra if you put this damn car in gear and get us the hell out of here.” More hands slammed against the car, rocking it to the side. Lilith’s fingers dug into the cheap microfiber seat as her stomach churned. They had to get out of here now!

The car launched forward, slamming her back into the seats. The high-pitched squeal of fingernails and bone scrapping against the car filled the air and then…silence. She clawed her way up to the rear window and saw the group of corpses standing there, watching. She didn’t take her eyes off them until they turned a corner a few blocks down. Finally, the adrenaline started to seep away, her laundry list of injuries throbbing and aching as her heart finally started to slow down. She’d done it. Escaped the impossible…again. Her guardian angel was on some serious steroids with a side of Hulk-esque gamma radiation.

Lilith leaned back against the seat, closing her eyes against the migraine that was roaring back to life, the stabbing pains in her arm, the bullet wound in her shoulder and the deep gouges down her arm that stung like fire under the makeshift shirt bandage. What she wouldn’t give to have Cohen’s healing ability back again.

Chapter 26

L
ilith stared out of the cab window at the unassuming colonial style house with a frozen grimace on her face. The brown patches in the once lush, green lawn heralded the change of seasons. The slate blue paint was pristine against the brilliant white shutters and sparkling clean windows. It looked like any other house on the block, but it was who lived inside that terrified Lilith. When the cab driver demanded an address, she’d just blurted out the first one that came to mind. Now that she was here, on the edge of Brooklyn, fear kept her from opening the cab door.

“Don’t forget that twenty ya owe me. I don’t know who those people were, but if the cops come asking questions, I’ll have no choice but to tell them exactly what I saw.” He flashed a questioning look in the rearview mirror and Lilith realized that the “upright” cab driver was fishing for a bigger tip. A few extra dollars to keep his mouth shut. Of course, the fact that he didn’t freak the hell out meant that he hadn’t seen anything significant. Besides, what cop would believe that a bunch of rotting corpses attacked his cab?

“I am the police, so I don’t think that will be an issue.” Technically, she worked
with
the police. She’d never gone through the Police Academy, never worked the streets. She had a badge and her gun permits, but she was not an officer, just a technical investigator. Of course, the cabbie didn’t need to know that.

There was no doubt that the cops would find the decapitated cab driver. However, she knew the crime techs that worked the normal scenes and in a city like New York, they had an enormous caseload. They weren’t what she would describe as thorough, especially not on a scene flooded with thousands of possible suspects fitting the description of a “zombie”. In fact, if they had an eye witness the case would probably land in Lilith’s que anyway, the final resting place for the strange and unusual.

“Thank you for your assistance.” Lilith leaned over the seat with the $50 emergency cash Cohen had given her and slapped it into the cab driver’s outstretched hand.

“Cheers.” The driver flashed a toothy smile that definitely could be an advertisement for the importance of dental health and slid the bill into his lockbox.

Lilith took a deep breath to steady her nerves and then resolutely opened the cab door to the quaint family home tucked into a decent postage stamp-sized lot. As soon as she closed the door, the cab sped off down the street. No turning back now.

She ran through the laundry list of alternatives and reluctantly dismissed each one. She couldn’t go home, or to Chance’s place, or her father’s because Farren and his brood knew about them. Sure, Farren may be dead, but Helton was still out there with his zombie queen, not to mention the other mystery council members. She didn’t have the book or any way to get to it now so she was useless, which was just another word for dead.

She couldn’t go to Nicci’s because the address was in her burner phone which was lying in a gutter somewhere. Besides, if Nicci wasn’t at her place, she’d have no way to get in and no one to help patch her up. She had a bullet that needed to be removed, a dislocated shoulder and an arm she needed set and stabilized, not mention she was in serious need of a shower or five.

There was no one she could call, no other place to go. She didn’t have any choice. This was the only sanctuary she had left and even that was a ridiculous stretch. If this door slammed in her face, which was a distinct possibility, then she was out of options. She could only cross one bridge at a time.

Lilith stopped in front of the door and smoothed out what was left of her t-shirt before realizing that nothing she could do would make her more presentable. Half her top was wrapped around her arm and soaked with blood. Her jeans were split at the knees and caked in dirt, blood and god knows what else. Blood was still trickling from the bullet hole in her shoulder, and pretty much every inch of her was covered with scrapes and bruises. Even her wild auburn hair was spilling out of the ponytail holder in a frizzy, blood-matted mess.

Worst of all, nothing could get rid of the acrid stench of rotting death that smothered her clothes, hair, skin, everything. She could still feel it in the back of her throat, coating it like a fresh layer of grave dirt over a rotting corpse.

Lilith bit down on all the excuses she had to not knock, gathered her strength and rapped her knuckles against the bright red door. As soon as the sound reverberated through the house, Lilith’s muscles twitched with an overwhelming urge to just run. She wasn’t ready. She couldn’t do this. There had to be somewhere else, anywhere else. Her stomach clenched in a very real fear, fear of what she’d see when that door opened.

Before she could attempt to calm her nerves, she heard the creak of the door opening and her stomach seized violently, freezing her in place. She just stood there, panting, on the verge of a full out panic attack with her eyes glued to the door.

The soft lines of the woman’s olive skin wrinkled into a confused look that stabbed at Lilith’s heart. There were a million things hidden in those warm brown eyes. Disbelief, uncertainty, shock. What if the door just shut in her face?

“
Bonita
? What has happened?” The middle-aged woman rushed out onto the porch and started to pull Lilith inside. There were no tones of anger or hatred in Gloria’s Spanish-flecked voice. There were no tugs of contempt at her full lips. There was only concern and her usual nurturing spirit that typically forced Lilith to eat far too many gluten-free cookies and sit through painful blind dates.

The last time she’d seen Gloria, her beautifully soft face had been contorted in rage, grief and an anger so intense it burned from her warm eyes like hellfire. Lilith had been too lost in her own guilt to do anything but take whatever Gloria threw at her, even a sharp slap to the face. She thought she’d never see this familiar look on her best friend’s face ever again.

Lilith swallowed the lump of tears in her throat as intense relief flooded her body. It was just too much. “I am so sorry about Philippe…I…I miss him, Gloria.” Her voice was strained to breaking from the sadness in her heart and the fear gripping her stomach. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out, to open up that new wound that had driven them apart. To her immense relief, Gloria just smiled softly, her hands cupping Lilith’s blood splattered face and turning it towards her. Those warm brown eyes held Lilith’s steadily with a fiercely sincere stare.

“Lily, your friend was right to say what he did. It was not your fault. You hear me,
Bonita
? It was not your fault. You did not drag him to Tennessee and put him in harm’s way…” The softly sympathetic smile on Gloria’s face lifted a tremendous weight from Lilith’s shoulders. It was like she could finally take in a full breath for the first time since Philippe’s funeral.

Gloria’s smile faltered, something else lurking beneath the surface, and before Lilith automatically braced herself for the worst. “That was your father’s decision.” There was more than a slight edge to Gloria’s voice. Apparently, she’d shifted her anger from Lilith to Gregor. Sadness chilled Lilith’s heart yet again as her mind stumbled over the fact that Gloria would never be able to confront him now.

Then it suddenly occurred to Lilith that the council had her father’s body. Even if she managed to survive, she’d never be able to properly put her father to rest. She would never be able to give him a true funeral. He’d rot away in whatever dark hole the demons used to dispose of inconvenient corpses.

“
Bonita
, Lily… You come inside, let me clean you up.” Fresh tears sprang from Lilith’s eyes as she vacantly let Gloria lead her inside the house. She couldn’t get the image of her father’s corpse rotting in the dark out of her mind.

Gloria helped Lilith into a chair and shoved a warm mug of coffee into her hand as Lilith looked around the artificially sunlit kitchen. The surroundings were so familiar, so normal. She’d spent every Sunday morning for the past 4 years sitting in this very chair with her hand wrapped around this same mug. It was like a glimpse at a past life, familiar but so very far away from her life now.

Lilith sipped unenthusiastically at her hot coffee as her eyes roamed bright kitchen. Gloria was young enough to still go out during the day, but only for short periods. More than an hour of full exposure and her skin would start getting pink, then red, eventually turning to a rash, and finally anaphylactic shock.

So here, in her kitchen, she had solid walls with lights behind artificial windows and French doors. Lilith always felt it was a cool and unique way to keep the feel of sunlight without the severe allergic reaction or an insanely high construction bill. It was one of the ways Gloria and Philippe attempted to keep things normal for their girls.

“Where are the girls?” It just occurred to her that it was a Saturday and she sure as hell didn’t want Gloria’s three daughters seeing her like this.

“Erica is at cheerleading practice.” Gloria padded back over to the table with a large first aid kit, some scissors and her own mug of hot coffee. “Sofia and Rose are at soccer practice.”

Lilith couldn’t help but chuckle about how normal that seemed. While she had been running for her life from zombie queens and demons the rest of the world was moving along like normal.

Cheerleading and soccer were not what most people would consider normal for vampires, of course, but then they were nothing like Hollywood vampires. They didn’t need to wait for a thunder storm to play baseball and they certainly didn’t sparkle like some disco ball in the sunlight. Although, Erica probably wouldn’t mind if she did. Much to Gloria and Philippe’s dismay, their sixteen year old daughter’s room was plastered in Team Edward.

“I don’t have to pick them up for a few hours yet, so we have time.” As soon as Gloria leaned in with the scissors, her whole face scrunched up turned away. “What is that
repugnante
smell??” After a deep breath, she hesitantly returned to cutting off what was left of Lilith’s t-shirt to get a good look at her bullet wound, broken arm and dislocated shoulder.

“You really do not want to know. I honestly wish I didn’t.” Lilith muttered the answer almost under her breath, but Gloria fixed her with a skeptical stare.

“As soon as you are able, you are marching right into that shower.” Gloria’s stern voice left no room for arguing, not that Lilith had any intention of fight off a shower. She nodded in agreement and Gloria hesitantly returned to cutting off the rest of Lilith’s shirt for a better look.

“
Dios dulce
.” Gloria whispered the words, her entire face a mask of shock as the T-shirt finally fell away. “I am no doctor,
Bonita
.” She sat back in her chair with a huff, staring at the obvious wounds: a dislocated shoulder, the dark bruise forming from the broken humerus, the deeply gouged nail marks down her forearm and, of course, the bullet hole in her shoulder that was still weeping blood. Basically, Lilith’s entire left arm was in extremely rough shape.

Gloria’s soft rounded face was clenched in disbelief. Her eyes roamed over the wounds, not even knowing where to start. Her teeth sunk into her lower lip, physically trying to restrain the words she really wanted to say. Finally, Gloria shook her head and tossed the scissors on the table, obviously giving up the fight. “You need to go to the lab.”

“I can’t. The people after me know about the lab in Tennessee. It’s very possible that they know about the one here too and if they don’t, I sure as hell don’t want to point it out to them. I can’t put more innocent lives in danger. I just can’t take the risk. Not now. I can walk you through it.”

Gloria’s eyes hardened in frustration, turning her fear into something easier to manage. She crossed her arms, easing into the chair, pinning Lilith with her stare again. “Who is after you? What is going on? Is it something from Tennessee? Does it have to do with Philippe?”

“Help fix me up and I’ll tell you…everything.”

“Everything?” Once Lilith nodded, Gloria’s chin dipped in agreement and she pulled herself up from the chair. She took a deep breath that pulled her up to her full five foot six frame with a false bravado that Lilith appreciated. This wasn’t going to be easy, but at least Gloria seemed determined to try. “What do I need to do?”

*                                          *                                          *

Two excruciatingly grueling hours, an entire bottle of searing alcohol, and a whole lot of reassuring instructions later, Lilith was finally fixed up and clean. There were a few tenuous moments where Lilith blacked out from the pain, but Gloria was a trooper. She managed to tough it out even though she looked like she was about to black out herself most of the time. Removing the bullet had been an ordeal, but the worst was definitely resetting her arm. It had taken twenty minutes just to get Gloria to work up the nerve.

Lilith let the steaming hot water run over her for what seemed like forever. She let it wash away all the stench, grime and blood but it couldn’t wash away the anguish in her head. Everything weighed down on her like lead weights, squeezing the life out of her. She had no options left. There was no way Farren and his she-devil pet had gotten away from that apartment of horrors. Although the thought of the two of them dead definitely made her heart feel a touch lighter, it didn’t outweigh the fact that another enemy now had the book. How could she possibly escape the death sentence awaiting her now that the book was gone?