Afterlife Read online

  “Okay,” I said as we reached him. “Let’s just get out of here. I never want to see this place again.”

  Balthazar didn’t move; he and Lucas just stared at each other. For years, they’d loathed one another; only in the aftermath of my death had they been able to work together. Now, though, what I saw between them was total understanding.

  “I’m sorry.” Lucas’s voice was rough. “Some of the stuff I said to you — about choices, being a vampire, and everything like that — Jesus. I get it now.”

  “I wish you didn’t. I wish you’d never had to understand.” Balthazar closed his eyes for a second, maybe remembering his own transformation centuries ago. “Come on. We’ll get you something to drink.”

  With a pang, I realized that Lucas and Balthazar understood each other now on a level that I would never fully grasp. For some reason, it felt like a loss. Or maybe in that moment, with Lucas seemingly so far from me in spirit, everything felt like a loss.

  Balthazar drove us back toward the nicer neighborhood in Philadelphia where Vic lived. Lucas and l sat together in the backseat, his hand gripping mine tightly, his gaze focused in the distance beyond the windshield. Sometimes he frowned and closed his eyes like a person in the throes of a migraine; his feet moved restlessly against the floorboards, as though he were pushing back, or attempting to push through. He didn’t want to be here, to be contained — everything around him now was just one more thing between him and the blood he needed. I knew better than to try to get him to talk. After he’d had something to drink, then he would be okay. He had to be.

  Balthazar broke the wretched silence by turning on the radio, classic jazz, the kind of thing my dad used to listen to around the house. As Billie Holiday crooned about foolish things, I wondered what my parents would say now, and whether there was any advice they could have given us. We’d parted badly before I ran off with Lucas at the beginning of the summer; at the moment, I missed them so much it hurt. What would they think of everything that had happened in the past couple of days?

  I glanced at Lucas — the pale cool stillness of his flesh, the way that death had brightened his eyes and carved out his cheekbones — and thought bleakly, Well, they always wanted me to end up with a nice vampire boy.

  The car turned onto the road where Vic lived, an upscale area with broad yards separating the palatial homes. As every house had a four — car garage, we rarely saw other cars out on the street, but there were three right in front of Vic’s house. Not the usual kinds of Mercedes or Jaguars that drove around here either — these were beat — up trucks and station wagons. Something about this began to feel familiar.

  Then I realized nearly a dozen people were standing in the street and in Vic’s yard. When I glimpsed a stake in one man’s hands, I realized at least that some of them were armed.

  “Is this Charity’s tribe?” Balthazar said. “Is she still after Lucas?”

  I remembered the e-mails Lucas had sent out just before my death, when he’d been so desperate that he’d asked anyone and everyone for help, even people we had every reason to expect to turn against us. His messages had been answered.

  “It’s not Charity,” I whispered. “It’s Black Cross.”

  Chapter Two

  “BLACK CROSS,” BALTHAZAR REPEATED. IF I HADN’T been there when Black Cross captured Balthazar — and tortured him — I might have thought he was being very calm about the fact that a band of vampire hunters had showed up. Instead, I could see the hints of fear and anger submerged in his gaze. His fists tightened around the steering wheel. “We should get out of here.”

  “We can’t just leave Vic and Ranulf!” I said.

  Then Lucas leaned forward and whispered, “Mom?”

  I saw her, too: Kate, a Black Cross cell leader and Lucas’s mother. Her honey gold hair, so like her son’s, shone beneath the streetlamp’s light; shadows etched the firm muscles of her arms and the stake she wore at her belt. When Black Cross had learned of my true nature and cast us out of their cell, they’d kept her away. I’d always believed this was because of Kate’s fierce love for her son, which was often hidden beneath her discipline and duty but was undeniable. Was it strong enough to sustain them now?

  “It’s okay,” I said to Balthazar. “She brought some friends and came here to help Lucas, not to hunt. See?” Pointing, I showed him where another Black Cross hunter was at the front door, apparently asking Vic a lot of questions while Vic did a bad job of looking casual.

  “These ‘friends’ are some of the hunters who captured me and discovered you, Bianca,” Balthazar said. “They might have come here to help, but once they see us, all bets are off.”

  “I need to talk to her,” Lucas said. “If you guys want to go, go.”

  I wasn’t afraid for myself; these hunters knew little about the wraith and would be unable to hurt me. That didn’t mean I Wasn’t afraid. “Do you think Kate can protect you from them? And Balthazar?”

  “She’ll hold off if I tell her to,” Lucas insisted.

  “And what about you?” Balthazar said. His hands only clutched the steering wheel harder. “Who’s going to hold you off?”

  Lucas glared at him. “I won’t attack my own mother.”

  “You think that now. Wait until you get out there and smell fresh blood. You’ll be able to feel her pulse, almost — like a magnet, drawing you in.” Balthazar knew too well what he was talking about; his first act after being turned into a vampire had been to murder his own sister. Also, the hunters had begun paying attention to our car, moving closer. Balthazar continued, “If we’re going, we need to go now.”

  “We’re not going.” Lucas’s jaw was set, his stare resolute. “I can handle it. I’ve got to. And — come on, it’s my mom.”

  As he slid out of the back seat, Balthazar glanced at me in the rearview mirror, like I was suddenly going to take his side versus Lucas’s and run away. If Lucas trusted himself, then I would trust Lucas. I simply stepped out behind him. Balthazar could get out of the car to back us up or not; I didn’t care.

  “Lucas?” Kate said. She jogged toward him, a smile lighting her face for the brief moment before she saw me. In the distance, I could see the hunters walking toward us and away from Vic’s house, and Vic slumping against his doorjamb in relief.

  “Mom.” Lucas remained still, as if frozen to the spot. His features tightened, and I could tell that he was staring at her throat. What Balthazar had said was true. He could feel her pulse — sense her blood.

  Kate’s eyes narrowed as she came closer to us and saw at me. “Thought you were supposed to be sick,” she said. Distrust and contempt laced her every word. “So sick you couldn’t move.”

  “I was,” I said. “But — not now.” I couldn’t exactly claim to have gotten better.

  “No more reason for Lucas to stick around, then.” Kate held out her hand to her son. “You can come back. It’s okay. The people who would hold it against you — we don’t need them. All you have to do is realize you made a mistake.”

  Lucas didn’t take her hand. “I didn’t make a mistake.” His voice was thin, his words forced. His eyes glittered brightly in the dim light, and I could sense the waves of killing madness washing over him. Yet he stood his ground. “I love Bianca. I made my choice. But . . . I’m glad you came.”

  Movement in the farther distance caught my attention. My eyes widened when I recognized two of the hunters in this small group, standing at the far side of Vic’s lawn — a heavyset, dark — skinned woman with her hair in thick braids, and another with golden skin and hair sheared crazily short against her scalp: Dana and Raquel. Dana had been Lucas’s best friend since they were little kids, and when my true nature had been revealed, she was the one who had helped us escape. Raquel had been my best friend and junior — year roommate at Evernight Academy, and the victim of a terrible wraith haunting ever since childhood. She had run away with Lucas and me, joining us when we’d become part of Black Cross.

  Raquel was also
the one who had turned me in to Black Cross when she’d realized I was the child of vampires.

  They loved each other. Would Raquel have come around to Dana’s way of thinking and stand with us now? Or would Dana side with Raquel instead of the old friend who had abandoned her?

  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.”

&
nbsp; “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.