Stalked by Death

Chapter 3

I went for the door and opened it, not wanting to see how much this corpse was willing to destroy to get into my bedroom. His body probably would’ve crumbled to pieces before he got in, and I had no clue how to get dead guy out of the carpet. I swung the door open and faced the guy Leticia had raised in the cemetery. Normally, a corpse honed in on the person who had summoned them. It was a revenge thing, a desire to rip apart the one who pulled them out of wherever they were. But this guy was staring right at me.

Leticia whimpered on my bed. “What do we do?”

“We have to release him.”

“I thought you already did that. Did you leave him in the cemetery or something?”

“No. I released him, but when I went back to bury his body, he was gone.”

“Yeah, well, you found him. Now get rid of him.”

I knew I could easily send him back to Hell—I was quickly becoming convinced that’s where he’d come from—but I glanced back at Leticia. “You want to give it a try?”

“What? No! Get rid of him.” She squeezed my pillow in front of her, like that was going to stop a zombie from ripping her heart out.

“Come on, Leticia. You summoned him. You need to release him.”

“But I didn’t summon him. You said you released his soul. Someone else must have summoned him.”

I looked at the guy. He glared at me, waiting for a command.

“What’s he doing? Why is he just standing there?” Leticia’s voice cracked.

“I think he’s waiting for orders.” This had never happened before, but he was waiting for me to tell him what to do. How was I controlling him without knowing it?

“Then you raised him?” Leticia got up from the bed and walked over to me. “What’s going on, Jodi?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t raise him. At least, I don’t remember raising him.”

“You don’t remember?” Leticia looked back and forth between the corpse and me. “That’s impossible.”

“Jodi!” Alex rushed into the doorway, stopping short of the zombie. He looked at me with wide eyes. “Whoa, is that—”

“In the living dead flesh. The question is, how did he get here?”

“We know how.” Leticia was looking at me like she wanted to scream in my face. So much for our heart-to-heart. “You told me you would never raise a zombie again, but here’s one now. Did you plan this?”

“Leticia, no!” How could she even think that?

“Leticia, go to your room and calm down. Jodi and I will figure this out.” Alex stepped aside so she could leave.

“Wait.” I reached for Leticia, but she sidestepped me. “I swear I didn’t do this. You have to believe me. Everything I told you tonight was the truth.”

She paused, considering what I said. I silently pleaded with her to believe me. To stay and hear me out. I had to get her to listen. To stop running away from me.

Without warning, the corpse reached out and grabbed Leticia. She shrieked as he locked his arms around her. Alex tried to pull Leticia from the guy’s grasp, but all he succeeded in doing was breaking chunks of flesh from the corpse’s arm.

“Stop!” I yelled. “Let her go! Now!” The guy let go of Leticia, and she ran for her room without looking back.

Alex stared at me, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. This guy thought I was the one who’d raised him. Was that possible? I had to know. The thing about zombies was, they didn’t talk until you told them to. They were pretty much mindless beings unless an Ophi commanded them. They followed directions, and if there were no directions to follow, well, they’d try to eat the thing nearest to them.

I took a deep breath and looked the zombie in the eyes. His pupils were a pale blue color and one eyeball oozed a greenish liquid. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my dinner from resurfacing. “Tell me who raised you after I released your soul.”

He pointed a bruised finger at me. “You.” His voice was scratchy, like—well, like someone who’d been dead for a while.

“This can’t be happening. I didn’t raise you. I didn’t raise anyone.” My body was shaking, and I felt the blood in my veins mixing.

“Jodi, calm down.” Alex put his arm around my shoulder, but he practically jumped back the second he made contact with me. “You’re burning up.”

“I’ll be fine. I just have to relax, but that’s hard to do when I have no idea what’s going on.” I turned to Alex, looking for help. “I didn’t summon anyone.”

Alex wrinkled his forehead. “Maybe you did it when you blacked out earlier. Can you raise souls when you’re only semi-conscious?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.” Nothing was making sense. All I knew was I had to get this zombie back in the ground. I faced him. “I release your soul. Go back to wherever you were before…” I stumbled on the words, “before I raised you.”

The corpse shuddered as his soul left, and the body fell limp to the floor.

Alex reached for the guy’s arms. “I’ll get him out of here.”

“I’ll help. If what he said was true, and I brought him here, then I should be the one to put him back in the ground.”

Alex let go of the body and took my hands. “Jodi, you have to stop taking on all the responsibilities yourself. Look what it’s doing to you. You’re stressed out. You blacked out earlier, and now this. You’re summoning souls without knowing it. That’s dangerous.”

He didn’t need to tell me how dangerous it was. I knew. If I could raise this guy when I wasn’t aware of it, I could raise more souls, and that would send Hades straight to me.

“I’ll talk to Medusa. See if she can help me sort all this out.”

“That’s great, but you still need to let the rest of us help you more.”

“You do help me. Tony is teaching classes. Arianna is cooking and cleaning. You’re keeping me sane.” I gave him a weak smile.

“What about Leticia and Randy? You’re treating them like they can’t handle anything. All you let them do is train and go to classes.”

I didn’t think Leticia could handle much more right now. I wasn’t even sure she could handle training with me anymore. Not after what had happened today—or tonight. And Randy? His father was taken to the underworld with the others, too. He wasn’t exactly emotionally stable either.

Alex wrapped his arms around me. “Stop trying to protect them, Jodi. They’ll never learn to handle all this if you don’t give them the chance to.”

I nodded and looked up at him. “I couldn’t do any of this without you.”

“You don’t have to.” He smiled and gave me a quick kiss.

“But I do have to bury this body, and this time, he’s staying buried.”

It took an hour to dig up the grave. We didn’t bother burying the bodies too deep. With our training every day, it was easier if the corpses didn’t have to dig too far to get out of the ground after we raised them, and reburying them was easier if we didn’t have to dig six feet down. Still, it was hard work. By the time we were finished, I was sweaty and covered in dirt.

“That’s a nice look on you.” Alex playfully bumped me with his shoulder as we headed back to the mansion.

“Yeah, I’m thinking about bottling some of the stuff and selling it as an alternative to perfume. I’m sure the smell of the dead would be a big seller.”

“Sorry our night together had to be spent digging a grave. I was hoping—” He stopped. I knew what he was hoping, but I wasn’t exactly ready to have that conversation. It had only been a couple months. In his mind, that probably equated to years.

“I’m going to take a really hot shower and go to bed. Chase should be here for breakfast, and I want to have enough time to show him around a little before training starts.”

We climbed the stairs and turned left toward my bedroom. I could tell Alex was fighting the urge to make a comment about Chase. I didn’t understand how he could hate a guy he’d never even met. Was he really that jealous? That insecure? He’d always seemed so confident, even when we’d first met and I was completely freaked out by him. He knew I would end up liking him, and he’d been right.

“Goodnight.” He kissed first my lips and then my cheek. “Sleep well.”

“Night.” I watched him walk to his room before I went inside. I didn’t want things with Alex to get complicated. Everything else in my life was complicated. I wanted one thing that was perfect. Alex and I could be perfect. I knew we could.

After a hot shower that steamed up the entire bathroom and part of my room, I crawled into bed. My head sank into the pillow, and I was off in dreamland.

Only the dream felt so real. It was morning, and I was late waking up. I hurried to get ready before Chase arrived. I had to be there to greet him, to look like I had a clue what I was doing at this school. But when I got downstairs, Chase was already there, waiting for me. His olive skin and dark hair looking absolutely stunning next to the golden Medusa statue. He winked at me and reached one hand out. I took it, without saying a word. I was fixed in a sort of trance, unable to look away from his green eyes. He pulled me closer to him and leaned down, pressing his lips against mine. My blood surged through my veins until he finally pulled away.

That was when I gasped. It wasn’t Chase. It was Alex.

I sat up in bed, breathing heavily. Why had I dreamt that? My arms tingled, and I realized my blood was settling, returning to normal.

A heavy hand knocked on my door. Tony had already patched it up for me. He wasn’t exactly a carpenter, but it would do. I turned to the alarm clock on the nightstand. Breakfast was already being served. I was late. Just like in the dream. I threw the covers off. “Just a second!” It had to be Alex at the door, wondering where I was. I threw on clean clothes and ran a brush through my hair, before flinging open the door.

“Oh!” The word escaped without my control. The person knocking on the door wasn’t Alex. It was the same corpse I’d reburied last night. Was I still dreaming? “No. This isn’t happening. It can’t be real.”

“Jodi?” Alex called up the stairs. “Everything okay?”

Nothing was okay. I’d done it again. I’d raised a soul without meaning to, this time while I was asleep. Part of me wanted to hide this from Alex. He’d freak if he knew I was messing up like this, but how could I hide a zombie?

“Jodi?”

I heard Alex’s footsteps on the stairs, and I panicked. “Come in,” I told the corpse. “Hide in the bathroom, and don’t come out until I call you.” He did as I said. The second he disappeared in the bathroom, I rushed into the hallway and shut my door behind me.

“Hey, I know I’m late. I overslept. I guess I didn’t set my alarm last night. Is Chase here?”

“Whoa, slow down.” Alex blocked my path. “You look… Did something happen?”

“No.” I shook my head to avoid his eyes. “I overslept, and I wanted to be there when Chase got here. It doesn’t look good that I wasn’t there to greet him. I’m in charge. I should’ve been there.”

“Jodi, you need to take a deep breath. Chase isn’t even here yet.”

“He’s not?” I sighed. “Okay, good.”

“If you call being late your very first day ‘good.’”

“It’s good for me. He won’t know I screwed up. The last thing I need is him telling the other Ophi at Serpentarius what a flake I am.”

Alex put his arm around me, and we headed to breakfast. “Who cares what he thinks of you?”

“I care. I’m supposed to be the leader of the Ophi. No one is going to follow me if they think I can’t handle the job.”

Arianna greeted us as we walked into the dining room. “Good morning. Eggs and bacon all around today.”

“Thank you, Arianna. It smells great, as usual.”

I said good morning to everyone, even though Leticia wouldn’t look at me, and took my seat. Alex dug into his mac and cheese while I fended off questions about why Chase was late.

“I don’t know what’s holding him up, but I’m sure he’ll be here in time for training.”

He wasn’t. I was in the middle of helping Randy raise two souls at once when a flashy red sports car pulled up the driveway.

“Wow,” Leticia said. “Now, that is a hot car.”

The driver’s side door opened, and Chase stepped out.

“And that is one seriously hot Ophi.” She grabbed my arm as if she was steadying herself. Who knew all it would take was one hot guy to make Leticia forget she was mad at me?

Randy and Alex exchanged eyerolls as Leticia continued to drool. I had to pry her fingers off my arm to go greet Chase. And surprise, surprise, when I reached Chase, Alex was by my side. I gave him a quick “Be nice” look.

“Hi, Chase. I’m Jodi.” Alex cleared his throat. “And this is Alex.”

“Her boyfriend,” Alex added without missing a beat.

I turned to glare at him quickly before directing my attention back to Chase. He was even better looking than his picture. His eyes were a really deep green, almost like emeralds. And he had a scar above his left eyebrow. A small one that seemed to give his face more character—as if he needed it. His smile was slightly crooked in a way that made me keep staring at his mouth. I worried he’d get the wrong idea, like I wanted to kiss him or something. I definitely didn’t want to come off looking like a love-stuck girl. Leticia was doing a good enough job of that for the both of us.

“Did you have trouble finding the place?” I managed to get out.

Chase looked me up and down, and I swore I heard Alex give a low growl. I felt really self-conscious, so I started blabbing like an idiot.

“We thought you were coming earlier. I had a plate set for you at breakfast, but no worries. We can still get you set up in your room and have you back down here for the end of the lesson.”

Chase continued to stare at me, but now his eyes were locked on mine. I couldn’t turn away, couldn’t blink. It was exactly like my dream. I silently pleaded that he wouldn’t reach for my hand, because I knew in that instant I would take it, even with Alex standing there.

“Is there a problem?” Alex asked. “You’re staring pretty intently at my girlfriend.”

“You’re even more beautiful than I thought you’d be.” Chase ignored Alex.

My cheeks burned, and I knew I was turning red. “Um, thanks. That’s nice of you to say.”

Alex put his arm around my waist and pulled me toward him. “Jodi, why don’t I show Chase to his room so you can keep working with Randy?” Before I could answer, he leaned down and kissed me. Not a quick “I’ll-be-right-back” kind of kiss. A passionate “get-a-room” kind of kiss. I pulled back, completely embarrassed, and widened my eyes at him. “Don’t worry. We’ll be quick.” Alex squeezed my hand before nodding at Chase.

Chase smirked and grabbed a bag from his trunk. He kept his eyes on me as he followed Alex into the mansion. It was a wonder he didn’t trip up the steps. I tried to turn away, pretend I didn’t care if Chase was still watching me, but I couldn’t. It was like a car wreck. If a car wreck looked like a gorgeous guy.

Leticia was at my side again. “Since you already have Alex, can I get dibs on Chase?”

I gave a nervous laugh, but I could feel my blood bubbling in my veins. Leticia might want dibs on Chase, and I was happy with Alex, but it was obvious Chase was already eyeing me. And no matter how much I thought things between Alex and me were great, I couldn’t deny what Chase’s presence had done to me.

“Um, Jodi.” Randy sounded worried. “I didn’t do that.” I turned to see him pointing at the two graves in front of him. Pale, discolored fingers were clawing their way through the dirt.

Leticia looked at me and backed away. “Did you do that?”

That’s when I realized my blood was still boiling.

Maybe Alex had a reason to be worried after all.