This Side of the Grave

Chapter Twenty-­seven

I stared out the window, lost in my thoughts, barely noticing the blur of buildings that we drove past. Most of Memphis had recovered from the terrible flooding last year, but here and there, you could still see signs of the water’s ravages. The people had bounced back, though, reopening businesses and rebuilding homes. Ghosts might have proved to be a surprisingly tough bunch, as Fabian pointed out, but my species—or former species, I guess—was pretty resilient, too.

I frowned when Vlad turned the corner and went down a long street that didn’t look like it was anywhere close to the bar we were supposed to go to.

“You’re not lost, are you?”

He glanced at me, one side of his mouth ticked up in a sly smile. “Field trip,” he said, taking the next right.

I took one look at the wrought-iron arch at the end of the road and shook my head.

“A cemetery? We agreed that Mencheres was doing recon on Apollyon, not us!”

“We’re not here looking for Apollyon or any other ghouls,” Vlad replied evenly. He parked at the farthest spot from the entrance before turning to fully face me. “We’re here because you’re going to try that new trick you picked up from Marie.”

For several seconds, I was speechless, torn between wondering if I should lie and say I didn’t know what he was talking about, or demand to know who told him. I couldn’t imagine that Bones would have said anything to Tepesh. They certainly weren’t close.

“What do you think you know about that?” I settled on at last, giving him a hard look. No way would I start babbling out a confession, even if he was drilling me with the ol’ Dracula knowing stare.

“I know you didn’t start wearing garlic and weed just to make a bold fashion statement, and that your sudden popularity with ghosts didn’t start until after you saw Marie,” Vlad said, his mouth twisting. “Hadn’t quite worked it all out until this morning, when I heard you mention being able to stand the ‘freaky ghost juju’ from Marie during that unutterably sappy conversation you had with Bones. Then I realized what was going on. Very impressive, being able to absorb powers from ghouls, too.”

“Are you crazy?” I hissed, looking around. “What if this cemetery is crawling with you-know-who’s people and they overheard you?”

He snorted. “It’s not. I’d feel it if there were ghouls here. I’m a lot older than you, so my range is stronger. The only dead things around for a mile in any direction are you, me, and everyone buried under the dirt.”

That mollified me, but I still remembered the warning Bones had relayed from Marie about what would happen if we told anyone that I’d drunk her blood. “It’s not just the dead or undead we need to worry about overhearing,” I said, jerking my head toward the window.

“If you see a ghost, just order it not to say anything,” Vlad replied inexorably. “Don’t think that’s escaped my attention, either, Reaper.”

Aw, fuck. Well, what did I expect? Despite the garlic and ganja armor, some of them still made their way to me and I’d had to send them off with a firm instruction not to come back. With staying under the same roof as Vlad for the past week, he had to have overheard, even if I’d tried to make my orders really soft.

“This can’t become common knowledge,” I said finally.

Vlad let out a single laugh. “To use a phrase from your generation, no shit.”

“I think that expression’s older than my generation,” I muttered, but let that drop. Vlad knew and that’s all there was to it. At least he wasn’t the gossiping type, so I still had a decent chance at this not getting around. But what he wanted me to do was out of the question.

“You don’t understand what you’re asking for. It’s not as simple as holding a séance. It’s too dangerous.”

Those coppery green eyes bored into mine. “I know very well what Marie can summon, and if you can now also call forth such creatures, that would give vampires a critical edge if we are unable to kill Apollyon and prevent war from breaking out.”

“Calling them forth isn’t what scares me,” I said, a shiver of remembrance running through me. “Controlling them once they’re here, or sending them back, that’s the problem.”

“This is far too important for you to refuse simply out of fear,” Vlad retorted.

“You just don’t get it.” I swiped a hand toward the cemetery for emphasis. “Those things—Remnants, Marie called them—are like ghostly land mines, and you’re asking me to stomp on them to see if I can direct the blast radius! It’s not fear for me that I’m saying no. They didn’t hurt me last time and probably wouldn’t again. It’s fear for you if I do it and fail.”

Vlad held up his hand. Flames covered it, indigo and orange intertwining across his skin without singeing a single hair.

“The power I have is only valuable because I can and will use it. Apollyon’s right; Marie’s new lack of allegiance to vampires is a game changer, but we now have the ability to counter the ghoul nation’s most devastating weapon through you, but not if you refuse to wield that power.”

I remembered the icy, ravenous feel of the Remnants, the mental maelstrom of their voices in my head, and shuddered. “I’ll wield it, or try to, only as a last resort. You don’t know how strong the Remnants are. I could raise them, lose control of them, and then end up watching them eat allies and enemies alike. Only a fool throws a risky Hail Mary pass in the first quarter of the game.”

Vlad’s brow arched insolently. “No, only a fool would attempt to see if their best weapon works during a battle instead of before it.”

“There are days when you really push my buttons, Tepesh,” I snapped.

“And there are days when I wonder how you’ve survived as long as you have,” he countered. “You won’t get a better chance to test your abilities than right now. Bones isn’t here, so your biggest concern is gone, and you can risk my life because I accept the danger, and because friends might be rare, but they’re not irreplaceable. Now, let’s get in the graveyard and get started. Before Mencheres calls and then lectures us into an early grave about how imprudent this idea is.”

Vlad’s face had been granite-hard during the first half of his speech, but then his lip curled almost impishly at that last sentence. I was torn by anger at his disdainful comment about my survival skills, dismay at how casually he assumed I’d react to his death, and amusement at how an over six-hundred-year-old Master vampire could still sound like a naughty kid planning to outwit his babysitter.

“You have got to be one of the most unusual people I have ever met, and considering all the strange ones I know, that’s saying a lot,” I managed, shaking my head.

His grin was shameless. “If you’re just now realizing what an original I am, Catherine, you’re even later to the game than I imagined.”

“Your arrogance deserves its own zip code, Drac,” I said, laughing despite myself.

“And you’re stalling. Get out and let’s get started.”

My flash of good humor vanished under an onslaught of nervousness. “Maybe we should wait for Mencheres. With that power of his, he might be able to help if things get out of hand—”

“Not when it comes to anything from the ground,” Vlad cut me off. “Grave magic is immune to Mencheres’s telekinesis. That’s why he couldn’t do anything to the zombies that New Year’s Eve except grab a sword and start hacking away at them like the rest of us.”

Good point. I hadn’t ever wondered why Mencheres hadn’t tried to stop that attack with his power. Probably because I was too busy thinking, Holy shit, we’re all gonna die!

And some of my friends had died. Nothing good ever came out of being close to magically raised creatures from the grave, in my experience. That brought up another concern, a less deadly but far more embarrassing one. I cleared my throat, glancing away from Vlad.

“You know, Marie said it wouldn’t happen that bad again, but just in case . . . if I do this and safely put the Remnants back, then all of a sudden start coming on to you, I don’t mean it. It’s just the aftereffects of being connected to the hungers of the dead. Not me suddenly having a crazed desire to jump on your jock.”

Vlad threw back his head and roared with laughter. Pink tears gleamed from his eyes before he reined himself in to just a few lingering chuckles.

“I’ll be sure to thwart any jock-jumping attempts you might make on me or anyone else,” he replied at last, his lips still twitching.

I sucked in a deep breath and then blew it out, trying to center myself before I made a leap into the other side, metaphorically speaking. I had no idea how to raise the Remnants, but I assumed I’d start with trying to tap into the connection I felt to ghosts and work my way up from there.

“You sure you want to be close by when I do this?” I asked, shooting a worried look at Vlad. “At best, you’ll get hurt. At worst, I won’t be able to stop them from killing you.”

His expression was a mix of utter ruthlessness and reckless challenge, making me wonder if he’d looked that way when charging on horseback into battle all those centuries ago.

“I’ve lived on the razor’s edge of death most of my life. Save your coddling for children, Cat; it’s wasted on me.”

Damn arrogant Romanian price. I hoped those weren’t his last words.

“All right.” I began to pull out all the packets of garlic and pot that I had stuffed inside my clothes. “Let’s try this.”