Certain I didn’t want to be in the house when I came all the way down, exhaustion too mild a word to describe the feeling that awaited me, I ran to my bedroom. There, I retrieved the last of Lucifer’s blood and wrapped the vials in one of my pillowcases for safekeeping. Eve came next, then I remembered the power-dampening manacles hidden under my bed. I grabbed them and flung them over my shoulder before heading back down the hall to the living room.
My energy wavering, I picked up Chatterbox and set him on the table facing me. “Send a message to Karra. Have her meet me near the mausoleum at Rest Land as soon as she can.” Still connected to Karra through the psychic link that kept him animated, it was the quickest way to reach her. It also kept me from having to touch the zombified phone.
While he was doing that, I went outside and grabbed Black’s severed arm. It twitched as I picked it up, a subtle spasm that weirded me out, before going completely rigid. Not sure what to do with it, I really didn’t want to leave it laying around for someone to find should the world make it through the crisis. Besides that, it would make a groovy trophy. I decided to keep it, at least until I could dig up some information on the bastard it belonged to and what him and his partner wanted. It didn’t hurt to think Black would be a little easier to deal with, minus a limb.
So thinking, I added Black’s stiffened arm to my baggage and went back inside.
“You done?” I asked Chatterbox.
After a few seconds, he nodded-well, he actually rocked back and forth, but we’re talking semantics here. A black-lipped smile plastered across his face, he hopped into the pillowcase I held open and sniggered like Muttley as he got comfortable.
Through blurry eyes, I took one last look at my house. I’d lived there for over eighty years, and though the rebuild had taken some of the old charm away, it was still my home. Thinking I might never see it again, I sighed and made my way to the gate room in back. The portal powering up, me powering down, I clutched my loot tight to make sure I didn’t lose any of it in transit.
Whisked away to Chatterbox’s off-key warble of Jump in the Fire, I couldn’t help but think he was psychic.
Chapter Eighteen
Wanting nothing more than to close my eyes and pull a Rip Van Winkle, I paced along a line of graves with Chatterbox in my arms, silently reading the names of each to keep my mind somewhat active. The steady rhythm of the sprinklers filled the night air, the gardens just to the north being watered.
The mausoleum closed and locked down, I waited for Karra behind it, sticking to the shadows to avoid being seen by the night guy, Marvin.
He was a jumpy fella with bad cholesterol and an inflated beach ball for a belly. The last thing his overworked heart needed was to stumble across me in the middle of the night, holding an animated zombie head. There was enough blood on my conscience already.
On about my fiftieth loop, I felt the zombie head go rigid and I turned to see Karra walking toward us, her shape defined even in the darkness. Not wanting Chatterbox to feel alone, I started to go rigid too.
Karra closed the distance and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me in toward her. Her lips met mine and I forgot all about the end of the world, swept away in her kiss. A squirming lump between us, I felt her tongue flicker into my mouth and that’s all it took; I was at full mast.
Her mouth pressed hard against mine, I leaned into the kiss and heard her moan, deep and throaty. Though it sounded a little odd, she didn’t pull away. Encouraged, I reached around and grabbed her ass and felt her slide a hand down my stomach, to my crotch. Driven by pure male instinct-kill, eat, and fuck-I broke off the kiss to give her room to operate. Her hazel eyes met mine and she smiled sexy, her hands flittering along my neck and shoulders, the one at my groin twitching. She groaned and the power of it vibrated my crotch.
Then her eyes narrowed, her nose crinkling up. She looked at me like I’d farted, then it hit me.
At the same time, both of us leapt backward. No longer wedged between us, Chattterbox fell to the ground with a dull thud. His sallow face grinned with reckless abandon. “ Thhhhhrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssoooooommmmmme ”
While there aren’t a whole lot of lines I wouldn’t cross at least once, sometimes you just have to say no. Disgusted shivers buffeted my body as I realized it was Chatterbox who’d been rubbing up against my dick.
Karra giggled and dropped to a seat. “Bad zombie.” The words came out stuttered because she couldn’t stop laughing.
Feeling dirty in a way I’ve never felt, I circled way around Chatterbox and went to sit by Karra. I wondered if I had any bleach at home.
Karra scooted over and rested her head on my shoulder. “So, what was it you needed?”
A million things popped into my head at once, but when the filter sorted need from desperate want, only one thing made it through the wash. “I’m planning a little get together and I need help passing on an invitation.”
Her hand squirmed into mine and squeezed as she lifted her head to look at me. “Who are you looking to invite?”
“I’ve got the Nephilim hosting, but I need to make sure the weres crash the party. You think you can get a message to the vamps?”
She nodded. “Easy enough.”
As a necromancer, Karra had a special connection to the dead. While I won’t pretend I know how the damn thing works, I do know she has an effective means of controlling the lower level undead. Chatterbox’s continued existence was proof of that. That’s what made me think she could pull this off in the first place.
“Can you make it subtle?” I asked. “They’re gonna be suspicious enough as it is, so I really need them to think this is a legitimate tip.”
“I can do subtle.” She gave me an amused smile and winked.
I could attest to that. She’d led me around by my pe-nose in her quest to resurrect her father. I never once realized she’d been using me to set up Lilith, so I figured this wouldn’t be a problem. So thinking, I told her the specifics of what I needed her to pass on.
Time running short, I thought it best that I got going. As much as I wanted to stay, to wrap myself up in Karra and lose myself in her until the world comes crumbling down around us, there were people counting on me.
Fools.
Her hand still in mine, I got to my feet, dragging her up with me. She stepped in and hugged me tight, nuzzling my neck as I returned the hug with fierce enthusiasm. After several minutes, neither of us willing to let go, I leaned into her ear.
“I need another favor. Can you look after Chatterbox.”
She loosed a whispery sigh, her warm breath caressing my neck, then leaned back so we were face to face. “Until you come back.”
“Yeah, until I come back.”
We were both dancing around reality, neither willing to spoil the moment. The truth was, while she didn’t know what I had in mind, and I only vaguely knew, we both understood this could very well be our last moment together.
Only recently reunited, it felt as though we’d never been apart. For me, it was a dream come true, but like my uncle, the world conspired to ruin everything. The one thing I wanted most was right here in my arms and yet I had to leave, had to run off to fight a war that had nothing to do with me. It made me sick to think about it.
Karra, realizing I wasn’t strong enough to let her go, took the lead. Again. She pulled back and gave me a smile. “You need to go.”
She kissed me gentle, her hand grazing my cheek, before she broke off with sigh. “Come by and pick him up when this is all over.”
She went over and snatched up the zombie head as I tried to make my tongue work. Inflicted with rigor mortis, I couldn’t get it to move. Karra gave me one last smile and held Chatterbox up for a second so he could say his goodbyes, then she turned to disappear into the darkness. Once again, I was alone.