“Yes.”
Jax un-cuffed her hands then sliced her ankles free with his knife. He reached under the bed for the supply of thick plastic sheeting he kept there for circumstances like this. While rare now, they still happened.
Rene made the phone call quickly to their main contact at the local police station. When he hung up, a tense silence fell between them.
Jax considered how much to tell Rene, now that his brother stumbled upon the girl. Was there more than one reason he hadn’t told the person he trusted most with what he did?
Because it’s wrong.
“She wasn’t supposed to die,” he said into the tense silence.
“You cut her open, Jax. How was she not supposed to die?”
“I didn’t cut her open. I had to … to kill her, in order to bring her back.”
“Zombie? You performed the zombie ritual?”
“Every month for five years.” Jax glanced at his brother. He’d never seen Rene so surprised. “They usually live through it fine, and I turn them loose.”
“But why?”
Jax was quiet for a minute, stretching out the plastic onto the floor beside the bed. His brother was no stranger to death or violence or black magic, yet he hesitated, wanting to protect Rene just a little longer from how bad of a person he was. Rene knew about Jax resorting to black magic when normal violence failed and about the OL traitors or weak members he routinely purged to keep their crew strong and dedicated. Hurting someone innocent, however, was different. Even Jax didn’t take the death well of a woman who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I bring Therese back every month through the rite. We spend the day together, and I lose her again. But at least I know I can bring her back next month,” he explained, needing to hear the reasoning out loud. “A few times, the Red Man notices she’s not in the spirit world and shows up to kill her. Then there days where I just … I guess I’m not strong enough.”
“Jax, the penalty for black magic is –”
“Three times the harm I cause. I know. Lift her feet.”
Rene hesitated then obeyed. He picked up the woman’s feet while Jax lifted her upper body. They set her on the plastic sheeting.
“I will go to the deepest pit in hell,” Jax added. “But I might save her.”
“Save her? You crazy, Jax. How many people you kill to save one girl?”
Jax snatched Rene and shoved him into the wall, fury flying through him at the stupid question. He pressed the tip of the bloody knife to Rene’s neck. Eyes the same shade of blue-green as his glared back at him.
“Therese is my world,” Jax snarled. “I will do anything, anything, to protect her. Don’t you ever talk about her like that again!”
“You got serious issues, Jax,” Rene said, unafraid. “You gonna kill me the way you killed that girl?”
“Rarely do they die.” Jax released him, dizziness swirling through him once more. “Normally, it doesn’t happen this way. No one gets hurt.”
“How many have you killed?”
“Twenty-three in the past five years.”
“I’ll help you dump the body, but I don’t want anything to do with this,” Rene snapped. “Blood magic, Jax. You into blood magic.”
Jax said nothing, but slowly began wrapping the body in plastic.
“How you gonna save a dead girl anyway?” Rene demanded, helping him roll her up.
“It’s none of your business, Rene.”
“You’re my brother, and you’re doing something stupid. It is my business.”
“You’re all grown up, aren’t you.” Jax smiled to himself, recognizing the words he’d once told his younger brother to keep him out of trouble. “It’s too much to explain. Help me tonight, and we’ll talk later.”
Rene grumbled. He didn’t speak up again, but assisted Jax in wrapping then taping up the body. Jax took a brief break, hands shaking from effort.
Rene was watching him, arms crossed. His brother showed no sign of weakness like that Jax felt.
“Adrienne is figuring out the journal. Why won’t you give it to her?” Rene asked. “Maybe she can fix … this.” His troubled gaze went to the wrapped body.
“It’s mine,” Jax said. “I’m not giving it up. It’s all I have left.”
“It’s all Adrienne has, too.”
“You care more about Adrienne than your own brother?”
“No. But Candace thinks the journal has some meanin’, something that might break the curse, and she says there’s someone … a chosen. She don’t know what they’re suppose to do yet.”
“It’s too late for Therese!”
“It’s not too late for Adrienne. The curse is after her, Jax.”
Jax was silent. No part of him wanted to give up the journal, the last physical piece of Therese he had. He’d been stunned when Adrienne claimed to have it in the alley. Therese was his, and so was her journal.
“What if she can break it?” Rene pressed. “What if she can help you and Therese?”
“How?”
“I don’t know, man. But she can’t do nothing if you don’t let her try.”
Jax rose and paced. The idea of letting anyone else even touch Therese’s journal made him want to tear something apart.
“She needs the words,” Rene said. “Keep the thing. Just copy it.”
Considering, Jax’s eyes went to the dead girl again. What if Adrienne was able to break the curse? He could find Therese a permanent host without worrying about the Red Man coming for her.
“Take care of her, and I’ll copy it,” he said, pointing to the plastic sheet wrapped body.
Rene shifted uneasily. “I never hurt no girl before.”
“You didn’t hurt this one either.”
“You’ll copy the journal?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” Jax growled.
“Brannon is meeting me downstairs in a few minutes.” Rene grunted and leaned down. He picked up the body and hefted her over his shoulder, carefully balancing her.
Jax studied his brother. Rene was upset, that much was clear. He didn’t doubt Rene would do his part. Blood made them brothers, and their experience on the streets had made them close enough almost to read each other’s minds. Rene was strong and independent minded, but he’d never let his family down.
“How is Adrienne?” Jax asked absently, unable to shake the idea that she’d make the perfect host for her sister.
“You keep her out of your mess. She’s a good girl.” Rene’s tone was sharp.
“She’s under our protection. I have a right to ask.”
“She’s safe. Candace’s helping her. When she has the journal, she might be able to break the curse.”
And I can find Therese a permanent host. Jax nodded. At first, he’d been rattled by the appearance of a girl who looked so much like his lost love. But maybe, she was part of some larger plan. Maybe she was there to break the curse and reunite him with Therese. Maybe, she was the missing piece that Therese hadn’t been able to figure out, before the Red Man came to claim her.
Was it possible to break such a powerful curse that the gods themselves didn’t try to help sweet, innocent Therese?
Rene moved towards the door.
Jax sat down on his bed, feeling even weaker. He viewed the idea of Adrienne breaking the curse with skepticism rather than hope. After all he’d done the past five years, how did he believe the gods would let him bring Therese back from the dead instead of simply helping him break her curse?
He refused to dwell on the cost of what he’d done, the price he’d pay for abusing the sacred rite and for the lives he accidentally ended during it. Today was no different. He’d rest for a day or two days to regain his strength before the full moon arrived in two days time. Then go back to Togoun for a new spell.