Alexander Death (The Paranormals, Book 3) (14 page)

“I wish I were going to
any
college,” Darcy said. “Stupid Taco Bell.”

“Why did you tell me that?” Seth asked.

“I don't
know
! How many times can I say I don't know what happened? It's all a fuzzy haze and nothing makes sense.”

“Then what's the last thing you remember?”

Darcy looked at him for a long time, tucking her lower lip under her teeth and gnawing on it. “I don't know if I should tell you.”

“Who else can you tell?” Seth asked. She looked pretty upset, he thought, so she must have something to share.

“Well...okay.” Darcy looked around the Taco Bell, then lowered her head and spoke in a whisper. “They said they were angels.”

“Who?”

“Both of them.” Darcy looked around again, though the dining area was empty except for a very elderly couple arguing over the small Nachos Supreme they were sharing. “One said he was Tommy Goodling.”

“Goodling?”

“I believed him 'cause he had beautiful gray eyes, just like Ashleigh's. And he reminded me of her a little bit.”

“Who is Tommy Goodling?”

“Ashleigh's cousin. Well, he said he was Ashleigh's cousin. But later he said that he and the girl were both angels.”

“Who was the girl?”

“Some Mexican girl that was with him. And anywho, he told me that Ashleigh Goodling had a special task to do on Earth, but since she was dead, she had to...”

“She had to do what?”

“This is going to sound weird.”

“Everything's weird these days. Believe me.”

“They said I had to let her use my body for a little while,” Darcy said.

“And you agreed to that?”

“They were angels! Or they said they were.”

“You believed them?”

“You don't understand, Seth. When he touched me, I felt...” Darcy shivered and crossed her arms.

“Horny?”

“No, Dumbo! I was afraid. Not just afraid, but
really
afraid, like trembling in awe. Just like in the Bible, when God or an angel has a message for somebody. I've never felt so afraid in my life. When he touched me, I knew he was
something
.” Darcy frowned. “But now I think maybe he wasn't an angel. Maybe he was a demon sent from Satan.”

“Maybe,” Seth said. “So you're saying they wanted to put Ashleigh's soul in your body? Like
The Exorcist
? A possession?”

“But it couldn't really have been Ashleigh's soul,” Darcy said. “She was rude and used a lot of swear words at my parents. And stole my dad's credit card. That doesn't sound like the Ashleigh I know. It was probably some demon. Some girl-demon, I think.”

Girl-demon
, Seth thought.
Sounds like Ashleigh to me
. “So all this time, you've had Ashleigh controlling you?”

“Somebody claiming to be Ashleigh,” Darcy said. “But really an evil spirit, maybe.”

Seth thought about how Darcy had become friendly with Jenny and gotten close to her. It was Ashleigh, pretending to be poor, awkward, friendless Darcy so Jenny wouldn't be too suspicious of her. Thoughts whirled in his mind—Ashleigh and her opposite Tommy must have set some kind of trap for Jenny. The zombie-maker, the guy who was possibly the reincarnation of Seth's great-grandfather, had been involved, too, but he couldn't be sure how.

“And then what happened?” Seth asked.

“I said okay, I would help out Ashleigh and the angels,” Darcy said. “Then the Mexican girl angel took my hand.”

“And then?”

“Next thing I remember, I was at the hotel in Charleston, getting picked up by the cops. Everything in between is just like little bits and pieces of dreams that don't make any sense.” She looked down at the job application again. “Shootsy. Who can I put as a reference? All the main people at church are gone.”

“Did they tell you where they came from?” Seth asked. “Tommy and the other girl? Or where they were going?”

Darcy shook her head. “Heaven, I guess. Or Hell, if they were really demons and not angels.”

“Did they say what Ashleigh was going to accomplish while she had your body?”

“No, just that it was very important.”

“What else can you tell me about them?”

“That's all I know, Seth.” She looked up at him. “So I asked you to take me to Charleston with you?”

“Yes.”

“And you said yes?”

“I did.”

“Um...we stayed in a hotel together?” she asked.

He nodded.

“So did we, you know...?” she blushed.

“Oh, no, we had separate rooms. It was a suite.”

“Oh.” Darcy looked down. “'Cause it's okay if we did, you know. I mean, I wouldn't feel too bad about it.”

“We didn't, I promise.”

“Yeah. Why would you want to...do
that
...with a big fat ugly girl, anyway?” Darcy shoved to her feet. She was sweaty from the humidity and the weight of her advanced pregnancy. “I have to go turn this in. Thanks for telling me what a total jacktard I've been.”

“Darcy, you're not ugly,” Seth said.

“Just leave me alone, Seth,” Darcy told him. “I'm tired of everybody treating me like crap.” Then she lumbered to the front counter and smiled as she turned in her application to work at Taco Bell.

Seth looked down at the chili cheese burrito on his tray, still untouched in its paper wrapper. He was still confused, but Darcy had given him a lot to chew on. Somehow, Ashleigh's opposite had brought Ashleigh back and put her in Darcy's body. The unnamed Mexican girl seemed to be part of that. Darcy had mentioned taking that girl's hand, so the girl's power seemed to depend on touch, too, just like Seth and Jenny, and like Ashleigh and Tommy.

He didn't know how everything fit together, but he was starting to make some guesses. Ashleigh had taken over Darcy's body and somehow lured Jenny down to Charleston. Ashleigh's opposite, Tommy, might have used his power to induce fear in order to start the riot, creating a smokescreen against the government agencies that were also looking for Jenny. It would also be easier to kidnap someone in the middle of a riot, when craziness and violence were happening everywhere.

Then, maybe, the zombie-maker had moved in to capture Jenny. Maybe people who were already dead were immune to Jenny pox, in which case the zombies would have done the actual seizing of Jenny.

He didn't like the picture that was emerging at all. He'd been thinking Jenny was just avoiding him because he'd hooked up with that girl in Charleston. Now it looked like Ashleigh and her opposite had teamed up with two others of their kind in order to capture Jenny. He wondered where they all were now, and what they were doing to Jenny, and how he could possibly hope to track them down.

Seth was sure of one thing: if Ashleigh Goodling was back in the world, then Jenny was in a lot of danger.

Ashleigh studied herself in the mirror as she applied lip gloss. She could see the reflection of Tommy behind her, sprawled on Esmeralda's bed in his underwear, smoking a cigarette and flicking the ashes in the sill of the open window.

“You look slutty,” he said.

“Too slutty?” Ashleigh asked. She checked herself out—low-cut blouse, short skirt, a band of brown skin visible between them. High heels.

“Depends what you're planning to do,” Tommy said.

“I plan to volunteer and then get hired.”

“Guess it depends whether it's a dude or a chick making the decision.”

“It's a dude,” Ashleigh said. “I do my research.”

“Why can't I come with you? We don't have to show up together, they don't have to know we're together. I can help you out.”

Ashleigh applied mascara. “Tommy, I think you're still pretty rough around the edges for this work. You're going to need some training.”

“I'm not a dog.”

“Polishing, then.”

“I'm not a piece of furniture, either.” Tommy shoved off the bed and came up behind her, grabbing her around the waist. She could feel him getting hard, poking his way up under her skirt. “I'm a man.”

“Stop it. You're sleeping with Esmeralda, not with me.” Ashleigh smiled at him anyway. She enjoyed the time they spent in bed together, when she pretended to let Esmeralda's personality out to play. Tommy never seemed to mind that “Esmeralda” was more interested in sex than in conversation.

“I can only see her when I look at you,” he said. “Let her out for a minute before you go.” He kissed her neck. “Esmeralda, are you in there?”

Ashleigh pulled away from him. “If you're such a man, why don't you get a job?”

“I don't do jobs.” Tommy flopped back on the bed. “Don't like people ordering me around. I get enough of that from you.”

“Then get a hobby,” Ashleigh said. “Do something with yourself. We've been here a week and all you've done is smoke and drink and fuck.”

“That's the life,” Tommy said. He pulled a thick wad of cash from his pocket, from a couple of muggings he'd committed on the way across the country, plus a gas station he'd robbed in New Mexico. “If this is because you need money—”

“It isn't,” Ashleigh said, though she took several bills from him anyway. “If I'm going to do what I plan to do, and you're going to be Esmeralda's boyfriend, you have to do something respectable. It doesn't have to be great. Just legal.”

“I'd rather talk to Esmeralda about this.”

“Plus, you're an escaped convict,” Ashleigh said. “You need to keep a low profile. You can't just be robbing people every time you need cash.”

“That's what I do,” Tommy said. “How do you expect me to get a job? I can't use my Social Security number, the cops'll find me.”

“We're in a city full of illegal immigrants with jobs,” Ashleigh said. “Figure it out. It's not like you're busy all day.” She turned to face him. “How do I look?”

“You better not sleep with anyone else,” Tommy said. “That's Esmeralda's body. Get laid when you've got your own.”

“I'll take that as a
You look great, Ashleigh, and good luck today!
” Ashleigh said. She kissed him on the cheek. “I have to go. We can let Esmeralda out to play when I get home. Okay?”

“Hurry the fuck back, then.”

Ashleigh walked out through the tiny living room/kitchen and into the parking lot. A short but very muscular Latino man leaning against a low-riding black Acura stood up when she emerged from the apartment, and he folded his arms and scowled at her.

Ashleigh tried to ignore him and hurry to the bus stop, but he stepped onto the sidewalk and blocked her way.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “Just going to pretend you don't see me?”

“Sorry?” Ashleigh looked closer and realized that this must be Pedro, Esmeralda's boyfriend. Ashleigh recognized him from the pictures in the living room and in Esmeralda's mother's bedroom, though oddly Esmeralda didn't have any pictures of him displayed in her own room. “Oh, hi, Pedro.”

“'Oh, hi, Pedro?' That's it?”

“What do you want?”

“What do
I
want? What do
I
want? The same thing as your mother wants. I want you to tell us where the hell you've been all this time, and get rid of that filthy gringo you brought back with you. He scares your mother, do you know that?”

“Everything scares my mother.” Ashleigh shrugged.

His eyes narrowed. “You've changed. There's something different about you. Your eyes. Did you get contacts?”

“So what?” Ashleigh said. “Get out of my way, Pedro. I'm busy.”

“Too busy for me. But not too busy for him.” He pointed his chin at her apartment. “What good is he? Your mother says he's got no job,
nada
.”

“I like him. So, go away.” Ashleigh tried to pass around him, but Pedro seized her arm and squeezed it hard enough to bruise the bone, and she cried out in pain.

“I love you, Esmeralda,” he said, his eyes burning into her. Clenching both her arms now, Pedro sank to his knees in front of her. “I want to marry you. Say you'll marry me, right now.”

“Let me go, jerk!” Ashleigh said.

“Not until you say yes. I know it's the right thing. I can feel it. You and me, together—”

“Take your hands off her.” Tommy must have been watching through the window, because he came out of the apartment and walked quickly toward Pedro.