AfterLife (33 page)

Wes put his finger under her chin and lifted her face toward
his. His whispered words were as soft as hers. “I don’t know that. I don’t know
that at all. What I do know is that you’ve surrounded yourself with a
protective wall. Maybe it’s time to take the wall down or maybe you’re still
not ready. Either way, I’m perfectly willing to wait, but my feelings for you
aren’t going to change.”

They were finally making eye contact and Wes realized it was
the first time they’d been this close without going into sync. “Why did you
come to Chicago, Emily? You didn’t have to come. No one told you to. You
weren’t dispatched by Oscar. Why did you come here?”

“I had to check on you guys,” Emily said, pulling slightly
away and motioning to Meri and then back at Wes, “I had to make sure you were
okay.”

“You could have found that out at the Hub.” Wes shrugged.
“No one sent you here. Why did you come?”

Emily took a couple steps back and looked toward Meri, who
was still sitting on the bench patiently waiting. Then she turned back toward
Wes. “I wanted to see you.”

Wes smiled at her admission. “You wanted to see me?”

“Sometimes a person has to see with her own eyes, you know,
that someone is okay. I won’t deny that I care about you, Wes. You’re my little
brother, remember?”

Wes winced at being called her little brother, but put a
half-smile on his face. “You say that, but I don’t believe it. It’s part of
your wall. One day you’ll admit that it’s more than that, and as I said before,
I can wait.”

“You’ll be waiting forever.”

“Well, then, I guess it’s a good thing I have forever.” Wes
walked toward Emily, who was standing between him and where Meri sat on the
bench. “I better go. Meri’s waiting. We’ll take the train so you can head back
to the Hub from here.”

Wes began to walk past her but Emily gently lifted her hand
to stop him as he passed. “If I’m ever able to navigate out of this darkness
I’m in, I wouldn’t want anyone but you waiting on the other side.”

Wes gave Emily a reassuring smile and briefly squeezed her
hand. “If you want, I will be here to help you find your way through, Emily. If
not, find your way quickly. I’m already waiting.” He continued past her and
tapped Meri on the shoulder. “I’ve told Emily she can leave from here so we’ll
take the train if that’s okay with you.”

Meri looked up from the game she was playing on her phone.
“Sure.” She smiled and stood. “Let’s get going.”

Wes looked back at Emily, who had turned slightly to watch
them leave. He didn’t want to leave her like this. He wanted to stay and help
her deal with whatever pain she was fighting. What internal battles was she
waging? What tormenting demons were preventing her from returning his love?
Until she reached out for his help there was nothing he could do – another
lesson he’d recently learned. She deserves to be happy, Wes thought. Everyone
deserves to be happy.

After one more look in Emily’s direction, Wes and Meri
turned and walked down the sidewalk to the nearest station. They could have
caught a bus that would take half the time it would take to walk there, but
they weren’t in a hurry so neither of them suggested it. Besides, after last
night it felt good to walk down a sidewalk in the middle of the city and, at
least for now, not worry about being threatened by Atumra soldiers. It would
take time for the Atumra of Chicago to regroup and devise their next plan of
attack.

Meri seemed to be following his train of thought. “It could
be weeks before we begin to see Atumra activity in the area again,” Meri said,
“but we will see it.”

“How familiar are you with their organization?” Wes asked.

“Pretty familiar, I’ve always been intrigued by them. They
have a strong leadership that calls itself the Body. No one, not even the
regional leaders in their own organization, knows where the center of command
is. By now the Body has gotten word of last night’s events, and I’m sure
they’re already working on a plan to hit back at AfterLife.”

“I guess last night was only the beginning, huh?”

Meri nodded. “Only the beginning.”

T
here wasn’t
another soul in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station when Seth entered and
moved toward the middle of the large room to find himself a seat facing one of
the grand staircases. He’d sent an encrypted message requesting that someone
meet him here, someone who had once meant a great deal to him before she’d
sacrificed their relationship for her position within the Atumra. If he had
ever loved anyone, it was her.

A slight echo reverberated through the Great Hall as Seth
walked across the stone floor and sat down on one of the long wooden benches in
the center of the magnificent room. He hoped his former companion would come
before he needed to catch his train. It had been more than a day since he’d
sent his message. She hadn’t answered, yet he waited for her anyway. He would
give her a few more minutes just in case she decided to show. The confrontation
with AfterLife two nights ago had forced him to lay low for now. He was sure
she was restrained by similar circumstances.

His time with the Atumra was over, Seth knew that. The
position he’d held was no longer his, and everything he’d worked so hard to
build for them was no longer his concern. He could not return to the Body. He
was certain they were already hunting him so he could be held accountable for
his poor leadership, but he had no intention of allowing them to find him. They
had ways of punishing failure that even he wouldn’t be able to endure.

 This left few options. He could probably find refuge in
AfterLife. Many of the new soldier recruits had defected during the fire. That
organization was willing to take in any misplaced soul, and they might even see
his defection from Atumra as a testament to their “superior motives.” No, he
would rather self-sever than associate himself with them. He might be an
outcast, but he still had standards. Besides, the Atumra had insiders in
Afterlife; he would be no safer there than if he went back and answered to the
Body.

He could go into hiding and survive on his own for the rest
of his days, but that wasn’t his style. He liked being in control. He had a new
plan he’d begun formulating shortly after fleeing the burning remains that had
been the Atumra of Chicago. It was a plan more closely aligned with his
personality. After all, Mortuis were designed genetically to be gods, and
deserved to be in control of antemorts. He’d always known this. It was the
natural order of things.

He’d also known from his earliest time as a Mortui that it
was his destiny to restore this order, and now was the time. Not only would he
do it, he would achieve his goals with or without the Atumra. His new plan was
to use antemorts to help him. In fact, it would probably be easier to implement
without the Body dictating every move he made, and antemorts were foolish
enough that Seth knew he could manipulate them right into servitude.

He was also equipped with everything he needed to carry out
his new plan. All the research concerning the antemort possession process as
well as some other projects he was working on was backed up on an external hard
drive that he held in his possession. He had purposely neglected to give all
this information to the Body in the event that he was put in the very situation
he was in now. To top it off, he had also been able to talk Doc, the brains
behind all of this, into defecting with him.

The sound of an opening door at the top of the grand
staircase drew his attention. It was the person he was waiting for. She’d come.
Even though he hoped she would, he hadn’t truly expected her. She saw him
immediately and descended the staircase, her high heels clanking against stone
steps as she approached the bench where Seth was sitting. Her burgundy hair
bounced as she walked, flapping back on its sides.

“Anne Marie,” Seth said, standing as she reached him, “I’m glad
you came.”

“No you’re not.” Anne Marie smiled.

Her statement may have been sarcastic but there was some
validity in it. It would be easier to follow his plan if he cut all ties with
the Atumra. Anne Marie would be the last connection he would allow himself to
have with the organization. Seth guided her to a connecting concourse where
their conversation wouldn’t be overheard as they retreated from the Great Hall.

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you the other night,”
Anne Marie said once they found their new spot. Her lips tightened around the
words as if they were difficult to say. “I don’t blame you; I know the Body
doesn’t understand what you were up against. Wes is more powerful than even I
imagined he could be. Nothing in the reports from his training indicated he was
capable of such things.”

Seth thought back to his encounter with Wesley Lohmann. Less
than five months prior Wes had been an antemort. No one could have imagined it
possible for Seth to have suffered such a humiliating defeat in the undeveloped
Mortui’s mind. The world of Wes’s creation was more complex than anything Seth
could have imagined, and the boy’s ability to be conscious in both the mind and
the physical world was unprecedented. Seth loathed Wes for what he could do.
Even he wasn’t capable of such things. “I want the boy severed.”

Anne Marie laughed. “What’s this? Are you afraid of him? I
never thought the amazing Seth would be so frightened by such a young Mortui.”

“Oh no, he doesn’t scare me.” Seth slightly retreated away from
her.

“You’re not worried that he’ll sync with you now that he’s
been in your mind and sever you?” There was a small grin of pleasure on her
face.

“No. He’s weak. He could have destroyed my body while he
held me in sync but he didn’t. There’s weakness in mercy.”

“Well, I can’t sever him,” Anne Marie said, “at least not
right now. The other Ancestors have him too close under their surveillance. Any
action at this time could jeopardize my position with AfterLife and reveal my
allegiance to Atumra. They already suspect a traitor among the Ancestors.”

“Who cares, Anne Marie? Leave them both and come with me.”

“And just where are you going, Seth? There isn’t really any
place for you anymore.”

Seth maintained an emotionless mask, even as he began to
feel a rising hostility toward her. He had wasted his time asking her here. She
always was more driven by the Body and the Atumra than by him. “If you aren’t
joining me, then I can’t in good faith reveal my plans.”

“Plans? For what?” Anne Marie raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Do you think I’d be foolish enough to reveal that we’ve even had this
conversation? Being associated with you now would only cause my loyalty to be
questioned, and I’d be subject to the same punishment you’d receive if the Body
were to get hold of you.”

“I think this conversation has served its purpose.” Seth
realized his relationship with Anne Marie would never be what it had once been.
“I have a train to catch.”

“This will be the last time we can ever talk. I’m sure you
understand why.” Anne Marie started walking back toward the Great Hall, “And
this conversation never took place.”

“No,” Seth said, acknowledging that he’d already known what
he’d come to find out from her. Her cold response to his offer to join him had
told him everything. “It never took place. It’s already forgotten.”

As quickly as she had come, she was gone. In reality, Seth
thought, she had gone years ago. When she was selected to join AfterLife as an
informant for Atumra, she didn’t hesitate to take the position even though it meant
they would never be able to see each other. No matter. Seth didn’t like being
attached to another person. Personal commitments only slowed one down.

The train slowly backed out of the station and Seth watched
the final glimpses of the Chicago skyline disappear as the train headed east.
He would soon be in New York where he would transfer to another train headed to
Washington D.C. The biggest fools of antemort society could be found in the
nation’s capital. As an added bonus there were fewer Mortuis; less chance of
being noticed. The constant media focus on the city and its inhabitants
prevented them from being able to place people in positions of power for long
periods of time without raising questions. It was because of this Seth had
worked hard to refine the possession process. However, he wouldn’t need the
possession process for what he had in mind. The antemorts would do all the work
for him.

As the train traveled through the night, Seth noticed a
young woman in the seat opposite him on the other side of the aisle. She
reminded him of Anne Marie; her hair was burgundy and she wore professional
attire that gave the impression she was tough and meant business. As if feeling
his gaze, the woman glanced up from her laptop and looked at Seth. Tonight, he wasn’t
in the mood for the friendly exchanges that normally lead up to feeding. His
eyes met hers, and after a few seconds she fell forward, her head hitting the
keyboard of her laptop. Seth centered his head on his chair back and closed his
eyes.

A few minutes passed and the train’s conductor came along
the cabin to collect tickets. When he reached the young woman whose face was
still planted into her laptop keyboard, he spoke loud enough to wake her,
“Miss, excuse me, Miss.”

She wouldn’t wake, Seth thought, and it was stupid of him to
have fed before the conductor had collected all the tickets. What would the
conductor do when he discovered she was dead? This would surely delay his trip.
Deciding to play the innocent onlooker, Seth watched as the conductor shook the
woman a second time. After a third time, the woman sat up.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I must have dozed off,” she said as she
shuffled through her bag, retrieved her ticket, and handed it the conductor.
The conductor punched it, placed it in a holder above the seat, and continued
down the car.