Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (2 page)

“Hey, sweet thing,” he said to her.

Isabella frowned. She so didn’t have time to be hit on by an old dead guy. One in her life was enough. “What’s up, Mister Franklin?” She smirked. She could be hip too if she set her mind to it.

“Something foul is about to happen sweet chocolate darling.” His New Orleans accent was charming even if he was a bit of a letch. It pissed her off that he knew more about what was happening than she did. Sometimes being a necromancer wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

“Do I have to solve some kind of riddle or are you going to tell me?” Having the ability to communicate with the dead had some major throw backs. They never really came out and said what was on their mind. Most of them liked to play games.

The ghost chuckled. “They told me you were a smart one but they neglected to tell me you were so fine. If I‘d known, I would have taken better care of myself and hung around.”

Funny guy. She could smell the remnants of Cancer from his prostrate. It had taken him painfully and quickly. “Come on, I don’t have all night. Unlike you, I do have to sleep.”

“Prepare for the arrival,” Herman replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s all I can tell you at the moment, Slayer. I’m here to give you advance warning to be prepared for the coming.”

The other thing she hated about dealing with spirits is, they never came out and told her anything plainly. They were always warning her about something and she never found out exactly what until it was too late. “Are you trying to tell me my life is in mortal danger?”

Herman’s image began to fade.

“Hey, don’t do that. I need an answer.”

“It’s all I can say,” Herman repeated before he disappeared.

“Great, just great,” Isabella mumbled as she walked away from the tomb.
What good is his warning? What do I have to prepare for?
The Apocalypse hadn’t happened. What could be worse than that?

Isabella did a full sweep around the cemetery. No one else tried to contact her but there was still plenty of activity indicating a restlessness from the spirits. The sound was so loud it made her head hurt. Being able to sense spirits since she was a child definitely had its disadvantages too. After about an hour she decided to give up and head for her office. If any kind of crap happened in the next hour or so she would be at a place equipped with enough people to take down an army.

Suddenly the ground beneath her feet vibrated violently and shifted. Isabella looked toward the sky. The stars formed a perfect line to the Milky Way.

“Oh, oh!” Isabella braced her feet firmly on the ground. “I knew I should not have returned to this cemetery.”

Chapter Two

Isabella stepped through the door of PAK, short for Paranormal Ass Kickers, at exactly one in the morning. The place was alive with activity, including the administration office which was usually quiet around at this time in the morning. The secretary, Geena, an overzealous blonde had one phone to her ear and was watching something with interest on her computer monitor. The other two clerks were also on their telephones. Isabella heard other lines on the multi-line telephone system buzzing probably about the earthquake.

At that moment her Britain born boss, Joshua Petre, stepped inside the administration section. He waved to her. “Glad you’re here, Bella. We need you out back.”

Isabella walked past the administration desks, waved at the clerks and followed Joshua out back. There she found his sister, and her other boss, Collena, looking upward at the sky with a huge telescope.

Collena waved her over. “There’s something you need to see.”

Isabella walked over to the telescope as Collena stepped aside.

Even a novice like her knew something was definitely wrong. What she saw confirmed her suspicions.

“Shit,” Isabella gasped. “We’re screwed. Both Joshua and Collena shook their heads rapidly in agreement.

* * * *

“You have to calm down,” Collena said to Joshua. He paced the floor of the conservatory where the meeting had moved to.

Isabella agreed. He was making her nervous and she had a lot more to worry about than he did.

At the same moment the New Orleans unit had assembled, and were about to learn the very bad news first-hand.

“I am calm,” Joshua replied. “Pacing helps me think.”

Sissy boy he was, but Joshua had one of the finest analytical minds she’d ever seen. He also made one hell of a chocolate quiche.

Collena finally got control of the meeting and the room grew silent. All eyes focused upward as she opened the top of the conservatory.

“What’s going on?” Marc an electrical engineer asked. “What’s with the Earth trembling?”

“The stars have shifted and aligned right outside the Milky Way,” Collena explained, pointing up at the sky.

“And it means?” Marc asked.

“The world is pretty much fucked,” Isabella answered for Collena.

Of course, this drew all the attention her way since normally she hardly ever talked during their meetings.

“What?” she asked like it was a big shock for her to be so unladylike. “Don’t any of you know what this means?”

She was met with blank stares. “The Earth should have ended at midnight. Since it didn’t happen we’re about to take on a serious problem.”

Otto, one of the company’s physics raised his hand. “What can be worse than the world ending?” he asked. “Why wasn’t I informed of any of this beforehand.” He slapped his hand against his forehead. “My abilities must be non-functioning.”

Isabella frowned. “I’m surprised at you, Otto. I thought you were up on your mythology. How come I’m the only who knew the significance of December 21, 2012?”

Otto didn’t even seem a bit remorseful. “Sometimes I do have a life. I’ve spent the last couple of days partying with some friends who came to town for the holidays.”

Great
, she thought. Their best physic was drunk on his ass while she had been alone preparing for the world to end. She turned to her partner Ernie who was also a physic. “What about you?”

Where Otto was an enormously built white man with a flamboyant personality, Ernie Malloy could only be compared to a modern day Isaac Hayes with his tall frame, spectacular build and deliciously dark chocolate skin.

“No, I wasn’t drunk…I was preoccupied,” Ernie replied. His voice was so deep it made her knees tremble. Too bad he was married and she was good friends with his wife.

“Not even a headache?”

Ernie shook his head. “Nothing.”

Otto and Ernie were the best psychics in their organization.For some reason neither of them had received a sign the world was changing, which led Isabella to believe whoever was controlling this little situation must be a very powerful deity, or perhaps a god.

“So, what are we looking at here? Ernie asked, pushing his dark sunglasses up the bridge of his nose.

“An opening of the realm between the mortal world and the Underworld,” Collena explained.

“Small potatoes,” Ernie replied. “We’ve had that happen before and the shades have been keeping it pretty well under control.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Collena replied. “What happened back then was only a small portal between us and the Otherworld. The Otherworld’s creatures aren’t half as dangerous as the demons found in the Underworld. “It’s like comparing kittens to cobras.”

Isabella smirked even though the situation was far from funny. Alesandro would not appreciate being compared to a kitten. From a personal standpoint the man definitely had cobra written all over him.

“Can you explain all of this in layman terms?” Marc asked.

Marc was a technical genius but didn’t have any preternatural abilities like most of the other investigators. He was great when it came to creating covert necessities for them but useless when it came to fighting.

“Simply put, if anything escapes the Underworld and comes here, we’re screwed.”

Isabella smirked again. Prim and proper Collena never used such slang unless she was terribly nervous about something. From the looks of her Isabella guessed Collena knew, in order to save the world they’d have to call in some special forces.

“I’m still not getting it,” Marc replied. “Tell us exactly what we’re facing.”

Collena sighed. “I wish I could tell you. The Mayan calendar predicted the world would end on December 21, 2012. At the same time the stars would align and the world would be wiped out by natural disasters. Since today is December 22, 2012, it’s safe to say the Mayans were wrong or miscalculated. The other part of this is at the same time a portal would open and the demons from hell will come to our world and take it over, which contradicts itself. The only thing I can figure out is, the natural disasters must be the demons and not a hurricane or a meteor storm. For all I know if that portal opens as predicted, we can even be face to face with the antichrist.”

“Satan?” Marc asked.

Collena nodded. “Or worse.”

“What can be worse than Satan?” Marc asked skeptically.

“Let’s hope we don’t find out,” Isabella replied. She sighed. It would have been so much easier if the world would have ended earlier. Now she had to prepare to kick some demon ass to save humanity.

Chapter Three

The vampire loomed over Isabella Denning. Everything about him reeked of death, despair and disembodied souls. Isabella could hear them crying out from deep within him. She looked around for a way out, but she found nothing around her except the night.

“What are you thinking, Vanquisher?” the demon asked. His foul breath rasped out of his mouth like a fog.

“About kicking your ass,” she said in her sultry southern drawl.

The vampire laughed as though not stunned by her answer. “Many have tried but none have succeeded.”

Isabella fumbled with the ropes which bound her hands behind her back. It wouldn’t budge even though she gave it the old college try. “I bet you wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t tied up.” She said mocking him.

He slapped her soundly across the face with the back of his hand.

Isabella’s head snapped back, scattering her senses. Apparently his mother didn’t tell him to never hit a woman. She wouldn’t cry out and give him the delight of seeing her suffer. “Is that how you get your jollies, beating up on helpless women?”

“Yes,” he answered. His foul breath permeated the air. “But you are no mere defenseless woman, Vanquisher. You know that don’t you?” The teeth he bared were long, sharp and yellow. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth.

Blood from the hit ran into her mouth, down her chin and then onto her beige sweater.
Shit, I’m going to have one hell of a cleaning bill. That is, if I get out of here alive.

The vampire walked around her, looking at her and sizing her up like a spider would do to a fly. She knew she looked a mess. Her long curly dark hair lay plastered flat on her head and tiny tendrils curled on her forehead. Her face, she knew bore the imprint of his hand. Her clothes were torn and dirty from the struggle. This fiend, whoever he was had been waiting for her and caught her off-guard…something that very seldom happened, if ever. She swore if she made it out alive no one would ever do it again.

“Why don’t you tell me what I want to know so I can kill you and put you out of your misery?”

“Then you’d better kill me now because I have no idea what you are talking about.”

He grabbed her chin and his fingers pressed into her chin sending spasms through her face. “Of course you do. Tell me where Alesandro is and it will all be over.”

It sure would be. Alesandro would tear out her throat. “I don’t have the faintest idea who this Alesandro person is or where he is,” she lied. “Who is he anyway? While you’re at it, who are you?”

The vampire grabbed her by the neck and squeezed.

Isabella felt her breath slipping away. She tried to pull away from his grip but he had the strength of ten men. It felt like all ten of them had their hands around her throat. She tried to pull away again but couldn’t breathe.

“My name is Daton,” he said as he squeezed.

Isabella pulled away again. This action made her fall from the chair and she landed on the floor.

Daton landed on top of her, knocking the wind out of her.

“Get the hell off of me,” she tried to shout. Sweat poured down her back and between her breasts. Her heart beat erratically in her chest. Isabella was tired and dirty and he wasn’t the type of man she preferred on top of her. This thing—this half-man, half-monster had her sprawled on the floor, pinned down by her shoulders and he smelled awful. Most of the vampires she knew took pride in their appearance. Most of them did a very good job of disguising the fact they weren’t mere animated corpses.

Damn, he’s heavy.
Daton must have outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. The weight she could handle, but it was the rancid breath that got to her. The next thing she knew he got closer to her face, and licked it as if to sample what flavor she was. His long black hair covered her face.