Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (40 page)

"Jennifer, step away from the vampire," Tom ordered just a little too violently this time, actually
waving his gun in Ethan’s direction.

"Wow," she soothed, "I came with him, it’s okay, Tom, him and me, we came here together."
She doubted somehow that explanation made it seem any easier to digest, but she didn’t think they had
the time to go into details at the moment. At this Tom’s aim hit the floor, he looked as confused as she
imagined a cyborg was capable.

"You’re coming with me," was all he finally said when he’d clearly made up his mind she was a
lunatic.

"No, I’m working," Jennifer argued.

"I will not let you give them this, I will not let this kill you, you are coming with me." Before she
could blink his aim was back on Ethan, Jennifer knew that there wasn’t going to be any rational
conversation about this, again. She looked back at Ethan and he gave no indication one way or another
what he thought.

"Are you good," she asked just to make sure he wasn’t going to drop over dead from blood
loss.

"Yes, it’s almost sun up anyway, me and mine will be on our way, as I suspect so will you."
Ethan made a gesture and she knew he was telling his people to leave but he didn’t immediately
disappear himself. "Are you sure this is what you want," the answer to that was no, she had no idea
what she was doing anymore. Truth was childhood memory or no she wanted nothing to do with Tom
at the moment, but she couldn’t say she was comfortable taking sides with blood suckers either.

"I’ll survive," was what she came up with in answer, so far she always managed to survive.

"Then until tomorrow night," Ethan, she could tell, would have made to approach her but
because of the cyborg he kept his distance, gave her a slight bow and vanished better than any ninja
could. Whether she’d actually see him tomorrow night, technically tonight she supposed since this was
morning, she had no clue.

"Have you lost your mind," Tom all but hollered behind her, he’d been doing a lot of that this
week.

"No," she turned to him calmly, it was an odd switch to be the calm one, "given the few options
I had working with the vampire seemed like the logical thing." He didn’t like her answer, he came
charging down the carousel steps to seize hold of her arm.

"I’m taking you home," he growled yanking her off the platform behind him and toward the end
of the building opposite where Ethan and the others had entered.

"I belong here," but she knew she could protest all she liked the cyborg was cutting her out of
things again.

"Clearly you don’t," he barked but didn’t look back at her, "do you have any idea what they
might have done to you?"

"Yes Tom I’m aware of what vampires do, but for your information we are officially under order
of cease-fire from Ada herself just so we can solve this shit. I was as safe as can be, well except for
when you tried to shoot me," she pointed out.

"Are you seriously telling me you have no idea why it is you should not have been anywhere near
them. If word got back to Ada about what you were capable of," his words died when her feet went
dead beneath her like they were made of lead and dragged him to a halt. For a moment he just looked
at her and apparently her expression told him the answer. "You don’t remember at all do you, your
parents death, how I found you?"

Jennifer shook her head, "I remembered their death, my father," Jennifer paused trying to push
back the image of him digging his teeth into her mothers throat. "He brought something home, it killed
everyone and my Uncle hid me and Doug in the closet. I remember hearing gunshots, I thought you
saved us, I remembered seeing your face, but not the specifics, why what are you saying?"

Tom gave a brief look around like he thought there might be microphones in the walls, although
vampires technically didn’t need those with their super hearing and all. "Not here," he finally told her,
"I’m taking you home, we can talk there."

Chapter 26

Tom had not stopped dragging her behind him like luggage, past his people who were cordoning
off the building, out the door, it had even managed to feel like she was being dragged about when he
shoved her in some random vehicle, in the back seat no less so she got the joy of feeling like a prisoner.
Then when he reached her home, he towed her back out of the back seat, snatched her keys from her,
and persisted the luggage treatment as he dragged her inside. Khan was there to greet them, he wasn’t
overly fond of visitors so he growled at the sight of Tom and followed them into the house. She’d seen
her dog do worse, he’d all but attacked Malcolm the few times she’d tried to bring him in, apparently
Tom was unlikable but possessed a do not attack sign. He slammed her door shut behind him on his
way in and before she could so much as say a word dragged her into her own livingroom and forced her
to sit.

Jennifer thought about saying something on multiple occasions while he paced in front of her,
running his fingers through what little hair there was on his buzzed head. Finally when he looked like he
had no idea what he was going to say or where to start she broke in, "what exactly happened that night
that has you this worked up?" She was still trying to work out why he thought if the vampires knew she
would suddenly be the best prize in the world.

"You really don’t remember," was all he managed, still acting very not-Tom.

"No, up until two nights ago I didn’t even remember that I’d seen a revenant before, repression
is a beautiful thing." He didn’t laugh, but then that was pretty much business as usual for the cyborg, that
was probably why she’d forgotten that younger version of him. He didn’t smile anymore like the kid
she’d remembered back there, then again it probably had a lot to do with clearly she’d decided to
repress everything from her parents death and before the event.

"What do you remember," he asked instead of just saying what he knew.

"I remember Dad having some kind of seizure or something, chaos ensued, my Uncle taking me
and Doug upstairs." She didn’t say out loud that she remembered Doug’s hand in hers, the way he’d
prayed in the dark, or the way she’d sat there convinced her father would somehow overcome evil, that
he would save them. That she’d nearly gotten them killed when a shadow had stopped in front of the
door and she’d called it to them. "One of those things found us, I remember it pounding on the door,
trying to get to us," she couldn’t forget the sounds of Doug screaming behind her, "there was gunfire,"
and then her memory went blank. "I thought you’d gotten to us first, I remember you carrying me out,"
she couldn’t remember how Doug had followed, if someone had carried him or he’d walked.

"Do you know how these things are created," Tom asked, again not filling in her blank. Jennifer
had gotten the impression that Ada had something to do with it, though she had no idea how so she
shook her head. She wasn’t surprised at all that Tom knew, there seemed to be very little he wasn’t
clued in on. "Ada created the first one by forcing her power into a body, a truly dead human body, the
goal is to give the thing life like her blood gives life, they call it necromancy. We know that the first time
she experimented on a human but she couldn’t control it, she must have thought it would work better on
a vampire of her lineage, something already under her command before it’s death."

"Wait," Jennifer interrupted, "Dimitri is what fifteen years later, why didn’t she just do it then?"

"She’s powerful but this particular act is clearly not within that power, the first time drained her
and she was forced to wait until she was stronger." Tom divulged, "but you understand that this isn’t a
super virus we’re dealing with, it’s her vile power that animates them."

"So you’re saying it’s magic," Jennifer asked exasperated, she supposed that sounded easier to
deal with at any rate.

"Don’t under estimate it, these things could just as easily kill everything as a virus could, it’s
power without a leash. It’s master might be able to create it, but she’s no control over it, she’s too
weak." At this Tom finally did stop his pacing to look at her, "that’s why they can’t get hold of you."

"Me," Jennifer repeated still confused, "I’m good with a shotgun Tom but I don’t think that
means I’ll make the best vampire in the world." She did not inform him that Ada did want her all
vamped out just so she could use her as a power play over Ethan, her apparently disobedient favorite.

"I didn’t stop your father that night, I got to the bedroom and I froze up when I saw him." This
was something that she could not believe she was hearing.

"You froze," she asked incredulously, the Cyborg did not freeze, not even when he was killing
children.

"Yes," he might have needed to say more but the memory came back at her like a punch in the
stomach. She’d called out for her father and that thing had started slamming itself into the door.

She rocked back, fear gripping her so tight she tumbled both herself and Doug over like
bowling pins. The door was locked but the wood wasn’t so strong, every impact began to cave
the frame around it in a little more. They wouldn’t have long, but there was gunfire, Jennifer
could have joined her cousin who was still praying. But all she could do was wait, her whole
world was gone and no amount of praying would bring it back. But then just like someone had
been listening to her cousin after all the door fell silent. She heard a familiar voice and knew that
it was Tom. A shot went off, it pierced the door and sent painful splinters of wood into the closet,
she ducked back but couldn’t make herself stay. She went to the door, ignoring her cousin who
lay shaking at her feet, he made no move to stop her when she grabbed the handle and twisted.

The lock popped open and the door swung out with barely a push, her relief at finding
Tom there was short lived. He was on his back, a bloodied unrecognizable version of her father
throttling him, trying to lunge it’s head forward and dig it’s teeth in. Tom had a hold of his
throat but had to keep readjusting his hold because there was so much blood his fingers were
slipping. There was no way he could reach for a weapon, not when it took both hands just to
keep those snapping jaws back. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, she loved her father, he
was supposed to be a hero, he was supposed to save them. But he was trying to kill Tom, the boy
he’d brought home for almost every dinner since she could remember, every birthday, in a sense
trying to kill the son he’d taken in, a brother to his daughters. Watching him savagely trying to
remove chunks from that boy with his teeth and bare hands had tears of sadness quickly
becoming tears of rage.

He was no hero, he was a monster, and with that realization something in her snapped, it
was a part of her she didn’t know. But she remembered feeling as though a force had come
bursting out of every inch of her, vaguely recalled seeing it rip across the room like a wind
knocking both the remains of her father and anything else like him over.

Jennifer came back to reality with a jolt, she shook her head, she was just a Hunter, nothing else.
"I couldn’t have done anything, it couldn’t have been me," she was not a monster, she refused to be one.

"I was there," Tom tried to course correct her denial, "whatever you did, whatever came out of
you then put them down for good, not one of them got back up."

"But the house, it burned down," there would be no reason to do that if she’d solved the
problem.

"We didn’t know as much then, even now we couldn’t afford to take the chance of leaving a
body behind." Tom actually sat down on the couch beside her, Khan who’d immediately planted
himself at her feet as soon as she’d sat growled at him. "I don’t know what you did or how you did it
but I never told anyone what I saw and if your cousin saw it he never said. With what you’re capable of
if they got their hands on you, if they turned you, I don’t know what you’d be." That was funny because
at this very moment she wasn’t sure what she was either.

"What am I now," that he’d protected her little secret was yet another surprise, he was all about
killing the monsters.

"You’re a Hunter," she looked to him then, "your father took me in, treated me like family. You
are my family and I promised him I would protect that." His eyes wandered to his feet, another first for
Tom, "I failed him but no matter what is inside you you’re still just a human being, still family, I do know
that."

"You’re a Hunter Tom you can’t believe that," Jennifer nearly jumped out of her seat, the
question of whether or not she was human already driving her crazy.

"I made sure Jennifer, you’re as human as anyone else," but she knew at this point he was as
biased as any family member could be. "You’re not the last I’ve seen, vampires hunt people who
display power when they find them then turn them because whatever they have as a simple mortal gets
ten times stronger once they’re turned."

"I want to believe you Tom I do," but she didn’t think he had a clear head when it came to her.
Which explained why when she thought back on all the shouting he’d been doing lately it made perfect
sense.