Chapter 1. Mercy's last hurrah
Mr Snow sidles towards me.
My thumb, locked against the trigger of the bomb, is no longer part of me. Beyond reach or use. And my mind, my will, spirals away, draining from me as I'm caught. Trapped by those pallid blue eyes which command mine; filling my world, drowning my consciousness as they burn.
He forces my attention and reactivates his brand, down deep where my soul used to be.
His blood. His blood sears my veins, cauterises my brain. Every cell and tissue silently screams.
His service, my being is bound to. As he untangles the wire and removes the bomb, every fibre of my body and mind yearn towards him. They resonate as he whispers, "Let it fade and decay, Hal. Fade and decay".
I feel the last bloom of my resistance, my awareness, shrivel, leaving nothing. Nothing but craving. Above all, to do my master's bidding.
As his crushing will demands, I drift over to the place indicated on the grid. I am ... entranced. There is no I.
A yell. A woman. Familiar.
"Give me back my fucking baby!"
Annie... ANNIE...
I shake my head, and the fogging clears a little, round the edges. Annie is here. And Alex. Vampires tumble right and left at their assault. Neither of them are violent by nature – especially not Annie - but just look at them now.
Hope swells within me, returning my strength. Snow's mistress lunges for me, and I duck and weave, still somewhat stupefied. Straight into the path of his wife. And now they're both at it, hurling blows, as I hold them back. Women!
Snow raises his hand, and smothers us with his will. Calm descends. He indicates for Annie to approach.
I fight to focus. My mind crazes and cracks. I can't function.
Fog swirls back. Obliteration. Oblivion.
Words. Snow's power must be wavering. Annie's words.
"Hal isn't a living thing."
"Err... what?"
The grip of ghostly fingers on my shoulder. Blackness... enshrouding... absolute. Then light.
I hurtle towards the ground, too late to save myself from falling. The gravel stings where it lacerates my skin.
I can breathe. I can feel.
My blood surges – adrenaline or something similar – and my mind. My mind is my own.
I'm alive. Or as near as a vampire can ever be.
As I push myself up, preparing to stand, I see Alex stretched out beside me on the concrete of the old docks. She must have saved me. That was, that was – rentaghosting.
Staggering to my feet, I offer her my hand, to assist her in getting up. I can hear running footsteps. Quite heavy. And the scent. Werewolf. No? Well yes -Tom. He calls to us,
"Where's Annie, where's Eve?"
Argh. My head reverberates. Snow's voice. Screaming "NO". Turning towards Stokers, pain seizes my body. I'm burning alive. The agony crescendos. Dimly I sense Alex and Tom holding onto me. Keeping me upright.
BANG!
The warehouse splits apart like a volcano exploding. Flame and fire billows high into the air. Ash and debris are tossed from the inferno. And the heat. A solid wave that washes over us. Even here we are too close.
Snow's control avalanches away from me. Emptiness. Silence. Freedom... For the first time in 500 years. Freedom of a sort. Could he, really, be finally, gone?
I see Tom speaking. To me. To Alex. It's like he's on mute. When I turn to Alex, she looks as confused as I am.
I grab his shoulders and turn him towards me. Speaking slowly and clearly, I enunciate,
"Tom, I can't hear you."
But then Alex is there. She shakes her head at both of us, and I can feel the sadness that pours from her. Straining, I can just about hear her, combined with lipreading, but it's getting easier. My ears are clearing.
"Annie, Eve", she points to the conflagration, "in there."
Tom sinks to his knees – he must be able to hear better than me at this point – throws back his head and howls. I wish I could just let go and join him. It's more apt than anything I can muster.
"Wait here", Alex commands. She vanishes. I reach down and squeeze Tom's shoulder. There is nothing I can say. I can't tear my eyes off the flames and I'm trying not to cough as the smoke – the smell – drifts towards us.
Alex re-appears, walking towards us. Tears stream down her face. In her arms, a small charred bundle. Eve. Oh, no.
Tom, crying even harder now, stumbles to his feet, lunging towards Alex. He takes the baby and cradles her, crooning as if he's able to reach her, as if he's going to feed her. He doted on that child. So very much.
"Why isn't she vapourised?"
I could kill myself the minute the words fall from my mouth. Eve is very definitely dead. What else matters?
"I dunno. Annie was holding her, so she'd have been in the middle of it. Maybe Annie's – err body, energy, whatever it is that we are – shielded her from the worst of it. Just not enough."
Alex regards me carefully.
"The Old Ones, they were sort of like your family?"
How can I tell her that it's not their loss that grieves me? She carries on,
"Well, all I found was Eve. No unconscious vampires – or talking ones for that matter – or Annie. Just Eve. And I guess dust and ashes."
So, the prophecy came true – after a fashion. Eve was the War Child and her death saved the world from the vampires and the council's burgeoning egomania. She was killed, but the nemesis didn't have a burned arm until after the detonation. Not even then. Ghosts don't burn. But Annie did burn in a different way – with love. For all of us, but especially that little girl.
I'm still trying to get my facts straight.
"Annie did this? She detonated the bomb?"
Alex nods, "after reminding me that you weren't a living thing and therefore I could rentaghost you."
"And you couldn't take Eve – because she was living."
"Exactly."
Annie's last act, the final of her many mercies, had been to save me. She and Alex. I was humbled. I hoped that I was worth it. No. No. I have to be. No question. For Leo and Annie, Pearl and Eve. The debts that I owe them all.
Tom looks up, still holding Eve's remains, and wiping his nose on the back of his hand. I offer him a handkerchief.
"But why did she do it? Kill Eve? She loved her."
"Tom", I search for words, "you need to understand..."
Alex cuts straight across me.
"Because some things are worse than death. And a life in a tower of bone, watching as your whole species was slaughtered, is one of them. Besides... That Snow guy. He was a creep-fest and a half, I'm telling you. Even Cutler had nothing on him.
No. Whatever there is. When you cross over. It has to be better than that."
"So," Tom sniffs but his eyes are drying, "Eve is in heaven like, with Annie, and with George and Nina. And, and me Dad. And nothing, no bad men or vampires can reach her there."
Alex nods, and Tom continues,
"She was robbed. Of a life. Of a chance. But if she's happy. And Annie. Annie wouldn't leave her."
Alex comforts him. I both admire and envy her how good she is at this. And Eve. She could never have had a normal life. It was dubious before Mr Snow found her and impossible afterwards. For all that my heart has been ripped from my chest again, I agree with Alex, and with Annie. She did the right thing, even though it would have broken her to hurt Eve. I hope beyond hope that she can learn to live with it, wherever she is in the great beyond.
Sirens. Two police cars scream to a halt, along with 3 fire engines. This is where the humans take over. They'll never know how lucky they were.
We need to get out of here. Alex offers to get something to wrap Eve in but Tom declines, his face set. He passes her to me and I hold her gingerly, even more afraid of hurting her in death than I was in life. Tom pulls off his hoody, his sweater or whatever he calls it, and wraps Eve in it so tenderly.
It's time to go home.