Chapter Thirteen


The day just seemed to float right by. Around seven, I got a call from Claudia. She was bitching at me, but she understood. I told her about Daniella and she dropped the subject. I explained that I had to raise a zombie, kill Killian, and demolish Chandra and her whole crew. Or at least Chandra. Not too much trouble, right?
She told me to wait for someone. She said she couldn't have me going alone. I argued with her until I finally figured out I'd lose. Shit. Someone was coming with me.
"I asked Richard to come with you Sara."
"No!"
"You can bitch and whine all you want Sara, but Richard is coming. You can either live with it or be bitter with it. Either way, he's coming."
"Fine. He better stay out of my way."
"He will."
"Fine. Bye"
"Bye."
I hung up. I was pissed, but maybe it was good that he was coming. Oh sure it was. It was good that Julie died and that Daniella is missing a finger. Just great.
I took a bath and changed into my normal clothing. A white tank top that covered my hip holster, a black, thick cotton jacket that hid my shoulder holster, my knives, and my cross, and black pants with an inner pants holster. I was packed tonight.
Richard showed up in an old Mustang about twenty minutes later. I told him to get in my Jeep and he agreed. Nice to see that.
He and I drove around and talked for about two hours until the sun was completely down.
We talked about his girlfriend and his work. About the triumvirate he's involved in and why he hates it so. He also told me it was amazing that he told me about it. He usually doesn't tell people about his problems that easily. But to me, he looked like the ultimate boy scout.
We arrived at The Downward Spiral at around 9:30. It was party time. I had my shotgun in my Jeep, my guns in their holsters, and the knives in the sheaths. I wasn't going down like a fool this time. No damn way.
When we walked inside, the place was almost completely empty. No bartender, just Maury sitting at the bar. He motioned for me to go to him. I went, of course.
"I pray you are feeling better, Sara."
"Of course you would."
He smiled, but I frowned. "I don't want to make this complicated. Just raise the corpse, get paid and then we all get to go home. You miss Texas, right?
"You know it."
"Well, after tonight, home sweet home you go."
"Question."
He stared at me for a few blank seconds, then he finally said, "ask away."
"Why did we meet here?"
"This is the only place besides the hotel you actually know of, right?"
"Yeah, but why not the hotel?"
"This place is less formal."
"Bullshit." I put my elbow on the counter. "Why here?"
"Ms. Pezzini, nothing gets by you."
"You know it."
He sighed and finally told the truth. "We are here because the relative I am wanting to raise is in direct correlation to Chandra."
"That sounds so fucking horrible Maury."
Richard, who was just sitting beside me silent finally spoke up, "please tell me she wasn't a slave."
"I can't."
I slammed my fist down and cursed. "This corpse is over a century, isn't it?"
He didn't answer.
I grabbed his tie and pulled him closer to me. "Isn't it?"
"Yes." I let him go abruptly. He fell back and tried to fix his tie, but it wasn't working. I was so pissed.
"I won't raise it. We are leaving Richard." Richard began getting off the bar stood.
"No, you are not." Out of nowhere that bitch was back.
"Chandra." Maury sounded just as surprised as I felt.
"In the flesh," she spun around as if showing her dress off and then continued, "Sara, you are going to raise that corpse. That corpse can make me extremely wealthy. I will kill you if you don't raise it."
"Well, if you kill me Chandra, maybe then you can raise the corpse."
She threw her head back and laughed. "My child. No. You are the only necromancer that we know of that can raise the dead back to living. You are the key."
"I'm not doing it."
"You will, my child. You will."
She stood completely in front of me. In her hand was the main reason why I should go, she had another limb of Daniella. Daniella's thumb. I heard Richard in the background, but I ignored him.
"If you want to keep Daniella alive, my child, I suggest you come along."
She had me beat. I followed her out the door. The bitch was going to win.