Up From the Grave

Six

What do you mean, her ghost?”

The same question resounded across my mind, but Tyler asked it first. Maybe I was still too shocked to respond.

“It’s the blood,” Marie replied, nodding at my red-smeared lip. The unearthly echo had left her voice, and she spoke with her normal sweet Southern drawl.

“Blood unlocks the power of the grave. With it, a Mambo can raise Remnants and transform the newly departed into a ghost if the Mambo draws her blood when that person dies.”

I racked my brain to remember the last moments of Don’s life. Had I inadvertently drawn some of my blood, as I’d done now by biting my lip? No, I’d been crying too hard—

Bones’s pitying look coincided with a flash of understanding. Vampire fluids were pink due to the limited water-to-blood ratio in our bodies, but when Don was dying, I’d cried so much that my tears had turned scarlet, staining my blouse and the floor by Don’s bedside where I’d knelt, not leaving even after his heart had stopped beating . . .

“You can turn people into ghosts?” Tyler sounded almost afraid.

Guilt made my voice a croak. “Not anymore.”

Then I met my uncle’s gaze. If I lived to be a thousand, I still wouldn’t forget the anguish I saw there—or the anger.

You did this to me! his expression screamed, and he no longer meant the Remnants’ pitiless assault. That would end, but his suspension between this world and the next wouldn’t. He wasn’t a spirit who’d held on because he still had one final task to accomplish, as we’d been hoping these past several months. No, he was one of the cursed few who could never cross over, and it was because of me. The fact that I hadn’t known what I was doing when it happened was almost moot by comparison.

“I am so sorry.”

The words vibrated from the depth of my emotion. Bones took my hand, his grip conveying both strength and comfort, but I felt neither beneath the crushing weight of my culpability. No apology could fix this, and everyone here knew it.

That’s why my next words weren’t to beg forgiveness and why I also held my tears at bay. Considering what they’d done before, they would only be salt in the wound now. Instead, I dug my fangs into my lower lip, glad at the pain that led to an instant trickle of blood.

“You said not just humans, Don, so what else did Madigan do his genetic experimentations on?”

Tyler’s look of surprise coincided with his thinking, You are one COLD bitch. He didn’t realize that all I had left was saving my friends, and Don had proven that he wouldn’t willingly give up the information.

“What else?” The noise Don made was more agonized bark than laugh. “Anything. Everything.”

I held my uncle’s stare as I spoke the next words. “I command you not to leave until I’m finished with my questions. Understood?”

His head jerked in the affirmative. My next stare was directed at Marie. She stood, and a flick of her fingers later, the Remnants left Don, to surround her like a writhing, ethereal halo.

“By everything do you mean ghouls?” she asked my uncle in a silky voice.

Don didn’t reply. Bones glanced at me. I gritted my teeth, bit my lip again, and repeated the question.

“Probably.”

“How are you not sure?” From me this time.

Don leaned forward, hugging his arms over his torso as though trying to shield himself from the Remnants who were no longer there.

“When we worked together, we were only able to retrieve bodies, but those dried-up husks were useless for Madigan’s purposes. None of our operatives were capable of bringing back a live specimen . . . until Cat.”

My guilt took a backseat to that information. Bones’s expression tightened, and I didn’t need a mirror to know my own face must’ve hardened into equally flinty planes.

“You and Madigan were still working together when you brought me on.” A statement, not a question. Don answered it anyway.

“We didn’t think you’d stay, so while we had you, we tried to learn as much as we could about your species duality—”

“Oh, I remember,” I cut him off. “You did blood work on me every week, plus I had more MRIs, X-rays, CT scans, cell scrapings, and needle biopsies than I could count.”

Don looked away, his outline wavering for a moment.

“Hey.” I snapped my fangs into my lip, bloodying it. “No leaving, I am so not done. Tell me more about these genetic experiments.”

Don glanced back at me, his mouth thinning into a slit.

“They were Madigan’s doing. Once he had captive vampires and ghouls to work on, his scope broadened, but he hit a dead end trying to combine the genetic codes. Human cells could handle incorporation with one species or the other, but not both . . . until you. As a half-breed, your cells were the only ones compatible with vampire and ghoul DNA. Madigan was convinced that mapping and duplicating your genetic code could create a safer, synthetic version of both the vampire and ghoul viruses in order to turn regular soldiers into superweapons. I didn’t believe him, but then he synthesized Brams–”

“Wait. Brams came from vampire blood, not mine,” I interrupted.

Don said nothing, yet with the shame washing over his expression, he didn’t need to speak.

“You lying, manipulative sod,” Bones snarled, striding over to him. “If you were solid, I’d beat the treachery out of you though that would take all of my considerable strength.”

Don ran a hand through his gray hair, looking as tired as I’d ever seen him.

“Madigan tried making Brams first with vampire, then ghoul blood, but it failed. Full alteration from human to undead changed the genetic code too much for him to manipulate. Only Cat’s blood, with its human and vampire DNA entwined on a cellular level, yet not fully transformed, was suitable.”

Marie glanced at the Remnants still framing her, arching a brow. I gave my head one angry, negative shake. No, I wouldn’t sic those creatures back onto my uncle even if he had let a megalomaniac use my blood to formulate a secret drug that healed broken bones and bleeding wounds like magic. When Don first told me about it, he said it came from filtering out the components in undead blood, so we’d called it Brams in honor of the world’s most famous vampire writer.

Seems we should have called it Cats after the world’s most gullible half-breed. I’d thought all the blood extractions and tests were because Don was paranoid about my “going evil” by drinking vampire blood. Little did I know Don was the one secretly making deals with the devil.

“How long did Madigan use her blood, cells, and tissue for his filthy experiments?” Bones asked in a flinty tone.

I didn’t have to bite my lip and repeat the question. Don seemed eager to reply.

“I shut him out as soon as I realized I was wrong about Cat. She wasn’t corrupt like my brother—”

“Or you,” Bones added.

“Or me,” Don conceded wearily. “So when Madigan refused to back off his experiments with her, I had him fired from the program.”

At last, here was the source of the enmity between the two men. No wonder Don had wanted to take it to his grave and beyond. If he’d been alive while recounting this, I don’t think I could’ve stopped Bones from killing him, judging from the rage wafting off his aura.

“I don’t believe you,” Bones bit out. “You didn’t fire your silent partner because you suddenly remembered your conscience. Madigan must have wanted to do something truly appalling for you to finally act.”

Don’s gaze skipped to me, then slid away. “No.”

“Liar.”

The accusation didn’t come from me, though I thought it the instant before Marie said it. The voodoo queen’s hazelnut-colored gaze zeroed in on Don like twin lasers.

“Lie again, ghost, and I will release my servants.”

Don looked at the Remnants and shuddered. Their mouths were open obscenely wide, and they began racing around Marie as if they couldn’t wait to tear into him again. Dexter whined while cowering behind Tyler’s legs. Even the dog was afraid of them.

My uncle opened his mouth . . . and nothing came out. Then, with one final shudder, he squared his shoulders and spread out his arms.

Let them come, his posture nearly screamed.

I bit my lip so hard that my fangs went all the way through. “What else did Madigan want to do, Don? Harvest my organs? Vivisection?”

Those were the most horrible things I could think of, but when his head snapped up and his expression was a mixture of abject shame and a plea for understanding, I knew it was worse.

“He wanted to forcibly breed you in order to produce more test subjects with your tri-species-compatible DNA, but as soon as he suggested it, I threw him out—”

I felt the crack in Bones’s shields right before the urn sailed through Don and smashed into the wall behind him. Though it had been hurled with enough force to send up a fine cloud of ash amidst the broken pieces, none of us had touched it. Marie’s eyes widened as she looked around. Then a slow smile spread across her lips.

“Interesting,” she said, staring at Bones.

“More like freaky when he does that,” Tyler muttered to no one in particular.

Bones didn’t seem to care that he’d outed himself to Marie over his telekinetic abilities. His glare was all for Don as he stabbed a finger in my uncle’s direction.

“You deserve to remain a ghost forever.”

“I-I didn’t,” Don began.

“Shut it,” Bones thundered.

The ground actually began to shake as he dropped his shields and the full weight of his fury-fueled power crashed into the room.

“You allowed Madigan to see how valuable she was to his supersoldier plan, then you whetted his appetite by refusing to let him near her for years. Bloody hell, she’s a full vampire now, yet he is still obsessed with her! But you knew that when he rushed to take your job after your death, yet you still refused to divulge the truth, so you get to say nothing in your defense now.”

I didn’t speak, either, still reeling from this bombshell. My relationship with Don had always been complicated, true. When we first met, he blackmailed me into working for him. It was only after I found out we were related that I discovered the reason for Don’s prejudice against vampires. Max, my father, had murdered his own parents after he became a vampire. For decades, Don had blamed his brother’s actions on vampirism before finally admitting that Max had been a twisted asshole when he was human, too.

“Make him tell you where it is, Kitten.”

Bones’s harsh tone startled me out of my thoughts. “Where what is?”

“The facility Madigan used to work out of.”

He began circling my uncle, pausing only to grind a piece of Don’s urn beneath his boot.

“He wasn’t working out of your old compound,” Bones continued. “You knew every inch of that place, not to mention I would have read it from one of the employees’ thoughts. So where was Madigan running his experiments? Likely, it’s where Tate and the others are now.”

“Where?” I asked Don, ripping my lip as I spoke the single word.

“Charlottesville, Virginia, in the old plumbing supply factory on Garrett Street, but it’s been empty for years.”

“We’re checking it anyway,” Bones stated. “He never abandoned his pet project, as his interest in Cat and my missing people attest.”

Marie rose, another flick of her fingers causing the Remnants to disappear as though sucked away by an invisible vortex. Then she strolled closer, the movement somehow more menacing because of how relaxed she appeared to be.

“When you find this facility, you need to shut it down and eliminate everyone associated with the experiments.”

“Oh, I intend to,” I said, still torn between guilt over what I’d done to Don and anger over what he’d let Madigan do to me.

“Intentions aren’t good enough. You have sixty days.”

“What?” I sputtered. “We are not even sure where this facility is. Plus, Madigan’s worked in covert operations for decades. He could have secret labs and compounds set up all over the nation!”

“Exactly,” Marie said.

Then she pointed at me, and I didn’t think it was an accident that she did it with her Remnant-summoning ring finger.

“I’m not the only one who won’t tolerate humans trying to create supersoldiers by merging our genetic codes together,” Marie went on. “If you haven’t destroyed this entire operation within sixty days, I will assist the Guardian Council in eliminating it through other means.”

“You guys have a council?” Tyler asked, looking intrigued.

I didn’t answer. I was too busy translating what that meant. “Scorched earth” would be a kind description of what would be left if Marie and the ruling body of vampires took this over. They wouldn’t stop at killing Madigan and his mad scientists—they’d wipe out everyone down to the last office worker or groundskeeper. That meant hundreds of employees, not to mention my friends, if they were even still alive.

And such a mass slaughter might cause world leaders in the know to stop turning a blind eye to the existence of ghouls and vampires. Marie knew this, but she and the Law Guardians would risk it to ensure that cross-species-merging never became a reality. After all, vampires and ghouls had almost warred twice before over the possibility that a person could be both part-vampire and part-ghoul at the same time.

The last time, that person had been me, and only my turning into a full vampire had prevented such a war. Madigan, the arrogant fool, had no idea what hornet’s nest he’d stirred up, and if we were very lucky, he’d die without ever knowing.

Of course, we’d need a lot more than luck, as the grim look Bones threw me reminded me. I stared at Marie, not knowing how we’d stop this in the time allotted, only knowing that we had to.

“I guess that means I’ll see you in sixty days.”

Her smile was thin. “I hope so, Reaper, for all our sakes.”