Undead and Unfinished (22 page)
Read Undead and Unfinished Online
Authors: MaryJanice Davidson
“Listen, you have to chew on him, then, when he rises, you’ll become his loyal sidekick, his Gal Friday, like a super-secretary except cool, and then you’ll be perfectly positioned to ... to ... what, Laura?”
“Will you stop babbling things you have
no way of knowing?”
no way of knowing?”
“How else am I gonna bend her to my will?”
“Wait one moment,” Tina interrupted. “When he rises, since it appears clear you two understand about vampires, he’ll be a mindless beast for years, driven only by hunger and need. Why would I ever become the assistant of such a beast?”
“Because hemmmpph!” I snapped at Laura’s fingers like a pissed-off bulldog. “Don’t grab me, and
don’t
stick your fingers in my mouth. Listen, Tina, the thing is, I know this stuff because you already did it. I know—I know you—” Would I create a paradox? I was pretty sure the answer was no, but ... it wasn’t just my future I was screwing with. It was Sinclair’s, too. “I definitely know ...”
don’t
stick your fingers in my mouth. Listen, Tina, the thing is, I know this stuff because you already did it. I know—I know you—” Would I create a paradox? I was pretty sure the answer was no, but ... it wasn’t just my future I was screwing with. It was Sinclair’s, too. “I definitely know ...”
“Your full name!” Laura prompted. “You’ve never seen us before, right? So how does the mysterious weirdo know your whole name?”
“Oh ho?” Tina looked at me.
I turned on Laura, so pissed I could only see her through a sort of red mist. “Have you ever met me?” I hissed. “Of course I don’t know her full name! I’m lucky I remember it’s Tina!”
“Well,” Tina replied, unimpressed.
“Try,” Laura encouraged. “Think. Exercise that teeny brain.”
“When this is over, I’m going to beat you to death. Let’s see. We were in the pit—”
“The
what?”
what?”
“Yeah, I know. The vampires threw me in a pit. Then Tina jumped down into it.”
“That does not sound one bit like me.”
“Look, I didn’t question your motives at the time, so don’t be questioning mine. And ... she said—you said—it was the least she could do. And since I’d been having kind of a shitty day, I figured she was right. And ... uh ...”
“I suspect you might be mentally ill.”
“You wouldn’t talk to me like that if the Antichrist would let me tell you who I was,” I whined. “You just—I do know a name!”
Tina had folded her arms across her chest and raised a polite eyebrow.
“And here I thought you might only make things worse,” Laura observed, “and yet, how wrong I was.”
“Nostro! How’s that for a name?”
My half-assed plan worked; Tina looked shocked and her eyes opened wide, like I’d slapped her.
“That’s right!” I crowed. “I made that idiot my bitch! The guy currently making your life suck rocks; I
owned
his ass. And I did it
with your help.”
I turned to my sister. “There, see? She knows stuff, but not enough to destroy her own future, probably.”
owned
his ass. And I did it
with your help.”
I turned to my sister. “There, see? She knows stuff, but not enough to destroy her own future, probably.”
“You could only know that name if you were in league with him, which,” she said, looking me up and down with all the warmth of an overworked customs inspector, “I don’t believe you are. Or if you were telling the truth. So I suppose I must assume you mean what you say.”
“That’s right!”
“So the only living child of my dear friends must be damned to a lifeless existence.”
“Lifeless?” Clearly she’d never had sex with undead Sinclair. Lifeless was so
not
the word springing to mind. “You don’t understand. This will change ...” I saw Laura shake her head. “Tons,” I finished. “It’ll change tons. It’ll change everything.”
not
the word springing to mind. “You don’t understand. This will change ...” I saw Laura shake her head. “Tons,” I finished. “It’ll change tons. It’ll change everything.”
And for the first time, I owned the queen-of-the-undead thing. Because I
had
changed everything. Not alone, of course. With the help of all the mobile people in this cemetery (
not
Michael, but I assumed he was back home by now), I’d kicked out an asshat dictator, saved the Fiends, defeated various forms of evil, while maintaining a residence where all were (sort of) welcome, marrying the love of my life, becoming a mom (sort of), forming an alliance with seventy-five thousand werewolves ... what could I say? It had been a busy couple of years.
had
changed everything. Not alone, of course. With the help of all the mobile people in this cemetery (
not
Michael, but I assumed he was back home by now), I’d kicked out an asshat dictator, saved the Fiends, defeated various forms of evil, while maintaining a residence where all were (sort of) welcome, marrying the love of my life, becoming a mom (sort of), forming an alliance with seventy-five thousand werewolves ... what could I say? It had been a busy couple of years.
“Great. So you’ll do it? You’ll bite Sinclair?”
“Is there a reason you never refer to him by his first name? Have you forgotten it as you have forgotten mine?”
“We do
not
have time for your picky, irritating questions, Tina. Now go chomp.”
not
have time for your picky, irritating questions, Tina. Now go chomp.”
“We have to find him again first,” Laura observed. “Because while you were convincing Tina you were an intimate friend who didn’t know her full name, your boy took a walk.”
We looked. I cursed. Laura was right: Sinclair had bailed.
Chapter 50
H
e can’t be that hard to hunt down,” I opined. ”How many nineteen-year-old studs in the depths of grief are wandering around 1920s Hastings, Minnesota, right this minute?”
e can’t be that hard to hunt down,” I opined. ”How many nineteen-year-old studs in the depths of grief are wandering around 1920s Hastings, Minnesota, right this minute?”
“Too right. So you think it’s 1920s Hastings, do you?”
“Don’t answer that,” Laura said quickly.
“Duh, Laura. Hey, look, is that Satan over there? What year is it, exactly?” I whispered to Tina when Laura actually—get this!—fell for that. Putz.
“You are an odd one,” Tina observed, falling into step with us as we left the cemetery. “You and your sister.”
“How did you know we were sisters?”
“The family resemblance is remarkable.”
“Really?” This was thrilling as
nothing
had been on this wacky time-traveling misadventure. Laura was hot! It would be awesome to also be hot. To have people look at her and then look at me and be all “sure, I can see the hotness running in their family.” It made having the devil for a stepmother almost not sucky. “So, Sinclair went thataway.”
nothing
had been on this wacky time-traveling misadventure. Laura was hot! It would be awesome to also be hot. To have people look at her and then look at me and be all “sure, I can see the hotness running in their family.” It made having the devil for a stepmother almost not sucky. “So, Sinclair went thataway.”
“I know. His scent is distinctive. I have known it for—for some time.”
“I heard—I mean, I know the kids thought of you as Aunt Tina.” Not the time to mention that, a few hours ago (at least in my head), we’d seen l‘il Sinclair and l’il Erin, and the only thing they had on their minds was how grumpy their mom was because it was Moving Week. “You must be a close family friend.”
“I knew their mother.” Long pause. “And their grandmother.”
“Yeah, I bet you were best friends with those guys. Those ladies,” I amended. “So did they not ever notice you weren’t aging, or did they pretend to believe you were your own daughter and granddaughter?”
“My friends ... my friends didn’t care. When my grandmother moved to Minnesota, Eric’s great-grandmother was her best friend. It seems the Sinclairs have always welcomed me; it seems I have always been in their lives.” There was a long silence as the three of us walked together. Then: “They knew I was, ah, different. We never spoke of it. And they—they paid me the honor of guardianship of their children.”
“So you’re Sinclair’s legal guardian now? No. Wait. He’s an adult ... barely.”
“He is the—he is the closest thing I shall ever have to a grandchild of my own.”
I could practically hear the
click
as long-unasked questions were answered: why had Tina stayed by his side so loyally all those years? Why had they never hooked up? They had way more in common than Sinclair and I did, and nobody knew that better than me. (Frankly, I’d always found Sinclair’s interest in me a complete mystery.) And why did she regulate herself to the periphery of the power? Why did she never make a move for the crown herself?
click
as long-unasked questions were answered: why had Tina stayed by his side so loyally all those years? Why had they never hooked up? They had way more in common than Sinclair and I did, and nobody knew that better than me. (Frankly, I’d always found Sinclair’s interest in me a complete mystery.) And why did she regulate herself to the periphery of the power? Why did she never make a move for the crown herself?
Not that the crown, so to speak (there actually
wasn’t
one, how was that for false advertising?), was so great. But a lot of people seemed to think it was.
wasn’t
one, how was that for false advertising?), was so great. But a lot of people seemed to think it was.
“You must be so angry about what happened to your friends and Erin,” Laura said.
“Angry. Yes. I am angry.” She said this with all the heat of
I am wearing yellow.
“And he will pay and pay.”
I am wearing yellow.
“And he will pay and pay.”
“From what we heard, it sounds like a vampire?”
“Yes. That’s what it sounds like. But he didn’t act alone. And Erin Sinclair was only a means to an end.”
Hmm. Sinister, creepy Tina was something new. Of course, she and Sinclair had lots in common: both of them lost practically their whole family in a matter of hours.
“You think maybe they were after you?”
“I have had dealings with those men before,” she replied evenly.
“Okay. So, turn Sinclair and he can help you. It can be all vengeance, all the time. It can be
Die Hard: The Early Years.”
Die Hard: The Early Years.”
Laura snorted while Tina said, “I don’t understand you. And that is the second time you’ve made reference to Eric being able to help me. But I think there is something you don’t understand about vampires.”
“Only one thing?” the Antichrist sneered. I gave her the finger when Tina wasn’t looking.
“Eric will be useless to everyone, including himself, for at least five years after rising. The new undead, they are savage. They think only of the thirst. It takes years to deal with such things. And such knowledge is hard won.”
“You’re wrong.” Because this, I
did
remember. I remember being in that nasty pit and hearing Tina explain that some vampires wake up strong. That it was very rare, but occasionally, a vampire would rise strong.
did
remember. I remember being in that nasty pit and hearing Tina explain that some vampires wake up strong. That it was very rare, but occasionally, a vampire would rise strong.
In fact, there were only two vampires I ever heard of who came back to life strong.
My husband, Eric Sinclair.
And me.
Chapter 51
P
SSt.”
SSt.”
“So how’d you become a vam—”
“Pssst!”
I sighed. “Excuse me, but my little sister can be very rude and selfish at times. She’s the cross I must bear when I’m not time traveling all over and saving the world. Worlds, maybe. Maybe I should get a plaque for all this grueling world saving.”
“Pssst!”
“Two plaques. What?” I fell back a couple of steps so Laura and I were walking abreast. “What is it?”
“I think we should go.”
“How come?” I was genuinely surprised.
“You fixed it so Tina will turn him. If there was a way to utterly destroy the future—our present—you’ve made sure we’ll return to a smoking crater where Grand Avenue used to be. It’s time to go.”
“But I need to make sure he gets taken care of.”
“Why?”
“Why?” I gaped. Laura wasn’t normally this dumb. “Because—because I have to! What are you talking about, why?”
“You’re only saying that because it’s
him.
Your love is clouding your usually awful long view even more than usual.”
him.
Your love is clouding your usually awful long view even more than usual.”
“I can’t just gaily hop back to hell without knowing he’s going to be ... uh ...”
Okay
probably wasn’t the right word.
Set on his loveless track toward cold vengeance, enduring decades of isolation and loneliness until I pratfall into his life
just sounded weird. “Look, I see your point, but—”
Okay
probably wasn’t the right word.
Set on his loveless track toward cold vengeance, enduring decades of isolation and loneliness until I pratfall into his life
just sounded weird. “Look, I see your point, but—”
“Shhhh!” Laura hissed, grabbing my hand and yanking me off the dusty road. I knew it, I knew it! I
was
inevitably headed for a ditch tonight. “Look!”
was
inevitably headed for a ditch tonight. “Look!”
We were cowering off the gravel road, sort of hunched down in the shallow ditch, and I could see Tina had caught up to Sinclair.
“What’s she—?”
“Shhh! And duh, clearly she’s talking to him.”
“... dreadfully sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Sinclair said, and I shivered. He sounded like a robot. An incredibly depressed robot. “They’re gone. She’s gone.”
“Eric, I promise you, something will be done. These men won’t get away with—”
Sinclair flinched. “Men? I thought—I thought she’d been raped—and there was an accident—?”
“There is—there are more things at work here than you can know.”
“Explain them to me.”
“Eric—”
“Right now.”
I started to cheer up.
Now
he was starting to sound like the Sinclair I loved to loathe. Or loathed to love. He just needed a mission. All those
Death Wish
movies couldn’t be wrong.
Now
he was starting to sound like the Sinclair I loved to loathe. Or loathed to love. He just needed a mission. All those
Death Wish
movies couldn’t be wrong.
“Eric, there’s no time. I need to get on their trail tonight. I’m only here for the funerals. But I couldn’t leave without saying good-bye.”
“Was it another vampire?”
Tina didn’t speak for a moment, and Laura and I traded glances. I could tell she was rattled that he’d just come out with it like that.
Are you a vampire? Are the stories about monsters true? What happened to you? And what happened to my family?
Are you a vampire? Are the stories about monsters true? What happened to you? And what happened to my family?
And how much of it is my fault, for never questioning anything?
“I—yes. How did you know?”
Eric, embarked upon his last night of life, started to laugh. I had never heard him laugh like that and hoped never to hear it again.
“How did I know? How did I
know?
My God, a better question would be when did Erin and I not know? Our grandmother’s best friend? Who was always beautiful and clever, who never lost her wits or her looks?”
know?
My God, a better question would be when did Erin and I not know? Our grandmother’s best friend? Who was always beautiful and clever, who never lost her wits or her looks?”
“Pretty big clue,” I admitted, and Laura nodded.
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