From Darkness Comes: The Horror Box Set (8 page)

Now I was more confused than on the first day of math class. I am sure that all of this might make perfect sense to somebody, but I am so lost!

“Just sit down, Ava,” Morgan said in an almost kind voice. I think I sat more out of shock. “All of this can come in time, but let me finish with Lisa. When this is all over with Adrianna, we can talk again…just you and I.”

I nodded. Now all I had to do was keep from having my c
uriosity eat me alive until I had the chance to sit down with Morgan and get some answers.

“After my training was complete, I was to be sent to Bari, Italy. That would be my first district. Twenty years had passed and I was anxious to try out all that I had learned…”

Twenty years! Wow, and doctors think they have a lot of schooling! Damn, I’m doing it again. Maybe I could take one of those classes that supposedly teach you how to concentrate and focus.

“…during training, it was stressed that we leave our past behind. We were warned that there would be too much danger in our lives. Not all supernaturals were compliant, and we were task
ed with putting our districts in order. Still, I desperately wanted to see my friend Lucinda.

“When I arrived, I barely recognized her. While I had mai
ntained the same appearance as when I’d been taken away, she had aged. Years of hard living had taken a toll as her face was etched with lines and her mouth, which always had a laugh and a smile when we were girls, was now turned down in a near permanent frown. Still, when she saw me, she ran across and scooped me into the biggest hug…”

I tried to imagine anybody ‘scooping’ Morgan into a hug. That image just refused to take shape in my mind.

“…about her life mostly and what had happened in the village in my absence. It seemed that Lucinda had married, but her husband had died on a hunting trip. Two days later, her home burned down. From then on, she was seen as cursed and nobody would have anything to do with her. She begged me to take her with me.

“At first, I refused. I explained that I would be dealing with things that she might not understand. She reminded me of how she had always believed in me when I spoke of things I could sense. She said that she could help by caring for my home.
I did not see the harm and eventually relented.

“When we arrived in Bari, I was met by a Templar. He
immediately confronted me on my having a companion. I explained that she would be caring for my home in my absences. He said it was not his business, but he had a sad look that I did not understand at the time.

“My first task was to settle a dispute between three rival vampire factions. To make this long story short, one of the fa
ctions did not appreciate my efforts. One night they came and took Lucinda. The worst was yet to come—”

“What do you mean when you say they
took
her?” Lisa asked. “Didn’t they just kill her?”

“That would have been too easy,” Morgan said with a sigh.

This was the most emotion from her that I’d seen, and it was actually a bit unsettling. It would be like seeing the pilot of an airplane run out of the cockpit in hysterics and lock himself in the bathroom.

“They turned her, but then refused to feed her. I did not di
scover this until I was tasked with seeking out a revenant,” Morgan explained.

I’d dealt with those before. They are like crazy vampires that are more animal than human.

“So you had to hunt her down and kill her?” I blurted. Morgan’s face actually twitched. Honestly, I didn’t mean to say anything. I couldn’t help myself.

“Yes.” That was all she said, but there was more in that word than I could ever express with a thousand.

The three of us remained in an uncomfortable silence for what seemed like forever. Finally, Morgan stood and approached Lisa. She put her hands on the girl’s shoulders and leaned in close, whispering something in her ear that, even with my abilities, I couldn’t hear. Didn’t anybody ever tell her that it is rude to tell secrets?

Lisa listened, nodding a few times. Afterwards, Morgan simply walked out. I thought she was going to share
something with me to help me take down this Queen of the Zombies!

As for Lisa, she got a serious look on her face and went to her room and closed the door
, leaving me all by myself. Maybe I should get a dog.

Five minutes later, Lisa emerged with a carry bag and her pack. Imagine my surprise when my nails started to pop
out. I thought that only happened when I was scared or really angry. Apparently my body can’t tell the difference between upset and those other two.

“So you’re leaving?” I finally asked when I felt that I could speak without my throat closing.
I still was not sure about scertain aspects of my biology. Are ghouls are able cry? I had a feeling that I was about to receive a final confirmation on that theory.

“Just for a little while,” Lisa said with a look on her face that reminded me a lot of that scene at the end of
Old Yeller
when the boy took the dog out to shoot him.

“Does ‘a little while’ have a date?”

“I’ll be back when this thing with Adrianna is over.”

“Why?”

“Because I won’t let something happen that ends up with you having to kill me.”

“So stay home!” I exclaimed. She didn’t have to come, I would be totally fine with her staying home. That was way better than her up and leaving.

“And what about next time?” Lisa asked. “These things aren’t going to get any easier.”

“So what are you doing?” A tiny alarm bell rang in the back of my mind.

“I am going to listen to Morgan’s advice,” Lisa said as she headed for the door.

“What advice is t
hat?” I tried to follow, but when she opened the door, the slightest glow in the sky was like a brick wall. I had no idea if it would kill me, but I already knew for a fact that it burned really bad. I stood just in the shadow of the door…helpless to do anything else.

That is when I
discovered something new. Given certain conditions…as rare as they might be…ghouls
can
cry.

Don’t Know What You Got
(
‘Til It’s Gone
)

The rest of the day seemed to be endless. On more than one occasion, I found myself calling out to ask a question, only to have my voice echo around an empty home. What was most upsetting was the fact that I had always seen myself as an independent woman who needed nobody.

I went down to my basement for my evening meal, closing the door out of habit. I always shut it when I ate because I didn’t think that Lisa would appreciate walking in to discover me chomping on a fresh corpse. I had even considered going so far as to have one of those lights installed like they had for dar
krooms. If I was ‘indisposed’ then I could flip the switch. Lisa had been the one to veto that idea.

“I know what you do down there, but I’d just as soon not have a light acting as a reminder that you are eating a human.”

“A
dead
human,” I’d corrected.

“Not really comforting,” she had said.

Perhaps that should have been my clue. We were very different. And maybe there was something to be said about not having a human around to worry about. Now I could concentrate on just being me; That Ghoul Ava.

I still wasn’t all that well—
versed on what being a ghoul was all about. With no Lisa to worry over or try and make time for, I could start seeking out more of my own kind. The biggest problem being that Morgan had said in one of our first meetings that ghouls were scarce; and she hadn’t seen one in these parts before.

By the time night was fully on, I had managed to stuff all my real feelings in a nice little space and close the door. I was going to head back to Estacada tonight and deal with
Adrianna. Or maybe I would see what she had to offer. I was basically a free agent. Hell, Morgan had the ability to bind all the supernaturals in her district and made the choice
not
to bind me.

That little sidetrack brought on a whole new batch of fee
lings—like being in gym class and being the last one picked. I know that not everybody can relate, but I’ve seen the people that go to those horror conventions or wait in line at the theater for the newest
Twilight
movie. Seriously, I am pretty sure that a lot of you know exactly what that whole ‘being picked last’ thing feels like.

So here I am, the newest supernatural in Morgan’s district
, and she doesn’t even want to pick me for her team. I’m good enough to do her dirty work, but that’s it? I don’t think so. I wasn’t that flat-chested, awkward little girl anymore.

I am Ava Birch and I am an ass-kicking ghoul…a force to be reckoned with. Maybe I would go to Estacada and bitch-slap
Adrianna. I seem to recall that she smelled very yummy. Actually, I don’t recall, I have to keep being told, but that doesn’t mean anything. If she smells that good, then I am pretty sure she won’t come with all the nasty drawbacks of a vampire. Which also made me wonder…what would a zombie taste like?

My mind went everyplace…and nowhere worth staying. Basically, I was a wreck. I realized before noon that Lisa had come to mean more to me than anybody else ever had in my life. Which begs the question; how pathetic was my life up to this point? I was a thirty-something woman when I changed, and I was now having
my first real and meaningful relationship.

I started thinking about my past. I imagine if this was a movie, then there would be some sappy song playing while all these scenes with fuzzy edges and a lot of slow motion played on the screen. The problem that I was coming up with was the fact that not even my mind could
manufacture anything worth replaying.

Is it me, or has everything reached a point where nobody cares about anybody anymore unless there is a big disaster and a telethon? Here is a question. What are the first names of your neighbors…on both sides! What do they do for fun?

When I was little, there were all these shows on when I got home from school. I watched
The Brady Bunch
and
Bewitched
and
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father
each afternoon while I waited for my mom to get home from her secretary job in some office with a boss that smelled like onions and dirty feet.

The life I saw on television is what I thought was waiting for me when I grew up.
I never really clued in to the fact that my home was so far from all of that, yet I clung to this dream that every day would be an adventure to be wrapped up by the time I climbed into bed with my Mike Brady…my version, not the gay one on television. And no, I’m not calling him names, he really was gay. Seriously, I read that somewhere.

As I got older, I started to realize that things were not going to be like on television. For one, there was that whole thing about my flat chest, but it was lots of other things. And by the time I graduated, I didn’t have a clue. So I drifted.

But it just seems that the last few years we have become more and more withdrawn as a society. That is why I was able to lie dead on my bathroom floor for a few days and nobody noticed. We really don’t notice anything that is not put directly in front of us.

So I thought about Lisa. I thought about how I really hadn’t appreciated her being with me until now…when she is gone. But through it all, it kept coming back to one thing. This all ha
ppened because of Adrianna, The Queen of the Zombies. Well I was going to fix her little red wagon.

And that was another thing! When I was little, we played with wagons and Barbies and regular stuff. Now, if it isn’t run by a computer chip, kids look at it like it might try to steal their soul.

Rrrrinnng.

Hmm. Who could be calling me in the middle of the day? I guess anybody. That was one of the things that Lisa used to take care of before she up and left.

“Hello?” I answered on the third ring. Just in case it was Lisa, I didn’t want her to think that I was sitting here waiting for the phone to ring and have it be her.

“What is wrong with your society?” a voice scolded.

Wasn’t I just thinking about that? How funny. But this person was directing a question at me, perhaps I should answer. “And who is this speaking?”

“Ava, it’s me…
Adrianna?”

Oh, speaking of the bitch and most recent pain in my ass. “What are you talking about?” I had to ask since I really didn’t know what she was talking about. I mean it could be an indic
tment on our public schools, or maybe the most recent property tax bond—although I doubted it was the last one. The Queen of the Zombies probably didn’t pay taxes. Plus, the only reason I knew such a thing existed is because there was a commercial on television for it right this very second.

“Virgins.”

I waited. I mean surely she had to have something bothering her other than virgins. And why would people be bothered by virgins? Seems to me that they don’t fuck with anybody. See what I did there? The whole not fucking thing? Geez, I hate having to explain my jokes to people. They stop being a joke the moment that you have to explain them. From that point, they become a story problem.

“Are you there, Ava?”

Something about her voice bothered me more than normal. In fact, all I felt now was irritated by her existence.

“Get to the point,
Adrianna,” I snapped. After all, she called me for crying out loud.

“Doesn’t anybody keep their legs closed in this morally co
rrupt society?”

“Having a hard time finding the virgin you need to make your unstoppable zombie horde?” I didn’t bother hiding my sa
rcasm. In fact, if I may say so, I heaped on extra portions. I was having a crappy day, and it was largely in part to having encountered Adrianna.

“Well…
yes,” she said. After a really long pause, she continued. “But I believe the answer to my problems just showed up.”

“What do you mean?”

But that question was lost to the phone line. She had hung up on me. How incredibly rude. Hmm, that reminds me, I wonder whatever happened to that girl from
Full House
. Everybody from that show still shows up from time to time…the anorexia twins never seem to go away…and Bob Saget. How did they ever become relevant? But that one girl with the cute little catch phrase. Once per episode, like it or not, she would spout, “How rude!” I wonder if people still ask her to say that like they used to bother that little Gary Coleman about that “What choo talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?” line. Do you think she ever wanted to climb into a clock tower and start picking off citizens?

Now I can’t stop laughing. That’s just great. I have a
so-called Queen of the Zombies to nab, and all I can think of is the girl from
Full House
sitting on a ledge with a high-powered rifle, peeking through the scope as she slams another round into the chamber and pulls the trigger while screaming, “How rude!” What makes it even funnier is the fact that she stuffs a Twinkie into her mouth between each shot.

You
know? I really do have an overactive imagination. These days, they call it ADD or ADHD. When I was little, they just said “Little Ava is a ‘creative spirit’ that needs to focus more on schoolwork and less on her magical world.”

I went into my living room. It was still a few hours before the sun would go down.
I had a few things I wanted to take care of before I drove out to Estacada to deal with that snotty little Queen of the Zombies. Great…now I am hearing an orchestra playing this dark little tune, “duh, duh, DUHHHHHH!” every time I think about her.

I may not have Lisa, but I
am not some helpless damsel in distress. I have switchblade fingers and toes…and good old sharkmouth. All I’d seen from Adrianna was the ability to smell yummy and make me forget. Anybody who knows me at all can testify that that last trait is no big accomplishment.