At the Behest of the Dead (40 page)

I opened the sheet and stared at the supposed next of kin
, along with a last known address. When I looked closely at the picture it suddenly made sense.

“Hmm. Well that’s not her.” I handed the paper back.

Only it was Thora.

The detective lingered and alternated between
looking perplexed and confused, then said her goodbyes and left Ashley and I alone.

“Nice flowers.”

“You like them?”

“I guess. Phineas
, I don’t know if this is going to work. You’re strange, and I don’t mean like collect Star Trek action figures strange.”

“True
, but I do have an amazing collection of old voodoo dolls in a chest. You have to keep those things in dirt. Come to think of it, I probably need to do some maintenance.”

“See
, I don’t know if you’re serious or not.” She dug out a crystal vase and put the flowers in and added a little water.

“Listen, Ashley. I’m serious about one thing right now and that’s you. You’re all I’ve thought about for the last few days.
You and our night together. I thought we connected, and I agree that I haven’t been the best boyfriend, but things sort of spiraled out of control. Just give this a chance to work. You have to admit we’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks and I haven’t been at my best.”

“I just don’t know,” s
he said.

One thing about Ashley:
she was attracted to me and I could sense it in her body language. She shifted from foot to foot and never really invited me to sit, but as we chatted I drew closer, until we were inches apart.

“What do you know about this?” I said
, and swung for the fences with a kiss.

We stood together for a few moments, mouths hungry for each other. She was the first to pull away. She coughed softly, face bright red, and covered it by moving into her palatial living room.

“What about the detective? You two were so cozy when you got here.”

“That’s nothing. I knew from the moment I met her that she was addicted to something, probably pain pil
ls, but I could tell right away, today, that she kicked them. I offered to help but she got mad at me.”

“That was very nice of you,” s
he said, eyes losing some of their tightness.

“And what about you? For a college student
, you live pretty well,” I said, looking around the room. I took her cool hand in mine and tugged her to a sofa that might have been made of silk. It was majestic, with bright silver fabric decorated in small flowers that somehow wasn’t gaudy.

She had a couple of paintings on the wall
, and as I stared I realized they were probably originals. Her place had a number of antique pieces as well, and if I didn’t miss my mark most were French.

“I am a student
, but my family has a little money. Dad has a tech company.”

“A tech company?”

“Yeah.” She didn’t elaborate.

“Does he own Microsoft?”

“No, silly.” She sat there looking cute.

She reached over the side of the couch
, allowing me a glimpse of her smooth legs as her skirt rode up. She deposited a purse between us and dug out the prismatic key I’d given her for safekeeping. I immediately felt guilty because I had left such a dangerous device with her and she’d been unprotected. I thought about assigning Peaches to watch over her, but Ashley and I were already on rocky ground.

“Thank you for watching this for me. Sorry I had to leave in such a hurry.”

“You look good, Phineas. Like you finally got some rest. Don’t tell me you disappeared to take a vacation.”

“This was definitely not a vacation. I’d tell you everything
, but I don’t think you would believe half of it.”

“Give me the abbreviated version.”

So I did, and I tried to sound heroic, but I got choked up when I talked about Collin’s unintentional betrayal, and my teacher sacrificing the last of his essence to save Glenda. She seemed to understand and moved close to me and put her arm around my shoulder.

“But you know something? Even as the battle raged on and I fought to save us
, all I saw was your face.”

“Phineas Cavanaugh, t
hat is now the sweetest thing you have ever said to me. I don’t know what to believe because all of this stuff about the wards, possession, and demons is crazy, but I do believe that last part.”

It was enough. I’d sh
ow her some magic tricks later. For now all I wanted was to show her some stuff in her bed, and that’s just where I ended up for the night.

Epilogue

I stared at the house for a few minutes. A shape moved behind the curtains
, but they wouldn’t be able to make me out because I was using an illusion that made me appear to be a bored handyman on lunch break. There wasn’t much to it. I just twisted the air and told it to make me look older, lighter haired, and bored. Actually the last part was easy to pull off.

It was early in the morning and I’d told Ashley I would be back after I’d run a few errands. She’d already agreed to call in sick and spend the rest of the day with me
, so my weekend was definitely looking up.

First I had to solve one final piece of the puzzle.

“Bitch,” Peaches grumbled.

“What?”

“The lady contained within the abode. Bitch. She called to me, bound me, and tortured me. She sent me to consume you.”

“No shit. Well who is she?”

“Balkir’s friend. Perhaps she had a relationship with the old man. Humans are so prickly concerning the other sex. In the wards, we fuck with wild abandon.”

“I could have gone a life
time without that image.”

“She is the one. I hate her.”

“Are you sure she did the summoning?”

“Truly I have no idea
, but she was the one that bound me.”

“I bet
Balkir arranged the whole thing,” I muttered. “So he really did have his sights set on me from day one, even before he tried to have me killed in the wards. Where did you come from? The host, I mean?”

“She hired a man to act the part of her husband
, but I ate him on the second night we were sent to the park.”

“Jesus.”

“Thusly.”

“Don’t start that.” I chewed on my bottom li
p for a moment. “Say, Peaches, want to go for a walk?”

“As you wish.”
She croaked.

I knocked on the door a few minutes later. I wore a ball cap and kept my head down
. I carried my dog to her door. She answered on the third ring.

“Can I help you?”

I looked up.  The woman who had tried to have me killed a week ago did not look particularly pleased to see me.

“Hi
Thora. I just wanted to let you know that I wasn’t able to track down your husband’s killer. But look, I found your dog.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She tried to close the door.

“Have fun, buddy!” I said and tossed the Pomeranian in the entrance. No easy task considering how heavy she is.

I
pushed Thora inside, followed her, and then slammed the door shut.

She
yelled a number of very ungrandmotherly obscenities.

Tarry a little, there is something else.

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood
;

The words expressly are "a pound of flesh."

“That’s deep.” I
said.

“Remember me?” Peaches growled before the transformation took hold.

“Sic em, boy, er … Girl!” I grinned from ear to ear.

The End

About the Author

Timothy W. Long has been writing tales and stories since he could hold a crayon and has read enough books to choke a landfill. Tim has a fascination with all things zombie, a predilection for weird literature, and a deep-seated need to jot words on paper and thrust them at people.

Tim is the author of the bestselling, AMONG THE LIVING, and the sequel AMONG THE DEAD. His other works include the military zombie book BEYOND THE BARRIERS and the deserted island 'zombedy' THE ZOMBIE WILSON DIARIES. His other book, THE APOCALYPSE AND SATAN’S GLORY HOLE, was co-written with and Jonathan Moon and was recently named the official novel of rapture survivors everywhere.

Tim can be found tooling around his website at:

http://timothywlong.com