The End Of Desire: A Rowan Gant Investigation (15 page)

“Rowan,” she said with a slight smile. “You
can talk here. It’s okay. Just keep your voice low.”

“Okay,” I answered with a nod. “I just wasn’t
sure.”

“Well, you can. Oh, and in case I forget,
don’t just walk out the gates. When we leave, we’ll say goodbye,
thank them, and then back out.”

“Back out? Like walk backwards?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. You’re the expert.”

Velvet looked up and to the right, pointing
as she mumbled something to herself. A second later she took hold
of my arm and pulled gently to guide me.

“The tomb should be this way, near the
back.”

With a nod I followed along, letting her lead
the way down the narrow paths. We hadn’t been picking our way
through for more than a minute or so when the pain in my head made
a sudden leap in intensity. I stumbled but managed to catch myself
as a hard stab of agony drove deep into the base of my skull.

“Are you all right?” Velvet asked, concern in
her voice.

“Something’s wrong,” I told her, reaching up
to rub the back of my head.

“We’re almost there. Are you going to be able
to handle this?”

I nodded carefully, the pain still clawing at
my grey matter. “I have to.”

We started forward again, rounding the corner
of a large family tomb. Velvet was in the lead, and she suddenly
halted then looked back at me.

“Someone’s here,” she whispered.

I stepped forward then looked up and past
Velvet. Standing thirty or so yards down the narrow row was a
petite woman with fiery red hair cascading down the center of her
back. She had her forehead pressed against the stone face of the
tomb in front of her.

I stopped dead in my tracks and stared.

As if the woman could sense she was being
watched, she pushed back from the tomb and slowly turned toward
us.

There was the distance to consider, not to
mention that there were oblique shadows falling across her from the
closely spaced stone mausoleums. But, the resemblance was as beyond
uncanny as it had been in the vision.

I had spoken to Felicity less than two
hours ago, and I knew for a fact that she was still resting
comfortably in Saint Louis,
Missouri
, under Helen Storm’s care. But, if I
hadn’t known that, I would have sworn she was standing here now,
staring directly at me.

A faint look of recognition flickered across
the woman’s face, but was quickly obscured by the creased lines of
abject fear.

“Is that…?” Velvet asked, her voice barely
above a whisper.

“Annalise,” I replied, my own coming out as a
dry croak.

I’m not sure how many heartbeats it took
before the two of us were no longer frozen in place, but Annalise
was the first to thaw. She turned and bolted down the alley, taking
off like a sprinter from a starting line.

She had a healthy head start, but I was
already in motion and closing the gap.

“C
all the police!” I
yelled over my shoulder to Velvet as I darted forward.

Annalise had everything on her side at the
moment. Not only did she have a lead of several yards, but she had
youth as well. She was also in better shape, which was obvious just
by looking at her. Rounding out the advantages, it was a sure bet
she was more familiar with this maze of tombs than I could ever
hope to be, which was something that could play against me at any
moment. All she had to do was duck between a stand of the
structures or turn down an alley, and I could be lost.

However, I had something I was hoping would
trump everything she had stacked in her hand. Determination.

I didn’t take time to look back and see if
Velvet was doing as I asked. She knew the whole story about why I
was here, and I had filled her in on Annalise when we had met for
lunch earlier. She was well aware of how serious this was for all
concerned, so I had to hope she was on top of it.

To my surprise, my quarry didn’t run very
far, and she was now slowing suddenly as she veered left toward the
outer wall of the cemetery. I was still too distant to understand
why, but I pushed myself harder, intent on seizing the opportunity
that had been presented. Another ten steps and her reasoning became
clear. I could see an opening in the wall leading out to a side
street. I hadn’t realized there were multiple entrances to the
cemetery, but as I suspected, she knew her way around.

Or, so I thought.

Her own footsteps came to an abrupt halt as
she literally slammed her body into the iron gate blocking the side
entrance. I heard a creak combined with the heavy metallic rattle
of a chain. As I continued running, I saw her push hard against the
unyielding barrier then heard her shriek at the top of her
lungs.

She threw her petite body against the gates
yet again, making them bow outward. Wedging her shoulder into the
newly formed gap, she tried to force her way through the small
opening. The delay this caused gave me the break I needed, and I
pumped my legs even harder, quickly covering the remaining fifteen
or so yards.

I didn’t put on my own brakes until the last
minute. Instead, I grabbed at the first thing I could reach which
was the gate itself. I wrapped my hand around one of the upright
bars and used my momentum to yank it back, narrowing the already
slim gap with her still in it. The frame pivoted inward with a
rusted groan, pinning her in place less than halfway through. She
let out a pained yelp as the bars compressed across her forearm and
wrist, driving in against her chest and shoulder.

Catching her breath, she glared at me
then spit in my face before screaming, “Bastard!
Va te faire, vous fils d’une
chienne!
”

I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand
then glared back. Her voice was the same as I’d heard in the
vision, however, there was no sweetness in her drawl this go
around.

Now that I was so close to her in the flesh,
I was even more taken aback by how much she resembled Felicity.
There were definite differences, but they were far from glaring. I
had assumed the vision had been filling in blanks using my
conscious memory as a pattern, but I apparently hadn’t given the
ethereal enough credit for its accuracy.

Unfortunately, that preciseness was about to
become my downfall. Her appearance was literally so disconcerting
that I not only hesitated, but also unconsciously eased up on the
gate, which in effect allowed her freedom of movement. That was a
mistake that cost me dearly.

I knew I was probably already too close to
her, but as usual I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to even
consider her response to being cornered. The moment the pressure
against her forearm backed off, she jerked it free and twisted
toward me. In a flash her hand was up to my face, and her nails
were latched on, digging into my flesh with extreme prejudice. I
let out my own yelp of pain as I could feel my skin starting to
tear. I reached up to grab her wrist but was a half second behind.
She ripped the sharp claws downward, taking a good hunk of the skin
from my right cheek with them.

I staggered back, still clinging to the gate.
I used my weight to yank on it but was again too far behind the
curve. Unable to thread herself through the small opening, she
pulled back out of the gap and twisted away before she could become
trapped yet again.

Swinging forward, I grabbed at her as she
continued turning in preparation to run. I managed to catch her
upper arm but was unable to actually get a grasp on anything but
the sleeve of her jacket, which slipped immediately from my
fingers. Still, I managed to knock her off balance enough that it
caused her to stumble against the corner of the opening in the
wall.

Leaping, I half tackled her from behind,
wrapping my arms around her torso. She screeched and struggled as I
locked my forearms across her chest and fought to pin her arms.

“RAPE! HELP! RAPE! NINE-ONE-ONE! RAPE!” she
screamed.

“Give it up, Annalise!” I shouted over her
shrieking. “The cops are already looking for you. They know what
you’ve done! It’s over!”

My comment only served to renew her vigor as
she fought against me. Bending her knees, she pulled her lower half
up at the waist and placed her feet against the wall in front of
her. Kicking away from it hard, she caused me to stumble backward
and careen into the opposite wall, still holding her in a tight
clench. She continued to squirm, and I was thrown completely off
balance. We both crashed onto the concrete, although given that she
was on top of me along with the manner in which the air burst from
my lungs, I am fairly certain I cushioned the majority of her fall.
Still, I refused to let go as she struggled to break free.

However, the jarring impact had allowed her
to slip farther down in my grasp, and while I was trying to deal
with the burning pain in my cheek and the fresh ache running up and
down my back, a brand new attack made itself known. Her elbow
slammed hard against my ribcage as she fought to inflict as much
damage as she could in her bid for escape. The sharp pain hit a
second time as she drove it in again, kicking and screaming all the
while. When she tried to bring the appendage in for a third strike,
I twisted against her, which caused it to glance along my side
instead of landing a direct hit. Unfortunately, although the move
saved me from another blow to the ribs, it allowed her to wriggle
down even more.

In an instant, crushing agony tore into the
top of my left wrist, and I let out a scream. A muffled shriek came
from her throat as she bit deeply into my arm. Once again I could
feel my flesh tearing as her teeth sunk through skin and tendon. My
hand jerked with a spasm, and my arms loosened out of reflex. She
instantly scrambled upward, and through my watering eyes, I caught
a glimpse of her mouth smeared red with my blood. I rolled and
pulled myself to my feet as well, but she was already sprinting
away.

I flashed a quick glance back to my right
looking for help but didn’t see anyone. I had no idea where Velvet
had gone, but apparently I was on my own. I started after Annalise,
following her up one of the wider “alleys” toward the center of the
graveyard. Once again, she was well in the lead.

Darting to the right, she disappeared, and I
pressed myself even harder to catch up. Focusing on the point where
she ducked from sight, I brought myself in closer to the row of
tombs and veered in the same direction. Coming up on the opening, I
thrust my hand outward and used it to buffer myself against the
structures as I took the turn at a dead run. My wounded appendage
thudded against the wall, and I felt a fresh twinge of pain shoot
up my arm. I fought to ignore it, but I could feel myself wince as
I let out a yelp.

I was starting to pant hard as I fought for
breath, but I pushed forward, covering the short distance and
hooking around the opposite end of the row of tombs. The area
opened up; however, there were two wide alleys, one to the left and
one to the right. Acting purely on instinct, I veered to the left
and continued running. As I shot past a large crypt, I caught a
glimpse of her in another passage to my right, running in the
general direction of the front gate.

Skidding on the walkway, I changed my
direction and took after her. We zigzagged between tombs, her
managing to stay a few paces out of my reach, but with me gaining
on her each step.

As we crossed a main alley, she continued
straight on and slipped into a narrow gap between two crypts. I
started to follow but could tell immediately that I would never be
able to fit my frame through the opening, so I whipped to the left
and shot around the end of the row. I could already hear her
frantic footsteps ahead, so I didn’t even bother making the second
90º turn to go toward where she had cut through. Instead, I kept
going forward. She was still ahead of me, but her shortcut hadn’t
given her the edge she needed. In fact, it had worked just the
opposite, and I was now barely within reach. Lunging, I launched
myself through the short space between us and tackled her as she
shot out in front of me.

Once again we both went down hard on the
concrete, but it was obvious from the way she kept moving that her
leather jacket was affording her more protection than my thinner
cloth garment was giving me. Still, she screeched as we rolled, and
I did the same. I’m not certain if it was from pain or anger on her
part, though I suspected it was both.

She rolled over in a flash and kicked at me
as she scrambled back against a tomb bearing a brass plate and more
than a few X’s scribed on its surface. I wasn’t certain, but I
thought I saw the name Marie Laveau inscribed on the plaque before
Annalise’s body obscured it from my view. A plate full of coins
scattered everywhere when she knocked it from its pedestal. It was
soon joined by candles and vases full of flowers that she upset as
she continued scrabbling away from me.

I came up to a kneeling position and lunged
toward her again, but she twisted out of my way. When she rolled
back toward me, her hand was wrapped around the heavy glass
container of a seven-day candle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw
it arcing toward me, so I threw my arm up and twisted, catching the
brunt of it against my shoulder. I heard a wounded animal screaming
then realized that it was me.

She scurried backwards, kicking me as she
moved, then climbed to her feet and started running again. I
dragged myself up and started after her, stumbling against the
tombs as new and altogether unpleasant agonies joined the old.
Slipping along a walkway, I shot out onto the main alley that ran
parallel to the front wall. Looking to the left, I saw that she was
already hooking to the right and out the front gate.