CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Still refusing to believe the truth, Jade spun around to see Spencer standing in front of her. Being relatively newly dead, he almost looked alive. He smiled at Jade, but the emotion did not touch his eyes.

"I missed you so much, Jade. And here you are," he said.

"You're not Spencer," she replied.

"Of course I am. Haven't you missed me?"

"Leave me alone..."

"I want to be with you, Jade. We can still be together, like we planned. Just let me kill you. I promise I'll make it quick," he insisted.

Tears gathered in Jade's eyes but she refused to let them fall. "You're not Spencer," she repeated.

"I need you, Jade. I'm so lonely. Death is so cold and empty without you."

"Don't make me hurt your body... Leave this place."

"I can't. I need you."

"Get out of here!" She shouted.

"You couldn't save me, Jade. I saved you, but you couldn't bring me back."

"I tried," she whispered as she started to cry.

"Not hard enough! You just gave up when it didn't work!"

"Aideen said you'd moved on... Once you crossed over, we couldn't fix you..."

"I didn't move on. I was waiting for you, Jade... I waited in limbo for you to find me and rescue me. I love you but you didn't love me enough to save me."

"That's not true! I would have died in your place if I could have!"

"Too little, too late. I'm dead. Oh, but you can make it right, Jade. Just let me kill you, and we can be together again."

"Please stop," she begged him, her heart breaking all over again.

Spencer's body wrapped its arms around Jade's throat and began to choke her. Everything in her begged her to fight, but she couldn't fight him. Even if she knew that he wasn't really Spencer, he was wearing Spencer's skin, and to damage it was unthinkable.

His hold grew stronger. Her air was completely cut off. He kissed her gently on the cheek before tossing her against the wall. Her head slammed against it, just like it had the night Spencer died. Her spine cracked loudly as it hit the floor.

Weak, dizzy, and sore, Jade tried to sit up without much success. Her spine hurt, but the pain was a good sign. It meant she wasn't paralyzed. She struggled to bring her eyes into focus and saw Spencer's body heading toward Cierra, who frantically pulled the trigger of her gun, but nothing happened. Cierra was out of bullets, and Spencer's body was going to kill her.

"No!" Jade screamed as Spencer lunged for Cierra. She flung the most powerful spell she could cast in her current state straight at his head. Spencer's body exploded and vanished in an instant.

"Oh Gods..." Jade whispered as she realized what she'd done. "Oh Gods..." She collapsed into a fetal position and started to cry hysterically.

Suddenly hit with Jade's emotions, Beth lost her warrior Goddess and became an empath once again, weeping along with Jade and hugging her. Cierra sat beside them, unable to believe what had just happened and knowing that she was their only chance of survival now. She took Jade's gun and waited for more zombies to attack, trying to cover Beth and Jade.

When a shadow approached, Cierra immediately pulled the trigger. Shooter cursed. "That hurt," he protested as he came into view.

"Oh Gods, Shooter, I'm so sorry," Cierra said, although she still didn't lower the gun.

"It's okay. I'm immortal, so it's just painful, not deadly. I'll be fine. Besides, I think the bullet went straight through my shoulder," he said. "What happened? Is Jade... crying?"

"They raised Spencer... And he tried to kill me... And Jade... She... She saved me," Cierra explained.

"Oh my God..." He shook his head and knelt beside her. "Come on, Goth Chick, we need to get out of here," he said gently.

"You found a way out?" Cierra asked.

"Tammy may have. She's right outside the entrance to this corridor, watching for trouble. I felt you guys in here." He cautiously pulled Beth off of Jade and placed a bubble of energy around her to block her from Jade's anguish.

Beth took several deep breaths before focusing. "Thanks," she said softly.

Shooter shrugged and immediately cursed because it hurt his wounded shoulder. He tried to send soothing energy toward Jade. It wasn't enough, and her hysterics continued. "Whoever broke my Goth Chick is going to pay," Shooter mumbled under his breath. "I'm too weak to carry her."

"Jade, honey, you have to come with us," Beth whispered. "We need you."

"It wasn't Spencer, Jade," Cierra added.

Jade rocked back and forth. "She's kept it all in for so long," Beth said. "I think she just finally snapped."

"Great timing," Shooter said sarcastically. He paused, waiting for Jade to react, but she didn't. "Come on, Goth Chick. Did you hear how insensitive I just was? Smack me or hex me or something. Please?" He asked in concern.

Aideen, Arnie, Evan, Dylan, Ellyn, and Corey, who they had stumbled across along the way, rushed in. "Guys!" Arnie cried on relief. "What happened?" He added in concern as he spotted Jade.

"Spencer happened," Beth replied. "And Jade stopped him."

"She had to destroy his body," Cierra added sadly.

Dylan and Arnie looked at Shooter's shoulder and both started to heal it, but Shooter waved them off with his good arm. "You're both too weak. I can feel how much energy you've used healing everyone else," Shooter said.

Dylan nodded. "He's right," he admitted.

Arnie turned his attention back to Jade. "It's over, Jade," he said softly, looking like he wanted to cry right along with her. "You're okay. It's all over now."

"You did the right thing," Aideen added gently, understanding far too well the unthinkable choice that Jade had just made. "You had to. And it wasn't really him."

"What's taking so long?" Tammy called. "There's more of them coming!"

"Are any of you strong enough to carry Jade right now?" Shooter asked.

"I've got her," Evan replied. He reached for her, but Jade pulled away and curled up tighter.

"Let me," Corey said. "I helped her that night. Maybe I can help her now, too." He knelt beside her. "Jade, I know you're hurting, but please try to hear me... I'm not going to hurt you. No one is. That thing was not Spencer, and you took care of the problem," he said gently. "It's all over now. Please let me help you."

Weeping harder, Jade let go of her defenses and allowed Corey to pick her up. She was too injured to walk easily with how hard Spencer's body had flung her against the wall, and she was weak from the spells, so she didn't protest being carried.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Shooter said.

The others hurried with him. "Has anyone seen Alex?" Cierra asked. "We got separated."

"Sorry," Shooter said. "I haven't seen him."

"Neither have we," Aideen added. "Alex is tough, Cierra. He'll be fine. And he's probably got Jesse and Cassandra with him."

"I wish we had Cassandra," Arnie mumbled.

"What about Randy and Melissa? Did they ever turn up?" Beth asked.

"No," Dylan replied. "We're hoping they got away."

"Well, we all know that Randy probably took one look at all of those zombies and ran the hell out of there," Arnie said. "Hopefully he took Melissa with him."

"There wasn't anywhere to run," Tammy replied. "They took over the Unit."

Arnie blinked. "We're all screwed, aren't we?" He asked after a moment.

"No," Aideen replied. "We can still defeat them."

"Aideen," Jade said, startling everyone as she pulled herself together.

"What's up?" Aideen asked.

"It's Courtney, isn't it? The necromancer."

Aideen sighed. "It feels like Court, but I don't understand. She'd never do this... So someone must be forcing her to."

"The quickest way to lay them to rest..." Jade began.

"I know, but we can't."

"I agree."

"What are you two going on about?" Arnie asked.

"The quickest way to lay this many zombies to rest is to kill the necromancer that raised them," Ellyn explained for them. "Who's Courtney?"

"My twin sister," Aideen replied. "It may be our only chance, but... If it's Courtney..."

"We can't do that," Arnie said. "So, if someone's using her, and we find them..."

"It might work... It might not."

"Great. I love definite answers," Arnie replied with a sigh.

"Patch up my spine," Jade said. "I need to be able to walk on my own without doubling over in pain."

"Jade, maybe you should have Joey bring you to Alestair," Arnie suggested gently. "You'll be safer."

"They raised Spencer, Arnie," she replied stubbornly. "I'm staying until we finish this."

"As much as I'd be happy to keep carrying her, you heard the girl," Corey said. "Somebody heal her."

Dylan looked at Shooter. "I need a recharge," he said. "Don't fry me, man. I'm trusting you."

"I should fry you for daring to doubt my skills, but under the circumstances, I won't," Shooter replied. He quickly recharged Dylan's energy.

Dylan focused on healing Jade's spine before he healed her head. Corey gently set her down on her feet. She leaned against him, exhausted and traumatized, but no longer in physical pain.

Dylan turned toward Shooter and said, "I'm good. Let me fix your shoulder."

"Fine," Shooter replied. "Make it fast."

"Alright," Arnie said when Dylan was finished. "Who's ready to go kick some zombie ass?"

~*~

Courtney was startled to wake up in a familiar embrace. At first, she thought that she was dreaming... Then she smelled him. Being dead for just over a year had caused a lot of his flesh to rot.

Looking up into her father's empty eyes, Courtney screamed and nearly fainted all over again. When he'd attacked her mother, she'd been so stunned to be looking at him that she had collapsed.

Oh Gods, Mom... Please let her be okay, she thought frantically. Please let this be a bad dream.

Pulling as far away as possible from the rotten shell that had once been Benny Phillips, Courtney wanted to run, but there was no way out of the room they were in. As soon as she was out of his arms, he blocked the only door, and while zombies were generally slow, she wasn't sure what would happen if she got close to him again.

"This can't be happening," she said aloud.

"Oh, I assure you, it is," a familiar voice replied, but it was not Benny who spoke.

The door opened. Suddenly, the boy she had sworn her undying love to stood in front of her. An odd mix of rage and disbelief hit Courtney at the same time. "You did this, Rafe?" She demanded. "How? You're not even a necromancer!"

"No, but you are, my sweet little Reaper."

"I don't understand..."

"I know you don't. I had you wrapped around my little finger. You never even suspected the truth."

"And what is the truth, Rafe?" She asked, unable to keep the hurt out of her voice.

"I'm not your run of the mill daywalker, Courtney. I'm something far more dangerous," he replied.

"And what might that be?"

"I'm a psychic vampire. In fact, I'm a Class A psychic vampire. I'm ranked as one of the strongest known psi vamps in the world under my birth name, Raphael Esposito, and I'm also immortal."

"Being a psychic vampire doesn't give you the power to raise the dead," Courtney said in confusion.

"No, it doesn't, but it gives me some other talents, including powerful mind control and the ability to absorb other's talents. You and your sister are such pretty girls, and what stronger necromancer is there than a Reaper? I was going to go for Aideen, but she saw right through my charm. You, however, were so sweet and innocent, and you fell for me immediately. It wasn't even a challenge to pull you in, but corrupting you, well... That was the hard part."

"What are you talking about?" Courtney demanded.

"I didn't do this, Courtney. You did. While your mind was blank so I could do that ritual, I gave you a powerful suggestion to raise the dead and order them to follow my command, and it was easy to control them from there."

"No. I'd never do something like this!" She insisted.

"You're weak, Little Reaper. I should have gone for Aideen, because I love a good challenge and she's stronger than you anyway, but you know what? I actually kind of like my girls sweet, and Aideen's death was timed perfectly. I knew you'd do anything to save your precious sister."

"You're lying to me."

"I wouldn't lie about this, my sweet."

"Leave me alone! Let me and my father go!"

"You know, it's a peculiar thing," Rafe said thoughtfully, as though something had mildly entertained him. "I think I've lost control over him."

"What?" Courtney asked.

"Why do you think he just sat there holding you, and when you ran away, he just stood by the door? After he attacked your mother, he stopped responding." He looked at Benny. "Leave the room," he commanded.

Benny stood staring blankly at Rafe. He did not respond, nor did he move.

"Do you see what I mean? He's useless now. I'll have to torch him," Rafe said with a shrug.

"No!" Courtney shouted. "I won't let you!"

"You're too weak to stop me, Courtney. I've been feeding off of you for weeks. The only reason you had the energy to raise the corpses is because I gave it to you, and now that's gone, too."

"Why?" She asked. "Why did you do this?"

"It's not personal, Courtney, really. I actually rather enjoyed our time together. The problem is that you and your family wouldn't pick a side. The witches were too powerful with their spells, but the vampires had a weapon they didn't... Reapers. The only problem is that none of you would help us. So I made it happen. It's the only way for our kind to survive, Courtney. We have to wipe the witches off the Earth."

"I'm a witch."

"Yes, you are, aren't you? It's a shame, but you're a Reaper by blood, Courtney, and that matters. In the end, I knew you'd see that I was right. The vampire species must continue. I had no choice. I had to level the playing field."

"You've destroyed all of Salem! Do you know how many people have probably been killed?"

"Casualties of war... I mean, I didn't want all of them to die, especially those on our side. The witch children had to die, though. The nine children they killed were an unexpected side effect, but these things happen in times of war."

"Oh Gods... You're the one who killed Annabella's children?" She asked in horror. She'd been friendly with Raven, Blaze had made it clear he had a crush on her, and Morganna was just a baby. Courtney couldn't believe that she'd been dating the monster who killed them.

"How else was I going to make sure that the war began? They didn't have to suffer, but they fought. I was good to the youngest one. She was so easy to trance... The little dear didn't feel a thing. The older two gave me problems. I wouldn't have even touched the boy, had he not come back for his sisters. They had to die, Courtney. Don't you see? They are martyrs for the cause! Their deaths led to the rest. At least the little witch brats proved useful."

"You son of a bitch!" Courtney threw a punch at Rafe before she even realized what she was doing.

Rafe stumbled backward, shocked by her actions. "Nice shot," he mumbled. "I didn't know you could do that."

Courtney ran toward the door as she said, "Deenie may have been the slayer, but I'm still my father's daughter. He taught me how to defend myself."

Rafe ran after her, chasing her through the dark warehouse. "I'll see you dead, you traitor!" He shouted. "Your blood will feed my army of corpses!"

No matter where she ran, Courtney hit dead ends. Rafe was close behind her, and she was running out of time. Help me, she silently begged. Someone, please help me.

Rafe jumped out from a dark corner and grabbed Courtney by her hair. He held a ritual knife to her throat. "To bleed a Reaper dry is considered treason, but when that Reaper abandons her people, the rules go out the window," he said.

Courtney struggled and screamed. He covered her mouth with his hand, so she bit down hard until she drew blood. Howling in pain, he released her. Courtney's victory was short-lived. Rafe lunged at her and pinned her to the floor. He began rhythmically smashing her skull against the floor, laughing as he did.

"It doesn't matter how I get the blood," he said. "Once I've killed you, I'll dance in your blood and the zombies will answer only to me. No one will be able to lay them to rest."

Struggling to stay conscious, Courtney silently prayed for a miracle. She was stunned when Rafe was suddenly pulled off of her. His screams of protest cut off abruptly and his severed head rolled past her on the floor. Her first thought was that Aideen had finally resurrected herself and come to rescue her. The last thing she expected was what she saw.

Extending a hand toward her, Benny tilted his head to the side and almost looked like himself. "Take it," he said. "I could never harm you, Courtney."

Knowing it was the truth, Courtney took her father's hand and stood up. Her feet wobbled beneath her until he picked her up and carried her from the room where Rafe had met his end.

"Daddy," she whispered.

"Shhh," he said. "It's alright now."

"I don't think I can lay them all to rest. I'm not strong enough."

"You're much stronger than you realize."

"It's really you, isn't it?"

"Yes, sweetie. It's me."

"But zombies don't have souls... They just do what their animator tells them to."

"And my animator told me that she needed a miracle, so I gave her one. Besides, I'm a Reaper. We don't like to possess corpses, but we can, especially when it used to be our own body. We can also heal them. It's never smart to raise a Reaper as a zombie. Your control won't last for long."

Courtney wept into his shoulder, which was now strong, solid, and no longer smelled of death. Courtney couldn't believe it... Benny had resurrected himself.

"You can't stay, can you?" She asked sadly.

"No, I can't. My purpose lies in the Light, not here on Earth. I have to be over there to protect you guys," he replied.

"Daddy, I can't lose you again..."

"You'll never really lose me, sweetheart. I'm always with you and your sister and your mother."

"Oh Gods... Mom! You didn't... I mean... Is she okay?"

Benny lowered his eyes in shame. "She's hurt badly, but assuming she didn't bleed out, I didn't kill her. I got enough control of my body to make myself leave with you, as I'd originally been instructed to do, and ignore the commands to kill her and Aideen."

"Deenie's alive?" Courtney asked in relief.

"Very much so."

"You didn't go after her, did you?"

"No. He tried to send me the command to leave you here and go find her and kill her, but that was a big mistake on his part. Nothing could make me hurt Deenie, not even the strongest necromancer on the planet. So I stayed holding you instead, and I tried to cling to your energy to stay grounded."

"I'm so sorry, Daddy... I never meant for any of this to happen!"

"I know. It's okay, Courtney, but we have to make this right now."

"We?" She repeated.

"Yes, we. It's going to take more than one Reaper to fix this. I'll stay around to help, and you'll need to be involved... And Deenie."

"She's going to freak out when she sees you."

"No, she won't. She already knows I'm here and that it's only until the dead are laid to rest. I made sure to telepathically warn her."

"She's going to be so mad at me..."

"No one will blame you, sweetheart. This isn't your fault."

"She told me that he was a creep. I didn't listen to her."

"I think Deenie understands falling for the wrong guy more than you know."

"What do you mean?" Courtney asked.

"That's her story to tell, not mine. Let's just say that I wasn't exactly thrilled to find out who one of her ex-boyfriends was." He paused before adding, "Come on, honey. We've got work to do."