ACADEMY OF THE UNDEAD; BOOK TWO Stand Together ... Or Fall Together
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Resurrection Ceremony

The day had been a long one, time seemingly dragging forward in slow motion, although as the sun began to set, Stanley’s nerves were jangling. The thought kept pounding in his mind that this was a scam, and by the dawn of the next day, he would be admonishing himself, and he’d also be a million dollars poorer. It was a perfect scam, because he couldn’t race to the police and say, I paid these people one million dollars to resurrect my dead wife, but they didn’t do it, so arrest them! The strange people wouldn’t come, he knew it. They were probably sitting back right now, laughing at him, God, how gullible was that guy! Strangely, he wondered what would have happened if he had been honest with the bank manager … I’m paying this money to a man who says that he can resurrect my dead wife. The bank manager would say, Clinton, dead people can’t be brought back to the life. Stanley would argue, This guy said that he would try, and he said that he had been resurrected, and he also said that his small female bodyguard had been resurrected. The bank manager may have inquired, The man has a small female bodyguard? Stanley would reply, Yes, she’s petite and young, and she has nice breasts. The bank manager may have then spelt it out for him, Clinton, I think you’re being scammed. Stanley could protest, No, they said they are zombies, although they prefer to be called Resurrected’s; and they said that a vampire probably killed my wife! The bank manager may have said, I believe your best option is to go to the police. Yeah, like Hell. He couldn’t involve the police, because he didn’t want the police asking questions, didn’t really want the police in his house, and he definitely didn’t want the police snooping around in his basement.

As the night took hold, Stanley gazed out his front window, amazed by his own stupidity. As computer technology advanced in this ever-changing world, scammers were popping up everywhere; Congratulations! You’ve won our twenty- million-dollar lottery; give us all your bank details and we will transfer the money to you.

Stanley knew where these particular scammers lived though, or at least, where they lived at the moment; and maybe he could pop in and say … he lost his train of thought when he saw a van slowing down out the front of his property, and when the van slowly turned and the headlights shone on the window he was standing at, he froze.

The dark van pulled into the driveway and parked off to the side, and a second van rolled to a stop and parked behind it, then a black sedan parked directly in front of the entrance. With a mild throb beginning in his brow, he saw a rear door of the sedan open, and then he, Chief-Scammer got out and stretched, then she, the small female bodyguard joined him. The two of them walked up the steps, and Stanley knew that there were eleven steps to negotiate, and he watched the couple taking each step, then a moment later, the doorbell rang.

Stanley was panting in disbelief; they were here, here to, to …

He closed his eyes and tried to regulate his breathing, and then with awkward steps, he moved to the entrance and opened the door.

“Good sir, how are you?” Devil asked.

The man was dressed in a flowing purple kaftan, and the girl was in the same camouflage pants and black singlet.

Devil seemed to understand that Stanley was stunned, so he walked inside and said, “Excuse us good sir, we’ll just have a look around.”

Devil and Chester began moving away, and Stanley, breathless, asked, “Do, do you want me to show you around?”

“No.” Devil replied, and the two of them walked down the hallway and then began walking up the stairs.

Five minutes later, Devil and Chester walked down the stairs, then moved towards the front room.

Stanley was still standing by the open front door, and he asked meekly, “Can I help you with something?”

“No.” Devil replied blandly.

A few minutes later, they whisked past him, heading for the rear of the massive house.

Stanley stood in the hallway, not sure what to do. He glanced outside, the two dark vans still sitting innocently in the driveway.

After a few minutes, Chester walked up to him and said, “Come.”

Stanley followed her towards the rear of the house, then she led him down to the basement. Devil gazed at him and said, “Yes, this is perfect.”

“What’s perfect?”

“Your basement is the ideal place, because it has a high ceiling.”

Stanley waited a moment, then he asked, “The ideal place for what?”

“If I am successful in dragging your wife out of the black hole of death, there are many precautions that we need to take. Her carcass could be resurrected with her mind being vacant, which is what happens with most resurrections, although there is always a chance that her mind, or her spiritual being if you like, could be influenced or affected, or even invaded by lingering spirits from the black hole of death.”

“Are you saying that if you bring her back, another spirit could occupy her mind?”

“Yes. The possibility always exists that a vacant mind can be invaded, and I have seen too many demonic spirits come into this world to take any chances, so if I am successful in bringing her back, your wife will need to undergo a thorough period of psychological cleansing.”

“Psychological cleansing?”

“Yeah Bro, it’s kinda like de-programming her, cleaning out her mind so that you can then reprogram her to your requirements.” Chester stated.

“Okay, so what has that got to do with the basement?”

“Good sir, first things first. My people will bring the body down here, and then I will attempt to resurrect her.”

“So chum, please vacate the basement and let us get to work.” Chester stated.

“Ummm, what are you saying, you have the body?”

“You paid me man, and I fulfilled my part of the deal.” Chester replied.

“But what, you’re going to resurrect her here, in the basement?”

“Yes, I will try to resurrect here, so as Chester said, entertain yourself and I will see you when I see you.”

Meekly, Stanley said, “I was actually hoping to watch the proceedings.”

Devil cocked his head and smirked, then he said bluntly, “Good sir, that is not going to happen.”

“But I wanted to make sure that it is actually her.”

Chester looked at him and said, “The directions you gave me were spot on Bro, and the headstone said, Stanley, Iveta Sonya, and even though they repaired her pretty good, her neck had been badly damaged, so I’m thinking yeah, we have the right corpse.”

“So good sir, please leave and let us get down to business.”

Dazed, Stanley walked up the steps, and he saw two men walking down the hallway, the men carrying a black body bag. Stanley watched them carefully navigate their way down the stairs, and two minutes later, they hurried up the stairs and then walked out of the house. Two more men came, carrying a large, wooden table, and they carefully proceeded down the stairs, then not long after, they climbed back up, closed the basement door and walked out of the house

As a dizzying wave of apprehension swept through him, Stanley bit his bottom lip. The two scammers were in his basement … and so was a body bag.

*

Stanley paced around the rear sunroom, feeling as helpless as he had ever felt in his life. The sunroom was directly above the large basement, although as tense minutes ticked by, he didn’t hear a sound coming from below.

Every minute was in slow motion, every moment dragged, and the lack of noise from below had him fretting. He had no idea of what was happening, although he had anticipated that if you were going to resurrect the dead, sounds should be audible. Maybe there should be bumps or strangled cries, maybe there should be recitations or chants, but no, complete silence. Complete silence that had the hairs at the back of neck bristling, complete silence that was driving him crazy. He thought about the total absurdity of what he was doing, paying a very strange man to try and resurrect the corpse of his deceased wife. As unsettled as he was, images of Iveta began thundering through his mind at the rate of knots; Iveta’s shy yet engaging smile, her pale blue eyes showing acceptance as he undressed her, his wife’s subdued yet helpless expression as he brought her to orgasm, all her movements, all of her expressions showing a woman prepared to subjugate herself to the whims of her partner, and Stanley tensed, as more images came, the pale blue eyes darkening, as the Monster came out to play.

Realistically, Stanley assumed that this man who comically called himself Devil, would emerge from the basement and state blandly, Sorry, it didn’t work, so we’ll be on our way. But what if it did work, what if the man did resurrect his wife?

Stanley sucked his bottom lip as his mind clearly captured her image; the passive, obedient wife, who just happened to have a Monster lurking within.

He longed to hold her again, and he wanted to press his lips against hers, and he wanted to flick the golden blonde hair off her forehead, although he knew that most of all, he wanted to stare into the pale blue eyes as they darkened, because lust and desire danced most wickedly when his own Monster was awoken.

*

In the basement, Devil had done all his psychological preliminaries, so he undressed, then cuddled Chester. “I hope we meet soon life-mate.”

“We will Boss, you’re the best at this.”

Devil climbed on the table and lay on his back, and after taking a huge breath, he clasped the dead woman’s hand and then closed his eyes.

Chester sat in a chair and made herself comfortable, knowing that she had to stay alert and attentive. Her memory since she had been resurrected was photographic, and as she gazed at her Boss, she realised that this would be the tenth resurrection she had witnessed. To pass the time, she looked at her watch and made a bet with herself … In between four hours and twenty minutes, to four hours and thirty minutes.

Chester usually became sleepy or drowsy during long periods of inactivity, although now was not the time to nod off, because if the Boss got in trouble, she needed to be available.

She thought about the last resurrection Devil had performed, Dinara Lee Colson. One of their own people had been killed by a vampire, so Devil instructed Chester to flick through the obituraries and replace a suitable replacement. Dinara didn’t only turn out to be a suitable replacement, she was an ideal replacement, because Dinara was now her best friend. To reflect their growing friendship, Chester shortened her name and began calling her Dinny, although as their friendship continued to blossom, she shortened the shortened name to Din. This woman lying on the table wasn’t destined to become one of theirs, she was going to resume her life as the wife of a very wealthy man. A wealthy man, yet also apparently, a vengeful man. Chester pondered that maybe this resurrection was a waste of time, because if the vengeful man did direct his resurrected wife to seek retribution against her killer, well, there was every possibility that the wife would be killed again. While the Resurrected’s kept to themselves, Devil always took a keen interest in the activities of the other supernatural groups in the area, and the name Taylee Crezenski had been heard too many times to be ignored. She was a vampire from the Mephistopheles Clan who supposedly preyed on the evil and depraved, and by the sound of Iveta Stanley’s history, Crezenski had taken out a suitable victim. Almost forty resurrected beings lived with Devil and Chester at the Ranch, and while not many of her people had ever seen Crezenski, the vampire’s deeds were almost folklore. Chester’s group often said jokingly, Behave yourself, or else Crezenski will come for you! Her clan had heard so many stories about Taylee Crezenski’s vicious and nefarious deeds, that Crezenski was now the Resurrected’s Boogey Man. Strangely, Chester wondered what the legendary vampire would think about what they were doing, resurrecting one of her victims, resurrecting one of the evil and depraved; Behave yourself, or else …

*

Another hour of inactivity passed, although Chester sat up and focussed on her Boss when he began to squirm. His breathing was heavier than normal, and Chester rushed to the table and checked him. Breathing heavier, his eyelids fluttering, his mouth open, his expression of apparent distress, and Chester studied him, ready to act if the negative signs increased. His whole body began shuddering, and Chester was just about to disengage and bring him back, when surprisingly, the woman’s body jerked. As a Resurrected Being, Chester reacted to orders or commands, and she waited a moment, watching, studying. Movements started happening quickly, movements of life, movements of success; the woman’s back arching, her grip on Devil’s hand tightening, her shoulders rolling, and with a pained expression creasing her face, the woman coughed, then spluttered, then squealed, and after tense moments of erratic breathing, she whimpered. After rattling through a full body convulsion, the woman panted breathlessly, then as her body relaxed and flattened out, she settled into a steady rhythm of breathing. Chester nodded; Success … she’s back … although when she swung her gaze to the Boss, she tensed, for he had yet to return. Chester looked at his fiercly fluttering eyelids, looked at the frenetic rise and fall of his chest, and she wanted to bring him back immediately, although the caution flared in her mind. Before every resurrection, Devil always advised her; Don’t disengage until there is no other option …

The available options were running out, until thankfully, he spluttered dramatically, sucked in a huge breath, then after shuddering, he appeared to stabilize. Chester examined him, ticking off all the signs; breathing regular, eyelids still, although she was surprised when she glanced at his groin, because his large penis was erect. Physical contact should now be safe, so Chester held his left hand in both of hers, preparing to bring him back. After counting off ten seconds, she stroked his arm, then while still holding his hand, she ran her left hand through the hairs on his chest, until her hand settled over his heart. She felt the heartbeat, quick at first, but decreasing steadily until it normalized.

Content, certain that he was climbing back into the realm in which he belonged, she skimmed her left hand over his face, although curious, she gazed at his erection again. She had been a part of ten resurrections now, all of them successful, most of them completed without any major complications, although each one was different from the others. This resurrection was the closest she had come to interfering, for her Master had appeared to be distressed, and this resurrection was the only one of the ten which he had ridden through with a raging erection.

When his eyes fluttered open, she asked quietly, “You okay Boss?”

Devil gazed at her, his eyes alive with uncertainty. “Shit,” he breathed out, “Just glad to be back.”

“Did something go wrong, I mean for a minute there, I was starting to panic.”

Devil sat up and looked at the woman. Her chest rose and fell with her unhurried breathing, and she seemed calm and relaxed in her new state of slumber. Devil swung his legs around and dangled them off the table, and he braced his hands on the table as he glanced at the floor and mumbled, “This, this was different.”

“In what way?”

“Normally, if I follow all the procedures and then clasp the corpses hand when I enter the black hole, the spirit of the deceased will usually replace me, I mean they will reach out and connect with me. But this one …” He glanced behind to look at the woman, and Chester could tell he was unsettled, so she asked, “What happened?”

“Her spirit didn’t need to replace me, because, because she was there, I mean it was like she was waiting for me.” Devil replied uncertainly.

“Waiting for you?”

“I have never had vision before, I mean with every experience in the black hole, the spirit is in limbo, and the spirit will replace me and connect with me, and I operate more by sensory awareness because the spirit is invisible, but with this one, with her, I saw her.”

“What do you mean? You saw her in the black hole?”

“I did, I did see her, and it was almost like she was waiting for me, or or …” Devil gazed at the woman again, spooked by the experience.

“Or what Boss?”

“It was like she was waiting for me, or else she was waiting for someone else.”

The only things Chester knew about her Master’s experiences in the black hole, were those things he chose to tell her, so in any conversation about the experience, she was simply going to be grasping at straws, so she asked hesitantly, “Who would she be waiting for in the black hole of death?”

“No, I don’t know, I mean I’ve never had vision in the black hole before, but I saw her, I saw her alive and animated, and I just had this feeling that I wasn’t the only one who could see her.”

“What are you saying, a lingering spirit could have seen her?”

Devil looked at her, and he said quietly, “Put it this way, I’m glad I got to her first.”

“Boss, you don’t think she brought something back with her?”

“I will examine her thoroughly when she wakes.” Devil replied.

Chester was unsettled simply because her Master seemed unsettled, and she said quietly, “You seem a bit freaked out Boss.”

“The black hole is dark and eery, and if I follow all procedures and maintain contact with the corpse right through the experience, the spirit will replace me and connect with me, and then I will guide them back out, so this is new for me, having vision I mean.”

“Do you feel okay?”

“Yes, I feel normal,” he replied, “How was I while I was under?”

“Your breathing was as harsh as I’ve ever seen it, and your eyelids were fluttering rapidly, and yeah, you did look a bit spooked.”

“I didn’t lose contact with her?”

“No, not at any stage, although there was one thing …”

“What?”

“You had a boner, I mean a severe boner.”

He gazed at his lap, and that which had apparently been, was no longer the case.

*

Stanley thought that he must have paced two miles across the sunroom as minutes turned into hours, then a noise, the first noise for more than two hours, and he hurried towards the basement door.

Chester smiled as she opened the door and said, “Hey.” Devil followed her out not long after, the man minus his kaftan.

Stanley swung his gaze back and forth, willingly one of them to speak, although they stood side-by-side in silence. So tense and expectant, he blurted out, “Well?”

Chester said casually, “At this stage, your wife is breathing.”

Stanley gulped, then he asked shakily, “She, she’s alive?”

“At this early stage, I’m prepared to say that the physical part of the resurrection has been successful.” Devil replied.

Stanley shook his head in puzzlement, so many emotions charging through his mind that he felt dizzy, and he asked again, “My wife, Iveta, she’s alive?”

Devil looked at him as he said, “At this stage, the corpse in the basement is no longer a corpse, although there is much to do before I sign off on this one.”

“Can I see her?”

“No, you can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I need to examine her when she wakes up.”

“Isn’t she awake now?”

“No she isn’t. Please understand Mr Stanley, her body has been exhumed after been buried for a week, and her spirit has been retrieved from the black hole of death, so I would say that she is currently readjusting to her new condition.”

“When do you expect her to wake up?”

“Every case is different, and there is no time-line here, so she will wake up when she is ready, although from experience, it is normally within the first twenty-four hours.”

“I’d like to go down and see her.”

“No, I need to examine her when she wakes up, because a thousand possibilities exist good sir, one of which is that you may be confronted by a mindless zombie … or worse.” Devil replied coolly.

Chester eyed him assuredly and said, “You don’t get to see her until the Boss is satisfied that she doesn’t present a danger to us.”

Rattled by everything, Stanley still had the presence of mind to think about the girl’s statement, and glancing at Devil, he asked meekly, “What happens if she does present a danger to you?”

Devil held his gaze, although it was the girl who said solemnly, “We will deal with each situation as it arises.”

Stanley still wasn’t convinced that it was possible to resurrect the dead. This whole thing could still be a con job, and this was the get-out clause; Yeah sorry, you paid us a million dollars and we resurrected her, but she presented a danger to us, so we had to kill her again … anyway, nice meeting you, goodbye! Although in the part of his mind where the light at the end of the tunnel resided, the thought sparkled, Really, my wife, the love of my life is alive?

Chester could see that the man was suspicious and anxious, and fully conversant with her role, she pulled a thick joint out of a bag, then said, “We might wander outside and suck the shit out of this baby, then we’ll wander back down and sit with her until she wakes up.”

Devil, confused, and decidedly unsettled, sat at the outdoor table and drew back on the joint. Gazing into the dark night, he saw a streak of light descending. Chester followed his gaze and she saw the white blaze disappear below the horizon. “Falling star.” she mumbled.

Devil sunk back into the chair and blew smoke into the air, then said quietly, “Hmmm, maybe.”

Chester took the joint off him and inhaled, then asked, “What do you mean?”

Devil gazed at the sky, a glittering array of stars twinkling on this night, and he looked to his left and right, looked in both directions as far as his vision allowed, then he muttered, “On this night, something has fallen, or else, something has risen.”

Chester saw the concerned expression on his face, and she asked, “Be straight up with me Boss, what’s the matter?”

Devil extended his right arm, and after Chester handed him the joint, he said soberly, “Young life-mate, the spirit has reunited with the physical form, although my instincts are telling me that something is not right.”

“Okay, so maybe that means that she has brought an evil or malevolent spirit back with her.”

Chester waited for a response, and with her nerve-ends doing an anxious jig, she asked, “Boss?”

Devil focussed on the stars in front of him, then said quietly, “No, she didn’t bring something back with her, although I fear that she may very well be the something.”

There were so many things that Chester didn’t understand about the complex labyrinth they lived in, and she certainly didn’t appreciate her Master speaking in perplexing riddles, so she asked, “What do you mean?”

“Young life-mate, we have resurrected Iveta Stanley,” he paused to look at her, then he said solemnly, “But who is Iveta Stanley?”

The question, Chester assumed, had already been answered by Clinton Stanley, so Chester reminded him. “Boss, she was a monster.”

“As a human being, she had a few significant faults, and yes, maybe she had been a monster, but now, who is she now?”

The question was too complex for Chester to understand, so she leant across and grabbed the joint, sucking back as she sank into the chair. She got lost in a maze of thoughts, and when Devil asked quietly, “Shall we go back in?” she snapped out of her trance. “Huh, what?”

“Shall we go back in?”

Chester stood, then said resolutely, “If you’re going, so am I.”

“Let’s do it.”

As they began walking, Chester said, “Boss, that’s the first time you rode through a resurrection with a boner.”

As the phrase wasn’t a question, Devil didn’t reply, although Chester’s territorial instincts were aroused, and she asked shyly, “I mean what’s up, are you like attracted to her or something?”

Devil stopped and faced her. Her gathered her hands and looked into her eyes as he said affectionately, “Young life-mate, us, you and me are together forever, and the woman doesn’t pose a threat to our relationship.”

Chester lowered her gaze and mumbled, “Okay, that’s good to know, but Boss, that’s the first time I seen ya ride through a resurrection with a boner.”

“Gorgeous life-mate, this was a new experience for me, and as I said, I’ve never had vision before when I enter the black hole, so yeah, sorry, I can’t explain my bodily functions.”

“Yeah, okay,” Chester nodded, then she added shyly, “The bitch is a good sort, and I can understand why Stanley wanted her back.”

“Yes, so can I.”

Devil and Chester stood at the table, side-by-side, the corpse displaying all the signs that meant she was no longer a corpse. She was breathing unhurriedly, and the lids of her closed eyes flickered, as if she were dreaming, and she rolled occasionally, a lazy, controlled sway which set her full breasts in motion.

Not wanting to state the obvious, yet feeling as if she needed to break the silence, Chester muttered, “She’s still breathing Boss, still with us.”

Devil didn’t reply, he walked to the end of the table and placed both of his hands on the revived corpse’s forehead. He lolled his head back, then closed his eyes, inhaling in then exhaling audibly through his nose. After minutes of silence, Devil said quietly, “Chester, orgainse the restraints.”

Bemused, spooked, Chester asked, “What?”

Devil glanced at her and replied, “Secure her hands and feet.”

Her people had brought this table in, the ceremonial table, and at shoulder and ankle height, it had steel rings drilled into it. Obeying her Master, Chester snapped handcuffs around the woman’s wrists and ankles, then fastened the other end of the handcuffs into the steel rings. “All secure Boss.”

“Thank-you, now we sit and wait.”

“Until she wakes up?”

“Yes.”

Chester knew that her Boss only did what was necessary, although in her previous nine resurrection ceremonies, she had never been asked to secure a revived corpse. With a growing feeling of dread, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Devil glanced at her briefly, then returned his gaze to the woman as he said, “Just then, when I touched her, I felt a presence.”

“So she has brought an evil spirit back?”

“No, the presence was not inside the woman, the presence is external, and the feeling I got was that the presence was pure, possibly angelic.”

Chester pondered, then said, “An angelic spirit, I mean that’s good isn’t it?”

“Normally I would say yes, it is good,” Devil began, “But the angelic presence seems to be shaken or upset.”

Chester thought about his statement, then said uncertainly, “I hear ya talking Boss, but I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“The angelic presence, or the presence hovering in this room appears to be distressed that we have revived this corpse.”

Too many negatives appeared to be surfacing, and her Master who was normally confident and self-assured, seemed anything but, so Chester said quietly, “I have the knife in my bag.”

Devil understood the impled threat of the whispered statement, although he said steadfastly, “For the time being, the creature will live.”

Chester gazed at the restrained body, the woman breathing smoothly, her legs in motion now, the heels of her feet sliding on the table as far as the restraints would allow. As a resurrected being, Chester always did what he asked her to do, although she had the ability to think clearly and rationally, and with her Boss being as spooked as she had ever seen him, she said, “If you don’t know what we’re dealing with, maybe we should end her.”

Devil placed his hands on the woman’s head again, closed his eyes, and after drawing in the essence of this resurrected carcass, he said, “There is something about this woman, something that I fail to grasp, and too many puzzling things about this ceremony have me questioning my abilities, so Chester …”

Chester waited, un-nerved that her Master seemed deep in concentration again, so she asked timidly, “So what?”

He drew in a large breath, then exhaled noisily as he said, “I need to know about her, I need to know who she is.”

*

An hour later, Iveta Stanley opened her eyes.

Chester watched her every movement, and she saw the confusion in the resurrected one’s eyes. The resurrected one glanced at the handcuffs on her left and right, then the resurrected one turned her focus to Devil and Chester.

Devil stood and moved by her face, watching her intently as he said, “Hello, how are you?”

Tensing, Iveta stared at him. “Do you know where you are?” Devil asked.

Iveta tried to snap her wrists free, whimpering as panic flared in her eyes.

“Do you know who you are?” Devil asked. He waited a moment then said, “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Devil gazed at Chester and said, “There’s no cognitive skills apparent, so I’m reasonably satisfied that she’s returned vacant, so we will move forward.”

Spooked and puzzled, Chester nodded.