The Dead (The Thaumaturge Series Book 1) (27 page)

“Okay,” Corvin said, waiting until Morgan gave him an affirming nod. “Now I’m sure that you have questions. Should we do the Q and A first, or just jump right into the class demonstration?”

“You’re crazy,” I told him. He shook his head, a little smile on his lips.

“If I am, then you for sure are!” he said, chuckling. “I’m the minors, you’re the big leagues.”

“What the –”

“Look,” he said, waving his hands in front of him to cut me off. “Whatever, call me crazy. But you’re the one who opened my eyes, Ebron. Let me at least show you what I’ve learned.”

I felt a great watery sensation in my chest, a tugging and pulling of desperation so deep I wanted to scream. Even with Marcus breathing unsteadily at my elbow, even with Scott and Cameron standing silent at my back, I felt utterly alone. I glanced at the crumpled forms of Jim and Shaina, two people I didn’t know and didn’t care to know. Blood dripped along Shaina's hairline. I could see no way that that blood could have anything to do with me.

Corvin followed my gaze. “I already did them,” he told me. Something in his oily, self-assured voice made my stomach roll. I turned back to him.

“Did them?” I asked. Marcus made a weak noise, a strangled moan.

“Yeah,” he said. His eyebrows drew together. “Do you do it different?”

“I don’t have any idea what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“O-kay,” he said slowly. “Man, seriously. You have changed.”

“Since when?” I snapped. “I don’t know who you are.”

Corvin scoffed, turning to Morgan with a can-you-believe-this-guy look on his face. Her smirk had muted to confusion, her eyes flicking back from me to Corvin.

“Somebody better explain what’s going on here,” Scott growled suddenly from behind me. I started, and Marcus took in a sharp breath. The blasting air from the furnace made the candles jump and flicker wildly. Shadows twisted on the walls.

“Yeah,” Corvin said. “I agree with that. What the heck, man?”

“You killed Aubrey,” I said weakly. I felt Cameron jerk and Scott whispered something too soft for me to hear. “You killed Marcus.”

“Yes,” Corvin replied firmly. “Of course. I needed them for the spell.”

“The spell.” The word spat from my mouth, sharp like a thorn.

“Yeah, the spell.” Corvin peered closely at me. “And you fixed them. Just like you used to.”

“How did you know about that?”

He scoffed again, loud and shocked. “Seriously. You don’t remember?”

I stared at the lines on his face, at the curve of his nose and the bones of his cheek. “No,” I said helplessly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are.”

He paused. He scratched at the back of his neck. He gnawed ruthlessly on his lower lip.

“I was a junior in high school,” he said finally, looking deeply into my eyes. “My dad had just left, and it was just me and my mom. You worked at the grocery store then. I saw you sometimes, when I stopped in after school. You bagged groceries.”

I shook my head. Nothing made sense.

“I hated my life,” he continued softly. “So one night I just loaded up on booze and some of my mom’s dog’s pain medication. I went up a little Forest Service road near Brown’s Gulch.”

My heart jolted. The spit dried in my mouth.

“I don’t remember it, but I must have passed out and my car went off the road.”

“It did,” I whispered. “You were in the trees.”

He nodded, watching me carefully. “But I woke up.”

“I didn’t think you saw me,” I said.

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” he told me, taking a step forward, reaching out one hand like he meant to touch me. “I would have recognized you anyway.” Corvin paused, breathing heavily. “Ebron,” he said earnestly. “You saved me. You guided me back. All of this is because of you.”

“Ebron,” Marcus whispered to me. “What’s he talking about?”

I gestured weakly with my rifle. “I resurrected him. He was the first one I ever brought back.” I wondered where Leo was, if he had heard. If he was reeling as hard as I was.

“Brought back,” Corvin repeated. “I was lost in the dark. And you came, and took me in your hands and brought me home. Everything was different after that.”

“Oh, my God,” I croaked, feeling weak. I lowered my gun, my limbs aching and limp.

“My mom made me go to a treatment center in Butte. I got my GED. I went to college. All because of you, because you saved me.”

I shook my head, over and over. “No,” I whispered.

“So, now do you see?” Corvin asked. He took another step towards me, moving out from behind the counter again. He brushed past Morgan and she stepped aside, her pale face still and thoughtful.

“I’m just continuing what you started,” Corvin told me, coming within arm’s reach. “You showed me what else is out there. I’m just exploring it. Maybe my methods are a little more crude, but –”

“Crude,” I gasped out. “You’re killing people.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “And you bring them back. It’s win-win.”

“No,” I said. “It’s nowhere near the same.”

“Then help me! Train me. We can work together, I’ve got the spell almost perfected and –”

“No!” I shouted at him. He drew back like I’d hit him.

All eyes were on me. I trembled like a wet Chihuahua.

“I’m not killing anyone for your stupid spell,” I said. Corvin made a low grumbling noise.

“I don’t understand how you can say that,” he said heatedly. “I thought, God, Ebron, I thought you’d be pleased!”

“Pleased?!” I stared at him, working to get the word out of my dry mouth. “How the fuck would this please me?”

“You don’t have to be alone up there now. Now we can do it together.”

I gritted my teeth. The rifle felt slippery in my hands. My hair stuck to the back of my neck. I blew upwards on my own sweaty forehead, desperate for a gust of cool, relieving air.

“I’m not on your side,” I told Corvin, emphasizing each word.

He half-turned, his profile scrunched and his jaw set. “I’m so stupid,” he said after a beat, giving a humorless laugh. “I actually thought that you’d be excited to work with me. I’ve been training for years for this moment.”

I waited, barely feeling the gun in my hands. I could hardly think past the blood pounding in my temples.

“I went all over the country,” he told me, shaking his head. “Meeting other covens and perfecting this spell. All so I could come back here someday...”

He shifted, turning his head to stare at me with burning eyes. “And it turns out that you’re some stupid hick. Some stupid hick that doesn’t even understand, that doesn’t even know-” he broke up, panting, his teeth bared.

“Okay, yeah,” I said, “I don't have any idea what this power means. But you hurt people; you killed people-”

“And you bring them back!” he shouted. “It's not murder if they don't stay dead!”

“You’re a killer,” I said softly, and he went still.

“No.” He took a step forward and Morgan went with him, moving as one. “You’re missing the point. None of this-” he gestured to the tidy shelves, the carefully arranged herbs on the counter, Jim and Shaina crumpled in the corner, “-matters. Don't you understand what we could do together?”

“I'm not going to help you hurt people,” I said. He took another step forward, and I moved half a step back. Beside me, I heard Marcus start to mumble something, and Corvin snorted, cocking his eyebrow.

“Really?” he said incredulously to Marcus. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Marcus sucked in a sharp breath like he’d been hit, but when he exhaled he started mumbling again.

Corvin watched him for a second, his eyes hooded. He abruptly turned, with enough force that his oversized coat flurried out behind him. My hands tightened on my rifle. I wiped at the sweat on my face with one raised shoulder.

“Come on,” Corvin snapped to Morgan. “We’re wasting time. Let’s do this.”

He reached for something on the counter, but Scott shouldered his way forward at that point. The blasting air from the furnace apparently didn't affect Scott like it did me – he looked cool and steady. He raised his rifle to his shoulder with calm intent.

“I think we’re done talking,” Scott said.

“Oh, I agree,” Corvin said without looking back. “Morgan, get the knife.”

“No,” I said, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Scott. Marcus turned and caught my eye, then slowly moved off to the side, creeping towards Jim and Shaina.

Corvin ran his fingers over the assembled materials. “It doesn't matter,” he said, staring hard at the butcher-block counter. “You can't stop me.”

“From doing what?” I said.

“You have the power to restore life to the dead,” he replied. It wasn't a question, but I answered like it was.

“Yes,” I said. “I help people.”

“What makes you think I won't help people, too?”

I scoffed. “You don’t have the best track record.”

“I had to see for myself. All I heard were rumors, things my mom told me. I needed to know for sure that you could still do it.”

“You’re going to stop now,” Scott growled.

His smile was like a hungry snake's. “Come and stop me then.”

Scott made a motion to move forward, but I grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” I said. Scott huffed.

“I never got my Q and A,” I told Corvin, the words coming out quick and jumbled together.

He sighed and exchanged a look with Morgan. “Fine,” he said. “What do you want to know?”

“What’s does the spell do?”

“It’s for dream walking,” he said immediately, and I didn’t miss the way his chest puffed up. “I can release people’s souls.”

“But you need someone else’s blood to do it?”

“Well, yeah.” He squinted his eyes at me but continued. “I have a subject; the soul to be released. And then we take blood to make it work. Blood from the third chakra.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what that is.”

Morgan made a disgusted noise. Corvin shook his head. “Stupid hick,” he drawled, his smile unfriendly.

“So you used Aubrey’s blood for ....”

“To release Marcus,” Corvin said, glancing at the man in question. Marcus squatted beside Jim and Shaina, his face stricken.

“They’re not dead,” he told me in a whisper.

“Not yet,” Corvin amended.

“And then you used Marcus’s blood ...”

“Ugh,” Corvin sighed. “You’re so slow. His blood was more powerful. I was able to release both of them.” He waved dismissively towards Jim and Shaina.

I thought of how Marcus’s soul had been floating close to me, about how it approached me in a way that no other soul ever had.

“Marcus did it willing,” I said and Corvin nodded.

“Who wouldn’t want to?” Morgan asked softly.

I glanced curiously at her. “So you need fresh blood for every time you work the spell?”

“Yeah,” he said. Some of the manic light returned to his eyes. “But not if you’re on board. That’s the beauty of it! You can fix them. No harm no foul.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “You released Marcus’s soul using Aubrey’s blood. But then you killed Marcus anyway.”

He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “See, that’s why I need you. I couldn’t bring him back, and I thought, why waste the blood?”

“You can’t bring them back?” I repeated. “After you release the souls? They’re just lost up there?”

Something dark flashed over his face. “Like I said, it’s a work in progress. I’m still learning. But with you here - “

“So what’s going to happen to them?” I interrupted.

His smiled toothily at me. “You'll have to help me,” he said. “They'll die if you don't.”

Behind me, Marcus made a pained sound. Corvin shrugged.

“They’ve been out for a few hours now,” he told me, the smile still twitchy at the corners of his mouth. “So there’s probably no damage yet. But it’s not like we can feed them like that.” He shared a smug smile with Morgan.

“Killing them is probably a mercy,” she piped in, her own smile wicked and sharp.

“We could use their blood,” Corvin added. “I could show you-”

“Enough of this,” Scott growled. “Cam, call the police.”

The smirk dropped off Corvin’s face. “Don’t do that.”

“Cam, do it,” Scott said, more loudly. Corvin took a step in his direction, and Scott’s whole body surged as he jerked forward with the rifle ready, like he had been waiting for the opportunity.

“Scott –” I reached for his arm again, but he slid out from under my grasp.

Suddenly everything was in motion. Scott charged towards Corvin, his teeth snarling white against his grizzled beard, like a rabid bear. Behind me, Cameron fumbled for his cell phone and succeeded only in dropping it. It skittered across the hard wood floor. Morgan lunged for it the same time Cameron did. They collided roughly, their shoulders knocking together. Marcus called to me again, but I ignored him. I grabbed at Scott again and Corvin’s eyes flashed to me.

“If you won’t help me,” he snarled. “I’ll just kill you. Imagine what
your
blood could do.”

“Fuck you,” I told him.

He laughed. I heard the sound of bone snapping and then Cameron screamed. Scott whirled around and Corvin’s eyes went straight to the rifle. I saw his intentions immediately and I didn’t have time to react. I didn’t think. I didn’t
decide
.

Corvin was still smiling when I shot him in the face.

The world moved in strange stops and starts. There was a shrieking, long and loud, that echoed in my ears. Hands were on me and I fought them, shoving at the people around me. I stumbled, going down on one knee and the shrieking stopped. It took me a moment to realize that I had been the one making the sound.

Hands on me again, much firmer this time, and when I looked up, it was Leo I was looking at.

“You’re okay,” Leo said softly. Marcus stood at Leo's shoulder, but he wasn't looking at me. I turned my head weakly, following Marcus’s gaze.

Corvin sprawled out across the rough wooden floor, one leg bent awkwardly underneath him. His right arm lay flung out, his fingers curled towards his palms.

The bullet had destroyed his left eye, leaving a red soup leaking fluid down his cheek. Beneath him, blood spread out across the floor.