Dealing With the Dead (5 page)

Finally pulling away enough to look at his

surroundings, Jayden noticed the other cars that had pulled up. His happiness became confusion as he realized his entire family had descended on them. Jayden felt a blush heating his cheeks as he looked around and noticed his family watching them.

"Oh God," he moaned.

Noah chuckled as he extracted his hand from Jayden's hair and allowed him to take a step back.

"Well that was certainly entertaining, but not quite what I'm here to see," Joel, one of the twins, said.

"And just what the hell are you here to see?" Jayden
snarled back. He wasn't happy that his entire family had rocked up to his job site.

"Why, you in action, little brother," Jacob the other twin replied as if there was nothing wrong.

"Excuse me?" Jayden couldn't believe his family at times. "Are you all just planning to stand around gawking at the freak as he does his thing? How professional is that?"

He didn't really think of himself as a freak but he knew his brothers still thought of him that way. They had not changed, not since he had dyed his hair and started wearing eyeliner. It might have been easier to handle had they been homophobic, but it wasn't about that. They just didn't want to understand him, even though he was their brother. This was why he had put off telling his family about his powers for so long. "You are not a freak, son," his father said.

"I think we passed 'professional' when you stuck your tongue down the client's throat, don't you, little brother?" Jessie replied at the same time.

Ignoring his father's reply Jayden turned to his brothers, embarrassed at what Jessie just said to him. He knew it wasn't exactly professional of him to be kissing his client, but Jessie didn't need to rub it in. Noah wasn't just a client; he was Jayden's mate, though no one else knew that.

His brothers all stood staring at him with self-satisfied smirks on their faces. "None of you know the slightest thing about me or this situation, so as far as I'm concerned you can all go fuck yourselves."

Straightening his shoulders, Jayden ignored his family, bent down, and grabbed his bag. He slung in over his shoulder before he turned and headed into the cemetery.

"How dare you speak to your brother like that! I ought to send you home right this instant." Jayden could hear his mum yelling, loudly, even as he walked away.

"But, Mum…" Jessie was whining now.

"But nothing, young man. Your father and I brought you up better than this." The rest of what his mum said faded into the background. He smiled at the thought of his mother giving his brothers hell. Go Mum!

Noah was furious. This was not what he had agreed to when he had received the phone call this afternoon from James. Admittedly, he probably should have chosen a more appropriate time to kiss Jayden for the first time, but the young man had looked so lovely standing there. His hair was tied back in a loose braid and his eyes were ringed in thick black liner. Jayden had worn a bright pink t-shirt
coupled with his black jeans and boots.

Noah's cock had hardened at the first glance of the man through the windshield of the car. He couldn't help but plunder that mouth. Jayden looked fucking edible.

Noah smiled as Jessica berated her sons for their treatment of their youngest brother.

James stepped forward and offered his hand. Noah reached out and shook it. "I'd like to apologise for my boys.

They were out of line."

Noah couldn't agree more. He wasn't about to tell the man that though. It was one thing to admit when your kids were in the wrong, but it was completely different to have someone tell you they were wrong. Instead he changed the subject. "You didn't tell Jayden you were all coming tonight?"

The man looked slightly embarrassed but covered it quickly. "We thought it best not to mention it to him. His mother and I didn't want to make him nervous about tonight any more than he already may have been. I hope you'll still let us observe for a short time," James said.

Noah looked around at Jayden's brothers. He could see the strong family resemblance in all of them. Every last one of them, including Jayden, took after their father. No one was smiling after Jessica had lost her temper with them
though. "I'll stick by my original decision, but one more rude remark to Jayden and this is off," he said. Noah didn't like the look on Jayden's face as he had walked away. He had no idea that James had not cleared them coming to watch with Jayden and felt awful for agreeing without talking to him first.

"Thank you. The boys will behave. God knows their mother and I taught them better manners than that."

Noah nodded before he headed back to his car and got out the large duffle bag he had packed everything in.

Slinging it over his shoulder, he locked the car and headed in through the gates towards his brother's grave.

Jayden was livid with his family for turning this into some kind of spectacle. How dare they! It had been drilled into him from a young age that what they did was very emotional for a lot of people and they were to behave appropriately at all times. This was hardly appropriate behaviour.

He was so lost in his thoughts about his family that he didn't hear anyone approach, until a gentle hand on his back startled him.
"Hey. Shhh, it's okay, it's just me," Noah said, sounding reassuring. Jayden looked over Noah's shoulder and noticed his family walking towards them.

"Yeah, you and my entire family apparently." He knew he sounded like a whiney brat but he couldn't help it.

He could understand up to a point why his parents might want to see him work. After all he dropped a huge bomb at their feet yesterday. They worried about all their kids, Jayden included. His powers were something they had never seen before and he knew they would want to see him work to make sure he was okay. His brothers, however, didn't need to be here.

"Just ignore them. Or you can try and antagonise them. I made a deal with your dad. One bad word out of your brothers' mouths and they're out of here," Noah said with an evil grin. Jayden couldn't help the snort of laugher that burst from his lips.

He leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on soft lips before his family arrived. "Thank you," he whispered as he stepped back.

"You're welcome."

"Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Jayden asked.

Noah agreed and Jayden watched as he set down his
duffle bag. He removed a camping chair and table, quickly setting them up, along with an LED battery-powered light.

Then came the computer with batteries and recording devices, pens, paper, and last but not least, a small container with what he assumed to be food and a drink thermos.

"Jesus, man, how the hell did you squeeze all that in there?" Jacob, one of Jayden's brothers asked. Jayden was wondering exactly the same thing. It was like a production watching the man set everything up.

Noah laughed. "Very carefully. We used to go camping when we were younger. My dad taught me how to pack properly."

Jayden enjoyed the small insight into Noah's past, but now he was booting up his computer. He looked ready to start their evening. Jayden took a deep breath before he went over to where he had dumped his bag and removed the items he needed. His bag was nowhere near as large as Noah's had been. He had forgotten that this wasn't going to be a quick consult and hadn't bothered to bring himself a chair or food, for that matter. He was glad he had a spare blanket in the bottom of his bag. He would use that.

Jayden removed the blanket and spread it on the ground in front of Grayson's grave, ignoring his family
milling around on the edges. Next he removed a container of salt and a small dagger.

Not everyone had to use salt, but for Jayden it was essential. Most fiction books will say that a necromancer needs a circle of salt to contain the newly risen so it doesn't wander off, but that was a load of rubbish. They didn't physically raise the dead and create zombies. Jayden couldn't even contemplate just how difficult it would be to break out of a coffin and dig through at least six feet of dirt to get to the surface. No, what they did was to call forth an incorporeal form of the deceased, almost like a ghost. This form took on the image of the deceased, prior to death, and had all memories of that person, making it possible to converse with them.

This meant they couldn't wander anywhere, they just sort of floated. They couldn't even float away as they were bound within a certain radius to their graves.

For Jayden, a complete circle of salt was essential to restrict the number of beings he would raise. The salt acted as a barrier and kept his power and magic within its confines. Even a small break in the circle would cause his magic to leak out and touch other graves.

Despite the bright light on the table, Jayden grabbed his own torch and set off to complete his circle around
Grayson's grave. He doubted any other member of his family was as meticulous as he was in regards to the salt circle, but after one night when he had made a small error that resulted in a dozen people popping up out of their graves, Jayden took the extra time to get it right.

Twenty minutes later when he was entirely happy with his work, he put away the salt and torch and picked up the dagger. He looked at Noah. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"I know seeing your brother again after everything might be difficult. If you're having trouble and you need a break just let me know."

"Thank you." Turning away, and ignoring the rustles and murmurs from his family, Jayden carefully stepped over the salt line and knelt on the ground. Grayson Michaels had been dead for nearly five weeks so the grass was just starting to grow again.

Jayden picked up the dagger and placed the sharp point to the tip of his left index finger. He pressed down just enough to draw blood. He had stopped hissing at the pain a long time ago. Another difference between him and other necromancers was that he only needed a small drop of his blood, whereas they needed more. He could have gotten the desired result using a diabetic pen but he thought his
dagger looked better and added more flare.

He squeezed out a drop of his blood and watched it hit the ground. With just that one small drop the magic that he kept tightly leashed rushed from his body. Jayden could feel it burrowing into the ground conversing with Grayson.

"With these words I summon thee, with my blood I summon thee, and with my magic I summon thee. Come to me, Grayson Michaels," Jayden said. He really didn't need the ritual words, but he thought with his family watching it was probably best not to show exactly how different he was.

Before the last word had left his lips Grayson Michael's incorporeal form hovered in front of him.
CHAPTER 6

Noah ignored the surprised murmurs coming from the Thompson family and just stared at his brother. This whole experience was so surreal. After he got the phone call about his brother's car accident he never thought he would see him again. Noah swiped at his cheeks as he felt the tears rolling down them. Now he completely understood why Becca couldn't do this.

Noah stepped forward. "Gray," he said, his voice cracking on that single word. Grayson looked back at him with a sad smile.

"Noah, I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. Nothing to be sorry for." Noah wiped away another tear.

"How are Bec and Nik?" Gray asked as he moved up to the edge of the circle. Jayden had moved out of the way and had taken a seat on the blanket he had set up.

"They're devastated. Becca couldn't handle seeing you again and then going home and not having you there with her. I'm sorry."

Grayson nodded as if he understood, which he probably did. He knew his wife better than Noah and knew what she was capable of. "Would you tell them I love them,
even in death?"

"Sure, Gray."

Noah quickly grabbed his chair and pulled it up to the outside edge of salt circle and sat down. He and Grayson sat and just talked for about an hour about life, death, and everything that had happened since the accident.

Noah constantly glanced over at Jayden, in order to make sure the young man was okay.

Even though Jayden had to maintain his presence within the circle he was giving the brothers as much privacy for their talks as he could. Currently, he was concentrating on his iPhone. Noah had no idea what he was doing with the phone, but he was grateful to Jayden for the perceived privacy.

He looked good. His creamy skin glowed in the artificial light from his phone. A piece of hair that had fallen free from the loose braid wisped back and forth in the gentle breeze. Noah closed his hands into fists to stop himself from reaching out and tucking the stray piece of hair behind Jayden's ear.

When Noah turned back to his brother, Grayson was watching him speculatively. He raised an eyebrow then nodded his head in Jayden's direction. Noah smiled and blushed. He knew what his brother was asking, and he
nodded slightly.

"Nice," Grayson said chuckling. "Different, but nice. I hope you're happy."

"We'll see," Noah said, "but yeah, I think he might just make me very happy."

A throat clearing from behind him had Noah turning to face the Thompsons. He had completely forgotten they were there.

"We'll be on our way so you guys can get down to business. I just wanted to say thank you for letting us intrude on this private time of yours." Noah watched as James turned to face his son. "Jayden, you truly are a gifted young individual. We love you and don't forget about Sunday dinner. Bring Noah along."

"Thanks, Dad. See you Sunday." Noah watched surprise and happiness flit across Jayden's face at James's words. He was a little surprised by the dinner invitation himself but didn't mention it until after the rest of the family had left.

"Umm, Jayden, why am I being invited to dinner at your parents' place?"

Jayden looked a little embarrassed but turned back to his phone. "Can we talk about this later please?"

Noah looked from Jayden to his brother and back
again. "Yeah, okay."

Turning back to Gray, he thought it was about time to get to the reason they were there. "So—"