Veiled Threat (17 page)

Eve and Frank were here, but where was necromancer number two? Would she show up based on Frank’s word?

Only one way to find out.

“Erik, wait in the car in case we need a quick getaway,” I said, expecting him to listen.

“You got it.” He tapped the wheel and I gave him a smile. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t the brave, all-knowing mentor who could guide me through anything, but for now he fit in my life. Kinda. I couldn’t take anyone bossing me around, and Erik didn’t try.

The car rolled to a stop and I stepped out, Alex bounding behind me. He took one look into the sky and let out a long, deep howl. That was a lot easier than trying to call her down myself.

“Stick close, buddy. We’re about to meet someone new.” At least I hoped. I made my way toward what was left of the building, stared at the tattered yellow tape that fluttered in the wind around it. If I closed my eyes I could see the Landing Pad as it should have been, whole and full of laughter. Full of Dox and all his cooking, brownies and ogre beer. A tear snuck out and trickled down my cheek. I let it go; he deserved more than one tear, but that was all I could afford at the moment.

“Rylee sad for Dox. I is sad,” Alex said, sitting beside me. “No more brownies.”

I dropped a hand to his head and roughed it up a bit. “Maybe you can talk Pamela into baking you brownies when she’s back.” Normally that would have cheered him. But not now, not this new Alex.

“Not the same,” he said, then let out a heavy sigh.

Above us several beats of wings battering the air and then a soft thump.

“Rylee!”

I turned to see Eve, Frank and our newcomer. The girl behind Frank had bright red curly hair that was wind tossed, making it even bigger. She peered around Frank’s back, deep hazel eyes taking me in, her heart-shaped face uncertain. Shit, she was young, maybe as young as Pamela.

“Frank. Introduce me to your friend and tell me how the hell you think kidnapping a minor is good idea?” I wanted to save Milly and Pamela, but not by stooping to Orion’s methods of kidnapping and coercing.

Frank slid off, stuttering and stammering, but the girl stepped forward. Not bold, confident.

“My name is Megan. And Frank didn’t kidnap me.”

I kept my face carefully blank. “No? And what will your parents say when they see you are gone?”

She bit her lower lip. “I’m in a foster home. They won’t care much. And Frank said I could be trained, so I could be strong.”

Broken wings, broken hearts, broken homes. They fucking well flocked to me, no matter the place. Of course, this time I wouldn’t be keeping this broken-winged one for my own family.

No?

Teeth tightening, I tried not to listen to that voice in my head. Already Megan impressed me, and I could see her and Pamela getting along well, their personalities a good match.

Instead of that, I changed subjects. “Eve, I need you to go back to the mineshaft, tell Blaz and Ophelia to come here and wait for us at Doran’s. That is where we will meet. Can you do that?”

She swallowed and dropped her head to me. “The new dragon, I do not trust her not to try and eat me.”

“Blaz won’t let her.”

Erik cleared his throat. “I could go with her. I’m used to flying and Ophelia will calm if she sees at least one of us is intact.”

“And you would let me face the demons on my own?” I wasn’t really surprised he wasn’t trying to come with me. He hadn’t exactly shown himself to be all that into the actual fights.

“Not much left for me to tell you. You’ve memorized the symbols and runes you need, and if I am honest with myself, this is overwhelming me. Vampires, ogres, witches and werewolves. I’d much rather deal with two angry dragons. Them I know how to deal with.”

He walked over to me and pulled me into a quick embrace. “I’ve shared with you all I know. It isn’t much, but it’s all I have from your father.”

I stepped back. “I think I will need you yet, old man. Don’t think you can get out of your duties that easily.”

Laughing, he walked toward Eve. “Yeah, I believe that. I just think that right now you don’t need me at your side. In a while, perhaps. But not now.”

Eve, happy that Erik would fly with her, took off without hesitation, leaving Megan and Frank with me and Alex. Alex circled Megan and she stared at him, her eyes wide with wonder.

“Wow, I thought Frank was shitting me when he said he knew a werewolf.”

I glanced at Frank and he blushed and pushed his glasses up his nose but said nothing.

“Well, you’re about to meet a hell of a lot more than that, kid. Can you control zombies yet?”

She nodded. “Yup, it’s why my family booted me out. They didn’t like the dead relatives showing up for family meals.”

Again I looked at Frank. “And you too?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because we’re about to dive into the deep end. Alex, give Faris a call.”

He sat back on his haunches and yelled at the top of his lungs. “Faarrrrrrrriiiiiiiis.”

Megan slapped her hands over her ears, but when the slice of air opened and Faris stood far on the other side, deep in the protective shadows of his home, her jaw dropped along with her hands.

“Wow.”

I nodded. “Here we go, kiddos. Off to meet your new mentor.”

Chapter 17

F
aris didn’t take
us to Thomas’s land, not right away. He took us back to his hidey hole, the one with the shuttered and blackened windows. I was just glad it wasn’t his cement room. That I couldn’t have handled.

And while Frank and Megan were somewhat squeamish around him—I was guessing their inborn dislike of vampires was making them uncomfortable—he was calm and cool. Like he really didn’t care they were necromancers.

Which only intrigued me.

“Doran?” Faris asked the second we stepped through.

“He’s fine, so is Berget. If you need us from now on, go to Doran. Whether he likes it or not, his house is going to be central command until all this shit is dealt with.”

Frank gave a small smile and I winked at him. Yeah, I knew he’d be happy about that.

I waved my hands at Faris. “Come on, I don’t want to sit around here all day, Pamela and Milly are waiting.” Just saying their names, my Tracking kicked in and I felt the pulse of their lives. Pamela was awake and scared, but nothing was wrong with her; at least, she hadn’t been hurt. But how would I know if Orion had broken her? Would she even know? Fuck, we had to hurry. We’d left them too long as it was.

Faris’s lips twisted downward. “Thomas will kill you. He was one of the last necromancers held prisoner by the former Emperor and Empress.” He tucked his hands behind his back, clasping and unclasping them several times. His nerves showed.

I let out a groan. That couldn’t be good. “Let me guess, more than anyone else, he has a major hate on for vampires?”

Megan let out a squeak. “Vampires? Really, will I get to meet one?”

Holy shit she was green. Faris though, seemed more than a little amused. “I like this one, Rylee. She has spunk. Reminds me a bit of Pamela. Perhaps you would like to leave her here with me to train?”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” I said nothing else, not really wanting to encourage him. Trusting Faris was like trusting a boomerang; it came and went but it was never right where you thought it would be.

“Really, honestly. There aren’t vampires out there, are there?” Good grief, she sounded like a love struck teenager. Probably thought they sparkled in the sunlight instead of burning like a gasoline-soaked torch.

“My sister is a vampire. You might meet her,” I said, keeping my eyes on Faris. His lips twitched. For now, Megan didn’t have to know. Even though Frank shuffled his feet and his face went bright red with keeping a secret from his pretty young friend, he said nothing. Good boy.

Faris cleared his throat. “I believe it will be best if I open the doorway directly into the house Thomas lives in. That way the zombies he has roaming will not have as much of a chance to tackle you.”

I licked my lips. “You can’t kill him, Faris. We need him and so do Frank and Megan.”

He put a hand to his chest and his eyes widened in mock innocence, the ass. “Why would you say that? You assume I would just attack someone?”

“Because I know you,” I snapped. “I know if you have history with Thomas you want to see him face to face for some stupid fucking reason that will, in the end, ruin everything.”

Faris’s grin slipped. “He and I have unfinished business.”

“I don’t fucking well care. You can deal with him
after
he has helped us and
after
he has trained these two to their fullest potential. And not one second sooner. Got it?” By that point I was right in his face, physically crowding him. Of course, he didn’t back down, that wasn’t his style.

“You do nothing the easy way, do you?” Faris stared down at me.

“I do things the only way I know how.” I took a step back. “Open the veil, let’s get this over with.”

Frank and Megan crowded up behind me, and Alex sat quietly at my side. Faris flicked his hand and the veil opened, giving us a perfect view of the inside of Thomas’s house, a glaring Thomas and Liam staring past me at Faris. Grabbing a kid in each hand, I shoved them through ahead of me.

“There you go, Thomas. Two young necromancers who want to learn the ropes, you just have to teach them.” Frank and Megan stumbled forward, and Frank flicked a glare back at me. At least he had a little spine. Alex bounced through next to me and I turned around, expecting to see the veil had closed.

Nope, no such luck.

Faris strolled through, sweet as you please, a smile on his lips that was big enough his fangs showed clearly. “Hello, Thomas.”

Thomas launched from his chair, his eyes darting one way and then the other. The zombies outside let out an instant, communal roar that shook the house.

“Faris, get the hell out of here!” I tried to grab him, tackle him, stop him from whatever it was he was planning. He avoided me with ease as the first window shattered and the ground shook.

“He has a zombie giant, you moron!” It took everything I had to keep my body between Faris and Thomas. This couldn’t be happening.

“Frank,” Liam yelled, “can you stop the zombies?”

“I’ll try.”

Megan was much more confident. “Hell to the yeah, I can kick those rotters to the curb.”

I don’t know what she and Frank did, but the zombies did seem to slow, or at least, they calmed down.

Faris on the other hand was still staring at Thomas, while I did my best to keep him from getting any closer. “Faris, we
need
Thomas. You can’t kill him.”

“I never said I was going to kill him, Rylee. I just want to talk to him.”

Thomas let out a scream that was pure fear, the echo of it flowing through the house.

“I don’t think he wants anything to do with you.” I finally got my hands on Faris’s arms. But it was weird; it was like I wasn’t really there in a sense, like in that moment nothing existed for the vampire except Thomas. His eyes were focused only on the necromancer. After more than a few tense breaths, Faris slumped and he shook his head.

“All right, old man. I will go.” He backed away, twisted the veil and stepped through into a room I knew was his special dark place. Somewhere no one could find him, a cement room buried in the ground.

With Faris gone, the air around us shifted and mellowed. Thomas let out a long, low groan and slid to the floor, his back against the wall. “Why, why did you bring him here?”

“I didn’t. I told him he couldn’t come but as soon as he knew it was you … .” I didn’t know what to say. How the hell did I make this right so Thomas wouldn’t toss us out on our asses without helping Milly and Pamela?

Thomas rubbed a hand over his face. “I should have known he would find me. I have hidden from him for years.”

At some point Liam had moved to my side, and his presence calmed me.

“Where is Erik?”

“Gone back to Ophelia and Blaz. He can’t go with me through the veil anyway.” Hell, just the thought of going into demon territory on my own made my heart rate spike. Not that I wouldn’t do it, I just wasn’t real happy about doing it on my own.

“Thomas, how soon can you open the veil?”

He blinked up at me several times, as if he’d forgotten I was there. I crouched beside him so I could look him right in the face. “Thomas. You need to open the veil into the deep level so I can get my friends. Do you understand?”

As if he were coming back to himself he nodded, slowly at first, and then faster. “Yes, yes, I will do that.”

Frank and Megan stood to one side, staring down at their new mentor. Megan gave a small cough. “Excuse me, this is our mentor? This old dude is going to teach us how to be powerhouse necromancers?” The disbelief in her voice was heavy and again I didn’t really know what to say. I mean, Thomas looked like shit; I wouldn’t want him to be my mentor either.

“Yes. He is. But right now he’s going to do a job for me.” I grabbed his forearm and hauled him to his feet. “Aren’t you, Thomas?”

“You will need a timer so you know when I will open the veil again and you can be there. Waiting. I will only hold it open a brief time, no longer than a minute, or we could end up fighting off demons and evil spirits of all sorts.”

With great effort he seemed to be putting himself back together, though every few breaths he took his whole body shuddered lightly. I hoped that Frank and Megan hadn’t noticed, though I was sure Liam had.

“Rylee.” Liam said my name and the way he breathed it out tugged at my heart. He didn’t have to say anything else. I knew what he meant. He was afraid for me to do this. Shit, I was afraid. But Giselle had always said bravery wasn’t being unafraid, it was doing what had to be done even if you were terrified. Not really comforting in that moment, true as it may have been.

I touched my fingertips to his, just the tips. Anything more and I wasn’t sure I would let go. “I’ll be fine. As soon as I find Pamela and Milly I’ll have lots of firepower at my back.”

His jaw ticked and tightened and there was a faint glimmer in his eyes I couldn’t look at. Nope, not doing this, not here.

Thomas pulled himself up to his full height, his vertebrae cracking and popping. He reached into his vest and produced out a thin, gold metal bracelet. Megan made a face and Frank carefully put himself a step in front of her.

“Rylee, wear this.” Thomas handed the bracelet to me. “It is cool now, but as your time wanes it will begin to heat.”

I was already shaking my head. “That won’t work if it’s magic; I’m an Immune.”

“Then you will have no way to know if your time is up, if you should even bother to fight your way back to the pick up point.” He didn’t seem concerned in the least. I was betting the asshole zombie king knew I was an Immune. For some reason he didn’t want to open the veil. Or maybe he just didn’t like me. That was a distinct possibility too. Wouldn’t be the first time I’d pissed off someone to the point they were difficult just because they could be.

Teeth gritted, I tried to come up with a reason why he was being a douche, why he was trying to wriggle out of what he promised.

“There is a simple solution,” Liam said, and I turned to face him, “let her take Alex. He can wear the bracelet and tell her when it gets hot.”

Thomas rolled his head side to side. “I said only one could go through the veil. Send Alex then.”

“We can’t send him!” I snapped. “And you damn well know that.” Time to play the hard ass. “Frank, Megan, time to go. There is another necromancer we can go to.” I pointed at the front door and they dutifully went.

“You cannot take them. My zombies will stop you.” Thomas was all calm and cool.

Megan put her hands on her hips and squared off. “You think you’re the only one who can take care of zombies?” She flicked her hand outward and, though I saw nothing, Thomas gasped and clutched at his heart.

“How … how did you do that?”

I leaned toward the closest window and peered out. Every single zombie had dropped to the ground. Except for the giant who was leaning … toward the house.

“Shit, everybody out the back.” I grabbed Megan as I ran past her and then Alex bolted ahead of me, barreling out the back door. I didn’t dare glance behind, just kept running even once we were outside. The giant was huge and when he hit it was going to be a big fucking mess. Each step I took I expected to get crushed, the immanent arrival of the giant’s body on us with no way to avoid it. The thought only pushed me harder and I yanked Megan hard, forcing her to keep up.

Behind us there was an explosion of wood, metal and glass as the giant’s body hit Thomas’s house. The ground at our heels erupted, the force of the impact dropping us to the unsteady earth, the rippling earthquake forcing us to stop running. I rolled onto my back to see the giant’s head just a few feet away.

For a moment, there was nothing except the two of us breathing heavy and staring at the rotted head that had nearly taken us both out. The giant’s eyes were liquid and oozed out of their sockets, and his blackened tongue was caught between broken and sheared teeth cutting it in half leaving it hanging by a shear thread of muscle.

Gross.

“Sorry, I didn’t think that would happen,” Megan whispered. Her face was as pale as fresh fallen snow. I doubted mine was any better.

“What did you do?” I pushed to my feet and then offered her a hand. She took it and the tremors in her body rippled up through mine. She didn’t let go.

“I cut his ties to the zombies so they would go back to sleep. But I didn’t know there was a giant.” Her breathing came in rapid gusts and I knew she was about to pass out.

“Sit down. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She plunked on the cold, damp grass but didn’t let go of my hand.

Liam, Alex, and Frank came running from around the giant. Liam’s eyes were frantic until he saw us and his body visibly relaxed. Alex jogged and danced, occasionally shooting out a paw to punch at the body of the rotting giant. “Stings like a butterfly,” he chirped happily.

Liam pulled me into his arms, though I didn’t let go of Megan. “Why didn’t you dodge to the side?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t think he’d fall that far.”

Liam’s jaw dropped and at my feet, Megan laughed. “Me neither.”

Her face and cheeks had pinked and I pulled her to her feet a second time. “Okay, enough out of you. Looks like you’ll fit in fine with the rest of us.” I glanced at the massive body. The house was completely destroyed, as in gone. Looking like there had never been anything
except
a mostly rotted giant laying there.