by Tim Miller
“Shit. How you do it? It works on me.”
“That must suck for you. Now, my family.”
“Look. I told you…”
“Have you seen what I can do?” she asked, staring at him. He was much taller than her, but she knew she had the upper hand here. He was visibly shaken at her resistance and knowing she was immune to Henry.
“Uhh…no.”
“You’re about to find out if you don’t do what I want.”
“Look. You don’t know what you are asking.”
Sable looked around to make sure no one else was around. She almost hesitated, being about to kill a man in cold blood. Eugene had been self-defense. Technically this was to save lives. At least that is what she told herself. With one quick motion she pulled out the knife and swiped it across his throat, severing his windpipe. He put his hand to his neck as the air escaped with a wheezing sound. Sable took a step back and watched him tumble over the couch.
She looked around again to make sure it was clear. Once she was sure, she ripped open his shirt and sliced his stomach wide open. In a matter of minutes she was reading his insides. Jimmy’s eyes snapped open as he looked around.
“Oh my God! You killed me! You killed me!”
Sable rolled her eyes. They had the exact same reaction every single time. It was highly annoying.
“No shit. Now shut up or I can make this fucking hurt like hell.”
“Please! Can you bring me back? Bring me back for good? I’m not ready to die.”
“Maybe. Where are they? You’re dead now. He can’t hurt you, but I can.”
“They’re in the basement. He’s got several rooms down there. Your mom is in the far room in the corner. Maria is in the one across from it.”
“How do I get there?”
“There’s an elevator just down the hall. Please bring me back?”
She wanted to send his dumb ass to hell also but part of her felt like he was as much a victim as anyone. Instead she just let go as went limp once again. She stood and ran down the hall to the elevator. Once she reached the basement, she headed toward the far corner. The basement was dark, but dimly lit by a handful of hanging lightbulbs. She found the room and pushed on the door. Taking a deep breath she pushed it open. There in a bed was her mother. Her face was blue and her eyes frozen in a horrible gaze staring into nothingness.
Sable closed the door as she went to her knees.
“Mom! No!” she cried as she put her face in her hands. She was too late. Her mom only had days to live and Sable missed it. Her mom was taken because of her, and was probably dead sooner than she needed to be. A thought came to her mind but she pushed it back. After she gathered herself, the thought came to her again.
I can’t do that to her.
But I have to.
Slowly she walked over to her mom’s body and looked her up and down. She put her hand on her mom’s face as tears ran down her own cheeks. She closed her mom’s eyes as she stuck the knife into her stomach, but continuing to look at her face. Her skin broke open easily from having been dead for days. She reached in and touched her mom’s insides as her mom’s eyes slowly opened. Her mom’s reaction was different than the others.
“Sable. Honey,” she said.
“Mom! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. This is all my fault.”
“No it isn’t dear. I was dying. I’m no longer in pain. Thank you for waking me long enough to see you.”
“This feels wrong. Like I’m violating you, but I had to say goodbye.”
“I know, Sable. I knew you would. That’s why I wasn’t afraid.”
“You knew?”
“Yes. I am also a NecroWitch. Only I almost never used my gift. I discovered it when I was a teenager. I could only bring them back for a minute or two though. Yours is much more powerful. When I was beyond, many of the dead were asking to speak to you.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. They call you Mother of the Dead. You are their voice. When someone is murdered, they have no voice. Except with you, now they do.”
“How? What do I do?”
“You’ll know. When the time is right. You’ll know. I have to go now, honey. Please let me rest. I love you.”
“I don’t want to let you go.”
“I know. But you must.”
“I love you, mom,” Sable said as she leaned down, kissed her on the cheek and slowly let go. Her mom drifted back into the beyond as her eyes slowly closed. Sable held her hand and pressed her face against her mom’s shoulder when the door swung open. She jumped up to see Henry standing in the doorway with a handful of his men behind him.
“Bravo! That was excellent!” he said.
She glared at him, her rage about to hit a boiling point.
“You saw that?”
“Saw it? I saw everything. Hell, I orchestrated it. You’ll make a great employee.”
Chapter 25
Sable felt the blood rushing to her face. It took every ounce of strength for her to not charge him and shove the knife in his face. No doubt his men had guns and could blow her away before she could get close.
“Now, before you get too angry, you should know Maria is quite alive. Slightly uncomfortable, but alive.”
Sable took a step toward Henry.
“I’m going to kill you,” she said.
“Oh, I don’t think you will.”
“Your magic trick doesn’t work on me. That’s why you had to kidnap people I care about.”
“Wow, you’re good. Look. I’m prepared to pay you quite well. And you’re right. My gift doesn’t work on you. But bullets will. And my powers work just fine on Maria. So you can make a run at me and I can kill you both.”
Sable.
Something whispered to her. She looked around but there was no one. Great. This wasn’t the time to have a psychotic break.
Sable. It’s Jimmy. Let me help you.
“What? How?”
You have to give the command.
“What is the command?”
Henry looked around and laughed.
“Who the fuck are you talking to?”
Moments later, a single word appeared in her mind. She wasn’t sure where it came from. She just said it.
“Conscendo,” she said. What she didn’t know was that it was Latin for “arise.” She’d learn it soon enough.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Come on. Enough fun and games.”
Sable stood waiting but nothing happened. Fuck. So much for that.
“Are you coming? Or should I just lock you in here with your dead mom? I’ve been known to lock people up with their dead family members, you know.”
Sable shook her head. That was it. She dropped the knife and hung her head. Whatever it is she thought she could do was a bust. Henry was going to win and Sable’s life was about to descend into hell. Until one of Henry’s men screamed. Sable’s head shot up as Henry turned. There was Jimmy with his throat still slashed and his guts hanging out; with his fist thrust into one of the men’s chest. He ripped the man’s heart out and grabbed the next one by the throat.
“Jesus H. Fuck!” Henry screamed running back into the room toward Sable as the other two men opened fire on Jimmy. The bullets tore through his flesh and skull but he didn’t budge. Once the second man fell, Sable yelled again.
“Conscendo!”
The two recently dead men stood and started toward them. Henry tried to grab Sable but she elbowed him in the ribs and moved out of the way. She wasn’t sure why her mom hadn’t woken up, but was relieved she hadn’t. The last thing she needed to see was her mom as a lumbering zombie. But these guys were far from zombies. Sure, they were dead and moving around, but they moved quickly and with precision. The two recently dead men made quick work of the rest of Henry’s men.
“Conscendo!” Sable called out as the rest of them stood. They gathered around Sable as she walked toward Henry. Henry backed up and began waving his hands frantically. Sable cracked a smi
le watching as sweat poured down his face.
“What’s wrong, Henry? No more tricks up your sleeve?”
“What have you done? What are you doing? How did you do that?”
“I’m the NecroWitch, and these are my children. I think I’ll call them NecroWalkers.”
The NecroWalkers closed in around Henry as she stood and watched. He screamed as they began punching, stabbing and tearing at him. They weren’t trying to eat his flesh or anything. They were doing what she commanded.
“Don’t kill him!” she said. “There’s a big freezer at the end of the hallway. Put him in there.”
They took him by the arms and started dragging him out. His face was bloody and eyes were swollen but he still managed to look at her as they passed by.
“You crazy bitch! You know who you are fucking with?”
“I do, as a matter of fact. Obviously, you didn’t.”
She watched as they dragged him to the freezer and stuffed him inside, closing the lid and latching it shut. Henry could be heard pounding and screaming from the inside. The NecroWalkers came back to Sable and looked at her. She looked at them, not sure what to say or do next. They all looked at each other, before the NecroWalkers all knelt down before her. Jimmy was in front of the group as he bowed.
“We pledge ourselves to you in this life and the next, our dear mother.”
Chapter 26
Sable nodded to the NecroWalkers.
“Please. Stand,” she said. “We need to find Maria.”
“She’s safe,” Jimmy said. “She’s in here.”
He walked across the hall and ripped the padlock off the door with his bare hands. Sable realized how she’d played right into Henry’s hands. Her mom’s room wasn’t locked for a reason. She was glad she’d figured her powers out. When he pushed the door open, Maria was sitting in the corner. She looked pale and scared, but otherwise unharmed.
“Sable!” she said as she stood until she saw the NecroWalkers. “What the fuck?”
“It’s ok. They’re with me.”
Gunshots rang out from upstairs. Sable ran to the elevator, and Maria followed. When they got up to the ground floor, there were several dead men lying in the stairwell and in the hall.
“Jesus Christ,” Maria said. There were more shots from their left as the women ducked behind a large sofa. The shots stopped as a girl’s voice called out.
“All clear!”
Sable peaked out to see Ember walking down the hall carrying a sawed-off shotgun. She was wearing black fatigues and a black tank top.
“Ember? What the fuck are you doing?”
“I told you I could help.”
“Jesus.”
“Ember?” Maria said looking at them both. “How do you two know each other?”
“She wants to be like me,” Sable said. “She helped me figure out what I can do.” Sable looked at Ember. “Did you know about my mom? That she was also a NecroWitch?”
“For real? No. That’s crazy. Where is she?” Immediately her face went white when she asked.
“Oh no. I’m so sorry.”
“Where did you learn to shoot like that?”
“My uncle used to take me wild hog hunting. I’m a better shot than I am a witch.”
* * *
Six months later, Sable sat in the living room of the large mansion. She’d moved in once Henry was gone. There had been a few of his men left after Ember’s massacre, but they’d all surrendered without a fight. Most of them had been working for Henry out of pure fear, so she let them go. A few stayed around to help out around the house. She’d also set the NecroWalkers free. Set them free, as in let them go back to sleep. The remaining men buried them in the large yard in back along with the rest of the dead bodies. Before they went, Jimmy had explained she could direct her ‘Conscendo’ command at whichever deceased she wanted to, which was why her mom hadn’t woken up.
She buried her mom, herself, in a special grave next to the flower garden. Much to her surprise, when she went to visit the grave, her mom would actually speak to her. Now they talked daily. Same with the rest of the dead. Gradually she heard more and more of them calling out to her. Not just the NecroWalkers, but anyone deceased. Sometimes it got overwhelming, but she was learning to tune it out when she needed.
It had been a few days since she’d engaged in her new hobby. So she stood and headed back to the basement. Stepping off the elevator, she walked to the deep freeze, undid the latch, and flipped it open. Henry’s frozen body lay there, staring up at the sky. She slid her hand into the opening she’d previously cut into his stomach as he jumped awake.
“Oh God, no!” he cried out. “Not again! You fucking cunt! Can’t you just let me rest?”
“Sorry, Henry. I’m your own personal hell. Time to play.”
Chapter 27
Boris sat in his crypt watching the events with the NecroWitch unfold. He laughed as she finally figured out how to raise the dead and made quick work of the pathetic human. Stupid Henry. Had no idea what he was into. It was Boris who’d given him that power. He’d been watching Sable for a long time. He knew wanted to see if she’d go into hiding like her mother. He remembered the first time her mom had used her power. It was on a man who had been shot in her neighborhood in a drive-by.
He’d paid her a little visit and after a short demonstration, she never so much as thought of using her gift again. Now here was her daughter, running all over the city talking to dead people and now, raising them up. He’d hoped Henry would scare her enough to either send her into hiding or at least keep her contained. All he did was encourage her to become stronger. She was definitely not like her mother. Stronger in power and her will.
No way could Boris allow that to happen. There was a natural order of things. Alive was alive and dead was dead. Bringing back the dead was unnatural. Sable and all of her kind were abominations. She’d wondered why there were so few NecroWitches. Boris was the reason. For centuries, he’d kept an eye out. Sometimes, one slipped through. Most he managed to kill at birth, or at least scare them shitless. Something about this one was different. Not only did he need to stop her, but had to somehow undo all of her shit. Now she just walked around conversing with the dead.
He could see the activity all around her. Spirits even she couldn’t see floating around. Mother of the dead, his ass. More like psycho step-mother. Boris one was the one who ruled the underworld. All those poor souls she thought she was sending to hell, she was sending to him. He didn’t want those bastards. Best he could do was lock them away. He supposed it was a hell of sorts. Boris had few minions of his own. Some of the dead sent to him, he commanded. If they proved themselves, he let them join his army. He’d never needed them before, but that time was coming.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He placed it between his lips as a blue flame shot out from his fingertip lighting it. War was coming all right. He was the NecroReaper. If she was the Mother of the Dead, he was the long lost father coming to take back what was rightfully his. Soon. Very soon.
The End
Stay tuned for
NecroWitch 2: Rise of the Reaper
Here is a sneak peek of
Tim Miller’s next book
Suicide Hotline
1.
Lenny Rogers
Goshen, Indiana
The ride in the SUV was taking forever. Lenny looked out the window asking himself: Am I really doing this? Is this really happening? Since flunking out of college, his life had turned to shit. At twenty years old, his parents kicked him out of the house. He never had a girlfriend so at least he didn’t get dumped. But then again, he never had a girlfriend.
Since he was a teenager he was fascinated by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the two Columbine shooters. He read every book about them and had seen every documentary. Problem was, he didn’t know the first thing about guns, and when it came down to it was a bit chicken shit. Sad thing was, he knew it. Everyone knew it.
A friend of his let him shoot a gun once. It was a Sig-Sauer .40 caliber handgun. The thing kicked so hard he dropped it once. He nearly injured his wrist by the time he was finished shooting a few rounds. Lenny’s skinny arms weren’t strong enough to handle the recoil. His buddy took it away from him and never let him touch it since.
He looked around the other seats of the SUV. There were three men in masks and fatigues staring off at nothing. Each of them was carrying AR-15’s. He didn’t know any of their names. There was no need. He’d contacted the hotline just weeks before. They already had this target in mind. His old middle school.
“Why not the high school?” he asked.
They told him the high school had on duty police working during the day. The middle school had a sign on the door that say
ALL VISTORS MUST SIGN IN THE OFFICE
That was the extent of their security.
“You ok sport?” the man across from him asked. “You’re not going to get sick are you? Don’t want you throwing up in our car.”
“I’m fine. I think.”
“You scared?”
“A little,” he lied. He was terrified. It was too late to turn back now. This would be his last ride anywhere. In less than an hour, his name would be national headlines. He’d go down in history as the Windbigler Middle School shooter. He imagined all the news trucks from CNN and Fox News outside his house, talking to his parents. He cracked a smile thinking of all the people on TV arguing about gun control and the NRA. All because of him.
“Don’t worry boss. We’ll make ya famous!” Just as the guy spoke the SUV pulled to a halt just in front of the school.
“This is it! Here we go! Let it rip!” the man yelled as the doors swung open and they piled out. Lenny had a gun too but it wasn’t loaded. He ran in behind them just like he’d been instructed. As he followed the men inside, he watched as a secretary stepped out of the office and one of the mercenaries opened fire. The bullet struck her in the face as her head exploded, splattering the walls with blood and brain matter.
