by M. R. Forbes
"Two million."
She laughed. "You need to raise your rates."
I let myself smile.
Something outside exploded.
It was enough to shake the building, sending paint chips down from the ceiling.
"The data chip," I said. "It has to be on the floor somewhere. We need to find it and get out of here."
She started scanning the ground. The chip was tiny, the size of a fingernail. How the hell were we going to find it?
I had forgotten I had Matwau's power. I opened myself up to the fields, listening in on the mixture of the frequencies. I expected a noisy din. What I got instead was melodic, enchanting, beautiful. In that moment, I knew what Veronica and Black had meant when they called death magic a stain. It was a jackhammer to a violin, a spider to a butterfly.
I stood in the center of the room, breathing in the energy and waiting. I was ready to fight.
"I've got it. And your dice," Jin said. I glanced over to where she was kneeling, holding the blanket around herself in one hand, and the chip in the other. "Let's grab the stone and get out of here."
It was a good plan. I stepped towards it and reached out.
The side door to the gym squeaked open.
I turned and put out my hand, ready to rain hell on anything that tried to come in.
"Baldie, you in here?"
Amos' fat head snuck into the doorway. He saw me and froze, unsure. Then he saw the bodies, and Jin standing among them, looking back at him.
"Couldn't wait to get him home?" he asked. He grinned and entered the room. "Robe's a nice look. The Indian Hugh Hefner. I don't know what the fuck you did in here, but did you know there's a whole yard of hippie ferals out there? I'm tempted to scratch behind their ears and try to teach them to fetch."
Prithi came in behind him, an assault rifle cradled in her arms. She was crouched low, like she was special forces or something.
"I think that shit looks cooler in the Machine," Amos said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
I finished my reach, picking up the stone in my left hand. It was still warm. I clutched it under my arm and carried it to where Amos and Prithi were waiting.
"You're a little late."
"Better late than never."
"He would have killed you."
"Definitely better late."
"Thanks for coming back."
"She made me do it. What is it with chicks threatening to cut my jewels off, anyway?"
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Don't look back.
"Are you sure you're going to be safe?"
"I'll be fine. You did your job. It's time for me to go do mine."
We were standing in front of the Japan Airlines baggage check, where Jin had already handed over a suitcase she had bought yesterday, filled with clothes that still had their tags, and used solely to protect her artifact: the strange, plain stone whose magic she refused to reveal to me. She would be gone within the hour, flying first class to Japan. Once she was there, she would take a limo to her aunt's estate near the coast and enter the data key and passcodes that would give her full access and control to all of House Red's assets, and make her title of Miss Red official.
"I don't know. Matwau didn't just get to House Black. He had allies in your House, too. They managed to sit under your aunt's nose for years."
"And now that their leader is gone they'll come back in line. That's how the Houses work. You know that."
She brought out a part of me that no one had been able to since I got sick, and it was a comfort that was dangerously addictive. Dannie had been my best friend, yet we'd never shared that spark of potential. Even in our most intimate moment we'd fallen flat. I was angling for an excuse to go with her, to keep working the job, to stay close.
After Amos arrived, we took our time exploring the yard. We found the tech Matwau had been using to communicate with his followers. It was rigged to self-destruct with one wrong password entry, which Prithi had triggered straight away. She was distraught at the loss. I wasn't concerned. The best we could have gotten was the history of a dead asshole, and a list of his accomplices. Like Jin said, with Matwau gone, they would fall back in line. Especially since they had no way to know that Jin existed, or that she wasn't a wizard. Everyone who did know besides Mr. Black, Amos, and me died that night.
The only other item of interest we found was a log book of names, times, and medications, along with a few vials of liquids with the Parity logo etched in the glass, and a large number of empties. Jin recognized the names from her search for my treatment. They were experimental medicines, intended vaccines against the feral viruses. They kind of worked, turning a small percentage of the ferals into what Black called skinwalkers, and gentling the rest to various degrees. It made some amiable to control. It made others downright docile.
Matwau? He had changed into something entirely different. Had he taken the vaccine? Was that what it had done to him? Studying drug interactions in full-frequency wizards was next to impossible. He must have been desperate to resort to treatments that were more likely to kill him than make him stronger.
Desperate like me.
We burned the place to the ground, of course. It was easy to do with Matwau's magic. Even though the power had worn off after an hour, I could still hear the rhythm of the magical spectrum in my head. I could remember the beauty of the flow, and now I could only wince every time I noticed the pulsing of my own frequency, the scratchy chaos of decay.
"I'm going to miss it," Jin said, shifting her bag from one shoulder to the other. Her plane was leaving soon, and she still had to go through security.
"My winning personality?"
She smiled and turned to face me, her eyes looking up into mine. "My freedom. Your winning personality goes along with that. I'd offer you a full position with me if I could, Baron. I'd keep you close all the time if I could. I feel safe with you, especially after what happened to Natsumi..." Her voice trailed off.
I watched her eyes. They weren't giving me quite the look Amos had described, but there was definitely feeling there.
"You can't risk it, I know. The Houses don't hire necromancers. Not above the table, anyway. I can't help being who I am, any more than you can help being who you are. It's the life we've fallen into."
A tear formed, and she blinked it to her cheek. "A life I fear, for the choices I have to make, and the choices I can't make. I owe you more than money could ever repay."
I blinked a few times, trying to keep my own emotions at bay. It seemed so easy for her to bring the softest parts out of me. "Does that mean you won't send a team to kill me?"
She laughed at that, and then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. She kept looking at me, every part of her inviting. Her head tilted up, my head tilted down, and we met in the middle. A kiss. A long, passion-filled goodbye. It was enough to get the deadest parts of me twitching.
No matter how long it had lasted, it would have been too short. She pulled away and put her hand to my cheek.
"Goodbye, Baron."
"Goodbye, Miss Red."
Then she was gone, turning on her heel and walking towards the checkpoint. I stood and watched while she showed her boarding pass and waited on line. I kept watching while she passed through the metal detector and vanished into the terminal.
She never looked back.
I wasn't going to either.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
The promised land.
I drove Amos' van through the gates of Graceland, taking the road that split the cemetery out towards the back, to where Caroline was buried. It was three in the morning, the best time for a necromancer to be cruising for inventory.
Only I wasn't there to make a withdrawal.
Not today, anyway.
I rolled to a stop and killed the headlights, opening the door and circling around back. I had a flashlight in one of my pockets, and I picked it out and turned it on, waving the beam between the headstones. We didn't have a
n official plot here, so I was going to put her somewhere that I could always find her. Somewhere that I could come whenever I visited, to sit and remember. Caroline's spot was quiet, out of the way. I figured she wouldn't mind the company.
I opened the back doors of the van and looked down at Danelle, still resting peacefully, though the ice had all melted and she was starting to smell. I reached behind her to the shovel, and made my way over to the spot I had picked.
I started digging.
Amos was going to be pissed, because he wanted to say goodbye. He thought I was going to do this with him, but I had never planned to. From the minute Dannie had died, I knew what I wanted to do, what I needed to do. I knew Amos wouldn't have approved. Hell, I wasn't sure I approved. No, I was sure I didn't.
I finished the hole and went back to where she was resting. I stared at her for a good ten minutes, trying to convince myself to put her in the ground and go. To get on with my life, and let her get on with her death.
It was a pitched battle of conscience that I ultimately lost.
"Dannie." I put my hand on her, feeding her the energy and bringing her back.
Her body shook, and she gasped. Her eyes shifted, looking up at me.
"Why?"
If there was one word that could have cemented my idea that I was making a huge mistake, that was the one. My stomach clenched with guilt. I forged ahead.
"I never got to say goodbye."
She planted her arms and pushed herself into a sitting position. "You say goodbye in a eulogy, Conor. Maybe you write a poem, or leave flowers, or something. You fucking promised."
I felt my eyes beginning to tear. "I know. Shit, I'm sorry, Dannie. I had to. It wasn't supposed to happen like that, you know?"
"Like what? Me trying to save your ass? Of course it was. Sooner or later it was. I wish I was still alive, too. I wish I could still look out for you. You'll have to look out for yourself now. Please let me go, Conor. Put me back to sleep and leave me that way."
"Dannie, I-"
"Don't. Just don't. I know what you want, and I'm asking you not to. I'm begging you not to."
"I have another question. A different question. Why didn't you tell me about Azeban, before the Machine?"
"What? Why the fuck does that matter?"
"I don't know. It was never like you to keep anything from me."
"I was trying to protect you, you ass."
"From what?"
"From yourself."
"I don't understand."
She rolled her eyes. "I don't want to tell you. If you don't get it... it's better that way."
I stared at her, thinking. "Are you saying..."
The dead couldn't cry. If they could, I think she would have been.
"Yes, you idiot. I only agreed with you because I didn't want to lose you."
I took a deep breath and swallowed the massive wave of emotions that threatened to wash me away. Why the hell did I have to ask, anyway?
"Are you happy now? Say goodbye, Conor, and let me go. Say goodbye, before you regret it even more than you already do."
The battle was rejoined. Every part of me knew I should listen, and just cut the thread and put her in the ground. I could bring Amos with me, and we could drop her some flowers and reminisce, and give her a proper goodbye, like everyone else on the planet did.
Everyone who wasn't a necromancer.
I had already tied my heartstrings into a knot with my first question. What other damage would I do with my second?
Shit.
"I can't. I'm sorry Dannie, I can't. I have to know. You're the only one who can tell me."
Her eyes were angry, and sad. She tried to beg me with them. She knew I wouldn't listen.
I was an asshole, after all.
"What's it like, on the other side?"
She didn't say anything. I could feel her resisting, and I pushed more of the power into her, forcing her to do my will. Her face twisted and wrinkled, and her lips started to move.
"Fuck you, Conor."
I pushed harder, thankful for the second hit of meds that had restored me to my regular level of poor health. Her entire body shook from the force.
"It... It's..."
The resistance vanished without warning, the connection snapped. I fell backwards, every nerve in my body telling me it was being stabbed. I hit the ground and clutched at my gut, coughing up a storm and trying to calm the sudden throbbing in my head. What the hell had just happened?
Once the pain subsided, I got to my feet, ready to bring her back again and hear the answer to my question.
Except she hadn't fallen when I did.
She was still sitting upright. Her eyes were still moving.
She was smiling at me.
"Do not dare to compare yourself to those who die when they should, necromancer. You will learn what it means to cheat me. You will come to my door sooner or later. Everyone does. Or... perhaps I will come to you."
The words hung thick in the air, and in my soul, until they were replaced with haunting, terrifying laughter.
Laughter that echoed across the dead of night.
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M.R. Forbes is the creator of a growing catalog of speculative fiction titles, including the epic fantasy Tears of Blood series, the contemporary fantasy Divine series, and the world of Ghosts & Magic. He lives in the pacific northwest with his wife, a cat who thinks she's a dog, and a dog who thinks she's a cat. He eats too many donuts, and he's always happy to hear from readers.
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Chapter One - About that job...
Chapter Two - Sweet Caroline.
Chapter Three - Is this medically necessary?
Chapter Four - Never had a friend like me.
Chapter Five - Looks easy enough.
Chapter Six - It's not easy being green.
Chapter Seven - No rest for the wicked.
Chapter Eight - Thanks, Grandma!
Chapter Nine - A legend in the making.
Pit Stop.
Chapter Eleven - Slipping a Mickey.
Chapter Twelve - Like taking candy.
Chapter Thirteen - Lady in red.
Chapter Fourteen - A case of the munchies.
Chapter Fifteen - I love New York.
Chapter Sixteen - Famous.
Chapter Seventeen - The necro and the Jin.
Chapter Eighteen - Too close for comfort.
Chapter Nineteen - The girl with the dragon tattoo.
Chapter Twenty - Here boy!
Chapter Twenty-One - She slimed me.
Chapter Twenty-Two - Three stars.
Pac-man, or Donkey Kong?
Chapter Twenty-Four - I thought thin
gs were bad before.
Chapter Twenty-Five - Are we there yet?
Chapter Twenty-Six - Hugs and kisses.
Witch with a 'B'
Chapter Twenty-Eight - Lost
Chapter Twenty-Nine - That's amore.
Chapter Thirty - Good fish.
Chapter Thirty-One - Ghosts in the Machine.
Chapter Thirty-Two - Machine head.
Chapter Thirty-Three - Dumb ways to die.
Chapter Thirty-Four - Who lives forever, anyway?
Chapter Thirty-Five - Three little pigs.
Chapter Thirty-Six - Referee.
Chapter Thirty-Seven - Here's to yesterday.
Chapter Thirty-Eight - Touched.
Chapter Thirty-Nine - Mission impossible.
Chapter Forty - Chowdah.
Chapter Forty-One - Six of one, a half-dozen...
Chapter Forty-Two - As for getting even.
Fade to Black.
Chapter Forty-Four - Souvenir.
Chapter Forty-Five - Open wounds.
Chapter Forty-Six - My name is mud.
Chapter Forty-Seven - The greatest escape.
Chapter Forty-Eight - The game.
Chapter Forty-Nine - Know your enemy.
Chapter Fifty - I liked this better before...
Chapter Fifty-One - No, really. Know your enemy.
Chapter Fifty-Two - Nice evening for a stroll.
Chapter Fifty-Three - Smells like teen spirit.
Chapter Fifty-Four - What is it with...
Chapter Fifty-Five - Don't look back.
Chapter Fifty-Six - The promised land.
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