I stared at him, and my jaw dropped.
“Wait, they’re destroyed? No, I saw them—”
“They were destroyed upon his death being discovered. That was a task he left to the druid girl. And while it is not the way I would have done things, I do understand. In the wrong hands, the books are deadly.” Thomas drummed his fingers along his thighs twice, and then laced them in his lap. Waiting for me to say something.
I wracked my brain—did we tell Deanna that I’d taken the black-skinned book, that we’d left a dummy in its place? Shit, I didn’t think we had. And then of course there was the violet book, the Book of the Lost. Orion had it. So there were two books left, but we had no access to either of them. Orion had them both.
“You have thought of something important, I see the way the colors in your eyes spin and dance. Just like Jack, your eyes will always give you away.” Thomas gave a long shiver through his lanky body and let out a low moan that had my skin quivering with goose bumps.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I stepped back, my hands going to my weapons without another thought. I would kill him if I had to, which would be the shits since I needed him. He didn’t answer, just continued to moan and sway, increasing in intensity with each second.
Liam slid between me and Thomas, a low growl rumbling through his chest; I felt his wolf just under the surface, ready to explode. Alex was only a step behind, all the hair along his back standing at attention, mimicking Liam. Their growls filled the room, but over them Thomas spoke.
Swaying from side to side he said, “Someone is trying to rip the veil wide open. That would be … unfortunate for everyone.”
I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat, knowing exactly who it was. “What can we do?”
The necromancer’s body shivered and then went quiet, his long chin lowering to his chest. He barely seemed to breathe. “Nothing. His time is coming and there is nothing we can do to stop him. The rip is incomplete.”
Silence echoed through the room. He didn’t say who ‘he’ was, but we all knew.
Orion was trying again to break through the veil.
That was not what I wanted to hear, not by a long shot. Yet I knew there was nothing I could do, not right then.
Back to the task at hand.
I stepped around Liam and Alex, waving them to ease back. “I’ll bring you a young necromancer, but I want you to bring both women out of the deep levels of the veil. That’s the deal. A two for one. And I’ll stay here and answer all your questions, everything I can when it comes to the books of prophecy that I’ve read.”
Thomas’s head remained lowered against his chest. “No. One for one.”
I ground my teeth and shot a look to Liam.
“We can get them both out. We’re going to need help from someone who can jump the veil. I hate to say it, but there’s only one person we know who can do that now that Milly is trapped.”
My blood pressure went up another notch. I did not want to bring Faris in on this. I didn’t need to owe that bloodsucker anything. Even if we had worked out our differences.
Kinda.
It was Erik who cleared the air. “Thomas, we’ll get you your young ones to train, but we need to know that our friends are alive, otherwise there is no point to getting you what we want. Can you at least show them to us, allow us to speak to them?” I was shocked at his subservience, but it seemed to stir Thomas. Perhaps I needed Erik more than I thought. He was a level head where Liam and I tended to act first, think later. Ok, maybe that was just me, but Liam wasn’t much better, especially lately.
“Yes, that would be fair. Only I am no Tracker and do not have the ability to pinpoint people as such.” Thomas finally lifted his eyes, and they were heavily bloodshot, as if he’d been awake for days. “Bring me the two necromancers and I will allow one of you to go into the deep levels to bring your friends out.”
More and more restrictions he laid, and I wondered if he wanted to help us at all. “What the hell, you can’t keep changing the rules.” I clenched my hands hard to keep from grabbing my swords.
Erik touched my arm. “Let’s get what we need first.” His eyes pleaded with me to listen to him.
“Can I use your phone?” I ground out between teeth that really would rather say, fuck you asshole. But I didn’t. See, I could mature a little too.
Thomas gave a start. “I suppose. You wish to call the necromancers-R-us hotline?”
I glared at him while a smile tipped his lips up. Fucking necromancer thought he was a comedian now.
“You’ll find it in the kitchen. Though I do not know if it is connected or even works, I have not used it in many years.” He slumped deeper into his seat. I motioned at Erik and Alex to stay with him, as I strode out of the room. Liam grabbed my arm as we hit the foyer, stopping me in my tracks.
“Talk to me, Rylee, what are you planning?”
“You’re right, we need Faris to jump Frank here. That would be faster than anything else. But necromancers and vampires do not get along. Like hated enemies, kill each other on sight not get along. So I have to find a way to keep Faris from killing Frank to start with. That’s problem number one—and that’s just the start; then we have Faris and Thomas to deal with.” I waved my hand in the air several times to make my point. Bringing Faris here was going to be difficult at best. And potentially deadly for Frank. It had been sheer luck they hadn’t run into each other over the last month. Then again, Faris hadn’t stuck around once Doran claimed the vampire throne.
Liam’s eyes drooped and I saw him mulling it over. “We’ll meet him in the graveyard. Faris can stay there until we get Milly and Pamela out.”
“And Frank?”
His jaw ticked several times. “You’ll just have to work your charm on the fanged one and make him see Frank is harmless. And that you need the kid to save Milly and Pamela.”
I nodded, feeling the worry climb my spine, sticking its spikes deep into my body. As far as plans went, it wasn’t much. But considering the number of times I flew by the seat of my jeans, it was a damn miracle we had even that much mapped out.
It would have to be enough. We headed into the kitchen and I was thrown back in time for a moment. Everything was old school. Circa 1950s old school. Older too, if the wood burning stove was any indication. Everything was in muted pastels that made me ill looking at their sickly, pale tones.
“Gag me, hire a decorator,” I muttered, walking to the black rotary phone hanging on the wall. It was freaking huge, at least two feet tall and a foot wide, black with the white numbers nearly rubbed completely away.
I held my breath as I picked up the receiver. A steady beep, beep, beep sent a flood of relief down me.
Liam stepped closer and the beeping faded. I pushed him back. “Too much of you apparently is not a good thing.”
He laughed softly and he trailed his fingers along my collarbone. “You sure about that?”
My eyes flicked to his and I shook my head. Now was not the time for that kind of discussion.
“Ease up. Work first, play later.”
He gave me a salute and stepped back, dropping into an awful green pleather chair that made me cringe. I dialed Doran’s number.
There was a click, a buzz, and finally the other end rang. “Come on, be awake, be awake.”
“Hello?” The hesitant voice was not Doran’s or even Berget’s.
“Frank?”
“Yeahhhhh. Who is this?” The fear in him was palatable. Shit, had something gone wrong?
“It’s Rylee. What time is it there?” Hell, I didn’t even know what time it was here.
“Early afternoon I guess. I just woke up.”
I squeezed the receiver. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just, I don’t like it here with Doran. Something about him is freaking me out.”
Ah, that explained it. Nature trying to assert itself and force their hands to each other’s throat. “Don’t worry, you’re leaving in a bit. We need
you here.”
“Where are you?”
I ignored his question, feeling the bite of timing running out nipping at my heels. “Just listen. Did you find the other necromancer?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, she was very pretty. I mean … smart … and …um.”
“Spit it out, kid.”
Again he cleared his throat and if one could hear a blush, it was all over his voice. “But she couldn’t help me, she’s far too young to know anything either.”
I wanted to shout for joy. Fuck yeah, we were getting both Milly and Pamela out! The fates were looking kindly on us finally and sending help our way.
“Get a hold of her and get her to meet you at Dox’s bar, do you understand?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know she will, and why at the bar?”
“I’ve got someone to teach you both, an old necromancer. He’s the best in the business. Don’t worry about why I’m having you meet us at the bar.” I didn’t want to tell him the reason he was uncomfortable at Doran’s. I didn’t want to compound that with a second necromancer. Last thing I needed was an inexperienced necromancer freaking out and raising zombies.
That was all it took. He was off the phone and I stood listening to the empty dial tone.
Liam hung up the phone. “How are you going to contact Faris?”
I ran a hand through my hair, my brain trying to tell me something, a tease of a hint I could grasp if I worked at it hard enough.
“He has ties to those he bites, can find them pretty much anywhere, right?”
Liam gave a slow nod. “But that wears off with you, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but he bit someone else with us. Alex.”
“You think he would come if Alex called him? I doubt it. There’s nothing in it for Faris to show up at the beck and call of a werewolf he thinks is submissive.” Liam leaned back in the chair, his eyes calculating.
“But Faris knows Alex is always with me. Alex would never call Faris on his own.”
He nodded several times. “True. Is there a distance factor, like with your Tracking?”
“I don’t know.”
And there was no way to know until we tried. “You think Thomas would open the veil to pick up his two new pupils?”
“Good question.”
So, back to the living room we went. Erik stood at the edge of a large, bay window, peering out through the curtains. “The zombies are still out there.”
Well that was just great. Peachy. “Thomas, we have located two young necromancers for you. Are you willing to open the veil to bring them here?”
Thomas sat up, as if he pressed each vertebrae into his chair individually before he finally lifted his head. “That was rather quick. I find it hard to believe you have more ability to find a necromancer than I do.”
I shrugged. “Do you really care if I have more connections than you? Now, will you bring them across or not?” If I could have done so without him seeing, I would have crossed my fingers. As it was, I held my breath.
“There are two reasons I will not,” Thomas said and my stomach sank, breath knocked out of me. “The first is you could be lying and just trying to find a way out for yourself.” I sucked in a sharp, very angry breath but he plowed on ignoring me. “The other is if I open the veil now, after raising so many dead to keep you out of my home, I will not be able to open the deep level of the veil to your friends you wish to save. For days, perhaps. I am at the end of my strength now. I must rest while you bring the new young necromancers to me. Once they are here I can tap into their strength and we will open the deep levels for you.”
Shit. That was not good news on any front.
“Then I may not be able to stay with you. The only way to get them here will be … difficult.” There, that was a nice way of putting it.
Thomas waved both hands at me. “If you get them both here, a task I did not think and still do not think is possible, I will forgo the knowledge you have ‘til another time. That being said, I will keep one of your men here, just to be sure you will come back, Tracker.”
Asshat, he’d deliberately made a request he thought we couldn’t achieve. And I wanted nothing more than to shove it up his nose that he was so very wrong.
Erik let out a growl. “I’ll stay.” At the same time Liam said, “It will have to be me.”
Fucking hell, Liam was right. He couldn’t cross the veil unless it was a physical entrance like the doorway in the mine shaft, or the exit out the front doors of the castle.
“Erik. You come with me.” My heart clenched knowing that once again, Liam and I would be apart. I clamped down on the tears suddenly there. Seriously, I was far too tied to him; it was making me vulnerable. But I didn’t care. He caught me up in a quick hug, brushing his lips across mine.
“Don’t take long.”
“I won’t.”
Alex gave a whine. “I stays with Boss this time.”
Shit, I hadn’t expected that. “I need you, Alex. I need you to come with me.”
He gave a low shiver. “Stinkers outside. I don’t like them.” He shook his head several times, his whole body shaking. Shit—getting caught up by the giant zombie affected him more than I realized. This was not the time for the scaredy cat werewolf to show back up.
“Alex, they aren’t bad anymore. They aren’t going to hurt us. You have to trust me.”
He licked his lips several times, looking first at me, then at Liam.
“Boss?”
“Go with her.”
“Okee dokee.” And that was that. The little shit was waiting on Liam to give him the word.
“He needs it to be okay with both of us. He doesn’t have just one alpha, Rylee,” Liam said, brushing a finger along the frown I knew was etched over my eyes.
“Fine, let’s go.” I ran my hands over my weapons, testing each sheath that held blades. A shot of anxiety zinged through me. Yeah, Alex was smart to not want to go out there. A flick of Thomas’s hand and the zombies would be on us, and we’d be in the midst of them waiting to be torn apart.
Sweet mother of the gods, this was a bad idea.
Chapter 15
STANDING OUTSIDE THE front door I almost swallowed my tongue. The giant had pulled itself out of its grave and stood about fifteen feet from the porch. Alex pressed into my leg. “Don’t like this, nopes.”
“Just don’t touch any of them.” I took a step forward, and then another and another, weaving my way between the smaller and yet just as threatening zombies scattered everywhere.
“Rylee, I had no idea you dealt with this much shit,” Erik said. I didn’t look back at him, just kept moving as I answered.
“Yeah, well, stick around. You’ll see a lot more than you bargained for before we’re done.”
He laughed, but it was shaky and Alex mimicked him. The zombies’ heads turned to follow us, the hollow spots where their eyes should have been, black, and yet I knew they could see us. And if they saw us … I gave them a wave. “Thomas is watching us, I think.”
“Ready to unleash the horde if we misbehave?”
“I’m guessing.”
We slid and slipped down the long slope, the morning sun not yet rising. “We’ve got to hurry. Faris won’t be able to help us if the sun is shining fully.”
Picking up speed while trying not to touch rotting bodies did not work as well as I’d hoped. The whole thing ended up reminiscent of a pinball machine gone terribly wrong. My shoulder banged into a zombie and I bounced off, slamming face first into another’s chest.
I peeled myself off, spit and wiped the goo from my eyes but kept going. There was a flat spot to the left of the hill, not far beyond where we left the motorbike. I pointed it out. “That’s where we’re headed.”
“Gots it!” Alex yipped and zipped off ahead of me, dodging and ducking around the dead bodies, turning the hike downhill into a game. He managed to avoid the worst of the zombies. Me and Erik, not so much.
By the time we reached the bottom, I
was covered in filth and viscera.
“Fuck, that is nasty shit.” I broke into a jog to cover the last twenty feet or so, Erik grumbled along behind me.
“I’ll have to get new clothes, this is never coming out.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “Troll shit is worse.”
“I don’t want to know then.”
Sliding to a stop, I called Alex to me. “Okay, this is important. I want you to think about Faris.”
Alex frowned up at me. “I don’t like him.”
“I know, but we need his help. Can you think about him?”
Alex squinted his eyes shut and pressed the tips of his claws against his head. “Yuppy doody, thinking about fang face.”
Erik laughed again, this time it was more solid. “I like him more and more.”
I glanced at the house on the hill. I hoped Thomas wouldn’t be able to tell the kind of supernatural we were calling for help. No, the zombies closest to us weren’t even looking our way.
“Alex, call him, call Faris to you.”
Tipping his head back, he let out a long, full-throated howl. “Faaaaaaaaarrrrrrriiiiiiis.”
The zombies closest to us shivered, and then as a unit their heads snapped to focus on me and Alex. Shit, shit, shit. Surely Thomas wouldn’t know the vampire by name, would he?
One of the zombies stepped forward, its mouth opening, Thomas’s voice erupted from its mouth with a booming roar.
“YOU WOULD CALL A VAMPIRE HERE TO KILL ME. TRAITEROUS BITCH.”
Apparently he did know the vampires. Shit, we were in trouble.
Erik and I backed as the zombies lurched toward us, and I felt something shift and shimmer to the left of us. Faris, it had to be, and even if it wasn’t him we were going. We had to. “Alex, run!” I yelled and pushed Erik toward the spot where Faris was suddenly standing. There was no time. We rushed him as the zombies rushed us. His blue eyes flashed wide and his mouth dropped open as we tackled him through the veil.
“Shut it, Faris, shut it!”
He slammed it shut, but not before several zombies made it through. Without hesitation he killed them with a ferocity I’d never seen. Their bodies pulled apart, heads first and then limbs in under a minute. All four of them.
Veiled Threat Page 13
