Limbo's Child (Book One of The Dead Things Series)

by Jonah Hewitt

  “Thanks,” he said simply.

  Lucy said nothing but just nodded. She hoped she never had to touch him like that again. She didn’t like it at all.

  “And now,” Hokharty said simply, “I will leave you in the care of your new tutor.” Hokharty stepped aside.

  Moríro stepped forward and bowed deeply, if stiffly. “Necromancer, if you will follow me, we have some rather pressing business to attend to.”

  Lucy nodded and Moríro stepped aside and took up a place on her right, leading her back to the center of the room. “I regret we have one more chore to perform before this night can finally be over.” Lucy looked over her shoulder one last time at Miles, who was following her with his eyes assiduously as she went. He had done so much to protect her and the others from harm, and he was the only one of the vampires that seemed to have a streak of decency left in him, but then that darkness she felt in him was still there. He certainly was an odd vampire.

  Miles watched Lucy talking with Moríro. He wondered what the future could possibly hold for her. Who would take care of her and protect her now that her mother was gone? Hokharty stepped to Miles’ side and spoke.

  “The Necromancer will face many challenges still ahead of her, as well as many enemies.” Miles stiffened at the word “enemies.” “She will need someone to protect her and watch over her,” Hokharty said matter-of-factly.

  Miles looked to Hokharty. It took him a minute to realize that the old bloodsucker meant him.

  “Aye,” Miles said simply, “I think I can do that.”

  “Good,” Hokharty said simply, “Come, walk with me.”

  Hokharty walked Miles over to where the vampires were gathering around Sky and his entourage. As Hokharty approached, they stiffened and bowed, Miles awkwardly bowed too, still uncertain of the protocols. Hokharty returned the bow and then spoke to them solemnly.

  “I must leave you, my children, and I have so much yet to tell you. I had far greater hopes for you than this, but now there is no time. I must go, and I doubt I shall ever return.”

  The vampire crowd was inscrutable. It was hard to know if they thought this was a good thing or not. They had all been changed by the last couple days, but whether that filled them with hope or dread, Miles couldn’t tell. Some had to hate being a vampire as much as he did, but then a lot of them, like Sky, seemed to love it too.

  “But before I go, I must designate a new master of Rivenden to guide you.”

  Miles looked around the crowd. Who was the ol’ blighter gonna pick? Mikhail had been around the longest, but Betty had the cooler head. The kittens only had one head between the five of ‘em. With Ulami, Forzgrim and Wallach gone, there just wasn’t any obvious choice. Miles just hoped it wasn’t Sky.

  “The vampire I choose is the strongest and wisest amongst you, and I choose him to be your leader and protector. Miles Killam is now the master of Rivenden.”

  Miles stiffened, had he just heard that right?! He looked around at the faces of the other vampires. They had all stiffened too. Sky’s lollipop had fallen out of his mouth, but Hokharty wasn’t finished yet.

  “I expect you to follow his orders and counsel as you would my own.”

  Rather than the usual sycophantic over-fawning response they had given to Wallach and Hokharty when he took control of the family, they looked genuinely shocked and a few looked disgusted. At least the smug, bored looks were off their faces. Only the kittens made an effort at any form of genuflection. They nervously pulled themselves away from Schuyler and started edging Miles’ way, twisting their hair and trying to look coy and fetching, awkwardly attempting to flirt with their new master. It was in a vampire’s nature to be a suck-up, but it must have been hard for them to suck up to a runt of a vampire that had never even turned a single human to the breed. It would have been pitiful had it not been so hollow and insulting.

  “Don’t put ya selves to any trouble now, lassies,” Miles muttered. They took this the way it was intended, breathed a sigh of relief and backed off, but they didn’t flock back to Sky either. Now that he wasn’t a rung on the ladder above them anymore, they abandoned him. The look on Sky’s indignant face was priceless, and made Miles forget what had just happened, but only for a moment.

  “Um, Hokharty…” Miles began to protest, but Hokharty interrupted him.

  “I will hear no word of protest on this matter. My decision is final.” Hokharty was speaking to the other vampires, but only Miles was protesting. Hokharty spoke in that same, offhand way he had back during the fight with Ulami and Forzgrim that let Miles know that while he may be addressing others, he was actually speaking to him. Miles bit his lip and stood in silence. Hokharty continued, “I want everyone to know that I have every confidence in Miles, and that my reasons for this will become clear to all of you.” That was Hokharty’s way of letting Miles know he had every confidence in him. Miles knew he meant it, but he couldn’t guess why.

  “Does the new Master of Rivenden have any orders for his charges?” Hokharty said simply.

  Miles looked around at the faces, some skeptical, others hostile. Sky looked furious, and he decided to throw him a bone.

  “Aye. I guess my first order is to pick a lieutenant, or deputy or…um…whatever.” Miles didn’t know what Forzgrim’s or Ulami’s titles were, but he didn’t want to use the word “goon.” His lack of experience with vampire hierarchy was certainly not inspiring any confidence at the moment. Then he nodded in Sky’s direction. Sky narrowed his eyes at first then smiled a sly smile back at him. Instantly, the kittens were back in Schuyler’s lap mewling, but Miles noted that Sky’s response was much cooler to them than before. Miles didn’t know if Sky was the right choice or not. He still didn’t trust Sky, but then he didn’t really trust any of them. At least he could trust Sky to act in his own self-interest, and that was better than nothing. Sky knew what it meant to be a vampire, and if anyone would tell him he was making a right bags of it, and not tell him what he wanted to hear, it would be Sky. After all, Sky had never had any trouble telling him how he felt before.

  The vampires seemed a lot more pleased with this news than they did with Miles’ sudden promotion, so Miles was at least moving in the right direction. Hokharty seemed to accept this choice too and gave out his final orders. He commanded them not to prey on the weak or innocent and to avoid killing mortals at all costs. This had the same effect as telling a bunch of orphans Christmas was cancelled, but no one voiced any complaints. As dawn was imminent, he dismissed them to their usual haunts but told them to come when Miles called them, though Miles didn’t have the foggiest idea how. Was there a vampire signal up on the roof? How did these things work? He had always been summoned by one of Wallach’s thugs. There had to be a better way.

  The vampires left the grounds or retreated to rooms deep in the manor to wait out the day. The kittens left looking forlorn after Sky refused them a goodnight kiss. He’d pout for a while but Miles knew he would come around eventually.

  When it was just Hokharty and himself, with Sky sulking off in the distance, Miles turned to ask him why he picked him, but he didn’t get the question out before Hokharty spoke.

  “You must be wondering why I chose you to be the master of Rivenden.”

  “Too bloody right I am! I can’t do this!” Miles said in a hoarse whisper, “I never wanted to be a bloody vampire in the first place!! Now I have the run of the whole lot of the bloomin’ bloodsuckers!! Give it to Sky! He’s always dreamed of bein’ a bloody master, but I never wanted this!”

  Hokharty just smiled, “And that is why it must be you, Miles.”

  That was as cryptic as ever, but he could tell that was as much as he was going to get out of the old codger. Then another thought occurred to Miles.

  “Hokharty…sir…did…that is…did ya give me Wallach’s powers after ya killed him?” Miles asked, genuinely curious. Hokharty just smiled.

  “Do you think that I came upon you in that alley by accident, Miles Killam?”
/>   Miles looked at Hokharty intently. He had never really thought about it.

  “I went looking for the strongest vampire I could find, and I found you.”

  Miles just blinked. He wasn’t following him.

  Hokharty took pity on him and made it simple. “Wallach never had any powers of his own. He was only borrowing them from you. They were always your powers, Miles.”

  Miles drifted off for a moment, that was a hard thought to fathom, but then he remembered the iron coffins and silver chains in the larder and it began to make sense. Wallach had a lot of secrets and a lot of people in chains. It hurt that Miles’ chains were all in his head though. How long he had suffered under that monster’s rule and not known how important he was to him. Things could have been much different, but then, they were different now and he still wasn’t happy. The whole thing stunk to high heaven, and there were so many more questions he wanted to ask, but Hokharty held up a hand to stop him.

  “I see that Moríro and Lucy are ready. I must go.” Hokharty went to leave but turned back and took on a slightly less monotone voice and said, “Take care of my children, Master of Rivenden.” Then he bowed to Miles and walked to the other side of the room where Lucy and Moríro were standing. Miles watched him go, more confused about what to do than ever.

  “Dude, Master of your own vampire den. That’s gotta rock, huh?” Tim had walked up behind him.

  “Farnt.” Nephys and Hiero were right beside him.

  “What? No heart for the Tin Man?” Sky called out sarcastically after the Father of All Vampires, “I think there’s a cowardly lion or two around here too, if you’re not too busy!” But Hokharty just ignored him.

  The four of them watched as Lucy, Moríro and Hokharty spoke intently on the other side of the room. Sky sidled over to Tim and Miles. He was looking at Miles sideways the whole time.

  “Master of Rivenden, huh?” Sky just shook his head at Miles and smiled a frustrated smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “That almost makes me sorry I didn’t kill you upstairs.”

  “Almost?” Miles snorted and looked back at Sky contemptuously, “Is that supposed to be a ruddy apology?”

  “Don’t knock it,” Sky mumbled, “That’s as close as you’re ever gonna ever get out of me.”

  Miles just shook his head. Sky would never change, but at least he wasn’t sucking up to him. That would have just been unnerving.

  They all watched Lucy talk with Moríro and Hokharty from a distance. Nephys took stock of the situation. He had come this far to give the Necromancer the stone and bring Lucy the note. He had come back to life to help the Necromancer restore the balance and save the world and in a strange, roundabout way he had. Now that the world was saved and Lucy was Necromancer, Nephys wondered, who was going to save her?

  Tim sighed. He was obviously having the same thoughts.

  “Wassup?” Sky said sounding bored.

  “It’s just…what does she do now? I mean honestly, she has no one,” Tim said, genuinely troubled, “I can’t even imagine what my kid sister would do if she didn’t have a family.”

  “She’ll have Moríro,” Sky said, bored, “Who else does she need?”

  Miles and Tim looked at Sky skeptically. Moríro didn’t exactly seem to be an adequate substitute for a loving parent, but then neither did any of them.

  “Flubbit,” Hiero seemed to agree.

  “So what happens to her now?” Nephys said nervously.

  Everyone was silent, but then Miles spoke.

  “We’ll take care of her, that’s what,” Miles said.

  “Um…speak for yourself,” Sky said in an annoyed voice.

  Miles turned to him. “Do ya want me to make that an order of the Master of Rivenden?”

  Sky just groaned and rolled his eyes. Miles smiled and thought maybe this job wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  Tim, Miles and Nephys all exchanged looks and nodded. A silent pact was forged right there to help the new Necromancer in any way she might need.

  A half a minute later, Lucy surprised them by walking back over to them alone.

  She was about to say something, but before she could speak, Miles broke in.

  “Um…Lucy…we bin talking it over, that is, me and the boys have been thinking…and if it’s alright with you…that is…if you don’t mind...’”

  Lucy raised her eyebrows at him. Schuyler could have strung out several sonnets by now, but Miles couldn’t get ten words out without making a mess of it. “He really is an odd vampire,” thought Lucy.

  “Um…yes?” she asked nervously, cutting off Miles before he hemmed and hawed his way through another five minutes of “ums” before getting to the point.

  Miles looked at her directly and smiled and finally got it out.

  “We may not be the best mates a person could have, but if ya ever need us. We’ll be there for ya.”

  “Thank you,” Lucy said simply. She still wasn’t certain if she could trust any of them, and she still thought they were kind of creepy and a bunch of screw-ups, but she had no one else right now, and they had all risked their lives for her and the world when it mattered most. She supposed that had to count for something.

  She turned to the strange boy, Nep, with his eyeliner, shaved head and his pig-duck monster that was strangely quiet for the moment. He had brought her a note from her mother and saved the world. Without him, they would all be dead. She eyed him intensely before speaking the next words carefully.

  “They say it’s time for you to go.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The Dawn

  After the initial shock of the news, Nephys recognized it was inevitable. He and the imp had never really been intended to stay. Moríro explained that while the gate was closed on this side, the gate on the other side was still open, and they wanted to make sure it was closed soon before anything managed to slip out. The only way to do that was to send him and the stone (and the stowaway imp) back to Limbo. His trip had only been a short one, just a few hours, but he had dared to hope that his new life would never end and he would never have to go back to the underworld, but he should have realized it was not to be.

  Nephys said his goodbyes to Tim, Miles and Sky. Sky called him ‘baldy’ one last time, rubbed his shaved head and told him to give his regards to hell. After that, he disappeared somewhere. Graber helped Tim push the Impala back out of the manor and they were fixing it up somewhere. Miles worked to secure the doors against the coming dawn, after which Miles said goodbye to him and Lucy before retreating inside.

  Now it was just he, Lucy, Hiero, Hokharty and Moríro outside. It was so close to dawn he begged the three of them to let him see the sun one last time before departing. Both Hokharty and Moríro objected, but Lucy overruled them. Being the Necromancer had privileges and Lucy really seemed to enjoy bossing them around for a change.

  Lucy and Nephys stood there, holding hands, facing east towards a small patch of wall where the trees weren’t quite so thick. The light was growing and the dawn was nearly there.

  “What’s it like?” Lucy said thoughtfully.

  “What?” said Nephys distracted. His eyes were still dim, but they were not yet as dim as his memory. He was aching so badly to see the sun in something other than his memories, he wasn’t paying attention.

  “The underworld…what’s it like?” she said, her eyes still unfocused on the edge of the high wall where the sun would soon be rising.

  Nephys didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t supposed to say anything about the afterlife, but then Lucy was the Necromancer after all.

  “Well…” Nephys began, but then he felt the point of a large butcher knife against the back of his calf. Nephys looked down. Hiero was giving him a look that said, “Don’t. You. Dare.” Whether he was concerned about Nephys sharing the secrets of the afterlife, or whether he didn’t want to alarm Lucy about Maggie, Nephys couldn’t tell. The imp did seem to have a soft spot for Lucy’s mother.

  “I’m not supposed t
o talk about it, really.”

  “Farnt.” Hiero tooted approvingly.

  Lucy sighed. “Amanda said it was a vast and sunless place with no warmth or light, and that it made you forget who you are and that you had to struggle to just to keep your own soul from falling apart.”

  Nephys sighed. That pretty much summed it up all right.

  “That’s all true, isn’t it?” Lucy said, looking directly at Nephys.

  He tried to keep a noncommittal expression and avoid looking her in the face, but Lucy read right through it to the truth in Nephys’ clouded eyes.

  Lucy sighed, her shoulders slumped, her eyes unfocused. She was obviously thinking of her mother in a place like that.

  “Flubbit,” Hiero muttered, exasperated. Nephys looked down at the frustrated imp and tried to mouth the words “I’m sorry,” but the imp stabbed him in the calf anyway.

  “Yeowch!!”

  “What is it? What’s the matter?”

  “Oh…nothing,” Nephys muttered. Hiero gave him a bloody raspberry.

  They watched the growing light. It had moved from pale blue to golden yellow in just the last few minutes. Nephys looked at Lucy and felt like he had to give her some small ray of hope, something to hold on to before he left.

  Then he thought of it. “Your mother’s really tenacious though. Everyone else usually just gives up and accepts things the way they are down there but not your mother. She gardens when no one else does. She teaches the children how to play ball. She even makes soup. She just doesn’t let anything get her down.”