The Necromancer: Necromancer Chronicles (Erotic Fantasy) Book 1

by D. R. Rosier

  I bowed slightly and turned to leave. As I left I heard a whisper, the witch on the council.

  “Feel free to stop by for a drink and conversation. I’m Willa.”

  I nodded surreptitiously and frowned. It worried me that one of the council would feel the need to invite me somewhere on the sly. Why not simply say it out loud and welcome me to the city? I stopped at the clerk, a very young vampire. He kept checking out my neck as I filled in the form and paid him in cash to get it done.

  He said, “Drop in anytime tomorrow afternoon to pick up the paperwork.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, do you know what bar the supernaturals go too usually?” Willa had invited her but not said where…

  He replied, “Sure, Chauncey’s bar and grill, do you need directions?”

  I shook my head no. Apparently some things don’t change.

  “I was wondering though if I could peruse some records. It’s kind of a hobby.”

  The young vampire looked very uncomfortable all the sudden and I looked at him quizzically.

  “Isn’t it still an open thing?”

  He shrugged, “It is yes, but Silas is para… concerned about possible spies from other cities, there is a six month wait on that for newcomers.”

  I nodded slowly, disappointed, but not wanting a confrontation just yet, at least not until I talked to a few people and got the lay of the land. I could always use the human genealogy websites, see what I could come up with there first.

  “Thanks…”

  “Tim.”

  “Thanks Tim, I’ll be by tomorrow then.”

  I left and checked out a few apartments, settling on a two bedroom condo in a high rise. They had them for sale too, it was nice but I resisted. It was on the twelfth floor. The bedrooms were a little small, but the full size kitchen clinched it for me. By the time I updated the movers and filled out some applications online for a couple of hospitals and hospice care it was getting late. I had no groceries or anything to cook it in, so I went out to eat.

  I wound up in a midrange steakhouse, sitting at the bar eating. I didn’t really like to sit at a table when I was alone. I managed to get through dinner without being propositioned. It wasn’t really as hard as it sounded, humans seemed to be intimidated by me at least as much as I attracted them. I did tend to get a lot more attention from the supernatural world. I was a little nervous to be honest, now that I had decided to get back in the game. I finished my marvelous steak which was practically melting in my mouth along with a loaded baked potato, then I headed over to Chauncey’s.

  Perhaps it was just coincidence but I noticed a couple of vampires following me. It had my hackles up, but I tried to relax as I entered the bar. Silas seemed like a paranoid dictator, not the head member of a council, but things should work out eventually. It wasn’t my first time in a paranoid supernatural community, just the first time I was blocked from viewing records.

  It was an Irish bar, a lot of green with some lively music going when I went in. About half the customers were human. I saw Willa and moved to join the table. There were a couple of young ladies sitting with her.

  She smiled up at me, “Take a seat! This is Lisa, and Leanne.”

  Lisa looked young, like had to forge a license to be here young. She still had signs of being a late teen, not quite fully matured. She was cute, with shoulder length brown hair and big brown eyes. Leanne was a little older but not by much, red hair and green eyes that lit up with mischief as I sat down. I wondered for a moment where the older witches were, Willa was young for a council seat.

  I smiled, “Thanks, nice to meet you.” I took a seat.

  I ordered a shot of Jameson’s in coffee with whip cream on top, while in Rome and all that. We chatted for a while and I thought things were going well. They were very welcoming I was starting to feel relaxed. I was tempted to ask them what the deal with Silas was, but I held my tongue. I was patient and knew better, but blocking me from the records was rather annoying. Regardless, by my third spiked coffee I was feeling very relaxed.

  They started playing some lively music and Leanne jumped up and joined a couple of other ladies, human, doing an Irish dance. I shrugged determined to shake off my lassitude and got up to join them. It was a lot of fun, all the men in the bar were clapping keeping time and cheering us on. By the end of the song my heart was racing and I was flushed.

  The girls drew me out asking lots of questions, and when they found out my furniture would be a couple of days they invited me to stay over. When I looked confused they explained they had a large house outside the city where the three of them lived together, it was also where their coven met as they had a few acres of land and a small grove of oak trees in the expansive back yard. The grove was planted a long time ago, probably by Native Americans, right over where three ley lines crossed. Willa explained she was on the council because she was head of the largest witches coven, there were two others in the Chicago area.

  “I would love to, thank you.”

  It was very clear to me the paranoia was limited to the vampires, and perhaps even to Silas. Still, I held my tongue. We had a good time the rest of the night, often dancing with any man that asked, although I was careful not to lead any of them on.

  When we left the bar we made our way a block over to a small park. I wondered what they were doing and was astonished when Willa directed us to hold hands and held up her amulet before chanting a short spell. Then she walked into the oak, sinking right into the trunk of the tree. It felt strange as I was pulled into the tree, but a few seconds later I felt myself being pulled out, and I was in a grove of trees.

  I said with awe in my voice, “How… that spell takes so much power.”

  Willa giggled. “Normally yes, but these oaks have power to burn and then some with three ley lines crossing. Since it’s on my land and warded, only our coven can access the power here. It only takes a little power to initiate a connection to the grove from the city, after that all the power to transport us here comes from the grove.”

  I smiled. I could feel their joy in their art. There was no coveting or gloating over their power, just simple joy of their gifts. We walked about two hundred yards to the back of the mansion. It was three stories; based on the windows I’d guess it had at least twelve bedrooms on both the second and third floors. They gave me a quick tour of the kitchen, den and library then showed me to a guest room. The room was huge, twelve by fourteen, and it had its own attached bathroom.

  They said goodnight and left me to sleep, of course, I don’t exactly sleep. I couldn’t help but notice Willa looked back at me, rather wistfully, as she stepped out and closed the door. Perhaps it was just the alcohol, but I found myself rather intrigued by that look.

  I pulled out my phone and brought up the browser, it was a pain using the small thing, but I didn’t want to risk summoning my laptop, I wasn’t sure what kind of wards the witches had up and didn’t want to set off any alarms. It took me a while to remember Amy’s last name. I had long ago paid for accounts with various websites to search genealogies. I put Amy’s name, her date of birth and let it do a search.

  It took hours to chase down a number of false leads, but I finally discovered she died not very long after I left, maybe two years? It didn’t say how she died however, nor if she had any children before doing so. Back then birth records were hit or miss, and if she did have a child, it would have been less than two years old, so may have been given the name of whoever took him or her in. I really needed the paranormal records, they would have a complete record of it.

  I sat there staring at the walls, my mind turning in circles. I was deliberately trying to avoid thinking about the big library Willa, Lisa and Leanne showed me. No doubt it had the genealogies of everyone in their coven, and Amy had been a witch. Chances are my line had died here, but my heart twisted at the thought. Did I move here for no reason? I must know. Guiltily I checked the time, I was sure they would be out cold by now from all the alcohol.

  I bit
my lip and stared at myself in the mirror. I had to know, but this felt too much like a betrayal of the immediate trust these young witches have given me. I couldn’t do it. I was too old to do anything so thoughtless. So I waited…

  Time dragged, if I was at home I could use the web, or watch TV, read a book on kindle. Something, anything. But here in this guest room it was like a prison. I snorted at myself for that thought, it wasn’t my host’s fault she didn’t know I didn’t sleep and needed something to do. I wound up loading up angry birds, and was happy to see there was a new level added on since I last played in which to destroy those diabolic pigs.

  I heard a knock on the door and jumped up to open it. I giggled and said I was sorry when Willa jumped back, surprised at my quick answer.

  Willa asked, “Breakfast? Did you sleep alright?”

  I smiled and dodged the question without lying, “The room was wonderful thank you, breakfast sounds great.”

  I followed her down to the kitchen and we chatted over breakfast, mostly them pumping me for information about how I hid my healing from the humans and what my plans were. Finally I broached the subject I was dying to ask.

  “Do you mind if I look over your library? I am curious about genealogy specifically, my family split in this area almost two centuries ago. That kind of thing fascinates me.”

  Willa said, “Sounds fine to me, your more than welcome to check. I need to be in council in about an hour, but Lisa and Leanne can keep you company while you look.”

  “Thanks, that would be wonderful. Maybe we can all meet for lunch later? I still need to do food shopping to stock my apartment, and I need to pick up my RN paperwork this afternoon anyway.”

  Willa nodded and we chatted some more before she left. They were telling me all about the covens, which for the most part got along. They even talked about the shifters, I noticed however they avoided talking about the vampires at all… What was going on in this town? It was also hard not to notice Willa was sending me vibes, and I had to admit she was a lot of fun to be around, and very attractive.

  I am old, but forever young. As a result not many of the societal hang-ups from the time I am living in effect me. By today’s parlance, I am ‘bi’. I am pretty sure every woman is to a certain extent, they have just been programmed not to be by society. There are exceptions of course, in both directions. What is sad to me is only the woman that are on the far end of the scale will freely admit they like other women. It is rare, when those of us, the majority in the middle, will be open and unashamed, although that has gotten better over the last couple of decades.

  Of course, I crave children as well, so it is a rare when I choose a woman as my partner for an entire lifetime, but it has happened in my past. There is never a shortage of orphaned children after all.

  I went to the library with Lisa and Leanne and they gave me a tour of the book layout. There were twenty three witches in the coven, which meant it wasn’t difficult at all to track down thirteen in an emergency. The most difficult spells took thirteen, but never more. Even so, all twenty three could participate if they wished, the extras could form an outer circle and shield the inner circle of thirteen from evil and other magical interference.

  The advantage there was obvious, the thirteen could dedicate all their energy to the spell and not split their focus. Twenty three was an impressive number actually, and my respect for Willa went up, herding witches could be like trying to herd cats.

  Thank god I was a sorceress on my human magical side.

  I read through Willa’s genealogy first. There was no mention of Amy, so I moved on to Lisa’s. I figured it would be nice to do theirs first, since they were in the room with me. Lisa’s didn’t turn up anything either, so I went to Leanne’s. I had to school my features when I found it, I could feel the tears that wanted to form and a lump formed in my throat.

  Amy had a child a little over a year after I left. Jennifer. Before the child saw her first birthday, the coven was attacked by invading vampires. Amy and some of the others were carried off, but Jennifer was left alone in her crib by some twist of fate, and adopted into another witch family. I looked up and studied Leanne. She was beautiful, barely twenty years old. So very young, and precious. Red hair, deep green eyes and a ready smile. She was mine. My family. I had to choke it down, the tears of relief and happiness that my line lived. At the same time I grieved for the loss of Amy, though I knew she had to be gone already, reading about it made it real.

  Leanne was eight generations from Amy, ten from me. It boggled my mind. No matter how old I get, the miracle of family never, ever, gets old.

  I finished going through her book, then grabbed the next one, and the one after that, before taking a break. I couldn’t tell her the truth, no more than I could tell my beloved Ginnie back in Seattle. When lunchtime came around we took the oak tree to the city and met up with Willa at a mom and pop lunch style place. I had soup and sandwiches and on a whim started returning all of Willa’s signals. I walked her back to the council, picked up my paperwork, told the ladies I’d be back later and went shopping.

  It took a few trips without a car, I needed to pick up all the little things you need in a new apartment, I also verified the truck would be in sometime in the morning, anytime after nine am. It was late afternoon and I had nothing to do, so I thought I’d sit in on the council for the rest of the day, wait for Willa and see if I could gain a clue into Silas and why he was the way he was.

  When I got to the council room and walked in, it was a madhouse. There were more people than yesterday, and a lot more vampires and everyone seemed on edge. I couldn’t figure out why until I noticed the man standing facing Silas with a scowl on his face. He was gorgeous, well built, but I scowled, I could see the aura of shadow around him, this man was a demon.

  What the hell was a demon doing in the council room? There were no warlocks here. I studied him closer and opened my perceptions more, and almost yelped. He was surrounded by ghosts. As an Angel I could see them, but I couldn’t communicate really, I couldn’t hear them. But I did see the bindings that led to this demon. Could he be part demon? He would have to be to be a necromancer as well. I almost laughed out loud. The last beings that would be welcome in a council meeting were a necromancer and a demon, and this guy was both.

  I took a seat and got ready to enjoy the show, I noticed a few people glare at me, and I realized I was smiling and totally relaxed sitting down, when no one else was. What can I say, I’m old, and this was something new, of course I was smiling. Most people though, didn’t notice my odd behavior, their wary eyes were locked on the young man. I managed to reign in my smile after a few seconds, but I imagine my eyes were dancing with amusement for all to see.

  Silas demanded, “What are you doing here? You are not welcome.”

  The young man frowned and said calmly, “Nor do I want to be, but we have a problem. One of your master vampires wants what isn’t his. He leaves me and mine alone, and we can go back to ignoring each other. I won’t allow you to plot to steal what isn’t yours.”

  “And what gives you the right to one of mine,” Silas demanded.

  I almost giggled, completely inappropriate, but Silas really rubs me the wrong way.

  The demon frowned, “I don’t have the right. But she is not yours. She was sent from another city, another necromancer to kill me. I had no choice, it was either bind her against her will, or kill her. I chose the lesser evil. I can’t release her binding without her having to go back to the other necromancer anyway. Even if you persuade me to do so, or kill me, you still won’t have her.”

  I perked up at that, a necromancer that believes binding someone against their will is evil, and a demon at that? He even truly believed he couldn’t break another necromancer’s binding, did he not have any training?

  “Lies, I demand you bring her here so we can question her to determine the truth.”

  I choked, the necromancer was telling the truth, and Silas knew it, his words of accusation
were lies. And Silas had no intention of determining anything, I wasn’t smiling anymore. I looked at Willa and she had a sick look on her face, as if afraid to speak out. The werewolf was scowling but also silent. What the fuck was going on here, it was like Seattle all over again.

  The necromancer sighed, “Do you want a war? For what purpose? I have ignored this council and respected it from a distance for ten years. You have broken the peace. And for what? What is this really about, why do you want her so badly? Your fellow council know exactly who is lying, what will you do if I bring her out of the safety of my home.”

  His shield was fascinating. His necromancer power shielded him, and below that he had shadow armor, hidden from all but me. I wondered if he would be able to see my shields, I wished he would look over but he was so intensely focused. Hmm, I think he’s actually keeping an eye on everyone around him through the ghosts he brought.

  Silas blew out a breath in frustration, “You have my word you and her will be safe here, we wish to question her.”

  The demon furrowed his brow, “I want your word we will be safe from the moment we leave my house, until the moment we return there. Being safe here helps, but not if I am jumped while leaving the building.”

  Silas nodded and then demon shook his head in negation, “No, your word on it.”

  Silas said grudgingly, “You have my word, I swear it is not a trick to attack you, you will arrive safely here and back to your home afterwards.”

  I was a bit confused, Silas had been planning something I was sure, apparently he has changed his tactics. Meh, I hate this politics and backstabbing crap, but I have to admit this demon necromancer is making it interesting.