by Becca Andre
His arms tightened around her. “I’m sorry. That had to be terrifying.”
“Yes.”
“It was brave of you to climb in here.”
“I thought I could handle it.”
“You are.”
“Only because you pulled me back.”
“No problem. You’re not so bad for a necromancer.”
She smiled. “And you’re pretty nice for a dead guy.”
“Thanks.” He rubbed a hand over her back. She suspected he meant the gesture to be soothing, but all it did was give her chills.
She cleared her throat. “That collar limits your strength, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, I can’t bust us out.”
“And I can’t remove the collar.” She reached out, still aware of his body beneath hers, and felt around the door. “No exposed hinges.”
“Neil will let us out eventually, but what he plans beyond that, I don’t know.”
“You speak like you know him.”
“He’s one of the necros who had me before.”
“Damn.” She dropped her head to his shoulder. “And I gave you back to him.”
“Don’t blame yourself. I let Doug bring us here.”
“Like you had any say. I would have overridden you.”
He sighed, but didn’t comment, his fingers playing with her hair.
“What did Neil mean about visiting the PIA?” she asked. Was it some kind of follow up on Kari?
“I’m not sure, but he used to work there.”
Elysia didn’t know what to make of that. At the time, it had seemed Neil had been taunting her, or James.
“How bad is it?” James asked.
It took her a moment to realize that he spoke of her magic. “It hurts, but…”
“What?” He continued to play with her hair, brushing it back from her face.
“The worst are the whispers.”
“The whispers?”
She braced herself to continue, determined to admit to him what she hadn’t been able to tell Doug. “I’m hearing voices.”
“Do you hear them now?” His tone was serious.
She stopped to listen and heard… nothing. “They’re gone.”
“Of course.” A smile entered his voice. “The dead usually flee from a grim.”
She stilled. “Ghosts. You think they’re ghosts.”
“I heard them when you first found me.”
“It’s not in my head,” she whispered.
“No.” He ran a hand over her hair again.
She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to his jaw, unable to stop the tears. She wasn’t going mad.
“The bastard has blocked your ability to bleed off the life within you. It’s bottled up, becoming a damned siren’s call to the dead.”
She lifted her head. “How do you know? Isn’t your power locked down, too?”
“It is, but my sensitivity remains. Trust me, I’ll go mad long before you do if we remain trapped in this drawer.”
She smiled then tipped her head up to kiss the underside of his jaw.
His breath shook as he exhaled. “I’m actually serious.”
She snorted. “Sabotaging yourself again?”
“As you can attest, the space is a bit limiting. Maybe if you weren’t wearing pants…”
“Have you been thinking about this?”
“From the moment you climbed in here. Though with my luck, Neil would show up just as things got interesting.”
She laughed, grateful the darkness hid her blush. “He’s a necromancer. I doubt it would shock him.”
“True.” James fell silent.
“Yes?”
“I’ve noticed that you’re a necromancer.”
She wondered if he could feel her heart pounding against his ribs. “No, I’ve never had sex in a mortuary drawer. I have a phobia about them, remember?”
“Oh right.”
“But I’m not opposed to the idea.”
“Twisted necromancer.”
“Yes.” She returned her cheek to his chest.
He cleared his throat. “So, in a mortuary drawer. With… a dead man.”
“With you.”
He fell silent, and she began to second-guess the banter. There was supposed to be a grain of truth in every joke. Perhaps he did think her twisted.
“Do you think our magical compatibility got the better of us again?” she asked.
“Maybe.”
She sighed. “Sorry.”
“I don’t think you’re at fault.”
“Perhaps not the only one.”
“Perhaps.”
Chapter
13
James came awake with a gasp. He called the hound, ready to rip the threat to shreds—and hit an iron wall. He lay panting in the dark, attempting to adjust to his deadened senses. What had awakened him?
He cursed under his breath. He hadn’t meant to go to sleep. When Neil returned, he wanted to be ready.
Elysia was oblivious to his anxiety. Her cheek rested on his shoulder, her warm breath slow and even against the side of his neck. She was quiet now, but she had been restless on and off all night. He didn’t know what demons plagued her. In their short acquaintance, he had come realize that her life hadn’t been easy. Then too, she might not be dreaming of her past. She might be dreaming of Doug’s betrayal, or the loss of her magic. Both things James felt he should have been able to prevent.
If he got this collar off, he vowed to take both necromancers from this world—especially Neil. That man needed a slow trip to hell.
Elysia muttered something, shifting against him. He ran a hand over her hair until she settled down. She slid her hand across his stomach until her arm encircled his waist, and her breathing grew slow and steady again.
It was amazing he had slept at all with her pressed so close. Her power hummed beneath her too warm skin, and he squirmed against the tray they lay on. She was right, of course. Their magical compatibility had gotten the better of them once more. There could be no other explanation. They barely knew each other. Hell, he had only just learned her last name.
Elysia Grace Mallory. Another point he had missed. She had said the founder of her line had been an alchemist. Ian Mallory, of course. Though if it was her female line that was cursed, he didn’t know why she still bore Ian’s last name. James decided that he hadn’t been such a bonehead for missing it after all.
Footfalls sounded outside his drawer. Damn it, he had let himself get distracted. “Elysia!” he whispered, squeezing her with the arm he had wrapped behind her back. “Wake up.”
She gasped, lifting her head from his shoulder. “What is it?”
“He’s coming. When he pulls out the drawer, roll off your side—and hold your breath.”
“Hold my—”
“He might gas us.”
“Got it.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze, shifting around until she lay on her side facing away from him.
The door snapped open and light poured into the drawer, blinding him. James sucked in a breath and held it, then heard Elysia do the same.
“Good morning,” Neil said, then threw out a hand. A fine green powder exploded in their faces. James suspected it was Addie’s Perfect Assistant Dust. The powder would give Neil the ability to command them, and they would have no choice but to obey.
James gripped the edge of the opening and pulled them out into the open air so fast that Neil had to stumble back to avoid being hit. Still holding his breath, James rolled off his side and dropped to the ground. Tucking his legs beneath him, he landed in a crouch.
A thump sounded on the far side of the drawer. Elysia grunted in pain, then immediately began to
cough. Neil had shoved her against the drawers, and the green powder still hung in the air around them.
James sprang to his feet, leaping over the drawer, his hands outstretched as he reached for Neil. He might not be able to rip out his soul, but he was more than capable of killing him with only his hands. Besides, James had promised him a slow trip to hell.
Neil threw up a hand, stumbling backward while the other hand reached for a vial along his ribs. “Stop him!” Neil shouted.
James’s hands closed around his throat.
“James, stop!” Elysia shouted. Her power slammed into him.
He doubled over with the force of it, releasing Neil. What happened? Could she use her power again?
Elysia covered her mouth with one hand, clearly shocked. Yes, the green powder had been Perfect Assistant Dust. Elysia would now obey any command Neil gave her.
Oddly, Neil looked just as stunned. He stared at Elysia with wide, white eyes. “You can still control him? How is that possible? Doug said you can’t even sense death.”
“I’m not stunted,” she said with heat. “I just got fucked over by an alchemist. Again.”
James frowned at Neil, then he understood. “You designed the potion you gave her around your own blood.” It wasn’t a form of necro Extinguishing Dust. Neil had really attempted to stunt her.
Neil ignored him, his attention still on Elysia. “You can’t sense your magic, but you can still use it?”
Elysia clenched her fists. “I’m as surprised as you are.” Her eyes narrowed. “Or not. You did tell me to stop him. And what was in that powder you threw at me?”
“I thought you would throw yourself in his path.” Neil waved off the rest of it. “A mystery for another day.” He tugged on his robes to straighten them before addressing Elysia once more. “You are not to give him a command unless I tell you to, and he is not allowed to move unless you command it.”
Elysia’s eyes widened as she absorbed the command. “James, don’t move unless I command it,” she whispered. The crease in her brow made it clear that she didn’t understand what was happening.
Fury filled James along with her power, but his anger wasn’t directed at her.
“Very good.” Neil smiled then turned toward the door. “I want you both next door. Make it happen, Elysia.”
A muscle flexed in her jaw, but she started walking. “James, come with me.”
Her power flowed into him once more, and he fell in step beside her. She glanced up, her white eyes confused and angry.
“The powder is called Perfect Assistant Dust,” James said.
Neil snorted from a few yards ahead of them. “Amelia really needs to come up with better names for her potions.”
James ignored him. “The powder leaves you open to suggestion, not unlike necromantic compulsion. Neil stole it from Addie.”
Elysia looked up, her expression puzzled.
“Addie’s my friend. She’s also a master alchemist. After I kill Neil, I’ll take you to her. She’ll fix you.”
Neil chuckled. “She’ll need my blood to do it.”
James glared at the man’s back. “I’ll take her a sample.”
Neil gave him a flat stare over his shoulder. “We’ll see, grim.” He pushed open the door to the lab and disappeared inside, completely confident they would follow.
James sighed. His confidence was warranted.
Elysia’s hand slipped into his, and James glanced down.
“I hope you can get that sample.” Cool anger burned in her eyes. Hand in hand, they walked into the lab. The door thumped closed behind them, and James skidded to a halt. Neil wasn’t the only person in the room.
“Damn, you move fast, little brother.” Brian Huntsman, the youngest of his three older brothers, rose from a crouch in the center of the room. Neil’s visit to the PIA made sense now. That’s where James’s brothers were imprisoned. Had Neil freed George and Henry, too?
“You look surprised to see me,” Brian said. He held an empty blood vial, and at his feet, he had drawn a symbol James found all too familiar.
“What are you doing?” James asked, his voice not much more than a whisper. Blood had been smeared in a wide circle around Brian’s feet. Lit candles flickered at regular intervals beside the blood. A summoning circle like the one he and Rowan had encountered at that haunted crematorium.
“The necromancer freed me from that PIA hellhole you had us throw in.” Brian glared at him. “He promised to give me powers like yours.”
“In exchange for?”
“A blood oath—to serve him. I gave it willingly.” Brian grinned.
“You believed him?”
“Elysia,” Neil cut in. “Remove James’s collar and command him to change.” Neil offered her a key.
She took the key, then turned to face James, her brow wrinkled.
“Move away before you tell me to change,” he warned her.
She reached up to grip the collar and slipped the key inside. The lock snapped open, and a moment later, the collar slid from his neck.
The world came alive around him, and James drew a deep breath.
Elysia stepped back. “Change.”
James didn’t mind this command. He was already changing. He dropped to all fours and lifted his lips to give Neil a snarl. Unfortunately, that was all he could do. Elysia’s earlier command that he do nothing unless she ordered it still held him in check.
Neil smiled, then turned to offer Brian another vial. “Drink this, then recite the incantation.”
Brian nodded and pulled the cap from the vial. “Will I be able to do that?” He jerked his chin toward James.
“That is my hope.”
Brian grinned and downed the potion. He coughed to clear his throat. “Better than the shit Addie gave us.”
“I’d imagine so.” Neil moved over to stand beside Elysia. He turned to face Brian and crossed his arms, the movement exposing his tattoos. “Go ahead.”
Brian gave James a triumphant grin, then began to speak. The words sounded like mangled Latin. What was Neil up to?
Elysia twined her fingers in James’s fur, her grip growing tighter the more Brian spoke.
Brian bent and touched his fingers to the circle drawn in blood. “Ancestor, hear me.” He lifted his bloody fingers to his mouth and smeared his lips, finishing with a lick. His hazel eyes took on a faint green glow as his body absorbed the power of James’s blood. “I call you from the void, Gavin Huntsman.”
James pricked his ears forward, a growl bubbling up when Gavin appeared within the circle with Brian.
Elysia gasped.
Nice job, necromancer. Gavin snarled the words. He stepped up behind Brian and wrapped both arms around him. The circle was technically a chunk of the dead realm superimposed in the mortal plane. The alignment gave Gavin’s spirit form a physical manifestation.
“What are you doing?” Brian asked at the same time Neil leaned over to mumble in Elysia’s ear.
She gave a cry and pressed both hands to her mouth.
Neil gripped her wrists and pulled her hands down. “Say it.”
“James,” she whispered, choking on a sob. “Rip out your brother’s soul.”
James yelped as her power slammed into him. He could no more ignore the command than he could ignore the need to draw his next breath.
Brian’s eyes went wide, and Gavin pulled back his lips in a ghastly impersonation of a smile.
James sprang forward.
Chapter
14
Elysia opened her mouth to command James to stop, but the sound died in her throat, unable to escape. She lunged after him, desperate to stop him.
Neil caught her by the upper arm, jerking her back to his side. “Don’t interfere.”
<
br /> She could do nothing but watch as James leapt into the air, clearing the bloody circle drawn on the floor. As had happened at the convenience store, James didn’t collide with his intended target; he vanished into him. But this time was different. The monster vanished as well, as James’s brother slumped to the floor.
“Command James to heel,” Neil said, his grip on her arm so tight it hurt. Was he afraid now that James was no longer in sight?
“James, heel,” she whispered, not sure how much good it would do.
Toenails clicked on the tile, and he was suddenly beside her. He staggered, his shoulder bumping her hip before he collapsed at her feet.
Neil released her, and she dropped to her knees beside James. She ran her hands over the fur of his back, and mentally pleaded for his forgiveness.
James’s brother lay unmoving in the circle. Without her magic, Elysia wasn’t sure if he was dead. But James’s reaction made it clear that he was.
Neil picked up one of the flickering candles and tipped it on its side until the flame touched the circle of blood. A whoosh, and the circle ignited in a flash of green flame. Before Elysia could do more than gasp, the flames were gone.
“Did it work?” Neil remained in his crouch on the circle’s perimeter.
James’s brother turned his head, and Elysia’s mouth dropped open.
“The blood is too thin,” he rasped. His eyes flickered open, revealing irises of glowing red.
Elysia pressed a hand to her mouth. The monster had had glowing red eyes.
“Hang on. I have a solution.” Neil rose to his feet, turning toward Elysia. “Command James to change and take his brother next door. I want him on one table, his brother on the other. Make it happen, Elysia.”
The words were out of her mouth before Elysia could even wonder what Neil was up to. This must be what it felt like to James when a necro took control of him. God, it was such a violation. If she got him out of this, she would never give him a command again.
James obeyed without even glancing in her direction. Tears rolled down her cheeks as he gathered his brother in his arms and left the room.
