Tara had taken Zeke’s spot. Zeke had taken Hades’ so he could keep Rory above the waterline.
Rory growled.
“Daddy…” Tara’s voice cracked.
Rory stopped snarling.
Tara grabbed the glass container and dipped it into the water. She slowly poured it over Rory’s soaked copper curls. “It’s me.”
Tears fell down her face as she collected more water. Everyone held their breath.
She poured water over his head again. “I’m still mad, but… I get it. I get why…”
Still nothing.
Tears fell down her face as she continued talking to Rory. Isaac was the first to reach out and set his hand on Tara’s shoulder. Ethan was the second, a comforting hand on the knee. Asher was the third. He simply held her hand, giving silent support. Zeke continued to hold Rory, his own eyes overfilling as time went on and Rory didn’t improve.
And Miles… I looked around the small bathroom. Where was Miles?
Miles
I pulled the car over and shut it off. Everything inside me was silent and still. I should be back in that bathroom. There was nothing I could do there. But here… Another black SUV pulled up beside mine.
I didn’t even hesitate. I got out and went into the other car’s back seat.
My father was there. And not alone.
Three others were there, in suits.
“Where are they?” I demanded. My voice glacial.
“I have an address,” Father stated. “But I’d like you to stay out of it.”
I turned to him. “Give it to me.”
“What do you plan to do?” he asked.
“Kill them all.”
He scowled. “That’s quite a change.”
Cold rage boiled through me. “They tried to make a man who has been like a father to me, try to kill the woman I love.” I met his gaze again. “And he still might die. What would you do?”
He nodded once in understanding, though appearing sad at the same time. “The same.”
It didn’t deter me. I was done watching the people I loved suffer, especially when I could do something about it.
“Trust me with this,” Father said. “Now, go back there.”
Still seething, I nodded and got out of the car. I met my father’s sad gaze one more time before closing the door.
The black SUV pulled out and onto the road.
Lexie
Rory began to convulse. It was small at first, just a jerk. Then the second one that slammed his feet into the bottom of the tub.
“Dad…” Tara whispered as Rory began to seize. His entire body stiffened and shook.
“Rory, come back, man,” Zeke rasped as he kept Rory from slamming against the iron tub.
Rory jerked even more, his lips tinted blue.
“Daddy!” Tara cried out as she held his face above water. Tears rolled down her face. “Please, please stay… please… I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it! Please!” Tara continued to plead through the tears and convulsions while clinging to Rory. Eventually, Rory’s color got better. The more Tara talked, the more she cried, the better his color.
By the time Uma arrived, his breathing had evened out. Uma moved through the crowded bathroom and leaned over Zeke’s shoulder to check on him.
“The compulsion’s gone,” she announced. “Boys, could you get him dry and into bed?”
The guys agreed while Uma gently detached Tara from Rory and brought her away.
“He’s going to be alright,” Uma assured us in a warm voice.
Tara stepped forward and met my eyes. For the first time, I saw my cousin as she was. Terrified, lost, but at the same time… strong. She had her own armor, she had her own problems. But no matter how different, how opposite we were, tears rolled down both of our faces. For Rory. I don’t know who reached for whom, and it didn’t matter.
I hugged her tight as the emotions I’d been holding back crashed over me. Us. She shook against me as we cried. I buried my face in her shoulder as she did mine and broke. We broke down together standing in Rory’s bathroom, surrounded by family.
* * *
Hades sat on one side of the armchair while the guys surrounded and towered over him. His blue eyes stayed on me, as if he didn’t see the others. It would be hard not to. They flanked me and kept me at the farthest point of the circle.
“You’re Hades?” Isaac asked for the third time.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“So, you’re a shifter?” Asher asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“No.” His voice was flat but matter of fact.
“What are you, then?” Miles demanded.
“Familiar.”
The guys bombarded him with questions. While he answered, he held my gaze. Horror grew inside me as I ran over our past. Bathing while Hades watched me when he was a puppy. Changing in front of Hades, Hades sleeping on my chest. Oh God. The blood drained from my face. Masturbating with him in the room! “Oh God.” My face caught fire as I stepped back away from them. The growing horror doubling as I remembered Hades at the door when I had sex with Isaac! Phone sex with Ethan! “Oh my God.” I turned away and covered my face, humiliation crashing through me. I thought I was alone!
Unfamiliar hands wrapped around my wrists and pulled them from my face. “Stellina…”
I looked up at Hades.
“How the hell did you get over there so fast?” Isaac snapped as everyone spun to face us.
Hades ignored him, he simply waited for something from me.
“I’ve been naked in the room with you!” I barked, jerking away from him and backing up into the guys. An arm went around my waist, while Zeke and Asher moved between me and Hades.
His hands went up, warning them off. His eyes stayed on mine. “So?”
“I didn’t know you were human!” I snapped.
“I’m not human.” He sighed, his arms dropping. “You being naked means nothing to me.”
I scowled at him.
Zeke and Asher both took a step toward him, both looking for blood. I grabbed their arms and pulled back on them. They stopped, but mostly because they listened to me. “It means something to me!”
Asher jerked his head away and rubbed his ear, cringing. I made a mental note to use a quieter voice.
“If you can shift, why didn’t you help Lexie against Ordin?” Ethan demanded, his voice growing deeper as he stepped between me and Hades.
My stomach knotted. If he could have…
“I was a pup,” Hades reminded us. “Only a few months old. I couldn’t have helped any more than a three-month-old human could have.”
“You could be lying,” Zeke bit out.
Hades’ eyes flashed. He turned to Zeke, murder in his eyes. “She is my charge. I failed her before I was even able to shift.” He stepped forward and went chest to chest with Zeke. “My greatest regret is that I wasn’t able to protect her then. I will never let her down again.”
The tension in the room doubled.
I’d had enough. “Knock it off! If anyone gets to be pissy, it’s me!”
The guys turned, their anger leashed for the moment.
I shook my head, not knowing what to say. “How… how did Miles find you?”
The murder left Hades’ face as he turned to me. “He didn’t. They found you.”
“They?” I was getting tired of these short answers.
“Reapers.” That single word plunged the room into silence.
“Reapers?” I asked, my throat going dry. “A reaper knows about me?”
He smiled a gentle, Hades-like grin. “Know about you? They all know about you, and what’s happening in Spring Mountain. One is even watching you closely.”
I shook my head. “Why?”
His head tilted to the side in a weird dog-like move. “The events here are world-altering. They’re the only truly neutral primal beings left in the world. Angels want to burn everything. Demons want to corrupt. Reapers simply want t
o do what they’re supposed to and keep the world going.”
“Who’s watching her?” Zeke demanded.
I reached up and wrapped my hand around his without thinking. He took a deep breath and squeezed my hand gently.
Hades met my gaze. “Your many times great-grandmother.”
My heart stopped. “Come again?”
“The reaper that started your line of necromancers,” he said. “She’s been keeping close watch.”
“How close?” It just popped out.
“She helped wake Ethan up in New Orleans,” he announced.
Oh God. The hand… the hair I thought was mine. “Shit…”
Hands went to my shoulders as Isaac gently moved me to the couch to sit. Everyone relaxed a little more. Hades moved back to his chair and sat slowly.
“She was in New Orleans?” I asked, slowly.
He nodded as the others sat down around me.
“The blur…” I muttered. “That was her?”
“Couldn’t be, that was a man.” Miles turned Hades and eyed him. “That was you?”
“Yes.”
My head snapped up, my eyes focusing on him. “You? You pulled me off the ladder.”
He nodded. “And cleared the path for the others to get to you.”
“He killed people, Lexie.” Zeke made it clear for me.
“How many?” I asked.
“Twenty-seven in New Orleans,” Hades answered without an issue.
My eyebrows shot up, my stomach rolled.
“He helped us get to you,” Asher reminded me.
I nodded absently. He still killed people.
“You said in New Orleans.” Miles pushed his glasses up his nose as his eyes narrowed. “Have you killed anyone here?”
Hades met my gaze. “Yes.”
My jaw dropped. “To protect me?”
He nodded again.
“Who?” I rasped.
“The DA, the shapeshifter you injured. Anyone who might be a physical threat to you.”
“You killed people. For me?” I asked, dreading the answer.
His eyes held mine. “Yes.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed silent. That rarely went wrong for me.
“So, you’re supposed to protect her?” Isaac asked just to be clear.
Hades nodded. “From anyone.”
Isaac straightened.
I met Hades’ gaze. “In Boulder, you wouldn’t leave Isaac.”
He didn’t explain.
So, I pushed. “Why?”
Hades’ jaw clenched and unclenched before he answered. “Because he’s your family. I kept him tethered to this world and gave him what protection I could.”
“What does that mean?” Isaac asked, stepping toward him.
Hades’ gaze went to Isaac. “It means, if the demon truly began to eat your soul, I would have killed you.”
My jaw dropped. “You would have killed him?”
“It would have set him free to move on,” Hades said, as if that explained everything.
Isaac turned to me. “He would have saved my soul, Red.”
I looked up at him, still stunned. I shook my head. This was just too much right now. I got to my feet and walked away from them to go upstairs.
I sat on my bed and buried my face in my hands and took slow, deep breaths. My dog was a familiar. Rory was compelled to kill me. And Dylan was behind the Veil. I took deep, slow breaths as I focused on not losing my shit.
The smell of musky dog reached me. I lifted my head to find Hades the dog at my door. He walked in and sat between my knees, looking up at me as he always had. But now I knew. I knew what that intelligence really was.
I shook my head as tears filled my eyes. It was all just too much today. “You’re not sleeping in my bed anymore.”
Epilogue
I stepped out back with Uma with the small orange crystal in my hand. “Do we really have to do this now?”
“Yes.” Uma turned on me. “Rory is awake and Tara is in with him, talking things out. You’ve been raising the dead in your sleep. You have to raise something or it’ll get worse.”
I cursed under my breath as I looked around the yard. “I don’t see any squirrels around.”
“That’s too public anyway.” Uma started toward the dock. “You’re going to raise fish.”
“Fish?” I followed her to the very end of the dock. The lake was cold. Fall came hard and fast here in the mountains. By Halloween, the lake would be iced over.
“Yes, they’re small and out of sight. It’s the perfect way to raise in public.” Uma looked down at the water.
I sat at the edge. “Alright, so I’m raising a fish?”
“Not one.” She looked down at me. “As many as you can.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“You need to know what you can do and how you’ll react to it.” She gestured at the water. “You’re emotional… it’s a good time to try.”
I sighed. “With or without the stone?”
“With, otherwise you’ll be out for the rest of the day.” She stepped back several feet behind me.
I held the stone in my palm and closed my eyes. My barriers dropped.
My energy sank into the wood of the dock. Then into the water, spreading faster than I’d ever felt before. The wind ran over the water and brushed through me. Each blade of grass danced. The small bugs tickled, as if the grass were my skin. For one single moment, I was connected with everything.
“Now, when you’re ready, sink to the bottom and find the dead,” Uma said in a soothing, calm voice.
I took a deep breath and sank. My energy poured through everything it touched. The stone grew warm in my hand as its energy gathered inside of me, then back out to take my touch further.
The little bones that lay on the floor of the lake were my bones. Scattered and broken. Spread so far. Some deep in the muck, some fresh and on top. My stomach rolled. I was never swimming here again.
“Got them,” I whispered, keeping my eyes closed.
“Now, raise them.”
The energy built with my pulse. That’s when something strange happened. It was like I was watching myself sitting on the dock with my eyes closed from under the water. All emotion gone, all anger, everything, leaving me. Simply, me. “Rise.” My voice was hard and deeper than usual. Demanding, not asking.
Water flicked, disrupting the surface. I opened my eyes as I rushed back into my body. A fish tail splashed water. Then another. And another. Soon enough, the entire lake was filled with waves from fish splashing. Skeletal snakes slithered out from the bushes toward the dock while the lake seemed to boil. Uma moved to my side as I watched it continue.
The lake seemed to be overflowing with fish for exactly eight minutes. When it ended, the energy rushed back through me and into the stone. The high was… terrifying. It shut down my mind and made everything alright. I seemed to crave it for a heartbeat. Then I was reminding myself why that was bad and that I didn’t want it.
When I had my head back on straight, I truly understood why witches feared necromancers. I was a granddaughter of Death and Lilith, the first witch. Maybe it was time to remind Jadis of that.
“How many?” Uma asked, her voice a rasp.
“Three hundred and eighteen,” I whispered. I had felt them all in my head while they were animated.
“My God…”
Miles
It was tense in Rory’s living room. I had refused to explain where I had gone, and Angel wasn’t taking it well. Well, that and Hades was back in his natural dog form and lying across her lap.
“This can’t happen again,” Lexie decided, her eyes unfocused, staring at the coffee table.
“I had warned you,” Uma reminded us.
Lexie nodded. “I need to move out.”
“You can take Sylvie’s room,” Zeke offered immediately.
I bristled. “She has a room at my house already.”
“That room’s taken,” Z
eke countered.
“Not anymore.” I turned back to Lexie. “I sent Lucy to a hotel.”
“All of us might have to move in with Miles,” Ethan announced. “We’re putting everyone in danger by living with them.”
“Moving out won’t be enough.” Uma drew everyone’s attention. “We need to get all your loved ones out of reach of their people.”
Lexie nodded, her eyes tired. “That means Tara, Rory and Susan.”
“Sylvie’s safe,” Zeke chimed.
“Ma,” The twins said in unison.
“Jessica,” Asher added.
“We’ll send them on a trip. A vacation,” I offered. “All expenses paid.”
“How’s your mom going to handle it?” Lexie asked the twins.
The twins shrugged. “She’ll manage.”
It was moot. If Father managed to do what I asked, there was no point to this conversation.
There was a knock at the door.
Since Lexie wasn’t paying attention and Rory was in his room, I answered. It was Liam.
I stepped outside and closed the door, thankful that no one was paying much attention. “What are you doing here?”
Liam’s face was a hard mask. “We did as you asked. The house suddenly developed a gas leak. Terrible accident. But there was a complication.”
“What complication?” I demanded. Did they get Jadis or not?
“Your father insisted on being right there with us, getting his hands dirty. Unfortunately, we were caught going in. Big battle. Your father,” Liam took a breath. “Your father’s dead. He’ll be found in the rubble by morning.”
I scoffed. “As if I’m going to believe that?”
His eyes grew wider. “I felt for a pulse on him myself.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe anything from him or about him anymore. I can’t.” I started to go back inside.
He stopped me. “I’m not joking, man. He’s dead. Gut sliced open. We work for you now.”
That stopped me. I turned back to them. “You work for me now? ’Cause he’s dead? Or because he told you to?”
When the Dead Come Home Page 28
