by Becca Andre
“What?” Xander asked.
“Is there anything left of the man you were?”
Xander gave Doug a puzzled look. “What are you talking about, my son?”
“Or have I been the sacrificial lamb from day one?”
“Ah. I understand.” He gave Doug a fond smile, then a sad shake of his head. “You’ve known the price we must pay to keep the Family strong. I’ve been honest with you from the beginning.”
Doug fisted his hands. “Neil gave me a potion to make me sterile.”
“That was wrong of him, but the end result would have been the same, I’m afraid. He has a blood gift, and he is no longer stunted.”
James watched the exchange, grateful for the hellhound’s indifference.
“And that makes everything right?” Doug asked. “All wrongs are forgiven as long as you’re powerful?”
“It was underhanded, I’ll grant you, but I would never have considered him otherwise. Ever since that alchemist killed his brother, I’ve never been a fan of the discipline. Though I am beginning to see the benefit of having one on our side. New Magic will no longer have that advantage.”
Addie. Xander was talking about Addie. James flexed his paws and dug his claws into the glossy hardwood.
“Stop that.” Xander’s power slapped him. “You will not mar the Deacon’s private property. Perhaps he needs to build you a kennel.”
“Father, please don’t command what belongs to me.”
Xander chuckled. “Well done, my son. You have given him both the grim and the Mallory girl. I know he’s pleased.”
“But not pleased enough for me to avoid being Made.”
“Of course not,” Xander frowned. “We will be given immortality, you and I. And with Neil’s Elixir, we can remain in the public eye.”
Doug considered his father for a long moment. “I’m sorry, father. But since I learned of our lot in life, it has always been my intention to free you, not serve a long-dead mad man.”
“Douglas!” Xander’s faded blue eyes widened, his expression scandalized.
“I see only one way to save you,” Doug said. “James?”
James felt the brush of Doug’s magic and knew what was coming. He tensed, ready to spring. He wouldn’t begrudge Doug this command. He had wanted to rip out Xander’s soul for a long time.
“What are you doing?” Xander asked.
“Being Made is not a reward. You’ve served that monster long enough.”
Xander closed his eyes, and James wanted to laugh. What a coward.
Suddenly, a portal opened behind them, and James spun to face the new threat.
“Heel, dog.” Alexander’s power slammed into him, making the commands Doug and Xander had given him feel like suggestions.
Alexander smiled as James stumbled to a stop. Xander had summoned help.
“Thank you for coming, Deacon,” Xander said. “As I’ve told you, my son is stronger than I am.”
“But still a disappointment,” Alexander said.
“Back off.” Doug’s eyes turned white.
Alexander frowned. “What have you done?”
“I know an alchemist, too.” Doug’s cheeks dimpled. “Now—”
Alexander lunged forward without warning, the move taking even James by surprise. He didn’t see the dagger until Alexander jerked it aloft.
James shifted human and leapt after Alexander, but even as he did, he knew he was too late. The heavy blade slammed into the top of Doug’s shoulder, crunching through his collarbone before it moved downward toward his heart.
James caught Alexander before he could twist the blade and slung him across the hall. He collided with the wall, the impact hard enough to kill an average man. Of course, Alexander climbed to his feet immediately.
Doug stumbled back a step, his back thumping against one of the sliding doors to the visitation parlor with a hollow sound, then he slid to the floor.
James took a step toward him.
“Stop.” Alexander’s power slammed into him again. “You will not move until I command it.” Alexander’s white eyes met his. He tugged at his clothes, clearly more annoyed about that than any physical problem.
“Deacon, please.” Xander knelt beside Doug. “You promised to Make him.”
Alexander blew out a breath in exasperation. “He isn’t worthy.”
“He’s young and impulsive.”
“He is of an age where that should no longer be true.”
“Will you do it for me?” Xander asked. “Have I not always been faithful? I have kept the world aware of your name, even with this new magical order.”
Another long suffering sigh followed. “Very well.” He turned to James. “Take him downstairs and strap him to one of the mortuary tables. Xander will show you.”
James walked toward Doug.
“He is powerful, Xander. Watch yourself.”
James ignored the conversation and dropped to a knee beside Doug.
“Nice work…on the potion,” Doug whispered. Blood already stained his lips.
“Thanks,” James muttered, slipping his arms beneath him. He took no pleasure from his first success. The potion might have worked, but he had failed.
He lifted Doug from the floor, his failure given voice when Doug screamed.
Chapter 15
A muffled scream echoed from somewhere above them. Elysia lifted her head, and even Neil paused in his lab work. It sounded like a man, but who else was in the building?
“What was that?” she asked.
“Who can say?” Neil was adding one liquid to another, drop by drop, swirling the flask after each addition. The clear liquid would turn a violent pink, only to return to clear each time he swirled. Neil had returned to the lab a short while ago, but he had remained tight-lipped about whatever he and Alexander might be up to.
As if the thought of him had summoned him, Alexander stepped through the doorway. “Dunstan, come. I will teach you to Make.”
The muffled scream took on a more ominous meaning.
“Now?” Neil asked, clearly annoyed by the interruption.
“Yes, and quickly.” Alexander sounded equally put out. “I got a little overzealous correcting your cousin. The opportunity is…dying fast.”
“Doug?” she asked. “You said you wouldn’t hurt him.”
Alexander turned his annoyed look on her. “No, I didn’t.” He gave Neil a last frown, then headed for the door. “Come.”
Neil hurried after him. “What if I fail?”
“Your uncle will be disappointed.”
The two men disappeared into the hall, leaving Elysia to stare at the empty doorway. That lasted all of two seconds, then she pulled against her bindings. There was no more give to them than there had been. She could see only one way to save Doug.
“James!”
She held her breath, waiting…and waiting. After a solid minute, her heart was pounding in her ears so hard that she could hear nothing else. There was only one reason James wouldn’t come: Alexander. She had sent James after Doug, and Alexander apparently had Doug. God, she had sent James right into a trap. And now that Alexander had James, there was no reason for him to keep Doug alive.
Blinking her eyes, she tried to keep the tears at bay. What could she do? She was sitting in the basement of a funeral home, but she felt no death. Her power hadn’t returned. She couldn’t even summon a zombie to her aid.
“Think, Ely, think,” she whispered.
First, she had to get out of this chair. If she rocked it from side to side, and moved it closer to a counter, maybe she could find something sharp to cut the ties. She would have to hold whatever it was in her teeth until—
“My teeth!” She wanted to smack her forehead. She
could chew through the cable ties. Of course, Neil had been in the room with her most of the time, so it wasn’t like she could have used this idea until now.
She scooted her butt to one side of the chair and leaned over, grateful her wrists were the only things bound and that the chair was a large one. It still took a lot of twisting to get her mouth to her wrist. Her teeth barely made contact with the plastic, but it was enough.
She wasn’t watching a clock, but it seemed to take forever to chew through the first cable tie. The second tie went much more quickly because she could lean in closer and use her molars. The increased pressure made short work of the task, and she was free.
Springing to her feet, she turned in a quick circle, searching for something, anything to use as a weapon. Her gaze settled on the syringe of her blood still lying on the counter. With the constant interruptions, Neil hadn’t had a chance to use it, or even remove the collection tube from the needle assembly.
She picked up the syringe, an idea forming. It was her blood. Her active power might be out, but she could still use her blood gift. She remembered forcing the lich to take her blood, then following her power inside him to unfetter his soul. What if she could do the same to Alexander?
But that still left Neil. As an alchemist, he was just as big a threat as Alexander. He was also alive and outside her control even if she had her active power. What she needed was a potion to use on him. She looked over the counter where he had been working. No potion vials, but she did see a squirt bottle labeled 4N HCl. She had never taken any chemistry classes, but she had spent enough time in Addie’s lab that she was beginning to learn some of the abbreviations. HCl stood for hydrochloric acid. And any acid in a squirt bottle sounded promising.
Snatching up the bottle, she ran for the door.
She remembered the hallway from her arrival here. The door to the lab was at one end, near a freight elevator. The hall stretched before her, the cinder-block wall broken up by five other doors.
Walking quickly, but softly, she hurried along the hall, listening for voices. She found them four doors down. It helped that the door stood open.
James was inside. He didn’t speak, but she didn’t need him to. This close, she sensed the bond.
She crept along the wall and stopped just short of the door, keeping out of sight while she listened. It would be best to get a feel for where everyone stood within the room. She would go for Neil first. Hopefully, the need to keep James contained would prevent Alexander from using his blood gift on her and he’d just try to subdue her physically. Then she would be able to jab him with the needle and inject her blood. If she got that far. It was risky as hell, but she was out of options.
“Do you feel it now?” Alexander asked.
“His life, fading?” Neil asked. He sounded perplexed.
Elysia closed her eyes, trying to block out what the words meant and focus on where the voices were coming from within the room. She gripped the squirt bottle in her right hand, the syringe in her left.
“No, his growing death,” Alexander said. “You are a necromancer. Certainly, you know that necro means death.”
“Spare me the condescension,” Neil said. “You know I’ve never felt any of this before.”
“Perhaps the bone saw isn’t a bad idea,” Alexander said. “A back-up plan.” In other words, take out Doug’s heart if Neil failed to master his blood gift.
Elysia tensed and a few drops of acid dripped from the bottle when she squeezed it too hard. Maybe she couldn’t block out the words.
“Tether his soul,” Alexander said. Yes, he was on the right. “Hold him.”
Elysia flashed back to a time when Ian had said the same to her, when they had worked to keep Addie from dying. Oh God, Doug was that close?
“Like this?” Neil asked. He was on the left. She was sure of it.
Gripping the bottle, Elysia stepped through the door and took three rapid strides into the room, toward Neil. She was aware of Doug on the table. There was so much blood, and a heavy-bladed knife protruded from his chest, but she didn’t truly look. She couldn’t let herself be distracted.
She lifted her arm, aiming the bottle as Neil turned to face her, surprise on his features. He opened his mouth as if to question her, and she squeezed.
A stream of clear liquid burst from the spout. It looked so innocuous. What if it was mislabeled? Maybe it was only water.
The liquid hit Neil in the face, the stream moving higher as she lifted her arm and squeezed harder. He stumbled aside, raising a hand to protect his face, though it was already too late.
The stream lost pressure as the bottle collapsed beneath her grip. She had to relax her grip and let the bottle return to its regular shape before she could squeeze it again.
“Elysia!” James shouted. “Behind—”
Arms came around her from behind before James could finish his warning. Alexander stood frowning at her, a few feet from James. Who else was in the room?
The arms tightened and Elysia grunted.
“Xander, don’t kill her,” Alexander said, answering her question.
“Douglas is fading,” Xander said, his anxious voice in her ear. “I feel it now.”
Elysia realized that she did, too. Her power must be returning, but it brought her no joy when the first death she sensed was Doug’s. She allowed her gaze to fall on him. His chest still rose and fell, but the knife had dug a track from his shoulder to his sternum, shattering any bones in its path. She knew only someone with the strength of the dead could do damage like that with such a weapon. Alexander had indeed gotten overzealous in his correction of Doug.
She lifted her eyes to James’s, catching the green glow. He was watching Doug’s soul. At least he wasn’t staring up in the air above the body as he had been with Addie.
Neil cried out, staggering to the counter and fumbling for the sink. Apparently, it was acid in the squirt bottle.
The squirt bottle that was still in her hand.
Xander’s arms encircled her torso, above her elbows and holding her upper arms against her body. But her lower arms were still free.
While everyone was momentarily distracted by Neil’s attempt to turn on the sink, she turned the bottle in her hand, aiming the nozzle at herself. Curling her arm, she brought the bottle up, leaning her head to the side as much as Xander’s grip would allow. Then she squeezed.
Acid shot from the nozzle, narrowly missing her cheek. Was Xander in the line of fire? Would he—
“Ah!” Xander released her so quickly, she stumbled forward. The acid stream fell across the shoulder of her robe, but the fabric was thick. It didn’t hit her skin.
“She got me!” Xander cried.
Alexander came at her, and she quickly rotated the bottle in her hand, lifting her arm. Acid wouldn’t hurt him, but it should distract him and keep his attention on her right hand rather than her left.
He captured her right wrist as a weak spray of acid splashed across his upper arm, wetting his sweater. He squeezed, and the bones ground against each other. This time, she cried out.
“Let her go!” James shouted, though he hadn’t moved. No doubt, Alexander had given him a command to keep him stationary.
The squirt bottle fell from her hand, thumping softly against the floor.
“It’s burning!” Xander cried.
“It’s acid,” she said.
With a cry, Xander turned and ran from the room.
“What a wimp.” She looked up at Alexander. “Is that why you’re killing Doug? Is he too strong for you to hold?” She held his gaze, rotating the syringe in her left hand.
Alexander’s mouth curled into a smile, dimpling his cheeks. Which looked strange since the light in his eyes made it clear that it wasn’t a friendly smile.
“There are none t
hat can resist me.”
“I’m not talking about your blood gift. I’m talking about a weak mind, easy to bend. That’s why Xander has been your puppet for decades. That and the fact that he’s as twisted as you.” She positioned her thumb over the plunger.
“Is that what you think? What about you? Shall I make you dance a jig to prove a point?” His blue eyes began to fade.
She sensed his presence within her. Out of time, she brought her left hand up and jabbed the needle at his chest.
He let go of her right wrist, and moving more quickly than she expected, smacked the top of her left hand. It wasn’t her dominant hand, and the syringe flew free. It rotated through the air before clattering to the ground and rolling beneath the autopsy table.
“What was that pitiful weapon?”
“My blood,” she said between clenched teeth. “With it, I could unfetter your soul.”
“You could do so much more than that.” His eyes went white, and suddenly, she couldn’t move or speak. Shit! What about James? Didn’t he need to keep active control of him?
“Maybe you were right,” Alexander continued. “Perhaps it isn’t my strength, but your weakness of mind that allows me to possess you. You, a soul reaper. The very pinnacle of necromantic strength.”
She would have told him what she thought of his analysis if she could move.
“Fortunately for you, I do not lack strength of mind or purpose. Otherwise, I would have Made you long before now.”
He tightened his grip on her wrist, and pain shot up her arm as the bones ground together again. She whimpered.
“Elysia!” James called.
The bond tightened and for an instant, she was aware of him through the pain. She turned her face toward him, to see if he had moved closer. He hadn’t.
Alexander grunted, and she looked up to see a frown on his handsome features. She hadn’t noticed how blue his eyes had become until they went white once more.
Then it occurred to her that she had turned her head when she hadn’t been able to move a muscle before. As she couldn’t move now.