He seized my hand, holding it over Brandon’s face. He faced Kara with his whole body to make his message clear. “You have no choice. If you fail . . . well, the zombies haven’t eaten yet.”
One of the zombies licked his bloody lips.
I turned away from the grotesque sight, and Cael cut my upturned palm with a knife. The blood dripped on Brandon’s face. I hadn’t seen my grandmother’s face when she died. Had it been as peaceful as Brandon’s or as terrified as Mom’s?
My power seeped out of me into his corpse, taking the warmth of my body with it. Cael slit his palm. I watched his blood mingle with mine on Brandon’s face. I didn’t know why he offered his blood, but knew it had to be bad.
The same sharp pain that seared me when I’d raised Adam hit me again, and I doubled over, my stomach wrenching, twisting. The chains dug painfully into my waist.
Brandon stirred.
“How do you think our werewolf priest will fare when he wakes to discover his god has forsaken him?” Cael’s face contorted in a hideous smile, then tightened before he dropped to the floor, heaving.
Rage clouded my vision. Brandon didn’t deserve this. The pain radiated through my body. I took sharp, short breaths to keep from passing out or vomiting from the dizziness that rocked me. Brandon began transforming into a wolf beside me. I jerked my eyes away.
Cael rose from his knees, sweat trickling down the side of his face. He closed his bleeding hand.
I caught movement in the corner of my eye, and my body stiffened at the sight of a huge pitch-black wolf emerging from behind the wall of the pin deck accompanied by two men—one tall and blond, the other, shorter with brown hair. Neither looked pleased.
The wolf had to be a werewolf, but the two men? Were they helping Cael?
More zombies scrabbled from the dark recesses of the bowling alley, like roaches scattering out of kitchen corners, targeting the wolf and the two men. Definitely not on Cael’s side, but would they help us?
Fully transformed, Brandon’s wolf, resplendent in his thick gray coat, lunged for the black wolf. Judging by the guttural growl coming from the taller of the two men, they were werewolves too. They fended off the zombies, tearing off limbs, but the things kept jumping back up, attacking with only one arm or no head. I’d laugh if the whole scene weren’t so macabre.
Why couldn’t I feel a bond with Brandon? Stop him? I concentrated, felt a slight pressure different from Adam’s, but it slipped away. I stomped my foot in frustration and yanked at the bike chains holding my legs and waist to the chair. I glanced at Kara. She stared at me, eyes bulging.
The two wolves stood on their hind legs, hugging each other in a wolf wrestle hold. They shuffled closer to me. I scooted the chair to avoid the random jaw snap or swipe thrown my way. I hoped Brandon wasn’t fighting his pack Alpha, knowing as a revenant, he posed a considerable threat. Why was he attacking?
Cael. The blood. Somehow, when Cael mixed his blood with mine, he created a bond with Brandon, preventing me from controlling him. Where the hell was Cael?
In a quick movement, Brandon clamped his teeth around the other wolf’s neck and ripped it open, releasing a spray of blood. Drops hit my face, wet and hot. I cringed and tried again to touch Brandon through the bond, but my effort was akin to grasping a greasy rope.
I surveyed the bedlam around me. Brandon leaped and snarled after the taller of the two men while the short one fought off more zombies. Kara rolled on the floor, trying to loosen the ropes binding her arms and hands.
I extended my arms and leaned until I’d tipped the chair forward, catching myself with my hands before my face collided with the floor.
The dead wolf lay a few feet away, the bones of its neck exposed and entrails from another gash around his belly strewn on the floor. I gagged. After a couple of calming breaths, I flattened my hands and arms on the floor and slowly pulled myself. Fortunately, the wood provided a slick surface for my caterpillar-like slide, but the movement caused the chains to tighten painfully around my legs.
I grunted at the final heave and placed my hand on the wolf’s head. My fingers curled at the feel of its matted, sticky blood-soaked fur. Raising Brandon had weakened me, but I reached down to draw on my power until my body shook.
I had one shot.
I funneled all my energy into the wolf until his head stirred. I directed my wolf zombie to release Kara. He dragged himself to her with his front paws, his head hanging at an awkward angle, entrails painting a red trail behind him. I turned my head at the gruesome sight and focused on guiding him to complete his task. He tore at Kara’s bonds with his claws, and she leaped away as if the wolf had shocked her with a hundred volts of electricity. I thanked him through the bond and released him. He slumped to the floor. I knew my thanks didn’t mean anything to his empty zombie mind, but I needed to respect his life, somehow. I rested my head on the floor, my mind and body mush from expending so much energy.
Kara sprinted toward me, then stopped when one of the zombies descended on me and scratched at my face and scalp with stiff fingers. Heebie jeebies raced and pricked all over my skin at the feel of the zombie’s nails.
Kara formed an orange ball like a small sun in her hand and flung it toward me. I tried to move, but the zombie’s gnarly hands, intent on pulling out all my hair, kept me prone. The ball hit the zombie. It released me and stumbled, erupting into flame, flailing and bouncing against the snack counter, the wall, resembling a blazing pinball. It ignited everything it touched into roaring flames that began licking too close to me. What kind of witch hellfire did Kara fling? Normal fire took its time to burn, but this stuff exploded on contact.
Brandon howled. The brown-haired were had him by his scruff. Brandon swiped with his paw and knocked the man back, then ran to the pin deck and disappeared behind the wall.
A haze of smoke surrounded me, filling my nose, burning. Acrid air scorched a path to my lungs. The flaming zombie continued to zing into all the available wood surfaces. That damn thing was going to burn a path to hell and take us with him. Figures moved around me, but I couldn’t identify them. I thought I spotted Kara next to the weres, fending off zombies.
I saw feet coming toward me. Hands grabbed the chair and flipped me around so I was facing the ceiling. Cael crouched next to me. “I got what I wanted. Time to rid myself of the competition.” He motioned to the missing girl zombie, before disappearing in the smoke.
She dug her fingers into my ankles and dragged me toward the blaze. The heat slapped my feet and legs. Panic squeezed my heart. They burned witches, not necromancers, dammit.
A bowling ball on the floor next to me.
I twisted at the waist, straining to lift the heavy ball from my position strapped to the chair. Got it. I heaved it over my head and aimed for the zombie then hesitated. Could I kill her?
She raised her head as if sensing my apprehension and gave me a look devoid of any humanity. The only emotion that crossed her face was rabid hunger.
I grunted and lifted higher, drawing upon every stomach muscle I didn’t know I had, and tossed the ball at her. It smashed her face before she could react, and she tipped back and stumbled into the fire with an ear-piercing squeal.
I had to get away from the fire, but my muscles had disintegrated. To my relief, Kara rushed over and dragged me away.
“Get me free from this damn chair.” I wheezed and coughed out smoke.
“I’m not sure I can break the chains,” she said. “Cael smashed my charm. Bastard. I’ll try.”
“I can.” A deep voice penetrated the smoke and crackle of the flames. Ewan.
He snapped the chains that shackled me as if ripping the paper chains kids made in school. Strong hands hauled me up. With one arm around me, Ewan propelled us to the back exit.
Bony fingers snatched my hair, jerking my head back. What’s with the zombies and hair? Ewan reached around with his free arm, grabbed the zombie, and yanked it off me, snapping its neck with a sick crack. He rushed us
out the door, and we burst into an alley. I bent at the waist, propping my hands on my knees, coughed and inhaled deeply to suck the smoke from my lungs.
Jax pushed through the door with Kara in tow. She stumbled out and wheezed. I met her eyes, relieved to find her unscathed.
Her smile was strained, but her voice was steady. “What about the fire?”
“Better to let the place burn along with the evidence inside,” Ewan said. He freed my waist, but kept a hand on the small of my back. “Let’s get away from the building.”
“Sorry about the zombie bottle rocket,” Kara said.
I put my hand over my mouth. I’d laugh if I was sure I wouldn’t cry at the same time.
“What happened to the weres?” I asked.
“They made it out on the other side,” Jax said.
We headed for a small park across the street, empty and quiet except for the insects buzzing around the lighted lamp posts. Jax ran to retrieve Ewan’s Rover parked a couple of blocks away. A familiar pressure pressed on my consciousness. I turned to see Adam approach.
“I lost Cael’s trail, but wrastled a few zombies,” he said. “He amassed quite the zombie posse. You okay?” He pointed at my hand.
Blood droplets created red stripes down my arm, dripping, dripping. Dripping onto Brandon’s face. I squeezed my hand, letting the sharp daggers of pain stab out my anguish over turning Brandon into a revenant.
Ewan touched my cheek with the back of his hand. “What happened with Brandon?”
I squeezed harder.
“That’s what we’d like to know.”
My head swung up at the sound of the deep voice straining with anger.
The two weres from the bowling alley stood in front of us. The tall blond practically vibrated with menace, his muscles straining to contain something, his wolf maybe, from jumping out and snapping at us. His eyes flashed between shades of silver and gray. A force of nature held back by a thin veneer of skin and civilization.
But the voice belonged to the shorter of the two, the brown-haired, compact one who had fought with Brandon’s wolf in the bowling alley. He looked less ready to bite, a balance to the blond ready to explode next to him, but he scared me more with his deadly calm. The Alpha for sure.
Ewan stepped in front of me.
“What happened to Brandon? Zombie?” the Alpha asked.
I moved forward, my shoulder brushing against Ewan. “A revenant.”
“A werewolf revenant. How’s that possible?” He directed his stone-faced gaze to me. “Did you make him a revenant?”
I nodded.
“She was forced. The other necromancer threatened my life, and I couldn’t use my power,” Kara said.
“You know the code, Kara,” the blond were said.
The supernatural codes. Shit.
The codes established a framework for negotiation between the supernaturals, but they mostly invoked the codes when they wanted to piss each other off. Cora had tried to explain them to me, but her attempts had fallen on my deaf ears.
“We choose to exercise our right under the code to take her into custody until she reverses Brandon,” the Alpha said.
“No, wait, I didn’t have a choice.” My words tumbled out, laced with panic. I wasn’t sure what being taken into custody by werewolves entailed, but it couldn’t be good.
“We’ll see,” he said.
I shot a furtive glance at Ewan. His expression was calm. He curled his hand around my arm. “Under the code, we can take responsibility for the situation and make sure she reverses Brandon.”
The two supernatural men, an Alpha wolf and Ewan, an Alpha in his own respect, regarded each other silently. Both squared their shoulders and flexed their hands, preparing for the gunfight, giving each other a moment to adjust his position and assess the threat.
“All right. I’m holding you to your word, but if Brandon isn’t returned within a week, we take matters into our own hands,” the Alpha said.
Ewan gave a short nod.
The Alpha moved his eyes back and forth between Ewan and me before he motioned to the blond, who led them out of the park.
Just before they left, Jax had pulled Ewan’s car to a stop nearby, climbed out, and held open the door. “Was that Mark? Why would the wolves invoke the codes?”
“Because they can, and they have a right,” Kara said, spilling into the backseat. Jax scooted in behind her, followed by Adam.
Ewan opened the door of the front passenger seat and took a first aid kit out of the glove compartment. He wrapped some gauze around my hand. “They’re protecting the pack.”
I sat on the seat while he taped up the gauze. “I didn’t kill Brandon.”
“The code addresses reanimation of supernaturals, making of zombies, etcetera,” Kara said.
“I raised Adam.”
“You had permission from the coven.”
“I suppose my vote didn’t count,” Adam said to no one in particular.
Ewan closed my door and walked around the car to take the driver’s seat. I peered at his arms, remembering how he’d snapped the zombie in two without taking an extra breath. His power was an unstoppable force, sweeping away anything in its path like some gale force wind.
“Thanks for getting in trouble with the wolves for me,” Kara said.
I turned to see her with her head resting on Jax’s shoulder. She looked small against his tall frame. I gave her a weak smile.
“And thanks for sending the really gross zombie wolf to untie me,” she added.
While I sensed a few drips of sarcasm in her tone, I turned and saw the appreciation, the relief on her face.
“Next time, have him tuck his intestines into his tummy before helping me, okay?” she asked.
I wanted to laugh, but didn’t have the strength to muster even a smile. I twisted back around to look out the window, ignoring Ewan’s raised eyebrow.
“Man, what did we miss?” Jax asked.
“The worst kind of horror,” Kara said.
Nobody spoke for a while. My mind jumped back and forth between Cael’s revelation that Malthus knew of his identity and my predicament with the wolves. I was surprised the supernatural codes dealt specifically with necromancer dos and don’ts. Did the other supes have similar dictates? Maybe Cael was partly right. Maybe other supes do fear our power over death. Everyone is equal in death.
“So what happens if I break bail?” I meant it as a joke, but my words came out stilted.
“The wolves will declare me guilty of all crimes against supernatural kind,” Ewan said.
“Well, guess you better hope I don’t skip town.”
“No, I plan on keeping you close,” he said, his voice low.
We turned down a quiet residential street lined with immense oak and maple trees, their long branches covering the street in a twisted shroud of knotted branches and leaves.
“And if I can’t reverse Brandon?” I asked.
“You will,” Ewan said.
“Just say.”
“They’ll demand a punishment,” Jax said. “Twenty lashes.”
Ewan lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror, his anger jumping out at Jax through the glass. Jax emitted a short “ow,” and I suspected Kara had administered her own form of disapproval at his quip.
I rested my head against the seat. My eyelids drooped and closed, the image of my blood dripping on Brandon’s face taunting me. The car stopped, and I flipped my eyes open, saw we’d parked in the lair’s garage.
“I’m not staying here, especially with Malthus inside,” I said.
“Malthus is gone. He’ll be back tomorrow,” Ewan responded.
“I don’t care.”
Ewan frowned. “What’s wrong? It’s not safe for you at your house right now.”
I got out of the car. Doors opened and closed as the others followed. I’d have to face Malthus eventually, but I needed time to regain my senses, and staying the night in that house would not help me achieve peace of mind.
I turned to Ewan, standing next to me in front of the car. “Malthus knew about Cael. He knew all along.” My breath hitched. And now I don’t know if I can trust you, either.
Everyone stood quietly, especially Adam, but I could see his jaw working furiously, felt a pinch of indignation through the bond. Ewan gave him a warning look then lowered his brows and stared at me for a long moment. “Let’s talk about it later, okay?”
“I’m still not staying here,” I said.
“We can stay in one of the guestrooms at the coven house tonight,” Kara said. “I wouldn’t mind a little extra security myself.”
Kara did seem shaken up. She’d stuck to Jax’s side the entire car ride, and even now stood close to him. I agreed with her suggestion, but didn’t relish leaving one supe stronghold for another. I gave her a side-glance. The witches had never invited me to a sleepover. Did they want to keep an eye on me? Make sure I didn’t turn anyone else into a zombie? I shook the thought away. I was letting Cael’s paranoia infect me. I could trust the witches, right?
* * * *
Ewan slumped into a leather armchair in the coven guestroom, spread his legs wide, and leaned his head against the back. I noticed the lines around his eyes for the first time. The muscles in his arm flexed as he lifted it to run his hand through his hair. “Jesus, Ruby, why didn’t you call me to go to the fair with you?”
I tried not to dwell on the anguish strangling his words, tried to focus on something—anything besides him, but I couldn’t help myself, couldn’t stop from staring at him. I planted my ass on the bed’s edge, resisting the urge to curl myself on his lap, twist my hand in his hair, and let his warm, strong arms envelope me. “I have to believe I can go out and live my life without a constant bodyguard, plus I was with Adam and Kara.”
“Is that how you see me—as a bodyguard?”
How did I see Ewan? I didn’t answer. I rubbed my arms.
“You and Adam, your bond . . .”
“Adam is a revenant,” I said.
“You’re still drawn to him.”
I couldn’t deny his words. I was drawn to Adam, but not in a sexual way. I couldn’t explain it, to Ewan’s obvious frustration.
The Necromancer's Seduction Page 15