by Multiple
Shop Away The Pain
All around me people buzzed with excitement. Mothers shepherded their children past toy stores, arms filled with bags. Men tinkered around in electronics stores. The tantalizing aroma of fast food and Chinese wafted from the food court. But the mix of smells and sounds made me feel queasy. The voices were too loud and the air was too stuffy.
“Why did I agree to come to the mall with you again?” I said to Sia, massaging my temple.
“Because otherwise you’d be cooped up in your apartment, drowning yourself in Ramen and cheap wine,” she answered, tossing her ponytail to the side. “You need some retail therapy.”
I grimaced as two kids plowed past, knocking me into Sia. “What I need is a stiff drink. And to draw up my last will and testament.”
“Nonsense,” she said, dragging me inside of Macy’s. “We need to get you a hot dress and some killer heels.”
I stopped short. “You didn’t say anything about shopping for me. I don’t have the money to buy new stuff!”
“Please,” she said with a wink. “I can smell the money on you.” She stopped at an earring carousel, eyeballing a pair of gold hoops.
“That is to cover expenses until my Trial.” Not that I hadn’t considered booking a one-way trip somewhere off the grid. It would have been a waste though. As soon as I became a legit necromancer, I was tagged. Leashed. No matter where I went, The Watchers could find me. It didn’t change my innate need for flight. “I need to be careful with my money. No frivolous spending.”
“Right,” Sia said, holding the earrings next to her lobe. “Let’s be honest, five thousand won’t do you a lot of good in the All.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, shaking my head.
“Just being realistic,” she said in a singsong voice. She picked up a long gold chain and wrapped it around her neck. She turned to me, giving me a model pout. “Too much?”
I gaped at her in disbelief. “You know, a good friend would be slightly more concerned about my impending doom.”
She glanced at me in the mirror, her eyes filled with guilt. “I’m sorry, Jade. I’m happy-go-lucky by nature. My kind celebrates death and despair.” she shrugged.
I turned to go. She wasn’t going to eat at the Pain R Us for free. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
Sia let out a loud dramatic sigh. “Jade, wait.”
I stopped without turning around.
She breezed to where I stood. “What should I do? How can I be a good friend to you?”
I eyed her with slight amusement, her petite arm propped on her tiny waist. Here I was, staring at a future that suddenly didn’t look so bright because two of my necromancy clients popped up dead. Instead of doing something proactive, I was in some mall with a fairy that by her very nature delighted in my misery.
Normal 21-year-olds stressed about studying and showing up to class hung over. I was stressing about a Trial at the hands of the oldest supernatural beings ever known to otherworld creatures.
It started as a tiny tickle at the back of my throat, which morphed into a snort. Then the floodgates opened.
Bystanders and potential shoppers eyed me with interest, the weird girl who apparently just heard a really, REALLY funny joke.
Sia steered me to the side, her hand warm on my bare back. “Uh, Jade…are you having some sort of psychotic break?”
“N-no,” I said, in between guffaws. “It’s just hilarious.”
“Hilarious?”
“Yeah,” I said, swallowing the laughter. “The whole thing. B contacts me two years ago and tells me that I can be a part of something bigger than myself. Helping ‘grieving relatives find peace’, he said.”
Sia gave me a look. “And you believed him?”
“Of course not,” I scoffed. “But I was 18-years-old. My grades were shit, so the college thing wasn’t happening. Then my spellwork started going haywire. It was pretty much enlist or hole up somewhere. Like Mom.”
I pushed a shoe display to the side and plopped down. “Working for NACA has showed me the worst of human nature – liars, cheats, murderers, greed. But Kenny was the first time that I actually tried to help someone. Then Amy. And now they’re dead.”
“Because of you,” Sia said quietly. She glanced over at me and made an addendum. “Seemingly because of you.”
I twirled a strand of hair around my finger, swallowing the knot in my throat. “I just…I don’t want to go down when I didn’t do anything, you know? I finally grow the balls to follow my heart and it leads to The Watchers’ doorstep.” I massaged my temple, a little voice in the back of my head saying I would have been better off going off the reservation. “It’s just not fair.”
Sia let out a small snort. “If I’ve learned anything in over a millennia of living, it’s that life rarely is.”
“I’m just so lost,” I said with a sigh. “I’m so lost and I have no idea what to do.”
Sia nodded, swaying back and forth awkwardly. “So uh, a human friend. How would they help you?”
“Ice cream,” I said without skipping a beat. “And chick flicks.”
Her pearly whites gleamed. “You had me at ‘cream’.” She headed toward the exit then stopped short, remembering the chain around her neck. “What do you think?”
“I like it,” I said, glancing around. “I think there’s a register-”
“Let’s go,” she said, hopping from foot to foot anxiously outside the store. “That ice cream isn’t going to eat itself.”
She’d blinked out of the store, leaving the security button on top of the glass case. I scurried after her, not wanting to be fingered for her kleptomania.
“So I was thinking something chocolatey,” she said, looping her arm into mine.
“Chocolate sounds heavenly,” I grinned. It was my first genuine smile all day.
Chapter Fifteen
The More the Merrier
Jack’s Mustang made an unhealthy sigh as we pulled into the art museum parking lot.
“You’re sure about this?” he said, shutting off the engine.
“Sure,” I said unconvincingly. I felt helluva more sure about 15 minutes ago while Jack was explaining the plan to me, stark naked, nipping on my neck. As I opened my car door and a gust of night air slapped me in the face, I wasn’t so sure.
His plan was simple. We’d go speak to his contact from the All. If some supernatural butthole was behind this whole thing, his guy would know it. Easy enough, right?
I adjusted my spaghetti strap in the passenger window, sighing as Jack appeared behind me. He nuzzled my hair, sending a fresh tremor down my spine.
“You look positively delicious,” he purred.
It was the gospel truth. I’d bought the slinky black number from Macy’s. It clung and dipped in all the right places and the soft material was soft on my dark skin.
I glanced over at Jack in his sleek number. I’d always complained that we never did anything that involved him keeping his clothes on. He didn’t disappoint. His crisp white shirt beneath his dinner jacket made his eyes sparkle in the moonlight.
“My lady,” he said, huskily extending his arm. I grabbed it eagerly but stopped him before we went any further.
“Is this a date?” I said with a Cheshire cat grin. “It feels a lot like a date…which is kind of a first for us.”
“I take you on dates!” he replied indignantly.
I put a hand on my hip and gave Jack a look. “Going out for drinks-”
“Is a date,” he finished.
“Not when you spend most of the night talking about how delicious the bartender probably tastes.” It was only when I threatened to turn her into a toad that he zipped his lip. Standing there, dressed to the nines for a cocktail party with my undead boyfriend, snapped me out of my dreaminess. This was no date. We were here on business.
We continued toward the museum, the only sound the crunch of our shoes on the gravel road. I’d expected a bigger showing for a party. Ja
ck’s car was one of the few in the lot. “So by party,” I began. “Did you really mean you, me, and your contact?”
I gasped as a chill rippled across my body. “What was-”
“That?” A voice whispered behind me.
I whirled around and put up a block, holding up a pentagram. I felt the power build around me, creating a circle of protection.
A series of hisses echoed around me as a harried man in his mid 30s stopped a few inches from me. I imagined his tattered ensemble was quite dashing a few seconds ago, but now he looked like something that was run through the garbage disposal.
“What the hell?” The man snapped, surveying himself.
“Put down your guard, Jade,” Jack said beside me. “Darius is pretty harmless.”
I shot a glance at the surprise visitor’s blazing black eyes, still unsure. “Friend of yours?”
“Vampires have no friends,” Darius snapped, raking a hand through his midnight hair.
“It probably has something to do with your penchant for sneaking up on people,” I quipped. Jack’s disapproving glance wiped the smile from my face. “Alright, fine.” I released the block and like an exhale, the barrier dissipated.
“I should kill you where you stand, necro,” Darius growled.
Jack stepped in front of me, his back taut and stiff. “I know we have history, brother, but if you touch my woman, I’ll cut your head off myself.”
Darius sniffed, attempting to compose himself. “I’ll never understand your fascination with mortal women, Jacques.”
“Jack,” he corrected icily.
Darius’s white teeth gleamed as he disregarded Jack’s comment, circling me like a vulture stalked its prey. “You do know how to pick them, Jacques. This one’s particularly toastier than your usual fare.” I shivered as he moved in the shadows, stopping inches from my face. “She’s still beautiful though, brother. No doubt. The blacker the berry and all of that.” He sidled up to the nape of my neck. His breath was hot on my flesh. He took a long, shuddering breath as he inhaled deep. He wheeled around and gave me a look over. “You’ve tasted her?” Without waiting for a reply, he pressed on. “Is her blood sweet?”
I felt Jack bubble with anger beside me. “Darius-”
I stepped away from them both. The dick measuring contest was a bit much and I wasn’t just any human. I could fight my own battles. “Bite me if you dare, fanger. It’ll be your last.”
Jack bared his fangs, wrapping a protective arm about my shoulders. “Ja-”
Instead of a vampire battle royale further cementing the un-dateness of the evening, silence moved around the circle like a virus. Jack and Darius exchanged looks as the testosterone and fangs were replaced by wariness.
“No,” Darius scoffed, smoothing down what was left of his shirt. “The last I heard, she was in Spain. Why would she come all the way to North Carolina for a cocktail party?”
“She needs no occasion to be inconvenient,” Jack snarled.
I spun around, expecting the worst. “Who’s coming?”
My only reply was a gust of wind that reeked of mold, wine, cinnamon, oranges, and cherries. And then I saw her.
Her skin was pale and fair like porcelain. Long dark hair hung past her waist, gold baubles tied in small, intricate braids. She moved like she was underwater, each step fluid as she swished forward toward us. Her face was beautiful and ancestral, like her features had been crafted by Michelangelo himself. But there was something about her. I wanted to look away, but my eyes wouldn’t let me. My body didn’t want to miss one movement, not even a twitch.
“What is she?” I murmured.
I found myself foolishly wondering if I pleased her. I finally had control over my faculties and turned to my right…where Jack was down on one knee, head down. Darius was in a similar stance, his black hair flapping.
When I glanced back up, she stood right in front of me, her opal eyes locked on mine. Pulling her shawl tight around her shoulders, she gave me a toothy grin. Each one glimmered…and were filed to a razor thin edge.
“She’s an Old One,” I said in awe.
“What a smart necromancer you are, child,” she said in thickly accented English. “My name is Athanasia and I am quite old – a first of my kind.” She reached down beside me and planted a delicate kiss on Jack’s bowed head. “And I’m their mother.”
“Mother?” I repeated, confused.
Jack turned his face up to the moonlight, and the hate and disdain was clear on his handsome face. “She’s our maker, Jade.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dinner Party
The North Carolina Art Museum was a gem in the heart of Raleigh. From pottery found in the catacombs of Egypt to contemporary photography, the art leapt from the walls and seeped into your soul.
Even tonight, in the company of a dozen things that went bump in the night, I stood by a velvet rope near the back, staring at a surrealist painting by a local artist. I was trying my best to blot out images of Jack and his maker, as mates, doing the deed, slaughtering thousands…but Athanasia Daneryous was making it a hell of a job, with her details as colorful as the ones that hung on the wall.
“It feels like yesterday,” she cooed with a dramatic sigh. “You should have seen him, necromancer. He was a true healer with a heart of gold. And so lost, so heartbroken.”
Jack slid back up to us with a Cosmo for me and blood cocktails for himself and Athanasia.
She sipped her cocktail, running her tongue over her lush lips. “What was the name of that quaint little village you lived in, Jacques? And your woman?”
Jack threw back his drink with one hurried movement. He placed a strong, sure hand on the small of my back. “What brings you stateside, Ana?”
“Well, I haven’t seen my little ones in hundreds of years,” she said with a small smile. “And when I heard you were dating a Moor necromancer-”
“Bullshit,” Darius snapped, walking up to join us. He’d swapped his mummy-esque ensemble for a crisp black oxford shirt, jeans, and sneakers. I shuddered, thinking about some poor frat boy lying stark naked in the alley missing a substantial amount of blood.
Ana turned to Darius, brushing her pale hand over his cheek. “You always had such fire, love. Ungrateful for the gift I gave, but the fire kept me from snapping your head from your body and feasting on your entrails.”
“So we’re gonna mingle,” Jack cut in, steering us away from the line of fire. “I’ll let you two catch up.”
Darius snarled at us, but we were already on our way, headed toward a burly man who stood brooding in the corner. He was more of a boulder, strong and unmoving, than a person. I immediately thought of Jack and the Beanstalk and him grinding bones to make bread.
A couple of vampires flashed us interested looks, their human playthings stony-eyed, draped on them like expensive silk.
“So that’s Athanasia,” I murmured.
“The one and only.”
“The things she must have seen…” I sighed. “One of the Old Ones.” I’d read about the creators of the monsters – ancient, powerful beings, but I never thought I’d see one with my own eyes. My mother was gonna flip.
“Maybe you should fangirl some other time,” Jack said, his face like chiseled stone. “We’re here to find who’s setting you up, are we not?”
“Of course,” I said, embarrassed that he’d caught me off guard. I cocked my head at the man in the corner. “That your guy?”
He nodded. “Wait here.”
I watched as Jack approached him, hands up like he meant no harm. They chatted for a moment then Jack turned back to me and gave me the okay.
I walked over, flashing the guy the brightest smile I could manage. He was saving my ass, after all. “Hi, I’m-”
“I know who you are, doll,” he rumbled. His voice was like sandpaper, gravel on my eardrums.
Jack reached into his lapel and pulled out a tiny vial with red liquid. I grabbed his wrist, my heart lurching to my throat. �
��My god, Jack, that’s not-”
He gently moved my hand. His voice was steady and sure. “It’s the payment Barius requires, Jade.”
I swallowed hard. If The Watchers found out that Jack was passing around his blood for personal gain, they’d stake him quicker than the blink of an eye. I couldn’t believe he would risk his life for mine. If I was wondering what his true intentions were, it was crystal clear now.
“So what information do you have for us?” Jack probed.
We both stepped in closer. The boulder of a man ran a hand through his shaggy black hair, revealing a bright eye in the center of his forehead.
“A cyclops!” I said in awe.
He bristled at the word and I checked my excitement. Probably not wise to offend the guy who had intel that would clear me.
“It’s a high level supe,” the giant said, biting into a cocktail wiener that looked an awful lot like a human finger.
Stay on task, I thought to myself. “So a high level supe. Who?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “That’s all I got, sweetheart.”
I glanced at Jack, who either had a killer poker face or didn’t hear what was just said. “A vial of-” Lower. “-vampire blood is worth more than something deadly obvious.”
The cyclops’ pinched face was becoming as red as a roma tomato. “Look, necro, if you’re displeased-”
“Stay in touch,” Jack said with an apologetic smile, steering me toward the buffet table. “You trying to get me killed?”
“What?”
“All of your reading and you skipped the part where cyclopses snack on humans and supernaturals alike?”
“Whatever,” I said hotly, scooping my cup into the bowl absentmindedly. “For one, you didn’t tell me you were giving up blood for information.”
“My blood. Mine to do with as I wish.” He gestured at my drink. “Maybe you should-”
“I mean what did he tell us that we didn’t already know? If The Watchers find out…” I snapped my mouth shut and threw the drink down my throat. Big mistake. I was no stranger to blood, mind you. When I was first anointed as a necromancer, I had to drink the blood of the first ghost I summoned. If I’m trying to summon a reluctant spirit, a little blood magic does the trick. But those were always a couple of tablespoons chased with a hefty glass of water. I’d just swallowed at least a cup and it was warm and alive as it slid down my throat.