Resurrection

by Lissa Kasey

  Seiran couldn’t imagine a revenant not rising from torture. Pain, rage, and fear meant loss of control. A revenant was a vampire’s berserker rage; the stuff of nightmares. It bordered on the edge of demonic, though was less a hellborn creature, and more an animal of instinct.

  Who had created the dorm room ward? There were too many unanswered questions. No one was strong enough to do this on their own. Not even Seiran thought he could bind a couple dozen vampires and torture them until he got someone else to comply. One golem with three vampire souls stuck inside seemed to be his limit. Maybe that was because death magic wasn’t his strength?

  Why had Page been involved at all? If the family cast out his family decades ago, why use him? Because he had power? Because they were tracking that line, looking for power?

  Gabe stood nearby, seeming to catch everything, but not looking as murderous as Sam. If Seiran hadn’t been so focused on Page, he might have been able to sort through some of Gabe’s thoughts, as Seiran felt a handful of them pushed his way. Like Gabe had insight to share, but didn’t want to vocalize it. Seiran had to calm Page first.

  “Where are you? At home?”

  “No,” Page whispered. “I need to stop all of this.” He sounded tired, like he’d been battling guilt for a while, crying long enough to have lost the energy to fight the tide of emotion.

  “Page, honey,” Seiran said. “Please don’t do anything.” He knew that tone. Had heard it a handful of times in his life. Usually, it was when he faced down a witch who would be slated for execution on sight. Or who was awaiting the stake. Resignation. The utter lack of hope. Sometimes he lost those witches to death by cop, others he couldn’t stop their execution, even if he freed their souls to move on before the pain began.

  His heart sank at the idea of losing Page. Two years he’d seen Page every day, treated him like family, had him over to his house for movie nights. Seiran had rarely treated Page like an employee. Maybe that was Seiran’s first mistake. Had he been blinded to what Page was? No. Seiran didn’t think Page would have done any of this without some sort of extreme circumstance.

  “I don’t want to burn,” Page whispered. “I just didn’t want them to hurt anymore. I didn’t know he would…”

  “I know, sweetie, please. Tell me where you are. Let me help.”

  “You’re one of them,” Page whispered. “I know you don’t want to be. You’ve always treated me well. Seen me,” he said, his voice filled with tears. “I’m so sorry.”

  And that hurt like a knife in the gut. Seiran had hated being tied to the murderous end of the Dominion. No matter how hard he fought, he rarely saved anyone once the Dominion had branded them rogue. It was the first time he thought that maybe they’d done it on purpose. Shoved him into a role where execution was a constant reminder to him not to rebel, and to prove to him how powerless he really was. Meanwhile, he couldn’t die. Not unless the earth had forsaken him. It was like slow torture, he realized. Death by a thousand cuts. No wonder he felt soul weary.

  He sucked in a deep breath and tried to sound calm. “I do see you, Page. And I won’t let them hurt you.”

  “You can’t stop them. You’ve tried,” Page said with a shaky voice. “I’ve seen you cry in your office when the rest of the world thinks the Dominion is triumphant. I proofread your reports. I know how they change your files. Taking things you worded so they know it was an accident or an extreme situation, and rewording it to add malcontent to justify the death sentence. I’ve seen too much. Watched them use you to track down those to kill. I don’t want to be next.”

  All of that was true, and it made Seiran’s anger rise to squash his panic. He’d been used a long time to help murder other witches. Less than a handful ever really deserving of the death they brought. He thought if he stayed, kept pushing for change, that someday it would help. Seiran also admitted he’d been afraid. Not that they would kill him. The earth’s affection for him meant they were powerless to physically harm him. But that didn’t mean his family was safe. Could he protect them from something like this? If it had been Kaine in Page’s shoes? Would he? The answer was a firm yes. They had planned out entire contingency plans with the idea that someday the Dominion would come for them. Not a question of if, but of when.

  “I won’t let them hurt you, Page,” Seiran said again, feeling a well of resolve rise within him. If that meant they’d try to take him down, so be it. “I just need you to be safe until I get to you.”

  Sam was on the phone now. Seiran suspected he was talking to Max, but couldn’t focus on two things at once. Not when he had a life to save.

  “It’s too late. I shouldn’t have…”

  “You thought freeing them would help. I understand.”

  “It wasn’t the first time,” Page whispered so softly that Sei barely heard.

  “That you released a soul? Or made a golem?”

  “I’ve raised things before. On accident. First time it happened I was seven.”

  Seiran clenched his fist. “Page…”

  “Family tried to teach me to bury it. I’m evil. They told me that since I was little.”

  “Having this power isn’t evil. You didn’t ask for it.”

  “No. But I shouldn’t have used it.”

  “It’s like asking us not to breathe, Page. Impossible.”

  “I read about the golem, but never made one before Forest. They killed my dad, you know. It’s listed as suicide, but my mom told me that was a lie. She said if the family knew how powerful I am now, they would do it to me too.”

  “Your mom helped you hide your power to protect you? She sounds pretty great.”

  “She is,” Page sniffled. “Tried so hard to teach me. But it isn’t the same as her magic. And it was an accident when I raised Mattie.”

  The family had known. Fuck. Seiran was so enraged that Page hadn’t been trained. Kelly and Jamie had four halfway houses set up for young witches. Those who didn’t have the financial ability to afford training, or whose families tried to pretend they didn’t have power. It made Seiran angry that Page had been missed. “Mattie?”

  “Our cat. She had a heart attack one day, was only ten or something.”

  “It happens that way sometimes. I’m sorry.”

  “I cried for days. Barely slept. Kept having dreams of her being there. And then one night, she was.”

  “Oh, Page.”

  “Mom was horrified. Had to go to the family to help put her back.” Page sucked in a stuttering breath. “I asked them to show me. To help me.”

  “They refused?” Seiran guessed.

  “Burned her. Was the only thing they could do to keep her from rising. But she was there, hurting, aware…” He sounded heartbroken, and Seiran could only imagine the horror of watching that.

  “Page, I’m so sorry.”

  “I’ve done the best I can to learn on my own. Keep it from happening again. I’m sorry,” Page whispered. “I taught myself as best I could. Learning to release them so they wouldn’t end up like Mattie.”

  Burned to ash to release the soul. Seiran could only imagine how terrifying it was to learn that on his own.

  “I’m not evil, even if they say I am.”

  “I know you’re not, honey. Let me help.” Seiran said. “Please let me help.” He headed for his car, Gabe hot on his heels and Sam close by.

  “I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me,” Page whispered again and hung up.

  “Fuck!” Seiran screamed into the air outside the warehouse. Gabe didn’t hesitate to follow him as he raced toward the car even though the sun was still high, but Sam did.

  “No,” he told Sam.

  “He murdered vampires,” Sam said as he paused under an overhang.

  Releasing the souls from their body was a bit like murder, but not how Sam meant it. “Not because he wanted to.”

  “You don’t know that. It’s not like you’re the best judge of character.” Sam waved his hands at Gabe.

  “Leave me out of this,�
� Gabe said. He looked at Seiran. “Do you know where he is? Can you find him?”

  “Can you drive?” Seiran asked. He tapped his phone and sent an emergency alert out to his family. Anyone in his circle really. That meant Jamie and Kelly, the kids, the witch houses, and even his mother. Level red. It meant nothing shy of the apocalypse. He’d apologize later if he overreacted, but keeping them safe was key. If the day went the way he was suspecting it would go, everyone was going to be after him soon. And them, because they were a way to get to him.

  “Do you remember how? I know your license needs to be renewed and all that, but can you drive if I cast a spell to find him?”

  Gabe nodded. “I can.”

  “Max isn’t going to let this go,” Sam said.

  “And Page isn’t the root of the problem. He’s just a pawn on the board,” Seiran snarled at him. Like he’d allowed himself to be. Like they all had. Seiran burned with rage over all of this. The family, the Dominion, and his own failure to recognize a young witch needing help. What did that say for him as a father? What was he missing in his own kids? “I’m not going to let him die because it’s convenient for everyone else.”

  “Ronnie…” Sam growled back even as Seiran made his way to the car, leaving Sam under the overhang. “We won’t be far behind.”

  “Hopefully far enough. Tell Max there is more to this. Keep an eye on the golem.”

  “The Dominion will kill him before Max will have the chance, and this is a vampire issue,” Sam yelled. “The witches knew. This has been going on for months. There’s no way to hide this. We won’t let this get wrapped up with political red tape.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “There’s a lot you never seem to know. How much are they keeping from you? How much are they using you? When will you finally say enough is enough?”

  Seiran paused, his heart pounding, and tears fell hot on his cheeks, though they were angry tears rather than sad ones. He hated that sometimes he couldn’t rein in the emotions. “I think right now, to be honest.”

  Sam’s gaze met his. “Ronnie, don’t get yourself killed. This could spark another vampire war.”

  “So be it,” Seiran said, “stay safe.” He rushed into the parking garage, toward his car. He was tired of being a pawn himself. For the Dominion, the vampires, everyone. He was getting too old, which he equated to being tired of everyone’s bullshit.

  “You have a way to find him?” Gabe asked again as he took the keys from Seiran and opened the door to the driver’s side.

  “A spell yes, inspired by one of the kid’s video games actually.”

  “Okay, what do we do?”

  “You drive. I’m going to cast, and fly a bit. Try not to open our bonds too much.”

  “Fly?” Gabe asked.

  “We call it Odin’s Eye.”

  “Like the stories of Muninn and Huginn?”

  “Exactly, borrowing the sight of a bird. Tracing magic signatures. It’s a bit complicated to explain, though easy enough in practice. It will be erratic to describe where we are going, so try not to kill us?” Seiran ducked into the passenger seat, strapping on the belt, and setting his bag at his feet.

  He got affirmatives back from Jamie, Kelly, and in tandem each of the kids. Luca and Con’s reply popped up too. The houses began checking in. They would have to do head counts before locking the doors and setting the wards to maximum.

  Was it sad that they’d planned for this? For something big? Seiran set his phone in his bag and prayed for a minute for the strength to protect everyone.

  It was an impossible dream, but one he’d been fighting for his whole life.

  “Birds aren’t air?” Gabe asked.

  “Birds are life on earth, which all falls to my domain.” Technically everything on the planet was his domain as long as the Goddess allowed him the strength. Earth, fire, wind, water, spirit, death, and life. As long as the world continued to turn, She could grant all to him. He might have an affinity for the earth, but She considered him her scion.

  “A lot of people underestimate you,” Gabe said as he started the van and headed toward the exit.

  “They do,” Seiran agreed. “But not for much longer. I’m sorry you had to be awake for this. I think everything is about to become a shitstorm.”

  “Rather be a part of it than in the ground not able to help.”

  “Thanks,” Seiran whispered, happy to not be alone after years of aching loneliness. He began whispering, his hands glowing with power. A bit of a poetic chant more as a focus for himself than actual words for a spell. He hadn’t needed words in over a decade. But the thought behind the words clarified, sending his mind and vision skyward, to borrow wings and search the horizon.

  He’d made a habit, over the years, of memorizing the energy or magic of the people closest to him. The first time the twins changed, shifting to their foxes, they’d been young. Even younger than he’d been for his first change. And Sakura had slipped away from them, vanishing into the woods surrounding the house. It had taken him three days to find her as he kept losing himself to his lynx, and after that he’d begun memorizing the way the earth saw each of them. All as unique as snowflakes in a delicate dance of power woven with life.

  They made the rule that no one changed outside of the arboretum anymore, and Seiran could track his family, his closest friends, and even his assistant by recognizing the magic or life of the being. He didn’t need to change to his lynx form to do it. He’d taught Jamie the spell, and the twins had mastered it without much effort. Kaine didn’t need the spell at all to find anyone. His fae power superseding mortal constraints. Yet another reason for Seiran to rise, and break free of the Dominion chains. He needed to make sure no one could look at Kaine and plan to kill him just for existing. But first he would begin with Page.

  The raven flew higher, arcing around in a circle until Seiran spotted the wave of familiar lines and colors. This glowing gaze of magic wasn’t as defined as real sight. He’d not be able to make out street names and addresses, only direction and distance, but at least it was somewhere to start.

  Chapter 22

  Gabe had to admit it was a lot more distracting than he thought it would be, sitting in the car next to a spell that pulsed like snapped live electrical wire burning into his vision. It made it hard for him to navigate the car out of the dark lot because the light was so bright. But once out into the light of the day, the brightness balanced enough for him to see the road and the buildings. He had to squint, his sensitive vampire sight making the intensity of it all a little painful. But Seiran needed him.

  “Which way?”

  “Left,” Seiran said, his voice deep and echoing, and Gabe caught a glimpse through the bond of flying, like a bird drifting high up over the area, it caught a glow of energy like a beacon, and was headed that way. He had to lock down his edge of the bond to keep himself from following the flight. That was some crazy power. Even with their bond not renewed, he had to work to stay in the here and now rather than a magic-filled sky.

  Gabe pulled the car out onto the street and headed left, navigating free of the city, because the vision he’d caught was of trees and a less populated area. He had no idea what the spell was, but it felt godlike. Large enough to find anyone anywhere, but still contained in a small enough space that no one else could detect it. Brilliant.

  Could Seiran’s power flit to any animal or living being? Definitely godlike. How much did he suppress every day to try to fit in and comply?

  Gabe followed the directions as Seiran muttered them, and had to work hard from letting himself fall into the gaze that Seiran was seeing. It was almost an overlay on reality. Two places at once. Gabe drove fast, but carefully, thankful he remembered the basics of driving as more of a muscle memory than reinstatement of vague rules.

  Outside of the city, northwest instead of the southeast in which Seiran’s house was, where Gabe wasn’t as familiar with the streets, but worked hard to weave around traffic and finally turn
onto a quieter road.

  “Close,” Seiran said, voice rough, and the glow he held fading a bit.

  “Can you find anyone this way?” Gabe wondered.

  “No. Only those I’ve memorized their life force. My kids and family mostly. A few of my investigators, and Page.”

  “Me?”

  “No,” Seiran admitted. “But I plan to remedy that if you’re staying.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Gabe said as he found a way down a side road that was little more than ruts for tires. They were getting into the woods now. He didn’t think it was part of the state forests, but wasn’t sure it was private land either. Maybe a hunting spot?

  He drove a while, weaving until he wasn’t sure he could drive much further, but then there were other cars. Flashing lights and a dozen cars parked in a clearing. That couldn’t be good.

  Seiran swore and Gabe felt the spell snap away, the light vanishing, as well as the intensity of power. Director Han stood on the edge of a clearing with a handful of other women her age, all wearing Dominion badges. None of this looked friendly, in fact everyone was armed, and Gabe could sense the magic pulsing of energy from the witches. They were prepared for violence, not taking someone in for questioning or even a peaceful arrest.

  Why were none of Seiran’s people there? Even if they’d been busy with the other site, the investigation team should have been at the forefront, but none of the badges were the bright lime green Gabe had seen at the warehouse marking all of the investigators. Gabe’s stomach lurched.

  “Does this feel like a set up to you? Why are none of your people here?” Gabe wondered if Page had set them up.

  “He wouldn’t,” Seiran said, catching Gabe’s thought.

  “But you didn’t know he had this power, what else could he be hiding? And how would they have known?”

  “Someone else called them? I have a lot of people.” Seiran said.