by Becca Andre
“You don’t need to do this,” James spoke up. “Let me taste his soul,” he waved a hand at Doug, “then I can soul track him to the lich’s tomb.”
“Back off, dead man.” Doug’s eyes flickered white.
James’s snarl this time was much more vicious.
“Boys, please.” Elysia stepped between them and looked up to meet James’s faintly glowing eyes. “I’m doing this. Don’t argue with me.”
A muscle ticked in James’s jaw and he turned away.
Elysia bit her lip. She didn’t like to give him commands, but she wasn’t going to argue about this again. And certainly not in front of Doug.
“When?” Ian asked Doug.
She turned to face them, apprehension kicking up her pulse.
Doug took a deep breath and his eyes locked with hers. “Tonight.”
Chapter 2
“Tonight?” she asked.
James spun to face them. “And you waited until now to tell her?”
“I called as soon as I found out.” Doug gestured at Ian. “I was told to meet her here. Now.”
Elysia pressed a hand to James’s chest, hoping she wouldn’t need to give him another command.
“She’s not ready,” Ian said.
“I am so.” She gave him a glare.
Ian lifted a brow.
“Maybe I don’t know all the finer points, like how to travel, but that’s more your fault than mine. Perhaps you shouldn’t have wasted so much time making me raise entire cemeteries.” She lifted her arms to indicate their surroundings.
Ian didn’t look convinced.
Doug sighed. “I’ll let the grim taste my blood.”
“No,” she said. “You’re not going to face Alexander alone.”
Doug gave her a small smile. “He’s not going to kill me, Ely.”
“He’s going to possess you. That seems almost worse.”
Alexander Nelson was a ghoul master, a necromancer with a rare blood gift that enabled him to possess the living. Powerful necromancers could do more than use their souls to animate and control the dead; they could also command the magic in their own blood. And when another ingested their blood, they could use that magic on them.
But Alexander’s gift was different; it worked on the living—which defied the very definition of necromancy. Only one other gift was rumored to work on the living, but the details of that ability were too ridiculous to be believed. Elysia had always suspected that the so-called soul reaper gift was a fairy tale created by the untalented. Only the untalented would believe that a necromancer could take another’s soul.
“Worse than death?” Doug asked, pulling her attention back to him.
“I said almost.” She tried not to let her apprehension show as she continued. “When and where?”
“The Family plot, at midnight.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Doug looked like he wanted to say more, but a glance at James silenced him. He gave Ian a nod, then walked to his car and climbed inside. A moment later, he drove out of the cemetery.
“Elysia,” James said.
The bond tightened between them and she pulled in a breath. It always did that when he said her name—which made no sense. She had soul bound him, not the other way around. They should only be aware of the bond when she said his name.
“Don’t try to talk me out of this,” she said. “Both of you, please stop. I can do this. Telling me I can’t isn’t boosting my confidence.”
“Doug was willing,” James said. “I can track him to the lich.”
“You can’t take out Alexander until we know where Matilda is.” Matilda was Ian’s daughter, and she had been held captive nearly as long as Ian. Finding her tomb and freeing her was the main reason Elysia had decided to do this. “The goal isn’t just to kill Alexander, we need to free her.”
“Doug could learn her location.” James’s dark brows descended over his glowing eyes. “I’m sure he’ll do anything you ask.”
“Securing Doug’s cooperation isn’t the problem. The problem is that you’re not soul bound to him. He can’t summon you like I can. You would have no way of knowing when Doug had the information. And you must take Alexander the moment you jump through, or he will take you.”
James frowned, but didn’t argue. Being dead left him susceptible to necromancer control, and if Alexander got control of him, she didn’t think she could take him back. Ian had once taken James to illustrate her ineptitude, and she had no doubt that Alexander could do the same.
“Besides, Doug isn’t immune to Alexander’s magic. Once he gets control of him it would be over.”
“We don’t know that you’ll be immune, either.”
“Ian was—is.” She gestured at the man in question. “Why shouldn’t I be?”
“Then he can go.”
She glanced at Ian, but he maintained his silence. “So if Ian shows up in my place tonight, Doug’s father will take him to Alexander?”
James turned away, raking a hand through his dark hair.
“James—”
“I need to go.” He turned to Ian. “You’ll take her home?”
“Yes,” Ian said.
“James, wait.” Guilt squirmed through her gut when the command stopped him in mid-stride, but she didn’t apologize. “We’ve been over this. There’s no other way.”
“There’s always another way.” He headed for his car, climbed in, and drove out of the cemetery.
Elysia sighed, aware of Ian watching her. “I suppose that pleases you.”
“A relationship with the dead is not healthy,” Ian said. “But it does not please me to see you unhappy.”
She knew how he felt about James, but she wasn’t sure what to make of the rest of his statement.
He regarded her a moment in silence. “Your mind is no longer on this. We will return to the lab.”
She wanted to argue to the contrary, even though she knew he was right. But he pulled open a portal before she could speak and stepped through. She followed him into the land of the dead. The portal winked closed behind them, and they stood on a dark, featureless plain beneath a black sky. Dim red light provided some illumination, but she had never been able to figure out where the light emanated from.
Lost in thought, it took Elysia a minute to realize that Ian should have opened a portal into the mortal world by now. She looked over and found him watching her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Can you find the mortal plane?”
“You’ll teach me to travel?” Her heart beat faster in anticipation.
“I will make you aware of how it is done, but you are to use it only in an emergency.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but he raised a hand.
“Do not argue with me. This place is called the land of the dead for a reason. You do not belong.”
“I’m aware of the danger. I’ve heard the hellhounds.”
“And for that reason, you must always carry an iron knife with you.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a worn folding knife. “Iron is the only thing that can stop a hellhound.”
“Do you always have that on you?”
“I won’t hurt your grim.” He returned the knife to his pocket. “You must not lose your way in this place,” he continued the lecture. “You cannot feel it, but even now, it is wicking away your life force. Those without power, even weaker necromancers, cannot remain here long.”
“I know.”
“Close your eyes.”
She gave him another frown, but did as told.
“It should be easier for you to open a portal into the mortal realm rather than the other way around. Your soul knows where you belong, and your living body craves survival.”
“Keep in mind that the two realms are not distinct from each other. Death is a part of life.”
“Alternate realities. James said that you are actually standing in the same place, just in another dimension.”
“He is better at translating the concept into your modern terms, but bear in mind that he is a creature of both worlds and can cross between them as easily as breathing. I’ve seen him walk the veil where death meets life.”
Elysia opened her eyes. “Is that what he’s doing? I know he’s still in the mortal world, but he vanishes from sight, like a ghost.”
“In many ways, he is a ghost.”
“If this is the start of another lecture on—”
“Your eyes aren’t closed.”
She huffed out a breath and closed her eyes once more. “How do I actually open the portal once I sense the mortal world?”
“You send your soul into the veil, just as you would send your soul into a corpse.”
“Seriously?”
“That’s why only the most powerful necromancers can travel. We have the ability to send nearly all of our soul beyond the flesh that confines it. When a soul encounters the veil, it opens. You will learn to sense this and stop there, holding the veil open so your body can pass through.”
She tried to envision that and failed. “How can you send out your soul when death doesn’t call it?”
Ian sighed.
She opened her eyes to witness his frown. “What?”
“No offense to your esteemed grandmother, but you were taught by lesser necromancers and think as they do. You are not like them.”
A howl rose in the distance, and Elysia turned toward the sound. It was eerie how much it sounded like James, though she knew instinctively that it wasn’t. “Hellhound,” she whispered.
“Come.” A portal opened into the lab, and Ian stepped through.
She hurried after him.
“Welcome back,” Addie said from her place at one of the counters. She didn’t look up from the flask she was swirling. Technically, this lab and the apartment upstairs were hers. Addie was the alchemist who had found the Final Formula and traded it with Ian for the use of his lab equipment. That had been months ago. The pair were business partners now. “Did you have a good training session?”
“No,” Ian answered before Elysia could. “We have a lot of inaccurate information and ineffective techniques to overcome.”
Elysia crossed her arms.
Addie’s gaze shifted to her, an amused glint in her dark eyes. “What did Doug want?”
“I’m in. I go before Alexander tonight.”
Addie set down the flask she’d been swirling. “Tonight?” Her attention shifted to Ian. “Will our preparations be enough?”
“They will have to be,” he answered.
Elysia began to ask what it was that the two of them were working on, but he spoke before she could.
“Have you been at the bench the whole time we were gone?” Ian was frowning at Addie now.
“Don’t start.” Addie turned to her flask. “The doctor released me from all restrictions.”
“I doubt he anticipated that you’d work yourself into a relapse.”
“Hardly.”
Elysia bit her lip as they argued. It was clear that the pair cared for each other. What had been a business arrangement had grown into friendship. Or more accurately, something like a father-daughter relationship.
“Your color isn’t good,” Ian continued. “And you’re practically doubled-over.”
“Whatever.” Addie stood straighter.
“I’ll finish that.” Ian joined her at the workbench. “Go upstairs with Elysia. She’ll fix you something to eat.”
Addie propped her hands on her hips. “And now you’re ordering us both around?”
“I was going to make myself something,” Elysia said. “It’s no trouble.”
Addie shifted her frown from Ian to her. “You’re not helping.”
“If he’s nagging you, he’s not nagging me. And if we go upstairs, he won’t be nagging either of us.”
Ian was studying Addie’s notes, but Elysia caught the small smile.
“Well, the no nagging part sounds good, and I am a little hungry,” Addie admitted.
Ian shrugged off his coat and began rolling up his sleeves. “Go. I’ll take care of this.”
Addie remained long enough to give him some instructions, then followed Elysia up the stairs.
“Sit.” Elysia waved a hand at the kitchen table. “I’ll bring some sandwich fixings over.”
“I’m not an invalid,” Addie said.
“You’re not completely well, either—despite what the doctor says.” Elysia walked to the refrigerator to gather the lunchmeat, cheese, and a few other items. It had been a long day; a simple meal sounded best. Chair legs scraped across the floor behind her, and she made an effort not to smile.
“This is so frustrating,” Addie complained.
“You’re getting stronger every day.” Elysia set the items on the table and returned to the refrigerator for more. “Few people recover from an attempted soul ripping.” Addie had nearly been killed by a rogue grim. No, she had been killed. It was only through the efforts of her friends—both Old Magic and New—that she had been brought back.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Elysia rested a hand atop the refrigerator door and leaned down, eyeing the shelves. Where had the brown mustard gone? It wasn’t in the door, but she knew they had some.
“Don’t trouble yourself with the mustard,” Addie said. “I prefer mayo on cold cuts.”
Elysia straightened and frowned over the top of the door at her.
Addie finished opening the honeyed ham and looked up. Understanding dawned on her face an instant later. “I did it again.”
“Or I did.” Elysia closed the refrigerator.
Addie frowned. Neither of them knew how it worked, but ever since Elysia had used her necromancy to help save Addie’s life, Addie would occasionally pick up on her thoughts. Ian had suggested that Elysia was projecting them, and since Elysia had come so close to binding Addie’s soul, the two of them shared a connection. Ian could project his thoughts into someone’s mind without speaking, so it wasn’t a surprising ability for Elysia to have, but she feared it was something more. Alexander was a ghoul master with an ability to bind the living—and she was his descendant, too.
Elysia gathered the plates, bread, and utensils, and carried them to the table.
“As long as you don’t share any of your fantasies about James with me, we’re good.” Addie gave her a wink.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I pissed him off earlier.”
Addie lifted a brow, but didn’t ask.
“He doesn’t want me to go before Alexander, and when he brought it up in front of Doug, I more or less commanded him to shut up.”
“Ouch.”
“I shouldn’t have done that.” She shook her head. “But I’m just so tired of everyone doubting me. I can do this.”
“We’re just worried about you.” Addie pulled out a couple of slices of bread and began building a sandwich.
“Which is why you’re wearing yourself out in the lab.”
“If it wasn’t you, I’d find another reason. I’d go crazy if I had to be cooped up in this apartment much longer.”
“It has provided ample snuggle time with Rowan.” Elysia winked, then grabbed a couple slices of bread.
“He’s as bad as Ian. The doctor’s word is law as long as he’s prescribing rest. The moment th
e guy clears me, his advice doesn’t mean squat.” She rolled her eyes.
Elysia smiled. “Have you considered using lingerie to get your way?”
Addie snorted, though a little color showed in her cheeks. It was an improvement. Ian was right; she was too pale.
“I don’t own any,” Addie admitted.
“Oh, we’ve got to remedy that.”
The blush darkened. “You’re not taking me underwear shopping.”
“I could tell Era. I bet she’d have you a drawer of the stuff before the day is out.”
“Don’t you dare.” She looked so horrified that Elysia couldn’t help but laugh. Addie was a curious mix of brazen confidence and shy insecurity. She would go toe-to-toe with anyone, unintimidated by social status or magical power, but if the conversation turned personal, especially anything to do with Rowan, she blushed. It made her all kinds of fun to tease.
“Addie?” Ian’s voice echoed up the stairs. “Liquid or powder?”
“Liquid,” she called, then turned to Elysia. “I’d better get down there.”
“Addie.”
“I’ll take the sandwich. Don’t worry. He won’t let me do much.”
“If I stop teasing you?”
Addie frowned. “That’s not why I’m leaving. I forgot to explain the next step to him.” She picked up her sandwich and headed for the stairs.
“Uh-huh. Sure,” Elysia said to the empty room.
She eyed the sandwich she had been building, then began to return the components to their original packages. Tonight, she would face Alexander. She didn’t want to puke on his feet.
Elysia stood before the mirror on the back of her closet door and eyed her reflection. The brown necromancer’s robe fit her well, but then, she hadn’t changed much since it had been given to her on her eighteenth birthday. She didn’t think she had worn it since.