by Becca Andre
“I wasn’t being selfish. I was trying to protect you.”
“No, you were protecting yourself. You didn’t want to see what you had wrought. Well, using my magic is my decision. Leaving me ignorant, means I stumble into it blind. It doesn’t make me unable to use it.”
Ian frowned.
“Had I known how to travel, I could have gotten us out of there before Doug nearly died. Had I understood why Alexander was afraid of me, I could have used it to save Bella.”
“No,” Ian said, his tone stern. “You must never use it. Not even to travel.”
She glared at him, her eyes still lighter than they normally were. “Traveling is the least of my worries. I reaped another soul.” Another tear ran down her cheek.
James realized that she was talking about Doug. That bothered him on so many levels.
“Elysia, it’s okay.” Doug had walked over to join them, though he kept a hand on the counter for balance. “I don’t mind.”
“Good, but that’s not the point. That makes four.” She turned to Ian. “How many more do I have?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I—” She abruptly doubled over, pressing a hand to her chest. “He’s here.”
“Ely?” Doug asked.
A chill ran up James’s spine. “Alexander.”
Ian reacted the fastest, grabbing Elysia and pulling her against his chest. He slipped one hand around the back of her neck, pressing her face against his shirt, just beneath the bloody handprints she had left on the white fabric.
Elysia grunted and pushed against him, but she couldn’t get free. “Who’s the dead man holding me? It’s not the grim.”
Ian looked up, his gaze meeting Addie’s concerned expression. “The solvent.”
“I’ll have to brew some.” Addie said.
“Elysia,” James said. “Push him out.” He moved away from her, preparing to change.
“The more she reaps, the easier she becomes to control.” The voice was Elysia’s, but the tone was Alexander’s.
“He’s right,” Ian said.
“Is that you, Lory?” Elysia, or rather, Alexander asked.
James frowned at the name, until he realized that Alexander had shortened Mallory. A childhood nickname, or was he taunting Ian about losing the right to the Nelson surname?
Ian glanced up at Doug before turning to James. “You’d better watch him.” Ian jerked his chin toward Doug.
“I already gave him the solvent,” James said.
“It worked,” Doug added.
“It is Lory,” Elysia said, her laugh muffled by Ian’s shirt. “Is your face as pretty as mine?”
“Leave her, Lex,” Ian said through gritted teeth.
Elysia laughed again. “And leave this power? I don’t think so. Feel that?”
Ian grunted, but he didn’t let her go.
“She can take a lich’s soul as easily as taking a breath. The living, however, are a little more tricky. Your theories on soul transference were dead on—if you’ll excuse the pun.”
“Dear God,” Doug whispered.
“James,” Ian said, the name little more than an airy wheeze. “Change.”
Ian’s voice might be failing, but his power wasn’t. James became the hellhound an instant later.
“What are you doing, Lory?” Alexander asked.
Ian didn’t try to answer. He surged to his feet, keeping Elysia pressed against him, and pulled open a portal into the land of the dead.
“Don’t make me kill you,” Alexander said. “Again.”
Ian jumped through the portal, carrying Elysia with him. “James, follow!”
The portal began to close, but James caught it, leaping through after them.
Ian let go of Elysia and fell to his knees at her feet.
She took a few stumbling steps away from him and doubled over, holding her head. “He’s gone, but you’re not. I feel you, inside me. It’s like I’ve tethered your soul.”
James stared in fascinated horror at the fine glittering rope that stretched between Ian and her. It was the same brightness and hue as Ian’s vibrant soul, but once it reached Elysia, it vanished into her sun-like brilliance.
“You must release me, Elysia,” Ian whispered. “I’ve already been Made. If you reap me, you will take it all, and that will destroy you.”
So he claims, James said.
Ian glared up at him. If James’s true form made him uneasy, it didn’t show at all. “This isn’t about me, or you, this is about her. My brother was right. Soul transference does work, but if the soul being transferred belongs to a powerful necromancer, you sacrifice the soul reaper in the process. Elysia cannot hold my soul within her own.”
“I don’t want to know how you know that,” Elysia whispered. Her brow wrinkled as she watched him. “Let me try to release you.”
The rope between Elysia and Ian glittered brighter, then Ian’s soul suddenly dimmed.
“No!” Ian shouted.
Wrong way, James said. You were taking, not letting go.
“But that’s how I release a tether,” she said. “It’s always worked before.”
“On the living. I’ve already been Made.” Ian looked up at James. “Do you have enough finesse to free me from her? If so, do it.”
James showed him his teeth. You can’t command me here.
“I know. I’m trying to get through the animal to the man beneath. If you care about her half as much as you claim, you will try.”
This is how I manipulate souls. James held up a hand, displaying his ebony claws. She has tied your soul to hers, and her soul is inside her.
Ian bowed his head, then gave it a small shake. “There is so much I have to make right, but I can’t hurt her, and I can’t ask you to.” He looked up, meeting James’s eyes once more. “If she cannot release me, take my soul. Don’t let this destroy her.”
James didn’t know what to say. If Ian was willing to give himself to save Elysia, maybe he really did care. But this was a hell of a time for that realization.
“Why didn’t you tell me I was a soul reaper?” Elysia asked Ian, her voice soft.
“I didn’t want you to give up.”
“Then you don’t know me very well.”
“No, I don’t. But I would like to.”
Her brow wrinkled, and she looked up at James.
You’re going to ask me to do this.
“When you and Gavin fought in this place, I watched you each tear out little pieces of each other’s souls. I know you have the finesse.”
You saw what Gavin did to Addie. I can’t do that to you.
“But you can heal me.”
What if I can’t? Addie took weeks to heal. You would endure that, for him? James waved a hand at Ian.
“If he’s telling the truth, then I think he should be given the opportunity to make amends. And if you want to be self-serving about it, his knowledge will be really helpful in dealing with his brother.”
Ian bowed his head, a small smile curling his mouth.
Elysia reached out and gripped James’s arm. “Would it be easier if I commanded you?”
Nothing will make this easier.
“Then you might as well get it over with.”
James stared down at her, studying her brilliant soul. This form was the one that enabled him to see souls the clearest, because this form was a hunter of souls. What he saw within Elysia bothered him. Had he not looked at her this closely, or had she changed so much? He probably wouldn’t notice if he had looked at her with the hound’s sight while on the mortal plane. Her soul outshone all others, but here he could see other hues within that brightness. Bits of other souls that she had pulled within herself and made them part of
her, expanding her power. Yet a mortal body could only hold so much. He suddenly understood the danger she was in.
He reached out and ran a finger over the bright rope linking Elysia and Ian. They both gasped. Ian’s soul dimmed a little more while Elysia’s brightened.
James jerked his hand away. That won’t work. He growled the words.
Elysia reached up and opened the brown necromancer’s robe she still wore. Then pulled up her T-shirt, revealing her stomach.
James admired the smooth skin over toned muscle. Then she spoke.
“Do it.”
The words were a command, and he pulled back his lips with a snarl. Catching her shoulder with one hand, he drove the opposite one into her stomach, claws first.
Elysia screamed.
Chapter 17
Pain ripped through her and Elysia screamed again, unable to hold it in. This was much worse than anything she had ever felt. Losing her finger had been nothing compared to how much this hurt. This pain went deep. Soul deep. Literally.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. So sorry. James’s mental voice was almost a howl. He drew his fingers together, dragging his claws through her flesh.
Her throat was getting raw, but she couldn’t seem to make herself be quiet. She couldn’t even take command of her voice to order him to stop.
Elysia. I got him. Look at me.
She blinked her eyes, trying to focus on the monster kneeling over her. Somehow, she had ended up on the ground, the odd, soft ground, beneath him. He held up one clawed hand, and even in the dimness, she could see the blood wetting his fingers. Or maybe she knew it was blood by the iron-rich scent hanging in the air.
Something shimmered around his claws, then he opened his hand. The shimmer faded away. A groan sounded, and she turned her head. Ian still knelt a few feet away.
Her throat hurt too much to speak. Ian? Are you…
He lifted his head, his blue eyes meeting hers. “I’m fine.” He pushed himself to his feet and walked over to them. “Damn it, James.”
James, still crouched beside her, snarled.
Shh. She reached up and ran a hand along his muzzle, silencing him.
James’s eyes remained on Ian. It wasn’t just you that I…extracted. His index finger was still curled against his palm, but he opened it now, displaying a glowing white slug impaled on his claw.
Elysia cleared her throat. “Is that—”
A piece of Alexander Nelson’s soul? Yes.
“You…extracted him? He can no longer control me.”
Never again.
“Oh.” She stared at the slug. “If you can do that, can you,” she hesitated. “Can you pull out the others?” She hoped he couldn’t hear the hope in her voice.
No. They’re in too deep. They’re part of you. Alexander was separate. A parasite. You hadn’t taken him into your soul.
“God, no. I—” She fell silent as James brought the slug to his mouth. Then to her horror, he ate it.
He bowed his head and a shiver rolled over the midnight fur that covered his back. He’d better not venture into hell while I’m here.
“You ate his soul?”
Still crouched before her, James looked up. Around the pupils of his glowing green eyes, she could see a slim band of red. He blinked, and it was gone.
Yes. Now he won’t be able to shake me off next time he comes here. He cocked his head as he watched her. I won’t let him touch you again.
She swallowed. “You ate that, for me?”
Of course. Why else would I? Do you think I want to end up as insane as Gavin?
“Eating souls will make you crazy?”
From what I’ve observed.
“I guess it works the same for both of us.”
She rolled onto her side and pushed herself into a sitting position. She had intended to get to her feet, but pain laced her middle, and she doubled over holding her stomach. Her hand came away slicked with more blood than she expected.
His eyes fell to her stomach, and he placed one clawed hand over her own. I need to heal you.
“I’ll get her,” Ian offered, dropping to a knee beside her. Before either of them could speak, he scooped her up in his arms.
“Take me to my room,” she said. She didn’t want the others to see what James had been forced to do.
Ian frowned, but didn’t comment. Light spilled into the land of the dead as a portal opened. Ian stepped through, and they stood in her room over Addie’s lab. The welcome familiarity of her bed and things had her blinking her eyes. She was home. She hadn’t accomplished what she’d wanted to, but she had faced Alexander, the original Deacon, and survived.
A thump sounded across the room, and she realized that James was closing the drawer to her dresser. A moment later, he stepped into view adjusting the waistband of another pair of sweatpants. She was going to need to get him a few more pair.
“You can set me down,” she said to Ian.
Ian did as she asked without comment, and she gritted her teeth against the pain in her stomach. James hadn’t dug nearly as deep as Gavin had with Addie—she had literally been ripped open. But this still hurt.
Ian’s hand settled on her back, his forehead wrinkled in concern.
“It’s just a few deep scratches,” she reassured him. “Go let Addie know you’re okay.”
He frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“You can make up for it by teaching me to use my magic.”
His frown deepened.
“Ignorance isn’t going to save me.”
“You’re right.” He stepped away, but he didn’t leave the room. Instead, he glanced between the two of them. “I will tell you a little about your gift, but I will never teach you to use it.”
“But—”
“No. There will never be a situation dire enough for its use to be worth the risk.”
“Tell us what you will, then leave,” James said. “I need to heal her.”
Elysia realized she was doubled over the arm she had wrapped around her stomach. She tried to stand straighter.
“I’ll make it quick.” Ian turned to her. “When you use your active power, even to only let off pressure or animate a single zombie, you are reaping. A corpse is relatively harmless. Any trace of the soul that is left behind is minuscule. Especially in the older ones.”
“That’s why you always took me to the old graveyards to practice.”
“Yes. You would have to animate thousands of zombies before you would ever notice a change. And if you can master the ability to get in and out quickly, you’ll take even less.”
His lessons were starting to make sense. “What happens when I reap the living?”
“James can probably tell you more about that than me. All I can say for certain is down that path lies madness.”
She looked up at James.
“Your power grows with each one,” he answered, “and a person can only hold so much.”
“And the more it grows, the more you must exercise it,” Ian said. “And the more you exercise it, the more you absorb.”
She was beginning to see why he had kept silent about her gift. “I can’t win.”
Ian held her gaze, those blue eyes so much like his brother’s, yet so different. “No, you can’t. The more you mess with the dead, the more it hurts you. You are a necromancer, yet for you the dead are a lethal toxin.”
James straightened.
Ian must have caught the movement, too, because he addressed him next. “That is why I’ve been trying to discourage this relationship between the two of you. I like you, James. If she wasn’t a soul reaper, I would give you my blessing in a heartbeat.”
“If either of us had one,” James muttered. He was frowning, but Elysia wasn’t so sure it
was in anger.
“What are you saying?” she asked Ian. “Why can’t I be with James? He’s not zombie dead.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, every time you get…amorous with him, you feed your soul into him. That’s no different from an animation.”
She tried to ignore her blush. “But he doesn’t have a soul to absorb. His isn’t bound to the mortal plane.”
“You didn’t lose your grip on my soul when we traveled between planes.”
She didn’t have a response for that.
“Heal her,” Ian said to James, “then think about what I said?”
“I’m not the kind who just gives up,” James said, “but I will think on it.”
Ian nodded, then his gaze moved to her.
“I don’t give up, either.”
“I’m a bit stubborn myself.” He gave them a sad smile, then left the room.
“Close the door?” she asked James after he left.
He did as she asked while she shrugged off her brown necromancer’s robe. “I want to burn this thing.”
“We can have a little ceremony in the back alley later.” He stepped up behind her and helped her pull it off.
She looked down at the long-sleeved T-shirt she wore underneath. The black fabric was wet with blood.
“Where’s the journal?” he asked.
She glanced back and found him checking the pockets of her robe. “Oh, Ian’s journal. I don’t know. I guess it fell out?”
James frowned. “Are you sure?”
“No. Why? What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t want Neil to get it. It’s full of alchemy notes.”
“Good point. We need to go back to the catacombs, anyway.”
“To find out what happened to Matilda?” James asked.
“And to find out who was controlling those liches below her tomb. Whoever it was told me she was a soul reaper, but Bella got both of her sisters away from Alexander.”