by Becca Andre
Neil busied himself transferring a variety of supplies from the countertop to his cart.
Elysia glanced around in search of something, anything she could do to stop this. Though there was nothing to be done for James’s brother, Neil clearly wasn’t finished. And she was quickly learning that whatever Neil intended wouldn’t be good.
While Neil had his back to her, Elysia took the opportunity to take several steps to her right, closer to the counter that ran through the center of the room. An assortment of lab equipment and reagent bottles lined the surface, and she entertained the notion of throwing something at him. The change in position gave her a view along the other side of the counter, and she stopped in surprise. Kari lay sprawled on the tile floor at the far end of the room.
Elysia hurried along the back of the counter and dropped to her knees beside her, but the girl’s cool skin and silent heart told her nothing. She touched Kari’s cheek, then jerked her hand away when the girl’s eyes rotated toward her.
Neil stepped around the end of the counter.
“What have you done to her?” Elysia gripped Kari’s hand.
“Your affection for your creation is… disturbing,” Neil said with a smile. “But fear not. I’ve only denied her the ability to move. It’s nearly impossible to knock the dead insensate.” He returned to his cart and began pushing it toward the door. “Come along.”
Given no choice, Elysia did as commanded.
Elysia could do nothing but watch as Neil checked the blood bag he had rigged for James’s brother—or what had been James’s brother. For what felt like the hundredth time, Elysia wished she had her power back. From where she sat on her stool, she could see the rise and fall of his chest, but that didn’t mean he lived. James’s chest also rose and fell, an observation that gave her some comfort. The bag of blood had come from him, and he bled still.
With gloved hands, Neil adjusted the IV he had inserted into the brother’s arm. Satisfied, he selected a penlight from his cart and checked his pupils. It seemed Neil had had some medical training. From her experience, most members of the Nelson family had.
“You said that James doesn’t heal, that he could bleed out unless he changes,” Elysia reminded Neil.
“That is correct.” Neil didn’t look up from what he was doing. “Grim physiology is fascinating. I’d love to study it more.”
“Shouldn’t you remove James’s collar?” Neil had forced her to place the collar back around James’s throat as soon as they returned to the room.
Neil glanced at her before turning back to what he was doing. “Do you really think it’s in the best interest of… anyone that the Deacon or the Flame Lord be given the power to command the grim?”
Elysia frowned. “The Flame Lord?”
“That’s who he works for.”
Neil’s comment about Doug’s father starting a war between Old Magic and New now made sense.
She glanced at James, but he didn’t respond. He stared at the ceiling, as he had for the last half hour. Had it hurt him that much to kill his brother? From what he had told her about his family, she couldn’t imagine him having any affection for them.
“So,” Elysia faced Neil, “you’re going to let him… cease to be?”
Neil didn’t answer. He finished adjusting the IV, then started the pump to transfer James’s blood into his brother.
“You’re taking the grim,” she said, as the horror of what he was really doing set in. “But in a form no one will recognize.”
“Brilliant, don’t you think?” Neil straightened and gave her a smile.
“I think I’ll refrain from saying what I really think.” Her words were glib, but her heart thumped a nervous beat. She had to get James free, but had no idea how. Neil had commanded her onto this stool, after forcing her to inhale another dose of that powder. She couldn’t leave the stool even if she knew what to do.
Neil chuckled at her comment and picked up something off his cart. The fluorescent light winked off the scalpel he held. Elysia tensed, afraid he was going to help James’s bleeding along, but Neil returned to James’s brother instead. With a callus indifference that suggested he had done this many times, he ran the scalpel across the tip of his left ring finger.
“Heart’s blood,” he told her.
“Superstition.” Blood was blood.
“Is it?” He returned the scalpel to the cart. “Something tells me you haven’t studied your necromancy as you should.”
“Because I’m not a monster like you?”
“Because your family has to throw themselves on the Deacon’s mercy. Had you been at the helm, things might have been different.”
She frowned. “Are you saying he would have respected us?”
“He wouldn’t have had the balls to open those new funeral parlors in your hometown. He would have feared you.”
“The Deacon. Fear me?”
“My dear Miss Mallory, there are only two necromancers alive right now with the ability to create a lich with the very power of their blood—and you are one of them.”
“The Deacon is the other?”
Neil smiled and returned to his grim-in-the-making. With his opposite hand, he opened the man’s mouth, then pushed his bleeding finger inside.
Elysia frowned. Now what was he up to? “What are you going to do with Kari?” she asked.
“Kari?”
“My companion.”
“Oh. You keep interesting company, Miss Mallory. Once this task is complete, I’ll call my uncle and tell him I found his problem. That should net me a few brownie points.”
“Why would you bother?”
“There are reasons. You—” Neil stopped and the thing that had been James’s brother growled. “No,” Neil said. He didn’t pull his finger from the man’s mouth. “You are mine, Gavin Huntsman. For as long as I live, you are mine. When my life ends, so does yours.”
The hairs on Elysia’s arms stood up. Neil had soul bound him, without removing his heart. He had used only the power of his blood.
“Not the Deacon, you,” she whispered.
Neil turned to face her, wiping his finger on his robe. “Indeed, Miss Mallory. We are heirs to the throne.”
“The throne? What throne? The only thing this power grants us is an early death.”
“That’s a bit shortsighted.”
Their conversation was cut short as the new grim snarled. “You soul bound me, necromancer.”
“Yes,” Neil confirmed. “I would think it a fair trade for getting you out of the land of shades.”
He opened his eyes, glowing red eyes, and glared at Neil. “And now I am destined to go back.” His accent was all wrong for a twenty-first century American.
“You seem to doubt that I can make myself immortal,” Neil said.
Elysia studied Neil. The guy hid it well, but when you got right down to it, he was as crazy as any stunted necromancer.
The man that had been James’s brother tried to sit up.
“Lie still,” Neil said.
His new grim growled and flopped back down.
“He obeys you?” Elysia asked. How did that work if Neil was stunted?
“I gave this body’s previous occupant a potion. A potion designed around the necromantic power in my blood. Clever, huh?”
Neil returned to his charge, leaving Elysia to worry in silence.
James turned his head, those vibrant green eyes meeting hers. Was it her imagination, or did they look a little glassy? Did he realize that she had damned him the moment she bound him?
Neil snapped on a pair of gloves, and to Elysia’s relief, began to remove the IVs from both James and his new charge. He sacked up the waste and headed for the door.
“Wait!” Elysia called. “Please
let James heal.”
Neil met her eyes. “Gavin, put him back in the drawer.” Without waiting to see if he would obey, Neil left the room.
Oh God, no.
The new grim, Gavin, rose to his feet. He swayed and caught himself on the table, then stumbled across the intervening space to James’s table. He snorted. “New body.”
James fisted his hands, but didn’t say anything.
“Please, Gavin.” Elysia shifted on her stool. “Let him heal.”
Gavin looked up, his eyes taking on that disturbing glow while he studied her. “I want to taste you.” He watched her for a moment longer, then turned his attention to releasing James’s ankles.
Elysia gripped her hands. “I’ll let you,” she whispered.
Gavin’s head came up, his red gaze locked with hers.
“If you free him,” she finished.
“Don’t.” James twisted on the table, trying to see her.
Gavin pulled back his lips, his eyes still on her. “You’ll try to bind me.”
“Not if you free him.”
“I cannot disobey my master.”
“Give James the key when you put him away.”
Gavin’s grin became more feral—if that was possible. “I like that, pretty necromancer. You are devious.”
Gooseflesh rose along her arms, but she didn’t look away.
“Elysia, no,” James whispered.
“You’re not going to perish because of me,” she said.
Gavin chuckled and went to work on James’s restraints. When he freed a wrist, James took a swing at him.
Gavin caught his fist against his palm and tsked. “None of that, little brother.” He picked James up, locking his arms around James’s upper body when he continued to struggle. He carried him to the mortuary drawer that still stood open and dropped him on the tray. When James tried to rise, Gavin shoved him down with one hand to his chest, then slid the drawer in and slammed the door.
“You are bound in iron,” Gavin said. “Even in this new body, I can defeat you easily.”
Elysia gripped the stool beneath her as Gavin turned to regard her. “The key is on Neil’s cart. Quickly, before he returns.”
The corner of Gavin’s mouth twitched upward. It was creepy how he reminded her of James. The hair wasn’t as dark, and the eyes—when not glowing—were hazel green, but the family resemblance was still there.
“You will be in my debt, pretty necromancer.”
“Yes, I will.” She glanced toward the door. “Please hurry.”
A final grin and he did just that, his stride more easy and coordinated. He snatched up the key, then glanced at the door. “My master comes.”
“Hurry,” she whispered.
“Gavin won’t disappoint you.” A flash of teeth, and he sprang across the room, jerked open the door, and tossed the key inside.
It clattered against the steel lining of the drawer and Elysia grimaced. Would James be able to reach it? There was only an inch or so of space on either side of the tray he lay on. He wouldn’t be able to squeeze his hand through the gap. Worse, what if the key had landed beneath the tray near his feet? He couldn’t turn in the tight confines of the drawer.
Gavin slammed the door as Neil returned. “I did as you asked, master.”
“Of course you did,” Neil said, not even glancing in Gavin’s direction. He gathered up a couple of vials from his cart and tucked them away in the long narrow pockets lining his ribs. “Gavin, there’s a dead woman on the floor in the lab. Go get her and put her in one of these drawers.”
“Which drawer?” Gavin asked, nonplused about being asked to fetch a dead woman.
Neil turned to Elysia, tipping his head toward the drawers. “Find an empty drawer to put your friend in.”
Gritting her teeth, Elysia rose to her feet and did as told. She wanted to check on James and make certain he had the key, but with Neil in the room, she didn’t get the opportunity.
Gavin returned a few minutes later with Kari slung over his shoulder. He walked to the drawer Elysia had pulled open and callously dropped Kari onto the tray. Her head bounced against the metal with a clang.
“Hey, easy.” Elysia stepped up beside her and smoothed her hair. Kari’s wide eyes focused on her.
“Unhealthy, Elysia,” Neil said.
Gavin chuckled softly.
Elysia ignored them both. “I’m sorry.” She rested a hand against Kari’s forehead. “He’s bound me with the same potion.”
Concern and perhaps sadness entered Kari’s eyes.
Elysia glanced at Neil. He was busy straightening his cart’s contents. She caught a glint of metal as he cleaned the scalpel on his black robes.
An idea forming, Elysia glanced around for something sharp. When she found nothing, she brought her hand to her mouth and pinched a small chunk of flesh between her teeth. The muscles in her jaw tensed and she hesitated, anticipating the pain. Odd that the prospect of James scratching her had been so exciting. Maybe because he could heal her.
James. He would bleed to death if he couldn’t reach that key.
Elysia bit down. Blinking her watering eyes, she pulled her finger from her mouth. Blood welled along the gash she had made.
Gavin growled, his attention on her finger.
“Later,” Elysia whispered, then pushed her finger between Kari’s lips. “Sorry.” A quick glance at Neil, and she whispered the words for a soul bond—and felt nothing when she finished. Did it even work?
Gavin stood watching, his eyes glowing faintly as she pulled her finger from Kari’s mouth. Elysia shivered, but tried to ignore his notice. He didn’t rat her out to Neil, and that was what mattered.
“Gavin.” Neil’s voice made Elysia jump. Had he seen?
“Shove in the drawer and come with me,” Neil continued. “We’re leaving.”
Elysia took a step back as Gavin did as he was told.
“You, too, Elysia,” Neil said.
“Where are we going?” She walked toward him, and Gavin slammed the door shut behind her.
“I can’t leave you here to tell Doug what I’ve done.”
“I’m not going back to Doug.”
“What a shame.” Neil shook his head. “He’ll be heartbroken, but I’m afraid you can’t just… go.”
“But—”
“I could kill you.”
She didn’t have an argument for that.
“Once you go insane perhaps, I’ll return you to him—in front of his father. That should prove amusing.”
She stopped beside him, keeping him between her and Gavin. “What makes you think I’ll go crazy?”
“You’re not as strong as I am. One whisper of a possible curse, and you cave in to despair. I was born stunted, my life has been nothing but despair—and now I stand on the cusp of having it all.” A wink, and he turned toward the door. “Come along, you two.”
She glanced toward James’s drawer. “Kari,” she whispered, not sure the girl could hear her, let alone if she would obey. “Free the grim from his drawer.”
Chapter
15
“It seems apt, don’t you think?” Neil stopped to let her get a good look at the mausoleum.
Elysia stared at the name carved over the door. The sun was rising and the weak light left most of the cemetery in shadow, except for a bright beam of sunlight that had snagged on the name, illuminating it in an odd brilliance. Mallory.
“Come inside. I want to show you something.” Neil walked toward the mausoleum, winding his way among the headstones to the rusted door.
Aware of Gavin standing behind her, Elysia hurried after Neil.
A simple hasp was the mausoleum’s only security. Neil pulled out a flashlight and led her inside. The d
erelict building had multiple holes in the roof, letting in some of the early morning light. It left the musty place shrouded in shadows, and she longed for a flashlight of her own.
Elysia came to a stop, eyeing the black stone sarcophagus in the center of the room.
Neil walked ahead of her, shining his flashlight on the lid. She was close enough to see the name and sucked in a breath. This was Ian Mallory’s tomb.
“I guess you recognize the name.” Neil gave her a smile. He turned to Gavin. “Remove the lid.”
Gavin stepped forward and, without comment, began to wrestle the heavy lid from the sarcophagus. His movements were easy and sure, and though he grunted with the awkwardness of the large lid, he seemed to already possess the strength of the dead.
Elysia gripped her hands as Gavin finally slid the lid off. She didn’t want to peer inside.
“Don’t look so concerned.” Neil stepped up to the side of the sarcophagus. “Look.”
She had seen death in various states. The dead didn’t frighten her the way they seemed to scare the untalented, but this was one grave she didn’t want to gaze into. What if he had been Made. What if—
Neil’s potion still commanded her obedience, and her legs carried her over to join him. He pointed his flashlight inside and she gasped. It wasn’t a sarcophagus, it was a stairway leading down into a crypt.
“Ingenious, huh?” Neil hopped up to sit on the waist-high wall and swung his legs over. “Come on.” He started down the stairs, taking his light with him and leaving Elysia in the gloom with Gavin. That, as much as the command, got her moving.
She climbed up on the wall.
“Shall I help you?” Gavin moved closer, his eyes glowing faintly.
“No, I got it.” She swung her legs over.
Gavin was beside her in an instant. “Remember, you promised.” His hot breath stirred the hair beside her ear.
“I know.” She swung her legs over and hurried down the steps after Neil.