“Four in the morning, you got a date or something?” she asked in a teasing voice.
I shook my head, “Nope, classes in… six hours. I’m almost afraid to ask, but taint?”
“A necromancer that uses a lot of power builds up a taint, like a residue? It inevitably drives them insane. It’s where the stories of armies of the dead come from. Necromancers always turn bad. They become twisted and evil from using the magic. It isn’t so much raising the dead, and calling a spirit back to life, but the amount of power it takes to do it. I don’t know how it’s possible, but you don’t have any taint at all, maybe because you’ve only messed with ghosts?”
“I don’t know either, is that why you didn’t notice me picking off the ghosts?”
She nodded, “It’s not a Necromancer’s magic I’d feel, it’s a part of the judgement ability. I wouldn’t be able to miss a Necromancer that was tainted, they feel oily and evil, and sooner or later, they’re all tainted.”
I didn’t ask the most obvious question, how could I have both Nephilim and Necromancer blood? Most likely my father raped my mother, and then I got stuck in a small town somehow when I was born? I think I was more upset about that, than the thought of dying.
Maybe I didn’t really believe I was going to die. Well, maybe if Matt was in charge. Christina seemed ready to just let me go now, so I guess it was really up to dad, whatever his name was. He hadn’t seemed all that thrilled with me, but he wasn’t bloodthirsty either.
Or maybe I was just lying to myself, so I wouldn’t spend the last hour or so of my life blubbering like a baby. It seemed far more likely I was in shock, than anything else. But… I didn’t feel like I was in shock, I was enjoying the bantering with my beautiful captor.
“So… business classes?”
She smiled, “Yeah, we run things like a business, we still need to see to the practical things in life. Most of it is old money, and investments, but we need to understand the changing and evolving business practices, laws, and rules.”
I nodded, “I plan on opening my own business, though I hadn’t decided on what yet.”
She just shook her head and turned away.
“What? Am I dead?”
She shrugged and her voice sounded almost regretful, “If you’re spared because of your unique… parentage. You’re a part of our world now Tom, there’s no going back. College maybe, but your life plans? I’m sorry, I’ll be right back,” and she left the room.
Chapter Four
Now what in the hell did that mean?
I thought about our conversation, and all she told me. I realized she hadn’t really told me anything.
Fae, shifters, witches, necromancers, and… hell, she hadn’t even said the name of her race, the race I was supposed to be half of? She’d just said they had the blood of Nephilim, but weren’t that. So… what were they?
The rest, the other four races, were just undefined words. Witches brought up pictures of broomsticks, cauldrons, and spells. Fae brought up images of an alien and sometimes heartlessly cruel race, afraid of iron. Shifters… werewolves, werecats, and other animals, lycanthropy. But was any of those things in my mind really accurate? I didn’t resemble the necromancers of legend either, but then I was just half necromancer, and untainted.
She had explained vampires as well, sort of. In the real world they were just flunkies apparently. Hired muscle of sorts, with a hankering for blood.
Was there a combined government? Five governments, or were all the necromancer’s anarchists?
The more I thought about our conversation, the more I realized all her answers were pretty much meaningless without a whole lot of contextual information I lacked. So, what does it mean that I can’t go back, and why did she seem so regretful about it?
Would I have to join this supernatural police force of sorts? How did that work? Did they work in cells, or as families, communities, military?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. I’d been wondering where the panic was… and I’d most definitely found it. High heartrate, hyperventilating, all that stuff. What the hell was I going to do, assuming dear old dad didn’t just kill my ass.
But wait a minute, why now?
Wait… had it been Christina’s presence that kept me calm? She was hot, gorgeous beyond belief, and seemed nice even for one of my captors that had me strapped to a chair, but no one was that hot.
Still, I clearly remember the panic before they’d come in the room, and it had only come back once she’d left. Magic of some kind maybe?
Damn, now she’s gotten me thinking that way. It’s just energy… maybe the taint is some kind of resultant radiation from handling the power? Necromancy could be like… the nuclear energy of the supernatural world. Not evil, just… toxic. I laughed, and it sounded a bit hysterical to my ears. I took another deep breath.
I supposed it didn’t really matter, if science can’t explain or measure it yet, it might as well be called magic.
“If you want to convince us you’re not crazy, you should probably avoid the unhinged laughter.”
The voice sounded familiar, but not quite the same. I opened my eyes and looked over at the door, and there was a young woman maybe three or four years younger than Christina. Same vivid blue eyes, and midnight hair, but her face was structured just a bit differently. I had no doubts it was a younger sister though, she looked maybe seventeen or eighteen. She was also in a leotard and yoga pants, which were quite flattering on her.
I made a concerted effort to keep my eyes above her neck, and away from the swell of her cleavage.
“Hi. I’m Tom, your captive, who would you be?”
She smiled, “Serena, I’m impressed, you almost seem sane now.”
I snorted, “I’m a bit stressed, this is going to make me miss an assignment for class later. You know what it’s like to fall behind in school.”
She shook her head in faux sadness, and then smirked, “See, I was rooting for you, but there you go with the crazy again.”
I frowned, whatever effect Christina had on me wasn’t duplicated in her sister. It wasn’t a lack of looks, that was for sure. God had been just as generous with Serena as he had been with Christina. Which was both comforting and confusing. Comforting because that meant I wasn’t that shallow, although I already knew that mostly, only my atypical response to Christina had put that in doubt. And it was also confusing, because I had no clue as to what it was really about.
Maybe it worked both ways? She’d said she’d been surprised at answering my questions. I also kind of doubted that Christina spared a lot of smiles for her other captives, and she’d smiled at me a few times during our conversation.
I replied in mock hauteur, “Education is extremely important young lady, and should always be of concern.”
Oh god, that did sound a bit crazy. My banter abilities were definitely compromised when I was panicking. Tied down, panicking and tied down.
“Serena,” a deeper disapproving voice said, “What are you doing in there.”
Serena sighed and made a face, “I’m supposed to be training,” she said in a confiding voice.
She waved a hand at the door, “This is Timothy, my torturer.”
Timothy looked to be in his fifties, salt and pepper hair, and steely gray eyes. With just a glance I could tell he was intense. I’d also guess he was ex-military by his bearing. I also wondered how old he really was, Christina had said they aged slower. How much slower?
Timothy cleared his throat, “Let’s go Serena. Also, we call it training, torture is what happens when you sass your instructor overly much. Now move!”
He’d barked those last two words like a drill sergeant, and Serena ran out of the door like her feet were on fire.
Timothy smiled, “Timothy Salvador, I’m actually the trainer in Chicago.”
“Why are you telling me?”
He kept smiling, and it wasn’t a comforting smile, “You’ll find out shortly.”
Oh great. He left me in peace then, to panic some more…
I blew up against my nose, this was definitely cruel and unusual torture. My ass was asleep, and my nose itched. I couldn’t move. Okay, better than car batteries, bamboo shoots, and dripping water to the forehead, but really, this sucked. I was ready to be unlocked or killed.
Damn, now I had a cramp in my leg. I also had to pee, badly, that long island ice tea was coming back with a vengeance.
Finally, the original three came back into the room, and despite everything I’d thought about not getting sucked into their world, I’d be willing to sign a slave contract if I could scratch my nose and take a leak.
Perversely, I was also thirsty and my throat was parched.
“Well, if you haven’t heard it yet, I’m Carl Limner. I’m in charge of Chicago, or of keeping it policed to put it in a way you’d understand. We’ve decided not to kill you because of your dual and dueling natures, but that means you belong to us. Any questions?”
“A whole lot of them, but first, I need to use the facilities.”
Christina bit her lip and turned her head, obviously trying not to laugh.
I said, “No really, I’m about to burst here, we can talk after, for hours if you’d like. I’d really like to know what that means, belong to you.”
Carl nodded, and moved forward to unlock my restraints, I also felt calm, even though I knew I shouldn’t, and I looked at Christina questioningly. By the look on her face, she didn’t have any answers either. There had to be an explanation, but I couldn’t imagine what it was.
It was also much stronger than my original obsession, which was to find out the truth about her and the ghosts that had attached themselves. That had just been strong curiosity, this was something entirely different.
I heard an angry breath, which made me turn from her and look at Matt. Oh, so that’s how it was, and why he hated me. He would hate any man Christina showed the slightest interest in, even as friends, the guy was jealous.
Either Christina was blind to it for some reason, or she was just ignoring it.
Carl said, “This way.”
I frowned as we walked into a large corridor, and realized my holding room was inside of a building, and I glanced at the elevator and it said S3, so that explained the no window thing, we were three levels below the ground.
He brought me to a bathroom, and I took care of business. After, I washed my hands and face, and rubbed my nose and sighed in relief. Torturing bastards.
I smirked to myself, and then went back into the hallway, where he led us to another room, which was a lounge of sorts. There was a side table with bottles of water, and I helped myself before I sat down in one of the leather chairs. The décor was relaxing, but I knew it was Christina’s presence that was really doing it, and I had to know why. I also got the idea from her obvious confusion, that was one thing they didn’t know.
“So, what do you mean, belong to you?”
Carl frowned, “It’s odd, every one of the Blood learns this as toddlers.”
“The Blood?”
That was a ridiculous name for a race.
Carl nodded, “Short for Nephilim Blood, it is what we are called. A reminder of our blood oaths, and who we serve.”
Serve? That can’t be good.
“Maybe start from the beginning?”
Carl sighed, but nodded, “In the beginning of our recorded histories, the five supernatural races were united. Nephilim, Fae, Witch, Shifter, and Necromancer. The Nephilim were strongest, demi, or perhaps even minor gods. They had powers to shape reality itself, creation magic.
“The angels had since been confined to heaven, after the fall. Our generations are very long, our people live four hundred years, but after several generations, the Nephilim became more and more diluted with human blood. Our race has always been few, there are only five of us here in Chicago, and two of those are my own daughters.
“I digress, the point was, it was necessary then as it is now, for our people to take human partners. Not always, but often enough to make a difference in the long term. History is not entirely clear, but there was some kind of break in the council, because of the Nephilim race losing power, an imbalance and vacuum of power was created.
“As is usual with humanity, even the supernatural races, that vacuum led to war. Following so far?”
I nodded, “Satan fell, no more angels, weakening blood, war.”
He smiled, “Exactly, we aren’t sure why, but one of the results of the war was that the necromancers started to go insane, and turn evil. They could no longer practice their craft. It wasn’t always dark, the necromancers were the ones who would call on our ancestor’s spirits for advice, or help those ghosts stuck on the mortal plane to pass over. They would also create creatures of burden, or wights to carry messages far distances.
“But no longer, they went insane, each and every one of them. They always do, eventually. They raised huge armies of undead, vampires as cunning assassins, wights were a serious problem that way as well, since they are nothing but spirit and no buildings or fortifications could hold them back, and many thousands of zombies.”
He paused for a moment, “At that point, the Fae, Witches, Shifters, and the Blood came together. If we hadn’t joined forces, the necromancers may well have destroyed the rest of us piece by piece, and humanity as well. We formed a new council, of four races.
“When we brought the fight to the necromancers, the Fae supplied us with their silver weapons, the witches enchanted them, and we all fought. We discovered a short time later, that only the Blood may withstand the release of necromantic magic without ill effects. The Fae, Witches, and shifters who fought with us, all started to show signs of instability.
“They continued to fight though, they had no choice, until the necromancers were cut down in numbers high enough to end the war. Or at least, the large battles. That is when the remaining members of the Blood made a binding pact, we would hunt necromancers until there was no taint left on earth, it was a binding oath on our whole race. We also vowed we would protect the other three races as long as they kept the peace.
“In return, the Fae gave the oaths to keep us supplied with daggers, the Witches to keep them enchanted, and the shifters gave oaths to stop certain practices, that the other races abhorred. It seemed like a good compromise.”
“But they tricked you,” I accused.
Carl chuckled, “In what way?”
“Let me guess, the oath to protect the three races wasn’t specific enough, that’s how you became their law enforcement. Every time one of theirs goes rogue, they drop it at your doorstep because that rogue is a danger to them.”
Carl sighed and then shrugged helplessly, “There are some of us that believe our ancestors were… fooled in that way, betrayed by a lawyer’s interpretation of the words, instead of our true intent during the oath. But, there are also some who see our race as guardians, most of us have the instinctive need to protect, and those believe our ancestors foresaw that allowing themselves to be fooled in that way would extend the peace indefinitely.”
I nodded thoughtfully, I did have that hero complex after all. If the whole race did?
“What do you think?”
Carl shrugged, “We are, you included, forced into it either way. I’ve always chosen to approach life in a positive manner, and honestly once I got over it, I realized I wouldn’t be nearly as happy doing anything else.”
I glanced at Christina, and she nodded once. She obviously felt the same way. When I looked over at Matt, he didn’t give me any indication what he thought, except of course, that he didn’t like me.
“Alright, so I get to go back to college right, and graduate?”
Carl nodded, “But you will also be here to train, and learn to hunt. There is still much about our world you don’t know. We’ll introduce you to the Fae, Witches, and Shifters as well, and teach you how to deal with them.”
I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about
that, I didn’t even feel trapped right now and I knew I should feel trapped. I looked at Christina, and realized I wouldn’t really know how I felt about any of this until I was away from her. There seemed to be some tangible connection between us, and it was even stronger now that we’d spoken. I could feel her, not like I felt my magic or the undead, something different.
I also knew I didn’t want to get away from her at all.
I knew one thing for sure, there was nothing romantic about it at all, it felt more like a partnership of some kind. A bond of… shared responsibility, and strangely a deep trust.
I did feel attracted to her of course, and sure, lust was definitely involved when I looked at her beautiful face and body, but it was the normal kind of appreciation any red-blooded male would feel for a woman as beautiful as she was.
I looked away and back at the coffee table between our chairs.
“I guess I don’t get a choice. Do I really have to learn to fight? I can just banish them.”
Carl looked startled, “I don’t know why you aren’t tainted yet, but I don’t imagine it’s a good idea for you to start using your necromantic powers even more. You should of course, use everything in your arsenal when your back is against the wall to survive, but you need to learn how to use a blade, and fight hand to hand. Don’t worry, it should come naturally.”
I frowned, “I won’t say no. But you said our race is immune to the taint, when you kill them and the power runs through the daggers and into you, unlike the other races. Maybe I’m not tainted at all because of I’m half Blood? Maybe I can’t be tainted at all.”
Carl nodded, “That’s a possibility, but are you willing to bet your sanity and life on it? You have two disparate dueling natures, what if one of them becomes ascendant?”
“Fine, good point.”
I wouldn’t completely give up using it, I wasn’t going to let the ghosts that sapped humans get away with it, and of course, if my life or anyone else’s was in danger…
Chapter Five
“Shit, that hurt.”
Foretold: Necromancer's Blight: Book 1 Page 3