Foretold: Necromancer's Blight: Book 1

by D. L. Harrison

  Don’t worry, it should come naturally… my ass. Carl was full of crap.

  Serena giggled, “Come on, I didn’t throw you too hard, did I?”

  I groaned, she was too cute to be so cruel. Actually, I liked her wise-ass sense of humor, it’s just my back felt like… like it had just been slammed into a wall. Mostly because it had.

  I’d gone home earlier, and figured out how much I didn’t like it, it sucked… but I really didn’t have a choice. I had a feeling I’d be called oath breaker, and be killed if I tried to bow out. Honestly though, it really didn’t sound so bad, especially if I got to be around Christina more often. Sadly, I wasn’t sure how much of that motivation was because of that weird bond, or because I wanted to eventually ask her out on a date.

  She was gorgeous, but the more time I spent with her, I realized she was the total package.

  After Tuesday’s classes, and dealing with George’s demands for an explanation on why I’d bailed on him, I’d come back to the building. Which turned out to be a small three story office building, with four sublevels. The sublevels were secured from normal human entry, both with witch magic as well as technology.

  Timothy had taken one look at me, and said that he needed to see me fight, before he could see where I would need work, and where I would need a lot of work. Of course, to see me fight, he couldn’t participate, and Serena had been more than happy to fill the breach. She was entirely too happy about kicking my ass, but I had a feeling she’d been on the receiving end her whole life as the youngest one here. I imagined I’d be excited in her shoes too.

  “Seriously, are you getting up?” Serena asked with a smirk.

  I laughed, “I’m thinking of taking a nap.”

  I suppressed a groan, and jumped back up.

  Plus, a leotard and yoga pants were an unfair distraction.

  Okay, now I was just making excuses.

  We sparred for a little more, and I did a little better blocking, but still hadn’t managed to hit the girl, and trust me that I was trying. Our last round I’d gotten frustrated and thought up close grappling would go in my favor, that’s when I’d been hip tossed five feet into the wall by some kind of judo throw from hell.

  I wasn’t eager to experience that again. In hindsight, it was also obvious, I’d seen Christina use a similar move in the alley, and the vampires were all about in close fighting to get their teeth in someone’s neck. If anything, they’d be more trained in grapple fighting than stand up sparring.

  Of course, from a distance I had to deal with her kicks, which had a lot of force behind them, so even the blocks hurt. One thing was clear, I might have been in shape compared to a normal person, but compared to these people I was not in shape at all.

  Timothy said, “Enough.”

  We stepped away from each other and I took stock. My arms and legs felt like wet noodles, and my back was sore, but I’d survive.

  Timothy studied me intensely, and then nodded.

  “You’ve never pushed yourself at all have you? You work out, but have never met anyone that could lift as much, or run as fast, so you called it good enough? Your speed and reflexes are good, but we need to come up with a real workout regimen to increase your strength and stamina to what it could be.

  “Your fighting could be worse, but it’s sloppy. That part will come much easier than the other, with instruction and patience, but you need to be willing to stretch yourself.”

  I sighed, “I’m not lazy, I’ve just never seen the point to push myself to my full potential. I already stood out enough, you know? I didn’t know about all this. Just tell me what to do.”

  Timothy smiled like I’d given him a gift, and I started to have second thoughts.

  “This way,” he said, and he headed out into the hallway.

  I followed and Serena walked next to me.

  When we got to the first intersection she patted my arm.

  “Good luck,” she said rather ominously, as she went down a different hallway.

  “Thanks,” I said, perhaps a little dubiously to the young woman’s back.

  I followed timothy to another corridor, and then over to a workout room. It had all the typical machines you’d see in a gym, but they were all modified with larger weights.

  Timothy grunted, and I looked over at him.

  “Today we’ll get your max lift on all these devices, to tailor the weight you’ll need to use in your reps. We’ll do this once a week, you should make the initial gains very quickly, and you’ll be here working out every day. Three reps of ten on each machine should take about ninety minutes.”

  I shook my head, “That’s not healthy.”

  He laughed, “You forget, we aren’t human and heal three times faster. Just one night’s sleep will be enough for your muscles to rebuild and grow stronger, you don’t need to use the skip every other day approach like a human would have to.”

  I nodded, that made sense, “Alright, what else?”

  Risking my life and just using necromancer magic to fight started to sound better and better the more I learned.

  He said, “The fourth sublevel has a jogging track, and we run each morning at six. I want you there every day starting tomorrow. I’ll also work with you on a schedule, but I want at least an hour to teach you self-defense techniques each day.”

  He waved an arm at the equipment, “For the first long while, until you plateau, true sparring will be out, you’ll be too sore to handle it, but I can still teach you the techniques, and start on your muscle memory.”

  I frowned, that was up to two and a half hours a day, plus however long running was. So over three hours? Did these people have a social life? I’d be hard pressed to do all that, classes, and get my assignments and studying done.

  I supposed it was just as well I wasn’t truly into the party scene, because I wouldn’t be doing any of that anymore.

  There was also the matter of being able to learn more about Christina, I knew I was a little obsessed by the woman, but it was really the only bright spot in all of this.

  Of course, it was too early to tell if I’d even truly like her that way, or vice versa. Right now, she was just… really nice eye candy, and a tentative friend with some kind of mystical connection. I probably would have asked her out by now, but I was still getting the lay of the land so to speak.

  There was also the matter of the bond, I needed to figure out what that was all about. She didn’t seem to understand it either, and neither of us had mentioned it to anyone else yet, not even each other past a few significant looks. It made it almost impossible to get thoughts of her out of my head.

  All I knew was, I could point in her direction right now, or find her with it.

  “Alright, which machine first?”

  Christina asked, “You hanging in there?”

  I smiled over at her as she sat next to me in our Wednesday morning class.

  As for her question, I’d be doing great, if I was a masochist. We’d run twenty miles on that downstairs track this morning, and my legs felt like rubber. I’d also learned how far behind I was, I’d definitely been the last one to finish, by almost two full laps.

  My arms already seemed okay from the workout yesterday afternoon, I’d been in pain last night, but as Timothy indicated, all I’d needed was a good night’s sleep.

  “Oh, things are great.”

  She snorted, “That’s a lie, Timothy works us all to death, constantly. Of course, he’s trying to keep us alive, every edge counts out there, so we all try not to complain about it too much.”

  “Oh, my legs are rubber, but my arms are good until this afternoon.”

  She lowered her voice even further, we hadn’t been talking all that loud to begin with as the lecture room filled up with people. She also leaned in toward me more, and I had to remind myself to breath as I looked into her blue eyes, and I took in her sweet scent.

  “I’ve been doing research, but I can’t find any references to the connection we have since th
e alley. I… don’t have a clue.”

  I asked, “What about your father?”

  She shrugged, “I haven’t told anyone about it. There’s a lot you don’t know about our world. Anything new is suspect, and I’m not in the mood to be examined by witches and subjected to scrutiny. I’d rather figure it out on our own if we can. So far, all I know is where you are, I can kind of feel you, and I feel very relaxed in your presence.”

  “Why do you suppose that is?”

  She frowned in thought, “It would make us a great fighting team. Being tense in a fight is a really bad idea, and can lead to a loss of focus and mistakes. Have you noticed anything else?”

  I shook my head, but then something did occur to me.

  “Actually, you aren’t haunted this morning. It’s the first time I’ve seen you outside of the magically protected building without a ghost attached.”

  She didn’t look convinced, “Maybe it’s the bond, but maybe Macy just gave up because she kept losing her spies.”

  That would be a hell of a coincidence, but I didn’t argue.

  “Okay, so what should we do?”

  I wondered if our closeness was affecting her like it was me. I thought maybe it did, but didn’t trust my judgement, since I really wanted her to be attracted to me as much as I was to her. It was all confused though, with the connection we have.

  She replied, “Just concentrate on catching up to us, working out and learning to fight. I’ll keep searching our archives as I can, and let you know if I find something.”

  Then she touched my arm, an innocent touch as some woman do in a conversation to make a point, or how her sister had patted my arm before we split off yesterday. It was also the first time she’d ever touched me, and we were both shocked by the tingles and surge of energies that we exchanged.

  She froze, and stared into my eyes in question.

  I imagined I looked just as clueless.

  After the initial surge of energy, it backed off to a low humming, that nonetheless felt extremely pleasant where she touched me.

  We were both at a loss, and when the door slammed in the front of the room, she pulled her hand back and we both looked toward the professor who walked over to the lectern.

  I felt energized, and my sore rubbery legs were no longer as sore and rubbery. They weren’t perfect by any stretch, but they were definitely better.

  What the hell had just happened?

  Another part of me wondered, if her simple innocent touch had felt that good, what would kissing her be like?

  Chapter Six

  The next few weeks were hell.

  Run, classes, workout, get tossed around while being taught fighting techniques for grappling, throws, and stand up fighting.

  Then Carl would teach me something about my new world.

  I’d learned that witches did in fact run in covens. The Chicago coven was indeed made up of thirteen witches and their families. After that the facts didn’t match up with legend. Witches didn’t have cauldrons, or ride brooms. In many ways, they were much like necromancers in that their magic was inherent, and took focus and will.

  I still preferred to think of it as some kind of unexplained energy, but truthfully that was just semantics. They could and did use chants or spells for more difficult things, but that was just to channel their focus and will correctly. The large difference of course, was where a Necromancer’s magic affected the dead, a witch’s magic affected the living, and the world around us.

  Which meant their magic was a lot more versatile.

  So far, he’d been a little vague about what they could accomplish. Except, I knew humans wouldn’t enter the underground levels, even if they found the stairs or elevator, they’d decide it wasn’t worth the bother, or that they needed to be somewhere else.

  I learned about necromancy as well over those weeks, not how to do it, but what my new enemies were capable of. I’d already known about controlling and banishing ghosts, but necromancers could also summon them from the beyond if they knew enough about the target, and could pull them back into the world. Which was also how vampires and wights were created, in the former, their bodies were reanimated with the magic, and then their spirits were stuffed back in and under the control of the necromancer.

  It was an ugly thought.

  Necromancers also had protections against magic, the same energy that surrounded me so ghosts couldn’t attack a necromancer, would stop a witch’s spell if the necromancer was more powerful.

  Shifters were territorial, ran in packs, and their animal was very much an influence on them. They tended to stay away from humans as much as possible. The worst thing to do around a shifter was to smile at one, or look them in the eyes, they’d take it as a challenge, just like their wild animal counterparts.

  They could fight the instinct to a certain extent, and did so for humans. But for those of us in the know it wasn’t acceptable behavior.

  The Fae of all of them, were closest to the legends. They were tricky, and total word lawyers. It would be a mistake to ever thank one, and they used illusion to blend in. Iron wasn’t deadly to them, but it did interfere with their magic, so they tended to avoid cities. Carl told me of all the races, that was the one the Blood had to deal with the least.

  After all that, I’d drag myself back to the dorm each night, and work on assignments. I felt like a crappy roommate, George had pretty much given up on me after the third time he asked me to go to a bar or party, and I begged off. We were silent roomies at that point, which was probably just as well.

  Life was a bit crazy.

  I’d also had to give up my job at the book store, but I was also getting paid for being what I was, and doing what I had to do, so things were okay that way.

  As for Christina, I didn’t see her very much outside of our morning run, and classes. I’d sparred a couple of times with both Serena and Matt. Serena was tough, and a wise ass, but she didn’t try to embarrass me all that much, not so for Matt. The guy hated me and I was pretty sure he was jealous, though I couldn’t say why.

  Christina avoided me that time of the day, and the one time she was asked to spar with me she’d begged off. I think she was worried that the others, and especially Timothy who trained everyone, would easily pick up on how different we were when together in the same room. It would no doubt reflect on how we fought.

  So far, Christina and I had just been friendly with each other. We talked every morning, and she’d touched me a few more times, to the same effect as last time. She still hadn’t found any information on the bond, but it was definitely getting stronger between us as time passed. I could sense her direction and feel her even when we weren’t in the same immediate area now.

  I wanted to ask her out, but everything was too new, and I was still figuring things out. At least, that’s what I told myself. I wasn’t usually so tentative about that kind of thing, I could usually read a woman’s intentions and know if she was open to the idea. Christina didn’t send me any signals either way really. My normal confidence had taken a vacation when it came to this new life. I was the new guy, and for the first time in my life, I was the one behind everyone else, and didn’t know enough about my new world.

  I felt off-balance.

  Plus, there was the whole half-necromancer thing, I didn’t know how she would feel about that. Did Blood even date? For all I knew they arranged marriages or something.

  Okay, I was a bit of a coward without my usual unfair advantage, but right now we were becoming good friends, and I enjoyed her company. I didn’t want to screw that up and make things awkward. After all, she was one of five in a community I’d just been forced to join, six including myself, so I couldn’t exactly avoid her if it didn’t go well…

  I stretched my body out under the hot water, which felt good on my sore muscles. I was kind of used to it after almost three weeks. A sore body was the new normal. It also washed off the sweat from my last workout and sparring session.

  Serena was still kick
ing my ass, but she had to work harder for it now, and I even got a few strikes in this last session. I knew I still had a long way to go, but it was encouraging to see actual progress.

  I finished my shower and got dressed, it was handy that they had the facilities in the building for it. From what I could tell, the rest of them all lived down here. Carl had tried to get me to move in, but I wasn’t comfortable with that idea.

  I went up to the second sub-level, which had a small conference room where Carl had been educating me daily on my new world. Something was different today, I could feel Christina in the room. The slight anxiousness I felt about that disappeared as I walked into the room, and laid eyes on her. Matt was also in the room, and he frowned as he looked between us both, as if he could sense our connection.

  We’d obviously have to be more careful, I’d been looking at her before I could see her, and if the confusion and jealousy on Matt’s face was any indication, she’d been looking at the door before I got there.

  I ignored him, and I glanced over at Carl as I took a seat.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  Carl said, “Tom. Timothy tells me you’re doing well. You still have strength and stamina to work on, but you’re picking up the fighting part quickly?”

  I nodded cautiously, “I’m making progress, but I still have a long way to go to catch up.”

  Carl said, “I want you to go out with Matt and Christina tonight, so you can get an idea what you’ll be up against. They’ll also introduce you to the Chicago coven and to the Shifters in the area, they need to be able to recognize you as one of us. You should know enough by now not to make any mistakes there.”

  Wasn’t this kind of quick? Or was Serena right, and Timothy trained the hell out of us and I was ready, or at least close to it?

  I replied, “That’s fine, any reason for tonight?”

  Carl explained, “Macy will strike hard soon and flee the city for another. We first became aware of her five years ago, in California. Although we got her mother, she was able to escape the Blood in that city. So far over the last five years, she’s been in ten cities, each time she moves carefully, hides, and plans an attack while she builds up her forces slowly and carefully. Until you, we had no idea she was using ghosts as spies to monitor our movements and learn our habits.