Foretold: Necromancer's Blight: Book 1

by D. L. Harrison

  Macy said, “So… you ready to get out of there yet?”

  I sighed, “You could let me go.”

  She sighed, “Sorry, can’t do that, but this life isn’t so bad. I haven’t lied to you, and I won’t. That’s a lot more than the Blood can say.”

  I asked, “Did Suzanne ever say anything about a bond with one of the Blood?”

  Macy tilted her head a bit more, and then walked inside.

  “Nope. What do you mean?”

  I sighed, “I’m trying to figure it out, I thought you might know. I seem to be connected to one of them. When we’re close together I mean. It was also around the time you stopped setting ghosts on her.”

  Why would I be the only one of the five to experience that? I dismissed the idea that it was because I was the one in the prophecy, that was ridiculous, but perhaps it was the circumstances? Maybe none of the other four of my kind had ever raced into an alley to save one of them, and Christina had protected me, or tried to. Is that what set the nebulous feeling I’d sensed from the start into a full on bond, our mutual intent?

  I knew magic took intentions, and an act of will, it’s what formed it to do our bidding, so it sounded right, but it could also just be wrong. I didn’t think so though, it made too much sense not to be the catalyst that had formed the bond. Of course, that still didn’t tell me what the bond was about, or why it was even a thing.

  Macy shrugged, “Never heard of it.”

  She walked over and started to undo my pants.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, a little alarmed.

  She winked, “Don’t worry Tom, I’m going out, so I figured we’d better get this taken care of. I’d hate to come back and need to… clean things up.”

  I felt a surge of relief as I realized her intentions. Although I was still embarrassed at the idea, as she reached under the metal table and grabbed a plastic male urinal. I felt degraded by it, and truly helpless for the first time as she helped me take care of business.

  Well, there went my idea of escaping when I was let out to use the facilities…

  I believed it was Tuesday night, unless I missed a day somehow. The sun had just gone down a few minutes ago, and I was already waffling back and forth. Making a vampire might taint me, but just a little, and it wouldn’t drive me crazy unless I did it over and over. I didn’t want to die, and it seemed like the only way out. Macy was clearly insane, but she was also right about one thing.

  I was just twenty-one, I didn’t want to lay down and die, not if I could get out of this. I also didn’t trust the Blood, or at least, not the ones in charge. That said, the thing that always made me hold back was if I did get slightly tainted, I’d be the Blood’s enemy. Every time I thought of that, I pictured both Christina and Serena being forced to kill me by their duty, and that made me back off the idea.

  I also knew no matter what, there was no way I could ever kill either of them.

  Still, I’d only been tied down a day, and I was seriously considering it. It would take me three weeks to starve, at least, if Macy gave me stuff to drink I mean. I already knew I wouldn’t make it that long, but I still held off, in the hope that something would happen, and I could escape some other way.

  My body wasn’t sore from the lightning attack anymore, it had recovered, but I was starting to feel cramped being stuck in one position constantly. I started to flex my muscles one group at a time, which helped a little, but not a whole lot. How much worse would it be tomorrow, or a week from now?

  I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t know how long I could hold out before I just did it, and raised a vampire to get me out of here. The rest of her proposal was insane, I wouldn’t be picking up her war where she left off no matter what happened.

  The door opened, and she came in with a brown paper bag, and sat in the chair next to mine.

  She smiled, “Dinner time.”

  Oh, the woman was insane, and evil.

  She pulled out an Italian sandwich, and a bag of chips, and started eating it right in front of me. That had to be a form of torture.

  She held the cup of soda up to my face, the straw just above my lips.

  “Sprite, take a sip.”

  Right, she’d keep me hydrated so I’d suffer more when I starved to death. I took a drink, I was thirsty.

  I could smell the ham, capicola, prosciutto, salami, and provolone cheese. It also had lettuce, tomato, onions, oil, and vinegar.

  “You’re evil,” I accused.

  She giggled and winked at me, “It’s really good, you can have half if you want…”

  Her eyes flickered over to the corner where the stiff was.

  I shook my head stubbornly, even as my traitorous mouth watered. Then my stomach gurgled. Would she be eating in front of me every day?

  She continued to eat the sandwich a bite at a time, and she kept rolling her eyes in exaggerated pleasure and moaning to illustrate just how tasty it was. She also flirted with me while she made sure I drank enough, which was a bit disturbing. It was all insane, and would have been humorous to me if I hadn’t been so hungry, and tied down to a table.

  When she finished, she cleaned up, and patted my arm as she got up and headed for the door.

  She looked over her shoulder, “I’ll see you in the morning, unless of course you escape and come join me. I’m in the next room.”

  She winked, and I was speechless once again as she walked out.

  It could have been worse, there were no knives or instruments of true torture, but in a very real way it was torturous to just be stuck in this chair. I was already hungry, and it had just been a day. The corpse in the corner called to me, and I was truly tempted. The one good thing was it didn’t stink, somehow she was using her power to keep it fresh, and I studied the magic for a second, curious.

  Then I blew out a breath, and tried to get some sleep. It was a long time in coming…

  Chapter Sixteen

  My eyes flew open and I was confused for a second why. Then I felt Christina through the bond, and laughed a little hysterically. Found my way out, I wondered how they found me. I had a feeling I wasn’t even in Chicago anymore, and in the suburbs, a half a mile search light is pretty damned small.

  Maybe the witches? They could have gotten something from my college room?

  I could still sense Macy, and she started to move. No doubt she had ghosts watching the place. A moment later I felt a vampire and then both start to move off together at high speed.

  I hesitated, for just a second, remembering her innocent and hopeful smile when she’d said goodnight.

  Then I sent out a spike of energy, and took out the vampire carrying her. My magic seemed to work fine right through the walls, I’d been wondering.

  I heard Macy’s cry out outrage, and then more vampires moved her way as she ran from the house.

  I actually felt a stab of guilt. From her point of view, the Blood had taken away all her choices, and had forced her to choose this war over dying. They hadn’t let her hide. They hadn’t left her mother who was apparently a good person, to simply live her life. They’d forced her into war, and she’d killed them in revenge.

  I’d have done exactly the same in her shoes.

  But she was insane, and like it or not, the right side or not, I was on the other side of this war. Wasn’t I? Even though the Blood had created me as a tool, and manipulated me, they weren’t all bad. The taint had to be controlled. Even if I wasn’t entirely sure about what side I was on ultimately, I knew if she didn’t die now, she’d start making mistakes and would kill innocents and cause collateral damage.

  She was right on the edge of what little sanity remained, if she hadn’t already fallen off.

  Tears gathered in my eyes as I sent more spikes, and drained her vampires one by one. Every single one within range, until there were none left.

  I shut my eyes as I heard her death scream, and suppressed the sorrow of it, the pity. I let my anger rise at the ones in charge instead, to chase that s
orrow away. The ones that had created her, as surely as they’d created me. The last thing I wanted was to be found crying like a little girl when they finally found me and let me out of this contraption.

  Matt would never let me live it down.

  The door opened and Christina walked in, of course she’d be able to find me first, the bond would lead her straight to me. She walked over and I could see the strain on her face. She looked beautiful as always, but relatively, for her, she looked like crap. Her eyes were red and puffy, she looked exhausted, and upset.

  “Hi.”

  Christina giggled a little hysterically, “Hi there, you’re lucky we found you alive, or I’d have kicked your ass.”

  Then I saw the sheen of tears in her eyes, and she leaned over the table and kissed me.

  Her lips were soft as silk, and conformed to mine as she caressed my face and chest with wandering hands.

  I was shocked for a moment, but then I responded, and kissed her back. I was stunned, confused, uncomfortable in the chair, and I wanted to touch her so badly it hurt, as she ran her hands along my face, neck, and body.

  The bond passed energy back and forth between us, and it felt amazing as our first kiss finally found its rhythm. She sighed in pleasure and broke the kiss a few moments later, and stood back up.

  She blushed, “I’m sorry Tom, I didn’t realize how much you meant to me until I thought… I thought you were dead, it took the coven forever to find a general location, but even then I had to tell my father about the bond. I’m sorry, I didn’t have a choice, I had to find you and they needed to know, and now…”

  “Now what?”

  She looked frustrated for a second, “There are things I’d been ordered not to talk to you about, apparently, some believe you may turn on us, and they feel the less you know about our organization the better. That’s all I can say. Except, you’ll likely find out soon anyway, they’ll be curious about the bond, I don’t know what will happen now, but I care about you a lot. I want… I want you Tom, I want you.”

  I smiled up at her, “If I’d have known all I had to do was get kidnapped to finally get that date, I’d have done it sooner.”

  She snorted, “Ass.”

  I grinned, “umm, could you get me out of this, or kiss me again?”

  Really, either one worked for me.

  She looked down at me thoughtfully for a few moments, and when I raised an eyebrow she said, “I’m still deciding.”

  She smiled mischievously, and leaned down and kissed me again. It wasn’t fair, she could touch me, but I couldn’t touch her back. Would they try to keep me from her now? What would happen? I couldn’t be mad at her, not knowing she’d been ordered to keep her silence. None of us had many choices in all of this.

  I knew one thing, kissing her was better than I’d imagined. My body hummed with desire at her touch, and her soft liquid midnight hair tickled my neck, and her lovely scent overwhelmed me as our lips danced together.

  She winked when she broke it and went to get the key off the wall.

  “So… somethings going to happen, but you can’t tell me what?”

  She nodded, “That about sums it up. I don’t think it will be too bad, and I hope to see you again soon. For that date, and more. I… told father I wanted to switch partners, when I told him about the bond. The witches, they needed to know to use it, they used magic to trace it, it’s how we found you. I hope that’s okay?”

  I rubbed my arms when they were free, and then pulled her down into a giggling kiss, that quickly transformed into a passionate one. I think she liked me touching her as much as I liked it, because the kiss was even more ardent than the first two, and she was far more responsive as I ran my hands through her hair, and along her waist and hips.

  Maybe she would be my one true and uncomplicated choice, because I doubted I’d have many of them anymore.

  Not that I wouldn’t still dig for the truth, before I made a solid decision exactly where to stand. But if I had a choice, I would have Christina standing with me. I cared for her far too much to do otherwise. It seemed a little fast, I’d known her for just over a month, and had really only known her for just three weeks. But honestly, she was the one part of this crazy thing I was sure of. I also thought she believed the same about me, she’d definitely taken the dive, which was a lot more serious than just accepting a first date.

  Apparently, the thought of my death, had finally released those passions she’d been waiting for.

  I just hoped that when I found where I stood, she’d be able to stand in the same place with me. I tried really hard to ignore just how complicated this could get. It was ironic, that I trusted her with my heart, but I couldn’t trust her with my life. Not when she was so bound to duty. Not when her duty would force her to obey men that would order a woman raped, and by one of their own people.

  Complicated just didn’t cover it. I didn’t care, she was worth it.

  She broke the kiss, and blushed, “Let’s go, before they come in here and get us out.”

  “How does Matt and Serena feel about all this?”

  She sighed, “Matt’s not happy, Serena told me it was about time.”

  “What?” I asked surprised.

  Christina giggled, “She said she could tell we were both hot for each other, and that it was about damned time I admitted it to myself. She’s happy for us, if a little confused and jealous as to where she stands. Matt… I don’t know. I hope he finds someone to be happy with, but I can’t let that change my mind, I won’t sacrifice us to spare him.”

  “I know, I just don’t want to see either of them hurt, I’m glad Serena is on board with it at least.”

  I hardly even noticed we were still holding hands, until both Matt and Serena looked down at them when we got outside. I made no move to let go of her hand, and neither did she mine.

  “Where are we?”

  Serena smiled, “Nice to see you too Tom, Buffalo Grove.”

  I gave her a sheepish smile, “Thanks for coming to get me, so what now?”

  Matt said tersely, “Back to base for debrief is the first step.”

  And then after that… what? There was no point in asking, they weren’t allowed to tell me. I also sensed they wouldn’t be asking me what happened, they weren’t allowed to do that either. Carl would be debriefed by me, and then he would decide what they should know, or his superiors would. The question was, did I learn about anything I should hide, like knowing about my predecessors for instance.

  Something told me the council wouldn’t like that at all. I couldn’t lie, they’d feel it, but they were so secretive that I didn’t think they’d ask questions that would lead me in that direction, in the fear that I’d divine the truth. Or… maybe they would. I’d find out.

  I nodded, “Right, can we stop for food on the way back, Macy didn’t feed me. Umm, maybe a place that has Italian subs?”

  I felt another stab of regret, and hoped wherever Macy was now, that she was in a better place than the hell this mortal life had put her through.

  I glanced back at the house one more time, and then shared another smile with Christina before I faced forward. It was the only way to go until I had more information, maybe I’d get what I needed when I summoned Sara back from the other side in four days?

  Either way, to have any hope of taking Christina with me, I’d have to have overwhelming proof of the dark secrets and lies of the council, even after her passionate kiss and declaration, I knew her duty would still eclipse that. She’d said as much, there were secrets she was holding. The good news was, I didn’t believe she knew I was an experiment, how would she have fallen for me if she knew the truth, if she knew that I was merely a tool to the council and high ranking witches?

  The oath bound me, unjustly I believed, but it also gave me hope. It had said we’d needed to fight necromancers, until the blight was gone from the earth, or something to that effect. It didn’t say anything about all necromancers needing to die. That’s what I’
d have to focus on, the blight. What was it, where did it come from, how could we end it?

  Christina squeezed my hand, and I smiled at her as I squeezed hers back. The wording of the oath wasn’t the only thing that gave me hope this could all end well, and she was one more thing to fight for.

  “So… seriously guys, Italian subs?”

  I couldn’t debrief or fight on an empty stomach after all…

  Afterword:

  I hope you enjoyed this story, if you did please leave a review. Reviews are the lifeblood of independent authors, and I would greatly appreciate any constructive feedback or opinions.

  About the Author : If you have any comments or suggestions you can send me an email at dlharrisonauthor@gmail.com If you like my work, or even if you don’t, please consider leaving a review of this book. I can also be found at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7456808.D_L_Harrison

  Other books by D. L. Harrison:

  http://www.amazon.com/author/dlharrison

  The Formerly Dark Mage, by D. L. Harrison – This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Silvia and takes place in a world unique and separate to our own.

  Silvia is a dark mage. Unfortunately, she finds herself about to be sacrificed. Someone must have told her evil master about her plans to kill him and take over. After that, things just seem to go downhill. She has no choice but to escape the kingdom of Zual, something that to her knowledge has never been done before. She will need to deal with many issues she never had to face before.

  Among those issues, the white mages, and her conscience.

  The Rise of a Dark Mage - This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Cassandra, it takes place in the same world as The Formerly Dark Mage, but happens three hundred years later, long after Silvia is gone and some shocking changes have taken place in the world.

  Cassandra is a dark mage in the kingdom of Zual, she’s also a mage prodigy.