The Necromancer's Seduction (8 page)

“I know you’re worried about raising Adam, but you shouldn’t be. You’ll succeed and
prove at the same time that necromancers can use their power to benefit our kind.”

No one had ever spoken to me like he just had, with confidence and admiration instead
of caution and fear. Even Cora had tempered her enthusiasm with caveats. I smiled
at him. “I guess we’ll find out.”

* * * *

The coven occupied two floors of a downtown high rise and served as both headquarters
and living space for the San Francisco witches, although some, like Kara and Adam,
preferred to live elsewhere. No doubt, the views were stunning and the sleek furniture
and granite countertops chic, but I preferred the rustic comfort of my house. New
houses were too tightly caulked and sharp and functional.

Old houses like mine had absorbed memories into the cracks of their bricks, into the
odd angles of their walls, into the tiny spaces that served no purpose. They released
those memories with each sigh, each creak of wood floor, each stain on the walls—even
the ones best left forgotten.

Kara and I sat in the condo’s main living area rimmed with windows that looked out
over the bay, waiting for Matilda and Ewan to finish a private chat. Fine with me.
The less I knew, the better.

“You want to see a movie tonight?” Kara asked.

I opened my mouth to say yes and then closed it when I remembered the date with Steve.

Unfortunately, Kara remembered too. “Oh, wait. You have a date with professor boy?”

“Dates . . . I remember those.”

I turned at the sound of Matilda’s voice. Ewan followed her into the room, scrutinizing
me. He went to stand next to the window, folded his arms in front of him, and leaned
against the wall. Why did I suddenly feel as if I was harboring a dirty secret? I
looked at Kara, and her eyes formed big “oops” circles.

Kara quickly recovered and diverted the topic from my less than stellar dating life.
“Don’t let Matilda fool you. She has plenty of men trailing after her.”

Before I’d met Matilda, my mind had conjured a stereotype image of some earthy type
with long, flowing skirts, but Maltilda was anything but. Her deep blue dress molded
an hour glass figure. She had a black and white movie quality, a classic blonde straight
out of a Sam Spade thriller.

She sat next to Kara and gave me a warm smile. “Being sought after by men is one thing.
Finding one worthy of my attention is another. Something you should consider, Kara.”

I put my fist to my mouth to keep it from falling open. I’d never heard anyone talk
to Kara like, well, a mother. Kara narrowed her eyes but didn’t shoot back with a
smart-ass retort.

“Anyway, Ewan doesn’t want to hear our woman talk,” she said.

“Oh, no, please. I’m finding it extremely interesting.” His tone carried a tinge of
humor, the type employed to cover a sharper edge. I refrained from lifting my head,
but felt his eyes penetrating me.

“I’m glad you’re helping us, although I’m not entirely convinced bringing our Adam
back as some upgraded zombie is the best strategy,” Matilda said, leveling the skepticism
in her gaze at Ewan. He took it in, out of respect, but kept his shoulders straight.

“Then why are you going along with it?” I asked.

She took her time moving her gaze from Ewan to me. “I don’t really have an alternative
to offer Malthus, so for now we go with Plan A.”

“I’m not exactly comfortable with it either,” I admitted.

“Well, we do what we have to sometimes. Your grandmother had a formidable spirit.
She would agree with your decision.”

She stood and reached over to pat my hand, and the silver and gold charms dangling
from her bracelet jingled. Witchy charms, no doubt, though she’d never reveal which
ones carried elemental potency or which served as distractions. I was partial to the
silver sand dollar.

She stopped in front of a shelf and pulled out a worn black composition notebook I
swear only moments before was a thick book wearing a red sleeve. “This was Adam’s
notebook,” she said. “You and Kara can look through it and see if you find something
to help you. When you’re done, return the book to this shelf.”

“What about returning the notebook to Adam, you know, after . . .” I said.

Matilda gazed out the window, the setting sun casting part of her face in shadow.
“The Adam who owned this book is dead. What you are bringing back will not be the
Adam we knew.”

She turned back to me with tired eyes, almost filled with regret. “When you set certain
events in motion, you must be prepared for the consequences.” She stretched her hand
out to pass the book to Kara then pulled her hand back. “I don’t have to remind you
to stay away from certain spells.”

“You just did.” Kara snatched the book from Matilda’s hand. Matilda turned and left
the room with a loud sniff.

Kara cocked an eyebrow at me and opened the notebook. “Matilda is all right, but she
has her Malthus moments. Maybe it’s a requirement for the supernatural leader job.”

Ewan chuckled, filling the space next to me on the couch. His thigh brushed mine,
sizzling my skin through the thin fabric of my dress. The couch offered plenty of
empty space, but he sat against me as if it barely fit the two of us.

“She’s right.” I rubbed the back of my neck, fell against the back of the couch, and
stared at the ceiling.

“You still okay with this?” Kara asked.

I nodded and focused on the task at hand, knowing any hesitation could jeopardize
the raise. I had to do this, to resolve Cora’s death, to keep from dying inside. I
sat up, hit with a high wattage thought. “I want a diagram for a spell he was good
at. One other witches couldn’t do. I think it’ll make our bond stronger.”

“I told you he was one of a handful of witches that could do mind reading and control
spells, although Matilda will freak if we use one. Let’s see.” She flipped through
the pages. “I think—yes, this one.” She pointed at a crudely sketched semicircle,
a stem at its base with the Greek letter omega in the center, all contained within
a square.

I traced the diagram on a piece of paper. My hand trembled, and I shook it to loosen
the muscles. This was really going to happen. Up until now, raising Adam seemed like
some forgotten nightmare, but tracing the diagram brought it to life.

A flapping sound stopped my hand. This time I didn’t cover my open mouth. A deck of
tarot cards floated in the air next to Kara, with the Empress card tapping her shoulder.

Kara wore an exasperated look, one I imagine she’d use if she had a daughter—and said
daughter pestered her to play Barbies.

“The cards,” Kara said. The cards shuffled in irritation, making the flipping sound
a card dealer makes. “Elizabeth Taylor wants an introduction.”

“You call the cards Elizabeth Taylor?”

“She insisted.”

I stifled my laughter when the Empress card puffed out at me. They flitted to Ewan
and covered his body with only one card revealed to us, the Lovers.

“She likes Ewan, but then she pretty much likes all hot men,” Kara said.

“You mean I’m not a
special
hot man?” Ewan said, his eyes teasing me.

“How did they come alive?” I asked, ignoring him and his admirers.

“Matilda was performing a basic future sight spell, and the next thing we knew, the
cards were flying all over the room. We don’t know what happened or what made the
cards sentient, but they definitely have an ornery mind of their own.”

One card zipped over to Kara. It pictured a man lying face down on the ground with
ten swords stuck in his back.

Kara laughed. “Too bad the card doesn’t really mean that, Elizabeth Taylor.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means the end of something—could be anything, a relationship, a situation. But
see the sunrise in the background? That signifies a new birth. So there.” She huffed
at the cards.

The cards abandoned Ewan to spin around my head until two Major Arcana and one Minor
Arcana cards floated in front of me. The two major cards swatted at the minor card,
but the minor card held its place until the two gave up.

“The major cards, like the Empress, the Moon, the Sun, think they’re better than the
minor cards.” Her voice took on a lecturing tone. “The majors fail to acknowledge
the important role played by the minor cards in readings.”

I bit the inside of my lip at the three cards facing me. I knew not to take tarot
cards literally, but I couldn’t stop my small shiver at the card depicting a bound
woman with eight swords surrounding her, and another one with the big daddy of ’em
all—Death.

“The reading isn’t as bad as it looks, and the High Priestess card is intriguing,”
Kara said. She spoke of the card bearing a woman in blue robes seated in front of
a pomegranate tree and bordered by two pillars. “She symbolizes magic that can be
used for good or evil,” she said.

“You call that intriguing when I’m about to use my power to raise a man from the dead?”

“It also represents unseen talent and potential. Secrets not yet revealed.”

“Not yet revealed? Really?” My tone’s incredulous. The revelations from the meeting
at the demon lair still had me unbalanced.

The Death card hopped up and down in the air, seeking attention.

“Calm down, Elizabeth Taylor.” Matilda’s voice rang through the room. “And stop with
the Death dance.”

Death calmed down, and all four cards gathered with the others in a pile that floated
next to Matilda’s head.

“Ruby, you know the Death card never means actual death,” Matilda said.

I did. The card meant the end of things, rebirth, but the rebirth part is never guaranteed.
However, the image of the skeleton, dressed in black armor, astride a horse with a
dead body on the ground, did not inspire my confidence.

In a movement too swift to track, Elizabeth Taylor flittered in a tornado of cards
around a tall blond woman who entered the room.

She slapped at them with her hands. “Damn cards. Get away from me.”

Kara stood and set her shoulders in a defensive posture while Matilda waved her hand
over the spell book, making it disappear. She waited a few more moments while the
cards terrorized the blonde.

“Elizabeth Taylor,” Matilda said. The cards halted. They floated in the air, forming
a barrier between the blonde and the rest of us, then fluttered a sigh and retreated
into a pile on the table.

“Haven’t you come up with a way to reverse the spell on those cards?” the blonde asked.

“Try as I may, I’ve yet to succeed.” Matilda didn’t even feign sincerity. The blonde
narrowed her eyes, allowing only icy shards to pass through the slits. My admiration
for Matilda inched up a few notches. She reminded me of Cora.

“I wasn’t aware you were meeting with the necromancer. You should have informed the
circle.” She remained standing, a good thing, because I wasn’t sure how she planned
on sitting in her short skirt without exposing more yards of thigh.

“She doesn’t have to inform anyone,” Kara said.

Matilda gave Kara a warning glance. “The circle is aware of our arrangement with the
demons.”

The blonde bent toward Ewan, letting more cleavage pop out of the low-cut blouse.
“Tell me Ewan, what do the demons plan to do once the identity of the killer is discovered?”

“Follow the codes, of course.” His gaze rested on her face for a moment before moving
away in a flicker of annoyance.

“What do you want, Sybil? The circle met and decided on our course of action,” Kara
said, glowering at the woman. I never wanted to be on the receiving end of Kara’s
evil eye. A glare to frighten even the most stalwart Gypsy.

Sybil ignored her, dismissing her with a wave of her hand. “I plan to make a motion
at the next circle meeting to bring Adam in for discussion, if the necromancer succeeds
in making him a revenant.”

I hated when people talked around me. It wasn’t polite. I crossed my legs and leveled
my best haughty look at her. Two could play at the bitch game.

I gave her a half wave, the one British royalty uses when they wave at the masses.
“Hi, my name is Ruby—you know—the necromancer.”

She deigned to look at me and crossed her arms across her chest, puffing out more
cleavage.

I continued. “As a revenant, Adam will be under my control. I try to be a fair necromancer
and allow my revenants to make their own decisions.” I paused and took my time meeting
everyone’s gaze. Kara beamed. “I also need to shield him from stressful situations.
We wouldn’t want an out of control revenant running around eating people, now would
we? Especially the witch who subjected him to a witch inquisition?”

Her lips whitened for a brief moment, enough time for me to know I’d gotten under
her skin. She quickly recovered. “It’s on your head if he attacks anyone.” Sybil narrowed
her eyes at Matilda. “I’m still taking this to the circle.”

She marched out of the room, her skirt riding up her thighs with each step. I couldn’t
help glancing at Ewan to see where his attention lay and was warmed to find his gaze
directed at me. His lips curled in a small smile, and his eyes reflected a glint I
wasn’t ready to interpret, but made me shiver nonetheless.