Veiled Threat (14 page)

“Get off me, you dead motherfuckers!”

I bolted forward, taking in the way Alex limped, the crooked angle of his front leg. “To the house! Now!”

The giant was pulling itself out of the ground with a draining, slimy stump and a hand; its head finally broke the surface.

Fuckity fuck fuck. This was not going to end well. The four of us ran, each dragging in air as if that breath would be our last. At the top of the hill the house lights flicked off, all at once.

I didn’t give a shit; we were going in.

One way or another.

The front door opened with one kick, and I stepped inside, the three boys following me closely.

“Shut the door, bar it with a chair. That’ll keep them out for a minute or two.”

Liam shifted and let out a groan. I handed him clothes that were tucked inside my jacket. He dressed quickly. “I understand how bad the rib crushing you took was now.”

I put a hand to him, worry streaking through me. “How bad?”

“They’re healing already.”

That was enough for me. I checked Alex’s leg. The break was clean and though he whimpered when I touched him, like Liam he was healing. Perks for being a werewolf.

“Erik, you okay?”

“For standing in the pitch black house of necromancer, a horde of zombies outside and a dead giant wanting to grind my bones, I’m doing bloody peachy.”

“Good. Because we aren’t done yet.” I took in a slow breath. “You two smell anything?”

Alex grunted and snapped his teeth together before answering. “Stupid necromancer.”

“Nothing but the one person.” Liam said, his voice low.

But I wasn’t about to be quiet. “Necromancer, we need your help.”

The floorboards upstairs creaked and then a man shouted down to us, but his voice echoed and bounced around, like a ventriloquist throwing it.

“So explain to me why you are such a rude little bitch? Hmmm? You ask for help and then a foulness of cursing flows out of your lips. That does not seem to be a smart move when begging for help.”

“I’m a Tracker. Foul language isn’t personal. I didn’t tell you to fuck off or kiss my ass. That would be personal.” I stepped closer to the stairs. I could see better in the dim light. I took a chance, hoping that blunt honesty and begging would get our point across. “Please. Our friends are trapped within the deep veil and Orion is going to kill them. Or worse, he will take possession of the baby my one friend is carrying. Damn it all to hell and back, we are desperate. You think we would face down a zombie horde for nothing?”

The wood above us creaked again and there was a scuffle of a footstep, and then front door knob rattled. I spun as did Liam, Alex and Erik. In the windows along the house stood zombies. Waiting for the signal to come in and finish us off.

The necromancer’s voice boomed, though his tone was slightly less threatening. “I should have known you were a Tracker. Do you know Jack? We worked together once, many years ago.”

I gritted my teeth and took a slow breath before answering. If he wanted to reminisce, I would play along. Anything that might help us win his help.

“Yes. I knew Jack. He got cancer and died.” I didn’t really want to mention he’d been brought back to life and was a vampire. Doran told me necromancers and vampires didn’t like each other. I could only guess the reason and didn’t want to stir things up.

“Pity. He was a fun chap to have around.” More protesting wooden stairs and then a figure limped into view. Tall and thin, he seemed as skeletal as some of the zombies outside and I wondered if perhaps he was like Anna, living for hundreds of years past his natural time. “Perhaps I will help you. But there is a price to pay for the help of the oldest living necromancer.”

“Done.”

“You agree so easily to a deal you know nothing of,” he said, his head tipping to one side, reminding me of Eve when she was contemplating. And indeed, he had a bird-like quality about him, like a stork strutting about on the upper landing watching us.

“I would do anything to save my friends. To spare them.” I spread my hands. “Tell me what you want, what you’d have of us, and I will make it happen.” Fuck, I had to. There was no other choice.

Erik leaned into me. “What about the other one, the necromancer in the south?”

Above us, the necromancer laughed. “That one, a mere child in ability. He would not be able to open the veil that deep. He would lose his mind. If you hadn’t killed Anna, she could have opened the veil for you.”

Wait, if he didn’t know who I was, how did he know I killed Anna?

“You knew who I was when we called out to you, didn’t you? Otherwise, how do you know about Anna?”

He chuckled. “You have caught me. I do not do well at deception.”

My face warmed. “Is that why you thought I meant you harm, because I took her head?”

“I am not yet convinced you do not mean me harm, Tracker. But yes, it seems an obvious connection. Besides, I’m not particularly fond of company. Most people want something for nothing. Particularly when they show up late at night.”

Again, my face warmed and I felt the need to defend myself. “Anna asked me to end it for her. I was ready to spare her life.”

He let out long, blowing sigh and the lights flicked on. “That sounds like Anna. She was always my favorite student.” With a limping, slow gait he walked to the edge of the stairs and then slowly down. “She had great talent; if her mind had not broken at the loss of her child she would have surpassed even me in ability.”

The tension settled and Liam touched my elbow, turning me to the window. The zombies were gone. I gave a slow nod and turned back to the necromancer. “She was free of the madness for a little while at the end. That was all I could do for her; all she wanted from me.”

He took the last few steps and then stood in front of me. He towered over me; he had to be almost seven feet tall. His pale brown hair was slicked back over his skull, accentuating every line. I stared into his eyes—they were a startling indigo, a blue so dark that in the right light you might call it black. My impression of a stork held firm as he held out his hand, his long fingers extended to me. “You may call me Thomas.”

I put my hand out, covered in dirt and blood and zombie bits, and grasped his fingers, unashamed. “I’m Rylee. This is Liam, Erik, and Alex.”

“You hold an eclectic company, Rylee. A werewolf trapped in his shape, a guardian who is more than a guardian, and you.” He faced Erik. “I am not sure what to make of you just yet. Your aura hides from me.”

Erik frowned at him. “Human and Slayer. That’s all I am.”

Thomas gave a slow nod. “Perhaps.”

I didn’t like the direction he was going, but I held back my comments.

Thomas tucked his hands behind his back and led the way into what I assumed was the parlor. He snapped his fingers and candles bloomed on nearly every surface, giving the room a warm and welcoming look. I wasn’t fooled though. This was a negotiation; he would give us nothing if we did not find for him what he wanted. Or give to him what he wanted.

He motioned to the chairs, but none of us sat. “We’re covered in filth,” Erik said. “I’d not like to add a cleaning bill to whatever it is you’d have us do in exchange for your help. Where Rylee goes, we all go.”

I shot him a glance and his eyes crinkled up at the edges. My heart thumped hard, and I felt for the first time he really was with us. He was my uncle and here to help, not just be an ass.

“Touching. There is only one thing I want that I cannot find, and I have searched all of Europe.”

Oh, shit, that did not sound good.

“Does it exist?” Liam asked, “Or is it a wild goose chase you would send us on?”

Thomas lowered himself into an oversized chair obviously custom made for him, the soft cushions barely giving under his minimal weight. “I do believe it exists, I do not have the energy any longer to find it. I am old, coming to the end of my days and there is only one thing I don’t have. I did have it, but you, Rylee, ended her life.”

I swallowed hard and guessed that Anna was more to him than just a pupil. “You want a new wife?”

He threw back his head and laughed, his Adam’s apple huge and bulging in his scrawny neck. “Ah, no. I need no ‘love connection.’” His deep indigo blue eyes sparkled as he looked me in the face.

“No, Anna was my best pupil and nothing else. She was to be my heir, if you will. That is the only way we are ever remembered, by the ones we leave behind.”

I glanced at Liam and lifted my eyebrows. If what I thought Thomas was asking for in exchange for getting Milly and Pamela out was what he wanted, we fucking well scored.

“You want an heir? Someone to teach?” Liam squinted his eyes. “That’s it?”

Thomas gripped his chair, and he snorted. “That’s it? Guardian of the lands you might be, but you are blind. Do you know how rare it is for necromancers to be born and then survive past the age of twelve? They cannot control the dead they call forth by their very blood and most are killed by their own zombies by accident.”

“Let me be very clear.” I held up my hands, stalling them both. No need for Liam to blow the very lovely big fat ace we had up our sleeves. “We find you a young necromancer to teach, bring him here, and you will bring our two friends out of the deep levels of the veil?”

Thomas’s eyes drooped. “For every young necromancer you bring me, I will bring one of your friends back. And to be sure you mean no harm, one of you will stay with me here as insurance.”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Done.”

Erik let out a strangled squawk. “And who do you propose we leave behind?”

Thomas looked me straight in the eye, holding me with his gaze. There was only one person he would allow to stay with him. Fuck, might as well get it over with.

I shifted my weight, cocking one knee and crossing my arms. “That’s simple. I’ll stay.”

Chapter 14

A
chorus of ‘no’s’
ripped out of all three boys at the same time. I ignored them, staring at Thomas. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

His lips quirked up. “You read me very well, Tracker. Why is that?”

Truth was, I was good at reading people and had a knack for knowing what they wanted. Maybe not always the why, but I could usually dredge at least the ‘what’ out of them. “You won’t settle for anyone else. You want to know what I know.”

Erik and Liam argued behind me but I ignored them. Thomas continued to hold my gaze. “You hold the prophecies in your head. The books that Jack would never share with me. I want to know what you know now that he is gone, and the books are destroyed.”

I stared at him, and my jaw dropped.

“Wait, they’re destroyed? No, I saw them—”

“They were destroyed upon his death being discovered. That was a task he left to the druid girl. And while it is not the way I would have done things, I do understand. In the wrong hands, the books are deadly.” Thomas drummed his fingers along his thighs twice, and then laced them in his lap. Waiting for me to say something.

I wracked my brain—did we tell Deanna that I’d taken the black-skinned book, that we’d left a dummy in its place? Shit, I didn’t think we had. And then of course there was the violet book, the Book of the Lost. Orion had it. So there were two books left, but we had no access to either of them. Orion had them both.

“You have thought of something important, I see the way the colors in your eyes spin and dance. Just like Jack, your eyes will always give you away.” Thomas gave a long shiver through his lanky body and let out a low moan that had my skin quivering with goose bumps.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I stepped back, my hands going to my weapons without another thought. I would kill him if I had to, which would be the shits since I needed him. He didn’t answer, just continued to moan and sway, increasing in intensity with each second.

Liam slid between me and Thomas, a low growl rumbling through his chest; I felt his wolf just under the surface, ready to explode. Alex was only a step behind, all the hair along his back standing at attention, mimicking Liam. Their growls filled the room, but over them Thomas spoke.

Swaying from side to side he said, “Someone is trying to rip the veil wide open. That would be … unfortunate for everyone.”

I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat, knowing exactly who it was. “What can we do?”

The necromancer’s body shivered and then went quiet, his long chin lowering to his chest. He barely seemed to breathe. “Nothing. His time is coming and there is nothing we can do to stop him. The rip is incomplete.”

Silence echoed through the room. He didn’t say who ‘he’ was, but we all knew.

Orion was trying again to break through the veil.

That was not what I wanted to hear, not by a long shot. Yet I knew there was nothing I could do, not right then.

Back to the task at hand.

I stepped around Liam and Alex, waving them to ease back. “I’ll bring you a young necromancer, but I want you to bring both women out of the deep levels of the veil. That’s the deal. A two for one. And I’ll stay here and answer all your questions, everything I can when it comes to the books of prophecy that I’ve read.”

Thomas’s head remained lowered against his chest. “No. One for one.”

I ground my teeth and shot a look to Liam.

“We can get them both out. We’re going to need help from someone who can jump the veil. I hate to say it, but there’s only one person we know who can do that now that Milly is trapped.”

My blood pressure went up another notch. I did not want to bring
Faris
in on this. I didn’t need to owe that bloodsucker anything. Even if we had worked out our differences.

Kinda.

It was Erik who cleared the air. “Thomas, we’ll get you your young ones to train, but we need to know that our friends are alive, otherwise there is no point to getting you what we want. Can you at least show them to us, allow us to speak to them?” I was shocked at his subservience, but it seemed to stir Thomas. Perhaps I needed Erik more than I thought. He was a level head where Liam and I tended to act first, think later. Ok, maybe that was just me, but Liam wasn’t much better, especially lately.

“Yes, that would be fair. Only I am no Tracker and do not have the ability to pinpoint people as such.” Thomas finally lifted his eyes, and they were heavily bloodshot, as if he’d been awake for days. “Bring me the two necromancers and I will allow one of you to go into the deep levels to bring your friends out.”

More and more restrictions he laid, and I wondered if he wanted to help us at all. “What the hell, you can’t keep changing the rules.” I clenched my hands hard to keep from grabbing my swords.

Erik touched my arm. “Let’s get what we need first.” His eyes pleaded with me to listen to him.

“Can I use your phone?” I ground out between teeth that really would rather say, fuck you asshole. But I didn’t. See, I could mature a little too.

Thomas gave a start. “I suppose. You wish to call the necromancers-R-us hotline?”

I glared at him while a smile tipped his lips up. Fucking necromancer thought he was a comedian now.

“You’ll find it in the kitchen. Though I do not know if it is connected or even works, I have not used it in many years.” He slumped deeper into his seat. I motioned at Erik and Alex to stay with him, as I strode out of the room. Liam grabbed my arm as we hit the foyer, stopping me in my tracks.

“Talk to me, Rylee, what are you planning?”

“You’re right, we need Faris to jump Frank here. That would be faster than anything else. But necromancers and vampires do not get along. Like hated enemies,
kill each other on sight
not get along. So I have to find a way to keep Faris from killing Frank to start with. That’s problem number one—and that’s just the start; then we have Faris and Thomas to deal with.” I waved my hand in the air several times to make my point. Bringing Faris here was going to be difficult at best. And potentially deadly for Frank. It had been sheer luck they hadn’t run into each other over the last month. Then again, Faris hadn’t stuck around once Doran claimed the vampire throne.

Liam’s eyes drooped and I saw him mulling it over. “We’ll meet him in the graveyard. Faris can stay there until we get Milly and Pamela out.”

“And Frank?”

His jaw ticked several times. “You’ll just have to work your charm on the fanged one and make him see Frank is harmless. And that you need the kid to save Milly and Pamela.”

I nodded, feeling the worry climb my spine, sticking its spikes deep into my body. As far as plans went, it wasn’t much. But considering the number of times I flew by the seat of my jeans, it was a damn miracle we had even that much mapped out.

It would have to be enough. We headed into the kitchen and I was thrown back in time for a moment. Everything was old school. Circa 1950s old school. Older too, if the wood burning stove was any indication. Everything was in muted pastels that made me ill looking at their sickly, pale tones.

“Gag me, hire a decorator,” I muttered, walking to the black rotary phone hanging on the wall. It was freaking huge, at least two feet tall and a foot wide, black with the white numbers nearly rubbed completely away.

I held my breath as I picked up the receiver. A steady beep, beep, beep sent a flood of relief down me.

Liam stepped closer and the beeping faded. I pushed him back. “Too much of you apparently is not a good thing.”

He laughed softly and he trailed his fingers along my collarbone. “You sure about that?”

My eyes flicked to his and I shook my head. Now was not the time for
that
kind of discussion.

“Ease up. Work first, play later.”

He gave me a salute and stepped back, dropping into an awful green pleather chair that made me cringe. I dialed Doran’s number.

There was a click, a buzz, and finally the other end rang. “Come on, be awake, be awake.”

“Hello?” The hesitant voice was not Doran’s or even Berget’s.

“Frank?”

“Yeahhhhh. Who is this?” The fear in him was palatable. Shit, had something gone wrong?

“It’s Rylee. What time is it there?” Hell, I didn’t even know what time it was here.

“Early afternoon I guess. I just woke up.”

I squeezed the receiver. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just, I don’t like it here with Doran. Something about him is freaking me out.”

Ah, that explained it. Nature trying to assert itself and force their hands to each other’s throat. “Don’t worry, you’re leaving in a bit. We need you here.”

“Where are you?”

I ignored his question, feeling the bite of timing running out nipping at my heels. “Just listen. Did you find the other necromancer?”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, she was very pretty. I mean … smart … and …um.”

“Spit it out, kid.”

Again he cleared his throat and if one could hear a blush, it was all over his voice. “But she couldn’t help me, she’s far too young to know anything either.”

I wanted to shout for joy. Fuck yeah, we were getting both Milly and Pamela out! The fates were looking kindly on us finally and sending help our way.

“Get a hold of her and get her to meet you at Dox’s bar, do you understand?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know she will, and why at the bar?”

“I’ve got someone to teach you both, an old necromancer. He’s the best in the business. Don’t worry about why I’m having you meet us at the bar.” I didn’t want to tell him the reason he was uncomfortable at Doran’s. I didn’t want to compound that with a second necromancer. Last thing I needed was an inexperienced necromancer freaking out and raising zombies.

That was all it took. He was off the phone and I stood listening to the empty dial tone.

Liam hung up the phone. “How are you going to contact Faris?”

I ran a hand through my hair, my brain trying to tell me something, a tease of a hint I could grasp if I worked at it hard enough.

“He has ties to those he bites, can find them pretty much anywhere, right?”

Liam gave a slow nod. “But that wears off with you, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, but he bit someone else with us. Alex.”

“You think he would come if Alex called him? I doubt it. There’s nothing in it for Faris to show up at the beck and call of a werewolf he thinks is submissive.” Liam leaned back in the chair, his eyes calculating.

“But Faris knows Alex is always with me. Alex would never call Faris on his own.”

He nodded several times. “True. Is there a distance factor, like with your Tracking?”

“I don’t know.”

And there was no way to know until we tried. “You think Thomas would open the veil to pick up his two new pupils?”

“Good question.”

So, back to the living room we went. Erik stood at the edge of a large, bay window, peering out through the curtains. “The zombies are still out there.”

Well that was just great. Peachy. “Thomas, we have located two young necromancers for you. Are you willing to open the veil to bring them here?”

Thomas sat up, as if he pressed each vertebrae into his chair individually before he finally lifted his head. “That was rather quick. I find it hard to believe you have more ability to find a necromancer than I do.”

I shrugged. “Do you really care if I have more connections than you? Now, will you bring them across or not?” If I could have done so without him seeing, I would have crossed my fingers. As it was, I held my breath.

“There are two reasons I will not,” Thomas said and my stomach sank, breath knocked out of me. “The first is you could be lying and just trying to find a way out for yourself.” I sucked in a sharp, very angry breath but he plowed on ignoring me. “The other is if I open the veil now, after raising so many dead to keep you out of my home, I will not be able to open the deep level of the veil to your friends you wish to save. For days, perhaps. I am at the end of my strength now. I must rest while you bring the new young necromancers to me. Once they are here I can tap into their strength and we will open the deep levels for you.”

Shit. That was not good news on any front.

“Then I may not be able to stay with you. The only way to get them here will be … difficult.” There, that was a nice way of putting it.

Thomas waved both hands at me. “If you get them both here, a task I did not think and still do not think is possible, I will forgo the knowledge you have ‘til another time. That being said, I will keep one of your men here, just to be sure you will come back, Tracker.”

Asshat, he’d deliberately made a request he thought we couldn’t achieve. And I wanted nothing more than to shove it up his nose that he was so very wrong.

Erik let out a growl. “I’ll stay.” At the same time Liam said, “It will have to be me.”

Fucking hell, Liam was right. He couldn’t cross the veil unless it was a physical entrance like the doorway in the mine shaft, or the exit out the front doors of the castle.

“Erik. You come with me.” My heart clenched knowing that once again, Liam and I would be apart. I clamped down on the tears suddenly there. Seriously, I was far too tied to him; it was making me vulnerable. But I didn’t care. He caught me up in a quick hug, brushing his lips across mine.