A Torment of Savages (The Reanimation Files Book 4) (14 page)

“Uh…” Kyo started to drift backward. “I was looking for a ghost agency…”

“It’s okay, Kyo, I told Micah about you.”

Kyo relaxed, and flashed me a smile, and a moment later I felt Micah’s tension ease. Kyo floated over to the side of my bed. I suddenly felt very awkward laying there with both of them on either side of me. I swung my legs off the bed and stood up. The painkillers worked fast, and I was feeling a lot better. Once I was standing next to Micah, I made proper introductions. Kyo and Micah exchanged head nods.

“I’ve heard quite a story about you,” Micah said.

“One it doesn’t seem you fully believe judging from the skepticism I hear in your voice,” Kyo said. His voice had its usual easygoing tone, but his eyes had slightly narrowed.

“I just have concerns,” Micah said, shrugging one shoulder. “I don’t disbelieve it, as I trust Selene and her instincts, I just am not eager for her to put herself in danger for someone else yet again.”

“I guess that’s a Micah exclusive?”

Micah made a sound in his throat that I knew would lead nowhere good. Boy, this had escalated quickly. I hadn’t really thought about how Micah and Kyo would react to each other when they met, but I couldn’t say I was terribly surprised that they hadn’t fallen into an immediate bromance.

“Kyo, that was out of line,” I said. “And unnecessary at a time like this. You’re aware of what happened today?”

“I am,” Kyo said. “Sorry about the comment,” he sent Micah’s way before looking at me again. “I came to make sure you’re okay.”

“You could have floated through the front door instead of her bedroom wall though,” Micah said. He glanced at me. “Just saying.”

He did have a point. I had mentioned it to Kyo myself a few times, especially when he almost caught me in a naked predicament, but he hadn’t broken the habit yet.

I cleared my throat. “Anyway, I happen to know who is behind all of this. She showed up at the hospital. Kyo, have you ever heard of Revath?”

Kyo’s eyes widened. “Oh fuck,” he said. “Revath.”

“Who is she?” I asked.

“Part of the In Between hierarchy. Old. Ancient, really. Powerful, evolved. Pain in the ass.”

My eyebrow rose. “You know her personally?”

“No. The In Between is vast and I spent three hundred years giving Revath and her people as wide a berth as possible. Get too close and it was likely that I’d end up as a turret in one of her towers.”

“Say what?”

Kyo gave me a troubled look. “Remember when we were in the In Between and I showed you how I could manipulate ghost energy in order to make a hole or hill?”

I nodded.

“Well, manipulating your own ghost energy only goes so far. You can’t really create large-scale things with them. But by using energy from other ghosts…you can.”

I frowned. “So you’re saying that you could take someone’s ghost and build those structures I saw?”

“Exactly. If you truly want to bend and shape the landscape of the In Between, you have to use other ghosts as your building blocks. You absorb them, as you already know ghosts can do, and the boost in your own power allows you to be able to do whatever you want. Keep it within yourself, like Garrus, and just be a strong son of a bitch, or build yourself a mansion, like Revath and the other old ones.”

My mouth had fallen open. “That’s…that’s…horrible. It’s beyond horrible. Oh, God…”

“Yeah,” Kyo said solemnly. “The In Between may have been a horrible place and many ghosts let themselves get taken to end the agony, but for the most part none of us wanted our fate to end up in the hands of a ghost monster, Absorber, or
Kage-Oni
.”

“Shit,” Micah whispered. “So is that why she’s here? To get souls? She’s using the PTF officers to kill people so she can reap their souls?”

“That would be my best guess,” Kyo said.

“This isn’t going to sound like the best thing to say,” I said. “But why would she need to come here for ghosts when the In Between is full of them?”

“Because you can’t just suck up all the In Between ghosts,” Kyo said. “The Afterlife, every part of it, is maintained by ghost energy. If you remove all the ghosts, it all collapses, and no one wants to know what happens after that.”

“So she realized there was an open necromancer circle and saw an opportunity,” Micah said grimly.

“But where do I factor into this?” I asked. “That whole thing about her saying that she was coming for me and that I was the reason any of this was even happening doesn’t add up to her wandering through the open circle and seeing an opportunity to gather up some ghosts.”

“She said that?” Kyo said. “I don’t know what it could mean. But I don’t like. Like I said, I gave the
Kage-Oni
a wide berth so I don’t know the full scope of what they’re about and why Revath would say she’s here for you.”

“She won’t get you.” Micah took my hand and squeezed it. “I won’t lose you to the In Between again.”

“Neither will I,” Kyo said.

Micah gave him a sharp look.

“Three centuries, I was there,” he said, eyes on Micah. “I will do anything to avoid going back, and I’ll do anything to help Selene avoid the same fate.”

Micah just nodded, then turned back to me. “What do we do now?”

I sighed. My stomach growled again. “Eat. For now we eat. And then…” I trailed off because I had no idea what we would do then. I turned and led the men out of my room, following my nose to Ethan’s beef stew.

* * *

I lay awake in the circle of Micah’s arms. The room was dark and quiet save for the sound of Micah’s light snoring, his breath tickling the back of my neck. Luna was a spot of warmth where she was curled up against my stomach. I hadn’t been tired, but Micah asked if I’d at least cuddle with him, so I’d been lying here for a couple hours. The pain in my body was continuing to ease, but I was restless and couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened at the hospital. I could not stop seeing Revath’s face.

We’d watched the evening news earlier and the occurrences of dead animals were increasing. Speculation was that it was some sort of avian disease that was also affecting other animals. If only. As for what happened at the hospital; well, there was no explanation for that, only repeated details about the violence and the death left in its wake. No one but me had seen Revath, but what could I go out publicly and say about a conversation I didn’t even understand? So far she had not appeared anywhere else, and the remaining PTF officers still had not been seen or heard from. The media was calling them Savages.

I sighed and slowly eased Micah’s arm off me and got out of bed. Luna was more than happy to take my place and snuggled up against Micah. I stared at him for a moment. Even in sleep he did not look peaceful. There was a slight furrow to his brow. I probably looked the same way when I slept. You knew you were in deep shit when even sleep was no escape from your problems. I lay a soft kiss on Micah’s forehead then headed out to the living room.

I was greeted by the glow of the television screen, which was the only light, and saw Kyo sitting on the couch watching Friends with the volume turned low. I sat next to him and drew a pillow into my lap, wrapping my arms around it.

“Can’t sleep?” Kyo asked.

“Can you blame me? Every time I close my eyes I see blood, glowing red eyes, people who barely seem human anymore…Revath…”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you,” Kyo said softly.

“You aren’t my protector,” I said, flashing a quick smile.

Kyo’s face remained serious. “I feel responsible. You were only there to question Leena. Which you did because you’re trying to help me.”

“Let’s not play the blame game,” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “It would have happened whether I was there or not. And I’m sure Revath would have found me wherever I was.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have been caught up in the violence at least.”

“I survived. I’m invulnerable, remember?” I tried to keep my voice light but didn’t quite manage it. “Anyway, I did find out something interesting from Leena.”

“What?”

“Well, first of all, Dr. Lane gave me the results of the bones. The youngest is ninety-five years old. The others are over a hundred. They were all related. Leena said she inherited the bones from her ancestors, who killed the infants at birth. She said pretty much all dead witches alive today are hiding bones.”

“I knew it,” Kyo said, his voice warm with anger. “They slaughtered their own sons…”

“Not anymore, according to Leena. Now they adopt them.” I explained what Leena had told me about how dead warlocks were suppressed these days. Kyo’s eyes widened in shock.

“They take their power?” he said.

“Yeah, it’s drawn out with runes after they’re born,” I said. “Tielle has a son. He’s adopted, but knowing what I know now, I’m sure he’s her biological son.”

“Definitely.” Kyo’s face looked troubled. “Does Leena have any idea where the warlock bodies are?”

“No, she said she isn’t high ranking enough to know that. It’s exclusive information, which doesn’t surprise me. Something like that would only be known to a select few to make sure the bodies stay hidden.”

“Do you think Tielle knows?”

“It’s very likely. But it’s not like we can just go ask her.”

“No.” Kyo shook his head and was quiet as he stared at the coffee table with a frown on his face.

“I used a Memory Rune to make Leena forget our conversation so she doesn’t go tattle,” I said. “The information she provided is good, but I’m not sure what our next move is with getting your body back. I’m not sure who else we can…” I trailed off as something came to mind.

“What?” Kyo asked, looking at me.

“Magda,” I said. “I wonder if she would know anything.”

“She’s a powerful dead witch who does Underground business below a graveyard and isn’t registered with the mainstream dead witches,” Kyo said. “That does not seem like the person who you’d want to question about this.”

“I bet she knows something though.”

“And I bet she rips you in half once you try to question her,” Kyo said. “Don’t do it.”

I made a sound of frustration. “Then what the hell is our next move, Kyo? We need to be cautious, I get it, but if we can’t talk to anyone who might actually have some answers, what can we do?”

Kyo didn’t immediately reply, though his steady eyes remained on my face.

“What? Do you have a plan or not?”

“You and I both know we aren’t going to get anywhere just by asking,” he said. “You can’t ask Tielle for my body and expect her to help you.”

“Yeah, I know…”

“You would have to back her into a corner she couldn’t get out of without giving us what we want.”

“Uh…what?” I frowned.

Kyo looked away. “Selene, what if the only way to get anywhere with this was to do things you may not want to do?”

“Like what?” I asked cautiously.

“You said Tielle has a son,” he said slowly. “What if we used him against her?”

My eyes widened. “Use him,” I repeated. “How, exactly?”

“However necessary,” he said softly. He had an intense look on his face.

A thrill of fear went through me.

“We can’t,” I stated. “That…we can’t. There has to be another way. That would be wrong, Kyo.”

“And what do you call what they did to me? And all my brothers?” His words were forceful, and I was taken aback. His face was raw with emotion. “What do you call the last three hundred years of my existence?”

“There is no word that can describe it,” I said. “But Tielle and the other dead witches alive today are not responsible for what happened to the dead warlocks.”

“But they are the ones keeping the secret,” he said. “They are the ones who are aware that our souls are rotting in hell while they use our magic for their own gain. They are the ones who take away their son’s magic and have them living a lie they aren’t even aware of. How can you take their side?”

“Nowhere did I say I was taking their side,” I said. “But we cannot fight darkness with darkness. I cannot walk that path.”

“And that is the only path I know,” he said. “For too long it has been all I have lived, Selene. It is the only way I know how to fight.”

I didn’t know what to say. He was right that Tielle and the others were choosing to keep the deeds of their ancestors hidden and were using the warlock’s magic for their own purposes, but the thought of using an innocent boy, who himself was a victim of his own mother, was not something I was comfortable with. My mother, the Rune Teller Killer, had told me I had two paths I could walk. And Magda also alluded to darkness calling to me. I could not go down that road.

“We’ve essentially gotten nowhere,” Kyo said in a flat voice. “We’ve gleaned a little information, but it’s not the information that gets me my body back.”

“We’ll figure out our next move,” I said. “And those aren’t just empty words to try and make you feel better. We will get somewhere, I promise.” I truly hoped a new lead presented itself because I didn’t want Kyo to bring up the idea of using Tielle’s son against her again.

Kyo said nothing, just nodded.

I yawned. I felt like I might actually be able to fall asleep now. I stood up and started walking to my room but turned back. Kyo hadn’t moved and seemed lost in thought. “I will do my best, Kyo, to pull you from the darkness and into the light,” I said softly.

He turned those still intense eyes to me. “Something tells me you might be better suited to sit in the dark with me,” he said, just as soft. I swallowed hard and turned away, heading back to my room and the warmth of Micah’s arms.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The next morning, it seemed only Ethan had any semblance of a fun day ahead. As we had breakfast, Micah, Kyo, and I teased him about the fact that he would be spending the day with Ailani. Supposedly it was all in pursuit of becoming reacquainted with NYU as he geared up to enroll for the summer session, but I was sure that would take all of an hour and the rest of the day they’d spend ogling each other over a game controller or something. When he’d had all the teasing he could take he escaped to his room to get ready.