The Necromancer's Betrayal (The Final Formula Series, Book 2.5) (11 page)

“Keep a tight leash.” Neil pushed the cart away from the table, his words almost lost to the squeaky wheels. “He’s quick.”

“Afraid?” Doug asked.

“You haven’t seen what he can do. Right, James?”

James didn’t give him a response.

“Let’s see what you can do, dead man.” Doug looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. “Change.”

James rolled off the table and darkness enveloped him before he hit the floor. He landed on four paws with a soft thump. A dark doorway appeared before him, seeming to float in mid air. Elysia remembered seeing the same thing at the store when he took out the second gunman.

“Stop!” Doug shouted.

James snarled, but did nothing else.

Little brother?
An accented voice echoed out of the darkness.

“Wait.” Neil moved closer.

A form moved within the doorway, a shadow in the darkness, his red eyes focused on them.

“What is that?” Doug whispered.

Neil stopped before the doorway. “Who are you?”

Necromancer.
The form snarled.
Your kind has no power over me here.

Elysia shivered. It took an effort to stand here. She didn’t like Neil, but she had to admire his courage to converse with that thing.

“I know who you are,” Neil said, wonder in his voice.

Come closer,
the voice said.
Magical souls are indeed the tastiest.

The person within the darkness stepped to the edge of the opening, and Elysia pressed a hand to her mouth. It was the monster from her dream. Over seven feet tall, this thing looked like a werewolf. Light danced across the doorway, and the monster snarled and stepped back. The sound made her want to turn and run.

“You can’t step through, can you?” Neil asked. “Why can he?” He gestured at James.

He has a body made of flesh.
The monster moved into the light.
Bring me a body and I will serve you.

“Don’t, Neil,” Doug whispered, his tone urgent. “That’s a demon.”

Neil ignored his cousin. “A body? Any body?”

A body of the blood. A living body.
The monster whispered, longing in every word.

“Blood? Whose blood?”

The blood of the hound.

Neil glanced at James, his look considering.

James snarled.

Elysia shivered again. God, James sounded like the thing in the doorway.

“Change back.” Doug’s voice broke the quiet.

James became human, crouching naked on the tile floor. The doorway winked out, but his glowing green eyes didn’t watch it go; they were locked with hers.

Elysia took a hasty step to the side and pressed her back against the wall beside the door.

“What’s wrong?” Kari whispered.

Elysia waved her to silence.

“Do you mind?” Neil sounded pissed.

“You were conversing with a demon.”

“Ah, cousin.” Neil clicked his tongue a few times, the sound an admonishment. “So little you know. It’s sad how far our kind have fallen.”

“That was a doorway into the land of the dead.”

“Of course it was. He’s a hellhound. A guardian of that place.”

“Why the surprise, Doug?” James spoke up. “Certainly you’ve seen Elysia open a portal. Or is that why you wanted her power knocked out?”

Elysia didn’t move. She had no idea what James meant about a portal, but she wanted to hear Doug’s answer to the last part.

“What are you talking about, dead man?” Doug demanded.

“I think my cousin is confused,” Neil said to James. “Doug wants to present you to his father, free of an interfering bond. Not that he’s above stunting his fiancée, but I don’t think he fully realizes what she can do.”

“How would you know what she’s capable of?” Doug asked.

“Her ancestry, cousin. And your comment that she’s already losing ground to her curse.”

“The curse is real?”

“Of course. A brilliant feat of alchemy and necromancy.”

Elysia held her breath so she didn’t miss a word. If Neil knew about her curse, he might know specifics.

Neil snorted. “But I doubt she understands its true purpose.”

“How do you?’

“I know my trade.” He began moving the squeaky-wheeled cart once more. “If you would, collar the grim and put him back in his drawer.”

Elysia pressed a hand to her mouth.
His
drawer? Had James been here all along, locked in a drawer when Neil wasn’t experimenting on him?

Doug grumbled, but he must have done as told because a door slammed a few minutes later.

“I expect results,” Doug said. “You had better not be delaying so you can spend more time with the grim.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll get to present him to your father soon, although I still think it a foolish idea.”

“Father knows discretion. He won’t want to start a war with New Magic.”

Elysia didn’t get a chance to wonder what he meant by that. Footsteps approached the door. “Hide!” she whispered to Kari. They ran across the hall and pushed open the swinging door into another room. Only the emergency lights were on, giving the room an eerie glow.

“Why are we hiding?” Kari whispered.

Elysia held up a finger, silently asking for her to wait. Doug’s footfalls echoed in the hall, moving away from them. Fortunately, Kari’s presence wouldn’t be noticed in a building full of the dead.

“I’ve been betrayed.” Elysia slumped against the wall beside the door. “That was my fiancé.” She had always known that Doug didn’t truly love her, but she also knew that his reasons for pursuing her had never been malicious ones. He only wanted to join his power to hers, adding even more clout to the Nelson name in the next generation. Though it did surprise her that he was willing to go against his father’s wishes to do that. He
never
went against his father.

“I’m sorry.” Kari laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.

Once again, Elysia was touched by this girl’s compassion. Elysia took a steadying breath. She didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself. She had to get James free.

“Listen, I—”

“Someone’s coming.” Kari’s grip tightened.

Elysia bit back a cry, certain Kari had almost crushed her shoulder. “Easy.” She patted Kari’s hand. “You have the strength of the dead.”

The squeak of Neil’s cart echoed in the hall, moving closer.

Elysia guided Kari away from the door and took her first good look at the room. It wasn’t an autopsy room; there were no tables here. Instead, the room was filled with counters and cabinets. She eyed a microscope and the nearby rack of test tubes. It was the lab Doug had mentioned—and Neil was no doubt coming here.

They stood in the center of the room, and the only door out led straight into Neil’s path.

Chapter
12

“D
uck under a cabinet?” Kari whispered.

Elysia glanced over at her. That might have worked, if there were other bodies in here. “He’s a necromancer. He’ll sense you.” Being stunted only prevented a necro from using his magic; it didn’t stop him from feeling—unless the stunting was potion induced, like hers.

Elysia gripped Kari’s upper arm. “I need you to distract him.”

Kari’s eyes widened. “How?”

“Tell him you’re the lich from the hospital, sent here for safekeeping until the Deacon decides what to do with you. Tell him anything, just don’t mention me.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry. He’s stunted. He can’t use his power on you. Once I’m out of the room, you can punch his lights out.”

Kari’s brows rose.

“Strength of the dead, remember.” Elysia ducked under the nearest cabinet, a moment before the door swung open. An instant later, the room was bathed in light as Neil flipped the switch. The cart squeaked, then abruptly stopped.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“I’m Kari.” She took a few steps toward him. “Are you the Deacon?”

“No.” He moved closer. “You’re a lich.”

“That’s what they tell me.” Kari’s voice fell to a whisper. “They say I’m dead.”

“You are.” Stunted or not, Neil had the usual necromancer indifference to the dead.

“Oh.” She sounded so dejected. “What happens to me?”

“You probably don’t want to know.” He walked past her, dismissing her as unworthy of his notice. His indifference surprised Elysia. Liches were so rare that most viewed even the possibility as a fable.

Neil approached her hiding place, and Elysia shrunk against the wall, but he didn’t stop. He continued down the counter, halting a short distance away.

“You say the Deacon’s on his way over?” Neil asked.

“Now? I don’t know. I heard them say that he would decide what to do with me.” Kari followed him.

Elysia expected Neil to question how Kari got here in the first place, but he remained silent for a long moment.

“Who Made you?” he finally asked.

“What?”

“Who made you a lich?”

“I don’t know.” Kari’s voice sounded further away, as if she moved toward the back wall. “What’s this?”

“Don’t touch anything.” The rattle of glass followed Neil’s voice.

Elysia leaned forward chancing a glance into the aisle. Neil’s black robes were only yards away. Elysia pulled back, but even as she did, she realized that he had been turning in the opposite direction. Toward Kari.

Taking a deep breath, Elysia peeked out again. Neil had his back to her, walking to where Kari stood at the far end of the counter. It was now or never.

Elysia crawled out from beneath the cabinet and, staying low, began to back toward the door.

“Can you describe the one who Made you?” Neil asked.

“I had a head injury. I woke up in the hospital. Dead.” She finished in a whisper.

Neil didn’t immediately respond, and Elysia stopped, afraid he would hear her movements in the now quiet room.

“What is it?’ Kari asked him. She faced Elysia, yet kept her eyes on Neil. Elysia admired her presence of mind to not give her away by glancing at her.

“Is your heart still intact?”

“W-what?”

“Is there an incision over your heart?”

Elysia hesitated. Did Neil suspect her?

“No,” Kari answered, her horrified eyes remained on Neil, preventing her from seeing Elysia’s nod as she tried to get Kari to say yes. If Neil knew that Kari’s heart was still intact, he knew that a necromancer had Made her with blood alone. Only the rarest of the rare could do that, and it had been centuries since the last one. The one who had founded Elysia’s line.

Neil chuckled. “Interesting.” His arm shot forward, and Elysia thought he made a grab at Kari. Instead, a cloud of green gas exploded in her face. He had thrown a potion.

Elysia rose from her crouch and in three quiet steps, she was through the swinging door and back out into the hall. Her luck held as the doors didn’t creak and the hall was empty. She hesitated. What had Neil thrown at Kari? Should she try to help her? No, she couldn’t waste the opportunity Kari had given her.

Running on her toes, she hurried to the autopsy room where she had last seen James. A quick peek though the glass, and she shoved open the door. The hinge squeaked, the sound loud in the empty room—or perhaps it was amplified by her nerves.

She eased the door closed behind her and turned to face the mortuary drawers. There were twelve of them. Keenly aware of her lack of power, she stared at the doors. Which one was James’s?

A thump sounded from the hall, and Elysia glanced toward the door. She would have to rescue Kari next, but with James’s help, that shouldn’t be a problem. If he would help. He might think she had approved of his recent treatment.

“James,” she whispered. Through the numbness, the bond tightened. Neil and Doug were wrong. This bond would never dissolve.

A soft thump came from the drawers on her right. Elysia moved closer, her heart pounding as she resisted the urge to start opening doors.

She forced herself to focus and closed her eyes, listening.
James, where are you?

Another thump.

Without opening her eyes, she reached out and took another step toward the drawers. Her fingers brushed the cool metal, sliding over it until she found the latch. She opened her eyes and pulled the handle. Light from the room reached only a foot into the drawer, but it was enough to illuminate a head of black hair—not a body bag.

She caught her lower lip between her teeth and pulled out the drawer. James squinted up at her in the bright light. The only thing he wore was a metal collar locked around his throat. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his skin appeared paler than she remembered.

“Oh God,” she whispered, brushing back his hair. “I’m so sorry.”

He lifted an arm and she stilled. His cool fingers came to rest against her cheek. “What have those bastards done to you?” His eyes held hers, his forehead wrinkled in concern. He had noticed her white eyes.

She bit back a sob. Like Kari, he put her troubles over his own.

“Later,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”

He took his hand from her face and gripped the collar encircling his throat. “I need to remove this.”

She remembered her dream and the way he had been bound, but there were no chains here.

“Why?” she asked.

He met her eyes and seemed to decide something. “It confines my power.”

She touched the keyhole worked into the metal collar. “Where’s the key?”

“Neil’s cart. It was—” James turned his head toward the door. “I hear him. He’s coming.”

Elysia turned toward the room. Aside from a counter running along one wall, only the three stainless steel tables occupied the room. And the only way out was the door into the hall.

James gripped her wrist. “Climb in here.”

Her breath caught. “I–I can’t.” The old memories surfaced. The dark, the cold. Dead hands animated by her own blood. A cold sweat instantly coated her skin.

“Elysia.”

The bond tightened and she gasped.

“I’ll be with you,” James said.

He was right, and she was being a coward. She was a grown woman not a terrified child.

Her heart thumped in her ears, and she did something she only did in her darkest nightmares: she climbed into the drawer. James moved over as much as he could to make room, but she still had to lie on her side to fit on the cold steel tray with him. Bracing his hands on the ceiling, James walked their drawer back into the narrow space that held it, then reached above their heads and caught the door.

“Careful!” The word was almost a shout, and she forced herself to continue in a softer tone. “It latches on the outside.”

“I know.” He pulled it until the latch touched, but didn’t catch. Elysia wasn’t sure if she wanted the open door to come to Neil’s attention or not. Facing him might be preferable to the sheer terror that had enveloped her.

“Easy.” James’s voice was soft in the darkness, one hand rubbing her back.