Page 72 of Resurrection
Blood still trickled from Seiran’s side, although it had slowed, and the wound was healing, no longer a gaping hole, his breathing clear of blood. The bullet had passed through him, Gabe could sense that much. But losing blood from the wound and then Gabe having to drink from him was a lot. He’d be out for a while, even with Gabe’s bond working hard to heal him.
Gabe’s head throbbed. Memories like a mallet on his skull. The rich and decadent flavor of Seiran still zinged on his tongue, the power circling through Gabe’s system, dizzying. It was a lot all at once, and he’d have to sit for a while to let the pieces drop back into place. But that would have to wait until they weren’t about to be mobbed and murdered.
“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Page was still sobbing, curled around himself on the ground.
“I need you to get behind me,” Gabe said quietly. “That barrier is going to fall and they are going to come at us with an army.” His gaze fell on the still man lying in the grass. No sign of life in him, but a ripple of darkness told Gabe the death was new enough. He also didn’t appear to be wounded at all, no blood on the grass, or scent lingering other than Seiran’s.
“Did you?” Gabe wondered if Page had shot him.
“He was already gone when I got here,” Page whispered. He crawled closer, avoiding the gun like it would burn him.
Why come here at all? Lured to a body? A trap? A reason to kill him without evidence? Would he even get a trial? No wonder Seiran had been enraged.
Gabe’s gaze fell back to the cabin and the lines of power etched into it. Dark magic if there was a color to magic. Spells and wards not laid by personal power, as much as death magic. That felt very familiar, though Gabe didn’t recognize the lines. He, much like Seiran, had never really needed spells to direct his power.
“You’ve been here before?”
“The family’s cabin. I never came here growing up. Just that one time when I raised Mattie. It was where they burned her.”
“But Steve asked you to come here?” Gabe deduced.
“Sent me texts. Said he had proof it was all me, and would take it to the Dominion.” Page bowed down over his knees, hunched in a ball, like making himself smaller would make him disappear. “It’s all my fault. He was hurting the vampires.”
“He’s the one who made you create the golem?” Gabe asked.
Page’s face crumbled again. “Yes. I’m so sorry.”
“Be sorry later,” Gabe said, watching the barrier continue to crumble. “We need to find a way to survive right this second.”
“They’ll kill us anyway. It’s what they do.”
Fuck. Gabe put Seiran behind him along with Page, trying to think of a way to create his own barrier as the walls fell. Darkness pulsed from the ground, familiar, cold and soothing. Like death. He glanced behind them at a small cabin a good twenty or thirty yards away. A hunting cabin maybe? He could feel bones beneath them, long still. Lots of death around them actually. Spades of it etched into the magic, the ground, and even the air. It felt like a place a coven met regularly, burning their elements into the area to combine their power. But most covens didn’t have death witches. At least Gabe didn’t think so.
Seiran could connect with the earth elemental, but Gabe could feel the familiar cool gaze of an old friend. Death as powerful as earth, a polar opposite of life. It was why Seiran and Gabe balanced so well. Had he known that at the time? A vague memory tugged at Gabe’s brain, that yes, he had recognized the draw of life.
His sire had ensured he had a healthy fear of witches in his first few years of rebirth. She hadn’t really known then, what he could do. Only that the blood of witches could make a vampire more powerful. She didn’t want him to have that kind of power. But when the magic of the dead began to awaken in his bones, morphing with intensity as it lay in forced dormancy, he’d realized his true potential. He also understood why it terrified her so much, as it did most of the world now. Once again, he could feel that old tingle of magic building within, as though too long unused and ready to rain down fire and brimstone.
All vampires had some death magic, part of their reanimation, mostly. But Gabe had never been much like the rest of his brethren.
“Is this some kind of old graveyard?” Gabe asked. Too many bones to be natural. The stain of blood so vast it would take centuries to fade.
Page shook his head. “No. I don’t know? I feel something? I thought it was just my blood, Steve had been demanding it for a while. Claiming he needed it to control the golem. I gave him vials. But it’s bigger than that.”
It was. And Page was a baby witch who was only beginning to grasp what he was. Would be a shame to lose that power so soon. “He probably did need your blood at first to control the golem. Doesn’t sound like he was a necromancer or a summoner.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know what that second one is. His family has earth powers. Not as strong as the Rous, but powerful. The previous Pillar of Earth was one of theirs.”
“You are a summoner, Page. One who manipulates souls and spirits. One who can call demons to this world.”
Page gasped. “I would never… I didn’t mean to… I thought I was…”
“It’s a part of necromancy. But a necromancer can’t put a soul in a body. Most magic can sever the tie between a mortal shell and the immortal soul, be it human or vampire. But putting them in the golem? That is not a necromancer skill.”
Animating a golem didn’t usually take a soul. Though death was required to charge it. Golems were animated by intent, fueled by death magic. One specific goal for it to focus on at almost demonic strength. Gabe remembered that now and wondered if there were still any texts about it.
“Iam a necromancer,” Gabe said as he put his hands to the ground, digging his fingers into the soil to reach the cool touch of his power through the earth. Much more than animal bones, though those were plentiful. This felt similar to the killing field they’d found of vampire bodies, only older, the bodies partially reclaimed in some spots, and none nearly as fresh, other than Steve. Interesting.
Page shivered. “What are you doing? I feel it…”