Page 74 of Resurrection
“Woah, big guy, rein in the demon. She’s on our side.”
“She’s not,” Gabe corrected. “I remember…”
“Yeah, shitty mother. Pretty good grandmother though. Has cut ties to the rest of their horrific family and spent the last decade doing everything she can to protect all her grandkids. Even Kaine.”
“Yet she won’t protect Seiran? His kids need him.” Fuck, that was a brutal wave of memory falling into place. The manipulation, the way she’d abused Seiran, beaten him down. Gabe hated that he hadn’t been able to stop it. Negotiating for the twins had bought them time, and Gabe had been planning to take them all away, even if that meant rising again as he once had.
“She will, and is. She’s here to negotiate.”
No. Gabe wasn’t playing that game again. “Tell them to clear a path. That is the only choice. Clear a path or I will clear one myself.”
“Let her through, just her,” Sam said. “Let her see for herself that it is you who wields the power, not the baby witch over there.”
They all thought this was Page? Gabe really had held this in too long. He stretched out his magic, using the dead to see beyond the circle and the swell of cops beyond, perched behind police cars, weapons drawn. As if a gun could sever the tie between Seiran and the earth, or Gabe and Seiran. The witches were doing spells, though none seemed to be taking hold. Something about the land was breaking the magic. Interesting.
Gabe sent out a ripple of energy toward a group of witches who were trying to create a spell through joint effort. He felt their spell shatter like glass, broken by death, like most everything of mortal creation was.
Huh. Fascinating.
He found Tanaka standing not far from the farthest outer layer of his wall of the dead. She didn’t appear afraid, only resolved. He’d kill her if he had to, even if that meant facing Seiran’s wrath. Sometimes family was toxic no matter how much a person loved them. And Gabe knew Seiran loved his mom, even though Seiran knew how terrible the things she’d done were.
“Tanaka Rou,” Gabe called, using the dead to carry his voice. “You alone, are allowed to pass.”
Silence fell over the crowd beyond the barrier. And Tanaka hesitated as the first row of skeletons moved to let her pass. She’d have to walk the gauntlet, passing row by row of the dead until she reached them, the shambling bodies filling in behind her. If Gabe felt one ounce of her was willing to sacrifice her son, he’d show her how horrible a death could be at the hands of zombies.
She stepped forward. A wild array of gasps and shouts came from the group beyond. Concern for her, or just outrage? Gabe didn’t much care anymore.
When Tanaka passed through the final barrier, Gabe studied her. Noted how tired she looked. Sam had returned to his raven form, and was observing in silence with dark and intense eyes.
“Is my son still alive?” Tanaka asked.
“He is,” Gabe agreed. “And I plan for him to stay that way.”
She blinked at him, gaze studying Page for a moment, and seeming to take in Seiran’s prone form, but deep breathing. “This is your power?”
“I am death,” Gabe said. “Yet I killed none of those around me. Care to explain how there are so many bodies?”
Tanaka looked around at the group, taking in the different states of decomposition and decay, and then finding Steve. “There have been rumors.”
“About a coven slaughtering hundreds?”
“There are always rumors,” Tanaka said. “Would you let Seiran’s investigators in? To document?”
“Would it make a difference? Isn’t it the standard of the Dominion to kill things it can’t control? That would include Page, Seiran, and myself, right?”
“Normally,” Tanaka said.
“But I am not subject to your rule. I am not a witch.”
“You are a necromancer.”
“Which your people claim don’t exist because you fear us so much. Meanwhile, the true terror is the Pillar you’ve all decided wasn’t worth the time. He just saved your asses from world annihilation by the earth elemental.”
“I did feel that. Every earth witch on the planet felt Her… discomfort.”
Discomfort. What a fucking joke. Gabe shook his head, done with all this. He stood, and lifted Seiran into his arms. If they had guns aimed, they’d better hope it was a bazooka. Not much else could put him back in the ground. Not even the witch in front of him. She was strong, but not nearly the supernatural power Seiran had.
“We’re done,” Gabe said. “With the Dominion, and all this bullshit.”