Page 75 of Resurrection
“Is that what Seiran wants?”
“Seiran never wanted any of this. He wanted a quiet life. Now he just wants to keep his family safe. This,” Gabe waved at their surroundings, “was what you wanted for him. Power. Status. Though no one fucking sees him for what he is.”
“You don’t either. You’ve been gone too long. You can’t possibly know what is best for him.”
Gabe snorted. “Fuck you, Tanaka. Some Dominion coven murdered hundreds of humans and vampires, and we are the problem? Push this and it becomes war between us and the witches.”
“You speak for yourself, or for the vampires? I don’t think Hart would appreciate that.”
“If you think Hart has more vampires under his control than I do, you’re mistaken. War between witches and vampires, Tanaka. Or let us go in peace. Find out who created this,” Gabe pointed to the mass of bodies. “Because it wasn’t us.”
“I don’t have that power.”
“Then what use are you?” He snapped. “What are you even fucking doing here?”
She opened her hand and a rock fell to the ground, crystal looking, and Gabe worried it was some kind of spell or something, feared he’d let her in only for her to trick them all. But the rock flashed with a tiny flicker of magic, and out rolled a small brown cat. The cat darted toward Gabe, too small to cause damage, but it grew as it moved, turning from cat to child in a shift more flawless than Sam’s had been to the raven.
A little boy who looked ten or so, with a mop of bright red curls, and Seiran’s sapphire eyes stared up at Gabe. He was fully dressed and not at all human. Gabe blinked down at the boy, who he had heard of, but hadn’t met. “Kaine?”
“You have to follow,” Kaine said in a whisper. “Stay close, else you’ll get lost.” He smiled at Page. “You too, Page. Papa would want you safe.” Kaine reached Gabe’s side and touched Seiran’s face.
“Follow where?” Gabe wondered. But Kaine held out a hand, and a rip in the fabric of reality appeared. A flickering of what Gabe pulled from Seiran’s mind, rather than his own. The veil between worlds. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” People went through the veil and never came back. Even Gabe knew that.
“You have to,” Kaine said. “I’ll hold Page’s hand, and touch Papa’s leg. Don’t stop touching me, no matter what you see inside. Okay?”
This was a really bad idea. Gabe waited for Tanaka to protest or something. But she’d brought Kaine to them. For this reason? She put her hands to the ground and the earth flowed upward, swallowing up all traces of Seiran’s blood. Gabe should have thought of that. If he’d left traces of Seiran the witches could have used it to hex him.
“Can you tie that one to me?” Tanaka asked, pointing to Steve. “I’d like to question him.”
“Question, or hide evidence?”
“Question. The dead can only answer true.”
Gabe was surprised. Since the darker magics seemed to have been purged from the Dominion, he didn’t think Tanaka would know much of it.
“My husband was the child of a legend of dark magic,” Tanaka said.
“Ruffman,” Gabe recalled. Though he didn’t think he’d ever met the man. He’d heard rumors of his magic decades ago. And he’d been murdered by the Dominion, set up as some warning to all other witches. That was when Gabe had really buried his power. Fear, apparently. At least he was beyond that worry now. As long as their reach was, Gabe didn’t think they really had the power to destroy he and his.
She nodded, “Seiran’s grandfather.”
“Technically, Seiran could have some of this magic.” That made sense too. Why the earth was so strong within him, and death and destruction followed. The scope of his power as a pillar had been beyond all others before him since day one.
“Yes,” Tanaka agreed. “He’s been very good about detecting the dark magics.”
“And the Dominion wants him dead for it?”
“I’m running out of ways to protect him,” she admitted.
Gabe sighed. “Then I guess it’s time to show the Dominion they have something to fear.” He looked at Steve, who looked fresh and almost alive if it weren’t for the tilt of his neck. Gabe wove his magic through the corpse, charging it enough that it would stay animated without having to be close to him. “Obey Tanaka Rou,” he instructed the zombie. “If someone causes you harm, return to me,” he added. If someone tried to unravel the tie, it would fight to find him, able to track him across the world if necessary.
She stared at the zombie and it stared back, waiting for her orders.
“The rest should fall as soon as I cross the barrier.” Gabe didn’t think he could hold the shambling dead together from beyond the veil. Not without weaving each and every one of them into something more substantial. Though with the amount of power he’d spilled into the ground from Seiran’s overflow, anything could happen.
“Understood,” Tanaka agreed. “Go. Protect my son as you agreed to decades ago.”
Sam bounced around near the portal, but didn’t enter.