Page 77 of Resurrection
“I can’t imagine how insanely powerful he would be if he were stronger,” Gabe said.
Kaine’s watery gaze met his. “He’d be able to keep Her from taking over better. He could leave the garden.”
Something in Gabe’s expression changed, like he understood. “I’m here to help now. Maybe we can work on that?”
Kaine took a quivering breath and nodded. Seiran tugged him close and kissed his scalp. “You done poking me?” Sei demanded of his brother. “Maybe I could have some food and get filled in on what the heck just happened.” He moderated his swearing for his kid. And two seconds later his other two appeared, racing across the kitchen to wrap their arms around him. Gabe had to take a step back. At least he didn’t look like he was fighting the revenant anymore.
Across the veil is bad for vampires, Seiran heard. Was that Gabe in his head? Gabe nodded and gave them all space. Seiran’s kids wanting hugs and assurances.
“Your boyfriend raised an army of the dead,” Jamie said, not looking happy.
Boyfriend. It was such a weird term. Gabe was more than that, but the lost years made it feel both too much and too little. “Wait, army of the dead?”
“He’s a necromancer,” Kelly said as he entered into the kitchen. “And hot damn the footage. It’s all over the news.” He held up his tablet and showed a video of skeletons animated and acting like a barrier.
Seiran sat up slowly and reached for the tablet. “What?”
“They should have come apart when I crossed the veil,” Gabe said. “I only bound Steve to Tanaka so she could question it. The others shouldn’t still be whole.”
The video footage said otherwise. Seiran caught a glimpse of his investigators at the scene, though there were obviously arguments going on between the witches and the human investigators. Seiran hit the volume button to listen to the reporter.
“Authorities are at odds with the Dominion right now due to the number of bodies,” the reporter said. “While the Dominion claims this is some sort of trick of a witch gone rogue, several of these bodies have been identified as missing persons.” The video panned to a handful of the animated who still looked somewhat human. Decaying, but not far enough to hide who they had been. “Vampire leader Maxwell Hart has insisted on a full investigation, adding that he has a mass grave of vampires similar in scope. And Senior Director Rou has indicated her full support of an investigation.”
The camera changed to Seiran’s mom standing in the center of a group of reporters and next to human police officers. It was dark outside, lights from cameras bright and washing some of the color out of her face. Or maybe she was that upset. “This is the second incident involving the Brody family and their property. I am declaring that a full investigation will be held into this family and their acts,” Tanaka said.
“What about the barriers that have gone up around the country over the Rou house and some of their affiliates?” Someone shouted from the crowd. “Didn’t the Pillar of Earth do this?”
“Earth has the power to release those to death, not make the dead rise,” Tanaka stated. “I’m saddened that this is not common knowledge. This is obviously a failure of the Dominion, both in training and in monitoring our members.”
“But since the Pillar is your son, aren’t you just protecting him?” Someone else demanded.
There was movement in the crowd, cops moving aside and reporters pushed back a little as a group of vampires appeared. Max, Sam, and even Mike, all stepping into the center. The reporters shouted questions until it became a blur of noise that didn’t stop until Max raised a hand to silence them all.
“We are taking over this investigation,” Max stated. The protest began immediately. He held up a hand again, instant silence. “Since we cannot be certain of the Dominion’s integrity in this instance, we will be taking over the investigation. These dead were raised by one of our own to protect himself, and the Pillar from being unjustly murdered.”
The trickle of noise began again. Max glared at them until silence fell again. He could do scary really well. He pointed off to the side where Steve stood, a zombie looking almost alive, if it weren’t for the odd tilt of his head.
“I’m not sure the kids should see this,” Seiran said. But they were glued to the screen as much as he was.
“Steven Brody, who killed you?” Max demanded of the zombie.
“My mother,” the zombie said in winded slow speech.
“Holy fuck,” Kelly muttered.
“Kids,” Seiran growled at him.
“Sorry,” Kelly said, his eyes huge.
There was a muttering that maybe the vampires could make the zombie say what they wanted it to. But the noise fell again as Sam stepped forward. “We are questioning all the dead. Categorizing them, and will be notifying next of kin. Any and all action against any vampire, will be considered an act of war.”
There was a gasp that ran along the crowd, but Max was already moving away, leaving the reporters to Sam. “Once we question the dead, they will be laid to rest at their family’s behest.” Sam looked around. “Due to the sheer number, this is going to take a while.”
“Do you think Seiran Rou had something to do with this?” Someone demanded.
“I think the Dominion is trying to use this event to harm the Pillar of Earth. We, the vampires, are allied with Rou, have accepted him as he has been accepted by the earth. Need I remind you of the events of yesterday? Global catastrophe on the verge of mortal destruction, ended abruptly by Rou himself. The Goddess was angry, and ready to end all of humanity, and he soothed Her rage. Would you rather be in this world, with him or without him? Would there be a world left without him?”
“Rousing endorsement from the vampire,” Jamie said.