Necromancer Chronicles Pt. 02

Sara took off into the house and I followed, they were lying in bed, they looked peaceful but I saw their breathing was very shallow.

Sara said, "We have to get them out, bad air."

I echoed her words back like a question, "Bad air?"

Sara nodded, "Carbon monoside."

My eyes widened, "Carbon monoxide?"

"Yes, hurry, you shouldn't be in here long either. It's too late for me, just leave my body in my room."

I shook my head and used my power to pick up her mother, using my demon strength and speed I got her parents out onto the lawn, as well as her body. There would be less questions if Sara appeared as if someone at least tried to save her. I called nine one one and reported the incident from inside her house. I waited until I heard the fire truck.

I said, "When you're sure they are okay, come find me."

She nodded, ghostly tears in her eyes and looked at me with thanks. I felt a little guilty leaving her alone at the time, but I couldn't be there when the human fire truck showed up.

She joined me in my backyard a few hours later, and I bound my first ghost.

I shook my head, rejoining the present. Amy was on the phone and I looked over to Sara.

"You can do whatever you want, you have paid for your service though. If you stay it is because we are friends, yes?"

She nodded, "Will you redo the binding?"

I shook my head, but her lip trembled, "But how will I know if you need me? How will you know where I am?"

I considered that for a minute. The binding to ensure obedience went from my mind to their souls. I had created a lich by binding soul to soul. But I had another idea, I hoped nothing too weird happened.

"I do not wish to bind your soul, will you try something else with me? Would you like a body?"

"Oooh, that sounds good, as long as I can come and go, I can't visit my parents as a real person."

I nodded and called out one of my zombies. It was a fifteen year old girl. I had found the body in an alley a few years back. "Will this one work for you, or should we find you a new one, one your age?"

She shook her head, "My spirit may look ten, but I am twenty now you know. I'm not a kid anymore. That body should work fine, although, a bit older would be nice."

I shook my head. I didn't want to fight with her, but she was a kid. Spirits didn't mature nearly as fast as the living. She may be a lot wiser than most ten year olds, but she was not mature. If she had been she wouldn't think boys were still icky, and I wouldn't have to specifically block out her spirit when I was... well, you know.

"You are more than a normal ten year old, but your spirit would have matured and grown. It is a reflection of your soul and who you are. I don't think an older body would be wise."

She nodded and sighed. "As long as I get to stay," she whispered in a small voice.

I used my magic to... not exactly bond her with the body, but to make it compatible. She could still leave whenever she chose. Then I created a bond. Not mind to soul, not soul to soul, but mind to mind. It had been the reason I offered a body. As a spirit, binding to her soul had been the only option. Her spirit was all soul after all, or rather, her spirit was an energy projection of her soul. Then I poured energy into her body, making it stronger than a zombie would normally be. I didn't want her at the mercy of a vampire, if one attacked her now, they would regret their action.

She smiled and said in my mind, "Thank you, this is awesome."

"A revenant!" I heard a voice behind me.

I turned and smiled when I saw Anise, and behind her stood two other women, Willa and someone I didn't recognize.

"How did you get here so fast?"

Anise grinned and said, "You have an oak tree."

I nodded wisely and said, "That explains everything," in mock sincerity.

She laughed, "Witch travel. You know Willa, this is Leanne."

"This is Sara, she didn't want to go and her contract is up. Revenant you say?"

She shrugged, "Fancy talk for Zombie without a master. Contract?"

I briefly explained how I did things, Anise's smile grew bigger.

Leanne walked around in front and toward Amy, she smiled and said questioningly, "Grams?"

Amy looked unsure but took a few steps toward Leanne. After a brief pause they both wound up in a hug with tears in their eyes.

I looked back to Anise and Willa who had picked up one of the amulets and were studying it.

Willa scowled, "This work is Krista's. Her coven has nine, the smallest one in Chicago. I forbade them to interfere in this. Silas did not mention anything in council, this was done on the sly."

She looked up at me and said, "He knows Brandt and I would have said no. Brandt likes you by the way, though he would never say that out loud, alpha thing. Silas needs a quorum to take action like this and knows he didn't have it despite his two votes."

I asked, "Quorum?"

She nodded. "Some things require a majority. Since the head of the council has two votes, if it was a majority vote he could have done it. But to attack an independent in the city requires a quorum, which basically means three of the four councilors would have to vote yes on it."

She shook her head, "I don't know what we can do. Getting you a seat is a good idea, then he would be forced to deal with you honorably. None of the other council members would put up with it then. But it's impossible, adding a councilor takes a quorum vote as well, James and Silas would never go for it. I think he's just terrified of you, add Amy to the mix and he is panicking about it."

I sighed, "I just want to be left alone, well, that's not entirely true. I would hope to find welcome in the community at one point, if it's possible."

She smiled at me, "Well, one coven is ready to do that. Speaking of which," she turned to Amy, "Would you like to join our coven? We have no issue with your choice of boyfriend," she winked at Amy.

Amy nodded with a smile on her face.

I said bemusedly, "Wow, can you come over more, I think she's actually speechless."

Amy glared, "Asshole," her lips twitched at the corners of her mouth as she fought a smile.

We headed into the house and I offered everyone a drink. I introduced Hardin when he brought in a tray covered in drinks.

Leanne asked, "Is he your only ensouled Zombie?"

I nodded, "I try to keep the count of zombies down, didn't want to alarm anyone. Plus most ghosts don't like to inhabit flesh, Hardin on the other hand jumped at the chance. He's a wizard at the stock market, I owe a lot of my success in business to Hardin."

Willa expressed amazement that I cared what my ghosts thought, I was a little uncomfortable with the praise and approval.

I asked, "So if I can't get on the council, what can I do? I don't want to act outside the rules, but I can't ignore it when Silas so clearly is ignoring the rules. He'll just see me as weak and continue to do whatever he wants. I think he must see me as young and weak, and he's coming after me now, before I really am a threat. People like that can't believe that others don't crave the power he has."

Anise looked reluctant, but said, "I can challenge James, that can give us the quorum we need to get you in. That probably won't be enough to get Silas to back down though, but one step at a time."

Willa looked troubled, "Won't be enough why?"

Anise shrugged, "Back a rat into a corner and he'll fight for his life. Never mind the fact he'd be fine if he would just step back. The next step would be to replace him as head, but I fear the only way to end the threat is for him to be gone. Either out of the city, or..."

Amy asked, "Do you think it will come to that?"

Anise nodded soberly, "He tried to either control you, or kill you if that failed. He interfered with the witches, going behind Willa, which is a major transgression. He tried to kill a proven peaceful independent in Vince, and he has James in his back pocket, either through fear, blackmail or bribery. He clearly only uses the rules if they aid him and ignores them if it doesn't. He only cares about keeping the power he has and gaining more. If anything taking part of his power will make him more desperate and dangerous.

"He even likes to micromanage, controlling everyone in the community. It is not normal to need an eight hour session every day. Most councils meet once or twice a week, for a few hours. Ninety percent or more of the issues I've heard should be handled by the head of each race, not by the council head. I am not sure how normal that is in other places right now, but in Seattle it wasn't that way. At first when I saw it I thought maybe Silas wasn't so bad because he still helped the community, but the truth is he likes the fact the community comes to him and that they are under his power."

She shook her head, "I really hate politics," she looked my way, "I'll only do it if you will, so tell me if you don't intend to join the council and I won't either. Otherwise I will challenge James tomorrow morning, and you can request to be recognized as the councilor for Necromancers in the afternoon, representing ghosts, zombies, revenants and liches in the city. That last part is important as it puts Amy under your umbrella officially so he can't meddle, or at least, isn't supposed to meddle."

She smiled, "You and Willa will have to share."

I looked to Amy and she nodded subtly at me.

"Okay, I'll do it, I don't want to, but if it's the only way to keep my people and my family safe, I don't really have a choice."

They stayed the rest of the afternoon and we chatted about the city, Willa's coven, and of course, about how I ran things. Although I was pretty sure Amy and a ten year old girl ran things...

I wanted to ask Anise if she could help me with my demon powers and find out some more about what I could do with them, but it was quite clear to me she hadn't told Willa or Leanne she was a Nephilim, so asking in front of them would lead to questions. I couldn't blame her really, I didn't want them to know I was part demon either. I'd have to wait until I was able to talk to her in privacy, or at least with only Amy there since Amy knew about us both already.

I invited them to stay for dinner, but they declined, one of Willa's coven members was already cooking dinner for them. She did invite us over though for tomorrow night, assuming everything went well tomorrow, to plan and discuss the next steps. I accepted.

When they left Amy faked a yawn and said, "I'm beat, we should get to bed."

I stretched then checked the time, "I'm beat too, we've been up for a whole five hours."

She giggled and waggled her brows before racing for the bedroom, I chased her...