Necromancer's Revenge

Necromancer’s
Revenge

by Emma
Faragher

Book 0.5 in the
Trix SinClara series

Other books in
series

Necromancer’s
Revenge (0.5)

The House
(1)

Necromancer’s
Control (1.5)

The Solstice
(2)*

*Coming Spring
2014

This book is a
work of fiction and any similarities to any persons or events are
entirely coincidental.

Copying this
work entirely or in part without express written permission from
the author breaks copyright laws.

For more
information on other works and writing by Emma Faragher visit her
blog at

trixsinclara.blogspot.co.uk

email:
[email protected]

Cover credit:
Konstantinos Thersippos Karentzos

A big thank you
to everyone who helped with the production and editing of this
book.

Smashwords
Edition

The bright yellow lights on the floor ringed the crime scene.
To pass
, I should have had to provide my
iris scan at the very least. Generally, a full DNA sample was
needed for non-police. But I wasn’t giving out either, which I had
made abundantly clear to Captain Jessica Talehari when she asked me
to do this job. No DNA, no record of my presence at all. I was a
ghost and I liked it that way. Ali followed close enough behind me
that most people wouldn’t even notice her so she almost got to
ghost through with me.

We got a few
sidelong glances as Jessica rushed my teenage accomplice and me
past the checkpoints. The small grey tent they’d erected to hide
the body from the public looked drab next to the white of the
floor, even in the dark. They’d turned off the heating to this part
of the street as well. Dead bodies don’t smell so good on heated
floors. Or so I’d been told. My sense of smell was terrible.

There was only
one other officer in the tent and I could see from the set of his
shoulders that he wasn’t going to leave us with the dead man.
Ignoring him, I started to walk around the body. My normal senses
are dulled, I can barely smell anything and my sight is terrible. I
used them for other things and in the drab tent the dead man shone.
A bright, diffuse light emanating from him, blaring at my
power.

Jessica was
having a hushed conversation with the other officer as I bent down
closer to the dead man. He seemed to have been in his mid-thirties.
Although his hair had gone prematurely grey, and his skin had
wrinkled around his gaunt frame, making him look far older. Bulky
clothes hid the rest of him. Old and stale, they screamed of the
destitute poor. He was just unlucky to have found his way to the
main streets before he died. Else he might have been laid to rest
in peace.

“Are we going
to get started here or would you prefer I pay my debt another
time?” I asked Jessica. In all honesty it was my mother’s debt. I
hadn’t bothered to ask what Jessica had done for her, but I’d been
informed that should she ever ask for a favour I was honour bound
to give it. My mother had thought honour was the greatest of all
virtues, no matter what one had to do to keep it. Although, by all
accounts, it wasn’t the hugest of favours I could do for Jessica,
but it also wasn’t the first favour I’d done. The police officer
had gotten the most from her past good deeds.

Jessica looked
briefly to the other officer before answering. “He won’t leave us
in the tent alone. Despite the fact that I am his superior.” The
last she ground out from between clenched teeth. Jessica had an air
about her that told people not to argue. Her hair was fully grey
and pulled back severely from her face. All her lines looked stern,
as if she spent a great deal of time scowling at people. The other
officer, a man who looked to be in his twenties from the aura
surrounding him, was brave to face her head on.

“Perhaps the
officer can keep numb on the subject then?” I allowed a small
thread of power to whisper through my voice as I spoke. It wouldn’t
show up in the recordings, in fact I should be all but invisible to
the cameras the officer wore. Jessica had already removed as many
of hers as she could. Hiding my friend was harder; Jessica had told
people she was a witness. Or a consultant, I couldn’t remember
which. She’d show up on the recordings but this case wasn’t big
enough to warrant anyone actually checking them.

“I cannot allow
you to mess with the crime scene,” the young officer stated.

“We do not
intend to mess with the crime scene; we are here to find out what
killed this man here,” I responded. This time without the threat of
magic. It was far too draining to keep it up. It would be better to
leave and catch up with the man in the morgue. Yet, it was so very
much harder to bring back someone who’d been through an autopsy,
and Ali was my only available donor.

“Why are you
here?” he asked. I decided then that it would be easier to simply
tell him and make sure he couldn’t say anything, than to get him
out of the way. A risky move perhaps, but I had a feeling it might
pay off in the long run. That was another thing my mother had been
big on, having a long term plan and trusting your instincts. Not
that hers had done her much good in the end. Jessica wouldn’t be in
the police force forever, and it wouldn’t do me any harm to start
making some new friends.

“Swear to me
that what you witness here will not in any way be communicated to
another person, living or dead, by voluntary or coercive means.”
For that, I put in a different kind of magic. My mother had weaved
many spells about me, one of them made sure that I could never lie.
Of course, if I activated it, nobody could lie to me either. It was
a fair trade off. “Swear it.” I held his gaze as I spoke and saw
him nod before he realised he would have to verbalise his
assent.

“I swear,” he
said and I dropped his gaze. I felt the magic wind its way around
him and hoped he knew what he had done. It was all too easy for
children of our technological age to ignore magic. It was a myth to
them, but that didn’t stop it from affecting them. And this
particular spell was a nasty one to betray, but it was also my only
insurance policy. What was inflicting a little tortuous pain
compared to keeping my head on my shoulders?

Moving back to
the dead man I beckoned to Ali. She was only nineteen, but had
managed to work up a debt already. This would cancel it out.
Captain Jessica was lucky that I owed her so much. Normally I
wouldn’t call in one favour to pay another like this. One day I
might need all the favours I could get.

“Ali, lie down
next to him and take his hand.” She did so without even twitching.
I wasn’t the only one jaded to the dead. Although I was betting she
wasn’t so attracted to him as I was. The aura around him
practically beckoned me closer. A violent death tended to attract
necros more than any other kind.

Placing a hand
over each of their heads, I let magic spill about me. It wasn’t a
spell as such, more natural talent. I felt the spike in energy as
Ali and the dead man connected and heard the change in her
breathing patterns before she stilled.

“Three
minutes.” I said to Jessica. I didn’t open my eyes. I barely even
breathed. The dead man’s chest rose once, then again as he opened
his eyes. Ali’s life force running through him.

“Tell us of
your death,” Jessica told him. He paused, his eyes staring blindly
at the ceiling. Where they would remain. To give him back his sight
would reduce the time I could keep him awake without endangering
Ali. A debt she may owe, but it wasn’t enough to constitute her
life.

“A man came to
me. He offered me money. Blood money.” He seemed like he wanted to
move but I held him still. Not allowing him to steal too much from
Ali. “He had a knife, silver knife. Funny words. Blood money.
Bleeding, always bled too much.”

“Two
minutes.”

“Tell us about
the man.”

“Tall, silver
hair. Blood money. Silver knife. Bleeding. Hurt.” He was
regressing. Traumatic death was always so much more difficult to
overcome. He was flagging badly. I had to reverse the process
before he took Ali with him. Her breath was already gone, her heart
was slowing. He was pulling more energy than he should.

“Time’s up,” I
said as I surged power back into Ali. The dead man gasped, chest
rising up as his heart tried to beat in time with Ali’s. Mine
caught up with both as I cut the tie. Feeling like it was trying to
beat out of my chest.

Ali blinked her
eyes open and looked to me. I waved her to stay lying down and
stood up. Jessica was staring daggers at me.

“We had another
minute.”

“We had as long
as Ali did. I will not endanger her.” I kept my voice calm and
controlled. Jessica was bound by her own oath but it didn’t mean
she wouldn’t try something. A fiery temper scorched her hard
exterior and I didn’t want to test it. I also wanted her agreement
that my debt was paid. I wanted free of her something desperate.
She was too shrewd, too observant for my liking.

“I need more
information. Your mother said she could bring people back.”

“And I could.
If you give me people to sacrifice in the process. Five or six of
them at least,” I stated. I beckoned Ali to stand up slowly and
handed her a small drink from my bag. I turned to leave but Jessica
grabbed my arm. I just looked at her. Stern she may be but I was
scarier. If she kept pushing me I was going to show her just how
much.

“I never asked
for that.”

“I keep my
friends safe. Ali does not owe me her life and I will not have her
death on my conscience. Now release me. My debt is paid.” I looked
from her hand to her face, carefully ignoring Ali and the other
officer. And the fact that I couldn’t focus on her expression with
such a quick glance. My contact lenses interfered too much with my
other vision to wear them while raising.

“I need more.
He’s not the first one. I need to catch this guy before he spreads
panic.” She still hadn’t let go, but her hold softened enough that
I could slip my arm out. I also noticed that she wanted to stop the
guy before panic spread, not before he killed again. So very
typical.

“That is not my
problem Jessica. I’m going home.” I motioned Ali out of the tent
ahead of me. She moved the material out of the way with her sleeve
like she was used to not leaving evidence of her passing behind. I
might have to get to know the girl a bit better. She could prove
useful.

“At least help
me figure it out,” Jessica asked. “I can pay you as a consultant on
the case. They don’t want bodies clogging up the roads. A kid found
this one. Please Mal.” I turned at that. For the most part I
avoided giving out my name. I’d forgotten that Jessica had known me
when I was still young enough for my mother to introduce.

“I’m not a
detective Jessica. I’m a necromancer. I deal with the dead, I don’t
catch the living.”

“Whoever this
guy is he doesn’t leave any evidence. Nothing. Not DNA or
particles. He’s a freaking ghost. Tell me how that’s not your
thing.” She gave me a hard look, the woman was desperate. In all
honesty I could use the money but I’d spoken the truth. I knew
nothing about investigating crime. “I don’t need an investigator. I
need a lead.”

-------------------

I opened the
door and held it to let Ali and Jessica in. Jessica had balked when
we’d entered the back alleys but she’d kept on. A warm bed and a
hot meal had been part of my deal with Ali. I’d thrown it in when I
realised that she hadn’t got anywhere else to go. I let Jessica
think she was an assistant, it was easier that way. The woman
didn’t want to understand how many of us lived.

There were no
cameras near my home. It hadn’t been easy to find, and it had been
even harder to clean the former brothel, but I wouldn’t live
anywhere else. To stay off the grid required some manoeuvres that
seemed overly paranoid. I wasn’t even as bad as my mother had
been.

“Here,” I said
as I lead them into the living room. The sofa was worn but comfy
and a small table held an old kettle and tea pot. A bit of cold gel
held the milk. I busied myself making tea as Ali settled in and
Jessica perched on the edge of the wooden chair in the corner. She
may need me but she wasn’t apt to trust me.

“I don’t have
any sugar,” I said as I placed two cups on the coffee table, taking
a third one for myself and curling up on the sofa. I knew where
absolutely everything was so there was no need for my contacts. If
at all possible I was going to try and keep Jessica from finding
out about my shortcomings. “What do you want me to do exactly?”

“I want you to
tell me how that man was killed. And why he couldn’t tell us.”
Jessica’s hold on her cup was the only indication of her
nervousness. It swirled around her, another reason I didn’t want my
contacts just yet. Sometimes I could get a read on strong emotions
with my other sense.