Path of the Necromancer Ch. 03

Finally, an explosion of white light and an angry glow of Hellfire flashed and when next Ian looked up, Ember was falling with the white-haired vampire standing atop her, sword poised for the killing blow. Then a black-clad figure materialized behind her, having jumped the thirty feet into the air, and hit her from behind, knocking the sword out of her hand. Scraps slammed them both to the ground in front of Ian, his arm around her neck in a chokehold.

Even as he held her down however, the flesh and rags around his arm seemed to disintegrate as Cassandra's power burned through him faster than he could regenerate. The sword tumbled through the air and Ian used his will to direct it into his raised hand. He lunged forward with it, impaling the vampire queen through her chest. Her body jerked as she released a silent scream that seemed to collapse the ranks of vampires around her as those that remained fled through the various tunnels.

The gunfire died down and many of the Kin seemed to go into shock after what they'd just experienced. The Castille sisters collapsed to their knees in utter exhaustion as their creations crumbled to dust. Lily began doing triage and Scraps dusted himself off as he finished regenerating a new limb. Dani calmly broke down her rifle and began cleaning it.

Ember blinked open her eyes to feel her head resting on Ian's lap. She was back in human form and he was looking down at her with a haunted expression which told her how worried he'd been when he'd seen her fall. She sighed and punched him in the gut. Amidst his gasping, she rolled her eyes and told him, "Quit looking at me like I'm some defenseless kitten. It'll take more than some leech with a god complex to take me out."

He chuckled at the tough exterior she wore like a coat of armor and brushed her hair. Leaning down, he kissed her softly. She accepted it for a few moments before shoving him back, having had enough of his mushy ministrations. Smiling, he stood and took account of the situation and was surprised to find the spirit that had led them there kneeling before him with her head bowed.

She communicated to him in the vague flurry of images and thoughts that spirits tended to use when interacting with the living that she'd directed the dead to harry the prey and had cut off most of their escape routes. The main body of the fleeing vampires now congregated in an abandoned ten story hotel and she recommended that be their route out of the warren.

Ian shook his head in amazement at the thought of her being sufficiently strong and retaining enough of herself to actually command the dead and get them to listen to her. He now knew without a doubt that she was more than just a lost echo; energy left behind from her soul's departure. He sent her feelings of gratefulness, admiration, and approval and felt pride shine from the spirit.

He noticed the others were crowding around the body of the late Cassandra Devereux, sword still imbedded in her chest. She looked... peaceful in death. Her magic still pulsed through her, keeping her limbs from freezing up in rigor mortis. Ian picked up the talisman she had around her wrist and almost dropped it as he realized it reeked of spirit magic.

Examining it with his spirit vision, it looked to him like it was on fire and it seemed to draw those nearby ghosts like moths to the flame. He felt the runes and took it apart inside his mind to try and figure out how it worked. His eyes widened when he found its purpose. Had she used this on his dying body it would have captured his soul and kept it bound to his flesh for as long as the talisman survived.

The main clincher was that he would have been forced to serve whoever possessed the rod. He grimaced as he decided to destroy it. It was obviously an ancient artifact, but anything that bound souls against their will for an eternity was something he couldn't accept. To him, it was no different than the device the warlock had used in his first encounter with the Night Watch.

He paused as he saw the tension in the incorporeal bodies of the ghosts around the clearing. Their eyes were locked onto the rod in his hand in unbridled hunger. He realized that with this device, he could give them life, albeit one of eternal servitude. He looked at the spirit that had always been at his side and felt an incredible sadness emerging from her.

Slowly, she shook her head. Through a series of impressions she sent him, she told him that it wasn't worth it. The talisman was a sham that only gave the illusion of freedom. It was Spirit Magic warped for nefarious purposes that would only taint the user with visions of power and greed. She directed a crystal clear thought at him, 'Do it.'

Spiritfire consumed the talisman, burning through the runes and enchantments. Using his will, he snapped the now-useless rod in two and tossed the pieces onto the ground. A wail of loss and outrage went up from the surrounding ghosts and they surged forward, hammering against the shield he'd casted anew in anger, startling those of the living who warily glanced around at the intangible attackers. He raised a hand and banished them.

Looking back towards the spirit, who he realized had never taken the power he'd offered to manifest herself, he felt sorrow, but also acceptance. Even though she felt the sense of loss from never experiencing the warm glow of the Sun again, the ever-present fear of being eaten by one of the many predators that resided in the spirit realm, the eternal loneliness of always being alone, the longing to do all the things she'd observed by following Ian around... she accepted that it wasn't to be.

He didn't. Ian approached the body of Cassandra and gripped the hilt of the sword. Pressing a foot against her chest, he wrenched the blade free and slammed it into the ground. "Start healing the wound," he directed Lily, setting about replicating the process he'd learned from observing the talisman.

Lily frowned at him. "But she's already de-" she started to say before being cut off.

"Just do it," he growled out, continuing to set up his preparations.

Grim approached hesitantly and warned him, "This hasn't been done by a necromancer since the Egyptian pharaohs. Even those necromancers belonging to families that can still trace their roots back to that age wouldn't try this. If I had to guess, that talisman was probably first created as a tool for them to use without risking their lives."

Ian shrugged off the advice and Ember squeezed his shoulder, not knowing why he felt he had to do this, but throwing her support behind his decision. When he'd formed the structure in his mind minus the compulsions that forced the bound soul to serve, he began drawing energy. There wasn't enough energy for him to tap in his general vicinity, but the spirit world worked differently than theirs. He extended his senses outward, channeling the energy that was suddenly available to him.

Looking at the world from the plane of the dead, Seattle shone like a beacon of light as massive amounts of energy was shared over a large area. He didn't know it, but every necromancer and being that was connected with the spirit realm to some degree felt his spell being cast. Grim's voice cut through the haze as he got drunk off the power he had at his finger tips, his entire body bathed in green light, "Now, you have to bind her with your blood. Mark the body with an ankh."

Ian held out a hand, palm upwards, and Ember pricked his finger with one of her talons. He crouched down beside the undamaged corpse and the top of her buttoned shirt flared open. He drew the key of eternal life and rebirth in the center of her chest, slightly above her exposed breasts. He then slammed his hand down atop the symbol and its outline flared green. The entire body jerked from the force of the magic coursing through it, scaring the shit out of those observing the process.

The spirit watched in awe. When Ian finally turned his gaze to her she exuded disbelief, then apprehension, and finally acceptance and eternal gratitude. She walked towards the body and appeared to dissolve into smoke the closer she got, slowly letting the spell act on her. When finally she'd transferred herself, a brilliant green flash lit the chamber and the body gasped for air, fangs shooting out and her eyes opening wide, revealing pure black orbs of obsidian.

Then she collapsed backwards, Ian catching her before her head could hit the ground, and fell into unconsciousness as her soul acclimated to her new body. The light died down and Lily shot another orb into the air for them to see by. They all looked at the newly-birthed lich, stunned by what they'd seen take place.

Ember helped her tired and jittery lover to his feet, shooting him a reassuring smile he seemed to draw strength from. Finally, Rose broke the stunned silence by ordering her men to add the sleeping girl to the numbers they were already carrying on collapsible litters. They got back into a loose formation and Ember led the party through the tunnels. Ian told her where the spirit- lich, he corrected himself, had told him the remaining vampires were holding out and they prepared for yet another engagement.

* * * * *

Mei stood in the abandoned hotel lobby with a frustrated expression on her face. She'd been ordered by Master Long to stop the efforts of the Night Watch and save his precious plan at all costs. The problem in carrying out his orders had been obvious from the start. While they were technically allied with the vampires, that wouldn't save them if they were caught in an exposed position.

Thus, there was no way in hell they were going down in the tunnel systems. There was then no way they could track the Night Watch once they'd discovered they'd already infiltrated one of the locations. They'd driven all over the district to each of the known vampire haunts to try and catch them, but all they saw were fleeing bloodsuckers.

The Honorable Master had also given them the unreasonable task of doing all this without being noticed by the gangs (the Kin being on a high alert made this especially difficult), and adding to his implication to the plot. Eventually they'd noticed that most of the locations had been abandoned and they were shocked by the speed in which those underground were clearing the leeches.

Finally, they'd arrived at this hotel just in time to see hordes of the biters bolting through the lobby to the upper floors. Now she stood with her men, wondering just what the hell she was supposed to do. She wasn't about to leave the biggest congregation of bloodsuckers they'd found, but it wasn't like she could stay with them and seek out the Night Watch at the same time. Then she heard a new noise coming from the stairs and she realized she didn't have to.

* * * * *

The group had finally reached the exit the vampires had fled out of. They'd been firing at the backs of the enemy almost nonstop, though actual resistance was rare. Ian noticed the ghosts that had been harrying the mob were unable to possess live vampires as an all-consuming fear blocked out their thought processes to any form of outside manipulation.

Over half the group was out of ammo by that time and when he reached the top of the stairs that led out of the kitchens he turned to tell the Kin soldiers to carry the wounded out the doors of the hotel and they would take it from there. A blast of compressed sound slammed into his shield and he was thrown forward into those coming up the stairs.

Two dozen gunmen from the Heaven and Earth Society opened fire on the small passageway, pinning them down while the banshee's attacks destroyed the walls around them. A rock golem tried to make it through the onslaught of bullets and was hit by a high pitched burst from the banshee, shattering the construct.

Suddenly, Mei caught sight of a black-clad figure streak through the opening and hit the lights overhead, casting the area into darkness. They'd had to switch the breaker on their way in and that had been their only source of illumination. The fire died down as they lost their line of sight.

Then the screaming started as flashes of gunfire on both sides revealed eerie, hellish tableaus of death and destruction. There was a black-winged monster with a huge wingspan flying above their heads while green flames rose at their feet and a hooded figure seemed to blink from person to person, leaving mangled bodies in his wake.

Mei and a handful of men began retreating up the stairs to the upper levels, trying to gain some distance while they fired behind them. The screams of the men below died down and then they heard the ominous creak of footsteps coming after them. The body of the man they'd left to cover the stairs suddenly flew over their heads and slammed into the wall in front of them.

That spooked them into a full-on run and they scrambled up the old, crumbling steps. On the next level, one of the gunmen fell through the floor as the rotting boards gave way under his weight. As they looked back at him, they heard a scrambling, skittering sound that made the hair on the backs of their necks stand up and the muffled scream of another one of the men with her started up as he was snatched by a passing vampire.

Mei gritted her teeth and felt a sense of hopelessness well up inside of her as she reached another level. To survive without killing the Night Watch's champion would be considered a failure. She knew what would happen if she returned empty-handed and she knew it was impossible to run. She screamed out a frustrated note which thundered along the hallway, clearing it of any of the hidden crawlers. However, when she turned a corner she found the stairs to the next level were gone, and the vampires were creeping in.

* * * * *

Ian told the others to get out of there and began organizing the dead soldiers into zombie fireteams. They beat a hasty retreat as the dead charged up the steps. They were a block away when they stopped at a vacant construction site, having reached the limit of Ian's ability to keep track of them and control their actions directly.

In his mind's eye, he saw his undead contingent clear level after level. He directed their fire and manipulated their movements like a puppet master of the damned. Every time one of his cadavers had their strings cut he replaced it with a fallen vampire. The slow march continued until they reached a hallway swarming with crawlers.

At the far end, he could see the pink-haired Tiandihui enforcer on her knees, keeping back the press of biters through a series of weak gasps of energy that wouldn't have been called deadly by any measure of consideration. His army jerked forward and began shooting the vampires or just tearing into them in a grisly display of teeth and nails.

On and on they pushed until the resistance fell away as the vampires retreated to the upper levels, easily bypassing the nonexistent set of stairs. The banshee was on her hands and knees, looking frail and on the brink of exhaustion. Her pink hair covered her face and her hands clenched as the dead came closer.

Ian saw her through the spirit world and shuddered at the black chain of thorns he saw wrapped around her. It was a strong binding that must have been placed on her when she was an infant. The more she disobeyed the orders given to her by her masters, the more she would feel invisible thorns digging into her.

If this was how their esteemed society chose to ensure compliance, he was going to have words with whoever ran it. He spoke through one of the corpses in a dry, cracked voice, "I think you'd better come with me."

A choked rasp came from her as she tried to laugh and ended up with a hacking cough. "Just my luck," she made out. "A fucking necromancer... You had us all fooled, didn't you." Tears pooled in her eyes and she whispered, "Sorry, mom. I know you stayed because of me. I couldn't get us out after all..."

Ian's eyes widened as he realized she wasn't going to give up. He sent a minion lunging forward to hold her down. Suddenly, the banshee threw her head back and released a long, titanic shriek with everything she had left. The zombies were blown backwards down the hallway, every window on that particular floor was blown out, and the walls crumbled.

Mei's head lulled and her drained body fell forward. There was a horrible creaking sound and a block away Ian's body, which had been in a restful, trance-like state, abruptly shot up, his arm extended towards the hotel. Even from a block away they could hear the metal beams groaning as the supports on the floor the banshee was on gave out and the upper floors came crashing down, flattening the level she was on instantly as well as the two below hers.

Ian fell to his knees and felt as if he'd pulled something inside of him. He rasped, "Go." Scraps exploded into movement, jumping off the construction platform and dashing towards the ruined building. Ignoring the few vampires that managed to scramble out of the collapsed structure, the revenant powered through the rubble towards where he saw a fiery circle in his spirit vision that called to him like a beacon.

Bashing the three ton metal beam in his way once, twice, three times before getting through and finding the hollow created when Ian had shielded the unconscious girl, he pulled her body out of the wreckage and carried her back to the waiting group. As Scraps laid down his charge at their feet, Lily let out a curse and began treating her injuries.

Eve frowned and questioned, "Why? She tried to kill us. She'll do it again, given the chance."

Ian, resting against Ember as he tried to get his breath back, choked out, "Look beneath the surface." The sisters glanced at each other, then stretched their senses to examine the banshee.

They missed it at first it was so ingrained in her. Lily found it first and gasped when she saw the magic hooks that seemed to be imbedded in her. He sighed wearily and knelt down beside the pink-haired girl. He shielded her like he had Bobby and used Spiritfire to burn away the thorns.

It was a painfully slow process and he managed to nick his patient a few times, requiring Lily to smooth over the damage. It didn't help things any that his concentration was shot, but eventually he was satisfied that she was free of the compulsion that kept her from leaving and disobeying. By that time, they could hear sirens in the distance.

Lily gave a final shudder at the thought of what she'd seen. "I'll need to tell the bureau about this. We might be able to bring Long up on charges for immoral use of magic and slavery, but I don't know how much will be done about it given his status in the city."

Ian stared coldly out at nothing and said in a low, frigid voice that caused a shiver to run down her spine, "You let me worry about him."

A small smile formed on Ember's face as she got a charge out of the darkness she saw rise to the surface in her lover's heart. They arranged another stretcher and gathered their things as they started descending the bare infrastructure and raised earthworks to get back down to the street level.

Ian led the way out. Just as he turned a corner onto the main level, a voice rang out, "Freeze, police!" He stopped in his tracks and used his will to push back those behind them, stopping them from revealing themselves. He heard, "This is a restricted area."

Ignoring the obvious statement, he slowly turned towards the voice, saying, "Your guys' response time is getting better." When the lone figure was revealed, he cracked a grin as she lowered her gun, an expression of stunned recognition on her face. "Nice to see you again, Officer Flores."

She put her gun back in its holster and grumbled, It's 'detective' now... and this happens to be the last location a cop was seen before he went missing." She frowned, "What are you doing here and don't give me any shit about not seeing the signs."