Shadows of Deception: Necromancer Chronicles (Erotic Fantasy) Book 2 Page 12

  “Feinir just waited after that. He knew it was just a matter of time before mom tracked down the Amy family line and found her with dad. He hoped your common interests in Amy would bring you together.”

  I couldn’t really think anymore, it was bad enough knowing it myself. But I had just told my family we had been manipulated into being a family. We all loved each other and that wouldn’t change, but to know that Feinir had that much influence on our lives was devastating, at least to me it was.

  Even worse, my brother and I was the product of a fifteen thousand year plot to manipulate a prophecy. What can I possibly think about that? It didn’t change the fact I was going to kill them, except only to perhaps lessen my guilt about it.

  Plus, was it me or my brother? Which one was destined to create humanity’s fall? There was really no way to tell when that would happen either. We were immortal so it could be anytime, an hour or a few thousand years, a million years, or even longer? Seriously, that was too big to contemplate for long.

  That’s what we, I, needed. The prophecy itself might have some insight into it. It all made my head hurt. I was also curious about the first prophecy, how could humanity kill such a powerful race even with magic?

  It was clear to me if I wanted any more answers, such as the prophecies, Feinir needed to meet his end… Others were talking so I tuned back in, trying to push down my hurricane of emotions.

  Kristi said, “I can’t believe either of you would end humans on this world.”

  Vinnie shrugged, “It’s not that simple, I doubt it too. But it doesn’t say how. Remember we talked about freeing humans from the fae’s enchantment? What if I went and did that right now. It seems like a good thing, I would have good intentions doing it. But if I did do it, the world may descend into chaos and war, maybe even to the destruction of humanity.

  “I can’t imagine fighting my sister to protect the world either, but perhaps the second born stops the first simply with some good advice or separate actions that alleviate the problem. Prophecies are never what they seem, and often we make them self fulfilling when trying to avoid them. The best thing we could do is just ignore it, and live our lives. As long as we are both alive the world is safe right? Well, we can just ignore it after we kill that asshole Feinir and our grandfather.”

  I nodded to myself at his words, they made sense. Still, I wanted to know the prophecies, he thought we should ignore them. My mind spun in circles. If I was firstborn I should follow his ideas, if he is firstborn I should follow mine. But I can never have that information, which makes things even more complicated. I needed peace and quiet. He was right about one thing, we needed to just stay calm and live our lives, after we took care of Feinir and company.

  I said my goodnights briefly, needing to be alone. I considered taking Bree with me, but left it up to her. Now that she had a body, she might enjoy spending time with my family. I went up to my room, sat on the floor with my legs crossed, and meditated.

  I needed to clear my mind from the junk and worry that had built up and had been swirling in my mind non-stop the last few hours. Ever since I touched the mind of my insane Aunt and learned far more than I ever wanted to about my family origins I’d had no peace.

  When I was calmed down enough I focused on a new glyph and the sword and shield. Any concentration I had left over went into keeping myself focused, calm, and centered. It was wonderful as I didn’t have the capacity to think on anything else. I think without meditation we would go crazy never being able to sleep, at least not without a spell.

  As I meditated deep in my mind the sword and shield seemed to come easier, take less of my will, though they were still far from being manifest, they were still just made of light. I didn’t think I’d made much progress there, it felt I made progress in meditation itself, finding a deeper level of focus.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder and checked with my magic. It was mom and I wondered what she wanted, I just wanted to be alone and not think for a while. I brought myself out of it, dropping my spell and the mediation.

  “What is it mom?”

  Anise said, “Everyone is worried about you, I think it’s time to get back to the real world for a while. Come down and eat.”

  I sighed loudly, “It’s only been an hour, maybe two, why are they worried?”

  Anise disagreed, “Hope sweetie, you’ve been up here meditating for fourteen hours. It’s just after noon, time for lunch.”

  I looked at the clock on my end table, sure enough it was twelve ten PM. How the hell did I just lose twelve hours? Was it my deeper meditation?

  I shook my head, “Has that every happened to you? I think I was meditating deeper than usual, and I lost the time.”

  Mom grinned and gave me a hug.

  “Yes, I’ll show you how to set an internal timer to take you out. I’m proud of you. You’ll learn stuff ten times faster that way. Of course, it will still take a long time, but you’re looking at a year to learn a new glyph instead of five to ten years.”

  I grinned back, that means I’m totally going to own Vinnie next time I perfect something.

  She took a minute to show me how to shape a timed spell that would jolt me at a preset time. Of course this was the century of technology, so I could probably just use an alarm clock, but I wasn’t going to say anything about that.

  “Thanks mom, I am kind of hungry.”

  I was dying to ask if it was me, was I the first born, but held my tongue. She was told to tell no one, and I had a feeling if I knew for sure it would just make things worse, not better.

  I reminded myself to keep an outward focus on everything around me and then headed down for some lunch.

  “Sorry if I worried anyone. Apparently I went to a new level of meditation and lost track of time. It only felt like a couple of hours to me.”

  Vinnie looked at me with worried and narrowed eyes. I swear I wouldn’t be half as powerful as I was now without the sibling competition we had going on.

  Kristi said, “Cool, you should set an alarm next time.”

  I chuckled, “Mom had me covered, got a new spell for it. Not sure I would even hear the alarm anyway, if I was that deep.”

  I was really happy my house had wards. It would be nerve wracking being that defenseless otherwise.

  “So, has the enemy relaxed any? I have a few hours before my date.”

  Kristi shook her head, “We may need to come up with a new plan.”

  I nodded glumly and ate my sandwich… I didn’t have any ideas except frontal assault and there were too many for that unless we dragged in the whole community. I was averse to that idea, it was a family problem and doing that would simply put people in danger that didn’t need to be.

  I asked, “Can you pay special attention to Feinir and my grandfather? We need a plan to take them out. I don’t think the rest matter all that much. Without the puppet master they shouldn’t pursue us anymore.”

  We chatted for a while, and then wound up training. Kristi once again went off with my dad, and mom had fun running us into the ground in the backyard. Kristi got back and I was about to go in the house and grab a shower when my phone rang, it was Ron, and I was grinning when I answered it.

  “Hi Ron, what’s up and what should I wear?”

  I wasn’t sure where we were going tonight, I needed some guidance here.

  There was a few seconds of silence, and I frowned.

  “Hey Hope, look, I have to cancel tonight.”

  I should have kept my mouth shut and had some self respect, but it slipped out, “Why, what’s going on with you?”

  He sighed and there was more silence, finally he said awkwardly, “Look, you know I like you, have for a long time. But there is a lot of weird shit and talk and I just can’t get involved with it.”

  It felt like someone punched me, “Talk? What talk?”

  He said in exasperation, “My mother heard about what’s going on, doesn’t want me getting involved with you.”

  What? He�
��s twenty seven and he can’t see me because his mom said so? And what the fuck is Violet, my mom’s worker, saying about me?

  I said coldly, “Well that’s good to know, have a nice life Ron.”

  He said quickly, “Wait, I’d still like to see you, when things calm down…”

  I laughed and I felt a bit dizzy with anger at the same time, “Are you kidding? Why would I date a twenty seven year old coward who won’t help or protect what he cares about, and steps back because his mom said so. Go fuck yourself and make sure you stay safe.”

  I hung up and then looked up at Vinnie, Kristi, Bree and my parents who were all looking at me in shock. So much for my dignity. I shouldn’t have said that, no matter how true it was. But he’d hurt me and I’d wanted to strike back. Not that I would have taken him back anyway, what I said was the truth even if rather bitchy.

  I was wondering if I was so beautiful and such a catch why the hell all the guys I liked kept disappearing from my life. I managed to hold onto Bree so far, but it wasn’t like she had a fucking choice in the matter. It seemed like every time I took a step forward in my life someone or something kicked my teeth in. I knew I was growing, but I was also rather high strung.

  I went in the house and walked toward my room, I knew I wasn’t good company at the moment. I reached out to Bree and cut the bond that connected her soul to my mind, the bond that gave me power and authority over her being. She was still a revenant, connected directly from my mind to hers, but she now had free will.

  I was lying in my bed staring at the ceiling, absurdly wondering why I even had a bed or a bedroom if I never sleep when Bree came in.

  She asked patiently, “Why did you do that? I still have two more years of service owed.”

  I sighed, her voice and concerned tone calmed my anger and my inner bitch went to standby.

  “Because of a couple of reasons. I love you, you’re family now. Family isn’t owed one another. It’s not right to have that there with the changes between us.”

  She smiled and asked, “And the other?”

  I blew out my breath, “Because I’m selfish.”

  She giggled and I stuck my tongue out at her.

  She asked, “How is freeing me selfish?”

  I smiled feeling a little sheepish, “Because, I needed you to stay for you. I needed to know you think I’m worth it. Silly right? I could already feel that you did and do through our bond. Mostly it was the first one. It was the way Ron acted that made me think about it. I realized that even should you want to leave you couldn’t. That felt wrong. I should have severed that bond days ago.”

  She leaned down and kissed me, “Thank you love,” she whispered.

  That’s when I remembered why I had a bed, and I pulled her down into my arms…

  Chapter 10 – Vinnie

  “Are you sure you want to try this?” Kristi asked in a tentative voice.

  I winked struggling to hold in a teasing smile, “Sure, I’ve been in you often enough, I might as well return the favor baby.”

  It was Saturday night and it was just the two of us relaxing in our room. I was giving Hope space. She was having trouble coming to terms with everything we learned from Aunt Crazy, plus that wiener Ron hurt her feelings. I was considering paying him a visit and having some words.

  Alicia was off with the pack on a hunt and would probably be back sometime early tomorrow morning.

  Kristi frowned at me, “But, what if I do something wrong? I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I trust you, now get in there and take a look around. I liked your idea and it’s worth a try. Your magic seems to lend itself more easily to the mind. If you can learn and copy some of my meditation techniques and triggers it will save you lots of time and you can get straight to training spells. Otherwise you’ll be like forty before you catch up.”

  She slapped my shoulder and frowned.

  I worried about that actually, the aging thing. I didn’t think the magic would make her immortal. Although I supposed it was possible, if human magic is supposedly as strong as the big three who are immortal. But strength and type are two different things. At worst, I at least hoped she would have a much longer life, most other magical human races live two centuries or a little more.

  I’ll have to wait to find out. Maybe if I run healing energy through her every day that would help too.

  I tried one more time to convince her, “I trust you, I love you, and I’m not afraid you’ll hurt me. You’ve already passed pictures and other stuff mind to mind. This is the same thing, just deeper. I’ll be fine.”

  The way she looked so concerned and loving made me want to jump her, but I settled down on the floor across from her, legs crossed, and our knees were touching. I held her hands and then closed my eyes, going into my meditation so she can see what my mind was doing.

  She said grudgingly, “Ok, but it’s your fault if I turn you into a vegetable.”

  I held my smile, and my joke, knowing it would annoy her and waited. Her magic felt like a cool breeze on my skin and I pushed back the reflex to block out the invasion when I felt her enter my mind. I stayed as still as I could and flipped the switch that would focus me and suppress the lion’s share of my emotions. I was much more focused now, but it wasn’t nearly as fun without feeling the distraction of her or her magic being so near.

  I could actually feel her curiosity as she went over my mind, seeing how I organized my thoughts and abilities. It was surprisingly intimate, though I didn’t hear her thoughts and she said she wouldn’t look at mine. It was our magic mixing and just the feeling of her in my thoughts.

  It was with a little disappointment I felt her withdraw and I came out of my meditation and opened my eyes.

  She said, “Wow, I think I got it, but it will still take me a little time to make it work for me. I can’t just force it in, our minds are too different for that level of swapping, but it won’t take me nearly as long as reinventing it.”

  She frowned, “I… couldn’t help picking up some things, I didn’t mean to but it happened.”

  I asked curious, “What?”

  She sighed, “What happens when you stay young, and I get older.”

  Crap, she had caught those last thoughts I’d had.

  “I don’t know, my only fear there is a fear of losing you.”

  She shook her head, “I know, but what about during. When I look sixty and you’re still looking the same as you are now?”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer that, it didn’t bother me at all, but obviously it was bothering her. She may have heard my thoughts, but she took them in her own direction.

  “We can figure something out. Mom can help me artificially age if I can’t learn it myself fast enough, if you’re worried about appearance. I don’t care about that part at all.”

  She nodded and looked down, her face thoughtful and worried.

  “How can you not care?” she asked, “I’ll be all old and wrinkly, dried up. You’ll still have the sexual appetite of a young man. What happens then?”

  Women drive me crazy sometimes.

  I shrugged, “I’ll imagine by then you’ll be really good with fine control telekinesis.”

  Why did I always have to make bad jokes? I opened my mouth to try again.

  “Sorry, but that’s a lifetime away. I love you. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love your body and making love to you, but that’s only a part of it. We will figure it out. If you read my thoughts you know it’s a possibility we may never need worry about.”

  She snorted, “Wishful thinking. You just want me young, sexy, and fuckable forever.”

  I took a deep breath, “No love, I just want you forever. You’ve put your own spin on my thoughts, I never thought that, ever. Not that I wouldn’t want that, just saying it wasn’t what I was worried about.”

  I felt like I was digging myself deeper, but she blew out a breath and nodded her head. I had a feeling this conversation wasn’t over, only put away for now.


  She sounded contrite, “Sorry, you trusted me with your mind and I turned it into an argument. I love you so much Vinnie, I don’t want to lose you either. It’s the fear talking. And just so it’s clear I love that you love my body, I always feel so sexy and desired when you look at me.”

  She grinned sheepishly and said, “Well, as long as I still am and we have your room to ourselves tonight, why don’t we take advantage…”

  I pulled her forward as I was still holding her hands. She moved her legs up and out, and then slid onto my lap and into a deep kiss. It was easy to remember why it was all worth it when her soft lips were against mine. Her skin was silky soft and I played with her long blonde hair as we explored each other’s mouth with playful tongues.

  She wrapped her legs tightly around my waist and ground against me as I stood and walked the best I could to the bed. She broke the kiss and looked into my eyes. She was so sexy, and I had no idea how, but she looked both adorably innocent and incredibly naughty at the same time.

  How the hell does that work?

  It drove me nuts and I knew it had to be her. Who and what she was underneath the delectable body in my arms. I had dated girls just as hot, but none of them ever affected me so much or in so many dimensions.

  She dropped her legs and stood, breaking our kiss. We were both breathing heavily when we started to strip out of our clothes. There was a hungry look in her eyes that I knew reflected the one in mine. I laid her down on the bed gently and followed, laying above her but holding my weight up on my elbows and knees.

  She said seductively, “I want you, now… please?”

  I could tell she was in the mood to go fast and hard, no lovemaking this time.

  I grinned and shook my head, “Not yet.”

  I saw her pout for a split second and smiled as I started kissing my way down her body. I loved the smell of her skin and the way she tasted on my lips and tongue. I loved how responsive she was to my every kiss and touch on her smooth skin. I stopped briefly to pay homage to her aroused and hardened nipples, and to tease the supple flesh of her breasts with my fingertips.

  She moaned softly and spoke my name in need, “Vinnie,” as she ran her hands through my hair and arched her back, pushing her generous breasts hard into my face.