Shadows of Deception: Necromancer Chronicles (Erotic Fantasy) Book 2 Read online

  We had been told the stories of how our parents took Chicago away from the vampire Silas. My father’s power of necromancy had been pivotal because of the vampires. He had told me though he wasn’t nearly as powerful as mom. If he had tried to face any of the demons he most likely would have died.

  I had a long way to go. There were certain mind techniques to speed up casting and to stay focused in battle. It was also necessary for the more difficult things that are way beyond simple. An example was my mom’s armor and sword, when she turned her magic into something actually solid, made it manifest, those I had an extremely long way to go on. It would be impossible to hold the spell and fight at the same time, if the magic wasn’t trained.

  It would be a long time before I could do anything that advanced.

  Even my father wasn’t all that much faster than I was. He had been trained right alongside us. The few times he had faced foes that weren’t vampires he had used his magic as a simple blunt weapon. The truth was no one I’d met could come as close to fast and powerful as my mother.

  Still, we did have an advantage in raw power with our immortal magic. I had been confident that my first real battle would go well. But I was frozen, staring at the large ball of fire. It looked like there was a very large amount of dirt mixed in it as well.

  I heard my sister scream as it hit. I had crossed to different realms so often in my life, it was one of the simplest things for us, even more so then teleporting or healing. So frozen or not, that reflex saved me at the point of impact. My face felt hot, and my clothes were smoking. I patted the spots on my shirt and pants that were on fire to put it out in my panic, instead of just using my sorcery.

  I was feeling a bit muzzy headed and shocked. No one had ever attacked us before. I looked around and saw my sister. She was glowing gold and holding a squirming Kristi who looked panicked and scared out of her mind. We might be able to teleport people, but we haven’t been able to figure out how to bring someone with us when we change realms.

  I knew my sister wouldn’t leave Kristi to her fate. I looked around for our attackers and saw two people. It was Alex and Mia from school, a sorcerer and witch that had been standoffish with us. Still, it was extremely strange and I was having trouble thinking. I looked around again, Talia was the last supernatural at our school, who hung around those two, yet, I didn’t see anyone else.

  Alex blasted fire at my sister, who was desperately holding onto Kristi, it hit her shield and deflected. I may have been in shock, but the attack on Hope raised my anger enough to break my confusion and I acted.

  I raised a shield of immortal power, it was a bit sloppy with my mind spinning, but it was the best I could do. I stepped back to our realm and created a bubble of water around Alex’s head. It was all I could do to maintain that and hold my shield, I was hoping Alex couldn’t access water, and fire would probably just boil his head. I laughed at that idea, feeling a little off.

  The witch… Mia, she screamed, “Abomination!” then she screamed another word while pointing at me.

  My shields held through the spell, barely, but the force still threw me back about twenty feet. I landed on my ass and then my torso fell back slamming my head into the ground. I lost my concentration and my shield dropped, and the water spell failed.

  They both walked toward me a few steps, but to their right I could see a demon. What the hell, I was already about to die, why a demon? But it didn’t run past them as I expected, it attacked. I watched bemused as they both went flying into the air. They got up and glared toward the demon.

  Mia sounded a bit unhinged when she yelled at someone I couldn’t see, “You traitor!”

  They ran into a nearby oak and disappeared. My fuzzy mind was impressed; they had a backup plan in case things went to shit.

  As I lost consciousness I wondered who the traitor was, and hoped I would wake up. I should have healed when I’d had the chance, but I wasn’t thinking straight…

  I woke up to see my sister hovering over me. My head was clear and I sat up and looked around. Talia was sitting a few feet away talking with Kristi. Huh, I had no idea she was a warlock.

  Hope said, “We have a small issue. Okay, probably an understatement.”

  I smiled, “You mean besides our fellow students both trying to kill and save us?”

  She nodded, “You know how the enchantment is supposed to keep knowledge of magic from humans. That it should have tricked her into seeing something that made sense. Like a meteor, car crash, etc…”

  I nodded.

  She looked sheepish when she said, “Well, apparently our immortal powers shield from that, since I saved her she has seen everything as it actually happens. She’s freaking out.”

  I blew out a breath, “What about Talia?”

  “Oh, she says they belong to some cult saying we are unnatural abominations. Evil and good should never have spawned us, and that we need to die. She didn’t take them all that seriously, until they asked her if she wanted to join them for the kill. I don’t know. She is telling the truth but I still get a weird feeling from her.”

  I shrugged, “She did save us, could it be the warlock summoning demons part you’re picking up on?”

  She pursed her lips, “I don’t know, maybe. We should go home; I haven’t even sent a ghost for dad. By the time I thought of it the point was moot.”

  We stood up to walk over to the two ladies and I just couldn’t help myself.

  “Oh sis?”

  She replied, “What?”

  “Happy thanksgiving!”

  She snorted and muttered something about getting hit on my head.

  I smiled when we got over there, “Everyone okay over here? We should get moving. Talia, you have plans?”

  My sister was right, there was something disturbing about her, but I couldn’t figure out what it was either. Not necessarily a bad thing, just… weird. Despite her saving us I was relieved at her answer, which made me feel like an ungrateful asshole.

  Talia replied, “Glad you’re okay, sorry I didn’t get here sooner. But yeah, I need to go too, my parents are expecting me.”

  I flinched when a demon appeared, covered them both in shadow and disappeared.

  Kristi said, “Holy shit, what the fuck was that?”

  Crap, apparently once the enchantment was broken for someone it stayed broken.

  I said, “It’s okay, ready to meet the rest of my family?”

  Her eyes widened and she turned to Hope, “Your house is really haunted, isn’t it?”

  My sister took her hand, “We’ll explain a bit over the weekend. You are already in shock and there is so much to tell, I don’t want to overwhelm you all at once. But yes, to answer your question. But don’t worry, it isn’t really a haunting, they are all invited guests.”

  Kristi said sarcastically, “Of course, that makes it much better, they’re guests…”

  Hope asked, “So, get ready, we are going to go straight there.”

  Kristi looked confused, “How, we walking?”

  I winked and said, “Magic.”

  I really wasn’t very good in stressful situations, at least for other people. I tended to have a weird sense of humor. It’s how I dealt with stress, and apparently attempts on my life. I wondered if Kristi was the first human to know about the paranormal since the spell was cast when I felt my sister’s magic encompass us all and take us home.

  There were two monster wolves with silver hair play fighting ten feet away. Of course, werewolf play fighting looked like they were trying to kill each other.

  “What are you doing!? You knew I was bringing a human here,” my sister yelled looking livid.

  Kristi just looked… shut down. I pulled her into me and held her, hoping it wouldn’t make things worse. I didn’t see a change in her expression, but she didn’t push me away either.

  My half brother Ray ran for the house. I wasn’t sure what Claudia was thinking, but she just shifted right in front of us. She was very beautiful, takin
g after her mother. She was maybe a bit taller, but otherwise it was almost like a mirror image. There were subtle differences, but you had to really look to see them. She was also stark naked.

  We weren’t really sure why, but Claudia and Ray seemed all wolf, just very powerful wolves. No one expected them to inherit the demonic powers of my father, but we were surprised there was no indication at all of the necromancer powers either. Maybe the wolf genes were just too powerful and overwhelmed the others.

  Claudia said in an annoyed voice, “Sorry but, so not my fault. We would have heard the car long before you got close enough to see. The real question is what the hell are you doing teleporting in with a human?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh when Hope turned to Kristi and said, “Told you my family was a little unconventional…”

  I said half seriously, “Let’s get in the house, before something else traumatizes her.”

  I heard Kristi mumble something about nervous breakdown, and hallucinations. I just shook my head at my naked sister and turned, leading Kristi to the house. Things just seemed to keep going from bad to worse and I should have seen it coming. I should have just teleported to one of the guest rooms. But no, I had to walk her through the front door where my whole family plus some family friends stood there and looked at us.

  Half of them said, “What happened,” in various states of emotion and I felt Kristi flinch and push into me. Suddenly it just wasn’t funny anymore, at all.

  I yelled, “Back off!”

  They all shut up and took a step back, probably from surprise.

  I said almost apologetically, “She can’t handle meeting people right now. Ask Hope your questions. Mom, come with me please.”

  I took her through the house to an empty guest room even though I really wanted to take her to mine. That feeling kind of took me by surprise. I needed my mom though, and was happy she was actually following. I had no idea how to deal with a young woman who was semi-catatonic and probably in shock. I could have healed her body, but the mind is another matter altogether.

  I was very angry with Alex and Mia for trying to kill us, but I was livid at what that had done to Kristi. If they were in front of me now I would have killed them.

  When we got to the room my mother touched Kristi’s head with a pure white symbol of some kind generated from her magic, and Kristi fell asleep.

  Anise asked, “So what happened?”

  When I frowned she said, “I need to know to help her. That’s why you wanted me right?”

  So I told her everything, from the moment I saw the fire and earth projectile…

  Chapter 3 – Hope

  I watched in silence as Vinnie cradled Kristi to his side protectively and left the room with mom trailing. The moment lasted a few seconds after they were out of sight and the questions came at me from all directions. I guess Vinnie had a point, it was annoying to me and they were my family.

  I sighed, “Everyone calm down, I’ll tell you what happened, and then take questions.”

  I smiled ruefully. I felt like I was giving a speech for heaven’s sake, but I could tell they were all worried about Vinnie and I. Besides Dad, Amy, Kim, and Lisa, there was also my siblings Ray and Claudia, Sara who still refused to move on, Ron was a sorcerer who had a crush on me, and his mother Violet worked for my mom on the council. Of course, I also had all my ghosts hanging around looking at me worriedly. Strangely it was touching that they felt that way about me, even though our bond was one of master and servant. I bit my lip when I saw Tanya as well, she must be upset about how protective my brother had been of Kristi.

  I was sure I would see more of the coven this weekend, but as today was thanksgiving they would have a coven get together and meal with all their families. Amy and Lisa being the only exception, they were with Dad. Not sure why all of our family didn’t show up, I think some of the coven was nervous around their undead sisters and a necromancer or two.

  Thankfully, Willa and my great niece Leanne didn’t have that problem.

  About halfway through my explanation my phone went off. Oh crap, it was Mr. Mendez. He said he sent the letter and to please remove the curse from him. I frowned. Did he think I was a witch or something? Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, humans fear what they don’t understand, and thanks to the enchantment they could never understand magic. Well, except for Kristi. I sent Bree a mental message to end the mission before I got back to my story.

  When the story was over I got a lot of helpful advice on what to do different next time. I admit I hadn’t been thinking very straight, and it was a big shock that someone wanted to kill me just because I’d been born.

  My dad told me I was just to run away and call him if it happened again. I wouldn’t do that, he was just ridiculously overprotective. But there were some useful tidbits in some of the other advice. Amy told me I should have transported Kristi away, stepped into limbo and then attacked from the shadows. That was probably the best idea that anyone came up with.

  I had also not just teleported away completely because I didn’t want to leave my brother and didn’t know where he was. I planned to talk to him about it, maybe come up with some rough plans for situations so we don’t do anything stupid, like we just had.

  It went against the grain though, I didn’t want to run, be a coward. I didn’t really want to fight either. But if those Alex and Mia were any indication of the future I wasn’t going to have a choice in the matter. Things slowly cooled down and I found myself catching up with my wolf sibs.

  Ron was hanging around as well, he was a few years older than I was and made me nervous. He was kind of hot, and I was attracted to him, but he had a serious crush on me since I turned sixteen. I knew if I slept with him it would just get worse, I didn’t want a serious boyfriend.

  That reminded me of Robbie, my best friend with benefits that said he loved me. Crap, I freaked out so hard last night I didn’t even say goodbye this morning. I really was a bitch sometimes. I pulled out my cell and sent him a quick happy thanksgiving text, and that I’d see him next week.

  About a half hour later Vinnie came out with Kristi and mom. Vinnie’s face was a frozen mask and I wondered what happened. Kristi seemed okay, if a bit tentative. After introducing her to my sibs and Ron we sat around for a while talking. She seemed to slowly relax, as if slowly accepting the fact that something wasn’t going to try and kill us or blow something up.

  Vinnie excused himself with that same emotionally masked face and went over to Tanya, they left the room together.

  I looked over to Kristi expecting anything but what I saw. She didn’t look jealous, hurt, angry, or chagrined. Her face was full of guilt. I couldn’t figure out what happened, I’d have said a crowbar couldn’t have separated him from Kristi an hour ago, now… I swallowed my curiosity, it wasn’t my business.

  Claudia said, “Sorry about out front. I didn’t mean to startle you like that.”

  Kristi smiled weakly, “Don’t worry about it. I’m in your home. Do you do that often?”

  Claudia laughed delightedly, “Oh yes. Think of it like human sibling rivalry and puppies fake fighting all rolled together. Kicking my big brother’s ass is one of my favorite past times.”

  Ray snorted, “You wish.”

  Ron asked, “What are you doing tomorrow, up for a movie, or maybe the beach?”

  He was looking at me but Kristi replied, “The beach? It’s kind of cold for that isn’t it?”

  Ron winked, “Don’t forget the magic… I was thinking the Caribbean.”

  Kristi looked stunned for a minute before smiling, and then her face fell, “I don’t have a suit.”

  I whispered, “We grew up with werewolves, beach trips are clothing optional. But you’re close to my size. I might have something you can wear.”

  We chatted for a while more while I worried. I’d been avoiding something like this for a long time. I did like Ron… that was the problem. I shook my head to clear it. I knew exactly where my issues came from, b
ut I refused to think about it. One day I may conquer it if playing the field gets old, but so far it just hasn’t. I thought a little guiltily of Robbie again, my lifestyle wasn’t working out great for him at all. Also, I knew my college days were numbered. I’d have to grow up sometime, just… not today.

  Kristi was looking at me strangely.

  “Sorry, did I miss something?” I asked, knowing I’d spaced out.

  I was entirely too sober, I nabbed a beer from my fridge and at Kristi’s look got another.

  She said breathlessly, “That was handy.”

  She took the cold beer from my hand that was still glowing with golden light and popped the tab.

  Her voice was back to normal when she said, “What I said was can you introduce me to the rest of your family now? I’m feeling okay I think, still overwhelmed but I shouldn’t pass out on you anymore.”

  I nodded.

  “Sounds good, we’ll be eating soon, we go for the big meal at lunch around here.”

  I introduced her around starting with my mom the Nephilim, and my dad the half demon. Her eyes got a little wide as I introduced Amy, Kim and Lisa. I explained that they were basically all his wives, she didn’t really understand, but that was okay. Not many people do.

  I might have gone a little far, but I told her I was a necromancer and introduced her to the ghosts that were closest to me by feeding them enough power to manifest. The ones that were always looking out for me and spent their time around me were Tammy, Tony, and Bree. It wasn’t that the others hid from me, it was just that usually when I picked up a ghost it was because I had saved a family member of theirs, so they spent most of their time watching over their family unless I needed them for something.

  I decided to stop there. Her just meeting my family had a lot of supernatural information tied up in it with the brief explanation of ghosts, witches, sorcerers, necromancers, angels, demons, and werewolves. I hadn’t even touched on the undead such as vampires, revenants, zombies, or liches. I needed to, as Amy was a lich and Lisa was a revenant, but she was clearly at information overload.