Necromancer Chronicles Pt. 04

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 hurt. I didn't see a change in her expression, but she didn't push me away.

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, taking 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 two were any indication I wasn't going to have a choice in the matter. Things slowly cooled down and I found myself catching up with my wolfy 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, but 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.

Dinner was good if a little awkward. Everyone went out of their way to be welcoming to Kristi, perhaps a little too much. Still, I appreciated the effort. Well, everyone but Vinnie, he was practically ignoring her. I bit my lip though, and held my tongue. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know.

Vinnie and Tanya headed out the door right after we were done eating, the rest of us talked for a while before getting coffee and pie. We were all stuffed so I decided a walk was a good idea.

"I need to stretch my legs, want to see the property? It's a few acres."

Kristi nodded and stood and we headed out the back door. My property was fairly large and there was a lot of trees and landscaping. We even have a decent size pool, but it was mostly drained right now. November in Chicago was not warm.

Once we had privacy Kristi blushed and blurted out, "I think I fucked up."

I held her hand and asked, "What did you do?"

She sighed. "I told your brother I needed space, and he should go see his witch. That it was all too overwhelming..." she trailed off.

I used a coaxing tone, "And?"

She said it really fast, "That he was smothering me and I couldn't breathe."

That explained things.

I said, "He'll get over it... I think. You were pretty stressed earlier, and I'm sure what we are was a big part of that."

She said, "I hope so, he..."

She cut off again with a gasp and stopped walking. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, and she was shaking a little. There was also a faint greenish aura surrounding her. Then all at once she gasped again and it faded away.

I asked, "Are you alright," thoroughly confused.

I had felt magic, how did a human have magic?

She said slowly as tears grew in her eyes, "I dunno. It was like a waking dream, and it was horrible."

A shiver ran down my spine, "What did you see?"

I think my tone of voice scared her, because she looked up at me with alarm.

"It was your brother and Tanya. Tanya was on the ground and her limbs were just wrong... He was trying to fight something... It was dark, surrounded by shadows. It hit him and he went flying. There was another man there, older, he was... laughing. Then it stopped."

I sent Tammy to get mom and dad and took a deep breath.

"Is he still alive?" my voice was shaking.

She frowned, "I don't understand, but I don't think it happened yet. I know that sounds crazy, but it feels right. Soon though."

I asked softly, "What was around them, did you see anything else?"

She shrugged, "It could be anywhere. There were just a bunch of trees, a small grove."

My voice broke, "Oaks?"

She nodded.

I ordered, "Go back to the house. Tell them I went to the coven's oak grove."

There was no way I was taking her with me. Over her objections I surrounded myself in golden light and teleported to the grove.

I turned around quickly really wishing I had been blind for that. My brother was entertaining Tanya against an oak.

I reached out with my power and felt the demon approaching as well as a warlock. I still didn't understand what happened, or how what Kristi did was even possible, but I couldn't worry about it now.

I growled, "Demon incoming, you two may want to pause that for a minute."

I was seriously wishing I had a revenant or two like my father, ghosts were great and all for providing power to me, but couldn't really do anything on their own. Still, it wouldn't be easy to have an undead bodyguard follow me around in college, even if they did look like a normal person.

I heard my brother finish getting dressed. I still wasn't sure what to do in a fight, a real one. There hadn't ever been hesitation when I trained with my parents. I really wished they were here, but I couldn't wait any more, what if I had been too late? I tried to think of what I would do then and it came to me.

I grinned and said, "You're the bait bro."

Then I slipped into limbo and prepared an attack. I also pulled in enough necromancer energy to make a few ghosts solid and fed it to Tony, Tammy, and Bree. Their attacks would be ineffectual against a demon, but they could still distract it. Plus, if I was lucky the warlock hadn't shielded against that type of magic.

I decided against shielding, I could pop back and forth pretty fast, and only focusing on the attacks would help. It was hard to maintain too many things at once. My attacks would be simple, I would use necromantic energy to rot and decompose, the only effective attack with necromantic energy for the living.

I was also holding my immortal magic. The best I could do there was spikes of pure magic. Either would be deadly if they broke through, but they were the equivalent of using a hammer. I really did need to practice more. Once I taught my magic it would be much easier.

I circled around behind them, and when they prepared to attack I stepped out I sent both types of my magic against the necromancer. My necromantic energy bounced off, but my immortal magic hammered into his back and I heard bones break. He screamed and the demon moved to defend, surrounding his master in shadows.

I ducked back into limbo when Vinnie's spike of magic hit the demon. The demon's shadows easily deflected it and I had a bad feeling the warlock was slowly healing himself. I stepped back out and we hit him from both sides. The demon shot shadow at me, but screamed in frustration, I was already back in limbo. This was not going well, what the hell was taking Kristi so long.

Tony, Tammy and Bree were doing their best, but they couldn't get through the shield either. I knew I wasn't strong enough, or at least, my mind wasn't disciplined enough, to do what was needed. The only way to defeat the demon would be to concentrate my magic through focus until it was solid, but only my mother was that good.

The strangest thing was I had been starting to actually enjoy the challenge of it. Now I just felt like I was a precocious kitten stalking a lion. Foolish.

I decided we couldn't win and started to circle back around, to teleport us all out. That's when my mom showed up. She appeared at least fifty feet away, inside the grove itself. I didn't even see her move and she had the demon skewered after a few lightning fast sword strokes, then beheaded. It was amazing, it was also daunting. I had so far to go. I knew one day I would hold that power if I worked hard enough, and lived long enough, but it would be a very long time from now.

She growled and I almost jumped back into limbo right after I had stepped out. She took the warlock's head and then looked at me and ordered, "Take him."

I froze. They had told me to never ever enslave a ghost against its will, but now here she was telling me to do just that. Even as a teen during my rebellious phase I never once considered it, it was not a good thing. Evil really.

She rolled her eyes at me, "This is the enemy, not a random ghost. You can let him go later but first we need information, take him now before it's too late."