Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [101]
Another drop hit. I was damn near choking on power. My muscles were so rigid I couldn’t draw a full breath. I knew I could tell the spirits to be quiet. I knew they’d have to do what I said. But I forced myself to listen, to hear all their pain. To pull it all inside me until my chest ached with it.
Because I listened, they told me what to do. I didn’t see any other option. I had to hope they wouldn’t hurt Brid. I accepted their offer, and my power blew outward, throwing the room into chaos.
The floor split, and creatures came up from the ground, forming as they climbed, just like the first zombie I’d seen. I heard a loud crash as the fridge under the stairs upended, glass vials spilling all over the floor. One broke open, and the energy inside me expanded. Blood. Douglas had been keeping vials full of blood in his fridge. The spirits didn’t like it as much as mine. It wasn’t fresh. But they used it all the same.
The creatures that materialized this time were under my control, and I sent them at Douglas. They flew at him, their hands out, aiming for his throat, his clothes, anything. He held up his arms, throwing out his own power and keeping them at bay.
I felt him try to activate his circle. Too late, he realized he’d never finished it. He’d been in too much of a rush after Brid’s attack.
Another drop bled into the floor, and I egged the spirits on. Suddenly people were pouring into the room, people I didn’t recognize. No, not people. In the throes of magic, I could see twists of color, some like Brid, and some like nothing I’d ever seen. Wolves came at their heels. The giant beasts hurled themselves at Douglas. I felt that nettle-and-mud feeling as he used his will to turn some of the weaker spirits away from him and onto the wolves. I watched as a confused zombie turned from Douglas and leapt onto a tall, short-haired man in a tank top. I did my best to keep them pointed away from the strangers and toward the real enemy, but Douglas had more training than me. His tactic worked, keeping a mass of undead bodies and spirits between him and the intruders.
The room was turning into one solid brawl.
Douglas went back to his spell, words streaming from his lips. He used the blood from the bowl to draw symbols on my legs and over my heart.
The world tunneled in and became only two things: the spirits and Douglas. Between the anger and the built-up power, the spirits were in a frenzy. They attacked anyone or anything they came into contact with. I couldn’t send them back. The best I could do was try for damage control and hope that everyone would be okay.
I heard a shout, and my vision tunneled out again: Ramon at the top of the stairs, Ramon barreling toward me, an antique lamp in his hand, swinging at anything in his way. Douglas didn’t even look. He just made a negligent pushing motion with his hand, and a zombie attacked Ramon. The ragged creature picked him up and threw him under the stairs. The crowd shifted and blocked my view.
28
Beep Beep’m, Beep Beep, Yeah
Mrs. W drove right up the damn driveway like an old bat out of hell. Tia crouched down in her seat, but Haley leaned forward, anxious to get there.
“Are we not even going to try for stealth?” Tia asked, grabbing onto the door as they hit a pothole in the road.
Mrs. W snorted. “Ramon’s already here, and from the looks of it, a lot of other people are, too. Stealth is a long-gone concept.”
Haley had to agree. As they approached the yard, she could see scorched earth and broken doors. She tried to make sense of it. Had there been a flamethrower fight? A minotaur lay bleeding next to what appeared to be a shredded lion. Tiny red hats were everywhere. A few men were lounging around a pretty Greek lady, and one