Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [78]
Some time after another bathroom break and what might have been lunch, my lessons continued. If yesterday had taught me anything, it was to keep the lip to a minimum and to pay attention. Oh, and if he made me draw a circle, to get into it as soon as possible.
Douglas let me in the circle, but I think that was only because he wasn’t summoning anything. At least, I didn’t think he was going to. But the knife never left his grip, and he made me draw the circle, of course. Several times. Then I spent the next hour learning how to close a circle.
The blood part was easy. Douglas cut my arm. I bled. Easy. The will part, well, I had will in spades. But the rest of it? Not so good. I couldn’t get my power to cooperate. I assumed this was because of the bindings. I didn’t tell Douglas that. If he couldn’t figure it out, I wasn’t going to enlighten him. The downside was that he thought I was being stubborn. After a couple more stinging slaps to the mouth, I got my power chugging enough to close the circle. I’d never consciously used my gift before. It felt like that first big breath after being underwater for a long time. When I shut my eyes, I could see the circle in my head. If I stretched out my fingers, I thought I would have been able to touch it. Elation surged through me at my success.
Douglas was less impressed. As soon as he decreed it good enough, he made me release it. After that, I went back to the spectator role. As long as I got to stay in the freaking circle, I didn’t care.
Michael came down into the basement, his hands full of something covered in a sheet. He handed the thing off to Douglas and then went quickly back upstairs. I guess he’d seen the show before.
Douglas pulled back the sheet, revealing a gray dove in a cage. There were a lot of scenarios of what could happen to that dove, and none of them were pleasant. As far as I could tell, Douglas only took things out of cages for a reason.
He closed the circle after telling me, “I don’t trust yours yet.” He handed me the bird.
“What do you want me to do with this?”
“I want you to hold it so I can slit its throat,” he said. “I can do it myself, but it’s easier if someone else holds it.”
I hesitated. I don’t like to kill things, one of the many reasons I’m not a carnivore, but as much as I didn’t want to be instrumental in the bird’s death, I didn’t think Douglas would give me another option.
Grabbing a fistful of hair, he yanked my head back. “Problem?”
I tried for honesty. “I don’t want to sit here and watch you kill a dove. I don’t like killing things.”
He gritted his teeth. “You kill every time you eat.”
“Yeah, plants. Not animals.”
“You’re vegetarian?”
“Yeah.”
He laughed.
“I fail to see why that’s so funny.”
He backhanded me then, which made me release the bird. I might have let it go on purpose. Douglas retaliated by hitting me in the face so hard that I fell to my knees. Usually, when someone goes to hit you, you can catch some indication of their intent in their eyes. Not Douglas. His eyes stayed the same flat brown the whole time.
Michael trooped back into the basement and caught the bird with a net. It took him all of two minutes. I stayed on my knees. It seemed like the best place to be.
Douglas once again shoved the dove into my hands. He placed the tip of his dagger under my chin, raising my head up to look in his eyes.
“Listen carefully. When we summon, when we raise, we are trespassing in death’s domain. For that passage, we must pay.” He enunciated each word, speaking slowly and clearly, like I was a child. “When we pay, we must use death’s coin. Flesh, blood, sacrifice, these are tender that death understands.” He pressed the knife into my flesh, enough so that I felt it, but not enough to cut. “I can take that payment from