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Vanth sucked in a breath as power filled the room. It was as dark as night and searing as the cold fire of the stars. It raced across his senses and tasted like black wine on his tongue. He had never experienced a magical signature like it before. He wanted to lick it straight off her lips. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to focus.
Elektra leaned down and whispered something into the dead female's ear. "The magic is holding her soul in place. I am trying to release it so that she can give us information. Can you see where the block is?"
Vanth shook himself and went to join her by the body. The sigils burned into her skin and seemed to shiver as he approached.
He ran his hand over the body, careful not to touch her. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the fact that Elektra was there watching him. Most of the time his magic operated on instinct and not on any learning that he had gotten from books. His fingers paused over her stomach, where a twisting line seemed to burn hotter than any of the others.
"This here. This is what's acting as a soul trap. It feels different to the others," Vanth said and then moved out of her way.
Elektra didn't argue with him, which surprised him. She only nodded and used her still-bleeding thumb to strike a line through the sigil. Instantly, the air pressure went pop, and a ghost rose from the female's body. Like all ghosts, she looked around, disorientated, as if she didn't know how she got there.
"Look at me, Heidi," Elektra commanded, and the ghost's face swiveled towards her.
"He came for us in the night," Heidi said, her voice barely above a whisper. "There was so much screaming. So much blood. We tried to fight him, but nothing seemed to work."
Elektra's teeth ground together. "Was it Lazarus?"
Heidi covered her face with her hands. "We tried to fight him," she repeated.
The ghost was on a loop—the usual side effect if the person's death had been traumatic. Vanth stepped forward because Elektra looked like she was about to throw up.
"Where did he take you, Heidi?" he asked. "Do you remember where you were when you died?"
Heidi removed her hands from her face. "It was dark. It was cold. There was a strange smell in the air, like sewage and bleach. Someone had tried to cover up the smell, but there was no getting rid of it. He's so powerful. No one is going to be strong enough to stop him."
"Stop him from doing what?" Vanth asked.
Large ghostly eyes hovered in front of him. Heidi's outline became brighter, and Vanth saw that Elektra had put her hand on the ghost, and it was feeding off her energy.
"They're trying to raise your father. Lock him down tight and get him to do their will. They're going to control the Veil." Heiditurned to Elektra. "That's all I know. Now let me go. I am so tired."
Elektra took out one of her sickles and flipped the blade free. "May you find peace in your afterlife, sister." With that goodbye, she swung her sickle, severing the ghost and soul from the body, and Heidi disappeared with a smile.
Vanth was shaking. He had no idea who his father was, but he had to be dead if they were trying to raise him. Elektra re-sheathed her sickles.
"That settles it. We need to go and talk to your mother," she said.
Before he could reply, she swayed. He raced forward and caught her before she hit the cold tiles. She was completely out cold in his arms, and he tightened his grip on her.
"Looks like visiting is going to have to wait until tomorrow, princess."
Andres was nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot. "What should I do with the bodies?"
"Burn them," Vanth said without hesitation. "Let them be at rest. There is nothing we can do for them now. I'm going to take this troublesome necromancer home."
Andres's whole demeanor shifted, his eyes turning ancient and deadly. "You will see no harm comes to her."
"For fuck's sake, Andres. I'm going to look after her. She's been on the run for days and used the last of her energy on that shade."
Vanth looked down at Elektra's sleeping face. What in all the hells had she brought to his door?
10
Elektra woke on an unfamiliar couch, with a pillow under her head and a soft woolen blanket tucked around her. Sunlight was streaming through the windows, and it took her a few disorientated moments to realize she was back in Tarael Vanth's house. She tried to remember how she got there and came up blank. Slowly, the previous night came back to her, and she recalled the crematorium and poor Heidi.
Lazarus really is crazy,she thought as she stared at the stars that someone had stuck to the roof. She suspected that they were glow-in-the-dark.
Vanth really was nothing like she expected, and when his magic had filled the room, it had felt like some primal beast waking up and stretching. What kind of male was he? Would he be able to see this through? He was still her best shot at stopping Lazarus. She was so fucking fucked.
