Chapter 7

7

B y the time their food arrived, Vanth was ravenous. Isaac looked between him and Elektra and the mountain of food that was between them. They must have looked insane, but Vanth was too hungry to care. Isaac could tease him later about it.

Elektra all but fell on her food. She must have been starving the last three days. That protective urge welled up inside him again, but Vanth ignored it.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked as she picked up bacon with her fingers and stuffed it into her mouth.

"It was dinner time about three days ago," Elektra said. She swallowed her bacon and stared at her plate. "They attacked the temple that night."

"Who are they ?" Vanth asked, putting down his burger. She seemed to hesitate, so he added, "Come on, I need to know everything if I'm going to trust you. I need to know what I'm getting myself into and who exactly is after me and how the fuck my father fits into all of this."

"They once lived with us at the Temple of Magic and Bone. It exists in a place that is neither the Veil nor this world. It is an in-between place where very few can enter." Elektra picked up her beer and drained half of it. "Your mother was a reaper for over two hundred years. The main purpose of our temple is to protect the Veil and to ensure that its power isn't abused by people with our special abilities. Our members all have a form of necromancy power. They are reapers who assist in sending lost souls through the Veil and make sure that no creatures or malicious spirits come through it from the other side. Did you never wonder where your powers came from?"

Vanth pushed a chip around his plate and tried to process what she was telling him. "To be honest, I always thought that I was probably cursed. My mother taught me how to handle most of my power when I was a boy, and then mages in the city taught me the rest until they realized the connection that I had with the dead, and that scared them. I left them without completing my studies." Vanth ate his chip. "My mother never told me any of this. Her magic is different from mine. She has abilities to see the dead and to feel them, but she can't control them like I can. She also has gifts of foresight that I don't. I don't know why she would never tell me she was a part of some special temple of reapers that looks after the dead."

Elektra pushed aside her plate just in time for Isaac to bring out their steaks. "That is because it is a secret. Only a select number of people know that we exist because people fear necromancy so much. Usually, if any children present abilities like ours, we will recruit them. That's why there's so few necromancers wandering around."

Vanth knew necromancy was an unusual ability, but maybe it wasn't as rare as he thought. "So why didn't one of you come and try and recruit me when I was a kid? Don't like half-breeds?"

Elektra's eyes narrowed. "We don't care what you are or where you come from. By the time that we knew you existed, you were too old to be recruited. Your mother was pregnant when she left us, but only our high priestess knew about it. They were both determined to keep you a secret in order to keep you safe."

"If that's true, how do you know about me now?"Vanth asked.

Elektra cut her steak into precise pieces that told Vanth she also had a lot of experience with daggers and other bladed weapons.

"I don't really know where to begin this story," she said, stabbing one of the pieces with her fork. "I expected you to know most of this. Why hasn't your mother told you? According to our high priestess, Eiline was meant to tell you when you came of age."

Vanth hesitated and then said, "My mother is unwell." He didn't want to tell her much more than that. Her curse made her too vulnerable. "Why don't you start by telling me who attacked your temple? And why do you think that they want me?"

"They call themselves the Cult of Shadows and Blood." Elektra's lip lifted in a sneer. "They have styled themselves as the opposite of the reapers and the Temple of Magic and Bone."

"How very Dungeons and Dragons of all of you," Vanth replied, trying not to laugh. "Why should I care about them?"

"I can admit their name is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean you should underestimate how dangerous they are. The leader of the cult, Lazarus, used to be one of our members before he took a small group of his followers and decided to try and steal power from the Veil." Elektra stopped eating. "I was a teenager at the time, but I remember the fear that went through all of the reapers because of the rebellion. The cult tore a hole in the Veil, and only your mother and father had the power to close it again. The tear was mended with a kind of metaphysical patch, but it wasn't fully healed. Lazarus's cult has gathered their power and has waited until now to try again."

Vanth wasn't ready to talk about his father yet, and the more he learned about his mother, the more uncomfortable he became at how many secrets she had kept from him.

"If the reapers stopped them last time, why can't they do it again? I've seen how badass you can fight," Vanth replied.

Elektra went pale, and for a second, he was worried that she would vomit. He reached out to steady her but pulled away before he could touch her. When she looked up at him, her gray eyes were dark with grief and rage.

"They killed…" she began and stopped.

"Everyone but you," he realized. He did reach for her hand then. There was no way to fake the kind of despair and sadness rolling off her. "That's why you have been running for three days?"

Elektra nodded and drained her tequila. She cleared her throat. "I was away on a reaping job when they attacked. By the time I got back, everyone was dead or missing. It was like their power was sucked clean from them like they had been sacrificed."

The hair on the back of Vanth's neck stood on end when he thought about the bodies he had seen in Andres's crematorium. His deadline for keeping them was almost up. Fuck. "How did you know to come to me?"

"The high priestess. She gave me the necklace and said it would lead me to the one person who could stop Lazarus and heal the Veil. She told me that Eiline had a son, and I was to find you both. She died in my arms before I could learn anymore," Elektra replied, her eyes full of unshed tears.

"Do you know what happened to the people who were missing from amongst the bodies?" Vanth asked softly.

Elektra shook her head. "There was no time. I figured they were out on the grounds, and I didn't stop to explore. I didn't have time to bury them. I just…ran."

Vanth ate the last of his dinner and hoped he wasn't about to make a terrible mistake. "I got a call in the very wee hours this morning from a friend who owns a crematorium. There were some bodies that came in that freaked him out. He was worried, and he's a lesser fae, so not a lot spooks him out. The bodies had been used in a sacrifice of some sort, but most of the magic was still stored in them." He pulled out his phone from his pocket. "I have pictures that I would like you to look at." He brought the photo gallery up and passed it over to her.

Elektra took the phone and stared at the pictures. Vanth half expected her to throw up her dinner. She clearly had experience around the dead, but it was always different if it was someone you knew.

"Charon, grant them safe passage," Elektra whispered. She zoomed in on the sigils. "They were reapers. I should have looked amongst the dead to see who was missing. The high priestess made me promise to come straight to you. Fucking Lazarus. This is definitely his work. Did you burn the bodies?"

Vanth shook his head. "No, but I don't have long before Andres does. He's hanging onto them, going against his client's wishes, which is a big deal for him. If I take you to them, could you explain what the fuck was done to them?" He didn't mention how the magic felt like his own. It was darker and more powerful, and yet the same.

"I can do my best, but I can't make any promises. Lazarus and his followers were into blood magic, and only the gods know what he's been doing for the last seventy-odd years." Elektra passed him back his phone. "I'll need to pick up a few items I left in your house before we leave."

"Dinner and a trip to the crematorium. You sure know how to show a necromancer a good time," he said and grinned at her. "You know, when you're not trying to murder me."

"I haven't tried yet, Tarael," Elektra replied, sending a thrill through him. Maybe all the necromancy over the years had broken his brain. He shouldn't be flirting with her at all. He didn't do complicated as a rule, and the female in front of him was all kinds of complicated.

Elektra finished the last of her fries. "I still think we should talk to your mother."

"We will, but not tonight. She had a vision this morning, and it upset her…" Vanth swore as his mother's words came back to him.

"What is it?" Elektra asked.

Vanth ran a hand through his long hair. "I showed her the photos of the bodies already, trying to get any insight into what fucking magic was on them. It triggered her. She said something about the guardians being dead and that the Veil was unprotected. There was someone trying to get through? Fuck, let me think."

Elektra nodded and drank her tequila as if she had all the time in the world to wait for him to get his shit together.

Vanth's memory was usually better, but the last day was a blurry mess in his mind, thanks to his lack of sleep. He took a few breaths, and the words came back to him. "The blood of the guardians sacrificed to help them accomplish what they tried seventy-seven years ago. Only wards made by love hold them back."

Elektra put down her drink. "If she's right, there must be more survivors. We have to find them before they are used to rip open the Veil. We start with the bodies in the morgue."

"Giving orders pretty quick there. I don't know if I trust you yet," Vanth said, though it felt like a lie.

"I don't trust you either. Unfortunately, we only have each other right now." Elektra managed one of her infuriating smirks despite her grief. "You can trust I want Lazarus dead. Isn't that enough?"

Vanth nodded. It would have to be because Elektra had too many secrets that he needed to know, and he wasn't going to let her go until he got his answers. Despite that, he still looked her straight in the eye and said, "I'm happy for us to work together on this for now. Just so you know, if you betray me or bring harm to my mother in any way, I'll do more than kill you."

The threat didn't bother Elektra. She only smiled. "Like what?"

A tingle went through him that she seemed curious and not afraid. He laughed to cover up his sudden interest. "And ruin the surprise? Not likely, darling."

"Fine. Be boring." Elektra finished her tequila. "Now, let's go look at these bodies."