26. Death & True Love

"I'm certain it's a gift and not just your personal power," Remi insisted, waving one hand in a very Gallic manner, his faint Hungarian accent coming to the fore as he continued. "The way you can overwhelm, control, and defeat another vampire merely by unleashing your vampiric magic, it is highly unusual for a vampire of only half a millennia. You're too young for such power if it weren't a gift."

"I killed my sire the night I rose," Simeon shared, sipping from his blood-laced wine. "I have no one to ask if my line has any gifts of note." Simeon looked to Constans, who reluctantly shook his head once. They met the night he rose from his mortal grave, just after Simeon cut the head off his sire and burned the body. Constans had been tracking the vampire who sired Simeon, and it was a twist of Fate that Simeon was sired in an attempt to slow down Constans. No one expected Simeon to track down and kill his sire instead of rampaging as a feral newborn.

"Your sire was a rogue, killing indiscriminately and earning the ire of humans and other bloodclans before he drew my retribution. I know little of him aside from his crimes. He was quite young himself, and I never learned who sired him before his destruction, so whatever lineage you have is lost to time. An older vampire might be able to tell what line you come from." Constans was apologetic, unable to share details of Simeon's long-dead sire.

"We all come from the First Vampires," Ashwin shared as he came down the island, refilling Simeon's goblet from a polished steel pitcher. "But the many latter generations lost the knowledge of which First they came from, and some of us will never know. My own sire was a monster in every sense of the word, and sharing information was something he never did willingly. If he knew something about our lineage he never divulged it to me."

"To wretched sires, may their ashes never come to rest on the earth," Simeon raised his goblet to Ashwin, who gently clinked it against the pitcher with a fangy grin.

Simeon drank as Remi and Constans argued over what Simeon's gift might be, if he had one, once he was old enough for it to manifest completely. The more generations between the First Vampires and a fledgling, the longer it took for a secondary, special gift to emerge—if it did at all. Most vampires in the world were quite young, sired by young vampires themselves, and current estimates had only a third of all vampires old enough to have developed gifts.

It was possible he had a gift, but he was at a loss as to what it could be once fully developed. He was sure he had merely the normal powers of the average vampire his age; his only advantage was drinking Constantine Batiste's blood off and on over the centuries, his mentorship, and his warrior training as a mortal man.

"With Angel as your mate, any gift you have is going to come to the fore soon if it hasn't already." Ashwin said in response to Remi and Constans' congenial arguing. "His affinity is going to speed up everything in the bloodclan regardless."

"We've never had a Leannan anam pair with a necromancer," Constans said. "Explain what you mean? I know the practitioners augment their mates with some of their affinities in random ways. Isaac has made me more fire-resistant, for one."

"I can bear more direct sunlight, but still burn if it's prolonged exposure. I've got a couple minutes, I think, whereas a couple years ago it was only a few moments." Simeon shared.

"Oh, it'll be more than that for sure," Ashwin said, putting down the pitcher. "I knew Serano Salvatore, the necromancer who built this mansion," Ashwin gestured to the room around them. "We talked a lot about a great many things before his passing in the War. One of which is what happens if a necromancer mates with a bloodclan vampire."

"You are a tease, good sir," Remi said with a half smile.

Celyn, under Remi's arm and quiet until now, nodded his head eagerly. "I wanna know too!"

Ashwin laughed lightly. "Alright, alright. Angel should have access to the ancient death magic that animates the sentient undead." He said this as less a question and more a fact; Simeon nodded in agreement, and Ash continued. They were all in trusted company. "His presence is going to increase the flow and the exchange of death magics through the mate bond, then the clan bonds. It's going to speed things up, make bonds stronger, make them reach their full potential faster. It'll show up quicker in vampires close to Simeon in the hierarchy—" he pointed to Constans, "And in mated pairs. Hence why the mate bond between Constans and Isaac is fully realized and complete, decades faster than it typically happens. It spread from Angel and Simeon, to Constans and Isaac, and then to all the bloodclan's vampires through the strength and types of bonds you have. It'll make all mate bonds grow faster and stronger, rouse secondary gifts from dormancy, and increase the resiliency of all mortal vampire mates."

"That's so cool," Celyn breathed out, dark blue eyes wide in astonishment.

"If I do have a secondary gift, then being mated to Angel will make it appear centuries sooner than usual?" Simeon asked for clarification.

"Yes," Ashwin replied. "I think Remi and Constans have it right—I think you're developing it now, and it might even be a more specific form of your already formidable talents. The fledglings respond with unusual sensitivity when you unleash your power on them, so it may be something new developing."

"I can't be sure–I do feel Angel's power through the bond, but I can't tell if I'm changing aside from some increased resiliency." Simeon said, shaking his head once. "All from mating a necromancer?"

"For a bloodclan, there is no greater prize than a necromancer mate." Ashwin declared.

"The Council knows this," Simeon said. "They must; it explains so much about their dogged pursuit of Angel."

"Fascists will always go after anyone they see as competition to secure their power," Celyn said, brushing his curls back out of his eyes. "Once Simeon and Angel got together, they had the attention of anyone who knew about the effect a necromancer has on a bloodclan. If the truth of necromancers being beneficial to a bloodclan became widely known then the power balances might shift more in favor of vampires in certain regions."

"The Council is ascendant in Europe," Constans said, nodding in approval at Celyn, who glowed happily in response. "If any of the subjugated bloodclans in Europe gain a necromancer as an Leannan anam, then they might break free of the Council's influence. There's billions of dollars worth of property, taxes, land, and the economies of entire cities that the Council stands to lose control over if the European bloodclans free themselves with the help of a necromancer mated into their ranks."

"Another reason to keep Leo away from the Council," Ashwin said, grim-faced. "They'd kill him just to avoid the chance that once he grows up, he might fall in love with the wrong vampire."

"I need to speak to my mate," Simeon set down his goblet and went looking for Angel.

Angel listened calmly, getting the entire gist of the conversation from Simeon before speaking.

They were in the foyer, Angel sitting on the piano bench, leaning back on the key lid. He sighed, head tilted back to look at the dark shadows on the ceiling. Simeon stood in front of him, waiting patiently as Angel digested the facts.

"Did Batiste know?" Angel asked, finally dropping his gaze to look at his mate.

Simeon shook his head once. "He knew that I might gain a lot from our bonding, but he was up front about that from the beginning. He didn't know it would benefit the entire clan in such a broad way. He was just as surprised when Ashwin told us about the effects of a mated necromancer in a bloodclan."

Angel nodded, pensive. He patted the bench beside him, and Simeon sat immediately. Angel sighed happily and leaned on his mate, dropping his head to rest on Simeon's shoulder. "I love you."

Simeon pressed a kiss to his hair. "I love you, too." A slow, languid moment passed, Angel enjoying the feel of his mate and just being with him. Simeon spoke quietly. "What are you thinking?"

"A lot of things, really." Angel said. Simeon hummed in encouragement to continue. "Killing me seems now to be their only option. They've repeatedly failed to capture me, you, the others under my protection. Repeatedly failed to corrupt the clan from within, destabilize it. The clan loses everything they've gained, real or theorized, if I die. Power, influence, you name it. I die, and there's currently no living proof of what a necromancer can do for a bloodclan. The other necromancers I know about are either too young to be mated at all, much less to a vampire, or are already paired off, widowed, married, or devoutly ace, with no interest in romance and true love. Many of them have been alive a very long time, and have shown no interest in allying with vampires."

"The other necromancers aren't much of a threat in regards to mating a bloodclan vampire…but the young ones. They might grow up and fall in love with a bloodclan vampire. Leo especially, as one of his fathers is a vampire, exposing him to more vampires and that way of life than young Alice, for instance."

Angel grimaced and nodded in agreement. "Nica needs to be warned. I should check in with him anyway."

"Are Leo and Alice the only necromancer children you know of?" Simeon asked.

Angel kept track of every known necromancer in the world. Now they numbered sixteen, with young Leo joining their ranks. Sixteen necromancers in the whole, wide world. Rare and dangerous.

"As far as I know," Angel said, thinking. "The next youngest is a dual affinity sorcerer in San Francisco, mid-twenties I think. He's hard to track down though, he's a curse-breaker and goes on dangerous missions all the time. I don't know him, but his reputation is golden with several government agencies around the world, so he's got some protection there." Angel paused, then smiled a bit. "If I'm right about Rael's late father being Callum Redmayne of the San Francisco Redmaynes, then his cousin is the curse-breaker. Ezra Redmayne."

"We live in a small world sometimes, mo ghra," Simeon said. "Do you want to contact Nicademus?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna do that now." Angel stayed leaning on Simeon and pulled out his phone. He spent far too long typing out a text, but he sent it. He waited less than a minute before aa reply came through from the Romanian necromancer. Nica explained that he was still in Montreal with Alice, his young apprentice, who was about the same age as Leo, give or take a year.

Nica

Alice and I are in hiding with her family. All safe.

Thank Hecate, they were safe. Angel felt bad for thinking of Nica and Alice so late in his conflict with the Council. But Montreal was meant to be safe; the Council had been evicted from the city. Yet, so was Boston, and the city was crawling with enforcers and a Grand Master. If they were in hiding then Nica had troubles of his own.

Angel

High Council?

Nica

Unfortunately yes, my friend.

Angel

Tell me if you need help.

Nica

Take care of your own and finish this. Then we're all free.

Angel

Will do.

Angel smirked a bit at reading the texts from Nicademus, the supposed pacifist. Nica didn't fight, but he was remarkably dangerous, and had few problems enabling others to fight.

"I have the contact information for most of the others," Angel said quietly to Simeon, his mate patient and understanding as always.

"You want to warn them as well."

"I do," Angel said, and he did just that, beginning with those overseas who might be more isolated and far from help. His warning might come too late, but it was the best he could do without getting on a plane.

Warning strangers that the High Council of Sorcery might be after them was a daunting task that left Angel stressed out and on his last nerve, but he soldiered on until he got through his contact list. Some necromancers he wasn't even sure were still alive—the eldest was a sorcerer who resided in Vietnam, and was easily a hundred and thirty-years-old. Yet Angel did his best, leaving messages with relatives or apprentices, and even a revenant in one case. For those in time zones that were opposite to Angel's, he sent text messages or left voicemails, and hoped he wasn't ignored.

Angel was done with this day and it wasn't even half over yet. Calling people sucked. Texting was the better method of communicating with strangers, and even that was horrible.

Angel pocketed his phone and went looking for a comfortable place to sit down and maybe take a nap. He ended up in the library, the room empty, everyone scattered throughout the big house and grounds.

Simeon followed him into the library, and Angel smiled gratefully when Simeon sat on the couch with him and encouraged Angel to lie down, head on his firm thigh.

Simeon quickly warmed to Angel, from stone-cold to match his body temperature, and Angel loved the sensation. Fingers carded through his hair, and without saying a word, Simeon showered him in love and affection through the bond.

"Take a nap, mo ghra," Simeon whispered. "I'll wake you if something happens."

Safe with his mate, Angel closed his eyes and let himself drift off.