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Keaty rolled his eyes and held his hand out in a go on gesture.
“Anyway. They behave and sound like people
think zombies do, combined with the whole being dead thing. It’s limiting the number of civilians on the streets, thankfully. If we are looking for a group of necros, what do you think the chances are we’ll find them out in the open?”
He reached towards the desk like he was going to pick up a coffee mug, but only once his fingers brushed the smooth wood surface did he realize there was no mug to pick up. He thrummed his fingers on the desktop, considering what to say next and trying to make his initial gesture appear intentional.
“I don’t know. It depends on what kind of death dealer we’ve got on our hands. Normally they need to be quite close to the area they’re working on, but these dead seem to be coming from multiple places. Either they’ve grouped themselves all together to spread the magic out from a central location—in which case I suspect they’ll be quite well protected—or they’ve split themselves up. If it’s the latter, we might be able to find them by following the risen.”
“The risen?” Given a full week, there was no way I’d have come up with that one on my own, but it did have the ease of use I’d been hoping for. Now instead of struggling to think of them as zombies or the animated dead, I could call them the risen. “I like it.”
“I’m so glad my word choices meet your approval, Secret. When I wake up in the morning, I think to myself, What could I say to amuse the girl today?”
“If that’s true, I’m sorry to tell you you’ve been failing pretty miserably for the past eight years.”
“I’m heartbroken.”
“All right, genius.” I smiled, having missed the familiar good-natured teasing he and I shared. Keaty’s love wasn’t easy to see or understand, but it was most definitely there, and in spite of all the difficulties he and I had, I knew he cared about me the same as I cared about him. “What’s the next step?”
“You’ll like this one, I think.”
“I’m all ears.”
“We go ask the vampires.”
Yeah. I was totally thrilled.
Chapter Five
“The vampires? Why the hell do we need to talk to the vampires?”
I was in no hurry whatsoever to get back to the council, in spite of my recent communication with the Tribunal Leader, Sig. Last I’d heard, a suspected traitor, Arturo, who I thought had a hand in trying to kill me, was on his way to New York. Adding to my difficulties was the fact my werewolf half had been outed during my trip to Paris, and long story short, things didn’t look too good for me in the vampire world right now.
At best, the elders would find some way to punish me.
At worst, they would elect a member of their ranks to be my chosen assassin so the killer could take my place among the Tribunal when I was dead.
The last thing I could expect if we went to the council headquarters was to find willing help.
“Necromancers manipulate the dead,” Keaty replied.
“And?”
“And vampires are dead. They should be able to feel the pull of the magic, even if they don’t choose to respond to it.”
Oh. “Okay, I never thought of that. Why can’t I feel it, then? I mean, I’m part vampire.”
“But you’re not dead, are you? Nor have you ever been truly dead.”
I’d been so close I had wished for it. “No, I haven’t died.”
“Then their magic wouldn’t work on you. Or any other half-vampire, should such a creature exist.”
Creature. Nice, Keats, real nice.
“We can use Holden,” I suggested.
“And with your one pet vampire we’ll find everyone responsible for taking over an entire city? You really think so?”
