AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Which brought them right back to the Church. The Words weren't a weapon the eidolon could use. That made the prospect of a few inquisitors on their side even more appealing. Apparently Thane knew two more - his brother and a hunter - who wanted to help. With three living people who could use the Words on the priests, it might even be enough to change the tide.
Never mind that the living could call back the undead. Yeah, the idea of giving their true names to inquisitors was a little intimidating, but Nikki's wasn't hard to figure out. She was an Indigenous woman who'd been a slave accused of witchcraft in Salem. In other words, there was only one name that could be linked to her, and it wasn't hard to find with a simple Google search. The downsides of history and all that.
For Roarke, it was different. He'd been a generic Irishman in Ireland. He hadn't been rich, he hadn't been important, and he'd been dead long enough that no one remembered him. His true name was as safe as Dahlia's had once been. Well, before she'd married into a new one. Still, Roarke felt Thane wouldn't betray him, and he said he was willing to risk it.
Which meant that body deaths could be used as a way to prevent true deaths. No, the idea wasn't perfect, and there was still the chance that some priest or hunter might be faster than an eidolon, but it was better than nothing. And yet, all of this hinged on onetinylittle detail that Nikki kept forgetting about.
The cross the Church used burned the eidolon.
Most eidolon, and she wasn't in that group. Yes, she could feel the power of it, and she didn't exactly enjoy being around it, but it wasn't painful. Thane had said the trick was to practice while convincing themselves that the cross held no power. Roarke said he'd been working on it. He spent a lot of time watching religious shows on the TV he was so proud of. At first, he'd only been able to take a few minutes, but now he could make it through the whole thing. He itched the whole time, but he could do it. The Celtic cross, however, still burned.
For three days, while Thane recovered his vitality, Nikki had been asking the others about the cross. The sensitivity to it seemed to be a rather common thing. The big issue, however, was that those who wanted to practice didn't have a way to do it. It wasn't like eidolon kept religious symbols around! Never mind that most people in the community hadn't had the luxury of a permanent home before they got here.
So, Nikki decided she needed to buy a few crosses. Searching on social media, she found a craft fair, and right in the picture they used to advertise it was someone selling hand-painted crosses. Feeling inspired, she headed up to Dahlia's apartment and knocked on the door.
"Hey," Dahlia said, answering it. "Want to come in?"
"Was actually wondering if you wanted to go out," Nikki said. "I know you're supposed to be letting Thane rest, and I'm assuming you haven't been draining himtoobadly, so you probably need a snack. I need to buy crosses."
"Ok?" Dahlia asked, sounding a little confused.
"We need a way to get over them. Mind over matter, right? If we can touch the cross, then it's less likely we'll set off inquisitor wards - the same way you don't. And Roarke can't get close to them," she finished. "Cain's busy trying to tame the ghosts. I'm not dumb enough to go running around town on my own, so..." She gestured at Dahlia with both hands. "That leaves you."
"Go," Thane said from inside the apartment. "Come in, Nikki, because she needs shoes."
So Nikki stepped inside to see Thane sitting on the futon Dahlia called a couch. "How are you doing?" she asked him.
He grinned. "I'm fine. I've been fine. I was fine two days ago, but Dahlia's worried that if I try to use a Word, I'll end up like Cain and unable to be revived by blood, so I've been 'resting.'"
"And has she been eating?" Nikki asked.
Dahlia just tossed her hands in the air. "Fine! I'm getting my shoes."
Thane turned to watch her walk into the bedroom, waiting until she was out of sight before answering. "She says she's fine. She insists that she can go days between 'meals.'" Then he turned his eyes back on Nikki. "Bullshit, right?"
Nikki grimaced, not wanting to get caught in the middle of something she shouldn't be in. "I'm a baby compared to her."
Thane just gave her a look that said he knew she was avoiding the question. "Uh huh, and?"
"And I need a meal every day if I'm using any vitality. If I lived like a normal human, it would be about once a week."
He murmured at that, clearly thinking about it. "Then she might be ok." But he leaned back to pull his phone from his pocket. "Still, she needs some girl time. I need someone who can appreciate a little football."
"Roarke," Nikki realized. "Yeah, just make sure you tell him how amazing his TV is? I think it's the first one he's ever owned."
"Can do," Thane said, adding one more brownie point to the list he was racking up. "And if you're buying crosses, then tell Dahlia to use my bank card. I know most of you are pinching pennies, and my bank account isn't hurting yet." Which earned him another point.
Soon enough, Dahlia was ready. The girls walked Thane down to Roarke's apartment, both of them trying hard not to be too obvious about it. Thane carried a case of beer as his "bribe" to convince Roarke to show off his TV. Naturally, that was all Roarke needed. So, once the boys were enjoying themselves, Nikki and Dahlia headed towards 15th Street. That was the way Nikki's phone said to go to get to this craft fair.
"I think we should get Roarke a cross with rhinestones," Dahlia joked.
Nikki giggled, loving the idea. "I really want to find a Celtic one for him, but I'm not sure that's possible. In truth, I don't even know if that vendor will be there or if the picture is from last year."
"It's Iowa," Dahlia said, draping her arm casually over Nikki's shoulders. "Someone will be selling crosses of some kind. And thanks for checking up on me."
"When I was alive," Nikki explained, "I was a slave. The only way for us to survive was to look out for each other. Slaves in the same house, neighboring house, or whatever. It didn't matter. We didn't get to see doctors. We didn't always get enough food. So, to help each other, we did what we could. It actually made my afterlife a little easier to get used to."
"How'd you meet Cain anyway?" Dahlia asked.
