Page 42 of Bitten By Chaos

“Thanks,” I said, injecting as much sarcasm as I could into the word. “You should go get some rest. Julian and I have to talk.”

Lydia nodded, a little too much understanding in her expression, and headed for the door.

“We can’t stay here to clean up, Julian. We have to leave before Elsa sees us.” I proceeded to explain her ultimatum.

“We should leave through the window,” Julian answered, looking around to find none. “There may be one in the bedroom.”

“Stop!” I yelled, and for a moment I was afraid I’d frozen him in place. But he slowly turned to face me, one eyebrow quirked in question. “Sorry. I…I’m not ready to go in there yet.”

The only indication of Julian’s instant rage was the scarlet that bled into his irises. But I could feel his wrath as he spit out clipped words. “What did he do to you?”

“No. It wasn’t that.” I drew a deep breath, finding breathing suddenly easier somehow. “He practiced necromancy. There are some horrible…” Tears clouded my eyes as I stopped before I could find the right word. They weren’t people. Not anymore.

Julian’s lips drew into a fine line as he spun toward the bedroom door.

“No,” I reached out, trying again, but not fast enough because he had the door thrown open by the time I’d finished uttering the word.

My heart clenched as he stormed inside. Moments later, Julian dragged something out with him. But I wouldn’t look—I couldn’t. Not that the memory of my mother’s blank expression wouldn’t be ingrained in my dreams for the rest of my life.

Silas and Carmichael’s horrid faces were already regularly featured there, though now there’d be more fodder for them as well.

I felt Julian kneel beside me, but I squeezed my eyes closed harder. His fingertips gently reached beneath my chin and tilted it back toward him.

“It’s alright, Charlotte,” he said softly. “They weren’t really what you thought. I don’t know what he showed you, but that was illusion magic. Necromancy hasn’t been successfully mastered to that extent since long before either Merlin or I were born. A natural necromancer can animate a single fresh body for a short amount of time, but that is all.”

Slowly, I relaxed the muscles on my face and blinked my eyelids open to find Julian’s breathtaking indigo gaze waiting patiently for me. He smiled just as slowly and then tipped his head to the side, telling me to look.

Biting my cheek, I followed his line of sight to the corner of the room where what looked like a six-foot-tall doll made of burlap stood. No face, no features, no definition to the musculature or indication of any gender. I squinted, and there was no aura, either.

“It’s what we call a boady,” Julian explained. “There are two more in there. They aren’t alive, just a…canvas for illusion art. A cheat if you will, so he doesn’t have to build from scratch and use as much energy.”

I swallowed, stepping past Julian and over to the boady to touch it. Nothing happened.

“What did he show you?” Julian asked carefully, but his voice still shook with barely hidden rage.

Lowering my head, I waved a hand pulling up another pink screen in the center of the room. I didn’t need to experience it again, but Julian would know exactly who and what I’d seen.

A horrible squelching sound had me whipping around and waving the picture out of existence. Julian was standing over Merl’s body, which he’d just ripped in half. He dropped his hold on both pieces and stepped over him to pull me into another hug.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here,” he whispered.

“What did you pay him with in the past?” I asked, afraid to look up at his face. I wanted to know what he’d done to Julian. And I didn’t want to think too hard about the present.

He tensed. “Blood and venom. He used it for healing potions, and I don’t know what else.”

“He wanted vampire blood?” I repeated. “How much?”

Julian sighed as though resigning himself to answer truthfully. “It depended on what I asked for. The car cost an entire draining of my body.”

“Julian!” I smacked his chest with both palms. “Why would you pay that for a stupid car?”

“The truth is, I was trying to impress you. Or another version of you. The appearance of the car changes with the technology of the times.”

“Well, I doubt it worked,” I huffed. “Such a pompous male move.”

“You were quite fond of machinery in that life. Perhaps an early version of your scientific mind. But alas, the car—at the time, pocket watch—did not aid in my courting as I’d hoped.”

“Silly vampire,” I teased, picturing Julian giving up his blood for a pocket watch. “Come on. I don’t want to be here another second. Where to?”

---