Page 15 of Death Raiser

No necromancers that I knew of ever came across Leviathan in the veil. Hell, most of them couldn’t travel to the veil in the first place. When I met Leviathan and he formed a portal for me to return to the living realm, I thought maybe he also used the portals for himself to sneak off and live his best life amongst the drabs.

He’d just shot down that theory.

Not only was he not hiding amid the drabs and glamies, but he also couldn’t travel to the living realm at all unless called.

“Is that why you’re asking me out?” I asked. “Hoping for a one-way ticket to the humans.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I asked you out because you’re the first female necromancer I’ve encountered who can travel to the veil unhindered, with ease, and keep your sanity. This might come as a surprise to you, but this place gets lonely, and I’d like to get to know you better. The spirits tell me the way to do that is to ask you out on a date.”

Oh.

That actually sounded reasonable.

It also sounded like I was being asked out because I was the only option, but at least I understood his motivations better.

Kang’s disgruntled face popped into my mind and guilt twisted my stomach. We weren’t dating. We hadn’t even gone out. But I already knew how he’d feel if I dated someone else at the same time, even if we weren’t technically exclusive.

“So?” Leviathan asked.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

Total lie. I didn’t want to date Leviathan. I wanted Kang’s grumpy ass.

But I couldn’t say no to Leviathan again. Not right now. Not here. Not when I was in his domain and at his mercy. My bond with the master vampire was weakening and without it, I couldn’t pull myself free of the veil. So I told Leviathan I’d think about it and in a way I would. I’d think about all the reasons why I wouldn’t say yes.

“And that’s all I ask,” Leviathan said. He waved his hand and a portal to the graveyard opened. “As a sign of good faith.”

Chapter Five

The light streaming in the room teased my face and pulled me from a delectable dream featuring one grumpy detective, myself and a night of no inhibitions where I was told I was a very good girl.

Heat flushed my face, and I turned over in the bed to check the time on my phone.

A single, plump red rose sat on the nightstand beside my charging base. Cold struck my body like a lightning bolt. I jerked upright, the bedding falling off me, and scanned my room.

Nothing.

I was alone.

Brandon and Logan talked in hushed voices in the living room and the regular backdrop of traffic drifted in from the street outside our building. The soft scents of vanilla and rose petals clung to the air.

I reached forward and plucked the rose off the nightstand. It had a long stem and stunning petals almost bursting with colour. It was just as beautiful as the rose left outside the apartment door.

And yet, this rose wasn’t scary.

It was terrifying.

Someone had snuck into our apartment and my room, undetected, to place this on my bedside table without waking me or the boys.

Maggie meowed outside my door, letting me know in a particularly high-pitched shrieking sound that I needed to feed her.

My gaze snagged on my bedroom door.

The simple answer lay on the other side of this wall. Not my cat…my roommates.

I flung the bedding off my legs, hopped from the bed, threw my door open and stomped into the living room. Maggie hissed and raced off to hide, her desperate all-consuming need for food momentarily forgotten.

Logan and Brandon stopped their conversation, their mouths comically hanging open as they turned toward me.

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