Page 69 of Death Raiser

I made it into the forest and found a patch of dry moss. The stuff was great at retaining moisture. Pressing the moss to the wound, I winced. The moss wasn’t going to stay in place and holding it constantly wasn’t practical either.

I cursed.

This wasn’t going to work.

I set the moss down. Gripping my shirt, I tore a strip from the bottom hem. I packed the moss over the wound again and then awkwardly wrapped the fabric around my arm. Using my teeth to hold one end of the fabric, I looped the homemade bandage into a knot and pulled it tight. Tentatively, I moved my arm. Pain shot through my entire body and smacked my brain, but the bandage held in place.

Better.

And it would have to do for now. How much of my lead had I already used up?

I staggered to my feet and picked my way through the forest. With depleting energy, making it back to the cabin for a showdown with Steve seemed like less and less of a good idea with each step. I didn’t need to get to the cabin.

I needed a hiding place.

Stepping over exposed roots and trees, I kept to the areas with spongy moss to reduce the sound I made as I walked through the forest in addition to concealing my tracks. Up ahead, the ground cover grew denser and harder to navigate. The trees closed in and the thick canopy overhead cut out the warm sunlight. I carefully maneuvered around the branches and twigs until I sat in the middle of a bush with broad leaves so dense, I couldn’t easily peer out to the other side.

“I’ll find you,” Steve hollered in the distance. He sounded far off which meant he hadn’t found my trail, yet, and I hadn’t missed another tracker hidden in my clothes or shoes.

I leaned back, careful not to rustle the surrounding bush and stared up at the tall evergreen trees. I needed to find a way out of this, but first, I needed rest.

With thick moss surrounding me, I sank farther down, finding a more comfortable position on the uneven ground.

Death magic swirled around me.

A bone jutted out from the moss. An old bone, the power weak.

I froze.

I opened my senses and reached out. Death magic surged up, faint, but there. Pulling the moss free, I wrapped my hand around the bone and pulled. It broke free from the dirt underneath, bringing with it some ripped fabric.

A human bone.

One of Steve’s victims must’ve crawled into this bush to die.

She would’ve been so alone and scared.

I hugged the bone to my chest and squeezed my eyes shut. Tears trickled out from beneath my eyelids to run down my face.

Most people would freak out from discovering human remains.

Not me.

A necromancer needed bones, blood, and power.

And now I had all three.

Chapter Twenty-One

The veil snapped in focus as the living realm slipped away. The wind whipped my damp hair and the souls of the lost spun around me. My talons burst from my nail beds, shooting pain down my hands and momentarily distracting me from the throbbing gunshot wound.

“Here for our date?” a familiar deep voice spoke behind me. “You’ve chosen an interesting outfit.”

I yipped like a small dog and spun around.

The shimmering mist rolling over the barren wasteland parted to reveal Leviathan standing outside the gates to his castle. Under a long leather jacket, he wore a white shirt tucked into leather pants. To complete the look, he had on tall leather boots.

He looked like he had planned to audition for a Dracula movie and if I were a casting director, I would’ve given him the part from his appearance alone.

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