Page 84 of Death Raiser

“I need your help,” I wheezed, his palm still pressing on my neck. “I need to get home.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t give a shit what you need. You’re going to tell me where it is.”

“Where what is?”

“The book,” he hissed. “I can sense its presence nearby. It’s in this section.”

“I don’t—”

He squeezed my neck.

I thrashed in his hold. He may as well have been granite—he didn’t budge, and his hand hurt my neck.

He eased the pressure right when I thought my head would explode and I sputtered, gasping for breath.

“Now, you’re going to help me.”

Sure, I knew where the book was. I’d left Levi and Hudson huddled together in the library analyzing the wording that very possibly condemned me to death or eternal servitude. But I wouldn’t tell this vampire that information. I gathered my power. I might not trust Levi. He might even be my enemy, but the Book of the Dead was safer here. Under no circumstances could I allow the vampires to get a hold of it.

My magic pooled around me. Necromancy worked differently in the veil. I needed bones, blood, and power to access the veil while in the living realm, but once here, I had no such requirements.

Before the vampire demanded more answers I didn’t have or crushed my throat, I thrust my magic into his body and whispered an incantation. He stiffened and slackened his grip on my neck.

I planted both my hands on his chest and pushed him back, slamming the full brunt of my magic into him as well. He staggered but held his ground. That was fine. I didn’t need him to move. His honey gaze grew distant as my magic took hold.

He remained as still as a corpse.

“You will never attack me again. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he hissed. His body twitched. Was he aware of the control I had over him? Did he try to fight it?

I could never let him go. If Gregor found out I controlled vampires like corpses, he’d send his whole legion of vampires after me. It would be a slaughter. My slaughter. There was no way I could control that many.

The vampire’s body jerked again.

I frowned. I hadn’t told him to move and didn’t feel his energy pull free of my magic. I stared down at his chest. It took a second for my brain to register the pointy end of a sword protruding from his body, an inch shy of puncturing me.

The vampire’s gaze locked on mine. “When he finds out, you’re dead.”

I swallowed. Gregor couldn’t possibly find out about what just happened unless I told him, and I didn’t plan to say anything to anyone anytime soon.

“I know I said you’d see things my way given time…” Levi yanked the blade from the vampire’s body and my nameless attacker toppled to the ground. “But I didn’t think you'd turn your opinion around quite this fast.”

“He was after the book.”

Levi looked down at the prone body. “Was he now?”

“I’m still unsure what you’re up to, but the book is safer in your care. The vampires would see humans enslaved to them as a food source.”

“Maybe.” He tapped his chin. “Maybe not. It’s an interesting topic to discuss but not nearly as interesting as what happened here. I'd like to have a little chat about how you controlled a three-hundred-year-old vampire assassin.”

“You were watching?”

He nodded.

“The entire time?”

His smile was answer enough.

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