Page 36 of Necromancers Don't Raise

“And that’s why you’re bleeding down your face.” He adjusted me, pulling a cloak around both of us so I was entirely covered and nestled against him. “I’m sorry for leaving you right after you discovered something so unpleasant from Anastasia. I should have stayed with you, but instead, I pursued a shadow that was so gifted, I was unable to capture him.”

“Shadows are notoriously difficult to catch,” I said, snuggling against him, sliding my hand up his chest and around his neck, not because he might drop me, no, those muscles wouldn’t drop anything, but because I wanted to feel his silky hair.

“He was so difficult that he gave himself away, so I know who he most likely is.”

“Really?”

“Really. It’s unfortunate, because he works for one of the worst people in the world, and I was led on in such a way as to suspect that I was being kept busy for some reason. May I ask who hurt you here?” he murmured.

“Mostly the cliff, but the goblin, Retta, greased the bars, so I guess she was partially responsible. Isn’t it unethical to grease your opponent’s bars in a race?”

“Absolutely unethical, but that’s goblins for you, particularly Retta.”

“You know her?”

“Oh, yes. She left my employ a few years ago to work for Mr. Good, who happens to be the one who owns the shadow I chased. What an interesting coincidence.”

I felt a wash of cold confusion sweep over me. “Retta works for Mr. Good, the international crime boss? But he’s in jail.” My mother had testified against him in a move that I still didn’t understand. Yes, it was good to ally yourself with the president and against his assassin, but was it personal? If that was the same shadow, he’d been tracking me for years.

Mr. Good? There was nothing good about that monster, although he was supposed to be as human as they came, at least when he started out.

“His organized crime is so very organized that it operates very well while he relaxes behind bars. I don’t suppose she told you what she wanted.”

“No, but…” I pulled the poster out from underneath his cape to show it to him. “She had this, used it to lure me into a hopeless competition. Think about it. We can make copies and sell them while you do live demonstrations. The profits are going to be astronomical.”

He glanced at the paper and then turned towards the exit with a slight smile on his stern mouth. “You stole from a goblin? How delightfully humiliating. She won’t be able to live that down. Goblins are notoriously sneaky.”

“Yep. I distracted her with my dislocated shoulder.”

“Yes…wait, what?”

I patted his cheek and then kissed the other one because he was close and I was his precious dead, so I could do that kind of thing, even if it made my heart beat unsteadily. “Nothing. I do feel much better now, emotionally, not physically.” Being in his arms helped me feel much better physically.

“Mrs. Clarence is impossible for anyone to crack. She’s a bit terrifying, to be honest. I’m sorry she upset you.”

I snuggled against his neck, inhaling the scent of him, spices and that delicious French aftershave. “I was very angry. No, probably sad, but it translated to anger. You know how that is.”

“I do. Miss Nova, if you’re sad, I will do whatever is necessary to make you happy. You don’t have to go running into a werewolf shooting gallery, or try to shake down the ice queen.”

How nice. We were just going to forget all about Mr. Good’s involvement in my life. He could tell I couldn’t take any more trauma today. “Would you raise an army of the dead for me?” I asked, nuzzling his silky throat.

His voice was a low rumble. “Of course. That’s too easy. I’d even listen to your sorrows and watch an odious tv show with you.”

I gasped and sat up. “You’d watch the show with me and Bones? Really?” I caught his cheek as I peered into his beautiful eyes, flickering madly with the sparks of anger he kept so firmly under control. He was not happy about being led like a fool by Mr. Good’s henchmen. Did Retta poison me? No, it was more like she was seeing how I reacted, like a test. Yes, she’d been testing me, or sent by Mr. Good to test me. But why? No good reason, that was certain.

“I would,” he said soberly.

I hesitated, needing some stability and independence in my life. “And would you also maybe consider giving me a job? With benefits? And a money transfer to a fake ID place?”

He smiled, and it was a dangerous smile. “Why Miss Nova, how good of you to ask.”

I frowned at him. “That sounds like the intro to a scam.”

“You’ve been around too many werewolves and goblins. I have a job for you, if you’ll take it.”

“This sounds like the second part of the scam, laying it on like jam. A jam scam.”

He held me close and walked softly through the cave tunnel, like he knew where he was going. “You can teach Bones how to make jam, but for the next few days, I want you to focus your abilities on a different project.”

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