Page 4 of Deadly Avarice
I slammed my hand on the steering wheel and seethed. “No reason? What the fuck does that even mean? Of course there’s a fucking reason. Necromancers are—”
“No longer their concern.” Pops interrupted my tirade.
I spluttered and pulled the car off to the side of the road. My rage and bitter frustration did not a conscientious driver make. “How…how can they say that? I mean, I understand that…” There were things I intellectually understood, but my heart had always had trouble squaring the logic with the practical side of warlock-necromancer relationships. We were their children. Unwanted though we typically were. Compared to warlocks, necromancers had fleeting lives. Warlock fathers didn’t want to get attached to a child that would die centuries before themselves. My father was different, and I selfishly thanked Gaia every day that I’d been so fortunate.
I stared out my front windshield, absently seeing the blurry images of vehicles whizzing by me. My eyes swam with tears, and I struggled to draw breath into my lungs. Visions of finding Navarre curled up on an uncomfortable bed in the LaPorte County Sheriff’s jail came to mind. Navarre needed help. Necromancers needed help. We weren’t trash to be tossed onto the side of the road.
Anger, hot and potent coiled in my gut, making me feel sick. “This is bullshit, Pops. They didn’t have any problem providing the names of necromancer mothers before.”
“That was an isolated case,” Pops lamely defended.
“It was because one of their precious own was murdered. A warlock was murdered and suddenly necromancers matter because one might be the culprit.” I was furious and working my way up to something volatile.
“Erasmus, I—”
“Don’t you dare try and defend them,” I hissed.
“I wasn’t going to.” Pops’s voice deepened with a hint of hurt. “I am simply explaining the situation.”
I huffed. This wasn’t Pops’s fault, and yet I couldn’t reign in my anger. It was too broad not to sweep him into the fray. “Did you call Vander Kines? I know you don’t want to, but maybe they’ll listen to—”
“Warlock Kines had no further impact on the situation.” Pops’s tone went from contrite to irritated. While I loved Pops, I could recognize that he was arrogant. Pops had reason to be, but his arrogance was sometimes difficult to overcome. The fact that he’d called Vander Kines and asked him to assist spoke volumes and softened my rage.
“You asked Vander to help?” I asked, my tone much softer.
Pops huffed. “Reluctantly, yes. My interest should have been enough. When that proved untrue, I contacted Warlock Kines.” A low growl echoed through the car speakers. “You realize I will never live down the fact that I asked for his assistance.”
My smile was weak. Had Pops been in the car with me, I would have hugged him as tight as my smaller frame could manage. “I know, Pops. I’m sorry you had to do that. I’m even sorrier it didn’t help.”
There was a pause before Pops answered, “Warlock Kines’s fury with the Warlock Council and their equal dismissal of him would have proven most satisfying given different circumstances.” There was another pregnant pause before Pops said, “I question the wisdom of the council. While I would not say they made an enemy of either Kines or myself, they certainly did not endear either of us to their cause.”
I swallowed hard and rubbed the tears from my face. My nose was runny, and I sniffed loudly. Pops had to have heard it, had to have known I’d been crying. He didn’t comment. Pops remained quiet and allowed me to pull myself together.
I took a few seconds to mull over Pops’s thoughts and I found I agreed. “It does seem shortsighted. Why are they being so stubborn about this? I know what you said, but their reasoning just doesn’t sound like enough.” It sounded like utter bullshit.
Pops’s words were carefully chosen. “Necromancer children are a…difficult subject for warlocks. I am afraid we have not handled the situation well in the past, and those poor decisions bleed into the future. I am sorry.”
“I know,” I answered. “And I’m sorry I yelled at you. I know it’s not your fault and I appreciate your efforts. I just… You didn’t see Navarre. And there are others out there like him or in even worse condition. They need help, Pops.”
“And that help needs to come from you?”
“I don’t see anyone else applying for the job.”
Pops huffed. “No, I suppose that is true. I am exceedingly proud of the man you’ve become, Erasmus. However, there are times when I wish you had inherited my selfishness instead of your momma’s giving heart.”
I smiled and wished Pops could see it. He often said things like that, and maybe that’s the way Pops was with others, but not with me. As far as I was concerned, Warlock Nikodemus Holland had one of the biggest hearts around. Of course, I’d never tell him that. Pops would find such a statement insulting.
Leaning my head back, I decided I was calm enough to drive, and when a break in traffic occurred, I eased my way back onto the road.
“What will you do now?” Pops asked. “I do not know of another way to track down existing necromancers. I do not even know if the Fairy Queen could do so.”
I hadn’t even thought of asking Queen Silvidia. I didn’t know her great, great, great something or other, nephew, Wendall Galen that well, but from what little I knew of him, he might be able to get the queen involved if asked.
Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I was quiet long enough that Pops said, “I did not mean that as a suggestion. Involving Fairy in this mission of yours would be beyond risky.”
“True.” Pops wasn’t wrong. Fairies were wicked powerful and saw the world in black and white. There was no gray when it came to Fairy Law. That wasn’t always bad, but it was sometimes scary. Once fairies were involved, there was no going back and you had to abide by whatever they deemed necessary. Piquing their interest in a mentally unstable group of species might lead them to decide that necromancers were potentially too dangerous to remain alive. Of course, that was worst case scenario, but it also wasn’t without precedence. The world was a couple species shy what it once was prior to Fairy Law.
Memories of a recent, brief phone conversation played through my mind. I’d yet to reach back out to Tenzen Huxley and contemplating it now made me uneasy. “What about Tenzen Huxley?” I asked Pops.
