Page 47 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
"You’ve done this kind of thing before, right?" she asked.
He didn’t answer as they entered the first apartment whose door was wide open. She envied Antonio and Shane who each had kicked up night vision. For her, she stared into a cavernous black void of danger. An unnatural breeze hit her.
Something was coming. She whispered a protective spell.
It moved on a rapid trajectory toward them. Antonio threw her behind him and let out a battle cry unexpected for someone as coxcomb as the vampire. A handgun in each hand, he pumped off rounds. With his suppressors, the bullets only made sound as they hit their rapidly approaching target. Before the dark shadow reached them, Shane whipped out of nowhere to tackle it to the ground.
The powerful being threw Shane off with little more than a shrug, sending him flying into the opposite wall. It sideswiped Antonio, sending him flying as well.
Madeline lifted the pink crystal hanging around her neck. On instinct, she called forth her magic. A burst of blinding pink light exploded from the crystal around her fingers and bathed the entire apartment interior as if it was midday.
Antonio moaned. "Too bright."
The necromancer’s stringy, greasy, dark hair fell past her shoulders. She hissed through her unnaturally sharp teeth that she must’ve filed as she threw up a hand against the light. With a blast of energy, Madeline drove the being backward and muttered a freeze incantation.
The necromancer went completely still. In the hierarchy of magical power, necromancers ranked about level two in terms of ability. Demons ranked level six, maybe seven, and witches around level eight. Top-level magic was reserved for mages or wizards, which were rare beings and best avoided. Necromancers, though, were usually squib witches or warlocks with an itch to practice black magic since necromancy was a way to channel powerful magic. That type of magic came at a great price, usually loss of sanity. It wasn’t something they were born into, like lycans or vampires or mages. Necromancers were made.
Palm up to hold the creature frozen in place, she made eye contact with Shane. "Please tell me you didn’t try to negotiate with her."
"Every creature has a reason…a story."
"Shaaaane." She hit three syllables saying his name. "The level of black magic required to do this much damage is enough to steal her sanity. There’s no fixing that. Does she have minions?"
Shane glanced around, a giant"oops"on his face.
"You didn’t check? That’s necromancy basics. Either they use death to make minions out of the bodies or they absorb the energy and leave the people permanently dead. So, which is this one doing?"
Chills slithered down her spine in warning moments before they heard a scraping noise.
"Antonio, you and Shane deal with whatever is making that noise. It’s not going to be powerful, but it’ll be hard to kill. Nothing lives without its head. I’ll hold her here and kill her if she moves." Which was mostly a bluff. She wasn’t sure she had the strength to kill the necromancer. Maybe. Nope. Probably not. Her magic was only going to hold for a short time.
"You sure?" Shane asked.
"I’ll kill her if she twitches." Pure lie, said for the benefit of the necromancer. Who knew if she could kill this creature?
Shane stared between her and the necromancer as if sensing her reluctance.
She hadn’t realized she was that bad at hiding her thoughts.
His jaw set tight. He was about to refuse to leave her. Someone had to go deal with the minions.
She waved with her free hand for him to come close in case the necromancer understood English. Then held the hand up to cover her mouth and whispered, "I got this. I can’t fight whatever is making that noise. Hurry."
His brow furrowed. "Antonio will go."
"You’re wasting time. Stop being a pain in the ass."
"You think it’s a fantastic ass." He compressed his lips against a smile.
Her gaze fell. "I do and I want to touch it again. So don’t damage it."
"Ugh," Antonio groaned, still using a hand to shield his eyes from the light coming from the crystal. "The smell in here is disgusting. I’m not doing this alone, Shane."
The shuffling closed in.
He glanced at Antonio and back to her. This lycan was such a good soul. Not all goody goody, though. He had faked his death and abandoned his brothers, which seemed selfish. Yet he inspired her to be better.
"Go. Take care of the zombies. We can have a little chat while you’re gone." She waved her free hand at him.
