Chapter 5 #2
“Okay, that’s…” Frightening? Disturbing?
Scary as fuck? I wasn’t sure what to choose.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I straightened and got down to business.
“What do you know about shadow borne?” When Aurelia remained silent, I amended, “I would appreciate it if you would share what you know. As always, it is your choice.”
Aurelia was silently contemplative. I was used to her silences. Sometimes it meant she wouldn’t answer, and sometimes it simply meant she was considering the question. “That is a name I have not heard in some time.”
My heart skipped a beat before ramping up. “But you’ve heard of them?” At least that was something.
She inclined her head in a slight nod. “They are ancient. Older than me.”
That tracked with what I thought we already knew. Licking my lips, it was difficult to hide my excitement. “Have you ever met one?”
Aurelia shrugged as if it weren’t important. “If so, then I am unaware of it. One never knows with shadow borne.”
“I… Can you explain that? Please.”
“They are named thus for a reason. Our witch creators spoke of them.” Aurelia’s lips pulled back in disgust, showing off her sharp teeth.
“They were fearful of shadow borne, but covetous as well. They wished to harness this power. It did not go well.” Aurelia’s disgust turned into a feral grin.
“The witch who attempted it was torn to pieces. I was not fortunate enough to witness this, but it was satisfying nonetheless.”
My heart pounded, its rhythm uncomfortably painful. My hands were shaky and my skin clammy. While Aurelia might find the thought of a powerful witch being torn to pieces by a shadow borne wonderful, I didn’t. That thought wasn’t the least bit comforting.
Licking my dry lips, I asked, “H-how long ago was that?”
Another shrug. “Time has no meaning to me.”
I should have expected that answer. “But you were still with your witch creator at the time?”
Aurelia’s eyes narrowed again, their depths lit from within. A hissed “yes” was my answer.
“Have you heard anything about them since?” That had to be hundreds—no, thousands of years ago.
“Only whispers here or there. To my knowledge, there are none left that are active. However, I believe that information is speculative. If a shadow borne does not wish to be found or acknowledged, then it will not be.” Aurelia sounded very certain.
“I see.” I wasn’t completely certain I did, but the picture was clear enough and the painting it created was a nightmare.
Head cocked to the side, Aurelia’s gaze pierced my own. “Why do you ask?”
I gave a weak smile. “Because I’m pretty sure a shadow borne has taken an interest in me.”
Very little seemed to truly surprise Aurelia. Her response was rare. “Are you certain?”
“Fairly.” I related what happened in the cemetery a few months ago, how I’d come close to death and the way my attackers were killed. Aurelia quietly listened, her expression a mask of indifference. When I was finished, I asked, “What do you think?”
Silence filled the space, Aurelia’s expression remaining neutral. Only her eyes betrayed an ounce of emotion. “I think you are a very unfortunate necromancer, Erasmus Boone.”
Crazed laughter burst from my throat. “You think?” Sarcasm thickly dripped from those two words. “Gaia, I’m totally screwed, aren’t I?”
“I believe that fact was established when you took the human as a mate.”
I blinked, mouth slack before realizing Aurelia didn’t understand the slang meaning for screwed. “No, I mean…yes, but not in this case. It’s a slang way of saying that I’m in deep trouble.”
“Oh.” I was starting to hate the casual shrugs Aurelia kept repeating. “Possibly.”
Flopping back into the couch cushions, I stared at the ceiling. “If it were just me, I think I could handle that, but…Huxley’s threatened Franklin too.”
“You wish to protect your mate. That is an understandable reaction.” Aurelia sounded confidently wise. Going silently contemplative again, Aurelia eventually said, “This possible shadow borne desires you for some reason. Considering their perceived level of power, that is an interesting concept.”
“Agreed.”
“You have only one useful quality.”
“Gee, thanks, Aurelia.”
“I have never met a necromancer with your abilities before. The others you have found are no threat to me.”
I was grateful for that. I had no idea what Aurelia would do if she perceived Navarre or Leander as threats.
She’d yet to threaten my life. Why? I had no idea beyond that Aurelia found me more interesting than threatening.
I’d promised her I wouldn’t shove her soul back into her body unless she wanted me to, but understandably, Aurelia wasn’t the most trusting creature.
“Do you believe he wishes to resurrect a soul?” Aurelia asked.
“I have no idea. So far, Huxley hasn’t asked me to do anything like that. He hasn’t even hinted at it.”
“It should not be another shadow borne. They cannot die. They merely slumber.”
That tracked with the snippets of information we’d been able to cobble together.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s what he wants me for either.
” None of us knew just how many shadow borne there were and if they’d been on friendly terms with each other or not.
Too much time had passed since they’d been active.
“Perhaps the fairy queen would know.”
I shook my head. “We’ve explored that route and unfortunately, Queen Silvidia doesn’t know anything either.
Per her nephew, Wendall, the fairy queen stated that shadow borne were of Earth and not related to Fairy.
” If they’d been active when Fairy took over the Earth, then perhaps she’d have more interest, but that development had been too recent.
Aurelia’s lips thinned, and her eyes shifted to the side. It was a definite change from her typically disinterested expression. I tried quietly waiting her out, but my impatience, or perhaps desperation, spurred my mouth. “Did you think of something?”
Several of Aurelia’s tattoos flared to life, glowing in the dim light of my living room. A quiet “perhaps” slipped through her lips after several seconds of contemplation.
I grasped ahold of every drop of patience I had left. Pushing Aurelia would do more damage than good. “Would you be willing to share your thoughts?”
Aurelia’s Caribbean blue gaze pierced into my soul. “I am uncertain.” After a few more moments, she finally conceded. “Perhaps the first of us would know.”
I blinked, my eyes dry from staring too long. My brain tumbled over those words. The first of us? Who was Aurelia alluding to? The first humans? The first creatures to inhabit the earth or the heavens above? Gaia herself?
Swallowing hard, I pushed. “The first? Who—”
“Djinn,” Aurelia answered, voice flat.
My mouth opened, gaping like a landed fish. “I guess I’d assumed you were all created at the same time. Or at least relatively around the same time.”
Aurelia gave another shrug, this one not nearly as disinterested as the previous ones. “There is always a first. Ajita is…different than the rest of us.” Aurelia sounded bitter about that fact.
I had a feeling I was walking a very fine line. “May I ask how she is different?”
Aurelia huffed before pulling her lips back in a snarl. “She is a witch.”
“A…” Holy shit. “A witch djinn? How is that even possible, I thought…” I wasn’t really certain what I thought.
We knew that witches of old took a living, breathing, sentient being and essentially hollowed them out—soul and all—then filled the vessel with magic, twisting it into a nearly unstoppable weapon.
It was doubtful the living donors were willing.
“I am uncertain of the details. It was only known that Ajita was chosen somehow to be the first. However, like all of us, she did not wish to be controlled. Perhaps she was unaware this was the ultimate plan. It matters little. In the end, she slaughtered all who sought to control her.”
So far, this didn’t sound too different than the rest of the djinn. “What makes her different?”
Aurelia stood. She didn’t leave the charmed bubble, but she paced within it. “Ajita can touch her object of attachment. She keeps it on her at all times. No other djinn can do so.”
I thought my eyes might pop out of my head.
That was the curse of all djinn. They could not dictate their fate.
If they so much as touched the tip of a finger to their object of attachment, they were sucked inside and immediately put to rest, unable to emerge again until another had possession of their object and called them forth.
“How can Ajita do this?” I wasn’t certain if Aurelia knew or not.
“She is witch,” Aurelia hissed. It was all the explanation I was apparently going to get.
I could speculate what happened. Ajita took control of her own life, something the remaining witch creators took to heart and learned from. Learning from that mistake, they made it so their future creations wouldn’t have the same capability. It was already far too late for Ajita.
Still, I’d never heard the name before and wondered if this djinn was still active or if she’d opted to slumber through the never-ending centuries.
“Do you know if this Ajita is still…active?” I wasn’t certain if that was the correct phrasing but thought it sounded better than awake.
Aurelia’s gaze tracked toward the ceiling as she remained silent. Finally, she said, “Three masters ago she was.”
I opened my mouth, ready to ask exactly how long ago that was but closed it just as quickly. I’d heard it again and again. Time had no meaning to Aurelia. It wasn’t that she was actively trying to be obtuse, but genuinely didn’t know.
Leaning into the couch cushions, I considered what I’d learned. If Ajita was still active and could be found… A shiver wormed its way through my body. Purposefully trying to find another djinn didn’t sound like a healthy way to live. And yet…Ajita might be our only link to the knowledge we needed.
“You are unusually silent, Erasmus Boone.” Aurelia stood before me, arms crossed under her generous breasts as she gazed down. Eyes narrowed, Aurelia cocked her head to the side. “You are wondering if it would be wise to reach out to Ajita.”
“Very perceptive of you. Also, I already know it wouldn’t be wise.” Death wish came to mind.
“She would likely dispatch you on sight,” Aurelia calmly agreed, as if my death was inconsequential.
“That’s not a comforting thought.”
“It was not meant to be.”
“No, I don’t imagine it was.” My chest ached with my next question.
“Can you find Ajita? If you wanted to?” It was still up for debate how easily djinn could locate one another.
Aurelia hadn’t been terribly forthcoming with that information.
In general, we knew they didn’t exactly like each other and tried to keep their distance if possible.
Considering they had very little autonomy over their individual lives, that often wasn’t up to them.
Originally, they’d been made to fight each other, which, according to Aurelia, wasn’t very fruitful and often beyond pointless as they were all fairly evenly matched.
If Aurelia’s eyes narrowed further, they’d be closed. “It may be possible.”
I licked my dry lips. “And if so, would you be willing to find her to deliver a message?”
Silence and unreadable eyes met my question before Aurelia finally answered a brief “I would need to consider the request.” Evidently finished with the conversation, Aurelia vanished.
Pops’s silencing charms worked both ways, and I remained in that bubble of absolute quiet.
Unnoticed time ticked by, and still I sat.
My mind felt fuzzy, and my vision was in equal trouble as I digested our conversation.
Throat parched, I fingered Pops’s silencing charm.
“Good talk,” whispered through my lips before I disengaged the charm, the hum of background technology filling my ears once more.