Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Erasmus
“Have some more iced tea, sweetie.” Iced tea was Lydia Boone’s cure-all. Maybe it wasn’t the tea so much as the pound of sugar she poured into it. I’d been raised on sweet tea. Maybe that’s why my blood sugar oscillated like the world’s scariest roller coaster.
“Thanks, Momma.” I took my glass of iced sweet tea and downed a third of it in one go. My body still felt wrecked from my earlier attempt with Rebecca’s soul. I hadn’t failed that spectacularly since the first soul I attempted to bring back. I shivered at the memory, and Momma wrapped an afghan over my shoulders.
Rubbing my arms through the fabric, Momma said, “You need some more meat on your bones. Times like these make me wish I liked spending time in the kitchen more.” Momma sighed before walking around the kitchen island and topping off her own glass of iced sweet tea. “Your granny was eternally disappointed I didn’t take to baking the way she did.”
Momma gave a watery smile. Thoughts of her mother always brought the same wistful expression. Momma hadn’t asked me to bring granny’s soul back. I’d offered, but Momma simply shook her head and told me she and granny had said everything they needed to while she’d been alive.
“Nonsense. Granny was proud of you.”
Momma blinked back tears. “I know, sweetie.” Setting down her glass, she moved closer, palms planted on the counter, and leaned across. Momma was a realtor and had a house showing in less than an hour. She was already dressed in a sharp pink suit with a cream blouse underneath. Momma’s auburn hair was pulled back into an artful, if slightly messy, bun. Gray shot through in a few places, but so far, Momma maintained her natural glory. Pops wasn’t so lucky. As an older warlock, he was more gray than black these days.
“I don’t think Detective O’Hare meant to offend you. He just…” Momma’s words drifted. While she was a momma bear through and through, Momma hadn’t coddled me. She’d told me time and again that I needed to learn to fight my own battles, otherwise I’d never learn to stand on my own. Like so many things, Momma was right. She was also a woman who loved her son and hated seeing him hurt.
I stared down at my glass, now half full. “I know,” I said, voice smaller than I’d like. “It was just nice before. He…” I sighed, trying to put my emotions into words. “It was just nice. Before. Even when Franklin didn’t know much about necromancers, he never looked at me like I was a freak, he—”
“Erasmus Samuel Boone!”
I cringed. Nothing good ever came from my momma using my full name.
“You are not a freak . You are a talented necromancer, and if you will not take my word for it, then I will call your father right this very minute and let Nikodemus straighten his son out.”
My back snapped to attention. “That is a dirty threat, Momma.”
She pointed a finger my direction, eyes narrowed. “I will use any means at my disposal to stop such idiotic nonsense spewing from your mouth. I will fight as dirty as I must to protect you, even if that means protecting you from yourself.”
In a few quick strides, Momma was around the island and had my face cupped within the palms of her hands. Eyes soft, she pulled my head up, demanding I give her my full attention.
“My beautifully talented boy. The world can be a cruel place. There’s enough bad ready and willing to make itself known. Don’t go creating it where it isn’t. Cut Detective O’Hare some slack. What he learned last night had to be a lot to take in. While I haven’t met the man, from what you’ve said in the past, Detective O’Hare seems like the logical, well-thought-out type. Give him some time to logic through this, to see that you’re the same person today that you were two years ago.” Momma pushed my hair away from my eyes before swiping her thumb lower, erasing a tear that slipped through. “His opinion means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
My cheeks flushed. “That obvious?”
Momma dropped my chin, pulling her hands back and leaning on the counter again. A crooked smile pulling her lips, she answered, “Just a little bit.” With a wink, she took a step back but remained close. “Anyone else and you would have said some sarcastic, witty remark, flipped them off, and walked away.”
“I’m not that bad,” I said, attempting to defend my personality.
Momma barked out a laugh. “You keep telling yourself that, sweetie. I’m not fooled. It’s a form of self-preservation, and one your father and I heartily agree with.”
That was one thing about Momma and Pops. They weren’t soulmates, but they’d remained friendly. Hundreds of miles separated them, but they were a unified front when it came to protecting and raising me. Though some might argue I wasn’t nearly as sane as I claimed, for a necromancer, I was remarkably levelheaded and coherent.
Checking her watch, Momma frowned. “I hate to do this to you, sweetie, but I really need to get going if I’m going to make it across town.” Already reaching for her keys and purse, Momma placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Are you going to be okay?”
I nodded. “Nothing another glass of tea won’t cure.”
Ruffling my hair, Momma smiled, her eyes glittering. “That’s my boy.”
No matter how old I grew, I figured Momma would always call me her boy . I’d stopped being bothered by it when I hit twenty. There were a hell of a lot worse fates in this world than being Lydia Boone’s beloved son.
“Stay as long as you like.” Momma leaned down and kissed the crown of my head. “Don’t forget to set the charms before you leave.”
Like I’d ever forget. I barely kept from rolling my eyes as Momma’s heels clicked across the floor and toward the garage. I wasn’t sure which house had more charms—mine or Momma’s. Pops made sure we were both protected. Nothing malicious had a prayer of getting through.
“You look like shit.”
Except maybe a djinn. Not that I thought Aurelia was malicious per se…
“Thanks, Aurelia.” The words came out muffled with my face cradled in my palms. “Did you come all this way just to point out the obvious?”
“It is amusing that you believe travel is difficult or time consuming.” More than a hint of sarcasm laced those words.
Proving Momma right, I gave Aurelia the one-finger salute, not that she seemed to mind. Pulling my head up, I rested my chin on my fisted hand and stared up at Aurelia. She was about my height, but I was sitting on a barstool and she was standing not far away.
“Does Peaches even know when you leave?” I asked. Peaches was a pixie living his best life in Rutherford Haven, Virginia. He was also the current keeper of Aurelia’s object of attachment, something tethering all djinn to a master . I’d been curious for a while if Peaches was aware of Aurelia’s little excursions.
Aurelia gave a slow nod. “If he is on his land, then yes. Peaches is aware of every coming and going.” She shrugged as if it weren’t really that important. “Should he require my presence, he has but to wish it.”
To my knowledge, Peaches hadn’t wished anything of Aurelia since Alpha Arie Belview’s welcome demise. None of us knew if that would continue or not. I didn’t know Peaches well, but what little interaction I’d had with the pixie made me think it would have to be something dire for him to make any request of Aurelia. Peaches wasn’t like any of Aurelia’s previous masters. Frankly, I didn’t think she knew what to do with the pixie, or the situation.
According to Aurelia, she’d found ways to murder all her previous masters. Peaches was either brave, na?ve, or very smart. I couldn’t figure out which, and figured it was probably a combination of all three. Regardless, Peaches didn’t strike me as a pixie who gave it much thought, or spent a lot of time concerned.
Accepting Aurelia’s statement for what it was, I leaned more heavily into my fisted hand. Despite Momma’s sweet tea, I still felt wiped. I probably did look like shit. I knew I felt like it. Inhaling deeply, I said, “You didn’t stick around last night.”
“I did not see the need. I did not believe it would be that interesting. Was I wrong?”
I scoffed. “I suppose it depends on your definition of interesting . It was certainly…something.” I cringed at the memory of Rebecca’s screams along with the horrid texture of her soul. “It wasn’t a typical summoning.”
“Oh?” Aurelia sounded as interested as I’d ever heard. “Do tell.”
And so I did. I wasn’t sure why. It was the second time I’d told the tale. Momma had listened, wincing when I described Rebecca’s painful distress. Aurelia didn’t so much as blink. She stood there, arms crossed beneath her ample breasts and a look of barely-there interest on her face. Not a single inked tattoo flared to life. When I finished, she simply cocked her head to the side and said, “I should have stayed.”
“Really? Because I would have liked to be anywhere else.” And wasn’t that the truth. If I could go back in time, I would have skipped my witching hour walk through Trinity’s Holy Cross graveyard. Then again, Rebecca Mosely’s body needed to be found. If I hadn’t walked down that weedy path, she’d still be lying in that grave, keeping company with a corpse centuries older.
“What did the human detective have to say?” Aurelia often defined others by their species. The word human didn’t sound as disparaging coming from her lips as it once had.
Hunching, my shoulders rolled inward, and I stared at my fisted hands. Pulling Rebecca’s tattered soul back had been bad, but for some reason, Franklin’s reaction had hurt worse.
Turning my head, I stared at a nearby wall. A picture of the ocean, a storm brewing in the background, graced the wall. I’d always loved that painting. I often imagined myself on the calm beach, waiting for the storm’s winds to hit me, pelting me with rain.
“What did he do?” A hint of deadly steel wove its way through Aurelia’s words, and for the first time, a touch of fear wiggled its way down my spine.
“He didn’t do anything,” I hastened to say. I wasn’t Aurelia’s master, but Peaches had given her a very loose leash. He’d wished for Aurelia to “do what she deemed best.” That was far too broad a directive to give to an all-powerful djinn. I didn’t want Aurelia getting it into her head that what was currently best was harming Franklin O’Hare.
“He did something,” Aurelia countered. “You appear haunted and I doubt the cause can solely be placed at this tattered soul’s feet. You are fond of the human detective.”
I sat up straighter, face heating. “I wouldn’t say fond .”
Aurelia’s head tilted and her eyes narrowed. “That particular human makes your heart rate increase and speeds blood flow to your neck and face. You stutter more and your palms sweat. You tend to—”
“Stop.” I ran my fingers through my already-disheveled hair. “Gaia, you pay that much attention to my reactions?”
“You act as if it is difficult.” Aurelia rolled her eyes, their Caribbean-blue color startlingly clear and bright. “I assure you, I do not wish to notice so much. It is far more difficult to ignore than absorb.” Maintaining a polite distance, Aurelia continued, “Your reactions are similar to nearly all species when they desire another as a mate.”
Thank Gaia I wasn’t taking a drink when Aurelia spouted that utter nonsense. Even without fluid in my mouth, I spluttered. “W-what? Sweet Gaia, please tell me you’ve said something similar to Hellfire Rayburn.” I leaned forward, desperate to hear that Aurelia had called out a powerful fairy for something as commonplace as earthly affection.
Aurelia acted as if she were considering my question before shrugging and answering with an unsatisfactory, “I am uncertain.”
I hadn’t thought smiling and laughing would ever be possible again. Of course, I’d been wrong. Chuckling, I clapped my hands and said, “I’d love to see it if you do.”
“I fail to see what would be so amusing.”
“I know.” I just laughed harder until those chuckles came perilously close to sobs. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I sat back in my barstool and contemplated Aurelia and her words. Since I wasn’t someone who routinely lied to themselves, I answered, “I do like him. Probably more than I should.”
Especially given Franklin’s reaction. If there was a universal truth binding all the species together, it was their fear of necromancers. Humans feared priests and priestesses, but zombification was a human condition other species need not worry about. Necromancers could affect all species.
“Are you certain there is nothing you would like done to this human?” Aurelia asked.
“No.” I vehemently shook my head. “Absolutely nothing. He’s one of the good ones, Aurelia. Those ranks are small enough. No need to marginalize them more.” Despite Franklin’s reaction, I still believed that down to my very core.
Aurelia looked momentarily disappointed. “I will heed your will, but this human detective needs education. You pose the greatest threat to my kind and I do not fear you, Erasmus.”
With that parting statement, Aurelia disappeared. I had no idea how djinn traveled. Hell, I wasn’t sure how fairies and brownies translocated. However they managed it, it was a handy skill. For Aurelia in particular, it was the ultimate mic drop.