Chapter Two
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CYRIL COULDN’T STOP thinking about Marcus.
He liked that he had a name now, but unfortunately, that didn’t help much to find out what had happened to the man.
The only thing Cyril was sure of was that Marcus had been killed in his apartment a few nights ago.
Even Rachel hadn’t been able to find much more, but she’d promised she’d keep digging.
Cyril knew she would. She was taking this very seriously, even though it didn’t involve her job.
It was enough that Cyril was Vale’s boyfriend, although Cyril knew that Rachel liked him.
They hadn’t spent nearly enough time getting to know each other since he’d gotten with Vale, but maybe they should change that.
Cyril needed friends, and even though sometimes he forgot about it, he had them now.
They came with Vale, but still. They cared about Cyril, too.
He was sure that Russell would drop everything and run to his aid if he asked.
Robbie definitely would, although that was kind of his job description since he was Cyril’s assistant.
Cyril scrolled through the website, but he couldn’t find anything more than a few pictures of Marcus working.
There was nothing interesting on Marcus’s website.
There was a contact form, which would be useless now, and a few written testimonies of people Marcus had apparently helped.
The man had been good at marketing himself, but the thought of doing the same made Cyril shudder all over.
Luckily for him, he didn’t need to advertise.
He got his clients through word of mouth because he was incredibly strong as a necromancer.
He wasn’t sure how strong Marcus had been, and he couldn’t trust the testimonies on the website, but he suspected that Marcus had had a decent number of clients.
With a sigh, he switched over to his email account to check if Rachel had sent him anything.
There was nothing new there, unfortunately.
He had a few emails, most asking for a quote, but he ignored them for now.
He wasn’t in the mood to answer, and he knew that Robbie would anyway.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d checked his email himself.
Robbie was the one who did it now, and Cyril was happy with that.
Maybe he should check more often, though, because he kept seeing emails with stars next to them. It was clear that Robbie had marked them, maybe for Cyril to check, and Cyril tried to remember if Robbie had said anything about them.
He winced. Yes, his friend had definitely said something about him needing to check his emails. He’d sounded annoyed when he’d said it, too, and he would probably be even more annoyed now because Cyril hadn’t done it.
He opened one of the emails and quickly read through it.
It was from someone wanting to know if Cyril could work with very old remains.
Cyril could, but when he saw that this person expected him to fly all the way to the UK to do so, he had to decline.
He wasn’t leaving the city or Vale anytime soon.
He quickly answered the email, hoping Robbie would be proud of him, before scrolling down and selecting another one.
It was totally random, and for a second, he didn’t realize what he was reading.
It wasn’t uncommon for him to be contacted by other necromancers, but the name of the person contacting him made his heart race.
Marcus Webb.
It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? There was no way that a person with the same name as the man Cyril had seen die a few nights ago had randomly contacted him.
This had to be connected, but Cyril didn’t know how.
He didn’t know Marcus Webb. He’d never heard his name before, and he’d certainly never met him. Why was Marcus contacting him, then?
There was an easy way for Cyril to find out.
He scrolled back up to the beginning of the email and settled down to read.
It wasn’t very long, but it was odd. Marcus talked about his ability changing and knowing he was being watched.
Cyril might have dismissed that last part if he hadn’t read the first part.
Marcus was a necromancer. His abilities had been changing lately, and he had no one to reach out to.
He’d apparently decided that, since Cyril had the reputation of being incredibly strong when it came to his ability, he was the perfect person to answer his questions.
The problem was that Cyril hadn’t seen the email, and it had been sent almost a month ago.
He wouldn’t be able to answer Marcus’s questions now. Marcus was dead, which meant that he hadn’t been wrong when he’d written about someone watching him. That couldn’t be a coincidence, either.
Cyril leaned back against the couch, still staring at his phone.
He’d had the opportunity to help Marcus, but he hadn’t even known.
Maybe there was something he could’ve done to save Marcus’s life.
He wasn’t sure he could have stopped the murder, but maybe he could’ve found a way to avoid this mess.
Maybe if he’d answered his emails, Marcus would still be alive.
He’d never find out. Marcus was dead, and while Cyril could talk to him if he wished to, he wasn’t about to bring Marcus back just to get answers.
It wouldn’t be respectful. Besides, he had no access to Marcus’s body, and he couldn’t get it unless someone from Marcus’s family gave it to him.
He wasn’t planning on contacting them, though.
He couldn’t bother someone who was mourning, not when they didn’t need him.
Marcus’s death hadn’t been peaceful, but that was no reason to disturb the peace he now had.
That meant that Cyril would have to find out what was going on without asking Marcus directly.
He wasn’t sure how he’d do that, but he would. He owed it to Marcus. He hadn’t tried at all when Marcus had reached out to him, but now, he would. He’d do everything in his power to find out what happened to Marcus, and if he could, to bring Marcus’s murderer to justice.
It was the least he could do.
* * * *
“IT WASN’T A PROFESSIONAL hit,” Rachel declared.
Vale briefly closed his eyes and sighed. He’d suspected something like that once he’d started looking into Marcus Webb’s death, but he’d hoped that wouldn’t be the case because it would make it harder to find out who was behind it.
Unfortunately for him and Cyril, they didn’t have a choice in being involved.
They had to deal with this mess because Cyril was at the center of it.
There was no way that his seeing Marcus’s death didn’t mean anything.
Even if it didn’t, now that Cyril had seen it, he’d want to be involved, which meant that Vale would be, too.
He would make sure that nothing happened to his boyfriend, no matter what Cyril decided.
Knowing him, he’d be in the thick of things as soon as they got dangerous.
“Do you have any details?” he asked Rachel. They weren’t talking about work right now, so she was a friend, and she was as eager to protect Cyril as Vale was.
“I’ve been digging into it, but you know how complicated this can be. No one is going to brag about doing it, especially not with the news still talking about it. They really like that the guy was a necromancer.”
“It’s not the first time a necromancer has died,” Vale grumbled.
“No, but you have to admit that it doesn’t happen often that a necromancer has his throat slit while sitting in his apartment, working. Everyone’s having way too much fun coming up with theories to let it go.”
“A man died. There’s nothing fun about that.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I’m just saying what I’m seeing on social media.”
That was a reason Vale didn’t have any kind of social media, and he wasn’t about to change that. What was happening right now had solidified that opinion.
“You know I’ll continue digging into it,” Rachel said. “If Cyril is in trouble, I’ll do everything I can to help. You two are going to have to be careful, though.”
“As if we’re not already considering everything.”
Rachel sighed. “I know. I’ve been digging into that, too, but it’s hard. It really seems like no necromancer has ever publicly talked about their ability changing. They’ve always been a secretive bunch, though. I’m not surprised I’m not finding much.”
Vale wasn’t, either, but it did make things more complicated for them.
But there was no way out of it. Cyril was involved, whether Vale liked it or not. Even right now, he was home, researching Marcus. Vale doubted he’d stopped since Vale had left the apartment around an hour ago. Cyril had been on the couch, scrolling on his phone, researching Marcus Webb’s name.
He felt guilty. Even though there was nothing he could’ve done since he hadn’t seen the future, just Marcus’s death as it happened, he felt like he should have done more. That was why he was so intent on finding out what happened to Marcus.
Vale was curious, too. Why had Cyril seen his death in particular? Was it because Marcus had been a necromancer? Could that be the only reason? But then, why wasn’t Cyril seeing other necromancers’ deaths? Why Marcus in particular? Why only him?
“Anyway, you have work to do, and so do I,” Rachel said. “You should go before Cyril starts wondering where you are.”
“Consider it done,” Vale told her. He appreciated the distraction in a way. He needed it.
He hung up, then took a second to relax. He couldn’t go into this anxious. There was nothing to be anxious about, not when it came to the job. He would go in, do it, and go home to Cyril. He wasn’t sure what he’d find when he got there, but whatever it was, he’d deal with it.
* * * *