Chapter Six
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VALE DIDN’T LIKE WHAT he was hearing. There were many things he could protect Cyril against, but death wasn’t one of them. It didn’t matter how hard he would try. The Threshold was the one place where Vale couldn’t follow Cyril.
He had to resist the urge to grab Cyril and run out of the cottage. He knew that avoiding the conversation wouldn’t help. The danger would still be there, hovering at the edge of their vision until something changed.
And something would change. Vale had no doubt that the killer, whoever he was, would eventually set his sights on Cyril.
That was something Vale could protect Cyril against. The danger in this mess was twofold. It came from death itself, but also from a real human being who was killing people.
Vale was intimately acquainted with death, although not in the same way as Cyril.
He’d seen death more times than he could count.
He’d given death, too. He respected it, but he also knew how to fight it.
There might be nothing he could do to help Cyril with the Threshold, but Cyril was strong.
Vale was sure he would figure out what to do, and in the meantime, Vale would make sure that Cyril wouldn’t have to worry about someone stabbing him here in their world.
“I know this person as Meridian,” Iris explained. “I’ve talked to them a few times over the years, but they avoid having too much contact with me or anyone else. They believe they’re dangerous.”
“Because they crossed the Threshold and came back?” Cyril asked.
“Because they came back different. They survived, but they’re not fully human anymore, not the way you and I are.” Iris snorted softly. “Sometimes, I wonder if we actually are fully human. We have abilities no one should have.”
She sounded like she wished she wasn’t a necromancer, but Vale knew how Cyril felt about his ability.
Many people would be horrified by it and would refuse to use it, but not Cyril.
That was why Vale wasn’t surprised to see his boyfriend square his shoulders and sit up straighter.
“I like being a necromancer,” he told Iris.
“I like helping people when they need it the most. You might believe that no one should have this ability, but we do have it, and we’re the ones who decide how to use it.
I don’t know anything about you and your life, but I never once regretted using my ability. ”
Iris stared at Cyril for a moment, then, to Vale’s surprise, she smiled. “I like you.”
Cyril looked nonplussed. “Thank you?”
It sounded like a question, and it made Iris chuckle. “It’s a good thing. You have a good head on your shoulders, and you don’t abuse your ability. In fact, it sounds like you use it in the best of ways.”
“I try. I can’t say that I always have and that I always will, but I never want to hurt anyone. I’m in this to help people.”
“Then maybe there’s hope for you.”
“What happened to Meridian?”
Iris’s smile disappeared. “I don’t know for sure.
They never told me what happened when they crossed the Threshold.
They also never told me how it changed them.
I just know they’re living in isolation because they’re dangerous, and the same would happen to me and you if we went too close to the Threshold.
You can’t cross over, Cyril. You would lose yourself. ”
“We need to talk to Meridian,” Vale declared.
Iris looked at him, looking almost surprised. Maybe she’d forgotten that he was there. He hadn’t been talking, but he hadn’t needed to.
“Talking to Meridian won’t help you,” Iris said. “I don’t even know if they’ll talk to you.”
“We have to at least try,” Cyril said, leaning forward. “I promise we’re not going to hurt this person. We’re looking for answers, that’s it.”
“Sometimes, even answers are dangerous. I can tell I won’t be able to stop you, though.
I don’t have Meridian’s address. I don’t know for sure how to find them or even talk to them.
The few times we did talk, it was through emails, but while I’m willing to give you the email address, Meridian might not answer if you write.
The only reason they talk to me is because they know who I am.
I know some people who have tried and failed. ”
Considering how powerful Cyril was and how many people he’d helped, Vale was ready to bet that Meridian had probably heard of him, but that depended on how isolated they were.
Iris made it sound like they lived on top of a mountain, but if Meridian used email, they might keep up with the world outside of their home.
Either way, they needed to talk to Meridian. Vale wasn’t sure how they’d do it, but Rachel was always up for a challenge, and after it took her two days to find Iris, he was sure she’d want to try her hand at this. She’d taken how long it had taken to find Iris personally.
He didn’t like any of this. While everything pointed to Meridian not being the killer, there was a chance they might be, and Vale felt like he was putting Cyril in danger. The problem was that they didn’t have an alternative. They didn’t have any other way to get answers.
“Tell us everything you know about Meridian, please,” Cyril said.
“I understand what you’re saying, and I promise I’m not trying to cross the Threshold, but I need to know how to avoid it and what’s going to happen if I can’t.
Unfortunately for me, I always seem to end up in trouble, and considering that, there’s a good chance that I’ll be pushed closer to the Threshold. ”
“You need to avoid that as hard as you can,” Iris warned him.
“I will. I promise. I’m just not sure that this killer will allow me to do that.”
That gave Iris pause. “Do you know anything about the killer?”
“I don’t, but now that I know what was happening to Marcus and Diana and what I heard the killer say, I’m willing to bet that he knows about the Threshold. It sounds like he might be killing necromancers who are close to it or are getting close, and that might include you.”
Iris fell silent. Vale wanted to push, but he knew better. When she sighed, he knew that Cyril had won. It was bittersweet because Vale wished they hadn’t needed to win this fight.
“I know the general area where Meridian is. It’s an abandoned island.”
Vale blinked. An abandoned island?
Rachel was going to have a field day with that.
* * * *
CYRIL AND VALE LEFT Iris’s cottage with vague directions to Meridian. All Iris had been able to tell them was that it was up north from her and that Meridian lived on an abandoned island. Cyril was incredibly confused.
What kind of island was this? Had people lived there before?
They had to because, otherwise, it wouldn’t be abandoned; it just wouldn’t have been lived in.
How had Meridian found the place? How were they living there on their own?
Were they so isolated that they didn’t have electricity or running water?
That was a possibility, but Cyril didn’t like it.
Why was Meridian keeping themselves so isolated?
Were they really dangerous? What did that even mean?
Iris had said that Meridian had returned changed from having crossed the Threshold. Changed how? And what about the Threshold? Cyril knew it wasn’t physical since they were talking about death, but how did one cross it? More importantly, how did one ensure they didn’t cross it?
“That was something,” Vale said once they were both back in the car.
Cyril snorted as he watched the cottage.
He could see Iris behind one of the windows, watching them back.
He wondered if he should wave. They weren’t friends, but he liked her, and he had the feeling that she was a little bit lonely.
She would be since she was isolating herself, although not as much as Meridian.
“I’m not sure we learned anything useful,” he said.
He liked Iris, but he was glad when Vale turned the engine on.
He wanted to go home, grab Oscar, and not let go of him for a few hours.
He needed to spend a little time with Vale, possibly not thinking about what a mess this was and that he might die or go mad in the next few weeks.
Iris hadn’t said how long it would take him to reach the Threshold, or even if there was a way for him to stop that from happening.
From what he’d learned today, his ability was changing and bringing him closer to it every time he used it.
The problem was that he didn’t want to stop.
He was a necromancer. He’d been one his entire life, and he didn’t know how not to be one. What was he supposed to do if he wasn’t using his ability to help people?
It wasn’t even about the money, though that was something he did wonder about.
He knew that whatever happened, Vale would support him.
Even if Cyril decided not to work another day in his life, he wouldn’t go hungry.
Being a necromancer was part of who he was, though.
He didn’t want to give that up, but the thought of what might happen terrified him.
That was why he needed to talk to Meridian.
He wanted to know what would happen if he reached the Threshold or if he crossed it.
He suspected he wouldn’t have a choice, not with a killer around.
If the man had decided that Marcus and Diana were dangerous, there was no way he wouldn’t come after Cyril.
It was a question of when that happened.
“I think Meridian will have answers for us,” Vale said. “I’m just not sure they want to give us those answers. Iris was a bit cagey when it came to talking about the Threshold.”
“Well, she didn’t cross it.”
“Only because she stopped using her ability. That’s not something you’re willing to do.”
Cyril loved that his boyfriend knew him this well. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to cross it, though.”
“But you might, and I want to be ready for that. We both should be.”