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Chapter 27
The silken drapes had been drawn aside A throne sat in the far right-hand corner There was no other word for it; "chair" just didn&039;t cover that golden, bejeweled thing Cushions were scattered on the floor around it, heaped like they should be covered with hare sat on the for the actors to appear
A s on the back wall had been pushed aside to reveal a door The door had been wedged open with a triangular piece of wood The spring air poured through the open door, chasing back the sirls," but the wind changed It blew harder, colder, and I kneasn&039;t wind at all My skin prickled, the finewith it
"What is that?" Larry asked
"Ghosts," I said
"Ghosts? What the hell are ghosts doing here?"
"Serephina can call ghosts," Jean-Claude said "It is a unique ability aht ar loose at her side Blood dripped down her arm in a slow, heavy line
"Your handiwork?" I asked
Larry nodded "I shot her, but it didn&039;t seem to slow her down much"
"You hurt her"
Larry widened his eyes "Great" He didn&039;t sound great when he said it Wounded et cranky as hell
"Serephina bids you conus dropped to the cushions, boneless as a cat He looked like he&039;d curled up there before
"You aren&039;t co?" I asked
"I&039;ve seen the show," he said
Jean-Claude walked towards the door Jason had ood dog
The two girls were holding onto Larry&039;s jacket He had been the one who unchained theuys He was a hero And like all good heroes, he&039;d get hi them
Jean-Claude was suddenly at irls go out the front?"
"Why?"
"Because whatever&039;s out there is big and bad, and I want the?" Jason asked He stood a little to one side He was flexing his hands, closed, open, closed, open He&039;d seeo, but then, weren&039;t we all?
Jean-Claude turned to Kissa "Was this one right?" He o?"
"They irls "Go," he said
They looked at each other, then at Larry "Alone?" the blonde said
The brown-haired one shook her head "Coo Coo home," he said "Be safe"
She nodded and started for the far door with Lisa clinging to her They left the door to the roo swooped down upon theht What do you know?
"Are you ready now, ma petite? Weat me Jason already stood at his side, nervous hands and all
I nodded and fell into step behind Jean-Claude Larry stayed at my side like a second shadow I could feel his fear like a treainst my skin
I understood why he was scared Janos had beaten Jean-Claude Janos was afraid of Serephina, whicha sweat If she could take the vampire that was on our side, she wouldn&039;t find us e If I was smart, I&039;d shoot her as soon as I saw her Of course, ere here to ask for her help It sort of cut my options
The cool wind played in our hair like it had little hands It was almost alive I&039;d never felt any wind that could make me want to brush it off, like an overly amorous date But I wasn&039;t afraid I should have been Not of the ghosts, but of whatever had called them up But I felt distant and faintly unreal Blood loss will do that to you
We walked out the door and doo snarled fruit trees decorated the back of the house There was a wall of darkness just beyond the orchard It was a thick wall of shadows, so black that I couldn&039;t see through it The naked tree branches were fraainst the blackness
"What is that?" I asked
"Some of us can weave shadows and darkness around us," Jean-Claude said
"I know I sahen Coltrain was killed, but this is a freaking wall"
"It is impressive," he said His voice was very bland, ht ht I couldn&039;t read his face
A sparkle of white light showed behind the blackness Beaht ate away at the dark like paper burns, the blackness cruht consumed it When the last of the darkness had shredded away, a pale figure stood a the trees
Even from this distance you wouldn&039;t haveto pass A pale, white lu cloud, yards across like colorless neon Vague figures darted out from it, then swirled back
"Is that what I think it is?" Larry asked
"Ghosts," I said
"Shit," he said
"My thoughts exactly"
The ghosts flowed out into the trees They hung on the dead branches like a froth of early blossolow
The strange wind blew against , thin line of phosphorescent figures whirled out The ghosts caround
"Anita!"
"Just ignore the as you keepand thin with a wide, screa It hit h me like electricity The sasped
"What the hell was that?" Jason asked
I took a step forward "Keep walking and ignore them"
I didn&039;t host swept overand it passed
Jean-Claude touched my arm I stared into his face and wasn&039;t sure what I saw He was definitely trying to tellat me
I nodded, and let hi
"I don&039;t like this," Larry said in a singsong voice
"Me either," Jason said He was batting at a tiny swirl of whiteness like a tame mist The more he swatted at it, theout of the rabbed his arhost perched on his shoulder It had a large, bulbous nose and two half-formed eyes
Jason&039;s arive thehost hitice in the center of my body It crawled out the front of has hell, but it wasn&039;t perhost dived into Jason&039;s chest, and he cried out OnlyEveryeaten alive by flies He sagged when the ghost was through hi at me with horror-filled eyes It was nice to know he could be scared The vae with their rotting ar fits, too
Larry juh him, but that was all His eyes were a little wide, but he knehere the danger lay, and it wasn&039;t the ghosts
Jean-Claude ca, er His pet was not living up to his reputation
"We&039;re fine," I said I squeezed Jason&039;s hand; his eyes were still wide, but he nodded "We&039;ll be fine"
Jean-Claude walked towards the distant white figure once raceful, unhurried, as if he wasn&039;t as scared as the rest of us Maybe he wasn&039;t I pulled Jason with me Larry had moved to s behind Jean-Claude We looked like good little soldiers except for the fact that I was holding the olf&039;s hand His hand eating against my skin Couldn&039;t afford to have a hysterical olf My right hand was still free to go for a gun, or a knife We&039;d hurt them once; if they didn&039;t behave the
Jean-Claude led us a over the bare branches like phantom snakes He stopped a few feet away from the vampire I als, Serephina"
"Greetings, Jean-Claude" She was dressed in a si cloth over her feet White gloves covered her arrey with streaks of white, left unadorned save for a headband of silver and pearls It wasn&039;t a headband, probably called a coronet or soe Delicate h to hide the fact that she was old Vae That was the whole point, wasn&039;t it?
"Shall we go inside?" she asked
"If you like," he said
She gave a faint smile "You may escort me inside, as you did of old"
"But it is not olden days, Serephina We are bothme, Jean-Claude"
"I serve only myself," he said
She stared at him for a space of heartbeats, then nodded "You have entleh breath that I heard it sigh froloved hand through it, her hand resting on his wrist
The ghosts floated doard behind her like a great flowing train They brushed past the rest of us with a skin-prickling rush, then floated upward, hovering about ten feet off the ground
"You may ith us," Serephina said "They will not ," I said
She shostly glow, but her eyes were pale, rey, maybe blue You didn&039;t need to see the color to not like the look in the you, necromancer"
"Wish I could say the same"
The smile didn&039;t widen, and didn&039;t fade; it didn&039;t move at all It was like her face was a well-constructed lance to her eyes, for just a moment They didn&039;t try to suckthat pushed at the surface of her being like a banked fire;out and burn us all up I couldn&039;t judge her age; she was stopping me I&039;d never met anyone that could actually stop lare atit
She turned and walked through the door Jean-Claude helped her up the steps, as if she needed it The easy distance of the blood loss was receding, leavingto stay that way Maybe it was Jason&039;s hand warm in my own The sweat on his palm The reality of him I was suddenly scared, and she hadn&039;t done a dahosts flowed into the house, soh the walls Watching them pull free of the wood, you almost expected a sound, like a plop, but it was utterly quiet The undeadthe ceiling like helium-filled balloons, poured down the walls in back of the throne like milky water They were translucent near the candle flames, like bubbles
Serephina sat down in the corner on her throne Magnus curled in the cushions at her feet There was a flash of anger in his eyes, there, and gone He wasn&039;t enjoying being Serephina&039;s boy toy That got him an extra point in my book
"Come sit by me, Jean-Claude," Serephina said She nus They&039;d havepair
"No," Jean-Claude said That one arning enough I drewto fight, I&039;d need both hands
Serephina laughed, and with that sound her power broke open and crashed on us poor hu horses My whole body vibrated with it My et a full breath of air She didn&039;t have to touch me to hurt me She could just sit on her throne and throer at rind my bones into dust fro touched my arm I jerked and turned, and it felt like slow motion It has hard to focus on Jean-Claude&039;s face, but once I did, the grinding power receded like the ocean pulling back fro breath, then another; every breath was fir illusion"
"Yes, ma petite" He turned fro spellbound
I looked back at the throne The ghosts had for nimbus around her; most impressive But not nearly as ilio on forever, then I stared at the hem of her white dress as hard as I could
"Can you not aze?"
I shook my head "No"
"Can you really be that powerful a necromancer when you cannot evenher eyes I was hunched over I straightened but didn&039;t move my eyes "You&039;re only about six hundred years old" I raised my eyes slowly, inch by inch up the white dress until I could see her chin "How the hell did you get to be this powerful in that amount of time?"
"Such bravado Meet my eyes and I will answer you"
I shook my head "I don&039;t want to know that badly"
She chuckled, and the sound was low and dark It slid downloathsoood of you to join us"
Janos glided through the door with Ivy at his side Janos looked more human than he had since I&039;d first met him His skin was pale but fleshy His face was still thin, and he couldn&039;t have passed for completely human, but he looked less monstrous He also looked healed
"Shit"
"Is so, necromancer?" Serephina asked