Necromancing the Stone (32 page)

Douglas looked surprised, and I’m not sure what astounded him more, my desire to not stab things or my reference to family.

“Look at James, Douglas. Really look at him. That is the only soul on earth who gives a rat’s ass whether you die or not. He’s the only one who cares about you. I want you to see what you’re doing to him.” I wasn’t counting Minion in the list of people who’d care. He was sitting happily munching the grass outside the dome, completely unaware of what was going on. He could have been at a soccer match or on the moon, and it wouldn’t have made any difference.

Douglas grew angry then, his face contorting under the weight of his rage. “Don’t you dare try to act like you understand what we’ve been through together or what James might think. You couldn’t possibly fathom it. He’s been with me longer than you’ve been alive.”

I looked at the sad state he was in, still furious, even now. “There’s a lot of shit going on that I don’t get, but family I understand.” Douglas continued his fuming, not grasping what I was saying. “And I think James also understands it—or is beginning to. You didn’t order him to scare Haley, did you? Doesn’t seem your style. No, she was going to be another one of your ‘messages’ to me. Why didn’t he follow through, Douglas? Did you ask him?”

He swayed on his feet, his sweat dripping, and I felt pity. I couldn’t help it. It was who I was, and I refused to let Douglas change that about me. And I felt it even more for James. I thought about what I’d said before, how I’d been between a pack and a hard place, but James had been trying to serve two very different masters. I wasn’t happy he’d threatened Haley, and we’d talk about that if I managed to live, but he’d also managed to warn me that something was wrong, that my family was in trouble … and to strengthen the security around them. In a weird, messed-up way, he’d kept them safe.

“I’m not as smart as some of the people I know. But you know what? Neither are you.”

He grabbed me again and lifted me to my feet, his hand grasping the front of my shirt right by my throat. I put my hands on his and pushed my will into him. Douglas was probably going to kill me, but before that happened, I was going to make that bastard remember what it was like to be human.

“Fucking look at him, Douglas!”

A sneer on his face, Douglas complied. The sneer dissolved as he stood there, face-to-face with James. Because his friend, his only friend, was a pathetic sight to see. Even from here, I could see James quaking in place, terrified and unsure, still looking like that lost little boy. Tears cutting down his cheeks. Sparks of emotions came to life somewhere deep in Douglas, and I reached for them, grabbed them, made them thrive. I made Douglas remember. I took my memory of the old faded photograph by James’s bed and I shoved it at him, suddenly realizing from my connection to Douglas how old that picture was. For a split second, I wondered how old each of them was. This wasn’t the first time my enemy had cheated death.

That’s when Nick lost control of the circle. But we didn’t move. Outside of where James stood, the pack still fought, but in the epicenter of things, there was only stillness.

“How long have you had him?” I whispered.

“We stopped counting after sixty, I think,” Douglas answered with a voice I’d never heard from him. Soft. Gentle. “His kind mature at a different rate, you know. He’s no more than a teenager, really.”

Then a strange thing, or perhaps I should say a stranger thing, happened, and Frank—still looking like he was going to piss himself—started it. My mousy little friend walked up to James, staring at Douglas the whole time, and put his hand on James’s shoulder. I wasn’t sure who was more surprised—James or Douglas or Frank. My other friends, all except a fully changed Ramon, who was now laying a bear-style smackdown on Eric and a few other wolves, followed suit. Brooke slipped an arm around James’s waist and glared defiantly at Douglas as Ashley slipped into the space between James and Frank. Sean and Brid stood behind him, arms crossed and eyes fierce, the only members of the pack caught up in our moment. Haley stepped in front of James, putting herself between him and Douglas, a look of stubborn determination on her face. She glared at Douglas. “He’s part of our family now. You had your chance, and you fucked it up. You gave him to us.” She crossed her arms. “No backsies.”

James blinked in surprise. I don’t think he would have been more shocked if a unicorn had come up and smacked him in the eye. “Haley, no. You don’t understand—I threatened you. That’s not … we’re not…” He gave up on whatever argument he was trying to put forth. “I put that knife in your door.”

Haley shrugged, not taking her gaze off Douglas. “We all make mistakes. Family means you get past them. And you buy them new doors.”

Douglas pulled his hand back. Not the one holding me by the throat, of course. He hadn’t changed that much.

“James?” Douglas’s voice was steady, but something in the tone sounded uncertain. I was still connected to Douglas, and I could feel his confusion that James hadn’t moved. The circle was broken, but James remained on the outside. He hadn’t rushed immediately to Douglas’s side. Instead he was staring at the huddled group around him, a perplexed look on his face. It was the look of someone who, on a dare, had asked a cheerleader out and was shocked when she said yes.

Something inside Douglas broke. If I were being melodramatic, I’d say it was his heart, but then, I don’t believe Douglas had one of those.

“You’re beginning to get it, I think.” I spoke softly but pitched my voice so he could hear me. “You are like a rabid dog. A sick thing that needs to be put down. But there’s hope for him. There’s family for him.” Douglas continued to stare at James. “I think you did your best. For James, I believe you tried.”

“I keep underestimating you,” Douglas said. He loosened his tie, a bemused look on his face, dropping it before turning toward me. “Pure sloppiness on my part.” He let out a tired sigh. “I don’t get you, Samhain, and I don’t think I ever will.”

It’s hard to understand compassion when you haven’t any,
the crow said as he hopped up onto my shoulder.
Or love.

“I don’t want to kill you, Douglas. Not because you don’t deserve it, but because I’m tired of killing. You probably don’t understand what that feels like.”

Douglas smiled then, and it was the closest I’d ever seen to a real smile on his face. He reached up and pulled a long silver chain with something shiny hanging from it over his head. He dropped it in the grass.

I didn’t know what it was, but the reaction in James was instantaneous. He went wild, screaming and tugging against the hands that were now restraining him.

Douglas ignored him. He let go of me and walked over to where I’d stabbed the athame into the dirt. When he came back, it took everything I had not to turn and run the other way. There was nowhere to run to anyway. So I held my ground and tried to appear as badass as possible.

He came within reach of me and stopped. “I think you know what you have to do.”

“I did that already,” I said. “And nothing happened.”

“Why don’t you try again?”

Do you understand?
I asked the crow.

I’m pretty sure he’s mortal now.

You’re
pretty
sure?!?

Only one way to find out, Meat.

I nodded at Douglas. I did know what I had to do. That didn’t mean I wanted to do it. James screamed again and tried to buck the hands holding him back, but there were too many.

Douglas handed the athame to me, hilt first, a small, broken smile on his face. “It would have been kinder if you had killed me while I was still out of it.”

“Not to James,” I said. “And I can’t let you break another person. I just can’t.”

He tilted his head and, for an instant, a fleeting, too-short instant, I saw what Douglas could have been. It hurt to see.

Then he grabbed my hand and used it to stab the dagger right into his chest. He choked and collapsed to the ground, dragging me with him. There was no blood, but Douglas gagged anyway, like his lungs were filling with it. With his hands on mine, I felt everything. The pain. The fear of dying. And above all that, his whole reason for sacrifice. His love for James, the closest thing to family he had.

And for the second time, I sat there and watched him die. Only this time it was worse, because I was fully aware of exactly what was happening. Yes, he deserved to die many times over for what he had done. That didn’t mean I had to like it.

His last breath rattled out, and power hit me, the end of the ritual Douglas had started in his basement so many weeks ago finally coming home to roost. At the end of the ritual, when I’d been flooded with power I thought was Douglas’s but had really been my own, I’d been overwhelmed, an explosion of energy inside me begging to be used, needing to be used. This time, it was different. Douglas’s gift slithered into me like an enormous snake, and it settled in until I was full, its tail spun tight around my neck, choking me. Like I’d held my breath until I was about to pass out, my head swimming and my heart fit to explode.

I swallowed it slowly, that too-big bite, and it hurt going down, but eventually I managed.

When it was finished, I closed Douglas’s eyes and called to Ed. A torn portal gaped and then Ed towered over me, his jackal face solemn.

“I have need of your services,” I said.

Ed nodded.
It is time for him to be judged.

I wiped my hand on the grass, even though there was nothing on it. The crow, oddly enough, pulled on my ear gently with his beak. I think he was trying to comfort me. Taco ignored him, still chewing on the remnants of his egg. Somehow he knew that the crow wasn’t food.

You feel sorry for his passing, despite all he has done?
Ed’s ears pitched forward out of curiosity.

“Yeah,” I said.

Why?

I struggled to find an answer. Why did I feel so bad? Douglas was a terrible person, and he had caused untold hurt and pain to so many people. But I grieved for him anyway. “Someone died today,” I said. “That should be mourned. And respected.” I looked over at James, who had collapsed to his knees, anguish clear on his face. “My sorrow is for those he leaves behind and what he could have been.”

I tilted back so I could look at Ed. “Is that wrong?”

It is not wrong,
he said,
to have a good heart.
He reached down then and picked Douglas up gently.
I don’t know if that will be enough to balance his scales, but know that Ma’at and Thoth are fair. Maybe he can avoid Ammut’s jaws.

Ed was saying that more to put a damper on my pity and guilt than from any real belief, I think. We all knew Douglas was not going to do well in his final judgment.

29

TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT

Ed opened up a vortex and took Douglas’s body away. The crow on my shoulder gave me another soft bite on the ear, then he flew over to the grass, picking up whatever shiny silver thing Douglas had dropped. He flew after Ed, and with a nod toward me, Ashley joined them, her manner unusually solemn.

You’d think, after all that hubbub, that it would be eerily quiet, but that wasn’t true. Frogs still croaked, wolves howled, trees rustled. The world kept moving, no matter what we had going on.

Most of the pack was gone, running through the woods, I hope comforted by the knowledge that Brannoc’s killer was gone. The howls and yips sounded joyful at any rate. Only Brid and her brothers remained alongside my friends, family, and Sexy Gary. Oh, and Minion was chewing on the greenery. Mustn’t forget dear, sweet Minion.

James sat, unmovable, in the grass. No one could get him to speak or even look up. I understood what he was going through. Sometimes, you just want to be left alone. I trudged over to where Ramon had been. Well, I guess Ramon was still there, technically, just not in Ramon shape. Brid was with him, absently patting his back.

“Okay to approach?”

“Yeah,” she said. “He’s got pretty good control generally, but I think the stress of what was going on…” She shrugged. “It’s hard to take it easy when your friend is in trouble.”

I stepped closer, but I can admit I held back a little. You try getting all close and friendly with a grizzly bear. Those suckers are huge. Ramon grunted at me in an amused fashion and sat down with a thump.

“Sorry, buddy,” I said, hands dug into my pockets. “That seemed painful.”

“It is,” Brid said, hand still on Ramon’s back. “But it’s worth it.”

Haley ran to my side and squeezed me so tight it was hard to talk, which did a number on my bruised ribs.

“Ease up there. I need those ribs.”

She smacked my shoulder. “You had me worried.”

I wiped my hand on her shirt, leaving a dusting of orange sand. The blood was too dry to rub off. “I have been rather busy today, haven’t I?”

She looked around, taking in Ramon in bear form, me, the busted circle, and the people standing awkwardly around the broken-down James. She scratched Ramon’s ears. I’ll tell you one thing: my sister is pretty unflappable. As soon as she felt Ramon and I were okay, she nodded, turned on her heel, and walked over to James.

I couldn’t see his face. His head was hanging down from a drooping neck and shoulders. Haley walked over and stood in front of him. That’s all she did. James stared at her shoes for a few seconds. When he looked up, it was heartbreaking. I haven’t seen such anguish since Haley and I lost our father. And, sure, our dad was nice and Douglas was a psychopathic killer, but to James he was more. He was family, and that family was gone.

Haley stared down at James. Then, very gently, she sat next to him and brushed his hair back from his face. And even though everyone else had been trying to comfort him, it was only Haley that James would allow. He collapsed into her arms and sobbed. Haley held him, shooing everyone else away with one hand.

We left them on the grass. There was nothing more the rest of us could do.

30

PAPA DON’T PREACH