“There, you see?” he asked. “All I said I was getting. Shall we be getting back?”
“I’ll follow you to the atrium,” she said. “The necromancer was somewhere in this building.”
When he went into the atrium she watched him cross then shook her head.
Not knowing quite what to do she walked to the far end of the first floor and looked out the exit door there. It was supposed to be locked, but it wasn’t. The lock had been taped back and there was snow on the floor and footprints outside. Recent footprints, at least since the snow had stopped falling.
She stepped out into the snow, noticing that the light was failing fast, and followed the prints around the building. They appeared at first to enter the building through the back of the kitchens but on the far side of the loading dock there was another set. It looked like more than one person and she broke into a run. She could feel it in her bones, that something wicked this way comes.
Chapter Seventeen
It’s done,” the woman said, running up with the bag in her hand. “But you have to stop this! Nothing is worth what you’ve been doing.”
“Thank you,” the man replied, smiling at her. “And I am going to stop. Very soon. And you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“Good,” she said, shaking her head. “I love you, you know.”
“I know,” the man said, sadly. “That’s why I’m going to let you keep your soul.”
She barely caught the flash of metal as the knife punched up through her diaphragm and into her heart.
“Remolus said that you must go,” the man said, his face blank. “But he didn’t say that I had to take your soul. This one last thing I do for you, my love.”
He waited until the light had died in her eyes and then lowered her to the hotel room floor.
“Now to go kill that witch of the old gods,” the man said, reaching into the bag.
“Damnit, this is serious,” Janea said, shaking her head. “Put on some damned clothes and get down to the restaurant!”
“Oh, come on,” the man said, waving a whip. “You probably know how to use one of these! Join the fun. We’re keeping warm the best way, through healthy exercise.”
Most of the adjoining doors in the area had been opened and the rooms were more or less filled with mostly naked people engaged in… healthy exercise. Janea felt it was almost a sin not to join in, but there was a time for love and a time for battle. It did look like fun, though; a few of the men were pretty good looking and a couple of the women were just spectacular. And she had to admit that if they were all dedicated to the goddess, they would be raising some serious energies. She could feel them around her, through her link, and even tap into them to an extent.
“People, listen up,” she said, summoning a bit of energy and making herself… extremely attractive with a touch of dominance. Even the doms in the room were forced to pay attention to her. “There is a serious problem, here. Not just the heat. I’m a consultant with the FBI. We’ve tracked a killer to this con. He’s already killed seven women and now he’s killed a person at the con. The real reason that we’re gathering everyone in the restaurant is for your own protection. Now, I need you to gather up all your warm weather clothing and get the hell out of here!” The last was delivered in not only her firmest voice but with a hint of the goddess behind her. It promised no nookie for life if they didn’t obey.
“Well, jeeze!” the gay guy who’d been carrying the timber said, struggling in his chains. “Get these things off of me!”
Janea shook her head and stepped out into the hall, stopping at the sight of the approaching man.
“Are you still looking for…” she said then stopped as the man’s eyes began to glow.
Barb felt the power like a bucket of vomit dropped on her head. But her channel opened up, filling her with power as she began to run.
“Janea!” she yelled, keying the mike. “Janea!”
“The Light and Holiness of Freya fills me!” Janea boomed, her arms and legs spread wide. She could feel her channel filling with power but she blanched when the power of the necromancer hit her.
“Your goddess is weak,” the man rasped in a voice like wasps. His coat was drawn back to reveal a vest covered in moonstones that glowed red with power. “Remolus calls to you, come to him and your soul will be spared!”
“Death in battle is my highest calling,” Janea said, reaching behind her to draw her piece. “And even necromancers die from a bullet.”
But when she pulled the trigger, the hammer fell with a click. She knew it was loaded, she jacked it back in frustration anyway and fired again. Another click.
“Do you think that my lord cannot overcome earthly weapons?” the necromancer said with a laugh. He made a gesture and the weapon was ripped from her hands. “For that, however, I will take your soul.”
The man reached out one hand and the stones blazed as Janea felt a terrible drawing on her. She could feel the channel filling the void but it was as if all the power was plunging into a black hole.
“Remolus is the Soul Devourer!” the man rasped. “Your power simply feeds the blackness, priestess of a weak goddess! Every bit of power you draw, simply weakens your goddess to no avail!”
Janea could feel herself getting weaker, but she also heard the members of the Black Rose piling out of the doors with screams and gasps as they saw the backlash from the magical battle in the hallway. She fell to her knees and shook her head, crawling towards the necromancer, trying to do battle to the last.
“If I die to spare one soul, then I die well,” she said, panting as the blackness filled her. “My soul will rest forever in the Shin-”
Barbara burst onto the third floor and stopped, panting, then dropped to her knees.
There were two male bodies sprawled in the hallway. She didn’t even have to walk up to them to know they were dead. There was the same feel in the air as when she’d found Timson. Janea was on her face further down the corridor. Barb ran to her and rolled her over, hoping against hope that she was alive.
She felt at her throat and there was a faint pulse, but Janea was barely alive. Barb opened up her channel and reached to the woman, trying to feel what was going on with her.
There had always been a feeling of great… wonder to Janea. A brightness that was difficult to shadow. Now there was virtually nothing, as if her soul had been almost entirely stripped. Almost, however, was different than completely. And Barbara could feel a trickle of power coming from somewhere. She suddenly realized that Janea’s goddess was keeping her alive. By feeding her soul energies.
“Lord,” Barb said, holding her hands over the still body on the floor. “I know that this is not a woman who would be considered of the highest by most of your worshippers. But Your Son said ‘Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.’ And she is a fellow warrior of Light. Please, Lord, give me the power to help her. I’m not sure what I’m doing here, so You may have to guide my hand as well. Blessed be Your name, amen.”
She placed her hands on Janea’s stomach and reached for her channel, willing power into the woman’s body.
She could feel the power flow through her, not as much as when she had faced Almadu, but power nonetheless. Janea gasped and arched as if she’d been hit by a jolt of electricity and her eyes flew open as she fell back, limp.