Just yesterday, there had been sprouts. Today, she saw entire orchids, tulips, and crocuses in full bloom. And there, a hint of wildflowers in the grass near the garage the pack had been repairing. Very odd, but she had no idea what to do about it.
She didn’t know how she felt about squatting in the demon house, as the pack liked to call it. But they had limited funds and too many people needing a home. Thus, the Beast Brigade had taken the demon house as their new headquarters.
Despite insisting Talon purge the house before they’d moved in, he hadn’t tucked into every corner of the place with the best mages. Again, on a budget. She had a feeling he assumed she’d take care of the magical aspects of their mission.
Which she would, though she hated to feel taken advantage of. Their partnership should be fifty-fifty, but lately it felt like Val had all the heavy lifting while Talon boozed and schmoozed his way in the bazaar under the context of “networking.”
“Ha. Networking my ass.” She yawned, exhausted, and tasked Aisha to clean the dirty areas of their HQ. And that took more of Val’s energy since Aisha and Val now shared power.
The witch moved through the property with alacrity and purged spots of ruin left over from the dark magic once used in the house.
Normally, death wouldn’t bother Val. But the previous tenants had tried to bring something from the hell realm into this plane. That attempt left an invisible stain, a slight hold on reality.
That’s all they needed. Some new hellspawn sliding into this mess. She had her hands full just dealing with rambunctious shapeshifters while plotting to overthrow the most powerful, murderous necromancer in existence.
“Yo, Val, where do you want the bed?” One of the two bear shapeshifters living in the pack asked.
“Jekyll?”
“I’m Hyde.”
Jekyll and Hyde Arkouda, the bear twins. Big, brawny, and with a rough handsomeness her girlie parts appreciated, Hyde was one of the nicer shifters she’d dealt with.
“Of course you are.” She couldn’t stifle a yawn. “Sorry. If you could put the bed upstairs in the pink room in the west wing, that would be great.”
“Sure thing.” He carried the mattress and frame with ease. Behind him, his twin ambled by, his grin not as wide, more devious. Something deadly lurked in his gaze, and she considered him a more appropriate “Hyde” than “Jekyll.”
“Thanks.”
He nodded and continued up the stairs.
The house had two stories and close to four thousand square feet, a popular enough attraction until MEC had put a spell over the place to keep curious magir away. Though the crimes hadn’tmade national news, everyone in the magical community knew about the horrors perpetrated here.
So much blood and magic. If Val hadn’t been so worried about demon contamination, she might have plugged into the remaining power lingering in the walls and floors in a few of the rooms.
Unlike most magir, she considered demons a necessary evil, so to speak, in the name of Balance. There could be no good without bad, no light without darkness. And no life without death.
But try telling that to the sanctimonious magic users who thought necromancers the scum of the magir community.
She used to think that at least the witches would feel some compassion for necromancers, both of their kind human. But no. The witches enjoyed feeling superior to at least someone on the magical food chain.
Aisha continued to purge the home while Grizz patrolled and the shapeshifters scrubbed the house clean. They’d been living from room to room while getting the house up to snuff, but Talon kept pulling shifters for clandestine missions.
And of course, Val kept adding to their dead army, killing powerful warriors they would need in order to win the coming war. Currently housed in the massive garage, the large number of deceased magir remained in stasis, halting any decomposition.
The spell to create that stasis had taken months to create, but it was well worth it.
“I need sleep,” Val muttered to no one and continued up the stairs to the pink room.
Something outside pinged at her consciousness, but it was there and gone so she ignored it. She had bigger problems. Like a nosy vampire who was going to be a huge thorn in her side. She could feel it.
And what to make of the trouble in the bazaar? Talon would have to handle it without her. The other bazaar shareholders would need to beef up security as well, or MEC would have a field day stepping in trying to tell them what to do.
To keep the bazaar running smoothly, MEC needed to be kept far away. Meh. Cops. Magical or not, they’d always given Val problems.
They hated necromancers, so she had a natural bias against them.
Against everyone, really.
