suddenly where I’d seen points of darkness like that before. When the Iblis had murdered Jacob Kynan, it left a tortured imprint on the space of his crime scene. Miles had used his power to make the space remember, and I’d seen those chilling black dots swirling just above his outstretched hand. Voids, he’d called them. Points of de-created space, reduced to nothingness.
The spots danced, swirling faster. Red tongues of light gathered around the stones, painting the asphalt bloody. The trace of power I’d felt before grew stronger, clearer. I remembered.
Necroid materia.
“Patrick! Get in the—”
Patrick fired. The gunshot split the silence of the parking lot. Evidently, hearing my scream was enough of a signal for him.
His first shot only grazed the necromancer’s shoulder. He squeezed the trigger as I’d told him to, firing a second and a third time. Those bullets made contact, one in the shoulder, the other midthigh.
He wasn’t exactly holding the gun steady. But at least he was hitting the target.
The necromancer took a step back, but didn’t cry out. The carnelians on his glove were still burning red, like a parody of emergency lights.
“Patrick! Aim for the glove!”
I reached deep underground, searching for a vein of earth materia. We were close to the ocean, which meant that both geothermal and aqueous energies crossed each other nearby. I found a nodal point. It was old and strong, probably part of the structure that kept the entire park in one place.
I pointed my athame at the ground in front of the necromancer. A line of molten green light struck the concrete. The ground shuddered. A ripple passed through the earth, and it went liquid for a moment. It undulated, flashing out like a tongue, veined with granite, plant material, and threads of crystal.
I gestured with the point of the athame, and the ground exploded upward. It swirled around the necromancer, forming a cage.
I turned to Patrick. “Forget what I said about shooting. Get in the car.”
“But Tess—”
“Get in the damn car, Patrick! Now!”
But it was already too late.
The necromancer reached out with his gloved hand, wrapping his fingers around the stalagmites that imprisoned him. The lapidary in his glove burned red, points of impossible darkness moving within their core. Something like fire swirled between his fingers, but darker, colder. Threads of light tore across the rock, spooling around it, cutting like taut wire into the sediment.
The threads multiplied. They moved with the speed of a burning vine, covering the rock, seething, like a spreading bloodstain upon the substrate of the rock. It crumbled to powder, shimmering for a few seconds as a haunting red outline. Then the rock was simply gone, as if it had never existed.
The necroid materia felt like a kick to my stomach. I knew that entropic forces could produce molecular disintegration, tearing through cell walls and shattering the valences that created basic life. But this was different. The materia hadn’t destroyed the rock. It had unmade it. The deadly pattern of light had literally unraveled the bonds that held both my magic and the rock together, extinguishing them.
De-creation.
I knew that the Iblis could do it, but the Iblis was a pureblood demon. It walked the shores of an im-material plane, wielding and ravening the forces that made our world physically coherent. But this wasn’t an otherworldly being.
Did Lucian have access to the same power?
Christ. Who was I dating?
Patrick wasn’t listening. He fired again, this time aiming for the head. A Glaser Safety round struck the necromancer between the eyes, resounding with a loud crack against his steel mask. The mirror image of my face shattered.
He took another step back, shielding his face with his left hand. Blood and metal fragments glistened all over, making him unrecognizable. But his eyes were still fixed on me. I noticed for the first time what looked like three spots of blood in the
The spots danced, swirling faster. Red tongues of light gathered around the stones, painting the asphalt bloody. The trace of power I’d felt before grew stronger, clearer. I remembered.
Necroid materia.
“Patrick! Get in the—”
Patrick fired. The gunshot split the silence of the parking lot. Evidently, hearing my scream was enough of a signal for him.
His first shot only grazed the necromancer’s shoulder. He squeezed the trigger as I’d told him to, firing a second and a third time. Those bullets made contact, one in the shoulder, the other midthigh.
He wasn’t exactly holding the gun steady. But at least he was hitting the target.
The necromancer took a step back, but didn’t cry out. The carnelians on his glove were still burning red, like a parody of emergency lights.
“Patrick! Aim for the glove!”
I reached deep underground, searching for a vein of earth materia. We were close to the ocean, which meant that both geothermal and aqueous energies crossed each other nearby. I found a nodal point. It was old and strong, probably part of the structure that kept the entire park in one place.
I pointed my athame at the ground in front of the necromancer. A line of molten green light struck the concrete. The ground shuddered. A ripple passed through the earth, and it went liquid for a moment. It undulated, flashing out like a tongue, veined with granite, plant material, and threads of crystal.
I gestured with the point of the athame, and the ground exploded upward. It swirled around the necromancer, forming a cage.
I turned to Patrick. “Forget what I said about shooting. Get in the car.”
“But Tess—”
“Get in the damn car, Patrick! Now!”
But it was already too late.
The necromancer reached out with his gloved hand, wrapping his fingers around the stalagmites that imprisoned him. The lapidary in his glove burned red, points of impossible darkness moving within their core. Something like fire swirled between his fingers, but darker, colder. Threads of light tore across the rock, spooling around it, cutting like taut wire into the sediment.
The threads multiplied. They moved with the speed of a burning vine, covering the rock, seething, like a spreading bloodstain upon the substrate of the rock. It crumbled to powder, shimmering for a few seconds as a haunting red outline. Then the rock was simply gone, as if it had never existed.
The necroid materia felt like a kick to my stomach. I knew that entropic forces could produce molecular disintegration, tearing through cell walls and shattering the valences that created basic life. But this was different. The materia hadn’t destroyed the rock. It had unmade it. The deadly pattern of light had literally unraveled the bonds that held both my magic and the rock together, extinguishing them.
De-creation.
I knew that the Iblis could do it, but the Iblis was a pureblood demon. It walked the shores of an im-material plane, wielding and ravening the forces that made our world physically coherent. But this wasn’t an otherworldly being.
Did Lucian have access to the same power?
Christ. Who was I dating?
Patrick wasn’t listening. He fired again, this time aiming for the head. A Glaser Safety round struck the necromancer between the eyes, resounding with a loud crack against his steel mask. The mirror image of my face shattered.
He took another step back, shielding his face with his left hand. Blood and metal fragments glistened all over, making him unrecognizable. But his eyes were still fixed on me. I noticed for the first time what looked like three spots of blood in the
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