Revenant: A Montague & Strong Detective Novel (Montague & Strong Case Files Book 16) Read online

  LD stared at Monty.

  “Don’t try to hustle a hustler, hombre,” LD said. “You wanted to know if it would work. At the very least admit it. You wanted to unleash the power.”

  “Yes,” Monty admitted. “That was part of it. The greater part was avoiding our imminent death.”

  “Your imminent death, you mean,” LD said, glancing at me. “I doubt Strong was going to have an issue with dying, being death challenged and all.”

  “Be that as it may, even Simon was in danger, despite his current affliction,” Monty replied. “Mahnes was a real threat to us all.”

  “So you felt the need to use this rune,” LD continued. “Which helped you defeat Mahnes, the agent of Chaos, yes?”

  “Yes, but unfortunately we were unable to banish or entrap Chaos.”

  TK appeared a moment later.

  “Show me the rune you used, exactly,” she said. “Omit nothing.”

  Monty traced the rune in the air. LD’s eyes opened wider as he hissed.

  “Hombre, that rune…that rune is bad news,” he said, his face becoming slightly pale. “I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

  TK sighed and gestured. The runes in the room dimmed around us. She suddenly looked exhausted. She exchanged a few glances with LD and I could sense that I was missing something, something that was potentially apocalyptic.

  “You truly are your uncle’s nephew,” she said after a moment. “A talisman was required for the blood ritual. What was it?”

  “Yes,” Monty said. “I formed a ring. We used it on Mahnes.”

  “This ring,” she said. “Whose blood was used?”

  “I thought Stark created the ring?” I said.

  “Stark created the framework,” Monty said. “The rune and the blood completed his work and imbued it with power.”

  “The blood?” I asked, concerned. “Whose blood, Monty?”

  “My blood,” he said. “My blood gave it the final shape.”

  “But Jarman? Mahnes-Chaos drained her dry.”

  “No. The ring was ready before Jarman sacrificed herself,” Monty said, turning to TK. “How bad is it?”

  TK looked away, but I could feel the controlled energy and anger radiating out from where she stood. If her current energy was any indicator, we had raced past bad and entered horrific. From the looks they gave each other, horrific was a pit stop on the way to Armageddon.

  “An elder rune of sealing is like a door,” LD said. “Sometimes this door allows something in, rather than keeping things out.”

  “Allows something in?” I asked. “What exactly are you talking about?”

  “We’re not exactly certain,” TK said. “Somehow between using the elder rune and York performing the Stormblood ritual, a door was opened. A door that never should have been opened.”

  Ice slowly filled my veins.

  “What walked in?”

  TK gave LD another glance, an entire unspoken discussion in the space of a blink.

  “A Revenant,” she said finally. “One that’s coming for both of you, it seems.”

  TWO

  “Impossible,” Monty said, slipping into professor mode before he caught himself. “The conditions to summon a Revenant are inextricably complicated. It’s the reason Revenants are so difficult to actually—”

  Me and LD just looked at him as he came to the realization that he was dangerously close to shortening his life expectancy. TK stood absolutely still, her eyes getting brighter.

  The runes in the wall, floor and ceiling flared orange again.

  “Perhaps,” TK said, her voice measured and calm, which only added another dimension of lethality to her current state, “the reason it’s so inextricably complicated has to do with the fact that Revenants are nearly impossible to stop?”

  Monty nodded but remained silent.

  I was considering how many seconds it would take her to blast through my dawnward in this room. I calculated at least three seconds before we were memories.

  “Dear?” LD said. “We’re still renovating the East Wing, remember?”

  “Have you considered that the reason Revenants were locked behind the use of lost elder blood runes was because the runes were lost?” she continued, staring at Monty and ignoring LD. “Said runes are no longer accessible to curious mages that would tamper with things they do not understand.”

  Black and green energy crackled around her body.

  Peaches whined and huddled close to my legs.

 

 

 

 

 

  I didn’t even know how to explain this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  He chuffed, huddling closer to my feet as he focused on TK.

  “It was not my intention—” Monty began.

  LD shook his head.

  “Your actions in this matter make me question the sentience of your parentage,” she said, each word a dagger. “Do you realize that the blood of all the innocents this thing kills will be on your hands?”

  She took a deep breath and the energy around her diminished.

  “How do we stop it?” I asked, hoping to deflect the impending mage smackdown. “Not my first question, sorry. My first question is: Can we stop it? Can you explain that part first?”

  “There is only one small consolation,” TK said, continuing without even looking my way. “This summoning has somehow tethered the Revenant to the two of you. It won’t go on a murderous rampage until it kills you both.”

  “That’s the consolation?” I asked. “This killing machine won’t go out and kill everything until it kills us first?”

  “It’s been dormant, but the moment you enter your plane, it will sense you,” she said, turning to me. “It will hunt you down and end your lives.”

  “It’s going to need to take a number,” I said. “I have enough beings hunting me down at the moment. I currently have my own Kill the Marked One fan club, thanks to Kali.”

  “I’ve heard,” TK said. “The Revenant takes precedence.”

  “In that case, I’d like to correct the order of my questions,” I said as fear gripped me. “What exactly is a Revenant? Does this Revenant have a name?”

  “He has a name, though I doubt it will mean anything to you,” TK answered. “When he was alive, he went by Fel Sephtis.”

  “The necromancer?” Monty asked, surprised. “Are you certain? He was supposed to have perished centuries ago.”

  “Fairly certain, yes,” she said. “There have been”—she glanced at LD—“tell-tale signs of his handiwork.”

  “Meaning?” Monty asked. “What are the indicators?”

  “Shamblers,” LD said, his voice dark. “They’ve been spotted in the city. So far no one has been attacked, but the moment you go back, I’m sure they’ll be activated.”

  “Who exactly is Fel Sepsis?” I asked. “What is a Shambler, and why is Monty looking like I put coffee in his tea? How is this Fel person still alive if he died centuries ago?”

  “Sephtis,” she corrected. “He shares a condition similar to yours.”

  “You mean he’s been cursed with impossibly good looks and—”

  “Cerebral death?” TK finished. “No, I sincerely doubt two o
f you could exist on the same plane.”

  “You know how you’ve been cursed alive?” LD said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “This Revenant is similar to you, except the opposite.”

  “This thing is immortal?”

  “No—well, kind of, yes,” LD admitted. “It’s dead… Well, not really, more like undead. He’s still a necromancer, though he probably relies on his Revenant abilities more than necromancy these days. The Shamblers are his minions. Think super zombies. Scary fast, magic resistant, and lethal.”

  “They sound like fun,” I said. “You said the Revenant is an undead necromancer? So it can’t die? Irony much?”

  “You think this may have something to do with Strong’s curse?” LD asked TK. “There are some similarities.”

  “Astute observation, dear,” TK said, calming down further as she gave the idea thought. “It’s possible this tether is tied to the both of them because of the lost elder rune and Simon’s curse. There’s no way to know without undoing York’s Stormblood cast.”

  “That could be a bloody and fatal undertaking,” LD said. “Maybe later?”

  “Maybe never?” I snapped. “How about we don’t undertake the bloody and fatal undoing of York’s cast?”

  “We’ll need to do it at some point, or use a different way to dispatch the Revenant,” LD said. “I think unraveling the Stormblood is the easier of the two.”

  “What’s the other way?” I asked. “You know the one that doesn’t have bloody and fatal in the description?”

  “We have to hide you,” LD said, “which is almost impossible now with a Stormblood bonding you. Fel Sephtis won’t have a problem locating you.”

  “That doesn’t sound promising,” I said. “You’re telling me a Revenant zombie is coming after us?”

  “Not a zombie,” TK said. “A Revenant is a different type of undead, and this one is a particularly nasty specimen.”

  “So a not-zombie is coming to attack us,” I said. “How do we stop it? Can we stop it?”

  LD nodded.

  “There is a way, but it’s risky.”

  “Riskier than facing the Revenant?”

  “Close,” LD said. “You’re going to need another necromancer. A powerful one. One who can confront and possibly surpass his power.”

  “A negomancer?”

  “Necro, not nego,” LD said. “The only one I know is Orethe. Darling, do you know of any other necromancers who are strong enough and might want to face a Revenant?”

  “Not willingly, no.”

  “Can’t one of you unleash the necromancy?” I asked, wiggling my fingers. “It’s related to being a mage, right?”

  “The same way your hellhound is related to a dog,” LD explained. “They look similar, but they aren’t the same. We each have disciplines we follow. None of us are necromancers.”

  “Maybe Ezra can help?”

  LD and TK looked at each other. Another unspoken conversation crossed between them.

  “Hombre,” LD said, his voice grim. “Ezra doesn’t get involved in things like this—he’s too powerful. It would be like using a nuke to take out one building in the middle of a city. You’d get the job done, but—”

  “Obliterate the city in the process,” I finished. “I get it. I just thought because it has to do with the undead, Ezra made sense.”

  “Only to you,” TK said. “The rest of us wouldn’t imagine reaching out to him for something like this. Tristan, do you know Orethe?”

  “By reputation only,” Monty answered. “I thought she retired from active practice?”

  “She has,” TK said. “You will have to convince her otherwise, or face the Revenant on your own.”

  “Are there no casts I can learn to deal with this creature?” Monty asked. “The rumors about Orethe the necromancer are far from pleasant. If even a quarter of them are true—”

  “Most of them are true,” LD said. “She’s a nasty piece of work. She assisted the Ten on a few black ops back in the day.” He shuddered at the memory. “Ruthless and borderline evil.” He turned to TK. “Why didn’t we make her a member of the Ten again?”

  “Gratuitous use of corpses to fulfill nefarious plans, if I recall.”

  “Oh, right,” LD said. “She tried to take over a sect by raising undead mages. Nearly pulled it off too. We had to put a stop to that.”

  TK nodded.

  “I believe it was Tempest who convinced her that retirement was the best course of action,” TK said. “It was either that or death. She chose retirement.”

  “No one wants to face Josephine’s Stormblood,” LD said, looking at us. “Which is why you may have a chance of convincing her. She’ll sense your Stormblood.”

  “Won’t that just convince her we need to be dead?” I asked. “Something like that could be perceived as a threat that needs to be eliminated.”

  “Dead, alive, doesn’t really matter to her,” LD said. “She’ll respect your power and the fact that you’re cursed alive.”

  “Also the Revenant,” TK said, with a short nod. “She has a brilliant mind, which means she’s eternally curious. Present her with the opportunity to face a Revenant in combat, one that happens to be a necromancer, and she will be hard-pressed to deny you.”

  “Why exactly do we need her?” I asked, liking this idea less and less by the second. “Can’t she just teach Monty some Revenant-erasing runes and call it a day?”

  “No,” LD said. “Tristan doesn’t have an affinity for these runes.”

  TK narrowed her eyes at me.

  “We are in this situation because a certain mage”—she glanced at Monty—“found it difficult to restrain his curiosity around a certain group of lost elder runes,” she said. “To deal with the Revenant, you need runes particular to necromancy. Tristan can learn them, but they would be ineffective because he is not a necromancer. The same way you may study certain casts that will be beyond your ability to execute effectively because you are not a mage.”

  “Makes sense,” I said, barely understanding the concepts. “Where does this Orethe live?”

  “That’s where things get difficult,” LD said. “She’s in a bad, bad neighborhood.”

  “That’s where things get difficult?” I asked, confused. “How can going to where this necromancer lives be the difficult part?”

  LD nodded.

  “You’re going to need to see Hades.”

  THREE

  “Hades?” I asked, still confused. “What does he have to do with a necromancer? I mean, I get it, god of the Underworld, but this Orethe is alive, isn’t she? Tell me she’s alive.”

  “She is,” TK assured me. “One of the conditions for her to remain among the living was relocation. Think of it as a reverse witness protection program for deranged necromancers. We relocated her for everyone else’s safety.”

  “I’m not following,” I said, not following. “Wait, did you say deranged?”

  “Mildly deranged,” LD said. “Actually, she’s more like partially deranged. She’s quite lucid, considering.”

  “Considering? Considering what? Her madness? You forced her to relocate or die.”

  “And you said you weren’t following,” LD said, patting me on the shoulder with a tight smile. “That’s exactly what happened. It was really for her own safety.”

  “You basically imprisoned her for her own safety?”

  “Not imprisoned,” LD said. “She is comfortable living with Hades.”

  “Can she leave whenever she wants to?”

  “What? No,” LD answered. “That would be too dangerous.”

  “If she can’t leave whenever she wants to, it’s a prison.”

  “A broad and inaccurate definition,” TK replied. “Can you leave whenever you want?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Nothing is forcing me to stay in one place.”

  “Really?” TK asked with a small smile. I should’ve known better and thought my answer through. “Then why not just leave? Why stay and face this Reve
nant?”

  “Because we can’t,” I snapped. “Who is going to face him if he’s coming after us? We can’t let anyone become a victim because we chose to run. We don’t run, ever. Unless it’s a tactical retreat.”

  “Then, according to your definition, you live in a prison, don’t you?”

  I opened my mouth to respond and realized that on a deeper level she was right…and wrong.

  “Point taken,” I said. “We choose to stay because the consequences of running would put too many lives in danger. Like Orethe staying with Hades.”

  “See, dear?” LD said, glancing at TK. “He’s not as dense as he appears…sometimes.”

  “There is hope,” TK said dismissively. “We didn’t force her. We brokered the deal with Hades and Persephone for her safety. A costly arrangement, but one that provided for her safety and a comfortable life, free of persecution.”

  “Necromancers aren’t exactly considered heroes,” LD added. “Even among other mages and magic users, necromancers are disliked, even hated.”

  “Probably has something to do with the whole ‘raising the dead’ thing,” I said. “Most people prefer the dead to remain that way.”

  “That, and most of them are what would be considered antisocial,” LD said. “They seem to get along better with the dead than the living. So we made a deal for her.”

  “Orethe agreed to these terms?” I asked. “Willingly?”

  “Others in the Ten excel at applying force when needed,” TK said, a smile ghosting across her lips. A smile which chilled me to my core. “They persuaded her.”

  “Who applied the force?”

  “The force was applied mostly by Josephine,” LD said, slowly shaking his head. “We’re actually some of the calmer members of the Ten. Some of others you haven’t met are…Whew. Intense.”

  My mind nearly seized at the thought of LD and TK being some of the calmer members of the Ten. If they were the calm ones, I didn’t think I could survive meeting the intense ones.

  “What deal did you broker?” I asked, changing the subject. “With Hades, of all people?”

  “I know, right?” LD said, elbowing me in the side. “It was quite a coup at the time. No one thought we could pull it off.”