All Of The Dead (a necromancer story)

Chapter 14: The change

Esmeralda

Clayton answered on the fifth ring.

“Lucan,” he greeted, his voice rough and deep like he’d been in the middle of something.

“Sorry, it’s Esmeralda.”

“Oh, what can I do for you, sweetheart?”

Heat rushed into my cheeks at him calling me that and I explained, “when we left your territory we were crossing another, I think we scared the werewolf we came across, he didn’t mean to, but he bit Lucan in wolf form. He was larger than other wolves, so Lucan thinks it was an alpha, he’s infected, and it’s spreading so fast. I don’t know what to do for him, he’s in so much pain.”

He was quiet for a minute and asked, “how far has it spread?”

“It’s reached his left pec.”

“Ok, it’s close to his heart there’s no time for him to stop it. Does he want this?”

I nodded, realized he couldn’t see me, and said, “yes.”

“Ok, I’m going to need you to bring him to me.”

“I don’t know how.”

He growled in frustration and after a few minutes of silence he said, “ok, I’ll send two of my wolves, they will help you bring him here.”

“Ok, he said he doesn’t want to be part of a pack, though.”

He laughed. “Yeah, sounds like Lucan, I’ll be surprised if he isn’t an alpha wolf himself when he shifts. But right now, he needs an alpha to help him through the change.”

“Ok, thank you, Clayton.”

He hung up, and I quickly rushed around trying to pack what I thought Lucan might need. Spare clothes in case he shifted in the ones he was wearing and ruined them, his toothbrush. Random things my panicked brain insisted were important. I had no clue how long he needed to be there for.

My hands were shaking.

I went back to check on him and saw him gripping the bedsheets and writhing in pain.

“Lucan, I wish I could help.”

“It’s fine, I’ll be fine,” he gritted.

I just wanted to hug his pain away, but I knew he probably didn’t want to be touched right now.

I sat on the edge of the bed. “Clayton’s sending some of his wolves to help me bring you to him, so he can help. Can I put your shoes on?”

He gave a nod and tried to stay still for me. I quickly slipped on his combat boots and then all I could do was wait, it was so hard not being able to help. Relief flooded me when the door knocked, and I ran to answer it.

Two tall muscular men were standing there, they looked like twins with the same dark brown hair, blue eyes and, well, same everything.

“Clayton sent us to help you get Lucan back to ours,” one said with an easy grin. I nodded and let them in.

It seemed like they already knew Lucan because one laughed and said, “f***k, I’m sorry you’re going through this, it hurts like a b.itch your first time, it’s not so bad after that.”

He tried to pick Lucan up, but he batted his hand away. “f***k off, I’m not letting you carry me like a f.ucking baby.”

Both twins rolled their eyes, smiling and grabbed him anyway. “Just let us help, you stubborn f.uck.”

He put up such a fight that in the end they compromised and put his arms around their shoulders and helped him walk out.

“We have a car outside, it will get us close enough, so we only have to walk ten minutes to get to the pack house.”

He nodded and let them help him into the back seat. I joined him on the other side. He started to growl at one point, and it wasn’t a human growl. My blood turned cold.

The twin in the front passenger seat looked back at him and said, “he’s losing control. Are you his mate?”

When I didn’t answer right away, he asked again, “are you his girlfriend?”

“Oh, yes.”

“It’s risky, but you’re a vamp, so you’ll survive, you could try to turn his rage and bloodlust into just lust, it might not work though.”

I looked at Lucan and swallowed hard when he dug his nails into the seat hard enough they cut through.

“Lucan?” I whispered.

He looked at me and his eyes weren’t gold like a normal werewolf’s, they had bled to a piercing violet with flecks of ice blue and gold running through, they were actually beautiful. The gold and ice blue were like moving light beneath crystal.

All hell broke loose when he next growled, he had lost control of himself, and being a necromancer that meant he lost control of his power too. It unleashed itself and wrapped around me, I felt like all I wanted to do was submit to him and please him.

I’d do anything he told me to, he could tell me to kill myself and I would, it was terrifying, but somehow I managed to just about fight it, I think because I was now an enchante morte it made it a little less strong, or maybe because we had some bond, I don’t know, but I managed to cling to my free will. Barely.

The car grew cold, really cold and I felt like a hundred eyes were on me. The twins seemed to sense it too because the one driving shivered and said, “f***k, he’s a necromancer, if he’s lost control, does that mean his power draws all of the dead to him?”

I hadn’t thought of that, but yes, it felt like we weren’t alone and that could only mean there were spirits all around us right now.

“Oh no, oh no,” I panicked. “I think you’re right, how do we stop it? His power could literally start raising the dead, too.”

As if proving me right, we passed a graveyard and I saw two graves that started to tremble, the dirt around them moving.

I grabbed Lucan’s face between my hands and kissed him. Could seducing him help? I didn’t know, but I had to try something. He bit my lips, making them bleed but I kept kissing him and straddled his lap. I was too scared to feel embarrassed and just started rubbing myself against his groin. He grabbed my a.ss, making me grind harder, and I felt him grow hard underneath me.

“Hurry up and f***k him!” The twin driving yelled. I didn’t understand the panic in his voice until I saw a zombie literally crawling out of the ground. I didn’t want to have s**x with other people around, and I think I fell even more in love with Lucan right there and then, he knew I’d be too shy to do such a thing, and he came back to himself a little bit. “It’s fine, I can control it for now,” he gritted.

We drove faster and Lucan asked me, “did my power wake any of the dead?”

“Yes, two started crawling out of their graves.”

“f***k, I’ll put them back when I’m myself again, they should be fine for now, my power makes them the closest to when they were alive, but the longer they are left roaming, the more they will start to lose themselves, their brain will slowly start to rot and stop working.”

“Don’t worry about that right now, let’s just get you better,” I soothed and kissed him.

“Mm, you kissing me really helps,” he managed a small smile.

We finally parked up, and the twins got out and helped Lucan out of the car. He was so hot I was sweating slightly as we climbed out, and the cool air chilled me now I was no longer touching him.

We were walking along the path when Lucan fell to his knees. “f***k, I think I’m changing. I can feel my bones breaking,” he both growled and panted.

I dropped beside him. “Lucan!”

He was breathing in ragged gasps now.

Sweat soaked his shirt completely.

The veins had spread across his neck.

Silver and black moved beneath his skin like lightning trapped under flesh.

“S.hit, don’t shift now, you need an alpha to help control you, shifting now you’ll be all wolf, and we’ll lose you if you run,” one of the brothers said.

“Just get me to Clayton, I can fight it,” Lucan hissed.

Ahead us stood Clayton’s place, lights glowing warmly through the darkness like a beacon.

Usually I would have thought it looked beautiful.

Tonight it looked like salvation.

The huge house sat against rolling fields and dark woods, golden light spilling from its windows across the grass. Somewhere farther away wolves howled, their voices rising and echoing through the night.

We just about made it inside Clayton’s place when Lucan started losing the fight against the change. Clayton came out and took over, he led Lucan inside the mansion and took him down some basement and put him inside a big cage, locking it.

When I looked at Clayton worried, he said, “it’s the safest place for everyone including him.”

I stood and watched as Lucan grabbed the bar with one hand while on his knees, and I swear I saw his bones shifting and moving under his skin. The twins left and Clayton gently led me out. “It’s a very private thing for us to change, let’s give him his dignity, and we will check on him when he’s completed the change.”

“Doesn’t he need your help as an alpha?”

“He’s already changing, we are past talking him through it, but my alpha energy and being close by should be enough to help, although he looks like he knows what he’s doing, I can see he is working with the pain rather than against it.”

Clayton led me to their living room, and I was glad it was empty and quiet.

The room itself felt warm and lived in, cream walls and soft lighting making everything feel cozy despite the huge size of the house. A large fireplace crackled softly across the room, casting golden light that danced across dark wooden furniture and cream sofas.

Th scent of pinewood, smoke and something sweet drifted through the air.

I sank down onto one of the sofas.

“Would you like anything to drink? Do you drink?” Clayton asked and then winced, “sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound offensive.”

I laughed and answered, “I do drink, but I’m fine, thank you.”

“Ok.” He sat down with me, stretching an arm across the back of the sofa.

As we waited he made some small talk with me, asking me random things and somehow keeping me distracted from panicking about Lucan downstairs.

He was actually a really nice and sweet alpha and I understood why Lucan and Dana liked him so much. He was very polite and gentlemanly too, nothing like the openly flirtatious alpha I had first met.

Which meant Lucan had been right, it had been my fault, if I hadn’t been so aroused by him he would never have responded to me.

A few minutes later a beautiful blonde woman walked into the room. Her hair fell in soft curls all the way down her back and she wore a red tight crop top and shorts, very short ones, like if she so much as bent over just a tiny bit you’d see her full butt on display.

She sat in Clayton’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed him. He kissed her back for a minute and then broke the kiss. “We have company,” he murmured.

He brushed hair from her face.

“I’ll spend time with you later, alright?”

Smiling, she nodded and got up, smiled politely at me and then left us alone again.

I was frowning so hard, Clayton asked, “what’s wrong? I’m sorry if that offended you. Us wolves can sometimes forget that not everyone enjoys seeing affection so openly displayed.”

“It’s not that, I just, and you don’t have to answer me of course, but I’m sure I saw two different females with you last time. Do you, uh, sleep with all of them?”

He laughed and said, “they are all mated to me.”

“Every female in your pack?” I asked so shocked he laughed harder at my face.

“Yes, every female that joins my pack belongs to me.”

“What if they don’t want to belong to you?”

“They don’t have to, but I’ve yet to have any reject me.”

“Why do you need so many?”

He shrugged. “I enjoy s**x, a lot of s.ex.”

I blushed but feeling slightly offended by that I said, “so they are just there to pleasure you?”

He looked at me more seriously and said, “no, I care about my wolves, including my females. I look after them and they have my protection too. I don’t just f***k them, I treat them as I would any partner.”

I nodded, more relaxed with that answer, and he tilted his head listening for something I couldn’t hear. Werewolves had better hearing than us vampires. A minute passed, and he said, “we can go check on Lucan now, come on.”