Chapter 7:
Necromancer
With the knowledge she would be free of Bertrand for the remainder of the week Eva woke Monday morning with a smile on her face. It had been ages since she last woke up feeling so refreshed and content. She didn't even mind the cold as she made her way to the studio arts building where her first class would be held. Her quick mood was quickly wiped away when she saw a familiar mohawked figure sitting at her usually vacant table. Eva's white teeth dug into her bottom lip as she tried to figure out why he was sitting there and if it was somehow connected to their brief moment of eye contact on Saturday night and the look he'd had when catching sight of Bertrand. "He probably had nowhere else to sit and thought her table was vacant," she tried to rationalize as she made her way over to her table. The moment she sat down, however, all hopes of a misunderstanding flew out the window.
"So mind telling me why a healer was going to the movies with the executioner of the vampire council Saturday night?"
Her face paled and she quickly turned to look around at the other students, afraid they might've overheard. No one moved, no one even seemed to blink. It was like they had all been frozen in place.
"They can't hear us right now," the boy said with a smirk.
"How'd you do that?" Eva asked, turning back to the person sitting next to her.
He straightened his posture proudly as his smirk turned into a smile to better show his pride at his own abilities. "Just a simple spell I learned from my Aunt," his smile faltered for a moment as he mentioned his aunt. "Who you can't tell I stopped time, I'm not exactly allowed to mess with the flow of time at my leisure. The higher ups don't really like that." Seeing Eva's confused expression he cleared his throat and returned to the matter at hand. "Anyway back to my question, what were you and Bertrand Payne doing together? Last time I checked he wasn't big on the non-vampire variety."
Eva sat up straight in her chair raising her chin as she faced the strange boy next to her. "And why should I tell you?" Eva retorted with a small glare.
He arched a brow confusion filling his eyes for a moment at her distrust of him. "Why wouldn't you?"
"Because I don't know you from Adam," She said firmly her eyes locking with his. "Why would I tell you anything when I don't even know you?"
The boy shrugged a flash of something Eva could've mistaken as sadness lighting up his eyes for a brief moment before disappearing. "Well you got me there." He stood up from his chair and made his way to out of the classroom.
"Where're you going?" Eva asked from her seat. "You giving up, just like that?"
He leaned against the door way with a crooked grin on his face. "Well you won't tell me anything unless you know me so..." he zipped up his coat and adjusted his scarf around his neck. "We're gonna go get to know each other."
Eva sat there, time still frozen around her, unsure of what to do. Yes he seemed familiar to her and the way he spoke to her made her think that he'd met her before, like he knew more about her and the strange circumstances she'd become a part of. Ultimately her thoughts kept repeating one question, could she trust this kid? She continued to stare at him, hoping the memories of how she knew this boy would come back to her the longer she stared at him. In reality the only thing was accomplishing was making him very uncomfortable with her intense gaze making him shuffle from one leg to the other.
"Seriously Firefly, could you not stare at me like that? It's like you're staring into my soul or something," he muttered.
A shiver of recognition went through at the nickname. "What did you call me?"
The mowhawk student shook his head. "Nothing, so are you coming or not?"
Reluctantly, her curiosity winning out over her fear, she re-buttoned her coat and followed the strange boy out of the art building.
"Ok, so spill," Eva demanded as they made their way off campus. "Who are you?"
He faked a hurt expression placing a hand over his chest as if her words hurt his heart. His acting couldn't keep the obvious real hurt out of his eyes as he continued to speak. "I'm offended Eva, we've been in the same class for almost s whole semester and you don't know my name?" she blushed not knowing how to respond to his answer. It was true though. They'd shared the same space for an hour ever other day for almost four months and she didn't know his name. Hell, she could think of everyone else's name in the class but she couldn't think of this boy's and he stuck out the most out of them all.
He gave her a soft smile and nudged her shoulder. "I'm only teasing you firefly," he admitted softly. "My name's Jasper, Jasper Reyes and I'm gonna fix whatever mess you got yourself into."
"How do you figure that?"
Jasper stopped dead in his tracks, catching Eva by surprise as he turned around to face her, a sad smile on his face. "Because I promised to protect you," Eva stood with her mouth open, her question falling short, as Jasper skipped towards the door of their intended destination. Evangeline was surprised to see they had arrived at the coffee shop she liked to frequent from time to time. It hadn't changed since her last visit. As usual it was empty of any customers and smelled of roasted coffee beans and old books, both smells that made Eva smile.
"I didn't know anyone else liked coming here," she muttered as they approached the counter.
Jasper didn't reply turning his attention to the woman behind the counter. She gave them both a smile as she turned ready to take their order. It fell when she saw Jasper standing in front of her with a grin on his face that Eva was beginning to notice was his normal expression.
"Jasper Miguel Reyes, are you skipping class again?" the woman demanded darkly, her brown eyes glaring at the grinning young man before her.
"Yeah Aunt Spectra, but I have a good reason this time I swear!" He took a step away from Eva and put his hands out as if she were a glamorous prize on a TV game show. "Eva's here!"
Aunt Spectra's eyes went wide as she leaned over the counter and inspected the young woman in front of her. Her eyes roamed over every inch of Evangeline, analyzing her every feature before leaning back, looking a little shocked. She quickly recovered and turned her gaze back to her nephew her eyes glittering with pity. "Jasper..."
All playfulness dissipated from Jasper and he looked at his aunt with pleading eyes. "Just wait, ok? You don't' understand."
"Jasper we've discussed this..." Spectra whispered softly.
"I know we did but you don't understand she's in danger!" Jasper urged. "The executioner's found her."
Spectra's demeanor instantly changed. Her posture straightened and her eyes grew cold with shock and anger. "What?"
"I saw them together at the movies last night," Jasper went onto explain. I don't know why they were there together but she needs to know the truth about him." He paused turning to look at a very concerned Eva standing beside her. "We can't stand by and let her get hurt."
"Um...," Eva said awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do in the current situation. "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?"
Spectra and Jasper locked eyes with one another as if they were having a silent conversation with one another. Spectra took in a deep breath, released it through her nose, and closed her eyes for a short while to collect herself before nodding and opening her eyes to give Eva her full attention.
"I'm sorry Evangeline," she apologized taking Eva by surprise with the use of her full name. "You're really confused right now, I know, but I promise everything will be clear in a moment." She moved around the counter and moved to a set of stairs hidden by a curtain of beads. "Come with me and we'll explain everything to you." She said nothing else before ascending the stairs to the apartment above leaving Eva standing there in utter confusion with Jasper at her side.
"Go on up," he urged her with a light shove of his shoulder. "I'm gonna make sure everything's locked up down here."
Eva bit her bottom lip not sure if she'd made the right decision or not but nodded and followed after Spectra to the apartment above the coffee shop. Once at the top she looked around the small living space. It was slightly bigger than her apartment, by one bed room she noticed, but she could tell right away it was better. It felt more alive, full of life and love something her home has lacked for a very long time.
"Go on into the kitchen and have a seat I'm just looking for something!" Spectra called from one of the bedrooms. Eva took in a deep breath and nodded yelling a confirmation to the older woman before taking a seat at the small table in the kitchenette. Her eyes roamed around the space for a moment, taking in the dirty dishes in the sink, the stained stove top, and the pile of bills and art supplies on the counter next to their coffee. Messy, but it felt like home. It made her heart ache.
"Found it!" Spectra announced with a smile as she took a seat opposite her at the table resting a large box on the table before her. "Now, where to begin?"
"You could start with your name?" Eva asked her confusion beginning to turn into irritation.
Spectra nodded her black hair falling into her eyes. "Yes, yes that would be a good place to start," she confirmed with a nod before clearing her throat and looking Eva dead in the eye making the young woman stiffen in her seat. "I am Spectra Balonis Jasper's Aunt."
Eva nodded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Evangeline Agate."
"Oh we know all about you hun," Spectra said a melancholy smile on her face. "The three of us go back awhile."
"I'm afraid I don't follow."
"Everything's taken care of down stairs," Jasper declared as he took the remaining seat at the table. "What I miss?"
Spectra shook her head. "Just the introductions nothing major yet."
"How do you two know me?" Eva prodded, growing impatient.
Spectra took in a deep breath. "I was Natasha's—your mother's best friend," she confessed as she pulled a slip of paper from the box and handed it to Eva. She took it and examined it in her hands. It was a photograph of her mother and Spectra standing together in a kitchen somewhere both making strange faces at the camera. "We'd known one another for years and ended up settling down in the same town. You and Jasper went to the same middle school and were good friends around that time as well."
"I don't understand," Eva confessed placing the photo on the kitchen table. "I don't...I don't remember you two at all."
"That's because I made it so you wouldn't," Spectra confessed making Eva look at her in shock.
"You...you've messed with my head?" Eva asked. She recalled her Gran telling her about how there were some out there that could manipulate a person's mind. They could rearrange thoughts, feelings, and memories all to their pleasure. "What...what are you two?"
"We're Necromancers," Jasper answered quickly earning a look from Spectra at his lack of tact. "Sorcerers who derive all their power from all things dead and dark."
"My Gran told me about Necromancers," she said. "She said they're not very pleasant to be around. That there're dangerous."
Spectra nodded. "Yes, a good number of us are very dangerous," she confirmed. "However we are not among them. You can trust us Evangeline. We're not here to hurt you."
Eva was reluctant to continue. Her Gran had always stressed to her the dangers of keeping the company of Necromancers. Many fed off the life force of the living and the souls of the dead in order to maintain their youth and live forever. Doing so was like becoming addicted to a drug and by doing so would result in the Necromancer becoming unstable, malicious, and blood thirsty. They became monsters. Never the less Eva was willing to risk the danger if it got her answers. For a long time she'd wondered why there was such a large gap in her memories and now was the time to learn why.
"How did you know my mother?" Eva asked as Spectra dug through the box again. She pulled out more photos and handed them to Eva who flipped through them. They were all mostly the same. Pictures of younger versions of Spectra and her mother, her father was even a few as well.
"Your mother and I knew one another for years," Spectra explained. "We trained together in the hunter guild when your mother moved here from Russia. The entire guild was wary of me because of what I was...but not your mother." Eva looked up from the photos to see Spectra wiping a stray tear from her eye. "We were like sisters in a way and when you were born your parents named me your god mother."
Eva's hand froze when she reached the last picture. Sitting in between the young couple, who she recognized as her parents, was a young girl with long braided hair and large eyes that were almost a replica of her mothers. The tears threatened to start pouring when she recognized the little girl as herself.
"I've never seen pictures of my parents and I together," she admitted with a sniff. "Gran burned them all after they died."
"She was probably afraid seeing them would undo the bind I put on your memories," Spectra said with a sigh. "It's the same reason why I refrained from coming to see you after all these years with Jasper. We were afraid the seal would unravel, though I think burning all those pictures was a little excessive." Spectra snorted. "It was always in Lucile's nature to go to extremes though which is why we are currently in this situation."
Eva handed the pictures back to Spectra. "I don't follow."
"How much do you know of your parents' death?" Spectra asked returning the pictures to the box.
"I know they were killed while on a hunt," Eva informed.
Spectra nodded. "That's partially true," she confirmed. "Your parents were the best of the best. Whenever a target proved to be too strong they would always send your parents and I in to finish the job. Your parents were even able to take down a member of the vampire council."
"A council member?!" Eva screeched in shock.
Spectra nodded with a sigh before pulling something else from the box. It was an old piece of parchment with dark red stains from what she could see. The necromancer took in a deep breath. "It was because of such a feat they were sentenced to death by the vampire council," with a heavy heart Spectra handed the parchment over to Eva who took it with shaky hands.
She was afraid to flip it over and see what was on the front. A part of her knew that if she did it would change everything; her life would never be the same again. But at the same time if she didn't look at it and walked away right then and there she would always wonder "what if". With a surge of courage she flipped it over and looked at the red splotched writing on the other side. Her heart sank when she read the words execution notice in perfect script.
By order of the Vampire Council of Elders Natasha and Ian Agate have been executed for the crime of the murder of elder Baultus Van Wilke. Further punishment will follow for any offspring of the guilty parties'.
Bertrand Payne, Executioner of the Council of Vampire Elders
Eva could do nothing but sit and stare at the words before her, shocked into a silent stupor at the name signed upon the bottom of the parchment. Jasper stared at her in concern from his seat at the table while Spectra took in another heavy breath.
"The one who killed your parents was Bertrand Payne," Spectra confirmed Eva's fears. "In order to protect you from the same fate your Grandmother wanted me to erase all memories pertaining to night of their death and before so you could be safe. Once it was done she packed up everything and moved the two of you as far away as possible." Spectra's heart twisted in pain at Eva's unresponsive stare. "I never wanted to bind your memories but you needed to know as little as possible in order to be safe in hiding."
The two Necromancers watched as Eva stood from the table and scrambled for the kitchen trashcan quickly expelling the contents of her stomach into the bin. Jasper rose from his seat and gathered her hair behind her head, handling it delicately to keep it from falling into the bin with the bile. All the while Eva knew nothing but the flashes of memories that filled her mind. She saw body parts strewn across a snowy clearing, could smell the stench of gore around her as she stared around at the horrific display around her. Then before returning to the moment her eyes focused on severed hand with a shiny diamond ring upon its finger.
A scream escaped her as she slid down to the kitchen floor, Jasper quickly releasing her hair and moving to grab a towel to wipe her face. Tears streamed down her face as she sat there, Jasper wiping her face clean and attempting to calm her down as she mourned her parents and cursed her foolishness. All this time she had allowed herself to trust the monster who'd slaughtered her parents and would have done the same to her if she and Gran hadn't fled. Not only that but she had saved said monster's life two years ago when she should've been the one to end it then and there. If only she'd known, if only her memories hadn't been locked away she could've stopped the pain she was feeling now.
"It's ok firefly," Jasper soothed as he held Eva in his arms. "It's going to be ok."
Eva opened her eyes and looked around her, remembering where she was. Her large eyes looked upon into Jasper's green ones as he held her on his kitchen floor, his legs on either side of her as he propped them against the wall. Déjà vu struck her hard as she looked up him. It was like they'd been in the position before, that he'd comforted her like this multiple times before but she couldn't remember when or why.
"You...you don't understand," she croaked, her voice hoarse and dry from vomiting and screaming. She coughed, trying to gain some semblance of her voice back. "Two years ago a vampire, a monster, landed in our yard near death and I healed it." A sob escaped her lips again. Jasper held her tighter and placed a kiss to the top of her head telling her it was going to be ok. "It was Bertrand."
"What happened after you healed him?" Jasper asked gently.
"He asked me my name," she croaked in between breaths trying to calm down. "And then flew off when he heard Gran calling for me from the house." She took in another deep breath and released it, Jasper encouraging her as she did so before continuing. "When I told Gran she made me pack everything that night and we were moving to another safe house that night. I didn't see him again until about a week ago when he approached me when I was taking out my trash."
"What did he say when he approached you?" Jasper asked his hold like a death grip around her as she slowly calmed down from the flashbacks.
"He teleported us up to my apartment and said he wanted companionship," she explained calmly. Jasper's jaw clenched tight and his arms trembled slightly as they held Eva close.
"Jasper..." Spectra warned noticing her nephew's control slowly slipping.
"He can't claim her," he hissed between his clenched teeth. Eva looked up into his face surprised to see the anger in his features.
"Claim me?"
"Jasper you need to calm yourself," Spectra said cautiously moving towards the two where they sat on the floor. "Do you really want to scare her away after all this time?"
That seemed to snap Jasper out of his anger, his facial features becoming unreadable and his arms going slack around Eva's frame. Spectra offered the young woman a hand and helped her to her feet Jasper standing not long after Eva had righted herself and leaving the kitchen.
"Is he ok?" she asked when she heard a door slam followed by a loud crash from the room Jasper had disappeared into.
"He'll be fine," Spectra reassured gesturing for Eva to sit at the table again. "You said the vampire wanted you as a companion."
Eva nodded. "He said I bring out the humanity in him and he likes that," she explained pushing a long lock black hair behind her ear. "That "humans like me are so pure even monsters become docile in my presence" is what he said I think."
Spectra flicked her wrist as she nodded, a packet of cigarettes appear in her hand in a wisp of black shadow. "You mind if I—" She shook the pack of cigarettes in her hand.
"Not if you lend me one," she said nodding to the cigarette Spectra had pulled from the pack.
"Didn't take you for a smoker," Spectra said in surprise handing Eva a cigarette and her lighter after her own was lit.
She rolled her eyes "I get that a lot," she stated lighting the cigarette and taking a long drag before releasing a huge puff of smoke. "I only smoke when I'm stressed. And right now I'm definitely stressed."
Spectra nodded releasing a puff of smoke herself before balancing her cig on the edge of an ashtray she put between them, a lopsided smile lighting her dark features. "Your mother was the same way," she explained. "Before every kill she'd always light up a cigarette, take to huffs, and then outen it with her boot. Then right after she'd light up another one and flick the ashes around the body. It became her calling card. The guild gave her the code name "Ash" because of it." She chuckled. "If I had a dollar for every time I heard your dad bitch about the smell." She shook her head, clearing away the fond memories and returning to the task at hand.
"But I digress," she picked up her cigarette and took another drag. "Did Bertrand say anything else about why he wanted you as a companion?"
Eva shook her head flicking ashes into the ash tray from her cigarette. "That's all he said," she paused for a moment watching Spectra release a puff of smoke into the air. "Do you know why that is?" Spectra cocked her head in confusion. "That I bring out his humanity that is."
"It comes with being a healer," Spectra explained as she snubbed out her cigarette leaving the dead butt in the ash tray. "You already know you have the power to cure any wound, any illness, you wish. But there's a lot more to it than just that."
"How so?" Eva asked taking another drag from her cigarette.
"Healers are more than just...well healers," Spectra began. "Your kind's the opposite of us Necromancers. While our power derives from death and darkness yours is fueled by life and light. While Necromancers are the results of an angel of death breeding with a human, healers are the results of a human mating with angel of life."
"But both my parents were humans and so was my dad's mother?"
Spectra nodded. "Unlike Necromancers the healer gene is recessive. Your mother's great grandmother was a healer from what I recall but because she married a normal human the trait became recessive in your genes. The fact the healer gene ended up awakening with you was pure chance. It's also why coming across someone born with the active healer gene is like finding a needle in a hay stack," she explained. "It's like if I had green eyes and had kids with someone with brown eyes. Our kids would have brown eyes because that trait is dominant over the trait for green eyes. That gene never goes away though so later down the road there's a chance my grand-kids could have green eyes one day."
Eva nodded outening her cigarette in the ash tray. "Makes sense I guess."
"It just a matter of biology, nothing fancy or supernatural about it really," Spectra said. "Anyway back to the whole healer thing.
"Like I said before you can do so much more than just heal people. Because you're the descendent of an angel of life, and the healer trait is active in you, you have the ability to do magic and are a little more resilient than a normal human. You probably noticed you don't damage as easily as others?" Eva nodded. "With the proper training you could become a high leveled light sorcerer one day. No one would wanna mess with you."
"Could you teach me?" Eva asked her eyes wide and eager to learn more about her ability. Perhaps if she learned more about it, and how to use it to defend herself, she wouldn't have to worry so much about the repercussions of using it to help people. She smiled at the thought. "You and Jasper?"
"I can't teach you everything," Spectra warned. "But I can teach you the basics of magic using and we can go from there."
"That's all I need!" Eva said with a smile on her face.
Spectra smiled as well happy to see the glee in Eva's eyes instead of the void they'd been before. "There is the matter of the elder still."
Eva stiffened at the mention of Bertrand. "He's gone for the week taking care of something. We have until he gets back to figure something out."
"If he's as interested in you as he claims he probably has something keeping tabs on you," Spectra said with a sigh. "In that case we'll have to be quick with our plans before they notice something's wrong and word gets back to the elder."
"What do you suggest we do first?"
"For now," Spectra began. "You should go home and act as if nothing's changed. We'll meet tomorrow after you and Jasper are done with classes and plan from there."
Eva nodded, rising from her chair with Spectra. She shrugged on her winter coat and threw her bag over her shoulder. As they walked down to the coffee shop below Eva looked back to the apartment above with worry.
"Will Jasper really be ok?" she asked in concern. "He seemed really worked up about all this."
Spectra gave her a reassuring smile. "He just allowed his emotions get the better of him today. It's been a long time since that happened and I think it just shook him a bit. He'll be fine by tomorrow."
Eva nodded not totally convinced as they got closer to the front door of the shop. "You said Jasper and I knew one another before my parents died," Spectra froze, her hand on the handle of the front door. "How close were we or...um...what kind of relationship did we have?"
Spectra smiled, the expression tinged with regret and quilt as she looked into Eva's eyes. "You'll remember in time Eva. I think it would be better that those memories return on their own or for Jasper to tell you." Spectra opened the front door revealing the busy afternoon streets of the city to Eva. "I'll see you tomorrow and be sure to sue those wards I made if you don't feel safe."
Eva's eyes widened and she turned around in the door way to look at Spectra. "You made those?"
Spectra grinned, the expression looking exactly like the one she'd seen on Jasper's face multiple times. "I snuck them into your things when I knew Lucile wasn't paying attention the last time I saw you."
Eva chuckled shaking her head as she waved goodbye to the strange woman and made her way home.