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CROWMON BARELY PAID any attention to the latest ritual sacrifices that were being performed in his name. He’d relegated the beheadings to the vampire and werewolf executioners this time. His attention was on the witch who had gotten away from Hilda and her fellow zombies last night.
The witch had been old and overweight, but she’d somehow managed to escape from the fate he’d intended for her. No matter how much death magic he’d funneled into his minions through their link, they hadn’t been able to infiltrate her home. He no longer possessed olde-worlde magic that had enabled him to supersede the magic of Nox. He’d needed to mix Raum’s demonic magic with his own power to pull that trick off in the past. It was beyond his abilities now.
He’d been forced to send all of his zombies into hiding in the forest last night. He’d paced up and down in his shrine all day, waiting for night to fall so he could finish off the witch with his waiting horde of rats and crows. To his chagrin, the old hag had outsmarted him. It seemed she’d left her house several hours before nightfall. She’d already reached the City Square when one of his roaming spies saw her raising the alarm.
Crowmon watched through the eyes of one of his crows as the witch ranted at passersby in the City Square. Her fellow magic users were gathering around her as she screeched at them that zombies had attacked her last night.
The crowd parted when the Immortal Triumvirate made their appearance. The Guild Masters from all four guildhalls also arrived. “What is the meaning of this?” Lord Kreaton bellowed, cutting off the witch in mid-screech. “Why are you attempting to incite a panic?”
“Four zombies tried to attack me last night, my lord,” the witch said. “Something needs to be done about them before they overwhelm us all!” Her gray hair was wild and her brown dress was soaked with sweat from her long walk to the square through the heat of the late afternoon sun. It wasn’t raining yet, but clouds were gathering along with the increasing crowd numbers.
“What is your name, witch?” Guild Master Onvier asked with his upper lip curled in derision.
“Poppy, Guild Master,” she replied.
“Aren’t you a little old to be working for the Magic Guild?” Lord Dallinar asked in a bored tone.
“Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I’m useless,” Poppy snapped.
“Mind your tone when you speak to your betters, witch,” Lord Graham growled, lowering his bushy ginger eyebrows threateningly.
Poppy glowered at him, unafraid of the alpha shifter. “Aren’t any of you worried that walking corpses are killing people again?” she asked in disgust at their complete lack of concern.
“Where did you see these zombies, madam?” Raum asked her skeptically. He hadn’t heard anything about the dead walking the streets from any of his scouts.
“In a suburb where elderly witches and wizards live,” Poppy replied, eyeing the demon warily.
“Perhaps we should teleport to the location where you saw them,” Guild Master Onvier suggested and waved his hand at the lilac-haired fairy. “I’m sure Lord Dallinar won’t have any trouble transporting us all there.” He smirked, knowing the fae lord would have to use his wand to perform the spell. It would be mortifying for everyone to see how weak he’d become.
“I’ve heard you’ve gained considerable strength since you’ve become the Magic Guild Master,” Lord Dallinar retorted, eyes flashing with hatred. “Perhaps you should do the honors.”
Orange and emerald green eyes locked in a battle of wills that was broken by Guild Master Latour. “If zombies are infesting the Fae District, we don’t have time to stand around being petty,” he said in his heavy European accent.
“Can’t you combine your power to teleport us to the area Poppy saw the corpses?” Guild Master Reed suggested diplomatically. The alpha werebear stood head and shoulders above most of the crowd.
“That won’t be necessary,” Onvier said with a toss of his auburn hair. “I will take us there on my own.” He turned to Poppy. “Concentrate on where you saw these supposed zombies,” he said in a condescending tone. The witch did as she was asked, then the elf teleported all eight of them to a decrepit area of the Fae District. It didn’t embarrass him to use his wand. He wasn’t a ruler of the city, yet.
“How delightful,” Raum said with a slight sneer as he took in the overgrown yards, derelict houses and general disrepair of the area. “I love what you’ve done with your District,” he added, glancing at Lord Dallinar and Guild Master Onvier.
“What’s the point in maintaining the streets if no one lives here?” Onvier said with a shrug.
“I live here,” Poppy said, jerking her thumb at her chest. “A lot of retirees live in this area.”
“We don’t have all night,” Lord Kreaton said and motioned at her. “Where did you see these creatures?”
“I first noticed them over there,” Poppy said and pointed further along the street. She led the way to the spot where she’d frozen the zombies, but there were no traces of them.
“I can’t smell anything unusual,” Guild Master Reed said after taking a deep sniff.
“Neither can I,” Lord Graham agreed. His allies glanced at him and Lord Dallinar subtly rolled his eyes. The alpha werewolf hadn’t been able to smell anything for the past century and a half, but he kept up the pretense that he could.
“Exactly what happened last night, madam?” Raum asked. He saw a crow with pale green eyes land on a rooftop, but he didn’t pay it much attention.
“Lightning flared and I saw movement from the corner of my eye,” Poppy said. “I looked back to see four cloaked people following me. Their eyes were light green, but also milky. The lead one’s face had turned all black and horrible. They chased me, but I managed to reach my house before they could eat me. They banged on the door and windows, but vanished once the sun rose.” She received skeptical looks from everyone and put her hands on her pudgy hips. “I’m not making this up! They were real and they tried to kill me!”
“They must have been very slow if they couldn’t catch a woman of your age and considerable weight,” Onvier said callously.
Poppy’s face went red and she clenched her hands into tight fists. “Are you calling me fat?” she demanded.
“Yes,” he replied and gestured at her. “Have you seen yourself? You’re clearly grossly overweight. As for why you’ve concocted this ridiculous tale about zombies, you’re obviously in dire need of attention. It’s possible you’re losing your hold on reality, considering your advanced age.”
The witch’s mouth dropped open at his brutal assessment of her. “I’d heard you were an arrogant little bastard,” she said coldly. “But I didn’t realize you were stupid as well.”
Lord Dallinar gasped at the slur and Onvier’s pale face pinkened slightly. “Are you going to let that insult slide, Guild Master?” the fairy asked slyly.
Surrounded by his peers, Onvier knew he couldn’t vaporize the witch like he desperately wanted to. He had to handle this like a leader, which meant he had to merely punish her rather than kill her. “In light of your obvious mental decline, you are hereby no longer a member of the Magic Guild,” he decreed. “You are banned from entering the Magic Guildhall and you are to be confined to this neighborhood. If you break the rules, you will be incarcerated until you’ve learned your lesson. Is that clear?”
Poppy was quivering with rage and her eyes watered even more than usual. “Oh, it’s clear, alright,” she spat. “You’re supposed to be the leaders of Nox, but you’re just a bunch of useless, vain morons.”
Raum blinked at the insult, admiring her pluck while wondering which of his colleagues were going to smite her down for her blatant insolence.
“I don’t have time for this,” Onvier said with a scowl. “Obey my orders, or you’ll be punished,” he said, then teleported away.
Lord Dallinar hastily took his wand out and vanished a moment later. Lord Kreaton and Lord Graham exchanged knowing looks. Their ally had trouble teleporting just the three of them. He couldn’t focus well enough to transport them all back to the City Square.
“I guess we’ll have to take a carriage,” Guild Master Reed said after sharing a glance with Guild Master Latour.
“I’ll see you gents at our next meeting,” Raum said. He didn’t bother to wait for a carriage. Instead, he changed into his demon form and flew back to the square.
Poppy waited for a carriage to arrive and take the two Guild Masters and two Immortal Triumvirate members away. She was seething in rage at how she’d been treated by her leaders. She trudged over to her door, then bent down when she spied a scrap of fabric that had been torn off by a protruding nail. “This isn’t over,” she said darkly as she shoved the cloth into her pocket. “The zombies were real and everyone needs to know about them.”
Crowmon withdrew his consciousness from his feathered minion and sagged on his throne in relief. His congregation were in the middle of an orgy. His High Priest and Priestess were fornicating on the platform directly in front of him. “That was a close one,” he whispered, then giggled beneath his breath. He would have to leave Poppy alone for now. If he made her disappear straight away, the Immortal Triumvirate and Guild Masters might put some credence into her warning.
His minions were going to have to be more careful when they hunted. He couldn’t allow them to be discovered again. His plans would fall apart if his enemies became aware that the undead were spreading through the Vampire and Fae Districts. Soon, they would begin infiltrating the Shifter District as well. The only areas he wasn’t going to build his army were the Night Cursed and Demon Districts. He wasn’t about to tangle with demons and the cursed were too drained to be of any use to him.
“I don’t need them,” he murmured as he waited for the frenzied sex to wind down so he could be alone again. He would have enough soldiers in his undead army without adding hell spawn or the cursed beings to the mix. Raum could still be of use to him once the god became the new leader of the City of Night. They could reach an agreement that would prove to be beneficial to them both. He smirked as his plans ran through his mind. Meanwhile, his former beloved screamed in ecstasy as her new lover drove her over the edge into temporary bliss.
