Chapter Two

The air was still and silent. Poppy opened her eyes and whimpered. Pain erupted in her head and her body ached all over. Her arms were like lead and her legs felt like they’d never been used before.

Her gown was white with streaks of red crimson. Not her usual black dress. Her blood stained the white fabric. Her hair was black and lay down one shoulder.

“It takes a while to adjust,” a voice spoke to her left. She looked around her. The scene was washed in grey. No colour, no light or dark—a simple blankness with no emotion.

“Where am I?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t attempt to move right now. You feel, yet struggle in this desolate place.” A figure, obscured by a cloak similar to the one she wore in the real world walked forward.

Poppy lay down and looked up at nothing.

“Where am I?” she asked again.

“You should know.”

“I’ve never been here.”

“You have not visited, but you have. You will never know what truly happens until you learn to accept who you are and what you are.”

“Okay, you know you can use contractions, right?”

Poppy was struck across the face.

No pain, nothing.

It was as if this place had been cut off from any emotion.

“Open your eyes, Poppy.”

Strange, I thought I had.

Poppy opened her eyes and gazed at a woman, so beautiful and calm.

“How do you feel now?” she asked.

Poppy tested her body and found no aches or pains.

“I’m fine.”

“You must accept.”

“Please, tell me where I am,” she begged.

A mirror appeared before her. “Mirrors are so useful. I imagine when humans made them, they had no idea of the multiple uses they had for people higher than themselves.”

Whoever this woman was, Poppy didn’t like her. Glancing in the mirror, she saw her body slumped to the ground.

“How can a mirror be used like this?”

“What makes necromancers so great and so deadly is their ability to produce the same artefacts found in only three places.” The woman stood behind her.

“What are you talking about?”

“This is a mirror that sees on the other side. Heaven, hell and limbo each own an exact replica.”

“Why do you have one?”

“As there is only one heaven, hell and limbo, there is also only one necromancer. You, Poppy, are the only one of your kind, as they were all hunted to extinction,” the woman said. She spoke slowly, each word pronounced and not rushed.

“But, in that case, wouldn’t witches and other beings have them too?”

The woman gave a snort of disgust. “They multiply and spread like a disease. Mirrors such as these only show themselves to the rarest of creatures. Nothing but a true necromancer can possess one of these. Witches and other things have their own weapons they make to protect themselves. This is a lifeline to protect you.”

Poppy rolled her eyes.

“Who are you?”

“Take a look at me and open your eyes. Only someone true and pure can visit this place. A calling has been made, Poppy, and the men who awakened your necromancer power saw this day. You must act.”

Poppy recalled the day with disdain. For centuries she’d lived with a calling. Alone, cursed to be so forever. “I didn’t choose this.”

“It doesn’t matter. Your time has come and in a few weeks you’re going to have to make a choice. Look at me, Poppy.”

She turned from the mirror and stared at the beautiful woman. No recognition at all.

“I don’t know you.”

“Open your eyes and your brain.”

Would she be punished for killing this woman?

“A necromancer doesn’t kill until necessary.”

I’m feeling it’s necessary, right now.

She stared into the woman’s eyes and did what was asked of her. The spark flew in her brain and woke her up.

“No, it can’t be.”

“Yes, it is.”

Poppy took a step back and circled the room. She couldn’t breathe. Life was unfair and she couldn’t accept this. Her life had been a constant nonstop of decisions, changes and choices.

“Calm down, Poppy. If you don’t, when you wake you’ll be in terrible danger.”

“No. I can’t do this.”

“You know what you have to do. This will start the end.”

Poppy screamed. The first bit of true emotion. The sound vibrated off the walls, shattering the blankness. At least the outburst answered one of her questions. This place could only survive without the true onset of feeling.

Great to know I come from a long line of unfeeling bastards.

Another scream, the sound agonising to her ears, and the fantasy world crumbled.

She woke up in her room. A sound tore from her throat.

 

* * * *

 

Adam heard the screams and determination took over. Nothing would hold him back. He thought of Poppy and rammed the door. In two pushes it crashed open. Poppy lay on the floor, her shirt open, scars marring her chest and every part of her skin visible around the dress she always wore. A high-pitched scream erupted out of throat.

He rushed to her side, not caring what his family thought.

A fountain of red blood gushed from her mouth. Her chest had criss-cross lines smeared with red. She lay on her back, choking. Acting on instinct alone, he took her in his arms and forced the liquid that was stopping her from breathing out of her mouth.

The stuff smelt bitter and acrid to him. He pulled her long hair from her face while she spewed over his leg.

There was a coldness that spread through her and Adam scented a change. Panic set in and before he could think about what he was doing Adam tore open his wrist and pressed it over her mouth. “Take my blood,” he said.

She shook him off and pulled out of his arms, rejecting what he had to offer.

“Stop being stubborn.”

“Adam, give her a second,” William said from the doorway.

He couldn’t cope with seeing her in pain. She lay back and a cry sprang forth out of her mouth. Adam had to cover his ears to keep himself from trying to force-feed her his blood, the only source of medication he knew how to use.

“Please,” she begged the sky.

He moved away and watched her bleeding. There was a look of utter concentration on her face, followed swiftly by the sudden red glaze of her eyes.

A shadow loomed over her.

She closed her eyes and within seconds—before his very eyes—the blood soaked back inside her body. He crawled away, freaked out by what he was witnessing. The blood on the carpet absorbed back into her skin until she lay on a pristine white carpet, gasping for breath one second then settling down.

“What the fuck?” Jason, who had finally managed to make it upstairs, voiced everyone’s opinion.