Free Evil Abounds: An Alpha Guardians Prequel by Vivian Wood Page A

continued on. It was easy enough for Mere Marie to contact a spirit, but to reach out from beyond the grave and communicate with a living being, Kith or no… the power needed was unthinkable.
    “You came to me some time ago, seeking the power to seed a protectorate for the city,” Le Medcin said at last. His voice was an unearthly baritone, so deep that hearing it made Mere Marie shiver with a mixture of pleasure and fear.
    She couldn’t stop watching his mouth as he spoke, his paper-thin flesh giving her glimpses of his teeth and jaws. His nose was there one moment, gone the next, revealing a gaping black hole for a few seconds, blinking in and out. It was like watching a very old movie, seeing the frames as they flickered by.
    “Oui,” Mere Marie said, thinking it best to keep her answers brief.
    “You may have it,” Le Medcin said. He paused, then grinned. For a moment, his skin on his head was completely gone, leaving him a skeleton. “On one condition.”
    “Which would be?” Mere Marie asked, keeping her tone polite.
    Le Medcin raised a bony hand and pointed at Mere Marie’s writing desk. Her ink pen rose, the tip touching down on a blank piece of stationery, and thick swirls of ink bloomed on the page. Twelve names, most unfamiliar to Mere Marie.
    “You may have three from this list. Choose those in the most immediate need.” Le Medcin lowered his hand and pinned her with a gaze. The skeleton disappeared, flesh returning to his form, and Mere Marie was startled to find that Le Medcin had eyes green as emeralds. “You’ll choose wisely, I’m sure.”
    “Oui, Monsieur,” Mere Marie said, bowing her head a few inches.
    “I leave what you need to complete the ritual,” Le Medcin said, nodding his head at the corner of Mere Marie’s desk. To her astonishment, a thin leather-bound book, a large flat mirror, and an ornate silver dagger appeared on the desk. Her mouth opened to ask how could Le Medcin bring forth physical objects from the other side of the Veil, but she was too late.
    With an impish wiggle of his fingers, Le Medcin simply vanished from the window. Mere Marie turned her head on impulse, but of course she already knew that the room was empty. She sucked in a deep breath, stepping over to her desk to examine the objects that Le Medcin had left her. She was nearly afraid to touch the inexplicably summoned items, a subtle reminder that though Mere Marie might run the Kith in the Vieux Carre, Le Medcin was infinitely more powerful.
    She picked up the dagger first, gingerly turning it over. The hilt was smooth and unremarkable, except for its obvious age. The blade, though… every inch of the dagger’s blade was covered with dense, intricately etched whorls. Mere Marie felt that they were some kind of text, rather than merely a beautiful design, but it was hard to be certain.
    Setting the dagger aside, she examined the book. It was bound in crisp black leather with bright gold filigree. Its spine was perfect and uncracked, as if it had never been opened, but Mere Marie’s senses told her that the book was much, much older than she herself. With the lightest touch she could manage, Mere Marie opened the book to the first page. Thin lines of ink blossomed there, forming two elegantly-scrawled words:

    M ere Marie waited to see if the book had anything else to tell her, but it seemed that nothing more was forthcoming. It did seem that she now had a name for her warriors, though. She supposed that it would be a waste of time to wonder who had chosen that name, but it did suit her purposes perfectly.
    Last, she turned to the mirror. She picked it up, her touch causing ripples to float across the surface. Frowning, she peered at the reflection.
    Several scenes flashed in quick succession — Mere Marie as a human child, holding her mother’s hand and eating a piece of sorghum candy, her chubby cheeks working as she stared up at her mother. Mere Marie lighting a candle on an ancestor’s grave,