Free Necromancer's Control (Trix SinClara) by Emma Faragher Page A

didn’t have time to stop and chat. The giant was fully human – his height was due to a medical condition rather than supernatural ancestry – but he too had been the subject of rumours. He smiled at us, showing teeth from behind the hair he’d taken to flopping over his face. I wondered if he’d not done something to at least feed the rumours whenever I saw him playing to them like that. It helped to keep people from messing with him or his at any rate.
    “What’s the goal for today?” Ali asked as we left the square and passed into even narrower alleys. Ali had convinced me to let her have a small light spell instead of a torch when we went out. At night in the back alleys even someone with perfect vision would struggle so I’d relented on the condition that she didn’t use it where the majority of the mortals would see us. She got it out as we left the square, lighting up an area several metres across and completely obliterating everything else from vision, even hers.
    “The Lowers,” I replied, m y voice as emotionless as I could make it. The place did not hold fond memories for me.
    The big reveal had brought more problems than I liked to contemplate. The Covenant had not very subtly conveyed to me that they would hold me responsible for any trouble coming out of the back alleys. They tended to dislike necros on principle and I was no exception. I’d been tempted to simply disappear again into another part of the country but I liked Devon and I knew the alleyways like the back of my hand. No witch was going to force me out of my home. Not that they’d really be able to find me anyway. They always worked through intermediaries, mainly our local police captain. Jessica Telhari had been owed a debt of honour by my mother that I’d finally paid off six months ago. It had been that which had brought me to the attention of the Covenant in the first place.
    I’d not been down to the L owers since finding out that my Wraith of an ex-fiancé had been draining humans to keep himself alive. It wasn’t so much the humans that I’d worried about as the attention it brought on our world. Not to mention the fact that it had brought me to the attention of the Covenant and by extension the High Council. Carlo had been far more trouble than he was worth but he got what he deserved in the end. So far, I’d been putting off going to the Lowers and instead making myself known to the general population of the back alleys, specifically the odd rogue witch and a couple of vampyre who were actually very sweet but nearing the end of their lives. The magic they’d had as witches was starting to run out but they were very welcoming. Not even a hint of naughty spells to keep them alive either. I liked that in a vampyre.

The Lowers were always a bit dodgy. The rickety-looking wooden platforms and struts looked like they should fall down the cliff at any time. It was one of the reasons people stayed away from the place if they could. This was also one of the few places that I could see better than Ali. She let go of my arm so that I’d have my hands free and waited for me to start a step ahead of her. This was mostly a cataloguing mission but it never hurt to be careful. Nobody had been able to tell us exactly what was down here. Especially on the bottom levels.
    The glow seemed to have intensified in the months since I’d last been here. More spells I didn’t recognise were splashed about the place in a show of power that surely even a human would feel. It looked far less natural too. There were several parts that were very clearly not held up by any natural means. Looked like someone was using magic to keep away the human interlopers. Although, honestly? That big a show of power would make most witches pause at the very least.
    We didn’t bother with the top level but started down first one flight of stairs and then another. Further down than I’d ever wanted to go. The sound of the waves intensified as we descended. The