Free Still Not Dead Enough , Book 2 of The Dead Among Us by J. L. Doty

permanently.
    “Say you figure out an alchemical spell for turning lead or iron into gold. Go ahead, make yourself rich. But don’t make so much gold that you start affecting world financial markets. That might prompt someone to start asking the kind of questions we don’t want asked. We’ll step in.
    “And you already know about setting a demon loose in this life, either purposefully or by accident, we’ll step in. We’ll get rid of the demon, then sit down and have a talk about how we can be certain you won’t do it again. And if the talk doesn’t reassure us sufficiently, you probably won’t survive it.”
    McGowan kept referring to we , as if there was some organization. “Who’s we ? Is there some group, or council or something?”
    McGowan shook his head. “There’s about a dozen of us worldwide that are in a league all our own. There’s me, Karpov and Colleen. You’re about to meet Salisteen. Then there’s Charlie Stowicz in New York, three or four in Europe, three or four more in Asia, couple in South America, one in Australia. We’re a pretty stubborn, contrary bunch that, by and large, don’t usually get along well. But there are certain things that’ll make us band together.”
    McGowan chuckled, laughing at some private joke. “That Russian wants us to get organized, write down rules, have an executive council. We’d have rank based on power; the more powerful you are, the higher your rank. All that kind of stuff.”
    Paul grimaced. “And I suppose Karpov wants to be the head of this executive council?”
    “Exactly,” McGowan said, shaking his head sadly. “Though the rank-power relationship thing already exists in a de facto fashion. It’s only natural.”
    “Where would that put you?”
    “I’d be up there, kid. I’ve been at the top of the feeding chain for a long time.”
    “And me?”
    McGowan looked at Paul as if appraising him carefully. “Too soon to say, kid. Clearly you’ll be well above the middle ranks. But how much above, only time, practice and experience will tell. And you are unique.”
    “The necromancer thing?”
    “Ya, the necromancer thing?”
    “Sounds like there’s a bunch of factions. What faction are you part of?”
    McGowan shrugged and grinned. “You might say I’m one of the leaders of the anarchist faction: no organization, no committees, and we already have enough rules.”
    Paul thought it through carefully. “So you help me out, you teach me, I’m the sorcerer’s apprentice and all that, and I’ll naturally feel indebted. So you’ll probably gain a supporter, and who knows how much rank I’ll be able to put behind that support.”
    McGowan threw his head back and laughed loudly. “Well, you ain’t stupid, kid.”
    “What about the Sidhe? How do they play into this?”
    “Good question. The Sidhe are enormously powerful in Faerie, but weaker here in the Mortal Plane. With a few exceptions, here they’re more like mid-level practitioners. If they can control one or more of us, then that gives them strength here.”
    “And how would they control me?”
    McGowan’s focus drifted away for a moment, and he smiled as if at a fond memory. “The Sidhe of the royal blood can be quite beguiling, and that is probably the only capability they have that isn’t weakened here on the Mortal Plane. When they want to be, the men and women both are the most beautiful beings you have ever seen. They can turn it on and off like a light switch. I’ve seen mortal men without the slightest homosexual tendency, become so obsessed with a Sidhe male they destroy themselves with the compulsion. But more than that, if you’re not prepared, they can make you want them, desire to please them, willing to do anything to make them happy. You become a virtual slave without even knowing it, obsessively, compulsively needing their constant approval.”
    The limo pulled into a large U-shaped driveway in front of an enormous McMansion, easily twenty thousand square