Lucinda barely stepped inside the room before she noticed five pairs of eyes focus on her. She was proud of herself; she only swallowed hard once before she glanced up,
“I assume you heard what they were asking?”
Kyle growled but turned away as Laura approached,
“You seemed hesitant about fulfilling their request. May i ask why? You seeed pretty insistent beforehand.” she said.
Lucinda glanced behind her as her sister entered the room, Markov asleep in her arms, “Sorry i’m late. We can’t find his teddy bear and either his father or me is the only replacement he’ll allow.” she whispered.
Laura smiled at the sleeping child, “My little one has the same problem. Her father has a hell of a time getting her to bed.” She turned back to Lucinda, “If it’s something you’d prefer not to discuss, i understand. But i feel like it may help us make a decision.”
Lucinda smiled, “Our mother beat it into us neer to allow this secret out of the family. Took me a minute to realize you are part of the family now.”
Clearing her throat, she motioned to the table and chairs across the room; once they were seated, she began.
“A hundred or so years ago one of our ancestors was murdered by a group of his own men. Infuriated, his wife ordered them executed and their bodies taken down to the dungeons to… ripen, as it were. On her death bed, she bound their souls to serve our family until she said otherwise.”
She glanced up and met each of their gazes, “Our mother now controls them… and they must obey her every command, even if it’s slaughtering an entire continent of innocent people.”
Abaddon grunted, “You’re worried another Bastard Tyrant could be born to our family.”
Lucinda nodded, “My great grandmother never intended for
them to be used like this; the spell is one our family has perfected over the
last few hundred years, and it’s purpose is to give the dead a chance to repay
the living for slights they committed against them.”
Abaddon glanced at Kyle before saying, “And why do you need
all of our permissions to fulfill this contract when you only needed mine
before?”
“Because this one requires an offering of blood to start. Specifically, of those living they wronged. Once the process is begun,
I’ll need the blood of every living family member to seal it. This isn’t an
easy spell to use, and I’ll also need to make sure the terms are agreed upon beforehand.” Lucinda said.
Kyle flinched, “Sharing my blood with those bastards is bad
enough, but using my blood to bind them to us?”
Lucinda glanced at him, “Once
the contract is made, they can’t betray the family, even if it goes against what the caster originally intended for them and it can’t be broken save by the Necromancer who made it.
It’s why my mother still has control of those souls; only my great grandmother
can release them.”
“I’m not sure how
this changes things; it’s still a matter of if we’re willing to let them
protect us or not.” Laura said.
Kyle shook his head, “Blood magic is dangerous no matter who
uses it. Even if the spell is perfect, if the agreement is flawed, or the caster isn’t as strong as they believe themselves to be,” he met Lucinda’s
gaze with an angry one, “it can come back to bite everyone involved.”
Lucinda gritted her teeth and let her temper get the better of her, “I take it you know that last part
first hand? How badly did you screw up your spell?”
Kyle stood abruptly, a ball of blue-black flames appearing
in his hand,
“Kyle!” Abaddon shouted, “That’s enough! You know better
than to act like this. Now stow the flames and sit the hell down.”
Lucinda watched Kyle extinguish the fireball before pulling
his chair back to the table and sitting with his hands crossed on the table’s
surface.
He glared at her as he said, “My apologies.” Through gritted
teeth.
Tobias sighed, “I swear he’s normally not this badly
behaved.”
Kyle’s eyes turned a dark red and Tobias yelped, standing
and closing his hand around the smoking end of his tail. Abaddon gave Kyle a
warning look,
“Don’t Father. I take after you, remember?” Kyle said.
Abaddon sighed, “I know. Which is why I’ve done my best to
teach you not to act like me.”
Tobias leaned behind his sister’s chair and slapped the back
of Kyle’s head, which caused the Tiger to rise from his chair again and
confront his brother. The smell of Honeysuckle grew stronger, with the scent of
smoke underlying it.
“I know you’re upset mom, but that’s not going to stop me
this time.” Kyle said.
Tobias growled, “Bring it with both hands, little brother.”
Laura stood, scooting her chair between her brothers before
turning and grabbing them by their ears, “How about I beat you both for acting
like a couple of children? I’m sure I can take you, considering my Mathew is
tougher than both of you.”
Kyle snorted, “There’s a bit of difference between fighting
and getting screwed, sister.”
Tobias grunted, “We agree on that at least.”
Laura growled and wrenched their ears, “I swear the two of
you will be giving all of us gray hairs. This isn’t an easy time for any of us, and the last thing we need to
be doing is going at each other’s throats!”
“Momma,” they all glanced over as Markov spoke, “why is
everyone yelling?”
Natasha glared at the brothers, “Little misunderstanding
between everyone, love. Would you like to stay with your father for a bit?”
Markov nodded, “Can I kiss Aunt Lucinda bye first?”
Natasha smiled, “Of course.”
Lucinda kissed her nephew’s cheek as he kissed hers, “Sorry.
We didn’t mean to wake you.”
Markov rubbed at his eye sleepily, “It’s okay. I just don’t
know why they’re all yelling; they’re in the same room.”
Rubbing his back, Natasha left the room, closing the door
behind her; Laura released her brothers who, rubbing their sore ears, sat back
down.
Kyle glanced at Lucinda side-ways, “Sorry. I hope we didn’t
upset him.”
Lucinda sighed, “I believe that’s my line to you. Whatever
spell that failed, it must have been bad, and I apologize for striking that
nerve.”
Kyle shook his head, “I was trying to preserve someone’s
soul, and ended up binding said soul to a bookcase in my room.”
Lucinda flinched, “A friend I take it?”
Kyle nodded, “Look… if it were anyone else, I would be okay
with you binding them to our family. But these three… they murdered our mother.
I’m not sure them serving us till the world ends would be enough to make up for
that.”
Sekmet cleared her throat, “Maybe not… but it’s a start,
right? We haven’t talked about my sister since her death, and every year it
seems like we’re trying our best to keep her memory alive without actually
remembering her.”
Tobias grunted, “We can’t remember her that well anymore.”
Laura nodded, “We were young when she passed, and while we
still remember some things…”
“It’s not the same as having a real memory of her.” Kyle
said.
Abaddon dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief, “I haven’t
wanted to share any of the stories I have of her for fear of causing everyone
more pain.”
Kyle sniffed, “Don’t worry. You’d be right about that; it
would only make me angrier.”
Laura touched Kyle’s shoulder, “Yeah, and we only need one
short fused person in the family.”
“Your fuse isn’t that short, sis.” Kyle said, “I still have
my head after all.”
Lucinda cleared her throat, “It’s up to you what you want
done. But I would suggest at least moving your father’s head to a separate
cell. I can’t imagine how they stayed sane with him talking… so…”
Sekmet blinked, “Lucinda, what’s wrong?”
“He was awake when I went into the room. That shouldn’t be
possible, especially not with how long he was there.” Lucinda glanced up as her
sister came back into the room, “Tasha, were you down in the basement at all
before now?”
Natasha blinked, “No… why?”
Dread sent a chill down the core of her chest, “The tyrant’s
skull was awake when I went in.”
Her sister paled, and she glanced at Abaddon, “Where’s the
rest of his body?”
The tiger king blinked, “I had him drawn and quartered. The
head remained here, but I gave the four pieces of his body to Fox Lord, the
Bear King and sent the Wolf Queen one as well.”
“That’s only three; what about the last piece?” Lucinda
asked.
“I… I gave it to your grandfather on your father’s side.”
Abaddon said slowly.
Lucinda and Natasha exchanged a glance, and their faces went
even paler, “I don’t remember seeing an arm or leg anywhere, do you?” Lucinda
asked.
Natasha nodded, “Once. Dad had it locked up in the vault. He
told me he destroyed it when mother turned out to be a Necromancer.”
Lucinda laughed humorlessly, “Like mother would ever let
something that powerful out of her grasp.”
She turned back to the tigers, “Has there been any violence
or unrest in the three other kingdoms recently?”
“How recent?” Tobias asked.
Lucinda’s eyes widened, “So there has been?”
“The Fox Lords second eldest son tried to stage a coup and
died in the attempt.” Tobias said.
“When was this?” Natasha asked.
“Sometime last year. His father had his body hung up as a
warning to his co-conspirators.”
Lucinda cursed, “His soul would be seeking revenge and be an
easy target,” she glanced at Natasha, “Ion’s mother is a Striga. I should have
realized sooner something was up; I’ve never known one of those things to let
go of a host so easily.”
Natasha shook her head, “You didn’t know mother would have a
direct connection to her though,” she glanced at Abaddon, “what about the
Bears?”
“Well,” Abaddon said, “this didn’t happen recently, but the
current Bear King’s uncle tried over throwing the former king about a year
before I killed my father. He was executed but I’m not sure what they did with
his body.”
Lucinda made a sound of panic, “Shit, shit, shit! Tasha, do
you have anyone who can warn them?”
Natasha shook her head, “No one that fast! The three other
kingdoms are two or three days away in each direction!”
“Ladies!” Abaddon said, “Could you please clue the rest of
us in on what’s happened?”
Lucinda swallowed hard, “Our mother may have just used your
father to overthrow three kingdoms at once.”
… you know my brain has been on fire since this plot point popped into it. Hopefully it’ll get things going.
@inumorph @howtobangyourmonster @momolady @terato-imagines @zarcake-writes @karanthos
MonstersinBlackSilk 