Thomas’s eyes drooped. “For every young necromancer you bring me, I will bring one of your friends back. And to be sure you mean no harm, one of you will stay with me here as insurance.”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Done.”

Erik let out a strangled squawk. “And who do you propose we leave behind?”

Thomas looked me straight in the eye, holding me with his gaze. There was only one person he would allow to stay with him. Fuck, might as well get it over with.

I shifted my weight, cocking one knee and crossing my arms. “That’s simple. I’ll stay.”

Chapter 14

A chorus of ‘no’s’ ripped out of all three boys at the same time. I ignored them, staring at Thomas. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

His lips quirked up. “You read me very well, Tracker. Why is that?”

Truth was, I was good at reading people and had a knack for knowing what they wanted. Maybe not always the why, but I could usually dredge at least the ‘what’ out of them. “You won’t settle for anyone else. You want to know what I know.”

Erik and Liam argued behind me but I ignored them. Thomas continued to hold my gaze. “You hold the prophecies in your head. The books that Jack would never share with me. I want to know what you know now that he is gone, and the books are destroyed.”

I stared at him, and my jaw dropped.

“Wait, they’re destroyed? No, I saw them—”

“They were destroyed upon his death being discovered. That was a task he left to the druid girl. And while it is not the way I would have done things, I do understand. In the wrong hands, the books are deadly.” Thomas drummed his fingers along his thighs twice, and then laced them in his lap. Waiting for me to say something.

I wracked my brain—did we tell Deanna that I’d taken the black-skinned book, that we’d left a dummy in its place? Shit, I didn’t think we had. And then of course there was the violet book, the Book of the Lost. Orion had it. So there were two books left, but we had no access to either of them. Orion had them both.

“You have thought of something important, I see the way the colors in your eyes spin and dance. Just like Jack, your eyes will always give you away.” Thomas gave a long shiver through his lanky body and let out a low moan that had my skin quivering with goose bumps.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I stepped back, my hands going to my weapons without another thought. I would kill him if I had to, which would be the shits since I needed him. He didn’t answer, just continued to moan and sway, increasing in intensity with each second.

Liam slid between me and Thomas, a low growl rumbling through his chest; I felt his wolf just under the surface, ready to explode. Alex was only a step behind, all the hair along his back standing at attention, mimicking Liam. Their growls filled the room, but over them Thomas spoke.

Swaying from side to side he said, “Someone is trying to rip the veil wide open. That would be … unfortunate for everyone.”

I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat, knowing exactly who it was. “What can we do?”

The necromancer’s body shivered and then went quiet, his long chin lowering to his chest. He barely seemed to breathe. “Nothing. His time is coming and there is nothing we can do to stop him. The rip is incomplete.”

Silence echoed through the room. He didn’t say who ‘he’ was, but we all knew.

Orion was trying again to break through the veil.

That was not what I wanted to hear, not by a long shot. Yet I knew there was nothing I could do, not right then.

Back to the task at hand.

I stepped around Liam and Alex, waving them to ease back. “I’ll bring you a young necromancer, but I want you to bring both women out of the deep levels of the veil. That’s the deal. A two for one. And I’ll stay here and answer all your questions, everything I can when it comes to the books of prophecy that I’ve read.”

Thomas’s head remained lowered against his chest. “No. One for one.”

I ground my teeth and shot a look to Liam.

“We can get them both out. We’re going to need help from someone who can jump the veil. I hate to say it, but there’s only one person we know who can do that now that Milly is trapped.”

My blood pressure went up another notch. I did not want to bring Faris in on this. I didn’t need to owe that bloodsucker anything. Even if we had worked out our differences.

Kinda.

It was Erik who cleared the air. “Thomas, we’ll get you your young ones to train, but we need to know that our friends are alive, otherwise there is no point to getting you what we want. Can you at least show them to us, allow us to speak to them?” I was shocked at his subservience, but it seemed to stir Thomas. Perhaps I needed Erik more than I thought. He was a level head where Liam and I tended to act first, think later. Ok, maybe that was just me, but Liam wasn’t much better, especially lately.

“Yes, that would be fair. Only I am no Tracker and do not have the ability to pinpoint people as such.” Thomas finally lifted his eyes, and they were heavily bloodshot, as if he’d been awake for days. “Bring me the two necromancers and I will allow one of you to go into the deep levels to bring your friends out.”

More and more restrictions he laid, and I wondered if he wanted to help us at all. “What the hell, you can’t keep changing the rules.” I clenched my hands hard to keep from grabbing my swords.

Erik touched my arm. “Let’s get what we need first.” His eyes pleaded with me to listen to him.

“Can I use your phone?” I ground out between teeth that really would rather say, fuck you asshole. But I didn’t. See, I could mature a little too.

Thomas gave a start. “I suppose. You wish to call the necromancers-R-us hotline?”

I glared at him while a smile tipped his lips up. Fucking necromancer thought he was a comedian now.

“You’ll find it in the kitchen. Though I do not know if it is connected or even works, I have not used it in many years.” He slumped deeper into his seat. I motioned at Erik and Alex to stay with him, as I strode out of the room. Liam grabbed my arm as we hit the foyer, stopping me in my tracks.

“Talk to me, Rylee, what are you planning?”

“You’re right, we need Faris to jump Frank here. That would be faster than anything else. But necromancers and vampires do not get along. Like hated enemies, kill each other on sight not get along. So I have to find a way to keep Faris from killing Frank to start with. That’s problem number one—and that’s just the start; then we have Faris and Thomas to deal with.” I waved my hand in the air several times to make my point. Bringing Faris here was going to be difficult at best. And potentially deadly for Frank. It had been sheer luck they hadn’t run into each other over the last month. Then again, Faris hadn’t stuck around once Doran claimed the vampire throne.