Kelly Hashway - Stalked by Death

Most people didn’t spend every waking minute thinking about death, but when most of your day consisted of raising corpses, what else could you really focus on? The guy in front of me was vicious. His skin hung off his bones, and he looked like he was ready to tear me to pieces. Sure, I’d raised him from the depths of Hell, but I would’ve thought the guy would welcome a break from eternal torture.

“See, the second you raise them, they’ll come right at you.” I stared the guy down, not taking my focus off him for a second. The last thing I wanted was to lose control of the soul and have it attack me—or worse, poor Leticia, who still wasn’t used to her necromancer powers. She cowered behind Randy, peeking one eye out at the corpse.

“Have a command ready, because if you give the soul time to turn on you, it will.” The guy reached for me, but I was already mixing my blood in my veins, letting my Gorgon blood do its magic. I locked eyes with the corpse. “Don’t move.” He froze, his bony fingers extended toward my neck. His eyes showed nothing but hatred for me.

“How come they listen to you?” Leticia broke me out of my trance. “I mean, I raised the guy. My blood brought him here, so why is he only listening to you?”

Being able to command any soul, whether I’d summoned it or not, was one of my special powers, an added perk that came with being a direct descendent of Medusa. Usually Ophi were able to do it once they became adults, but I’d been able to do it from the start. “He will listen to you, Leticia. You just have to show him you are in charge. You are the one with the power.”

“I don’t feel like I’m in charge.” She stepped out from behind Randy and moved closer to the corpse. “He came right at me and tried to bite me.”

“That would’ve been the end of him if he did bite you.” Alex moved to my side. “Your blood would’ve sent him straight back to Hell.”

Leticia’s eyes widened in horror. “Great, so I have to get bit every time I raise a soul?”

“No.” I elbowed Alex for teasing Leticia. She was a sweet girl, and even though Alex wasn’t trying to freak her out, he’d managed to. “Alex just means that the corpses really can’t hurt us. They’d end up hurting themselves.” Okay, now that wasn’t entirely true. The corpses could hurt us plenty, as long as we didn’t bleed on them in the process, but Leticia was very sensitive right now, so I needed to raise her spirits.

“Come on.” I walked over to her and positioned her two feet in front of the frozen corpse. Leticia was by no means intimidating. She was only five foot four, like me, but she had a tendency to cower behind her long blonde hair, making her look even smaller. “Try releasing his soul. Send him back to where he came from.”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, Leticia, tell him to go to Hell.”

I turned around and gave him a look, but he knew I wasn’t really mad. I couldn’t get mad at him. He’d chosen me over his family, even after I’d sentenced them to servitude in the underworld. Well, that and he was gorgeous. Like all Ophi, he had green eyes. His dirty blond hair was a little unruly in an “I-just-got-out-of-bed” kind of way. Not true bed head, just… sexy. He winked at me, and before I knew it I was smiling.

“Jodi?” Leticia had apparently been talking to me, asking for instructions.

“Right. Okay, tell the soul that you are releasing him and that he should go back to where he was before you summoned him. Be firm. Make him listen to you.”

Leticia nodded, but her bottom lip quivered. The April air still had a chill, but I knew that wasn’t the problem. She was scared. Unsure of herself. And that was going to get her hurt. She needed confidence to control the dead.

“Okay, I think we need a break.” I put my hand on Leticia’s shoulder. “Why don’t you and Randy go inside and help set up for dinner?”

“No.” Leticia shrugged my hand away. “I’m tired of being the weak link here. I have to figure out how to do this. Unfreeze him, Jodi.”

“Leticia, I was—”

“Just do it!”

I’d never seen Leticia this angry. I didn’t know what I’d said to make her get so upset. Still, I hesitated. I didn’t want her getting hurt because she was determined to prove a point. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure she was ready to control this soul.

“Forget it!” She broke into sobs. “You don’t even believe in me. Some teacher you are, Jodi.” She turned and ran for the mansion that we used as a school. Randy shook his head and followed her.

“Leticia!” I yelled after her, but she ignored me.

Alex wrapped his arms around me. “She’ll get over it. She’s been overly sensitive lately. It’ll pass.”

I nuzzled my head against Alex’s neck, breathing in his scent. I’d had to give up everything to come here—my home, my friends, my mom. I was completely cut off from my old life. Alex was home to me now.

“Hey, none of that.” He pulled me back and looked into my eyes.

I hadn’t even realized I was crying. “Sorry.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks.

“Can I help?” Not waiting for a response, he leaned down and kissed me.

I lost myself in him. No thoughts of corpses, Hades, or Ophi. Just Alex. The kiss went on forever—at least it could have if Tony hadn’t interrupted.

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat. I pulled away from Alex to see Tony looking out past the mausoleum. “Sorry to interrupt. I thought you were training Leticia and Randy.”

“I gave them a break. Leticia needed it.”

Tony nodded. “She has been very sensitive lately.”

It was understandable. Two months ago, Victoria had raised Leticia’s parents, and they came back horribly wrong. Nothing more than zombies. That was a lot to ask Leticia to put behind her. I had no doubt she saw her parents’ faces every time she raised a corpse. I knew what that was like.

“She’s been distant in class,” Tony continued. I might be the one teaching about the actual raising of the dead, but Tony taught us all about our race, our powers, and where we came from. I couldn’t run this school without him.

“She needs more time,” I said.

“I know, but the reason I came to get you is that you have a call from Mason.”

My eyes widened, and I smiled. “Great! I’ve been waiting for his call.” Mason ran Serpentarius, an Ophi club back in my hometown. I was trying to convince him to bring his group to the school. I’d promised Hades I would teach all the remaining Ophi to use their powers in a way that wouldn’t disrupt the underworld too much. I was trying to end a war, but so far, just about every Ophi I’d talked to wasn’t listening. No one was worried about Hades coming after them anymore. Because Hades wasn’t coming after them . He was coming after me. Or at least he would be if anyone got out of line.

“Let’s go,” I said to Alex.

“What about him?” Tony pointed to the corpse standing behind us.

I’d completely forgotten about him. “Right.” I faced the body, allowing my blood to bubble under my skin, combining the powers of both sides of my body—the right side with the power to restore life, and the left side with the power to kill. The sensation was still a rush, even though I’d done it so many times now. The only bad part was that using too much power gave me headaches and left me drained of energy. But releasing souls was easy. They didn’t fight you because they wanted to be released.

“Go back to where you were before Leticia called you. Go now.” My tone was serious, commanding. The corpse’s eyes flickered slightly, and I felt his soul release. A second later, the body slumped to the ground.