Page 8 of Devils and the Dead
I went over to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Maude, I’m a necromancer. I see the dead in various stages of decomposition all the time. Their appearance doesn’t bother me.Yourappearance doesn’t bother me. To me you’re beautiful.”
She nodded and smiled shyly up at me. Then she moved into position and, with nervous fingers, disrobed. I kept my gaze averted as I went about turning the lights off. The house was pitch-black with the special shades and heavy curtains, so I used my cell phone light to find my way in front of Maude. Turning it off, I lit the candles, knowing where they were after years of performing magic at this table.
Then I looked at Maude.
She looked less alarming in the flickering candle light—more like a vampire bride from an old silent movie. I picked up a bottle and poured some of the contents into my hands.
“This is cedar oil. I need to rub it into your skin,” I told her.
I proceeded after she nodded in agreement. Her skin was so fragile, and had slipped in some places and flaked in others, so I was very gentle, only brushing the oil on and not actually rubbing it into her skin as the instructions had stipulated. I was pretty sure this spell was meant to be done on a newly dead body and not one quite as decayed as Maude’s, but I was hoping it would work anyway.
By the time I was done, the overwhelming smell of cedar had filled the room and Maude glistened in the candle light. I wiped my hands, lit the cone of myrrh, then walked counter-clockwise around the zombie, waving the incense smoke over her from head to toe on all sides of her body.
“Rewind the hand of time. Let bloom once more that which has decayed. Return the dead to the living.”
When I stood in front of Maude once more, I reversed directions, waving the incense over her as I circled her clockwise.
“Rewind the hand of time. Let bloom once more that which has decayed. Return the dead to the living.”
The smoke blurred my vision, but I squinted against it and took Maude’s hands in mine.
“Live. Live. Live,” I chanted as I poured my magic into her. The candle flames roared high, then extinguished. I held on to Maude until I felt the spell slip away, then stepped back to turn on the lights.
“Oh my.”
I spun around at Maude’s soft exclamation, only to have my hopes crushed. Her skin was firmer, her body less skeletal. She actually had lips to cover her teeth, and eyelids to blink over the milky orbs. The spell had definitely reversed the time of her decomposition, but she was still a corpse. She was still a zombie.
“I’m sorry.” Tears stung my eyes. I’d failed at sending her back to the grave, and I’d failed at this. There were more spells I could try, but I was starting to doubt my abilities as well as my power.
“Don’t be sorry.” She reached out to squeeze my shoulder. “I look so much better. And I can speak clearly now! Babylon, this is amazing.”
“It’s not amazing.” I sniffed. “You’re still dead. It failed. I failed.”
She held out a hand and looked at her fingers. “This doesn’t seem like failure to me. Maybe this is just step one in my resurrection. You worked a miracle, Babylon. And I have faith that eventually you’ll be able to resurrect me. And if not, that you’ll eventually be able to return me to the grave. The first two spells did nothing at all, but this one…”
She had faith in me. Too bad I was losing faith in myself. But Maude seemed genuinely thrilled with the effects of this spell, even if I was disappointed.
I’d keep trying. I’d keep studying, buying books of eBay, and trying to find a necromancer to help me. I wouldn’t give up.
I owed it to Maude to never give up.
Chapter 5
Hades
“Please have a seat.” I motioned the six souls toward the chairs surrounding the huge table. We were in one of hell’s conference rooms—the only one I’d been able to reserve on such short notice. It was on the smaller side for the size of the group, but I liked the polished bone table and the leather chairs—artificial human skin, because even Lucifer had to cut a few corners to keep within a budget.
“Now.” I tapped my pen against the notepad I’d brought with me. “I’ve asked all of you here because I’m investigating what happened two weeks ago when you all were summoned out of hell for an hour.”
The six souls exchanged looks, their expressions perplexed.
“You.” I pointed to a tall, gaunt man who was staring down at the table, and waited until he looked up at me. “What do you remember about that time?”
He reached up and scratched his bald head. “Not much, sir. I was swimming the endless lake of lava when suddenly I was back home. Only it didn’t look like it did when I was alive. There was a barn where the milking shed used to be, and a whole field of corn in what used to be the sheep pasture.”
I nodded, pleased he’d remembered something even if none of this was particularly helpful.
“Do you know who summoned you?” I asked.
