The Necromancer's Betrayal (The Final Formula Series, Book 2.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

that?” He jerked his chin toward the gunman she still held.
    Heat rose in her cheeks and she pulled back her hold. The pain of her soul’s return made her gasp, and the body fell to the floor.
    “You ripped out his soul,” she said. Knowing he could was one thing, but seeing him do it was something else entirely.
    “Yes.” He held her gaze with his still glowing eyes.
    A groan sounded from behind the counter. The clerk.
    “No,” James whispered, then vaulted the counter.
    Still a bit disoriented from the animation, Elysia wasn’t as graceful. She stumbled around the end of the counter. James knelt beside the girl who lay unmoving on the floor. He pressed his fingers against the other side of her head, and they came away bloody.
    Elysia grabbed a roll of paper towels from beneath the counter and knelt beside him. “Was she shot?”
    “Yes.”
    Elysia ripped off a handful of towels and passed them to him. It quickly became apparent that he would need more. There was so much blood.
    “Her soul is leaving,” he whispered.
    Elysia bit her lower lip. She had to take his word for it. She wouldn’t feel the difference until the woman was actually dead.
    “But the baby’s still here,” he said.
    “Oh.” That would change as soon as the mother died.
    “Please, don’t go,” James muttered.
    Elysia realized that he spoke to the girl’s spirit. Could she hear him? A cell phone rested beside the open register, and Elysia picked it up to dial 911.
    “She won’t listen,” James whispered. He took the dying girl’s hand in his.
    The operator picked up, and Elysia gave her a quick description of what had happened—with a few embellishments to hide the necromancy.
    “Help’s on the way,” she told him, returning the phone to the counter.
    “She’s going. I can’t stop her.” He raised glowing eyes to hers. “Can you do something?”
    Yes, animate her body after she goes. But she didn’t say that. Voicing her frustration wouldn’t help.
    “If we can keep her here until they take the baby, maybe…” He pressed a bloodied hand to the girl’s swollen stomach. “Do you think she’s far enough along?”
    “I haven’t a clue,” Elysia admitted.
    “The soul is so strong. So here.” He closed his eyes, his brow wrinkled in anxiety.
    Elysia drew a breath, and he opened his eyes as if knowing what she would say.
    “There is something,” she said.
    “Yes?”
    “I can bind her soul… to her body.”
    “You mean, make her a lich.”
    “Yes. She’ll still die, but more slowly. It’ll give the ambulance a chance to arrive. Perhaps the baby can be saved.”
    James blanched, clearly not liking the idea.
    She didn’t blame him. Binding this woman’s soul to her rotting corpse was not a kind thing to do. Maybe it was cowardly, but Elysia remained silent, and let him decide. She wasn’t sure what she wanted the answer to be. Her dark side was thrilled at the prospect, but the rest of her wanted to vomit.
    “Do it,” he said.
    She nodded and looked down at the girl, swallowing her revulsion. Was she really going to make this young woman a lich?
    “What do you need me to do?” James asked.
    Elysia forced herself to focus. If she was going to do this, she had to do it right. “See if you can find something sharp. I’ll have to use my blood. Then you’ll need to get dressed and cart me out of here.”
    “What does it do to you?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve never done this. It should only drain me—unless I screw up. Then I die.”
    He glanced between the girl and her. Worried for his own existence? If Elysia died, so did he. For some reason, she didn’t think that was his concern.
    “I won’t screw up,” she said, holding his gaze with her own.
    He smiled. “You remind me of someone.”
    She scooted closer and took the girl’s face in her hands. “Who?”
    He shook his head. “Not now. How long will this take? If the ambulance comes…”
    “Seconds.”
    “I always had the impression that