I gritted my teeth and took a slow breath before answering. If he wanted to reminisce, I would play along. Anything that might help us win his help.

“Yes. I knew Jack. He got cancer and died.” I didn’t really want to mention he’d been brought back to life and was a vampire. Doran told me necromancers and vampires didn’t like each other. I could only guess the reason and didn’t want to stir things up.

“Pity. He was a fun chap to have around.” More protesting wooden stairs and then a figure limped into view. Tall and thin, he seemed as skeletal as some of the zombies outside and I wondered if perhaps he was like Anna, living for hundreds of years past his natural time. “Perhaps I will help you. But there is a price to pay for the help of the oldest living necromancer.”

“Done.”

“You agree so easily to a deal you know nothing of,” he said, his head tipping to one side, reminding me of Eve when she was contemplating. And indeed, he had a bird-like quality about him, like a stork strutting about on the upper landing watching us.

“I would do anything to save my friends. To spare them.” I spread my hands. “Tell me what you want, what you’d have of us, and I will make it happen.” Fuck, I had to. There was no other choice.

Erik leaned into me. “What about the other one, the necromancer in the south?”

Above us, the necromancer laughed. “That one, a mere child in ability. He would not be able to open the veil that deep. He would lose his mind. If you hadn’t killed Anna, she could have opened the veil for you.”

Wait, if he didn’t know who I was, how did he know I killed Anna?

“You knew who I was when we called out to you, didn’t you? Otherwise, how do you know about Anna?”

He chuckled. “You have caught me. I do not do well at deception.”

My face warmed. “Is that why you thought I meant you harm, because I took her head?”

“I am not yet convinced you do not mean me harm, Tracker. But yes, it seems an obvious connection. Besides, I’m not particularly fond of company. Most people want something for nothing. Particularly when they show up late at night.”

Again, my face warmed and I felt the need to defend myself. “Anna asked me to end it for her. I was ready to spare her life.”

He let out long, blowing sigh and the lights flicked on. “That sounds like Anna. She was always my favorite student.” With a limping, slow gait he walked to the edge of the stairs and then slowly down. “She had great talent; if her mind had not broken at the loss of her child she would have surpassed even me in ability.”

The tension settled and Liam touched my elbow, turning me to the window. The zombies were gone. I gave a slow nod and turned back to the necromancer. “She was free of the madness for a little while at the end. That was all I could do for her; all she wanted from me.”

He took the last few steps and then stood in front of me. He towered over me; he had to be almost seven feet tall. His pale brown hair was slicked back over his skull, accentuating every line. I stared into his eyes—they were a startling indigo, a blue so dark that in the right light you might call it black. My impression of a stork held firm as he held out his hand, his long fingers extended to me. “You may call me Thomas.”

I put my hand out, covered in dirt and blood and zombie bits, and grasped his fingers, unashamed. “I’m Rylee. This is Liam, Erik, and Alex.”

“You hold an eclectic company, Rylee. A werewolf trapped in his shape, a guardian who is more than a guardian, and you.” He faced Erik. “I am not sure what to make of you just yet. Your aura hides from me.”

Erik frowned at him. “Human and Slayer. That’s all I am.”

Thomas gave a slow nod. “Perhaps.”

I didn’t like the direction he was going, but I held back my comments.

Thomas tucked his hands behind his back and led the way into what I assumed was the parlor. He snapped his fingers and candles bloomed on nearly every surface, giving the room a warm and welcoming look. I wasn’t fooled though. This was a negotiation; he would give us nothing if we did not find for him what he wanted. Or give to him what he wanted.

He motioned to the chairs, but none of us sat. “We’re covered in filth,” Erik said. “I’d not like to add a cleaning bill to whatever it is you’d have us do in exchange for your help. Where Rylee goes, we all go.”

I shot him a glance and his eyes crinkled up at the edges. My heart thumped hard, and I felt for the first time he really was with us. He was my uncle and here to help, not just be an ass.

“Touching. There is only one thing I want that I cannot find, and I have searched all of Europe.”

Oh, shit, that did not sound good.

“Does it exist?” Liam asked, “Or is it a wild goose chase you would send us on?”

Thomas lowered himself into an oversized chair obviously custom made for him, the soft cushions barely giving under his minimal weight. “I do believe it exists, I do not have the energy any longer to find it. I am old, coming to the end of my days and there is only one thing I don’t have. I did have it, but you, Rylee, ended her life.”

I swallowed hard and guessed that Anna was more to him than just a pupil. “You want a new wife?”

He threw back his head and laughed, his Adam’s apple huge and bulging in his scrawny neck. “Ah, no. I need no ‘love connection.’” His deep indigo blue eyes sparkled as he looked me in the face.

“No, Anna was my best pupil and nothing else. She was to be my heir, if you will. That is the only way we are ever remembered, by the ones we leave behind.”

I glanced at Liam and lifted my eyebrows. If what I thought Thomas was asking for in exchange for getting Milly and Pamela out was what he wanted, we fucking well scored.

“You want an heir? Someone to teach?” Liam squinted his eyes. “That’s it?”

Thomas gripped his chair, and he snorted. “That’s it? Guardian of the lands you might be, but you are blind. Do you know how rare it is for necromancers to be born and then survive past the age of twelve? They cannot control the dead they call forth by their very blood and most are killed by their own zombies by accident.”

“Let me be very clear.” I held up my hands, stalling them both. No need for Liam to blow the very lovely big fat ace we had up our sleeves. “We find you a young necromancer to teach, bring him here, and you will bring our two friends out of the deep levels of the veil?”