Necrosiac 38 (758 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Necro
Rating: 2 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Snark << snarkk.at.gmail.com (View user info) at 2005-03-23 02:06:05 EST
The first story in the series can be found here.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/40647
NECROSIAC 38
The crack of his pistol filled the woods around him and all at once Mattaius knew who to blame.
The man tied to the tree in front of him jerked once, then slumped limply against the ropes holding him in place.
"Oh shit"
"Matt... what the hell?"
He turned his head to answer Terri's question but his finger jerked again, and the .45 sent another slug in the direction of the first, to plow into the snow a little ways behind.
"Jesus"
With a grunt, he pried the pistol out his hand then awkwardly worked the safety and put it in his jacket pocket.
"Matt?"
"Wasn't me. Spivey's learned how to work my trigger finger"
The Devil on his hand replied with a sudden tightening in the wrist, followed by another jerk of his finger, before sliding up to his ear.
"Look what I can do now Dumbass. Good shot even if I do say so myself. I think I hit him in the shoulder. I tells ya, Jose Wales ain't got nothing on me..."
"Little fucker..."
Mattaius shot a scowl at his wide eyed partner then trudged to the body of the slumped Necromancer to confirm what he already knew. The Redeemer may not have hit the Caster anywhere vital, but the man before him had been of the undead variety, and the symbols inscribed on the slug would have cancelled the magic holding him together regardless of where it had struck.
With one gloved hand he grabbed the man's hair and yanked his head up to get a look at his face.
"Do you see a glow?"
Mattaius turned to his partner and shook his head. The absence of magic on the Necromancer's skin was proof enough the Redeemer had done its job.
"Damn rights there ain't no glow! I shot that evil fucker dead!"
"Spivey, you just slid over the line"
"Hey I got an idea" replied his unwanted familiar "Why don't you stuff your Pistola down the front of your pants gunslinger style? I promise I won't make you shoot your dick off"
"Shut the fuck up Spivey"
"Honestly I'll aim for one of your balls. C'mon, you got two of em. Just let me shoot one off and we'll call it even"
Mattaius pulled the hood of his parka up - as much to annoy Spivey as too protect himself from the frigid winter air - then turned towards Terri.
"Any ideas?"
"Dammit Matt. He was our last best lead... I really don't know what to do now"
"Pull the hood down Dumbass. I can't see"
"Will you shut the fuck up?!" he yelled, then quickly pointed in the direction of his ear to let his startled partner know that the statement hadn't been meant for her.
"Fine" pouted Spivey "I'm due for a recharge anyways. Give me a holler if you need me to bust a cap in anyone else"
Mattaius suppressed a shudder as Spivey slid uncomfortably down his back, then pulled open his phone and brought it to his hear. He hesitated then looked sheepishly towards his partner.
"You better call this in to Smithy, you remember what happened last time I did"
Terri nodded and pulled her own phone out of her jacket "What was it Spive yelled into the phone?"
"There's a Necrosiac in my pants and you're all invited" he replied morosely.
He watched sullenly as his partner suppressed an expression which was uncomfortably close to a smile then turned towards the corpse of the Necromancer.
The pale skinny man tied to the tree had been the best possible lead they had come up with in months. He'd apparently been a ranking member of the house of Madeline Pasteur and was reportedly one of the few who had held the late Pentate's Wife's ear. They'd heard rumors from other informants that he might even know where she had fled after her transformation. They'd spent a week tracking him through one Necro infested sewer to another and unceremoniously gunned down 2 of his pets before catching him, then brought him to the woods and threatened to leave him to freeze until Spring unless he talked.
From the outset, the man who called himself Mr. Bones had been a hard nut to crack. They'd had to work on him for hours before finally bringing him to the breaking point, only to have Spivey do the unthinkable, and send their investigation back to square one in a childish act of rebellion.
Mattaius rubbed the small of his back in a vain attempt to annoy his familiar only to be rewarded with a painful retaliatory pinch.
To say he loathed the presence of his living tattoo would be an understatement.
The last few months had been trying at best but this latest episode solidified his decision to rid himself of his dangerous nuisance.
He'd tried to ignore the Devil's presence at first, but the harder he tried, the more determined to be a torment his passenger had become. Spivey seemed to have an endless supply of tricks up his sleeve when it came to making Mattaius life miserable. His latest game was to slide down the front of Matt's pants and cause his crotch to vibrate at passing women.
Mattaius ignored the familiar urge to pull his knife and cut the Devil from his skin, and instead turned his thoughts towards the investigation.
Despite the Lead Investigators orders, he and Terri had made a conscious attempt to keep the body count to a minimum. They hadn't had to discuss it to understand they both had enough blood on their hands for a lifetime, undead or not.
The Lead Investigator hadn't been pleased but their slow steady progress on the case had bought them some leeway. They'd been the first to discover the facts behind the bloodbath at the late Pentate's house. They'd uncovered the existence of the pact and identified several of its key members. They'd led strike teams to the estates of Madeline Pasteur and the man who had called himself "Mute". They'd uncovered the previous home of the Family Penance and the rotting corpses of their victims, chief among them a gifted illusionist by the name of Charlie Foster.
The Necromantic underground in the city was in disarray and completely unable to fight back, due in large part to their efforts, but they had failed - as Smithy was always quick to remind them - to turn up the one thing that made all the difference, the whereabouts of the remaining Necrosiac.
He knew their progress in the investigation had bought them leeway and he supposed the chaos in the city had afforded them time. Smithy and his men were often too busy, coordinating with the half dozen government bodies vying for control of the battered Agency, to apply any real pressure on Terri and him. The City was still under martial law as instances of Necrosiac infection kept popping up, and the International Press were having a field day. They were painting the City as the birthplace of Armageddon and the Agency as Ground Zero. The public at large was crying out for justice and revenge and the powers that be had very little to give. Arson was becoming commonplace in areas where infection had been reported (accurately or not), as citizens who'd lost faith in the Agencies power to protect them, took the cleansing of their neighborhoods into their own panicked hands.
Mattaius couldn't help but wonder if they weren't right. It had been months since there had been any sign of the last Necrosiac and he shuddered to think of the extent to which her powers had grown during that time. There was a common hope amongst his colleagues, that dissenters in the Necromantic community had destroyed her like the man who had called himself Mute had done to her brother, but Mattaius Pitt had never been an optimist. Something inside him knew that she was out there somewhere, perhaps biding her time, waiting for the warmth of spring.
Somehow he knew she would resurface, and when she did, the episode at the agency would seem like foreplay.
By all accounts she'd stolen more power than any Necrosiac before her, and when she showed herself again she would be next to unstoppable...
... unless he got to her first.
She might be the most powerful of her kind but in the end she was still a Necro. She was still nothing more than the thing he'd spent a third of his life killing.
Somehow - he told himself - he'd find a way to rip the life from her and bring the madness to and end.
A sharp cough and the sound of a cell phone clicking shut drew him from his thoughts and he turned to face Terri's winter blushed face.
"Smithy's going to send some men to clean up the mess" she said "He wants us to meet with him, something about a lead"
"Hope it's a good one"
Terri took a step forward and gave him the half frown that he knew meant she had something distasteful to say.
"Matt. You need to do something about Spivey"
"I know"
"He's turning you into a liability"
"I know"
"Any ideas?"
Mattaius frowned then removed the pistol from his pocket, studied it thoughtfully for a moment, then unzipped his jacket and stuffed it back into his shoulder holster.
"Every Mage I've talked to says nothing can be done. I need someone who can dispel a magic entity but we've covered that ground. I've never heard of anyone with the talent for dispelling magic this powerful. I've considered surgery, but knowing Spivey, the surgeon would have to skin me alive to get him, and also there's know telling how far the magic animating him goes into my body. The only real way to transfer him to someone or something else would be in the same manner he was transferred to me, and I don't fancy becoming another pet for the Necrosiac"
"Can't say as I blame you"
"I can't go on like this Terri. I'll fucking snap sooner or later. I haven't had a full nights sleep since he transferred to me and every time I draw my weapon, he's at my ear telling me to kill. He's a bloodthirsty little bastard. He doesn't have a soul and the longer he stays on me, the closer I get to losing mine. I don't know how much longer I can stand this and, from what I've heard, the only people capable of helping me died out a hundred years ago"
Mattaius did his best to smile sanely as Terri put one gloved hand on his shoulder in a show of support.
"Twistcasters" she mumbled.
"Yeah"
Terri unzipped her jacket, reached inside and retrieved her wallet. She glanced worriedly back at him for a moment then pulled a piece of paper and handed it to him.
Something about the half guilt - half scared expression on her face made him hesitate, but he decided that wherever the paper in his hand might lead, it had to be better than where he found himself.
Carefully, he unfolded the paper, read the words written on it in plain ink, then look at Terri questioningly and said
"Tell me about the Hag"
User Reviews
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-06-23 12:32:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-06-23 12:19:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Damage Control
Submitted by ProgramGeek (user info) at 2005-06-22 17:38:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-06-16 20:50:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Revolutionman (user info) at 2005-05-06 23:55:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2005-04-13 10:57:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Must rate all snark posts i missed while getting married and having sex etc.
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-04-03 23:35:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Charred (user info) at 2005-03-31 16:49:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Seriously?
Find a publisher.
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2005-03-31 13:43:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
just catching up. god this just gets better and better....
Submitted by Malificent (user info) at 2005-03-28 05:42:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-03-23 22:43:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nerp.
Submitted by olivia_tremor_control (user info) at 2005-03-23 20:18:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
youre honestly one of my favorite authors. no joke.
Submitted by Cryopaul (user info) at 2005-03-23 20:04:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
mmm...hag...
Submitted by engine13 (user info) at 2005-03-23 17:11:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I had totally forgotten about the hag.
Fantastic.
Submitted by Xena (user info) at 2005-03-23 13:45:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
ohh...I see something bad happening to Spivey...he's gonna get his devil ass whiped.
Submitted by Rocktsrgn (user info) at 2005-03-23 11:40:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
god, I love this series...
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2005-03-23 11:02:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"Come on everybody, wave your hands, it's the hamsterdance"
Heh.
Sleepy.
Submitted by Dannie (user info) at 2005-03-23 10:13:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Damnit Spivey.
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-03-23 10:04:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Great job man.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-03-23 09:15:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by snarf (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:57:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
consistently great, read every single one and haven't been dissapointed by any!
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-03-23 02:50:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
long, but thoroughly enjoyable. i'll have to read more in this series.