Frank Fuhrur's: Necromancer 12 Chapter 11

I slumped up next to a tree trying to catch my breath, but the pain in my lower side was nearly unbearable. I was more than positive that I had a cracked rib or two. Each breath that I take in is sharp and painful.

Jezebel had broken free of my minions with exceptional ease. In a red inferno, she obliterated the webbing and vaporized the spiders. It did, though give me enough time to get away for a minute. That was short-lived.

Sadly, I had never applied my abilities in real combat, just super sneaky c.r.a.p, and it cost me. I laid my hand on the right side of ribs; it burned green, and the pain subsided. Finally, I could take long, deep breathes.

I stood up and continue to the edge of the forest. I didn't think that I had come this far into the woods. Sweat beaded and dripped off my forehead. In the distance, there was giggling and laughter.

She's toying with me, taking her sweet time; a cat playing with a wounded mouse.

Several whistles sounded to my left. I turned to dodge and just in time; three red shards punctured deep into a tree, but there was more to these needles. I raised my hands, forming two enormous skeleton hands that folded themselves over my body. The shards violently exploded, shooting me back farther away from my exit.

The explosion was stopped by my s.h.i.+eld; however, the trees were the ones that stopped me.

"Did you think that you lost me?" the devil chalked.

With my pain being suppressed, I up on my feet in seconds, casting green fire bolts in the direction of Jezebel's voice. They all hit nothing but the ground or a tree. She was fast, too fast to hit from a distance.

I needed a new plan. She was trying to herd me away from the edge of the forest, where help was coming. A slas.h.i.+ng hand across my face brought my attention back to the current threat. Jezebel was tossing me around like a rag doll.

Finally hitting the ground, I laid there panting feeling overheated. Sweat was turning into blood, and dizziness started to play a role.

"I have never known a human that could suppress pain. You can," Jezebel pointed out.

She circled me, studying me.

"And, you can summon the green fire, what are you?" Jezebel questioned, knowing she had the upper hand.

"What does it matter?" I countered, standing up and circling with her.

"Don't be like that, you can tell me your little secret," she giggled.

She stopped and slowly took steps toward me.

"I'm just an average guy," I stalled.

She giggled, somehow amused, "I sense that you have kept this a secret for a long time. You base your life around that secret, don't you?"

Interesting.

I was confused, and she could tell. Her body language softened and was compa.s.sionate.

"I'm a devil of l.u.s.t and greed. I know desire, and it's not just about s.e.x," Jezebel opened up.

She had closed the distance between us.

"I sense that you desire to not only keep this," she waved a hand over my entire body, "a secret but that you really want to tell somebody."

Voices began to echo from behind us. They were still far off, and they were paladins.

"You want to tell someone close, but you can't," she peered into my eyes.

"Because they," she flicked her head up to the voices behind us, "won't see you as a friend, but a monster."

"That's no way to live darling. Being what you are," she touched.

Deep down, there was a voice screaming to tell her. Jezebel sounded genuine and open to me. She took my hand and placed in on her heart.

"Your blood told me everything. That you're a necromancer, a powerful one at that. I can feel the restraint on your body, and most of all, the yearning to take that weight off your chest," she whispered.

The voices, the shouts; they were almost upon us.

I, I can't.

"Aegrum," I announced.

Jezebel shot back in agonizing pain, but not without swatting me up and backward. I hit the ground and slid a few feet, cutting into the ground. My chin felt wet; checking it, it was split and pouring blood.

Jezebel flailed like a fish out of water in pain. She rolled over onto her stomach and threw-up black ooze. For a moment, the devil panted and dried heaved. When she gained control of herself, her red eyes glared at me.

"You think that they will accept you? Then let's put it to the test," she hissed, with a nasty smile drawn on her face.

"Let see if they are truly willing to call you friend," she announced.

"I think the screaming was this way." The paladins were closing in.

"Hue," Emma shouted, "Eugene!"

Jezebel snuck a look but got on her feet.

"I know the hearts of man. You're only fooling yourself if you think that they will welcome the real you. I will make you an offer: if they don't welcome you with open arms, then I will," she offered.

With a snap of her fingers; a black void with fire wreathed around it opened. She took a step back but not before she blew me a kiss goodbye.

A branch snapped, making me instantly close my powers down. Agony, pain, suffering, unbearable, came flooding into my body. I scream out in despair.

Everywhere hurt.

"I'm here!" I tried blurting out, but they couldn't hear me. Hot tears consumed my eyes as the pain grew.

"I'm right here," I whimpered.

"Eugene!" Emma screamed.

"Medic! I need a medic over here now! I found Corporal Dupeux!"

Emma slid to my side and tried to pick me up, but I stopped her. The agony was far too great. Dizziness was starting to make me swirl.

I quickly rolled away from Emma and threw-up.

"Oh Hue, what happened?" Emma asked.

She carefully rolled me over and cradled my head.

"A devil," I warn her, "something was a devil summoned."

I couldn't bear the pain any longer. My eyes rolled back, and the world went white than black.

~~~

There came a cold sensation that ran throughout the inside of my arm. Gooseb.u.mps rose up from a cold breath being blown in intervals. Slowly, I opened my eyes, and a room came into focus.

A heavy dose of super cleaner stabbed my nose. It forced my eyes to open up even more. I was in a medical bed, in a simple room with an IV stuck into my arm.

I made it to a hospital somehow and wasn't in the amount of pain that I had before. I could breathe, deep breaths, with little pain.

I moved my head around the room. Abby was sitting in a visitor's chair, Fitzy was in another, both asleep and the cold breathing came from Emma. She had her head down by my arm, breathing on it. At the foot of my bed, were Nekko and Mimiku in their fox forms, cuddling.

I look at the clock: 3:23 A.M.

How long have I out for? A day maybe.

I returned my gaze down to Emma. She had cupped my hand in hers and was using the blanket to somewhat conceal it. Everyone was here, except Wallow.

Where was he at?

"Hmm."

Emma stirred lightly. The hand that was cupping my hand rubbed her tired eyes open. She rotated her head up to look up to see if I was awake. I gave her a kind smile.

"I was using that hand," I whispered.

Emma shot up and almost hugged me but stopped herself when I flinched with phantom pain. Also, because there were others in the room.

"How are you feeling?" she whispered back.

"I'm pretty sure that they put excellent pain meds in me, so I'm pretty good," I a.s.sured her.

"Good," She smiled, then decked my shoulder.

I mouthed my scream.

"What in the world happen? Where were you? Where did you go? Why didn't you come and get me?" she bombarded, some of the parts she spoke squeaked from concern.

"It's a long story," I began.

"Then start from the beginning, we have all day," Mimiku interjected, though her mouth didn't move.

She rested her head on my s.h.i.+n as Nekko didn't stir from her sleep. I could tell that she wasn't happy with me, but there weren't any other red flags shooting up that I am in trouble. The others began to stir and wake up.

Emma moved her chair away, so the others could get a better view of me. There were a lot of 'how are you feeling' and 'what happened' being thrown out at me.

"I'm fine," I said, "how long was I out for?"

"Almost an entire day," Abby said, giving me a sweet smile.

It wasn't trying to seduce me or anything like that, but it felt odd. Sad as that may seem, it wasn't Abby. I must have given her a good scare to come to her senses.

"We, I summoned a devil by accident," I announced.

I told them how I had a hunch and decided to go back to the site. Emma brought up the fact that no one saw me at the site.

"Yeah, sorry. I was too focused on answering the hunch. Before I knew it, I was lured into the deepest part of the wood, and you guys know most of the rest." I said.

"I'm going to need you to try and track down the devil if possible," I told Mimiku.

In a blaze of gold fire, Mimiku hopped up and transformed into her, military dressed, human form.

"That's going to be a tad difficult if she left in the traditional sense. If she teleported, then there's no way."

"You have a point there. Well, in any case, it's good to have you here," I replied.

"Anything else you could tell us?" Fitzy asked.

"She's a faceless demon called Jezebel. She's the one that broke the unity of the h.e.l.ls, and that's about all I can tell you at this point," I answered.

The memory of Jezebel's naked body popped in my head, and I immediately shook it out.

"And Jezebel's powerful took everything I had to evade her," I remembered.

"There was green fire all over the area," Emma mentioned.

"That was from her," I replied.

"Why didn't you use your electricity magic to become faster and escape?" Abby brought up.

"I did," I lied.

"Where's Wallow?" I changed the subject.

"n.o.body's seen him since last night. We have patrols combing the forest, and we had the Director send his special unit in to help," Emma reported, "we were hoping that he would have been with you last night."

I shook my head.

Great now Wallow is missing.

"Sorry, but since you're feeling better and know we have new information on what happen last night, we all need to get back," Fitzy said, getting to his feet.

Abby stood and pushed past Emma to lightly give me a hug before heading to the door with Fitzy. He gave me a wave goodbye, and I return it.

"You'll let me know if there's anything I can get you right?" Emma asked.

I smiled, nodding my head.

Mimiku gently shook Nekko awake, she gave a big yawn and immediately turned into her human form, blus.h.i.+ng from the yawn. The Nekko and Emma left the room, and Mimiku took an open chair.

"Jezebel knows that I'm a necromancer and that I have been hiding it from everyone," I said, feeling dread.

Mimiku shot a concerned look at me.

"How does she?"

"I don't know, Mimiku, but she does."

I wiped my hands across my eyes, rubbing them.

"She knew that I wanted to let the secret out, but more so, my fear."

"That no one will accept a necromancer," Mimiku said.

I merely nodded my head.

"She said that she knew the heart of man and that I was fooling myself."

"She's wrong," Mimiku said, giving me a warm smile.

I returned it, but in the back of my mind, the doubt was beginning to get heavy.