Necromancer Legacy - 25. There's always a catch

Sasha smiled when Nick opened his eyes.

“Hey, you,” Sasha said.

“What happened?” Nick asked in a groggy voice. He still looked very weak. But at least he was alive.

He was home. In his bed. Safe.

Sasha handed him a glass of water and Nick took it before sitting up in the bed. He winced. Nick was mostly healed up, though, even if his body was clearly still sore. It was a miracle. Sasha had no idea how he’d done this. It was all so blurry now. It all seemed like a bad dream.

The early sunlight shone through the window, warm and comforting, casting a bright glow upon Nick’s little collection of green, healthy-looking house plants. The bedroom was tidy, the laptop resting in the center of the desk with some notes scribbled on lined paper around it.

After Nick drank his water, Sasha started to explain. How he had gotten his powers back, healed him, and how Raven had showed up to save the day.

“Louis and Lucas just took off in the end,” Sasha said. “Leaving us behind to clean the mess. Typical.”

Sasha looked up as the curtains were rustled by the refreshing wind. He’d taken a long shower while Nick was asleep. And Shane had been nice enough to lend him some clean jeans and a t-shirt. Sasha didn’t want to wear the clothes Devin had lent him, ever again—in fact he would probably burn those.

“Cyan and Raven helped everyone to get back. The werewolves are fine. I thanked them. I thanked Hazel.” Sasha nodded, more to himself. “I know she did it for me. I can never thank her enough. I told her we’d be friends from now on. I think that’s all she ever wanted, you know?”

Sasha shrugged, and scratched his damp hair. “Shane and Riley are asleep. I kinda… healed them, actually.” He looked at his own hand somewhat timidly. “I’m still not sure how it works but… it works, so. Shay stayed behind, said he was waiting for Heaven’s verdict, or something like that. Whatever that means. He kind of sounded like he was joking, but I never know with him. Anyway, Cyan and Raven said they’d take care of everyone else. You did it, Nick.” Sasha bit his lip and smiled. “You killed her. You saved everyone.”

Their eyes met. Sasha’s smile faded slightly. Nick looked… off. His light brown eyes were the same but Sasha got this feeling, like they were the eyes of a stranger. Wait, no. That didn’t make any sense. Sasha shook it off. There. Weird feeling gone. Of course something was off. Nick had just been to hell and back. Literally.

“Are you okay?” Sasha asked him, lowering his voice.

Nick breathed out, and seemed to relax. A smile curled his lips slowly. He raked his fingers through his hair, hiding his face partly behind his arm.

“Yeah,” he said, “yeah I’m okay. Thanks to you. You’re amazing. Everything’s fine. Everything’s perfect.”

Sasha smiled back. He wanted to reach out and pull Nick into a hug. But something held him back. Maybe I should just let him rest, Sasha told himself.

“Yeah,” Sasha said, “everything’s gonna be fine. You should go back to sleep, okay?”

Nick nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

“You would’ve done the same for me,” Sasha said quietly before walking away from the bed.

This was for the best. There would be time to hang out later. Right now Sasha wanted to go home and be with Gabriel.

***

Hours later, Sasha was starting to feel like the rush was slowly fading. Everything was okay. It was over. He ought to feel relieved—cheerful, happy, even. But he didn’t. He just sat alone in his computer chair, curtains draped over the window and hiding the light. He was still wearing the clothes he’d borrowed from Shane; he was too lazy to change. And he wondered what this uneasiness was all about.

He had texted Nick. Nick hadn’t responded yet; he was probably still sleeping.

Something was odd though.

His chest tightened. Suddenly cold, Sasha wrapped his arms around himself, clutching the thin fabric of his t-shirt.

Nick had not asked Sasha if he was okay. Hadn’t asked Sasha about what happened with Liv and… Devin.

Oh, the whole thing had been beyond awful, and Sasha didn’t even want to tell Nick about it anyway.

But. Nick hadn’t even asked. What if he didn’t care? That made something tick inside Sasha’s mind.

Still, never mind. Sasha shrugged it off. Surely Nick would wake up later, well rested, and everything would come rushing back. They could talk more then. Sasha needed to leave it alone, for now. He was just being silly and paranoid.

In fact, Sasha needed to get some sleep, too.

So he got up lazily, stretched his long, sore limbs, and threw himself on the bed with a sigh.

Everything’s fine. Everything’s perfect.

***

Nick woke up in darkness. He caught the smell of metal and rust, and something else—something that stuck in his lungs and made him feel sick. Death, he thought. It smelled like death. He heard the sound of chains rattling. He realized the chains were attached to his wrists and ankles, and they rattled the damp, cold metal floor as he struggled to sit up. His clothes were ripped and dirty. His dark hair was matted and fell in his eyes messily.

It was taking some time for his eyes to adjust. But he thought he heard other people in the darkness. Moans. Whimpers.

Nick tried to lift his hand to touch the back of his neck. Something was pulsing and throbbing there. A deep cut, maybe? The chain cuffed to his wrist was heavy, but he managed to press his fingers to the back of his neck, just below his hairline. A sharp pain lanced the skin there, making him wince. And when he looked at his pale fingers he saw blood.

His eyes were adjusting to the darkness now. He heard footsteps coming closer and he looked up. Two hooded figures were approaching. There was a line of people chained to the wall. They all looked hurt. In pain. Some of them had really bad burns and wounds.

The two hooded figures stopped right in front of Nick. They looked clean and nicely clothed. Their long capes were black velvet. Except for the inside of their hood. That was red. It made their eyes gleam red in the darkness.

“You might want to leave that alone,” the first one said in a low, masculine voice. “Until it heals, at least.”

Nick looked at the blood on his fingers again. Dread spread across his chest like a cold poison pulsing from his heart.

He heard a groan coming from the person chained to the wall next to him, and he turned his head as he thought that voice sounded familiar.

The young man chained there was skinny, and his tawny hair, long and tangled, clung to his bloody neck and shoulders.

“Shay?” Nick whispered, a lump forming in his throat.

“Don’t worry,” the man spoke again, and as Nick looked up he saw red eyes glaring at him from beneath the hood. “I’ve had my fun with him already. He’s allowed a little break now. It’s your turn. Nicholas Russell. Number six hundred sixty-seven.” He produced a little note pad and pen and scribbled something down. “Oh,” he added, motioning to the person standing next to him, “I apologize in advance if my colleague is a little… inexperienced. You see, she just got hired. So I’m showing her the ropes.”

She pulled back her hood a little and Nick saw a halo of wild, curly brown hair as she grinned at him.

“Hello, Nicholas,” Liv said. “Welcome to Purgatory.”

This is not the end, obviously. Lol. I mean, I guess it could be, if you're into freaky, plot twist, shock endings. But if you're not, I did write two parts for this story, so we're good. 
If you want to stick with me a little longer for the sequel, I promise you new (bad ass) characters, new storylines, and most of all that you won't be disappointed. 
Thanks for reading