“He says they wanted him and his record. His tablet,” Nigel translated.
“Like an iPad? Really?” Hunter asked.
“iPad? I don’t know what that is, but the tablet is the Master’s record, his instruction book, if you will. It contains the script.”
“The script?” I looked at Hunter and then the ceiling. Now we were all sounding dim.
“Yes,” Nigel replied. “For raising the dearly departed and those not so dear. The Master is a necromancer of—”
“Of course,” Hunter said.
“Bloody hell.”
A necromancer? In my time, necromancy was widely thought of as demonic witchcraft. A theory I was inclined to agree with, but I’d never actually believed it was possible. I looked at the frail old man in the twin bed. With his skinny arms and gray complexion, he didn’t look like he could raise himself to a sitting position, let alone raise a dead person to life.
After a bit more conversation, Anu decided he’d had enough of talking and he yawned, rolled over to face the wall, and covered his head.
Not much point in staying after that.
Outside the hotel, Hunter stomped ahead of me to his car. “Do you have to flirt with everyone?”
“What are you on about?”
“The fireman? You practically skipped upstairs after him.” Hunter got in and slammed the driver’s side door.
I ran around to the passenger side.
“Fireman? Jimmy? He was… nice. And I haven’t ever skipped in my life.”
His head tilted back and forth in a mocking gesture. “Jimmy, huh. You got his number in your phone, don’t you?”
“I, well, it was just…” I squinted into Hunter’s velvet brown eyes, his angry and slightly hurt expression. It was the hurt that got me.
Except for the occasional gathering with the gang, we hadn’t spent this much time together in months. Less than twenty-four hours and we were already arguing.
At some point during our co-habitation, and well after I’d recovered from my wounds, I’d thought maybe he was attracted to me. It was possible that attraction was mutual. But fearing I’d lose my best friend, I’d never broached the subject.
There was so much to learn in this time. I wasn’t at all sure how to make my feelings known. Or even exactly what I felt. My error in judgment at the nightclub had mucked everything about. Mortified at my actions, guilty about betraying Hunter, I’d withdrawn, moved out, and avoided him. The hurt I’d caused had been unintentional, but still, I’d hurt Hunter.
I clamped my jaw tight for a moment. “Let’s talk to Abraham about this whole thing. The hotel, I mean. And the necromancer.”
Hunter stared out his windshield. Finally he glanced over. “You hungry? I’m starved.”
He drove to our favorite drive-thru burger place. I was still astounded and enormously pleased with the idea of getting meals without ever leaving your vehicle.
“Do you believe Nigel?” I asked as we inched our way through the line of cars. My stomach rumbled. “About the old man being a—”
“Necromancer? I dunno. But it does explain some things.”
“Like?”
“Like the hotel being a big draw for supernatural folk. Or why the mob dudes were after the old guy. They weren’t there to kill him. They wanted him alive.”
“Those guns were real, Hunter. They shot at us.”
“At us, yes. But really, I don’t think they were actually trying to kill us. They wanted Master Anu for a reason, and it ain’t his charming personality.”
“Mob dudes? Where did you get that?”
