Christian is an Eyros not a Kaly Vampire! Yet he has protective spirits? And he handles soul gems with ease.
“Who did you call to you, Christian? Who are your protective spirits this time?” Kaly asked, or ratherCaemorndid, as he had no control what came out of his mouth.
“Nothing like those werewolf sisters thankfully!” Christian shuddered. “But they’re not human. I mean theyweren’thumanwhen they were alive. They lived under the water in the Gray Tides.”
He’s a Speaker to the Dead! That means I sliced myself into a Kaly Vampire that made him or someone very close to him. Interesting.
He felt himself lift an eyebrow. “Really? And they’ve come to protect you?”
“I’m not compelling them. Just asking,” Christian quickly offered.
“I would rather you were compelling them,” Kaly/Caemorn said.
And Kaly agreed with this. If the spirits were there freely they could be up to no good. And the creatures beneath the seas of the Ever Dark were not friendly to Daemon despite his reigning over all.
“Because you fear their motives? Yes, I understand. They are a very proud people and have little enough to do with anything that walks on dry land,” Christian agreed. “But they’ve come, I believe, to assist me because I am best friends with Julian.”
Julian’s eyebrows lifted, but then understanding filled his handsome face. “They hope their good actions will win their living relatives something from Daemon in return?”
“I think they know that change is coming since Daemon returned. They do not want war,” Christian stated after a moment of listening to someone that neither he nor Julian could hear.
Kaly realized that Christian must be an extraordinary Speaker to the Dead to call such beings and to understand them. He wondered who his Master was. Whoever it was, if it wasn’t him directly, had to be a very powerful Eyros.
“We don’t want war either,” Julian said, but then tightened his jaw as he added, “But we’re prepared to do whatever we must to keep ourselves and the Ever Dark safe.”
He is realizing that his words as prince matter, even to the spirits of Ever Dark creatures.
“If I bring back the crow, there will always be a connection between me and it, won’t there?” Julian asked him.
“Most Kaly would say no,” Kaly/Caemorn answered.
Indeed, there is not. Unless it is that we bind them to our will to serve us–
“But that would be a lie,” Kaly/Caemorn continued. “There is a bond with everything we revive and return. That bond can be used to twist them to our will. Or it can mean we are responsible for them on some level.”
Responsible? What–
Julian was nodding. “I understand. I’d like to bring the crow back since it seems like it wants to return.”
“It’s doing a little dance,” Christian laughed and pointed.
At that moment, a small mass of blue-white glowing mist flew into the room and landed on the laboratory table beside the dead crow. It soon formed a ghostly image of itself. It leaned down and tried to nudge its old body as if to wake it from its deathly slumber.
“Remember what we practiced, Julian. Use the energy in that soul gem to revive the bird’s body and then invite it in,” Kaly/Caemorn said.
Julian took a deep breath. He put two fingers of his right hand on the center of a small soul gem and two fingers of his left hand on the dead bird’s chest. The ghost bird danced and rustled its feathers in eagerness. Those purple eyes closed.
“All right, here goes nothing,” Julian whispered.
The light in the soul gemflaredand then went out. The ghost bird was no longer there. The formerly dead bird started to twitch. Its legs moved one at a time then it fluttered its wings and let out a soft croak. Julian’s eyelids flew open.
“Caemorn, did I do it?” Julian asked.
“You know you did!” Caemorn/Kaly’s voice was filled with warmth. “Now, let it up.”
Julian quickly removed his fingers from the bird’s chest. The crow got to its feet and immediately started fussing with its feathers with its beak, making sure that everything was shipshape. Julian gazed down upon it with warm, loving eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” Julian whispered.
