What’s happened?” the girl asked anxiously.The necromancer clenched his teeth. It seemed like he was going crazy.Was this a side effect of being raised from the dead? Or was it because of the damned locusts who’d been finishing him off for seven hundred years?“It’s okay. I just remembered something unpleasant,” he said, scarcely hearing himself. His gaze was focused a little to the left of the girl – to the place where once again his old enemy was standing. Damn Ulfricus Ayris, smiling repulsively.Yet, Angelina obviously didn’t see anyone.Reive slowly closed his eyes, mentally ordering the spirit to get lost. To the place ordained for traitors.“And where is the place for people like you, Reivy?” the ghost smirked.The necromancer opened his eyes, but that asshole Ulfricus didn’t disappear. Inste

“It just can’t be,” I gasped, looking into the mocking dark-brown eyes. “The descendant of the very King of the Dead? Can I touch you?”I carefully put my hand on his knee.What was going on in my head? Something like “there’s a great necromancer’s blood in his veins! I’m touching a legend!”In fact, everything looked rather strange. Reive stiffened, and then he glanced sideways and said with a fixed smile:“Angel, you do remember I’ve got nothing on underneath this coat, don’t you?”I started back in fright, biting my lips nervously. True, he didn’t have anything...Oh, the Dark!The next moment, the necromancer shrieked with laughter. And it seemed to me that I blushed even more.“Don’t worry,” he added with a slightly guilty smile. “That I’m sitting here half-naked is my fault, not yours. So, I’m sorr

“Yeah, it’s a tradition.”Now, I shook my head, “What for?”I really didn’t understand this.“Necromancy’s absolutely useless nowadays. Well, you can raise the dead. But who needs that now?”I tried to spread my hands in a gesture of incomprehension, but suddenly, the ring fell through my fingers and dropped down to the bottom of the pond, lost between the thick water plants.“Oh, no!” I exclaimed. “I’m so sorry!” I was about to go into the water when the necromancer stopped me.“Wait, there’s nothing to panic about,” he said calmly, turning to me. “Except that you think necromancers are useless.”Unexpectedly, he frowned. I wouldn’t have thought that the loss of the family ring would distress him less than my opinion about the twilight science.“But really isn’t it so? What use to the wor

Reive wanted to watch the sunrise. The first sunrise after hundreds of years in darkness. He woke up just as the amber light of dawn appeared on the horizon. He went out of the cave, taking note of everything as he moved. The zombie was still securely attached to the man and sitting obediently at the entrance to the lair. The twilight vision told him there were no people or large predators at any great distance from them. It was quiet.For some time the necromancer walked through the forest, heading towards a hill on the edge of the trees not far away. From there he thought that a fine view would open out. He was right. Sitting on a hillock covered with soft grass, Reive locked his hands together, planted his elbows on his knees and gave himself over completely to watching the golden dawn.It was really beautiful. It aroused not only a thirst for life in the necromancer’s heart, but also other deeper emotions. It aroused desires of which he hadn&rsqu

The links of the chain were worked into the shape of small skulls between which round beads were inserted like crimson drops.“What’s this?” I breathed, marveling at the gloomy beauty of the thing.“It’s... it’s a gift, little one,” he smiled. Then, he skillfully undid the clasp, dividing the chain into two parts. He grasped one part in his fist and held out the other one to me, “May I?”A shiver ran down my spine.“Sure,” I said hoarsely.This morning, I had done my hair in a plait because after the night by the fire in the forest, it didn’t look up to much. So, now, the necromancer gently slid his hand behind my back and slid the ornament around my bare neck without difficulty.As soon as the clasp clicked shut, I felt the chain fit snugly, resembling a dog collar. Reive moved his hands along my shoulders, gently massaging my skin.Oh, the Dark! Wha