The Necromancer's Daughter

|| seventeen ||

The Necromancer throws an energy ball aimed at Lucille. With one sweeping hand gesture in the wind, Lucille deflects the energy ball and it fizzles into smoke. She starts to smile, eyeing the weak nemesis and conjures her own energy ball in her hand.

Before she could throw it, though, the Necromancer materializes behind her, trapping her in an embrace that is both intimate and fatal. One arm held her firmly against the Necromancer's body. His other hand rested directly above her heart. Lucille's eyes widen as the air in her lungs vacuums and the blood in her veins halts.

"I am honoured," the Necromancer murmurs in her ear. "After all these years, you've saved yourself only for me." Lucille's face pales to a deathly shade. With a kiss to her cheek, the Necromancer consumes the witch's life force, along with her powers, supplementing his own deficiencies.

"N-never!" Lucille struggles to speak in defiance 'til the end.

The Necromancer grins and lets her lifeless body slump to the ground. A wisp seeps from it, something he has been hungry for. In a swirling motion of his hand, the wisp forms a silhouette of Lucille. It is her spirit.

"Now, tell me," the Necromancer commands. It has always been easier for him to command the dead rather than the living. "Where is the girl? Where is our daughter?"

***

Rebecca shook her head to wipe away recollections of her last vision. We all died. That was the end. She told herself, and although she was shaking terribly from the shock of it, she didn't feel as bad as the other times her power showed her death.

"It's not set in stone," Grandma Vai told her, reading her thoughts. She and Jili heard the commotion at the library so they went downstairs to check with everyone. Kaven told them what happened when Lucille left the room. "You're wondering why this vision felt less real than the previous ones you've seen. It's because this particular one is only a probable future, one that can still be averted."

Rebecca frowned, understanding most of it but not entirely. Jili took her hand, still a little shaky, and explained.

"There are different kinds of visions, as far as the Gypsy Tradition is concerned. You've already seen glimpses of the past, meant to make you understand where things are coming from," Jili glanced at Grandma Vai, to which the Gypsy Matriarch only nodded. It was clear Jili was proficient in their culture and tradition. Rebecca thought she'd make a great Vision Mistress once she comes of age. "The one where Mr. Gainsboro showed you where to go is a different kind, one of guidance, meant to take you where you need to be, or find what you need."

"And this last one, it's of the future...to show me what'll happen next," Rebecca retorted.

"It's of a possible future," Grandma Vai corrected. "One of the many. One that, hopefully, is only a vision now, since you didn't take the binding potion."

Lucille went back into the room, in her hands was a tray with a steaming pot of tea and small cups. Without a word, she gently laid the tray on the table, arranged saucers and cups, and poured servings to each of them.

"Hmm, chamomile," Grandma Vai smiled at Lucille and sipped nonchalantly. "Thank you, dear."

Lucille offered a cup to Rebecca. "Don't worry it's not laced with anything this time." She reassured her. "And I promise not to make you drink anything without your knowledge."

Rebecca took it, feeling a little better with Lucille's gesture. "I understand," She took a sip of calming chamomile and spoke, "But it's time you trust me with my powers. I know it's not mine to have; it's Lilian's, technically, but for the meantime, it's mine. And you need to trust me to help you defeat The Necromancer. You can't do it alone."