{"id":1006,"date":"2025-09-08T18:53:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T18:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/?page_id=1006"},"modified":"2025-09-08T18:54:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T18:54:28","slug":"the-devils-necromancer-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/books-2\/hellbound-gods\/the-devils-necromancer-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Devil’s Necromancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Devil Bound: The Devil’s Necromacner Part One<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lionel Hawkes is a necromancer and police consultant, and he has a problem; Lucifer, also known as the Devil. Lionel can\u2019t seem to get rid of him although he\u2019s tried. Repeatedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucifer always gets what he wants. He has the looks, he has the magic, and no one can resist his charm. Except that one necromancer who is altogether too cute to be left to his own devices. In addition, his crime-solving job gets him into contact with all kinds of unsavory substances and people, and Lucifer does not approve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a murder case cuts close to home, Lionel has to navigate getting rid of the Devil and solving the case, and being a professional necromancer, he feels pretty confident that nothing can go wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s wrong about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devil Bound contains banter, hellpoodle drool, a necromancer who attracts zombie goo and other questionable substances, several divine creatures, and a clean floor fetish, none of which make life any easier for our necromancer.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pre-order or support the Kickstarter<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Read the first chapter!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Devil Bound: The Devil’s Necromancer Part One<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Beginning: How I Met the Devil<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Four years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~Lionel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was past midnight, and the stars looked like sprinkles of white chocolate in the velvety night sky, overshadowed by the city lights and the waxing moon. I lay on the embankment, North Bridge\u2019s metal frame rising just to my right and further hiding the chocolate sprinkle stars. Pebbles pressed against my back and spine, and a particularly big one dug into my right butt cheek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My feet were wet, but I didn\u2019t mind, not the embankment or the wet feet or the stars melting away in the light of the artificial structures around me. The zombie was oozing all over me from its\u2014his<\/em> caved-in skull though, and I did mind that. Zombie ooze was a bitch to get out of clothes, even if I\u2019d given up on wearing colors years ago. Black was always the safest bet for a necromancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zombies reeked when they weren\u2019t really fresh, and this one was ripe, like, \u201cfish market in the middle of summer three days after closing\u201d ripe. I looked at the mess of zombie sprawled on top of me and reconsidered my life choices, all of which had led me here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My thoughts were interrupted by someone talking to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you need CPR?\u201d a voice asked from behind me. It was a warm, manly voice, and I was reasonably sure it could make chocolate melt, star shaped or otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stuffed my self-pity away and turned my head to get a better look at the speaker. He was as handsome as a devil, with skin that looked like marble in the glow of the city lights. His hair shimmered, liquid black, but it might have been some shade of brown in proper lighting. It went well past his ears and looked like it had been styled with care to get that messy, \u201cI just got out of bed after a night of hard fucking\u201d look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy the fuck would I need CPR?\u201d I asked. My voice didn\u2019t sound at all like I\u2019d been considering crying just a moment ago, and I was proud of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guy shrugged. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell with humans. Your kind are so accident prone, and you seem to be having trouble breathing. Or maybe you hit your head. Do you remember how you got here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did he think I was suffering from a concussion or something?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m having trouble breathing because I have a dead fucking zombie on my chest, asshat,\u201d I said. In my considered necromantic opinion, I was being perfectly polite, even though I couldn\u2019t be sure what kind of creature the guy was. I\u2019d given him a quick glance with my mage sight, and human he was not. His kind were called immortals among magic users, but just like people, those came in flavors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeez, I hated gods and otherworldly beings. It was a bad day when you got oozed on by a zombie and had to deal with an immortal at the same time. At least, thanks to my all-black clothing regimen, there wasn\u2019t a ruined hoodie in the mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll zombies are dead,\u201d Mr. Sexy said. \u201cIt\u2019s a prerequisite. This one seems to have had its brainstem properly destroyed, however. Sloppy, but effective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, smartypants, thanks a bunch for the lecture. The basics of necromancy have ever escaped me, even after I raised my very first corpse thirteen fucking years ago. And my grandest apologies if my dispatching technique doesn\u2019t meet your standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those thirteen years ago, it had been a blackbird who\u2019d died when he crashed into a window at my school. I\u2019d cradled the poor thing in my hands as it breathed its last. I\u2019d cried, and that had triggered my necromancer power. Pretty boy did not need to know that though. Every other person I\u2019d ever told had made fun of me for it, and lying there under the zombie and thinking about it really made me worry I\u2019d end up crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Sexy hummed, tapping his chin with a long index finger. \u201cYou could have suffered a head injury with amnesia. How am I supposed to know what you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He walked toward me. His movements were silent, catlike, and more elegant than seemed right. Even with the zombie oozing out on me, my cock couldn\u2019t quite ignore him. Or maybe it was that pebble under my right butt cheek that got me excited. Seriously though, what was up with his fixation on first aid and amnesia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He grabbed the zombie by the legs and pulled the dead-dead corpse off of me. \u201cOh. You caved in its skull with a rock,\u201d he said when he saw the murder weapon in question, the goo glistening on its rough surface. Well, it wasn\u2019t really a murder weapon, seeing as how the zombie had been dead already, but that was just semantics. \u201cHow traditional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He held a hand out to me, and I took it and let him pull me back to my feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m Lucy, by the way. Short for Lucifer, but I like Lucy. As in Lucy Westenra, the woman who almost single handedly turned Dracula into the first reverse harem romance novel ever before she made the wise decision to claim immortality instead. She was such an underrated character, and I really don\u2019t know why people don\u2019t like her more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I dusted myself off. Didn\u2019t help with the wet feet or the zombie ooze, which I really only distributed like soft butter on hot toast. The shirt I was wearing under my hoodie was ruined, and the hoodie too might not make it. Apparently the day could<\/em> get worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sighed. \u201cMaybe she was so underrated because she fucking ate<\/em> children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He shrugged. \u201cWell, everyone has a craving now and then. No one judges women\u2019s monthly chocolate cravings, and I don\u2019t see how that was so much worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stopped wiping at my hoodie when my brain caught up with the conversation. Lucifer? The<\/em> Lucifer? The fucking Morning Star, seducer of stuffy virgins and lover of apples? I looked at him. Up at him. Asshole was tall and handsome; the kind of guy I could only ever talk to with about three drinks in me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the Devil? Satan? Beelzebub?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLu-cy,\u201d he said, slowing it down as if he was reconsidering the brain damage thing. Even his eyebrows were perfect, which I only noticed because he raised one at me. Made him look even sexier. I hated and loved it at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFuck. Why are you here? What do you want from me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was checking to see if you needed CPR. I don\u2019t even know who you are.\u201d He tilted his head, looking all inquisitive. \u201cDo you know your name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He seemed to have an unhealthy fixation on that amnesia thing. He ran a hand through his hair as he waited for me to recall my own name. Ugh. He\u2019d dragged the zombie off me with that hand. Personally, I wanted to shower, scrub, and disinfect, but he didn\u2019t seem to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m Lionel Hawkes,\u201d I said, raining on his amnesia parade. \u201cNecromancer and necromantic consultant to Brunswick PD.\u201d I had to force down the urge to dig a card out of my pocket. I wouldn\u2019t give the Devil my card. He might get ideas. Or call me. I didn\u2019t want to be on his contact list. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t need CPR,\u201d I added, because he kept looking at me, unimpressed by my knowledge of my own name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need to practice your zombie killing, Lionel Hawkes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A performance report, delivered by none other than the Devil himself. Well, fuck my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShut the fuck up, Lucy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to straighten, but having to look up at him made that hard. He had gorgeous eyelashes too, which just didn\u2019t seem fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Devil grinned as if I\u2019d passed a cognitive exam. Fucking immortals. \u201cYou are energetic for a necromancer, Lionel Hawkes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s adrenaline from killing the zombie, who was raised by his son so the latter could get to his inheritance. Also, stop calling me by my full name. It\u2019s weird.\u201d Lionel Hawkes wasn\u2019t really my full name, but that was another thing I certainly would not tell the Devil. Most immortals knew name magic, and the Devil, even if only half the myths were about half true, knew a great deal of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked down at me, and I couldn\u2019t help noticing that his lips were extraordinarily plump, in a way no gloss or lipstick could ever achieve. I tried to think back to the zombie collapsing on top of me, because the more I looked at the Devil and watched amusement spread over his face, the more my cock was taking note and liking what I saw too damn much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery well. I\u2019ll call you Nelly then, short for Lionel. And since you require no further assistance in your nightly exploits, I\u2019ll leave you to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with that, the ass clown turned and left. I was very tempted to call after him and tell him to shove his stupid nickname for me up his ass\u2014which was a damn fine-looking ass, I had to admit\u2014but what would be the point? He was the Devil, and I was a necromancer working for the cops. There was no way in hell our paths would cross again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read the first chapter! Devil Bound: The Devil’s Necromancer Part One The Beginning: How I Met the Devil Four years ago. ~Lionel It was past midnight, and the stars looked like sprinkles of white chocolate in the velvety night sky, overshadowed by the city lights and the waxing moon. I lay on the embankment, North…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":639,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1006","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1010,"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1006\/revisions\/1010"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexapiper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}