by Mari Freeman
“Up!” Sonja pushed back, sliding beside him to flatten herself against the wall. A shadow passed over the single weak light at the far end of the narrow passage. Ray looked up.
Wings. Things with wings creeped him out.
A hot shudder crawled down his spine. Things with wings that might want the Chiwa should creep him out. “Go!”
Cindy followed his order without hesitation. Ray heard his bare feet on the pavement as he ran as best he could in the alley. Sonja required a slight push to get moving in the same direction. Ray followed, not looking back or up.
He heard a screech and a creaking swish behind him. He stopped and spun, directing a blast of magic right at the sound.
The Gargoyle raised its stony wings and blocked the impact of the blast. Small rocks tumbled from the beast’s wings at the blow and sprinkled onto the path.
Neither Ray’s gun nor his magic would be a match for a Gargoyle. Smarts was all he had now. How the hell did one outsmart a living stone creature?
Ray caught up with Sonja quickly. “Faster.”
She didn’t answer but he could tell she was struggling, running as fast as her flip-flops would allow. He heard the Gargoyle trying to follow through the passage, big stone wings scraping along the brick and concrete walls of the alley. Ray looked back. He conjured one more spell, aiming at its relatively narrow legs.
The blast the spell made when it hit the Gargoyle’s leg, and the exploding stone flying and bouncing off the walls of the passage, made it sound as if one of the buildings were coming down. They all ducked their heads to avoid small bits of flying stone as they moved.
The creature’s strangely carved face contorted in annoyance of the situation. He couldn’t lift off, couldn’t hop forward on one leg as his wings had him pinned in place between the walls. He tried to brace against the walls with his smallish arms and tuck his oversized wings as far back as possible. Nothing doing. He let out a long, lingering cry that would certainly bring other Gargoyles careening off building tops.
“We getting close, Cindy?” They’d moved about three blocks, running between the old buildings parallel to Bourbon Street, Ray guessed. He had one hand on Sonja’s back, feeling her muscles move, and it comforted him a bit. The thought of stone claws tearing into her skin terrified him.
Ray felt the gathering magic of the Gargoyle. It was about to blast him. He raised his gun, aimed it behind him and fired.
The round ricocheted off the beast’s head. The stone the Gargoyle had sent hurtling toward them hit Ray’s hand—hard. He dropped his gun but couldn’t risk stopping to retrieve it. Fuck!
“Sort of.” Cindy glanced back too. His eye makeup was running down the side of one stubble-covered cheek in beads of sweat. “We’ve got to get to the other side of Bourbon Street.”
They exited the alley onto Conti Street, where Ray could see the back of the courthouse. They turned left, headed up the block and tried to blend in with the folks milling toward the lights and music of Bourbon Street two blocks up. Not easy for a six-foot man in drag.
They crossed the wave of drunken revelers on Bourbon then finally stopped at a large wooden gate. Cindy unlocked a door just inside the gate and waived them into his apartment.
They were safe. For the moment.
Chapter Twelve
Sonja was looking around for another exit. Panic was rushing through her. She felt trapped. Restless. “How long do you think we can stay put?”
“No one knows you’re here,” Cindy said as he made an elaborate gesture to the ceiling. “But your blood magic is calling the dogs, dearest.” The man then unhooked his corset and let it all hang out with a loud sigh. Beer belly hanging over a ruffled skirt was quite the image.
Ray grinned despite the seriousness of their predicament. Sonja wanted to as well. Any other time and the entire situation would be hilarious. But all this was more her sister’s style. Nell was always the one who lived out this kind of adventure. Not quiet, always-do-the-right-thing Sonja. No, she was a bookworm and homebody. What the hell was she doing running from Dreamstalkers and Gargoyles in New Orleans?
“I know someone who can quiet the magic, but if Q was in my head then he knows of her too.” Not good. Sonja grabbed Ray’s arm. “Do you think Barri’s in danger? I was at her place. She conjured the fake talisman for me.” She didn’t give anyone a moment to answer before continuing hurriedly. “We have to find out if they’re okay.”
“Barri? Do you mean Barri DeBaliton?” Cindy took two water bottles out of the fridge and handed them to Sonja and Ray, then the big guy bent way over, giving her a view of much more hairy rear than she’d ever wanted to see. “She’s as rare as bigfoot.” He located another bottle of water before turning, relieving them of the view. “Everyone knows about her, but no one sees her.”
“I have. And I need to again. She can quiet the talisman.” She looked at Ray. He had to believe her. “Like it was before I started messing with things I shouldn’t have.” Before she’d put all their lives in jeopardy. She peeked out a window briefly. “I should have called the Prime,” she said, sitting heavily on a worn couch. “I should have just given Q the damn thing as soon as I got my hands on it. He’s been messing with my head from the moment I took it from Nell. Influencing my decisions. Maybe before. Do you think Kara’s de—”
“No,” Ray said before she could finish her thought. He knelt between her knees. “Kara is fine.”
“But—”
“No buts. We’ll find her. No regrets, Sonja. If you’d done anything differently…well…you know the Fates have their ways.” He looked at her kneecaps and squeezed her thighs with his strong hands. “We’ll get her.”
“We still have the box.” She felt her strength growing from Ray’s touch. He made her body sing, while his calming magic seemed to work on her mind as well. Maybe that calming magic had helped him as a cop too. She needed that grounding right now to keep from shattering. “You’re still willing to help me even though I’ve left you in the dark?”
He smiled. “You’ll tell me when you have a chance, right?”
“Yes.”
Cindy clapped then propped his hands on his hips. Or, um…roll. “Would you mind filling me in now? I mean, that’s all beautiful, kids, but we seem to have some major issues here. A) You seem to have a Dreamstalker chasing you. B) You’re mixed up with the most powerful Voodoo Queen this side of Haiti. And C), that stinking blood magic you’re carrying around is ruining my new rug. Can you make sweet whoopee another time, please?”
“Yes, we can.” Ray stood. “You can go get Barri and bring her here. She’ll quiet the call of the talisman and then we’ll get out of your hair.”
“Me? Go to Barri DeBaliton?” Cindy shook his head. His makeup was ruined and in the cheap track lighting his stubble was more visible, making him look like a clown after a bad night.
“It’ll keep you away from the blood magic and keep us safer than we’d be running the streets.” Ray gave Sonja a slight squeeze as he spoke. His connection continued to calm her. The longer he touched her, the more she understood the depths to which Q—and the talisman—had been working on her mind.
“Ray, Ray.” Cindy shook his head. “One does not just waltz up to Ms. DeBaliton and say ‘follow me’.”
Ray grabbed his drink off the table and took a swig. “You’ll figure it out. You manage that club, after all. I can only imagine the unusual situations you’ve worked around in the past.”
Cindy raised his hand as if to testify. “I have seen it all, baby. The stories would curl your toes.”
“I’m sure.” Ray’s expression changed as he looked Cindy straight in the eye. “We need your help. Until Barri quiets that thing, we’re all in danger.”
“Child, you’re gonna be in danger after that too. Quiet or calling, that shit is nasty. As long as you’re mixed up with a Dreamstalker and blood magic, you’re asking for a parade, and I ain’t talking Mardi Gras.”
Cindy meant a funeral parade,
and Sonja knew it. She wasn’t sure that wasn’t where they were all heading anyway.
“Fine,” Cindy huffed. “But I need to change. There is no way in hell I’m calling on Barri DeBaliton looking like this.” With that he stomped out of the room and into the short hall. “There’s a washroom just here.” He pointed at the first door on his right. “If’n you two would like to clean up.” He looked back at Sonja. “Is that all you have to wear, dear?”
Sonja laughed. She had left her old clothes in the shop where she’d cut her hair. “Yes, it is.”
“Then Barri DeBaliton will not be the only package I deliver.” Cindy looked her up and down. “Size ten?”
The big cross-dresser had nailed it. “Yes.” Goddess only knew what Cindy would bring her, but Sonja would be happy to be out of the skimpy outfit she had chosen in a moment of panic and hurry. “Not too wild, okay?”
“Don’t you worry. The day job is fashion, honey. I’ll hook you up.” Cindy continued to the back room with that skirt swishing around his legs and a rather hairy back on display. “You’ll be styling when I’m done with you.”
That’s what Sonja feared. “Great.”
* * * * *
The water in the shower was cool by the time Ray took a turn. Cindy, who had emerged in a bright coral pantsuit and teal shoes, apologized. “There’s only enough for two showers in the old water heater.”
Ray didn’t mind. The cool water woke him up. He needed to be thinking clearly. They needed to get on with it. Cindy was on his way to get Barri, but there was no telling how long it would take him to find the Queen. He had instructed Cindy not to spend too much time finding clothes for Sonja, but Cindy had his own mind.
Sonja was sitting at a little kitchenette that looked as if it had come straight from the fifties. The awful pattern on the Formica table was made worse by the clash with the “robe” Cindy had loaned her until the new clothes arrived. Ray chuckled. “You look good in a muumuu.”
“Yeah?” Her smile was weak. She looked even more wiped out than before her shower.
He slid into a chair. “So. What’s going on with Q?”
“Right to it, huh? Want to blare the interrogation lights at me too?”
Her expression was playful but he sensed something troubling under the façade. Maybe if he got her to talk about herself a bit, she’d open up about Q. “Well, let’s start with something not so hard then. Your scars.”
She laughed and sipped the sweet tea Cindy had offered before leaving. “You think that would be easier?”
“Why not?” Maybe he had gotten too personal. “You didn’t seem to be bothered by them last night.”
She laughed again, but this one sounded rather cynical. She rubbed her forehead. “It’s kind of all wrapped up together.” She looked him in the eye. “Us. Last night. I thought that was a vision Q had planted in my head.” She looked down at her glass and used one of her long fingers to trace the path of a bead of condensation. “It’s not the first vision, either.” A sweet blush crept up her chest and onto her cheeks.
“Really?” He couldn’t help the masculine pride that tinted his tone.
“I…um…thought I was using this vision to trick Q, so he wouldn’t realize the talisman was a fake.” She looked back into the depths of her glass. “But it seems he turned the tables on me once you got there.”
“And that had what to do with the scars?” He’d ask some probing questions about their vision sex in a moment, but he wanted to at least appear to be on track with the conversation.
“I didn’t realize I was actually with you until the very end. I was self-confident in my vision because I knew it was fantasy. No need to be self-conscious in a fantasy, now is there?” She took another drink and tried to find anything other than his face to look at. It was rather cute.
He couldn’t help pushing her buttons a little. “So, you’ve been fantasizing about me, huh? How was I in the visions? Big? Really big?” He held his hands out as if he were telling a fish story. Her mouth dropped open. Those gorgeous hazel eyes got huge.
“Ray, this is serious.” She drew her brows together.
That was even cuter than her blush. He was hooked. No doubt about it. She was brave and strong, whether she knew it or not, and her magic was like a siren’s call. And what about that? “Sorry. Blame the testosterone.” He leaned in closer. “Sonja. Can you tell me why you’ve been able to use the blood magic of the Chiwa and not be affected by it? I mean, if I tried to boost my power with that thing, I’d feel the sickness of it. It tempts me, just as it tempts the cretins trying to find it. I can feel it working away at my resolve like a cancer but you actually used it, and your heart is still pure and your magic unchanged.”
“It’s not unchanged. Neither am I. I reveled in those visions, Ray. I wanted them. And I wanted my psychic abilities to grow stronger. In the beginning it was just to help Kara, but I think even then I wanted it. I tried to use Q as well.” She adjusted the big muumuu over her shoulders and got up. “I used it and him to experience sex with you without worrying over my scars. I used it to let my Demon come out, to shift for the first time since the accident. I used it all right, and I think it’s been affecting my decisions.” She was looking out the little front window with her back to him. Her arms were protectively wrapped around her waist.
“When were you burned?” He couldn’t imagine not being able to let his true nature out. He’d had to stifle his magic when he was on the force, but to never let her other surface? That had to be torture.
“I was ten. My sister, Trina. Her Demon manifests as a red Dragon. A Fire Dragon.” She hesitated. “It was an accident.” She waved her hand as if to brush away memories. “The details were long ago lost. These days, I think her guilt is far worse than my scars. She hides from life. I only hide the scars.”
He slid up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, intentionally running his hands over the scars. He felt her stiffen. “You know what I thought when I saw those last night?”
She didn’t answer. He really hadn’t expected a reply, nor needed one.
“I thought it felt like exquisite lace beneath my fingers. I saw you as a whole, as a beautiful creature who was naked and wanting in my arms. Whether you knew it was me or not, I knew it was you. I came here,” he kissed her shoulder, “because I couldn’t stop thinking about you, worrying about you…wanting you.”
She turned slowly in his arms and he kissed her, taking her in, tasting her. Hungrily, to make sure she knew it was him. That this time she was kissing him, not some fantasy image. It was better than he even imagined.
It didn’t last nearly long enough. She pushed away. He could see the confusion on her face and she was fighting back tears, but he held her close.
“What if all this between us, all of it was created by Q? I had the first vision as I opened the box on your property, before we even met. That means he had to be out there, watching us even then. What if the only reason you want me, like me, is because a Dreamstalker is fucking around in your head?”
“What if it’s not?” He raised an eyebrow. She could be right, but Ray didn’t believe it. “I haven’t had any visions or dreams about you. Oh, I’ve imagined all manner of things, but I don’t think Q’s been in my head.”
She pulled back, this time out of his arms. He wanted to hold her there, force her to feel what he was feeling. But she had to come to him on her own or she’d never trust her feelings.
“I need to concentrate on Kara right now.” She sat back at the table and drank down her remaining tea.
He had an idea about that too. It had come to him in the shower, but given what she’d just said, he wasn’t sure she’d go for it. It was dangerous and could backfire on them—big time. “How strong is your psychic power now? Is it stronger than before you used the box?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“But not enough to find Kara in his head?” He sat across the table from her and leaned back, giving her as much space as p
ossible.
“No. He’s initiated the visions each time. They just happen to me.”
She could do anything she wanted, if she believed it. “What if we use the Chiwa again?”
She looked at him as though he’d asked her to kiss a snake. “No. I took one stupid risk. I’m not taking that kind of risk again. It won’t do Kara any good if I get myself all screwed up.”
“I’m right here. I’ll be right with you.” He reached out and offered his hand across the table. He let just a bit of his magic flow her way. Her reaction told him more than any words could. She flushed and resituated in her chair. After a moment of her gaze darting between his face, the window across the room and back at the table, she slipped her hand into his. “You feel it too, don’t you? The way our power mingles?”
She nodded. “My Dragon. She really responds to you. Scares me a bit. I’m afraid I won’t be able to control her. The scar…”
“Ah.” That could be a concern. “How much do you shift?”
“Not much. But the scar prevents it at all. The vision was the first time I can even remember shifting in a long time. I can feel it though.”
“I think I can help boost you too. If we use the Chiwa one more time to get one over on Q, we can get Kara back. He still wants that talisman.”
Sonja blinked a couple of times and bit her bottom lip. Her eyes closed and she took in several steadying breaths. Ray could feel her reaching out with her magic, feel it roaming…calling out to connect with someone close and familial, from the feel of it.
He could tell when she made her connection by the stranglehold she put on his hand. He could also feel a tiny taste of the additional magic, but couldn’t read it or sense what was going on in Sonja’s head.
His body reacted to the roaming of her energy in the room and over his skin. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced. Like jumping into a cool lake on a hot day or, better, walking into air conditioning after spending hours out in the August humidity directing traffic.