Memento Mori: Haunted New Orleans Series

by Rayvn Salvador

  “I’d ask how you are, but I can about guess.”

  She looked at me with tear-filled eyes. “What the hell is going on here, Dev?”

  “I wish I knew.” I tucked a chunk of silky waves behind her ear and pulled my chair close to hers so I could put my arm around her shoulders and tug her into my side. “I’m so sorry this is all happening.” I kissed her hair.

  She shook her head against my chest, and I felt the tension in her body. “Nobody should suffer the tragedies that you have,” I said.

  “Or you,” she replied and looked up at me. “You lost your sister. Your twin. And even though you didn’t come right out and say it, I intuited that you’ve lost others close to you, as well.”

  “I have,” I confirmed. “We’re quite a pair, huh?”

  She quirked a sad little smile. “I think the classic artists would have a field day with us. We’re almost the epitome of a tragedy. We should get masks.”

  I laid my cheek on her head. “We’re not doing anything with the show until this is all resolved.”

  She sat up and turned to me more fully. “No, Dev. This shouldn’t affect that. We have a contract, and you have a job to do. I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, I kind of feel like a zombie right now, but we should keep going. The cops said that the main house and the immediate area around it can be used, we just can’t venture behind Bea’s cabin. To the . . . to the crime scene or the cemetery.” Her voice cracked, and it nearly broke my heart.

  She turned to her lowball glass and knocked back her drink, pouring another and taking a small sip this time. She likely needed to calm her nerves.

  “I shouldn’t be drinking,” she said. “I should let myself feel. But I just can’t right now. I want to be numb. And I am a bit. Yet, not enough.”

  I grabbed her hand and rubbed the back of it with my thumb, tracing invisible veves and trying to imbue her with light and healing. I wished I had finished the gris-gris bag I had thought to make for her for protection, but I never took the time. I even had the herbs, bones, and other items sitting on the little bag in my ritual room, waiting to be assembled and spelled. At least she had the protection of her necklace, and I would do what I could outside of that.

  “What can I do? What do you need from me? Whatever it is, it’s yours,” I said, totally serious. I would do anything for her right now.

  When she looked at me again, I immediately noticed the change. She had made some kind of decision.

  “Dev?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, tucking that wayward lock of silky brown hair behind her ear again. The motion had become so natural. I couldn’t help myself.

  “Did you mean it?”

  “Did I mean what?” I asked. I thought I knew what she was likely getting at, but I needed to hear her say it. Needed the words.

  “That you would do or give me anything.”

  “Yeah, I meant it.” I pulled back a bit to look at her more fully. “Why? What do you need?”

  “I need you.” She reached up and framed my face, bringing her lips to mine. I kissed her as I’d been starving to do since Lafitte’s and put as much feeling into the action as I could. Hanlen was special. She deserved to be treated as such.

  When we came up for air, I pulled back again, one hand still firmly cupped around her neck, my thumb resting in the hollow of her throat. “Hanlen, I don’t want to take advantage of you. You’re vulnerable right now and you may not be thinking clearly.”

  In answer, she rose from her chair and straddled me in mine, bringing my body to life. “I know exactly what I’m doing, Dev. I’m one-hundred-percent in my right mind right now. Am I sad? Hell, yes, I’m sad. And upset. Fucking enraged, really. But I’m also completely aware. I want you. No, I need you.”

  That was all I needed to hear. I took her lips again in a fiery kiss, letting my hands roam. She moved on my lap, nearly driving me insane. When I rose from the chair, she just wrapped herself around me, clinging tightly and never severing our connection. We touched nearly everywhere, and it was incredibly heady.

  When I dropped her onto the mattress and stood back to look at her there, her hair spread around her in a fan of silk, her lips swollen and pouty, and her eyes full of lust, I had to rein myself in. She was divine. A rival to any of those I worshipped and paid homage to—no offense intended. I sent up a quick prayer to the lwas and great creator for any unintentional insult and vowed I’d give them an offering as soon as I got home. The blessings in my life right now were plenty, despite the tragedy that colored them.

  I slowly stripped her, paying special attention to every inch of skin I revealed and reveling in the dips and curves of her form. There was so much strength in her body, yet she was soft in all the right places. My eyes and my hands couldn’t get enough. When she was in nothing but her black and tan lace bra and panties, I stood back. She propped herself on her elbows to peer at me, and I slowly pulled off my shirt.

  I heard her intake of breath and saw her pupils dilate, and then she sat up and ran her fingertips across my skin, moving from right over my heart, across the opposite pectoral, and then back across my waist to my opposite hip.

  “It’s . . . I have no words,” she said.

  I looked down, seeing the tattoo I’d had done right after I lost Wren. It was a large albino python, its head resting over my heart, tongue tasting the world. The body ran over my shoulder and under my opposite arm, across my pec to my waist and hip, the tail dangling onto my upper thigh. It had taken nearly forty hours to complete but it was worth the pain and wait. Larken had actually helped. She’d spelled some ink so that the white and yellow would show and remain vivid on my darker skin tone, added an anti-possession and protection spell, and the artist had brought the serpent to life so vividly that he almost looked as if he were legitimately wrapped around my body and slithering across my torso. The shadows and three-dimensional realism of the snake were perfection.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she whispered. “The colors are so vivid, and it’s so incredibly realistic. It’s a good thing I don’t hate snakes.” She quirked a grin at me and then swept her fingertips over the scales again, causing goose bumps to erupt across my flesh.

  “It’s a representation of Zombi, Marie Laveau’s pet snake. It’s also one of the animals she’s said to turn into now in spirit form. That, and a crow.”

  “How appropriate,” she said and laid a gentle kiss on my navel, making me suck in a breath.

  We stripped the rest of the way and took our time learning each other’s bodies. I couldn’t get enough of her. She was perfect, seemingly created just for me, and she tasted like the sweetest fruit, something I’d never get tired of indulging in. When I protected us, and we finally joined, I could only think that we fit like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle kept apart for a time, only to be reunited to complete a beautiful whole.

  The sounds that filled the room were an erotic, musical score as we engaged in a dance as old as time. As sacred as any ritual I could complete in my temple—maybe more so. Lips and tongues and teeth, sampling, feasting. Devouring. There was a different kind of magic in this. A long-lasting, powerfully woven spell.

  We shared our breaths, our bodies, our souls in a continued fervent frenzy of seeking hands and melded flesh. And when she arched and cried out my name for the second time, I followed her into bliss, knowing without a doubt that I wouldn’t let her go without a fight. Hanlen hadn’t been expected. She may have come to town amidst a flurry of death, but I knew one thing for certain: She reminded me what it was to be alive.

  Chapter 15

  “. . . waiting in the dark, waiting, waiting . . . Maybe you can stop him. I can’t.”

  ~Dennis Rader

  Shaking, sweating, he watched his newest target, planning how to execute his scheme. It hadn’t been that long since he’d taken his last sacrifice and indulged in his unholy communion. The darkness inside him didn’t seem to care. He felt himself fading. Knew he needed to imbibe the sacred lifefo
rce to renew. He was twitchy, irritable, the dark craving within him growing with each moment that passed.

  This one, this prey, had been picked for an entirely different reason. He just didn’t like them. There was no sexual attraction that lent itself to better sustenance like some of his earlier conquests. No good-deed goal for the greater good of the people as with the biker. No mercy like the old man. This was a bit of hatred, though that was pushing it, since he didn’t care or like them enough to attach that strong of a word to it.

  Maybe he’d play with this one a bit. It went against his usual ritual, but this one might deserve a little pain before death. Before they gave him what he so richly deserved and offered up their life for his.

  He felt his shadow-self shimmy in agreement. Yes, he’d take his time with this one. Draw it out, add some adrenaline to the font. Perhaps that would hold him over for longer this time. Maybe that’s what his sacrifices had been missing.

  He looked across the way at his prey and smiled, imagining the fun to be had.

  Ah, yes. Tonight would be the perfect time to start the game. The ideal time to play.

  He stealthily made his way over and took them by surprise as usual, only this time he didn’t eradicate the senses. He wanted them to feel. He merely disabled them enough that he could overpower them and take control.

  When they were positioned where he needed them, he began his dance. The fear in his sacrifice’s eyes was enough to give him a hard-on, but he willed it away. There were more important things to do right now. Later, he could slake his desires in another way. He needed to be in the moment right now, and that meant staying focused and not letting his lust control him.

  “Do you know how special you are to have been chosen?” he asked, flipping the copper coin through his fingers, only to return it to his palm. “To be the vessel for my continued ascension?” he went on, watching as confusion overtook his prey’s expression. He almost wished he could ungag them and listen to the pointless pleading, the begging, the empty promises. But he needed to keep a low profile. This spot wasn’t ideal, and there were people around.

  He dropped his bag and set up his temporary altar, placing the coin in a safe place for later, and removed his ritual blade from its sheath, holding it up to see it glinting in the low light. A shiver of excitement raced down his spine, and he approached his sacrifice where they lay.

  “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m doing this. You would never understand, even if I tried to explain it to you. So, instead of idle chit-chat, what do you say we just get to work, hmm?” He held up the dagger. “I think I’ll start with your eyes. Eyes that looked where they shouldn’t. Eyes that judged. Yes, I think we’ll start there. And then . . . I will take your life. And your muffled screams will be the sweetest symphony to my feast.”

  Chapter 16

  Hanlen

  I woke to raging heat and unfamiliar surroundings. Cracking open my gritty eyes, I looked around to see a bedroom I didn’t immediately recognize. Then it all caught up with me. What day it was. What’d happened the last two days. Where I was now—Dev’s bedroom. And the heat was from the very sexy man snuggled against my back and the snoring canine pressed to my front. I looked down and smiled, running a hand down Mystique’s silky fur. The pit bull grumbled a bit and then fell back to sleep.

  I was entirely too comfortable, but my bladder waited for no man, woman, child, or adorable pup.

  As gently and quietly as possible, I extricated myself from the love sandwich and headed to the bathroom. Despite the horrific events of this trip so far, there had been a lot of good, too. And the man in the other room was directly responsible for nearly all of it. Given that we were a full day behind, we’d spent all of yesterday, from morning to the late hours of night, setting up Arborwood for the show. It was really hard work, and I couldn’t believe that they did it all the time and all over the place.

  Remy was constantly in motion; running here and there to make sure everything was set up properly and operating smoothly. Lennie and Van had shown me some of their gadgets and I had to admit, while I didn’t believe in what they used them for, the technology behind them was ingenious. But just because they got blips on the EVP meters, it didn’t mean there were ghosts. Electromagnetism existed everywhere. Still, they were really, really talented and they made things look so damn real. And Larken had displayed some things that blew my mind. If I believed in magic, I would think that she was made of it.

  And then there was Dev. He was always so in control, knowing exactly what everyone needed before they even asked and being on top of everything. It amazed me. And like Larken, he did things that defied explanation. Again, even not believing in that stuff, I could tell that there was something special about him—with the whole team, really. And if I were honest, I found myself being opened to all sorts of things on this trip—day by day. While I had known that being back in the city would hurt—and it did—it also brought back a lot of wonderful memories. Things about Reagan especially that I wanted to keep alive. I didn’t need to only dwell on the bad stuff. There was a ton of good, too.

  I finished my business and washed my hands, taking in my reflection in the mirror above the sink. My cheeks were still a little flushed, my lips a bit bee stung. I absolutely hated the saying, but I . . . dare I say it: glowed. Magic, indeed. I smiled. I wasn’t even crabby like usual, and it was godforsakenly early in the morning.

  I grinned inwardly and opened the door to a beautiful sight. Dev sat, propped up a bit against several pillows, one knee bent and the bright white bedding pooling at his waist. He had one arm across his midsection, resting on his snake—I internally laughed at the double meaning there—the tattoo partially hidden, the other hand wrestling with Mystique as she wiggled on her back, play-grunting and trying to nip his hand. When he looked up and my eyes met those fathomless ocean-water pools, I felt it from my head to my toes. Especially in my gut. In the time I’d spent with Dev, I hadn’t missed my home in Texas once. That was telling, since I never thought to return to this state, especially not this parish. And the fact that some far reaches of my mind could entertain thoughts of possibly staying because I was falling for Dev was terrifying. Things were changing so quickly, but as I gazed at the bed with Dev and the dog, I realized that the only thing that could make this better would be finding Reagan’s killer and making sure they were brought to justice. Though, I had to admit, the happy memories I’d had of her while here were a bit of a balm, too.

  “Come here,” Dev said and held out his hand. I walked to the side of the bed and sat down. He immediately reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, flashing me one of those smiles that made me feel safe, and awakening things that should have been sated by the last couple of nights.

  “It’s a new day,” he said, stating the obvious.

  “It is,” I replied, not sure where he was going with this.

  “Still no regrets?”

  Ah, so that’s where he was headed. I smiled and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his lips. “None at all. Though I do feel a little guilty celebrating life like this after just losing August.”

  He scooted back so he was better leaning against the headboard and could look at me more fully. “Let’s not look at it that way. Let’s look at it as him giving us the push required to grab what we both needed. I’m quite sure August loved you. I mean, how could someone not?” He grinned. “With that said, I think a celebration of life is exactly what he would have wanted for you. Would still want—especially given your past. This asshole plaguing the city doesn’t get to take that away from everyone. Their selfishness and sickness don’t get to rule. I won’t let it happen.”

  “I wish I had your optimism,” I said and leaned forward to place a sweet kiss on his chest. “And you’re right. He would absolutely want me to be happy. And despite everything, in this moment, I am.”

  Dev grabbed my hand and kissed my fingers and then hopped out of bed, pulling me with him. “Let’s get this day
started, shall we?”

  He spun me like a dancer, and I giggled. Actually giggled. What the hell?

  “What’s on the agenda for today?” I asked as we both threw on some clothes. The cast and crew had done so much already, I couldn’t imagine what else there was to do before the actual shoot.

  He led me to the table and pulled out a seat for me. Then he went about feeding his overly dramatic and seemingly starving dog before getting to work on breakfast for us. “We made up a lot of our lost day yesterday, but we still have some additional static trail cameras to position, hang, and test. Remy did a lot of it, but I’d like to add a few more. And some sound checks, glamour shots, filler clips, and other little things to do. Plus, I’m hoping that Burke uncovered some additional facts about the stories that I had him researching so we know where our so-called hotspots are, and I can have the gang checking for environmental reasons for those sightings and stories before we decide whether to use them for the show itself.”

  He placed a cup of perfectly doctored coffee and a napkin in front of me, and I inhaled the nutty aroma, sighing. “I can’t believe how much goes into a show like this,” I said and took a sip. “I had no idea. I just assumed you guys waltzed into a place with cameras a la Blair Witch and called it good.” I laughed.

  He kept his back to me as he tended the eggs on the stove. It reminded me of all the times I’d woken up to Reagan creating some morning culinary masterpiece in the kitchen and my heart panged in response to the memory. Damn, I missed her.

  “Some of the Buzzfeed and YouTube shows are like that,” he answered. “But we’ve never been. Before I even pitched the pilot idea to the network, I knew how I wanted to do things. I think my plan was one of the reasons they decided to take a chance on yet another paranormal reality show.”