An American Witch in Paris

by Michele Hauf

  “With a little blood magic the demon will lead us straight to her,” she said.

  “Like drawing a compass on his chest?”

  “More complicated than that, but very doable. And CJ and I can shackle him and make him utterly incapable to do anything but walk and breathe.”

  Ethan looked to CJ. The dark witch nodded. “It’s possible. If he’s had sex with Anyx recently—and she drew his blood—we could work the spell. Remnants of her DNA would still be on or in him. But we’d have to combine our magics,” he said to Tuesday.

  “Not a problem. And if we bring along the reckoner he remains a threat to the demon to stay on his best behavior. But you’re not going to send him to Daemonia as long as I’m wearing his sigil.”

  “Of course not,” Savin offered.

  “Tuesday, can I talk to you over here?” Ethan nodded down the hallway. “CJ, you and Savin prepare for our adventure.”

  “Will do,” CJ said. “But first I’ve to head up to tech and make sure Cinder has the building wards back in place. Come on, Savin.”

  When the two men had left, Ethan took Tuesday by the arms and looked into her eyes for the longest time before he finally asked, “What’s the other way to break the curse?”

  “What?”

  “I heard every word the two of you spoke. The demon said there was a way to break your curse without ripping out your heart.”

  She looked away from him, but he moved to the side and blocked her in by the wall, tipping up her chin and forcing her to meet the challenge in his eyes. “Tell me. You’ve known there was another way all along?”

  “I’ve known since the moment the curse settled into me. He told me then. It’s not something that will ever happen. And I will not tell you what it is, so to use one of your favorite lines, you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.” She shrugged out of his grasp and walked a few steps away. “You did promise to release Gazariel after we got the code. So the reckoner shouldn’t even be an issue. I needn’t worry about being tugged off to Daemonia. And I’m resigned to carry the curse within me for the rest of my days.”

  “Don’t you want love, Tuesday? If there’s a chance to break the curse in some other manner—”

  “I said we will not discuss this anymore. Can you give me that?”

  Ethan raked his fingers through his hair and gave her a nodding shrug. “I guess I have to. But will it interfere with the task we have before us?”

  “Not at all. I swear it to you.”

  “Then you and CJ need to bespell the demon in whatever manner will help us, and we’ll set him loose to lead us to Anyx. Do you have a means to stop the spell should she have already enacted it? Do you know how the code is activated?”

  “I’ve not seen the book or the code. And I thought you were the man in charge. Don’t you have information about how the code is activated?”

  “It’s a blood spell.”

  “How do you know?”

  “That’s what I was told.”

  “By who?”

  “The one who ordered I retrieve the book,” he said angrily.

  “Who is?” Tuesday insisted.

  Ethan looked away from her.

  “Ethan? Who sent you on the quest for this book? Was it the Council? Because it doesn’t feel right to me. You’d have more information if the Council—”

  “It was a direct order from Raphael,” he finally said.

  “Raph—An actual—” Shivers traced Tuesday’s nape. This was getting a bit too deep into angeldom and their mysterious ways for her comfort. “You got an order from an archangel?”

  He squeezed the fingers of one hand before him and nodded. “Came to me a few days before you arrived with a demand we locate the thing.”

  “Why are you acting so weird about it? It’s like you’re embarrassed or—”

  “I am not embarrassed. This is a need-to-know mission. And you don’t—”

  “Do not give me that excuse. I’m in this. Deep. And you couldn’t have gotten this far without me. What’s going on, Ethan? Do you often take orders from angels? How is Raphael involved?”

  He gripped her by the shoulders as if to steady her, but he was actually finding his ground and forcing up calm when he wanted to walk away from her right now. His confession about not being up to snuff on fieldwork returned to his thoughts. Had he stepped into a mess too deep for even him to struggle out of?

  “Raphael was keeping track of the book,” Ethan said, “and...he misplaced it. That is confidential information. But you won’t say anything, right?”

  “Why would I? And to whom? I just think it’s kind of weird that an angel allowed a demon to steal something so valuable from him.” She tilted her head, and tried to read Ethan’s gaze. “In fact, I find it nearly impossible that one so all-powerful could have had something taken from him without noticing. The only other option is that Raphael gave it up freely. And why would he do that?”

  “I don’t...” Ethan squeezed his eyelids shut. She was pressing him, guessing at scenarios that were turning out to be dreadfully true. And he’d never considered it, but had the archangel purposefully allowed Gazariel to steal the book?

  “I think it’s a test,” Ethan finally said. “I don’t know much, Tuesday. You have to believe that. I thought it was suspicious, too, after getting the command from Raphael to search for the book.”

  “But that could mean the angel might actually stand back and allow it all to happen. End-of-world stuff. Yeah?”

  “I don’t know about allowing things to go to completion,” Ethan said. “I should hope not. But I don’t know much about angels.”

  “Except that you take orders from any random angel that happens to request your services.”

  “He is an arch—Tuesday, we don’t have time for this argument. Do you really want to do this now? Because it’s not going to get us anywhere, and it will give Anyx more time to crack the code and enact the spell.”

  Frustration tightening her fists at her sides, Tuesday blew out a breath. Neither of them was helpless. They did have the power to stop this. Whatever this was.

  “Fine. This whole adventure is fucked. Just like I knew it would be. But I’m with you. I promise. You got my back, I’ve got yours. Let’s get to it. I can do blood magic, which is helpful if the code activation truly requires blood. And Gazariel is a blood demon. But I should go armed with supplies. Can I take a look around in the witch room and see what I can find?”

  “I’ll show you where it is.” He held his hand out for her to take and she looked at it a moment. “I should have told you about Raphael from the start. But it wouldn’t have changed things.”

  “I realize that. Maybe.”

  “I want things to be good between us, Tuesday. Don’t block me out, please. We’ll need to be strong and stand as one against whatever we next face. Can we do that?”

  She slapped her hand into his firmly. “We can. And when this is over? I want to talk to that Richard of an archangel.”

  He pulled her to him. “When this is over we’re going to talk about breaking your curse. For my sake.”

  “Why? Oh. Don’t fall in love with me, Ethan. It won’t end well for you.”

  And she strode off, but not before Ethan saw the tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

  * * *

  With CJ’s permission, Ethan left Tuesday to ransack the Archives’ witch room for whatever magical items she may need, then headed back to the clean room, where the demon was still caged.

  He could not get the fact that Tuesday wasn’t willing to tell him what could break her curse from his mind. Was it so much worse than having her heart ripped out? Nothing was worse than death.

  The demon lifted his head as Ethan entered the room. Eying the base of the cage, Ethan verified that all the wards were lighting up the control panel. And
he still wore the demonic wards on his hands. The wards on his throat would keep the demon from trying to trick useful information out of him.

  The demon hooked his arms akimbo and inhaled deeply, expanding his chest. With a flip of hair over a shoulder, he asked, “You lied to her, didn’t you?”

  Ethan stepped up to meet the demon’s blue gaze between the bars. “What do you think I lied about?”

  “About releasing me.”

  “That wasn’t a lie. Should we find the book, you’re free to go. That is, if your girlfriend hasn’t already tried to activate the code.”

  “My girlfriend? She was your wife first, vampire. You think I didn’t know that? I could smell you on her. Wasn’t sure what it was when I first fucked her, but since I’ve been in your presence?” The demon shuddered. “You are a part of her. Did you know about her weird and wicked obsession?”

  “It’s why she’s no longer my wife. She’s...troubled. And she needs to be contained.”

  Gazariel lifted an eyebrow. “Well then, it seems you’ve caged the wrong person. But isn’t it like a man to want to imprison those females he can’t understand?”

  “You’re a man, too.”

  “You think so? When I Fell I was neither one nor the other sex. Not much changed after becoming demon. And by giving Tuesday that hideous curse I found I could be either or. It’s cute, the trick. Though I do prefer a dick to a clit. It’s much more powerful, don’t you think?”

  “Apparently, you’ve never met Tuesday Knightsbridge. That’s the most powerful clit I’ve ever met.”

  “Yes.” Gazariel dragged his gaze up and down Ethan assessingly. “You love her. Poor fellow. You certainly won’t survive through the night.”

  “You’re an idiot. I’ve known her less than a week.”

  “Doesn’t take more than a wink and a kiss to lose one’s heart.”

  “You and I have chatted enough. The dark witches will be returning to bespell you. You’ll lead us to Anyx.”

  The demon rolled his eyes. “I gave you her address.”

  “My team reports she’s gone. The place was a shambles, as if she had no intention of returning.”

  “Bitch.” The demon spat out a few words that Ethan assumed were demonic oaths. “She’s really going to do it.”

  “Seems so.”

  “I need to get underground.”

  “We’re all going underground in search of Anyx. But you have to do something for me.”

  “Something even more than being led around on a leash for the shits and giggles of your merry men? What, pray tell, is that?”

  “Promise me you’ll take the curse from Tuesday. Give her the freedom to love that she deserves.”

  Gazariel lifted his hands and shrugged. “You really want me to rip out your girlfriend’s heart? Okay, then.”

  “There’s another way,” Ethan insisted.

  The demon approached the bars, and this time when he gripped them the electricity did not seem to bother him at all. Ethan again checked the steady LEDs to confirm the wards were activated.

  “I’ve become conditioned to the pain,” Gazariel said as he curled his fingers tightly about the bars and moved his face closer to Ethan’s. His jaw was tense, but his expression remained calm. “You don’t know what it is that will set my witch free from the curse, do you?”

  “No.”

  “She wouldn’t tell you? Because you did ask her about it. I know that much.”

  Much as he didn’t want to admit his lacking trust with Tuesday to the demon, Ethan shook his head.

  “It’s not something I can give her, or even do for her,” Gazariel said on a steady, deep tone. “You see, it’s—”

  “Ready to rock!” Savin and CJ wandered into the clean room. The reckoner punched a fight-ready fist into his palm. “Where’s Tuesday?”

  “I’m here!” The witch walked in and patted a leather bag she’d strapped across her chest. “Got all the accoutrements I’ll need for a descent into the bowels of Paris to find a mad vampiress intent on destroying the world. And CJ has a bag of tricks as well.” The dark witch patted his hip bag in proof. “Let’s get the demon shackled and get on with this, yeah?”

  Ethan glanced at Gazariel, who smirked at him as if to say “oh, well, now you’ll never know the secret to freeing the witch from the curse.”

  “All right.” Ethan stepped down from the platform. He’d learn the answer later, after they’d found Anyx. He would not set Gazariel free until he knew how to help Tuesday find love. “Can you bespell the demon without opening the cage doors and taking down the wards?”

  “Of course.” Certainly stepped forward, and with a hand held out for Tuesday, she clasped it and together the twosome began to work their magic.

  Chapter 23

  A witch generally avoided entering churches and cathedrals—for good reason—yet Tuesday was fascinated as she followed Ethan and CJ as they descended below Notre Dame two stories. Savin’s contact had led them through the church basement, underground to a cold dark storage area, then had unlocked a vaulted door that had led into a cavernous blackness.

  They’d quickly found a path. The walls were initially paneled with rotting wide boards, along which had been strung electrical cords—probably a good century old judging by the frayed cloth covering. As their footsteps tilted downward, the walls changed to limestone and the floors graduated from hard limestone to dirt.

  Behind her, Savin and Gazariel brought up the tail. She didn’t argue having the hulkingly handsome reckoner guarding her back. But the demon’s presence tugged in her sigil.

  By the seven sacred witches, why could she not simply tell Ethan how to break the curse? Revealing the truth wouldn’t matter. It was not something he could do for her. And the way to break the curse was not something she could ever ask of another person. It simply wasn’t done.

  But giving him her truth suddenly felt important. If she told him, then she could move forward. Yeah?

  “Bring Gazariel up front,” Ethan called back.

  As Savin shoved Gazariel past Tuesday, the demon waggled his tongue at her. The magic she and CJ had put on him kept him docile, and the blood compass they’d drawn on his chest would react to Anyx’s presence. The demon didn’t have to do a thing. They could read directions from the glowing diagram drawn in his own sticky black blood on his chest.

  The crew waited, staring at Gazariel’s chest, and were rewarded almost immediately with a flash of blue light.

  “South,” Ethan said, and he turned to lead them down a narrow aisle carved from limestone. Here and there an old section of wooden paneling and some ancient electrical wires were nailed to the wall. Chalk symbols marked by previous explorers were either signs of direction or made-up nonsense, maybe even cataphile gang symbols as Ethan suggested.

  Parisian cataphiles were a fascinating subculture. Tuesday knew the crazy compulsion to explore the underside of Paris had existed for centuries. Actually, for as long as the city had existed. Daring cave spelunkers held underground parties and challenged themselves to find new, unexplored and extremely dangerous sections of the labyrinths. The catacombs spread all under Paris and in some areas as far down as seven stories.

  When they’d been waiting for Savin’s contact to find the right keys, Ethan had mentioned the legend of the vampiress who had been cursed by an angry lover in the eighteenth century. The lover had a witch bespell the vampiress frozen and put her in a glass coffin. She couldn’t move her body, but she had remained conscious, always aware of what was going on around her. They placed the coffin somewhere in these very labyrinths. She had been found by a man who truly loved her decades ago. Needless to say, she’d gone mad during those centuries of suspended animation, and still struggled with sanity. It was a long and interesting story that Tuesday would have loved to hear more about.

  While she wasn�
�t much for spelunking, she wasn’t afraid of the closed confines or the darkness. She had pulled on a white light upon entering and now vacillated whether or not to expend some magic to light up the ground with an illumination spell. There were patches of wet on the uneven limestone and dirt surface and she’d not worn shoes for hiking. Her boots had three-inch heels, and she could run in them, but forget navigating the bumpy surface with any skill. But she didn’t know if they would find Anyx, and if so, how much magic she would require to stop the woman if she intended to activate the spell, so she holstered any nervous desire to use the magic for the time being and wobbled onward.

  Gazariel walked ahead of them all, turning on occasion so Ethan could view the glowing map on his chest. The demon wasn’t tied up, but CJ and Tuesday had put a heavy shackle on him. He was connected to her through the sigil, and much like the bonding spell CJ had cast on she and Ethan, Gazariel had to stay close, within the magic’s range. And they’d wrangled as much of his demonic magic as possible. He was pouting, and every so often Tuesday felt the tug when she lollygagged behind.

  If it wasn’t a vampire leading her around Paris, it was a pouting demon tugging her deeper into the underground.

  Gazariel actually deserved a good pout. Poor spoiled prince of vanity. Couldn’t get the vampiress to love him so he had risked sacrificing the world to win that love?

  Tuesday was able to stop herself from giving him a comforting hug, though.

  They may need Gazariel to talk to Anyx. They may also have to use blood magic should the code already be activated. And that may require a lot of blood. From the same source. And they hadn’t discussed exactly who that source would be.

  By the blessed goddess, she prayed the vampiress had not the smarts to figure out the code from that book. A notebook in which some muse had scribbled down angel names and sigils? How irresponsible to put such to paper. On the other hand, that book had been in the care of an archangel. And now it was not. Superirresponsible. Didn’t angels have their shit together enough to keep an eye on one very dangerous book?

  Tuesday would give the asshole Raphael a piece of her mind. This whole experience was one big clusterfuck.