by E G Bateman
They both glared at him.
He looked pointedly at Thomas. “Let’s get on with this, then. I’ll break the bones where they were broken by Delphenzo. You two twist them into position and hold them in place until they start mending.”
“Delphenzo.” She rolled her eyes.
“Yes, it’s a cross between—”
“I know. Stop speaking.” She took one of Thomas’s arms and they began to reset the joints and bones.
While they worked, Lexi looked at Dick. “I don’t understand this place. Everywhere else I’ve been, when someone’s turned, they leave and stay dead to their families. Here, the family seems to board the windows in their old bedroom and change breakfast time. So many humans are aware of the supernatural world here.”
He nodded. “It gets stranger than that. Mothers sometimes allow their vampire kids to feed off them.” He shuddered. “It gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
Scott frowned. “Why?”
“It’s like…” The vampire seemed to try to find the right words. “You know when you hear about women who breastfeed their kids until they’re seven or eight?”
“Okay. I hear you.” The young man signaled that he didn’t need to hear any more.
They twisted the victim’s head the right way. Like every other bone and joint they’d worked on, it cracked and crunched.
Lexi looked directly at Dick. “I really am sorry.”
“I forgive you.” He mussed her hair with his knuckles while she held Thomas’s head in place.
She narrowed her eyes. “But if you ever do that again, I’ll break your neck all over again.”
“And just like that, our little moment’s over.” He poured himself a drink.
They moved Thomas onto the couch as a knock sounded at the door.
“It’s Broullard.”
Dick went into his bedroom as she opened the front door.
The detective stepped in. “How’s Thomas?”
“Sleeping but otherwise, possibly in good shape.”
“Let’s be honest. I think any shape is preferable to the one we found him in.” He smiled a humorless smile.
Lexi let him in, and he looked over the couch at Thomas. “Will he walk?”
“If we did it right.” Scott yawned.
“Don’t. Just…please don’t yawn.” Broullard sighed. “So, are you busy?”
Scott shook his head. “Another one? For the love of…”
Lexi stood outside Mardi Gras World and stared at a boat that had crashed into what appeared to be a short boarding dock. The vessel had been tied off and a cordon placed around the area. Scott had walked a little farther to see the front of it.
“Anything?”
He shrugged. “The boat’s called A Stone’s Throw.”
Broullard held a little notepad. “Has the ring been here?”
The sorcerer nodded.
She boarded and waited while her two companions stepped behind her. “I’m not really into nautical…anything. Is this a shrimping boat?”
“Yes, although the owner appears to have been in the business of fishing for crabs. These are crab traps.” The detective pointed out several net-covered tunnels on the deck.
“Do you know who the victims are?” She poked around a few boxes on the deck.
“The captain and four tourists. We have IDs for the tourists but I’m waiting for registration details to come back on the owner. Until then, he’s merely Crab Boat Guy.”
Lexi shrugged. “So, where are they?”
Broullard steadied himself as the boat rocked. “The tourists are below deck and he’s in the pilothouse.”
“The what?”
He rolled his eyes. “The front part.” He extended his hand to stop Scott from following her. “Do you mind staying here?”
The young man sat on a deck bench. “No part of me minds that. I’m sorry I threw up at your other crime scene.”
She expected the detective to follow her but instead, he sat as well. “I’m not much of a boat person. If I go in there, I’ll seriously disturb this crime scene.”
Lexi rolled her eyes and made her way past winches and nets to the pilothouse. She could see why he thought it was Lorenzo. The head had been turned one hundred and eighty degrees so the body lay on its back but the head was face-down. There wasn’t much to look at. Peeking her head out the door, she saw her two companions in conversation, so she decided to have a look under the body. She could always blame the rocking of the boat.
She caught Crab Boat Guy and turned him onto his front. The man’s lips moved.
Shit, he’s alive.
Instinctively, she drew in a breath to call Broullard to get the paramedics when a horde of tiny crabs escaped between the lips of the corpse and scuttled across the deck.
The back of her hand slapped over her mouth, she straightened hastily. After a few seconds, the compulsion to vomit had mostly left her. She flipped the body back as she’d found it and returned to take her place with Team Vomit at the other end of the boat.
“Are you okay?” Scott was concerned. He’d have felt her emotional shift.
Carefully, she sat beside Broullard before she tried to speak. “Is there any point to me looking at the tourists?”
“I guess not. They’re the same as those in the courtyard—heads twisted and throats ripped out.”
They disembarked by silent consensus. Once on land, Scott muttered a few words. “The ring went this way.” He pointed toward Mardi Gras World. “Do you want to follow it?”
Lexi chewed her lip, then shook her head. “Honestly, I think we need backup.”
Broullard nodded. “Will you come to the station?”
“Not yet. We need to do a little research and will catch up with you.”
“Can I drive you?”
“No, we need to see some people.”
Back at the apartment, they heard Dick and Betsy from the stairs.
“Tell me what you need and I’ll get it for you.”
“I merely want a few things. Come in with me if you’re so concerned.”
“I don’t think you comprehend the danger you would be in.”
The two friends hesitated outside the door before Scott spoke the shared thought. “Should we simply go—”
Dick called out to them. “Come in.”
Lexi opened the door. “If this is a bad time…”
Betsy stood from the couch. “Don’t be silly, dear, this is your apartment. Good heavens, you look exhausted. I’ll put coffee on.”
The sorcerer yawned. “I’m going to lie down.”
“We need to talk.” Lexi pulled him back by the collar.
“Urgh!” He dropped into a chair and put his head on the table. “I’m listening.”
“Where’s Dick?” Betsy looked around the room. “Has he— Oh, for goodness sake!”
The younger woman looked toward the apartment door. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s going on?”
Betsy rolled her eyes. “Dick won’t let me go into our apartment. He seems to think Thomas might tear my head off or something.” She scooped coffee into the machine.
Scott lifted his head. “He might. He lost considerable blood. He’ll want to replace that, possibly with yours.”
“Oh! I thought he was being over-protective.” She blushed.
Dick walked in with her belongings. “I’m being the right amount of protective. There you go—everything you could possibly need.” He looked at Lexi. “What’s your problem?”
She sighed. “We need backup. Kindred backup. I’ll have to tell Broullard we’re not Kindred.”
He grimaced. “Oh dear. That’ll be an awkward conversation. Can I come?”
Her death stare, unfortunately, did nothing to diminish his humor.
Chapter Forty-Five
The two friends walked along Royal Street toward the police station.
Scott stepped behind Lexi to allow a couple to pass, then moved beside her again. “What will you say t
o Broullard?”
“I’ll simply tell him we don’t have the backing of Kindred and there is no Kindred cavalry riding toward New Orleans on shiny freaking horses.”
“Can’t we…uh, leave him a note? I can’t see this going down very— Hey!”
She grabbed him and shoved him through the closest door and into an art gallery. Once safely inside, she yanked him against the wall between the door and the window. “Am I seeing things? I’m seeing things, aren’t I?”
He peeked out and darted his head behind cover again. It must have taken a moment for him to process what he’d seen because he immediately looked out again. His jaw dropped.
Lexi took a breath and looked again. It was undoubtedly Caleb. “Who did we kill in Cabo?”
“Can I help you?” The assistant looked ready to throw the two of them out of the gallery.
“We’re looking for a gift but the guy it’s for is right across the street.”
“Oh my, that’s awkward.” The man looked out. “Is it for the chief of police?”
“Yes.” Scott led the man into the store.
She ignored them and peered out again. Utterly confused, she dragged her gaze from the miraculously not dead sorcerer to the man who stood with him. Even more startled, she retrieved the photograph of herself in Jackson Square.
Her friend moved beside her and she glanced at the assistant, who stood with a smile on his face and an unfocused look in his eyes and stared in the direction of a wall. She showed Scott the photo. “It’s him. It’s the guy from the picture.”
He looked out again. The man across the street with Caleb was in uniform. “He’s the chief of police? He must be Kindred. If he is, why would he talk to an evil sorcerer?”
“Caleb manipulated the whole of Palm Springs. It’s not a stretch to guess he’s done it here too.”
She glowered through the window and grasped the hilt of the katana in her pocket. “I want to know what they are saying.”
“Okay.” The sorcerer muttered a few words and in a moment, they were able to hear the conversation.
“And I have a problem with my pet vampire,” the chief blustered. “Lorenzo has way overstepped the mark. The agreement was that we’d let him gain a block. He was supposed to help us cull the shifters, then go after Carla’s clan. There’s only six of them but they style themselves after a family. Somehow, he eliminated Thomas and his entire clan, including a couple of human donors. He wasn’t sanctioned for that.”
“How’s your girl doing with the other investigation?” Caleb’s voice made her shudder.
“I spoke to her yesterday. She’s wrapping things up. There was definitely magic at play. The security camera’s suddenly on the fritz and no one remembers seeing it.”
“It doesn’t matter. I know who the culprits are, or at least know one of them.” He laughed. “I still can’t quite believe it. She’s not quite the harmless old bird I thought she was.”
“I’ll rip her eyeballs out,” a guttural voice exclaimed.
Visions of Betsy being tortured and screaming assaulted Lexi’s mind. She held her head as the images became more obscene until suddenly, they were gone. Shaken, she stared at Scott, who had clearly seen the same and protected them from it. He leaned heavily against the wall with his eyes closed before he returned her gaze. She peeked out of the gallery window to where Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose.
She opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head quickly. Instead, she mouthed, “Azatoth?”
Scott nodded.
The conversation outside the station continued.
“Are you all right, Caleb?” The chief sounded concerned.
“I’m fine—it’s a headache.”
“Please, my lord, I can’t think.” The man’s voice sounded weary.
“I am closer. Soon, I will be with you.”
Caleb’s voice was strained when he tried to continue his conversation. “I’ve been busy but I’ll locate her tonight and send friends over. How is it going with the shifters?”
“Lorenzo hasn’t moved on them yet. He’s doing it tomorrow night.”
“Good. We’ll chastise him after he’s taken care of the shifters and the witches. The supernatural population in New Orleans has grown out of all proportion. We need this cull.”
The two friends looked at each other. She was keen to get out of there.
The chief continued, “That reminds me—Broullard has dealt with things while I’ve been away. I passed him in the hallway a few minutes ago. I haven’t had a sit-down with him yet, but he’s asking awkward questions. Should I arrange to have him counseled again?”
The Kindred term raised Lexi’s eyebrow. The official was definitely Kindred, then. But why did he take orders from Caleb? Was he yet another person under the sorcerer’s thrall?
“No. Find a reason to send him to the bayou with the shifters. He’ll be collateral damage. Keep me informed.”
He climbed into a waiting car and drove away. The chief remained outside.
Scott exhaled sharply. “That was intense.”
She wiped her brow. “Those visions. How did we see them?”
“We picked up all communication from where they were standing. I didn’t specify the frequency.” He shuddered. “So, he still has that demon in his head. And I bet it’s really pissed after not crossing over.”
Lexi rubbed at the goosebumps on her arms. “What do you think he meant by ‘soon, I will be with you.’ I thought he wouldn’t get near our dimension for hundreds of years.”
“I don’t know. But it’s very clear what Caleb’s plan for Betsy is. We should get back to the apartment. I need to protect her.”
They left the gallery as the man on the steps looked up. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and stared directly at her for a moment before he raised his arm to make a come-here signal with two fingers. She looked around in the hope that he had targeted someone else.
Scott prodded her back. “We have to go over there. If it gets difficult, I’ll send him to sleep.”
She approached the man and opened her mouth to deliver a vague greeting.
He spoke first. “I thought you were in Cabo.”
“I…I was.” She wondered how he knew she had been there.
“I wasn’t expecting you here yet. When did you get back?”
“Just now.” She was winging it.
Who does this guy think I am?
He stretched an arm out, took hold of a railing, and looked around. She realized he was waiting for a couple to walk past. His voice lowered. “Do you have any leads on who killed the doppelgänger?”
“Nope.” She saw his eyes narrow at her brief response. “I’m waiting for results from the lab.”
“Make sure your paperwork’s in order. When the head of the Kindred council asks specifically for you, it could mean big things for your career. You just missed him, by the way. And I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
“I was about to,” she told him and shrugged.
The chief continued. “Palm Springs was a shit-fest. There were hundreds of the buggers. One of them broke my glasses and I can’t see for shit. I barely recognized you from across the street.”
He held a hand up with a bandaged finger. It looked shorter than it should have been. She noticed one of his other fingers was also missing a tip, an older injury. “He’s talking about wanting another one. Son of a bitch. The perks of the job aren’t worth this.”
Lexi nodded as though she had a clue about what was going on.
“Who’s that?” He pointed to Scott, who remained a discreet distance away and looked around with a vaguely disinterested expression.
Despite the natural instinct to do so, she didn’t look at him. “He’s…going to look at my car.”
“I see. You’re getting straight back into things then. I only recently got back myself and it looks like shit’s been going down here. You can’t leave them alone for five minutes.” He raised a hand and she froze while he tucked a lock of
her hair behind her ear. “You look nice. Cabo must have agreed with you. I thought you weren’t going to hide your scars again.”
It came so suddenly that she freaked out on the inside, her mind a whirlwind. “You know what they say about Cabo.”
“I better not get a bar bill. Anyway, I have stuff to do.” The man headed up the steps, then turned to her again. “Stay in the apartment. It’s best you’re not seen on the street yet.”
“Yes, sir.” She waited until she was sure he had entered the station.
Lexi turned to Scott. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
His face was perplexed. “Who did he think you were?”
“Message Dolores. We need to see her.”
At the apartment, Dick and Betsy were waiting when they entered.
The vampire stood. “How did Charles take the news?”
Lexi marched around the room. “I need a drink. Is Dolores here yet?”
“I didn’t know we were expecting her.”
The older woman slid off the stool at the breakfast bar. “I’ll put a pot of—”
“No thanks. Dick?”
“Coming right up.” Although he looked surprised, he disappeared and returned with a bottle of Jack Daniels. He poured a large drink for her and she threw it back. She stood and breathed slowly with her eyes closed for a few moments as she tried to slow her racing heart. Wordlessly, she held the glass out to him. He raised an eyebrow but refilled it.
As she lifted the glass, she thought better of it. With a sigh, she put it down. “I need to contact Joseph. Should I simply say his name three times into the mirror?”
Dick wiggled his cell phone at her. “Or I could call him for you.”
“That sounds reasonable.” She turned to Scott. “What message did you send to Dolores?”
“I told her we need to speak to her.”
“Send her a nine-one-one.”
He took his cell again out.
Lexi turned to Betsy. “I’m sorry, but you need to get your stuff together.”
The vampire gazed intently at her. “What’s going on?”
“Do you know what a doppelgänger is?” she asked him.