There was a long pause. Then, “You’re fucking kidding me. I just sent someone to arrest Tremere.”
“Then stop them! Quan’s been the one attacking the computers in the shop.”
"Is he responsible for keeping you in Cyberspace?"
"Yes. For brevity, I'll just say he's brilliant with computers and a complete fucking idiot when it comes to magic mechanics, but he is powerful. He's got Sam, Crwys. He came into Gypsy Gardens, killed two of Arden’s coven members, and took Sam."
"Where the hell is Tas?"
"I don't know. She wasn't there."
There was a long pause on Crwys's end. Then, "What the hell is he doing, Ivan? Is he trying to bring someone—" The line got quiet and then Ivan heard cussing. “He’s trying to bring his mama back, isn’t he?"
"Yes. He's convinced Papa Ghede would give her back to him because she died before her time, but apparently his first attempts at contacting him were intercepted by Baron Samedi. I know I'm talking about Loa, Crwys, but this is serious shit."
"Go on."
Dharma listened as she drove.
"So he devised some sick, twisted idea of luring Samedi into sacrifices and trapped him in pieces."
"Yeah…Solomon Dumaine figured it out in his demented state. Or either Samedi told him. I think…" He paused again and Dharma heard Levi's voice. "The theory is Samedi was partially riding him. And now that Solomon reassembled the Loa, he's made Solomon his Cheval and he's out to get Quan."
“Ivan,” Crwys paused. “If Quan’s the one doing this, then why bring us in? Why ask for me and Levi to work this case?”
“Because he wanted to get closer to Sam. He wanted to know more about her schedule. By bringing you guys in, he could also manipulate the findings. All that crap with the other faiths was put there to stall, to throw you off. The guy’s brilliant at everything but magic mechanics.”
Crwys said a few choice words. “Thanks Ivan. It’s good to hear your voice.” He hung up.
Ivan rubbed at his face. "This could be bad, especially since Quan has Sam."
"It's worse than that," Dharma said. "Sam's pregnant."
Ivan's head came up and he blinked as he turned to look at her. "What?"
When Crwys didn't respond, she assumed Ivan had lost connection. "She and Crwys are gonna have a baby. Only it's not a normal pregnancy."
"Hell no it's not normal. She's not a Dragon. She can't have a baby like a Dragon does." He put his hands to the sides of his head. "Fuuuuck! That's what he was going on about. This is how I found out it was him while I was trying to get back to my body. The son of a bitch blames Sam for his mama’s death, not Lethe. He's got some mental issues—which is why Nadeen sent him to live in Atlanta with his cousins. Brilliant computer mind, but that’s where it ends. I found out he'd been in Sam’s medical records and traced him back to the hospital. And it sort of escalated from there. I found one foot print after another, and it wasn't until after I was stuck that I realized he’d led me there so he'd have full electronic reign over her."
"Why go after her medical records?"
"He wanted her to get pregnant, Dhar. He thinks he can rebirth his mother through her baby. That's how Papa Ghede will bring her back to him. Or that's the nuts in his head."
"What the hell kind of crazy juice is this guy binging on?" Dharma almost ran off the road because she was staring at him. She straightened the car. "Look, Tas and this doctor were going to operate on Sam and sort of C-section the egg out of her. Tas thinks the egg could be viable, given the time frame, but that's a small window. The doctor wasn't at Arden's, and Sam had started hemorrhaging. This is bad."
"Yeah, it is." Ivan held up Dharma's phone. "Especially since I can't find a trace of Quan or Sam anywhere in the city. He's off the grid now. I don't know where he'd take her."
SIXTEEN
I was cold. Like, really cold. The shivering kind. So I reached down to pull the covers over my head. Only…there weren't any. Which was kinda odd since it felt like I was in my bed.
So I sat up and tried to find the light. But my nightstand wasn't there.
Had someone moved my things?
"You come up with the weirdest things in your head."
I knew that voice. Female. Older. Had a bit of a kind tone to it, but firm. Or stern. Sort of both. When I turned, a light came on overhead and I wasn't in my bedroom. Well yeah, I was in my bedroom, but it wasn't the one at my apartment over Bell, Book and Candle, but the one in Ina's house. The one I spent my most awkward years in as a teenager with magical powers.
I looked around at the wood panel walls, the posters of bands I couldn't remember anymore, right beside posters and pictures of Goddess figures, pentagrams and unicorns. My dresser was full of these knickknacks. Even an old unicorn music box I'd inherited from my mom…
I wonder where that thing went.
"Hey—" The woman sitting in my papasan in the corner snapped her fingers at me. "You can be nostalgic later. Right now, you have more important things to do."
I remembered her. The hair and the gown, and the face. An everyday face. And the large pentagram around her neck. It took a minute before, "God Mother?"
"In the flesh. Well, sort of." She stood from the papasan, which was no easy feat. That thing sucked your ass into it, which made it the perfect reading chair. "We're coming up on that proposition I offered you. Your decision."
"I thought I already made one." I moved to the side of the bed. I didn't have an egg in me, so it was easier to scoot. "And that's why I don't have my magic anymore?"
"Oh. You think the sacrifice of your magic was it?" She smiled at me. It was a crooked smile. "No. That wasn't it."
I licked my lips. I sort of remembered another conversation, in a clearing, on the brink of death, where I was offered something. But for the life of me, I couldn't remember what it was.
"It will come to you when the time is right," she said as she stood in front of me. At that moment, she looked like my mom. Or what I remembered of my mom. Of Elizabeth Hawthorne. Her clothing shifted to a nice pantsuit, her detective's uniform. She had her holster on, but no gun. I saw her badge on a chain around her neck, and I reached out to touch it.
She took my hand in hers, and I looked up into a tear-stained face. "It seems I'm always giving up my children, Sam. They make so many sacrifices, and through every birth and death, I'm still here."
"It's not your fault. What they did to your children before the Bulwark." I had no idea what I was talking about, but I could sense that's what she meant.
"Oh, it's not just that." She reached out and smoothed my hair back. "Even the Faeries are a part of the Great Wheel of Life. They share the same Akashic Records as you do. As anything. Sometimes I'm just tired, that's all. I grow attached to you all."
"Is it because of Lethe?"
"Lethe…was a disappointment. And my mistake. And as I told you before, your husband suffered for it. I should have protected him from her, and I didn't. Ah…but we all have those ‘what ifs’, don't we? Those moments of clarity in hindsight. Lethe's wrong is to be righted."
I sort of understood what she meant. And even though she looked like my mother right now, I still knew deep down she was the God Mother. Talking to me.
Why to me?
"I talk to all of my children, Samantha. In one way or another. It's just that not all of them choose to listen. Even my special made ones don't listen much, or visit."
I grinned when she did. I knew she meant Tas and Crwys, and their siblings.
"I won't lie, Sam. It's going to hurt. A lot. And not just for you. For him as well. But I think in the end…he'll come to understand why it had to be this way."
I swallowed and I realized I was in my room because I was resisting my past, where it began. "You talk as if I already gave you an answer. But what about my child?"
"The decision is theirs to make, just as yours is yours."
"But…I don't know that I've made a choice!"
"You have," s
he said and put her hand on my heart, "in here."
"This sucks."
"It's called free will. Just remember that I will always love you. I am a part of you, as you are a part of me."
She leaned forward and put her forehead against my own.
And that, as they say, was that.
SEVENTEEN
"Where are we going?" Levi asked as Crwys turned the Mustang around in the middle of the highway. He'd lost his connection with Ivan, but he already knew who he had to see.
Levi shifted in his seat. "Crwys, I don't think they'll be there."
"They have to," was all he said as he sped down the highway, then did a very sharp turn onto the old two-rut road. He slowed down as he reached the clearing, and to his relief, the community was back. He came to an abrupt stop as dust continued to move past his car. He got out and half ran, half walked to the center.
Brave was there, still dressed in the same clothing and hat. In fact, they were all dressed as they had been.
The Ghede family. Or a few of them. He wouldn't even guess who was what Loa, and it didn't matter. Not now.
"Papa Ghede is missing, isn't he?" Crwys faced Brave.
Brave gave him a sideways look. "Papa does what Papa wants."
"Not with what I just saw. Samedi's riding Solomon, isn't he?"
Brave gave a single nod.
"He's going after that shit head that trapped him and Papa Ghede."
"The Papa will do as he wants."
Crwys put his hands on his hips as another car came up the road and parked next to his. Crwys and Levi turned and saw Tas get out of it. She jogged up to where Levi was and the two came up behind him. "Let me guess—" He looked at Tas. "You got a message to come out here?"
She frowned, and nodded. "I got a text. I thought it was Ivan sending me here."
Crwys shook his head. Quan had been thorough in getting Sam alone so he could take her. When Quan said he’d been working in cyber security, he’d never even guessed the man was capable of this. Someone who could engineer a DDoS attack to get Ivan out of the way, manipulate things so Sam would get pregnant, and actually have the power to trap a Loa.
Genius. Evil genius, but genius.
Crwys looked back at Brave. "He's got my wife. Her health is…she's hurting. Bleeding. And he's got her. She's got an important surgery she has to have before…"
He couldn't finish it, what he wanted to say. He was too riddled with guilt. This was his fault. He should have known what the outcome would be with Sam being human. Of course, he didn't know if this would have been different if she'd kept her powers. He just…thought it was like that.
"Little mama isn't meant to have babies like you," one of the others said.
Crwys turned when a woman stepped forward. She was young and beautiful, with long braids that hung to her waist, seductive almond eyes and full lips that promised him satisfaction from any desire.
"No, Erzulie." Tas stepped forward and put her hand on Crwys. "They took precaution. It was this little bastard, the one who took Papa Ghede, who did this to her. He has to be stopped."
"Stopped he will be, killer of children," the woman said as she stepped back. "Maker of weapons ye be. But you fight the Stealer of Lives."
Crwys glanced at Tas, but she looked as confused as he felt. He shook his head. "I don't understand. Stealer of Lives?"
But Erzulie didn't respond. Instead, she turned and walked away.
"What do you want?" Levi spoke up. "We need to know where he's taking Samantha. We have to save her before he kills her."
"Or the baby does," was the last word the woman spoke before she disappeared in the wind.
Then they all disappeared, as did the community.
Crwys stepped forward. "No!" He went down on his knees. "Please! I can't live without her…I have to find her!"
There were a few quiet moments, there in the swamp. A movement to his right and Crwys saw Brave…but not as the simple man with the hat, but in his full regalia. He looked a lot like Baron Samedi, but wore a white suit, a white top hat, and his face was a painted white skull. He strolled up to Crwys and eyed the detective as he stood.
Then, "I know Samedi is going to the old place of healing. Its name speaks of good deeds, but the storm destroyed it."
Crwys glanced at Levi, then at Tas. He wracked his brain trying to puzzle that riddle. Name speaks of good deeds. Was it a reputation? And the storm would have been Katrina.
"Charity Hospital?" Levi said. "It's the only place of healing I know of that hasn't been rebuilt."
Brave gave him a bow. "The undead sees the truth."
Charity Hospital…it was only a few blocks away from Tulane, on Tulane Avenue!
"Thank you," Crwys said as he motioned the others into the cars.
"Wait," Brave said. Crwys hesitated. "Dragon…the decision was made long ago." And with that, he vanished too.
Crwys wanted to shout out, to question what that meant, but he knew he didn't have time. Sam was running out of time. So he got in the car and backed out of there, with Tas behind him. "Levi, get on the phone with Arden. Tell them where we're going and to have an army of her doctors standing by. We can't lose any more time on this bastard."
Charity Hospital on Tulane Avenue was a monster of concrete that loomed over the neighborhood. Destroyed when Katrina hit, the hulking shell was shut down and now sat empty, surrounded by a chain-link fence and guards, awaiting the day a decision would be made on what to do with it.
Businesses thrived and operated around the place as tourists stopped and took pictures and tour guides pointed it out in their vehicles.
Crwys pulled into a drive between two trees and stopped his Mustang in front of a guard's SUV. There was no sign of the guard. A quick look in the vehicle revealed he was there, slumped over in the front two seats, dead. Cussing under his breath, Crwys approached the gate behind the SUV, and with a swift bolt of fire—his internal furnace was already churning and ready to incinerate this bastard—he melted the chain and lock and opened the gate.
Other cars arrived and parked in the small space, as others moved past the guard's SUV and into the drive to the hospital. Once Crwys joined them, he did a head count.
Himself, Levi, Tas, Arden, Ceridwen, Bastien, Ben, Kyle, Jack, Dharma and Ivan, though Ivan looked like he should probably remain in the car. Which he volunteered to do, since the place wasn't on the grid and he was unable to access anything inside. He sensed an area of electricity in what was probably the old maternity ward, but Dharma strictly forbid him to jump in there. She wasn't about to have him trapped again.
Crwys told him to stay in the car, Dharma with him, and get connected. "Be ready to manipulate every traffic light from here to Tulane Medical Center, got it? I don't want anything getting in our way." He looked at Dharma. "Take out a bit of the fencing to the right of this drive, away from the trees, in case we need a fast way to the street."
"Will do," she said and guided Ivan back to the car.
He turned and faced the rest of them. Bastien and Ben were already half changed and he held up his hands. "Not yet. And not in daylight, which we don't have a lot of at this point. The short of it is…Quan, Mambo Nadeen’s son, has lost his fucking mind over the death of his mother. He's been trying to convince Papa Ghede to bring her back, insisting she went too soon, and Baron Samedi stopped him. So…" He looked at Tas and Levi. "He spiritually chopped up the Loa and stuck him in dead bodies."
Kyle and Jack both made seriously grossed out faces. But it was Levi who spoke, "I didn't realize Quan had that kind of power?"
"Power can be borrowed," Arden said, "if you have anything at all, even what we term a Gift. This is a good example of how power is neither good nor bad—"
"But how you use it, chérie," Bastien said, now human again. "Ah, that is where the corruption begins, no?"
She smiled at Bastien and nodded. "I'm afraid so, shugah." She looked at everyone. "Sam was bleeding earlier today. She has an egg inside of her th
at has to come out. If we don't do it fast, it'll break through." She looked around. "Have I explained the urgency?"
"Oui," Bastien said. "We should make a plan, deciding our strengths. Charging in with no guidance—"
"We're getting Sam out," Crwys snarled.
"I understand your pain, mon ami. More than you will ever allow me. But running in when I am sure dis Quan already knows we are here is no good. If Ivan says he is dark… " And that's when Crwys felt a slight pain behind his eyes, just between his brows. He put his hand there, as did everyone else. Except Kyle and Jack.
And Arden.
"You brought us into the pack link?" asked Ceridwen.
Crwys smiled. This was an advantage.
Ceridwen stepped forward.
Arden smirked as she raised a brow at Crwys. He returned the raised brow, then looked at Ceridwen.
Indeed.
He gave Ashur a mental hug. He was going to need his best friend's support now more than ever. He was worried. More worried than he'd ever been when it came to Sam. She was vulnerable. And weak. And in no way able to defend herself.
They moved out in groups. Arden went with Ceridwen and Bastien. Jack, Kyle and Ben went together. Then it was just Tas, Crwys and Levi.
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