Her eyes were glazed over. She was drunk as fuck. She was human, blonde, and very cute, but I wasn't interested in her in any way.
"That's alright," I said, forcing a smile. Then I turned my attention and made a gesture to the bartender. The guy held up two fingers and nodded to acknowledge that he would get to me soon.
"You sure I don't know you from somewhere," the blonde said, leaning in. Her voluptuous breasts brushed against my arm.
"No, I'm not from around here," I said.
"Ah, okay…where ya from then? Up north?" she drawled.
I could tell she was a native to New Orleans.
"Wait," she said before I could answer. "You from one of those uppity protected cities or something?
"No."
She continued to stare at me with her baby doll gray eyes and began twirling a lock of hair around her finger. Her legs brushed against mine.
"So, watcha doin' out here? All by your lonesome."
"Passing through."
"You sure are handsome. I can see right through your cover-up. That big trench coat won't hide you for long."
I didn't say anything. In fact, I was glad when the bartender came over and interrupted.
"What's your poison?" the bartender asked. His fangs glistened against his lips as he waited for my response.
"Whiskey on the rocks," I told him.
Under a minute later, I had my drink. I turned the glass up and finished it in one gulp. I could sense my lady admirer's heartbeats quickening in excitement.
"What are you? An angel or somethin'?"
"Something," I told her.
"Ah well, that's okay. I'd still do ya." She took a swig of her beer.
Most men would jump on the opportunity. Years earlier, I might have taken her to the back of the club and fucked her good and quick. I wasn't that type of man anymore. I looked to the left of me at the guy, curious to know if he was witnessing as this chick came on to me. The guy looked away quickly and nervously shifted in his seat.
"Are you shy?" the blonde asked. "You don't have to be. Not with me. You gotta date tonight? Because if you don't, I can be that girl. Any girl you want."
She blushed, giving off the scent of arousal mixed with high amounts of alcohol.
I sighed.
"Look, lady," I said, calmly. "I'm not here for that type of party."
I threw a bill on the counter, rose from my seat, and walked away. One thing that being locked away in Bursgate taught me was patience and the ability to ignore specific urges. Besides, not all those who offered something up meant well.
On the way through the crowd, I stopped one of the server girls.
"Where's Brickell, the owner?" I asked.
I attracted a few more suspicious stares the moment I said Brickell's name.
The server girl frowned and stared at me in confusion. "The old owner? He's been gone for three months now."
My shoulders slumped. No wonder the place was different. "Bummer."
"The new owner is in the back. You wanna talk to him?"
"Nah, I'm good," I told her.
"You need a hit or something." She leaned in and peered at me intently.
I looked at the assortment of drinks on her tray. "I'm not into cocktails."
She giggled. "No, not this. A hit." She smoothed her palm down the side of her neck to show off the numerous bite marks on her neck.
Damn. This lady was offering herself like giving supernaturals access to her jugular was as natural as serving up drinks to her customers. The funny thing was that she thought I was a vampire. Evidently, I blended in really well. I had found the coat at an old thrift shop on the edge of town. I had to get out of this place now. I wouldn't get the information I needed from here. It seemed that all the lycans had left the building—sans the lonesome nervous one at the bar. Perhaps they'd just up and left this town for newer territory. That wasn't uncommon.
"Thanks, but no thanks," I said.
"Suit yourself."
I headed back outside and into the night. The motel where I was staying was only a fifteen-minute walk away from the bar. Others roamed the streets of the town, waited on buses, and moved back and forth between to the two nightclubs. Of the many types of supernaturals I counted lingering around, not one of them was like me. In fact, since leaving Kastanbul, I hadn't encountered one dragon shifter. Not one at all. No fire-breathers, like me. And no ice-breathing dragons.
I also hadn't spotted any others with demon blood. I wasn't surprised. We were being hunted. Many cross breeds with demon blood could conceal their true nature by never spilling blood, while purebred demons could be spotted a mile away for what they were.
I saw a shadow move to the right of me and then it disappeared and blended with the night. Whoever was following me wasn't doing a very good job of masking his scent. I smelled lycan flesh mingling with the breeze. I gripped the hilt of the blade attached to my belt.
I stopped and the shadow disappeared again. Before turning around, I said, "I'm not up for a fight, lycan. I have things to do."
"I come in peace."
"Then come out."
The shadow moved across the building and flowed down the sidewalk toward me until the lycan was standing only a few feet behind me.
I turned around to see the guy who I'd been sitting next to at the bar. I removed my hand from my blade.
"Why are you following me?" I asked.
"You were looking for Brickell," he said.
"I was."
"Why?"
"If you're not Troy Brickell, then it's none of your business," I said, and then continued walking.
"Wait." He fell into step beside me. "He'd want to know if someone was looking for him."
"Who are you?" I asked him.
"I'm Nate. I'm one of the Lowland Lycans. Brickell is my Alpha."
"He's Alpha now?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, our old Alpha succumbed to a demon attack and Brickell was chosen. You must not live around here. Are you a friend of his?"
"Yes."
"Then can you at least give me a name?"
"No, my name is irrelevant. I need to know where I can find him."
"I can't tell you where my Alpha is until I verify who you are. We don't allow outsiders in. I hope you understand," Nate said.
"How do I know you are who you say you are?" I asked.
"I told you. He's my Alpha. I wouldn't lie about that. That little bar you just had a drink at used to belong to him. With him stepping up as Alpha, he had to let the place go. His step brother owns the place now."
"I'm not going to be in town long. Can you deliver a message?" I asked.
Nate nodded.
I reached into my coat and pulled out a ripped off piece of a linen handkerchief. The initials R.A. were stitched into the cloth.
"Give this to him. He'll know who I am."
"Okay, and how can he reach you after that?"
I grinned. "Don't worry about that, kid. He knows how to get my attention. Besides, you claimed to be from the Lowlands. I could probably find your pack myself but it would be rude to barge into your swamps from above, wouldn't it?"
The bridge of his nose wrinkled as he peered excessively, examining me more closely this time. His eyes had turned almost a bright yellow trying to use his lycan sight to reveal my true nature.
"Your animal is giving off conflicting vibes. What are you?" he asked.
"Just a stranger passing through," I said and kept walking in the direction toward my motel.
The lycan didn't follow.
Chapter 10
Leona
After a day’s worth of nothing but traveling from one end of Louisiana to another, I was already restless. My body was tired, but my mind was working at about one hundred miles per hour.
The Crow called Adam fell into step beside me and said, "You should eat. You had no breakfast this morning."
I glanced at him quickly. He said it like that was the most natural thing in the wor
ld for him to say. The Crows liked to see the Trillium witches fed. If we perished, so would they. He had to at least been three hundred years old, but he didn't look a day over forty in terms of human years.
"I'll eat after we leave here. The shop is right up ahead." I pointed to a brick building with a red awning about one hundred yards up ahead of us.
We passed a shopping center and food court, many of which were now closed for business. The blue and white awnings above all the entries were now ripped and tattered. Trash, rubble, and debris lined the streets. Less than half of the stores and other business in New Orleans had survived the apocalypse.
Most of the population had resorted to growing their own food now that the earth could sustain it. There was a period of time when almost nothing grew while the demons were roaming around in greater numbers. Now almost everything was rationed these days.
Supplies were limited based on the number of mouths a family had to feed. This rationing was controlled by one of the biggest corporations in the United States. Somehow, this corporation had managed to survive after the apocalypse. What they lacked money-wise, they made up for by being rich in resources that starved humans needed. Mostly food, clothing…and weapons. Uncle Franc refused to do business with them and said they had intentionally created a monopoly where nearly half the population was dependent on them. I thought my uncle was contradicting himself as we were the only witch coven whose protection spells had proven to be unbreakable. Whenever a city or town was ready to be protected, they wrote to us for help.
I came to a stop in front of an old brick house on the corner of the street. There was a small swing hanging from the porch and green vines snaked around the banisters all around the front entryway. When I spotted a sign hanging from the mailbox that read Crystl's Readings, I knew I was in the right place. I thought my mother's twin had moved on, but true to what she'd told me when I was just a little girl, she had stayed in New Orleans—her birth home. I hadn't seen my aunt in over six years. I had just celebrated my sixteenth birthday weeks before she was thrown out of the coven.
I walked up the brick path and onto the porch, hoping that my plan wouldn't backfire. Aunt Crystl could've still been holding a grudge over the coven for how they'd treated her. I couldn't blame her. Despite her bad luck, my intuition had led me straight here.
Before I could lift my hand to grab the knocker, the knob turned slowly and the door was opened. My Aunt Crystl stood at the entryway, wide-eyed and surprised.
"Leona! What are you doing here? You shouldn't have come this far."
I was taken back by her reaction. I hadn't seen her in years and she looked like she hadn't aged either. They looked so much alike—my mother and her twin. If it weren't for the difference in eye color, one might have mistaken them. Aunt Crystl's eyes were an emerald green. I inherited my mother's graphite-colored eyes. All of us had the same jet black hair. Unlike my mother, my aunt had no grays. Either she’d dyed her mane to keep the signature Thévenet hair color or was just plain lucky.
"I…I need your help," I said.
"Come here, child." Aunt Crystl held out her arms and pulled me in for a hug.
I sunk into her arms. She reminded me so much of my mother.
Aunt Crystl pulled back and then examined me like any guardian would look at a child after being away a very long time. She then peered over my shoulder and frowned at the vampires behind me.
"What's going on?" she asked.
I swallowed. "A lot."
"I get your letters all the time. The pictures too. But you haven't sent me any in a while. I was worried."
"You only responded to one of them, but that was a long time ago. I wasn't sure that you'd still be here."
"I'm not going anywhere. This is my home. But I did respond. You mean you weren't getting my letters?"
The words of Uncle Franc came back to me. If you are wise, you'd never speak to your crazy aunt again. Had he hidden the letters somehow?
My aunt brushed the side of my face with her palm. "That means you didn't get my message. I think I know why you're here." She frowned. "I can't bring Clélia back. Your mother, my sister…is gone."
My Aunt Crystl used to be one of the healers of the Trillium coven before she was kicked out. People who believed in her brought the sick and dying to her in hopes that she could produce last minute miracles. She succeeded more times than she failed, which was saying a lot about her abilities.
I shook my head. "That's not what this is about. Not really. I'm having the visions again. Remember? Just like the ones I got before the demons breached our realm."
"What of the visions?" she asked.
I swallowed. "They—"
"Wait! Not out here. Come inside, child."
I turned around to see the Crow vampires move up the brick path.
"Did you bring them here?" Aunt Crystl asked.
I nodded. "Uncle Franc hired them to guard me during my journey."
"Your journey?"
"Yes, my journey."
"Unlike François, I still follow the ancient rules of the Trillium. No vampires allowed here. Especially not those damned Crows. I have a protection spell of my own around my house. The vampires won't even be able to enter."
The vampire Adam cleared his throat and said, "You don't have to worry about us entering, old witch. We know when we're not wanted. We're here to keep the girl alive."
Aunt Crystl cocked her head to one said and stared at the vampire with indifference. She stepped aside to let me pass through. "Come in, child. Let's talk about these visions."
I turned to the look at the vampire, Adam and said, "I won't be long."
He nodded. "We'll be out here when you're ready to leave."
My aunt shut and locked the door and then offered me a seat.
"Are you hungry? I made a pot of gumbo. There's still a lot of it left. I was going to freeze the rest, but since you're here…"
My belly grumbled instantly and I took a deep breath, taking in the comforting smells and warmth of my aunt's home. "I haven't had a good bowl of gumbo in forever. I've been on the road for a day eating granola and nuts."
"Why a whole day? Were one of the buses out of service again?"
"No. One of the connecting towns withdrew from Trillium protection. We aren't allowed to pass through it."
Aunt Crystl shook her head and scooped a good amount of soup into a bowl. She placed it on the table along with a glass of sweet iced tea and pulled out a chair for me. I wasted no time stuffing my mouth. The gumbo was warm, hearty, and tasted better than the one that the world-renowned chef prepared on the main Trillium base.
"You were a teenager when I left. Now you've grown into a beautiful young woman. Do you still make the dolls?" Aunt Crystl asked.
I shook my head. "I haven't made a doll since mother disappeared. Uncle says making dolls are a waste of my God given talent."
"Your uncle doesn't know anything about God given talent." She looked at the table and then took a long sip of tea before speaking again, "You're in denial about your mother."
I dropped my spoon in the bowl. "In denial? What do you mean?"
"Have you tried reaching out to her spiritually?"
I nodded.
"And?"
"My magic isn't strong enough yet. I saw nothing."
Aunt Crystl sighed. "Don't doubt yourself."
"But I saw nothing when I tried to contact her. Just blackness."
"Blackness?"
"Yes, blackness…like a void. Like she never existed.”
Aunt Crystl reached across the table and took both of my hands in her. "Your mother's soul is resting. She is gone."
"She can't be dead…"
"As her daughter, you two share a special bond. You've reached out to her before once when you were in trouble and she came. Didn't you?"
"Yes. More than once. I was about five years old when I realized that I could contact her that way."
"Do you think she wouldn't answer your calls o
n purpose?"
I shook my head.
"As Clélia's twin sister, I share the same bond. I felt the moment she succumbed to her injuries. I was so…I felt pain. She was in pain. So much of it. Someone killed her." Misery passed over her face and she looked away for a moment. "Like you, I didn't want to believe it. But as the months passed, I did what I could. Performed every spell I could think of. Made any sacrifice that I could bear to make in an attempt to reach her. All I saw was blackness."
My words caught in my throat as I struggled to keep down my sorrow. I had to be strong. There was no proof she had been killed. I wasn't out to mourn my mother…I was out to find her. To find the Grimoire, she once coveted. I had to believe that I could bring her home.
"But Trillium witches always pass into the light. If you saw blackness, that's where she is, yes? Could it be that she's still alive?"
"No, not alive," she whispered. "I don't know why she didn't pass into the light."
"I told Uncle I saw the blackness and he told me it must have been because she was denied entry into Highacré and went straight to Hell. He thinks she betrayed the Coven," I said.
"Your Uncle has been pointing the finger for over six decades now. I questioned his motives. But when I went to the elders about it, I was quickly called a troublemaker and banished."
"I wasn't old enough to know then what was going on in the family," I told her.
"We were always bickering about this and that. About who would lead the Coven for the next decade. What we could and couldn't do. Who we would have as allies and who we wouldn't. After Mother died, it got worse."
"I remember the whispers about you and the sorcerer from the Ice Court realm. Uncle says that's why you were banished."
Aunt Crystl glanced away.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up," I said.
"You shouldn't be. It's true. We were lovers until he went back to his realm after he was judged too quickly and called evil. He said he couldn't deal with my coven. Wanted no part in it. I didn't blame him." She shrugged. "Mother was harsh and my brother had this issue with both me and my sister's lovers."
"I'm sorry that happened."
"I was young and stupid," she said. "One of the Thévenet children became a parent at least. Clélia was blessed with you. I was blessed with no one."
Renegade (Shadow Realms): An Urban Fantasy Dragon Shifter Romance Page 5