The Witch's Thirst

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by Deborah LeBlanc


  Some years ago, Ronan had told Lucien in confidence that he felt something had to be wrong with him. Some trauma he couldn’t remember that made him so slow and uneasy about even asking a woman on a date. He’d been raised on the same street as his cousins, all four of them damn near connected at the hip since they could walk and talk. You would have thought that some of their bravado, their fearlessness with women had rubbed off on him. But it hadn’t. He’d always seemed to be the odd man out.

  Fortunately, regardless of all the odd theories Ronan had ruminated on regarding women, he’d known he served a purpose. Ronan had been good at his job, a job that was serious. It saved people’s lives. Kept the universe in sync, and preserved the harmony between the humans and netherworld. The importance of that mission had to mean more to him than losing out on any woman. Including Evette François.

  As logical and stoic as that sounded in his own head, it didn’t stop Lucien’s heart from aching. And he knew it would do so for some time.

  Suddenly, a scream broke through Lucien’s musings.

  It sounded like a woman, and her screams seemed to be coming from a couple blocks away. Possibly down St. Ann Street.

  Lucien broke into a run, taking a right on Ursuline, a quick right on Dauphine, then two blocks onto St. Ann.

  Just as he turned onto the street, he saw a dark-haired, petite woman running out into the street, her face bloody, her clothes shredded. And right behind her was a Nosferatu in full natural form.

  Although the streetlamps on St. Ann’s were few, there was no mistaking the Nosferatu’s lanky form, his large white bald head with the large vein across its forehead.

  Lucien took off for the woman, meaning to shove her to safety and distract the Nosferatu. But the Original was gaining ground quickly, which meant it was actually toying with the woman. A Nosferatu had the ability to easily move from place to place in the blink of an eye. The fact that he allowed the woman to run and he simply trotted after her proved the creature planned to toy with its prey before taking her.

  “Hey!” Lucien yelled, attempting to get the Nosferatu’s attention. He suddenly had a sense of déjà vu, remembering how he’d had to do the same with two Loup Garous. Although he’d distracted the Loups by yelling at them, he’d failed to rescue their prey. However, he had managed to blind the Loups, keeping them from easily hunting other prey.

  The Nosferatu was different, though. Even if Lucien blinded the bastard, a Nosferatu healed itself quickly, and it would only take a matter of minutes before it would regain its sight.

  When he failed to get the Nosferatu’s attention, Lucien yelled again. “Hey, you ugly fuck. Over here!”

  This time the Nosferatu stopped and looked over at him. He stood, hunched over, looking from the woman to Lucien. Probably trying to figure out which would be an easier target.

  Unfortunately, the woman won the Nosferatu’s coin toss. He spun about and knocked her down to the ground before Lucien had time to blink.

  Lucien took out his scabior. It was all he knew to do. Without question, the Nosferatu had ten times more strength than he had, but if he caught it by surprise, he might be able to do enough damage, cause enough of a distraction for the woman to escape.

  At that moment, Lucien heard voices behind him. A shriek, gasps, curses.

  He glanced back and saw that three people now stood at the corner of St. Ann and Bourbon, watching the action.

  The Nosferatu looked back at them and let out a guttural growl. Its long fangs bared, its face twisted with fury.

  Lucien turned to the three onlookers. A chubby man wearing a Who Dat T-shirt and stained jeans, an average-size man with glasses and no teeth, and an elderly woman in a very short skirt and halter top.

  “Get back!” Lucien yelled at them. “Get out of here!”

  Instead of listening to him and dispersing, the crowd seemed to grow thicker with onlookers. Five or six more people had joined the original three to watch the show.

  Even with the crowd watching, Lucien feared that if he didn’t get the Nosferatu away from the woman, she’d have no hope of survival. Worse, if the Nosferatu did manage the kill, it would go after the next human in line. That could be him or anyone standing in the growing crowd.

  “Get out of here, damn it!” Lucien shouted at the onlookers.

  No one moved. They stood, mouths agape, watching the events unfold. Lucien heard bits and pieces of their conversation, their words jumbling over each other.

  “What’s going—”

  “What is that ugly—”

  “—at that ugly son of a bitch!”

  “—some kind of monster.”

  “Somebody call—”

  “He’s going to murder her! Stop—I—”

  “—the police! Somebody call the—”

  “Shit, look at—”

  “Somebody help her!”

  “Fuck me—”

  “—not going over there! Look at that thing!”

  “—like a horror story.”

  As people continued talking over one another, Lucien decided to take the Nosferatu by surprise as it had the woman on the ground and its fangs bared, ready to latch on to her neck.

  Just as Lucien was about to make the leap for the Original, he suddenly caught a strong scent of clove and sulfur.

  Instinctively, he looked up at the sky, and right over where the Nosferatu and woman struggled, Lucien saw a rift open up wide, which surprised him. Usually a rift appeared as a slit in the sky, and it took a bit of time for a Cartesian to work its way through the opening. This one, however, seemed to burst open like a pustulant wound, and within seconds, a Cartesian’s fur-matted head appeared. It didn’t take long for it to hang from the rift by the waist, lower its massive arms and swipe down with its claws toward the Nosferatu, who was already draining the woman of her blood.

  With scabior already in hand, Lucien found himself in a conundrum. He had been willing to put his life on the line to save the woman from the Nosferatu, but now with a Cartesian aiming for a Nosferatu he had to choose. Get the human to safety or blast the Cartesian back into other dimensions.

  Choices, always choices. And never easy ones.

  Although it hurt his heart, Lucien had little choice but to choose the bigger cause. He had to get rid of the bigger danger. The Cartesian.

  Despite the crowd of onlookers still whispering, squealing, gasping, now shouting at the sight of the Cartesian overhead, Lucien held on to his scabior, gave a quick flick of his wrist, then twirled the scabior lightning fast between his fingers. He heard comments from the crowd growing louder.

  “What’s that guy doing?”

  “What’s that thing in his hand?”

  “What—”

  Lucien forced himself to tune out their blabbering and focus on the task at hand. With the scabior charged, he aimed it at the Cartesian and hit it square in the face. It shrieked and jerked backward. A loud noise followed its retreat.

  With the rift still open, Lucien kept his scabior aimed at it, concentrated only on the Cartesian, then heard a second and third pop, which meant he’d been able to push the Cartesian back two more dimensions. Only then did the rift in the sky disappear. It closed so quickly, it was as if someone had zippered it shut in one fell swoop.

  With that done, the sounds from the crowd reached Lucien’s ear once more. Some women were crying, men were cursing, yet not one of them stepped a foot closer to the Nosferatu, who was now draining the woman on the ground dry. Lucien had only to look at the locked expression of terror in her open eyes to know she was already dead.

  Evidently oblivious of the Cartesian who’d come so close to attacking it, the Nosferatu had chosen to finish its meal with gusto.

  With the Cartesian taken care of, Lucien knew he still had to deal with the Nosferatu. Th
e gawking crowd had refused to disperse, and he feared that once the Original finished with the woman, it would spring lightning-fast for yet another victim.

  The problem was he wasn’t sure how to effectively stop the Nosferatu. Not with its ability to heal so quickly.

  Instead of taking the chance of riling the Original while it fed and have it focus on the others in the crowd, Lucien took one more shot at getting the gawkers to move on.

  “Get the hell out of here,” Lucien shouted at them. “I can’t stop this creature. And when it’s done, there’s a good chance it’ll come after one of you. Go! For the love of God, get the hell out!”

  This time, at the sound of Lucien’s voice, the Nosferatu looked up from its prey and screeched a warning to Lucien. Its mouth was covered with blood, which dripped down its chin. The sight of that alone sent the men and women crowded near the end of the alley screaming and running off in different directions.

  Lucien stood his ground, scabior in hand, waiting for the Nosferatu to turn on him.

  Oddly enough, the Original didn’t. It turned back to the woman, attached its fangs to her neck, obviously determined to drain every drop of blood from her body.

  Although Lucien had managed to get rid of the Cartesian, he still felt like a failure. A woman had died because he hadn’t been able to handle both the Nosferatu and Cartesian at the same time.

  Knowing there was nothing he could do to permanently stop the Nosferatu without Evee’s help, Lucien started to head for the docks, where he knew a dome was being built to transfer the Originals across the river to feed. He’d make sure to let Evee know of the sighting. With any luck, she’d be able to reach the Nosferatu and bring him back into her fold.

  Turning away from the sickening sight and the sucking, licking sounds coming from the Nosferatu as it fed, Lucien started for the docks.

  That was when he heard the wail of sirens and horns. Evidently, someone had called the police. And once again, just as he’d had to do when tackling the Loup Garous and the Nosferatu with Ronan, Lucien quickly left the site. For there was no way in hell any explanation of what truly happened would satisfy the police. They’d take him in for questioning, wasting time he didn’t have to spare.

  Hurrying down St. Ann to Chartres, Lucien started to feel like a pathetic loser. A wuss.

  Always running. Away from love, away from himself, away from the police.

  Chapter 16

  Instead of going to the docks as she had initially intended to do once she left Shandor, Evee chose to detour. She turned off Dumaine, then onto Bourbon. Fury still roared through her from her confrontation with Shandor. She had to let her sisters and the Benders know about the sorcerers.

  She was sure Viv was already at the North Compound, getting the cattle set up for the feeding. But Evee knew Gilly would be at Snaps, the bar-and-grill she owned off Bourbon. She counted on Gavril being with Gilly. If that proved true, then Gavril would be able to summon the other Benders, hopefully. That way everyone except Viv and Nikoli, who had to remain at the compound, would be able to huddle up at Snaps and discuss the new challenge facing them.

  When Evee arrived at Snaps, she found it packed with people, even at this hour of the morning. Drunken laughter echoed off the walls of the building, and loud music pounded from the jukebox.

  Evee spotted Gilly at the far end of the bar, taking an order from an already too drunk customer, as the other two barmaids hustled from one end of the bar to the other.

  When Gilly saw Evee she sent her a wave, pointed to the customer in front of her, then held up a finger, signaling for her to wait.

  As soon as Gilly served a Crown and Coke to the man, she rounded the corner of the counter and went over to her sister.

  Gilly leaned in close to Evee’s ear, obviously wanting to be heard above all the ruckus of yelling, laughing, music and talking. “I was just getting ready to leave for the docks. We’re slammed tonight, and I wanted to make sure my people had a handle on this crowd.”

  Evee turned so her mouth was next to Gilly’s ear. “I have something to tell you before we go to the docks. Where’s Gavril?”

  Gilly aimed a thumb over her right shoulder. “Back in my office. Guess the noise in here was getting to him.”

  “We need to include him in this conversation,” Evee said.

  “What’s up?” Gilly asked, frowning.

  “Can we go somewhere quieter?”

  Gilly nodded, took Evee’s hand and led her through the crowd, down a short hallway, past the men’s and women’s restrooms, to her office, which was at the end of the hall. Gilly opened the door, motioned Evee inside.

  The office was basically a ten-by-twelve-foot room that held a desk and two chairs. Paperwork overflowed on a small credenza.

  Gavril sat behind the desk and smiled when he spotted Evee. His smile quickly faded, however, and Evee suspected it had something to do with her expression, which probably read “urgent and ugly.”

  Sitting upright, Gavril asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “I need for you to use the watch thingy that you and your cousins wear and contact Lucien. Have him meet us here ASAP,” Evee said.

  “What about Nikoli?” Gavril asked.

  “Nix him. I’m sure he’s with Viv at the compound, and we need them there to get the cattle ready. I’ll fill Viv in on the news when we get to the compound.”

  Instead of questioning her further, Gavril immediately punched two buttons on his watch, then looked at Evee. “Done. He should be here any minute.”

  From what Evee had gathered after Lucien had left his watch on the dryer at her house and she’d returned it to him, the Benders’ watches contained geo nodes that emitted a signal. Whenever one of the Benders was in dire straits and needed help from the cousins, he activated the geo node. Once the signal was emitted, the Benders who received the signal were to drop whatever they were doing and go to the signaling Bender’s aid.

  Gilly sat in one of the chairs, swiped a hand over her face. She seemed utterly exhausted, which made Evee feel a bit guilty about bringing her more bad news.

  “What’s going on?” Gilly asked, then held up a hand. “Yeah, yeah, I know you want to wait until everybody gets here, so never mind. But really, Evee, with all that’s going on right now, I can’t take much more.” She narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t...you know...” Gilly threw Gavril a quick glance before turning back to Evee. “Do anything that the Elders told us to stay away from?”

  “I don’t have anything to do with this one,” Evee said. “It just popped up, and I think it’s important that we all know about it. It could be a game changer.”

  “Good changer?” Gavril asked.

  Evee shook her head. “I wish.”

  “Man, oh, man, oh, crap, fuck, shit,” Gilly said in one long breath. Then put her head in her hands.

  “You mean like more missing Originals?” Gavril asked. “Dead ones?”

  “I don’t know,” Evee said. “Something’s come up that might very well twist us way off track.”

  “How’s that possible when we’re off track now?” Gilly asked.

  Evee studied her sister’s face. “We may not have solved the problem yet, but we’re working hard to get a handle on it. The problem is that somebody else has suddenly got their hand on the wheel and is trying to steer.”

  “Who?” Gilly asked.

  Before she had a chance to say more, the office door opened and Lucien hurried inside.

  “What’s the emergency?” Lucien asked, anxiously looking about the room.

  Evee closed the door behind them.

  “Why did you summon me?” Lucien asked Gavril. His eyes suddenly grew wide. “Where’s Nikoli? Is he hurt? Is he okay?”

  Gavril held up a hand and patted the air, signaling for Lucien to bring his an
xiety down a few notches. “Nikoli is fine. I purposely didn’t signal him because he and Viv, along with one of her Loup Garous, are building a dome over the ferry. It’s getting closer to feeding time. I didn’t want to take him away from the task. We’ll fill him in on whatever news Evee has as soon as we see him.”

  “Evee?” Lucien looked at her questioningly.

  “Evee has some news she feels we all need to hear,” Gavril said. “According to her, there’s company intending to join us in the troubles we’re trying to work through.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lucien asked, still looking at Evee.

  “I’d ask all of you to sit,” Evee said, then held out a hand, indicating the shortage of chairs.

  “We’re fine standing,” Lucien said. “Please, continue.”

  Evee nodded. “Earlier, I was headed to the docks to check on the progress of the dome when I heard someone call my name. It was Shandor Black.”

  “No frigging way,” Gilly said.

  “Yes, way. He claimed he had been looking for me. Had seen me walk the route to the ferry on many occasions.”

  “What?” Gilly said, her brow furrowing deeply. “You mean that son of a bitch has been stalking you?”

  “Claims he suffers from insomnia and often walks the streets in and around the Quarter when he can’t sleep.”

  Gilly bared her teeth as if she meant to attack and gnaw through the first thing in sight.

  “Was that the emergency?” Lucien asked. “That you’d been followed?”

  “No,” Evee said. “It’s what Shandor said.”

  Everyone remained quiet, waiting for Evee to continue.

  “He claims that he heard from someone that we were having issues with the Originals,” Evee said. “He knew about the human attack, the Nosferatu death, about the missing Chenilles, Nosferatu and Loup Garous. He even knew about the police going to the Elders.”

  “The police have been to see your Elders?” Lucien asked. “This puts a whole new twist on things. We’ll have to do double time on discretion. I mean, I couldn’t help what happened in the Quarter, when Pierre had to put down one of the Nosferatu, but with the police snooping around, that means we’ll have to limit our exposure during the day. If we don’t, I’m sure we’ll be spotted by one of the witnesses, who’ll wind up going to the police. They’ll ask difficult questions. To the Triad and the Benders. What did the Elders tell them?”

 

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