by Rose Pressey
The only thing that saved this man’s foot from being smashed was the mention of Nicolas’ name. Liam eased his stance and opened the door again.
“Why do you ask?” Liam said, as his expression changed.
In spite of everything, was Liam genuinely concerned for his brother? I wasn’t sure if the tension between them had gone too far to the point that they’d never be like brothers again.
“Have you see Nicolas?” he asked.
“Who are you? Did you follow us home?” I asked, pointing at the cigarette guy.
This was incredibly frustrating and I wasn’t about to let them get by without telling me exactly what they wanted with Nicolas.
“When I told him that I’d talked to the new leader of the Underworld, he insisted that I follow you home, so yes, we did follow you,” the cigarette man said with a gruff voice.
Liam stepped in front of me. “What the hell do you want? You have about two seconds to explain yourself.”
I tried to ignore the thoughts in my mind, but it was hard not to think about how sexy Liam was when he was angry. Plus, Liam had stayed here when the times were tough. Nicolas had thought it was best to leave. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“I haven’t seen Nicolas and I wonder if he’s in trouble,” the man said.
“Why don’t you tell me who you are before I give you any information regarding Mr. Marcos?” I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
“My name is Gilford Harris. I am the leader of the Baton Rouge Clan of Vampires. I’ve been looking for the leader of the New Orleans Clan. It seems he is missing. That’s when I heard of Nicolas’ troubles. I saw the clan leader and Nicolas together about two weeks ago.”
“The leader is missing?” I asked.
“For how long?” Liam asked, as if he’d read my thoughts and asked my next question.
“It’s been almost a couple weeks now,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if Liam had read my thoughts this time or what, but he looked at me. I knew we were wondering the same thing. All of this with Nicolas had happened two weeks ago. Could it somehow be related?
“So if you’re looking for the leader, then why do you need Nicolas?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“May I come in?” His expression darkened.
I still wasn’t sure I should trust this man. After all, they had followed us and that was beyond creepy and stalkerish. But with Liam there, I supposed it would be okay. I nodded at Liam that he could open the door further and allow the men to enter. As the men stepped inside, they glanced around. Were they looking for something? I glanced up toward the second floor. Was my newest guest still there? He had been awfully quiet.
The men followed me into the parlor. Liam walked behind them just in case they wanted to try any funny business.
“Please have a seat.” I motioned toward the sofa.
The men sat down, taking in the full view of the room.
“I knew your great-aunt,” the man said. “She was a lovely woman.”
“She had a lot of friends,” I said.
I didn’t want to exchange pleasantries with this man. I just wanted him to get to the reason for his visit. “So, tell me exactly why you decided to pay me a visit.”
“There are rogue vampires out there and I need your help stopping them. I need your help in finding the New Orleans leader. To be honest, I may be next, so I have to know why he’s gone.” The lines of worry deepened around Gilford’s eyes.
“So you suspect that the rogue vampires had something to do with the leader’s disappearance and you think they’ll come after you next?” I repeated.
I had to make sure I had this story straight. It really didn’t make sense and at the moment I was a bit confused.
“Yes, I do believe they had something to do with it. I have good reason to believe that too,” he said.
“Do you care to share that with us?” I asked.
He leaned back in his seat. “It’s simple really. The New Orleans leader threatened to eliminate the bad ones. He didn’t want to tolerate their behavior, so they wanted to get rid of him.”
“And they want to get rid of you for the same reason?” Liam asked.
He nodded. “That is correct.”
The cigarette guy looked like he really didn’t want to be here. He had been caught in the middle of this when all he probably wanted was a beer.
“When did the vampires start acting this way?” I asked.
“It’s been going on for about six months. There’s a dark force at work. A demon has been trying to come through for some time.” The strain in his voice was palpable.
I exchanged a glance with Liam. Since I’d just dealt with a demon, I really didn’t want to hear the word again anytime soon.
“What kind of demon?” Liam asked.
The cigarette guy shifted in his seat. I knew he was uncomfortable with the topic too.
“I don’t have expertise with this demon, so I can’t offer much information other than I know it is somehow connected to the witches and the vampires.”
That was odd. How would I find out what that connection was? It was my job to find out what that connection was, right? I needed an assistant. I’d barely had time to look at the Book of Mystics, much less research demons.
“You said a demon had been trying to come through? What do you mean?” Asking the question sent a chill down my spine.
“A demon has been unleashed. I don’t know what he is capable of, but it’s best not to find out the hard way. Don’t you agree?” He fixed his gaze on me.
“Well, yeah, I don’t want to deal with a demon,” I said.
“Ginny Love told me you were in the New Orleans bar. I heard you were looking for Nicolas, but I didn’t figure you knew the full extent of what’s been going on.”
“I am aware of the charges against Nicolas, but I didn’t know about the clan leader. But rest assured, I’ll try to help you any way I can,” I offered.
“Do you think the charges against Nicolas are related to the actions of all the rogue vampires?” Liam asked.
He shrugged. “It seems like it could be, but I know Nicolas is a decent person, so I don’t think he could be involved with these vampires.”
I didn’t think so either, but Nicolas was now with the bad witches in New Orleans. I’d have to go to Nicolas and confront him about the new details I’d learned. And I also needed to find out who this demon was. I couldn’t fight something I knew nothing about. I’d done that once and I’d come really close to losing the battle. I didn’t want to repeat that.
As we contemplated the conversation, the click of the front door opening carried across the room. The sound of the wicked wind whistled through the house. Loud laughter followed that, echoing through the foyer. I jumped up and ran over with Liam following on my heels. When we reached the foyer, he jumped in front of me. Catherin and Claude were strolling arm in arm through the door. Apparently, they’d met each other and had become the best of friends.
When they spotted the four of us staring at them, they stopped dead in their tracks. Maybe it was just me being suspicious of everyone around me, but they looked guilty of something. What had they been doing?
“Oh, I didn’t know anyone would still be awake,” Catherin said in her sweetest voice.
“I didn’t know where you’d gone, Catherin. Are you okay?” I’d thought for sure that I’d gotten rid of her when I reanimated Claude.
“Oh, I just stepped out for a while. You didn’t need me hanging around so much. When I came back Claude was here. I made him a batch of cupcakes, I hope you don’t mind.”
What was the deal with cupcakes? “No, I don’t mind.”
“We made sure to clean up our mess. You’d never know we were in your kitchen.” Claude flashed a sly smile.
How did Catherin become close to the people around her so quickly? She certainly was charismatic. Well, in their eyes at least. I wasn’t falling for her charms though. It would t
ake more than a few cupcakes for her to convince me she was as sweet as she wanted everyone else to believe. I needed to get rid of both of my guests now.
Chapter Twenty
After the vampire leader had gone and everyone else had retired to their bedrooms for the night, I picked up the phone and called Annabelle. She’d left me a message while I was at the Bubbling Cauldron, but this had been the first chance I’d had to return her call. If the bodyguard Liam had sent her home with turned out to be a jackass, there would be hell to pay. Mostly from Annabelle because she could unleash a tongue-lashing when someone made her really mad.
“How’s it going?” I asked in hushed tones so that no one would hear me.
“Do you know that we really have a lot in common? We even like the same ice cream, mint chocolate chip. And did you see his smile? Oh, and those gorgeous eyes,” she said dreamily.
“Yeah, he sounds like a real loser.” I laughed. “But have there been any problems?” I asked.
Annabelle obviously liked this guy and she hardly ever liked any guys. She always found something wrong with them. Either their shoes were dirty or their hair was out of place or they didn’t like the right TV shows. She was always looking for an excuse not to like the guy. It looked as if this one had finally been able to meet her crazy standards.
“Oh, we’re getting along wonderfully. I even made us dinner,” she said.
“Okay, now I know you have it bad for him if you offered to cook.” Annabelle was a great cook, but she never prepared food for a date. She didn’t want to set the precedent.
She snorted. “I will admit that I can’t find anything wrong with him, but that could change in a heartbeat, you know.”
Unfortunately, I knew all too well how things could change in a heartbeat. After briefing Annabelle on what had happened since we’d last talked, she agreed to come over in the morning with her hot bodyguard, but only if she could make breakfast. That was fine by me, although I wasn’t sure if it was because she wanted to show off her cooking skills in front of the new guy or if she just didn’t want me to embarrass myself in front of him by burning pancakes again.
As I lay in my bed, I couldn’t stop the rapid succession of thoughts from running through my mind. I worried about Nicolas and what he’d gotten messed up in. I knew this wasn’t like his character, but I had to find out what type of spell he was under and who had done this to him. Because there was one thing I was sure of and that was that Nicolas had been put under a spell. The logical people to blame were Sabrina and her brother Jacobson, but what had they done to him? It would be impossible to stop it if I didn’t know what type of spell I was dealing with.
After tossing and turning, I crawled out of bed and grabbed the Book of Mystics. If I studied it long enough, maybe something would make sense. I needed to perform a spell for clarity, so I clutched the book to my chest and made my way out into the hallway. The manor was quiet, but something hung in the air. It was that same foreboding that I’d felt when Liam and I had pulled up earlier in the night.
Once in the kitchen, I inhaled a deep breath and soaked in my surroundings. The more I performed the spells, the more comfortable I became in the manor’s kitchen. Even though the spells didn’t always work as I’d intended most of the time, the place was starting to feel more and more like home. Now if only I could banish that strange vibe that was hanging over the place.
As I moved around the kitchen collecting my spices and herbs, it felt more and more like the normal routine I should be in… as if this really was my calling, just like Aunt Maddy had said. But how could this be my calling when I was obviously so bad at it?
For a spell of clarity, I’d call to the elements. Facing north, I recited the words: “Element of Earth, I call to you. Empower me with your energy to see clearly.” I turned to face the west, and recited the words: “Element of Air, I call to you to push the negative that surrounds me.” I shifted to face the south and recited the words: “Element of Fire, I call to you for warmth and protection. Help me have the knowledge.” Completing the spell, I moved again to face the east and recited the words: “Element of Water, I call to you for force and tranquility. Give me the force to make the right decisions.”
When the energy from the spell began to fade, another blast of wind stirred. The foreboding feeling swirled within the wind. The book opened to a spell just as it had when I’d found it. The problem was that I didn’t know what this spell was for, so it couldn’t help much. I was blindly casting the spells without knowing what or why. But what other options did I have at the moment? Maybe the clarity spell was responsible for what was happening now. The pages flipped rapidly until finally coming to rest, then the wind stilled.
Again I began to recite the words: “Element of Earth, I call to you. Take away negativity and keep me safe.” I sprinkled salt in the cauldron, then faced west and recited the words: “Element of Air, I call to you to push the unnatural force from this place.” I dumped more salt into the cauldron, then turned to the south and recited the words: “Element of Fire, I call to you to receive and burn all the negativity. Allow me to cleanse the manor from the wicked.” Another dash of salt into the cauldron, and then I turned to the east, reciting the words: “Element of Water, I call to you for power. Give me the power to fight the evil.”
The book had to be giving me the correct spells, right? It was just up to me to discover their meaning and put them to the right use. According to the Book of Mystics, it was my duty to shut down the New Orleans Coven if I felt there was a problem. And as far as I could tell, there was most definitely a problem. But what would I do to shut down the Coven? There had to be a spell to hamper the Coven’s powers, right? It might require more energy than I had at the moment though. Why did I feel as if my energy was being drained? Was someone stealing it again? The image of Catherin flashed in my mind with her sweet face and big brown eyes. Surely a relative wouldn’t do such a thing, right?
The clarity spell I’d performed must have worked because an idea came to me. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? Since I couldn’t get a spell to work to bring back Nicolas’ mother to help me, then why didn’t I send someone to talk with her? I didn’t mean literally send someone to the afterlife, but use a medium to speak with Gina. If the medium could channel Nicolas’ mother, perhaps I could get answers to some of my questions. Luckily, I knew just the person who could help me. She just so happened to be in New Orleans too. Tomorrow we would visit her, then find Nicolas.
I’d fallen asleep with my head resting on the counter again. At least that was where I remembered falling asleep. However, that wasn’t where I woke up.
Chapter Twenty-One
Annabelle and Jon were standing over me when I opened my eyes. He had a slight smirk on his face and Annabelle’s mouth hung open. The blue sky was painted with white fluffy clouds. The smell of grass and earth surrounded me. When I glanced down at my body, I saw that I was covered in dirt again. My neck and back hurt.
“Hallie, what the hell are you doing out here?” Annabelle’s voice was so loud it sounded more like a screech.
I sat up and rubbed my head. “I don’t know. The last thing I remember was sitting at the kitchen counter.”
I was now not far from the backdoor leading outside from the kitchen. Had I blacked out again like when I had been in the cemetery? Was something seriously wrong with me? Other than having a stiff neck and achy back, I felt fine. My energy felt depleted though. I had a suspicion that something was zapping my energy again. Had the demon Isabeau returned? Or was it some other force at work? Could it be related to the demon that the vampire leader said had been unleashed?
Jon stretched his hand out to help me up.
I jumped up as quickly as my achy body would allow. “Come on. We have to hurry. We’re going to New Orleans.”
“I take it we’re not going to New Orleans to collect beads,” Annabelle said as she followed me inside.
“Not on purpose at least. I have other plans,�
� I said from over my shoulder as we entered the kitchen.
“You get dressed. Jon and I will make breakfast,” Annabelle said, tossing an apron at Jon.
“It looks good on you.” I pointed at Jon as he tied the apron around his waist.
“The little blue flowers match my shirt, right?” he asked as he slipped it over his neck.
After a quick breakfast, the four of us were in Liam’s car headed back to New Orleans. Liam didn’t seem sold on my psychic medium idea.
“I worry that we may be opening ourselves up to entities that we don’t want around.” Even he couldn’t hide the worry in his voice.
“Honestly, do we really want any entities around? We’ll have to talk to Gina in order to get rid of whatever bad may be hanging around. Besides, my friend knows what she’s doing. I promise,” I said, crossing my heart.
“Regardless of what she tells us, we still need to know who this demon is that Gilford Harris was talking about.” His voice was full of with concern.
I offered a faint smile. “One thing at a time.”
We made it to the outskirts of New Orleans in record time. The house where Sierra Gray lived was down a small dirt road. We pulled the car in front of the white clapboard house. Wind chimes hung from the porch and a couple of white rocking chairs sat by the front door. One swayed back and forth as if someone had just gotten up.
“How do you know this woman?” Liam asked.
“We went to high school together,” I said.
“She was always spooky, if you ask me,” Annabelle said from the backseat.
Annabelle thought Casper the friendly ghost was scary, so that wasn’t saying much.
“Annabelle and I can wait outside,” Jon said while winking at Annabelle.
That was a sure-fire way to win her heart—keep her away from spooky things.
After Liam and Jon got out of the car, they stepped off to the side and spoke for a moment, whispering just out of earshot.
I let out a deep breath, then said to Annabelle, “I’m sorry for dragging you into this. I’ve said that a million times over the past few days, huh?”