by Mari Freeman
Robin went on. “The skulls are supposedly carved from the bones of babes, sacrificed in nasty, inhumane ways. The ritual bloodletting gives the beads their power. It is bad mojo, Nelly.” He pointed at her through the screen and waived his finger back and forth. “Do not handle it any more than you have to. That huge piece of jasper hanging from it boosts energy and magical power, even yours. However, it won’t boost your ability to control that power.”
Christ, Trent thought. That’s all he needed was this bunch to get a mega-boost of their dubious Demon gifts. The three of them could destroy this side of the mountain if that happened.
Trina stepped back to the window, away from the Beads of Death. The fire starter must have been thinking the same thing, because she looked like she wanted to get out of the room.
Nell grabbed the golden moth box and held it in front of the camera where Robin could see it. “What about this? The two don’t seem to go together. A golden puzzle box and an African Voodoo necklace?” Trent wondered the same thing.
“Hmm. Turn it over.” Robin rubbed his finger over his upper lip. “I’m not positive. It looks to be a copy of Egyptian construction, but the moths are reminiscent of South African lore. I don’t think it’s an antiquity, Nelly. Someone devised that recently. Very likely for the sole purpose of housing that necklace, to hide it.”
“Really?” Nell asked, looking it over again. “Thanks for the help. You guys are the greatest.” She kissed the air twice. “And I miss you too, Jeania.”
Trent heard Nell sigh. It wasn’t the male Nell was attached to—it was the female.
The redhead stuck her face back in front of the camera. Her green eyes were full of tender emotion. “Come back to Paris, Nelly. I am only half without you. If his heart is not yours, you know mine is.”
“Jeania,” Nell said with a fake French accent, “you sexy bitch. Quit teasing me. You’d never give up the rest of the nest and settle down with one simple Demon.”
“Ha!” The Vampire laughed. “Nothing simple about you.”
Trent shook his head. Had they had a relationship? Nell’s tone was joking, but he heard a hint of truth in the French woman’s voice and he definitely saw real affection in those green eyes. He knew that look, understood its cause. She wanted Nell.
He pushed his fingers through his hair and scratched the back of his head. Nell sat in front of him, a few inches away. And he wanted her badly. He could reach out, put his hand on her shoulder and feel her skin. Simply to have his hand there would be a physical connection and maybe it would be enough for him at this moment.
He doubted it, and it wouldn’t be fair to her.
The two women said their goodbyes as if Robin weren’t there. He interjected his goodbyes just before ending the call. Trent pulled his brain away from Nell and her friends. He needed to be in investigative mode.
He ran the facts through his mind. He had a dead human, an Egyptian puzzle box with what looked to be a real diamond as the key, a Voodoo talisman reeking of serious blood magic and Crey, the creep of a Sorcerer who, by reputation, hadn’t the brains to manage either. Was he after money or power? Trent supposed it really didn’t matter. Crey was trying to hurt Nell either way. And Trey would love to get his hands on the guy.
Until then, the council needed to be brought in. This was too big now for him to keep under wraps. The dangerous necklace needed to be in safe hands. “I need to take this to the Council. They’re meeting this weekend.”
Nell spun around with her brows pinched and her eyes on fire. She’d gone from tender to furious in about two seconds. “No.” She stood directly in front of him and put her hands on her hips. She stood as tall as possible to get right in his face. He would have found it amusing if it didn’t turn him on a little.
She struggled to find her words. “You will not take my property to the Council.”
“I have an obligation to protect every being in this region. From what your English friend said, that trinket can cause major damage. It needs to be in the hands of someone who understands its power.”
“No.”
Mi-ma got back to her feet. “Come on, ladies. It’s time to let Nell and Trent work things out.” Sonja started to object but held her tongue with a look from Mi-Ma, and she and Trina followed the old Demon upstairs with no more hesitation.
Nell stood her ground. Trent didn’t like the look in her eyes. She was going to fight him tooth and nail for this. Maybe she needed to.
“Nell, I need to take this. I need to let the Council have control over it. You know it too. That thing is why you got attacked. That thing is responsible for I don’t know how many deaths.
She turned and yanked up the box. She slammed it shut and placed her palm over the center moth with the diamond. There was a swooshing sound as the moths took flight off the box, all of them. Golden wings fluttered and struggled into flight in the basement, the delicate creatures turning darker the farther they got from the spelled box in Nell’s hand. One by one the Black Witch moths disappeared into the night through the broken basement window.
Nell stomped past him and up the stairs.
* * * * *
Nell stood on the porch clutching the box. Dark energy swirled around it, making her fingers feel as though they had been submerged in warm pudding. She pushed it away from her body. What was she going to do with it? Trent was correct in that it was a dangerous talisman. She couldn’t very well keep it here. If it was so powerful that people wanted to kill for it, she wondered how it had come into her father’s possession. Her family could sure use the money if it was that valuable. She needed help.
She felt Trent’s presence as he approached. She seemed more in tune to his energy than usual. That can’t be good, she thought.
“You’re taking this from me anyway, aren’t you?” she asked without turning to look at his face. She felt vulnerable all of a sudden. She looked at the box. Maybe the darkness of the blood magic was working on her.
“It needs to go to the Council. It’s dangerous.”
She turned. His hair was tussled and wild. Those blue eyes were pleading. Nell felt her resolve crumbling around her.
He stepped closer. Close enough she could feel the heat of his body. She looked at his chest to avoid his eyes. She knew his point was valid. The box and its contents were too much bad magic for her to handle. She inched closer to him.
“I need to take the box, Nell.” His voice was low and gravely.
Nell swallowed hard and glanced up. The little scar on his left cheek twitched as he licked his lips. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to strip him down, lay him on the deck and make all this go away. She looked him in the eye. He wanted it too. She licked her own lips without thinking about it.
Nell watched the slow closing of his eyes, the muscles of his jaw tighten, and felt his body stiffen. He was about to clam up, to pull away. She felt it. Damn. There had to be a way to break through to him, to help him understand that he controlled his future. The past he feared wasn’t even his past. His grandfather and his father had made mistakes. That didn’t mean Trent was going to.
“I’m taking it to New Orleans tomorrow. The Council is meeting there on other business.”
She looked back out into the woods. “Trent. I need to know more about this thing. The Council can wait a few days, don’t you think?”
“I can’t. Too risky. What do you hope to accomplish? I’ll take it to them, find out what the story is and let you know.”
“I don’t trust them. I never really have.” Her voice was beginning to quiver in anger. She needed to be a part of this. If she let the box go, Trent might not come back. He’d tried so hard over the years to stay away from her. “They won’t tell you anything they don’t want to tell you. This box has to be worth a fortune. It was in my father’s things.”
He sighed, turning back to her. “What do you want me to do here, Nell?”
She wanted him to want to be with her. “Take me with you.”
His
head dropped. She dragged in a deep breath. “I’ll be there to hear what they say. I can at least plead my case. You get to turn it in and protect me all at the same time. Everybody’s happy.”
“That won’t help our situation.”
He still wasn’t looking at her. She wondered exactly which situation he was talking about? The “we’re basically mated but can’t be together” situation, or the “box with the deadly blood-magic gris-gris” situation?
He continued. “They’re not going to let you have a say in what happens to it.” He stepped off the deck. Nell followed and scooped up a handful of pebbles and mud and slung them at his back. He spun around, his mouth open in surprise.
“I’m going.” Nell didn’t back down.
“No. You’re not.”
“I’ll follow you.” His shoulders fell once again as he wiped the mud off one of them, flinging it back toward her. “Besides, you have to protect me. That creepy guy won’t know you have the box and he’ll still come after me.” Ha! She had him there.
Trent shook his head and turned to the house. “Crazy-assed Demon,” he mumbled as he moved away from her. “I may not kill you, but I have a feeling you’ll be the death of me.”
Hot, Hard & Howling
Chapter Nine
“St. Louis number one,” Trent said as the pair crawled into the minivan taking them into the French Quarter.
The taxi driver looked at his watch. “Cemetery closed at three.”
He knew this bit of information. It would be fully dark by the time the cabbie got them there and the Council would be waiting. He wanted to get this over with and get away from Nell and his intense lust. He needed some space to work all this out.
He wished he could use his position as Prime to his advantage and request a transfer while he was here. Halfway around the world should do it. Too bad his pack was right across the gorge from Nell. He wondered how his pack members felt about China.
Trent had made it through most of last night by staying outside in his wolf form. The plane was managed by booking their seats at opposite ends of the aircraft. Now they had to make a short cab trip, get to the Council meeting and then he could walk away.
Nell sat beside him on the middle seat of the van. She looked up from studying the burn to her palm. Trina had been right. She was branded with the outline of the moth. Nell smiled at the driver. “No worries. We just want a few pictures. Short trip.” She pulled out a piece of paper with notes scribbled on it. “Lots to see.” The poor attempt at a cover was cute.
The cabbie shook his head.
As planned, it was dark as they pulled up to the gate on Basin Street. Trent paid the driver and pulled his pack out of the van. He felt the off-ness of the box inside like a descending dark cloud.
Nell hoisted her own backpack over her shoulders. “Now what?”
Trent headed to the right. Nell followed. “Don’t you think they could have picked a location that was a little less populated? These cemeteries are usually playgrounds for teenagers at night. Aren’t they?”
“The Council isn’t concerned. And they rotate meeting locations. They seem to get a perverse thrill out of hiding in plain sight.”
He tried to avoid coming before the Council as much as he could. Never liked being around that many beings with so much power. He turned up St. Louis Street, stopping about halfway down the brick and stucco wall that surrounded the cemetery. He leaned against the wall to watch the traffic pattern for a moment.
Nell looked around. “Are they all so public?”
“Just the entrance is public. But the locations do seem to have a strange sense of the ironic.” He threw his pack over the wall. It landed with a thud that made Trent worry the box might have been damaged. He grabbed Nell’s backpack and did the same. The light changed and the cars stopped again, and Trent leaned back against the wall.
“Ironic? Meaning?” She seemed antsy, pacing a small area just in front of him on the sidewalk.
“Cemeteries, old castles, famous haunted houses.”
“Are they trying to be discovered?” She ran her fingers through her hair.
The light changed again. It was time. He cupped his hands and gestured for her. “Come on. I’ll boost. Now. While there’s no traffic.”
She put her foot in his hands and he heaved her up. She easily topped the six-foot wall and disappeared to the other side. He looked up and down the street to make sure it was still clear before leaping up, catching the wall and pulling himself over.
She was putting her pack on as he jumped down from the wall. He grabbed his pack and flung it over one shoulder.
“This way.” Trent grabbed her hand and headed down the crooked path that led between the unusual aboveground tombs. The place gave him the creeps and that box and its hinky Voodoo had his hair standing on end. They made a right and then a left. The tombs all looked the same to him.
He needed to find the wall of vaults that separated the Catholic tombs from the traditional Presbyterian graves. He knew it was near the back of the cemetery. He heard a noise and stopped.
“Isn’t this Marie Laveau’s tomb?”
“Shhh.” He didn’t like the idea of being right next to the Voodoo Queen’s tomb with such a powerful gris-gris in his pack. He could make out all the Xs left on her tomb, requests for favors. He felt the power of the box reacting to the tomb through the nylon of the backpack.
And he felt someone close by. Others could feel this thing’s power as well. “Shit.”
There were lots of rumors about how dangerous New Orleans cemeteries were at night. The two times Trent had been here, he’d been aware of the possibility of rouge Vamps hanging out, but he’d been alone and not so worried about them or anything else hanging around a haunted cemetery in the dark.
“I don’t like this,” Nell whispered and placed her other hand on his upper arm. A Black Witch moth appeared out of nowhere and fluttered around her head.
He remembered what Trina had said about them being harbingers of death. Trent tightened his grip on her hand. “Follow and be ready to run.”
They headed off to their right. The tombs of the dead were like miniature buildings, some soaring high above his head, some reduced to little more than broken bricks and rubble on the ground. He followed his instincts, heading deeper into the cemetery.
After one more turn he spotted the wall of decaying vaults that housed the entrance to an underground system, which would take them to the Council. It was at the end of a row of some renovated tombs that gleamed bright white in the moonlight. They were close, but the feeling of being watched had grown until Trent felt a pressing need to run, to protect Nell. The evil magic of the box was burning into his back.
As far as he was concerned right now, the sooner he could deposit that thing into the hands of the Council and get Nell out of here, the better. He hesitated as they passed each of the white, stucco-covered tombs. Anything could be hiding between them. And in this place, that really meant anything.
Nell stumbled and let go of his hand. He turned to check on her. “Okay?”
She nodded. He heard the rustle of movement to his right too late to react. “Run!” he ordered. He swung his arm toward the movement before he could fully shift, but knew he’d made contact—his last thought before he felt an impact to his head.
* * * * *
Nell saw Trent’s head snap to the side as something appeared from nowhere and slammed into him. She stepped toward him but was yanked back by an arm that reached around and grabbed her from behind. A foul-smelling cloth was pressed against her mouth. Nell slammed her heel into the shin of her attacker, who stumbled and let go. She whirled to face him and realized the attackers were Vamps. Thin, starving Vamps. She closed her eyes and let her fear and anger push her shift.
It hurt as her Dragon emerged. Her skin stretched and changed swiftly. The bones in her hands and legs popped as they altered slightly. Only gaining about three inches in height and several pounds in girth wasn’t goin
g to help her much against feral Vamps, but it was all she had.
Her eyes opened to clearer night vision. Her mouth stretched and her teeth scraped together as her canines enlarged. The grinding sound made her shiver every time. She roared her anger at seeing Trent on the ground.
Her would-be captor hissed and showed his fangs. He was skinny and his face looked hollow, his eyes an eerie, milky white. His gums had receded, making the fangs look even more freakish. These weren’t the same caliber of high-class Vamps she’d know and loved in Paris. The one facing her fit the desolate feel of the creepy tombs in the cemetery.
She stepped back and hissed as well. The Vamp charged. She stood her ground to fight, needing to stay with Trent and protect the box. The Vamp crashed into her with all the strength he could muster but her Demon form was stronger and sturdier. She swung and managed to connect her forearm to his temple. He stumbled slightly but came right back, slamming into her and knocking her aside several feet.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a female Vamp taking off with Trent’s pack.
The box.
Her human mind fought for control. Her Dragon was pure, primal instinct. Her Demon wanted. It wanted to destroy the Vamp in front of her. She needed both the instinctual battle sense of her Demon and the intellect of her human side. They never played well together. She just needed enough control to change direction, to shift her attention to chase after the girl. It was like trying to rein in an entirely separate being who didn’t want to be controlled.
The Vamp she’d been fighting lunged at her, trying to sink those ugly fangs into her neck. Nell swiped at him with a clumsy but potent swing. Her fingers, with their thin, sharp nails, struck his face and sliced it from eyebrow to chin. For a moment she wanted to taste the blood that oozed from his torn face. She wanted the spoils of victory.
The skinny Vamp swiftly crawled away from her, scurrying like a rat, disappearing between two of the tombs. She bit her lip, tasting her own essence to take the edge off the urge for blood. She braced herself against the nearest tomb, pressing her head to the stucco to fight for the coherent thought she felt slipping away. She smelled the decay of the body inside the tomb. Pulling her head away, she took a deep breath to try to reverse her shift but it was no use. Adrenaline was in control of her body at the moment and her Demon was content with that.