Belle Chasse

by Suzanne Johnson

  As Jean himself would say, Bah.

  I went inside and gave Eugenie a quick rundown on what had happened. “Rand’s going to be awful about what happened at the funeral, isn’t he?” She’d styled her hair, put on just enough makeup to play up her pretty eyes, and wore a deep turquoise V-neck top that tied in the back. Rand would love it.

  “Don’t worry.” Famous last words. “He’s mad at me, not you, because he knows Jean and I went to Christof for help. He’s jealous of Christof—he’s jealous of anyone who spends time with you right now—so whatever you think of Christof, don’t share it with Rand. In fact, don’t mention the faery at all. If Rand asks, act indifferent.”

  “But I like Christof.… Oh, okay. I know. Tell Rand what he wants to hear.” Eugenie laughed. “Play nice. You catch more elves with honey than vinegar and all that stuff.”

  “Exactly. Have you given more thought to a regular visitation schedule?”

  We left her room and walked down the stairs to the entry hall foyer. “Yes, if he’ll let me keep living here—as long as that’s okay with Jean—I’m willing to meet with him. Maybe once every week or two? I thought a lot about what you said. You know, about Rand making a good father, and how important it was for him to be part of this baby’s life, even before he’s born. You’re right.”

  I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted by a deep voice from below. “I’m glad to hear that, Eugenie.”

  Neither of us had noticed Rand standing just inside the doorway, blending in with the cream-colored walls with his blond hair and ivory skin and cream sweater. At least he’d worn jeans and black boots to tone down the Russian snow prince look, although he was still the prettiest elf on the planet.

  Eugenie blushed, which made her look even prettier, and Rand wasn’t immune, no matter how much he looked down on her for being human and, God forbid, a hair stylist.

  He came to a stop a couple of feet in front of her and stretched out his hand toward her belly. “May I?”

  I bit my lower lip to keep from asking where the real Quince Randolph had gone and could he stay there because this kinder, gentler version was much nicer. Instead, I suggested we go into the study.

  I followed them like the suspicious third wheel that I was, and held my breath when Rand pulled Eugenie down into Jean’s huge recliner with him. I got no sense that he was manipulating her. He kept his movements gentle and slow as he slid his hand beneath her top and rested it on her belly.

  Rand closed his eyes and relaxed his face into the genuine, sweet smile we rarely saw, as opposed to the devious, flirtatious, conniving, or imperious smile we saw way too often. “He’s growing stronger, bigger. He’s healthy. You’re doing great, Eugenie.”

  She placed her hand on top of his. I couldn’t believe she was actually touching him. It might be a day for miracles. “DJ, would you leave us alone for a little while?”

  I gave her my best what-the-hell-are-you-thinking look, but she ignored it. Since I couldn’t browbeat her, I had a mental beat-down on Rand instead.

  Okay, elf. I’m going to leave you alone with her. If I get even a whiff that you’re influencing her moods, manipulating her free will, or trying to change her in any way whatsoever, I will … I will …

  Rand grinned. You will what, Dru? Come on. Talk dirty to me.

  I narrowed my eyes and filled them with promise. I will screech at you so loud and so hard that your brain will explode, and I will do it all day, every day, for the rest of our godforsaken lives.

  Ow. Harsh. “I promise not to do anything. Just let us spend some time together, Eugenie and the baby and me. Then we have some stuff to talk about ourselves.”

  Yeah, we did, and I had a letter for him to deliver.

  * * *

  I assumed my regular spot on the front steps of the verandah, watching as the full moon disappeared and the world turned from pitch-black to a gloomy shade of dark gray. I rarely missed being outside during what passed for sunset in Old Barataria. Within an hour, the darkness would return until the “gray sun” returned for an hour at dawn.

  If I’d tried hard enough, I could’ve eavesdropped on Eugenie and Rand, whose soft voices drifted out the open study window. I wanted to respect their privacy, at least as long as they seemed to be playing nicely and no screaming or shouting ensued. I even heard Eugenie laugh a couple of times. Damn, but I hated that her life had become as tense and screwed up as mine. Worse, really, because I did have tools at my disposal; she couldn’t fight back.

  Jean had gone into Old Orleans to take the temperature of his allies there among the historical undead as well as other species. Adrian had gone inside for the hour of daylight, although I thought even a vampire could walk around under this gray sky without fear. Jake and Collette remained in Old Orleans, where they’d spent the day, and Rene was spending Christmas Eve with his family in St. Bernard Parish. It would be their first Christmas without his brother Robert; I hoped they managed to find some joy.

  Deep in thought, I jolted in alarm when Rand plopped down on the steps next to me. Sneaky elf.

  “How’d it go?” I crossed my fingers where Rand couldn’t see them.

  “Good. Do you think Eugenie is safe here, with Lafitte and his band of criminals?”

  Excuse me? “I’ll have you know that just because that self-serving council has put out warrants, we aren’t criminals.”

  Rand laughed and slipped an arm around my shoulders. I looked at his hand dangling near my left collarbone and considered biting it. “I wasn’t talking about you guys—I meant the pirates.”

  Oh, those criminals. “Yes, I do think she’s safe here. You heard Zrakovi. He says he won’t try to come into Barataria because of jurisdiction, but it’s really because he knows he doesn’t stand a chance. Wizards without their physical magic are very limited.” Except those with a powerful elven staff, of course.

  “But someone was behind that vampire hit squad, and it wasn’t me. I swear to it.”

  I patted his knee, pleased that the old Rand hadn’t yet shown up. “I know it wasn’t you, and so does Jean. It was most likely the wizards, but we’ve moved the transport so we can keep a closer eye on it. They won’t get in here like that again.”

  Plus, although I didn’t say so, Adrian’s girlfriend Terri was slipping in and out of Vampyre periodically. She’d proven proficient at keeping up with the affairs of the fanged without getting caught. They were laying low and waiting to see how the other prete groups paired up before committing to an alliance—and probably waiting for a cash signing bonus.

  “Let’s take a walk.” Rand stood up and held a hand out for me. “We need to talk and I don’t want anyone listening in.”

  I stood up without his assistance but gave him a smile. I could play nice as long as he did. “There’s a lake up in the middle of the island I’ve been wanting to see while it was light—well, as light as it gets here. We can walk up there. But before we go, will you do me a favor?”

  He gave me his quirky, charming grin. “Of course. You want to do it here?”

  Good grief. I dug an envelope out of my pocket. “This is a letter for my uncle Lennox. Would you mail it to him, or drop it off at his apartment? I really need him to get it tonight.”

  Rand looked at the letter. I hadn’t sealed it because I knew he’d read it anyway and I thought I’d save him the trouble of trying to seal it back. “Why are you writing your uncle?”

  “I want to meet with him, here. I don’t know where his head’s at in all this political mess and I want to see if there’s any chance he’ll support me.”

  Rand shrugged, folded the envelope, and stuck the letter in his pocket. “Sure, but I don’t know if it’ll do any good. He strikes me as a suck-up. He’ll probably take it to Zrakovi.”

  Probably, but I thought it was worth a try.

  We set off down the beach, and I brought the subject back to the immediate problem. “If you’re asking about Eugenie’s safety at Maison Rouge, does that mean you’r
e okay with her living here?”

  He picked up a stick and threw it toward the ocean. “I’d rather have her in Elfheim, but for now, I’m okay with it. I’m spending so much time in New Orleans because of the wizards and their political nonsense that I don’t get home often anyway. Eugenie has agreed for us to meet every day about four, so I can keep up with my son’s progress.”

  Thank God, although Eugenie’s generosity surprised me. I’d have to make sure he hadn’t mentally influenced her with elven mind crap. “I’m really glad, Rand. Eugenie needs you, but don’t forget how new this whole world is for her. She’s afraid, so you need to be gentle with her.”

  “I know. I’m trying to be understanding. Well, at least until the baby is born, and then you and I need to decide where we’re going to raise him.”

  I halted, digging my blue toenails in the gritty wet sand. “Excuse me?”

  He turned and grinned. “Just kidding.”

  Yeah, right. Then again, maybe it was a day for miracles and he’d given up on this notion that we’d ever be a couple in more than name.

  “Talk to me about the fae,” he said, stopping to examine a small fan-shaped seashell, then slipping it into his jeans pocket. “How often is Christof here? Has Lafitte formed an alliance with him that goes beyond their friendship? Will Lafitte throw his people’s support against Florian?”

  I pondered my answer. I didn’t trust Christof, but I also didn’t trust Rand. Oh, he wouldn’t hurt me physically, but he was a political loose cannon and, as he’d shown with Mace Banyan and his falling airplane, Rand wouldn’t hesitate to take out someone he saw as an enemy. Was his enemy Christof or Florian?

  “I’ve seen very little of Christof since I’ve been here.” That much was true; Jean had been meeting him in Old Orleans. “He and Jean are friends but, to my knowledge, they haven’t made any kind of formal political alliance.”

  Also true, although if Christof needed him, I had no doubt Jean would place the Lafitians at his disposal. Whether or not I’d step into that mudhole, I didn’t know. Today, my answer would be no.

  “If you and Eugenie have reached an agreement about the baby and your access to her—at least for now—doesn’t that settle what you call the political nonsense with the wizards?” Wasn’t appeasing Rand and giving him access to his child what this month’s whole dustup had been about?

  Not that it would make any difference in my standing with the wizards, from what I’d heard Zrakovi say earlier, but it should ease tensions between the elves and the wizards.

  Rand didn’t answer for a while, not until we turned north toward the center of the island. I figured we should reach the lake with about twenty minutes of light to spare.

  Once we began climbing through the marshy, tall grass, Rand cleared his throat. “Before I talk to you about political things I need a couple of reassurances from you.” He stopped, so I stopped. “Not reassurances. Promises. Promises that you’ll swear on Alex Warin’s life. You break the promise; he pays the price.”

  A cold chill stole across my shoulders, and I could pretend it was caused by the winds blowing off the Gulf, but that would be a lie.

  “I don’t know that I can make a promise like that, no matter what it is. I’ll swear on my own life, but not on Alex’s.”

  He smiled at me, and this wasn’t the sweet smile. It sent the chill bumps racing across my scalp. “Then the deal’s off. I’ll leave Eugenie alone until one day, when your guard is down—and it will be eventually. Then I will take her. I’ll fry her mind so deeply she’ll never be worth a damn again. Once my son is born, she will be returned to you. Useless.”

  We might be in the wide-open span of Grand Terre Island’s highest point, but my chest constricted as if I were trying to draw air in a closed coffin. The only thing that kept me breathing was anger.

  “By the way, what happens to one of us if the other dies, Rand?” Forget moral absolutes. I had Charlie tucked in his secret holster and I would fry Quince Randolph right here.

  He looked genuinely surprised. “Why would you ask that? I would never let anything happen to you. Never, no matter how much we disagreed.”

  God help me, I hated this elf. “Answer my question.”

  He huffed and started walking again. We crossed a small ridge, and there was the lake. Its water was crystal clear and laced with bright green spatterdock. How it grew with no light was beyond me, but maybe that’s why it was called the Beyond.

  “If one of us dies, the other might die as well—would certainly be weakened.” Rand’s voice had grown soft. “When my father was killed, my mother, Vervain, slowly began to die as well. Even if she hadn’t been murdered last month, she wouldn’t have lived much longer. Her will was failing.”

  I had a feeling my will wouldn’t fail, nor would Rand’s. “But that was because they truly were mates, right? They loved each other?”

  Rand quirked an eyebrow at me and laughed softly, then sat at the edge of the lake. “Bonds in Elfheim rarely have anything to do with love, Dru. They’re always political. If there’s a physical attraction between mates, that’s considered something to be highly celebrated.” He looked up at me. “That’s why our union is so special. We’re physically attracted to each other.”

  I stared at him, aghast. No wonder he couldn’t understand why I hadn’t, and would never ever ever, respond to his overtures. He’d grown up in a society where a bonding like ours was as good as it got.

  “That’s awful,” I finally choked out, sitting next to him. It made things a lot clearer. He would love to get Alex out of the way, so these promises must be doozies.

  “What are the two promises you want me to make—not that I’m going to. But before I gamble with either Alex’s life or Eugenie’s, I need to know what you’re after. And, by the way, no matter which way I go, I will never forgive you for this. Never.”

  My fingers itched to take Charlie and get it over with, and if it cost me my will to live, so be it. If I were responsible for Eugenie’s sanity or Alex’s death, I wouldn’t want to live anyway.

  “The first promise is this.” He shifted toward me, and in the fading light I recognized the stubborn, imperious elven prince I truly despised. “That if things become unsafe here, if you see any sign at all that Eugenie and my child might be in danger of being used as political pawns, you will let me know so that I can get her to safety in Elfheim.”

  Jackass. Like I’d deliberately leave Eugenie in danger. “And the other promise?”

  He reached out and grabbed my hand, and no amount of tugging on my part could free it. Fine. He could hold my hand; he couldn’t read my mind anymore so if it gave him a thrill, let him go for it.

  “You must promise, on Alex’s life, that you will not share what I am about to tell you.”

  “Then why tell me?” Idiot elf.

  “Because I want you to be prepared, and to keep yourself safe. You can’t do that if you’re ignorant of what’s really going on.”

  I should hit him with Charlie just for using the word ignorant. “Does this have something to do with the proposal you gave to Zrakovi about the council?”

  He sidled a look my way. “You were listening. You tell me.”

  I shrugged. “So no, I don’t know what your proposal is, only that you made one and didn’t seem to be giving Zrakovi much choice in responding quickly.”

  “Well, do you agree to make these promises on my terms?”

  My mind raced in aimless loops and circles. “This is a huge request, Rand. Can you give me until you come to visit Eugenie tomorrow to give you an answer?”

  It was getting dark, but there was still enough light for me to see his eyes narrow. “So you can talk it over with Lafitte?”

  “So I can think about whether I can make these promises in good faith. Maybe so I can come up with a counteroffer.” Definitely a counteroffer.

  “Fine.” He got up and this time, didn’t offer me a hand. I wouldn’t have taken it anyway.

  We desce
nded the rise at a fast clip so we could reach the flat beach before full dark. “I’ll give you a freebie to ponder while you’re making up your mind.” Rand was striding about two feet ahead of me, using his long stride so I’d have to run to catch up.

  “What?” I refused to run, so I had to shout to be heard above the waves as the tide grew higher.

  He turned and waited for me. “Zrakovi ordered the vampire attack. They were to take both you and Eugenie. Our First Elder, however, overestimated the vampires’ motivation and underestimated how many allies Lafitte has living here. The vampires want nothing to do with the loups-garou, and there are at least two here. But Zrakovi wants to punish you for making him look weak and foolish. He doesn’t realize how easy that is to do. He was a strong Elder during times of peace, but peacetime leaders don’t always make good wartime generals.”

  How well I knew that. Among the many lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina’s assault on New Orleans was that the people who made good leaders in prosperous days often fell apart during a crisis. The unlikeliest heroes had stepped up in those dark days after the levee failures.

  Zrakovi had been a good Elder. It had only been since the political waters got murky that he’d grown desperate. Desperate men can do evil things.

  “How do you know it was Zrakovi who ordered the raid?” I wouldn’t exactly take the word of any of the vampire leaders.

  “I have his office bugged.” Rand shrugged, as if that were the most normal pronouncement he could make. “You can learn a lot that way.”

  CHAPTER 23

  I’d been pacing around the study for an hour, waiting for Jean to get home, when Jake stuck his head in the door on his way to transport duty and said the pirate would be staying in Old Orleans for the night. I was so focused on Rand that I didn’t spend more than a passing moment wondering about where he’d stay, and with whom he might be staying.

  Eugenie had gone to bed early, in a blue funk over Violette’s death, being alone on Christmas instead of comforting her nieces, and the prospect of seeing Rand every day. Rene had planned a big Christmas Eve with his family. Jake and Collette would be on the beach watching the transport for the next eight hours and making googly eyes at each other in the flambeau light. Adrian was upstairs with Terri, trading blood and fangs and God knows what. I didn’t want to know.