***
Back at Charmagne’s, we filled Miles in on our search of Gretchen’s apartment. He was also particularly interested in the people who accosted us.
“Well, at least two of them are paladins,” said Miles. “The one who emitted the fire and the one with the piercing scream.” He looked at me. “I don’t think they were trying to hurt you, though.”
“Seriously?” I said. “Why the hell did they kidnap me?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know, but if they were trying to hurt you, you wouldn’t be standing here. The fact that your eardrums are still intact is a good sign.”
I huffed. “That just means I got away before they could do any real damage.”
“How did you get away?”
Remembering that Charmagne asked me to keep our lessons a secret, I said, “I reached up front and jerked the driver’s arm. She crashed into a tree.” I decided to change the subject. “Does Hecate mean anything to you? Noah said she was a goddess.”
He nodded. “The goddess of witchcraft and magic, among other things.”
“What other things?” said Noah.
“Crossroads, the moon, fire and so on. But it’s the witchcraft element that gets my attention.”
“You think there really is a coven then.” said Noah.
“There are covens here. All over Europe. But whether or not this particular coven has turned to the dark side is something we need to find out. To do that, we need to find them.”
“Someone told her about Hecate,” I said.
“Hmm?” said Miles.
“She wrote it on the fridge like she was in a hurry. I’m guessing someone gave her some information over the phone maybe, and she needed to write it down quickly.”
“Too bad we don’t have her phone to check the call list,” said Noah.
“Felix is coming back from Germany tomorrow evening. I’d like you both to get with him and see what you can come up with,” said Miles.
“Germany?” said Noah, rolling his eyes. “Casper?”
Miles chuckled. “It seems so. I’ll get with Charmagne to retrace Gretchen’s last steps. Hopefully tomorrow we can find something.”
***
After everyone had gone to bed, I met up with Charmagne for another lesson. She was excited when I told her I was able to drain someone.
“My dear, I think you are surpassing even Miles with how quickly you learn,” she said. “Before we know it, you’ll be a great fighter, and Miles will be so proud.”
Even though I tried to not think about him being my father, it made me feel good to know someone would be proud of me again.
8
City of the Dead
I laughed. “In the sewer?” I stared at him, waiting for the punch line.
Felix nodded. “Yes. Now let’s hurry before we are seen.”
“Sure,” I muttered to myself. “Who wants to tour the Louvre or see the Eiffel Tower when there’s a big party waiting for you in the sewer?”
“The Tower is overrated,” said Felix.
“Ya beat me to it tonight.” A pretty Japanese girl with a British accent and a shock of neon pink in her raven hair bounded up to Felix and clapped him on the back.
He grinned at her. “I beat you here for once, no?” he said. “Aimee, you remember Noah?”
She smirked, and her black eyes looked him over once before holding his gaze. “Of course. How’ve ya been?”
I think for the first time ever I saw Noah blush. He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. “Good, and you?”
“Better now that ya here. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it has. Uh, Aimee, this is Leigh.”
“Hi,” I said.
She nodded at me and smiled.
“Let’s get on with it,” said Felix, trying not to laugh. “Down we go!”
Aimee lifted the lid to the sewer like it was no heavier than a Frisbee and placed it on the side of the manhole. She descended into the sewer without a second thought. Noah grinned at my doubting face, and then he followed Aimee. I was next, and I clung to the rungs embedded into the wall. Felix followed, pulling the lid above his head.
When Aimee made it to the bottom, she took out a flashlight and guided us. She and Felix led us through almost a mile of twists and turns in the Paris underground. As we progressed, the walls and ground changed from a gigantic drain to an old limestone quarry.
“So, does your paladin club always meet down here?” I said.
“Not always,” said Felix. “We do have to be as discrete as possible, however. It was Casper’s turn to choose a location, and he’s a bit of a raver.”
“Puttin’ it mildly, yeah?” said Aimee. Felix laughed.
“How many in your group?” I said.
“I just found a new recruit in Cape Town about a week ago,” said Felix. “That makes ten of us now, including Gretchen and Charmagne.”
Aimee said, “That’s not a lot, considering all the Dark Ones that seem to be out there. In New Orleans, it’s just four of you, isn’t it, Noah?”
Noah sighed. “Yep.”
“Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer paladins as the years go by,” said Felix, as we rounded yet another corner and entered another tunnel. “They simply choose not to have children, knowing that one day they could possibly be exposed to this dark world. I understand it. I truly do. But I wish there were more of us. We don’t even have a descendant from each original paladin. Nadia was the last one I knew who was a descendant of Yvon. Not that she could have helped in battle unless she was a dark paladin.”
“Why? What kind of extras would she get if she had walked the line?”
“Well, you know how she could know a person’s or object’s history just by touching it?”
I nodded.
“As a dark paladin, she would have been able to project illusions, to make the enemy see what she wanted them to see. It’s quite useful. I’d love to have that ability, myself.”
“And no one else can do that?”
“Oh yes! I’m sure there are descendants all over the world with that power, but it’s very hard to track down other paladins. So many of them don’t know what they are. They just think they’re freaks of nature or maybe they’re ostracized from their communities, so they hide their abilities. Others don’t even know they possess such powers because they’ve never been called to make the choice or no one has told them they have it. Charmagne has been doing much travel in the last few years, looking for others, documenting them, trying to stay in contact with them. It’s been difficult. Even Miles has had a hard time in the States.”
Noah cut in. “Don’t freak out with what you’re about to see,” he told me.
We rounded a corner, and I was caught off guard by walls made of bones and skulls. I stopped short, my mouth open. Noah reached for my hand.
“You okay?” he said.
“Wait a second. I know what this is! This is the Catacombs, right?”
“Very good!” said Felix, shining his flashlight on the ancient remains. “
“I thought you’d be scared,” said Noah.
“No, I actually think it’s pretty cool. But I’m not going to lie. Looking at it at night, mostly in the dark, is creepy as hell.”
“You’re doing better than I did my first time,” said Aimee. “I still don’t like it much, but Casper and his bloody raves …”
Before long, I heard rhythmic thumping coming from far down the corridor. When we rounded another corner, I saw light at the far end, and heard echoes of laughter blending with the club music. As we neared, I saw white flashing lights, and some people walking around with miner helmets, but most had flashlights and glow sticks. The walls were covered in graffiti. We came to a stop at a large alcove with strobe light shooting out of the rough limestone archway that was flanked with bamboo torches. There were easily five hundred people inside the cavern.
“Now we just need to find everyone,” said Aimee.
Felix nodded toward Aimee
and gestured to the right. “You and I can take this side.” He looked at Noah and me. “We can meet back at the entrance in twenty or so.”
After we had moved on, I asked Noah what this Casper guy looked like. We had to considerably raise our voices over the music.
“In his forties. German. Small blue eyes, always looks like he’s squinting. Lean build. Little shorter than I am. Have no idea what hair color. Last time I saw him, it was neon green, and before that it was yellow with black spots, like a leopard. More than anything, he has a smug look of superiority. ”
“Sounds like you two don’t get along.”
He chuckled. “I never had much interaction with him, but the couple of times we’ve met, I got the feeling he’s a tad Eurocentric, and he doesn’t make it his priority to help anyone other than himself. Tell you the truth, I don’t care one way or the other about his personality as long as he’s willing to help.”
“What’s his power?”
“Flora manipulation.”
“Oh, a plant guy. Cool. I can finally tell Carrie how that works. We kinda figure he’s like a super farmer or something. Grow some big ol’ ‘maters.”
“Carrie. She the one who has a crush on me?” When I didn’t answer right away, he looked over at me and smirked.
“Now who’s smug?”
He laughed.
Moving through the crowd wasn’t easy. I got knocked to and fro by gyrating bodies and tripped out kids with lollipops in their mouths. A DJ was on a makeshift platform with his equipment hooked up to a small generator. He blasted techno and electronica. Maybe it was just my Louisiana roots, but I wanted to toss all that music and play some Todd Knighten & Knight Train.
I felt someone grab my hand. I looked back to see some young guy with long, blue hair and a stupid grin on his face. He said something in French, but I couldn’t make it out.
“I’m sorry, what?”
His eyes lit up. “An American! I love Americans! Would you like to dance with Molly?”
It took a moment to register what he was talking about, but then it clicked. “I’m good, thanks.”
“Are you sure?” He took my hands and started swinging my arms slowly. “Molly is such a tease. Are you sure you don’t want just a little dance?”
I pulled my arms back. “No, thank you.”
“I’ll tell you what. First one is free, okay?” He pulled a small plastic bag from his jacket pocket.
“I’m good,” I said, more adamant.
“Come on. One little taste?”
Noah stepped in between us. “Get lost,” he told him. By the look on Frenchie’s face, Noah meant business.
We continued to make our way around the room. It smelled like sweat and alcohol, and I was getting tired of it. A couple of minutes later, Noah stopped and jerked his head to the side. His nostrils flared, and his eyes narrowed.
“What?” I said.
He pushed through the crowd, heading for something I couldn’t see.
“Wait!” I yelled, struggling to keep up with him. I found him in the corner of the alcove with his hand wrapped around some guy’s throat.
His skin was dark as coal, and his black, deep-set eyes were hard and tense as he tried to pry Noah’s fingers off of him. A girl near him tried to pull Noah away from behind. I recognized her. She was the Irish girl—one of the people who kidnapped me. She was the screamer. I rushed at her and threw her up against the wall. Then someone had their arms around mine, trying to pull me off. I realized it was Felix. Aimee pulled Noah off the guy. Everyone shouted at each other.
Aimee yelled, “Stop!”
“Who the hell are you?!” Noah growled at the guy, getting in his face.
The girl I had pinned against the wall struggled and said, “You don’t want me to scream again, do ya?”
Felix managed to pry me off of her. “Stop it!” he said.
In the corner, a guy in his forties with a smug look of superiority and a platinum blond faux hawk with pink highlights laughed, giddily enjoying the tussle.
I lunged for the girl again, but something invisible blocked me. It felt like I hit a wall, but there was nothing in front of me. Noah looked perplexed, too. I looked around and saw the big black guy with his hands lifted and his eyes closed.
I turned to Felix. “Who are they?!”
“We’re paladins, too.” The girl with albinism—the one who drove when I was kidnapped—stepped forward. She didn’t have a purple wig this time. Her natural long, white locks, dyed with blue and black tips, cascaded down her shoulders all the way to her tail bone. Flanking her were the twins who were in the kidnap car.
Noah and I settled, but he was still fuming. “What the hell is this, Felix?!”
Felix looked at the big guy Noah had just attacked. “All right, Saul.”
The guy lowered his hands and opened his eyes. The Irish girl rubbed her shoulder and cocked her head to the side, raising her eyebrows at me.
“No, don’t stop! That was the most excitement I’ve seen all night!” said the guy with the faux hawk. He had a thick German accent, and I was sure that was Casper.
“They’re helping us,” said Felix.
“Helping?” I said. “They tried to kidnap me!”
Noah nodded at Saul. “And this one here bum rushed me and took something from me.”
“My apologies,” said Saul, with a South African accent. “I didn’t know you or why you were in the apartment. We were watching you through the window from the building across the street. We saw you take something and thought you might be with the coven.”
“I asked them to help us,” said Felix. “I told you I’ve been recruiting paladins. Aimee found Sonja,” he pointed to the Irish girl, “and Olivia,” he pointed to the girl with albinism. “Noah, you remember Casper. That over there is Saul, and the twins are Alex and Oscar.”
“Pleased to meet ya,” the twins said in unison, grinning.
“Alex,” said one, raising his hand.
“Oscar,” said the other, also raising his hand.
The only way I could tell them apart is that Oscar had blue eyes, and Alex’s eyes were brown.
“Sorry about that whole kidnapping thing,” said Oscar.
“We weren’t gonna hurt you. Honest,” said Alex.
“We just had to be sure you weren’t with the coven,” said Olivia. “We weren’t going to hurt you.”
“You could have asked, you know,” I said.
“I’ve let my guard down with the Dark Side once,” said Saul, lifting his shirt. A long, jagged scar ran across his chest. “It wasn’t pleasant.” He lowered his shirt.
“Let’s get into another area. It’s too loud in here,” said Felix.
We all started to follow him out of the alcove, except for Casper who had ignored us when the action died down. He was dancing with some guy half his age while a techno song pounded the room.
“Oy!” said Aimee. “We’re headin’ out, Casper!”
He paid her no mind. Alex and Oscar each grabbed one of his arms and pulled him away. He still danced as they marched him out of the room.
Our group went further into the catacombs, past the strobes and bamboo torches. There were hidden chambers everywhere. Some of them were chill rooms with clouds of smoke hovering outside and people lying around, smoking and laughing, some painting the walls with incredible art that would only be seen by the few underground clubbers who ventured into these parts of the catacombs.
We found a dark, abandoned offshoot of a main tunnel. Aimee and the twins had flashlights, so they lit it up for us. It was a small chamber and quiet, despite the steady thump that carried from the rave room. Sonja broke open a blue glow stick, but it hardly provided any extra light. She sat on the ground, and Olivia sat near her. The glow stick made Olivia’s hair and skin seem like bioluminescence. She was an angel with an alien halo.
The twins and Casper sat on the ground across from Olivia and Sonja. The rest of us stood.
Felix spoke first.
“So, I wanted us all together to meet and discuss what’s happening. We know there’s a turned coven here and that Gretchen is missing. We strongly believe the coven is responsible. We also think they sent the Masque de L’âme Noire and its twin to New Orleans a few months ago. Our friends here,” he gestured toward Noah and me, “recovered the masks from the Grigori and the Nephilim.”
“What does a coven want with the angels and their offspring?” said Saul.
“Your guess is as good as ours. Now, as you all know, there was a note found in Gretchen’s apartment. It said ‘give it back.’ Also, the name ‘Hecate’ was written in haste on her refrigerator. We don’t know what ‘give it back’ refers to, but ‘Hecate’ has several possibilities. One is a Wiccan festival, of which there are several happening in Europe day after tomorrow. There’s one in Loughborough Park in the Brixton district of South West London. You’re familiar with it, I’m sure, Aimee?”
“Yeah. I got a mate from next door in Camberwell. I think I know the park you’re talking about.”
“Can you go and check it out?”
Aimee shrugged. “Sure. Not a problem.”
“Can I go, too?” said Sonja. “I love festivals.”
“You think they have corndogs there?” Alex said to Oscar.
“Probably some of those giant turkey legs,” said Oscar.
“Yeah, medieval fare makes more sense over there,” said Alex.
Aimee smiled at Sonja, ignoring the twins. “Yeah, come on. We can crash at my dad’s flat.”
“Right on,” said Sonja.
“All right,” said Felix. “There’s another festival in La Loupe, not too far from here. Any takers?”
“Do you have anything more exciting than a bunch of withered hags dancing in ugly clothes?” said Casper.
The twins and Aimee laughed, and Felix rolled his eyes and said, “There’s a display of Hecate at the classical museum in Nice. Would that be to your liking?”
Casper grinned. “Ah, I do like that. I can go to the beach.”
“It’s not a pleasure trip. If Gretchen is still alive, we could be running out of time. It’s very possible that they do have her and want to trade for whatever it is they are seeking.”
Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy Page 17