The vegoia smiled and tipped her head back, tail slipping through the water as she inhaled. A mist rose up as the water around her rippled and foamed. A light tremor swept through her body and then she jerked, her back bowing as her mouth gaped open.
Selvans moved forward in concern, ready to pull her out of her trance, when she snapped her crimson eyes open, appearing almost to bleed from their shimmering glow. Her voice hissed, each word drawn out.
“Cacus sleeps in a city of flesh… where vampires have been whispered to haunt, and the dead sleep above ground. He sleeps in a stone building of the dead… where he rests after glutting himself on thousands of souls… The bones of the living decorate his bower. He sleeps deep, but not for long.”
Selvans frowned, frustrated with his lack of knowledge when it came to the human world. The place described sounded distinctive enough that he couldn’t imagine why humans would ever wish to have inhabited the location at all. And they called his kind and the places they lurked monstrous!
He glanced at Diana and found her to be grinning.
“I know that place,” she said with a laugh. “And my mother always said reading all the vampire filth as a kid was going to rot my brain, but thank you, Anne Rice! I even went on the vampire tour when I visited for Mardi Gras, the feast of the flesh, when I was twenty-one and legally able to drink. The story of Jacques St. Germain always fascinated me in particular. The place has some big-time vampire lore and above-ground cemeteries since the town is below sea level. He’s sleeping in a mausoleum from the sound of it.”
“We will need to find a portal to this New Orleans, then,” he said.
Diana rubbed her neck and gave him a hopeful look. “Do you have a map?”
Chapter 47
New Orleans had fallen, and nature was creeping in to reclaim it. That didn’t surprise Diana. After the ravaging, anyone who may have survived the madness from the wulkwos that had nested in the big cities had long since fled. There was no one to maintain the upkeep following the hurricane seasons. Shattered glass, colorful plastic, and broken boards littered the streets, scattered among other remnants of human life that had been abandoned. With the toe of her boot, she kicked away a tangled knot of plastic bead necklaces left by some tourist during the ravaging, no doubt. Plastic truly did last forever.
Ironically, while the modern houses were falling apart, the buildings of the Quarter that had stood for hundreds of years remained as gloomy gray sentinels. More than one building had tattered fabric clinging to the windows of what had been apartments and short-term rented rooms. It fluttered with the occasional breeze. Poppets stared out from behind the windows of various voodoo shops catering to tourists, their empty eyes mocking the living who dared to intrude in the city of death.
Ghosts and vampires. That was pretty much the legacy of the city. That and New Orleans-style voodoo and hoodoo, though she didn’t know much about those subjects.
At her side, Silvas twitched his tail tensely, his long stride steady as his eyes tracked anything and everything that moved. His nostrils twitched at the stench of rotting and decay that seemed to be clinging to the streets. Over the last four years, the streets had obviously been flooded numerous times and they were covered with a residue of decaying matter that had washed over them. It was putrid.
“What a horrible place to build a city,” Silvas observed, his nose wrinkling.
She laughed as she kept pace at his side. “It was an important port because it’s at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Many of the buildings in this part of the city are very old and stand as a testament to the prominence of the city even when it was young. It continued to draw visitors every year until the ravaging. The storms did quite a bit of damage each year, but it wasn’t a terrible place, though maybe a little inconvenient and troublesome in some respects.”
He didn’t look convinced. He actually appeared rather put out about the whole trek through the city. They had already visited several cemeteries, breaking into tombs that seemed of adequate size to shelter Cacus. To no avail. Still, he kept watch, his massive rack moving from side to side as he scanned the gloomy shadows of the decaying city.
“Where to next?” he grumbled as he strode out ahead of her. His ears were twisting and his nostrils flaring. It was obvious that he was tracking something, but after so many false leads she was no longer getting excited when he did that.
Diana peered down at her map and jabbed at a spot. “We can try this one. It seemed a bit convenient if he were sleeping there since it was one of the best-known cemeteries in the city, but we have checked most of the others. We are running out of options here. So…”
A fleeting movement out of the corner of her eye brought her head up in a quick jerk, her nostrils flaring as she attempted to home in on the source of the shadow that darted among the buildings. Swallowing, she leaned forward slightly, squinting.
“Were you serious when you said that there were vampires?” she asked casually.
At least she tried to sound casual. She didn’t want to admit that she still had a very human reaction to the idea of being hunted by a vampire. Her tail tucked against the back of her legs, betraying her nerves. Silvas, noting her hesitation and anxiety through their bond, frowned as he turned to pace back to her. His large frame loomed over hers, a warning growl rumbling in his throat.
“There are,” he rumbled, his pale eyes narrowing in the distance.
Silvas’s tail slipped around her waist, drawing her against him as he spread his arms in a defensive posture.
“Come out. We know you are there,” Silvas called out into the shadows.
A pair of glowing red eyes flashed in the darkest corner like light catching off the eyes of a predator. There was a rustle of fabric, and she heard the soft click of footsteps on the street as a tall, lean man stepped out. His long hair fluttered around him, shaved closed on one side, as his form-fitting clothes, while a bit on the shabby side with no tailors around, were of a black and burgundy scheme and looked like they cost more than what she had made in a year when she had worked at the tavern.
“We don’t want any more of your kind around here,” the vampire said coolly, his accent muddled like one who spent a long lifetime traveling. “I suggest that you leave before I alert my nest to your presence. The humans here are under our safekeeping.”
Diana’s eyebrows winged up at the statement. “You have humans here?” She glanced around, seeing nothing but ruins. “Where? And why? I thought your kind killed people.”
The vampire made a disgusted click but peered at her curiously. “We have a symbiotic relationship with the humans under our protection. We only require small amounts of blood from them in our diet, supplemented with animal blood and other nutritious foods for our kind…”
“He speaks of consuming internal organs,” Silvas clarified for her, and she gagged. “Vampires need less than a tablespoon of human blood every week to keep them healthy. They otherwise raise livestock which they eat raw, everything from the blood and flesh to every internal organ and the brain.”
“Very ‘waste not, want not,’ but still gross,” Diana said with a shudder.
“Your speech would suggest you are a human, that accent from Virginia perhaps… but your scent and appearance say that you are one of the monsters that come from the forests,” the vampire hummed with curiosity.
She gaped at him in offense. “I’m not a monster! I was human until I bonded to him.” She hooked her thumb over at Silvas.
“We are not interested in hurting anyone, and are in fact surprised to hear anyone is living here,” Silvas interrupted as he eyed the other male. “We are hunting a Tainted One—a true monster that may have killed and consumed many when he entered your territory. Cacus wouldn’t have discriminated between your people and the humans when it comes to his prey. Have you seen it?”
“He looks like a misshapen centaur, breathes fire, and can dislocate his jaw like a snake to help him bite off heads,” Diana added.
Diana folded the map so that the cemetery she was looking at faced outward. She tapped on it with one finger. “Is this the place? Saint Louis Cemetery?”
He nodded solemnly. “If you are going there, I will alert the king.”
Silvas raised a hand and shook his head. “Tell him, but keep the vampires out of the crypt until we have handled it. Cacus is our responsibility. We do not wish for further injuries among your people.”
The vampire snorted. “And who are you that you think have a better chance alone, with no one but your mate for assistance, to accomplish was a number of our best could not?”
Diana bristled, her tail lashing behind her as she imagined rearranging his face. Silvas chuckled, his hand stroking down her back in a soothing action.
“Do not worry about us, vampire. This creature will not survive our encounter.”
The vampire gave him a skeptical look and shrugged. “All right—it’s your funeral. You will find it resting in a large crypt topped with a pious soul holding aloft the crucifix. The creature broke down one wall and burrowed itself within the soft earth. It is unfortunate that we didn’t have a massive flood there recently. Maybe it would have drowned, or left New Orleans for a more comfortable resting place. Good luck. If by chance you are not just blowing smoke up my ass, you can find my nest here. I will carry a report of your success to the king’s nest” He nodded up the curved face of the two-story brownstone building at the intersection.
Diana raised her eyebrows and smirked. “So tell me, did you go and pick out Jacques St. Germain’s rooms personally?”
The vampire grinned. “Always a pleasure to meet a fan,” he said with a flourished bow. “I fear I am a creature of habit. Whenever I return to my old haunts, I’m always drawn to home.” He inhaled with pleasure as he glanced up at the building. “I suppose it was fortuitous that I was caught here when the gates opened. If I had to suffer without modern conveniences, it might as well be in one of my favorite cities. I sincerely hope that you are successful so that we may meet again,” he murmured, ignoring Silvas’s possessive snarl as he stepped back into the shadows.
Diana pressed her lips together, uncertain if she should be squealing like a fangirl or be worried that a vampire was obviously flirting with her. “Well, at least we found out one very important piece of information. We were heading to the right place. We can take Canal Street up to Basin and follow it down to the cemetery.”
Silvas nodded, shadowy wings extending from his body before they solidified into black-tipped white wings. Tugging her into his arms, he shifted his grip with his tail to plaster her body more snugly against his. The hard muscles of his legs bunched as he crouched down. Diana wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, her own tail looping tightly around him just before he leapt upward into the sky with a hard flap of his wings.
When they landed minutes later within the cemetery, the marble tombs brought of sense of nostalgia to her as they walked among them. She didn’t have the same developed sense of smell to be able to recognize the scent of a Tainted One like Silvas could, so she stuck close behind him as he went up and down the aisles, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air to make certain the creature hadn’t risen. In the distance, they could see the crypt jutting up high above the other tombs, and shivers scurried down her spine.
Vampire tours, voodoo tours, swamp tours in gator filled swamps, even local ghost tours in the quarter she had no problem with. The giant above-ground cemeteries gave her the heebie-jeebies, though. As they wound their way from the southern wall where they landed, her eyes widened at the familiar sight of Marie Laveau’s marked tomb rising in front of them. Silvas strode right past it without giving any notice, but Diana slowed at its side and stopped, her eyes trailing on the dozens of marks of wishes made.
Placing her finger on the wall, her claw scratched out an X as she whispered to the voodoo queen who was no doubt working from beyond to keep her city safe. Few humans were capable of surviving the madness that set upon them by the ravagers. That there was a pocket of humanity in New Orleans doing just that was more than a little remarkable.
“Marie Laveau, if ever you loved your city and worked for its benefit from your revered place, honored as voodoo queen even as your bones rest, be with us. Protect your city and your people from the danger that hunts them.”
Silvas’s shadow fell over her. “You pray to a human soul?” he asked, his voice curious as he cocked his head.
Diana shrugged. “Why not? She was powerful in life. Why wouldn’t she continue to protect her city even from her place of rest? Heroes have a special place of honor in the next world, I think. I can imagine she would be counted among that by many. I think she would have a hand in things going on around here.”
His eyebrows raised as he considered, and after a moment, he inclined his head. “I shall remember that. Even human spirits can be powerful allies.”
Bowing respectfully toward the tomb, he turned away, his tail flicking. He moved away only a few steps before stopping to look over his shoulder, patiently waiting for her to catch up. From Marie’s tomb, they departed, following the line of moonlight leading to the crypt where the monster slept. Sliding fingers to her side, she gripped the hilt of Anola where it was strapped to her side.
Chapter 48
The broken wall of the crypt split open before them like a gaping wound, a terrible stench wafting up from it. Taint. Cacus lingered within there, just as they had been told. Selvans tensed as he stepped forward. The crypt was large, but not so big that Cacus’s girth wouldn’t fill most of the available space. They would have very limited room for mobility, and that worried him. By taking Diana in there, he would be risking her safety far more than he had even in facing the strix. He lifted his eyes and met his mate’s gaze. She gave him an encouraging smile and tipped her head toward the entrance. Apprehension skated through their bond, but she faced the danger head-on, her mind focused and steady.
Still, he hesitated. Dropping his voice, he spoke softly to his bonded. “If you would rather wait out here, I will not think less of you.”
Her brows drew down together. “You’re not leaving me out here, asshole.”
“Uxorem, this situation worries me. Though above ground, the crypt is small. If Cacus got ahold of you…” Fear for his mate surged through him, making his heart ache.
“So, what—I get left out here to worry about you instead? No. Remember what Dorinda said? We both need to be there. That doesn’t mean you’re in there where it’s dangerous while I wait in safety out here. It means us both, fighting as one, against him.”
He squinted into the gloom of the interior that was dark even to his eyes in the dim moonlit night. He expelled a slow breath and nodded. She was right. He would just take care the best he could.
“Stay behind me, at all cost. Do not leave my side for any reason.”
“Let’s get in there and end this shit,” she murmured.
She stuck close behind him as he stepped inside. She was close enough that he could just barely feel the brush of her hot breath against the back of his neck. It reassured him as they crept forward.
A rumbling, quaking sound rocked the walls of the crypt and a lick of fire illuminated the room briefly as it fanned from the mouth of the sleeping creature. It slept on its side, its
huge upper body curled in a relaxed pose, its head pillowed on its arm. The four legs were partially drawn up under it from where it had eased itself on its side. Selvans’ eyes trailed over the Tainted One, looking for the best place to strike that would guarantee a quick death for him. The monstrous tail whipped, sending the rubble it came into contact with flying.
Selvans leaped back as another burst of flames seared the air, coming close to grazing his right antler. His eyes darted to Diana, pleased to see that she was tucked behind him, staring around at Cacus, her brow drawn down. He felt their bond quake as she faced the creature who had tracked her through the corridors of Arx. A small gasp left her at the sight of the monster curled on himself, her body rigid with tension.
“How do we kill him?” she whispered.
His lips tightened. “I don’t know.”
Diana’s head whipped around, her mouth gaping. “You don’t know?”
“It is not like there are instructions on how to kill Cacus. If you recall Hercules, a heroic son of one of the highest of gods, hadn’t managed to do more than choke him until he fell unconscious. Myth likes to tell that he strangled the creature to death, but not even he could kill Cacus. I am a bit at a loss as to exactly how we should proceed. Most of the Tainted Ones I have slain had been minor creatures that existed before Cacus first rose from the belly of the earth.”
“Right,” Diana whispered back. “So we know it has something to do with Nocis, and presumably Anola since it was made as a companion to your sword. Should we try just stabbing him?”
Although he didn’t like her getting quite that close in the tight spaces around Cacus, he couldn’t think of a better suggestion.
“Take his flank while I go for the front. When you drive in your blade, be sure to put your full strength behind it so that the blade sinks deep. We will only have one chance at catching him unaware.”
Forest of Spirits Page 31