Voodoo Priest (Blaire Thorne Book 2)

by N Gray

  “Fuck! What do we do?”

  “Hide.”

  The front door opened, and Ralph scrambled out of the main bedroom. I fell flat onto the soft white floor and rolled under the bed as the person came through the door of the main bedroom. Lying on my back and looking up at the bottom of the base of the bed, my fingers held onto the flashlight as it lit up the wood. I hurriedly switched it off as he neared the side under which I was lying.

  The person walked around the bed and stood near me, his feet beside my face. He wore black leather dress shoes, and they smelled like polish. Also beside my head was a pack of cards and a roll of token chips. The feet moved, and a hand came under the bed. He was searching for something on the floor. My heart started to beat faster, and I held my breath. His fingers came near my shoulder. All I could think of was that he was about to look underneath the bed and find me lying there. The contents of the first bedroom were still fresh in my mind. What would he do to me when he saw me? I remembered the shrine and the metal box as his fingers inched closer to my face.

  Relying on gut instinct, I gently pushed the cards and chips nearer to his fingertips, and he picked them up. I let out a shaky breath as quietly as I could as he went into the bathroom and closed the door. I blinked back tears. He flushed, left the bedroom, and exited by the front door. The car roared to life and headlights flooded the room again.

  I wiped the tears from my face. I lay quietly for a moment, relearning to breathe and to blink. A hand grabbed me, and I screamed.

  “Shh, it’s me.”

  “Dammit, Ralph—you scared me.” I wanted to laugh, but my heart was still knocking hard against my rib cage. “He almost touched me. He almost found me.” I took short, shallow breaths, still clutching the flashlight.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here. I think we’ve seen enough.”

  I nodded and quickly rolled out from under the bed. I started to walk out of the room when I heard muffled sounds. “What’s that?”

  “What?”

  “I can hear crying or something.”

  The lines between his brows furrowed. “I can’t hear anything.”

  “Shh! There it is again.” I pointed to the cupboards against the far wall of the bedroom. I opened all the doors, but they were full of clothing.

  Another muffled cry.

  I climbed into the cupboard and knocked on the back panels. They all sounded solid until I reached the one on the far left.

  “Here, Ralph! There’s a door here. Help me open it.”

  “We shouldn’t be doing this, Blaire. He could come home again. We have to get out of here.”

  There was a click, and the wall gave way. I opened the hidden door to reveal a set of steps leading downward. I felt for a light switch and, finding it on the right, flicked it on. Ralph closed the hidden door behind us and followed me down the stairs.

  We reached a corridor, turned right, and were met by a locked metal door. I moved the slider to reveal a window in the middle of the door and saw through it that there was someone lying in the middle of the room.

  “It’s a woman, Ralph. We have to help her.” I started looking around. “We need to find the key to open the door.”

  Ralph came past me and ran his fingers above the top of the doorframe, coming away with a key in his hand. He unlocked and opened the door.

  The woman within looked up at us with eyes as black as a starless night. There were no whites and no iris—only black on black. Her mouth opened as she was about to scream, but there was no sound.

  I shone the flashlight at her face. There was no sound because there was no tongue. The beam landed on the torn fleshy bits where her tongue was meant to be. Courtesy of her hair being cut short, I could also see that her ears had been hacked off.

  “Fuck, he’s done a number on her,” I said as we walked closer to her.

  She rose from the floor and darted for Ralph, her blood-soaked arms out in front of her, trying for his neck. The restraints stopped her an inch from pulling his throat out. Ralph stepped away from her, just short of pushing her backward. The woman’s head pulled backward, the restraints around her neck and waist keeping her prisoner. There were bloodstains on her white dress near her crotch. I looked from her to Ralph and noticed that he saw it, too.

  “How can she still be walking around?”

  “Look at her eyes.”

  Her black soulless eyes stared at us—through us—like she wasn’t really seeing anything at all. Her lips moved as if she was talking to us, but there was no sound. Her brown pixie hair looked like it hadn’t been washed for weeks, and her fingernails and toenails had been ripped off. She smelled of feces, and her arms were caked with it.

  There was nothing else in the room except for her and a cot in the corner.

  “Let’s go, Blaire. If we don’t know what he did to her, then we don’t know what she can do. She should be dead if it’s her parts in that metal box,” Ralph said, his eyes staying on the woman as he started backing out of the room.

  We closed the door and locked it. Ralph placed the key back where he had found it and closed the latch, and we went back upstairs.

  Chapter 4

  “WE HAVE TO TELL YOUR COP FRIEND, Ralph. The police have to know what McNielty did to that woman in the basement.” I was hugging my knees, rocking in the car seat.

  “How do we explain that we broke into McNielty’s house, Blaire?” All his concentration was on the road, his eyes blinking at the oncoming car lights.

  “I don’t care, but this man is fucking crazy. He did something to her. You saw what she looked like! It didn’t look as though she could feel a fucking thing. And don’t forget she tried to rip your throat out. Did you see her eyes?”

  He sighed. “You’re probably right. I’ll call Martin after I’ve dropped you off.”

  Shit. Did I want to be alone tonight? I shook my head; I wouldn’t ask Ralph to stay over. Not again. I needed to toughen up. I’m supposed to be this kick-ass assassin—but I sure as hell didn’t feel like one.

  The ride back to my house was quick. Too quick. Ralph pulled up to the curb and, for a moment, I sat still and stared at my house; the darkness surrounding it, and the emptiness of it all. I hugged my knees tighter.

  I exhaled, stretched my legs, and unbuckled the seat belt.

  “Thanks for fucking up my Wednesday, Ralph.” I opened the door and climbed out, taking the folder with me. “I want to have another look at this, if you don’t mind,” I said, shaking the file in my right hand.

  He leaned over the seat and peered up at me. “Knock yourself out. You going to be okay?”

  “I’ll be fine.” I could feel my smile shaking at the corners, but I hoped he couldn’t see it.

  “You sure? I can stay with you, if you want?”

  I considered his offer, but, as much as I desperately wanted him by my side, especially after what we’d seen at the McNielty residence, I told myself to get a grip. “No, I’ll be okay. What are you going to do for the rest of the evening?”

  “I’ll probably just grab dinner and have a few beers. You want to join me?”

  “No, thanks. I’ll just order in. Have a good night.” I turned and went up the footpath to the front door and heard Ralph’s car drive away.

  On my porch was a brown package. I scanned the neighborhood but couldn’t see anyone suspicious lurking around the corner. I unlocked and opened the front door and switched on the lights for the porch and the lounge. With my foot, I softly tapped the package. If it was a bomb, I would have been dead, but nothing clicked and there were no ticking sounds after I touched it. When I picked it up, there was another package the size of an A4 envelope beneath it. I scooped that up as well and went inside, dead-bolting the door.

  Setting both packages on the kitchen island, I grabbed a pair of scissors and opened the envelope first. Inside was a smaller white envelope that was smooth and silky to the touch. It had raised engravings on the outer edges of the envelope, and tracing the golden p
attern with my finger, I could feel that even the fine etching was soft. I opened the envelope and removed the note within, causing a ticket to fall out. The white note had similar engravings on its edges and was just as silky as the envelope.

  The note was beautifully handwritten:

  Dearest Blaire,

  I have stood back and waited. Two months have passed.

  I miss you.

  Allow me the chance to show you all of who I am.

  Enclosed with this letter is a ticket to a show tonight.

  Please join me.

  S

  Dammit! It was almost as if Sebastian had read my mind. I narrowed my eyes at his letter, willing him to see me through the page, even though I knew he couldn’t.

  I opened the second package and removed a black box from the courier company lining. The plain black box had a white bow wrapped around it. I pulled on the bow and it unraveled. Opening the lid slowly, a chuckle escaped my lips, and once I had removed the lid completely. I smiled. Inside was a plush hedgehog.

  There was another handwritten note underneath the plush toy, this one written by another hand:

  Dear Blaire,

  As promised, something adorable and soft for you to cuddle at night.

  Best wishes,

  Léon

  I held the plush toy and hugged it tightly against my chest. The faint smell of spice, wood, and the ocean permeated the air. Léon had read my mind only once, when I was a little scared and overwhelmed, and wanted nothing more than to hold on to a soft toy. He had promised not to read my mind again, but he did say he would try to get me a plush toy.

  But why now, after two months? And why on the same day as Sebastian was asking me out on a date?

  I had been a bad human servant to Sebastian. While Sebastian had been a good master in that he had given me the time I needed to figure my shit out. The problem was that I still hadn’t managed it. It’s hard when you don’t know where to start and the person you were was so good at hiding secrets. Sebastian had called many times and left messages, but I had never answered. I had never called back.

  Was I scared, maybe?

  I stared at the invitation from Sebastian. There were choices to be made for the evening; I could either stay at home, read through the case file, and order takeout—alone, and for the third night in a row—or I could go on a date with Sebastian. I glanced at the ticket. It granted entry to a concert for one of my favorite bands, Envision. Even the new me liked the old me’s taste in music.

  Dammit, I wanted to see them live, and there was just over an hour left before I had to get there.

  The shower was quick but getting dressed took longer than I wanted; trying on three different outfits only confused me more. Eventually, I ended up with black leggings, black heeled boots that stopped before my knees, a pair of black tailored shorts and an old black Envision t-shirt with a leather jacket over it. After I had added a little make-up to brighten my eyes, for once I didn’t look as tired as I felt. I grabbed my phone and hovered over Sebastian’s name. I closed down the contacts list and searched for the app that notified a driver to fetch me. I loved technology when there was an app for every need.

  Fifteen minutes later, the driver was outside my house. I grabbed the ticket and my bag and locked the house.

  Once we reached the venue, I thanked the driver, climbed out, and gave him a five-star review. I always tried to be friendly, especially if they deserved those five stars.

  I stood on the curb and watched the masses of people moving through Security. The time on my phone showed I had fifteen minutes to spare before the concert would start. With the ticket in hand, I stood outside the gates. The note from Sebastian didn’t mention where to meet him, and the ticket didn’t include a seat number. I watched the mass of people pass me by.

  “You look lost,” someone behind me said.

  I turned slowly to see who it was; the voice was deeper than I remembered, so I couldn’t be sure. Sebastian flashed his teeth, revealing a slight hint of vampire fangs.

  “You sounded different.” I smiled up at him.

  I noticed his mouth first, those soft full lips, and then his eyes—strikingly grass green with slivers of gold running through them. He was a were-leopard, a black leopard, but I had yet to see him in his full fur form. I wondered whether his eyes would stay green, and how much bigger would he be in his leopard form, compared to his human form. He was about six foot two and I only came up to his chest, so he would have to bend down if he wanted to kiss me. His blond hair had grown out a bit since I had seen him last, and it had started to curl at the ends; I wanted to touch those soft curls and twirl them around my finger. He was wearing black boots, black jeans, and a black Envision shirt similar to my own, except that his appeared to be much older and the print had faded.

  “I wanted you to turn around.” He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me; soft and quick, taking my breath away. “Come on, it’s about to start.” He offered me his hand, and I took it.

  We went through a separate section of Security. It wasn’t as invasive as the general entrance; there was no patting down of the front of my body, ass or down my legs. After a few bomb scares, security at events such as this usually got a bit touchy-feely.

  Once we had been cleared for entry, I saw that someone wearing all black was waiting for us on the other side. He looked like he could be one of the bodyguards that Sebastian and Léon always had around their properties. We followed him to one of the private viewing rooms, and my mouth fell open when we entered. We were so close to the stage that I could see the band’s instruments clearly. Even though there were monitors in the room, we wouldn’t need them to see the band once the concert started.

  “Wow, Sebastian! This is amazing. How did you know I love this band?” I narrowed my eyes at him, but a smile still played on my lips.

  “I didn’t know, I swear. They’re one of my favorite bands, and I wanted to share this with you.”

  I stared down at my hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t return any of your calls.”

  “I understand you needed to sort some things out, Blaire. But we can talk about that later. Let’s just enjoy tonight.” He smiled, hugged me with one arm, and turned me around so that I was facing the stage. “They will start soon.”

  Standing in the circle of his embrace, his touch caused my body to vibrate, like an electric current had passed through him and into me. I didn’t want him to stop touching me for fear of losing that feeling.

  His smell was also familiar. It was comforting. The hint of ocean and citrus, and mixed in there was him, his leopard; wet leaves after a summer rain and dry grass. I closed my eyes, rested my head against his chest, and breathed him in.

  Sebastian had saved my life the night that I was attacked. He had picked me up from the alley that I lay dying in and had carried me to his home. In order to keep me alive, he had marked me, making me his human servant. The complete process of marking required two marks to be placed upon the human, but Sebastian had stayed his hand after the first. He didn’t want to perform the second mark, unless it was something I wanted him to do. Which, I didn’t.

  Léon, his vampire brother and Master of the City, had tried to mark me first, but it hadn’t worked. Because I had been attacked by two different were-animals, I had been infected with both of their viral strains, and it had taken Sebastian, as both vampire and were-leopard, to successfully counteract it. As he was a different were-animal, the conflicting strains had somehow cancelled one another out, and Sebastian had been able to share his vampiric life essence with me, which was enough to keep me from death.

  Not answering his phone calls made me seem ungrateful, particularly as he had granted me the space I needed to piece together my returning memories. But truthfully, despite spending the last two months trying to figure out who I was, so far I’d found nothing that I didn’t already know.

  One thing I did know, though, was that, in that moment where I found myself huddled in Sebastian’s a
rms, it felt right, like I was meant to be there with him.

  I felt the tension I was holding onto dissolve from my shoulders.

  Strangely, I hadn’t missed him these last two months. I had thought of him, but I hadn’t missed him. There had been no yearning for him, and me doing my own thing and trying to figure things out had been just fine.

  But standing with him now began to feel as though I had been missing out on so much. A tinge of regret washed over me.

  I turned around in the circle of his arm so that I could hug him, wrapping my arms around his body and his around mine. He came down toward me and stopped with his face close to mine, hesitating. Going onto tiptoes, I met his lips with mine—we kissed gently at first, then a little harder and with longing desire. Our hands explored each other’s bodies, and the feel of him so close to me reignited things down below that I hadn’t felt since the last time we’d been together.

  The music started, and it was one of Envision’s best songs.

  He stopped kissing me and said, “Let’s watch.”

  We sat on the couch, his arm around my shoulders. The waiting staff brought in food, a few cold drinks, and a bottle of bubbly. We ate, sipped on French champagne, and watched the crowd dance and sing along to all the songs. I knew the lyrics, but I didn’t join them.

  Those two hours flew by. The concert was an electrifying masterpiece of lasers, lights, guitar work, and singing, complete with a large inflatable vampire that emerged from the stage and tried to attack the band. It was awesome.

  After they had sung their last song, Heath, the lead singer, spoke to the crowd. “We saved our best song for last. This is for one of our very good friends who wants Blaire to know that he never stopped thinking about her these last two months, and that he’s glad she could make it tonight.” Then Heath started singing.