by N Gray
We walked through the corridors, turning left here and right there. I didn’t bother trying to memorize the place because I knew that it would change again, and I would only get confused.
“How do you know where to go if the walls keep changing?” I asked Sebastian.
“Those of us who live here know the changes, and they happen rotationally so that we know how it will change on a specific day.”
“Goodnight, sir,” Rory said, and he walked off in the opposite direction to where we were going.
“’Night, Rory.”
“Where is he going?”
“Were-wolves need to sleep, too, you know.” He smiled mockingly at me.
I hit his chest softly. “I know that, but don’t you always have a guard watching you?”
“No, not when I get home. And besides, he was more for your protection than mine. I can protect myself, but I can’t protect you if I need to fight.”
“Oh, and why did you think there would be any kind of threat?”
“Just in case, Blaire. Just in case.” He rubbed my arm, then his fingers trailed downward until he found my hand and our fingers entwined.
We stopped outside a door. Once Sebastian had opened it, I saw that it belonged to his room, which appeared to be much the same as the last time I was here.
“Can you stay here a moment? I want to have a quick word with Léon.”
“Sure.” I let go of his hand and he left, closing the door behind him.
I placed my bag on his bed, removed the police file, and started reading. I browsed through the victim’s names and their biographical summaries but studied the actual crime reports; each crime scene depicted the same M.O. Both hands were cleanly removed with a sharp object. The coroner suspected a scalpel was used to cut through the tissue, followed by a motorized cutting tool or a very large sharp knife for the bone. All the organs were removed; the heart; the liver; both kidneys; the lungs; and the stomach. In each instance, a little brown voodoo doll had been left inside their neatly stitched abdominal cavities.
Each of the seven men had been found in open areas, but never the same area twice. Two men had brown eyes, two had blue, and two had green eyes. Only the homeless man had had grey eyes. Was McNielty going to kill another grey-eyed man to make it an even eight, or was this it? Was this the pattern, apart from them all standing at six feet two inches tall and weighing between two hundred and two-hundred-and-twenty pounds?
I read the grey-eyed man’s report word-for-word, finding that I had missed something the first time I had read it. He had been the only victim to have his private parts removed. The killer had taken everything, balls included.
McNielty was one sick cookie. No doubt about it. He had to be medaling in some pretty bad voodoo shit with all these organs he was holding onto.
Glancing at my phone, I yawned. It was early morning, and I needed to sleep. Since I had showered before the concert, I slipped on my pajamas from my bag, used the bathroom, and brushed my teeth.
When I opened the door, Sebastian was back in the room. He slipped his shirt off and threw it into the laundry basket in the corner. All those muscles moved with such flexibility and ease, like liquid mercury. Shadows played along his high cheekbones and square jaw. I wanted to reach out, touch his face, and chase the shadows away by kissing the line of his jaw and the soft skin of his neck.
He was good-looking but didn’t flaunt it like others would. He didn’t care for that kind of attention. My heart sped up a few beats watching him, and I lost a few I.Q. points. He was a were-leopard and a vampire, which meant he had all the strength and speed that went with that combination—the best of both worlds. From what I’d read, when a human shape-shifted into their were-animal, they could become as big as a small pony. How big could Sebastian possibly get, given that he was already so tall and burly in human form? He wasn’t big like body builders were; his muscles were toned and well defined and fit his frame well. Being a were-leopard and a vampire meant he could bench press a minivan and feel no pain, so lifting weights would be easy for him.
Whenever I was with him, the first thing I noticed was the color of his eyes—that striking feline dark green with the slivers of gold that ran through them. Did his eye color differ when he was in leopard form?
A hand waved in front of my face, and I blinked. Shit, had he been talking to me all this time while I had done nothing but gawk at him? I felt my cheeks warming in embarrassment as I glanced at him. The smile on his face told me that he knew I had been staring at him, and that, possibly, he enjoyed that I was watching. The look in his eye held heat, and it was hot enough that it swirled around my neck with the promise of a kiss and more.
He was down to his boxers now, but I kept my eyes above his waist.
“Are you ready to sleep, or are you still going through the file?” He pointed to the photos and pieces of paper that were spread all over the bed.
“Sleep. I definitely need sleep.”
I pushed all the papers into the folder and placed it in my bag as Sebastian moved to the left side of the bed. That was how we had slept two months ago, with him on the left. He switched off the lights but kept the lamp on. I climbed under the covers, leaving my arms exposed. I turned onto my right side and watched him climb into bed. Once he was lying down, he sighed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He turned onto his left side so that he could face me. He stared at me and, after a moment, he finally spoke. “There have been things I’ve wanted to say to you these last two months, and now that you’re here with me, I can’t think of one thing to say to you.”
My pulse sped up, and I swallowed hard. “I don’t know what to say, either.”
What I wanted to say was that I felt like a teenager with a crush.
Before today, I would only wonder how he was, or how his day was going. But now that I was so close to him, I wanted more. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to put my hands on his chest and do things with my mouth.
Staring at him only made me feel worse; more nervous.
I closed my eyes and said, “I like you and you like me, and it feels so good when we are together. And, honestly, I want to run my hands over your body and kiss you. But I can’t decide whether this attraction is real or if it’s because of the mark you gave me.”
When I opened my eyes, his stare was penetrating. “Is that why you needed time?”
“That was part of it, I guess. Mostly, I needed to find out who I really was. But so far, I was a ghost; from the records we could access, the trail only started when I was fifteen. Before then, there’s nothing. Whatever my name was prior to then, we couldn’t find it. It’s hidden very well.” I sighed.
“Have you tried the police?”
“Yes, but they only have the same records we do. It’s like someone erased me, and there is no way of seeing who my parents were.”
He frowned.
“What? Have you thought of something?”
“No, it’s just odd.”
“What is?”
“That they erased your records like that. Unless—”
“Unless, what?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m just thinking out loud. Perhaps a vampire could’ve used their wiles to manipulate someone to delete it?”
I frowned at him. “That means a vampire knows me and did that for me.”
“Exactly.”
“But who? And why haven’t they come forward to help me again?”
“That’s what you need to find out.”
“Now I have more questions than answers. Thanks for nothing. You’ve been no help.” I teased through the truth.
A faint smile played on his lips, but it didn’t match the seriousness of his face.
The green of his irises darkened.
The silence between us was gentle and comfortable.
As I lay there beside him, it hurt to think that I had been depriving myself of this. As much as I needed to unlock the secrets of my identity, I now realized that
I had spent much of the last two months ignoring what made me happy. The problem was that I still wasn’t able to define exactly what that was.
Whatever we were to each other—whatever we were meant to be—would reveal itself with time. Time could be our friend or our enemy, and it was up to us to decide which of those it would be.
As we stared at each other in the lamplight, it was as if we both understood. We knew, through the mark that Sebastian had made, that the attraction could be real, and even if it wasn’t, it shouldn’t stop us from trying.
In that moment, I understood. Even though I wasn’t the same person I was two months ago—before the amnesia—I knew who I was today. I couldn’t change the past, but I could control what I did in my future.
I felt my smile reach my eyes. I was glad I had accepted his invitation; glad to be near him; glad that my future was mine.
Sebastian tucked one hand under the pillow to lift his head up slightly. His shoulders relaxed, and he gave me a look that was pleasant and easygoing. A mischievous smile crossed his face, and I frowned at him. Something was up.
“I want you to come with me tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“To my leap. I want you to meet Anne and the rest of them.”
My stomach did back-flips as I fought not to squirm.
“Who is Anne?” I asked suspiciously. If she was anything like the women that hung out at the Labyrinth during feeding times, then I definitely did not want to meet her.
He chuckled, then said, “Anne is our alpha female. She took over from Rick, her husband, after he died.”
“Did someone challenge him?”
“No, he was murdered. It’s still an unsolved case.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It happened about ten or eleven years ago.”
“Why do you want me to meet them? You and I have only just started seeing each other again.”
“We have one of our monthly meetings tomorrow night before the full blue moon, and I would like you to come. It’s days before the moon is full, so you don’t have to worry about anyone shifting near you.”
“I don’t know, Sebastian.”
“I want you to get to know me, Blaire, and this is part of who I am. I turn into a leopard once a month, and these are the people I hunt with.”
I opened my mouth to say no but closed it. Lying there with him felt good, and I didn’t want it to come crashing down by denying him his request. He was opening up to me, and I was pushing him away. Pushing myself away from him. Is this what the old Blaire used to do?
I closed my eyes and tucked my hands under the pillow, nestling it under my head. The pillowcase smelt like him; the French soap he favored, a hint of citrus and the musk of a leopard. I breathed it all in, and my tension ebbed away.
“It’s so calming to watch you do that.”
My eyes fluttered open. “What do you mean?”
“It’s like you’re thinking about something and meditating at the same time. It’s peaceful. I like it.”
My lips curled upward. “I can smell you on the pillowcase. Somehow it relaxes me.” There, some truth. I had missed him these last two months. I had missed the smell of him, the feel of him, his touch and his kisses.
Would it matter whether the mark he gave me drew me to him? I wanted to say yes, but I also wanted to just give in to the feeling.
I felt his lips on mine and kissed him back.
He pulled away and began to rest on his left elbow, looking down at me. “Let’s shake the nervousness away and take it slow. Whether it’s the mark that attracts us to each other or not, it doesn’t matter—I still want to get to know you.” He pointed a finger at me. “We can date… and do other things.” His smile widened and his green eyes sparkled. “And whatever those other things are, I will take your lead. There’s no pressure.”
It was like he had read my mind. “Deal. I want to get to know everything about you. All that other stuff can just take its course. And, yes, I will go with you tomorrow night. Take me to see your world—all of it. I want to know everything about you.”
“Before we go to the leap tomorrow, there is one thing we have to discuss—” he started to say, but I cut him off. Sebastian’s expression had gone all serious on me, and I didn’t like it. Our conversation was light and fluffy a moment ago, and I thought it was more fitting to end our first date with a kiss, rather than something inconsequential. Whatever it was, he could tell me tomorrow.
“Not now. You can tell me later. Kiss me again.”
His hesitated as though the words were burning his lips, but he moved forward and did as I asked. I curled in his arms and fell asleep immediately.
Chapter 6
THE TUNE FROM MY CELLPHONE WAS loud. I reached for it on the side table next to me and answered the incoming call.
“Blaire, you ready?”
“Morning, Ralph. What time is it?”
“It’s 9am. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.” Before I could say bye, he hung up.
For the first time since the attack, there had been no nightmares. I had slept soundly, comforted by the warmth of my protector. I wanted to stay in bed with Sebastian, but I had to work. I needed to earn my salary and get Marcus off my case. There was also a voodoo man who knew who we were, and we needed to see what we could do about that. I stretched and climbed out. If Ralph would be here in twenty minutes, I had to rush.
I got dressed in the bathroom and was ready by the time Ralph phoned again to let me know he was waiting for me outside. I packed all my belongings, and Sebastian walked me through the changed walls of the Labyrinth toward the street Ralph said he had parked on. We kissed goodbye and held each other for at least ten seconds, which was more than enough time to get the endorphins working.
When I climbed into Ralph’s car, I could still smell Sebastian on my clothing. There’s just something wonderful about smelling someone you like on your clothes. It’s like they will be with you all day.
We planned to see each other that evening. I would join him at his leap, where all the other were-leopards hung out. I still wasn’t sure about going, but I had said I would, so I had no choice. If I wanted to know more about him, to see whether my feelings for him were genuine or just a byproduct of the mark between us, I had to see everything there was to see.
I had a few hours to kill before he fetched me.
At least it wasn’t a full moon, where I’d be forced to witness the leap shifting into their animal forms. Not that I didn’t want to see Sebastian shift; I just wasn’t ready for it yet.
“So how are the love birds doing?” Ralph said teasingly. He lifted his eyebrows rapidly up and down.
“Shut up.” My cheeks felt hot, but I still smiled. “We’re spending the evening together again tonight, so you can drop me off at my place when we’re done.”
“Sure.”
“How was the rest of your evening? Did you see the voodoo priest again?”
“No, thank heavens. But I do want to find out how he found us, though. I’ve organized for us to check in with Désiré this morning, and then we have a meeting with Martin at the police station.”
Désiré, a surgeon at the local hospital, was one of the witches who regularly helped us. She also saw me once a month to help me train the power she and Seraphine saw in me. So far, our sessions had been just as boring as those with Seraphine, but I couldn’t wait to tell her about my last session and how I had been able to use Seraphine’s power against her.
Ralph pulled into one of the parking spots near the entrance to the General Hospital, and we waited for Désiré in the coffee shop. I ordered a full breakfast and a bitter black coffee. Ralph liked his coffee milky and sweet.
I had just finished breakfast by the time Désiré came around the corner, still in her scrubs.
“Sorry, one of my patients suffered some complications.” She pulled a chair out and sat down. “What’s up? Your message said
it was urgent.”
I gave her a quick overview of our voodoo priest and some detail around what we had found at his house, explaining that he had somehow found both of us, and that, strangely enough, we had both seen him at the same time.
She did one of her trademark slow blinks as though she was processing what I had said and was thinking about how she could answer.
“It sounds like he can project himself metaphysically. Did he look straight at you?”
We both nodded.
“He sounds powerful. Maybe if I had a name, I could give you some specific information.”
I wondered whether we could share that with her, but before I could ask, Ralph answered.
“Ross McNielty. Do you know him?”
Her voice became tremulous. “Ross McNielty? Shit, guys. You are messing with the wrong voodoo man. He is one of the highest priests in voodoo, and his power is formidable. I don’t know anyone personally who has done this, but those who are powerful enough can track you by what you leave behind. So maybe when you were in his house, he found traces of you and was able to track you that way.”
I felt the blood seep from my face. I glanced at Ralph, and he paled.
“What should we do?” I asked.
“Avoid being alone. Stay with a friend—with each other or whatever—but don’t be alone where he can find you.”
“Can he find our addresses that way, or can he only see us in the place we are at the moment he’s looking?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged.
Ralph cleared his throat and said, “What do you know about him?”
“He’s a legend mentioned in our books. He was born into the priesthood. Everyone in his family practices, and his ancestors originally came from Haiti before they settled down in New Orleans. Apparently his great-great-grandfather is still alive—I seriously doubt it, though,”—she shrugged again—“but then, with these guys, anything is possible.”
I shifted in my seat, glancing at the entrance and the rest of the people in the coffee shop.
“Does he have any family around here, or are they still in New Orleans?” I asked.
“Not sure. He disappeared for a few years, and some think that he went back to Haiti to find the rest of his ancestors. Somehow, he ended up here, and I don’t think he has been back to New Orleans since.”