Most of the family tombs in the cemetery were about as large as each other, with the exceptions being what were called society tombs that could hold the remains of hundreds of dead. Those belonged to religious orders, immigrant groups, workers unions, that kind of thing. Usually members would pay their dues to the organization, and they’d secure a place in their collective caveau. The one Delphine had brought me to was a family tomb; small, grey, unassuming, with the name on the top faded to the point where it was no longer legible. It wouldn’t have caught my eye, except for the fact that the front, bricked up wall of the tomb had been smashed.
I walked a little closer to it, daring each step. It looked like someone had taken a hammer to it and torn it open. That wasn’t uncommon, since the front walls of these tombs had to be broken into in order to insert another body; there were no fancy doors on these oven-tombs. What was weird was that it had been left that way.
“Madison,” Delphine said, “It has been broken open from the inside.”
My stomach turned cold as Delphine put her theory out into the world, a theory that I had no choice but to accept once I saw the debris around the front of the tomb. It looked like someone had hammered their way out of the tomb from the inside—the bits of brick and stone were scattered around the front, instead of inside as you’d have expected.
“What the hell?” I asked, though I had a little trouble saying the words. “This is… how could this have happened?”
“I have spent time trying to determine who this tomb belongs to, but the name is not familiar,” Delphine said, “Is it possible a witch did this?”
“Well… yeah, I mean, any witch worth her salt could’ve done something like this, but… why?”
“To remove a body from its tomb, would be the obvious explanation. But I think there is another explanation.”
Another cold wash pushed through me. I turned to look at the woman with the milky white skin, with the long, black hair that was darker than the night itself, and for the first time in a long while, I saw she was worried. Vampires rarely let their emotions show on the surface, Delphine being one of the best I knew at guarding her own emotions and making sure no one knew what she was feeling, but she’d dropped her guard.
I remembered a story she had told me some time ago, the story of how she came to be alive. It was the weirdest, most incredible thing I had ever heard, and it threw everything I had ever known about vampires out the window. Most people would have you believe vampires are created when one vampire bites a human, drains them of blood, and feeds them his own. Delphine hadn’t been created that way.
“You don’t think that’s happened again, do you?” I asked.
“I did not hear the bells tonight,” she said, “But why else would someone have done this? How else could someone have done this?”
“What if a vampire or a witch had been buried alive in there for a few days? They could’ve woken up and pushed their way out…”
“It is possible, I would normally trust my instincts, but I don’t have any in this case.”
“Fuck…” I stared into the dark interior of the tomb. “Okay, well… whatever was in there isn’t in there anymore. We should probably get out of here before someone shows up.”
“And the tomb?”
I sighed. “Stand back,” I said, putting some space between myself and the tomb. When Delphine was clear, I raised my hands to chest level, palms facing the floor, and I slowly imagined the bits of broken brick beginning to rise and fall back into place on the tomb’s broken front. There were many larger ones, so I concentrated on those, watching them slowly move toward the front of the tomb and slot themselves as best as they could into the spots they’d come from. There was nothing to do about the smaller, bits—they were too tiny to manipulate—but with the larger ones in place and a little magic to hold them together, the brick wall sealed itself shut again.
It didn’t look neat, it looked like a glass window that had shattered and had been put back together with duct tape, but it would pass a cursory inspection, which was probably more attention than this tomb got most days. I reached for Delphine’s cold hand and pulled her along the path, then out of the cemetery proper. In a few minutes, we were on our way back to my place, our footfalls accompanied by the night birds and bugs.
“This has all made me think,” Delphine said.
“Think?” I asked.
“Yes. It’s made me think about… me, the way I was created, my abilities. Maybe I am spending a lot of time with witches, but I have felt a pull of late.”
I angled my head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Earlier when you used magic to seal the tomb, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time… and considering my memories are still mostly hidden from me, it has made me wonder about my past.”
“Was that the first time you felt this pull?”
She shook her head. “No, but it is the first time I have felt it as strongly.”
“I wonder if it has anything to do with what may have happened in that cemetery… something busted out of that tomb and it’s running around the city. If that’s not enough to cause anxiety, I don’t know what is.”
“It is not anxiety I feel, but something else. Like a muscle I have not used in a long time beginning to flex, or a voice from a friend I had thought long dead haunting me in the night.”
“That’s a creepy thought.”
“Indeed, and yet there is something comforting about the sensation. I wish I could better explain it to you. Perhaps Eliza can shed some…”
I stopped in my tracks and stared at her like she’d just spoken mandarin. “Eliza?” I asked.
Delphine looked equally puzzled. “I am sorry… I don’t know why I said that.”
“Perhaps Eliza can shed some… what?”
“I… don’t know.”
“Usually that sentence ends with the word light. Is that what you were going to ask? If Eliza could shed some light on what was going on?”
For the first time in a long time, I saw the composure on that perfect, porcelain face crack. “Madison, I don’t know… but…”
“But?”
A pause. “I feel, sometimes, as though Eliza speaks to me. I know it sounds ludicrous, but sometimes, just before daybreak, in the seconds that pass as I move from wakefulness into the numbness of day-sleep, I feel like I can hear her speaking to me, distantly. I never know what she says because her voice is so distant, but she is there.”
“Why have you never told me this before?”
“I wanted to make sense of it before I told you, but I have still not made sense of it.”
“Okay… alright, we’ll figure this out together. Thank you for telling me.”
She nodded. “I should return to Jean Luc and the others. The sun will be up soon.”
I scanned the sky, almost instinctively. “Really? Damn… already. Are you gonna be okay?”
“I am. We will talk again tomorrow night, but for now you should also get some rest. You are of no use to anyone if you do not sleep.”
My frown turned into a smirk. “Are you saying I’m a grouch when I’m tired?”
“Perhaps…” she turned around and started walking away, “Goodnight, Madison.”
“Night…” I echoed, spinning around on the spot and heading away from the cemetery and toward my house. It was a short walk to the mansion from here. I was able to see it after only a few minutes’ walk, and as I got closer, I found myself marveling at just how large this place was. It was way bigger than Lumiére, and just as old. I still missed my house on the French Quarter, though. Eliza’s house. The house that had been a haven for so many people; witches and vampires. The house Jean Luc had built for her so many years ago.
Jean Luc hadn’t built this one, but it was a haven for witches now, many of us lived there. And it had been left to me by Remy, who had owned it for a very long time. I only wished I could do as good a job as Eliza did at keeping safe the people inside.
“Hey,” I said.
He glanced up and set his phone down on the bed. “Hey,” he said, “How’d it go?” A pause. “And what’s with the book?”
I walked over to the bed and placed the book on my side. It was Eliza’s journal, I had picked it up before heading upstairs. “We found something… one of the tombs was broken open from the inside.”
“Inside? How?”
“We aren’t sure, but we think there could’ve been a vampire in there trying to get out.”
“A vampire? How is that even…”
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain it when I have time. Right now I have a couple of things I want to look through in the book.”
“Maddie, it’s five in the morning… you should get some sleep.”
“I know what I should be doing, but I also know I’m probably not going to get any sleep until I do what I need to do anyway.”
“That sounds like you.”
“So, how about you get some sleep for the both of us?”
“Pretty sure that’s not how sleep works…”
Sighing, I sat on the bed beside Jared, picked up Eliza’s journal, and ran my fingertips across the leather cover. “There’s still so much to figure out… so much we don’t know.”
Jared reached for my hand and took it. “I know. But we’re all here, we’re all in this. We’ll figure it all out together.”
I pursed my lips. “If there’s another vampire running around, another one like Delphine… I need to know what that means. Even she doesn’t know what that means.”
“And you think the answer is in this book?”
“Delphine said something before we parted ways. It sounded like a slip of the tongue, but… anyway, it’s probably nothing, but I want to make sure I’ve exhausted that idea before I go any further.”
Jared cocked an eyebrow. “And what’s the idea?”
“I don’t know yet… but if the answer is in this book, I’m going to find it.”
CHAPTER FOUR
By the time I woke up, I could tell the sun had been beating down on the city for hours. I stretched my legs and my arms, and the book I’d fallen asleep reading dropped to the floor beside me with a thud. Crap. Blinking, I picked it up from the floor and set it on the bed. I must have fallen asleep reading it, because Jared wasn’t in bed and it was… double crap—four in the afternoon.
Not only had I fallen asleep, I must have not found anything of importance in the book; that was the kind of thing that would’ve kept me up. At the same time, I didn’t even know what I was really looking for in the book besides a link between Delphine and Eliza. The way Delphine had spoken last night, it sounded like a recording out of time, like something she’d said before, and maybe often.
If I was going to find anything about it, it was going to be in this book, but so far, no luck.
The bedroom door opened, and Jared walked in. “Hey,” he said, “I heard a noise, figured you were up.”
“I slept till four,” I said, staring at him with my eyebrows arched. “Why’d you let me sleep till four?”
“You needed it.”
“You did too. How long have you been awake?”
He walked over to the bed and sat down next to me, offering me a light peck on the lips. He tasted like powdered and dough. “Long enough.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Where are they?” I asked.
From around his back he produced a small, brown paper bag. Inside, there were four, still warm, beignets covered in powdered sugar. I grinned, grabbed one, and ate it like it was the first thing I’d eaten in years.
“Thanks,” I said, “I was starving.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling you would be… you find anything in that book last night?”
I shook my head. “Did Nina find anything on her stakeout?”
“Not yet, but she’s still out there, waiting. She got the butcher to call and tell her if he sees the same woman show up again, but it’s getting late, we’re not sure she’ll show at all today.”
“Damn… do you think she knows the place is being watched?”
“I don’t think so. More likely she only comes in once every couple of days. If the blood is for a vampire, then maybe she doesn’t need that much?”
“If there’s one thing I know about vampires it’s this; nothing compares to human blood. Human blood is the absolute best nourishment for a vampire. They can get their energy from animal blood, but they need a lot more of it to even come close to what a little human blood can give them.”
Jared nodded and looked at the floor. “Then maybe it really is just someone shooting a movie somewhere and we’re wasting our time.”
“Maybe. Get Nina to go home, she’s been there long enough. If the butcher calls, have her call us—we’re closer to the place anyway.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started composing a message to send. “So, you never did tell me what made you decide to pull that book out and start trawling through it.”
“I’m sorry… I got excited.”
“Excited?” He looked across at me. “About what?”
“I think there’s more to Delphine than we know.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Like?”
“I don’t know yet, but the way she became a vampire is like nothing I’d ever heard of before, so that’s already weird. And then last night she talks about Eliza like she’s in the room with her…”
“That’s what happened?”
“Yeah. I have no idea what the link is, but I really feel like it’s there, and I feel like it’s important—especially if there’s another vampire out there like Delphine. So far there’s only been her, but we both know what kind of magick she has access to. If there’s another vampire out there with the same kinds of gifts she has…”
“That could be dangerous.” His phone buzzed. He checked the screen, then showed it to me. “Nina’s cool with the plan.”
I slid out of bed and stretched again, causing my back to click several times. “Good,” I said, sighing, “Have you heard from Nicole today? I haven’t had any messages from her while I’ve been sleeping.”
Jared shook his head. “Me? You know she doesn’t call or text me.”
“It’s not because she doesn’t like you.”
“I know. You guys are friends, I’m just the boyfriend.”
“Don’t take it so personally, okay?”
“I’m not, trust me.” He stood and checked his watch. “You have a class to teach in… thirty minutes.”
“Fuck!” I dashed around the room and pulled my closet open. “Can’t believe I almost slept through that.”
“I wouldn’t have let you sleep through it. Those witches need you now more than ever.”
I picked out a set of workout clothes—leggings, a vest, trainers—and set them down on the bed. Then, without giving much thought to Jared being in the room, I started undressing. “They’re good, you know,” I said, as I wrestled to remove the t-shirt I’d been wearing the night before.
“Good?”
“The witches. They’re learning fast, some of them are even moving to advanced magick techniques. I’m learning a thing or two myself.”
“A school was always a good idea. The city needs this.”
I tossed the t-shirt aside and threw my arm across my breasts. “I know, I just wish Remy were still here. He could’ve taught them way better than I can.”
I felt Jared’s hands touch my bare skin, one settling on my waist, the other around my hand which he gently pulled away. “You are an amazing teacher,” he said, pressing his warm lips against my neck. His touch sent ripples of warmth racing through me, snapping me into full wakefulness.
“Jared, we can’t,” I sighed.
“I know… I’m not fishing, this is just a
promise.”
“Promise?”
Jared’s hands moved around my waist and slowly pulled up and over my breasts. “A promise of what we’re gonna do after your class.” He moved his hands away in a hurry, and I shot him an unimpressed look.
I picked my bra up and started putting it on. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”
“Why?” he asked, smirking.
“Because, now I’ve gotta go teach when all I wanna do is rip those clothes off you.”
“Teach quickly, then.”
He moved away from me, then headed through the doors, shutting them as he left. Shaking the excitement off, I hurriedly changed into my workout clothes and then called Nicole. The phone rang a couple of times, and each time it did, a little pinch of anxiety in my throat began to grow more and more constricting, but then she picked up.
“Hello?” she asked, sounding like she’d just woken up.
“Hey,” I said, “Late morning for you too, huh?”
“Late… what?”
“It’s the afternoon…”
“It’s… what?” I could hear her shuffling around wherever she was. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Relax, I slept in too. I just thought I’d check in on you, see if you wanted to drop into today’s class?”
“Fuck… yeah, I mean, sorry… I had a late night—uh, morning.”
Nicole was supposed to be living with us, but she’d been staying with her mom. Her mom had fallen sick about a week ago, and Nicole was a little worried.
“Yeah, me too,” I said.
“Oh yeah, you did that thing with Delphine… how did that go?”
“Bizarre. I didn’t expect to find what she showed me. I can tell you more about it later. In fact, you can probably help me.”
“Help you?”
“I need to do a little research. Okay, a lot of research. I could do with an extra set of eyes—especially if they’re yours. You’re the best at this kind of thing.”
“What, reading? Yeah, I get that a lot.”
I laughed again. “You know what I meant.”
“Sure, sure… alright, let me get changed and I’ll head over. I can tell you more about my… morning.”
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