Chapter Sixteen
A tri-ringed circle is drawn along the wide patch of grass. Swirling circles, interwoven knots, and elegantly looped Gaelic phrases have been carefully sketched in white chalk. Members of each main family stand in the circles while the court stands around us. We’re a motley crew. Exhausted, battle-worn, and sleep deprived, we came to the same conclusion after twenty-four hours of nonstop debate: we needed help from a higher power.
Father, a Baal Shem, and a Synagogue full of faithful, holy Jewish men have yet to banish Agares back to his own plane of existence. His current followers might be temporarily disposed of, but the setback is temporary. He will escape eventually, gather his forces again, and complete the cycle. The men can’t continue to hold him forever.
Five steps remain between the Djinn completing the puzzle box and ruling. The reality is sobering and too close for comfort. The only thing to do is disassemble the box, scatter it, and permanently trap Agares. It’d serve as a warning and make them think long and hard about attempting the same route he’d taken. There’s one catch. The box can’t be handled by human hands. The slimy bastards pay attention to details like they’re lawyers. As dawn crests into the horizon, we’re prepared to explore the loophole. Faeries don’t have human hands.
So we’re here to perform the ancient summoning ritual for the Fae. The complicated procedure requires an immense amount of power and very well may go unheeded. We’re not calling out to a lesser Fae. We’re begging a queen for the audience. My gut tells me Sebile will show. If only to be updated on the current state of things. The question I dread most is how high the price for her help will be.
The sweet smell of burning sage and cedarwood float through the air. Mémé begins an old Gaelic song. Her voice is crisp and clear. The lilting lyrics are hauntingly beautiful. I may not understand them, but the emotion poured into them speak volumes. The symbols glow as we begin to cast our circles. Power moves through the layers separating us, like ripples traveling across a lake.
Connected by intention and cleverly drawn designs, we’re united as one unit. Magic hums in the air, electrifying my space. My hair curls as the heavyweight settle over me. Fresh beignets, wild honey, and a pitcher of creamy milk mixed with honey and nutmeg rest beside a golden goblet.
“Sebile, Queen of the Winter Court, Houses Esçhete, Morel, Duplex, and Blanchard have come to bring you a gift. If this gift is accepted, please show yourself.”
The stars twinkle above us and swell. Light rushes forward in a shower of a particle like pieces. Sebile materializes as the show fades. One pencil thin eyebrow is arched. Her berry red lips form a thin line. The winter white gown contrasts with her dark corkscrew curls. Tiny flakes of snow drift down off around her. They’re odd in the muggy, rainy weather we’ve kept out with a clever spell.
We’ve prevented a massive hurricane, but the storm depression has brought plenty of rain and light flooding. We continue to monitor the weather reports closely.
“Using the old ways? Clever.” She sounds almost approving. “I trust you have not called me here on a whim.”
“No. We’ve neutralized the Djinn.”
“Score one for the Esçhete warrior.”
“It was a group effort.” I glance at the powerful people behind me.
“And modest. Not sure how I feel about that quality. A queen needs to remain center stage at all times.” I disagree, but I’m smart enough to keep that to myself. “Did you call me here to brag about your victory then?”
“No, we’ve called you here to make a deal.”
“Hmmm.” She slinks her way over to the plate of beignets, brings the plate to her with her powers, and begins to devour the dish with dainty bites. She shakes one at me. “This is one of the few things humans have gotten right.”
I smirk. We’re on her timetable, and she knows it. She drizzles the fresh honey over the plate and drinks a tall glass of milk to wash it down. When the food is all gone, she cleanses her fingers with a look and turns her attention back to me.
“Why do you think I want to deal with you at all? You’ve taken care of the threat.”
“Temporarily, yes. They came too close to achieving their goal. Neither one of us wants to see the Djinn rise and take over. With your help, we can put them out of commission on a more permanent basis.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. What’s in it for me? When the human world finally burns itself to the ground, which it will eventually, I have my own kingdom to rule over.”
She’s playing hardball, and I put the ball back in her court. “What do you want?”
Her full lips part into a full out smile. “I thought you’d never ask. I want out. I’m bored, and humans are such good entertainment.”
“You know I can’t allow you to declare hunting season on the human race.”
“Just the stupid ones. We’ll call it natural selection.”
“No.”
She sighs. “We only want a little sport.”
“What does that mean exactly? You want to trick them, or eat them?” I ask bluntly. I ignore the gasps of the others behind me.
Sebile wrinkles her nose. “That’s like comparing the actions of your caveman ancestors to you. We want entertainment. Tricks are what we do. Not having an appreciative audience has been less than favorable. I won’t grant safe passage to those who foolishly seek us.”
I consider my response carefully. “If we rework the conditions of our deal and grant you more freedom to visit our realm, I’ll require a blood agreement that you will monitor the activities of your people, and punish them accordingly by our standards of right and wrong.” I sense the displeasure of others pressing in on me. I stand my ground. I’m the one in the hot seat. Perhaps they’ll think twice before they doubt me or offer me up like animal sacrifice.
“In exchange for what?” Sebile asks.
“Imprisoning Agares in the Forgotten Place.”
She grins. “My dear, I’d do that for fun.”
“And disassembling the puzzle box and scattering its pieces where few are likely to every uncover them.”
“That’s all?” She narrows her gaze.
“Yes.”
“I agree to your terms.” She snaps her fingers. An obsidian blade appears along with an ornate silver goblet. She slices her palm. Her blood is as black as the night court she belongs to.
“I, Sebile, Queen of the Winter Court, do swear to banish Agares to the Forgotten Place and properly disassemble and scatter the puzzle box.” She hands me the knife.
I slice my palm, and we allow our blood to drip into the goblet, sealing our deal. “I, Louella Esçhete, so swear to amend our deal to the Fae. May they enjoy this word with the understanding that force will be met with force.”
Golden light surrounds us. Pop. An old-fashioned scroll and a white quill hover in mid-air.
“Let us seal the deal by blood and word after you’ve read it over of course.” It’s a physical copy of the words spoken out loud seconds ago. She holds out her hand and our palms press together, blood mingling as we sign the parchment together.
The paper glows and duplicates. One is rolled into a scroll-like fashion on the ground and the other disappears. Efficient.
“Come on, I’ll fulfill my part, and my people will be on Bourbon Street before the night is over.” She heals me with a wave of her hand.
My stomach lurches as we travel along what feels like a tube. Seconds later we arrive in the basement of the Synagogue where Baal Shem is taking another turn with the stubborn Djinn.
Father Axson and a small sea of Jewish holy men and priests form a pool of righteousness. I can feel the goodness in the air. These men have held a vigil here, lending their support and power to their elders as they try to send a demon back to hell. The men turn toward us, shocked.
“Wh-what is the meaning of th-this?” one of them sputters.
“I’ve brought reinforcements.”
Sebile parts the men like the Red Sea as she gracefully glides across the floor to the circle. A priest makes the sign of the cross. “Not a demon,” Sebile chirps.
She pauses in front of the circle. “You and I are going to take a little trip.” She blows the salt forming the circle away and grasps the Djinn so fast it’s a blur. He writhes in her grasp. The overhead lights flicker. The Djinn begins to turn to smoke and flee. She traps him, half smoke, half corporeal body. His bottom half is a twisting, spinning gray tornado, and his upper half is a decaying, grayish-green torso.
“Stay out of this, Faerie,” he hisses.
Her eyes turn into purple fire. “You dare to address me with such disrespect?” Her voice is deceptively even. Calm before a vicious storm.
“I will come for you next once the storm destroys everything in its path. And then we will take—”
He coughs, clawing at the slender hand wrapped around his throat.
“I’m going to enjoy this, demon.”
The building rocks on its foundation. The Djinn opens its mouth, and black tar spills out into the air like an oil burst. His aura is nausea-inducing. Snow falls down, obscuring them from view with a thick blizzard. I wrap my arms around my waist and wait. The unholy shrieks pierce my eardrums like swords. The snow stops abruptly. Fangs bared, Sebile stands tall, grinning. Black blood smeared around her mouth turns the beauty savage. She provides a handkerchief and wipes her mouth. “Problem solved.”
“Meyn Gat.”
The Jewish men bow as they pray and the priests make the sign of the cross.
“The box?”
“Was attached to him. I’ve freed it, and even now my people are working to deliver it to creative hiding places. My end of the bargain is done. Make sure you uphold your own.”
The threat is very real and impossible to ignore.
“I will.”
We disappear in a swirl of darkness, sending the holy men into a fresh round of praying. It’s the last thing I hear before I’m returned to the center of my circle alone.
“What happened?” Mémé asks.
“She did what she said she would. Has the council been sufficiently pleased by my performance?” I stare at Zephirin, daring him to say otherwise.
“You have gone above and beyond, exceeding our expectations, Lou,” Vale says softly.
“Then let it be known, I will no longer suffer snide marks, or questioning my every move. Without the Cortez Court, we may not have found the answers we needed in time to thwart disaster. Like it or not, our people are aligned for the foreseeable future. I don’t believe it has to be a bad thing. I know we’re all exhausted, so I propose we go home, get some sleep, and call a proper meeting in two days’ time with all of our people. I want them to feel safe, and see that we worked as a united front. We may have vanquished the genie, but we’ve all noticed the balance isn’t what it should be. This is the second major occurrence of darkness. Once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern.”
I take the murmured noises as agreeance, and we break the circles. It’s all I can do to stay upright as I walk toward the court. Cristobal places a hand on the small of my back and they press in closer to me, lending me their approval and affection. With the threat gone, I’m forced to examine my actions and admit I’m no longer the woman I was before I recognized the bond. It’s changing me. For better or for worse.
***
“Are we going to talk about it?”
I set down the contemporary romance I’ve been trying to lose myself in for the past hour and frown. “What are you talking about, Sach?”
Leaning against the wall, she takes a sip of her beer. “The reason you’ve been over the house for the past week.”
“Well, I do own it. Am I annoying you?” I shift on the cushion. Maybe she’s gotten used to me not being around, and I’m cramping her style.
“Stop it. You know I love spending time with you. You tend to mix the days here and at the mansion up though.” She plops onto the couch beside me. “Is Cristobal out of town?”
“No,” I say glumly. One of the things I love most about Sacha is her bluntness. She won’t let you run away from yourself.
Her brow furrows. “Okay. So what gives?”
I pick up the cat pillow and place it in my lap, toying with the tag. “Do you think I’ve changed since I got back?” I whisper.
“Yes.”
My heart sinks, and my shoulders slump.
“Wait. Is that a bad thing?” she asks.
“Maybe.” I shrug.
She grunts. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re really worried about so we can have a real conversation?”
I cringe at the C would. Conversation always means tough love with her. “When we were interrogating Wallace and Ernest, I didn’t recognize myself any longer.”
“I wondered if you’d ever bring that up,” she says softly.
“You noticed it, too?” I study the smiling cat’s face, afraid to look up. If I saw dissapointment or fear in her eyes, it’d kill me right now.
“None of us are perfect, Lou. We all get caught up in the heat of the moment from time to time. You’re under a lot of pressure right now, and that case was tough. Literally, the fate of the universe was on the line. Why can’t you cut yourself some slack?” She nudged me with her elbow.
I sigh and explore the ceiling. “It was more than losing myself at the moment, Sach. I liked it. I felt superior and completely removed from humanity. I saw them as creatures, not people. It was like I was …”
“A vampire?”
“Yes.” I exhale. My secret is out.
“In a way you are, though, aren’t you?”
“What?” I look at her.
She holds up her hand. “Let me finish. What you have going on is more than simply being influenced by them because you’re around them all the time. This connection is on a deeper level, right?”
“It is.”
“Tell me how it works.”
“That’s kind of hard. Every couple is affected differently, and there’s no manual. It’s such a personal experience, no one’s thought to document it, so we’re discovering it together. It’s more than telepathic communication. I experience the same emotions and thoughts.”
“Sounds overwhelming.”
“It can be. Especially at first. After a while though, you learn how to turn the volume up and down, and even block the other person out.”
“Is it just you and Cristobal?”
“No. Well, it was at first, but now it’s expanded to the others since I’ve agreed to become lady of the court.”
“And it’s the same with them? Thoughts, emotions, et all?”
“Yes. Why—” I point. “I see what you’re doing here.”
She laughs. “You’re making connections to a lot of different vampires. That’s a number of different wavelengths to adapt to. Is it surprising that your signals got crossed?”
She’s made it sound so simple. “Looking at it from that perspective, you could be right,” I admit begrudgingly.
She grabs my hand a squeezes it gently. “You can’t go back to who you were before this, Lou. And that’s okay. You aren’t any less of a witch.”
“I think you’re the only one who believes that.”
She clucks her tongue. “Since when do we care what others think?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you’re emotionally drained and overwhelmed. Avoiding Cristobal is precisely what you don’t need to be doing right now. How you managed to keep him away this long is beyond me.”
Shame sends the blood to my face.
“How did you manage that, Lou?”
“I might’ve been a stark raving bitch and threw down a ridiculous ultimatum.”
She rubs her hands together with glee. “Dish. Any man who can inspire this much passion in you is impressive. You always think with your head. It’s incredibly annoying at times.”
I groan. “I told him if he didn’t give me space and wait on me for once there wasn’t going to be a coronation.”
“And he believed you?”
I look up at the ceiling.
“Louella. What did you do?”
“I might’ve spelled him.”
“To do what?”
“I made a raincloud appear over him everytime he tried to follow me,” I mumble.
“You what?” She bursts into laughter. Her face grows red, and she clutches her stomach. “Oh. Oh, this is too much.”
“After a day straight, he backed off, and the others were too wary of me including them in the spell to try to approach me in person.”
“Well, that’s one way to make sure he remembers he’s dating a witch.”
“Sacha.”
The laughter starts up again. “Oh, my side.”
She falls over on the couch. My lips twitch. Letting go, I laugh alongside her. “You should’ve seen his face when the cloud formed, just like in the cartoons, and all he could say was ‘how undignified’.” The salty drops pouring from my eyes help me purge the sadness with laughter.
“Oh, God. I could just see it from him.” Struggling to catch her breath, she wipes away the tears. “You know you have to make it up to him, right?”
“I do.” I exhale.
“Feel better?”
“Much. I think I did need the space. My head was so full; I couldn’t think straight.”
“I can understand that. I’m sure he’ll be able to as well. You still need to come up with an amazing way to say I’m sorry, though.”
“Ugh. I know.”
“Why the grimace?”
“Because I’m embarassed about how I acted.”
She giggles. “Welcome back, Lou.”
“Stop enjoying this and help me plan an ‘I’m sorry I was an asshole’ apology. Would it be odd to take a man out to dinner?”
“You’re the one groveling.”
“You’re a cruel woman. You know that?”
“I’ll stop.” She fixes her face into a more stern expression. “This is about him and what he likes. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it.”
“I’ll recreate our first date. We’re getting so lost in responsibilities, the why we’re together has all but slipped from view. I forgot the most important thing.”
“What’s that, Lou?”
“I love the impossibly old-fashioned vampire. Head over heels, stupid, crazy, love him. Enough to risk everything.”
Smiling, she nods. “My job is done.”
I tackle hug her on the couch, and she laughs. “Thank you for giving me the kick in the ass I needed.”
“Anytime, my friend. I know you’d do the same for me.”
“I’m looking forward to it actually.”
“You and me both. My love life is currently D.O.A. With no prospects on the horizon.” She rolls her eyes.
“That’s not what the psychic said,” I remind her.
“Ha. She didn’t give any time frame on that. Enough about me, let’s make plans. What was your first date like?”
“Well, by the time he wore me down enough to say yes, a simple date wouldn’t do. He took me to New Orleans for an entire day affair.”
“Oh my God, you are so screwed.”
“Why?”
“Because your man is extra. Which means this whole groveling thing is going to be that much harder.”
“He’s worth it.” The words are everything I needed to remember. I smile. For the first time in six days, my mind is a lot clearer.