by G A Chase
She frowned. “I didn’t really mean that as a question. You’re not going without me. If you’ll remember, I moved pretty fast during the bank bombing. Taking Colin to Guinee, however, does bring up the other little problem we chose to ignore on our last planning session.”
“His death. I haven’t forgotten.” Myles examined the cane, wondering why neither of its previous owners had thought to hide a saber in the shaft. “We won’t know anything for sure about his condition until we talk to Delphine. Oh, and I knew it wasn’t a question. I was just trying to give you an out in case you were looking for one. You know I’ll never reject your help.”
* * *
Myles didn’t know what they would find on entering Delphine’s shop, but business as usual wasn’t it. If she did have Colin tied and gagged somewhere in the building, he had to be under a sleeping spell. They waited around, watching the customers make their purchases. When the latest batch left, smelling of lilacs and absinthe, Myles and Kendell approached Delphine.
As they’d agreed, he let Kendell broach the subject. “We’ve been to Professor Yates’s lab. We know Colin came through the gate and is somewhere in this building. You know I’ve always seen you as a mentor, but I can’t let you side with the devil.”
Delphine locked the front door. “If I was working with Colin, I doubt he’d find his end of our partnership to his liking.” She led them to the back room.
Myles tried to take in every square inch without looking overly obvious. “So where is he?”
Delphine pointed at the totem inside the cabinet, which had at one time contained Baron Malveaux. “I killed him. His soul belongs to me. That totem deserves its due, and that debt is the spirit of Archibald Malveaux. Lincoln Laroque knew the risks when he drank the spirit jar, so I have no sympathy for their union known as Colin Malveaux. Marie’s soul can rest easy now. She originally prepared the totem knowing the Malveaux spirit needed a suitable cage. I’ve fulfilled her final unfinished spell.”
Kendell stepped back from the statue as if she’d just heard a rattlesnake inside it. “I don’t understand why Marie created the voodoo totem but didn’t put Baron Malveaux in it herself.”
Delphine opened the cabinet and ran her hand over the nail heads as if caressing a child’s hair. “Marie Laveau was a seer, but even she couldn’t predict the future this far out. Archibald Malveaux did take the cane and become ruler of Guinee. That much she could foresee, and she believed it was her destiny to help him achieve that future. Once he gained power among the loas of the dead, however, she realized her mistake. By then, he was beyond her reach. Though she couldn’t see a hundred years into the future, it was her calculation that one day Baron Malveaux would make an attempt to rejoin the living in some fashion. The instructions left with the statue were how I imprisoned him after Myles’s possession.” She turned to Myles. “That should have satisfied Marie, but I still owed a debt to the Malveaux heirs, including Lincoln Laroque. I’ll confess I didn’t inherit any abilities as a seer. I had no way of knowing that fool would ingest his ancestor’s spirit. Who in their right mind drinks something that smells and tastes like battery acid, rotting flesh, and tar?”
“So that’s why you killed him?” Kendell asked.
“It was the only way to drive his soul back into the totem. I’ve now atoned for my mistake and given Marie the rest she deserved.”
Damn you and your voodoo heritage. Myles refrained from starting the fight that had been brewing since the day they’d met. “He belongs in the deep waters, not sitting on a shelf like a hunting trophy.”
Delphine finally took her hand off of her prized possession. “And you think just because you temporarily disrupted the loas’ seventh gate that you can toss this soul in the deep waters like a kid skipping a rock across a pond? They’ll be waiting for you, and not just the loas you admire. That cane of yours might get you in the door, but once you’re bodily in Guinee, every recently dead soul will horn in on you like drunks after a virgin in a brothel. Each member of the dead will see you as their golden ticket out of purgatory—all they have to do is possess your body. And that will include Colin Malveaux. Tell me, how exactly do you intend on keeping him from grabbing the cane and returning to power once he’s free of this cage? Convince me, and maybe I’ll give him to you, but I’m not letting him fool me the way he fooled Marie Laveau.”
Kendell gave Myles the look that said, She has a point.
Do I honestly have to do everything? he thought, but he acknowledged that Kendell had endured far worse in her dealings with Colin. “Then help us. Tell me what I have to do. I have the cane. The dead might want to escape, but none of them will cross the person wielding Baron Samedi’s staff. Marie Laveau met with me in that totem you treasure and confirmed this stupid stick was always supposed to be mine. Why do you think she did that if not to help me dump Colin into the deep waters where he belongs? If we leave him in the totem, how long before the next Malveaux descendant once again tries to reclaim the family’s heritage the way Lincoln Laroque did? That totem is a temporary holding cell at best. You’re all about revering your ancestor, so go look through her journals and tell me how to get rid of this nemesis to humanity. If she was so mistrustful of Baron Malveaux, she must have had some plan beyond holding his soul captive. Much as I hate to admit it, I need your help.”
“And what do I get out of this assistance? I am a businesswoman, and so far, this relationship has been a lot of you two demanding help without offering anything in return.”
She was really getting on his nerves, and he couldn’t help responding sarcastically. “Do you want me to bring you some trinket from Guinee—a T-shirt maybe?”
“Get me into the World Trade Center. Luther has more than a few items I’d like returned to me.”
Like he’s ever going to negotiate with you. “I could probably make the introduction. Beyond that, you’d be on your own.”
Kendell looked around the room as if she’d lost something. “I get how you stashed Colin’s soul in the totem, but just out of curiosity, where’s his body?”
Delphine chewed on her thumbnail. “You don’t think I know how to get rid of a corpse with all the swamps around New Orleans? I’m somewhat amazed the police ever find any murder victim.” She turned back to Myles. “Okay, I’ll help you, but you won’t be able to work your way through Guinee and contain Colin at the same time. We can use the totem, but it will need constant monitoring. Only a powerful voodoo practitioner will be able to keep him in his cage. I’ll get my bag.”
“Not so fast,” Kendell said. “I’m the only one going with Myles this time. Show me what I need to do.”
* * *
Though Myles had hoped to spare Kendell another life-or-death journey, having her with him sure beat having to make the trip with Delphine. The leather harness the woman tightened around the totem made it look like a dog in need of proper training.
“What happens to the totem when we switch dimensions?” he asked.
Delphine checked the wooden head for any loose or kinked straps. “The sculpture you see now will disappear. Its function in life is to keep a soul supplied with energy and held captive. Once in Guinee, that realm does those things anyway, so the totem becomes redundant. Right now, Colin is like a fish in a bowl. Taking him to the next dimension is like dumping him into a bathtub before he’s poured into the ocean of deep waters.”
“I get that,” Myles said. “What I meant was, what are we going to be dealing with in terms of a crazed devil no longer in his jail cell?”
Delphine shrugged as if the question didn’t matter. “Hard to say. Each soul is different.”
“What you’re really saying is you don’t know. Just once, it’d be nice if you didn’t try to bluff your way through a problem or pretend it wasn’t going to be a big deal.”
Kendell wrapped one of the leather ends of the harness around her hands and tested the weight. “None of that matters at this point. We have what we’re after. Where do you want
to make our entrance to Guinee?”
“Not here.” The old voodoo shop was the last place in life he might see, but the fact that he hated it wasn’t what made him hesitate. “We need someplace discreet. I don’t want to materialize in the middle of Afterlife Street. If Baron Samedi’s gate is closed for repairs, who knows how many people will be wandering around lost.”
“Sounds like Mardi Gras in the Quarter,” Kendell said.
“That’s what I’m afraid of, especially if that rabid dog in the voodoo handbag decides to get frisky.” Being in the voodoo lair affected his thinking too much for him to trust his conclusions. Though he distrusted Delphine, he hoped she knew at least something about the objects in her care. “Do you think it’s safe to bring that thing back to our apartment?”
The voodoo practitioner straightened up her office. “So long as you’re in life, that totem is perfectly stable.”
Right. And Lincoln Laroque drinking from the spirit jar should have just given him indigestion. But continuing the animosity would only further delay their trip to Guinee to get rid of Colin Malveaux.
“The dogs might object,” Kendell said, “but any paranormal location could open a door back to Sanguine and Sere if Colin were to escape our grasp. If this goes wrong, I don’t want them at risk.”
They left the shop with Myles holding the cane with its glowing green crystal and Kendell carrying the voodoo totem with both hands. He wondered how much attention they’d get on the short walk home. “Good thing it’s Halloween season. We probably won’t even be the strangest-looking couple in the Quarter.”
She hefted the head up to her abdomen. “So long as no one asks to pet our wooden demon.”
As always, the dogs came rushing off the ottoman when Myles opened the door, but both pups stopped well short of Kendell and growled ominously at the voodoo totem in his hands. He set the cane against the wall and bent down to Cheesecake and Doughnut Hole. “It’s okay. I know you hate these things. I’ll tell you secret: I do too. Kendell and I are going to dump this thing in the afterlife, and you’ll never have to see it again. Deal?”
The dogs circled away from Kendell, but at least they stopped growling.
Myles could see the pain in her eyes. “The dogs love you. It’s just the stupid totem.”
“I know, but I’ve never returned home to Cheesecake’s animosity. She’s always so happy to see me.”
Myles got off the floor and snatched his cane. “Then the sooner we get rid of that hideous thing, the sooner we can get back to the lives we love.”
Though Guinee didn’t mirror the French Quarter the way Agnes’s hell did, some truths remained between dimensions. Myles knew if they left a building to make the crossover, they would materialize outside in Guinee, and walking from one room to the next in life would mean they would remain inside a structure in death. With the potential of so many people wandering the streets, he figured the doorway from the hallway to the bathroom would be the safest bet. He put his arm around Kendell’s waist so she could maintain control of Colin with both hands. “No matter what happens, keep hold of Colin. I’ll do my best to land us someplace safe.”
She snuggled close to his side. “Then what?”
“I don’t know. We’re going to have to find an access to the deep waters on our own. While you were helping Delphine cast her binding spells from Marie’s diary, did you happen to see any hints about what we’ll be dealing with once Colin is free of his cage?”
Kendell set the totem on the floor so she could reposition her hold on the straps. “My best guess is I’ll be holding a bound wild creature. Delphine said we shouldn’t even refer to him by name in case anyone is listening in, so I’m guessing he might not even look human.”
He looked around the totem for a second handhold. “Colin wasn’t a small man in life. Do you want me to hold the totem in case he’s even bigger in death?”
She hefted the wooden head back to her waist. “We’re talking about the difference of mass verses energy. Right now, he’s a decent weight, but there are no real bodies in Guinee, just spirits.”
“You’re missing the point.”
She shook her head. “I’m not. You’re offering to be chivalrous by handling the totem for me, but whatever he is on the other side, it’s my job to contain him. My spells will work like the muscles of my arms. I’ll be okay.”
“If we ever have to deal with voodoo again in the future, I’m relying on you to find the answers. Delphine’s ideas never end up being that encouraging.” He cleared his thoughts of people and focused on the emptiest space he could imagine. Just me, Kendell, and the devil.
With his eyes closed, Myles led Kendell into the bathroom. When he opened them, they were standing in a dark broom closet. The smell of putrid water was quickly overcome with that of rotting flesh.
Kendell used both hands to hold the wild animal bound in chains. “This is not what I expected. I swear he’s about to break free.”
Myles took one of the leads that were jangling off the beast and yanked hard. “Looks like it’ll take both of us to keep him restrained after all. This is not going to make us inconspicuous.”
The beast writhing against its bonds didn’t appear even remotely human. Its contortions, screams, and smell put to shame the Church’s descriptions of the damned in hell.
Kendell retreated to a wall of the closet. “We can’t possibly find the deep waters if we’re both wrestling this creature.”
Myles grabbed his walking stick and aimed the green stone at the writhing spirit. “Settle down, or this cane is going to pierce your soul.”
The screaming stopped, though without the distraction of noise, Myles’s nose recoiled from the smell. It’s as if every misdeed this guy ever committed became leftovers in a refrigerator abandoned after a hurricane. The smell is indescribable. From Kendell’s watering eyes and the way she held her hand over her nose, he figured she didn’t need to hear his observations about the odor.
“I feel like the stink is creeping up my arms,” she said.
He needed someplace to connect to the deep waters, but he couldn’t leave Kendell alone with the beast. The room was small, but Myles thought by moving some buckets around, he might be able to lie flat on the floor. “If you think you can control him, I’m going to lie down and see if I can connect to the deep waters. Maybe then I’ll see a portal.”
“Whatever you come up with, do it fast. I don’t think I can stand being in this stinky broom closet much longer.”
Myles hunched down to the floor, praying nothing he smelled or touched was contagious. “Hopefully, the deep waters aren’t actually a cesspool.” Kendell corralled the beast to the far corner of the room, but having it still tower over Myles wasn’t that conducive to achieving inner peace.
“Right now,” Kendell said, “I’d be happy to toss him into the nearest toilet and pull the handle in the hopes that it would eventually dump into the sea of humanity.”
Myles was tempted to agree, but any possibility of Colin’s escape had to be avoided at all cost. “Just give me a couple of minutes, and I’ll figure a way out of this mess.”
For being so close to the source of all human spirits, Myles found the attempted connection surprisingly difficult. He grabbed the cane to have something to focus on for his psychometric journey. Like downing a glass of water on a hot day only to discover it was actually vodka, being in contact with the sum of all human energy knocked him into another state of awareness.
Kendell kicked the cane out of his hands. “Are you okay? You started convulsing worse than our beast.”
Myles struggled to get to his hands and knees. “I think I just experienced the full power of the cane. It’s not what it can do but what it connects to. I thought it was only useful for traveling between dimensions, but that’s just a side effect of being in touch with every human soul, living and dead.”
She was still trying to contain the monster against the wall. “And you’re sure you’re okay after that?”
He worked his way to his feet. “The link only lasted a moment. Much longer, and I might not have found my way back. The deep waters are underneath all of Guinee. It looked like a subterranean ocean with waterfalls feeding into it. I only got a glimpse. You can’t imagine how beautiful it was.”
She still looked worried. “So long as there weren’t turds floating in the water. Do you think one of those waterfalls is the seventh gate?”
“Sounds right, but we’re going to have to get down there ourselves. I won’t fully accept that we’ve fulfilled our mission until I see this beast become one with the water.”
“So we have to leave this cozy little room?” she asked. “Damn. And I was just getting used to the smell.”
He snatched the cane and aimed it at the door. It opened to a hallway balcony overlooking a loud old-fashioned bar and gaming tables. “We have to get to the basement.”
“Without being seen? Maybe we could wait until closing. This creature isn’t going to be quiet once we leave this room.”
Myles was done trying to be subtle. “This place never closes. As for the loas, they don’t matter.” He turned back to her. “I’ve seen things with this cane. We have the power of life behind us. Everything is going to work out fine.”
“You realize who you sound like right now?” She held up the heavy-gauge metal chain.
“He found the wrong answers. Our plan is different. Instead of being in charge of events like a sorcerer manipulating the future, we’re going to rely on the cumulative desire of human hope to shield us.”
She pulled on her section of chain with both hands to get the beast to move. “You’re not making a lot of sense, but I’ll follow where you lead.”
He wanted to explain what he’d seen, but words failed to describe the certainty he felt. “Give me one of those ends of chain, and I’ll help keep hold of our creature.”
