Under the Blood Moon
Page 14
Once downstairs, I handed the Gala lists and RSVP cards to Sophie and promised to call her tomorrow. Josh then led me into the sultry New Orleans night.
“I walked over. Is that gonna be a problem?” Josh asked.
I smiled. “Not at all. I am beginning to feel a bit shut in to tell you the truth. As much as I like the comfort of air conditioning, I am still unused to the closed-in feeling it engenders. I miss being outside,” I said.
“I never pegged you for the outdoorsy type,” he said as we walked up Governor Nicholls St.
“I am not sure ‘outdoorsy’ is quite the right term. I was the mistress of a large coffee plantation and the only fully trained healer in our district on St. Domingue. I was busy from sunrise to sundown. There was always something to do and much of it outside. I was not as busy once I settled here, but there was more than enough to be done.”
“It ain’t like it used to be, I’m with you there. The modern conveniences are nice and all, but sometimes I yearn to be back out on the trail. Just me and my horse sleeping under a bed of stars at night.”
“Is there nowhere you can do that anymore?” I asked.
“Not close. Sometimes I head into the swamp to get away. Can’t see the stars as well, but it is away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I’d really like to get back to Texas one of these days though.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Too many responsibilities here right now. I mean, I could move stuff around and delegate but I’d get a week at most. The hassle ain’t worth the pay off. Not just for me,” he said.
“If it is something you want to do, you should do it. We all think we have all the time in the world but we don’t, not really.”
“You thinking ‘bout Andre?” Josh asked softly.
“I was thinking more about my situation. I missed so much time when I was staked.”
Josh nodded solemnly. “You got a point. I’ll think about making some time.”
We walked in silence for a time until I asked, “Were you able to talk to Marc?”
“Yes. He was intrigued to say the least,” Josh said as we turned onto Rue Burgundy. “Seems these Gatekeepers are a bit of legend. Marc’d heard of ‘em, but only in stories. No one thought they actually existed, sorta like unicorns and dragons.”
“I’ve never been sure such creatures do not exist,” I said wryly.
“Point taken,” Josh said as we approached my house.
“Would you like to come in so we can finish this conversation in private?”
“Never turn down an invitation from a pretty lady.” Josh grinned.
I unlocked the door, disabled the alarm, and led Josh inside. “Beer?” I offered. That earned me another grin. “I’ll take that as a yes. Come through to the kitchen,” I said.
Josh leaned on the counter as I retrieved a beer from the refrigerator. Noting the two rocks glasses in the drainer, he asked, “You have company after I left last night?”
Opening the cap, I handed him a Sam Adams. “Jaime came back,” I said.
“Gatekeeper Jaime?”
“Oui.” I pulled a bottle of red wine from a rack on the counter and opened it.
“Why? She forgot to tell us something?” His easy countenance turned grave.
“In a manner of speaking.” I quickly poured a glass for myself. “Let us sit on the loggia. I think there is much to discuss.”
“Sounds like it.”
We walked out to the loggia and sat. The night air was gently moved by the ceiling fans, making it very pleasant and making me wish we were to talk about less weighty subjects. Once we were comfortably settled, Josh asked, “Do you want to go first or should I?”
“You. I fear mine might take some time.”
“Alright.” Josh took a long pull on his beer and started. “Like everybody, we vamps have our legends and lore. Everything from the creation myths to the magic elixir that will make us human again. Well, it seems these Gatekeepers were thought to fall within that realm. Marc said that as a newly turned vampire, his sire had told him about a shadowy group known only as ‘The Gatekeepers.’ Like Jaime told us last night, their job is to keep the world in balance. They police the supernatural community, making sure we don’t do anything that makes our presence generally known.”
“How is it that you and I had never heard of these Gatekeepers?” I asked, sipping my wine.
“Marc said sometime around the beginning of the Inquisition, reports of the Gatekeepers’ activities ceased. He didn’t know why. Most vampires figured they’d either been wiped out by the Church or they’d never existed at all.”
“And after all these centuries, we were lucky enough to find them again,” I said wryly.
Josh laughed. “That’s ‘bout the size of it.”
“Is Marc considering working with the woman?” I asked.
“He’s thinking ‘bout it. Wants to know more about these Gatekeepers than what little he can remember. He was gonna consult with the Grandmasters of Paris, Rome, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. I think that was the conference call he was on tonight, talking to their daytime people.”
That made sense. The Grandmasters of those cities were among the oldest of our kind and several of them had held their seats before the Inquisition had started. “With all the stray werewolf activity occurring in the city, I cannot think it a bad idea to have more help, especially if the wolves are Maneaters,” I said. “And Jaime mentioned she was hunting demons, that someone was summoning them. Who would be so foolish?”
“Don’t know much about demons, but I did mention it to Marc. Whether he decides to work with the girl or not, Marc does want to meet with her, so if Jaime shows up, tell her that. Speakin’ of Jaime, why was she here last night? What she forget to tell us?”
“What do you know about prophesies?” I asked.
“Prophesies? Like in the Bible?”
“I am fairly certain this one was not in the Bible,” I said. “Unless the Book of Revelation has changed in the last two hundred years.”
“You telling me the kid’s a seer?”
“No, the prophecy she mentioned was far older than she is. Well, I suppose she might be a seer, she certainly had the tang of magic. I just assumed she was a mage. I suppose it would make sense if she was a seer,” I rambled.
“Uh, Juliette, can we get back to the subject?” Josh interrupted me.
“Oh, yes,” I said. “What was the subject?”
“You OK? You seem real addled.” Josh half-stood as if to approach me. “Did she spell you?”
I waved him away. “No, she didn’t put a spell on me. My mind just wandered. A lot has happened.”
He sat back down. “Okay,” he said, drawing the word out.
“The prophecy was about a thaumaturge opening the Gates of Hell on the Cold Blue Moon,” I said in a rush.
“The Gates of Hell as in The Hell?”
“Is there another I am unaware of?”
“Stop bein’ a smart ass, Juliette. It don’t become you.”
“You are right. I am sorry,” I said, not quite meaning it. It was a mistake to talk about this with Josh. At least right now. I was not in the right frame of mind.
“Start from the beginning,” Josh prompted.
There was no avoiding this. I had known there would not be. Perhaps that was why I hadn’t lied about the second glass in the dish drainer. I easily could have claimed that Mike had stopped by to discuss the last crime scene. For a vampire, I was a bad liar. I swear I used to be better at it. I had lied to my husband all the time and he had never suspected. Or maybe he had known and not cared. Focus, Juliette. When did I become this scattered?
I took a sip of wine, trying to order my thoughts. Just tell him everything. Except that you are a thaumaturge and the Gatekeepers
suspected you would be the one to open the Gates of Hell. Leave those details out.
“Jaime jumped the back courtyard fence about two hours after you left,” I said. “She wanted to talk to me alone. To tell me the prophecy.”
“She couldn’t do that while I was here? Or back at St. Louis?”
“She said not,” I answered.
Josh looked hard at me but said nothing further, only nodded for me to continue. “Jaime told of an old prophecy that one with magic in blood and bone, through willing sacrifice, would open the Gates of Hell on the Cold Blue Moon. And that another, also with magic in blood and bone, could stop this.”
“OK. So you think this ‘one with magic in blood and bone’ is a thaumaturge?” Josh asked.
“Jaime seemed to think so.”
“What about a seer or necromancer? Ain’t they like thaumaturges, having magic inside ‘em?”
I paused for a moment, considering his questions. I took a sip of wine and reviewed all the knowledge I had about those two groups. “Yes, both seers and necromancers have magic in them. However, I do not think a seer could accomplish something like this. Their magic is passive.”
“Passive?”
“That is not quite the correct term, but it is all I can think of. Unlike necromancers and thaumaturges, who draw on their magic to cast spells and raise the dead, seers have no control over their abilities. They cannot call forth visions. Those just happen randomly. Seers also cannot recreate their visions, although, as I understand it, more than one seer can have the same vision.”
“Makes sense. How ‘bout necromancers?”
“That is a definite possibility, although necromancers are really just thaumaturges who choose to raise the dead.”
“All thaumaturges can raise the dead?” Josh asked.
“Theoretically. Most will not, however,” I said, shivering a little.
“Why not?”
“It costs a piece of the necromancer’s soul.”
“Wouldn’t they run out of soul pretty quick?”
“They do. Then they start stealing the souls of others to pay the magical price.”
“Damn. That’s bad.”
“It is the darkest of magic. Those who practice it are beyond redemption.”
“Wouldn’t one of them be more likely to open the Gates of Hell?” Josh asked, taking a long draw of beer.
“One would assume, but necromancers are even rarer than seers and thaumaturges, and they rarely do anything not in their interest or that they cannot gain from.”
“OK, I get that, but why do these Gatekeepers think a thaumaturge would be willing to open the Gates of Hell? It’s my understanding that thaumaturgy is white magic.”
“It is white magic. From what I gathered from Jaime, they think the thaumaturge will be tricked into the sacrifice.”
“I see,” was all Josh said.
“I have an appointment to see Marc in three days to speak to him about it.”
“Three days? Isn’t that kinda long to sit on something like this?”
“The prophecy is very specific as to when the Gates of Hell are to be opened, not until the Cold Blue Moon. That is months away.”
“Cold Moon is December, right?”
“Yes. The second full moon of the month falls on New Year’s Eve.”
“Helluva way to ring in the New Year.”
I smiled wryly. “The veil between this world and the next will be the thinnest it has been in over two hundred years. Apparently it will be thin enough to be breached through the blood sacrifice of a single individual.”
“How much blood are we talkin’ here?”
“All of it. The thaumaturge will have to die.”
“And someone’d do that willingly? You said ‘the willing sacrifice,’ right?” Josh pressed. “Seems stupid to me. Kill yourself to open the Gates of Hell? You’re dead. Where’s the payoff?”
“Well in the case of the necromancer, upon death he would descend to Hell. The Gates will be open, so they can immediately re-emerge to this plane of existence.”
“And if it is just a regular thaumaturge? What’s the payoff? Do they go to Hell too?”
I thought for a moment. “Jaime said the Gatekeepers thought the thaumaturge would be tricked into the sacrifice, perhaps told it was for a different reason. A noble one that would fit the thaumaturge’s world view.”
“Makes sense. What about the second part? That another thaumaturge could stop it?”
“If blood will open the Gate, it will also close it.”
“They’d have to die too.” It was a statement, not a question, but I nodded anyway.
“Damn,” he said and drained the rest of his beer in one long pull.
“Indeed.”
We sat in silence for a time until Josh said, “I forgot to say congratulations before.”
Congratulations? For what? Being a sacrifice victim? No, he does not know I am a thaumaturge. “Congratulations?” I asked.
“On becoming the Aether Regent,” Josh clarified.
“I am not sure that it is congratulations that should be offered. Condolences are probably more appropriate,” I said.
“Not happy about the battlefield promotion?”
“It is the last thing I want right now.”
“Well, I can understand that, with you bein’ gone for so long. Lots has changed.”
You have no idea. “Yes,” I said and sipped my wine.
“Sophie said you turned down a bodyguard.”
“Being so new to the city, I have not had time to create the alliances that would garner me a reliable bodyguard. I would rather not constantly wonder if it was my ‘protection’ I was most at risk from.”
“Haven’t created alliances? Are you kiddin’ me? Juliette, you saved the Grandmaster’s nephew. You have the strongest possible alliance,” Josh sputtered.
“It is true I have made a powerful alliance there, but the family members all have important duties that preclude acting as my bodyguard, and the family retainers are busy guarding them. Sophie and I discussed this at length. There is no one.”
“Mike Angelletti?”
“Too busy covering up the werewolf attacks.”
“What about me?”
“Aren’t you a little busy being the Sylph lieutenant?”
“Don’t take much of my time.”
“You run a very busy nightclub.”
“I got a good manager,” he argued, and I arched an eyebrow. “Alright, so it ain’t the best situation. At least let me take you out for target practice. I know you said you knew how to shoot, but when was the last time you actually fired a gun? Have you even shot a modern weapon?”
I shrugged. “It has been a while since I have fired a gun.”
“How long’s a while?”
“Since 1789.”
“Shit, Juliette! We gotta get you out to the range.”
“I know I should go,” I sighed.
“Why didn’t you say something to Gabe or Mike? They’da taken you. Or said something to Sophie? She’d have arranged range time for you.”
“I did not wish to be more of a nuisance. They have helped me so much already in setting my affairs in order. When the issue of whether I could shoot or not came up, I truthfully answered that yes, I had fired a gun before.”
“But you didn’t tell them how rusty you were?” Josh probed.
“No one asked, and honestly, with all their good intentions and solicitude, I needed to be alone. I needed some time to put my thoughts in order.” Why am I telling him this? These thoughts and feelings are private. There was just something disarming about Josh Bouchard that made me want to confide in him. Mon Dieu, I have been in torpor too long and it has addled my senses.
“I had assumed that Marc was fostering the boy as was traditional,” I said.
“That’s part of it, but Cecily did live here a while. Said she found her brothers too oppressive and she wanted more freedom. Guess she went up to Montreal for a spell and then over to Paris. Last I heard she was in Milan.”
“Why Milan?”
“No family. Close enough to Paris and her daddy if she needs anything but far enough away he can’t easily interfere with her life. I was kinda surprised that she didn’t come after Chris’s attack, but Gabe told me that Marc had forbidden it.”
“Why would Marc forbid her coming?” I asked, truly puzzled.
“As kind as Beau’s offer of takin’ Chris in was, the Gautiers were not gonna allow one of their own to get hairy once a month. If your ritual had gone sideways and Chris’d turned, Marc would have ordered the boy killed. He didn’t want Cecily here begging for her son’s life. Marc and Gabe were gonna have a hard enough time without her here.”
“That makes sense. Will she come now that the danger has passed?” I asked.
“Gabe said she’d be here for the Gala.”
“I look forward to meeting her,” I said and took the last sip of wine from my glass. I noticed Josh’s beer was empty as well. “I am sorry; I have been a poor hostess. Would you care for another beer?”
Josh regarded his empty bottle. “As tempting as it is to sit and talk to you all night, I’d probably better get. I got a movie screening to set up and I’ll arrange some time for us at the range. I’m taking you shooting as soon as I can get us in. If you won’t have a bodyguard, you at least gotta be able to defend yourself.”