As soon as Celeste stood on solid ground again, the entrance to the cavern behind her closed as if it had never been there. Above ground, the chalice’s power was dissipated and not so confined, to the point she could breathe freely again but it was still there. The Chalice’s magic reached out, its tendrils searching out for . . . something. Hesitating for only an instant as the magic of the chalice wrapped around her and continued on, Celeste drew the blade at her back. With a quick, smooth motion, she sliced Raine’s neck from ear to ear.
“You stupid fool,” Raine gurgled through the flow of blood coating her neck and chest as it seeped down the front of her dress. The chalice slipped from her elegant fingers, sinking as heavy as a stone to the ground. Raine’s hands grappled at her throat, trying desperately to seal the wound. Celeste plunged the blade into Raine’s chest before she had a chance to heal, puncturing the centuries-old vampire’s heart.
“I may be a fool, but I will be a powerful fool. Varick and I thank you.”
She wiped the blade clean on Raine’s dress and turned as the ancient vampire’s skin shriveled and tore from the bone.
Picking up the chalice where it lay inert, Celeste strode away as Raine’s body decomposed to nothing but bone, ash, and a bloodstained dress hidden in the grass.
Chapter 13
“I did not!” Brittany snapped, an edge of petulance making her voice shrill.
“Yes, you did.” Ev laughed. “I distinctly heard a snort. I’m a werewolf, remember. Good hearing.”
Miss Caroline glanced my way from the passenger seat of the Escalade and rolled her eyes. Ev and Brittany had been bickering in the back seat for the last 15 minutes and it was as cute as two squawking kittens.
“Enough!” I snarled. “I’m too tired for this shit.”
“I bet,” Ev muttered from the backseat.
“What?” I gasped.
“Up kinda late, weren’t you?” he asked, laughing and not bothering to hide it.
“I’ll kill you,” I snapped, jerking the wheel to pullover and beat him to a pulp.
“Children,” Caroline chastised from beside me. Glancing at her, I caught the glare of disapproval in her gaze. Taking a deep breath, I stretched my neck and guided us back onto the road.
“Fine,” I sighed. It wasn’t worth it anyway. I knew everyone in the house could hear us. Ev just liked to rub my nose in it. After a few muffled snorts from Brittany in the back seat, she and Ev went back to bickering about God only knew what.
We’d been driving for over an hour now. The city streets had turned to highway, then to a two-lane road with swamp on one side and a lush green forest on the other. After a while, the road had diminished to something with no edge lines. What had once been cement was now cracked and chipped until I was sure the Escalade’s suspension was being seriously tested. Behind us, Aubrey and Steve, Brittany’s guards from Garrett, followed in a second Escalade. We looked like a presidential cavalcade but Garrett had told them to stick to her and they had. To the annoyance of everyone, especially Brit. And believe me, she’d let me know just how annoyed she was.
As we drove, Cypress trees lined the road, sinking deep into the swamp on one side. I wasn’t sure where we were going anymore, but Miss Caroline said this was the right way. God, I hoped she knew where she was going. I didn’t want to get stuck out here. I glanced down at the gas gauge. Half a tank. Holy shit, was that even going to be enough to get back? I hadn’t seen a gas station for a while.
“Turn in here,” Miss Caroline said and I didn’t bother to hold back the sigh of relief. She glanced at me again with a disapproving grimace and just shook her head. I didn’t like being this far from civilization. It made me nervous.
We traveled down the dirt road, winding through a line of oak trees that hooded the lane with a thick canopy until they finally gave way to what seemed like miles and miles of sugarcane stalks. The house at the end of the lane was massive, and even from a way off, I could see the colors marking it as Creole. Rich yellows, maroons, dark greens, and pale robin’s egg blues made the home ornate and unique. A spindled porch wrapped around the second floor with a grand staircase leading up from the walk. Parking the SUV, I peered through the windshield at the grand, antique beauty.
“Wow,” I whispered.
“Pretty, huh?” Miss Caroline asked with a smugness to her tone that made me smile.
“You know it is,” I laughed, slouching back in my seat.
“Well, we didn’t come all this way to sit here and stare at the house. We’d best go in.”
A few minutes later, a petite woman with café au lait skin and hazel eyes with so much orange in them, they almost glowed opened the door at the top of the stairs. Her dark hair was twisted into thick dreadlocks and pulled back into a ponytail at the apex of her skull. She was maybe six inches shorter than me, so 5’3” or 5’2”, but her presence filled the space surrounding her and the slap of magic pummeling me was blunt- just this side of painful. It wasn’t as strong as Brittany’s in sheer force but she exuded it like a badge of honor making it that much more potent.
“Miss Caroline, is that you?” the woman cooed in an accent that I could only describe as Jamaican French. She spoke with a Caribbean lilt but which island exactly, I couldn’t say.
“Josephine, I’m so happy to see you.” Miss Caroline leaned in for a hug and embraced the smaller woman.
Josephine pulled back and evaluated Miss Caroline’s face. “How they treatin’ you up North?” she asked, both accusation and skepticism thick in that one question.
“Good. My baby girl and her boy keep an eye on me. Plus, I have Miss Dahlia here to look after so, I keep busy.” The smile on Miss Caroline’s face was genuine and I knew she really did think she was looking after me, all of us really. I couldn’t deny that there was some truth to her statement.
“Um-hmm.” Josephine’s guttural acknowledgement and her narrowed gaze made me squirm as if I’d done something wrong. I hadn’t felt like this since, well, since I lived with my parents. That trauma was another world and a different lifetime ago. The nightmares of electroshock and my mother’s betrayal no longer haunted me. I’d made peace with myself and who and what I was. That wasn’t to say I’d ever forget or forgive. I wouldn’t.
Josephine raked her gaze over me from head to toe, taking everything in. Then her eyes darted behind me to Brittany and Ev. “I see you have been busy,” she said.
Ushering us inside, Josephine led us through the main living room. The floors were original hard wood, nicked and beautiful in their imperfections. She had a comfortable sofa set in brown leather and a giant flat screen mounted on the wall. There were no frills but it was homey and comfortable which said more about her than anything she’d said so far. She was practical at the very least. The large picture window and French doors leading out to the back deck overlooked stalks of cane as far as the eye could see.
“Is that sugar cane?” Brittany asked.
I’d seen corn most of my life and this wasn’t corn.
“Sure is,” Josephine answered with a proud grin lighting her face with delight. This is my plantation,” she said, leading us out onto the deck where a long patio table with eight chairs waited. I took a deep breath and the reek of smoke filled my nostrils. Ev grabbed my wrist, tugging me back.
“It’s burning,” he hissed.
“That’s the cane, hun. We burn it before harvesting. It makes it dat much easier to cut,” Josephine answered.
“There’s no danger. Chill,” I hissed.
“But,” he stammered.
“You’re not going to get in trouble. I promise,” I said, patting his shoulder as I followed Josephine and sat at the table next to her. I caught a glimpse of Aubrey sliding into the cane as she took up perimeter duty. Steve was MIA but that didn’t mean he didn’t have eyes on Brittany.
He was just sneakier about it.
“Says you. If Dean finds out this place was burning and I didn’t do anything, he’ll skin me alive.” Ev plopped down in the chair next to me and glanced at me with resignation shading his navy gaze.
“As if you could force me to do something I didn’t want to do anyway,” I huffed. Brittany giggled as she took the seat next to Ev.
A girl followed us out with a tray in her hands, two pitchers and five glasses perched on it. One pitcher was filled with lemonade, sliced lemons floating amongst the ice. The second was filled with tea and I’d been in the south long enough to know that the tea was sweet and I didn’t want it.
“Thank you, Cassidy,” Josephine said to the girl as she placed the tray on the table. The girl merely nodded and made a quick and quiet exit. Josephine poured tea for herself and Miss Caroline while Ev grabbed the other pitcher and poured the lemonade for the three of us. Ev knew us well and like a good wolf, he protected what he valued, namely Brittany and myself. To him, I was Pack—home—and Brittany was his to protect. He’d taken on that mantle the moment he’d saved her from the vampire necromancer who’d been prepared to use her as sacrifice to boost his power. He also happened to care about Brittany, whether he realized it or not was another matter.
Josephine took a sip of her tea and then sat back in the chair, staring at me. After a long moment of silence where I sipped my lemonade in uncomfortable silence, Josephine said, “I know what she is,” pointing at Brittany. “I even know what he is,” she said, pointing at Ev. “But you,” she said, meeting my gaze. “You’re a mystery to me.”
“Preachin’ to the choir, hon’!” Miss Caroline laughed and patted my hand.
“I’ve been asked that a few times. We know, theoretically, but the rules keep changing.” I was trying my best to be diplomatic while not giving too much away. Patrick was really good at shit like this. Me, not so much, but I was learning all the time.
“You can say that again,” Ev snorted, and Brittany giggled.
Ignoring them both, I said, “We really came to talk to you about Brittany and a problem we’ve run into.”
“Problem?” Josephine asked, her eyebrow raised in speculation
“We’ve run into something that doesn’t leave a scent,” I said.
“It smells like Brittany when she casts her magic but other than that, nothing,” Ev added.
“A witch then,” Josephine said. Cocking her head to the side, he glanced at Miss Caroline.
“If you got somethin’ to say, go on then. Don’t worry.”
“I don’t know of any particular magic that would eliminate a scent. But then again, I don’t rely on my nose to survive. It would seem like a survival technique if you were hunted.”
“Like evolution?” Brittany asked, her eyes bright with excitement.
“Could be,” Josephine said.
“Who’s hunting witches?” I asked.
“Witches have been hunted here and there for centuries. If the magic’s developed over time, it’s hard to say when it came into being,” Josephine added, seeming un-phased by the prospect.
“I suppose it could be hereditary,” I mumbled, trying to wrap my head around that. “It’s a possibility we hadn’t considered.”
“It’s cool!” Brittany
Turning her burnt orange gaze on Brittany, Josephine asked, “Your momma isn’t as powerful as you, is she?”
A dark shadow fell over Brittany’s face. The smile that had brightened her face and always seemed to light up her eyes died.
“Her momma and another coven witch were killed. The rest of dem scattered. Left town,” Miss Caroline offered succinctly.
“No, ma’am,” Brittany answered with a little more force than was necessary. She threw her shoulders back and stared Josephine right in the eye. “None of the coven were. They hated me for it.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your momma. It’s hard to be alone so young.”
“I’m twenty-one!” Brittany cried.
“Just so,” Josephine answered, hiding her knowing grin behind her glass of sweet tea.
“She needs someone other than me to teach her,” I interjected before Brittany started explaining just how grown up she was. “She needs to have more control before she hurts someone.”
“She’s not the only one, I think,” Josephine said.
I didn’t answer. No one did.
“I can help her but it isn’t gonna happen overnight. We’ll need ta be in contact. I know ya’ll ain’t from around here. I would rather her be close.”
“Nope,” Ev said without a second of hesitation and a quick shake of his head.
“What Everett means,” I said, trying to smooth over his rudeness, “is that it isn’t safe for her here alone. This isn’t our territory. We can’t protect her.”
“Your territory?” she asked in reply.
“Ah, hell,” I huffed, realizing my mistake. After a moment’s pause, considering the risks-both good and bad-I laid it all out for her. Who and what I was. Patrick. Dean. The Lebensblut Board. The weird vampire gathering that was absolutely a trap. Everything. She listened, watching each of us in our turn. Silent and contemplative, she sat for a very long time after I was done.
“Dean won’t like this,” Ev whispered to me.
“It won’t matter if the entire world finds out about us as they plan. The Board doesn’t seem to care about that anymore anyway. Logan made everything very close to public with his stupid bullshit. It was only because of fae magic that we managed to keep everything under wraps in the first place.” It was a rant and I knew it but I was sick and tired of treading lightly when other fuckers on the planet stomped around busting shit up. I was tired of cleaning up other people’s shit and I was scared. Dean and Patrick didn’t seem to be stressed at all about the world knowing about the preternatural world but I was.
“That’s it!” Josephine chirped and sat up in her chair. All eyes turned to her as a giant smile lit her hazel eyes with a shine I knew was more than just sunshine. “The dark purple around your aura. It’s fae magic.” She cocked her head and evaluated me for a long moment before she said, “Dark fae magic.”
“That would be Baba Yaga’s stain,” I bit out, hating the fact that she still had her claws in me.
Without a word, Josephine reached for a small coin with a hole through the center she wore around her neck. She rubbed it with her thumb and forefinger as if to ward off evil. If only I could make Baba Yaga disappear with a simple coin. My life would be so much less dangerous and far less complicated.
“The Serpent of Winter,” she hissed. “You’ve met her?” The question was spoken softly as if Baba Yaga could hear her name spoken aloud and would come to wreak havoc. I couldn’t say Josephine was wrong.
“I’ve never heard her called that but it fits. Yeah, you could say I’ve met her.” An understatement. Baba Yaga had been a pain in my ass in the Outer Realm when I’d had to travel to Fairie to retrieve Patrick. Yes, Baba Yaga had given me the means to save Patrick and kill the fae who tortured him but she’d also marked me, tainted my blood with her magic. None of us knew what the consequences of that were yet. All I knew was that Baba Yaga wanted to use me like a puppet to rule all she surveyed and more. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Ya’ve been marked by the Serpent and her magic. This child will need protection if associated with you. I’ll teach her. Ya have my word on that.”
I sighed, relief easing the tension that had my shoulders tighter than a guitar string. The concern I’d been carrying since the night Brittany had been injured and almost sacrificed lessened. Ev’s shoulders slumped too and I knew his relief mirrored my own.
“I’ll teach you too,” Josephine said, taking another sip of her sweet tea.
“That’s not . . .” I
started but was cut off.
“Ya have more power than ya understand. Ya may have more control but ya won’t be able to use it properly without learnin’. I don’t know the repercussions if you lose control and I don’t wanna find out.”
I glanced at Ev, not really knowing what to say. He nodded enthusiastically.
“You tend to barge in and hope for the best, counting on just yourself and blunt force to win. What would it be like if you actually knew what you were doing? Imagine it.” He grinned a teasing, knowing flash of teeth.
He was right. She was right. Didn’t mean I wanted to admit it to any of them. I had power I couldn’t touch or use because I didn’t understand it. I relied on my will and the ability to pull it out of my ass when I needed it. That wasn’t going to work for much longer. I had too many people to protect and couldn’t fly by the seat of my pants. Not anymore.
“Fine!” I snapped. “Me too.”
“Good. Let’s get started,” she said with a smirk.
Chapter 14
“Now?” I barked.
“You have something better to do?” Josephine asked, getting to her feet. She ran her hands over her khaki skirt, tugging the black tank down over her hips.
“Well . . .” I said, searching for something to bide me some time.
“Not until sundown,” Ev blurted out.
“Busted.” Brittany snickered, and I glared at both of them.
“You both need the help,” Ev whispered in a plea that I hadn’t heard since I’d found him in Las Vegas. His pack had been decimated by the human servant of the local vampire colony and he’d been left to fend for himself. How could I argue with that?
Ev walked the perimeter of our tight little training space as Miss Caroline sat up on the porch and sipped her sweet tea. Aubrey and Steve made a wider circle around the house through the cane. Brittany, Josephine, and I made our way down to the cover of the field and the expansive crops where no human eyes would see what we were doing. With a swipe of her hand and a little bit of magic, Josephine cleared a circle in the cane.
Violet Abyss (A Blushing Death Novel Book 7) Page 9
