House of the Rising Sun (30 page)

Thanks to the little bug Harlow had planted on Augustine’s LMD, finding him was easy. Trailing him, however, was a very different matter. He moved like a ghost, almost impossible to see and soundless in his travels.

She clung to the recess of the door, peering out as much as she dared. His dark form followed the pair of tourists into an alleyway. She slipped after them, her heart pounding in her chest so loudly she was sure he could hear it.

She slipped into the alley and crouched behind a dumpster that stank like fish. Nearly gagging, she peeked around the side. Augustine closed in on the couple. He lost the shadowy transparency he’d had, going solid so quickly she wasn’t sure she’d really seen him transform.

Then he struck, knocking the man away from the woman. She cried out in confusion and stumbled toward the building.

The vampire hit the opposite wall, spun and came back
snarling, fangs bared. The woman screamed and ran. Harlow dropped behind the dumpster again, but the woman was too busy saving her own skin.

“You just cost me dinner, fae.” The vampire’s low growl rumbled through the alley.

Harlow positioned herself to watch.

Augustine laughed. “I’m about to cost you more than that.” The vampire swung, but Augustine ducked, the air whistling above his head. He grabbed the vamp by the waist and rammed him into the wall. His reward was a grunt. The vampire went limp.

Harlow almost gasped. Had Augustine killed him? Maybe not. He shoved his forearm under the vamp’s chin, pinning him to the wall with his head smashed back, then Augustine snagged his dagger from his waistband and aimed it at the vamp’s heart. “How’d you get into town?”

Harlow held her breath for the answer. The vampire barely moved. “I’m not telling you squat.”

She exhaled, disappointed.

“Death wish, then. Good to know.” Augustine put pressure on the blade. It glinted in the dim light.

The vampire tried to retreat but had nowhere to go. “I snuck in.”

Liar, she wanted to yell.

But Augustine took a different route. “Why?”

“Because we’re not allowed.”

“You came here because you’re not supposed to?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Another lie. Anger coursed through Harlow, tempered only by Augustine’s persistence. “How many are with you?”

“Just me and another male.”

“You expect me to believe that story? That this is just a
weekend getaway?” Augustine dug the blade in harder.
Good.
“Where is the rest of your gang?”

Harlow nodded, mentally urging Augustine on.

“There’s no gang, I swear.” The vampire’s eyes widened, the whites almost glowing. “You want some kind of payoff? I got almost a grand on me, you can have all of it.”

She slumped, fearful Augustine would take the money. She bit her lip, praying he wouldn’t.

He shook his head. She wished she could see more of his face. “You think you can bribe me? I’m the Guardian of this city. Your money means nothing to me. Now I’ll give you one more chance to answer my questions. There’s a vampire gang in this city. Where are they?”

“I told you, I don’t know nothing about a gang.”

He shoved his arm higher, scraping the vampire up the wall and lifting his feet off the ground.

The effort pulled at the vampire’s clothing, revealing a cord around his neck. Augustine looped his sixth finger under the slim leather and pulled it free. At the end dangled some kind of black amulet.

It must have meant something to Augustine because he jammed the dagger’s tip into the vampire’s chest hard enough to break the skin. “Liar. Where’s your leader? The one with the scar?”

Was that who’d killed her mother?

The vampire jerked forward to head-butt Augustine, but couldn’t close the distance and succeeded only in burying the dagger deeper. “I got nothing else to say to you.”

“Then your usefulness has ended.” Augustine pulled his arm away as he ripped off the amulet and simultaneously drove the dagger all the way home.

He backed away from the cloud of ash that exploded from
where the vampire had been. “One down… no idea how many more to go.” He held the amulet up to get a better look at it. As best she could see, the medallion was a solid black circle with the letters
YB
stamped on it.

“You can come out now.”

Who was he talking to?

He looked in her direction. “Harlow, I know you’re there.”

She stood up and brushed herself off. “How?”

He just shook his head, a little smile on his face. “Come here and take a look at this. I saw one like it on one of the vampires at the hotel we raided.”

Feeling a little stupid but happy he wasn’t calling her on it, she walked over to study the amulet. Maybe he was giving her a pass because of what she’d figured out about him and Dulcinea. “What’s YB mean?”

“Young Bloods. It’s the biggest fringe vampire gang we know of. Not much of a clue. Like finding out the needle you’re looking for in the haystack is a little sharper than the others.” He scratched the edge of the medallion. A waxy substance clung to the underside of his nail. He held the coin out to her. “Smell it.”

She sniffed. “Kind of sweet and sort of powdery.”

He nodded. “This isn’t just a gang logo, it’s their way out if they get caught. I’ve seen one in action.”

“What’s it do?”

“Vampire bonfire, basically.”

He tucked it into his pocket. “You know what this means?”

She had a feeling. “You need me to read that, don’t you?”

He hooked his arm around her shoulders. She tried to shrug it off and failed. He walked them toward the main street. “You catch on fast.” His hand squeezed hard, stopping them. “Which is good, because I don’t want to have this discussion again. If you ever deliberately put yourself in danger again, I will assign
you a personal bodyguard. One who will stick to you like stink on a skunk.”

She pulled away from him. “Like hell you will. I’m a grown woman. I don’t need a bodyguard.” She’d spent too many years of her life being followed around by thugs for hire. She wasn’t about to repeat that now.

“And I don’t need to worry about you.”

“Then don’t. I’m not your responsibility.”

Something in his gaze darkened. “But you are. You’re here because of what happened to your mother. What I caused. So until that’s fixed, yes, you
are
my responsibility.”

She was about to respond when he caught her gloved hand and held it. “Please, Harlow, if something happened to you… something I could have prevented…” He looked away, but the war in his eyes was plain.

Whether it was the desire to know the truth or the desire to make him suffer, she couldn’t say, but the urge to make him speak pushed her. “Then what? Why do you care what happens to me?”

“I like you.”

“You like Dulcinea, too.”

He steeled his expression as he pulled her close. Barely an inch separated them. His smoky scent and radiating heat made her feel like she was standing in a fire. “I
like
you in a very different way than I like Dulcinea.”

Despite all that heat and smoke, she shivered. Because deep down inside, she knew exactly what he meant. She liked him, too. And nothing had ever scared her quite that much.

G
iselle poured rainwater over the money in her copper bowl, thankful that the plastic bills would still be usable after the scrying was done. Paying Father Ogun had been as exorbitant as expected. In front of the bowl, she placed a small mirror on a stand. Being that the man she sought was fae, the silver-backed glass should be especially effective.

Clearing her mind, she sat back and positioned her hands over the bowl. “Goddess of the bayou moon, mistress of the holy night, bring to me this man I seek, show him to me with your light. He who touched this money last, reveal his home within my glass.”

The mirror fogged, then cleared. A house appeared, Garden District by the looks of it. Made sense since the affluent and important fae tended to cluster there. She jotted down the number above the door. Finding the street would take a little more work, but at least she had something to go on now.

A sense of calm filled her. This was going to work. She would be able to protect herself and no one would be the wiser. In fact, if all went according to plan, things would be tied up in a neat little bow.

She smiled, but then she remembered she’d still be in debt to Father Ogun. Her smile faltered. She sat back and lifted her chin. He might be a high priest of voodoo, but he was still a man, and she’d yet to meet a man who didn’t have some weakness.

All she had to do was figure out where Father Ogun’s Achilles’ heel was. Then hold a knife to it.

Dulcinea was walking the perimeter when Augustine returned. “How’s the night going so far?”

“Quiet,” she answered. “Lally went to bed a little bit ago and Harlow hasn’t come out of her room.”

He forced himself not to react. “Really? How do you know she hasn’t left?”

Dulcinea glanced up toward the guest room. Blue light flickered in the window. “Computer hasn’t stopped. She’s all hunkered down, playing some kind of game. Got a headset on and everything.”

“And you’ve seen her up there yourself, have you?”

“Not in a while but…” The back door slammed. “What don’t I know?”

“That would be Harlow going inside.” She hadn’t spoken to him since his confession in the alley. “She followed me. Don’t know how, but she showed up.”

Dulcinea groaned. “Total lieutenant fail. I’m so sorry.” She glanced toward the window and shook her head. “She didn’t get hurt, did she?”

“No. Fortunately. Because if she had—”

Dulcinea held her hands up. “I know, it would have been my fault.” She sighed long and hard. “She’s mad at me and I’m not sure why, but I get the sense she picked up a little something extra from me again on this last reading.”

“I know. She figured out that you and I slept together.”

“Sorry, Gussie.” Dulcinea cursed softly. “She knows that was years ago, right?”

He nodded. “She knows. She just didn’t seem to care.”

“How was the hunting?” Dulcinea smiled. “I smell ash, so I’m thinking good.”

“There’s one less vampire in town, but I’m no closer to finding the nest. Although I know they’re Young Bloods now.” He pulled out the amulet. “I took this off the one I staked. It matches the one the vamp at the Hotel St. Helene wore, the one he bit into that lit him up like a fireball.”

She took it and sniffed it, her lip curling. Varcolai had a keener sense of smell than fae; maybe that side of her would pick something up. “Totally hinky.” She smelled it again. “There might be silver in this. Mixed with something else, obviously, because there’s no way a vampire could wear silver next to his skin.”

“That’s what I figured.”

She handed it back. “You going to have Harlow read this, too?”

He tucked the piece in his pocket. “Yes. She already knows I don’t know how else to get information out of it and I need her help. She said she’d think about it.”

“She’d probably do it if I said I thought it was a bad idea.”

He snorted. “Can’t blame her for being like her mother.” He paused, thinking. “If they’re all wearing these amulets, then they weren’t made here, but she might get another location off it. Like where it’s been most recently.” He dug into his other pocket. “Speaking of being somewhere recently… Renny gave me this.” He held out the note the gator shifter had asked him to pass on to Dulcinea.

She looked at it but didn’t touch it.

Augustine pushed it into her hand. “I’m just the messenger.”

“Hmph.” She stuffed the note into the pocket of her long sweater coat.

“He’s sweet on you.”

“He’s sweet on a lot a women, that’s his problem. I’m sure you understand that.” Her gaze shifted toward the front of the
house. “I’ll stay out here. You go talk to Harlow. If you need me to buffer again, just holler.”

So ended the conversation about Renny. Augustine nodded. “Will do.” He headed into the house, going in through the back door quietly to keep from disturbing Lally, but her light was on. He knocked softly on her door.

“Come in,” she called.

He stuck his head in. She was in bed, reading. The cross, key and locket dangling from her chain gleamed against her mint-green nightgown. Her antique radio played the local gospel station quietly. “Just wanted to let you know I ran into a vampire down in the Quarter tonight.” The part about Harlow being there he’d keep to himself.

She nodded thoughtfully. “He related to Miss Olivia’s murder?”

“I believe he’s part of the same group, yes.”

She nodded again. “You kill him?”

He’d never had this kind of conversation with Lally before. There was something unsettling about those words coming out of her kind mouth. “I did.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Satisfaction gleamed in her eyes, a strange sight. “You have a good night then, Augie. I’m gonna sleep a little easier because of that.”

He closed her door, oddly shaken by the exchange. It felt like they’d entered a period of war where hard truths and cold reality were the order of the day. If he could get Harlow to understand that, maybe couch it in terms of a real-life computer game, she could become a partner in this fight. Especially if Cuthridge could get this fine taken care of and she ended up staying here in New Orleans. He’d sure come to rely on her unique skills. And if she could track him, her skills were even more impressive.

As he walked down the hall, a familiar lemon verbena scent
floated toward him. He slowed, moving toward the mirror. “Livie,” he whispered.

The surface of the mirror shimmered and for a moment, he swore he’d caught a glimpse of the Claustrum. He shook his head. He was so tired he was seeing things. He turned away.

“Augie.”

He froze at the sound of Olivia’s voice.

“Augie, are you there?”

He spun back toward the mirror. “Livie?” There was a shape there, a form that could be her. As he went closer and got directly in front of the mirror, she came into focus. “Livie!”

“Augie, you’re there!” She reached out for him, but her image stayed flat, trapped in the mirror’s glass. “I’ve been trying to reach you, but you never seemed to hear me. I guess I wasn’t powerful enough until now.”

“Trying to reach me where? In the mirror?”

“Yes, and when you were here on the fae plane.”

“You mean you’re really there? At the Claustrum? Why did you end up there?”

“It was the last place on my mind, I guess. I was worried about you, about what you’d do to those vampires and how the Elektos would react.”

“You had nothing to worry about.”

She looked at him like he was full of it. “Any unsanctioned action you take could be perceived by the Elektos as aggressive. Then Fartus will be at the door again.”

“Fenton’s already come back.”

“And?”

“And we sorted everything out. He’s not as bad as you think.”

Her eyes lit with an uncertain light. “Did you take the Guardianship?”

He hesitated, but only because it seemed so odd to even be having such a conversation with her. “I did.”

“Augie.” Liquid rimmed her lower lids. “I am so very proud of you.”

He looked away. He didn’t want her pride at that moment. Not when he was the cause of all of this. “It shouldn’t have taken you being attacked. They came for me.”

“We never know the paths our lives are meant to take,
cher
. What’s it like being Guardian? Have you staked those fanged bastards, yet?” That was Livie, forgive and forget.

“Not exactly.” His gaze traveled up the steps toward Harlow’s room. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about. Something personal.”

She smiled. “I’m a little on the dead side,
cher
. I’ve got no secrets anymore.”

“I think you’re more of a ghost.”

She laughed. “That’s still dead.”

“Either way, I’m coming through.” He slipped through the mirror and stood facing her, the fae plane oddly still for once. He reached out to her. The second their hands met, he grinned. “You’re real. At least on this plane.”

She pulled him in for a hug. “Good to know, because I really wasn’t sure. Especially since I don’t need that damn cane anymore.” She let him go, the smile on her face adding some much-needed light to the dreary world around them. “Now, what did you need to talk to me about?”

“Harlow. She came for the funeral and the reading of the will—”

Livie laughed. “How’d that go over?”

“She didn’t love it.”

“I didn’t expect her to.” Livie sniffed. “I guess she hightailed it on back to Boston after that.”

“Actually, she’s still in New Orleans. Staying in the big guest room on the third floor.”

Livie’s mouth dropped. “I never would have guessed. After I
turned down her request for her father’s name and the money, I didn’t expect to ever see her again.”

“What money?”

She looked away. “I’m not sure it’s something I should share.”

“If it was to pay the eight-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar fine for hacking into some company’s accounts, I already know about it. I’m assuming you know she’s facing jail time if that fine’s not paid.”

Livie swallowed and nodded hard. “I do and I only said I wasn’t going to give her the money out of anger. I had every intention of giving her the funds at breakfast the next morning. I’d do anything to keep her out of prison. Oh, Augie, you have to get a hold of Lionel Cuthridge; he’s the lawyer you went to see about the trust and all—”

“She’s already calling him so she should have an appointment with him tomorrow morning.”

“Excellent. Go with her. Tell him I said to draw the funds from the account in the Caymans. He’ll know that you talked to me that way. You have to keep Harlow safe, Augie.”

“I will. I already promised you that, didn’t I?”

Her eyes twinkled. “You did. Have I said how proud I am of you for taking the Guardianship?”

“You mentioned it.”

“How’s Lally? Oh, you must bring her through so we can visit.”

He rolled his eyes. “You know bringing a human to the fae plane is part of what got me in trouble in the first place.” He shook his head. “She’s doing well, but she does miss you something awful. She did a beautiful job on your funeral. The turnout was incredible.”

She preened a little, then her face went stern. “Augustine. You’re the Guardian now. If you deem it necessary to bring a human to the fae plane, who’s going to stop you? Now, no more
sass. Bring Lally through. Bring some bourbon, too. This place is dry as a bone.”

“Livie, there’s something else I need to ask you about. Someone, really.”

She sat on a nearby outcropping of rock, patting the stone ledge next to her. “Who’s that,
cher
?”

He stayed standing. “Joseph Branzino.”

She paled, a considerable feat for a woman who was technically dead. Her hand drifted toward her throat. “I haven’t heard that name in years. How… how do you know that name?”

“He showed up at the cemetery claiming to be Harlow’s father.”

“I knew this would happen when I was gone.” She shook her head. “Is Harlow all right? What happened?”

“I took care of it. Is he Harlow’s father?”

“Yes.” Her eyes went hollow, the spark of joy that had been there dying off like the last of the summer lightning bugs. “He’s also the most evil man I know.”