The Casquette Girls (46 page)

Where the hell am I?

My stirring caused a head to peek through a fuchsia velvet curtain. “Finally, you’re awake,” Désirée said, dropping to her knees next to me.

I focused on my watch. “Holy shit! It’s six p.m.? How did I sleep that long? Did you drug me?”

“No. Yes. No. Well, kind of. I went digging through Marassa’s grimoire and found this herbal tea concoction. I’d like to take credit, but I think in your case it was mostly extreme exhaustion. The tea just helped ease your mind so your body could rest.”

I rubbed my eyes.

“I think the original recipe came from Cosette Monvoisin. Pretty sweet, eh?”

“Yeah, I kinda feel like I know those girls.”

“Well, not
all
of them. Two are still total mysteries. While you were sleeping, I tried to read Adeline’s diary. Epic fail. So I jacked your journal to read the translation in English.”

“That’s fine,” I said, surprised by my lack of sensitivity towards Désirée Borges, of all people, invading my privacy. I still kind of felt like I was in outer space.

She exited through the curtain and returned a few minutes later with a cup of coffee and a bottle of mouthwash, which she threw at me. “Pretty sure you were puking earlier.”

“Thanks.”

I forced my stiff body to stand up, lifted the shroud, and reentered the land of the living (well, mostly living).

Only after washing my face did I feel brave enough to look at myself in the bathroom mirror. My eyes were red and swollen, and my hair resembled that of a 1980s monster ballader. I looked only half-alive, and my stomach was back in its semi-permanent knot, but the sleep had done wonders for my mind. As the lingering effects of the tea wore off, I felt alert, focused, ready for the battlefield.

But as soon as my mind became more active, misery flooded back in. I thought of Bertrand and Sabine Michel.
How could something so horrible happen to the sweetest, most wonderful people I knew?
My gut wrenched, recalling the warning I’d received, but I forced myself to push all my emotions to a deep, dark place so I could concentrate on protecting the people who were still alive. I shuddered thinking about Jeanne or Sébastien getting hurt – they were the closest thing I had to siblings. I couldn’t even think about something happening to my father.

I pulled out my phone as I reentered the tiny altar space behind the curtain – eighteen text messages and way more missed calls.
How had I slept through that?

Sébastien 5:37 a.m.
Adele, you disappeared. Are you okay?

Sébastien 5:51 a.m.
The detective is gone; you can come back now.

Dad 6:00 a.m.
Adele, where are you?

Jeanne 6:12 a.m.
Où es-tu
?
You’re scaring me.

Dad 6:15 a.m.
Come home now, sweetheart. The streets aren’t safe.

Dad  6:25 a.m.
Adele, where are you? Please tell me so I can come and get you.

Dad 6:40 a.m.
Please call me.

Sébastien 6:53 a.m.
You don’t have to return, just let me know that you are okay. I’m about to call the detective back.

Isaac 7:00 a.m.
Your dad is freaking out. I’m coming to look for u. Don’t be pissed if I find u.

Isaac 7:01 a.m.
This is Isaac, btw.

unknown 9:17 a.m.
I had no idea this was going to happen last night. It doesn’t change things, but I need you to know, bella.
Sentite condoglianze
. ~Niccolò

Émile 11:26 a.m.
Your mother sent me out to find you.
Où es-tu, ma chéri
e
?
You can’t hide forever.

Isaac 3:42 p.m.
You’ve been sleeping all day. Starting to think D put some kind of Voodoo spell on u.

Isaac 3:43 p.m.
That was a joke, btw.

Jeanne 4:07 p.m.
Isaac found you asleep at Vodou Pourvoyeur???? I feel like I’m in
The Twilight Zone.

Dad 4:21 p.m.
Call me when you wake up if I am not at the Borges’. I love you.

Brigitte 4:49 p.m.
Adele, I’d really like it if we could talk. There are things you need to know.
Bisou
s
.

I plopped back down on the pallet next to Désirée, whose nose was buried in my journal. “My dad is freakin’.”

“My mom talked to him,” she said without breaking focus from the book. “Oh, and Niccolò came by at least three times. There’s a good chance he’s still perched outside like a hawk, which I have to admit is something I sooner expected from that Isaac guy than him.”

A halfhearted chortle slipped out.

“What?”

“Nothing, I’ll explain some other time.”

“Whatever.”

I touched the crow’s mark on my face and felt horrible remembering our recent interactions. Isaac had clearly been trying to make amends.

“I’ll be right back. Gonna make a quick call.”

Wrapped in a blanket, I stepped out into the setting sun to get better reception. My nerves fluttered as I tapped the callback button, knowing I’d have to apologize.

I paced down the sidewalk, but before I even heard the second ring, a figure whipped down the street. Startled by his speed, I dropped my phone into the gutter. The blanket fell from my shoulders, and my feet glided on air as Nicco abruptly pinned me against the wall of the nearest house. The rough stucco scraped my back through the thin T-shirt.

“Are you okay?” he asked, jerking my head to the side.

“I was unt—”

He pushed my head again, closely examining the other side of my neck.

“That hurts, Nicco!” I still had bruises from our night in the bell tower.

“I’m sorry.” His grip loosened. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Sometimes I forget how fragile you are.”

“That’s bullshit! I can carry an egg without cracking it. Or a rabbit without killing it. Or a bird—”

His mouth twitched at the mention of a bird.

“You’re right. I’ll try to be more careful with you.”

“I’m not asking you to try. I am telling you to stop!” My fists slammed into his chest. He grabbed both of my wrists and gently lowered my arms to my sides. My arm muscles shook, trying to fight him.

“Don’t,
bella
, you’ll just hurt yourself.”

He was so close I could smell him. Leather and soap, just like… his brother. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him after what had happened this morning.

“I don’t understand,” I choked out, losing the battle with my tears. “Why don’t you all just leave?”

His calmness was a stark contrast to my emotional wreckage.

“Do you want me to leave?”

A sharp pain tugged in my chest. I wanted this all to go away. I wanted Nicco to be normal
.I
wanted to be normal. A part of me wanted to destroy him for everything he’d done, whatever his role… For following me. For not telling me everything. For letting me fall for him. I hated myself for wanting to cause harm to someone else. I wanted him to be stronger, to change, to want the same things as me. I wanted him.

“Yes, I want you to leave,” I whispered.

My eyes looked past him.

“I don’t believe you
,
bella
.”

My pulse raced as his irises burned into my face. I forced myself to look directly into those perfect green eyes. My vision became blurry and wet. Not being able to see him clearly gave me the courage to repeat myself.

“I want you to leave.”

I lost all ability to contain myself, to retain any sense of maturity. I didn’t want to think or reason. “Leave,” I yelled, attempting to push him away, but only ended up shoving myself backwards into the stucco wall. He barely wavered. “Leave!”

“It’s not that simple, Adele.” His tone was much sharper. “We can’t just leave.”

“Of course you can! Surely you’re all
strong
enough to travel by now. You’ve all certainly had enough sustenance.” My voice lowered on the last word.

“Do you really think you are
that
powerful?” he shouted.

I shrank back. The raised voice of the otherwise demure Italian was far more distressing than his physical strength. He quickly quieted, but I could tell he was barely restraining himself.

“Do you really think you ar
e
s
o
powerful that you
accidentally
broke a curs
e
s
o
strong it contained a group of vampires for more than three hundred years, and now they can just walk away?” He snorted. “You may have somehow opened the window, but don’t forget that parts of the curse still remain. So here they will remain, confined to the city limits of
La Nouvelle-Orléans.
And not even the entire city, just the part that existed in 1728, when the spell was bound.” He bit down on his lip.

“So, you are telling me that not only did I let a group of vampires escape, but now they are confined to the French Quarter?”

He rested his left elbow against the wall next to my face, and bowed his head just above mine. “
Si, bella
.”

“But you weren’t cursed. You weren’t trapped in the attic.”

“
No. Grazie
a
Adelin
e
, I didn’t make it on the ship with Gabriel and my cousins, so I wasn’t trapped in the attic with them. I can leave whenever I want.” He leaned so close it felt like we were touching.

And then we were.

His fingers brushed my face, and I let my head move slightly so that his cool hand cupped my cheek. Every part of my being tingled. Maybe out of excitement? Maybe as a warning to stop flirting with the enemy? My lashes batted shut as his face came closer to mine, and my heart pounded deep like a base drum— but then Nicco swung around.

Behind us, Émile was slowly clapping his hands. “So, this is why I’m getting the cold shoulder,
ma chéri
e
?
”

In the silence that followed, I heard the faint sound of my name being shouted over and over again. “Adele! Are you okay?” All eyes went to the sidewalk, to my phone.
Dammit. The call must have been connected this whole tim
e
.

Before I could reach it, Émile scooped the phone off the ground. “I’m sorry, but Miss Le Moyne is preoccupied at the moment. Can I take a message?” His French accent was totally gone, and he now sounded just like Nicco, but more bitter and slightly insane.

He moved the phone from his ear as Isaac yelled on the other end: “Go to hell, bloodsucker!”

Ugh. Isaac… Wait, did he just say bloodsucker? What the hell?

“How sweet,” Émile teased, hanging up the call and handing the phone back to me. “A love triangle.” There was no anger in his voice; he was just taunting us. Smiling. “
Fratello
, please don’t tell me that you’re really competing with a bird for the affection of a human?”

Embarrassment boiled over inside me, and then anger, but I focused on controlling myself. One of the only things I had going for me in this nightmare was the element of surprise, so there was no point in flying off the handle and giving myself away – that is, if Nicco hadn’t already told his brothers about my abilities.

“Go back inside, Adele,” Nicco muttered, pushing me behind him so forcefully I nearly fell to the ground.

“I can take care of myself,” I said, trying to keep my balance.

He ignored me and yelled something in Italian to his brother, which only made Emilio scoff. “Of course I would get to her first, brother. Please…”

Get to me first?

“This really is adorable,” he continued, hanging a lanky but intimidating arm around each of us. An arm I used to love having wrapped around me when we rode his Vespa together.
Ugh
.

“
Je ne comprends pas, Émile,
” I said.

“Well then, let me make it perfectly comprehensible for you, since my little bro is probably being vague – it’s his specialty.” Emilio dropped the arm from Nicco and walked me away. He rested his forehead against the side of my head when he spoke, but looked straight at his brother. “As you already know, I am very direct.”

Nicco’s fangs snapped out.