Mental note: Never, ever take a trip into New Orleans’ city limits during peak hour. We made the monumental mistake of driving into the French Quarter and hitting the tourist traffic mid-afternoon. I’d forgotten what it was like, so much traffic, so many double-decker tour buses, so many people.
“I can’t believe this!” Marie cried in shock.
“Relax,” Jax soothed. “This is normal.”
“What have they done to my New Orleans?” Marie wailed, face pressed to her window. “I can’t see. The crowds. There are so many people.”
I shot a triumphant glance at Jax. We had Marie rattled. Maybe now that she’d seen how much New Orleans had changed, she’d give up on her diabolical plan. Although I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what her plan actually was.
Despite the brief outpouring of panic, Marie calmed, and now she placed a hand against the window and watched the world outside with intrigue. “I’m going to put a hex on this entire city,” she said, sending a shiver down my spine.
“What?” Jax barked, slamming on the brakes, jolting us all forward. Banks hissed, his claws digging into my thighs. “Easy,” I whispered, soothing him with long, slow strokes. To Marie, I said, “why?”
“Why?” She almost seemed disappointed I’d asked. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“No, not at all.”
“Can’t you feel it?” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “There is so much negativity here.”
“Like you’re one to talk.” I couldn’t resist the small jab.
Jax’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel, but he didn’t say anything.
I was met with an intent stare. Marie’s eyes were bright with an inner light which sent shivers down my spine. She had a soft voice, but it seemed to boom around the cabin. She gave me a fake smile. “To see what happens, of course. I want to know if you’re strong enough to survive.”
I cleared my throat and looked away.
Across the street, a man bellowed at his wife, who was on her cell phone. A woman strode down the road, cell phone pressed to her ear, while a toddler ran circles around her. A man on the opposite side of the street hurried past, all but running, with a briefcase in one hand and a coffee in the other, sporting a Bluetooth headset on his ears. Three teenagers raced past, chattering excitedly.
Marie drew in a breath, eyelids flickering. “This is amazing,” she whispered. “I never thought I’d be able to feel it again.”
“Feel what?” I probed.
“The energy. More than just magic.” She turned to me, her gaze glazing over. “Negative energy. Powerful negative energy.”
Jax gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, but he held his tongue, and we continued in silence. Our destination was Bourbon Street, in the heart of the French Quarter. He drove in the right lane, trying to avoid the potholes and the people who were either lining up for the bus or dodging the buses as they hurtled down the road.
A drunk man staggered out of a bar and immediately vomited on the sidewalk. “It’s not your New Orleans anymore, is it?” I said, my voice soft. “You must see it’s changed.”
Marie snorted. “The city has been reborn. All is as it should be.”
A powerful surge of magic filled the car. Purple sparkles popped, blurring my vision, and the tires screeched on the asphalt as Jax tried to keep control of the vehicle. Easing his foot off the accelerator, he pulled over to the curb while my heart pounded and my ears rang.
Banks, who hates being woken at the best of times, had his claws embedded in the roof, dangling upside down with his fur on end.
“What. Was. That?” he hissed.
I shook my head and gently disengaged him, easing him back onto my lap. “I have no idea.” Although a quick glance into the back seat cleared it up. Aunt Tilly was gone. In her place was a parcel wrapped in brown paper, tied with string.
Banks jumped into the back and thoroughly sniffed it.
“Well?” I asked.
“It’s okay. It’s from Carol,” he said.
“Carol?”
“Baba Yaga.”
My eyebrows rose. “You call her Carol?”
He cocked his head. “Sure. It’s her name. Why? What do you call her?”
“Uh, Baba Yaga. Pretty sure if I called her Carol, I’d get my butt smote. Or is that smitten? Smited?”
“You know Baba Yaga is a title? Not a name?”
“Yes, I know. It’s the title given to a witch who is powerful enough and wise enough to lead witches. Word is, Carol is training someone new for the role.” I ducked my head, half expecting a bolt of lightning to strike me for using Baba Yaga’s given name.
Banks swung a paw at the string. “The Shifter Whisperer,” he said.
“Zelda.” I sighed, thinking of the stunningly gorgeous witch with the curly auburn hair and emerald green eyes. Zelda and I had one thing in common. We’d both been in the pokey. That was the only thing that had gotten me through the ordeal, the thought that if Zelda could do it, so could I. She’d been incarcerated for nine months for misuse of magic—using her magic to obtain designer clothes and shoes was apparently frowned upon.
Zelda was not only the Shifter Whisperer, a witch with the magical ability to heal Shifters and other magical beings but also first in line to be the next Baba Yaga.
“You going to open this or what?” Banks asked, grabbing the string in his mouth and tugging.
Leaning between the front seats, I scooped up the parcel and placed it in my lap. It was the size of a shoebox and heavy. I pulled off the string and tossed it onto the back seat for Banks to play with, and the brown paper fell away, revealing a shoebox. I snorted. While I’d thought it resembled a shoebox, I hadn’t been expecting an actual shoe box. Reeboks, size seven. Opening the box, I peered inside. Not Reeboks, size seven.
A leather-bound book with the words You’ll need this glowing on the cover. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” I said drolly, eyeing the weighty tome. “If Baba Yaga sent me this, then she knows that Aunt Tilly accidentally summoned Marie Laveau.”
“She can’t be too mad,” Jax pointed out, “if she sent you that to help.”
“We have another problem,” I muttered, chewing my lip. “Where the heck is Aunt Tilly?” When the parcel had arrived, Aunt Tilly had vanished. I didn’t even hear the car door open. How did she slip out without us noticing? Now we had a voodoo priestess, who was currently occupying my aunt, loose in New Orleans.
“Are you listening to me?” Banks’ teeth sinking into my thigh brought me out of my thoughts with a sharp sting.
“Hey!” I protested, swatting him away. “No biting.”
“Wouldn’t have to if you’d just pay attention.” His silver eyes flashed, and his tail thumped. I recognized the signs. One kitty tantrum coming up unless I soothed him.
Reaching out a hand, I stroked his head. “I know. I’m sorry.” And the words Banks liked to hear the most? “You’re right.” It must be a male thing, I’m sure of it, for as soon as they left my lips, his entire demeanor changed. Gone was the bristling feline; in his place, a purring puss. Men!
“Okay, what were you saying?” And this time, I paid attention.
“That according to this, we have twenty-four hours to get Marie Laveau out of your aunt’s body. Otherwise, she’s here to stay, and your aunt is toast.”
I swallowed, and despite the heat of New Orleans, a shiver danced down my spine. “Any hints as to how we do that?”
“Oh, yes.” Banks nodded. “We need to get to The Broken Vial and purchase certain items.”
My heart sank. “For a spell.” Of course, it was for a spell. We needed a spell to break the spell Aunt Tilly had messed up.
Jax reached out and patted my thigh. “You’ve got this.”
I did my best to smile. I feared it was more of a grimace. Spells were not my forte, never had been, and Aunt Tilly herself was proof of how very wrong they could go.
“Let’s park and follow on foot,” Jax said. “She can’t have gotten too far.”
As far as plans go, ours was as solid as quicksand, but it was all we had. “Sure.” I mean, what choice did I have but to agree? We’d left Assjacket in the early hours of the morning, pre-dawn, thanks to the insistence of Marie’s spirit. And I admit, I’d been worried she’d smite us or something equally terrible if we’d denied her, so our trip to New Orleans to find out what the vampires were up to had quickly turned into a recon mission to oust a voodoo princess from what I hoped was her temporary possession of Aunt Tilly. I was exhausted just thinking about it.
“You and Banks jump out here.” Jax pulled me from my musings. “I’ll catch up with you.”
“You sure?”
“Of course. If we leave it much longer, you might lose sight of her.” It was a not-so-subtle dig to get my butt into gear and get after my aunt.
I grabbed the book and stuffed it into the backpack at my feet. Banks climbed in between the two seats and waited while I secured his harness. Not that I thought he’d run off—I knew Banks wouldn’t voluntarily leave my side. But humans were odd creatures, and if they saw a cat trotting along, appearing to be on their own? Well, let’s just say humans had attempted to rescue Banks on more than one occasion.
“All set?” Jax asked, arm draped over the steering wheel as he turned to face me.
“Yep.” I gave him a weak smile, leaned over to peck his cheek, then climbed out of the Jeep. Banks jumped out and stood patiently by my feet while I retrieved the backpack.
“I’ll park and then come find you,” Jax said. “Keep your phone handy.”
“Will do. See you soon.” The minute I closed the door, something strange happened. The world muted, the air shimmered. For the briefest of moments, it was as if we were underwater.
I jumped back as the red Jeep at the curb pulled out into traffic.
“Did you feel that?” I said to Banks.
“Sure did,” Banks replied. His fur stood on end, and his ears twitched.
“Magic,” we said in unison.
I cocked my head. “Where were we heading again?”
Banks looked up at me, his silver eyes flashing. “Um.” He glanced around as if our surroundings would give us a prompt. “You know, I can’t remember,” he eventually said.
“Me either.” Just admitting it sent a shiver down my spine. First, there was magic in the air, now this? Something was up.
“Have a look in your backpack,” Banks suggested. “Maybe there’s a clue.”
“Good idea.” I squatted and rummaged in the backpack, pulling out a big old book.
“Looks like a spell book,” Banks said, sniffing at it.
“Yet it’s called You’ll need this. What an odd title.”
“Look, there’s a string hanging out of it. Maybe it’s a bookmark.”
I awkwardly balanced the book on one knee and opened it to the spot marked by the string. Banks and I both read the page.
“Definitely a spell,” Banks said. “About banishing a spirit possession.”
I frowned. “Who do we know that’s possessed by a spirit?” Even as I said it, something at the edge of my memory pulled at me. I knew this. I knew what all of this meant, only the memory was just out of reach.
“Dunno.” Banks was standing on his hind legs with his paws on the book, studying the text. “But my first stop would be The Broken Vial to gather the ingredients. Maybe that’s where we were going?”
Closing the book, I slid it back into the backpack. “Worth a shot.” Picking up the bag, I tossed it over my shoulder, and with the other, I gripped Banks’ leash and headed toward Bourbon Street.