CHAPTER 6

 

Sleep wasn’t happening, and it wasn’t just the Axeman bothering me.

My muscles ached, and my limbs twitched under the covers with nervous energy. After flailing around my bed until my legs were entombed in a knot of sheets and blankets, I extricated myself and slumped into my library-slash-workroom.

Here, I stashed my magical gear and the spell and potion ingredients that comprised the stock-in-trade of Green Congress wizards, the ritual magic-makers of the wizarding world. The bottles, jars, and containers—most from my collection of Early American Pattern Glass—sat on their floor-to-ceiling shelves, organized and meticulous in a way only achieved by the truly obsessive-compulsive. Cinnamon, mint, and ginger scents swirled in a comforting mélange, and I took solace in the order of it.

Speaking of demons, Sebastian, an evil minion of Satan with crossed blue eyes, grabbed his rubber rat and fled the room. He lived under the mistaken impression I coveted the slimy thing.

I paused next to the worktable. If I turned loup-garou I might want to eat rats. At least one or two days a month, I’d probably want to eat Sebastian. My funk reached the status of utter and epic.

Books consumed one wall of the library: magical histories, textbooks on fables and lore, and grimoires—spellbooks filled with magic both legal and black as evil. Along with Sebastian, my elven genes, the staff, and the gutted shell of a house in Lakeview, the black grimoires were my legacy from my father and mentor, Gerry.

I spent an hour pulling out anything that might address the issue of wizards’ immunity to werewolf viruses, but found conflicting information. Enough to keep hope alive, but not enough to offer relief.

I didn’t dare log onto the Congress of Elders’ secure online database and do a search. Big Brother might be watching. Probably Adrian Hoffman, the Speaker of the Elders. My translation: PR flack and receptionist, although I guess he had to have decent wizarding skills to even hold that position.

I would never be a fan of Hoffman’s, and held him at least partially responsible for the rampage of the killer nymph last month, a debacle that left me in the hospital. Had he done a background check when I’d asked, or given any credence to the red flags raised by my elven abilities, my merman friend Rene Delachaise wouldn’t have lost his twin brother, and Tish Newman, the closest I’d had to a mother since my own mom died when I was six, would still be alive. She’d been murdered on my front porch when the killer couldn’t get inside to me, and part of me would forever lay the blame at Hoffman’s feet.

I felt Tish’s absence like a physical weight now. She could always ground me, give me perspective, provide moral support. We’d buried her only a month ago, and the memory of her death, violent and unnecessary, hurt worse than my ribs. Until she was gone, I hadn’t realized how much I loved her, and maybe had taken her for granted.

So, yeah, Adrian Hoffman wasn’t my favorite person, and since he’d been publicly chastised by the Elders for not doing the background check on the killer as I’d asked, the feeling was probably mutual. If he found out I’d been exposed to the loup-garou virus, my life value would sink to the price of cheap Mardi Gras beads, Jake’s life would be forfeit, and Alex might as well open a chain of fitness centers.

I sat in the armchair by the window and stared into the branches of the live oaks outside. Horns blared and car stereos rumbled from the buildup of Monday morning traffic along Magazine Street.

Why couldn’t I have psychic skills instead of empathic? I could get my hands on that shirt Jake had found and tell where the Axeman was—maybe even tell when he’d strike next. I would know the outcome of my loup-garou exposure and could either forget it or send myself into a full-blown panic.

Holy crap. I might not be psychic, but I knew who was.

I hurried to the desk and flipped open my laptop, logging on to the Elders’ site and clicking until I had the wizard directory. No Yellow Congress wizards had lived in New Orleans before Katrina, which had been fine with me. They excelled at mental magic, often telepathy and divination. I absorbed too many emotions from other people through my empathy to not be freaked out by the idea of someone else being able to read me—not just my emotions, but my thoughts.

However, all kinds of folks interested in the city’s renewal, both human and wizard, had flocked here since the storm, so we might have one now. Finally, I found one name with a New Orleans address. A familiar name.

I’d met Adam Lyle, a Houston psychiatrist, during a harebrained foray to the post-Katrina temporary morgue. I’d been desperately looking for Gerry, and Adam had been working the morgue as a volunteer—they’d needed help so badly, even a psychiatrist was welcomed. Guess he’d decided to stay.

Phone numbers had been removed from the database after a group of young Australian Blue Congress wizards had dreamt up a pyramid scheme last year, calling wizards and posing as Elders. The only contacts listed now were email addresses.

I clicked on Adam’s link and dashed off a quick note. I re-introduced myself and posed a hypothetical question I’d supposedly been asked at a party and couldn’t answer: whether a wizard exposed to a virulent strain of lycanthropy such as the loup-garou could be turned. If so, what signs should one look for, and would a Yellow Congress wizard be able to tell if the change would occur without waiting for the full moon?

It made sense that if a thought-pattern change had occurred from human to garou, a Yellow Congress wizard might be able to detect that through psychic skills. Of course if it were possible, I’d have to put a lot of trust in Adam Lyle. I’d worry about that later.

My Green Congress colleagues were geeks; we were almost always scientists or engineers—or risk-management experts. Adam should have no trouble believing this was a subject we might discuss at a cocktail party.

Relieved I’d done something proactive, I flopped on the sofa to watch the last dregs of the local morning news and mainline caffeine, still wearing my favorite Gryffindor pajamas. I closed my eyes and tried to feel anything in my own body or energy field that had changed. I still had the low-grade fever, but nothing else. If I were giving off werewolf vibes, would I be able to tell? I didn’t feel my own wizard’s energy, so probably not.

About nine, the back door rattled a few seconds and I was halfway off the sofa when I heard the dead bolt slide back and keys jingling. I relaxed again. The only other person who had a key to my house was the guy slamming cabinet doors and pouring himself coffee. “It’s me,” Alex said as an afterthought.

I’d given him a key to my house shortly after Katrina, when I’d needed a bodyguard. The immediate danger passed, but he never gave the key back and I never asked. Didn’t mean anything. At least that’s what I told myself. It must be true or I’d at least sit up and try to look presentable.

He came into the living room with a cup of coffee and one of his cardboard-coated-in-wax protein bars. Unlike me, he was neatly dressed, pressed, combed, and presentable.

“I called Ken to ask if he’d heard from Jake and he said there’d been another attack—made the TV news yet?” He shoved my feet far enough off the sofa to sit down on the other end. Sebastian raced in, dropped the rubber rat on Alex’s lap like a sacred gift, and purred in contentment. Traitorous wretch.

“Nope—is it the same as the others? Was it in the Quarter? How the hell did he come back after one day? Can you get me into the crime scene? Has Ken heard from Jake?”

Alex stroked Sebastian and scratched behind his ears. “No news on Jake. I’ll be able to get into the scene after the NOPD lab guys are done, as a courtesy, but I doubt I’ll be able to get you in. Ken won’t fall for the ‘Axeman expert’ thing twice. And you tell me—how can he come back this soon?”

I sat up, holding on to my ribs to keep them from falling out. “I guess all bets are off on his return time because of the media attention he’s getting. They’re even reading original newspaper stories on the air. He’s probably strong right now.”

Alex bit off a piece of chocolate-flavored wax and wiped a crumb from what I called his winter fighting clothes—black pants, kick-ass boots, and a black long-sleeved T-shirt. In summer he changed to short sleeves. When running, he changed shoes. The man was easy to shop for.

On TV, the anchor launched into a story on the upcoming holiday lights display at City Park with no news on the Axeman. Alex turned sideways on the sofa to face me and rubbed my ankles. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Not for lack of trying.” I put my cup on the coffee table and told him about Adam Lyle and my email. “I’m out of ideas.”

Alex stretched, a flex of taut muscle that distracted me more than anything I’d come up with on my own. “I bet even if your wizard DNA doesn’t protect you, the elven-wizard combination will.”

“How quickly would I feel something? Does it mean anything that I have a fever?” I’d been so jumpy since the argument with Jake, I didn’t know if my problem was heightened loup-garou senses, fear, or paranoia. Maybe all of the above.

“Not sure. I’ve dealt more with werewolves than loup-garou. Everything’s amped with them. Don’t forget, Jake healed so fast after his attack that a Blue Congress guy had to go in and doctor his medical records. He even had to cast a confusion spell on the medical team.”

I eased my sleeve up, baring a forearm that still showed a scratch. Lighter and scabbed, but still there. “No fast healing. It’s a good sign, right? And my ribs still hurt like a sonofabitch.”

Alex reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “No clue, DJ. Jake was seriously torn up and had more virus in him from the get-go. Scratch like yours, you might not be able to tell anything till the full moon.”

“Great.” I slumped back again. “You go by the Gator?”

He slouched next to me, stretching out long black-clad legs and propping his feet on the coffee table. “Yeah, it’s locked tight and doesn’t look like he’s been home. The ledger from last night’s sales is still propped against the door to his apartment. I left a note for Leyla that Jake was called out of town unexpectedly and to keep running things as normal.”

“I bet he went to Old Orleans,” I said. Their hometown of Picayune, Mississippi, was full of nosy relatives, and Ken would ask too many questions.

“It’s probably a good place for him right now.” Alex slid an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. He was warm and safe, and I wished we could stay like this all day.

“What are you going to tell the head of the enforcers about Jake?” The enforcer chief, who also had FBI connections, had helped get the DDT set up. He’d have to know if half of his two-man investigative team was off radar.

“I’m not going to volunteer that Jake isn’t here. With headquarters in Virginia, I can cover for a while.” Alex rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “But if I’m asked point-blank, I won’t lie for him. Not anymore.”

I prayed Jake would come back before Alex had to report him AWOL. With a loup-garou it would mean an immediate death sentence, and I wasn’t sure Alex could live with that, however brave and fed up he sounded right now.

“But this does mean it’s time to tell Ken about the Division of Domestic Terror.” Alex got up and began to pace. “With Jake gone and this Axeman case getting bigger, we need help.”

The Elders had already approved the move, but Ken was a hundred-percent human and reasoned his way through problems like a cop. He didn’t realize things like wizards existed, much less that his buddy Alex could turn into a pony-size dog and that Jake was a rogue werewolf with control problems.

But having someone inside the NOPD would be more than helpful. Alex and Jake thought Ken could handle our wacky world, and I tended to agree. I didn’t know him that well, but he struck me as serious and levelheaded and not prone to drama. “When do you want to talk to him?”

“Tonight. He’s coming to my place at nine when he goes off duty, and I’d like you to be there,” Alex said. “If he makes me go furry to prove we’re not lying, you’ll have to keep him from running.”

Fabulous. I’d done such a good job at keeping Jake from running away, why not go oh-for-two?