THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2005
“The names of the first of Louisiana’s Hurricane Katrina victims to be identified were released Wednesday, but scores of victims may never be identified … . The 32 were the first of the 896 victims recovered so far to be identified by the state.”
—THE TIMES–PICAYUNE
I
was still in the library with the door locked when Alex came looking for me about seven a.m. I’d done my grounding ritual twice. My mojo bags had been refilled with fresh herbs.
He pounded on the door, and I ran to unlock it before he flattened it and I had to buy yet another one.
“I hope you didn’t summon someone else while I was asleep.” He paced the room, wafting traces of sandalwood aftershave and soap and coffee behind him. My area rug was in its normal spot, but he lifted the edge to make sure I wasn’t trying to hide anything.
I could hide a lot without moving a rug.
“I didn’t summon anybody. I’ve just been up all night, thinking.”
“Uh-oh.” He smiled then, and I knew I’d made the right decision.
I patted his arm as I headed back to the sitting room. “Let me take a shower, then I’ll come down and tell you what I’ve been thinking about.”
I covered the worst of my bruises in makeup again. If this kept up, I’d need stage makeup to give me better coverage.
Alex had cooked breakfast—real eggs, bacon, toast. “Figured we’d need lots of protein to talk to Zrakovi this morning,” he said, handing me a plate.
I didn’t have an appetite, but knew I needed to force it down. Last night’s dinner had been peanuts and bourbon. My diet wasn’t helping me cope.
“So,” he said, sitting at the table with a pile of eggs the size of a softball, “were you up all night thinking about Gerry being your father?”
“Sort of.” I bit off a bite of bacon and promptly spat it into a napkin. “What
is
that?”
“Soy bacon. It’s good for you.”
I was unsure about many things in my life, but I was fairly certain God did not intend bacon to be made from a plant.
“Let me ask you a hypothetical question.” I set the vile bacon travesty aside and chewed on some toast. “If you had to choose between protecting someone you loved and doing what you thought was right, what would you do?”
He put his fork down and frowned. “Why do I think this isn’t hypothetical?”
I shrugged and took a sip of coffee, avoiding his eyes.
He cleared his throat. “Well. I’m assuming, in your imaginary situation, that doing both isn’t an option. In other words, I can’t both protect my loved one
and
do the right thing.”
I shook my head.
He pushed the rest of his eggs around with his fork. “I’m not going to ask what you found out, or figured out. If you tell me, you know my loyalties lie with the Elders. You have to make your own decision, and I’ll do my best to support you.”
“Even if I make the wrong decision?” Would he support me then?
He gave up on breakfast and put his fork down. “I’ll try.”
I sighed. “I still have some thinking to do, and I need to call Tish.”
I left Alex to clean up and went upstairs to ready the transport for Zrakovi. Then I made my call, telling Tish everything, start to finish. I could tell when she started to cry. I didn’t ask Tish if she knew Gerry was my father. All that had to be set aside for now, all the who-knew-what-and-when.
She blew her nose, and I could visualize her squaring her shoulders. “I can’t tell you what to do, DJ. Gerry’s my one great love, but he’s wrong about this.”
“If I tell the Elders, we’ll lose him.”
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. Either way, we’d already lost him.
I checked the transport, and waited for Alex to join me. A few minutes before nine, with no Alex in sight, an image appeared in the transport and solidified into a short, slender man with pale, thinning hair in a stylish cut. Bright blue eyes studied me from above a prominent nose. I stared back at him. I didn’t know proper Elder etiquette. Should I kiss his ring? Genuflect? Somehow I thought Zrakovi would be older, taller.
He raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms across his chest, rumpling the jacket of his conservative black suit. “Well?”
Ack. Stupid. I’d created a closed transport, not an open one, so he couldn’t move until I broke the circle. I smudged it open with my foot.
“In these times, you probably should have asked to see identification,” he said. “But the closed transport was a good idea.”
“Well, a paranoid one. You never know who might show up these days.”
He laughed.
Willem Zrakovi walked around my library, nodding as he perused book titles and peered into shelves, scanning the long rows of neatly labeled glass containers.
Alex wandered in with one of his foul protein drinks. He choked at the sight of the wizard, and collapsed in a fit of coughing.
The wizard looked over his sizable nose and nodded. “Mr. Warin.”
“Elder Zrakovi,” Alex croaked.
Zrakovi turned back to me with a warm smile—he certainly beat the Speaker on people skills. “Forgive my manners, but I am always fascinated to see another wizard’s work space, especially of the Green Congress. Yours is most impressive. I am Willem Zrakovi. I apologize that we haven’t met in person earlier, but these are difficult times.”
I pondered whether one should offer refreshments when entertaining wizarding royalty, but decided against it. He could afford his own snacks.
“Elder Zrakovi.” I wasn’t sure how to begin, so I pointed to a seat. I’d take my cues from him.
He looked out the window briefly before sitting in one of the library armchairs. I took the chair facing him and decided he must originally have been a Green Congress wizard himself. He wore an enormous emerald ring on his left ring finger. Jewelry’s a dead giveaway on a wizard. I’d have more emerald jewelry if I could afford it.
He cleared his throat. “Drusilla, I understand you obtained some information both from summoning Marie Laveau and meeting with Jean Lafitte. You’ve been very busy.”
Zrakovi didn’t know the half of it. “I’ve also gotten some additional information by doing a reconstruction of a transport I found in Gerry St. Simon’s house. And from a sort of lucid dream.” That sounded really stupid now that I’d said it aloud.
He looked taken aback, and Alex stifled a smile from his perch atop my worktable.
“Your mentor taught you to be creative in your magic use, I see,” Zrakovi said drily.
I grimaced. “Look, sir, I know keeping Louis Armstrong as a spy was kind of unorthodox, but …”
Zrakovi held up a hand to stop me. “I wasn’t referring to Mr. Armstrong. That was an unusual means of gathering information, but I thought it quite clever. Obviously, that tactic wouldn’t work with just any of the historical undead.”
Zrakovi looked at me a few seconds before continuing. “Why don’t you tell me everything you’ve learned.”
W
ith a silent apology to Gerry and a prayer that I’d be able to live with my decision, I spilled my guts. About Gerry’s cheerful departure with Samedi in the transport. About Jean Lafitte’s contention that the vampires and fae were using Samedi as a stalking horse to test the waters in overthrowing the Elders. About the first two dreams in which Gerry and I had communicated. Even about the traveling elven staff.
“And there was a third dream last night, which I initiated,” I said, glancing at Alex. He looked surprised, but nodded his encouragement. “Gerry is alive.”
I stared out the window, seeing nothing, willing myself to stay calm and see this through. “He’s in the Beyond, I believe, probably in Old Orleans. He is still backing Samedi. I tried to warn him that he was going to be double-crossed but he didn’t believe me.”
“Damned arrogant fool,” Zrakovi snapped, getting to his feet and beginning a rapid back-and-forth pace in front of the windows. “He wouldn’t try to work through channels, wouldn’t
consider the idea he might be wrong. And Samedi. Of all the creatures to trust …”
I waited, eyes on the floor. Even with a grounding and two mojo bags I felt the sizzle of Zrakovi’s anger.
“Tell me about these dreams.” Zrakovi pulled his emotions under control and sat down again. I still wished I could move farther away from him, to escape his intensity.
“I thought they were just dreams at first. Alex suspected they might not be. But last night, after I learned—” Did I want to even get into the daddy business? “After I learned some personal information about my relationship to Gerry, I decided to try and instigate another dream myself. And it worked.”
“What did you find out about your and Gerry’s relationship?”
I blinked. “Uh, that’s he’s my biological father. Did you know that?” Of course the Elders knew that. They wouldn’t have had my grandparents send me to Gerry at random.
“I thought he’d have told you by now.” Zrakovi frowned and fiddled with his cuffs. I bet I knew what his poker tell would be. “I realize the personal cost of what you’re telling me. I admire your courage.”
I looked at the rug, which had a spot on the corner that was coming unraveled. Courage. What a joke. I wanted to run out the library door and keep running.
“So.” He got up and paced again. “As you suspected, you were not having dreams, Drusilla. Dream magic is an elven skill. A few Yellow Congress wizards can do it, but not many.”
Alex and I exchanged startled looks and he tilted his head in the direction of the library door, where the elven staff had propped itself against the wall.
“You have elven blood from both biological parents, which is rare,” Zrakovi said. “You’ve shown some skill at elven magic since you were a child. And now the staff.” He shook his head.
“I don’t know what that means. We shall have to do some research.”
I took a deep breath. “What do you know about Baron Samedi? Why does he want me?”
“Like many of the gods in the Beyond who have fallen out of favor in modern society, Samedi resents his fading powers—voodoo has virtually become a tourist attraction in New Orleans, and the loa hate that. Samedi has been consigned to the Beyond for a long time now, and to come back, he has to build up his power with blood sacrifice. A wizard’s blood would be very attractive to him, especially a powerful wizard.”
“But I’m not powerful.” I could barely handle a simple summoning. “I just don’t get it.”
“It’s the elven connection,” Alex said. He’d been silent till now, but he hopped off the worktable and came to sit on the floor next to my chair. “That’s what he wants, isn’t it? Gerry can’t give him that.”
“I think that’s probably true,” Zrakovi said. He walked back to the window and looked at the empty street for a few minutes.
Finally, he returned to his chair. “I think you’ve rightly deduced that Gerry is still alive and in the Beyond. His magic wouldn’t work properly there, so it’s a huge risk for him to take. He’s forfeiting most of his power, but it would allow him to help Samedi in secret.”
I stared at the rug again.
Zrakovi leaned forward so I’d have to look at him. “I’ve known Gerry a great many years, since long before you were born. He’s always hated that the Elders kept such rigid control over the Beyond. I have no doubt that in any agreement with Samedi, he thought he was doing the right thing. But what he has done is, in our world, unforgivable. You understand that, don’t you?”
I pulled my legs up in the chair and wrapped my arms around my knees. “I do.”
Alex was finding his shoelaces fascinating, but sensed me watching him. We locked gazes. He looked miserable. I only hoped if the Elders found Gerry, they wouldn’t make Alex be the one to kill him. Surely the Elders would do that deed themselves and not turn it over to an enforcer.
“What happens next?” Alex’s voice was strained.
“You do nothing,” Zrakovi answered. “Now that we know what is going on, let us handle it.”
He stood, and Alex and I followed suit. “I’ll contact the full Congress of Elders to secure a warrant that will allow us to detain Samedi and strip him of his power, but it’s a political issue and will take a couple of days,” Zrakovi said. “If he is interested in you either as a pawn or a sacrifice, Drusilla, he will try to pull you to him. Stay where you are, behind your wards, and let us do our work.”
“Excuse me, sir,” Alex asked. “But how long will it take the Elders to repair the damage between the Now and the Beyond?”
Zrakovi sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know. We’re trying to monitor and repair hundreds of breaches along the Gulf Coast from the two hurricanes. In the meantime, we’re encountering resistance from many groups within the Beyond who see this as an opportunity to make inroads back into the mundane world. Now at least we know they’re trying to keep our attention away from Samedi and Gerry.” A trace of anger had returned to his voice.
He stepped back into the transport and nodded at me. I filled in the edge I’d wiped out earlier and fed energy into it. As he faded in a shimmer of light, Zrakovi said five words that echoed Gerry’s: “Stay out of the Beyond.”
Alex and I stood silently for a few seconds, then I flopped back in my chair. “Sit here, he says. I don’t want to just sit here and wait.
Maybe if Gerry knows the Elders are onto them I can talk him into backing down, staying hidden in the Beyond. I need to get in touch with him again.” I doubted I’d be able to sleep for a week, much less bring on some weird elven magical dream on demand.
“You absolutely do not need to get in touch with Gerry.” Alex leaned over the chair and got in my face. I glowered at him. He knelt, a hand on either arm of my chair so I couldn’t move, and his voice was firm. “Look, I know you love Gerry no matter what he’s done, and you want to try to summon him and warn him to stay where he is. Am I right?”
I gave him a blank face.
He shook his head. “You have to do what Zrakovi said and keep a low profile till this is over. If Samedi finds a way to get to you, you’re as good as dead.”
He paused for a moment. “And you’ll get me killed, because I’ll have to try and save you.”
I rubbed my temples with my fingers and shut my eyes, willing it all just to go away.
“How much do you know about the Wizards’ War of Nineteen Seventy-six?”
I looked at him in surprise. “I know there was a group of rogue wizards who went up against the Elders. And I know Gerry fought in it—and he fought for the Elders.” I didn’t see his point. “Why?”
“It started a lot like this, only without the hurricane. Actually, I read about it in one of Gerry’s books. One of the ancient gods from the Beyond took advantage of an ambitious wizard who let him come and go freely. Over time, he was able to draw dark wizards and other mages to his side. They finally launched a full-scale assault against the Elders. The only reason the wizards won is that they were able to draw the fae to their side, and the vampires stayed neutral.
“That might not happen this time.”