Page 16 of Addicted in Blood
People are dangerous.Must stay away.
He saw her.Couldn’t get to her.Save her.Not the right time.Not yet.
When he reaches his den, he slows.Another has been here.Same scent.
A dead deer lays in the soft needle bed.Same place as before.It won’t satisfy, but he drags it into his den and tears into it.
It will have to do for now.
ChapterTen
The New Orleanshotel was luxury at its finest.No expense spared for vamps, it seemed.Our rooms were on the executive level and the floor had a lounge with its own bar for entertaining, a buffet with made-to-order omelets for breakfast, and various appetizers provided throughout the day.Sergi sat at a table on the far side of the room near the windows that overlooked the Quarter.
He looked refreshed and polished, where I felt like crap on toast.Two hours of sleep would do that to you.I dropped into the cushioned chair across from him, and he barely batted an eye, though I caught his grimace.
He must have taken pity on me because he poured a cup of coffee from the urn that had been left on the table.I’d barely taken my first drink when a waiter set down a plate of freshly made beignets.
“Eat them while they’re warm.”Sergi cut into a piece, and he might have smiled when he licked the powdered sugar from his lips.
My stomach was more than ready for food, and we spared the small talk while we followed the pastry with eggs, bacon, sausage, and biscuits.I fell back, hands over my stomach as if I’d finished a Thanksgiving feast.Our meeting with the local House leader was to be over breakfast, but if I remembered Anna’s training, the meal was more symbolic than filling.When a fresh pot of coffee was delivered, I refilled our cups and waited for Sergi to start the conversation.
He tapped his ever-present tablet.“Lafitte will be expecting us in an hour.”
“What’s our explanation for being here?”
“To visit the Renaud Library.Lucas asked me to stop in while we’re here.”
“You think you might find out where Philipe Renaud is?”
He pushed the tablet aside and released a sigh as he scanned the empty tables around us.“No.But I might pick up a scent if there’s concern about him.And, as you’re Devon’s Blood Ward, it’s important for you to learn more of our culture.And what better place?”
“Even though we have a library closer to home in L.A.?”
He gave me that grin that said he knew more than me and enjoyed showing it.“There’s a smaller library in San Francisco, more an annex, but it still houses many books and antiquities.It’s open by invitation only.They occasionally hold a benefit there.When they built the Los Angeles museum in the 1930s that became the public museum on the West Coast, and the San Francisco library became more a warehouse.The building is too small to be much more.
“Each library holds different items.Since no one can remove the material from the library, the Family prefers to ship an item to a closer library should someone request it.That way, one doesn’t have to travel as far, unless they’re working on a particular project and require access to everything on the topic.”
“What will you tell them you’re looking for?”
“Not a thing.Lafitte needs to know why we’re visiting, but not the details.Since this is your first visit to New Orleans, I will, of course, want to show you the city and all its marvels.”
I nodded and sipped my coffee, glancing out the window to the few tourists already wandering through the Quarter.From what little I knew, the place wouldn’t get busy until mid-afternoon.I fingered the card in my pocket.This was as good a time as any, though I’d planned a more private setting.I glanced over my shoulder; the closest people were six tables away.
I slid the note that had been left in my pillowcase across the table to him.
A brow lifted as he scanned the room.He gave me a quick glance before picking it up.His gaze shot back to me.“When did you receive this?”
“It was tucked inside my pillowcase.”
He tapped his finger on the note.“Interesting.”
“That’s not the half of it.”I slipped the bone, wrapped in a tissue, across the table.
When he opened it, he stared at the bone for a long while then turned it over, inspecting it.“This is a real bone, but not human.”
I leaned over and whispered, “Is this voodoo?”
He shrugged.“Not necessarily, but I think it gives us a place to start.Although I’m not sure we’ll have to do much searching.”
