Page 28 of Addicted in Blood
Simone glanced at Lucas, and he left the room.“We’ll arrange for additional security.I don’t believe the majority of your Family resides at the estate.”
“That’s right.Only the immediate family and the cadre.Everyone else is spread throughout Santa Rosa.”
“I suggest you centralize as many of your family as seems appropriate.Just until this is over.”
The brother stood, then helped his sister up before taking Lyra’s hand.“I can’t thank you enough for reaching out.”He chuckled, but it sounded cold.“We haven’t heard a word from Venizi.I hope you find enough to take him down.”
Simone responded with a wide smile.“One step at a time.”
ChapterFifteen
After the tea house,Sergi drove me around the city.The sultry, twilight air was perfect for the scenic drive through the Garden District and past cemeteries with their above-ground tombs.I’d heard of New Orleans jazz funerals and found them interesting.If we ran across one, I’d force Sergi to stop so I could watch and learn.
The route eventually took us back to the French Quarter.We parked at the hotel and walked to Bourbon Street.Sergi was unusually relaxed, and he let me wander through the tourist shops and listen to music.After a dinner of appetizers at a corner bar where we people-watched, Sergi led me down a side street to a cubbyhole of a jazz club that probably attracted more locals than tourists.
The music was smooth and bluesy, and we found a half-circle booth toward the back where it was easier to talk, assuming I could get the quiet vamp in the right mood.The band was into their second set, Sergi was three scotches in, and I managed to get him to share campaign battles from four hundred years earlier.Great stories if you didn’t mind the gory details that Sergi seemed to relish.
I twirled the umbrella in my Hurricane.I knew the drink was cliche, but I figured when in Rome.The first one I’d drunk was like drinking gasoline.The second one was from a takeout window and was more fruity, less rocket fuel.Since I was still able to walk into the jazz club without stumbling, I figured I could sip the next one, and it was either the tastiest one of the night or I was getting used to their potency.I was on my way to being a handful for Sergi to get home, so I might not have been the best judge.
There I was, twirling the pink and lime umbrella, a dozen subtle ways to broach the subject running through my booze-soaked brain when I blurted out, “So, how did Devon get hooked on Magic Poppy the first time?”
I could have died.I blamed the Hurricanes.
I hung my head, almost poking my eye out on the umbrella.And the day had started out so well.The minutes ticked by, and I racked my brain for another topic.
“He didn’t tell me much about that first time.”Sergi’s voice was difficult to hear above the music.
I inched closer to him, keeping my head down, not wanting to meet his gaze and give him a reason to stop.
“He told me who the supplier was and…” He stopped, and I thought he changed his mind about telling me, but he kept going.“Let me start at the beginning.This isn’t something I ever thought I’d share, but considering the circumstances, I think it’s best if you understand the full scope of the situation.”
Was it too late to tell him never mind?
“His parents had been killed in an accident while he’d been overseas.A few years later, he ran across someone by pure coincidence that suggested their deaths hadn’t been an accident.He never told me who gave him the information.Who knows if it was true, but Devon was obsessed with finding the answer.During that time, Lyra had moved from her catatonic state into a manic one.She spoke of voices that only she could hear and would be awake for days, fighting the blood donors, until collapsing from fatigue.
“Lorenzo’s influence on the Council had grown, and he pushed Devon as often as he could, knowing he was adding pressure on a new House leader.At the same time, Devon created animosity with his Father’s cadre when he brought in his own guards.Even with the more-than-generous options Devon had given the old cadre, most of them left without a second glance.”
I heard the ice clink against the glass in his drink, and I lifted my head to give him my full attention.
He met my gaze.“I think Devon still feels guilty about that.A rookie mistake, but those tend to be the ones that stick with a vampire.”He sipped the scotch.“The bottom line, he was under intense scrutiny and stress.One day, he left the manor and never returned.It didn’t take long for the rumors to start.Someone from Venizi’s family had seen Devon in the Hollows.
“He’d rented a room at some cheap motel, and by the time I’d found him, he’d already taken his first dose.He wouldn’t tell me about it, but he let it slip he’d purchased a second dose.I turned the room upside down and never found it, but he relented and told me the name of his supplier.When I tracked the guy down, he swore he’d only sold Devon the one sample.At the time, I assumed Devon had run across someone else with the Poppy and thought he could control it.But now?”
He stared at the stage.The band was on a break, and the club was playing a jazz mix over the speakers.Sergi didn’t have what poker players called a tell.No affectation or habitual behavior that gave away his thoughts or moods, but I’d been in enough training scenarios with him to know when he was pissed.A blood vessel on his left temple pulsed when he was ready to punch something.I trusted he was under enough control to not act out in public.
“I’ve been asking myself if maybe Devon had been passed the Poppy without his knowing.”He finished his scotch and waved an arm for the server.“It only takes one dose to become highly addicted.”His hand clenched.“He always said he couldn’t remember taking it, and I never believed him.When he found another supplier, I told him he was on his own.Before I walked away, I relented and said the House would be waiting when he was ready to lead again.”
I wanted to say something, but there wasn’t anything that would fix the past.He wouldn’t want to hear platitudes or that there was nothing he could have done.So I said nothing.
His gaze returned to mine, and it was the first time I saw true pain in his eyes.“It was decades before he returned completely sober and full of contrition.It took several more years before he proved himself as leader of the House.”
“How did the House survive without a leader?”If they hadn’t considered Lyra for succession this time, it was doubtful they’d thought of it the first time.
“The cadre took care of House business as best we could.Devon was still the House leader in name.”
“But he can’t be now?”
“He hadn’t committed any crime the first time.The Poppy was illegal, but there were no criminal penalties for being addicted.There were fines, but the criminal charges only applied to the suppliers, who conveniently disappeared once the Eliminators were aware of the Poppy supply.”
