Page 58 of Mardi Gras Murders & Midnight Masquerades
Lucas's transformation was so swift it was nearly imperceptible. One moment, he stood beside me in human form, and the next, a massive wolf occupied the space. His hackles were raised, and his teeth bared in a silent snarl.
The shadow hounds hesitated at the sight of his wolf form. It was a momentary lapse I exploited without remorse. My witch fire streaked toward the nearest hound. It split in midair to target two of them simultaneously.
"Bad idea," I told the remaining creatures as they circled us. "I'm really not in the mood for this tonight."
They attacked as one, converging from three directions. I caught them with a shield spell. I used it to redirect their energy skyward, where it dissipated harmlessly. Lucas lunged at the largest hound. His massive form was a blur of fur and lethal intent. Unfortunately, many more hounds materialized around us.
I dropped to the ground when the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Just in time, too. An arrow whistled over my head. It struck a shadow hound about to attack medirectly between its glowing eyes. The creature dissolved into wisps of black smoke with an unearthly howl.
Turning, I was relieved to see Dea and Kota sprinting between the tombs. Kota was nocking another arrow to a bow she had to have conjured. I bet Dea used her power to ensure the arrow struck its target because Kota had never held a bow before in her life. Phi and Dre appeared before I could ask them. Both jumped right into the battle. Dani and Noah came last. I felt better having them there with me. Handling these cases was making me co-dependent. Something to think about another time.
The six of us formed a protective circle. Our powers complemented each other's with practiced efficiency. Lucas and Noah guarded our flanks in wolf form. "Let's end them," Dre called out. Without further communication, we unleashed our powers.
Now that we were together, the shadow hounds didn't stand a chance. Our magic wove together and tore through them like sunlight through morning mist. When the last one dissipated with a mournful howl, I turned to my sisters. "Well, that was a nice warm-up. Everyone get what they needed?"
Dani held up a vial of slimy black moss. "Found the exact baptismal font from Eleanor's vision."
"Mississippi water, collected where the current is strongest below the old bank building," Phi added, showing a crystal flask filled withmurky liquid.
"And I have the pre-colonial vessel," Dea said as she carefully unwrapped an ancient clay pot that looked like it might disintegrate. "Marie's blood is at home."
"Let's get back to the plantation and get this done," Dre suggested. "I don't want to be out in the open any longer than necessary."
We left the cemetery together and formed a line of cars heading home. The drive was tense but uneventful. When we arrived, I hopped out of the truck and headed inside. Kota and Dea were already there. The others filed in and we gathered around the table in the kitchen where Cami and Adèle were with one of the grimoires we had discovered days ago. With Eleanor's knowledge now fresh in our minds, we could finally make sense of the cryptic passages.
"Based on these energy readings from my tracking app," Phi said as she slid her tablet to the center of the table, "there's a massive concentration of Delacroix’s gold magic beneath his old bank building." She zoomed in on the pulsing golden dot on the digital map of New Orleans. "It's way too powerful to be residual energy. It must be something significant."
"I bet it’s his original body," I concluded. I traced a symbol in the grimoire that matched one from Eleanor's vision. "I bet it’s in a hidden vault beneath the financial district. Something that important would be highly protected.”
"And the locket?" Phi asked.
"All we know is that it contains a fragment of his original soul," I replied.
Dea nodded in agreement. "It's his anchor to this world. We need to get it to destroy him permanently."
Our collaborative analysis was interrupted by a sharp knock at the front door. Lucas moved immediately toward the sound, but we'd all felt who it was the moment he crossed our property line. "Why is Payne here?" Dre asked.
We all gotup and followed my mate. We arrived right as he opened the door. Detective Payne stood on our porch looking like he hadn't slept in days. His suit was rumpled, his tie askew, and he carried a thick file folder under one arm.
"Sorry to show up unannounced," he said, "but I found something you need to see."
Lucas gestured him inside. We reconvened in the ladies’ parlor. Payne spread documents across the coffee table. He had land deeds, bank records, and newspaper clippings that were yellowed with age.
"I've been digging into historical records," he explained. "Armand Delacroix was a prominent banker in the early 1800s. He owned half the French Quarter, including the land where the opera house now stands."
"That isn’t surprising given who he has kept stashed down there. How is that relevant now?" Dani asked as she peered at a faded photograph.
Payne tapped it. "I’m not sure. This magical world is your area, but something being built beneath a bank strikes me as odd. My guess is that it’s a vault system. It doesn't appear on any official records. I found references to it in private correspondence seized during a fraud investigation in 1912."
"I knew I was right!” I crowed. “It’s where he’s keeping his original body. He would keep it somewhere secret and secure. And it wasn’t beneath the opera house where we found Eleanor."
“Was there any mention about a locket?” Phi asked.
Payne cocked his head to the side. "There was a note about his most prized possession. It was a locket some believed contained the essence of his family bloodline. He never removed it. It disappeared after his mysterious disappearance in 1873."
"That's the soul fragment Eleanor mentioned," Phi said excitedly, looking up from the grimoire.
Dre nodded in agreement and waved down the halltoward the kitchen. "We need to focus on turning the mask on its creator." We all got up and started in that direction.
