Blood Pool

Chapter Thirteen

A humming echoed in the back of Raven’s head as she fought to reach the light of consciousness. Where am I? Is Bo asleep next to me?

The memory of walking out into the yard came back to her. She had wanted to go and sit by the rocks. Seth was outside with her.

She tried to move her arms and legs, but something kept them from responding to her mental cues. Her eyes fluttered open, but darkness enveloped her once again.

“What do you mean you don’t know where she is?” Bo growled as he searched the backyard and headed toward the rocks. “Seth, I told you not to take your eyes off her. She might have slipped and fallen into the ocean.” Bo worked the muscles in his jaw furiously. He threw off his shirt and dove into the turbulent Atlantic. The water was murky, but Bo’s altered state of awareness allowed his sight to hone in on the shapes under the water. None were human.

The young man, Seth, couldn’t really remember much of what had happened in the minutes prior to Bo asking him where Raven was. This wasn’t the first experience he’d had of being unable to account for certain blocks of time. In fact, it was happening often recently.

“Bo!” Seth called out to his heartsick friend before tossing off his shirt and following him into the water, washing away any remnants of the bokur’s powder.

“What’s going on?” Kyle, in charge of guarding the north side of the property, called to his friends before they dove down below the water’s surface. The winds strengthened and the water churned.

When Bo resurfaced, he told his friend to call 911. “Raven may have fallen into the water.”

Kyle flipped his cell phone open and immediately dialed, requesting assistance for Detective Wasake.

Seth resurfaced from the rolling seas. He wiped the salt water out of his eyes and turned to look all around him. There was no sign of Raven. “I’m sorry, Bo. She said she wanted to sit by the rocks and meditate. I turned away for a split second.”

Bo pulled himself out of the water and onto the rocks. The wind caused goose flesh to spread across his body and whipped his hair behind him. He reached for Kyle’s cell phone. He punched in Solaris’s number at Blood Pool, striding anxiously up and down the backyard, waiting for her to pick up the phone.

Bo rubbed the back of his neck, kneading out the knots of building tension. “Sol, Raven is missing,” he blurted. “I need you to come to the house and see what you pick up psychically about what might have happened to her, please.”

Silence filled the other end. “What? Oh, no! I had an eerie feeling all morning, and could not get thoughts of Raven out of my mind.” Bo heard Sol take a sharp intake of breath. “Bo… I don’t need to come over. He’s got her. Laroque’s somehow gotten to her. I was just about to call you and see if she was all right. I’ve been worried about her. Shit! I knew I should have stopped by.”

Bo knew enough not to ask if she was sure, even though the words were on the tip of his tongue. His whole body stiffened. His nightmare became reality. Fear gripped its stone cold fingers around his heart and squeezed mercilessly.

This simply could not be happening.

His voice had a cold edge to it. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have disregarded my inner prompts. All my thoughts revolved around Raven. It was as if I was walking through sludge. I was about to call you as soon as I realized I was under the influence of powerful magick.” Solaris’s voice was childlike on the other end. “Whoever conspired with Laroque has no memory of it. He was coerced into it.”

“Terrific.” Bo clicked the phone shut.

Tobias reined in his temper while trying to convince his friend to make certain changes in the itinerary of the island’s celebration.

“The Festival must take place, Tobias. Our success in the coming year depends on it,” Frank Dubois argued, seemingly unaffected by the recent happenings. Lately, Tobias noticed an air of detachment around the mayor. He seemed to be distracted, by what exactly, Tobias didn’t know.

He slammed his fist onto the maple desk separating them “He is going to try and destroy our island and my daughter in the process, and he’ll use the Festival to do it.”

Frank shook his head in denial. “No. We’ll find her. We have search and rescue looking for her. If she’s out there, we will find her.”

Tobias exploded, his anger spilling over, and for one second he bared his fangs, threatening Frank. What had come over his friend? This was not the same man who claimed to love Raven as if she were his own flesh and blood.

“Damn you, Frank-what is wrong with you? Solaris has already informed me that Raven is in the clutches of that lunatic. Raul and Seth are infected and in the ICU. I need to find out where Laroque is holding my daughter. Solaris is trying to find out, as is the rest of the community, but his magick is powerful. He has many charms and glamours to keep Raven’s whereabouts hidden.”

Frank leaned back in his chair, seemingly phrasing in his head what to say. “This is a delicate situation, Tobias.” Apparently he chose blunt and to the point as the best way to handle Tobias. “I can’t cancel the celebration. You know that. It’s only a few days away, and the people of the island expect it. It’s bad enough that we’ve shortened it to one day. Folks are threatening to move off Mirabelle. There are others I must consider-people’s livelihoods are on the line. You know this is the time when everyone makes up for the country’s failing economy. I can’t have people threatening to move. I do love Raven, too, you know.”

Tobias felt the burn in his eyes as they flashed to platinum, and hundreds of years of resentment flared. Resentment of what he’d become, simultaneously powerful and powerless. “Then show it,” he growled. He stormed out of Frank’s office, slamming the door behind him without having to lay a finger upon it.

And strode right into Jade Laroque.

The temptation to grab the young girl was unbearable, and for a moment, he gave in. He took her by the arm, wanting nothing more than to sink his teeth into her tender flesh, but he couldn’t. She looked too much like his Nicolette.

“I want to help. I heard what my father has done, and this has to stop,” she whispered, trembling. She seemed to be summoning all her strength to stand up to the infamous Tobias Strigoi. Squaring her shoulders, she said, “My mother would have wanted us to get along.”

The anger seeped out of his body at the sound of her words. “Thank the gods you do have your mother’s genes.”

Frank was obviously shocked when Tobias returned so quickly to his office. He looked even more stunned to see who accompanied him. Seeing Jade standing in his office caught him off guard. His face flushed, and perspiration seeped onto his skin.

For a moment, it was as if Nicolette were standing there.

He reached out to her then pulled his hand back. “It can’t be… What’s going on? Jade… Is that you?”

She expressed no emotion whatsoever. “Yes, it’s me,” she answered, a chill emanating from her.

The mayor’s mouth became dry as the desert. His lips stuck together as if he’d eaten a peanut butter sandwich. “Is this some sort of joke? Did your father send you? Tobias, what’s going on?”

Tobias turned toward Jade. “She claims she wants to help.”

Frank looked from Tobias to Jade and back again. “H-how? I don’t understand. Why did you return? Why didn’t you come to see me sooner?”

She splayed her arms. “I’m here now, Frank. You seem very nervous. Does my being here upset you?” Jade even sounded like Nicolette.

A slow smile dragged across his face. “No! Of course not, I’m thrilled to see you.” He stepped forward to embrace the young woman, but she moved away.

Tobias spoke sternly. “Frank, there will be time enough for questions later. We have to find Raven before Laroque kills her.”

“Tobias,” Jade interrupted, “I think it’s important we take the time to get reacquainted. Don’t you, Frank?”

Visibly shaken, Frank turned to get a drink from his liquor cabinet. “I think Tobias is right.”

“Yes, I thought you would.” Jade moved over to sit in one of the chairs opposite Frank. “You may want to sit for this, Tobias.” She patted the arm of a chair next to hers. He declined the offer.

“I-I don’t understand,” Frank stuttered, pouring a glass of bourbon. He clearly struggled to regain his composure.

Jade was livid, could feel rage’s heat and see angry red spots flaring throughout her aura. Her porcelain expression was hard, as if just baked. “Yes, you do, Frank. You see, Tobias, Frank here has been working with my father all along.”

Instantly, Tobias had his hand around Frank’s throat. “Don’t listen to her. She is Laroque’s daughter. She’ll say anything to save him.” He was straining to get the words out. Tobias’s fingers pressed firmly on his windpipe.

Jade rose and stood before the shaking man as he dropped his glass. She placed a hand tenderly on Tobias’s shoulder. “Then how did my father know when and where he could stage the attack on Bo? Do you think I’m that stupid? I was supposed to meet you in the park. That’s why I was there. I heard my father on the phone with you. You were to call the Lamai-Mick-when Bo arrived here at Town Hall. Mick was coming toward me, and while Bo thought he was coming to my rescue, my father stuck him with the virus.”

Frank struggled to get free of Tobias’s grip, but could not budge an inch. “No, that wasn’t me!”

“Well, then I must look up the other ‘Dubois’ who works at Town Hall.” She paused for a moment. “Actually, I have a better idea, Frank. Why don’t you tell Tobias what really happened all those years ago? I’m sure he’d be very curious to hear the story.”

Silence filled the room like a dense fog. Frank was having trouble breathing, even though Tobias had loosened his stranglehold.

She waited a moment. “Okay, I’ll tell him. You must realize by now that Frank has been in love with my mother-your wife-since…well, since forever. Did you ever notice how over time Deidre has come to look amazingly like Nicolette? That’s no accident of nature-it was on purpose.”

“No. It can’t be true. You said Nicki was like a sister to you!” He paused. “I denied the truth, not wanting to believe I could still be betrayed. I was wrong.”

“All the years of your odd behavior suddenly makes perfect sense.” Tobias let out a pained sigh. “Even though I’ve become hardened over the years, it still cuts deeply when a supposed friend betrays me. In my hundreds of years as a Lamai, it never ceases to devastate me when I realize I’ve been duped.”

Jade snapped, her emotions boiling. “Yes. He lied. Just like he lied when he told you my father raped my mother. Right, Frank? I was not conceived that way. My mother gave herself to my father, to Philippe. Frank couldn’t stand the fact that she would be with another man and not with him. Tell him, Frank-be a man! Go ahead and tell Tobias the truth for once in your miserable life!”

Frank tried to turn away, but he could not-not with Jade in the room. “You’re insane-like your father.”

Jade’s eyes narrowed as she glared at the mayor. “And my mother, right? That’s what you’d like everyone to believe, anyway, that she was mad with guilt over what she did to Tobias. And from what the powerful sorceress in the French Quarter told me, she was guilt-ridden over her betrayal of Tobias. But her love for her family was stronger-her love for Tobias-and his love for her kept her sane.” Jade sat again across from Frank, staring him down, wanting to melt his very soul with her blazing gaze.

Tobias tossed Frank into his desk chair as if discarding rotting garbage. “What are you saying, Jade? And why should I believe you? How can I be certain you’re not lying, too?”

Frank coughed. “That’s right, Tobias. Don’t believe her.”

Jade shifted in her seat, getting more comfortable and settling back. No one knew that she had become a force to be reckoned with. Her father had taught her well. She removed a velvet bag from her jacket pocket.

“I could take this concoction and administer it to you, Frank, and you would be compelled to tell the truth. Shall I?” She addressed her question to Tobias.

Turning toward Frank she continued. “It’s very similar to the powder that accompanied the spell. You remember the spell. The one you bought from the innocent fae. The spell that would make my mother fall in love with him?”

“Go on,” Tobias instructed.

“I finally put the pieces together when I was recently brought back home. I visited Charlene Sabin. You remember her, Frank. She was my mother’s best friend and High Priestess, knowledgeable in Vodou, Santaria and other occult arts. She’s also a natural bruja. Frank has powerful magick of his own, Tobias. Were you aware of that?”

“Of course he wouldn’t know that!” Frank raged in indignation. “He only acknowledged my presence when he needed something from me. He was so wrapped up in his life that he never noticed…”

“Never noticed what?” Tobias bellowed.

Frank’s face contorted with disdain. He paced himself as he slowly turned to his nemesis. “I wanted your pain to match what I felt whenever I thought of Nicolette in your arms. You’re a monster. You never knew how I really felt about Nicki.”

Tobias laughed at the crazed man. “And that was-what? You loved her? Everyone loved her. You were like a brother to her, nothing more.”

“Laroque was more, though, wasn’t he?”

Jade’s tone was softer as she spoke. “Tobias, it went deeper than that. Frank was obsessed with her. And part of that obsession involved pitting you against Philippe. My father is a powerful bokur, but his magick couldn’t make my mother love him. Frank appeared with a spell from a novice fae and some powder. According to Charlene, my father preformed the incantation. Only you never told him it wasn’t permanent, did you, Frank? The spell magnified my mother’s feelings toward my father. It took the smallest bit of attraction she had for my father and amplified it. At Mardi Gras they conceived me. Frank convinced Maman to tell you she was raped because he hated you both-my father and you-the only two men my mother ever gave herself to freely, more or less. Isn’t that correct?”

Frank’s face turned pale. “Yes,” he spat.

“Frank would report to my father how happy she was and that she had told you, Tobias, it was your baby she was carrying. But you knew the truth. Frank needed for you to know the truth so that your hatred would grow, and it did. As my mother’s belly grew with me inside, your hatred took over. That is, until her love for you assuaged the hurt. You two were expecting another child soon after I was born. She wanted to have many children with you, Tobias. She promised to bear you many offspring. She wanted a part of you always inside of her. Her love for you was immeasurable.”

“Unfortunately, people break their promises all the time,” Tobias muttered.

“She didn’t break her promise. She was pregnant with your baby when she was killed.”

Tobias’s world was rocked, and the mighty vampire was brought to his knees. He steadied himself against the armchair next to where Jade sat. She took her leather bag and pulled out a document, handing it to Tobias while eyeing Frank with a malevolent stare.

Tobias noticed a change in her. However, he could not fully focus as he read the autopsy report over and over. Decedent approximately six weeks pregnant. Tobias went limp as he fought back the tears that threatened to overtake him.

Jade went on. Her voice cut through the air like a machete. “There was a conspiracy between Frank and the M.E. in New Orleans to keep that and other information secret. Who was that M.E., Frank?”

Frank remained quiet.

“You forgot your own brother, Darryl?” Her voice echoed malignantly throughout the room. “Different last names-different fathers, same mother? I hate to be the one to tell you, Tobias, but your ‘friend’ here-the man who helped raise me and Raven-killed our mother! But not before he raped her. And that time, she really was abused.”

Time seemed to stand still. What happened next slowly drew Tobias’s attention. Jade moved with such speed no one had time to react until it was too late. Still, he remained in his seat, weak, as if someone had drained him of all his blood. Tobias gradually focused on what was materializing on the other side of the maple desk in Frank’s office.

Tobias thought he was seeing things.

“Nicolette…” he whispered.

Jade’s eyes grew paler until they were the color of her precious namesake, and her mouth bore fangs. “You’re going to wish Tobias had killed you,” she muttered as she sank her teeth into Frank’s flesh. She grabbed a handful of cottony hair and wrenched his head back.

As she drank, she saw it all.