Grim Tidings Read online

  I nodded at my sister, giving her my silent consent to the plan. I couldn’t deny, though, that I wanted more than anything else to bust through that door, find Mom and Dad, and settle this shit once and for all.

  Getting into the courtyard where Ramon was buried wasn’t easy. Not impossible, but it involved climbing a six-foot-tall wrought iron fence. That, or using bolt cutters to break open the gate. The last time we’d come here, we were basically sent on the errand by a cop. It felt… justified. This time we were trying to be a bit more discreet. Not to mention, if someone caught us sneaking around and they did have our parents inside, there was no telling what might happen.

  “You guys stay out here,” I said. “No sense in all of us jumping the fence and drawing unnecessary attention.”

  Mikah and Ashley exchanged glances.

  “All right, but if we hear anything, we’re coming in after you,” Ashley said. “And don’t do anything dumb.”

  “Me? Do something dumb? Please…” I smirked as I gripped the wrought iron bars with both hands and scaled my way up and over the fence. I leapt over the top and landed on my feet on the other side. Like the gymnast I’d always fantasized I’d become, I stuck the landing.

  Mikah winked at me through the fence—though I suspected the wink was intended for Isabelle.

  I gave an exaggerated mockery of a wink back at him before turning and, tucking a stray curl behind my ear, headed to the old lime tree where Ramon should have been buried.

  I was shocked to find, in just a single year, the shoot that Isabelle sprouted from the old stump had grown so tall, so quickly.

  I examined the ground around the stump. It seemed solid. When we buried him, we made sure to dig a deep grave to avoid any chance that someone might stumble along and pull the stake out—which presumably was what happened last time.

  Think he’s still down there? Isabelle asked.

  “Seems like it,” I said, stomping at the ground. “If he’d been revived, this ground would be pretty loose. There’d be some evidence in the vegetation.”

  I heard the snap of a twig. I jerked my body around to try to identify the sound. I thought I saw someone out of the corner of my eye duck behind a large bush.

  “Did you see that?” I whispered.

  Yeah… Too early to be a vampire, the sun hasn’t completely gone down.

  “You sure?” I whispered. “I mean, they could probably handle dusk, so long as they’re out of direct sunlight.”

  I suppose it’s possible. I mean, it isn’t like there are any books on this stuff.

  I tiptoed my way toward where I thought I’d see a figure duck and cover. I had to be quick—if I took too long, Ashley and Mikah would start to worry.

  I’m not sure what I expected to see, but I could feel the anticipation building, my chest tightening, and a bead of sweat forming on my brow as I slowly peeked behind the bush.

  But no one was there.

  I felt a tap on my shoulder.

  I jerked around, swinging my fist at whatever it was that had touched me.

  But my fist met a giant hand… a hand I knew.

  “Oggie? What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same thing,” Oggie said. “This is no place for a first-year.”

  I blew a raspberry in his face. “I think I proved myself well enough with the whole Baron and Kalfu debacle back at the Academy. I can handle a few vamps.”

  “Can you?” Oggie asked. “And what makes you think there are vamps here?”

  I narrowed my eyes. Was he being serious right now? “Let’s see… well, I staked one here before. And my parents turned up missing and… oh yeah, the GPS on their phone has them here, in this house.”

  “You’re sure they’re in this house?” Oggie asked.

  “Pretty sure—unless whoever is in there stole their phone.”

  “That can’t be good. They had the aspect, right?”

  “Well they were once bitten by zombies who were animated by the Baron’s aspect… so I’m assuming so.”

  Oggie scratched his scalp through his long black hair. He had an uncomfortable expression on his face, the kind I’d suspect a man would make while getting his prostate checked.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked. “Can you help me get them out?”

  “It’s not going to be any use,” Oggie said. “I’m sorry, Annabelle, about your parents.”

  “They aren’t dead, Oggie,” I said. “If they’re in there, we can get them out. Vampires don’t scare me.”

  Oggie took a deep breath. “How many vampires have you faced, really?”

  I shrugged. “Well there’s this one, buried under the lime tree over there. Close to a dozen more who’ve been wandering onto my property over the last few weeks.”

  “And have you wondered why vampires are coming onto your property?” Oggie asked.

  “No, never gave it a second thought. Dumb luck, I figured.”

  Oggie cocked his head sideways.

  “I was being sarcastic. Of course I’ve given it thought. Maybe Baron Samedi is back—the red Baron, that is. He warned this might happen. But how? We locked his ass back in Guinee.”

  Oggie huffed. “That’s just the thing… you remember that spell they put on him, Erzulie and Brigitte?”

  “Yeah, that pink shit they shot him with before we went into the gate I’d cut?”

  Oggie nodded. “Erzulie… that’s what she uses to bring two lost souls together. What she cast bound the Baron to Brigitte. It gave him a drive to come back to her, to do whatever it takes. That spell is relentless, the urge wouldn’t leave him until he found his way back to Brigitte.”

  “So you think he did it? You think he found a gate and got back here to be with Maman Brigitte?”

  “That’s my working theory, but something doesn’t fit. All the vampire activity that’s escalated in recent months ties to this place, but the Baron… if he was back, he’d be doing whatever he could to get into Vilokan, to get to Brigitte.”

  I shrugged. “How are those testicles of yours doing?”

  “A bit chilly,” Oggie said, chuckling. Twice now, I’ve seen him try to pass the same joke. Oggie is pretty proficient with fire magic. Usually drops some whiskey or something at his feet, casts a flame into it, which bursts into flames, tickling his thighs. Then, he inevitably alludes in some way to the notion that his testicles were cold… before the ass-kicking he plans to dole out ensues. The joke wasn’t all that funny—but the fact that he’d apparently been trying to pass it off for a laugh for a few centuries now without success made the whole thing a joke unto itself.

  “So, let’s drop some bombs on this place. With us together, they won’t stand a chance.”

  Oggie shook his head. “We can’t get in this house.”

  “What do you mean we can’t get in? It can’t be that hard to bust through the door.”

  “That’s not the problem,” Oggie said. “For some reason, the whole thing is warded, but it isn’t your typical ward. I can’t so much as touch the side of the house without a searing pain coursing through my body, and since you possess a Loa’s aspect, but not a Loa’s constitution, I can’t imagine how much it might hurt you to try.”

  I shrugged. “You’re forgetting that I have Isabelle… she can heal me.”

  Oggie shook his head. “Even if she could, it’s a waste. We aren’t getting in.”

  “Who could make a ward like that?” I asked. “Something that would keep other Loa out, or anyone who has a Loa’s aspect?”

  “That’s the thing… if your parents are really inside, if they really do possess the red Baron’s aspect and have become vampires, it isn’t all Loa or all aspects that are excluded. I think it’s just us. It’s my aspect they’re guarding against.”

  “Then let’s get Ashley,” I said. “She has Erzulie’s aspect. If your theory is right, she should be able to get in, no problem.”

  “But if she does get in, her abilities are not suited fo
r combat. She wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “She doesn’t have to go in,” I said. “But if she touches it, if she sees that she can go in…”

  “Then it will prove my theory that whoever is guarding this place is specifically trying to keep me out of here.”

  I nodded. “I’ll just have to be ready to heal her… you know, in case you’re wrong. You aren’t wrong, are you?”

  Oggie shrugged. “I doubt it. I’ve only been wrong once in my life.”

  “Only once?”

  “It was the time I thought I was wrong. But I wasn’t.” Oggie grinned widely.

  “That’s such bullshit.” I chuckled.

  Oggie shrugged and glanced at the horizon. “Speaking of that, we don’t have time for any more bullshitting if we’re going to try this.”

  I nodded. “All right, Ashley and Mikah are waiting just outside the fence.”

  The expression on Mikah’s face was priceless when he saw Oggie beside me as we approached the fence. He scrunched his brow while dropping his arms to his side.

  “What the truck?” Mikah said.

  “It’s ‘fuck,’ Mikah,” I reminded him.

  “I don’t like that word. You know this.”

  I just shook my head.

  “So what’s the plan?” Ashely said, seeming unfazed by the fact that Oggie had mysteriously shown up in the devil’s garden. I suppose after nine-plus years of investigating the supernatural together, Ashley and I had learned to expect the unexpected.

  “Well, Ramon is still in his grave. At least it seems that way. Ground looked undisturbed.”

  “Well that’s good news, I suppose,” Ashley said.

  “But we can’t get in there. The place is warded somehow.”

  “Any way to bring the wards down?” Ashley asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Oggie said. “But I think it’s only warded against my particular aspect. It was meant to keep me and my initiates away for some reason.”

  Ashley shrugged. “If that’s the case, I should be able to get in.”

  “Yes,” I said. “That’s what we thought. But that’s the thing. The ward is pretty painful. He could endure it because, well, he’s a Loa. And I have Isabelle—so presumably I could make it. But if we’re wrong, if it hits you… you don’t have any way to protect yourself.”

  “I can handle the pain,” Ashley said.

  “Maybe,” Oggie said. “But your heart might not be able to handle the shock.”

  “It could kill you, Ashley.”

  “If it shocks me, give Isabelle the reins. She should be able to heal me.”

  I shrugged. “Isabelle?”

  I should be able to do it, but I’d have to act quickly. Once her heart stops, we wouldn’t have much time. And you’ll be in a panic. I know you’ve been able to hand off the reins more easily lately, but if you’re seeing your sister die in front of you, are you sure you can remain calm enough?

  “Isabelle can do it,” I said. “But she’s concerned that I won’t be able to keep my emotions settled enough to let her take over… to let her finish.”

  “Then take these,” Mikah said, handing me a baggy full of capsules, undoubtedly filled with one of his herbal concoctions.

  “The relaxation aid you gave me before?”

  Mikah nodded. “But more potent. I’ve been refining my formula.”

  I sighed. “All right, but only if necessary. Are you sure it will work?”

  “It should help, but am I certain?” Mikah shook his head, answering his own question definitively. He was certainly not certain. Which, I should say, didn’t make me any more comfortable about this whole idea.

  “Well, good news!” Ashley shouted.

  I turned, and she’d already made her way up to the house while we bickered about our plan.

  “I feel nothing,” she said, touching the doorknob.

  “Okay, but don’t go in…”

  Before I could finish my sentence, Ashley had opened the door and disappeared inside the darkness.

  “Ashley!”

  Mikah was shaking his head. “There’s no stopping that one, is there?”

  Chapter Five

  I stood there in front of Casa do Diabo, with my heart sunk into my bowels in worry. Ashley isn’t a fighter… not at all. She wouldn’t stand a chance against a vampire, and the sun had just set beyond the horizon.

  “What can we do?” I asked, looking desperately at Oggie.

  “Nothing,” Oggie said. “Pray, maybe?”

  “There has to be something…”

  But she hadn’t been inside fifteen seconds and the whole house suddenly illuminated in a red glow. A split second later, Ashley went flying out the door, directly toward us.

  Oggie sprang into action, jumped maybe six feet into the air, and caught her before she struck the pavement behind us.

  “Well that answers the question,” Oggie said, setting my sister down beside me. She clung to me for a moment, trying to find her balance.

  “What question?” Mikah asked.

  “Why they don’t lock their front doors,” Oggie said. “No need.”

  “What the hell was that?” Ashley asked. “I stepped inside, took five or six steps, and the next thing I knew it felt like my body had been tied to the back of a freight train and I was flying out the door.”

  “A double ward,” Oggie said. “The place must have both exclusionary and inclusionary wards in place. It let you through because you didn’t have my aspect. So I was right about the exclusionary ward. But since you don’t possess an aspect bent toward vampirism, you aren’t a vamp and don’t have the potential to become one, you didn’t fit the inclusionary criteria of the second ward.”

  I shook my head. “How in the world could we ever get in there, then?”

  Oggie sighed. “I’m not sure.”

  I have an idea, but I don’t think you’ll like it.

  “What’s that, Isabelle?” Everyone fixed their eyes on me, waiting for me to relay whatever Isabelle was saying.

  Pauli… he still had Kalfu inside of him. I mean Kalfu isn’t a Ghede Loa, he’s a Petro Lao, like Erzulie and Ogoun. But his aspect seemed pretty vampiric to me.

  “I don’t know, we can’t ask him to do that. He’s not in any condition…”

  “What is it?” Ashley asked.

  “She thinks we should ask Pauli to try.”

  “That’s brilliant!” Oggie said, slapping his thigh. “Kalfu is the dark kinder Rada of Legba… even as the red Baron is the dark kinder Rada of the green Baron.”

  I cocked my head sideways.

  “He isn’t the same class of Loa as Baron Samedi or Brigitte—they are Ghedes. But Kalfu controls the evil forces of the spirit world. I’m not sure he qualifies under the terms of the inclusionary ward that’s been set up, but he should be able to bypass it. Since Pauli is basically the new Legba, since he carries Kalfu’s essence within him. They shouldn’t be able to stop him.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “I agree, the idea is brilliant, but he’s sacrificed enough. Can we really ask him? He’s still not right, not after what happened. I don’t know how I can ask him to risk himself again.”

  “But he has Aida-Wedo’s aspect,” Oggie said. “If they try to attack him, he could hike a rainbow out of there faster than a fritter.”

  I cocked my head. “Oggie, you’ve been living down here in the South for way too long.”

  “The point is, he’d get out of there slicker than a greased hog.”

  I just shook my head.

  “He’d be gone faster than a Krispy Kreme at a Weight Watchers meeting,” Mikah added.

  “Oh Lord…”

  “As quick as a duck on a June bug,” Ashley said, grinning.

  “What does that even mean?” I asked, scratching my head.

  “Slicker than snot on a goat’s glass eye?”

  “Gross!”

  “The point is,” Oggie said, “he could avoid any real danger. If he can just get in there and
find out what we’re dealing with…”

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll ask him, but he’s been holed up in his mom’s basement ever since…”

  “Nothing like a new adventure to get his spirits back about him,” Oggie said. “But we need to consult with Aida-Wedo first.”

  “Why?” I asked. “Not like he belongs to her.”

  Oggie sighed. “The politics at the Academy… I just have to tread carefully. Right now she’s my only ally, and Marie Laveau is still trying to decide whose version of events is true. If I piss off Aida-Wedo… you know, by exposing her initiate to danger a second time. I’ll just say I promised her I’d talk to her before I involve any of her students in my plans in the future. If I lost her support, we’d lose the whole Academy to the likes of Maman Brigitte and Erzulie.”

  “Erzulie can’t be that bad,” Ashley said. “Please tell me she isn’t, because if I’m going to attend, if I’m going to get a hang of this aspect…”

  “Erzulie is as she is…”

  “You mean your wife is as she is?” I added.

  Oggie cringed. “It’s a marriage of convenience. That’s all. I’ll just say that she’s a sucker for a love story, and once she’s sold one, there isn’t much changing her mind.”

  “I’m no Freud,” I said, “but maybe that’s because her own love life is basically devoid of, well, love?”

  “She has enough passion, with enough different people—Loa and human alike—to make up for it,” Oggie said, cringing.

  “And she’s still intent on bringing Maman Brigitte and Baron Samedi back together, again?”

  Oggie nodded.

  “Seems kind of trite,” Ashley said. “I mean, we have a fucking vampire clan forming in the city and she’s worried about Brigitte’s love life?”

  Oggie shrugged. “That’s just Erzulie. That’s her role, her function as a Loa. It might not make sense, but she provides a needed balance amongst the Loa. If there were not one of us looking out for love, we’d be a pretty glum lot.”

  “Then I guess we’re heading to Vilokan,” I said.

  “And in the meantime, we pray that Mom and Dad are okay?” Ashley asked.

  I nodded. “That’s all we can do.”