Chapter 33
Iris
Jazz music spills all over Bourbon Street as we weave our way through the crowd.
Honestly, I was expecting it to be busier—just like Raven district in the summer—but here, the heat is oppressive, and the air so dense it’s borderline unbreathable.
So, I guess this time of year is not too appealing for tourists.
The onyx stone in the choker around my neck warms up, and my muscles tense as I scan the perimeter for danger.
The ethereal sight lets me know there are three possessed humans across the street, their tainted auras pulsing around their bodies.
I exhale in relief, but my hands still itch with the need to free them of the possession.
However, we don’t have time for that. Maybe later, after we hopefully find Rhett.
The only consolation I have is that they’re possessed by lesser demons.
“Sorry,” I mumble as I try to sidestep a woman who seems to almost be floating rather than walking. It’s futile. She passes right through me. Gah. I shiver. I’ll never get used to that.
Kaiden throws me a confused look. “Did you say something?”
“I wasn’t talking to you. A ghost passed through me.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Well, this isn’t awkward at all. After our talk on the bench, neither of us has said much.
Nestled between two neon signs, right on the corner, is the Drunken Owl. I stop in front of the door. Kaiden, however, keeps walking until he notices I’m not next to him anymore. He turns around. “What are you doing?”
“What are you doing? The bar is right here.”
His eyebrows furrow. “I see nothing aside from a rundown building.”
“But…I don’t understand,” I mumble as I take in the large green wooden door, the bar’s name painted over it in black letters.
I glance through the window at the people inside while nibbling on my lower lip in thought.
There’s no way only one of us can see it unless…
“Wait. Do you think it’s somehow concealed by magic? ”
Kaiden closes the space between us. “Maybe it’s the tarot card. You have it on you, right?”
I pull it out of my pocket. I asked Kaiden to look for it in the nightstand drawer before we left for the airport, because I couldn’t go inside the apartment.
It’s the Wheel of Fortune, which depicts a wheel covered in esoteric symbols and surrounded by four different winged creatures: an angel, an eagle, a bull, and a lion—each in a corner.
There’s also a sphinx that sits at the top and a devil at the bottom.
In my quick online research, I read it represents the turn of time, made of good and bad moments, which you have no control over.
It seems strangely fitting to everything that has happened to me since the umbra attack.
Of course, there could be infinite interpretations of the card.
“Here.” The second I hand it to Kaiden, the bar disappears, and a ramshackle building with boarded-up windows takes its place.
“Give me your hand.” Tingles bloom at the touch as I slide my hand into Kaiden’s. “Can you see it again?”
“Yeah,” I murmur.
The second he opens the door and pulls me inside, every head turns in our direction.
Conversations and raucous laughter halt.
You can hear a pin drop. We look at each other, and I shrug before tilting my head toward the bar.
About thirty eyes follow us as we stride toward it, the sound of our soles hitting the floor like a shooting gun in the deafening silence.
As we pass the patrons, their pointy ears catch my attention. They’re all fae.
The lanky bartender, who can’t be older than sixteen, studies us with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.
I take back the tarot card before dropping Kaiden’s hand to lean on the bar, immediately missing his warmth.
“Hi. Can we get something to drink?” I ask casually, even though the eyes drilling holes in the back of my head make all my hairs stand on end.
His voice shakes as he says, “You need to leave.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not very welcoming, is it? Listen, we’re looking—”
I’m interrupted by the man rounding the corner holding a crate full of whiskey bottles.
“What’s with the sile—” His shrewd, peridot eyes cut to me and Kaiden.
He bends to place the crate on the floor, and I don’t miss the stiffness in his shoulders when he straightens.
“You don’t belong here,” he grits out through clenched teeth.
“We’re looking for Rhett.” I raise the tarot card but don’t get the chance to slide it on the mahogany bar top because the man snatches my wrist in a punishing grip.
His nostrils flare. “Where did you get this?”
Kaiden disappears from his spot next to me and appears on the other side of the bar, holding the man in a chokehold. “Drop her hand. Now. Or I’ll snap your fucking neck,” he growls. Collective gasps fill the air, followed by panicked shrieks. The lanky bartender scurries away.
Face red and eyes bulging out of his head, the man releases me.
Kaiden follows suit but levels him with a razor-sharp glare that could easily slash through skin and bone.
“If you as much as blink wrongly at her, I’m going to pull out your organs one by one and make you watch as I feed them to hellhounds. ”
“If you would have given me the chance to answer, I would have told you Adrianna gave me the tarot card. She also told me to come here and ask for Rhett at the bar. There’s no need for you to be so aggressive,” I say.
“She would never do something like that. She doesn’t like people.”
“Trust me, I know. She was my neighbor. Now, can we speak to Rhett?”
He rakes a hand through the mop of cinnamon hair. “I’m Rhett.” As if only now registering my words, his face pales. “What do you mean by was?”
“Can we talk somewhere private?”
“Why would I want to talk to a hellseeker—assuming you are one—strapped to their teeth in weapons?” He points his chin at Kaiden. “And…whatever you are. I don’t trust you.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t trust you either. But we need your help.”
“For?”
“This is a matter we should discuss in private,” I repeat. This guy is starting to grate on my nerves.
“I don’t deal with strangers. Who are you?”
“I’m Iris Harper, and yes, I’m a hellseeker.” Well, not anymore, but I’m not going to start explaining the craziness that has become my life to a complete stranger, so this will do. “And he’s Kaiden Black.”
“Why the fuck isn’t your hair blond?”
I lower my voice when I answer. “I’m a half-blood.” I’m not even sure this is true anymore since I don’t know what I am exactly, but I need him to trust us, and we already started on the wrong foot.
He whips his head at Kaiden so fast he must have gotten whiplash. “Wait, you said Kaiden Black? You’re the head of the Obsidian Conclave?”
Kaiden folds his arms in front of his chest, making his biceps bulge. “Yeah.”
Pure, unadulterated hatred bounces in the confines of Rhett’s irises.
“Your organization has treated my kind like nothing more than blood sacks for centuries. Get the fuck out of my bar, or I’ll make you.
” A menacing gust of air that seems to come out of nowhere ruffles my hair and sends the stack of napkins from the bar top to the floor.
“That was Mammon,” Kaiden fires back.
“I don’t give a flying fuck. You’re just another power-hungry demon in my eyes.”
“That’s not true,” I snap. “He not only dismantled the human and dark creature trafficking, but he’s doing everything he can to save the fae from the clutches of vampires who’ve started their own trafficking ring.”
“I could have some of the fae women we rescued talk to you, if that’s what it takes for you to help,” Kaiden says reluctantly.
“I’ve heard some stories…but I never believed them.” Rhett works his jaw as he ponders his decision. Then, he mutters, “Take a seat wherever you want. Everyone left anyway.”
When I glance over my shoulder, I realize he’s right. Aside from the blond, lanky bartender who looks as though he’s about to bolt any second now, the pub is empty.
“Alaric, lock the door before clearing the tables, please,” Rhett tells him.
Kaiden appears at my side to guide me to the closest table. He pulls my chair so I can sit, and I refuse to admit how I melt on the inside at the simple gesture. Unbuckling my sword strap, I lay it on the table before plopping down.
“What’s your poison?” Rhett asks, busying himself taking out some bottles from the mirrored shelf behind. He flicks his gaze to Kaiden. “Lemme guess, whiskey or rum, top shelf.” At Kaiden’s nod, he turns to me. “And you…vodka.”
A disgusted shudder passes through me. I haven’t had vodka since that night I got smashed, and Noah appeared at my door. God, it seems like that happened a lifetime ago. “A beer is fine.”
After a few minutes, Rhett strides toward us, bearing a tray with our drinks. He slides them in front of us before sitting down. He raises an eyebrow. “So, how come a hellseeker is working with a demon? Aren’t you supposed to hate each other’s guts?”
“We’re looking for an oracle, and Adrianna told me you know where we can find one,” I answer.
“And why didn’t she come too?”
Cinder blocks pile one by one on top of my chest when I mumble, “Because she’s dead.”
Rhett curses before he stands abruptly, causing his chair to topple over. He throws the beer bottle into the wall, and the sound of the glass shattering slices through the weighted silence. “How?”
“She saved my life from a demon attack. She, um, she was my mother’s friend. I wasn’t even aware of this until yesterday. I thought she was just my elderly neighbor. But then she saved me, and with her last breath, she told me to find you.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose, lifts the chair, and slumps back on it. “Where’s her body?”
“It’s at the morgue in Ashville. I didn’t know if there are special customs for her burial and—”