Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Levette
The invitation had arrived by courier with a flair that could only be assigned to one very flamboyant, elegant, royal pain in my posterior—Magdalena Vulpe herself.
I had been attending business out of town for almost three weeks and was surprised by the almost immediate knock on my door when I returned home.
Paranormals in New Orleans had a tawdry love of gossip, and it was no surprise to me that even during my travels, I had received word that Maggie was back in Nola, accompanied by her favored entourage.
My blackened heart sparked to life at the thought of running back home and accidentally—outwardly, at least—running into Warren.
But that thought turned sour when I remembered the painful words he’d written in his letter to me.
Although some decades had passed, I could recite the entirety of that damned letter by heart.
Warren had, not for the first time, chosen to leave. But what had changed then was goodbye, slamming the door shut between us with a word so heavy with finality that it made me wince to think of.
Hence, my overwhelming surprise at Lena’s invitation to their damned ball.
She knew that I could not resist attending, especially if it meant the opportunity to see Warren from afar.
I wanted to assume it was a cruel trick on her part, since it was always easier to be angry with her for all her faults than to accept it as the olive branch she had intended it to be.
“Have you heard about the masquerade happening soon, boss? Everyone claims it’ll be the biggest party New Orleans has ever seen. Some folks are even saying the witches will be out to play,” one of my bar staff whispered, leaning in conspiratorially.
Jack was a vampire who had been turned through brutal methods, searching for a coven ever since.
While I was unable to offer him the sense of family I knew he truly sought, I was grateful to have another of my kind around me.
We did not share stories or trade secrets as friends ought to, but he was dutiful and loyal, and he respected my boundaries.
“I heard,” I answered dryly, grabbing the inventory list. “Are we missing any from this shipment?”
Ever since the blasted prohibition started, booze had dried up across all of America.
It was a goldmine for bootleggers if you knew what you were doing.
Which I, of course, certainly did. The issue was that even the moonshiners supplying the goods were sampling from their own stock, effectively swindling me as they stole my supplies.
Jack huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Two cases short. Still better than the last one. At least you don’t have to teach them a lesson this time.”
After three shipments were missing more than a handful of bottles, I’d had to visit my dear friends and remind them that money was a gift I was bestowing on them; I could force them to hand over their booze for pure entertainment if I wanted to.
A flash of fangs and a few minuscule drops of blood spilled, and they finally learned their lesson.
“Good. If it raises about twenty percent missing on the next one, I will start plucking off family members as a recompense.” Jack grinned and inclined his head, chuckling at the depraved imagery. “About that masquerade—do they have a liquor supplier lined up?”
“I was hoping you could help me with that.”
Baring my teeth, I hissed as I spun around and came face to face with Lena in all her ethereal glory.
It had always maddened me that she was perpetually stuck with that angelic demeanor when I knew half of her insides were rotted away with whatever evil had crawled up her ass one day and never left.
“Spare me your theatrics, pet. Aren’t we over this yet?”
“We’ll be over this when Ria is buried six feet under every other decade! You protect her, then we talk.”
Lena took a seat at one of the vacant tables, crossing her legs and lighting a cigarette with a match. “I protect her, but I am not divine—death is not preventable.”
I growled, smacking my hand on the bar. “You act as though death is nothing! As though it’s something that we should be used to and get over.”
She rolled her eyes at me and took a long drag of her cigarette, blowing the smoke out slowly.
“Are you a child? No, I did not think so. Which means death is not a new concept to you. Do you not kill for fun? Hunt for food? How is that any different? Thousands of humans die each day, and I doubt you drop to your knees to mourn them.”
The urge to jump across the bar and lunge at her was overwhelming. Lena had a way of making you feel so small and stupid, as if you were beneath her. But I was not one of her coven, not someone she could step on so easily.
“It is different because we are speaking about the alleged love of your life, my best friend. How can you treat her death so callously? Speak about it like it means nothing?”
“You are a fool if you truly believe that’s what I think,” Lena snapped, her voice edged with deadly warning.
“And if you throw the word allegedly around again, I will rip your throat out before you can even blink.” She tilted her head and smiled that angelic smile at me, one I knew was anything but.
“How have you not figured out a way to save her? I cannot understand that you’ve lived so many lifetimes and have not broken whatever curse is binding you.”
I watched as Lena looked at me, calculating.
Her face shifted, and for a brief moment, I could see the human beneath the monster.
She’d been young when she was turned, and life had been hard on her—not that I would ever admit that to her—but perhaps, deep down in that dark pit inside her, the human part of Madgalena Vulpe still existed.
She finished her cigarette in silence, watching me, before stubbing it out. She blew out a breath before clasping her hands on the table before her. “Can you be trusted, Levette Fortier?”
I tutted, throwing my hands in the air. “Bon sang! What silly theatrics are you up to, Maggie? Is this your elaborate way of asking me to join your coven? The answer is no, by the way.”
Lena glared at me before closing her eyes, waving her hand around the room as she muttered in an old language I did not understand. Once she was done, she sighed and leaned back in her chair.
“Did you just hex me?”
“I spelled the building so that nobody else can hear what I’m about to say.”
I was suddenly very grateful that Jack was a discreet employee and knew when to make himself scarce without me having to vocalize it. Almost immediately after Lena had arrived, I’d heard him slink past and out the back exit.
“What’s so important that you have to be this level of dramatic?
” I asked, though my gut was telling me Lena had something of great magnitude to say.
As much as we fought with each other, she had rarely chosen to use magic in front of me, or anyone, for that matter.
Most people knew her only as a vampire queen and prolific coven leader.
“You asked why I had not yet saved her. Do you really think it’s because I do not love her enough or have not tried?”
The angry, bitter part of me wanted to say yes.
I wanted to believe it was all her fault, to tell her that she had failed Ria over and over again.
But I knew that was not true; it was a reflection of the constant turmoil I felt about myself.
I believed I had not tried hard enough or proven my love for Warren adequately.
However, Lena, as much as she annoyed the life out of me, I did not doubt she loved Ria with all she had.
“No,” I said quietly. “I am angry that she is not here, and it is easier to blame you than face the fact that it is something that has happened to her so many times over. I know you have tried, and I know you love her. Ria was confident in that, and so am I.”
Lena nodded and took a deep breath, grazing her fangs across her lower lip. “Then come and sit down. There are some things I need to tell you.”
I looked at her cautiously, taking the seat across from her.
Lena and I were similar in so many ways—mostly our quick tempers and hard-headedness—which meant we were always butting heads, but there was a wariness in her gaze as she looked at me and around the room, which told me she was serious.
Whatever she wanted to share with me was important; important enough that all facades were dropped completely and I was looking at the brokenness behind the strongest woman I knew.
Even when I hated her, Lena was someone I never considered weak.
“If you speak about this outside of here, I won’t just kill you. I will boil your blood from the inside, heal you, and repeat the process. Do you understand?”
She had threatened me many times before but the lethality in her tone was different, far more honest. Whatever this was, Lena would do anything to protect.
“Je comprends, Maggie. Go on.”
Lena pursed her lips for a moment, picking at her manicured nails. She took her time and I could practically see her brain working overtime to find the words.