21. Azra
21
Azra
N ew Orleans used to be my favorite place to conduct my debauchery. Now, it is my least favorite to visit with the uncivilized humans running about at all times.
“He isn’t expecting visitors at the moment—” the guard starts to say robotically. One thought and every bone in his neck snaps as he drops to the ground in front of me.
Slipping my hands into my pockets, I step over the male’s body and into the doors of The Red Sip. It’s silent and pitch-black before a wave of my hand lights the candles along the wall as I pass.
Moans become louder as I descend the stairs. Only the large hearth is lit with a roaring fire. Why anyone would have a fire going in the sweltering heat of Louisiana is beyond me. My head turns to the closed double doors to the left as the screams and moans drift from there.
Both doors fly open on my whim, revealing a naked blonde sprawled on the table with Kai’s face in between her legs. Blood dripped from many bites along her inner thighs.
“Azra!” Kai stands from the table, but the woman stays put. “What a wonderful surprise. Would you like to join?” His dark skin glistens in the candlelight with a sheen of sweat from whatever activities he has been up to with this human.
“Put some clothes on. You’re embarrassing yourself.” Kai glances down at his exposed erection before grabbing the black silk robe from the chair behind him and slipping it on.
“Someone pissed in your cheerios I see.” He grins while knotting the silk belt around his waist. “Leave.” The woman on the table sits up and slides off the table, immediately leaving out of the room. Blood still running down her pale skin and her gaze is distant, like every other human that lingers around Kai. “Are you here to steal my witch again or do you finally want to be a pleasant friend?”
I let a smirk spread across my face before lunging forward. My hand wraps around Kai’s neck, his back bends until it’s flat on the table. I squeeze my hand tight enough that if he were human, his spine would shatter under the pressure.
“I will ask this only once and if I get anything but the truth… Well, you know what I’m capable of.” My nostrils flare as I try to hold it together and not rip him to pieces just for what he is.
I have had to watch the love of my life break down lower than she ever has before in the last thirty-six hours. The attack on the Forsaken left hundreds of our people dead, but even more dead vampires.
The holes in the veil were so strategically cut with magic, that whoever did this knew the most detrimental places to enter and the easiest time to do it.
“What are you talking about?” Kai strains to speak against my palm.
“There was a breach of my lands two nights ago. Freshly turned vampires littered the streets and took innocent lives. Lives that only want to live in peace! I know you aren’t stupid enough to do such a thing, but you will tell me who did.”
Kai’s eyes widen. He tries to shake his head, but he is pinned to the table. Confusion takes over his features.
“I don’t know anything. I haven’t heard anything either. I would have warned you if so.” I don’t smell any fear or hesitancy coursing through his cold body. Looking him over once more, I sigh and release my grip. He slides to the ground, cupping his throat and coughing.
“Fuck,” I mutter with a sigh. The Underworld had no part in this. Ash has been monitoring their forces for this reason exactly. “How did you find out about Salem?”
“You insult me too much to continue this friendship.” Kai stands and rolls his neck. “She has been very compliant lately. Which is unlike her, so I had her followed. Just to see what she had been up to and why the sudden change of heart. That brother of yours sure likes to linger after returning her.” Ash has never brought her back. Torin is my last guess that he’d be intrigued by a human.
“No harm comes to Salem for helping us. Do you understand?” I turn to leave. He is about as useless as demons.
“You can have her. She is probably the one that showed her friends the veil.” Halting. I turn slowly back to Kai, who is pouring red liquid into a glass.
“Excuse me?”
“She’s a weasel. I have been trying to replace her but she is a hell of a witch. I’ve got to give her that.” He sips from his glass with a smug expression. “She was actually monitoring Lilith for me before your little plaything splattered her across the Underworld. I don’t think I ever thanked you for killing that wench for me.”
Frozen rage engulfs my veins. Could my desperation for a cure for Brielle’s bond cause me to let an enemy get so close? I, if anyone, know how persuasive Lilith can be. Is Salem her last living little spy?
“What do you fucking mean?” Kai’s eyes widen the closer I get to him. Kai is a tall man, but I still tower over him.
“She would sell just about anyone out to save her own ass. If she thought her knowledge of the Forsaken was worth anything, she would have shared it.” He tips back his glass, draining the rest of the blood in it while never taking his eyes off me. I stare at him a beat longer before vanishing.
Light filters through the surrounding blur. Torin sitting at the table with cheeks full of food came into view first.
“Any news?” he asks through the food in his mouth.
“Where is Salem?” My tone is clipped. He stops chewing and swallows. Clearing his throat, he looks around.
“She’s in the library with Andrea workin’ on—” He doesn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before I am stalking up the stairs, taking two at a time. I will kill this witch if she has had anything to do with the breech.
I hear my brother’s footsteps rushing after me. The library doors fly open on a phantom wind, and both Andrea and Salem glance up from their desk with wide eyes.
Salem flies out of her chair and into a bookshelf with one wave of my hand. Books fall all around her and on top of her. Andrea stands and rushes over to help her. Torin is at my side now with a confused stare.
“What the fuck, Azra!” Andrea turns and glares at me while helping Salem up.
“Who did you tell about this place?” I ask Salem. She taps her hairline where blood matching her hair slowly forms.
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here helping fix your problem for the last month!” I step forward. Torin’s hand plants on my chest and stops me from moving further.
“She hasn’t been anywhere but here and Kai’s. I’ve been watching her.”
“You’ve been what?” My brother’s admission pulls my attention from the shocked redhead.
“You have been so caught up with Brielle, I took on the extra security with new guests here. Whatever Kai said to you, it was just to rile you up, like always. Whoever is behind this got no information from her.” Torin drops his hand from my chest. His dark gray wings tuck in tighter as if waiting for me to explode again.
“Kai told me you were monitoring Lilith before we killed her. Did you happen to see anyone that could be causing this?” I look over to Salem, still holding her head.
“What? No, no one out of the ordinary.” Andrea brings Salem to a chair and begins checking her head for the damage I just caused. “Well, actually, there was this one instance when she met with someone who was dressed in a cloak. I didn’t get a good look at the person’s face, but that was the first and only time I saw that person. It could have been nothing, but the way the air shifted was strange. Nothing but bad energy circling them.”
My jaw tightens to the point of shattering. My eyes bounce from Salem to my brother. I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. That information doesn’t get me any closer to finding out who is at the other end of Brielle’s bond.
I’ve known something was different with Brielle since the moment she came back here from Lilith. Like an obsidian shadow just lingering around her, within her. I have driven myself crazy trying to find anything to fix her. To help her, at least.
“I always miss the action.” A familiar voice sighs at the library threshold. If I had even a sliver of patience, it is absolutely gone now.
“I can send you flying off the balcony if you’d like, brother.” Torin shoves Cyprian’s shoulder as he walks up beside him.
“I doubt Azzie here would allow that with the knowledge I have.” Cyprian nods to Andrea and then looks at Salem. “You’re new,” A tight smile forms on her face for only a moment before Andrea starts cleaning her wound and she winces.
“Please tell me it’s useful and not just one of your tales.” I sigh. Cyprian has been gone looking for any information he could find on nephilim. Once we found out about Andrea, I made sure he knew we needed more information on Morveaux witches and their spells.
I’ve encountered a few in my centuries on this plane but they were very secretive and smart. I only knew of them when they were dying or trying to kill me.
“I think you’d find it useful. Morveaux witches don’t need much to conduct their spells. A full moon, of course, or any large celestial event for the big daddy spells, and ash from their mother tree. They didn’t need extra potions with the power they possess, which comes from nature and celestial energy if you were wondering. Even still to this day, they aren’t spoken of, so you can imagine how fun it was to get this information.” Cyprian drops on the couch and lets his head fall back. His caramel skin is a little more sun-kissed from his travels.
“The full moon is in two days and the blue supermoon is in a month at the end of March. If the full moon isn’t enough, we can try again that night. We still don’t know who she is bonded to, though. We have to find them. Did you get ash from the tree at least?” Salem asks, holding the folded towel on her head that somehow appeared next to her when she sat down. I side-eye Torin, who is leaning against the hearth staring at her.
“Yeah, about that,” Cyprian sits up straight. “She will have to go get it.” He nods toward Andrea, who is sitting across from him. Her eyes widen and she looks at me. “And isn’t that the event we have the sapphire ball for every few years that Celeste loves? And doesn’t it fall on Brielle’s birthday? Seems a little coincidental, don’t you think?”
“Focus, Cyprian,” Torin warns him. My head tilts and Cyprian just shrugs his shoulders.
“I was just saying.”
“Andrea? Why couldn’t you get it, Cyprian?” I ask.
“Well, it is a magic tree that I don’t have the magic to access, brother. On the other hand, there are rumors of it being in the great US of A. Some witches believe that when the Morveauxs settled in the US from France, they planted a whole forest of them, but there is only one left standing. Humans have to be the most destructive species I have ever encountered.” Cyprian rubs his temples. I’m sure we can all agree with that statement.
“Where will she find it?” Torin finally speaks up from behind me.
“Massachusetts,” Salem mutters. “I’ve heard there is cursed land there from the witches that fled before the trails. Nobody has dared to get close in centuries.”
“You would be correct, new girl.” Cyprian winks at her and she squints her eyes. “And she might be able to break the bond without the other person it’s connected to. If she is powerful enough.” His brows raise as he studies Andrea.
Everyone looks toward her. Her throat bobs. She then squares her shoulders and lifts her chin.
“We can try. I’ll do what it takes.” Andrea nods. “And the tree: I have to go by myself and risk being cursed?” Andrea winces.
“I’ll go with you,” a deep voice answers from the doorway.