Christmas Brew (Witches of New Orleans #2)

5. Stepping Into the Power

CHAPTER 5

Stepping Into the Power

“ T hat’s not possible,” I answer. “He appeared in a mirror at my house this morning.”

“I’m not doubting you saw something , but Kragen died in the swamps a few months ago. One of his children killed him. Actually, a couple of children killed him.” Cameron waves his hands. “I don’t know all the details.”

“What if he’s still alive? Did you see his body?” Drake asks.

The lycanthrope slides forward, matching my nervous energy. “There was no body left to see. From what I was told, he staked himself and burst into flames.”

“Staked himself?” a tiny voice asks from behind. I turn just as Zeke materializes out of nowhere.

“Imp,” Cameron greets my tiny stalker.

“Wolf,” he answers, moving to the arm of my chair. “Why would an ancient vampire stake himself?”

“There are things in this world even stronger than ancient vampires. ”

“That’s terrifying,” Zeke whispers.

“If Kragen’s dead, then how was he in the mirror?” I focus on not breaking eye contact with the lycanthrope. “I didn’t imagine it.” I turn toward the imp, leaning against my arm. “Zeke saw him, too.” The imp nods in agreement.

“What you saw wasn’t Kragen. Maybe one of his creations?” Cameron answers.

“If the pirate is dead, why would one of his creations want the amulet? That doesn’t make sense,” Drake asks.

Cameron stands from the desk. “Let me make a few phone calls. I’ll see what I can find out.” He hands me a business card with the name Cameron St. James and a phone number stamped across it. “Call me tomorrow morning. I should know something by then.”

“We will,” Drake answers, taking the card from the lycanthrope. Zeke leaps onto my shoulder, and the three of us make our way out of the office.

It’s not until we’re out of the bar and a few blocks away that the imp speaks for the first time. “Rose? What the hell were you thinking?”

I stop abruptly, throwing the tiny man off my shoulder. “I was thinking I needed to get away. Annabelle tried to feed me to a vampire. You don’t think that was a tiny bit rude?”

He shrugs. “Maybe a little, but you survived.”

“I survived, but I don’t know how. I didn’t have some amazing revelation and suddenly able to use powers that have always been there. I’m not a character from a fantasy novel. I’m a human who has fought tooth and nail to be where she is today. ”

“That’s the problem,” Zeke yells, matching my energy. “You’re not a human. You are a witch with a long line of ancestral magic. Quit thinking like a human, and start thinking like the witch that you are.

“Zeke,” Drake warns.

“What? Someone needs to tell her the truth. She can either sit around, feeling sorry for herself, or get her ass up and start fixing the problem.” He turns, stomping closer to the brick building we’re stopped in front of. “It’s clear you’re not going to do it. You’re too smitten with her to do anything other than stare.”

Zeke’s words catch me off guard. Is Drake smitten with me? I turn toward my handyman/friend. His face is bright red, and he’s staring at the broken concrete under our feet. “We should get off the street,” he says, letting a few awkward moments pass. “It’s not safe out here right now.”

“That’s the first smart thing I’ve heard in a while.” Zeke turns and starts walking back toward Jackson Square.

“The car is up here,” I speak for the first time.

“We’re not going anywhere without Bessie.” Zeke has somehow gone from being my stalker to being my parent. The damnedest thing is—I follow him.

Ten minutes later, we enter the tarot shop I ran from earlier. “You’re back,” Annabelle greets us.

“They’re here for me,” Bessie says, coming from behind the heavy curtain. “Did you all get everything worked out?”

“Kragen’s dead,” I announce.

“I know,” she answers .

I stare at the woman, not sure whether I should be angry or confused. “You know?”

“He was killed a few months ago.”

“You couldn’t have shared this information earlier?” I choose anger.

“What difference would it have made? You still saw the vampire in your mirror and the vampire that came after your car this morning. Knowing that Kragen was dead wouldn’t have changed any of that.”

She’s right, and it pisses me off. Knowing he was dead wouldn’t have made any difference. “If he’s dead, who did I see in the mirror?”

“That’s the question of the day, isn’t it.” She moves to my side. “My guess is whoever you saw killed Margaret.”

“For someone to appear as another person, they would have to use magic,” Drake adds. “Do you think a witch or warlock is involved?”

“Now you’re thinking,” Bessie answers. “Or something more.”

Feeling vulnerable, I cross my arms across my chest. “I want to go home.”

Drake moves protectively to my side. “I’ll take you.”

“Bessie and I are coming, too.” Zeke appears on Drake’s shoulder. “We owe it to Margaret.”

I nod, too tired to argue.

Drake climbs behind the wheel while Bessie and I slide into the bucket seat. I have no idea where Zeke is, but I don’t doubt that he’s here. Ever since Zeke announced that Drake was smitten with me, his energy has been off. I don’t know whether to pretend like everything is normal or talk to him about it. Truthfully, there have been several times over the past few months that Drake has taken my breath away. Do I have feelings for him? I don’t know. Would I enjoy the opportunity to find out? Maybe one day.

“Are y’all always this talkative in the car?” Bessie asks, not far out of town.

“No,” Drake answers softly. “Just a lot on our minds.”

I huff a laugh. That’s the understatement of the year.

Pulling into the house that’s become my own, a sense of relief fills me. “Margaret’s wards are still up,” Bessie says, interrupting my peace. “She was always the best at setting them.”

The three of us climb out of the truck. “I’ll have to make up one of the guest rooms for you,” I say to Bessie in passing.

“It’s fine. Margaret gave me a room on the second floor. I believe some of my clothes and a few belongings are still inside. I have some items in the closet already.” There’s something about this woman that rubs me the wrong way. It’s not a feeling of distrust, more of a feeling of annoyance. Her arrogance is off-putting.

I wait until she makes her way upstairs before turning toward Drake. “Did you ever see Bessie here at the house?”

“No,” he whispers. “Not in the time I was here, but I wasn’t here every day.” He shrugs. “She could’ve been here when I wasn’t.” He scoffs. “I would’ve definitely remembered her.”

“Yeah, she’s a lot to take in,” Zeke adds to the conversation, suddenly appearing from thin air. “I’ve never been a fan of the old witch.”

“Right now, you’re not high on my list either. ”

Zeke jumps past me. “That makes us twins.” He lands on the stair railing and heads to the second floor. “I’m going to find a place to sleep.” Tiny hands pop up in front of him. “Don’t worry. I don’t have a predetermined bedroom. I’ll find my own.”

“I don’t remember inviting you to stay.”

“You didn’t.” Zeke turns, heading upstairs. “It was assumed,” his little voice echoes down.

“For the record, I’m not a fan either,” Drake adds. He turns toward me. “Rose, can we talk?”

My heart sinks, hearing those words. “If it’s about what Zeke said, I’d rather not have that conversation right now.”

“Yeah, me neither. It’s not about that. I think I might have some information that could be helpful about the pirate.”

“Okay.”

“Come with me,” he says, leading me out of the foyer and toward a part of the house I haven’t spent much time in—the conservatory.

We enter the glass room, full of beautiful greenery. “This room is gorgeous, Drake.”

“Thank you. It’s my favorite part of the house.” He runs his fingers over a large fig leaf. “This place reminds me of my mother.” The leaf responds by moving toward its caretaker. He moves toward the back corner of the room, pulling a book from a hidden shelf. “I found this a few years ago in the library.” He hands me a large book. From the look of the cover, it’s well over a hundred years old.

Opening the front cover, I find the words New Orleans Public Library stamped inside. “Oh, you mean you actually found it at the library? Did you steal it?”

“I prefer the term—borrowed.” He flips the pages, landing on one in the middle of the book. Hand drawn is the image of a pirate ship. Written in fancy cursive is a name I recognize instantly. Kragen’s Ship.

“The vampire?”

“Yeah, I think so. I didn’t put it together until this afternoon.”

“Does it say anything else about him?”

He shakes his head. “No. The book is about pirates throughout history. There’s no mention of him being a vampire or mention of him other than this picture.”

“What’s this?” I point to a small dot drawn next to the ship.

“Looks like an ink dot.”

Pulling the book closer to my face, I squint, trying to decipher the dot. “I don’t think so. It’s a picture of something.”

Drake riffles through the bookshelf, returning with a magnifying glass. The kind that reminds me of a detective. He takes the book and studies the dot. “I think you’re right. It looks like a dolphin. But there’s something around its neck. Here.” He hands me the book and magnifying glass. “What do you see?”

I study the image for a few minutes, searching for any clues. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was Margaret’s amulet.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too.”

“That’s not possible, is it?” I set the book back on my lap .

“If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that anything is possible.” He grabs another borrowed book from the shelf. “I’ve been researching the Goddess of the Sea since Zeke mentioned they were married. I’ve found scattered information online and in books.” He hands me the second book. “Her name is Eudora, and she had a child.”

“A child?” Zeke’s words ring through my mind. “Kragen was married to the goddess, to Eudora. Does that mean he was the father? Can vampires even have children? What am I asking?”

Drake shrugs. “I don’t know. Normally, I don’t think so, but with a goddess, anything is possible.”

“Could the child be who I saw in the mirror?”

“They could be. I couldn’t find any specifics on the child other than the one mentioned.”

I lower my head into my hands. “This sucks.”

“No pun intended,” Drake says with a smirk.

“The child was a girl,” a small voice says from behind. “Her name is Marnie, and she’s a force to be reckoned with.”

“What do you know?” I ask Zeke, who’s fully formed and wearing button-down pajamas covered in unicorns and rainbows.

He sighs, moving to my side. “Marnie is a demigod. Do you know what that means?”

“It means she’s the child of a god or goddess,” Drake answers.

“Yes. Except, Marnie is a demigod who is half undead.”

“What does that mean?” I ask the imp.

“It means she’s a crazy bitch,” Zeke answers .

“It couldn’t have been Marnie I saw in the mirror. The image was clearly a man. You saw him.”

“Yeah, I did. But Marnie is one of a kind. There is no one with her abilities. Hell, I doubt even she knows the limit of her abilities.”

“Why would she want the amulet?” Drake asks.

“Other than it was blessed by her mother, I don’t know.” He crosses his tiny legs at the knees. “My guess is there’s more to that stone than anyone knows.”

“Enough that it got Margaret killed,” Drake adds.

“You think Marnie killed her?” I ask the two men in front of me.

“That’s the only logical answer. Margaret hid it where it would be protected and impossible for Marnie to find.”

“How do we stop her?” Drake asks.

“No offense, Rose, but Margaret was the strongest witch I know. If she couldn’t fight Marnie, I doubt either of you could.” Zeke’s words are harsh, but he’s right. Drake and I are young and inexperienced. I may have my family grimoire, but without the knowledge and practice, I’m nothing against her.

“That’s where you’re wrong, imp.” Bessie’s voice booms through the open room. She enters, wearing the typical old lady robe and nightgown. “Rose is strong enough. In fact, she’s probably the only one strong enough.”

I stand, staring at the old woman. “Enough. Everyone keeps telling me how powerful I am, yet no one wants to help me figure out how to harness it. Throwing me into a room with a vampire didn’t do the trick.” Anger flows from my body. “Either show me how the hell to be a witch or get out of my house!” My feet lift from the brick floor, pushing me high into the room. I can’t control the energy flowing from every orifice of my body. “Teach me!” the voice that leaves my body is unrecognizable.

“There she is,” Bessie says with a smile. “There’s the girl I’ve been hoping to see.”

Her words surprise me as the reality of my situation overtakes me. Down, I think, and my body responds to the command. I slowly lower, pressing my feet on the brick floor below.

“What just happened?” I ask the small crowd.

“You tapped into your power,” Bessie answers, clapping her hands.

“I’m not going to lie,” Zeke says. “That was both cool and scary at the same time.”

“What does this mean?” Drake asks the question I want to know the answer to.

“It means Rose got out of her head and trusted her heart.” Bessie moves closer. “Now you are ready to learn.”