Sweaty Nights & Gator Bites (Twisted Sisters Midlife Maelstrom #12)

Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

DANIELLE

“ W e should move Willowberry out here. We’ve spent enough time out here lately,” Kota griped as we trekked through the thick humidity.

We’d decided to get some rest the night before after we’d used significant amount of energy creating wards. We didn’t want to be out here at less than one hundred percent. Garrick was too formidable for that. The sun was barely peeking through the dense canopy of cypress trees as we trudged through the swamp.

“We should have stayed in bed longer,” Lia countered as our boots squelched with each step. The damp earth clung to them stubbornly. The swamp was alive with the sounds of croaking frogs and rustling leaves despite the undercurrent of something darker.

“How are we supposed to know if anything ties the Montclairs, Dubois, or Rousseaus to the dark activities plaguing the area?” Phi changed the subject away from inane topics. Not that I didn’t appreciate my sisters’ snark. It alleviated tension, but right now, Phi’s question was far more important.

Dre pushed a vine out of her way. “We already know the families are up to no good. We just need to connect them out here. I know I keep harping on that idea, but I can’t let it go.”

Lia and Dea moved to the left and scanned the ground for any signs of recent activity. While the rest of us fanned out to the right. “We believe you,” Lia told her. “Keep the power we felt in that old plantation and on the relic. If we find anything like that, we might be able to connect it to Garrick.”

Hours passed, and despite our thorough search, we came up empty-handed. There were no markings, no artifacts, nothing that could definitively link the families to the recent murders. I wiped the sweat from my forehead as we paused to take a break.

“We’re missing something,” Dre muttered, her voice tinged with annoyance. “They’re too careful to leave obvious clues out here.”

“ You’re right, Dre ,” Adèle interjected. “ The families are cunning and won’t leave easy evidence behind. Perhaps it’s time to confront them directly. ”

I frowned, considering her suggestion. “You mean we should go talk to the heads of the families? They’re not exactly going to welcome us with open arms.”

Adèle’s mental voice was calm but insistent. “ They may not, but they might slip up or reveal something useful. You need to be direct. The subtle approach isn’t working. ”

Lia added, “Adèle has a point. Maybe it’s time to take the fight to them. If we confront them, we might learn something new.”

Dea nodded in agreement. “It’s risky, but we’re running out of options. We need answers, and we need them now.”

“Or we might get our asses kicked,” Kota pointed out .

I couldn’t hold back the snort that escaped. “Our dragon hides are pretty thick-skinned. I say we confront the families. But we need to be smart about it. We can’t just barge in without a plan.”

Dea batted a mosquito away as she suggested, “We should approach them separately, not all at once. You know, divide and conquer. We’ll need to figure out who to talk to first and plan our approach carefully.”

Phi's analytical mind was already at work as she lifted a finger in the air. “We should start with the Montclairs. They’re the most influential and might have the most to lose. If we can rattle them, it could lead to more information about the others.”

“Agreed,” I said, feeling a renewed sense of purpose. “We’ll prepare and head to the Montclair estate later.”

I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease as we returned to Willowberry. Confronting the heads of the families was a bold move. One that could go horribly wrong. There were still some in the magical world that thought we were phonies. They didn’t believe the rumors about our adventures despite the proof we’d had to cover up more times than I cared to admit. The worst part was, there was a piece of me that agreed with them. Having grown up a mundie, I felt like an imposter some of the time.

Back at the plantation, we gathered in the ladies’ parlor with Cami who had just finished a morning tour of the place. The room was our version of a living room. The comforting familiarity of our home grounded me and made it easier to remember I was a full-fledged member of the magical world.

Dre looked at each of us in turn. “How can we catch them off guard?” She got right to the heart of the matter. “If they suspect we’re onto them, they’ll just shut down and we won’t get anything useful. They might even attack us. ”

“Agreed,” Lia said, leaning forward with her arms crossed. “Maybe we can use their arrogance against them.”

“The Montclairs have always considered themselves untouchable,” Cami added from her perch in the chair near the fireplace. “If you play on that, they might let something slip.”

Phi tapped her fingers on the table, deep in thought. “We should split up our roles. Someone needs to be the good cop, someone the bad cop. We need to make them uncomfortable but not too defensive.”

“I can be the bad cop,” Dea offered. “I’ll push them hard, make them sweat. But we need someone to step in and offer a lifeline, make them think cooperation is their best option.”

Kota nodded in agreement. "I’ll be the good cop.” I snorted out a laugh, making Kota glare at me and ask, “What?”

Sobering, I lifted one eyebrow and looked at her. “You’re more the bad cop type.”

Kota glowered at me and said, “I can offer them a way out and make them think they have something to gain by talking to us.”

I held my hands up, palms out in a sign of peace. “Perfect. What about the setting? Are we going to do this on their turf?”

Lia leaned back, considering. “It needs to be somewhere neutral, where they won’t feel in control. And where they can’t utilize any hidden relics. They could ambush us and we would have no idea. I was thinking we issue a summons to appear before the council. They will be more likely to come and won’t be able to act without witnesses being around.”

“It’s also private enough for us to talk openly,” Dre noted. “We need to be careful with the hotline staff being there. Plus, if things go south, we need a quick exit strategy. ”

“We can cast a spell over the coroner upstairs and the hotline staff,” Lia pointed out.

Phi nodded. “We should have a few shifters on standby outside, just in case.”

“Good idea,” I agreed. “Now, what’s our main goal here? What exactly do we want to find out?”

Dea glanced around the table. “We need to know if they have plans to take power from Marie’s ancestors as well as tie them to the dark magic and the murders in the bayou. If we can get them to admit to working with Garrick or having knowledge of his plans, that would be ideal.”

“We should also dig into their motives,” Kota added. “Why are they doing this? What do they hope to gain? Understanding their endgame could help us.”

“They’ll probably try to blame someone else or claim ignorance," I pointed out. “We need to have our facts straight and be ready to counter their lies.”

“Let's use what we already know against them,” Dre said. “Mention the symbols we found. And the connections to the other families as well as their hatred for Marie. We show them we’re not coming in blind.”

We went over the plan once more, fine-tuning the details and making sure everyone was comfortable with their parts. The tension in the room began to ease and was replaced by a sense of purpose and unity. Dre sent a summons through official channels and we headed out to the council chambers.

“ Remember ,” Adèle said as Lia parked outside the council building and went inside. I waved to the two women answering the phones. “ Be assertive, but cautious. These families are powerful, and they won’t hesitate to protect their secrets. Trust in your instincts and your bond as sisters .”

A young woman entered the meeting room a second after we took our seats. She had long, red hair and beady blue eyes. She was stick thin and looked like she might blow away in a stiff breeze. She also appeared to have something smelly on her curled upper lip.

Dre stood up and extended her hand. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. I’m Dre and these are my sisters, Dani, Kota, Lia, Phi, and Dea," Dre said to the young woman who threw herself into a chair at the conference table. She crossed her arms over her chest and ignored Dre’s hand.

Silence stretched for a few uncomfortable seconds before Dre broke it by saying, “I must admit, I’m surprised at who your family sent. Did you draw the short straw this time?”

I agreed with Dre. This young woman looked like she was about twenty years old. Why would the elders in the family make her come here? She was their sacrificial lamb. It made me want to jump in the car and barrel down their doors.

The Montclair woman glared at us and was silent for several seconds. Finally, she muttered, “I'm Evelyn.”

“Evelyn,” I repeated with a smile and decided to go for the throat. “I’m going to cut to the chase. We know your family is planning something to disrupt Marie Leveau’s family reunion. We need to know what it is.”

Evelyn's lips twisted into a smirk. “You think I'll just tell you because you ask directly?”

Dre leaned over the table with narrowed eyes. “Your family has no idea who they're messing with. I’m sure you think we’re nothing more than mundies pretending to be witches. The reality is we are so much more.”

Dre flicked a finger that had become a talon across the table, scratching a deep groove into the wood. At the same time, Kota conjured her witch fire while the rest of us manipulated one of the elements. We hadn’t planned it, but our display was pretty impressive.

“Cooperate, Evelyn. It’s in your best interest,” Dea added softly. So much for her being the bad cop. This turned out better, anyway. She played the role of good guy better than Kota.

Evelyn's defiance wavered slightly under our magical energy. Unfortunately, she remained silent. “ She’s hiding something ,” Adèle interjected. “ Push harder, but don’t let her know what we’ve already done with the stone .”

That was good advice. I hadn’t thought about wanting to keep that a secret. I was too focused on proving our power to loosen her lips. “Evelyn, we know your family is desperate. Desperate people make mistakes. We’ve already discovered some plans. I’m sure your relatives told you that before feeding you to the dragons. You don't want to be on the wrong side when everything comes crashing down.”

Lia crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “We’ve already dealt with the stone you tried to trick us into taking home. We’re not as easy to fool as you think.” My eyes flew open and I averted my gaze so Evelyn didn’t see my surprise. That wasn’t what we were supposed to say. I was seething over how she’d just taken our one advantage. I swear I wanted to punch her and slap duct tape over her mouth.

Evelyn's eyes flickered with surprise, but she quickly masked it. “You destroyed it? That...that was just a decoy.” She snapped her mouth shut and bit her lower lip. She hadn’t meant to say that.

Dre leaned in closer, her voice a low growl. “We knew that too. What are you planning for the reunion, Evelyn? We know your family is plotting something they think will be big.”

Evelyn's defiance crumbled slightly and a flicker of doubt crossed her face. “I don’t know everything, alright? They didn’t tell me the full plan. But I know they want to disrupt the reunion to weaken Marie's position. They think if they can cause enough chaos, it will break the spirits' power.”

Dea's eyes softened, sensing the truth in Evelyn’s words. “ And the murders? Why kill innocent people? I know you wouldn’t do that but someone in your family did.”

Evelyn shook her head vehemently. “I swear, we had nothing to do with the murders. My family is desperate, but they wouldn’t stoop to that. I can’t say for sure about the Dubois and Rousseaus. They’re far more violent than we are.” Apparently, there’s no honor among thieves.

Kota and Dre hammered at her, trying to get her to change her response about the murders. She never wavered from her first stance. She told us a little more about the Dubois and Rousseaus which only served to make us suspicious of how much control the Montclair’s actually had over everything. The other two families were big and provided a lot of members who would act as fodder and a diversion while the Montclair’s snuck inside and grabbed the power.

Adèle’s voice whispered again, “ She doesn’t know anything. That’s why they sent her. ”

I exhaled slowly, trying to digest the information. “Your family has clearly kept you ignorant of their plans. It's unfortunate they didn’t come here in good faith. We will hold nothing back when we stop them from whatever they have planned.”

Evelyn scowled at me. “What happens to me now?”

Lia stepped forward with a stern but fair expression. “We’re not going to hurt you, Evelyn. But we will be keeping an eye on you. Any false move, and you’ll regret it.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened and she looked at us. “You mean I can go?”

“We aren’t the monsters here,” Kota replied and stood up to open the door. The rest of us remained in our seats as she scurried out of the room. “We have to tighten security even more,” I said. “And we need to find their Trojan Horse. How did you know it was a fake, Lia?”

Lia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “There was something about the way she smirked. It was too confident. At that moment, the big explosion it made when we destroyed it seemed overblown. I took a chance. Thanks for not throttling me for it.”

“I almost kicked you,” I admitted. “To say I was shocked was an understatement. But now we know it was a fake.”

Dre stood with Kota and jerked her chin at the exit. “Let’s go find their real way in. And warn the shifters so we can have more security in place.”

The drive back from the French Quarter was quiet as we all contemplated what could be the new Trojan Horse relic. We all went our separate ways when we arrived at the plantation. Kota and Dre went into the kitchen to cook dinner while Lia and Phi went out to the barn to grab supplies for the reunion.

I went into the parlor and began looking over the stuff we’d brought back from the swamp. I thought one of those was more likely to be the culprit. I was sorting through the bags and vials when my phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number. The words on the screen sent a chill down my spine. ‘There will be more murders. One will open the doorway for an attack during the reunion.’

I jumped up, heart racing, and hurried to find my sisters. Lia and Phi were walking in the backdoor as I headed down the hall. I gestured to the kitchen. We walked in and found Dre, Kota, and Dea making something. Adèle lounged on a windowsill with her eyes half-closed but alert.

“We need to talk,” I said. My hands trembled slightly as I held up my cell. “I just got a warning about a murder and an attack during the reunion.”

All heads turned towards me and the room fell silent. Lia was the first to speak. “What kind of attack? And who sent the warning?”

I shook my head as my mind raced. “It was sent anonymously. The number is restricted. It feels credible. Regardless, we can't take any chances.”

Dre crossed her arms, her brow furrowing in concern. “How can we use this? It doesn’t give us a timeframe for this murder.”

Dea looked thoughtful when her gaze met mine. “We need to heighten our vigilance and reinforce our defenses. And increase our visits to the swamp. We should warn Remy, as well.”

“ Consider the source ,” Adèle advised. “ It could be someone trying to help or someone trying to instill fear. Think about who might benefit from causing chaos.”

Phi nodded. “Adèle's right. We need to consider all possibilities. It could be one of the families, Garrick, or even someone else entirely.”

Kota stirred something sizzling in a frying pan when she added, “We should inform our allies and get extra security on standby. Between us all we will have a better chance at stopping the next murder.”

“I'll contact the council and let them know about this latest threat. Xinar, Cyran, and Kassandra will likely offer patrol units. Regardless, they need to know about this.”

“ Stay focused. You six have faced greater threats before. Trust in your abilities and in each other ,” Adèle reminded us.