Frenchman Street_A Novel of The Sentinels of New Orleans Read online

  My eyes popped open, and even though his eyes were at half-mast, Rene’s gaze met mine. Those had been his thoughts, not mine, but they didn’t surprise me as much as they should have. Maybe I’d thought it too, subconsciously.

  Does it matter, babe? I can’t fight this dude. Get out of here while he’s drunk on shifter blood.

  Don’t give up. I won’t lose you.

  I focused all my hurt and anger on Melnick, trying to think what I could do to him that wouldn’t get Rene killed in the process. I don’t think I’d ever hated anyone more. Stupid vampires couldn’t even take a side, and they had it better than any other species. They played their games and made their feedings pleasurable. It was all about pleasure for them. The anger built as I thought about Terri being murdered for sport, and their murder of Eugenie’s sister, and what Etienne had done to his so-called friend Jean. The anger and loathing expanded inside me until I felt bloated with it, and my knees almost buckled.

  A wave of dizziness and nausea passed through me, and I fought to stay upright. “Something’s wrong,” I whispered. Spasms rippled through my arms and abdomen, and my face felt as if it would explode if I didn’t get something cold on it.

  Dru! What are you doing?

  Rand’s voice was distant, so I ignored it. I was burning hot, and it wasn’t my imagination. Rivulets of sweat tickled my face as they streamed off my forehead, and my sweater clung to me.

  DJ, can you hear me? Say something!

  Had that been Rand, or had that been Rene? I opened my eyes and everything in my vision turned blood-red. I thought suddenly of my mother, who’d died of a brain aneurysm in front of me when I’d been five and she was about my age. Was this how it felt? Was this all-consuming wall of crimson the last thing she saw?

  I forced my eyes closed again, and this time I saw through the red. Garrett Melnick pushed Rene away from him as tongues of flame began to dance across his body, then engulf his hair and clothes. The vampire was on fire.

  Melnick screamed and threw himself on the ground, trying to crawl past me toward the lake. I wouldn’t let him. I wanted him to burn.

  Dru—get out of there now!

  Rand’s voice was faint, but I listened this time. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but Rene needed help. I joined him in the transport, managed to touch Charlie to the ground, and whispered, “Rivendell.”

  Chapter 13

  I’d been baptized in fire. Now I was reborn in ice.

  I woke up naked, in a steel tub of water and ice, and had no idea where I was. I vaguely remembered arriving back in Rand’s greenhouse transport covered in burns and blisters. Rene had been covered in his own blood.

  Rand had been weak, curled up in the corner on the floor beside a case of bottled water, drinking as if he’d been crawling through a desert for months.

  Jean had helped him walk over and join us in the transport. Then space and time compressed again, and I remembered nothing more until now.

  I shivered once, relaxed a few moments, then shivered again. I had to get out of this water or I would do that elf-hibernation thing and drown in this tub.

  My legs wouldn’t work, and my arms weren’t strong enough to pull me out. When in doubt of one’s surroundings, one should yell for help inside one’s head.

  Rand! Where the hell are you? Better still, where was I, and where were my clothes, and why did I feel like I had the mother of all hangovers?

  Dru? Thank God you’re awake. You’re in Elfheim. Call for Clematis.

  I could only assume he wasn’t referring to a flowering vine, so I called out, “Clematis?”

  The steel tub sat in the middle of a large bathroom or dressing room full of warm woods set in juxtaposition to steel and marble. A creak sounded at the far end of the room, and a petite woman stood framed in a doorway. She was beautiful, with golden hair pulled back in a braid, bright sky-blue eyes, and an attitude. The downturned mouth gave her away.

  “You called, my lady?”

  I blinked at her. “My, er, mate, er, lord said I should ask you for help. I need to get out of this tub and find my clothes.”

  “Lord Randolph said I was to wait on you, but”—she started at a rumble of thunder loud enough to shake the crystal light fixture—“but the rest of the manor house has evacuated since the floods began. We must flee, ma’am.”

  Okay, so she was anxious to leave. “Help me out first.”

  Frowning, she eased an arm around my shoulders, practically lifted me out of the tub, and helped me to a dark-green armchair over which she spread a fluffy towel. Clematis was a strong little thing, and I was anything but. Plus, my skin had wrinkled like a raisin, and I was covered in scabs.

  “How long have I been here?” I couldn’t believe Rand dumped me in Elfheim as soon as I’d gone through that nightmare in Vampyre.

  “This is the sixth day…ma’am.” Why did I think Clematis wanted to call me something else? “You may pick your clothing here. Your own things were ruined.” She muttered under her breath, but I still shared Rene’s super-shifter hearing, so I heard her say, “He deserves better than you.”

  A week? I had been here a week in a freaking tub of ice? What had happened to me? “Where is Eugenie Dupre?”

  Clematis turned, handing me some underwear. “Who?”

  “The woman carrying Lord Randolph’s child.” Lord Randolph, my ass. I wanted to have a talk with Lord Randolph.

  “Oh. Her.” Clematis shrugged. “In her room, I guess.”

  “Could you bring her to me? Then you can run from the flood, or whatever you want to do.”

  “So you release me from service?”

  Oh, no. I saw exactly where Clematis was coming from. She wanted Rand and resented helping me. If I released her, I’d never see her again, or Eugenie.

  I channeled my inner I-Am-Elf attitude. “No, you are not released. Bring Eugenie to me, and do it now.”

  If eyes could shoot needles, I’d look like a pincushion. “And if I can’t find her?”

  I doubt there were many pregnant humans running around the manor house, but if she wanted to play it that way, we could. “Wait, let me ask Lord Randolph. As bondmates, we can communicate at a distance. I’ll tell him you’re unable to find the mother of his child.”

  “I’ll get her now.” Clematis was out the door before I could move.

  While she was gone, I struggled into the underwear. Rand had picked it out—it was lacy and black, and very much like what he’d put in my room in New Orleans. My limbs protested every move as I shuffled to the closet. Yep, Rand had definitely done the shopping. I picked out a red cashmere sweater and groaned as it slid over my sore, scabbed skin. No way I was wearing tight jeans, so I found some black cords that were a fuller cut and a pair of short boots that brought tears to my eyes when I pulled them on. Even my feet had scabs.

  The door opened again, and I forgot it all at the sight of Eugenie.

  “DJ? Oh my God, I didn’t think they’d ever let me see you again.” She rushed into my arms, and we just held each other without the need to talk. I didn’t even care that my scabs all felt like they were being ripped off.

  Eugenie had been my closest friend before Hurricane Katrina opened the door to all the pretes. Before Rand had seduced her so he could get close to me. Before he’d gotten her pregnant and broken her heart. Before he’d lured me into this unbreakable bond, and I didn’t know how to help her.

  Somehow, so far, our friendship had survived, although it had suffered mightily. I hugged her close to me for a long time…until I got a swift little kick in the stomach.

  I stepped back and really looked at her. “Eugenie, you’re…” Way, way, way farther along in her pregnancy than I expected.

  “Huge, I know.” She dragged another chair alongside the green one, and we sat. “But—”

  I held up a hand to interrupt her. Clematis stood seething in the doorway. “Clematis, you’re released from duty. I’ll be sure to tell Lord Randolph what a help you’ve been
.”

  She didn’t curtsy, or nod, or tell me to go to hell. She disappeared and slammed the door behind her. “That woman needs an attitude adjustment.”

  Eugenie nodded. “The midwife told me Clematis was promised to Rand as a child, then her family fell on hard times and she had to come to work for Rand’s family. Then you and I came along and screwed up her ambition when I got knocked up and you married her elven Prince Charming. I’m surprised she even helped you.”

  “She’s afraid to disobey him.” I’d read that situation accurately. “Too bad. He deserves her. Has he treated you okay? You look tired, Eugie.”

  She looked more than tired; she looked downright ill. Dark circles ringed her hazel eyes, and her vibrant auburn hair lay lank against her scalp. “Did Rand tell you I was farther along than we thought? The midwife says I’ll be lucky to make it another three weeks.”

  I studied her aura for a clue as to how I should respond to that news, and got little help. She was happy, upset, scared, and pissed off. “That’s…a surprise. But wait…” I mentally counted months and couldn’t make it work.

  “I know, I know. Apparently, elf babies come when they’re ready—seven months is maximum, and this little dude is precocious, which makes him sound a lot like his daddy,” she said. “DJ, the baby tries to talk to me inside my head, and I don’t know what the heck he’s saying. Then he gets mad and kicks the crap out of me. I swear I have a broken rib.”

  “He’s probably speaking Welsh, and yeah, he sounds just like Rand.” What a pity. Eugenie was one of the sweetest people I’d ever met, without an ounce of guile or deceitfulness. She was certainly nicer than me.

  “Welsh?” She paused a moment, processing that bit of trivia. “What happened to you? You look like you’ve been in a housefire.”

  “I don’t know. I was in Vampyre with Rene, and I think I made the Regent explode, or maybe I exploded. The details are kind of vague.”

  “Rene is here, and he has your elven staff,” she said. “He heals fast, so he was back to normal after a couple of days. He comes by at least once a day to visit me and spends the rest of the time either sitting with you or wandering around the manor house. It’s flooded outside, and all of the staff have taken off for the hills. They’ve never seen storms like this.”

  Damn it. We’d been abandoned for six days and Rene had been watching me naked and scabby in a tub of ice? “Hang on a minute. I need to have a conversation with Lord Randolph.”

  Rand!

  Dru, I’m busy. What is it?

  Your staff has run for the hills, the castle is empty, Florian’s sending so much rain we need to build an ark, Eugenie is sick, and I’m covered in scabs. What are you going to do about it?

  I could practically hear his eyes rolling all the way from New Orleans. I’ll come for you in a day or two. Don’t return to New Orleans now or use any of the transports to my house—we have an issue.

  What kind of issue?

  Gotta go.

  Rand!

  No answer. He’d gone cerebellum-silent on me, that royal piece of elven asshattery. I didn’t try any more. Once he’d shut me out, that was it until he decided to let me back in. Two could play that game, though, so I slammed up all my mental barricades and turned my attention back to Eugenie.

  “Wait, you said all the staff had left. Where is the midwife?”

  Her fear ramped up and skittered over my skin. I had my own moment of panic, which wouldn’t help either of us. “It’ll be okay. Let’s stay calm. Rand says he’ll be here tomorrow.” Not that he could deliver a baby.

  The door banged open, startling both of us. No one spoke until one of the figures standing in the doorway finally broke the silence. “It is a pleasure to see you without flames on your skin, Jolie, although I am sorry to have missed your bath. Rene has shared how lovely you are, even covered in ice.”

  Well, if the manor house floated downstream in Elfheim, at least we’d have a skilled French captain for our ark. And I might have to go Elven Fire Goddess on Rene.

  Chapter 14

  Jean was able to fill in some of the blanks on Rand, who was apparently a “person of interest” in the fireworks injury cases. This led to all kinds of problems, of course, because while Rand had a highly fabricated history in the human world—enough well-faked documents to buy property and have a driver’s license—it wouldn’t hold up to a lot of law-enforcement scrutiny.

  We’d all settled into Eugenie’s suite, a set of rooms almost as big as the second floor of Rand’s house in New Orleans. Opulent brocades and tapestries filled walls and furniture and heavy, plush rugs in jewel-toned patterns covered the polished wooden floors. It looked every bit like Rand and nothing like Eugenie. She had not made this into a home, although when I’d questioned her earlier, she insisted she had been treated well. Like a visitor.

  Speaking of questions, I had so many for Jean my head was in danger of exploding. Been there, done that, apparently.

  “Why were Rene and I brought to Elfheim?” I asked him.

  “Ah, my dear Jolie. Both your elf and I were worried you would not survive, which would had made me most sad.” Jean paused. “The elf is quite impossible, of course. I must devise a means for you to dissolve your union with him. He asked me to leave his home before we knew you would live, then sent you and my dear friend Rene to this place without informing me thus.”

  “When did he send us here?”

  Jean thought a moment. “The morning after you used so much of his power in Vampyre. Rene had not yet recovered, and he felt you needed the healing you would find here.”

  “What happened to Garrett Melnick.”

  Jean grinned. That didn’t bode well for Melnick. “I fear he is truly dead.”

  So that’s what had happened. I’d gotten so angry with Melnick that I channeled Rand’s fire power—literally. But I had to save Rene. And I had pulled all that fire power—literally—from Rand.

  “Is Rand okay? I remember him being weak.”

  “Oui, the arrogant toad has recovered quite well. When I arrived today, as I have done each day, to inquire of your and Rene’s health, he told me to ‘get lost,’ and I found myself here. Although, I am quite a skilled navigator and unlikely to become lost.”

  Well, that explained why Jean was here. Rand threw him out.

  “Why have you stayed here?” I asked Rene.

  He gave me a long, hard stare, and I felt my face heating as we both remembered his thoughts of us being together. I wouldn’t have left him either.

  “One, I wasn’t leaving you here hurt, what with all the elven rats running for the mountains,” he said. “And two, there’s something I want you to see before we get out of here.”

  Another crack of thunder sounded, followed by a sizzle. Lightning had struck the house; I could only hope the rain prevented a fire from starting. I’d had enough fire for a lifetime, inside and out.

  Are you really okay, babe? You scared us; scared me.

  Rene and I could still communicate mentally, which was good in case we had to swim out of here. Well, in case he and Jean had to swim. I couldn’t, and in her condition, neither could Eugenie. He could let us know they’d reached safety.

  I’m okay. I’m really worried about Eugenie, though.

  Me too. She’s sleeping a lot—like now—and she’s weak.

  I glanced at my friend. She had stretched out on her bed, lying on her side with her arms wrapped around her baby bump…make that baby mountain.

  “Did the midwife leave?” I asked Rene softly. “Eugie never really answered me.”

  “They’re all gone, babe. The one who was getting you in and out of the ice only stayed because Rand threatened to kill her if she left you. Scared the crap out of her.” He looked around. “Where is she?”

  “I sent her to the hills with the rest of the house staff. This weather has to be Florian’s doing. I think it’s how he manipulated the vampires into backing him. They couldn’t stand all the rain.”

/>   I didn’t think the weather tactic would work with the elves. They were more arrogant than vampires, for one thing, and more powerful. Given an even match between Rand and Florian, I’m not sure who would win. Florian was crazier, but Rand could be one fiery, mean sonofabitch, and he was definitely smarter.

  Enough about that, though. “Jean, why is Rand a suspect in the fireworks cases?”

  He frowned. “I did not say he was a suspect, Drusilla, only that the found him interesting. However, I cannot imagine why, as he has little in which to be interested. He is quite a dull man.”

  My turn to sit and translate.

  “When police think someone is guilty but can’t prove it yet, they call him a person of interest so he won’t sue them in case he’s innocent,” I explained. “What would make them think he was guilty? Could Florian be setting him up?” I didn’t think it would be the vampires; thanks to me, they had a sudden void in leadership.

  “That don’t sound like Florian, babe,” Rene said. “Florian, he likes drama, and he likes to watch whatever he sets in motion. Sorry to say it, but this sounds like wizards’ work.”

  Damn it, he was right. This scheme had Zrakovi’s name written all over it. If he got rid of Rand, it was a win-win. With no leader of adult age, the elves would lock themselves in Elfheim and the wizards wouldn’t have to worry about them siding with Florian or demanding a seat on the Interspecies Council.

  With no Rand, Zrakovi also could get a shot at me without consequences—in theory. I bet he didn’t know I’d rule Elfheim if Rand died, at least until someone assassinated me. I also bet he didn’t know Rand could make people spontaneously combust. Unlike me, Rand wouldn’t almost incinerate himself in the process. I’d held onto too much of his energy, probably in some unconscious attempt to avoid actually killing Melnick.

  “Jean, do you know what evidence the police have that makes them interested in Rand?”

  “Non. Only that this is what I have heard while visiting Old Orleans. And when I arrived today at his home, before he sent me here to become lost, I saw Le Petit Chien give him some paper. Several men wearing nooses accompanied him and were walking all around his home.”