I’ll give Mac this— she’s got a convincing poker face. “It’s not important right now. Keep talking.”
Brooks’s lips puckered up. “Fine, be that way.” Obviously he thought Mac was hiding some juicy gossip. “Anyway, I’m ashamed to admit I threw a bit of a diva fit after I got off the phone. There I was all dressed up and no place to go. So I decided to fix myself a martini and call some of my girls to see if they were free to go out.”
Up until that point, his tone was breezy and bitchy— like Pussy Willow— but when he continued, the snark was gone. “I was on the second step when I heard the crash at the back door.” He swallowed hard. “At first I thought it might be you guys, but then I saw the hoods.”
I stepped forward. “What do you mean?”
“I mean some KKK shit.” He mimicked pulling a hood over his face. “Only these were red— except for one dude who wore black. Before I could figure out what the hell was going on, about a dozen of the assholes swarmed me. I tried to run, but my Cleopatra costume was designed for lounging on a settee, not running from robed madmen. Anyway, I tripped. Lost my wig.” His voice cracked. I imagined if he’d removed the glasses, his pupils would be dilated with remembered fear. “A few split off and started tearing shit up in the store while the rest carried my livid ass up to the third floor. I fought them as hard as I could, but …..” He trailed off.
“Was there a female vampire with them? Lavinia?” I asked.
Brooks shook his head. “No, just the dudes. At least I think they were all dudes— hard to tell with the hoods and the no-talking thing.”
I frowned. “No talking?”
“Yeah. From the minute they came in until they finally stopped hurting me, none of the bastards said anything. The guy in the black robe, he seemed to be in charge. But he just stood to the side chanting something, never spoke to the others. The ones who ….. beat me, they didn’t look at him, either. Just moved real methodical. Like they were programmed or something.” Brooks shivered. “Creepy.”
“I hate to ask this,” I said, trying to keep my tone even, “but did any of them bite you?”
Another shake. “They weren’t vamps, I don’t think. No magic, either.”
“You said the one guy chanted. Were they doing some sort of ritual?” Adam asked.
The fae hesitated, swallowing hard. Paler than when we’d come in. I wasn’t sure if it was the emotional stress of rehashing things, or the physical toll of everything catching up, but I knew pretty soon Zen and Rhea would kick us out. Before that happened, I needed to know whose ass I needed to go medieval on.
I grabbed his clammy hand and gave him a reassuring smile. “I know this is hard, but it’s important. What exactly did they do to you?”
Mac lurched forward, her expression confrontational. But Rhea grabbed the were’s arm and shook her head.
Brooks missed the exchange because his gaze was on me. At least I think it was. Hard to tell with the sunglasses. “After they hit me for a while,” he began, pausing to collect himself, “they tied me to the bed. I couldn’t see much because of the blindfold.” He swallowed hard as the first tears spilled from under the glasses and onto his cheeks. “They cut me. Deliberate shallow slashes. It was the black-hood guy. I recognized the voice. And each time he cut, he’d say, ‘Master Mahan, accept this sacrifice.’ ”
The tears flowed freely now. I placed my other hand on his, trying to lend some of my strength.
“Who is Master Mahan?” Georgia asked.
“He’s the leader of the Caste of Nod,” Adam said. “Did they say anything else?”
Brooks sniffed and managed to get a hold of himself. “Just after they tied me up, one of the others came in and told the leader he couldn’t find the owl.”
I blinked. “They were trying to find Stryx?”
He nodded. “Black Hood seemed pretty pissed the owl wasn’t here. Knocked me around some more until I admitted you’d taken him with you. Then he seemed almost scared, like he was going to be in big trouble.”
My stomach clenched. If the robed terrorists were that worried about losing the owl, I couldn’t imagine Master Mahan would be too thrilled to learn I’d gotten his owl eaten by a zombie.
But something else bothered me, too. Despite the ritualized cutting, nothing in his story implied his attackers were members of any of the dark races. Vamps would have enjoyed the blood play more. Mages would have used magic to accomplish their aims. Weres or faeries didn’t fit, either. A new suspicion started forming in my mind.
“I know you said you didn’t get a good look at them, but is it possible these guys were human?”
Everyone in the room reacted physically to the question. Mac was the most vocal, with a loud snort.
Brooks crossed his arms and leaned back. “I didn’t think of that before now, but you might be on to something. It took four of them to hold me down, which seemed weird at the time. I mean, I’m not exactly muscular, you know?”
“Yeah, but you’re a fae. That means you’re still stronger than an average human male,” Giguhl observed.
“Here’s what I don’t get: Lavinia has access to magical vampires,” Georgia said. “Why would she bother with humans?”
Zen cleared her throat. The vamp cringed. “No offense.” The voodoo queen nodded and turned her attention back to the conversation.
“Maybe they’re humans who serve the Caste,” Mac offered. “What with the robes and chanting, they sure sound like a secret society to me.”
Adam’s eyes widened. “Wait a second. Were they wearing any symbols?”
“Oh, yeah,” Brooks said. “There was an eye symbol on the hood— right here”— he pointed to the middle of his forehead— “above a pyramid, you know like on a dollar bill?” Everyone nodded. “And then on the right breast of their robes was a kind of crest thingie. I didn’t get a good look before they blindfolded me, though.”
“Do you remember any details about it?” Rhea asked.
“There was a fleur de lis, I think. Maybe a moon, too.”
Something tickled the back of my mind, a smoky tendril of memory. “Was there a key?”
His shoulders drooped as he shook his head. “I should have paid better attention, but …..”
I shot the fae a sympathetic smile. “Not your fault.”
Adam’s solemn gaze met mine. I knew he was recalling the same thing I’d remembered. But I wasn’t ready to voice my suspicion yet. Not until I had more proof. I grabbed a piece of paper from the desk and scribbled the symbol from memory. I’d only had a couple of brief glances at it, but I think I managed to get the gist. “Like this?”
He took the sheet and lowered the sunglasses just enough to peek at it. What I could see of his eyes made my heart clench. Capillaries crossed the white of his eyes like tiny red webs. He lowered the glasses more for a better look. “That’s it, I think. You’ve seen it before?”
My teeth clenched so hard my jaw cramped. “Unfuckingbelievable.”
Adam took the picture from Zen. “How’d we miss this?”
Giguhl grabbed it from Zen. “Oh, shit!”
“Guys?” Rhea said. “Talk to us.”
“We know who’s been feeding Lavinia our locations,” Adam said tightly.
I crossed my arms and shook my head as my brain went back over my theory to check for holes.
“Well?” Mac said, her voice dripping with impatience. “Who?”
Adam raised his eyebrows, I nodded, perfectly happy to let him take lead on this. Maybe they’d believe it more coming from him. “Alodius wears a tie pin with this symbol.”
Zen let out a frustrated breath and leaned forward. Her expression said she wasn’t buying it. “You’re jumping to conclusions. New Orleans has a long tradition of fraternal orders and benevolent societies. A fleur de lis and crescent moon? Name one building or sign or T-shirt in this city that doesn’t feature one of those symbols. Hell, even keys are everywhere.”
“How about the fact that two major incidents happened right after we visited his shop?” I counted them off on my fingers. “First Stryx shows up right after our first trip to buy blood. Then the vamp attack after Giguhl and I went in.”
Adam piped up. “And I went there last night to get Sabina some blood.”
I nodded. “Did Alodius say or do anything strange while you were there?”
“He was pretty curious about what you were up to. Even asked specifically what we were doing last night. I lied and told him we were taking in the show at Lagniappe. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, since he’s always so damned chatty. But what if he was trying out if the coast would be clear for the attack?”
Mac snorted. “Jesus, you guys are unbelievable. Alodius is a nice old man. Why would he do something like that? He’s friends with these two.” She nodded toward Zen and Brooks.
I turned on the werewolf. My conscience nagged at me that she might be right. We were going on assumptions, not real proof of treachery. But I couldn’t just let the coincidences slide without investigating. “Adam told him we were all going to see the show last night. They didn’t expect him to be here.”
“Her,” Brooks whispered so low I barely heard it. I shot him a look, but Zen jumped in.
“Tread carefully here, Sabina. I overlooked your accusations about Georgia because I knew she and Mac could handle you. But Alodius is a human, and until you have real proof, I won’t allow you to harm him.”
“Look, we’re not saying he’s directly responsible,” Adam said. “But the evidence so far dictates we at least have a conversation with him.”
“Right,” Mac sorted. “I’ve been on the receiving end of one of your ‘conversations,’ and I’d put cash money on your chat with Alodius getting physical real fast.”