I pushed through Laveau’s door and found the sitting room empty. A couple of books were out of order, but nothing else.

Didn’t take long to find Irish and Harker. The former lay on the empty bed next to Bram’s, her boots kicked off and her legs crossed. Harker’s pipe hung from her lips, but she had her chin tucked and was sawing a log.

Harker sat by Bram’s side. Before I stepped in, I thought I saw his hands clasped in prayer. He quickly brought them to his lap as he whipped around.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said.

“Where’s Laveau?” I asked.

“You’re not even going to ask how he is?”

I studied Bram, under blankets and sleeping as soundly as Irish. Only difference was the film of sweat caking his forehead. What a coincidence it was that he was here in the place where I’d been tasked with hunting vampires—the very creatures he hoped to study up close. Providence maybe. Don’t ask me.

“He’s alive,” I said.

“What a sad sack this country is,” Harker said. “Everyone only interested in themselves. Companions on the road. Strangers next door.”

“Hey, I got you here, didn’t I?”

He sighed, heavy-like. “Yes, you’re right. Sorry, I’m exhausted. Bram, he couldn’t wait to get here. Made it our last stop because he felt nothing else would live up to it. That here, in Crescent City, we’d find living, breathing proof of the supernatural. All I see is an old loon toying with herbs and cadavers. No different than our gypsies or so-called shamans.”

“That old loon saved his life,” I countered, probably more aggressively than intended. Harker didn’t mean to insult beings like… me. Of their crew, he was the resident skeptic, bound only by loyalty to a friend. What that must be like. Choosing what to do with your life.

“I meant no offense… I just… I don’t see the things he does,” Harker said. “This is where he wanted to be. I only hope he doesn’t miss it.”

“He’ll perk up. Laveau works wonders. Just be patient. You can finish here and then finally go home.”

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “Home. Wouldn’t that be grand. I can’t express how I miss a good old-fashioned English breakfast. Just the thought of a nice slice of black pudding has me salivating.”

“Coffee not to your taste?” I asked.

He smiled, but it was forced. After another sigh, he leaned back in his seat and plucked his drawing pad from the nightstand. He was midway through an illustration of the grunch attack, depicting Rosa and the foul little beast when it had frozen rather than attacked her.

“Laveau’s in her room,” he said in passing. “Rosa went to bed, I think.”

“I didn’t ask,” I said.

Irish pulled the pipe from her mouth and tilted her head toward us, eyes still closed. She puckered her lips at me, then snickered under her breath. My fists clenched, then I stopped. This was what Shar had talked about. The camaraderie of a found family of travelers. The constant ribbing and joshing of one another. And you don’t joke around with strangers unless you want to get hit.

Maybe I was getting too comfortable running in a crowd.

Harker leaned over and snatched his pipe back, ceremoniously rubbing the button on his sleeve.

I moved past them toward Laveau’s room in the back.

My first stop. She knew things she shouldn’t. It’s never been clear if there’s a touch of something otherworldly in her, as I never felt that familiar burn around her. Some beings can hide what they are pretty convincingly. In the end, I think she’s really just a practitioner with a kind heart. A mortal, messing with non-mortal things and reaping the benefits and the costs. Alone, scrutinized—such things come to witches who live too long without getting hanged or burned.

I brushed through a bone curtain and into a short hall leading to her bedroom on one side and what I presumed to be a closet on the other. Paintings on either side were inscribed with symbols I needed to learn the meaning of. A side table held a shrine, three candles and a jarred petrified head under a painting of an older woman who bore a striking resemblance to her. Family, no doubt.

Her door was cracked open.

“To reach the other side is a complicated thing,” Laveau said, her voice low and intimate.

“But your books—” Rosa began.

“Are books. Not practice.”

“But it can be done?”

“Yes. Easier when I had support. However, it can be done. James is correct, though. Such business is dangerous. To actually commune with the dead, not just when crones and charlatans pretend, you open up our realm to anything that might be listening. Or waiting.”

By then, I’d stopped near the door without entering. Wasn’t right to eavesdrop, but when you’re in for a penny, might as well bet the pound as well.

“Like what?” Rosa asked.

“That, my dear, is a question I would d rather not answer.”

“You won’t help me?” Rosa’s tone grew sour.

“I did not say that. Only that it has been a long time since I attempted such a thing. The strain it could put on these old bones might be too much.”

“I can help,” Rosa offered eagerly.

“Oh, you would have to. It is your connection, not mine, which creates the bridge. But I would need focusing agents, perhaps even a host. No risks can be taken.”

“Then I’ll help you gather everything you need—”

I threw open the door. “Gathering for what?” I asked, acting ignorant.

Rosa popped to her feet, startled, hand falling toward the grip of her gun. A natural reflex from a rough upbringing. Laveau sat on her ratty old sofa with Damballah on her shoulders, not even flinching. As if she’d already known I was there. Wouldn’t have doubted it.

“Personal business,” Laveau said.

Rosa’s shock turned to excitement as she crossed the space between us. “Madame Laveau said she can help me talk with Willy.”

“Just like that?” I asked, eyes drifting to Laveau. “Time was when that would cost a pretty penny. Now it’s charity?”

“There is not much left to fund, sadly,” Laveau said.

“So, you’re gonna help Rosa breach our mortal boundaries because, what—you’re bored?”

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“James…” Rosa said.

I ignored her—had to. “You know the risks, Marie. You ain’t from some forest coven.”

“No. I am merely a queen of nothing. This woman is in need, James. In need of closure. Clarity. A healing of the spirit. Those beds out there are where I mend broken bodies, but you know it is the spirit that endures the deepest pains.”

“Would you two stop talking about me like I’m not right here?” Rosa bristled. “We’ve been over this, James.”

“Failed at it too,” I said. “Or did you forget Ethelinda in Revelation?”

“She was a fake. You said that yourself.”

“I did.”

“So, are you saying Madame Laveau is a fake too?”

I gritted my teeth.

“I ain’t saying that,” I said, keeping my eyes on Rosa, not letting them pass to Marie.

Rosa took my hands, every bit of her pleading. I don’t know what it was about all this that made me so uneasy. Sure, her attempt in Revelation went nowhere. And I could see in her face then that failure hurt. Laveau was as real as it gets, but sometimes you put a voice out into the realms beyond, and nobody answers back. What if that happened to Rosa?

“I’m saying, what’s the point? He’s dead, Rosa.”

Her eyes welled up. I wish I’d thought harder about my response, but it came out blunt, as the truth often does. A pot shot from a blunderbuss.

“You think I don’t know that?” she said in a harsh whisper.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Why are you so against this? I practically had to drag you inside that carriage. Now you just won’t even think about it. As if everything we saw in Dead Acre when Willy died was normal when we know it wasn’t. I’m not crazy.”

“You’re not,” I said. “Just trust me. It’s better to leave the dead be and move on.”

“Easy for you to say. A roaming outlaw who never got close to anybody or anything. Your own boss tried to kill you. Maybe now I get why.”

A dagger to my cold, lifeless heart. I knew I’d pushed her to respond with the same level of cruelty I had, but that didn’t mean the blow landed any softer.

“I’m just trying to protect you,” I argued.

“And that isn’t your job. I wanted you along for this because I thought…” Rosa’s lips pursed, and she averted her gaze. “Doesn’t matter. At least I’m honest, James. You know why I’m here. So why don’t you go off and do whatever business it is you need to do and leave me to mine.”

She brushed by me, storming out of the room and down the hall before I could get another word out. Not that I knew what to say anyhow.

Was it Shar rubbing off on me? Warning me constantly about what I couldn’t have, that made me not want Rosa to chase ghosts? Maybe I was jealous. Jealous that she still loved Willy even though I knew we could never be like that together.

I exhaled and plopped into the seat across from Laveau. “Why’d you have to go filling her head with hope?”

“I put nothing there that was not already present,” she said. “I merely offered answers to questions that have plagued her mind for many years.”

“Right.” The single syllable took on a few more as I drew the word out.

“I invite you into my home, and you dare use that tone with me, James?”

I groaned. “You’re right. My apologies. I don’t know what it is about her that just gets my yarn all spun up.”

“I do. You care.” She affected a warm smile. Inviting, like the grandmother I never had. Like I said, as witches and their ilk go, Laveau is decent. Better than decent. Though, to be fair, I’m usually hunting rotten ones and not joining them for teatime.

My eyes rolled. “Not you too, Laveau.”

“I mean nothing by it. It is a good look on you, James. When we first met, I was not sure if you were capable of caring for another. So wrapped up in yourself you were.”

“I sort of miss it.”

She chuckled. “Don’t. And I am glad you brought her to me. Crescent City has been infested with untrustworthy souls seeking money or infamy. I will take care of her if she continues down this path.”

“I know. You’re one of the good ones.” I smirked. “You could have told her it was impossible, though.”

She eyed me with disapprobation heavy on her features. “You would have me lie to her?”

“If it kept her safe. Maybe.”

“I do not suspect it would be so easy. There’s something about her. You see it. Her curiosity. Her spirit. Her mind is open like mine was at her age. I believe she can handle the hidden truths of our world.”

“Now, now. Don’t go looking for an heir in her.”

“An heir to what?” Laveau hissed, and Damballah rose ever so slightly from her shoulder.

A brief silence passed between us. The elephant in the room. So much had changed for her over the years and nothing for me. Wasn’t often I saw that side of her. I’d struck a nerve, and I felt it was best to slather some ointment on it before it was too late.

“I met the marshals outside,” I said. “Bothersome fellas. A senator, missing here? That’s rough.”

Laveau drew a deep, beleaguered breath like she’d been holding it in since the war. “The cherry on top, I am afraid. The city grew. Rich folk from out east immigrated. Doctors. The kind of people less grateful for simply being healed than needing to know how it was done. We were easy to blame.”

“For what, though?” I asked. “The marshals can ask around. Whether they like you or think you’re a devil in disguise, nobody can deny you’ve been good to this city.”

“For everything unexplained. Sicknesses. Disappearances. Death.”

“Easy to point fingers when bodies start piling.”

Her head bobbed. “It got so bad after Senator Cartwright vanished, I even sent my daughter away. He had a fascination with the occult, you see. About a month ago, he thought it would be fun to show up at my famed doorstep and ask for me to read his fortune. Apparently, slamming a door in the face of a senator was a mistake. He disappeared that night.”

I chuckled. “Might explain why you’re being watched.”

She agreed. “Stayed here so I can help with whatever I can in my city. It is hard getting around on these old legs, though. Mostly, none show up for aid anymore anyway. I have not been to Mass in months. Many presume I am already dead.”

“Wouldn’t that be the day?”

“Such is life.” She crossed her legs, and Damballah slithered down onto her lap. Marie stroked its head like a house cat. “Now, you came here for something, James, so just ask.”

This was why I liked her. She knew that talking around a point was like bringing a potato to a gunfight.

“Barely a block outside, and I ran into a vampire. Out in the open, sucking a poor man dry.”

She didn’t look surprised. Just nodded. “They are more brazen than they once were,” she said. “And there are more of them. Something changed a few years back. Could not say what. But the werewolves loosened up their hold downtown, and it all worsened. More… unexplainable beings were seen.”

“What about Roo? Did he kick the bucket?”

“Rougarou?” Laveau shook her head. “Not that I know.”

“Well, it just so happens I’m after a vamp. Who knows, if I clean him—could help this place.”

“I fear it is too late for that.”

“Either way, I’m wondering if you might have heard of a Vampire Lord known as the Betrayer.”

She scratched her wrinkled chin. “You will need to be more specific.”

“Wish I could be. I know where there’s a nest, there’s a breeder, but those in charge usually prefer their children to stay underground, away from the sun and prying eyes. But this is Crescent City. Weird happenings abound.”

“I would not doubt the presence of one here, but I am afraid I am a bit out of touch these days. I wish I knew more.”

I blew a raspberry. “Ain’t a problem. That’ve been too easy anyway. If you can’t point me in a direction, perhaps I could at least buy some silver off you. You know, the rounds you keep for ‘contingency.’”

“Not much left in stores,” she said with sadness in her eyes.

“I’ll take whatever I can get. I’m a little low on cash, but—”

She waved her hand in dismissal. “Take it all, James. Do I look like I have any fighting left to do? You can pay me back by letting me help that grieving woman out there.”

“As if I could have stopped you anyway?”

She smiled. “Too true. But yes, take it. I may not be a queen anymore, but I stayed behind here because this is my city. If what you say is true, then we will all be better off with this vampire gone.”

I stood and crossed the room, straight to a painting on the other side. Her father: a pale Frenchman, from what I reckon, all decked out in a wig the way those people do. I lifted it off the wall, revealing a niche in the stone. Boxes of ammunition shined, along with a few bars of pure silver. I claimed the bullets but left Laveau the bars.

As I turned, I noticed her staring longingly at nothing in particular, petting Damballah in rhythm. I didn’t truly realize until then how old she’d gotten.

“Chin up, Marie,” I said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You ain’t dead yet.”

“Of course I am not. I would be haunting you.” She let out a weak chuckle, then patted my hand.

Our history was short. Barely there, really. But there’s something about spending time with another person who just… gets it, without anything needing to be said. We both had our demons because of the things we’d known and done. Sometimes, that’s enough to form a bond.

“Just promise me one thing before I go,” I said.

“Promises only bind the weak,” she said.

“All the same. Just don’t go starting any spells or nonsense with Rosa until I’m around.”

“I believe it is she who will need to make that promise. And I do not sense weakness in that one. Not at all.”

“You’re damn right about that. Just try to influence her in the right direction for me?”

She nodded.

“That’s all I can ask.”

“When will you return?” she asked.

“Couldn’t say. At least now I’ve got a good reason to come back.”

I headed out the door, understanding exactly what she meant. It was what made her decent. She sought to understand and unravel truths, not control them. And she was the same way with people. Probably why her operation fell apart once other powers rose.

I made my way back through the place. Harker had finally passed out next to Bram. Irish snored even louder. Back in the foyer, I passed Rosa but didn’t dare look. She was reading softly to herself, thumbing the pages of Laveau’s books.

Part of me wanted to stop and apologize for coming off so harsh. But I think both of us needed some time to stew. Once outside, I checked the cylinders of my Peacemakers.

It was time to go hunting. And I knew precisely where to start.