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I dropped him to escape the body fluids. He slumped on the floor and openly wept. “I’ll give you something to cry about you miserable piece of shit.”
“Sabina,” Adam said quietly.
Snot bubbled from his nose. “They’ll never induct me now,” he wailed.
I stepped back with a sigh and crossed my arms. “Who won’t?”
“The Benevolent Brotherhood of the Eastern Mystery.”
Frowning, I looked at Adam, who shrugged and shook his head. Pussy Willow looked equally lost. “Who the hell are they?”
Alodius snorted and swiped at his tears. “They’re only the most powerful secret society in human history.”
I pressed my lips together. “If they’re so powerful, why haven’t we heard of them?”
Alodius looked up at me like I’d said something ridiculous. “You hard of hearing, cher ? It’s called a secret society for a reason.”
Adam crossed his arms. “Please. Most people have heard the names of lots of secret societies— the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati—”
The mortal made a rude noise. “Those guys are pussies. The Brotherhood has the true power.”
“Such as?” I prompted.
He pressed his lips together and twisted his fingers in front. Then he crossed his arms and leaned back.
“Well, now, look who’s suddenly rediscovered his sac.” I placed the ball of my foot on the edge of his chair and pushed. The chair fell back with a clatter and a flurry of curses from the sprawled Cajun.
“You no-good bloodsucker. See if the Brotherhood don’t teach you a thing or two.”
“You’re testing my patience.” I stood over him with my boot heel on his fat belly. “Why did the Brotherhood attack Zenobia’s store?”
The spiked point of my heel ground into his midsection. “Jesus, watch the pancreas, will ya?” he groaned. “I’ll talk.”
The sudden shift to first person told me I’d won. With a smile, I delivered one more jab of my spiked heel before jerking my head at Adam. The mage rolled his eyes and righted the chair before helping the man back into it.
“Now,” I said, putting an extra dose of menace into my voice. “Start at the beginning.”
Alodius ran a hand over his sweaty forehead, smoothing the flap of hair back over his pate. “It all started a week ago. At the monthly meeting, the Big Brothers informed us initiates that we needed to keep our eyes out for a magepire and—”
I held up a hand. “Hold up— magepire ?”
Adam snickered behind me. I shot him a glare before turning it on the mortal.
“Yeah, that’s what you are, right? Half and half?” I pursed my lips together and rolled a hand for him to continue. “Anyways, they said you’d have a mage and maybe a demon with you. If we saw any of you, we were to call in immediately. Imagine Alodius’s delight when you strolled right into the shop a few days later.”
“Why did they want to know about our movements?” Adam asked.
He shrugged. “Dunno.”
“You didn’t ask?” I said, my voice heavy with disbelief.
“Are you kidding? Initiates don’t ask questions. We follow orders.”
“So you called them each time after we left the shop,” Adam said. “That still doesn’t explain how that information got back to Lavinia.”
“Who?”
I rolled my eyes. This guy was a bigger idiot than I’d given him credit for. “Lavinia Kane? The leader of the vampire race? The one who’s been sending her goons after us based on the information you’ve been giving your stupid secret society.”
“Hey! The Benevolent Brotherhood of the Eastern Mystery isn’t stupid. We raise lots of money for literacy at our annual crawfish boil.”
I threw up my hands and turned to Adam. “You better take over before I kill him.”
The mage moved in, pulling a chair up next to the frustrating butcher. “Alodius, I need you to focus, okay? We understand you were just following orders.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. As I did so, I looked at Pussy Willow. Every muscle in her body tensed, including her fists, which clenched and unclenched like they wanted to get busy. As Alodius waxed poetic to the mage about honor and patriotic duty and a bunch of other bullshit, I sidled up to the faery.
“Hey,” I whispered. “You doing okay?”
A muscle worked in her jaw. Her eyes never left the butcher. “Mmm-hmm.”
“Don’t worry. Adam will get to the bottom of this. He gives great good cop.”
Pussy Willow’s head nodded slowly to acknowledge my statement, but I had the feeling she wasn’t all there. I couldn’t blame her for her anger over Alodius’s involvement. Now wasn’t the time for a heart-to-heart, though, so I patted her stiff arm and focused on Adam’s progress— or lack thereof.
“No, I didn’t know that Nostradamus was a member of the Brotherhood. But I really need you to focus. Did you see anything odd when you went to the temple recently?”
“Like what?”
Adam gritted his teeth. “Like vampires?”
Alodius waved a wave. “Oh, them. Yeah. This one fella was at our last meetin’. Big Brother Devereaux introduced him as ‘Rupert.’ Seemed kind of sissy with the cane and cape and all.”
Adam looked up at me. “The Count?”
I nodded. “Did you speak to him?”
The butcher shook his head. “Nope. He just kind of sat in the back, listening. Seemed odd, since only members of the Brotherhood are allowed in the ceremonial room. But,” he shrugged, “B. B. Devereaux explained the vamp belonged to a group that funded a lot of our activities.”
“Did he mention the name Caste of Nod?” Adam asked.
Alodius pursed his lips. “Don’t think so, but it was kind of hard to hear what with being in the back of the room and the goat’s constant bleating.”
Adam made a face at the goat comment and then leaned back in the chair. “Why did the Brotherhood go after Brooks?”
Alodius’s face went hard. “You told me about the drag show, remember? They expected the store to be empty. Must have improvised when they found him there.”
“Her,” Pussy Willow whispered fiercely.
“Did the Brotherhood let you in on their original plan?” Adam asked.
The man sat up straighter in his chair. “Yessiree. After the first two calls, the Big Brothers themselves call Old Alodius into their high chamber. Said they were planning something big for All Souls’ Day and they needed you there.” He looked at me when he said this. “Only they had to be real careful about it, because you couldn’t know you were being set up. They said next time you showed up we had to ask you about your plans. They needed to know when you’d be gone so they could set the plan in motion.”
