AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
No one had ever accusedNew Orleanians of being subtle. Carnival season still launched with Twelfth Night, despite thedraugrwho were going to be noshing on the tourists. Much like drunken excess was inevitable, deaths and injuries of careless tourists were expected. The best we could do was be careful and warn the tourists who weren’t prepared for the biters.
I watched out the window of my accidental fiancé’s car as we zipped through the city. Sometimes seeing the world this way made me wish for a life without walled cities and restrictions. I wanted to not worry about biters—but that was impossible with my genetic soup. It was a well-guarded secret most of the time, but I was half-draugr.Any blood tests to move into safer cities would expose me. Admittedly, I suspected that I would always love New Orleans better than anywhere else. The trouble was simply that knowingI couldn’t move to any other city rankled. Most cities—and all airlines and train stations—had blood tests, and those cities that didn’t have that still had temp checks at the gate of the city.
I’d always been able to pass the temp checks, just a simple brief energy pull to make me warmer, but a few months ago, I was injected with venom. It was intended to be a murder, but I was half-draugrso it just . . . woke that up more. Could I still get through the temp check? Had I lost that, too?
I was like a cat with a closed door. I disliked rules and limits.
I wanted to have the choice to move before ultimately admitting I was already where I belonged. This was home, and I wanted nowhere else long term. It would just be nice to have a choice.
Right now, I was enjoying the ferocity of the decorations that were draped from balconies. No mild colors or modest sizes. New Orleans was larger than life in most things, and this was no exception.
“Are you unwell, Geneviève?” Eli prompted. He was smart enough to realize that I was only this silent when I was feeling moodier than usual. A more rational man would avoid poking the proverbial bear. Luckily for me, Eli was not as rational as people thought the fae were.
“I need a holiday away from here,” I admitted.
Maybe this summer. Maybe in the fall. Right now, I couldn’t leave the city even for a holiday. Carnival was deadly these days, so I patrolled to mitigate the stupidity of tourists. That wasn’t myjob, but since I was one of the only people in the city fast enough and strong enough to stop a hungry biter, it was my avocation. Such speed was atypical for the living. The only other person strong enoughandalive was driving the car. Eli. My fiancé. My partner. My friend. If I stared at his hair, I could see a universe I wanted desperately to touch.
“Geneviève?”
“Mmm..?” I watched him the way I suspect prey watches a predator. I was vulnerable—and not just my heart. Eli could overpower me. He could pin me. It was a new and absurdly thrilling reality.
But it wasn’t theonlyreason he had my knickers in a knot.
His features were sharp, more cut glass than museum statue. His mouth was full and luscious, and the energy woven into his very fiber had called to me since the moment we’d first met. His magic called to my own like we were made to be together. His skin held the kind of energy that felt like electricity.
“You’re staring at me, bonbon.”
I sighed. “You’re supposed to pretend not to notice when I stare.”
“Is that a witch tradition I am unfamiliar with?” he teased. “The fae do try to follow traditions.” He glanced at me with the half-smile that made me want to pounce on him and asked, “Is there something you need, Geneviève?”
I was saved from replying that far-too-loaded question when I felt my phone buzz.New Orleans Police Department.
I declined the call but reached out and turned down the car radio.
“NOPD,” I said.
“Ought you answer?”
“Maybe,” I allowed.
He didn’t remark that I’d already turned down the radio. We both knew they’d likely call again, and eventually, I’d answer. Satisfying my curiosity was irresistible to me sooner or later.
Eli cut off the music. He strongly believed in everything being the best possible quality, so the car stereo had been blasting some medieval sounding band that refused to play in my hometown on account of not wanting to get eaten by draugr. They weren’t meant to be played quietly.
Honestly, I was trying to justify a trip to see them live. Maybe that was going to be my holiday plan? Of course, that meant going on a trip with Eli—andthatheld levels of commitment I was not prepared for yet. Maybe ever. Couple trips weren’t my thing.
And any sort of holiday meant abandoning my post, which wasn’t a thing I could do easily. Maybe it was guilt, but I felt an obligation to New Orleans. She was mine, and I protected her people. These days, people either moved to walled cities with no-fanger rules or learned to coexist. I coexisted with a generous side order of magic and swords—and the police tolerated it because, well, they thought I was “just a witch.”
I liked it that way.
My relationship with the police was that I called to report “mysteriously beheaded” draugr, and they stressed that I was not a sanctioned officer and should not behead anything. But no one asked too many questions.
They rarely—if ever—called me.
It rang again; I declined again.
