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“To my aid,” I whispered, sliding my arm across the blade of my sword andflowingthrough the narrow passageways between mausoleums.
As I went, blood droplets hit the ground, beckoning the dead. I avoided the resting places that had been marked with voodoo symbols, not wanting to find out if LaLaurie or Laveau were in any of them.
Not content with only a few graves tonight, I lowered myself to the soil, letting my blood pour into the ground.
“An enemy comes,” I said, spilling magic across the earth. “At my word, I need you.”
Within these walls, I had an army, and I would use it.
Then, as I felt the ripple of the dead waking under the soil, I walked toward the center of the walled cemetery. I wanted it to be harder to get away. There would be no survivors in my enemies’ forces.
“No survivors,” the dead echoed, rasping voices filling my mind like the shiver of serpents through dry grasses.
“No prisoners.”
“Protect.”
I hopped onto a mausoleum, wanting my dead army to stay still until I was ready. If they were here, no rational soul would walk toward me. I waited, blood dripping onto stone not soil now.
When Daphne finally came, her soldiers had Tres, Ally, and Iggy in tow. Iggy looked furious, and Ally had a black eye. Tres was stumbling, but he had his eyes down.
“Well, if it isn’t Beatrice’s little witch,” Daphne said. “We were disappointed that you were hiding.”
A group of maybe thirty to forty people. They weren’t dressed in uniforms, but they were human, taking orders from adraugr,and the sniper earlier had a military-issued rifle.
“Did they give you the rejected soldiers?”
“These are highly trained—”
“Your sniper missed.” I hopped down, my arms behind me. “Ally? Iggy?”
“Fine.” Iggy nodded, and Ally shrugged.
Tres looked up, eyes locking with mine. “I shall atone.”
“It wasn’t his fault, Boss.” Ally jerked away from the man holding her bound hands. “They surrounded the building. Shot Ig and Tres through windows.”
“You don’t want to do this,” I said, flexing my hands, milking the blood from my cut so it dripped steadily on the soil. “What do you hope to gain?”
“Grab her.” Daphne gestured. “She’ll be a useful bait to lure out Beatrice. Since the grant didn’t get her killed . . .”
“You funded the grant?” I shook my arm, letting blood fling to the soil.
“My employer.” Daphne shrugged. “Since that buffoon wouldn’t kill you, I had to try a bribe.”
“Buffoon?”
“Chaddock.” She scowled at Tres. “I sullied myself with him, and . . .”
“Hands where I can see them.” A man with a rifle came toward me and jabbed me with the muzzle of his rifle.
“No.” Iflowedtoward Daphne, not underestimating her this time. I wrapped my body around her, both arms holding her, and said, “I like it here.”
“Shoot them both.” A man spoke, and a clatter of sound followed rifles raising toward us.
“Protect me,” I said, voice low. “They mean me harm.”
Daphne began to struggle. “Bitch!”
