"And I'll keep you posted on what's going on down here," I said.

  "I appreciate that. Selena will be reporting, but it's always good to have more than one source."

  We hung up.

  "Did you hear all that?" I asked Alex.

  "I did. Apparently, some things have changed since I talked to him last. I didn't know he'd gotten married or that his father had passed."

  "Yeah, but do either of those things really make a difference?"

  Chaos jumped down from Alex's lap and stretched. "Maybe. Getting married is a big deal. You probably should have asked more about that. If she's the jealous type or wanted out of the marriage, that gives her motive."

  "My question is why Andre felt the need to move away from his pack right when he needed the support the most."

  I lifted a shoulder. "People grieve in different ways. Maybe he just needed to escape his ghosts."

  Alex hummed a tentative agreement, but he didn't sound convinced by a long shot. "That leaves us with two suspects at the top of the list then: Andre and the wife."

  "Don't forget about the guy Darrell's sister met," Chaos said. "If Darrell did meet him and found him lacking, they could have had a run-in."

  It seemed the more I learned, the more people joined the list of people I needed to talk to.

  Great, because it wasn't like I was rushing to beat the clock on anything life altering.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I SPENT THE EVENING doing a little digging. Since I couldn't interview the people in New Orleans directly and I wanted to wait to interview Andre until Selena was there, I checked the next best place: social media. People spewed everything about their lives on there, and I'd found that sometimes it was a much better meter of what a person was like than talking to them face to face.

  Andre, as expected, didn't have an account. Darrell did though, and I found his wife through them. Fortunately, all the accounts were public. That made it easy for me to nose through pictures and posts at will.

  Darrell's was a little thin—mostly pictures that he was tagged in rather than that he uploaded himself. Most of them were with his wife, Amandine, or from her profile, Mandi for short. He looked happy in most of them, though his smile looked a little forced. That could have been because he didn't like pictures though. There were a few of him with his parents and several more with a group of guys doing different activities, including off-roading, crabbing, and fishing. There was even one of him holding a gator. His file looked real enough in those. Basically, it was a superficial profile depicting times when he was having fun with others. Nothing personal at all, except for a post when his dad died.

  Mandi's, on the other hand, was a virtual diary where she seemed to vomit every single thought that flitted through her brain. It took me ten minutes to get through the week; I had to read through everything from what she had for breakfast to whether or not she should wear the yellow tube top or the green tank top. It was nauseating.

  The one thing I did find, though, was that Ms. Mandi was extremely possessive and insecure. She mentioned a couple times in just the last week that this waitress or that gas station attendant had made googly-eyes at Darrell, and she complained in one that he'd smiled back. Her friends looked to be as dizzy as she was, because they all responded with emoticon hugs, yuck faces, and hearts. That was food for thought, though. Those kind of women—and men for that matter—bore watching when it came to crimes of passion.

  Barnabe Dupre's was about like Darrell's; in fact, they shared many of the same pictures and both guys seemed to genuinely be having a good time in all of them.

  Selena, on the other hand, was like me—she had hers set to private, so I couldn't dig up any dirt on her. Alex made some phone calls and found out she was just an average person. Though she did play a significant role in pack business, it was mostly on the paperwork side of things. She was on the treasury board as well as the genealogy board.

  "So out of all the people he could choose as his second, why her?" I asked Alex. Not that she wasn't qualified, but she didn't stand out in any way whatsoever.

  He shrugged. "All we know are bare-bones facts about her. I'm sure Barnabe knows her strengths and weaknesses much better than we do. Trust me: with a brain as analytical as his, he evaluated her from every direction before he made his decision."

  "I guess we'll get a chance to form our own opinions tomorrow," I said.

  "It looks that way," he answered, then reached over and gently pushed my laptop closed. "But for now, put it away and let's push murders and motives out of our heads for the night; there's nothing more we can learn anyway. I'm starving and I've missed you."

  He pulled me up from my chair and wrapped my in a hug, and for a few hours, I tried to do exactly that. I had a bad feeling it was the last pleasant evening I was gonna have for a while.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to find a text message from Charlotte, my magical mentor.

  It read: I know you're available this morning and I know Alex is back in town. See you both at 10.

  I had no idea how she did that, but it made me crazy. She always seemed to know where I was at any given time and though she swore she didn't have some kind of magical bug on me, it sure seemed that way.

  Sighing as I took a sip of my coffee, I showed it to Alex. His phone was upstairs on the nightstand, so he ran up and got it.

  "I got one too," he said as he tromped back down the steps. "Almost verbatim."

  "It looks like we're going for a lesson, then," I said. Truth be told, I needed as much knowledge as I could get. I didn't like not being able to access my magic when I needed it and I'm a perfectionist. If I'm going to do something, I'm in all the way.

  "We should probably fill Sean in on what's been going on, anyway," I said. Sean Castle was an ancient vampire and the town's founder. For obvious reasons, he couldn't stay in town for more than a decade or so at a time, but he'd just gotten back after having been away for his requisite few decades. Usually, he showed up and just pretended to be a descendent. This time, he hadn't made up a story and folks were taking it in stride. In fact, I wasn't even sure most people outside the magical community even knew who he was anymore.

  He'd won the town on a bluff in a poker game and took great pride in it. If I didn't tell him what had happened, he'd be offended. Since he was sort of my friend as well as a vampire powerful enough to turn me to dust, I tried to stay on his good side.

  Glancing at his watch, Alex said, "We're gonna have to push it if we're gonna get there on time. It's after nine already."

  Chaos hopped up on the table and grabbed one of the orange rolls I'd made for breakfast. I wasn't much of a cook, but even I could handle canned biscuits. Usually, anyway. She shot me a look that dared me to say anything, and I just snapped my mouth shut. It was a fight I wasn't going to win anyway.

  Maybe it was time to change tacks and up our exercise. If she didn't get food from me, she just bummed it from the neighbor, a kindly little old lady who thought she was adorable. In truth, she was. Her fur was gleaming white, except for a black streak that ran down her back and across her face, a few black spots, and black-tipped toes. And she had huge, luminous green eyes that she knew how to bat in order to wrap just about anybody around her little paw.

  "You're going too," I told her.

  "Of course I'm going," she said, licking frosting off her paw. "I'm your familiar."

  Last time, she'd put up a fuss because Charlotte had gotten onto her at the previous practice, so I was a little surprised she was so eager to go. Then I realized what her game was. Alex was in town, and he was her favorite person on the planet.

  I rolled my eyes at her, but she just took another bite of the orange roll, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

  "I wish I'd thought to ask Barnabe what time Selena would be here," I said twenty minutes later as we climbed in Alex's car. "I'd like for us to go have lunch with Zach. I haven't stopped in a few days."

  "How's he doing?" Alex asked as he navigated out of the drive.

  Zach's is a long story, but to summarize, we'd basically had to alter his memory or kill him. Not all of it—just parts of it. So far, it was working well, but it still worried me. I also had a fair amount of guilt, but I soothed that by telling myself he was much happier and doing what he was meant to do now. That was true, but I still questioned the whole messing with fate thing.

  "So far, so good," I answered. "He's managed to turn his sandwich shop into a mini sports bar. You can hardly get in the place on Sundays. He even hosts an after-hours party on Mondays and Thursdays for the games."

  Alex raised a brow and gave me a sideways glance. "How does that work?"

  "He charges a set amount and makes sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres ahead of time so he can watch the game. He already has the beer license. To make things easy on himself, he sells beer tickets separately and you just drop a ticket in the can when you get a beer out of the ice chest."

  "And he just trusts people to not drink all his beer for free?"

  Alex hadn't been raised in a small town like we had been and was skeptical about the concept of the honor system.

  "I don't think he really cares that much, but I'd bet dollars to donuts he doesn't lose much to that."

  We chatted about his trip for the rest of the ride, and when we pulled into Sean's curving drive, I was surprised to see several cars in the lot. Sean rarely had visitors.

  Sean found a spot that was out of the way. "Is there something going on this weekend that I don't know about?"

  I shrugged. "Heck if I know. You know Sean—he does like his parties."

  I picked up the dragon's-head knocker and dropped it. He had a traditional doorbell, but I preferred the knocker because I knew his butler hated it. Rather than the sourpuss who pushed my buttons as hard as I pushed his, Sean himself opened the door.

  When he saw us, he gave us a broad smile. "Just who I was expecting," he said. "Charlotte told me you were coming, and it was perfect timing. I have something I want to discuss with you."

  From the look on his face, it was a sure bet that my news was worse than his. "Yeah, I've got something I need to talk to you about too," I said.

  "Perfect. Let's go to my office now."

  We followed him to a set of elaborately carved pocket doors and he slid them open. There was a fire in the fireplace, which was weird considering it was in the eighties outside, but it was his house. If he wanted to turn it into a sauna, who was I to say anything?

  After sliding the door closed behind us, he turned around, an uncharacteristic grin on his face. He was good-natured, but tended to be a bit reserved most of the time.

  I gave him the side-eye. "What's got you so hyped up?"

  He held up a finger. "First, is your news good or bad?"

  "Decidedly bad," I replied, glancing at Alex. He looked just as confused as I felt.

  "Well, then my news first," Sean said.

  "Okay, shoot."

  "You know how many businesses in town are having a hard time staying afloat?"

  "Yeah," I said, drawing the word out and narrowing my eyes.

  "I've decided to rebrand us," he said, adopting that goofy, ear-to-ear grin again.

  I was almost afraid to ask, and was glad Alex did it for me. "Into what, exactly?"

  "Into a high-end supernatural vacation spot. I still own several vacant properties around the area and I'm going to turn them into mini resorts. That way, the town will see more business, we'll have more jobs, and everybody will thrive!"

  At first blush, it sounded like a grand idea, but then the logistics of it, along with one word in particular, sank in. "Did you say supernatural vacation spot?"

  "I did," he said, glancing back and forth between Alex and me. "I got the idea when you were telling me about the beach resort your cousin works at. What's it called again?"

  "Enchanted Coast," I said, afraid of where this was going. "But there are no humans there, and the entire point is that people can be themselves. There's no way we could pull that off here."

  "Sure there is," he said. "We just have to figure out the logistics."

  The logistics were that I'd have to triple the police force, explain all the traffic, and hope none of the creatures that he invited had a taste for humans. You know, like vampires.

  My day had gone from bad to worse, because once Sean set his mind to something, you could bet your bottom dollar it was gonna happen. I wondered if it was too late to give up all my responsibilities and actually join my cousin at her Gulf-side resort. About ten of those drinks served in a pineapple sounded like nectar right about then.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I STARTED TO ARGUE with him, but figured I'd give him some time to start turning it over in his headfirst. He wasn't prone to spontaneity, so I was hoping when he sat down and started doing to numbers on it, he'd realize what a hot mess he was brewing.

  So, I snapped my mouth shut before I could ask him what he'd been smoking.

  "You said you had news? Bad news?" he said, raising his inflection at the end to make it a question.

  Telling him was a mixed bag. He had a ridiculous number of contacts and never hesitated to use them to help me, but it also meant he'd be right in the loop. Of course, that had never been a bad thing, but it felt weird to me to have somebody besides me and Sam—and now Alex—knowing all the details of a case. The flip side of having all those contacts was that he'd know everything anyway, so there was no point in trying to keep it under wraps.

  I took a deep breath and launched into the story, leaving nothing out. When I finished, he chewed on his lip, thinking.

  "Are you finished with the scene?" he asked.

  I nodded.

  "Then I believe I'll go see for myself. Living as long as I have does have its advantages, as does being a vampire. Perhaps I'll be able to pick apart the scents a bit better than you could."

  He wasn't being arrogant; he was being honest and I knew it. I hadn't even considered that, but his sense of smell was much better than mine. It couldn't hurt for him to try.

  "And I have many friends in New Orleans." His eyes glittered with dark humor. "The city used to be such wicked fun a couple centuries ago, before I redefined my definition of the word."

  I rolled my eyes. New Orleans was notorious for being a vampire nest in that era and I could only imagine the good times he was referring to. "Yeah, well I've never been there, but I'm sure it's a barrel of laughs. Some insider insight into the pack would be nice though. I feel like I'm working with one arm tied behind my back here."

  Alex had been quiet, but finally spoke. "I don't have to tell you what's at stake here. We've worked long and hard to pull this treaty together. In order for it to work, everybody has to agree to it."

  He waved us off. "I'm aware of Miranda's pet project. If you ask me, it's been a long time coming. With the invention of modern travel and communication, keeping separate legal systems has become archaic and dysfunctional."

  I raised a brow because he was dead set against vampires joining the rest of the paranormal community. He gave me a cool look. "Though many think vampires should be included in your coalition as well, it's ... a bad idea. We've operated under one system of laws since the beginning of time. The system works. Vampires aren't like other supernatural creatures; our very natures demand that we feed on others in order to thrive. We're perfect machines of destruction. Speed, strength, compulsion, beauty, virtual immortality. Everything about us is designed to conquer other species. Therefore, our law are harsh by necessity. Tell me—what would a life sentence mean to a being who lives forever? And how would you enforce it? Walking out of even the highest security prison would be child's play to even a new vampire should he—or she—desire to do so." He waved a hand. "It's ludicrous to even contemplate."

  When he put it like that, it actually made sense to me. I hadn't given it much thought because it wasn't my thing. I had enough to worry about without tossing universal paranormal politics into the mix.

  I cleared my throat and decided that no response at all would be better than any I could come up with. "Thanks for any info you can get on the NOLA pack for me. I appreciate it."

  "Of course," he said, putting his hands on our shoulders as we turned to leave the study. "How are your studies going?"

  He'd been the one to arrange for Charlotte to tutor us, though I wasn't sure why. With Sean, you never knew. He could have had some ulterior motive, or it could have just suited his fancy to be nice. For some reason, in this instance, I think it was the latter.

  He was a generous man to those he cared about, and he had a mentor relationship with Kat. Maybe that got me in by proxy, or he just didn't want me burning the house down because my magic went wonky. No way to tell, but I was grateful because nobody wanted me to have control of my magic more than me.

  "I believe Charlotte is waiting for you in the courtyard. She's quite miffed that you haven't been as diligent as she'd like."

  I wasn't sure what Charlotte's deal was for sure. I was fairly certain she didn't live there full time, and I didn't know the extent of her powers. Maybe she teleported there.

  Chaos seemed to pick up on what I was thinking. "You know," she said, her tail wishing as she walked beside me, "Charlotte may be able to shed some light on what's going on. She always knows more than most of the other witches around here do about the bigger picture."

  The thought gave me pause. She was an elemental witch, and nobody was more in tune to the moon's phases than they were. Not even werewolves. Maybe she would have some clue as to what was going on.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHARLOTTE WAS WAITING out back for us. Sean had a huge open courtyard behind the mansion that he often used for cocktail parties and other soirees. He was big on entertaining and had one party or another going pretty much every weekend.

 

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