me suspicious, but I had no one else to turn to. "I can let him know about the attack," I said. "Without mentioning your name."
Sabina inclined her head and I figured I had been maneuvered into doing her bidding.
Before I could respond, she said, "There will be no more blood rites in the forest near this place. I have seen to it. The three Damours will not be allowed to enter this holy ground again. If they have another place for the rites, they will go there, forced there for the light of the moon."
I couldn't help the grin that split my face. I knew where the children and Bliss would be. I knew!
Sabina chuckled, her face instantly human-looking, mobile, and weirdly cheerful. "Go now. You have much work to do and little time."
I felt as if a large hand pushed me toward the outside, toward the night and the full moon. All at once, the candles were snuffed and the chapel went dark, as I left the place I had desecrated, passing beyond the door I had ruined. I stepped from the chapel to the sound of the stone lid being slid into place on her bier and the chair treads starting to rock on the wood floor. Outside, under the light of the full moon, shadows rested black across the grass, striping the white-shell walks like wounds in the skin of the netherworld, open and bleeding into the land. Rick was standing at the bottom of the stairs and when I descended, he gripped my arms, stopping me. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I think so."
He searched my face, his Frenchy black eyes holding me more securely than his hands.
Finally he nodded. "Okay. That was seriously weird."
"You were listening?"
"Yeah. What next, Master Vampire Hunter?"
"I need to talk to some guys I know," I said, shooting him a look, thinking of Derek Lee, putting it all together. "I need to go to New Orleans City Park. And I need to talk to Leo."
He nodded, his face serious. "Visiting Leo sounds like a fun date. I'll bring the beer."
I spluttered with laughter, which was what he'd intended, and some of the darkness Sabina had painted on my soul dissipated. He reached up and traced the corner of my lips with a fingertip, the caress soft, making me shiver. I stepped away and he dropped his hand. "Seriously, Rick. I need to talk to Leo, tell him about the plot and the coup and murder of St. Martin's master and heir. We're gonna have a lot of dead vamps and a lot more dead humans. But I don't havetime to do that and . . ." I looked up at the full moon. Frustration zinged through me. "I can't do it all. I can't deal with Leoand get the kids backand kill the blood-sucking Damours. And the kids are more important than anything else." I didn't have time for everything, and so someone was gonna die who shouldn't die. And it would be my fault. Again.
"As a cop, I have to warn you that even though the legal definition of a vamp as human hasn't been established in the courts, killing one without a contract might be considered illegal. Except for killing rogues. Usually. So I don't want to know about that part. But as to warning Leo, I'll do it. Well, Jodi and Rosen and I'll do it. What?" His eyes narrowed. "What's that look for? This isn't just your fight, you know. We live here.
We'll be the cops cleaning up after the bloodbath."
I took a breath. It seemed to fill me for the first time since Sabina grabbed my throat. A curious delight kicked around inside me. With one exception - a bad exception, when a cop I liked a lot was killed - I've always worked alone, so I wasn't used to having help.
But Rick was right. This wasn't just my fight. "You'll go talk to the master of the city."
It wasn't precisely a question, and not a statement either, but somewhere in between.
"Right now," I clarified.
"Sure. Why not? Got nothing better to do than kick some master-of-the-city vamp-butt."
I chuckled, imagining that scene.
"Or just dicking around with his mind. Me and Jodi might like that. And Rosen," he added.
"Okay. Thanks."
Rick straddled his bike and called Jodi Richoux and Sloan Rosen, and both agreed to meet us on a narrow bridge a mile from the Mississippi. I had made my call while Rick made his, the beauty of modern life, instant multiple-person