with the occasional breeze. Poppets stared out from behind the windows of various voodoo shops catering to tourists, their empty eyes mocking the living who dared to intrude in the city of death.
Ghosts and vampires. That was pretty much the legacy of the city. That and New Orleans-style voodoo and hoodoo, though she didn’t know much about those subjects.
At her side, Silvas twitched his tail tensely, his long stride steady as his eyes tracked anything and everything that moved. His nostrils twitched at the stench of rotting and decay that seemed to be clinging to the streets. Over the last four years, the streets had obviously been flooded numerous times and they were covered with a residue of decaying matter that had washed over them. It was putrid.
“What a horrible place to build a city,” Silvas observed, his nose wrinkling.
She laughed as she kept pace at his side. “It was an important port because it’s at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Many of the buildings in this part of the city are very old and stand as a testament to the prominence of the city even when it was young. It continued to draw visitors every year until the ravaging. The storms did quite a bit of damage each year, but it wasn’t a terrible place, though maybe a little inconvenient and troublesome in some respects.”
He didn’t look convinced. He actually appeared rather put out about the whole trek through the city. They had already visited several cemeteries, breaking into tombs that seemed of adequate size to shelter Cacus. To no avail. Still, he kept watch, his massive rack moving from side to side as he scanned the gloomy shadows of the decaying city.
“Where to next?” he grumbled as he strode out ahead of her. His ears were twisting and his nostrils flaring. It was obvious that he was tracking something, but after so many false leads she was no longer getting excited when he did that.
Diana peered down at her map and jabbed at a spot. “We can try this one. It seemed a bit convenient if he were sleeping there since it was one of the best-known cemeteries in the city, but we have checked most of the others. We are running out of options here. So…”
A fleeting movement out of the corner of her eye brought her head up in a quick jerk, her nostrils flaring as she attempted to home in on the source of the shadow that darted among the buildings. Swallowing, she leaned forward slightly, squinting.
“Were you serious when you said that there were vampires?” she asked casually.
At least she tried to sound casual. She didn’t want to admit that she still had a very human reaction to the idea of being hunted by a vampire. Her tail tucked against the back of her legs, betraying her nerves. Silvas, noting her hesitation and anxiety through their bond, frowned as he turned to pace back to her. His large frame loomed over hers, a warning growl rumbling in his throat.
“There are,” he rumbled, his pale eyes narrowing in the distance.
Silvas’s tail slipped around her waist, drawing her against him as he spread his arms in a defensive posture.
“Come out. We know you are there,” Silvas called out into the shadows.
A pair of glowing red eyes flashed in the darkest corner like light catching off the eyes of a predator. There was a rustle of fabric, and she heard the soft click of footsteps on the street as a tall, lean man stepped out. His long hair fluttered around him, shaved closed on one side, as his form-fitting clothes, while a bit on the shabby side with no tailors around, were of a black and burgundy scheme and looked like they cost more than what she had made in a year when she had worked at the tavern.
“We don’t want any more of your kind around here,” the vampire said coolly, his accent muddled like one who spent a long lifetime traveling. “I suggest that you leave before I alert my nest to your presence. The humans here are under our safekeeping.”
Diana’s eyebrows winged up at the statement. “You have humans here?” She glanced around, seeing nothing but ruins. “Where? And why? I thought your kind killed people.”
The vampire made a disgusted click but peered at her curiously. “We have a symbiotic relationship with the humans under our protection. We only require small amounts of blood from them in our diet, supplemented with animal blood