Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,41

seductive ghost for fifty years! You should have just left the Greenwood family alone, in peace.”

“Where are the diaries now?” I asked. “I want my friends to read them and make their own judgments.”

“Not here,” Gaston said in a low, threatening voice.

“You have the diaries? What did you do, steal them? My friends deserve to know what they said.”

“I’ll tell them what they said.”

“I’m sure you will tell them what you think they said.”

“I will indeed; I am a very honorable man who doesn’t deceive my friends. ” Gaston walked through me before I had time to solidify and put himself in the doorway of the outdoor kitchen. Billie had the door open to let in some fresh air. She was humming as she painted. The kitchen had exposed beams of dark wood and she was painting them white and brightening up the room.

“Mademoiselle Billie.” Gaston leaned in the door, doffing his hat.

“What’s up?” She looked at him like she thought he was a weirdo.

“I have something to talk to you and your friends about and it’s very important.”

“Right now? I’m kinda real busy. Weren’t you pruning?”

“I was going to wait but I’m starting to worry that the incubus might find some way to silence me.”

“I’m not going to silence you, but I am definitely going to challenge you. Billie, I wouldn’t listen to him. I think he has Deveraux’s diaries. I want you all to read them so you understand the situation.”

“Diaries?” She hopped down from her short ladder. “You didn’t just come to do yard work after all, did you? I really hate wasting daylight in a building that doesn’t have electricity so this better be good.”

“It’s important,” Gaston said. “I can finish this for you later.”

“Oh, fine, guess I might as well. I don’t know what the others are up to, but I’ll give you a lunch break worth of my time.”

Billie didn’t trust Gaston anyway, and there was no reason Helena should trust him either, so maybe this would work out all right.

The only problem was that my tongue was tied when it came to telling the truth…and the events of 1975 were pretty damning.

Chapter Nineteen

Helena

Gaston worked pretty cheap, so I guess I should have known there was a catch. He was only here to scope us out and now he wanted to sabotage Byron. We all sat down with our sandwiches and looked at him skeptically. I was relieved to see that the others didn’t seem to trust him either, since they didn’t know Byron like I did.

Old vampires really were hard to trust. A young vampire, that was one thing. These days, the magical community had good networks of communication and ways of getting blood safely to vampires like it was a normal part of the food supply chain.

But a three hundred year old vampire? This guy had killed people. It was just a fact. I didn’t know if he was actually from France or had started out right here in the settlement of Louisiana, but he had surely taken advantage of all the travelers and rogues traveling on the Mississippi River. There was probably a time in his life when he killed people without thinking much about it.

That sort of thing sucked away your humanity, leaving you with plenty of a vampire’s innate power to entice and enchant, but no real soul.

“You look at me like I’m a villain. I’m trying to help you,” Gaston said.

“Before we get started, I want a truth spell,” I said.

“Fine by me,” he said, waving both of his hands toward himself. “Bring it on. I only intend to tell the truth.”

Damn. I was hoping he’d fight me a little.

“So what’s your deal and why should we trust you?” Jake asked.

“Jake, give me a second to cast the spell already.” I didn’t just cast a quickie, I got on my hands and knees and drew a circle around Gaston’s chair, binding him to the truth as long as he was within it. Billie polished off her whole sandwich before I was done.

“Okay, I’m done. You have five minutes. Go,” Billie said.

“You people are so impatient considering I’m about to tell you something so important. You trust this demonic ghost without knowing the first thing about his motives. Why? Who is he fucking? All of you?”

Jake spit out his coffee when Gaston’s eyes swept over him. “No! I trust him because Hel does.”

Billie looked at me. “I don’t really know the ghost but Mr. Greenwood did tell me about