“That’s not true; they aren’t all—”
“Evil?” she asked, laughing. “Child, good and evil don’t exist; there are only choices. Vampires are driven by an insatiable thirst for human blood, which means they’re only two or three bad choices away from being murderers, every last one of them. We can only count on ourselves for support, and love, and friendship, because we know who we are; we aren’t monsters like them.”
“The only monster in this room is you,” I said, “This was meant to be a place of peace, and you’re stepping all over that. Now I’m going to ask one more time—get out, Tamara.”
Tamara cocked an eyebrow and scanned around the room. No one had made a move on her, no one had tried to force her out of the club. Seeing this brought a wolfish smile to her face. “Remy had the right idea the first time,” she said, “New Orleans is a city of witches, and it should remain a city of witches for all time. He may be gone, but I’m going to carry on his legacy and make this city safe again, by making sure only our kind exist within the city limits. Those of you who agree with me are free to help me make this happen. If you don’t agree, that’s fine too, just so long as you don’t get in our way.”
Many of the witches in the room stared at each other again, but this time there was movement, too. When the first witch stepped up to Tamara and turned to face me with defiance in her eyes, my heart began to pound and the room started to spin. That one witch, even one, had been swayed by her argument, was almost too much to take. But then more witches started falling in by her side, and suddenly most of the room had decided to accept Tamara’s vision.
Worst of all was when Nicole stood from her seat and walked up to Tamara. I thought she was coming to stand with me, to support me, but she had stopped short of the stage and was looking at me now just the same as everyone else was. My heart could have stopped then, if it wasn’t hammering in my chest like a wild animal locked in a cage.
“Nicole…” I said, “What are you doing?”
For a couple of seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity, Nicole didn’t say anything, and then she did. “My mom is in the hospital right now because of what happened last night, Maddie,” she said. “I’m so tired of having to fight off new enemies and getting nowhere.”
“You’re really doing this?”
“Things weren’t better before, but New Orleans was a safer place at least. I can’t lose my mom.”
Tamara smiled triumphantly, and seeing her smile and all the witches gathered around her filled me with the sudden need to leave. I stormed off the stage, pushed my way through the crowd which was parting too slowly for my liking, and left the Scarlet Cat on my own.
CHAPTER TWELVE
For a couple of minutes after leaving the Scarlet Cat, I had no idea where it was I wanted to go. I knew I couldn’t go home because I didn’t want to risk running into Nicole, who might’ve had the idea of talking things through. She had abandoned me tonight, and I had no intention of talking to her any time soon.
It became clear to me who it was I wanted to see as I walked briskly down Bourbon Street, amidst the lights, the music, and the smell of food and alcohol spilling out into the street. I wanted to see Jared. I wanted to talk to him, to tell him what had happened, because he was the only person I thought would understand, the only person I thought would be on my side.
Luckily, the restaurant he worked at wasn’t far. It was a Cajun place on Canal Street, only a couple of blocks down from where I was. When I got to the outside seating area, Jared was there, waiting on a table. It was weird seeing him in his buttoned up black shirt, slacks, and apron considering most of the time he wore denim and leather, but it wasn’t at all an unpleasant sight.
I tried to get his attention without disturbing the other customers by pretending to be a customer waiting to be seated. When he saw me, he approached without wasting a second. When he saw, written on my face, just how upset I was, his polite smile turned upside down. He took me by the hand and led me to one side.
“Hey,” he said, “Is everything okay?”
“When do you get off?” I asked, ignoring his question, but also answering it in a way.
“Not for another… two hours. Sit down and have a drink?”
“I… two hours? That’s okay, I’ll probably just go home.”
“No, don’t do that. Just, why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“I screwed it all up.”
“Screwed what up? The wake?”
“It was going well until Tamara showed up, then she started arguing with me… and I lost them.”
“Lost who?”
“The witches. They’ve joined her. Tamara said the witches should fight the vampires back; not to try and coexist, but to drive them out of the city again, like before.”
Jared looked around to make sure no one was listening. “But that isn’t the way to do things,” he said.
“I know. I told them we had to unite and be strong, vampires and witches, but the others didn’t see it that way. And I get it; many of us got hurt the other night, people are scared, but that’s no reason to form an angry mob and throw away civility.”
“I think history tells us being scared is exactly the reason to form an angry mob.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t think… I had no idea this would happen, that Tamara would come swooping in and turn people around like that. Least of all Nicole.”
“Wait, Nicole joined Tamara’s side?”
“She did. I have no one now. And the ironic thing is the witches of New Orleans are more united now than ever, but they’re totally missing the point.”
Jared reached for my hand, and an electric current passed between us when we touched, electrifying my skin. “I’m on your side,” he said, “No matter what. I should have been there tonight.”
“That would have made things worse. You’re the only person whose magick worked back at the house. People won’t trust that. I’m… I have no idea what to do, or where to go.”
He looked around again, this time more thoughtfully—not checking for the presence of strangers, but maybe looking for someone in particular. When he turned his eyes on me, they were full of concern, of worry, of care. He led me to an empty chair. “Wait here, alright? Sit down a second.”
“Sit?” I asked, “Where are you going?”
“Just wait, okay? Don’t move.”
I sat down and waited, watching Canal Street roll by, smelling the shrimp, pork, and gumbo wafting off nearby plates and listening to the music float out from the restaurant itself. Jared exited the restaurant in about five minutes wearing his usual clothes.
“C’mon,” he said, “I’ve taken the rest of the night off.”
“You what? No, you don’t have to—”
“It’s done, okay? You’re more important than this job.” He took my hand, helped me to stand, and I followed him quietly to his bike. He handed me his spare helmet and straddled the Harley, then I jumped on behind him with my helmet in place.
“Where are we going?” he asked.