Adam had gone into tactical mode. “How many per team?”
“Each section will get five people. I figure that way, no one stands a chance of being caught alone if they stumble onto more of your grandmother’s goons or the bitch herself. Plus with that number we should be able to cover each zone tonight.”
“Wait,” I said. “You said you only had eight vamps total. Who are the other two?”
“That’s where you guys come in. We need the two of you to each go with a team, since you have more experience with Lavinia and her henchmen.”
Adam glanced up at me from where he bent over the map. I stood straighter with a sigh. “I guess we could postpone the ritual with Zen …..” I said, thinking aloud.
“Not possible. Zen said it needs to happen tonight since tomorrow’s Halloween. We can’t afford to put it off any longer.”
“Shit,” I said.
“But there’s another option,” he said, standing straighter. “You can go with Zen. Giguhl and I can handle the patrol.”
I grabbed the mage’s sleeve. “Excuse us for a minute,” I said over my shoulder at Georgia. In the corner, I rounded on Adam. “No f**king way.”
He frowned at me like I was being unreasonable. “It makes sense, Red. In cat form, Giguhl can get places vampires and mages can’t.”
“No, not that. You’re not sticking me with voodoo duty to go have all the fun. Besides, you’re the mage, it makes more sense for you to help Zen with the spell.”
Adam cocked an eyebrow. “Since you’ve conveniently forgotten, you’re a mage, too. A Chthonic one, at that. Your powers are far better suited than mine for spirit work.”
I slammed my hands on my hips. “Need I remind you that my Chthonic training was cut short because I incinerated someone? I don’t know the first thing about using those powers and you know it.”
He crossed his arms. “Still, I have the ability to flash my team out of a jam if shit goes down. Besides, you’ll only be assisting Zen. You probably won’t even need to use magic.”
His expression had a mulish slant that I’d come to associate with me losing arguments. I sucked my teeth while I considered the situation. If I was being honest, while Georgia’s plan had merit, the chance of them finding and killing Lavinia was slim. Sure, they might find a lead on her, but Lavinia was far too wily to allow herself to be cornered. But they might find Maisie. And Adam had already said he wouldn’t make a move on that front without Orpheus’s leave. That meant I wouldn’t miss the rescue.
On the other hand, Zen and Adam both seemed convinced that these spirits could help us get info from Stryx that would lead us to Maisie. Combining the approaches increased our chances of finishing all this much sooner than if we did them separately.
Finally, I poked Adam’s chest. “Watch your ass out there.”
He grabbed my finger. Spread my hand open and placed a kiss on my palm. I felt it way down in my toes. “Ditto.”
Commotion on the stairs had all three of us looking up. Brooks— or rather Cleopatra Pussy Willow— was a vision in white chiffon and gold lamé floating down the steps. The gold beads at the bottom of each braid clicked in time with his steps. The light glinted off the head of a gilt cobra sitting proudly atop a golden crown perched on his head. A rubber snake wrapped around his wrist like a poisonous bracelet. Behind Cleopatra, Giguhl followed like a devoted manservant with the train of the gown held gently in the tips of his claws.
Adam whistled. Georgia and I clapped wildly. Even Zen came out of the office to cheer for the queen. When he reached the bottom step, the queen regally lowered his chin and executed a little curtsy. “Thank you, darlings.”
Giguhl joined the group, looking as eager and nervous as a stage mom. “What do you guys think?”
“Super hot,” Georgia said.
“Totally,” I agreed.
Adam nodded enthusiastically by my side. “Nice asp you’ve got there.”
Cleopatra stroked the rubber snake suggestively and winked. “Likewise.”
“I wish we could be there for your big performance,” Zen said.
“Me, too. But Mac said she’d record the whole thing.”
At the mention of Mac’s name, Georgia’s face fell. It wasn’t Brooks’s fault for bringing up the werewolf’s name. As far as I knew he wasn’t privy to any of the previous night’s drama.
“What song are you singing tonight?” I said quickly.
Brooks twirled, flaring out the white panels of his dress. “Dancing Queen!”
I snorted. “Of course. It’s perfect.”
Zen cleared her throat. “Sabina.”
I looked up. The voodoo priestess tapped her wrist to indicate it was time to go. “Right.” I squeezed Brooks’s arm, careful not to muss his ensemble. “You’re gonna kill ’em dead.”
Behind me, Adam and Georgia were talking in low tones. The mage called Giguhl away to fill him in on the plan. Zen went to join them, and I trusted Adam to let her know about the changes in the agenda. Brooks noticed the sudden change in mood. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing. They’re just discussing tonight’s plan. When do you head out?”
The fae glanced at the clock behind the counter. “Mac’s picking me up in half an hour. I’m not walking to the club in these heels, honey.”
I hesitated. “Do you want us to wait with you?” Obviously, we needed Georgia out of there before the werewolf arrived and put the kibosh on the plans, but Zen and I could probably wait.
But Pussy Willow wouldn’t hear of it. “That’s okay. I’ll just use the wait to run through my routine again.”
“Okay,” I said. “But be sure to keep the door locked. Don’t open it unless you know for sure it’s Mac.”
An elegant hand shooed away my concerns. “Sweetie, ain’t nobody gonna mess with the Queen of the Nile.”
17
An hour later, I found out the hard way that digging graves was far preferable to exhuming them. When Zenobia led me into the cemetery, I’d been expecting another one of New Orleans’s famous cities of the dead with stately mausoleums and tombs. Instead, Holt Cemetery was a collection of graves dug into the soggy Louisiana earth. Dilapidated wooden and pitted marble headstones jutted from the ground at odd angles like rotten teeth. Our footsteps crunched on seashell-and-gravel walkways overgrown with weeds.