Page 30 of Magic Pussy

The wolf stiffened at hearing his name called out by a deep, authoritative voice. He and Luke turned to find a dominant wolf approaching, frowning. He looked like Jackson, although he was slimmer and taller; almost as tall as Luke.

"My brother," Jackson introduced. "Louis, the alpha of our pack."

The submissive didn't lower his eyes or cower, although Louis was shoving all of his dominance in their face. Luke didn't react either; he really wasn't all that intimidating. The alpha's dominance level was far lower than his own.

"Why aren't you at your post?" he barked at Jackson, who shrugged.

"I am. My post is from this tree," he said, pointing to the closest tree, "to that one." He gestured at the one where he'd stood a few moments ago.

Displeased that Jackson dared reply, anger flashed in Louis' eyes.

"And you? What are you doing here?" he demanded to know.

Luke shrugged. "Chill, man. I'm not pack." In other words, he had no authority whatsoever over him. "I was hired by one of the Whites, just like you."

The wolf sneered in distaste.

"Fine. Just don't get distracted from your actual job, Jackson."

He skulked away, leaving them to it.

"Don't judge me for being related to him, please. Mama threw him on his head a few times."

"I can tell." Luke didn't want to waste time talking about Louis, though. "So, you think that whatever's trying to come here is the thing that was sealed."

That didn't sound good, and unfortunately, it made an awful lot of sense.

"Do you have any inkling as to what it could be?"

Luke's gaze shifted.

"There are rumors, you know. Nothing more. Some say it's an evil voodoo priest, others, that it's an old vampire who drank everyone dry. But my Nona used to say it was something else."

"What?"

"A doorway to the land of the gods."

Shit.

Could he pick the murderous vampire?

The Ritual

When the witches were done with their cleansing, they got dressed in white clothing and headed back to town together by foot. Luke was glad to see that their werewolf friends were in the party, so there was nothing strange in his accompanying them.

To his surprise, they paraded in the city, chanting low. Some streets had been cleared for them and tourists were watching the whole thing from the sidewalks, taking pictures.

Once upon a time, the tourists would have believed that it was all for show, now they knew there would be some magic going on wherever they went, but it didn't seem to bother them.

Luke wished every city was as open as Nola.

It took a long time to get to the cemetery; by the time they'd made it, it was close to midnight.

The witches watched an altar at the center of the main crypt. Rain was kneeling in front of it, and Sara stood at her side. Behind the stone table, the doors of the crypt were open, and the inside was lit up.

"Where is she?" someone whispered.

"It's not like Michelle to be late, and tonight, of all nights!"

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