Page 30 of Curse in the Quarter
Unless Delphine joined willingly, accelerating the process but retaining some control.
Or unless someone severed the soul-binding chains before critical mass.
“Educational conversation,” Valentin said, vampiric authority making walls creak with supernatural pressure. “But enough for one evening.”
He moved with blurred speed, hand closing around Camille’s throat with pressure that could crush windpipe. Instead of violence, he exerted compulsion—will accumulated across centuries forcing the controlling entity into dormancy.
Camille collapsed against her pillow, silver light fading as original personality reasserted itself. Soul burn glyphs continued pulsing, but with less intensity, consciousness withdrawn to preserve energy.
“Temporary measure,” Valentin explained, fangs retracting. “Several hours’ relief while we determine responses.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. What we learned changes everything about how supernatural communities must respond.” The vampire moved to windows overlooking a city where cosmic forces viewed souls as raw material. “If entities withthat authority are weaponizing soul-binding for consciousness harvesting, every supernatural being in North America faces potential extinction.”
“What will you tell your courts?”
“Truth. Ancient magic weaponized by cosmic authorities, human consciousness systematically harvested, communities facing extinction unless we disrupt the process.” Valentin’s reflection showed eyes burning with predatory determination. “We’ll also discuss protective measures for Charlotte’s modern incarnation.”
“Protective measures?”
“She’s key to everything—ritual anchor allowing network expansion, consciousness whose cooperation would accelerate timelines, individual whose choices determine whether this serves cosmic purposes or gets redirected toward beneficial outcomes.” The vampire faced him directly. “If she learns to control her role rather than serving as unconscious focus, she might turn the network against those who created it.”
The possibility hung between them like hope wrapped in razor wire. Delphine could join willingly, accepting transformation beyond human limitations. Or fight for control of forces reshaping reality around her existence, potentially saving individual consciousness while risking cosmic retribution.
Either choice required understanding exactly what she was and what power flowed through her bloodline.
“I need to go to her.”
“Move carefully. Entities capable of corrupting soul-binding across centuries won’t remain passive if their test case encounters complications.”
The Lacroix family chapel in 1763, where Charlotte knelt before the altar making peace with whatever divineforces might witness her transformation. She wore white silk that seemed to glow with inner light, her hair braided with flowers that would not wilt. Morning light through stained glass painted her in colors that belonged to another world.
“Are you ready?” Bastien asked, his nature recognizing the magnitude of what she was attempting.
“I've been ready since the moment I understood that love this deep deserves to survive any boundary the universe might impose.” She rose with fluid grace, moving to where ritual implements waited on marble that had been consecrated for purposes their creators never imagined. “Today we prove that some bonds are stronger than cosmic law.”
“And if we're wrong?”
“Then we fail magnificently, attempting something beautiful rather than accepting limitations imposed by forces that have never experienced what we share.” Her smile blazed with courage that could challenge heaven itself. “You won't lose me, Bastien. Not to death, not to time, not to any authority that views our connection as inconvenient to their design.”
The absolute certainty in her voice, the love that would rewrite reality rather than accept separation—faith that would either preserve them across eternity or destroy them both in the attempt.
The memory faded as he reached his office, but the emotional weight remained. Charlotte had known exactly what she risked developing soul-binding techniques. Her love had been informed, willing, dangerous as revolution against cosmic authority.
Delphine deserved the same opportunity for informed choice, even if truth destroyed any possibility of happiness between them.
The locket, now returned to the chain around his neck,pulsed against his chest with rhythm like countdown, like a heartbeat, a mechanism measuring time in lifetimes rather than minutes.
He would help Delphine understand her choices would determine not just her fate, but human consciousness itself. Tonight, he would prepare for conversation that would either forge them into something stronger than cosmic authority could break or destroy them both attempting to preserve individual souls against forces viewing them as obstacles to universal order.
Either way, they would face it together.
This time, love would not be separated by death, transformation, or systematic consciousness harvesting by entities whose understanding had never included the possibility that two souls could become more than the sum of individual parts.
The locket gave one final pulse, then settled into silence, its warmth a reminder of bonds that transcended death itself.
Whatever forces gathered around Delphine’s existence, one truth remained constant.
