a house up by the Rawhide, on Burgundy. Some guyâI donât know whoâgot killed. Shot, âswhat I heard. They had the street closed off for a while.â She shook her head. âThe crime in this city is really getting out of hand.â She started rambling about our ever-rising crime rate, the usual litany all the locals go through whenever something bad happens in our neighborhood or to someone we know.
I closed my eyes, a sinking feeling in my gut. No, it couldnât be, I tried to convince myself. That would be too much . I tried to close my mind to my external senses and empty my thoughts to try to commune with the Goddess, but she was silent. Unfortunately, I canât summon my gift at will, or even how it will manifest itself to me. It used to be that I just read the tarot cards and she would speak to me through them. But in the last year, the gift had changed. The cards still worked, but recently I started having visions about what was going on, dreams that showed me the path to follow for the truth.
Iâve even communicated with the dead. Now that was an experienceâone I hope I wonât have again, at least not for a while.
But if the Goddess isnât willing to talk to me, thereâs not a damn thing I can do about it.
You can see why I usually keep it to myself. Both Colin and Frank know; theyâve witnessed it in action. My family knows; my brother Storm refers to it jokingly as my âpsycho giftâ and teases me about it. But you know how people are about differencesâtheyâd think I was some kind of freak or something if I told them about it, so I generally donât. But this time there was nothingâno sense of anything. I tried to relax, but when we turned the corner onto Decatur I saw the white SUV parked illegally at the corner and knew for a fact I was screwed. The SUV belonged to Eighth District Police Detective Venus Casanova, who Iâve gotten to know far better than either of us would prefer. Donât get me wrongâfor a cop, Venus is incredibly cool, but the only times previously weâve come into contact were when Iâd found a body. I hadnât found one this time, but it didnât take any psychic ability to figure out Misha was dead, and somehow the police knew I had been there last night. Their presence at my front door made me think they wanted to talk to me pretty badly, probably badly enough to take me down to the station.
And I still had nine hits of Ecstasy in the change pouch of my wallet in my right boot.
This was not a good thing. I was going to have to call Storm and get him out of bed. And I would never hear the end of it.
The cab pulled over in front of the white SUV and I shakily handed the cabbie a ten, waving off the change, saying thanks and âHappy Mardi Grasâ to her as Colin opened his door and started to step out. Frank did so on the other side as well. I had just climbed out as Venus and her partner, Blaine Tujague, stepped out of the SUV and started walking toward us.
Not a good sign.
âDetectives,â Frank said, folding his arms, âhappy Mardi Gras.â
I could see that both his and Colinâs pupils were still highly dilated.
Which also meant that mine were too.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Not good, not good at all. I closed my eyes and tried to focus. Fortunately, I was still between waves.
âYou guys have a good night?â Blaine asked. He was smiling. He was a great-looking guy of about thirty, about five nine with thick hair the same blue-black as Colinâs, but his was straight and parted on the right side. I think heâs gay. At least, I think Iâve seen him around in the bars a few times, but then he could have been working undercover looking for drugs. You never can be sure in the Quarter. He was wearing a thick, wool navy blue trench coat over gray wool slacks. He joined Venus on the sidewalk.
âYeah,â I said. âQuiet night for you, I
I closed my eyes, a sinking feeling in my gut. No, it couldnât be, I tried to convince myself. That would be too much . I tried to close my mind to my external senses and empty my thoughts to try to commune with the Goddess, but she was silent. Unfortunately, I canât summon my gift at will, or even how it will manifest itself to me. It used to be that I just read the tarot cards and she would speak to me through them. But in the last year, the gift had changed. The cards still worked, but recently I started having visions about what was going on, dreams that showed me the path to follow for the truth.
Iâve even communicated with the dead. Now that was an experienceâone I hope I wonât have again, at least not for a while.
But if the Goddess isnât willing to talk to me, thereâs not a damn thing I can do about it.
You can see why I usually keep it to myself. Both Colin and Frank know; theyâve witnessed it in action. My family knows; my brother Storm refers to it jokingly as my âpsycho giftâ and teases me about it. But you know how people are about differencesâtheyâd think I was some kind of freak or something if I told them about it, so I generally donât. But this time there was nothingâno sense of anything. I tried to relax, but when we turned the corner onto Decatur I saw the white SUV parked illegally at the corner and knew for a fact I was screwed. The SUV belonged to Eighth District Police Detective Venus Casanova, who Iâve gotten to know far better than either of us would prefer. Donât get me wrongâfor a cop, Venus is incredibly cool, but the only times previously weâve come into contact were when Iâd found a body. I hadnât found one this time, but it didnât take any psychic ability to figure out Misha was dead, and somehow the police knew I had been there last night. Their presence at my front door made me think they wanted to talk to me pretty badly, probably badly enough to take me down to the station.
And I still had nine hits of Ecstasy in the change pouch of my wallet in my right boot.
This was not a good thing. I was going to have to call Storm and get him out of bed. And I would never hear the end of it.
The cab pulled over in front of the white SUV and I shakily handed the cabbie a ten, waving off the change, saying thanks and âHappy Mardi Grasâ to her as Colin opened his door and started to step out. Frank did so on the other side as well. I had just climbed out as Venus and her partner, Blaine Tujague, stepped out of the SUV and started walking toward us.
Not a good sign.
âDetectives,â Frank said, folding his arms, âhappy Mardi Gras.â
I could see that both his and Colinâs pupils were still highly dilated.
Which also meant that mine were too.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Not good, not good at all. I closed my eyes and tried to focus. Fortunately, I was still between waves.
âYou guys have a good night?â Blaine asked. He was smiling. He was a great-looking guy of about thirty, about five nine with thick hair the same blue-black as Colinâs, but his was straight and parted on the right side. I think heâs gay. At least, I think Iâve seen him around in the bars a few times, but then he could have been working undercover looking for drugs. You never can be sure in the Quarter. He was wearing a thick, wool navy blue trench coat over gray wool slacks. He joined Venus on the sidewalk.
âYeah,â I said. âQuiet night for you, I
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