Page 13 of Tanglewood Legacy (The Three Sisters 3)
“It’s lovely. It brings out your eyes,” Circe said. “I suspect you’ll steal Pierre’s breath.”
“She’s not going there to steal anyone’s breath. She’s going to bait a vampire into revealing itself,” Medea insisted.
Circe waved a hand dismissively. “She can do both, Medea. Let a girl have some fun.”
Isis mounted her horse, adjusting her skirt around her legs. The dress wasn’t meant for riding, but with a little magic, it would do. “Anyway, I need Pierre to have his breath so he can answer my questions.”
“Oh, I think he’ll take one look at you and give you whatever you need,” Circe said.
Medea scowled.
“Then I’m off.” She waved to her sisters and Rhys and called the shadows to her. Oh, she could ride into town, but traveling by shadow would be faster. She leaned down closer to her horse’s neck. Darkness swirled around her, blocking out the moon, and then she was deposited on the edge of the Vieux Carré. Her horse snorted and bobbed its head at the sudden change in scenery. “You’re all right, Sunset.” She patted the horse’s neck. “Come on. Let us find this tavern Pierre mentioned.”
She urged the horse forward to the town square and followed the sound of laughter to Touze’s, a small but lively tavern onRue de Bourbon. She dismounted and strode inside, straight up to the bar. Raucous voices seemed to quiet upon her arrival, and heads turned to look at her.
“Can I help you,mademoiselle?” the barkeep asked.
“Is Monsieur Touze here?” she asked.
“That would be me.” The man tugged on the gray hair of his beard. “It must be my lucky day to be called on by such a beautiful woman.”
Isis ignored the compliment and jumped straight to the point. “I’m looking for Pierre Baron. He said you would know where to find him.”
He let loose a crooked smile, “You’re in luck.” Touze yelled toward his back room. “Pierre, there’s someone here to see you!”
Monsieur Baron appeared at the end of the bar, his sleeves rolled past his elbows. As always, he was a vision of masculine strength, dark and intense, with a body forged in the wilds of Louisiana. For a moment, she forgot why she was there and simply appreciated the view. He did a double take. “Isis?”
“You said to come at night.” She sent him her most disarming smile.
He approached her and lowered his voice. “Are you here alone?”
“I am,” she said, noticing then that she was one of only three women in the place, and the other two seemed completely devoted to entertaining the gentlemen in their company.
He exchanged a few words with Nicholas. “Come with me.”
She hooked her arm into his and they started for the door, but she stopped short when her eyes caught on another woman at the back of the crowded room.Delphine Devereaux. But oh, how she’d changed since their last encounter. Gone was the sickly, pale woman Isis had met with the cough and blood-stained lips, replaced by a bright-eyed, smooth-skinned creature with healthy curves.Vampire, Isis thought, but it was impossible. She didn’t know for sure how vampires in Ouros became vampires except that they were not previously human.
Delphine sent her a tight-lipped smile that oozed menace.
“What is it?” Pierre asked, darting a glance over his shoulder in the direction she’d been looking.
Isis glanced at him and then back toward Delphine, but she was gone. A chill coursed through her. “I thought I saw a woman I met on the ship from Paris. Her name was Delphine Devereaux. Do you know her?”
Pierre sighed. “Delphine Laurent now, by marriage, although I’m sad to say her circumstances are such that I doubt it was her you saw.”
“Oh?”
“She wouldn’t be here. Lost her husband only today, I’m afraid. Last I heard, she was consumed with grief.”
Isis scanned the crowd again for the woman, but she had truly disappeared. “How horrifying for her to lose a husband when she was so recently married.”To a vampire,she added in her head.
“Terrible tragedy.”
How to ask what she needed to… what she suspected. “Was her husband advanced in years?”
Pierre snorted. “Afraid not.” He tugged on her arm, leading her outside. “Tragic circumstances. Best not discuss them here.” He gestured toward a horse and wagon nearby, the bed filled with oak kegs. “Care to ride with me? My home isn’t far, but it’s not safe to walk this time of night.”
“Strangely enough, I’ve always felt safer at night,” she said, intentionally baiting him to tell her what dangers he believed the night possessed. In fact, Isis was sure she was the most dangerous thing in all of la Nouvelle-Orléans. Even now, the shadows caressed her ankles, waiting to serve her. But she needed Pierre to tell her if he knew about vampires and to fill in the gaps about Delphine.
