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“You haven’t heard?” Viv asked.
Evee frowned.
“About the humans,” Gilly said, then stomped a foot. “The dead ones, Evee.”
“Yeah,” Evee said, looking away. “Hoot filled me in a few minutes ago. He saw the whole thing.”
Viv did a double take. “What? He saw it? What about Pierre and Chank?”
Evee nodded. “That, too.”
“You mean your familiar saw all this going on and didn’t summon you?” Gilly asked, putting a hand on her hip.
“He claims he tried, but I didn’t hear him, didn’t feel him,” Evee said. “I didn’t know about the humans or Chank until Hoot came here to tell me.”
Gilly eyed her. “How can you not pick up an emergency summons from your familiar? What were you doing while all that was going on? And why is your hair wet?”
“Shower,” Evee said, feeling her cheeks flush. “Didn’t have time to dry it.” Before her sisters pummeled her with more questions, she shot out her own. “Why are the two of you here?” Aren’t you supposed to be looking for Chenilles and Loup Garous?”
“We were,” Gilly snapped. “Found out about the humans and Chank and have been racing around like fools trying to find you. Wanted to make sure that you knew and that you were okay. Is that a crime?”
“I didn’t say it was,” Evee said. “Why are you being so bitchy?”
Gilly held her arms out. “This isn’t bitchy. It’s pissed. We’ve been out there busting our humps and you’ve been here taking a shower.”
Evee turned away from her sisters and went to the counter, picked up the kettle she’d filled with water earlier and headed for the stove. She didn’t want to explain to them that she’d needed a shower after the whole Cartesian and river ordeal. She feared if she did, she’d spill the beans about Lucien, as well. As upset as they appeared now, even dropping a hint about her sexual encounter with Lucien, albeit one-sided, would have thrown both of her sisters into cardiac arrest.
“Well?” Viv said. “Explanation please.” She pursed her lips.
Ignoring her, Evee put the kettle on the stove and turned on the burner. She really didn’t want tea, but at least this gave her something to do.
“Evee, you know the death of the humans and the witnessing of the Nosferatu takes our situation to a whole new level,” Viv said. “The police will get involved, which is going to make this catastrophic. This situation is bigger than I think even the Benders realize. We need to figure out some kind of workable game plan. All we’ve been doing is chasing our tails, looking for Nosferatu, Chenilles and Loups.”
Gilly nodded. “Agreed. Dead humans. We’re way over our heads...wait a sec. What’s up with that?” Gilly walked over to Evee and touched her right shoulder, just near the edge of her scoop-necked sweater, and tugged it down an inch.
“What?” Evee asked. She felt Gilly pull the back of her shirt lower.
“What the hell?” Viv said, and hurried over to Gilly’s side.
Evee tried looking over her right shoulder to see what her sisters were gawking at. She couldn’t see anything. “What? What, damn it?”
“Your absolutus infinitus,” Viv said quietly.
All Triads since the 1500s were born with a black absolutus infinitus birthmark on a certain part of their body. Evee’s was on her right shoulder, Gilly’s on her right ankle, and Viv’s on her right hip. The mark was part of the curse carried by all Triads.
“What about it?” Evee asked, still trying to look over her shoulder.
“It...it’s gray,” Gilly said, her voice soft with astonishment.
“Get the hell out,” Evee said, and took off to look in the foyer mirror.
When she reached the mirror, she turned sideways, reached back and tugged on her shirt. Her sisters stood beside her, silent. Frustrated, Evee yanked her sweater up and over her head, not caring that she stood only in her bra and jeans. She turned sideways again, and felt her mouth drop open. She saw it, plain as the nose on her face. Her once charcoal-black absolutus infinitus had faded to an ashen gray.
“What happened to it?” Viv asked.
“I don’t know,” Evee said, still staring at her shoulder in the mirror. “I never felt anything, never noticed any change to it until you mentioned a minute ago.” She turned to Gilly. “What does it mean? The color change?”
Gilly glanced over at Viv and they both shrugged.
“It’s gray, like the mirrors in our Grimoires,” Gilly said. “Maybe they’re tied together somehow.”
The Grimoires were books of spells that had been handed down from one Triad generation to another. As part of their punishment, the first set of Triad had been forced to write every spell known to the Circle of Sisters and the Triad, along with the purpose of each spell, and the consequence of each spell once cast. The spells had been written on parchment paper and bound in elderwood. Inside the front cover of each Grimoire, a notch had been cut out of the elderwood, just big enough to hold a fist-size mirror. The mirror had been purposely set into each Grimoire so that whenever a Triad opened her book, the first thing she saw was the reflection of an apocalyptic destruction of the world. A reminder of what would happen should a Triad shirk her responsibilities and duties of the Originals assigned to her. It showed blood and gore, and the world as a wasteland. Viv, Gilly and Evee read their Grimoires daily, right before a feeding, noting new spells that might be needed should something go awry with their Originals.
Only a few days ago, when they opened their Grimoires, the sisters had been shocked to find that the mirrors no longer showed the apocalyptic vision. They only reflected gray swirls. Nothing more.
“When did your absolutus turn gray?” Gilly asked.
“I told you,” Evee snapped. “I don’t know. I’d probably still be oblivious of it if you hadn’t noticed it. It’s not like I check on it every day.”
Gilly turned to Viv. “What about yours?”
Viv glanced around the foyer as if to confirm that no one was around but her sisters. Then she unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. She wiggled her jeans down just enough to bare her right hip, where she carried her absolutus infinitus.
It, too, had turned gray. Viv’s hands shook as she pulled up her pants, zipped and buttoned them back into place.
“What the fuck?” Gilly blurted. “It’s gray, too.”
“You think I didn’t notice?” Viv snapped.
“You didn’t notice the change before?” Gilly asked.
“No.” Viv looked up at her sisters blankly.
“But you shower every day, right?” Gilly said. “Wouldn’t you have seen it in the mirror?”
“Well, I didn’t,” Viv said. “This is the first I’ve seen it like this.”
Evee and Viv looked at Gilly simultaneously. “What about yours?”
Gilly’s eyes widened, and then she nodded. She leaned over and lifted the right leg of her linen pants and twisted her right foot slightly inward. Her absolutus infinitus sat right above her right ankle as usual, its color unchanged—charcoal black.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Evee said. She shivered. “I’m freezing here. I’ve got to dry my hair before I get pneumonia. You two go back to the kitchen. Get something to eat. I’ll dry my hair and meet you back there in a few.”
When Evee got to her bathroom, she saw Hoot perched on the counter near the bathroom sink.
“I told you,” Hoot said.
Ignoring him, Evee opened a vanity drawer and pulled out her blow-dryer. She plugged it in, turned it on and aimed a blast of warm air at her familiar.
Hoot screeched and flew off the counter and out of the bathroom, all the while yelling, “Told you, told you. See what you get for being a hussy?”
“Shut up,” Evee said, aiming the blow-dryer at her hair. If Hoot snapped back a reply, she didn’t hear it. Blessed be the dryer.
By the time she finished with her hair and made it back into the kitchen, her sisters were seated around the small kitchen table, each with a steaming bowl of gumbo in front of her and a cup of tea.
Gilly motioned for Evee to sit next to her, where another bowl of gumbo and cup of tea had been set out for her.
Evee sat and picked up a spoon, ready to dig into her food. The first bite drew a sigh from her. “This is so good,” she said, and quickly dug in for another spoonful.
“Thanks,” Viv said. “Made it a couple weeks ago. Put it in the freezer for a rainy day. Or shitty day, whatever works.” She shrugged.
“Uh, by the way,” Gilly said to Evee. “Before I forget to tell you. We’ve been summoned by the Elders. I’m sure they’ve heard about the humans and want an update from us.”
Evee felt her shoulders droop. “When?”
“This evening. Before the feeding.”
“That late?” Evee said. “Don’t they usually go to bed around seven or something ridiculously early like that?”
Viv shrugged. “It’s not usual times right now.”
“Oh, and something else,” Gilly said. “We were wondering...” She looked at Viv.
Viv arched a brow at her sister while spooning more gumbo into her mouth.
“What were you doing here showering when you were supposed to be out looking for your Nosferatu earlier?” Gilly asked.
Evee stared down into the bowl in front of her. “I, uh... I had a situation with a Cartesian.”
Viv and Gilly dropped their spoons into their bowls simultaneously.
“When? Where?” Viv asked.
“What did you do?” Gilly asked.
“Were you hurt?” Viv asked anxiously. “You don’t look hurt.”
Evee held up a hand to stave their questions. Ate one more bite of chicken and sausage gumbo, then readied herself for the inquisition.
Finally, she said, “We split up. Me, Ronan and Lucien each went separate ways to cover more ground and look for Nosferatu. I was headed downriver, Lucien upriver, and Ronan took the Quarter.”
Her sisters stared at her bug-eyed.
“Anyway, I was walking riverside when a rift opened in the sky out of nowhere and a Cartesian hung out of it so low it could have scooped me up in one grasp. Luckily I caught him out of the corner of my eye and took off running. Only ran the wrong way. Right into the river until I couldn’t feel the bottom anymore.”
Gilly gasped. “You can’t even swim.”
Viv reached out and touched Evee’s arm. “You must have been terrified.”
Evee nodded, her eyes brimming with tears again as she recalled the event. “I didn’t know what was going to happen first. The Cartesian attacking me, or me drowning.”
“Obviously neither happened, since you’re sitting right here,” Gilly said, sounding grateful. “What did happen? The Cartesian, you stuck in the water...?”
“Lucien showed up,” Evee said. “Must have doubled back, because the next thing I knew the Cartesian was gone, and Lucien was pulling me out of the water.”
Gilly cocked her head. “And did he bring you back here to the house?”
Evee swirled bits of chicken and sausage around in her gumbo with a spoon, knew what was coming next. Finally, she said. “Yes, he brought me here.”
“What about Ronan?” Viv asked. “Where was he during all this?”
“I told you,” Evee said. “In the Quarter. He wasn’t anywhere near the river.”
“Where are they now?” Gilly asked.
“Who?”
Gilly rolled her eyes. “Lucien and Ronan.”
“Far as I know, Ronan’s still in the Quarter,” Evee said. “Lucien may have gone after him, I’m not sure.”
“In soaked clothes?” Viv asked.
“Yeah,” Gilly chimed in. “You said he pulled you out of the river. Surely he’d have gotten soaked doing that, right?” Suddenly, Gilly’s head popped up and she sniffed the air, turning her head slowly from left to right, sniffing the entire time, like a cat tracking a mouse. A few seconds later, she got up from her chair, following her nose into the utility room at the back of the kitchen.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Gilly said, which caused Viv to jump up from her seat and head to the utility room.
Evee took off right behind them.
“What’s wrong?” Evee asked when she finally caught up with her sisters.
Gilly twirled about and faced her. “You had sex in here, didn’t you? I can smell it.”
Evee felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. “I did not have sex,” she proclaimed.
“Oh, yeah?” Gilly said, then reached for an object on the washer and handed it to Evee. “Then what’s this doing here?”
Evee turned Lucien’s watch over in her hand, wondering how it had gotten there. Then suddenly remembering him taking it off before stripping out of his shirt.
“Fess up,” Viv said. “What happened?”
There were too many other things going wrong now for Evee to start playing fifty questions with her sisters. “Okay, all right, but I didn’t have, like, real sex with Lucien. He helped me home so I could shower and get into dry clothes. We happened to kiss. He sat me on top of the dryer, then put his hands...his thumbs between my legs, and before I knew it fireworks happened.”
Gilly’s mouth dropped open, as did Viv’s.
“What were you thinking?” Gilly asked. “We barely know these men, and you let one of them touch you like that? You should know better—”
“I knew better,” Viv interrupted. “But it still happened.”
