Hunger (Witches of the Big Easy Book 2) Read online

  Witches of the Big Easy:

  Hunger

  TS MCKINNEY

  Hunger

  Copyright © 2019, TS McKinney

  Published by Painted Hearts Publishing

  About the Book You Have Purchased

  All rights reserved. Without reserving the rights under copyright, reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Such action is in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law.

  Unauthorized reproduction of distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Hunger

  Copyright © 2019 TS McKinney

  Publication Date: July 18, 2019

  Author: TS McKinney

  Editor: S West

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2019 by Painted Hearts Publishing

  Cover design by E Keith

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  Glossary of Terms

  Angel Master – Master of angels in heaven. Not God, and is susceptible to some human frailties, like jealousy.

  Angel Wings – Red wings represent warrior angels. White wings represent Archangels. Blue wings represent healer angels. Gold wings represent emissary angels. Black wings represent fallen angels.

  Athame – A ceremonial blade which represents fire, one of the four elemental tools used by witches. The other three are the wand, pentacle, and chalice. A witch can use the ceremonial blade to kill other supernatural creatures.

  Bestiary-A book of natural history that contains pictures and descriptions of animals. Can be innocent or a corrupt book of monsters.

  Demon Master – Ruler of demons in hell, (He is not Satan, who is the Overlord of Hell)

  Demons-the minions of Satan. They do his bidding. They are evil, yet susceptible to injury by religious articles such as a cross or holy water.

  Grimoire – A book of spells or textbook of magic. The book itself it believed to be imbued with magical powers. It contains spells and guidance on how to summon supernatural entities.

  Hexes-A magic spell; a curse.

  Hoodoo- An American term, originating in the 19th century or earlier. One of its meanings refers to African-American folk magic. Also known as conjure, witchcraft, rootwork, candle burning, and tricking. Its earliest usage in America is connected with Irish and Scottish sailors, not African slaves. In the mid-19th century, ships that had suffered a series of ill-fated voyages and mishaps were called hoodoo ships or were said to have been hoodooed.

  Incubus – Sex demon.

  Léger-Literally means “lightweight.” Someone who has a touch of magic.

  Législateur – The police or the “arm” of the witches who ensure supernatural creatures follow the laws. Also known as Les Batons.

  Lwa-(pronounced Lo-wa) The spirits of Louisiana Voodoo. They are also referred to as “mystères” and “the invisibles” and are intermediaries between Bondye (the Supreme Creator, who is distant from the world) and humanity.

  Nephilim – The offspring of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men” before the Deluge, according to Genesis 6:1-4. A similar or identical biblical Hebrew term, read as “Nephilim” by some scholars, or as the word “fallen” by others, appears in Ezekiel 32:27.

  Poppet – A doll made to represent a person, used for casting spells on that person or to aid that person through magic. It can also be an effigy into which pins are inserted to harm another person. Also called a voodoo doll, or corn dolly. (Or, as in this book, a term of affection for a certain someone).

  Staff of Moses-The Staff of Moses is a staff mentioned in the Bible as a walking stick used by Moses. According to the Book of Exodus, the staff was used to produce water from a rock, was transformed into a snake and back, and was used at the parting of the Red Sea.

  Vampires-The undead. Also known as Creatures of the Night or Bloodsuckers. They survive by drinking blood and they have great strength and beauty. They are mostly immortal but can be killed with a wooden stake through the heart. Also have an aversion to sunlight.

  Voodoo- Religious cult practiced in the Caribbean and the southern US, combining elements of Roman Catholic ritual with traditional African magical and religious rites, and characterized by sorcery and spirit possession.

  Wand-A stick or piece of wood from a special tree (several kinds are available and each lend special traits to the wand) to help a practitioner tap into the ether and access his magic. Helps to direct and focus the magic.

  Warlock-A practitioner of dark magic. Translated from the Old English as “oath breaker.”

  Foreword

  Bram Stoker said, “There are things which we cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see that others cannot.” Do you believe in such things as ghostly spirits and witches? Vampires and demons? Is it possible these things exist?

  Medieval maps often pointed out places where there was danger from things we couldn’t always see—until it was too late. They used illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures to point out places where such danger was thought to exist. HC SVNT DRACONES or HERE BE DRAGONS was code for this, a metaphor, in a way, for the paranormal or magical creatures thought to roam in certain places. Most of the time, the maps were wrong and the edges of the map simply showed unknown or uncharted territory. But sometimes, the old mapmakers got it right.

  Portals have always existed in our world. Entrances, like cracks in a wall, for the unknown to come through. Most often these cracks appear in places where the wall is already thin between this world and others. The City of New Orleans has always been such a place.

  And where these creatures exist, there must be lawmakers and peacekeepers. Those who will make sure the evil doesn’t take over and blot out all the good. Those who will protect the innocents of this world and keep humans from knowing about what coexists with them in this world. The Législateurs, a group of powerful witches, also known as Les Batons, perform this duty for New Orleans, for both the living and the undead, both by day and after dark in the city known as The Big Easy.

  “We all start out knowing magic.

  We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us.”

  — John McCammon

  Prologue

  “Are we prepared, brothers? The time swiftly approaches.”

  “What if the angel returns and seeks vengeance against us?”

  Three warlocks, their faces and bodies hidden by masks and cloaks, sat around a heavy, iron table and studied the objects in front of them. Over the centuries, this treasured block of iron had served their kind for numerous purposes. Hundreds before them had used it to fornicate, to rape, or to bind someone to the table for their sexual pleasure—all in the name of magic. Others had lost their lives there as they were sacrificed—again, in the name of magic. The most powerful of all warlocks, a wealthy Frenchman named Jean Claude DeLys had once owned the table and used it in his dark magic. He had been the owner of the Blood Diamond, an original and rare one hundred carat red diamond from India. The legend wen
t that the gem had been plucked from the crown of a Hindu idol and was therefore cursed.

  The Blood Diamond had been in the Delessard Witch family for many years but had disappeared upon the death of Abel Delessard and still had not been recovered, though many were searching for it all over the city. The men around this table had a different source of power, however. One that was a closely guarded secret, only known by a few.

  “The angel may never return,” Dominic, one of the warlocks said. “But if he happens to, by that time, we’ll have more power than he does and we’ll defeat him! I’m tired of waiting for him!”

  “The angel may never return, never deliver the Staff of Moses to us! Our magic weakens daily. We’ve given the angel long enough to keep his end of the bargain. We wait no longer!” cried Roman, another of the three warlocks.

  As their ancestors died, weakening the strength of their coven with each elder’s death, the remainder of the coven had grown tired of waiting. If the angel wouldn’t present them with the Staff of Moses, then they would take and use what the angel coveted the most—the half breed resting in their unholy place. The abomination’s blood was powerful, a weapon they could use to regain their power and prestige in the Quarter, and they intended to use it.

  Growing tired of hearing the two warlocks argue, the other, the leader of the group, spoke up softly. “We can’t allow even the slightest weakness or division within our circle. It will be used against us. Tonight, we will join our magic in order to link the Demon Master’s pet to us and when we do so, we will gain use of his strengths. It will require four different spells, the joining of two enemies, and the creature may still die before we can properly bind him. Focus on what we gain, however, if this can be achieved, brothers. We’ll once again rule the Quarter!”

  “Agreed, Master. The first spell will be the binding spell to keep others away. When he awakens, the bond to his sire will be immediately opened, but this spell will quickly block the physical or mental link from occurring. If we’re very lucky, his sire may not even notice. Or if he does, he won’t know what it is.”

  When the others agreed, he continued, “The second spell will be conjured to ensure all the boy’s memories are erased, from the point of his creation to the moment of his entrapment.”

  “How do you propose we handle his bloodlust and inability to walk in the sunlight? If he doesn’t properly feed, then he’ll be useless to us—his blood too weak to link with our magic.”

  “And he’ll sizzle in the sunlight,” the other snorted in disgust, “his sire’s ultimate weakness, and surely an inherited trait.”

  “According to the notes in our ancestor’s grimoire, the vampire part of the half breed will never manifest itself unless he finds his beloved. Only this person—the other part of his soul—has the power to bind his two halves together. As long as he stays within our control, the opportunity to find his beloved will be impossible.” The warlock shrugged. “Without his soul-keeper, the half breed is nothing more than a human—a human with very powerful blood.”

  “Are we certain his blood is as powerful as we believe?”

  “The grimoire was very clear on that, my dark friend. His blood is deadly and yet immensely powerful.”

  He motioned toward a younger warlock standing guard at the door, giving the signal for them to bring the creature into the inner chamber. “Get ready. The third spell will be our strongest binding spell—to keep him linked to us, under our complete control, virtually making him a slave to us.” He slammed his fist on the iron table. “Unlimited power! Can you imagine it? Must I remind you of what we have to gain once we succeed?”

  The room grew silent as each man, one more powerful than the next, contemplated the risks versus the rewards of what they were about to participate in. They remained silent as a dozen young warlocks carried their prey into the room and displayed him on the table. The abomination still slumbered from the entrapment spell cast on him a century earlier—he was barely living but not yet completely dead.

  “Wait for your next instructions in the tomb chamber,” the warlock told the younger followers. Poor fools, they had no idea they would have to be destroyed before the dawn’s light. They couldn’t afford any weak links in what they were about to engage in.

  The youngest of the warlocks moved closer to study the spell-bound creature. Running his finger along a cool, flawless cheek, he said, “I’ve never been this close to a half-breed before. They are quite pretty.”

  “Yes…another one of their weapons,” the older warlock agreed. “Don’t be lured to his beauty, though. He could still be a cunning killer if his darkness was ever awakened. The other half of him—his mother’s blood—is mysterious. We don’t know how it affects his vampire blood.”

  “His blood will soon be under our control,” the younger warlock said, suddenly very supportive of the enslavement about to take place. “His blood, ours to use.”

  “Yes, under our control,” one of the others acknowledged. Turning to the other two, he asked, “What do we know of his sire? The vampires left New Orleans many years ago and Les Batons have kept them from returning in large numbers. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for doing something that caused them all to want back into our domain.”

  “Yes, that is a problem,” the oldest and most powerful warlock, Cassius, conceded. “We know his sire to be one of the strongest vampire lords in this realm. Other than that, we know nothing about when he was turned or how important he is to his sire. One would assume that if the sire cared for him at all, he would have been searching the world for him.” As he said the words, the eldest couldn’t stop the twinge of worry that tried to worm its way into his brain. There were so many uncertainties regarding the half-vampire’s past—such as his age, what his strengths were, what his weaknesses were, and why in the hell his sire never came to rescue him.

  There had to be weaknesses in the creature if he’d remained trapped in the dark sleep for so many years. Surely, there were weaknesses, or they wouldn’t be able to contain him. As they joined to form their conjuring circle, he whispered, “May Satan have mercy on our souls if we are about to unleash one of the deadliest creatures of all on our beloved city.”

  As the witching hour approached, their excitement and apprehension mounted. The spells they were about to perform…the magic they were going to make would lead to more power and control than anyone or anything ever thought possible. For years now, the other supernatural forces of their city didn’t respect them—even the Législateurs deemed them to be so nonthreatening that they didn’t bother sending any of their agents to question them regarding their practice of dark magic. And one of them was known to be living and working right here in New Orleans—Gabriel Gaudet, who was rumored to be almost as powerful as his brother, Nic, who was the leader of the Législateurs.

  The big Gaudet family, consisting of three brothers and numerous cousins, were all Législateurs, the governing body of witches that had been in existence since the Middle Ages in Europe, and arrived in New Orleans back in the early 1700s.

  They had enormous power and they dealt not only with high magic but with all types of magic, including voodoo and folk magic, hoodoo, rootwork and conjure. They policed the witches, and also the undead and other paranormal creatures—those who roamed the shadows in the outskirts of the old city.

  Locally in the magic community, the Législateurs were known as les batons, a name with a Cajun flair. It was given to them as a sign of respect with maybe a touch of spite. The word “baton” was pronounced in the Louisiana way, like “bat-ahn,” with the emphasis on the first syllable. Les batons, or the “sticks” may have referred not only to the wands they carried, but also the ones they had up their collective asses. Most were afraid of them, though none of the paranormal creatures in New Orleans liked to admit it.

  With the creature’s blood, the warlocks of New Orleans could once again rise to the status they deserved. They wanted to see the witches quake with fear, watch the voodoo communi
ty scamper into hiding, and, most important, see the Législateurs fall to their power. The vampires and werewolves would once again respect them as rulers of the dark. Lords of the night.

  Unlimited dark magic. All of New Orleans would be bowing at their feet.

  Chapter One

  Gabriel

  A firm knock on my office door rescued me from the mountain of paperwork resting atop my desk, mocking the recent lack of attention to my job. I couldn’t begin to understand where my dedication to Hypnotiq, my family’s obnoxiously high-scale hotel, had vanished to, but it was most certainly gone. Who was I fooling? I knew exactly where it’d disappeared to. My dedication had been completely buried beneath good old-fashioned jealousy. I was jealous of Nic’s happy ever after—not jealous in the bad way where I didn’t want my older brother to find the love he so richly deserved, but the kind of jealous you felt when you wanted it too, but suspected you’d never be on the receiving end.

  It had been eight months since Nic returned to New York, taking the love of his life with him and leaving me alone again. During the short period, I’d spent plenty of money spoiling myself, indulged in unusual sexual activities, and spent the remainder of the time a little inebriated, aka drunk off my ass. Thus, the pile of paperwork that needed to be dealt with. As I stared at it, I contemplated whether I needed to dig in or make another run for it, escaping to one of the many dens of iniquity New Orleans offered.

  A knock on my office door cheered me instantly, because it would surely mean a short reprieve from having to force my focus onto work. “Yes!” my voice rang out and the door immediately cracked open. Maribelle, my personal assistant, peeked her head through the small opening.