Free Hounacier (Valducan Book 2) by Seth Skorkowsky Page A

take care of me; don't worry."
    The man glanced back at Malcolm and nodded. "A'ight. I'll be back tomorrow."
    "Tell your mama hello for me."
    "I will. Good to meet you," he said to Malcolm.
    "You too."
    Maggie waited until Darius had left. "He's a good boy."
    Malcolm smiled. The old woman could find the good in anyone. She could also charm the most hardened criminal with just a wink. Grandma magic, Ulises had called it.
    "I'm terribly sorry for your loss, Malcolm," she said. "He was a good man."
    "Thank you," Malcolm said. For some reason, Maggie's condolences were the only ones that really mattered, not Jim's, Tasha's, even the other Valducans. Grandma magic. "Do you have any idea who could have done that to him?"
    She frowned. "I last saw him a few weeks before he died. He was workin' with a man who had been a servant to demons. Ulises was tryin' to pull him back to the light."
    "A familiar?"
    "I believe so but not just one. He'd served several during his life."
    Demon addict, Malcolm thought. People who had been bound as a familiar were broken human beings. Someone that served more than one would be shattered, desperate to find a new master. "Did you get a name?"
    "Marcus. Never heard a last name. They met at that jazz club Ulises liked on Frenchman." Her eyes looked up, searching her memory. "Brass Sax."
    It's a start. A demon hunter's head would make a good offering to a potential master. "Anyone else he'd been seeing?"
    Maggie pursed her lips. "I heard he'd been visitin' with Atabei Cross."
    "Who?"
    "Atabei Cross. She's some root worker down in the Ninth. Leads a little congregation down there, I understand. Met her just once." She sipped her tea. "Pretty thing, little older than you."
    "She doesn't pay respects to you?" Malcolm asked.
    The Voodoo Queen snorted. "Most of the local priests don't do that. Never have. No, she keeps to herself down there."
    "That reminds me," Malcolm said. "I saw Jim Luison before coming here. He was worried people might gossip if they found out I saw him first."
    Maggie smiled, revealing a mouth of pearly dentures. "They'll gossip no matter what you do, Boo. If any say anything to me, I'll tell them truth. You were visitin' Natasha. Jim just happened to be there." She met his eye. "Everyone knows about you two."
    "That was a long time ago." Malcolm tried his tea. Suddenly realizing how thirsty he was, he gulped it twice more.
    "That's your perspective." The old woman winked. "Tasha's grown quite a reputation the last few years. She's one of Erzulie's favorites."
    "Must run in the family." Her father was also favored. Instead of the loa of love and beauty, Jim was the preferred vessel of Baron Samedi, the loa of the dead, the darker half of Papa Ghede.
    "You've never been mounted, have you?" she asked, eyeing Malcolm over the rim of her glass.
    "No, ma'am."
    "Hounacier always claimed you. Told them, 'Back off. He's mine.'"
    "I guess she did," he chuckled
    Maggie motioned to the rectangular case at Malcolm's feet. "Is that her?"
    "Yeah."
    "Well, bring her out. I haven't seen her in years either."
    Malcolm fought the hesitation, not wanting to offend the old priestess. Once, before he was born, Ulises and Maggie had been a bit of an item. Then Hounacier appeared. Malcolm always suspected the queen regarded the holy blade with an air of resentment. The other woman. "Of course." He thumbed open the latch and lifted the lid, revealing the wood-sheathed machete strapped inside beside the shotgun and row of shells.
    "There she is," Maggie said. "Bring her closer."
    Malcolm tore the Velcro back with a loud scritch . Pulling her free, he slid off the polished sheath.
    Maggie leaned closer as Malcolm presented the blade before her. She peered over the weapon, like an artist inspecting the work of a master. She nodded as if to herself. "Welcome home." Maggie leaned back in her chair and nursed her tea, her gaze distant, almost regretful.
    He set the blade across his lap.
    "Let me know when you're ready