“What more do you want?” Novice screamed and pressed on the sides of his head. “You’re driving me crazy for nothing because you never give in on anything.”

  “Do this one thing and I’ll show you what you most want to see.”

  “Ha.” Novice shattered the next pane. “You’ve said that before.”

  “I always deliver on my promises. Name one instance that I haven’t.”

  He flexed his hand, relieved that he hadn’t cut himself. He reviewed all his conversations with Teacher, and the fact that he couldn’t remember Teacher ever reneging on an agreement made him want to put his hand through another pane, but he breathed deep instead.

  “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

  “Today is Monday, isn’t it?” Teacher’s tone had returned to that seductive tenor that made Novice crave the feel of hot blood on his hands. “One day ought to be enough, if you are the warrior you say you are. If you plan to continue to use the blade for your sacrifices, there is one you need to pay your respect to before you call on Chango. Tomorrow you’ll be ready to do what needs to be done.”

  “With pleasure.”

  *

  “I know you miss Tameka, but it’s time to get back to work,” Shawana Dempsey said as she stood in front of Erica’s bed with her hands on her hips. She was the latest addition to Brandi’s house. “It’s what she would’ve wanted.”

  “How do you know what I need or what Tameka would’ve wanted?” Erica turned her head only slightly to look at Shawana before she stared at the wall again.

  “Girl, I’ve known Tameka from the first day of kindergarten. I could tell her what she wanted before it even occurred to her.” Shawana sat on the bed and put her hand on Erica’s head. “She told me all about you and how much she liked you. Said she was even sharing that dress-shop dream with you.”

  “I can forget about that now, and go back to hookin’.”

  “Not while I’m around. You’re going back to work, but under Brandi’s protection, and when we put enough money aside we’ll open a shop and name it Bishop’s, like Tameka wanted.” She moved her hand to Erica’s shoulder and shook her. “Come on, I know you got some money saved, and since Tameka left me her money, we don’t have much more to go. We both lost our best friend, so we’re going to have to get used to each other, but that’s what we got.”

  “Why are you being so nice to me?” Erica finally turned around to lie on her back and accepted the tissue Shawana held out to her.

  “We’re both suffering, so why do it alone? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to find something to be a little happy about and honor my friend all at the same time.”

  “You’re right…I guess.” As the words left Erica’s mouth she knew she meant them. Tameka’s death had been one more time she’d glimpsed a better way, only to have it snatched away so she’d remember her place in life. She smiled and accepted Shawana’s hug. “Let’s get ready for tonight, and I’ll give you the number of my friend Sept in case something goes wrong. She’s a cop but she’s cool.”

  “Let’s get dressed, then, and I’ll let Brandi know we’ll take tonight and the rest of the week. There’s some convention in town and the guys are ready to spend money.”

  “They’ll be here all week?” Erica tried to shake off the gloom as she got up.

  “Arrived last night and should be in town till Friday. With any luck we’ll find two guys who want company until then.” Shawana waved before she left for her room down the hall. No one had taken Tameka’s room, and Erica didn’t know if she could stand to see anyone in it yet.

  Sitting in Tameka’s room every so often and touching her things comforted her. That would probably seem weird to anyone else, but it made her feel close to her murdered friend.

  “If you’re not busy tonight, keep an eye on us, okay?” Erica whispered toward the ceiling at Tameka before she opened the closet and flipped through her clothes in search of something to wear.

  An hour later she and Shawana met downstairs, and Shawana squeezed her hand as she left with an orthopedic surgeon from Canada. His buddy, who was waiting in the front room with Brandi, smiled when Erica stepped in. Their date started like any other, with dinner and drinks, before he took her back to his room for what amounted to straight by-the-numbers sex, and then he fell asleep. He’d already paid Erica in full and told her she could either wait until morning or go when they were done.

  As much as Erica craved the comfort of another person, she wasn’t desperate enough to take it from a stranger, even if she’d just had sex with him. In the elevator to the lobby she thought about what Tameka had said about sex and retirement. When that day came, like Tameka, she wouldn’t have sex with another person she wasn’t interested in, no matter the lure of the money.

  She was almost to the door where the cabs lined up outside when the police officer walked up to her and put his hand on her elbow. At first her blood ran cold. She thought he was going to take her in for prostitution, but he smiled and his green eyes softened.

  “Thank God I caught you before you left.” He led her through the door toward his car. “Sept talked to your boss and heard you would be here, so she sent me to meet you.”

  “Why did she do that?” Erica tried to slow them down when she noticed his car wasn’t a police unit but an older sedan.

  “Her main suspect may be in the area, and she wanted to make sure the people she cares about are covered. She panicked when she heard you were down here.” He opened the door for her and let her go. “I’m supposed to drive you home and see you to that famous red door.”

  “She said to call her if anything was out of the ordinary.” Erica laughed and pointed to the car. “This is definitely out of the ordinary.”

  “She’s busy trying to catch a killer, but if you don’t trust a guy in a uniform, then go ahead.” He shrugged and stepped back.

  Erica reached for her phone but hesitated. If Sept really cared about her, calling her would seem like she didn’t trust her, so she sat in the passenger seat and put her seat belt on. “That’s okay. It’d be great if you’d take me home.”

  As the officer walked around to the driver’s side, she breathed through her mouth in an attempt to block out the stale smell of the vehicle. Probably from the piles of food wrappers and empty cans in the backseat. She laughed to herself that, for a cop, this guy wasn’t very neat except for his uniform, which was pressed with precision.

  “What’s your name?” Erica asked him when he put the key into the ignition and pulled slowly away from the hotel.

  “My name is Novice,” he said as they turned to the dark side of the area between the aquarium and the hotel. The Westin was one of the only places open downtown, but even it still needed repairs to restore it to pre-storm conditions.

  “Novice?” Erica pushed as close as she could to the door. Something about the guy was off. “That’s an interesting name. Is it an old family tradition?”

  “I’ve got no family, and my teacher gave me the name.” He turned in the right place for the house, but before they made it all the way down Bourbon Street, he turned again and headed for the ravaged part of the neighborhood past the Faubourg Marigny.

  “Teacher?” Erica looked out the window, her pulse picking up, but she wasn’t scared yet. Maybe the street was closed ahead and they were detouring. “What teacher?”

  “The one who showed me how to make sacrifices to the gods,” Novice said. It was the last thing Erica remembered before the probes of his Taser hit her in the chest.

  *

  When she woke up, she stopped imagining what Tameka had gone through in her final moments, since she figured they’d be able to talk about it once this guy killed her. She was tied spread-eagle outside in a neighborhood where the only sound was her own breathing and the only light was the stars overhead. She could still move her head, so she looked around.

  The sight of Novice kneeling about twenty feet away naked and holding a big hunting knife made her want to scream, but that was probably what he expected. She was scared, but her will to live made her pull on her bindings to see if they would give.

  “Is this what you wanted?” Novice said, and Erica lay still.

  He didn’t turn around or repeat the question, so he didn’t seem to be talking to her.

  “Of course I know who this needs to be in honor of. Since I want to keep using the knife and receive protection as a warrior, I have to call on Ogun, the god of iron.”

  When he turned around, Erica could see the knife silhouetted against his pale skin. He dropped to his knees again, next to her, and cut her right above her left breast. Then he dipped his fingers into the blood he held cupped in his hand and wrote something on her forehead. It was either the letter T or the number 7. As he wet his fingers again he pressed harder into the wound. “You can scream if you want to. It’s a good way to wake the gods.”

  Erica bit her tongue until she tasted blood, but for now she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She tried to close her legs when he leaned over her to reach the bottom of her foot and his penis dragged along her thigh, but the rope wouldn’t allow her the dignity of moving away from him. There he drew something else that felt like a question mark, which was appropriate since Erica wanted to know why the hell he was doing this.

  “Elegua, open the door and tell Ogun I’m giving him the blood he wants,” Novice said, then put his fingers in his mouth and sucked them. “I’ll give you what you want, and I’ll get to see Sept’s face when she finds you.” He ran his finger from Erica’s abdomen to her throat, touching both nipples along the way. “You fucked her, didn’t you?” he asked Erica.

  She stared at him, trying to place him, but she had no memory of him. She should’ve known him since he had so much information about her. Her hesitation cost her, though, because he cut her forearm.

  “I asked you a question,” he said, and put his face close to hers.

  “Not really,” Erica said, and closed her eyes, not to keep from looking at him but to try to disregard the pain. The quick swipe had gone deep.

  “You have to be pure for this to matter, so don’t lie to me, bitch. Did you fuck her?”

  He was talking loud and breathing on her eyelids.

  “I touched her because she was nice to me. Are you satisfied?”

  “Not yet, but I will be.” Novice moved away from her again, and she could tell he was getting things out of the car. From somewhere above her, he struck a match and lit a green candle that he momentarily held over her head. He repeated the actions and this time held a black candle over her.

  “If you’re only killing me to get to Sept, wouldn’t it be better if you called her and let her listen in?” Erica suggested as she frantically concocted scenarios of how to get away. “And I can see that you need me to touch you as much as Sept did the night we spent together.”

  Novice lowered his eyes to his groin as if he’d just noticed his erection. “Why would you do that?” he asked, sounding suspicious.

  “I don’t have any choice, do I, so I might as well do something good for someone so my soul will go to heaven.” Obviously this guy had some hang-up about religion, even if it was twisted. It was the only thing she could exploit.

  “You aren’t going to heaven. I’m going to release you to live with Ogun, the brother of Chango, and in return I want you to do something for me.”

  Erica did her best to relax, her arms and legs coming to rest on the cool ground under her. “Name it.”

  “Look for my wife.” He took a picture of a woman out of the bag next to him. “Tell her it’s time to come home where she belongs. I never gave her permission to leave.”

  “I will, but I want to make you feel good now. That way I can tell her not only how much you miss her, but how good you felt in my hand.”

  He hesitated, but Erica could see in the candlelight the little part of his brain controlled by his dick working overtime as his eyes roamed her body like a glutton in front of a feast.

  “Just untie one of my hands. Where’s the harm in that?” she asked. “If you don’t like it, you can tie me up again.”

  His expression told her it was the last thing he expected her to say, and he bent closer as if to see if she would recoil. She only smiled and moistened her lips like she couldn’t wait to get started. That’s all it took for him to untie her right hand, and despite the cut that was still bleeding she took his cock in her hand and started a steady up-and-down motion.

  He dropped his head back and the knife fell from his hand as he let himself enjoy Erica’s offering. She was disgusted by what she was doing, but the need to survive overrode the overwhelming compulsion to stop, though she did slow her hand.

  “Why are you stopping? I’m so close.” He looked down at her again and she ran her tongue slowly around her mouth.

  “A warrior like you deserves everything I gave Sept.”

  “What are you talking about?” He put his hand over hers.

  “If you want all of what I gave her, I need to put my mouth on you.”

  He paused, but then he moved so fast she almost laughed. He situated himself and moaned when she took him in and swirled her tongue on the tip.

  “That’s so good. If my wife had been that good she’d still be here,” he said, then put his hand on the back of her head.

  Erica maneuvered her loose hand until her fingers were wrapped around his testicles. When he started to move his hips, she bit down as hard as she could and squeezed and pulled at the same time. She tasted blood again, but this time it wasn’t hers. As he fell back in a fetal position, holding his genitals, she picked up his knife and stabbed him in the side before cutting herself loose. Then she ran.

  She had no idea where she was or how long Novice would be incapacitated, so she put as much distance between them as possible. The debris still in the street cut the bottom of her feet, but she didn’t stop. When she heard him screaming behind her, she moved toward the backyards of the abandoned houses. She was a least a couple of blocks over but had to deal with fences and downed trees that cut into her skin as she tried to find help.

  After what felt like an eternity she saw a beautiful sight—a Humvee full of National Guardsmen on patrol. They were moving down the street slowly and stopped when she screamed. “Please, I need to get out of here,” she told the first guy who reached her.

  “What happened to you?” he asked. His partner came up behind him and removed his jacket for her to put on.

  “Can I use your phone?” Erica had an idea. “And we need to get back to where this guy took me before he leaves. He’s the killer the police are looking for.” The guys glanced at each other and didn’t move. “I’m not crazy, and once you talk to Detective Sept Savoie you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

  “Here, you can use my phone,” the first guy said.

  “Sept, please, you have to help me,” Erica screamed into the phone when Sept answered. Once she heard Sept’s voice, the horror of what had almost happened fell on her like a cold bucket of water, and she became hysterical.

  “Who’s on the line, please?” the guardsman asked.

  Once Sept finished screaming at him for not taking Erica seriously, they put her in the vehicle and she pointed them to where she thought she’d come from. In the darkness and in her condition she had no idea of the exact location, so they waited for the police reinforcements before driving Erica to a temporary military base to see a doctor.

  It took a few hours, but they finally found what Novice had left behind—the candles still burning in the yard and the ropes he’d tied Erica with. But this time the ghost had left footprints. His blood was on the ground, along with Erica’s, and Erica still had his knife.

  “You won’t be able to hide forever now, you son of a bitch,” Sept said as George took samples of everything in sight.

  “They have Erica patched up and the doctor gave her a sedative. If you’re ready, we can go over there,” Nathan said. They were both in jeans since the call had come after they’d both taken off for the night. “I phoned the artist too, so maybe we can get a sketch of this asshole.”

  “Hopefully we can, since George said DNA will take a few days, and we’ll only get lucky if he’s in the system.”

  The drive out of the area was slow, with all the police units cruising through the neighborhood with their floodlights on, but Sept knew the killer had slipped through the net before it was in place. Erica had said he’d driven her there, and when the first units arrived any sign of a car was long gone.

  “We’re the good guys, so luck has to eventually swing back our way, right?” Nathan said.

  “We’ll see, kid, but for now I’ll be happy with a hint of who I’m looking for. Once I find him, you’ll have to hold me back from putting a bullet in his head for all the crap he’s put us and these victims through.”

  “Who said I’d hold you back,” Nathan said, and he sounded serious.

  Chapter Forty

  “You idiot,” Teacher screamed at Novice as he tried to bandage his side to stop the bleeding. He had to concentrate and kept blinking from the pain in his groin, which he’d bandaged first. “This was never about sex, but you’re so weak you couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

  “She offered,” Novice said weakly, sweat dripping into his eyes despite the cool temperatures. He peeled off the mustache he’d glued on before going out that night and threw it on the bathroom floor. He’d wash out the stuff he’d used to lighten his hair later.

  “It was a test and you failed, you piece of shit.”

  “How was I supposed to know that?” Novice finally reached the part of his back where Erica had wounded him.

  “Because this has all been a test, and you’ve passed very few of them. So don’t bitch and whine when you don’t get your reward. Tonight you can go to sleep and pretend your wife is coming back to you, but I hope you have a good imagination, because pretending is all it’ll be.”