Every King Needs A Queen / Book Three / Daring Spell Series / The Originals

You Hung the Moon

I was in my apartment late at night, casting a spell to lead Hayley to the cemetery so that I could reverse the Crescent curse as a sign of good faith like Marcel had advised me to do, waiting, going over the crime scene details and news footage on my tablet.

Cami emailed me with notes about the serial killer and a new vampire in town, one of Klaus' old friends.

Facial mutilation

Dehumanization of victim

Power hungry

History of abuse

Compelled?

Malignant narcissism

I typed Lucien Castiel into the search feature of the New Orleans Sentinel newspaper archives to see if there was any news about him, studying the results, clicking on the first link that appeared, which read:

Lucien Castle donates $85 million to clean-up project in Bayou Lafourche region. The noted philanthropist Lucien Castle donated a healthy sum to a refurbishment project...

On my tablet, a video popped up of Lucien speaking at some press conference. A subtitle on the video stated that he was the CEO of Kingmaker Land Development Inc.

"Listen to the advice of your superiors, then do better. Study the weaknesses of those who outrank you and eliminate them from your own experience. Authority is meant to be challenged. Great achievers refuse to stand in shadows."

~~~

I realized that Hayley was taking longer than I had hoped for, walking through the French Quarter, passing the newest crime scene on my way to the cemetery. I glanced at the police officers stationed outside, grim, walking toward my car, putting my tablet in my bag, unlocking my car.

Will walked up behind me.

I jumped, dropping my bag.

Will smiled. "Hey. It's just me."

I sighed, relieved that I hadn't used magic against him like I had thought I was going to, giving him a look. "Maybe not the best time to be sneaking up on people."

"Sorry," Will told me. "It's been a long night. I saw you walking by. Thought you might not mind giving me an update on where you're at with the killings. So, any progress?"

I sighed. "Listen, Will, I appreciate that you come to me for help when you think a case has something to do with the occult, but I'm just a theorist. None of it's real."

I smiled politely.

Will smiled, though it was clear he was suspicious. "I know." He paused awkwardly for a moment. "You know, I've seen you in town before... with Marcel Gerard. Mysterious philanthropist-slash-artist with no past on record. Is he a friend or a fellow theorist?"

I sighed. "You know, I have someplace to be."

"Auria--" Will started.

"No, really," I told him. "I have to go."

Will sighed. "I know who you are. Your parents, Phelan and Gaia Rayvnne. They were occultists back in the day."

I nodded. "Yeah. They got obsessed."

"They hurt some people for it," Will told me. "Killed some people."

"They were crazy," I told him.