I CAN'T SAVE US ↠ KAI PARKER

29. city of the dead

"Another cemetery, great" Kai noted with sarcasm as we walked towards the tall gates of New Orleans' famous Lafayette Cemetery, which isn't exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted to do a little sightseeing in New Orleans but at least I had the comfort of knowing my plan had somewhat worked out. Though the implications of that weren't as thrilling as they seemed an hour ago, when I was angry at Kai and would've wanted nothing more but to let Vincent do whatever he was planning to do with him. Now I was dreading every second of it, my guilt growing stronger with every step I took.

I needed a distraction, I knew thinking about it would only make it worse "Well it's certainly something" I said focusing on the big letters at the top of the rusty gate.

"Welcome to the City of the Dead" said Charlie, who had surprisingly turned out to be about the nicest guy we'd encountered, despite his menacing look.

Kai and I followed Charlie past the gates, and I had to admit there was something very impressive about it. It was the kind of place you knew had a history to it, centuries of it, without counting the fact that it was home to what I'm sure were hundreds of very different yet interesting stories of its habitants past lives.

Each tomb stood out in its own way, the washed out paint and cracked walls on them convincing me the years hadn't been kind on any of them but they still preserved their beauty, some of it hidden under the wild vines that spread throughout the entire place "Why are we meeting Vincent here?" I asked out of curiosity.

"The City of the Dead is home to countless generations of witches and warlocks who are now in the next realm," Charlie answered, over his shoulder "the witches of New Orleans practice ancestral magic, so you could say the cemetery is a 'bridge' between the realms, a way we can have access to their magic, which is very kind of them"

"This is where you're at your best" I concluded and Charlie gave me a nod, the statement troubling me a lot more than it should have. Kai had a lot of power, more than I liked to admit, which meant Vincent was probably going to need about as much help as he could get and what best place to get it, where he could channel the power of all of the ancestors. Suddenly I wasn't so sure if this was a good idea at all.

I knew my decision making skills weren't as sharp as they used to be before I was compelled, but this was the one decision I knew I was absolutely right about. Still, that didn't mean I could ignore the fact that it was done out of an impulse, a very bad impulse, and I knew better than anyone that nothing good ever came out of impulses like this. A day ago, I was more angry than I'd ever been at someone. I had a motive and plenty of reasons to recur to a plan like this, until that motive somehow got lost in translation and now... no. This was the right thing to do, I had to protect my family and friends, and Vincent was the only one that knew how to do that.

I was in over my head and even if I wanted to save Kai, I had no real certainty if I could make that happen without any more casualties and I was at a point where I just couldn't afford to lose anyone else... but that only helped convincing me not to go on with this, because as much as I hated to admit... I didn't want to lose Kai either and I was sure what Vincent had in mind, after I'd practically told him Kai might've been involved in his godmother's death, did not include letting him walk out of here unharmed.

"This is also our true home, a place where all the witches and warlocks unite as one big family" Charlie piped up, pulling me out of my thoughts and I didn't have to look at Kai to know he had most likely rolled his eyes at Charlie's statement.

"That sounds nice" I smiled, trying to mask the lack of interest in my voice, knowing my head was more preoccupied with the thought of me, letting Kai being led to whatever horrible thing Vincent had in store for him.