Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 02 - Dark Carnival by Nancy K. Duplechain

from a
friend of hers.”  I looked at her, her back still turned to us.
    “Well, we’ll get to that
in a minute when Nadia—”  He was interrupted by the sound of the front door
opening and closing.  “Ah!  I think that’s her now.”
    “It’s her,” said Nadia
from the foyer.  She joined us in the living room and had a friendly smile as
always, which widened when she saw me.  “Hello, Leigh.  How are you?”
    “Fine and you?” I said,
glad to see her.
    “Very fine, thank you.”  She
noticed Ruby at the other end of the room.  “Ruby, I brought that recipe from
Sister Adele with me.  Remind me to give it to you before I go.”
    Ruby turned around and
gave a hint of a smile.  “The one for the onion bread?”
    She nodded.
    “Thanks, girl.”  It
seemed even Ruby’s cold center melted from the light radiating from Nadia.
    Noah came in wearing a
different shirt and snuck up behind Nadia, playfully putting his hands over her
eyes.  “Guess who?” he said, disguising his voice in a lower register.
    She laughed.  “Is it
Santa Claus?”
    “No,” he said in the same
voice.
    “Gerard Butler?”
    “No,” he said, trying not
to laugh.
    “Then I don’t care
because those are the only two I ever wanted to meet.”
    He pulled his hands from
her eyes, and she craned her neck around to look at him.  She mocked disappointment
and said, “I’d still rather see Gerard Butler.”
    Noah laughed and gave her
a playful hug.  She patted his hand and laughed, too.
    “Okay you two.  Let’s get
down to business,” said Miles, motioning for us to sit around the coffee table.
 Noah, Nadia and I joined him.  “Ruby, what did you find out today?”
    She came closer to our
little circle, but chose to stand near one of the armchairs.  “I think I know
where the Grigori house is.”
    “You actually found out
where it is?” said Noah.  “We’ve been looking for that thing for months.”
    “ Maybe ,” she
stressed.  “A friend of mine saw and overheard an interaction someone had with
one of the Watchers.”
    “How can you be sure it
was a Watcher angel?” asked Nadia.
    “Because he actually said
they were with the Krewe of Grigori, and they handed some woman an invite to
their ball.”
    “Son of a bitch,”
murmured Noah, both amazed and amused.  “They’re actually giving out
invitations?”
    “Looks like it,” said
Ruby.
    “Where is the house?” asked
Miles.
    “Out near the U.N.O.
research center, past the old fairgrounds.”
    “When is their ball?”
    “I don’t know.  She
didn’t hear him say.  I guess it was on the ticket.  And she said he approached
only that one woman in the café, no one else.”
    “That’s odd.  You’d think
they’d want as many recruits as possible,” said Nadia.
    “Maybe not,” said Miles.  “They’re
most likely going for the ones they believe will be the most easily converted,
the ones with a lack of ethics and morals.”
    “So, they want to take
over the Earth with a bunch of politicians,” I joked.  Noah and Nadia politely
laughed.  Miles and Ruby barely acknowledged me.  I nervously bit at the corner
of my lip.
    “We’re going to have to
get more information,” continued Miles.  “I want you all to keep looking for
the mask, but also I want you to try to get a hold of a ticket, or find someone
who has a ticket and can tell us when this ball will take place.  That’s all
for now.”
    Everyone got up and left.
 I saw Noah headed for the back door through the kitchen.
    “Is that your house next
door?” I asked him.
    “Yeah.  I’m kind of like
Miles’ guard dog.”
    “Oh, well I promise not
to make any animal jokes.”
    He laughed.  “Okay.  See
ya later.”
    “Bye.”
    He left through the back
door.  Nadia and Ruby left through the front door as Nadia pulled out Sister Adele’s
recipe from her purse.  I was about to leave, but Miles stopped me, saying that
I still needed to train for the day.
     
    It was another