Chapter 8
Over the past three weeks, Gilly François and her sisters, Vivienne and Evette, had been living a nightmare that the triplets couldn’t seem to wake from. The sisters, known as the Triad—a special set of witches—were at a loss over all of the strange and unusual events that had been occurring lately. Each sister was responsible for otherworldly creatures known as the Originals, the first of their breed. Gilly took care of the Chenilles, the original zombies, Viv the Loup-Garous, the original werewolves, and Evee the Nosferatu, the original vampires. Lately, however, no one seemed capable of taking care of anything or anyone.
Chenilles had been slaughtered, just like Loup-Garous and Nosferatu. Even worse, many of the members of their Originals factions had simply disappeared, leaving the safe haven created by the Triad years ago.
Although the sisters had cast additional protection and boundary spells over their assigned territories, more times than not, the spells appeared ineffective. The killings continued.
Feeling at a loss and hopeless, the Triad were nearing their wits’ end when four men showed up on their doorstep: Nikoli, Lucien, Ronan and Gavril Hyland. They’d said they were cousins, known as Benders, and had been sent to New Orleans to help the Triad. Whatever they were, there was no denying they were all tall, muscular and drop-dead gorgeous.
Along with their arrival, the cousins brought unsettling news. They revealed that the local deaths of the Triad’s Originals were not due to infighting among the factions as the Triad had first suspected. According to the cousins, the deaths were coming by way of creatures known as Cartesians—massive, monstrous creatures with long, razor-sharp talons and teeth. Their bodies were protected by inch-thick scales that hid behind a heavy matting of fur. Their job as Benders, a special generational group of men ordained by the Church centuries ago, was to destroy the Cartesians.
Gilly and her sisters had heard of the Cartesians before but only in folkloric tales. According to legend, Cartesians were an invisible lot, only revealing themselves occasionally. They fed on other-worldly creatures, anything whose life force exceeded that of an average human, which, of course, included the Triad.
Although it had taken some time for the Hylands to convince Gilly and her sisters that the men weren’t a few cards short of a deck, the Triad was eventually convinced. So much so that they’d decided to split up into three groups with the Benders to cover more territory in search of their missing Originals. Viv worked with Nikoli, Gilly with Gavril and Evee with both Lucien and Ronan.
Sadly, in the midst of a surprise attack on Evee, Ronan, whom Evee knew had a crush on her, had rushed over to save her and had been gored in the head by a Cartesian’s massive talons. The Cartesian had then disappeared with Ronan into another dimension. Evee and Lucien had witnessed it all; Nikoli had contacted the family back home and notified them of Ronan’s death.
Gilly had been sure that after that horrid event, the Benders would be off to their homeland to help console their family and help with Ronan’s memorial service. Instead, they’d chosen to stay in New Orleans. It was evident to Gilly that the Benders met their commitments and finished their missions, no matter what.
The Triad had even set up an elaborate feeding system in Algiers, across the river from New Orleans, using cattle as their feeding stock, so the Originals were always satiated: the Nosferatu fed on the blood, the Loup-Garous on the meat and the Chenilles on the bone marrow. But despite the appearance of the Benders and their offer to help, things had started to take a turn for the worse, and quickly. Word from the Triad’s Elders was that some of the missing Originals had already moved out of New Orleans proper and murdered two people.
In the midst of all the chaos, the Triad met with their Elders—Arabella, Taka and Vanessa—to ask for their advice, help and understanding.
Unfortunately, not only were the Triad’s powers beginning to wane, but the Elders’ powers were, as well. Everything from binding to comehither spells worked, didn’t work, or barely worked. The last two symptoms became more dominant each day. The only advice the Elders had to offer was to possibly speak to the three sorcerers who lived in New Orleans, in hopes they might be able to break through this spell malaise.
While meeting with the Elders, it was discovered that Viv and Evee had already been intimate with their Benders—more than once. The revelation came by way of the Triad’s familiars, all three of which snitched on their mistress for what they thought to be the greater good. Appalled, the Elders demanded that they no longer have any intimate contact with the Benders. Triad members were forbidden to marry or live intimately with humans. If so, they’d lose their powers completely,
