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I was still laughing e cut across the street

"Here we are" Dorian pointed up to a round black sign hanging by chains In fancy, white lettering it read: Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo Three concrete steps led up to the front door, green shutters on either side Dorian went through first and I followed closely behind him The shop was small, dark and smelled like patchouli and other herbs Various items lined the shelves: charlass countertop where the cashier stood Dorian walked up to thein his ear I picked up sos

"Co toward the back of the store A woreeted us She wore a colorful, zigzag printed dress and her long hair fell in tiny braids around her shoulders Her dark brown eyes regarded us with suspicion while her lips rehly thirty-five, those brown eyes held wisdo about her thatLike the tiht; the disappoint

"Thank you for seeing us, Kiah" Dorian held out his hand Kiah stared at it, her brow arching as she took a step back

"Follow h a beaded curtain Dorian leaned down and whispered, "She knohat I am and does not trust me" That surprised me While every other supernatural creature was out of the closet, Dorian wasn’t like us Revealing that angels were real and roa earth would cause a craze I could almost hear the apocalyptic rants now Maybe Kiah was the real deal and she had soh Dorian’s huuise It didn’t surprise h he didn’t steal souls for the fun of it

We stepped through the beaded curtain and into a small square room Bookshelves lined all four walls, their shelves filled with glass jars full of spooky looking stuff I could have sworn one had the body of dehydrated rat, but I didn’t study it too closely A round table rested in the center of the rooe white pillar candle sat in the narled drips of wax down the sides

"Sit," Kiah ordered and Dorian and I took a seat She had her back to us as she stood on her tiptoes to retrieve a long rectangular box Sitting, she placed the box in front of her and lifted her gaze to

"Dis you den dat evil has clutched onto" It wasn’t a question The drawl of her Cajun accent was beautiful yet made her words sound more intense

"Yes," I said, lance and he braced ers

"And your boy tells ular protection spell will not work Da dagger I offer is not a gift, you hear me?"

"Yes, ma’am"

"I lend it to you and when you have vanquished your evil, you will bring it back Do not wield it lightly It is not to be trifled with" Her skinny brow arched in warning as she lifted the lid of the wooden box, spinning the container around to faceon a bed of black velvet was the er I’d ever seen Its double-edged blade--all eight inches--glea it An intricate, vine pattern was stanized as rune syer out of the box, holding it horizontally so that the po us A circular pattern, made out of what looked like diamonds and sapphires, created the shape of an eye

"Dis da evil eye," Kiah said, tapping a finger over it "When you strike, you strike da forehead Evil lies within da rabbed at the air, yanking her hand back and pulling air through her lips toit in dis here" She tapped the bejeweled eye again

My sto soh to get through the skull What if I tried and it didn’t penetrate the bone?

"She looks a little green," Kiah said to Dorian "If you want to defeat dos deger back in the box, snapping the lid closed

Kiah stood and rus on the shelves Dorian’s thumb rubbed circles over the top of h e as the shock wore off

"You’ll need dees too" Kiah sat a s with a bronze pendant of a rune sy up the pouch "Is a gris-gris You knohat dat is, girl?"