667: Issue #7 Pt. 2 "The Seventh Son"

“That was the last box.” I lifted a hefty container into the back of the moving truck and Cassandra shut the bay door and made sure Naomi’s car was securely attached to the hitch on the bumper.

“Goodbye, apartment; hello New Orleans.” Naomi seemed a bit forlorn as she cuddled Druid in her arms and stared up at her second floor flat.

“A change of scenery will do you some good.” I placed my hand on her shoulder and steered her towards the crossover.

“I know; it’s just sort of sad.” Naomi put her arm around me as I opened the passenger door for her to get in.

“I know how bittersweet it can be to leave your home and venture out into the unknown, but it’s better that you’re with us and not out here alone.” I climbed behind the wheel and waved to Cassandra in the moving truck through the rearview mirror.

I started the car and headed towards the highway while Naomi got settled in for the day’s trip back to Louisiana.

(*)

Naomi slept well into the early evening. Cassandra said that she hadn’t been sleeping well lately and felt like the distance between her and her kind was the main culprit.

Around seven she awoke, and after a quick bathroom break, she took over the driving and it was my turn to get some rest.

“So, I was a little sneaky.” Naomi burst the solitude of our trip as I tried to nod off.

“Yeah? What did you do?” I figured there would be a story about how she walked into someone’s dream and saved another person from imminent death.

“I figured out how to use my dream walking power coupled with astral projection…and I broke into Aamon Wright’s house.” Had I been driving, her sentence would have caused me to slam on the breaks and plow into the back of Cassandra…thank God I was merely a passenger at this point.

“What did you find?” I wondered what she had been doing snooping around a dead Demon’s former place of residence.

“Wanted to see if he had anything laying around about the whole Batibat ordeal—or our kind. I felt like some things were left open ended and I got curious. No one seemed to even know he was gone, thanks to whoever showed up that night in the streets, but his things were left untouched. I took that as an opportunity to steal some stuff.” Naomi stroked Druid as he snored peacefully in my lap.

“You really broke in?” That seemed very out of character for Naomi.

“I thought we deserved to know something and he may have had the answers.” Naomi had been a tad reckless in this situation, but who was I to talk?

“Did you find anything good?” I was a little excited to hear what she had found.

“It was all a little weird. There was a bunch of old books on botany and the like, and then some personal paperwork regarding his business ventures…but that is where it got interesting. Aamon had not only helped open up the Witch’s Brew, which is now closed by the way, but he was also a benefactor for another place of business.” I could see Naomi grinning broadly next to me as she spoke.

“And that would be?” I didn’t really care what that arsehole had sunk his money into; he was dead now.

“A business with the name Lucky Seven.” She seemed proud of herself, but just the name caused my third eye to start twitching nervously.

“It didn’t detail what type of business it was, but I took the paperwork and packed it in with my stuff. When we get to New Orleans, maybe we can look it up together.” Naomi patted my hand on top of Druid’s head.

“We could do that.” I had this sinking feeling in my gut, the same one I had been getting for several days now.

“I figured I’d let the real sleuth do the hard work sine you’re better at that than I am.” It was sweet of Naomi to wait for me, but the anticipation would now be slowly killing me the rest of the trip.

“Thanks. I’ve been a research machine lately.” I tried to sound excited, but I was anything but.

“Well, get some sleep. I can handle this last stretch of the trip; I drive rather fast and we should get there with little to no stops from here on out.” Naomi definitely had that take charge attitude.

“Okay.” I turned to face the open window and just watched as cars sped by until sleep finally found me.