"Thirty-six minutes," she replied as she opened the fridge and took out a jug of orange juice. "Would have been faster if I used both hands, but I was hungry and wanted to eat my cereal."

"This would take an average person two years to accomplish," I remarked.

She grinned. "Tell me Shadow, who in the Midnight Society was ever 'average' at anything?"

I thought for a moment. "Lucien?"

"Good one," Reiko replied. "I think his sister acquired all the brains in that family."

I paused. "Calisto murdered him too you know," I said. "He was always an idiot, but he didn't deserve his end. None of them did."

Reiko shrugged, and then pointed to the laptop. "I did what you suggested in terms of manipulating the hard numbers on the screen of all of Elena's accounts. Meanwhile I skimmed 0.25% of all her corporations and business holdings. It winds up being a pretty hefty sum going into Nathan's bank account. The cyber imprint is all clean. The Triad is officially a financial corporation."

"Brilliant," I smiled as I looked at her with admiration. "You know, I have to ask, for a girl with your genius and the ability to steal money from corporations without being detected, why live in a modest condo in Hong Kong?"

Reiko took a sip of juice from her gla.s.s and pursed her lips. "I'm a simple girl," she replied. "I always was, and always will be. All I need is my man, my computer, and some good books and I'm happy."

My thoughts turned to Aria, and those brief weeks of happiness I had with her. I prayed that I would never forget that feeling.

"So we're all set then? I can contact Nathan Tse?" I asked.

Reiko nodded as she picked up a cell phone on the counter and tossed it over to me. "I created a quick app that links directly to the account," she said. "It's the one with the penguin face."

"I click on it and his account is activated?"

"Yes," she replied. There was a brief pause. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

"What do you mean?"

"You're practically giving the devil the keys to Pandora's box," she replied. "You've been in Hong Kong for only two days and already you plan on altering its landscape."

"Nathan wants to go legitimate," I replied. "There's more money to be made in real estate than being a gangster."

"You're siding with one devil just to take down another," Reiko said. "Nathan Tse is a dangerous man."

"I'll take my chances," I replied. "I'd rather deal with dangerous than psychotic nine times out of ten."

There was a brief moment of silence between us.

"I tried looking for her you know," Reiko said.

"Calisto?"

"Yes," she replied. "I was always one to hack at the root, and not the branches of a problem tree."

"And?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"I cast a pretty wide net-all her transaction records, any electronic signatures, even her library cards. I found nothing. She's become a ghost."

I nodded. "She's smart," I replied. "A lot smarter than I am. That's why I need you to help me catch her."

Reiko nodded.

Suddenly a loud groan, followed by some strange grunting resonated from the bedroom. I shot Reiko a 'what-the-f.u.c.k-was-that?' glance.

"He's waking up," she replied.

I smirked. "You know, I have to ask, you had people lining up outside your door wanting to date you back at the Academy," I said. "What made you choose Cairo in the end? He's the last person I would have pictured you ending up with."

"Cairo's got a good heart and he loves me. Sometimes that's all you really need," she replied.

"I'm also hung like a horse."

I turned and saw Cairo, standing by the doorway, shirtless and wearing Batman pajamas.

"I'll take your word for it," I replied.

"So what's the plan for today chief?" He was rubbing the side of his head, probably still feeling the residual pain from my lights-out punch.

I shrugged. "A light lunch and then vengeance?"

Cairo nodded. "Sounds great," he replied. "Lemme get changed first."

Once Cairo was back inside the bedroom, Reiko turned to me.

"Don't let anything happen to him," she whispered.

"I won't."

She took a deep breath. "I'd like to believe you Shadow," she said. "But it seems like whatever road you take, you have a habit of leaving a trail of dead bodies."

Chapter Eighteen.

Aria Isadora led us back to her store, a small little shop situated around the corner from Bourbon Street. When she told us she sold magic, I had pictured a shop straight out of J.K. Rowling's imagination, filled with wands and wizard hats, books with spells, and other magical oddities.

I pictured something cute.

But this was New Orleans, where magic had a different ident.i.ty. The magic here was dark. It was voodoo.

She opened the door to the store and ushered us in. Inside was a pretty woman, a poster child for the 'girl next door' look, with long black hair brushed to one side and an elegant rosy face. She smiled from the moment we entered the Voodoo shop, which was appropriately named "The Voodoo Shop."

"h.e.l.lo h.e.l.lo," she said. "Welcome to the Voodoo Shop."

Isadora gave her a wink. "They're not customers, Delilah," she said.

"Oh, I figured that much out," Delilah said. "They don't look like tourists."

Isadora turned to us. "I'll need a minute to myself, and then I'll introduce you to Mr. Friday," she said.

"Mr. Friday is here?" Beau asked, in disbelief.

"Why yes, of course," Isadora replied. "I believe the message delivered was that you'd speak to him today."

"It was," Beau replied. "I just never thought Mr. Friday would agree to a face-to-face. I thought he'd use a proxy or something."

"Mr. Friday has high regard for the Midnight Society," Isadora replied. "He thought a face-to-face meeting was in order."

"I thought you said you did business with Mr. Friday before?" Lincoln whispered to Beau.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I did do business with him, but always through a middleman," Beau said. "Much like how Shadow and the high ups would never dig in the trenches of the Midnight Society's shadier businesses."

"You'd be surprised how dirty some elite members of the Midnight Society get," Lincoln said.

"Maybe so, but I haven't seen any of those rich s.h.i.ts this far down the hole yet, so I have my reservations."

I gave Lincoln a coy glance.

"You'll meet Mr. Friday today," Isadora repeated, interrupting the private conversation Beau and Lincoln were having.

"I hate to say it, but I'm kinda nervous," Beau said as he leaned in closer to Isadora. "I heard he has a vicious bite to him."

"Only if he's angered," Isadora replied. "You three better be on your best behavior. He's not a forgiving man. Get on his good side though and his generosity knows no bounds."

I watched as Isadora disappeared through a beaded curtain and entered into the back of the shop.

"Please, feel free to look around," Delilah said. "I'm here if you have any questions."

I wandered over to a row of shrunken heads that lined up the insides of a display case. They were hideous little things. Their eyes and mouths were st.i.tched shut with twine, and their long dark hair was coa.r.s.e and scraggly.

I scrunched my face, trying to not look too disgusted by those terrible things. "Are those real?" I asked, pointing to a head.

Delilah laughed. "Good heavens, no," she said. "They're composed of paper, dried fruit, paint and some animal skin for texture. The only thing sinister about them is the ridiculous prices we can charge for them."

I bent down and looked at the price tag for one of those things. Five hundred dollars.

"Holy smokes, someone actually pays that much money for something so ugly?"

She nodded. "They sure do. It's amazing what you can sell with a good story behind it."

I couldn't dispute her on that one. I thought of Calisto, and all the stories she spun to draw me into the Midnight Society.

"The cops never ask about why you're selling fake heads?" I asked.

Delilah shook her head. "As long as we pay our taxes and keep the tourists happy, we don't get ha.s.sled. Besides they know this establishment is under Mr. Friday's protection and in terms of pay-offs, Mr. Friday has been very good to the police."

I walked over to some other displays of pagan nature. On the far wall, skulls of various animal heads were mounted. Many of them looked to be inspired right out of a horror movie. Another shelf had an a.s.sortment of voodoo dolls, some sinister and some cute looking.

I stopped in front of a tall, black bookcase housing different editions of voodoo bibles.

"So is any of this real?" I asked.

"Voodoo itself is real," Delilah said. "All you see in this store are trinkets for tourists and wannabe witch doctors who want to put on a good show. Our top customers are a cult of wealthy teens who believe they're vampires. I try to squeeze them for every last penny."

"So this store is nothing but a sham?"

Delilah shrugged. "The only thing in this store that's real voodoo is Isadora," she replied. "She herself is a living, breathing mojo. She has revolutionized voodoo and redefined the laws and limitations of this religion."

"So you believe in voodoo as well?"

She smiled. "You can't possibly live in New Orleans without stumbling upon a bit of magic here and there."

"Makes sense," I said, to appease her. I still wasn't sold on the idea of magic. I walked over to Lincoln who was flipping through one of the books on the shelves.

"Find anything interesting?"

He showed me the cover.

"The Spiritual Magic of s.e.x," I read aloud.

"I was wondering if it could teach me a few moves," he said. He opened up to a page he had thumbed. There was a drawing of a woman, her hands and legs bound to two adjacent trees, completely spreading her body wide open in the shape of an X. Meanwhile, a man was on his knees, performing oral s.e.x on her while his hands reached up and pinched her nipples.

"Is this turning you on?" he asked me in jest.

I pictured myself being tied up while Lincoln licked me. The thought of his lips and tongue brushing against my p.u.s.s.y folds made me hot.

I thought of Shadow, his hard c.o.c.k sheathing inside me while I was physically bound and helpless to his desires, and let out a gasp.

"Are you alright, Aria?" Lincoln asked as he closed the book and placed it back on the shelf.

I nodded. Get a hold of yourself girl. Now wasn't the time to have fifty shades of fantasies.

"Just a little anxious, that's all," I replied.

Isadora emerged from the curtains, this time wearing a low cut crimson dress that fit snug against her skin. Her cleavage was fully on display and judging by the seedy grin on Beau's face, he was enjoying the view.

"Mr. Friday is ready to meet with you," she said. "Please follow me."

We stepped through the beaded curtain and traversed through a narrow hallway. The wooden paneled walls were lined with faded yellow pictures of various people engaged in ritualistic acts. I shuddered. It was creepy as h.e.l.l.