667: Issue # 7 Pt. 1 "Seven"

The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.

~Thomas Aquinas

It had only been a few weeks since we left Salem, and I was kind of starting to miss it. I had been e-mailing back and forth with Naomi since then; she was doing well, but still getting used to her dream walking. She had, however, told me about the possibility that she had prevented a kidnapping while traversing through someone else’s dream. How she explained that to the police, I didn’t ask.

Josiah had been kinder than usual, but he still kept us under lock and key. We were stuck in the house while Henri had resumed helping the NOPD with the investigation involving the Crescent City Shaman. They were insistent that they were getting closer to finding the perpetrator, but they weren’t.

They’d never find Jeremy.

Nate’s death was oddly still a question that was up in the air. No one would tell me how they were able to explain that situation to anyone and why I hadn’t even heard anything about a funeral. I found it all quite funny…and it fueled my curiosity.

I tried not to ask too many questions and instead do some investigating of my own; research had been a high priority as of late.

I had just sat down to respond to an e-mail from Naomi when the little white envelope popped up on the right side of my desktop. Never being one to stay on track, I clicked on it and the e-mail opened up to an address that I didn’t recognize.

Violet,

Not sure if you remember me or not, but we met in Salem. I got your e-mail address from Naomi Starr that work’s up at Brighid’s Dawn in downtown. She thinks that maybe you can help me.

I moved away from the city about a week ago, but I had talked to Naomi before I left. I’m not even really sure how to begin explaining myself.

We had a rash of unexplained deaths right before you all arrived here. They only got weirder after you left, but I wasn’t able to put it all together till about two weeks ago. Each and every person who died inexplicably had been one of my tattoo clients.

I went back and found their names in my customer database and noticed something odd; their deaths all had eerie similarities to the tattoos that I had given them.

There was a man that was bitten by a very venomous snake that was found to not be native to the area: a cobra. Just like the tattoo on his forearm.

Another woman who had gotten a tattoo that looked like a bite had been taken out of her stomach was found eviscerated. It went on like that through quite a few clients.

I have been tattooing for the past five years but had been out of work for a while. My friend Sam opened up the shop in Salem and invited me to come work there right after my birthday last Month. I hadn’t done too many tattoos there by the time we met, and now I am afraid to do any more until I can figure out what is going on.

What I am getting at is…I think that my tattoos are killing these people. I have no idea how that is even possible, but I was desperate enough to go to Brighid’s Dawn looking for answers.

So far, every single person that has gotten inked by me since I started work at the shop is dead and I have to figure out why, and how to stop it. She pointed me in your direction.

I need your help, Violet. Whatever you know, whatever information you can give me…it’s important that I get it.

I stopped working at the shop right after I found out about all of this and haven’t done a tattoo since…but the last tattoo I did was on your boyfriend, Adam.

Please e-mail me back ASAP,

Seven

What in the hell did I just read?

I remembered Seven…I remembered sneaking into the basement of the old L. Cipher Clinic that was now the tattoo shop too.

From the sound of that e-mail and the fact that Naomi had sent him my way—I could only assume he was one of us.

I wanted to reply right away to his e-mail, but I knew I had to talk to Adam first. He had gotten a tattoo on his chest from Seven; a tattoo that looked almost identical to the one I had fabricated to hide my third eye. I was thankful that he was concerned, but Adam wasn’t like most people…and neither was Seven apparently.

I snagged my phone from the end table in the sun-room and started texting Adam.

We need to talk. Really important. Call me.

He had gone out with Khaine into the swamp to play with their new powers like they had been doing for days now. It was something allowable by Josiah that didn’t keep them cooped up inside all day.

Are you ok? Kinda have my hands full atm.

Of course he did; he had been avoidant like that for a few weeks now. He hadn’t really talked to me in days, but that was probably my own fault.

I'm ok, but you might not be. Just fucking call me.

That was rude. I was rude—but it’s hard to express urgency through a text message sometimes.

My phone rang immediately and I picked it up.

“I know you’re out with Khaine having man time, but this is really important. Do you remember Seven from Salem?”

“The tattoo artist?” Adam sounded almost breathless as he spoke.

“Yes. I just got an e-mail from him and it doesn’t sound good. I think he may be one of us.” I was already preparing to forward the e-mail to him.

“And what would make you think that?” I could hear splashing on his end as they tromped through the waters of the marsh.

“Check your e-mail; I just forwarded it to you. Let Khaine read it too. I’m going to go talk to Salome and wait for you two to get back.” I clicked send and set my laptop down.

“Whatever you say, boss. We’ll be back shortly.” Adam was short himself as he hung up the phone.

I tried not to take his abruptness negatively as I set off to find Salome in the big antebellum mansion.

“He sounds like he is one of us, but what the hell? Tattoos that come to life?” Salome had been reading the e-mail on my mobile.

“Yeah. That’s definitely a new one.” I was only half listening; I was thinking more about Adam and that eye on his chest.

“He tattooed Adam?” Salome cocked a perfectly arched brow at me.

“We didn’t tell anyone. When we were trying to find out more about the Batibat, Adam and I took a detour to the Clinic that used to be in Salem; it’s now a tattoo shop. Adam decided that getting a tattoo was a good distraction while I tried to gather evidence.” I sighed a little too audibly as I stared out at the front drive and the Spanish moss swaying slightly in the hot wind of a Louisiana summer.

“Did you find anything?” Salome’s curiosity was now piqued.

“We can talk about that later; here they come.” Khaine and Adam had rounded the house and were now climbing the front stairs, soaking wet from the knees down.

“So he thinks that my tattoo is just going to come to life and blink me to death?” Adam plopped down in a rocking chair next to me.

“I don’t know that his powers would even affect you like that since he may be one of us. If it hasn’t done anything yet, it probably won’t.” I was finally typing up my e-mail to Naomi, letting her know that I had heard from Seven.

“Well, that’s good to know. I can now sleep better at night.” Adam leaned back in his rocker and made a funny face at me. Or maybe it was at what was behind me.

Khaine and Salome were cuddled up together on the porch swing, their faces hidden by a curtain of hair as I assumed they were expressing their fondness for one another.

“You don’t think it’s cute?” I smirked, watching as Adam averted his eyes.

“I mean, it’s cute…I guess. Good for them.” Adam shrugged and crossed his arms.

He seemed uncomfortable with their public displays of affection, but there was something underlying all of it. He almost seemed…jealous? Bitter?

“Can you get out of my head, please?” Adam waved a hand around his face as he spoke, “How are we going to help Seven?” He didn’t look like he was ready to jet back to the Northeast anytime soon.

“I’m not sure. We should probably talk to Josiah first and see what he thinks; he wouldn’t be happy if we made important decisions without him.” I made a pfft sound.

Salome’s giggle caught Adam’s attention and he rocketed from the chair and stepped to the door as he replied, “Tell me what the plan is after you talk to him.” And he slipped into the house with a slam.

The noise startled the love birds and Khaine finally spoke, “What was that all about?”

“Don’t know.” I shrugged, “But I need to talk to Josiah about all of this.”

I figured it would take my mind off of Adam’s weird behavior and turn that curiosity towards the situation with Seven.