Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy Read Online Free PDF

it?”
    For the same reason a coven would need
it. There are obviously some paladin descendants in the tribes. I know one
Houma tribe with a healer paladin, a descendant of Charlemagne just like I am.
He trained someone I know in Vermilion Parish.
    “Do you think his tribe has the book?”
    “I called him. He said that a long time
ago, there was suspicion of one of the tribe members in St. Mary Parish.”
    “He thinks they have it?”
    “He said he’s not sure, but he’s heard
of strange things happening in that area, but that was back in the nineteen-sixties
and seventies. When he and a few of the tribe elders investigated, they found several
unusual deaths and evidence of skin walkers, but they couldn’t figure out who
was doing it. He said any other reports of skin walker-type activities stopped
in the early eighties.”
    “I’m afraid to ask.”
    Miles half smiled. “Someone with the
gift of magic can use spells to transform themselves into animals. Sometimes
very dangerous animals.”
    “Like … um, werewolves?”
    Miles looked at him with solemn eyes.
“Could be. Could be anything, actually. Anything that will help him or her get
what they want.”
    “Your friend couldn’t do anything about
it?”
    “He’s the only paladin in his tribe, and
he’s over a hundred years old. Back then, and even today, they can’t do much
more than the police. The only things they can do are related to tribal
business.”
    Noah was quiet and reflective for a
moment while Miles flipped through the sheets of Anseis’ family tree. He
stopped on the most recent sheet and followed a branch that led to a name: Joe
Billiot. He pointed to it. “This is who we need to find. He is the last
recorded descendent on this branch. His grandmother, Elizabeth, had the book
when she lived with them. His father, Thomas, was the next to have it. He died
around the same time the skin walker activity ceased in St. Mary Parish.”
    “Then it was him. He was the skin walker.”
    “It would seem so, but we still need to
find his son Joe and see if he has the grimoire. You up for it?”
    After a moment’s consideration, Noah
nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
     
    ***
    The first stop was the St. Mary Parish
Sheriff’s office. Miles told Noah to wait in the car. When he returned, they
stopped for a bite to eat at a diner on the parish line. Miles brought with him
a manila folder with papers that he got from the Sheriff’s office. He and Noah
sat in a booth and ate and went through the contents of the folder. Noah almost
choked on his fish Po-boy when Miles pushed a picture in front of him: a black
and white photo of a dead man with this tongue black and swollen, hanging out
of his mouth.
    “Shit, what’s that?” said Noah, his
mouth full.
    “A friend of a friend dug this file out
for me. It’s a murder investigation from the early eighties. This man—Christopher
Thibodeaux—was found dead in his home in Patterson.”
    Noah wrinkled his nose and swallowed his
food. “So that has something to do with the Billiot family and the skin walkers?”
    Miles nodded. “I believe so. The report
here says that lab tests were performed on the body, but they could find
nothing that would cause his tongue to swell like that. They figured it was
some sort of poison.”
    “But you don’t think so.”
    “If Thomas Billiot or his son was using
the grimoire, then this could possibly be the work of dark magic. As soon as
we’re done here, I’ll phone Cee Cee and ask her.”
    “Are they all skin walkers?”
    “No. The descendants of Anseis have the
gift of magic, but it’s up to them how they want to practice it. The
descendants in the Houma tribe—as well as other native tribes—use a form of
shamanism. Animal transfiguration is just one aspect. Not all of them choose
it. Witches sometimes use that particular ability, especially in Europe. Voodoo
does not use it, to my knowledge.”
    When they finished their meal, Miles
phoned Cee Cee from the pay